Revealing the Operating Mechanism of the Five Aggregates (pañca-skandha) Body of Conjoined Twins

There is a pair of conjoined twin sisters with two heads. A large portion of their body is shared: the parts above the heart are each independent, each person has one arm and one leg, and they share part of the middle jiao and lower jiao. In total, one-half to two-thirds of the body is independent for each of them. The sisters' spines are fused at the pelvis, they share part of the nervous system, and they share one set of reproductive organs. They can ride a bicycle, play ball, swim, and drive a car together.

The two entered the womb and dwelt in the womb together. In the mother's womb, the two individuals' tathāgatagarbhas jointly, according to their karmic seeds, fabricated the shared parts of the body and the parts unique to each. Of course, they share common karmic seeds; they once created karmic actions together, and their relationship in past lives was extremely close—they shared many things—to the point that in this life they must share one body and must live closely together in tight coordination. If they do not cooperate, neither of them can survive. This is karmic obstruction, a karmic obstruction of extreme unfreedom and lack of independence. Therefore, relationships between people should maintain an appropriate distance: do not be too intimate, and do not vow about what you will do in future lives. When the future life actually arrives and things turn out that way, it is not necessarily joyful—it may even be extremely painful.

The two individuals' tathāgatagarbhas, based on the same karmic seeds, output the seeds of the four great elements to become the shared four great elements, which operate in harmony to create the shared parts of the body; while the parts that are each independent must be fabricated by each tathāgatagarbha individually outputting the seeds of the four great elements. When the physical body was somewhat complete, the two tathāgatagarbhas each gave birth to a mind consciousness, and thus there were two awarenesses; when the gestation was full, they were born together, becoming conjoined twin sisters. Fortunately, the two are of the same sex; if they were of different sexes, living together would be very awkward.

The two people's hands and legs need to cooperate with each other; activities of the five aggregates such as eating, dressing, and walking require the two to coordinate and act in unison. Their mental deliberations are each their own; their habits and preferences differ, and their temperaments and dispositions also differ. Being joined together, they must accommodate and coordinate with each other, otherwise there will be great unpleasantness. Each has her own breathing and heartbeat; food and water each go into their own stomach—each person eats and each is filled—but from the stomach downward, the digestive system has shared parts, so these foods are digested jointly and then excreted through the shared excretory system. Although each eats her own food, they still influence each other: if one person is ill, the other can take medicine on her behalf.

The two share part of the nervous system, so their stress responses to the external world are fairly consistent, and their ways of responding are also similar. Although the two individuals' manas have different dispositions, because they have wholesome karmic affinity, when dealing with the same people, things, and matters, they will cooperate with and accommodate each other. From this, one can see that the division of labor and cooperation between the two tathāgatagarbhas is extremely subtle and marvelous. The tathāgatagarbha knows everything, so as long as the karmic seeds allow, the tathāgatagarbhas will certainly cooperate closely, completing the work of coordination without words or mental thought—inconceivable.

Among the six consciousnesses, the two individuals' body consciousnesses cooperate the most; they almost always have to cooperate with each other, otherwise nothing can be accomplished, because the nervous systems are interconnected and can perceive each other. The two individuals' eye faculties are on their own heads, and each eye consciousness is used by each, but because they are on one body, the material objects they face cannot differ by much, so their visual range is limited; the ear faculties are on two heads, each with its own ear consciousness, each hearing its own sounds; the nose faculties are on their own heads, each with its own nose consciousness, each able to smell its own scent objects; the tongue faculties are on their own heads, each with its own tongue consciousness, each able to taste its own taste objects; the manas are each their own, and the mind consciousnesses reside each in its own supreme faculty, deliberating upon and discerning different dharmas.

When the two individuals' five-aggregate bodies need to act, the two sets of eight consciousnesses must cooperate closely with each other, each with its own division of labor—equivalent to sixteen consciousnesses dividing the work and cooperating, far more complex than eight consciousnesses. The shared parts of the abdomen and lower jiao are extensive—almost everything is shared—so during digestion and excretion, the minds must be applied to one place, with shared mental engagement and shared feeling, unable to be separated from each other. When there is illness, it is as if both are ill; when there is pain, both feel the pain simultaneously, yet it is still each one's own body consciousness and mind consciousness that separately sense the illness and pain, so the feelings have some differences.

Among the seven consciousnesses, the most closely connected is the cooperation between the two body consciousnesses; sharing one body, their coordination is extremely swift, nearly seamless, without the slightest sense of discord, and not at all forced. The most crucial is the directing and operation of the two manas. If both people had strong self-grasping and their habits were diametrically opposed, they would quarrel constantly. The two have wholesome karmic affinity, so although their personalities, moods, habits, and preferences differ, they can still coordinate very well, applying their minds to one place and caring for each other; only thus can they obtain the greatest benefit.

When lying in bed to sleep, the two manas jointly decide to lie down and cannot move the body casually, for fear of disturbing the other. If one person falls asleep, the six consciousnesses cease, and the body consciousness also ceases. If the other person has not yet fallen asleep and moves the body, it will cause the first person's mind consciousness and body consciousness to arise, thereby waking her up. If one person deliberates too much in the mind, it will also affect the other's sleep, because they share a nervous system; and even without that, the power of mental thought and magnetic force would influence the other person—here many secrets are involved.

If one person's body gradually becomes unusable, or that person dies, the physical functions belonging to that person cease to operate. The head no longer functions, the supreme faculty is destroyed, one arm and leg become useless, the heart stops beating, and the internal organs can no longer be used. The other person, still alive, will have to make do with an incomplete body, whose functions will also be greatly affected and limited; after all, the dead portion of the body cannot be completely removed, and it will transmit some diseases. Even if the transmission of disease can be prevented, the loss of certain functions will greatly hinder the five-aggregate functions of the surviving person; life becomes quite inconvenient, the quality of life greatly declines, and her lifespan will not be long either.

Where there is life there is suffering of feeling, let alone a life that is not normal—a life with two bodies joined together is all the more suffering. But because sentient beings crave existence, they may not feel the suffering and will instead constantly pursue pleasure, even taking suffering as joy. Such is the ignorance and folly of sentient beings: their craving is extremely heavy, and no matter how bitter it is, they will not have any thought or pursuit of renouncing suffering. With wisdom and without folly, there will be no craving; one will know suffering and seek to sever and depart from it. Therefore, the foundation of liberation lies in wisdom.