The Relationship between the Form Body and the Conscious Mind

A poor state of the physical body can affect the six consciousnesses and the manas. The body faculty is merely a wooden-like thing composed of the four great elements, without any feeling or sensation; if the body could have sensations, then the corpse of a dead person should also have sensations, and wood and stones should also have sensations. What can feel must be the conscious mind, not material form (rūpa). Body and mind influence each other: because the states of the body's four great elements differ, the inner six sense-objects manifested by the tathāgatagarbha in accordance with them also differ—especially the object of touch differs—and thus the feelings of the conscious mind differ, thoughts and actions differ, and the decisions made differ. By the same token, the conscious mind can also influence and change the material four great elements of the body. If the manas believes it can accomplish certain things and its willpower is tenacious, then even when the physical body is not in good condition, it can still do things very well, and the condition of the physical body can also change.