The Mind Faculty and Consciousness
Chapter Seven: The Mutual Permeation Relationship Between Manas and Consciousness
1. Generally speaking, because consciousness possesses strong discerning wisdom and can analyze and contemplate, it has the opportunity to understand principles. Manas has poor discerning wisdom, finds it difficult to understand principles, and its inherent habits are too heavy. Consciousness always tries to guide manas towards wholesome transformation, but manas is stubborn and hard to change. If someone creates afflictive, unwholesome karma without any internal mental conflict or deliberation, it indicates that both manas and consciousness are heavily afflicted; neither understands principles. Such a person is still far from cultivation. If a person can create afflictive karma with complete ease of mind, without any inner awakening, shame, or mental struggle, that person's afflictions are particularly heavy and almost impossible to guide.
If consciousness clearly knows something is wrong but still creates afflictive, unwholesome karma, it is because manas's habits are too heavy. If, after creating unwholesome karma, one remains unaware, and both manas and consciousness are deluded and do not understand principles, being heavily afflicted, such a person is difficult to guide. A person who does wrong, creates unwholesome karma, has never experienced mental conflict, and has never known shame or regret is extremely difficult to deal with. For such a person, it's best to keep some distance temporarily; otherwise, one will frequently invite afflictions upon oneself.
Shame (hiri) and remorse (ottappa) are wholesome mental factors (cetasika). Lack of shame and lack of remorse are unwholesome mental factors. Ordinary people create unwholesome karma without shame or remorse, yet remain completely unaware of it. Consciousness should frequently contemplate and analyze wholesome and unwholesome dharmas according to principle and Dharma, permeating manas. Gradually, manas will be able to act according to the thoughts of consciousness.
2. Manas's function of making decisions stems from two sources: one is based on its own experience and habitual inertia, the other is following the suggestions of consciousness. How manas ultimately makes decisions depends on which is stronger—consciousness or manas. If consciousness is strong, manas will follow its analysis and suggestions. Afterwards, there may be regret or no regret. When consciousness is too strong, manas has no choice but to comply, superficially agreeing, but upon later reflection, regrets it. This shows manas has not truly been convinced.
Consciousness is like the one holding the reins, guiding manas down whatever path it chooses. If consciousness is free from delusion, manas will gradually attain right enlightenment, and Buddhahood becomes possible. Since beginningless time, consciousness has been erroneously teaching manas, telling it that all dharmas are real, belong to "me," and that the five-aggregate world is real, beautiful, and worth pursuing. Consequently, manas accepts this erroneous teaching from consciousness, continuously clinging greedily to the dharmas of the five aggregates, sinking deeply into the mire of birth and death, unable to escape, and unaware of it. The consciousness of the past can be called an evil teacher. From now on, we must make consciousness a good teacher and friend, assisting manas to jointly accomplish the Buddha Way.
Who does "we" refer to here? It refers to manas instructing consciousness and consciousness instructing itself. The self-witnessing aspect (svasaṃvedana) of consciousness functions, supervising itself, and manas agrees. The self-witnessing aspect of consciousness proves consciousness's own knowing nature. Consciousness can introspect upon itself, thereby instructing itself. The self-witnessing aspect of consciousness has no relationship with manas.
Self-awakening involves, on one hand, consciousness awakening consciousness itself, and on the other hand, consciousness awakening manas. First, awaken consciousness itself, then awaken manas. Awakening others involves first awakening the other's consciousness, then letting their consciousness awaken their manas; then it is successful. Can one also directly awaken another's manas? Directly awakening another's manas is the fastest method, but it requires several conditions: First, it depends on one's own level of awakening and whether one has persuasive power, meaning the degree of direct perception (pratyakṣa). Second, it depends on the level of awakening of the other's consciousness. Third, it depends on the severity of the afflictions in the other's manas, that is, their spiritual capacity. Fourth, it depends on whether the other's causes and conditions and the appropriate time have arrived. If all these conditions are fulfilled, then one can directly persuade the other's manas, making them immediately accept and implement it. We can say such a person has very sharp faculties, turning immediately upon guidance, without any obstruction.
