The Mind Faculty and Consciousness
Chapter 6: The Relationship Between the Manas and the First Six Consciousnesses
1. What the first five consciousnesses discern are all objects of direct perception; they discern the states currently manifesting. The five consciousnesses, without needing to analyze, compare, or match the states of the five sense objects, can know what they are, and without needing imagination or deliberation. The states they discern are relatively coarse and simple, and they often discern one instant earlier than the sixth consciousness. The eye consciousness discerns the manifest colors of material sense objects, such as blue, yellow, red, and white; these colors are objects of direct perception and can be identified without analysis or comparison.
Whereas the sixth consciousness must compare the length, size, squareness, and roundness of material sense objects in order to know them, because there is no absolute length, squareness, roundness, or size; only by comparing with some object can one know, or by measuring and comparing based on past experience can one arrive at a relative conclusion. The sixth consciousness also discerns the quality, structure, features, characteristics, and other contents of material sense objects, which require analysis, deliberation, verification, inference, and drawing on experience to judge. Therefore the sixth consciousness has an enormous amount of inferential deliberation, and at many times it also engages in non-valid cognition such as imagination.
The seventh consciousness, however, does not directly discern the five sense objects or the six sense objects, because its objects are too vast and its discerning wisdom is relatively weak. It first discerns a coarse overview, and afterward discerns the information transmitted over after the first six consciousnesses have discriminated. The six consciousnesses, instant after instant, transmit the contents of the six sense objects they have discerned to the manas; the manas, based on its own existing experience and the information transmitted by the six consciousnesses, deliberates and weighs, then makes decisions on what to do next. Thus the seventh consciousness aggregates the discerned contents of the six consciousnesses, comprehensively deliberates and weighs them, then makes corresponding decisions, directing the further activities of the six consciousnesses.
For example, take the nose consciousness: the nose consciousness directly perceives whether an odor is pungent, whether it is mild or strong, whether it is pleasant or unpleasant; these contents can be known without the nose consciousness analyzing or comparing—this is discernment by direct perception. The mind consciousness discerns whether the odor is fragrant or foul, which kind of fragrance or which kind of foulness, what object it emanates from, from what direction it is transmitted, how far away it is, and so on; these contents must be discerned through deliberation, analysis, inference, imagination, and comparison, and therefore contain the character of inference and non-valid cognition, and at times will judge inaccurately and make erroneous discernment. Meanwhile, the seventh consciousness, instant after instant, receives the information transmitted by the two consciousnesses, then deliberates whether to continue discerning, stop discerning, or evade.
2. Question: On a familiar, flat road, one does not at all need the mind consciousness to analyze how to walk and step. At such times, is the body consciousness that is walking operating entirely on its own, or is it also relying on a small portion of the mind consciousness to analyze the road conditions?
Answer: Whenever the first five consciousnesses function, they necessarily function simultaneously with the mind consciousness and discriminate simultaneously; the five consciousnesses cannot discriminate the five sense objects on their own. The five consciousnesses can only discern the relatively coarse parts of the five sense objects; the subtle parts are discerned only by the mind consciousness simultaneously. For example, when the eye consciousness sees form, it can only discern the relatively shallow manifest colors of blue, yellow, red, and white; it cannot discern shape-color, expressive color, and non-expressive color—these must be discerned by the mind consciousness. Therefore the five consciousnesses must discriminate simultaneously with the mind consciousness in order to discern all the contents of the five sense objects clearly.
In the dharma of walking, the body consciousness always has the mind consciousness participating; the two cooperate closely at the same time. The body consciousness cannot function alone to make the body move; there must be the cooperation of the mind consciousness, performing functions such as deliberation, analysis, and judgment, for the body to walk. Whenever the five-aggregate body does anything, it is jointly accomplished by the eighth consciousness, the manas, the mind consciousness, and one of the five consciousnesses. In seeing forms with the eyes, hearing sounds with the ears, smelling scents with the nose, tasting flavors with the tongue, and feeling touches with the body, at least four consciousnesses participate, or at times all eight consciousnesses participate simultaneously. When the mind consciousness is not refined and lacks wisdom, it participates in the discernment of everything yet does not know it, because it does not yet have the wisdom of introspection.
