The Self-Repair of the Physical Body Is the Functional Role of the First Transformative Consciousness

The physical body possesses a self-repairing function: when the body is damaged, it repairs itself automatically; when internal organs fail, they repair themselves automatically; when the body is exhausted, resting for a period of time restores its energy; after surgery, the incision heals automatically, and missing muscle, skin, and so on are automatically replenished. When blood is lost, it can be regenerated; when there is no food or drink in the stomach and intestines, the body can automatically replenish energy—the practice of abstaining from grain (bigu) to regulate the physical body makes use of this marvelous mechanism. What mechanisms are all of these? Whose functions and operations are they? When did this marvelous source of life first appear?

Master Kuiji, in a previous life, entered meditative concentration and waited several thousand years for Śākyamuni Buddha to appear in the world, but as a result missed it while in samādhi, and so wanted to enter concentration again to wait for Maitreya Buddha to appear in the world. A human body that relies on the four great elements of food and drink to sustain life, going without food or drink for thousands or even tens of thousands of years in concentration, yet without the slightest discomfort, and can even remain in concentration for tens of millions of years without dying—by what mechanism do Master Kuiji and other long-lived meditators sustain their lives? There is said to be an experiment showing that thin people live longer than fat people, and that those who eat less live longer than those with big appetites—what is the principle behind this?

Modern medicine and health theories say that one must sleep between the zi hour of midnight, from eleven o'clock to one o'clock, otherwise staying up late will deprive the internal organs of rest and recuperation, and the body will become depleted; yet sitting in meditation and entering concentration at midnight causes no harm. In his day, the Buddha encouraged his disciples to practice diligently, exerting themselves unremittingly through the first watch, middle watch, and last watch of the night, yet the monks were never heard to suffer any physical discomfort; on the contrary, their energy was more vigorous and their minds more acute in thought. Modern medicine also says that skipping breakfast makes one prone to gallstones; yet in the Buddha's time, the monastics ate only one meal a day at noon, and no one was ever heard to have gallstones. What mechanisms are at work in all of these?

When you bask in the sun, the body automatically replenishes yang energy and vitality; if you can visualize single-mindedly, the replenishment will be greater and the body will be regulated somewhat better. Apart from the devas of the formless realm, who have no bodies and do not need the nourishment of the four great material elements, all sentient beings with bodies need the nourishment of the four great elements. The higher the realm of a sentient being, the fewer the four great elements it needs, and the more subtle and refined the matter. Sentient beings in lower realms, because of their meager merit (alpa-puṇya), must partake of extremely coarse and inferior matter of the four great elements.

Human beings are in the middle stratum of the desire realm, not among the most advanced life forms of the desire realm; the matter of the four great elements they partake of is rather coarse, yet they believe that what they enjoy is high-grade matter and that what they eat is superior food, when in fact it is very coarse. Only the devas of the form realm partake of the highest and most refined matter of the four great elements; next come the devas of the desire realm, and after them the immortals. All human beings fall short of the enjoyment of the devas: their food is not only coarse but also extremely filthy, with poor color, aroma, and taste. Because their karmic conditions are such, they do not feel there is anything wrong with it; on the contrary, they are still greedy and attached to it, just as dogs delight in excrement and worms delight in dung pits.

All the matter of the four great elements partaken of by the repair mechanisms of every physical body is the function and operation of the tathāgatagarbha, created by the tathāgatagarbha in accordance with sentient beings' karmic seeds and merit. Because sentient beings have affinities with the human world of the desire realm, having the karmic seeds and karmic conditions of humans and animals, if the five-aggregate body is to survive normally in the desire realm, the physical body must be endowed with a sufficient amount of nutrients of the four great elements. If the matter of the four great elements in the physical body is deficient, it will affect the normal functioning of the five-aggregate body, and the tathāgatagarbha will automatically replenish the missing matter of the four great elements according to the karmic seeds and karmic conditions. If karmic obstructions do not permit replenishment, then the five-aggregate body will continue to function imperfectly with an incomplete physical body, and this reveals the evil karmic conditions of sentient beings. For sentient beings whose wholesome karma is complete, no matter what the physical body lacks, the tathāgatagarbha will automatically replenish it; if it cannot be replenished, this manifests the evil karmic retribution of a physical body that is incomplete and mutilated.