A Brief Discourse on the Essence of Consciousness
Chapter 4 The Memory Function of the Mind Consciousness
1. Memory is remembering and recollection, which are functions of the mind consciousness. Everything that happens currently, all bodily, verbal, and mental actions, involve the participation and operation of the mind consciousness. The contents that the mind consciousness discerns and engages in are handed over to the manas at any time and place. After the manas discerns them, they fall away as seeds into the substance of the eighth consciousness, and the eighth consciousness stores these contents as seeds. Later, when the manas grasps at and wishes to discern them, the eighth consciousness, upon knowing the manas's volition (cetanā), complies and cooperates with the manas, transmitting the previously stored seeds out, thus forming mental sense-objects (dharmāyatana). After the manas contacts the mental sense-objects, because its discerning wisdom is not fine-grained and it cannot discern the specific contents, it gives rise to the volition (cetanā) deciding to discern these mental sense-objects in detail. Thereupon the eighth consciousness cooperates by producing the mind consciousness, and thus the mind consciousness discerns exactly what the mental sense-object is; in other words, the mind consciousness recalls things from the past. This is the process of remembering and recollecting.
If the events that occurred were incomplete, or the manas did not care, and the mind consciousness's discernment and engagement were slight, then the karmic formations would be slight, and the karmic seeds stored by the eighth consciousness would be slight. When the eighth consciousness outputs the seeds, the mental sense-objects formed would not be very clear, and the mind consciousness's discernment would be incomplete and unclear—colloquially called "weak memory." For example, if we memorize an essay without fully mastering it, this karmic formation is also stored as a seed. When the eighth consciousness outputs it again, the mind consciousness cannot discern it completely and clearly, and the essay cannot be fully recited.
Another example: if the manas does not care much about a person, and has little attention (manaskāra) toward that person, its volition (cetanā) lacks corresponding decisiveness, and the mind consciousness's understanding and knowledge of that person are incomplete, with a shallow impression. This too is stored as a seed. When the seed's conditions ripen and one meets this person again, the eighth consciousness outputs the past karmic seeds, and the mind consciousness cannot discern this person clearly; the impression of this person is vague and indistinct.
When the eighth consciousness outputs karmic seeds, forming mental sense-objects, if the supreme faculty (indriya) has problems or obstructions when the karmic seeds are output to it—for example, cerebellar atrophy and other such obstructions—the images output by the eighth consciousness and the karmic seeds cannot be fully consistent, and the manifested mental sense-objects are not in accord with reality. At this time the mind consciousness cannot discern correctly and accurately, resulting in inverted discernment, or complete inability to discern. This is amnesia.
Damage to the supreme faculty (indriya), stimulation of the brain, or lack of nutrition to the brain can all cause varying degrees of amnesia. Therefore, students should strengthen their nutrition before exams, so that the four great elements' material components in the supreme faculty are coordinated, allowing the eighth consciousness to normally manifest the images of the inner object-aspect (nimitta). Only then can the mind consciousness normally discern these images, so that thinking is clear during the exam, one can perform well, and exam results will be good.
If the supreme faculty (indriya) has problems, the images manifested by the eighth consciousness may become chaotic information. Then the mind consciousness's discernment becomes chaotic, and inverted or erroneous discernment may occur. Others would think this person may be mentally abnormal, yet he himself considers himself perfectly normal, not in the least thinking himself abnormal.
2. Why Do Infants Have Relatively Poor Memory?
The memory spoken of here is a capacity of remembering and recollection, also called impression. What is an impression (印像, "imprint-image")? "Imprint" (印) means a stamp or mark: pressing with the hand on some place, or pressing with some object on some place, is imprinting, engraving, imprint-holding. "Image" (像) is the image, the trace left behind. Only after pressing on some place and imprint-holding is there an image; this is called an impression. Impressions are related to the mental factor of mindfulness (smṛti) and to memory.