3. The Coordination Between Consciousness and Manas
Consciousness and manas sometimes coordinate and agree, and sometimes contradict and disagree. Consciousness frequently persuades and educates manas. Over time, if manas is successfully permeated, it can follow consciousness's guidance. Wherever consciousness contemplates, manas can act accordingly, meaning words match deeds; manas no longer acts contrary to what consciousness says. When mind and speech are inconsistent—consciousness says something should be done this way, but manas decides to do it that way—it is called not keeping one's word, also called false speech, or acting against conscience (consciousness's correct, principled understanding).
If manas encounters situations without afflictions, but consciousness, permeated by the postnatal environment, has afflictions, and consciousness tries to persuade manas to follow its own afflictive nature, manas may or may not comply, depending on which side is stronger. If both consciousness and manas simultaneously possess the same afflictions, then when interacting with people and handling affairs, the two coordinate harmoniously in creating afflictive, defiled karma, like adding wings to a tiger—unstoppable. If both consciousness and manas are free from afflictions, pure and undefiled, and the two function in harmony, then when interacting with people and handling affairs, the mind-ground is supremely pure; encountering any adverse circumstances, it remains unmoved.
If manas is heavily afflicted, yet there is never any internal conflict, such a person is one whose consciousness has not awakened at all, and manas is even less awakened, unable to reflect upon itself, accustomed to afflictive habits, accustomed to unwholesome thoughts and actions. This is the mental conduct of someone with no cultivation at all. A person who creates unwholesome karma without internal conflict has an unawakened consciousness, let alone manas; such a person is still far from cultivation.
The reason conflicts frequently arise between consciousness and manas is that consciousness, permeated by new environments, easily gives rise to new ideas and views, while manas is accustomed to old knowledge and views, so the two temporarily cannot coordinate. Consciousness's mental factor of wisdom (prajñā) is relatively strong and can discern good and bad, beautiful and ugly. Manas clings to too many dharmas, lacks concentration (samādhi), and has shallow, weak wisdom. Thus, it needs consciousness, which has strong discerning wisdom, to continuously permeate it. When manas's mental factor of wisdom also strengthens, cultivation becomes easy, but that comes after the transformation of consciousness into wisdom (jñāna). The manas of Bodhisattvas at the first ground (bhūmi) and above has already transformed consciousness into wisdom, so the mental factor of wisdom is somewhat stronger.
4. "Refrain from all evil, cultivate all good, purify the mind—this is the teaching of the Buddhas." Whether to do evil or not is decided by manas. Similarly, whether to do good or not is also decided by manas. If one refrains from all evil, manas must sever all afflictions and also eradicate all afflictive habits. At this stage, one must cultivate at least to the eighth-ground Bodhisattva stage, where the cycle of birth and death in stages (sections) is ended.
To be able to cultivate all good, one must not only extensively generate the pure great vows of a Bodhisattva but also extensively and earnestly put them into practice. Whenever encountering conditions to undertake endeavors that benefit sentient beings, one must do them all, without the slightest regard for personal benefit. Only then can the individual receive great benefit in return, because sacrificing oneself for others actually still benefits oneself, ultimately leading to Buddhahood.
"Purify the mind": Initially, consciousness can purify its own mind, but it is often still defiled by manas. Consciousness purifying its own mind is not yet complete; one must then permeate manas to purify manas's mind. Once manas's mind is purified, all bodily, verbal, and mental actions will necessarily be pure; defiled seeds will be entirely replaced by pure seeds. Thus, ignorance is completely severed, and the Buddha Way is accomplished. The above is taught by all Buddhas. We disciples wish to follow the Buddhas' teachings, accept them with faith, and practice accordingly!
5. Being full of self-confidence: There is the self-confidence of consciousness and the self-confidence of manas. If both are confident, then one is full of self-confidence. When consciousness gives rise to unprincipled attention and thought, by observing one's own five aggregates (skandhas), observing one's own eighteen elements (dhātus), or perhaps comparing them to others' five aggregates, one might feel oneself to be excellent and powerful, believe all one's thoughts and views are completely correct, believe one's talents and wisdom are absolutely without fault, believe what one does is entirely correct and flawless, believe one surpasses others, believe one can definitely succeed in certain matters.
