Unveiling the Operating Mechanism of the Five-Aggregate Body of Conjoined Twins

There is a pair of dicephalic conjoined twin sisters whose bodies share a large portion; the parts above the heart are each independent, each person having one arm and one leg, while the middle and lower portions of the torso are partially shared, with one-half to two-thirds of the body being independent for each. The sisters' spines are fused at the pelvis, they share part of the nervous system, and they share one set of reproductive organs. They can ride a bicycle, play ball, swim, and drive a car together.

The two entered the womb and dwelt in the womb together; in the mother's womb, the two tathāgatagarbhas jointly, in accordance with karmic seeds, transformed and fashioned the shared parts of the body and the parts unique to each. Of course, they had shared karmic seeds; they had previously performed shared karmic actions, and their relationship in past lives was so close that they shared many things, to the point that in this life they must share one body and must live closely together in tight cooperation—if they do not cooperate, neither can survive. This is karmic obstruction, an extremely unfree and non-independent karmic obstruction. Therefore, relationships between people should maintain an appropriate distance—do not be too intimate, and do not vow about what you will do in future lives; when the future life actually arrives and things turn out that way, it will not necessarily be happy, and may even be extremely painful.

The two tathāgatagarbhas, based on identical karmic seeds, output the seeds of the four great elements to become the shared four great elements, which operate in harmony to create the shared parts of the body; while the parts that are independent of each other must be transformed and fashioned by each tathāgatagarbha separately outputting the seeds of the four great elements. When the physical body was somewhat complete, the two tathāgatagarbhas each gave rise to a mind consciousness, and thus there were two awarenesses; when the gestation was full, they were born together, becoming conjoined sisters. Fortunately, the two are of the same sex; if they were of different sexes, living together would be very awkward.

The two people's hands and legs need to cooperate together; the activities of the five aggregates, such as eating, dressing, and walking, require the two to cooperate and be coordinated. Their mental deliberations are each their own, their habits and preferences differ, and their temperaments and dispositions also differ; being joined together, they must accommodate and coordinate with each other, otherwise it will be very unpleasant. Each has her own breathing and heartbeat; food and water each go into their own stomachs—each person eats and each is filled—but below the stomach, the digestive system has shared parts, so these foods are digested jointly, and then excreted through the shared excretory system. Although each eats her own food, they still influence each other; if one person is ill, the other can take medicine on her behalf.

The two share part of the nervous system, so their reactive responses to the external world are fairly consistent, and their ways of responding are also similar. Although the two people's manas have different dispositions, because they have wholesome karmic affinity, in dealing with shared people, matters, and objects, they will cooperate with and accommodate each other. From this it can be seen that the division of labor and cooperation between the two tathāgatagarbhas is extremely subtle and wondrous; the tathāgatagarbha knows everything, so as long as the karmic seeds allow, the tathāgatagarbhas will certainly cooperate closely, completing the work of coordination without words or mental thought—inconceivable.

Among the six consciousnesses, the two people's body consciousnesses cooperate the most; they almost always have to cooperate with each other, otherwise nothing can be accomplished, because the nervous systems are interconnected and can also perceive each other. The two people's eye faculties are on their respective heads, and the eye consciousnesses are each used by each, but because they are on one body, the objects they face cannot differ by much, so their visual range is limited; the ear faculties are on two heads, each with its own ear consciousness, each hearing its own sounds; the nose faculties are on their respective heads, each with its own nose consciousness, each able to smell its own scent objects; the tongue faculties are on their respective heads, each with its own tongue consciousness, each able to taste its own taste objects; the manas are each their own, and the mind consciousnesses are each within their own supreme faculty (indriya), deliberating and discerning different dharmas.

When the two people's five-aggregate bodies need to act, the two sets of eight consciousnesses must cooperate closely with each other, each with its own division of labor—equivalent to sixteen consciousnesses dividing the work and cooperating, far more complex than eight consciousnesses. The shared parts of the abdomen and lower torso are numerous, almost entirely shared, so during digestion and excretion, the minds must be applied to one place, with shared intention and shared feeling, unable to be divided from each other. When one is ill, it is as if both are ill; when there is pain, both feel pain simultaneously, yet it is still each one's own body consciousness and mind consciousness that separately sense the illness and pain, so the feelings have some differences.

Among the seven consciousnesses, the most closely connected is the cooperation between the two body consciousnesses; sharing one body, the coordination is extremely rapid, nearly seamless, without the slightest sense of discord, and not forced. Most crucial is the directing and operation of the two manas; if both people have strong grasping at self and their habits are diametrically opposed, they would quarrel constantly. The two have wholesome karmic affinity; although their personalities, moods, habits, and preferences differ, they can still coordinate very well, applying their minds to one place and caring for each other—only thus can both obtain the greatest benefit.

When lying in bed to sleep, the two manas jointly decide to lie down, and they cannot move the body casually, for fear of affecting the other. If one person falls asleep, the six consciousnesses cease, and the body consciousness also ceases. If the other person has not yet fallen asleep and moves the body, it will cause the other person's mind consciousness and body consciousness to arise, thereby waking her up. If one mentally deliberates too much, it will also affect the other's sleep, because they share a nervous system; and even if they did not, the power of mental intention and the power of the magnetic field would still influence the other person—here many secrets are involved.

If one person's body gradually becomes unusable, or she dies, the physical functions and operations belonging to that person will no longer function. The head has no function, the supreme faculty (indriya) is destroyed, one arm and leg are useless, the heart stops beating, and the internal organs can no longer be used. The other person, still alive, would have to make do with an incomplete body, whose functions would also be greatly affected and limited; after all, the dead portion of the body cannot be completely removed, and some diseases would be transmitted. Even if the transmission of disease could be prevented, the loss of some functions would greatly hinder the five-aggregate functions of the surviving person; life would be quite inconvenient, the quality of life would decline greatly, and her lifespan would not be long either.

Where there is life there is the feeling of suffering; how much more so when it is not a normal life—a life with two bodies joined together is suffering all the more. However, because sentient beings crave existence, they may not feel the suffering, and instead constantly pursue pleasure, even taking suffering as happiness. Sentient beings are just this ignorant and foolish, with extremely heavy craving; no matter how much they suffer, they will not have any thought or pursuit of escaping suffering. With wisdom and without folly, there will be no craving; one will know suffering and seek to sever and escape it—therefore the root of liberation lies in wisdom.