Where Is the Pain Sensation of Foot Pain Generated? Does the Foot Hurt?

The sensation of pain arises at the supreme faculty (indriya); the gross material sense faculty (the foot itself) does not feel pain. What feels 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 tactile sense-object (inner sparśa-viṣaya) appears within the supreme faculty, so the body consciousness and mind consciousness must arise at the supreme faculty to discern the tactile sense-object.

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

The tathāgatagarbha, through the gross material faculty, contacts the tactile sense-object, absorbs the subtle particles of the four great elements, and transmits them through the conducting nerves of the body faculty to the supreme faculty in the back of the brain. When faculty and sense-object contact each other, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the body consciousness and mind consciousness; then the three—faculty, sense-object, and consciousness—combine in contact, and the two consciousnesses can feel the pain. The tactile 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 material faculty there is no conscious mind that discerns the tactile sense-object.

As for whether pain can be felt, it depends on whether the body's conducting nervous system is functioning normally; if it is not normal, the conscious minds cannot arise, and the sensation of pain cannot be discerned—but the fact that the foot has a problem is still 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 a fact. No matter which part is injured, if anesthetic is applied, no pain will be felt; once the anesthesia wears off, the tactile 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 conducting nerves in between are damaged and interrupted; if one does not feel pain even from a bone fracture, one will become paralyzed, and if one does not feel pain even from 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 tactile sense-object of pain arises at the supreme faculty in the back of the brain and contacts the supreme faculty; the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the body consciousness and mind consciousness, and what the two discern is the painful tactile sense-object within the supreme faculty—they cannot discern the tactile sense-object at the toe. Then who discerns the tactile sense-object at the toe? It is contacted by the tathāgatagarbha, but the tathāgatagarbha also 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 contacts the painful tactile 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 tactile sense-object at the foot is the external objective field (external nimitta); when transmitted to the supreme faculty, it becomes the internal subjective field (internal nimitta). If you can distinguish who contacts the external objective field and who contacts the internal subjective field, you can clearly distinguish the functions of each consciousness. The tathāgatagarbha relies on the gross material faculties to discern the external objective fields of the six sense-objects, and then displays the internal subjective fields of the six sense-objects at the supreme faculty. The external objective field is of course known by the tathāgatagarbha, for He has a perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga).

When you see your own toe bleeding, where does this bleeding phenomenon appear? It is the inner material sense-object (inner rūpa-viṣaya) within the supreme faculty, discerned by the eye consciousness and mind consciousness. The flowing blood is material form (rūpa-viṣaya); the tathāgatagarbha, through the gross material eye faculty, contacts the blood as a material sense-object, which is transmitted through the eye's conducting nerves to the supreme faculty; faculty and sense-object contact each other, the eye consciousness and mind consciousness arise, and the bleeding phenomenon is discerned.