This self-confidence may be influenced by manas's afflictions like self-attachment (ātma-grāha) and conceit (māna), and also stems from manas's greed and attachment to the self, reflecting manas's conceit affliction. Therefore, being full of self-confidence also involves manas's self-confidence. It could also be that consciousness has truly observed that one indeed possesses certain abilities, and manas, relying on that, also believes. To eliminate this unprincipled overconfidence, one must study the Buddhadharma according to principle. After realizing the truth of no-self (anātman), one can know the falsity and unreality of the self, know that there is no real self to boast about or be proud of, and thus view oneself and others correctly and reasonably, knowing they are actually equal and without self-nature. From then on, there is no more self-superiority, conceit, or self-attachment.
Sentient beings, since beginningless time, due to erroneous cognition and grasping of the self, have caused themselves immeasurable eons of suffering in the cycle of birth and death. Now, having encountered the Buddhadharma, one must follow the Buddha and cultivate earnestly, correctly hearing and contemplating the Dharma, then contemplating and practicing the Dharma according to principle. Ultimately, one can realize no-self. When great wisdom opens, one can know the true reality of all dharmas, no longer deluded or inverted. Conceit can then be subdued, and one can view oneself fairly and objectively, no longer having a conceited mind.
The foremost essential in studying Buddhism and cultivating is to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), especially manas's view of self. One should no longer regard one's own five aggregates and eighteen elements as real or belonging to oneself. One must, according to principle, realize that the five aggregates are indeed not the self, being impermanent, subject to birth, death, and change, yet also not different from "me." Second, one must study the great vehicle's (Mahāyāna) prajñā wisdom, recognize the self-nature Tathāgatagarbha, and realize that it is the source of all dharmas. The false self of the five aggregates is merely an illusory appearance born from it and sustained by it, not truly existent. Thenceforth, the excessive self-confidence arising from "I" will disappear, conceit will be eliminated, karmic obstructions of birth and death can be exhausted, and then one accomplishes the Buddha Way, extensively benefiting those with affinities.
6. Even the manas of a Buddha has completely transformed into the wisdom of equality (samatā-jñāna), yet it still has habitual inertia. However, its functions are entirely wholesome, completely corresponding to the eleven wholesome mental factors. The inertial force of manas can be changed by consciousness. Consciousness, based on external environmental factors, tells manas what is beneficial and what is harmful or unbeneficial to oneself. Manas can then make choices beneficial to itself, perhaps changing its own inertial force in certain aspects. For example, quitting smoking or drinking relies on consciousness's persuasion and education. Manas itself lacks the ability to recognize and change this inertial force; this inertial force was originally formed with the help of consciousness.
Manas's mental factor of thought (cetanā) has a function of decision-making, used for deliberation and making decisions. The five universal mental factors (sarvatraga) operate constantly, without cessation and have never ceased. Sometimes manas acts arbitrarily, not listening to consciousness's analysis and guidance; this is due to karmic force. Manas cannot resist karmic force; it must rely on long-term permeation by consciousness to gradually change its unwholesome habits, finally enabling it to abandon evil and follow good. This is the result of consciousness's successful teaching.
7. The Influence of Manas's Emotional States on Body and Mind
Ecstatic with joy, terrified out of one's wits, heart pounding with fear, scared out of one's wits, drenched in cold sweat, heart-wrenching, broken-hearted, in such pain one no longer wishes to live, hair standing on end in rage, dumbstruck—these are all terms describing the mind commanding the body, where body and mind change simultaneously. Changes in body and mind are controlled by manas; when the mind changes, the body changes. Once manas is stirred, changes can occur from head to toe, in the internal organs, indicating how severe manas's control and attachment to the body-mind world is. Once manas knows that body and mind are not itself, consider how it will be: it will no longer control body and mind, body and mind will relax, and changes such as lightness and ease (praśrabdhi), comfort, inner joy, enhanced meditative concentration (dhyāna), reduced need for sleep, alleviation of illness, a body that is tall, light, and agile, etc., will appear. After cultivating for some more time, once manas completely severs attachment to the five-aggregate world, the inner mind changes. At that time, the mental state is like this: Let the wind blow and waves pound, I stroll leisurely in the courtyard; suddenly facing adversity without alarm, encountering unwarranted provocation without anger.
