Revealing the Operating Mechanism of the Five Aggregates (pañca-skandha) Body of Conjoined Twins

There is a pair of conjoined twin sisters with two heads. A large portion of their body is shared: the parts above the heart are independent of each other, each person has one independent arm and one leg, the middle burner and lower burner share a portion, and altogether one-half to two-thirds of the body is 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 of them entered the womb and dwelt in the womb together. In the mother's womb, their two tathāgatagarbhas jointly, in accordance with the karmic seeds, fabricated the shared parts of the body as well as each one's distinct parts. Of course, they had common karmic seeds; in past lives they had performed shared karmic actions, and their relationship was so close that they shared many things, to the point that in this life they had to share one body and must live closely coordinated together, otherwise neither of them could survive. This is karmic obstruction—karmic obstruction that is extremely unfree and dependent. Therefore, relationships between people should maintain an appropriate distance: do not be too intimate, and do not vow about how things will be in future lives, because when the future life actually turns out that way, it is not necessarily happy—it may even be extremely painful.

 The two tathāgatagarbhas, in accordance with the same 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 fabricated by each tathāgatagarbha individually outputting the seeds of the four great elements. When the physical body was somewhat complete, the two tathāgatagarbhas each gave birth to a mind consciousness, and thus there were two modes of awareness. When the gestation was full, they were born together, becoming conjoined twin sisters. Fortunately, the two are of the same sex; if they were of different sexes, living together would be very awkward.

 The two persons' hands and legs need to cooperate with each other, and the activities of the five aggregates—eating, dressing, walking, and so on—also require the two to cooperate in coordination and accord. Their mental deliberations are each their own; their habits and preferences differ, and their temperaments and dispositions are also not the same. 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 stomach—each person eats and each is filled—but the digestive system below the stomach must have shared parts, to jointly digest this food and drink, and then excrete it 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.

Because the two share part of the nervous system, their stress responses and reactions to the external world are largely the same. Although the two persons' manas have different dispositions, and their ways of responding have slight differences, because they have wholesome karmic affinity, when responding to shared people, matters, and objects, they will cooperate and accommodate each other. From this it can be seen that the division of labor and cooperation between the two tathāgatagarbhas is incredibly subtle and wondrous. The tathāgatagarbha knows everything, so as long as the karmic seeds allow, the tathāgatagarbha will certainly cooperate closely, completing the work of coordination without words or mental thought—this is truly inconceivable.

 Among the six consciousnesses, the cooperation between the two persons' body consciousnesses is the most extensive; they must cooperate with each other almost constantly, otherwise nothing can be accomplished, because their nervous systems are interconnected and can also perceive each other. The two persons' eye faculties are on their respective heads, and each eye consciousness is used by each, but because they are on one body, the objects they face cannot differ by much, so their visual field 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 each reside in their own supreme faculty, deliberating upon and discerning different dharmas.

When the two persons' five-aggregate bodies are to move, 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 burner are extensive—almost everything is shared—so during digestion and excretion, the minds must be applied to one place, with shared mental engagement and shared feeling, unable to be separated from each other. When one is ill, it is as if both are ill; when there is pain, both feel the pain simultaneously, yet it is still each one's own body consciousness and mind consciousness that separately sense the illness and pain, so there will be some differences in feeling.

 Among the seven consciousnesses, the most closely connected is the coordination between the two body consciousnesses; sharing one body, their coordination is extremely swift, approaching seamlessness, without the slightest sense of discord, and without strain. The most crucial is the directing and operation of the two manas. If both persons have strong self-grasping, and their habits are diametrically opposed, then they would quarrel constantly. If the two have wholesome karmic affinity, then although their personalities, dispositions, habits, and preferences differ, they can still coordinate very well, applying their minds to one place and caring for each other; only thus can they obtain the greatest benefit.

 When lying in bed to sleep, the two manas jointly decide to lie down, and they cannot move their bodies casually, for fear of affecting the other. If one person falls asleep, the six consciousnesses cease, and the body consciousness also ceases. When the other person has not yet fallen asleep, if she moves her body, it will cause the other person's mind consciousness and body consciousness to arise, thereby waking her up. If one deliberates too much in the mind, it will also affect the other person's sleep, because they share a nervous system; and even if they did not, the power of mental thought 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 belonging to that person will no longer operate. The head no longer functions, the supreme faculty is destroyed, one arm and one 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, and its functions would also be greatly affected and limited; after all, the dead portion of the body cannot be completely removed, and it would transmit some diseases. Even if the transmission of disease could be prevented, the loss of certain functions would greatly hinder the five-aggregate functions of the surviving person; life would be considerably inconvenient, the quality of life would greatly decline, and her lifespan would not be long either.

 Where there is life there is the feeling of suffering, let alone a life that is not normal—a life with two bodies joined together is all the more suffering. But because sentient beings crave existence, they may not feel the suffering; instead, they constantly pursue pleasure, even taking suffering to be happiness. Such is the ignorance and folly of sentient beings: those with extremely heavy craving, no matter how much they suffer, will never 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 cut it off and escape it. Therefore, the foundation of liberation lies in wisdom.