Where is the pain sensation of an aching foot produced? Does the foot itself hurt or not?

The sensation of pain arises at the supreme faculty (rūpa-prasāda); there is no sensation of pain at the gross physical sense organ of the foot. What can feel pain are the body consciousness and the mind consciousness, and since the body consciousness and mind consciousness arise at the supreme faculty, they feel it there, because the inner contact sense-object appears within the supreme faculty, and the body consciousness and mind consciousness must arise there at the supreme faculty to discern the contact sense-object.

The sensations of all parts of the body arise at the supreme faculty; even when a toe is injured, the pain is felt at the supreme faculty in the back of the brain. The gross physical sense organ of the foot feels no pain. This is because the gross physical sense organ can only be contacted by the tathāgatagarbha and cannot be contacted by the mind consciousness; the tathāgatagarbha has no perceptive function with respect to the contact sense-object, and the gross physical sense organ is itself a sense-object, without feeling or sensation—only consciousness has feeling and sensation, feeling tangibles through the body consciousness and mind consciousness.

The tathāgatagarbha, through the gross physical sense organ, contacts the contact sense-object and absorbs subtle particles of the four great elements; through the afferent nerves of the body faculty, these are transmitted to the supreme faculty in the back of the brain. When faculty and sense-object make contact, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the body consciousness and mind consciousness, and then the three—faculty, sense-object, and consciousness—conjoin in contact, and the two consciousnesses can feel the pain. The contact sense-object of the foot is transmitted through the nervous system to the supreme faculty, where the body consciousness and mind consciousness arise and only then can it be known; at the gross physical sense organ there is no conscious mind that discerns the contact sense-object.

As for whether pain can be felt, it depends on whether the body's afferent nervous system is functioning normally; if it is not, the conscious minds cannot arise and the sensation of pain cannot be discerned, but the problem with the foot is nonetheless real. For a person with a problem in the back of the brain, there is no sensation even when the foot is severed, yet the foot being severed is indeed a fact. No matter which part of the body is injured, if anesthetic is applied, no pain will be felt; once the anesthesia wears off, the contact sense-object can again be transmitted to the supreme faculty, the body consciousness and mind consciousness arise, and pain can be felt again.

If there is a problem with the supreme faculty in the back of the brain, one will not know the pain of the body. This is not a good thing, because the afferent nerves in between are damaged and the transmission is interrupted; if one does not feel pain even with a bone fracture, one will end up paralyzed, and if one does not feel pain even with cancer, one can only wait for death.

Only the tathāgatagarbha can discern the faculties and the body; the manas, prior to the body consciousness and mind consciousness, can also rely on the tathāgatagarbha to discern the faculties and the body. The contact sense-object of pain arises at the supreme faculty in the back of the brain and makes contact with the supreme faculty; the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the body consciousness and mind consciousness, and the two of them discern the painful contact sense-object within the supreme faculty, not the contact sense-object at the toe. Then who discerns the contact sense-object at the toe? It is contacted by the tathāgatagarbha, but the tathāgatagarbha does not discriminate and does not know whether the foot hurts or not.

When sleeping in the middle of the night, the six consciousnesses have all ceased; if the foot suddenly hurts, one can be awakened by the pain. Why can one wake up? Because the body faculty makes contact with the painful contact sense-object and the problem is somewhat serious, the manas discerns it and lets the mind consciousness wake up to discern what is happening; thus the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the mind consciousness and body consciousness, and the person wakes up. The contact sense-object at the location of the foot is the outer representation; when transmitted to the supreme faculty, it becomes the inner representation. If you can distinguish who contacts the outer representation and who contacts the inner representation, you can clearly distinguish the functions of each of the consciousnesses. The tathāgatagarbha relies on the gross physical sense organs to discern the outer representations of the six sense objects, and then displays the inner representations of the six sense objects at the supreme faculty; the outer representation is of course known by the tathāgatagarbha, which has a perceiving-aspect.

When you see your own toe bleeding, where does this bleeding phenomenon appear? It is the inner material sense-object within the supreme faculty that is discerned by the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness. The flowing blood is a material sense-object; the tathāgatagarbha, through the gross physical sense organ of the eye, contacts the material sense-object of the blood, which is transmitted through the afferent nerves of the eye to the supreme faculty; when faculty and sense-object make contact, the eye consciousness and mind consciousness arise, and the bleeding phenomenon is discerned.