The Conscious Mind Cannot Be Apart from Mental Factors as Its Aiding Companions

Mental factors (caittas) are the companions of the conscious mind; they must accompany the conscious mind in its operation, otherwise the conscious mind would be unable to accomplish anything. Whenever the conscious mind appears, mental factors necessarily appear simultaneously; without mental factors, the conscious mind cannot function, and then all dharmas in the world could not arise and exist. Even the operation of the eighth consciousness requires the assistance of its own mental factors, and the very existence of the eighth consciousness likewise cannot be apart from the accompaniment of mental factors.

The arising and operation of the four kinds of nutriment are all functions of the conscious mind. Since the conscious mind cannot be apart from the assistance of mental factors, the four kinds of nutriment cannot be apart from mental factors either. Ordinary beings cannot be apart from the four kinds of nutriment; even sages in the human world of the desire realm cannot be apart from them. Those with relatively high levels of meditative concentration can be apart from solid food and the nutriment of volition, and at times can also be apart from the nutriment of contact, but they cannot be apart from the nutriment of consciousness. The most basic requirement for sentient beings' lives is the nutriment of consciousness provided by the eighth consciousness and the seventh consciousness.