Impressions can be deep or shallow. A deep impression comes from repeated, multiple pressings and imprints, or from deep pressing and imprinting; the image left behind, the imprinted image, is then very deep. Deeply and repeatedly imprint-holding something in the mind is meditation concentration (samādhi). Only by being concentrated on one object without shifting can the impression be deep. Memory contains imprint and image; only later, upon encountering conditions, can the impression be recalled. The prerequisites for memory are, first, determination (adhimokṣa): only by being able to understand and comprehend the true meaning of the people, events, things, and principles one has experienced can one imprint-hold them, form images, and thereafter have memory; the other prerequisite is meditative concentration (samādhi): only by repeatedly imprint-holding in the mind, deeply imprint-holding in the mind, can there be a deep impression.
Infants have little memory capacity and poor memory, because infants' power of determination (adhimokṣa) is weak. They have not experienced or undergone most things, and thus lack the capacity for comparison; moreover, their power of thinking is extremely weak. Therefore they have little determination (adhimokṣa), can hardly leave impressions, and cannot remember. Infants' mental power is weak, and they also lack meditative concentration (samādhi) and cannot focus; they cannot imprint-hold all people, events, and things, and therefore their memory is poor. Infants need parents to repeatedly teach most things, with many repetitions, before they gain a little memory. But this does not include the food, drink, and toys that infants themselves are habituated to and interested in, nor does it include infants' innate, inborn dispositions, because these congenital habits and interests are carried over from past lives; they are so from birth. Worldly people call this instinct—an inborn instinctive capacity by which every living being adapts for survival.
Infants' consciousnesses are very weak, their perceptive capacity poor, their thinking capacity poor. Because they have little power of determination (adhimokṣa), their power of recollection is extremely poor, with little memory. But there are some special exceptions: for example, infants have innate dispositions; they are very keen in their sensation of tactile sense-objects, yet their endurance is relatively weak, and they cannot express themselves in language; therefore, whenever things are not to their liking, they cry and fuss to express their feelings of discomfort. Warmth and satiety belong to tactile sense-objects, to which infants are extremely sensitive. Moreover, since food and drink are necessary for sentient beings' life activities, infants are innately endowed with determination (adhimokṣa) regarding food, drink, warmth, and satiety, and with determination (adhimokṣa) regarding tactile sense-objects—they have memory of these, but not through any special thinking; it is simply instinctive. Also, because food and drink and bodily tactile sense-objects are constantly present, and infants constantly contact them, it is as if they are concentrated on food, drink, and tactile sense-objects; infants thus have determination (adhimokṣa), recollection, and memory of these. Apart from this, infants' memory is very poor.
Memory is one of the functional natures of the mind consciousness. In the fetal stage, as soon as the mind consciousness appears, there is the memory function; hence there is prenatal education. Prenatal education means letting the fetus, upon hearing sounds inside and outside the mother's womb, have a certain understanding in its mind and be able to receive edification, thereby receiving education. When the fetus is four or five months old in the mother's womb, the mind consciousness is born; at that time there is perceptive capacity, and hence the phenomenon of fetal movement. Only with the birth of the mind consciousness is there fetal movement; without consciousness, the body would not move. Because there is the mind consciousness, prenatal education can have its effect; otherwise, prenatal education would be useless.
Without the mind consciousness, there is no determination (adhimokṣa) or memory, and the fetus cannot receive education. Fetal movement is a phenomenon of the joint activity of the mind consciousness and the body consciousness; otherwise there could be no movement. The mind consciousness and body consciousness can discern the environment within the mother's womb; after discerning, there is feeling, and then the body has corresponding reactions, and thus the phenomenon of fetal movement occurs. When the fetus discerns sounds, there is certainly feeling in the mind, and the inner emotions are expressed through the body—either from stillness to movement, or from movement to stillness.
The determination (adhimokṣa), meditative concentration (samādhi), recollection, and memory spoken of above are all functional natures of the mind consciousness—they are the mind consciousness's five object-specific mental factors (kuśala... five specific mental factors), plus the mental factors of desire (chanda) and wisdom (prajñā). The five consciousnesses, which arise together with the mind consciousness and perform discrimination jointly, also have the five object-specific mental factors. As long as an infant has the existence of the six consciousnesses, there are certainly the five object-specific mental factors; it is only that these mental factors manifest somewhat weakly. With the accumulation of survival experience after birth, the functions of the object-specific mental factors can grow strong, and memory can then strengthen accordingly.