How one lifts the leg and steps while walking is decided by the manas as the master; He makes decisions as master based on the analysis and judgment of the mind consciousness. Although the mind consciousness is also thinking about other matters, it can multitask simultaneously; the more places the attention is divided, the less focused the mind consciousness is, and the less sufficient the power of meditative concentration. Even when fully concentrated, the mind consciousness can still slightly attend to other matters.
Whatever the manas considers important, the mind consciousness focuses on, concentrating its energy on that matter and expending less mental effort on other aspects. "Eyes watching six roads, ears listening to eight directions" means the mind consciousness is simultaneously dispersed among various aspects, and each aspect can be attended to without confusion; the more trained one is, the more capable the mind consciousness becomes. Of course, the mind consciousness knows more, clearly and thoroughly, in matters where energy is concentrated, and knows less in matters given little attention.
Thus, for relatively familiar matters, one can expend less mental effort and energy and still do the thing well without making mistakes. So even when walking on a familiar, flat road, the mind consciousness still participates, and there is still subtle deliberation and judgment; it is only that some people's mind consciousness lacks wisdom and cannot introspect its own functioning.
3. The Close Cooperative Functioning of the Manas and the Six Consciousnesses
When the body seeks balance, the body consciousness, eye consciousness, mind consciousness, manas, and eighth consciousness operate together in harmony; the one acting as sovereign instant by instant is the manas, who, based on habituality and the discernment of the six consciousnesses, makes decisions and acts as sovereign instant by instant. There are many secrets in the habitual functioning of the manas that we do not yet understand, awaiting deep and subtle contemplative practice and observation. The dharmas of the manas are numerous and profound, and the treatises of bodhisattvas do not cover much of this content, because it belongs to the extremely deep content of the wisdom of the varieties of paths; yet the dharmas of the manas are very interesting and very thought-provoking.
In the operation of the body faculty, the mind consciousness and body consciousness participate; it is not merely the discernment and mastery of the manas. If the body could be directly controlled and mastered by the manas without passing through the mind consciousness, without the participation of the mind consciousness, then when one is unconscious, the manas could also make the body get up and move about. It is only that when matters are extremely urgent and the manas fully exercises its habitual functioning, the force of the mind consciousness's functioning appears somewhat weaker, and the mind consciousness's functions of deliberation, judgment, and inference do not manifest; in actuality, the mind consciousness still has its discerning function.
For example, take someone who has trained in martial arts: a person of extremely high martial skill punches at very high speed, with almost no opportunity for discernment and deliberation when responding. But the mind consciousness is still discerning at extremely high speed; only well-trained people can do this. So martial arts are trained into being—training the close and rapid cooperative functioning of the eye consciousness, body consciousness, and mind consciousness with the manas, and training the speed of the mind consciousness's reaction and adaptability.
4. When the eye consciousness discerns glaring light, it will automatically evade; the eyes feeling dazzled is discerned by the eye consciousness, and then the mental factor of volition decides to evade. Within this there is also the manas's choice: the eye consciousness and mind consciousness rapidly transmit the discerned information to the manas, and after the manas discerns it, it quickly decides to evade. The body feeling tired is discerned by the body consciousness, with the mind consciousness participating throughout. If the decision is to rest, it is decided by the manas: first the body consciousness and mind consciousness feel tired and decide to rest, transmitting the information to the manas; if the manas agrees, it decides to rest. Tiredness and fatigue also belong to the sense object of touch, discerned by the body consciousness and mind consciousness; the feeling of mental tiredness and fatigue is felt by the mind consciousness alone. Sometimes the body is tired but the mind consciousness does not feel tired; sometimes the body is not tired, yet the mind consciousness feels tired.
Regarding the feelings and decisions of the six consciousnesses, the manas mainly follows the mind consciousness's decisions. So when the body is very tired but the mind consciousness still craves play, the manas decides to play a while longer; whereas when the body is not tired but the mind consciousness is uninterested and feels tired, the manas decides to let the body rest—in actuality letting the mind consciousness rest, to evade matters it is not interested in.
