In the book In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from Pali Canon by Bhikku Bodhi, I read:
When there is no name-and-form, consciousness does not come to be; with the cessation of name-and-form comes the cessation of consciousness.
What is the meaning of name-and-form; whose name and what form? How is the arising and cessation of consciousness linked with it?
Name & form is a misnomer. Traditionally, in Theravada Buddhism, it is translated as 'mind-body' or 'mentality-materiality', including in Bhikkhu Bodhi's original 1995 translation of the Majjhima Nikaya. Bhikkhu Bodhi appeared to change his later translations due to coming under the influence of the Ajahn Brahm sect.
The term 'name-form', i.e., 'nama-rupa', is a pre-Buddhist term from the SamaVeda, in a section now known as or that evolved into the Chandogya Upanishad, which says:
That Deity, having entered into the three gods (three elements of earth, fire & water), saw, ‘I shall manifest name and form, the unmanifested name and form which, as seeds, exist in me’… Name and form came into existence on account of this action of multiplication brought about by the triplication of the (three) elements by the Will of the Supreme Being…
It appears the Buddha adopted the term nama-rupa in order to both redefine & debunk it. The Buddha defined nama-rupa as follows:
And what, bhikkhus, is name-and-form? Feeling, perception, volition, contact, attention: this is called name. The four great elements and the form derived from the four great elements: this is called form. Thus this name and this form are together called name-and-form.
Therefore, instead of nama-rupa referring to the multiplication of earth, fire & water by the Will of God; the Buddha refined this nama-rupa to refer to the multiplication of three sankhara born of ignorance using mental volition, inappropriate attention & the on-going pursuit of sense objects via the six sense bases.
In many places, such as MN 38 & SN 22.53, the Buddha taught consciousness cannot arise without sense organs, sense objects & other aggregates. It follows, in suttas such as SN 12.65 & SN 22.82, it is said nama-rupa is required for consciousness to arise.
In other words, the idea consciousness is reincarnated from life to life is impossible in the original teachings of the Buddha because there can be no arising of consciousness without rupa (the physical body derived from the four physical elements).
In summary, the Buddha said consciousness is dependent upon the mind & the body, as follows:
The six classes of consciousness should be understood. ’ So it was said. And with reference to what was this said? Dependent on the eye and forms, eye-consciousness arises; dependent on the ear and sounds, ear-consciousness arises; dependent on the nose and odours, nose-consciousness arises; dependent on the tongue and flavours, tongue-consciousness arises; dependent on the body and tangibles, body-consciousness arises; dependent on the mind and mind-objects, mind-consciousness arises. So it was with reference to this that it was said: ‘The six classes of consciousness should be understood.’ This is the third set of six.
The term nama-rupa is also found in the later Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, with a meaning retained in modern Hinduism and also found in the later sutta DN 15. The notions in DN 15 are not discussed in the earliest commentary The Patisambiddhamagga or in the Abhidhamma Pitaka. In short, it appears for many obvious reasons the Buddha never spoke DN 15. Those who insist the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad pre-dated the Buddha appear obviously wrong. Nama-rupa in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is generated by the Atman, which is Brahman. The Upanishad & later Hindu concept of Atman being Brahman is never discussed in the Pali suttas. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is obviously a later text, as is DN 15. It is obvious the Buddha adopted the term 'nama-rupa' from the more primitive or Deity centred Chandogya Upanishad. DN 15 appears obviously a text composed by later monks to challenge the later Brihadaranyaka_Upanishad.
In dependent origination, dependent on consciousness, name-and-form (namarupa) arises. Name-and-form represents a mind-body system that operates together, like software-and-hardware.
If you read the definitions of "name" (feeling, perception, volition, contact, attention) and "form" (form made up of four great elements) from SN 12.2, they read like definitions of parts of mind and body respectively.
The body is called "form" because it is the form-sensor, that senses external forms. The mind is called "name" because it is the name-assigner, that assigns names to the forms sensed by the body. So the terms name(-assigner) and form(-sensor) describe functions of the mind and the body in the combination of namarupa.
Consciousness is the mind-body connection, and it's supported by:
Name, reverends, is one end. Form is the second end. Consciousness is the middle. And craving is the seamstress, for craving weaves one to being reborn in one state of existence or another.
AN 6.61
Name-and-form (mind-body) has a mutually dependent relationship with the six types of consciousness according to SN 12.67, like two sheaves of reed leaning on each other.
To put it another way, the mind-body system (name-and-form) depends on the mind-body connection (consciousness) and the mind-body connection (consciousness) depends on the mind-body system (name-and-form).
As a Theravada Buddhist.
1) Name :
The name means what you call "me"(yourself). The naming yourself as me, my, mine. This is the thing people say 'I will born in a good country in the next life.' the thing that they believe is me, myself. People give this 'name' unique casual names for practical day-to-day life. Which people use to call each other (as in birth certificate).
Think of the name as a concept of whole conciseness at the primary level. But it's not the actual conciseness. It's like the bond you(conciseness) have to the physical world by saying this is me, myself, mine.
2) Form :
what is physical in a living being(human, animal, god(gods in Buddhism), Bahama).
A rock and a tree both only have form. They don't have a name, cause they don't have a conciseness. You may see plants react to light, gravity, and water which all are just complex evolutions of a rock. They are just physical, chemical reactions. No conciseness is involved. So they both have no name just form.
No part of the form goes to the next life.
At normal death, only this 'form' gets destroyed and separated from 'name'.
This form is just what you have in this life. It will be different in the next and next.
This form can be an animal body, a god(gods in Buddhism) body, Bahama body. An any living being.
Except some special cause(which I would not go into now), In a living being always has form(+name).
It is really not that complicated. "I, me, you" including your personal name and others names is/are name. Form is the perception of a being inhabiting that name in conclusion from you perceiving it's name. Though as stated above in other comments these are interlinked, as almost they happen simultaneously in a mental process.
I prefer the tree analogy as an explanation. It is simple and gives you something to work with yourself:
If you look at a tree your mind thinks tree but if you dichotomize the tree into its individual parts, there are leaves, bark, roots, branches...wood. There is no actual tree, what you are doing is seeing multiple things, amalgamating them and equating a name on the combination of these "things" calling it a tree which in turn gives it the form tree. From your perception.
Do you think a fly, a bird, a spider, or a single celled organism sees a tree?
You can use this logical rationalisation on all phenomena, but the main phenomena you need to use it on is your own sense of self.
Name and form are easy to understand. Take for example a disease which has been found spreading globally. We give this disease a name ,corona and a form of a spherical kind. How did this virus called corona came to be? First there was ignorance which gave rise to volitional formations. Volitional formations gave rise to corona consciousness. Corona consciousness gave rise to corona name and form.
On other hand , if corona consciousness ceases to be then corona name and form ceases to be.
