A Yogācāra Perspective on the Brain's Compensatory Mechanisms

Question: Recently, I saw a video online about a child who suffered a fright at six months old and subsequently became like a fool, with severe impairments in language, behavior, and social interaction. However, as he grew up, an astonishing phenomenon emerged: his ability to perform rapid mental calculations is incredible, surpassing almost everyone in the world, even rivaling a computer. How can the principle of Consciousness-Only in Buddhism explain this phenomenon?

Answer: At six months old, a child's superior sense base (the brain) is not yet fully developed. Modern medicine has found that at birth, a baby's cranial size is about one-quarter that of an adult. A six-month-old child's brain capacity is still less than half that of an adult, and both the conscious mind and the body's organs are very fragile. When the child experienced a severe fright, the reaction of the manas (the seventh consciousness) became abnormal, causing an abnormal reaction in the brain's nervous system. Qi and blood could not circulate normally, hindering activity in the brain area, resulting in damage to the function of a certain part of the superior sense base.

The flow of blood in the heart became abnormal, preventing it from efficiently supplying blood to the entire body. This led to problems in the subsequent development of the brain, ultimately resulting in a brain disability, commonly known as being "brain-damaged." However, so-called brain damage is not complete impairment. When a localized part of the superior sense base is damaged, causing functional impairment, the function of other parts may actually strengthen. This is what modern medicine calls the "compensatory mechanism." The brain's compensatory capacity is greater the younger the individual is.

The posterior part of our brain, where the superior sense base resides, has a very complex structure divided into numerous regions, each responsible for specific functions of the body. The entire brain is composed of the four great elements (earth, water, fire, wind). These four elements constitute the solid matter of the brain, such as the cerebral cortex and nerve fibers, as well as liquid matter like cerebrospinal fluid and blood—all of which are material forms (rūpa). Blood flowing through the human brain carries the nutrients of the four great elements, providing nourishment for the development and functioning of the posterior brain's superior sense base. These nutrients can influence the brain's thinking, affecting the conscious mind or the discerning activities of the six consciousnesses. When the child was frightened, blood flow became abnormal, causing stagnation in localized areas. The brain tissue deprived of blood supply ceased to develop or even atrophied.

Under normal circumstances, the nutrients composed of the four great elements are evenly distributed throughout the brain. Due to the uneven distribution of material forms (rūpa), a particular part of the superior sense base receives abundant nourishment, leading to enhanced function in that corresponding brain region. The conscious function associated with that area thus becomes stronger. Conversely, other regions that receive insufficient or no nourishment see their corresponding functions diminish or atrophy.

This child exhibits remarkably sharp and developed mathematical thinking, unaffected negatively, while areas like language were impaired. His abnormal gait indicates that a function in the cerebellum was also affected, as the cerebellum is responsible for bodily balance and walking. The functions corresponding to the affected areas weakened. Where did the diminished functions go? They were redirected to compensate for the parts where function is more developed.

Compensation occurs in two aspects: the material aspect (rūpa) and the mental aspect (citta). The term "compensation" isn't entirely precise here. It should be said that the function of thinking in a certain area became exceptionally developed due to compensation. This is because the superior sense base corresponding to this function not only remained unaffected in absorbing the material four great elements but also absorbed the nutrients originally destined for other brain regions.

This is the explanation from the material aspect. From the mental aspect, a person whose superior sense base develops normally should have balanced development of the functions of the six consciousnesses. Due to the impact of the fright, this child's development of the six consciousnesses became unbalanced. The six consciousnesses related to language, behavior, and social interaction are significantly deficient compared to normal people, while mathematical thinking, calculation, and memory abilities unexpectedly received compensation. If modern medical technology were advanced enough to classify the various functions of the superior sense base in detail and identify the corresponding brain tissue regions anatomically, it would be discovered that the brain tissue and neurons responsible for mathematical thinking are exceptionally developed. The six consciousnesses arise dependent on the sense bases (indriya) and sense objects (visaya). The strength or weakness of the superior sense base naturally influences conscious thinking.

Due to a lack of relevant knowledge in medical physiology, I cannot provide a detailed explanation in that regard. Instead, I will offer an analogy from the perspective of Consciousness-Only.