Eradicating the Mistaken View That Regards Consciousness as the Self (7)

The consciousness that accompanies body consciousness, this consciousness mind, requires the body faculty to be intact for its manifestation—meaning our body is not paralyzed. The conditions for the manifestation of consciousness include the presence of the body faculty, body consciousness, the mental faculty (manas), the eighth consciousness, the seeds of consciousness itself, and tactile objects. Tactile objects consist of external and internal tactile objects. External tactile objects are emitted by external objects, come into contact with our body, and are then transformed by the eighth consciousness into internal tactile objects within the inner manifestation. Internal tactile objects arise within our physical body, such as hunger, thirst, satiety, fatigue, comfort, and so forth. With these conditions present, our consciousness mind can be manifested by the eighth consciousness, enabling it to discern the tactile objects within the body—to discern whether we are currently hungry, thirsty, fatigued, where there is pain, where there is comfort, or where we feel good. This is the consciousness discerning the tactile objects on the body.

Consciousness can also discern tactile objects outside the body, such as how warm or mild the sunlight feels on the body, how gentle the wind feels, or how fierce the wind blows against us, how painful it is when an object strikes us—all these discernments and experiences of various tactile objects are functions of the consciousness mind. Of course, body consciousness also functions together in this process. Consciousness discerns what kind of tactile object it is, whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, and what its effects and consequences are. Then, various thought activities arise, all of which are the thought activities of the consciousness mind. These thought activities are constrained by certain conditions; without these conditions, the thought activities cannot manifest. Therefore, consciousness is impermanent, arising from causes and conditions—it is not autonomous, not self-governing. Thus, this consciousness accompanying body consciousness is not the self; we cannot regard it as the self.