How Does Consciousness Recall Past Events?

Sometimes when waking up in the morning, one may remain unaware of where they are sleeping even after being awake for a short while; after a minute or two, they still do not realize they are in their own home—this is a fragmentary break in consciousness. A major break in consciousness occurs after the birth of the new five aggregates, leaving one completely ignorant and forgetting everything from past lives; without supernatural powers, one may forget an entire lifetime. Minor breaks occur after waking from unconsciousness, after sobering up from drunkenness, after waking from sleep, and at the moment the intermediate state body arises after death. Whenever consciousness fails to arise continuously, a break occurs.

What enables consciousness to reconnect with the past? It relies on the associated mental faculty (manas), and of course the eighth consciousness, though we will not discuss the latter for now. When consciousness first emerges, it strives to recall the past; all thoughts are given to it by the mental faculty. In a state of confusion, one can only perceive the immediate environment, unaware of all events prior to regaining clarity. The mental faculty prompts consciousness to think and remember, so consciousness recollects; the content recalled also consists of dharmas (phenomena) apprehended by the mental faculty. Consciousness continuously discerns and evaluates these dharmas, eventually recalling the past. In reality, all dharmas recalled by consciousness are presented by the Tathagatagarbha.