3. Question: Recollection belongs to the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta), and it also relies on the eighth consciousness flowing forth seeds to recall in an instant. Why can the mind consciousness not discern and recall past lives?
Answer: The mind consciousness of this life is a newly arisen mind consciousness of this life, not the mind consciousness of past lives. The mind consciousness of this life has not experienced the people and events of past lives, so of course it has no memory of past lives. If it could discern the people and events of past lives, it could not be called recollection; only things personally experienced can be called recollection. If one says one can recall the events of past lives, that is an expedient way of speaking, spoken primarily from the perspective of the manas, because the manas can connect past lives and future lives; whereas the mind consciousness exists in segments. That the mind consciousness of this life can know the events of past lives is, strictly speaking, not recollection but indirect knowing. If a person with superknowledge says, "I recall the past," this "I" refers to the self of the manas. Although the manas cannot recollect, the manas grasps the functions of the mind consciousness as self, and so it must speak this way; at this time the mind consciousness, through the manas, discerns people and events it has never personally experienced.
The five aggregates of past lives and the five aggregates of this life are in a relationship of neither identity nor difference: there are common parts and non-common parts. The five aggregates of past lives did not consider the consequences for the five aggregates of this life and committed evil karma; therefore the five aggregates of this life must endure the bitter fruits of the evil karma committed by the five aggregates of past lives. Is there a connection between past lives and this life? Certainly there is a connection: the manas and the eighth consciousness are still the manas and eighth consciousness continuing over from past lives; the habitual tendencies and dispositions are still the same as in past lives; the creditors and karmic adversaries are still the same; and the seeds of wholesome and unwholesome karma are still always being carried along. If in this life one continues to create evil karma, the five aggregates of future lives will suffer—and it will still be one's own five aggregates that suffer; the manas and the eighth consciousness do not suffer. So each of you had better conduct yourselves well.
4. The mind consciousness has the mystery of the intervening aggregate (隔阴之谜). The so-called "intervening aggregate" means the five aggregates that are separated—not the five aggregates of the same life. The five aggregates of this life cease, and the five aggregates of the next life are born anew; the body and the six consciousnesses are all replaced with new ones, and the six consciousnesses do not know the events of the previous life, no longer able to remember past lives. This is called the mystery of the intervening aggregate. If one has not cultivated the four dhyānas and eight liberations (four dhyānas and eight samāpattis), has no recollection of past lives (pūrvanivāsānusmṛti), and was not born with retributively obtained recollection of past lives, the six consciousnesses know nothing of the experiences of past lives. Without recollection of past lives, one does not know the events of past and future lives; with recollection of past lives, one can know all the events of one's own and others' past and future lives.
After sentient beings die from their past lives, the five aggregates of this life become new, and the six consciousnesses are also new—no longer the six consciousnesses of past lives—so they certainly do not know the people, events, and things of past lives. Because the six consciousnesses of this life remember and discern all people, events, and things upon the five aggregates of this life, remembering only the events of this life, they can only know all the dharmas remembered in this life. And the five aggregates of this life are not the original five aggregates of past lives, so the six consciousnesses of course cannot have memory of the deeds done by the five aggregates of past lives.
But the manas has existed continuously since beginningless kalpas and has never ceased; it itself accumulates the afflictive habitual tendencies of life after life. Therefore, the five aggregates of this life and the five aggregates of past lives are continuous with respect to habitual tendencies and afflictions; if one does not study Buddhism and cultivate practice, the habitual tendencies will become heavier and heavier. The eighth consciousness has also continued uninterruptedly since beginningless kalpas; therefore the five aggregates of this life and the five aggregates of past lives have a connected relationship—they are not two mutually unrelated living beings. So when we study Buddhism and cultivate practice, we must consider our future selves; we cannot live only in this life and ignore our next life. If one does not want the mystery of the intervening aggregate, one must cultivate and study recollection of past lives (pūrvanivāsānusmṛti); after meditative concentration is cultivated to the fourth dhyāna, one can accomplish recollection of past lives. But recollection of past lives has little to do with liberation and wisdom. Before attaining bodhi, there is no need to cultivate superknowledge; otherwise it becomes a condition obstructing the Path.
