Dharma Teachings

19 Feb 2018 Monday 2nd Teach Total 74

The Conditions for the Arising and Transformation of the Mind Consciousness

<h2 style="text-indent: 2em;">Question: It is said that the mind consciousness of this life is an entirely new consciousness, unrelated to past lives, and does not discern past lives. The mind consciousness is generated by the eighth consciousness when the manas conditions mental sense-objects. Does what is generated carry particular characteristics? The mind consciousness is new every day, all born from the eighth consciousness, without any difference. Memory is related to the supreme faculty (rūpa-prasāda); the supreme faculty is where images are formed, and the mind consciousness only discriminates at the supreme faculty. The supreme faculty of this life determines the characteristics of this life's mind consciousness. The reason one does not remember past lives lies not in the mind consciousness, but in the entirely new supreme faculty. Because the supreme faculty is material form (rūpa), and material form cannot transmigrate along with its tathāgatagarbha and the seventh consciousness. The characteristics of the mind consciousness are related to the supreme faculty, and the nature of the mind consciousness is determined by the supreme faculty. The supreme faculty of this life, along with the characteristics of this life's mind consciousness, is established beginning from the fetal stage. For the mind consciousness born from the same tathāgatagarbha, its mental factors (caittas) are the same; the differences or variations still lie in the supreme faculty. Is this so?</h2>

Answer: The mind consciousness is born by the tathāgatagarbha after the manas contacts mental sense-objects. The mind consciousness exists in dependence on the body of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha); when the body of the five aggregates changes and the supreme faculty changes, the mind consciousness changes. Because the supreme faculties that the mind consciousness of past lives and of this life depend upon are different, the mind consciousness differs accordingly. The mind consciousness in dreams also differs from the mind consciousness when awake. Today's mind consciousness and yesterday's mind consciousness are the same mind consciousness, on the same body of the five aggregates, remembering the same content, yet there are still slight differences: differences in recognizing things, differences in views and opinions, differences in memory, differences in the capacity for discernment. Especially when karmic obstructions change and the supreme faculty changes, the discernment and cognitive capacity of the mind consciousness will change.

The matter of memory is related to karmic seeds, related to the supreme faculty, and related to the manas. What the manas is interested in, memory is certainly good for; the more the manas cares about something, the better the memory is.

The mind consciousness arises with certain conditions; if the conditions are not complete, the mind consciousness does not arise; if the conditions change, the mind consciousness changes. The mind consciousness in dreams and the mind consciousness when awake have the same seeds of consciousness, yet the content discerned by the solitary mental consciousness in dreams is not easily known by the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses when awake. The mind consciousness in a vegetative state differs even more from that in a normal state. When the supreme faculty is unobstructed and the brain is richly nourished, the memory function of the mind consciousness is good; conversely, when the brain lacks nourishment, the memory function of the mind consciousness weakens, the capacity for discernment also weakens, and thinking also weakens. This is exactly the case for people with cerebellar atrophy, who may also experience hallucinations and abnormal phenomena of discernment.

——Master Sheng-Ru's Teachings

Does the Manas Leave the Body in Deep Meditative Concentration?

Recitation and memorization are mental activities primarily based on the mind consciousness