The seven emotions—joy, anger, worry, thought, sorrow, fear, and fright—are all related to the internal organs, corresponding respectively to the heart, liver, spleen, stomach, lungs, and kidneys. This means body and mind influence each other and depend on each other. Mental activities can affect the health of the internal organs, and the condition of the internal organs can affect mental activities. Joy affects the heart, anger affects the liver, thought affects the spleen, worry affects the stomach, sorrow affects the lungs, fear and fright affect the kidneys. These psychological reactions are generated by manas stirring the mind and commanding their creation, controlled by manas, corresponding to manas. When manas reacts, it stirs the physical body to change, and the internal organs move accordingly.
To avoid harming the internal organs of the body, do not stir the mind, do not generate emotions, keep the temperament calm, subdue afflictions, and lessen the five desires. This requires using consciousness to subdue manas, maintain concentration (samādhi), see through worldly affairs, and reduce desires. For example, some people get cancer but have no fear or worry within; the cancer soon disappears. Manas not clinging to the body, the body becomes healthy. Others are afraid and worried, unwilling to let go of or set aside the body, and soon die; this is death from fright. Manas is too attached to the body, causing the illness to worsen and instead losing life. Due to differing degrees of manas's attachment to the body, two opposite results occur.
In the five-aggregate world, consciousness toils and bustles, while manas reaps the benefits without effort; yet the ultimate accomplishment lies with manas. Actually, manas is also busy—busy clinging, busy speculating, busy with all matters related to saṃsāra. Manas is still the most hardworking; since beginningless time, it has never rested. Regarding all dharmas, manas is also the most joyful and the most worried, the most shaken, even able to shake the internal organs and turn heaven and earth upside down. It can make people overjoyed, lose all thought of food and drink, refuse even a drop of water, wear a worried face, be filled with anxiety, be heartbroken, be torn apart by grief, experience mixed joy and sorrow, be disheartened, fly into a rage, and finally be scared out of one's wits, panic-stricken, scared witless—how heavy manas's afflictions are!
Then, upon liberation, how light it must feel, as if a heavy burden has been lifted! Once that heavy burden is removed, it is the moment of greatest lightness; body and mind both feel light and free. A huge boulder is finally pushed over; manas finally attains liberation. We should quickly eradicate the view of self, remove afflictions, push over the boulder, and transform from a cocoon into a butterfly! Having a liberated mind is more important than anything. The world is full of suffering, layer upon layer of afflictions; press down a gourd and a ladle pops up—the six destinies always have suffering. In worldly dharmas, adjectives and idioms describing a mind that has attained liberation, feeling light and free, are very few. Yet adjectives describing heavy afflictions and attachments are many. What does this indicate? It indicates that the world is indeed full of suffering, filled with all kinds of distress. Therefore, one should see through the world and seek liberation early, attaining great freedom.
8. If a Buddhist practitioner has many dreams, they need to subdue manas's nature of conceptual proliferation (parikalpita-svabhāva). Through the analysis and contemplation of the conscious mind, persuade and guide manas so that it no longer greedily clings to any dharmas. Then, not only will dreams cease, but daytime delusional thoughts can also reduce and disappear. The process of consciousness persuading and guiding manas through principled contemplation is the process of subduing the mind. Through correct Dharma hearing and contemplation according to principle, and the method of contemplation according to principle, after eradicating the view of self, can one truly subdue the mind, thereby severing afflictions and afflictive habits. Only then can self-attachment be completely eradicated, manas no longer clings to the five-aggregate world, attains liberation, and cultivation achieves minor success.
9. What is Meant by "Relying on the True to Cultivate the False"
Because there is the true mind, the false mind arises, and the actions and creations of the false mind occur. "Cultivating the false" means the false mind—the seven evolving consciousnesses—itself referencing the true mind's nature, corrects its own bodily, verbal, and mental actions, subdues greed, hatred, and delusion, and extinguishes ignorance. Moreover, it constantly stores the process and results of cultivation as seeds into the true mind at all times, ensuring that all cultivation is not in vain; in future lives, one will continue to enjoy the fruits of this life's cultivation. Until Buddhahood, these cultivation seeds do not spoil. When wholesome karma seeds accumulate to perfection, and all unwholesome karma seeds are cleared away, will the Buddha Way be perfectly accomplished.