5. Question: The mystery of the intervening aggregate can cause one to have already been enlightened in a past life yet need to become enlightened anew in this life. Can this be understood as there being regression in cultivation? Especially when, in a state of ignorance, one has created much karma.
Answer: As long as one has not attained recollection of past lives (pūrvanivāsānusmṛti), even if one becomes enlightened in this life, one will not know it in future lives. In the next life, one may not at first be able to believe in Buddhism or understand the Buddha-dharma; but by the power of the wholesome roots and merit (puṇya) cultivated in this life, when conditions ripen in the next life, one can again enter the gate of Buddhism to cultivate. Moreover, cultivation in the next life will be faster than in this life; after cultivating for a period, one can likewise see the mind and become enlightened, thus connecting with the cultivation of this life. Such a person may not even need others' guidance in studying Buddhism and cultivating; he can, following the cultivation approach of this life, become enlightened anew on his own. Even without the guidance of good spiritual teachers (kalyāṇamitra), he will not go astray; moreover, his level of cultivation can not only connect with that of the previous life but can even surpass the level of realization of the previous life.
When we see some people whose cultivation in this life progresses very rapidly and whose faculties are very sharp, we need not doubt that their foundation of cultivation in past lives was deep and their basis firm—only thus could they achieve the deep and sharp wisdom of their cultivation in this life. Those who cultivate very slowly in this life must not have laid a good foundation for studying Buddhism in past lives; their immersion in the Buddha-dharma was not deep enough, so that long cultivation yielded no results, and they may even have gone onto wrong paths, immersing themselves in erroneous views without knowing it themselves. Some people, moreover, cultivated Buddhism wrongly in past lives, took the wrong path, and in this life still follow the inertia of past lives and cultivate the dharma wrongly in the same way, without knowing repentance and correction. Therefore, as long as one cultivates the Buddha-dharma correctly, as long as one has realized awakening, there is no need to fear the mystery of the intervening aggregate. In this life, know how to plant many wholesome roots and accumulate much merit, and the Path-karma of future lives can advance rapidly.
6. Question: It is said that the mind consciousness of this life is an entirely new consciousness, unrelated to past lives, and does not discern past lives. The mind consciousness is produced by the eighth consciousness when the manas conditions mental sense-objects—does what it produces carry characteristics? The mind consciousness is new every day, all born from the eighth consciousness, without any difference. Memory is related to the supreme faculty (indriya); the supreme faculty is the place of image formation, and the mind consciousness only discriminates at the supreme faculty. The supreme faculty of this life determines the characteristics of this life's mind consciousness. The reason one does not remember past lives lies not in the mind consciousness but in the entirely new supreme faculty. Because the supreme faculty is material form (rūpa), the material form of past lives cannot transmigrate along with its tathāgatagarbha and the seventh consciousness. The characteristics of the mind consciousness are related to the supreme faculty, and the nature of the mind consciousness is determined by the supreme faculty. The supreme faculty of this life, as well as the characteristics of this life's mind consciousness, are established beginning from the fetus. The mental factors of a mind consciousness born from the same tathāgatagarbha are the same; the differences or distinctions still lie in the supreme faculty. Is this so?
Answer: The mind consciousness is born by the tathāgatagarbha after the manas and mental sense-objects contact each other. The mind consciousness exists depending on the body of the five aggregates; when the body of the five aggregates changes and the supreme faculty (indriya) changes, the mind consciousness changes. Since the supreme faculties upon which the mind consciousnesses of past lives and this life depend are different, the mind consciousnesses differ. The mind consciousness in dreams also differs from the mind consciousness when awake. Today's and yesterday's mind consciousness is the same mind consciousness, on the same body of five aggregates, remembering the same contents; yet there are also slight differences—differences in understanding things, differences in viewpoints and opinions, differences in memory, differences in the nature of discernment. Especially when karmic obstructions change and the supreme faculty changes, the discerning and cognitive nature of the mind consciousness changes.
