The Function and Principles of Memory

Memory is the function of remembering and recollection, which is a function of the mind consciousness. Everything that occurs at present, all bodily, verbal, and mental actions, involve the participation and operation of the mind consciousness. The content that the mind consciousness discerns and engages in is handed over to the manas at any time and place. After the manas discerns it, it falls as seeds into the substance of the eighth consciousness, and the eighth consciousness stores these contents as seeds. Later, when the manas grasps at and wishes to discern something, once the eighth consciousness knows of the manas' mental deliberation, it complies with and cooperates with the manas, transmitting out the previously stored seeds, thus forming mental sense-objects. After the manas contacts the mental sense-object, because its discerning wisdom is inferior and it cannot discern the specific content, it gives rise to the volitional mental factor, deciding to discern this mental sense-object. Thereupon the eighth consciousness cooperates by giving rise to the mind consciousness to discern this mental sense-object. In this way, the mind consciousness discerns exactly what the mental sense-object is; that is to say, the mind consciousness recalls things from the past. This is the process of remembering and recollecting.

If the events that occurred were incomplete, or if the manas did not care, and the mind consciousness's discernment and engagement were slight, then the karmic formations would be slight, and the karmic seeds stored by the eighth consciousness would be slight. When the eighth consciousness outputs the seeds, the mental sense-objects formed would not be very clear, and the mind consciousness's discernment would be incomplete and unclear—in common terms, this is called weak memory. For example, if we memorize an article without fully committing it to memory, this karmic formation is also stored as a seed. When the eighth consciousness outputs it again, the mind consciousness cannot discern it completely and clearly, and the article cannot be fully recited.

Another example: if the manas does not care much about a person, and there is little mental engagement toward that person, then the volitional mental factor lacks corresponding decisiveness, and the mind consciousness's understanding and knowledge of that person will be incomplete, with the impression not being deep. This too is stored as a seed. When the seeds ripen with conditions and one meets this person again, the eighth consciousness outputs the past karmic seeds, and the mind consciousness cannot discern this person clearly; the impression of this person is vague and indistinct.

When the eighth consciousness outputs karmic seeds, mental sense-objects are formed. When the karmic seeds are output to the supreme faculty, if there is a problem with the supreme faculty, an obstruction—for example, cerebellar atrophy and other such obstructions—the images output by the eighth consciousness and the karmic seeds cannot be completely consistent, and the mental sense-objects manifested are not in accord with reality. At this time, the mind consciousness cannot discern correctly and accurately, resulting in inverted discernment, or perhaps no discernment at all. This is amnesia.

Damage to the supreme faculty, stimulation of the brain, or lack of nutrition to the brain can all cause varying degrees of amnesia. Therefore, students should strengthen their nutrition before exams, so that the four great material elements within the supreme faculty are harmonized, allowing the eighth

consciousness to normally manifest the images of the inner representation. Only then can the mind consciousness normally discern these images, so that during the exam one's thinking is clear, one can perform well, and the exam results will be good.

If there is a problem with the supreme faculty, the images manifested by the eighth consciousness may become chaotic information. In this way, the mind consciousness's discernment becomes chaotic, and inverted discernment or erroneous discernment may occur. Others would think this person may be mentally abnormal, yet he himself considers himself perfectly normal, not in the least considering himself abnormal.