With what do we see, hear, taste, smell, touch and move around in our dreams? Clearly it isn't the eyes, ears, tongue and legs of our physical body, because when we dream, our physical body just lays there on the bed. In fact while dreaming we generally forget that we even have a physical body at all, even though during the daytime our body seems to be so integral to our sense of identity.
So what is it that enables us to perceive and act in our dreams?
What is the Subtle Body?
In the dharmic traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, we hear about the subtle body (in Sanskrit, the sūkṣmaśarīra). The subtle body is said to be comprised of the following 19 faculties:
5 sense faculties (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch).
5 faculties of motion (grasping, walking, talking, excretion and the sexual/reproductive function).
5 kinds of Prāṇa or life air.
4 functions of the Antaḥkaraṇa or 'inner instrument' (mind, intellect, memory and ego).
These 19 faculties, which work through their corresponding physical organs (sight through the eyes, walking with the legs, grasping with the hands, etc) are described in this video.
Software and Hardware
The subtle body may be compared to software and the physical body to hardware. Just as software works in conjunction with the different parts of a computer, such as the motherboard, hard drive and CPU, the subtle body works in conjunction with the different parts of the physical body, such as the brain, heart, nervous system and the various other organs.
Is the Subtle Body Who I am?
Most people identify themselves with their physical body, and if they don't identify with their physical body, they identify with their subtle body. But the ātman (true self, pure consciousness) is categorically different from both the physical body and subtle body. This video gives five pointers to help us understand the difference between both the physical and subtle bodies and the true self, and that neither of these two bodies are who we really are.
Does the Subtle Body Die When the Physical Body Dies?
The view of materialism is that both mind and consciousness are emergent properties of the functioning brain, and therefore when the body dies, mind and consciousness also die.
However, all the world's religions speak of an afterlife and have some concept of a subtle body that survives physical death. In this video it is explained that neither the subtle body nor the ātman die when the physical body dies.
Speaking in this video is Swami Sarvapriyananda and Swami Tadatmananda.