Permeating and cultivating the Buddhadharma to remove the ignorance of the false mind first permeates the conscious mind. Consciousness learns to understand the nature of the true mind, then permeates and cultivates manas, enabling manas to also understand. Then both attain realization of the true mind's self-nature. Afterwards, one can constantly observe the functioning of the true mind and will understand how the inherently pure mind, within the functioning of all dharmas, operates with purity and non-defilement. Consciousness will then correct its own mental actions accordingly, thereby changing its own mental nature and removing defilements. After consciousness deeply contemplates the principles of the Buddhadharma and understands the essence of all dharmas, it permeates manas, enabling manas to also change its own mental actions, removing defilements and ignorance.
If consciousness does not engage in deep contemplation, or does not contemplate at all, then the understood Buddhadharma only stays on the surface of consciousness and does not enter manas's mind. The inner essence will not change, and mental actions cannot change either. If consciousness does not deeply contemplate the true principle of the Buddhadharma, it cannot permeate manas. Because manas's discerning wisdom is inferior, consciousness must repeatedly contemplate the principles thoroughly and transmit them to manas before manas can understand. Manas is not like consciousness, which easily understands principles, because consciousness has logic and very strong discerning wisdom.
Manas's discerning wisdom regarding the details of the six dusts (objects of the senses) is weak; it lacks logical inference and is relatively straightforward. Consciousness must analyze the principles clearly and thoroughly, analyze them extremely meticulously, before manas can understand. Otherwise, manas cannot understand principles, and thoughts cannot change. If manas does not change, cultivation cannot gain true benefit, because bodily, verbal, and mental karmic actions are governed by manas. Therefore, many Buddhists study and cultivate Buddhism only by orally reciting scriptures without contemplating the true meaning of the Dharma. Then consciousness and manas do not understand the true meaning of the Dharma. Thus, they cannot open wisdom, their mental actions cannot transform, afflictions cannot be subdued, and ignorance remains deep.
The most fundamental purpose of studying Buddhism is to open wisdom, not merely to accumulate knowledge. The accumulation of knowledge is also a conditioned, impermanent dharma. If mental actions do not change and ignorance is not eradicated, one will still remain within the cycle of birth and death, unable to escape. And all this cultivation is done relying on the true mind; it is the beacon and foundation of our cultivation. The Tathatā (Suchness) and Buddha-nature are inherently possessed by us, not obtained from outside. They inherently encompass all wholesome dharmas, perfect and unobstructed, so we do not need to permeate or change them. We only need to successfully permeate the seven consciousnesses, transform them into pure ones, exhaust ignorance, and then we become Buddhas.
10. When we can observe the functioning of manas's mental factors (cetasika), we know that manas's inner world is quite profound and difficult to fathom, quite hidden, and quite rich and colorful. It is extremely busy, extremely attached, always scheming and clinging without cease, not stopping for a moment. All dharmas must manifest through it. Its activity and scope of objects are also very broad, so manas is definitely not empty or still.
Manas constantly deliberates, makes decisions everywhere. All mental actions of consciousness are related to manas; the functioning of all mental factors is related to manas. Consciousness's continuous delusional thoughts are because manas's deliberation is continuous, its clinging is continuous. The continuous bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses are because manas's clinging and grasping are continuous; it never wants to stop.
If one frequently recites mantras, permeating manas, and manas becomes accustomed to reciting mantras, it can continuously focus on the mantra. Then, even while sleeping and dreaming, one can recite mantras; in daily life, one can also recite mantras. If manas is not accustomed to reciting mantras, consciousness cannot recite mantras in dreams no matter what, and one cannot remember to recite mantras while walking, standing, sitting, or lying down.
After cultivation, if manas is well permeated and trained, one can even cultivate during sleep, and sleep can test a person's level of cultivation. Therefore, to achieve success in cultivation, one must penetrate deeply into manas. If one has not yet penetrated deeply into manas and only stays on the surface of the conscious mind without affecting manas, that cultivation is very superficial and basically does not belong to true cultivation; studying Buddhism is merely a superficial ornament. The same applies to interacting with people: if manas is attentive, it is sincerely for others, treating people with sincerity; if manas does not value the people and matters faced, consciousness's performance will be perfunctory, hypocritical, merely going through the motions, superficially agreeing but not actually handling matters.