5. The six consciousnesses are the manas's tools; without the six consciousnesses, the manas cannot manifest any mental activity at all. For example, when someone faints by the roadside and danger appears, the manas wants to evade, but the six consciousnesses simply cannot become manifest, so one can only continue lying there, letting danger befall. At such times one cannot say the manas has no thought of evading danger, does not know to protect itself, or does not value the five-aggregate body. All the manas's mental activities must manifest through the five-aggregate body and the six consciousnesses, or be expressed through other sentient physical bodies and material form. Some people wake up in the morning already unhappy, and neither they themselves nor others know why; the manas knows but cannot express it, so one cannot say that what the mind consciousness does not know, the manas also does not know—that is a mood and emotion the manas cannot express. The manas has no speech, so naturally it cannot express it.
6. External material sense objects are countless, and the tathāgatagarbha can simultaneously be connected with all of them; the manas can also connect with the perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha and thereby indirectly connect with them. But not all external material sense objects necessarily manifest images within the supreme faculty—for example, people and things behind one's back, the hidden beings of the ghost and spirit classes, and distant forms, sounds, scents, tastes, touches, and dharmas, and so on. Because the external six sense objects still must rely on the five faculties as conditions to be transmitted and manifested, external dharmas that the five faculties cannot contact cannot be transmitted and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha.
When the external six sense objects are transmitted to the external five faculties and the supreme faculty, the manas first makes contact, and only then decides whether to discern; if it decides to discern, the six consciousnesses will arise; if it decides not to discern, the six consciousnesses do not arise and the six sense objects are not seen. Therefore, the discernment of all dharmas is decided by the manas as master; the manas is the mastering consciousness, and whether the six sense objects can be discerned is up to the manas.
7. How the Mark of Arising and Ceasing of the Six Consciousnesses Appears
From the standpoint of marks, the first six consciousnesses constantly arise, cease, and change; even in the daytime under normal conditions, they constantly arise from one dharma and cease from another, then cease from that dharma and arise from yet another. The nature of the six consciousnesses is thus constantly arising and ceasing, fundamentally unsettled. Why do the six consciousnesses arise and cease on the various dharmas? It is caused by the fluctuation of the manas's thinking, the constant shifting of the manas's grasping tendency, and the manas's lack of settledness. If the manas is subdued and the mind is not scattered, the manas's thoughts will no longer jump about ceaselessly; it will settle on one or a few dharmas, and the six consciousnesses will also not be scattered, will not arise and discern everywhere, and will not jump around.
8. In the Small Vehicle dharma, the aggregate of consciousness does not include the seventh consciousness; the aggregate of consciousness refers only to the aggregating function of the six consciousnesses. But from the perspective of the Great Vehicle dharma, the aggregating function of the aggregate of consciousness is mainly the manas's function of aggregation, the result of the manas's aggregation, because all the functions and roles of the six consciousnesses are the result of being summoned by the manas, the result of being directed and manipulated by the manas; the actions of the six consciousnesses are the embodiment of the manas's will. In actuality, all dharmas are aggregated by the manas, are the result of the manas's impetus; the six consciousnesses are merely tools used by the manas, are appendages of the manas—whether they can be applied and developed depends entirely on the manas.
9. The Relationship Between the Six Consciousnesses and the Seventh Consciousness
The seventh consciousness is called the basis of defilement and purity; the defilement and purity of the six consciousnesses both depend on the seventh consciousness. When the seventh consciousness is pure, the six consciousnesses are pure; when the seventh consciousness is defiled, the six consciousnesses are defiled. Therefore the seventh consciousness is the key factor in whether the mind-ground is pure. If the seventh consciousness has greed, aversion, and delusion, the six consciousnesses necessarily have greed, aversion, and delusion; if the seventh consciousness has no greed, aversion, or delusion, the six consciousnesses necessarily have none; if the seventh consciousness is ignorant, the six consciousnesses are necessarily ignorant; if the seventh consciousness is enlightened, the six consciousnesses are necessarily enlightened; if the seventh consciousness transforms consciousness into wisdom, the six consciousnesses necessarily transform consciousness into wisdom. The seventh consciousness is the master; the six consciousnesses are the followers, the servants, the companions.
