What Is the Simultaneous Support of Consciousness?

Simultaneously arising condition (俱有依) refers to the state where two or more dharmas coexist interdependently from the moment of arising; the existence of one necessitates the existence of the other, and this dharma depends on that dharma to exist. If the five sense faculties (五根) are said to be the simultaneously arising condition for consciousness (意识), then the five sense faculties are a necessary condition for the arising of consciousness. Without the five sense faculties, there is no consciousness; where there is consciousness, there must necessarily be the five sense faculties.

But is this really the case? In terms of the forms of sentient beings, many beings lack the five sense faculties yet still possess consciousness. For example, formless realm devas (无色界天人), or bodhisattvas and great arhats manifesting without physical bodies, all possess consciousness without having the five sense faculties. The isolated consciousness (独头意识) of all sentient beings does not depend on the five sense faculties for its arising or existence. In profound meditative absorption, consciousness can leave the body yet still engage in cognition without requiring the five sense faculties. Therefore, the five sense faculties are not the simultaneously arising condition for consciousness. The simultaneously arising conditions for consciousness are the eighth consciousness (第八识), the mental faculty (意根), and seeds (种子).

The conditions required for the arising of consciousness are very few, hence it arises easily and is difficult to cease. The five consciousnesses (五识) completely cease to exist in meditative absorption above the second dhyāna (二禅). Consciousness only ceases in the state of no-thought (无想定) and the state of cessation (灭尽定). Therefore, it is said that the simultaneously arising conditions for consciousness are neither the five sense faculties nor the five consciousnesses.