The Mind Is Inseparable from the Companionship of Mental Factors

The mental factors (caittas) are the companions of the conscious mind; they must always accompany the conscious mind in its operation, otherwise the conscious mind would accomplish nothing. Whenever the conscious mind appears, the mental factors necessarily appear at the same time; without mental factors, the conscious mind cannot operate, and then all dharmas in the world could not arise and exist. Even the operation of the eighth consciousness requires the assistance of its own mental factors, and the very existence of the eighth consciousness likewise cannot be separated from the accompaniment of mental factors.

The arising and operation of the four kinds of food are all functions of the conscious mind. Since the conscious mind cannot be separated from the assistance of mental factors, the four kinds of food cannot be separated from mental factors either. Ordinary beings cannot be separated from the four kinds of food; sages living in the human world of the desire realm also cannot be separated from them. Those with relatively high levels of meditative concentration can be free from solid food and the food of volition, and at times can also be free from the food of contact, but they cannot be free from the food of consciousness, for the most basic requirement of sentient beings' lives is the food of consciousness of the eighth consciousness and the seventh consciousness.