11. Consciousness arises from the condition of manas and dharmas. When manas and mental objects (dharmas) contact, the eighth consciousness gives rise to consciousness. Consciousness, contacting manas and mental objects, can know manas's intention and thereby discern mental objects and create actions. Manas is the last of the six sense bases (indriya), it is a non-physical sense base (arūpīndriya). It has the nature of consciousness, also called the seventh consciousness, or manas-consciousness (kliṣṭa-manas). The eighth consciousness is the true mind, the Tathatā essence. Named the eighth consciousness based on sequential ordering with the seven consciousnesses. Its nature is vastly different from the seven consciousnesses. The seven consciousnesses only function in discriminating the five sense bases and six dusts (objects); everything else is the affair of the eighth consciousness. Therefore, the eighth consciousness discriminates the body, the world of receptacles (bhājana-loka), and seeds (bīja), is responsible for delivering karmic seeds and the seeds of the four great elements and seven elements, creating the five-aggregate world of sentient beings.
Studying Buddhism and cultivating first changes the conscious mind because the conscious mind is subtle, can analyze, judge, and reason, is quick to be permeated, and quick to change. Manas, the seventh consciousness, is very difficult; it is the consciousness of innate self-attachment (sahaja-ātma-grāha), which has continued without interruption from beginningless time until now, possessing deep afflictions and habits. Clinging primarily refers to this mind. To change it, one must rely on the conscious mind for long-term permeation.
When cultivating to Buddhahood, these two consciousnesses undergo transformation three times in total, becoming completely wisdom-consciousnesses. The first transformation occurs upon entering the first ground (prathama-bhūmi). The second occurs upon reaching the eighth-ground Bodhisattva stage. The third occurs just before becoming a Buddha. Afterwards, the first five consciousnesses transform into the wisdom of perfect accomplishment (kṛtyānuṣṭhāna-jñāna). Finally, the eighth consciousness transforms into the great mirror wisdom (mahādarśa-jñāna), because at this time manas is completely transformed, karmic seeds are completely transformed into pure karmic seeds, and the eighth consciousness becomes the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna) and the great mirror wisdom. The seeds of the first seven consciousnesses contained within the eighth consciousness have all been thoroughly transformed into purity, without any defilement at all. Only then does the eighth consciousness completely restore its original face; this is the true self, no longer storing the defiled seeds of the seven consciousnesses. Therefore, our current eighth consciousness stores the defiled seeds and ignorance of our seven consciousnesses; we need to purify the seven consciousness-minds and sever ignorance to become a great, perfect Buddha. We are currently only Buddhas in principle, having this Buddha essence, but not yet the Buddha's function; in terms of phenomena and reality, we are not yet Buddhas. We need to diligently strive in the cultivation of the Bodhi path.
When we clearly understand the nature of all eight consciousnesses and identify all seven consciousnesses, fulfilling the conditions of a Bodhisattva, we can find the eighth consciousness Tathatā and attain awakening. After finding Tathatā, wisdom will arise, and one can observe its functional nature in various aspects, understand more about its pure, unconditioned nature, and know how it thus manifests all dharmas. That observational wisdom will continuously grow, definitely not stagnating. The key is whether what is found is the Tathatā mind, whether it conforms to the nature of the Tathatā mind. If that mind has the nature of arising and ceasing, changeability, increase and decrease, sometimes existing and sometimes not, needing constant maintenance to exist, then it is a false mind, not the true mind. This is an extremely crucial point.
12. The transformation of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses into wisdom is divided into three stages. The complete transformation into wisdom occurs at the Buddha stage. The first stage is at the first ground, where the sixth and seventh consciousnesses attain preliminary non-leakage (anāsrava), but there is still leakage not completely severed, requiring two great immeasurable eons (asaṃkhyeya-kalpas) to completely sever. Preliminary non-leakage is already remarkable. Before this, manas is always with leakage and afflictions; after this, there are still afflictive habits. And the afflictions of manas are often unknown to the conscious mind. The conscious mind might then think it has already attained cultivation, but this is actually a delusion. When consciousness itself temporarily does not manifest afflictions, it thinks it is quite good, but it does not know the afflictions of manas. Manas's afflictions are deeply rooted, hidden very deeply, not easy to detect, and only change after consciousness transforms. Therefore, do not think that because consciousness has improved, oneself is good; do not forget that manas has not yet transformed.
