Eradicating the View of Self That Takes Consciousness as Self (7)

There is also the mind consciousness that arises together with the body consciousness. The conditions for this mind consciousness to arise require that the body faculty be intact and undamaged—that is, we are not paralyzed. The condition for the mind consciousness to arise is that there must be a body faculty, a body consciousness, a manas, an eighth consciousness, the mind consciousness's own seeds, and also tangible objects (spraṣṭavya). Tangible objects include external tangible objects and internal tangible objects. External tangible objects are emitted by external objects, come into contact with our body, and are then transformed by the eighth consciousness into tangible objects of the internal object-aspect. Internal tangible objects are tangible objects produced within our physical body, such as hunger, thirst, satiety, fatigue, comfort, and so on. With these conditions present, our mind consciousness can be manifested by the eighth consciousness, and only then can it discern the tangible objects within the body—discerning whether I am hungry now, whether I am thirsty now, whether I am fatigued, where it hurts now, where it feels comfortable now, where it feels pleasant. This is the mind consciousness discriminating the tangible objects of the body.

The mind consciousness can also discriminate tangible objects outside the body, such as how warm and gentle the sunlight is when it shines on the body, how soft the breeze is when it blows on the body, or how fierce the wind is when it lashes against me, how painful it is when an object strikes my body—discriminating and feeling all kinds of tangible objects, all of which are functions of the mind consciousness. Of course, the body consciousness also operates together in this. The mind consciousness must discriminate what kind of tangible object it is, whether it is good or bad, and what influence and consequences it produces. Then various mental activities arise, and these are all mental activities of the mind consciousness. These mental activities are subject to certain conditions; without these conditions, the mental activities cannot arise. Therefore, the mind consciousness is subject to arising and ceasing, is produced by causes and conditions, and thus lacks self-mastery (avaśatā) and autonomy. So this mind consciousness that is together with the body consciousness is not the self; we must not take Him as the self again.