How Does the Mind Consciousness Recall Past Events?

Sometimes after waking up in the morning for a little while, one still does not know where one is sleeping; even after a minute or two, one still does not know that one is in one's own home—this is the mind consciousness experiencing a blackout. A major blackout of the mind consciousness occurs when the new five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are born: one is in a state of ignorance and forgetfulness, forgetting everything from past lives; without superknowledge, one will forget for an entire lifetime. A minor blackout occurs after waking from a coma, after sobering up from drunkenness, after waking from sleep, or at the moment the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) arises after death—whenever the mind consciousness does not arise continuously, the phenomenon of blackout will appear.

Upon what does the mind consciousness rely to connect with the past? It relies on the manas, its dominant condition (adhipati-pratyaya)—and of course there is also the eighth consciousness, but let us not discuss that for now. When the mind consciousness first arises, it strives to recall the past; all thoughts are given to it by the manas. In a dazed and confused state, it can only discern the immediate sense objects and does not know anything from before it became awake. The manas prompts the mind consciousness to think and to recall, and the mind consciousness then recollects; the content of that recollection is also dharma that the manas has taken as object. The mind consciousness continuously discerns and judges it, and then the memories come forth. In fact, all those dharmas that the mind consciousness recollects are presented forth by the tathāgatagarbha.