13. To eliminate habitual afflictions, consciousness must first understand what kind of afflictive habits manas has and what harm they cause. Then, it must inform manas of the harm of the afflictive habits, enabling manas to understand, and continuously permeate manas. Once manas understands, it can eliminate or suppress the afflictive habits.
If the afflictive habits are too heavy, they are hard to subdue or suppress, let alone eliminate. The longer one is permeated by the human world, the heavier the accumulated afflictive habits become, the harder it is for consciousness to understand principles, and even harder for manas. Trying to eliminate even a tiny bit of habit becomes very difficult. Therefore, cultivate while young; do not wait until old age to cultivate. When old, it's truly hard to cultivate; habits are fixed, and even recognizing that one has habits is not easy, let alone changing them.
14. Manas has existed since beginningless time and will never cease to exist in the future, except when an Arhat enters the remainderless Nirvāṇa (nirupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa) and extinguishes it. Therefore, manas is also subject to birth and death, impermanent. Because manas is the mind that makes decisions, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of sentient beings are directed by it. If its ignorance is deep, greed, hatred, and delusion are blazing, and attachment to self is strong, then sentient beings will create karmic actions defiled by greed, hatred, and delusion, resulting in the six destinies of rebirth, with birth and death having no end.
Manas is harder to change than consciousness because it has existed since beginningless time; the eons it has experienced are too long, it has been permeated by the six dusts too deeply, and coupled with innate ignorance and afflictions, its defilement is extremely heavy. Consciousness, however, appears postnatally; it is new each life, has no innate ignorance or afflictions, and is only newly permeated. It is permeated both by manas's innate influence and by the postnatal environment. Because consciousness's wisdom power is relatively strong and it is good at discriminating all dharmas, it is easily permeated and changed. Manas is hard to permeate and change; severing manas's self-attachment is very difficult. Cultivation is precisely to thoroughly change manas, make manas completely pure, exhaust ignorance, to attain complete liberation and freedom.
15. When manas contacts mental objects (dharmas), if manas wants to clearly discern them, it makes a decision. The eighth consciousness, based on manas's decision, gives rise to consciousness, which then discerns the mental objects. If manas does not want to clearly discern the mental objects, it does not attend to them, does not deliberate, does not decide, and consciousness cannot arise. This is equivalent to shutting off consciousness. Shutting off consciousness is actually subduing manas; manas changes, everything changes.
Dharma cultivation reaches manas to be complete; realizing the eighth consciousness is the beginning of Mahāyāna cultivation. Finding the "switch" of all dharmas is key. Manas is the controller of the switch. When the switch gate is opened by manas, all dharmas will gush out, fully manifesting. At this time, we need to subdue manas, not let it open the switch too wide; a trickle is better. Nevertheless, when karmic seeds do not change, manas still cannot completely control the switch; ripened karmic seeds will shatter manas's illusions.
The Tathāgatagarbha (Ālayavijñāna) outputs the seeds of manas's consciousness moment by moment; only then can manas exist and function, it can grasp, it can cling. Manas's grasping is essentially still grasping itself; it regards all dharmas as itself and as belonging to itself, hence it clings without letting go. If it knows that all these dharmas are not itself and do not belong to itself, its clinging nature will be severed, and birth and death will also be ended. Afterwards, one relies on generating pure great vows to maintain the existence and functioning of the false life-body, continuously benefiting self and others, not resting even until Buddhahood.
