The Manifestation of the Supreme Faculty and the Inner Representation

The five sense faculties are the gross physical sense organs and the supreme faculties composed of the four great elements; they are material form. Among them, the five external faculties are coarse material form, while the five supreme faculties are subtle material form. Therefore, when our physical body is healthy and nourished, the four great elements within the supreme faculties are in harmony, and the tathāgatagarbha can assimilate these harmonized four great elements to faithfully manifest the inner representations, so that what the six consciousnesses discern is accurate and true. Otherwise, when the supreme faculties lack nourishment and the four great elements are out of harmony, what the tathāgatagarbha assimilates are the disharmonized four great elements, and it cannot faithfully manifest the inner representations. Distortion and alteration then occur in the inner representations, and what the six consciousnesses discern is inaccurate and untrue. Sentient beings will then display poor intelligence and deficient memory, frequently unable to recall things—what is called forgetfulness. This is why students, before an exam, need to nourish the brain and supplement their nutrition: it is precisely to allow the mind consciousness to function well, so that everything previously learned can be discerned clearly and accurately and be recalled.