The Interrelations of the Five Spiritual Faculties

The body faculty includes all organs and parts belonging to the physical body; anything growing upon the body constitutes part of the body faculty. Eyes, ears, nose, and tongue are located on the head of the body and belong to the body faculty. However, when the eye functions to see, it is the eye faculty, not the body faculty; when the ear functions to hear, it is the ear faculty, not the body faculty; when the nose functions to smell scents, it is the nose faculty, not the body faculty; when the tongue functions to taste flavors, it is the tongue faculty, not the body faculty.

Shall the eye be considered part of the eye faculty or the body faculty? Shall the ear be considered part of the ear faculty or the body faculty? Shall the nose be considered part of the nose faculty or the body faculty? Shall the tongue be considered part of the tongue faculty or the body faculty? Is blinking an activity of the body faculty or the eye faculty? Is it an activity of body consciousness or eye consciousness? Blinking is a movement of the body faculty, an action of body consciousness, not eye consciousness. The function of eye consciousness is to perceive forms; blinking is not perceiving forms but rather an activity of a certain part of the body. Although it involves the eye, since it does not entail perceiving forms, it is not the function of eye consciousness. When the eye, ear, nose, and tongue are not performing their functions of seeing forms, hearing sounds, smelling scents, or tasting flavors, these four faculties, being situated upon the body, belong to the body faculty. Only when they perform their primary functions do they become their respective faculties; when not performing their primary functions, they belong to the body faculty.

Similarly, ear pain is a function of the body faculty, a sensation of body consciousness, not a function of the ear faculty nor a sensation of ear consciousness. This is because the ear faculty functions to hear sounds, and ear consciousness experiences sensations only when hearing sounds, whereas pain is a sensation arising from the body faculty. Itching in the nose follows the same principle, as does pain in the tongue; both are sensations of body consciousness. Cutting off the nose, cutting off the tongue, cutting off the ears, or damaging the eyes are all acts that harm the body faculty. If the functional capacity of the primary faculty is simultaneously impaired, it also amounts to damaging the eye faculty, ear faculty, nose faculty, and tongue faculty.