How Practitioners Can Reduce Attachment to Worldly Matters

Question: There was a scientist who was so deeply engrossed in reading that he dipped his steamed bun in ink and ate it without noticing. His consciousness was entirely focused on the book. Did he have tongue consciousness at that moment? If he had tongue consciousness, he would surely have known the ink tasted bad. Why didn't he notice?

Answer: Eating necessarily involves the participation of tongue consciousness; consciousness alone cannot taste food. When he was intently reading, he ate the steamed bun dipped in ink without noticing. In this situation, his consciousness was focused on reading and not paying attention to what he was eating. Discrimination was present, but it was relatively indistinct. Tongue consciousness was indeed present and still discriminating the food, but only its coarse aspects. The subtle aspects—such as what kind of food it is, its specific flavor, or texture—are discriminated by the consciousness mind. Tongue consciousness cannot discriminate with such subtlety. Since his consciousness mind was focused on reading, and tongue consciousness cannot discriminate subtle aspects, the scientist did not notice or become aware that he was eating ink. This example also demonstrates that as long as practitioners do not pay attention to the enjoyment of worldly phenomena, they can reduce their attachment to worldly matters.