The Interaction Between the Aggregate of Perception and the Aggregate of Volitional Formations

Question: It is said that merely hearing about a plum, without eating it, makes the mouth water with sour saliva. What is the reason for this?

Answer: In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the World-Honored One speaks of this passage as an analogy to illustrate the false and unreal nature of the state of the aggregate of perception. The aggregate of perception belongs to the knowing nature and grasping nature of the conscious mind, as well as the various mental activities of the mind consciousness such as thoughts and concepts. Hearing about a sour plum means knowing the sour plum, and subsequently thoughts and deliberations arise in the mind—all of this is the aggregate of perception; the sour saliva flowing in the mouth is the aggregate of volitional formations. The fact that the aggregate of perception leads to the arising of the aggregate of volitional formations shows that body and mind are closely connected and mutually influence each other: the body can influence the conscious mind, and the conscious mind can also influence the body. The changes and operations of the conscious mind can affect the body and prompt the body to undergo changes.

The three transformative agencies of consciousness (parināma)—tathāgatagarbha, the seventh consciousness (manas), and the six consciousnesses—combined can give rise to and change all dharmas. Hearing about the plum is something produced by the combined operation of the three transformative agencies of consciousness, and the phenomenon of sour saliva flowing in the mouth is likewise produced by the combined operation of the three transformative agencies of consciousness. In these two phenomena, the tathāgatagarbha is the same one, the seventh consciousness is the same one, and the sixth consciousness is the same one; moreover, within the aggregate of perception there are the functions of these three consciousnesses, and within the aggregate of volitional formations there are also the functions of the three consciousnesses, and the mental sense-objects (dharmas) cognized by the three consciousnesses are also the same. Therefore, the aggregate of perception can interconnect with the aggregate of volitional formations, and the aggregate of perception can influence the aggregate of volitional formations; thus, the ear hearing and the mind thinking can cause sour saliva to flow from the mouth of the body faculty.

Based on past experiences, the mind consciousness knows that plums are sour. Having eaten sour things before and having had such experiences, the mind has the reaction of sourness. These experiences have already been stored as seeds in the tathāgatagarbha. When someone speaks of a plum, the ear faculty and the manas simultaneously correspond to that sound, and the ear consciousness and mind consciousness simultaneously cognize its meaning. The manas, through the tathāgatagarbha, then transmits the past information related to plums, and this information, through the manas and the mind consciousness, exerts an influence on the body, and the sour saliva flows out.