Body and Mind Mutually Depending on Each Other

Why does poor rest of the physical body affect the manas? Body and mind depend upon each other. On the surface, "this mind" seems to refer to the six consciousnesses or to the mind consciousness, but in reality it is the manas that relies on the physical body, using the body to perceive sense objects, after which there is action and fabrication. This is most evident when the six consciousnesses are absent: the manas lives entirely by relying on the physical body, and when its own capacity falls short, it awakens the six consciousnesses to do its work for it—thus bodily, verbal, and mental actions arise.

The body faculty—the physical body—is merely a piece of wood composed of the four great elements. If the body could feel, then the corpse of a dead person should also be able to feel, and wood and stone should also be able to feel. That which can feel must be the conscious mind, not material form. Body and mind influence each other: because the states of the body's four great elements differ, the inner sense objects manifested by the tathāgatagarbha in accordance with them also differ, and after the conscious mind discerns them, the feelings experienced differ. Likewise, the conscious mind can also influence and alter the material four great elements of the body.