The matter of memory is related to karmic seeds, related to the supreme faculty (indriya), and related to the manas. What the manas is interested in will certainly be well remembered; the more the manas cares, the better the memory.
The mind consciousness's birth requires certain conditions; if the conditions are not complete, the mind consciousness does not arise; if the conditions change, the mind consciousness changes. The mind consciousness in dreams and the mind consciousness when awake have the same consciousness seeds, yet the contents discerned by the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) in dreams are not easily known by the consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna) when awake. The mind consciousness in a vegetative state differs even more from the mind consciousness in a normal state. When the supreme faculty has no obstruction and the brain is richly nourished, the mind consciousness's memory function is good; conversely, when the brain lacks nutrition, the mind consciousness's memory function weakens, the discerning nature weakens, and thinking weakens. People with cerebellar atrophy are like this, and hallucinations and abnormal discernment can also appear.
7. Question: Why is memory firm when contemplating the Buddha-dharma through contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), while rote memorization without contemplative practice is not easily retained?
Answer: Contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) is thinking. When the mind consciousness thinks, the manas receives perfuming (vāsanā). When the manas has discerned, the eighth consciousness stores it as a seed in its own storehouse. When the seeds later encounter conditions, they can be taken out of the storehouse, and one can then enjoy and make use of them. If one does not think but merely memorizes, the manas is not perfumed, and one is vague about these contents. These are also stored as seeds in the eighth consciousness's storehouse, but the stored seeds are not clear; the seeds do not easily ripen and do not easily manifest, or even if they manifest, they are vague and indistinct, and the mind consciousness cannot easily recall them clearly.
8. Some Buddhist students are very familiar with sutra texts and can recite them at will, seeming to understand their meaning, but in fact they have not truly understood. Because the sutra texts are too familiar, it is not easy to go on to think about their true meaning, and they stop at an understanding of the surface meaning. Reading and reciting sutras is the mind consciousness at work, relatively effortless, requiring no deep thought, not tiring the brain or the mind. Deep thinking, however, requires engaging the manas, mobilizing the brain's nerve cells, consuming the brain's energy; the body must continuously supply the brain with qi-blood resources, and the mind feels tired. So sentient beings choose to do the easier things—just reading sutras and reciting sutras. Add to this insufficient power of meditative concentration (samādhi) and power of wisdom (prajñā-bala), and they cannot engage in deep thinking.
Reading sutras and reciting mantras are mental activities dominated by the mind consciousness, with the mind consciousness's role prominent. Memorizing sutra texts and the Śūraṅgama Mantra is also dominated by the mind consciousness, with the mind consciousness's role prominent. After memorizing them thoroughly, the mind consciousness can recite rapidly and very skillfully, flowing like moving clouds and flowing water, extremely fluent, without thinking. If the recitation is somewhat slower, the mind consciousness's role diminishes somewhat and the manas's role becomes somewhat prominent; if slower still, the mind consciousness's activity weakens and the manas's role strengthens—the slower, the more the manas's role is highlighted. The result is: the less the mind consciousness's activity, the less fluent the recitation, until finally one cannot recall the content to be recited.
Because the manas cannot recollect and cannot recite sutra texts—recollection belongs to the function of the mind consciousness—when the mind consciousness's activity weakens, its function is exerted less, and recitation becomes difficult. In a waking state, the less the mind consciousness's activity, the deeper the meditative concentration (samādhi); and the deeper the concentration, the less the mind consciousness is actively manifest. When the mind consciousness's activity diminishes to a certain degree, one simply cannot recite sutra texts at all—the mouth cannot move, not a single word can be uttered, and even the mental thought may cease, so that one cannot even silently recite in the mind.
