Is "nāma" an equivalent of the Western concept of "mind"? Is it used alone? This answer refers to "mind" as a synonym for "nāma". The only relevant use of that word I have found was "nāmarūpa", which refers to the five aggregates. But is "nāma" ever used alone to signify "mind"? Or do we speak of mind in Buddhism only because it is a convenient Western abstraction that we can use?
In the Theravada (mostly in the abhidhamma and commentaries), &quot;nāma&quot; is used to describe those dhammas that are mental, i.e. the last four aggregates. Also, three of the four ultimate realities (nibbana is considered a nāmadhamma, though that's a bit of a technicality).
e.g., in the Yāmaka:

ye keci nāmā dhammā, sabbe te nāmamūlā?
Whatever nāma dhammas, are they all rooted in nāma?

They're also referred to as &quot;arūpadhamma&quot;, i.e. not physical, as in the Visuddhimagga:

yathā yathā hissa rūpaṃ suvikkhālitaṃ hoti nijjaṭaṃ suparisuddhaṃ, tathā tathā ... tadārammaṇā arūpadhammā sayameva pākaṭā honti.
For in proportion as materiality becomes quite definite, disentangled and quite clear to him, so the immaterial states that have that [materiality] as their object become plain of themselves too.