Start from the mind consciousness to change the manas; when the manas changes, the entire six consciousnesses change. If the manas does not change, even though the mind consciousness has awakened, under the manas's manipulation the mind consciousness still cannot become pure. The mind consciousness cannot watch the manas forever; with the slightest lapse, greed, aversion, and delusion appear in bodily, verbal, and mental actions. Especially in the next life, the mind consciousness is new, lacks awakened nature, completely obeys the manas, and is influenced by the manas; the temporary purity of the previous life disappears, and when starting over, by following the manas there will inevitably be greed, aversion, and delusion. When circumstances are intense, the mind consciousness simply cannot out-argue the manas, and the manas still acts as master with greed, aversion, and delusion.
10. The bodily, verbal, and mental actions that create karma are all actions of the six consciousnesses; apart from the six consciousnesses, sentient beings have no bodily, verbal, or mental actions. Therefore, of the bodily, verbal, and mental actions, bodily action is the creation of the six consciousnesses; verbal action is the creation of the six consciousnesses; mental action is the creation of the six consciousnesses. But the creation of the six consciousnesses is directed by the seventh consciousness, the manas, led by the manas, governed by the manas. If the manas does not direct, if the manas has no mental activity, if the manas does not attend or deliberate, the six consciousnesses will not create. Whatever the manas deliberates, the six consciousnesses follow the manas's deliberation to perform corresponding bodily, verbal, and mental actions; all bodily, verbal, and mental actions obey the direction of the manas, the seventh consciousness. Therefore, if the manas has the afflictions of greed, aversion, and delusion, the bodily, verbal, and mental creations of the six consciousnesses have the afflictions of greed, aversion, and delusion; if the manas has no afflictions of greed, aversion, and delusion, the bodily, verbal, and mental creations of the six consciousnesses will not have them. Thus the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses conform to the manas's thinking and mental activity, conform to the manas's deliberation, conform to the manas's habitual tendencies.
Whatever the manas wants to do, as soon as His mental activity arises, the tathāgatagarbha discerns it; because the tathāgatagarbha discerns the mental activities of sentient beings, mainly discerning the manas's mental activity, with this as the primary focus. Whatever the manas wants to do, the tathāgatagarbha knows, and then cooperates. After cooperating, it gives rise to the six consciousnesses, creating corresponding bodily, verbal, and mental actions. Therefore, objectively speaking, the manas seems to direct the tathāgatagarbha, and the tathāgatagarbha is entirely a mind-substance that is accommodating, compliant, and cooperative with the manas.
In actuality, the seeds of all dharmas are stored in the tathāgatagarbha; the tathāgatagarbha is the master of the seed storehouse—what seeds to output and what karmic retribution to realize is up to the tathāgatagarbha, decided by the tathāgatagarbha. Because the tathāgatagarbha is completely without self-nature, without any kind of assertion or mental activity, it can cooperate with the seventh consciousness to produce all dharmas. Whereas the seventh consciousness has an extremely strong sense of self; He has intense self-assertion—"I must do this, I certainly will not do that"—this is an extremely strong self. So the "self" we speak of, the deepest self, is the self of the manas; this self is called innate self-grasping, extremely extremely difficult to eradicate, even harder to eradicate than the intermittent self-grasping of the mind consciousness.
The self of the mind consciousness is easily influenced, easily changed, easily conditioned by the postnatal environment, and can be changed quickly. But the conditioning and changing of the manas takes a very long time, because He has existed since beginningless kalpas without ever ceasing; His habitual tendencies are extremely deep and heavy; the deep-level afflictions and ignorance are all manifested in the manas, all belong to the manas. Therefore the creations of body, speech, and mind must comply with the manas's mental activity; if the manas is purified, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses are correspondingly purified; if the manas is defiled, the bodily, verbal, and mental creations of the six consciousnesses He directs are also defiled.
11. All information of the six consciousnesses is transmitted instant by instant to the manas; the manas, instant by instant, knows the information discerned by the six consciousnesses as well as their mental activities. Therefore the manas can, based on the information from the six consciousnesses, give rise to its own mental activity instant by instant, and then act as sovereign instant by instant. The six consciousnesses are the manas's tools of use; if the six consciousnesses cannot be used, no matter how the manas reacts, it cannot be expressed—panicking to death is useless. It is like a person who wants to cut down a big tree, but the knife in his hand is broken and unusable; he can only stand by watching, accomplishing nothing.