Therefore, to cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi) well so as to be able to investigate Chan, one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions must all be slow, slow—reducing the mind consciousness's activity, strengthening the manas's function, so that its intuitive role becomes prominent. When the manas's intuitive role reaches a certain degree, one can directly feel the mechanical nature of the physical body while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, and thereby can sever the view of the body, or eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), or see the mind (attain enlightenment)—none of this can be predetermined. Such is the role that meditative concentration plays.
Without meditative concentration, or when concentration is shallow, the mind consciousness's discerning function is very active, performing the functions of reading, reciting, and learning knowledge. Although the mind consciousness's thinking is very active, very clever and quick-witted, what is learned is relatively shallow, belonging to the realm of understanding and the level of knowledge; deep in the mind, its meaning has not yet been deeply understood, because the manas has not realized it. What the mind consciousness learns are all others' thoughts and viewpoints—perhaps all spoken by the Buddha and realized by the Buddha—but one has not actually realized them oneself; they all belong to the level of knowledge.
Knowledge learned in this way must not be claimed to others as one's own realization, as something one has already proven to be correct; because one has, after all, not yet proven it, nor found the evidence. Only after the manas cooperates with the mind consciousness in deep deliberation (manasikāra/manana) and one has genuinely realized it are one's thoughts and reflections one's own viewpoints and opinions, one's own insight; only then may one say to others, "I believe such-and-such." Otherwise, one must not say "I believe" or "I feel." If one insists on saying "I believe, I feel," that is merely the mind consciousness's believing and feeling, having nothing to do with the manas, and is not yet genuine insight.
9. Memory consists of mental sense-object seeds stored by the tathāgatagarbha, not the object-aspects (nimitta) of the preceding five sense-objects, because the sense-object images recalled can only correspond to the mind consciousness; the five sense consciousnesses cannot discern the recalled sense-object images.
All dharmas can be stored as seeds. All actions and engagements of bodily, verbal, and mental actions, and all the people, events, things, and principles experienced—that is, all the six sense-object realms—are entirely stored as seeds by the tathāgatagarbha. Afterwards, when the manas grasps at and wishes to discern, the tathāgatagarbha complies with the manas's volition (cetanā) and transmits the seeds out to become mental sense-objects—this is the subjectively imagined realm. If, after the manas has conditioned them, it wishes to discern them in detail, the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) to discern them one by one—this is what is called recollection; therefore recollection contains details.
The realms recalled belong to mental sense-objects, which the five sense consciousnesses cannot discern; therefore the five sense consciousnesses have no function of recollection. The object-aspects (nimitta) of the preceding five sense-objects are also stored as seeds in the tathāgatagarbha. When the causes and conditions are complete, the tathāgatagarbha also outputs the five sense-objects, and then, in accordance with the manas's volition (cetanā), the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the six consciousnesses to discern them. But this no longer belongs to recollection.
10. Question: The tathāgatagarbha records sentient beings' karmic actions, and all memory is recorded by the tathāgatagarbha. Why do most people have no memory before age 2–3, or no impression of events from early childhood?
Answer: Because the child is small, the functions of his mind consciousness are not yet fully complete, so events from early childhood are not easily remembered. After growing up, when the mind consciousness's functions are strong and one has a certain amount of survival experience, memory becomes strong. When one is too young, the brain's supreme faculty (indriya) is not yet fully developed, and the mind consciousness's functions, which operate depending on the supreme faculty, are weak. For example, in the mother's womb, the fetus also has a mind consciousness, and perhaps it can remember some things; but after leaving the womb, it knows nothing. Before ages one or two, or three to five, most of the events experienced cannot be remembered; at that time the brain is not yet sufficiently developed, and the mind consciousness's memory and recollection functions are not yet strong enough.
Some people's brains have problems; people whose brains are undernourished forget things shortly after doing them—malnutrition of the brain can cause poor memory. Therefore, the mind consciousness's recollection function also utilizes the material substances in the brain; if the brain is not sufficiently developed, one's memory is poor. The mind consciousness's functional operations depend on the brain.
