How Does Consciousness Recall Past Events?

Sometimes, upon waking briefly in the morning, one may not immediately know where they are sleeping; even after a minute or two, they might not realize they are in their own home. This is a fragmentation of consciousness. A major fragmentation of consciousness occurs after the arising of a new set of five aggregates, where one becomes utterly oblivious, forgetting everything from past lives. Without supernatural powers, one may forget an entire lifetime. Minor fragmentation occurs after waking from unconsciousness, after sobering up from drunkenness, after waking from sleep, or at the moment the intermediate state body arises after death. Whenever consciousness does not arise continuously, fragmentation phenomena occur.

What enables consciousness to connect with the past? It relies on the concomitant basis, the mental faculty, and of course, the eighth consciousness—though we will not discuss that for now. When consciousness first emerges, it strives to recall the past. All thoughts are given to it by the mental faculty. In a state of haziness, it can only perceive the immediate environment and remains unaware of everything that happened before becoming fully alert. The mental faculty prompts consciousness to think and recall; consciousness then engages in recollection. The content of this recollection is also dharmas (phenomena) conditioned by the mental faculty. Consciousness continuously discerns and judges these dharmas, and thus recollection unfolds. In truth, all the dharmas that consciousness recalls are manifested by the Tathagatagarbha.