When a person uses a knife to cut a tree and the tree is felled, is this something the person did or something the knife did? Of course it is the person who felled the tree, the person using the knife to fell it; the credit and the fault should both be attributed to the person. Likewise, the manas uses the six consciousnesses to create all bodily, verbal, and mental actions; the merit and the fault should both be attributed to the manas—the six consciousnesses are merely being directed. But if the six consciousnesses offer counsel and strategies to the manas, and the manas follows them and creates actions, the six consciousnesses also have a share.
12. In the neutrino-body there are also the six consciousnesses, but their force of function is relatively weaker, not as strong as in the human body. Because the neutrino-body is a manifestation of karmic force, its physical body differs greatly from the human body, and the mind consciousness that depends on the physical body has weaker functions of deliberation, analysis, and judgment; without the restraining effect of the mind consciousness, the manas's karmic habits will manifest completely. If the manas's afflictive habits have not been transformed, if precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom have not been cultivated, if it does not accord with wholesome dharmas, if merit has not been cultivated, and if the three fetters have not been severed, one will certainly be bound by the fetters of affliction and take birth in the three evil destinies. All activities in the neutrino-body are dominated by the manas's karmic force: if the manas is wholesome, one takes birth in a wholesome destiny; if evil, one takes birth in an evil destiny; or one takes birth according to the manas's power of vow.
Why is there no mind consciousness in the stage of imminent death? Because the tathāgatagarbha is about to depart, gradually withdrawing the seeds of the four great elements and no longer transmitting them out; the functions of the five faculties can gradually no longer be sustained, the six sense objects can no longer be delivered in, the conditions for the arising of the mind consciousness are not complete, and the mind consciousness no longer arises. As less and less of the six sense objects is transmitted, the six consciousnesses become weaker and weaker, and finally cease.
13. The Relationship of the Manas with the Physical Body and the Six Consciousnesses
Once the manas realizes a certain principle and overturns its previous cognition, a certain emotion arises in the mind, with fluctuations of thought. But the manas's emotions and thought fluctuations can only be expressed through the physical body and the six consciousnesses; there is no other channel. The physical body and the six consciousnesses are the five-aggregate body, subject to the manas's regulation and control; they belong to the manas's props, dispatched and deployed by the manas. Therefore the manifestations of the physical body and the six consciousnesses are precisely reflections of the manas's psychological state. The physical body and the six consciousnesses are like puppets, while the manas is like the puppeteer behind. But the manas is also a puppet, and its puppeteer is the tathāgatagarbha; all dharmas, including the manas, are pulled forth by the tathāgatagarbha and are all pulled by the tathāgatagarbha. Therefore it is said that the tathāgatagarbha is the master of all dharmas, while the manas is the master of the physical body and the six consciousnesses. Most of the time the manas is an authoritarian, only occasionally, when unable to make up its mind, releasing power and heeding the mind consciousness's suggestions.
The purity and defilement manifested by the six consciousnesses, especially the mind consciousness—the afflictive nature of greed, aversion, and delusion, and various habitual tendencies—are, most of the time, derived from the manas, regulated by the manas, directed by the manas, representing the manas's mental disposition, a reflection of the manas's mental disposition. A minority of the time they are behaviors manifested by the mind consciousness conditioned by the environment, which do not mean the manas also has this mental disposition, nor that the manas has also been conditioned.
For example, when studying Buddhism, the mind consciousness is conditioned by the Buddha-dharma and becomes somewhat purer, with fewer afflictions manifesting; but this does not mean the manas has also become pure with fewer afflictions. For the manas to also become pure and reduce afflictions, one must, after attaining realization of the fruits, and after the manas has personally realized the Buddha-dharma and truly understood the principles, become somewhat purified. Theoretical knowledge is only useful to the mind consciousness; the manas cannot accord with it. What the manas accords with is reality, the contemplative wisdom of direct perception; without conclusive evidence, the manas cannot acknowledge it, and therefore the mental activity cannot truly transform into purity.
Because the mind consciousness's discerning wisdom is stronger than the manas's, and its capacity to recognize truth is stronger, its mental disposition is purer than the manas's, and its afflictions are fewer and milder than the manas's. Except when in especially harsh and defiled environments, this is generally the case.
