The Conditions for the Arising and Change of Consciousness

Question: It is said that the mind consciousness of this life is an entirely new consciousness, unrelated to past lives, and does not discern past lives. The mind consciousness is born from the eighth consciousness when the manas contacts mental sense-objects. Does what is born carry particular characteristics? The mind consciousness is new every day, all born from the eighth consciousness, with no difference whatsoever. Memory is related to the supreme faculty (indriya); the supreme faculty is where images are formed, and the mind consciousness only discriminates at the supreme faculty. The supreme faculty of this life determines the characteristics of this life's mind consciousness. The reason one does not remember past lives lies not in the mind consciousness, but in the entirely new supreme faculty. Because the supreme faculty is material form, and material form cannot transmigrate along with its tathāgatagarbha and the seventh consciousness. The characteristics of the mind consciousness are related to the supreme faculty, and the nature of the mind consciousness is determined by the supreme faculty. The supreme faculty of this life, along with the characteristics of this life's mind consciousness, is established beginning from the fetal stage. The mind consciousness born from the same tathāgatagarbha has the same mental factors (caittas); the differences or distinctions still lie in the supreme faculty. Is this the case?

Answer: The mind consciousness is born by the tathāgatagarbha after the manas and mental sense-objects make contact. The mind consciousness exists in dependence on the body of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha); when the body of the five aggregates changes and the supreme faculty changes, the mind consciousness changes. Because the supreme faculties that the mind consciousnesses of past lives and this life depend upon are different, there are differences in the mind consciousness. The mind consciousness in dreams also differs from the mind consciousness when awake. Today's mind consciousness and yesterday's mind consciousness are the same mind consciousness, on the same body of the five aggregates, remembering the same contents, yet there are still slight differences: differences in understanding things, differences in viewpoints and opinions, differences in memory, differences in the capacity for discernment. Especially when karmic obstructions change and the supreme faculty changes, the discernment and cognition of the mind consciousness also change.

The matter of memory is related to karmic seeds, related to the supreme faculty, and related to the manas. What the manas is interested in will certainly be well remembered; the more the manas cares about something, the better the memory of it.

The birth of the mind consciousness requires certain conditions; if the conditions are not complete, the mind consciousness is not born; if the conditions change, the mind consciousness changes. The mind consciousness in dreams and the mind consciousness when awake have the same consciousness seeds, yet the contents discerned by the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) in dreams are not easily known by the consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna) when awake. The mind consciousness when in a vegetative state differs even more from the mind consciousness in a normal state. When the supreme faculty is unobstructed and the brain is richly nourished, the memory function of the mind consciousness is good; conversely, when the brain lacks nourishment, the memory function of the mind consciousness weakens, the capacity for discernment also weakens, and thinking also weakens. This is exactly the case for people with cerebellar atrophy, who may also experience hallucinations and abnormal phenomena of discernment.