What Happens During Drug Anesthesia?

Question: After anesthetics are administered, the gross material sense faculties (浮尘根) malfunction, and the tathāgatagarbha cannot discern the external object-aspect, so it cannot manifest the object of touch at the supreme faculty (胜义根), and the person does not feel pain. For the tathāgatagarbha to discern the external object-aspect of the six sense objects, it must rely on normally functioning gross material sense faculties. What is discerned apart from the sense faculties and the material world as apprehended through the gross material sense faculties is not the object-aspect but seeds — is this correct?

Answer: The tathāgatagarbha can always contact and discern the external six sense objects, regardless of whether the gross material sense faculties are functioning normally, and regardless of whether there are any gross material sense faculties at all. If the gross material sense faculties are not functioning normally, the tathāgatagarbha transmits the particles of the five sense objects through them, or the transmission of the five sense-object particles is impaired, and the five sense objects become distorted and deformed. If there are no gross material sense faculties, the tathāgatagarbha can still discern the external six sense objects. What the tathāgatagarbha contacts and discerns through the gross material sense faculties is all object-aspect, not seeds. Seeds remain in the seed state, within the tathāgatagarbha, without form or appearance; whatever has form and appearance is not a seed.

Anesthetics are used to numb the central nervous system of the supreme faculty or part of the transmitting nerves, so that the consciousnesses do not arise to perceive pain. Apart from the period of imminent death (正死位), when the tathāgatagarbha cannot take in the five sense objects through the gross material sense faculties, at all other times it can take in the external five sense objects; nothing can affect Him.

If it is general anesthesia and none of the five faculties can be used, so that the tathāgatagarbha cannot discern and transmit the six sense objects, then the manas will certainly lose hope and will leave the physical body, considering rebirth. In fact, when the body is anesthetized, the blood is still flowing and has not stopped and congealed, breathing still exists and is not cut off, the heartbeat is still moving and has not stopped — the person is still alive. Then the tathāgatagarbha can discern and manifest the five sense objects through the five faculties, in order to sustain the life activities of the physical body. Blood, heartbeat, and breathing all belong to the sense-object realms of the six sense objects; the tathāgatagarbha is still upholding and manifesting them, so He can certainly discern the six sense objects. Relying on these, the manas discerns and knows that it is still alive and that the body is still usable.
Anesthesia can only numb the nerves, making them unable to transmit signals normally, or transmitting weak and deformed nerve signals, or transmitting only a small portion; it cannot completely stop transmission. Otherwise, if the manas could discern nothing at all, He would panic, and when He loses hope He will decide to leave the physical body, resulting in death.

Under deep general anesthesia, a person's first six consciousnesses have ceased, as in dreamless sleep. For the six consciousnesses to arise, the manas and the mental sense-object (法尘) must be present as conditions. At this time the manas is fine and certainly wants the mind consciousness to arise. The problem must lie with the six sense objects. The effect of anesthetic drugs acts directly on the brain, the supreme faculty; the tathāgatagarbha can still discern the external object-aspect, but the inner five sense objects and the mental sense-object certainly cannot fully arise — only a portion can arise, which cannot guarantee the birth of the consciousness-mind. Waking from unconsciousness occurs when the anesthetic loses its effect and can no longer numb the central nervous system. Then the tathāgatagarbha can transmit the particles of the six sense objects to the supreme faculty through the transmitting nerves, the inner six sense objects are born and arise normally, and only then does the mind consciousness appear, the five sense consciousnesses appear, and the person wakes from unconsciousness.

The tathāgatagarbha's discernment of the body faculty is not limited to discerning seeds; He can also discern the essential realm (本质境), that is, the external six sense objects. The manas can also rely on the perceiving-aspect (见分) of the tathāgatagarbha, having its own perceiving nature, to discern the body faculty; whether the body faculty is usable, the manas of course can also know. Anesthesia generally does not last too long, and during this period there are still some, though reduced, inner object-aspects of the six sense objects; the manas will not decide to abandon the lifespan, for He knows the body faculty is still usable and has hope in the five-aggregate body. But if the drug's effect lasts too long, the manas becomes uncertain and may make a wrong decision and give up the body faculty.

Although under anesthesia the central nervous system cannot normally transmit the object-aspects of the six sense objects, and the six sense objects within the supreme faculty are weak and incomplete, darkness is still form, and silence is still sound; it is impossible for the supreme faculty to be entirely without the inner six sense objects. A blind person seeing black before his eyes is still seeing; a deaf person hearing silence — soundlessness is still sound. During anesthetic unconsciousness, the six sense objects certainly exist. When unconscious, the manas will try every means to wake up — based on what does He try? Only because He can discern the six sense objects can He strive to wake up and not remain unconscious. To want to wake up, there must be mental sense-objects upon the five sense objects; subjectively imagined realms alone are not enough — there must also be real-object realms (性境). It is just that these realms are not very strong, being rather faint, so the tathāgatagarbha cannot give rise to the six consciousnesses based on them to discern them.

During anesthetic unconsciousness, the tathāgatagarbha relies on the abnormal supreme faculty, so what is manifested is certainly abnormal mental sense-objects. Some individuals who were unconscious, after waking up, say they seemed to have had some dream, that some kind of state appeared in the dream. This shows that it is not a complete absence of the inner six sense objects — the subjectively imagined realm can still arise — and thus the manas will not abandon the physical body, and the sentient being cannot die.

Ordinary anesthesia numbs the nerves of touch; it is enough that some part of the body does not feel pain. When the tactile sensation of pain in that part cannot be transmitted to the supreme faculty, there is no body consciousness or mind consciousness feeling the pain of that part. Deep anesthesia may also lead to death: if the anesthetized area is too large, so that even the gross material sense faculties are affected, the blood cannot circulate normally and oxygen cannot be delivered normally, and the heartbeat and pulse will gradually stop. Then the five aggregates truly cannot function; when the manas discerns this, He will certainly leave the physical body, and that is death.