Therefore, being able to realize that all dharmas are not "me" is the most crucial point and the ultimate result of sentient beings' cultivation. One who is completely without self is a Buddha! As long as we can realize no-self and moreover, ultimate no-self, we can attain ultimate liberation. The so-called "I," since beginningless time, has bound us tightly, so we live with too little freedom. To break free from bonds and fetters, we must eradicate the view of self, extinguish self-attachment. When not clinging to a single dharma, that is great liberation and great freedom. But saying it is easy; doing it requires immeasurable eons of time, requiring us to have endurance, possess an unyielding, courageous spirit that forges ahead undaunted by setbacks, and great wisdom, to reach the land of ultimate no-self sooner.
16. Ordinary people's conscious minds are generally scattered. The reason for this scattering lies in manas. Because manas's objects are relatively broad, since beginningless time, manas has lacked concentration (samādhi) and is accustomed to scattering. Therefore, it has a scattered, grasping mind, going wherever there is something, moment by moment changing the object of grasping, without a fixed target, drifting everywhere. For example, I sit here very relaxed, without any particularly important matter to focus on. Consciousness pays attention to form-dusts one moment, then sound-dusts, smell-dusts, touch-dusts, then thinks about matters unrelated to the current situation—these are all results of manas directing attention and guiding consciousness. Since these are all unimportant matters, how does manas direct attention? This is scattered attention, caused by habitual inertia, completely irregular, random.
Manas constantly grasps all dharmas manifested by the Tathāgatagarbha. Due to ignorance, since beginningless time, it has been accustomed to grasping the six dusts; this grasping habit is deeply ingrained and hard to subdue for a while. When idle, manas grasps everywhere, unconsciously attending to forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and mental objects. Because these objects are currently unimportant, manas's attention to them is not focused, not lasting, without a fixed target; often, it contacts whatever and thinks about whatever, and the six consciousnesses follow, wandering east and west, without a fixed abode. Manas, this unruly child, has long been undisciplined and accustomed to being undisciplined. Only consciousness receives formal education; wielding the whip and staff, using both hard and soft tactics, coaxing and deceiving, can it gradually discipline manas well. When the mind is not scattered at all, one has cultivated to the fourth fruit (Arhatship).
17. Question: I often have this kind of experience: while sitting in meditation, sometimes itching occurs on the skin. Manas decides to scratch, but consciousness decides to persist without scratching, opposing manas. Thus, I persist until the itching disappears. Is this beneficial for subduing manas?
Answer: This is only possible when manas is not very attached; one can oppose it like this without causing it mental splitting or collapse. If manas's clinging nature is very strong, it will be unbearable, and one must adopt a circuitous route, not force it directly. When manas can accept it, if consciousness does not comply with manas's afflictive nature and does not carry out manas's unprincipled command, manas will reflect upon itself. It might realize it is wrong, then abandon unprincipled thoughts and views, adjust its own mind, and change itself. When consciousness does not comply with manas to scratch, manas cannot overcome consciousness, so it stops grasping or grasps less at the body sense base. Later, it no longer pays attention to the body's various reactions; attachment to the body becomes slight, and meditative concentration (dhyāna) can gradually appear. Once manas develops the habit, it no longer cares about the body, easily forgets the body, can reduce clinging, and meditative concentration is easily achieved.
18. The Goal of Subduing the Mind is to Subdue Manas
The situation of an unchanged complexion and no racing heart means that after consciousness receives information, manas does not accept or care about it, so the complexion does not change; it doesn't "go to the heart," meaning it doesn't go to manas's heart. "In one ear and out the other" also means manas does not care, doesn't take it to heart. The common saying "a big radish face, neither red nor white" means no matter what others say, manas is unmoved, so the complexion does not change. Therefore, true "stirring of the heart" refers to manas. Once manas stirs, thoughts appear, body and mind react, complexion changes—this is called "the heart stirs, the mind is moved."
The "mind" in "subduing the mind"—does it refer to the conscious mind, manas, or both simultaneously? First, consciousness is subdued, then manas is subdued. Subduing manas is the true, ultimate subduing; only then is the goal achieved. Cultivation begins with subduing the conscious mind's thoughts of greed, hatred, and delusion. From there, gradually deepen, slowly permeating, transforming, and subduing manas's greed, hatred, and delusion. Only when both are subdued is it complete subduing. Subduing only consciousness is useless; if manas commands consciousness towards greed, hatred, or delusion, consciousness has no choice but to obey.
The poisonous effects of greed, hatred, and delusion on body and mind are actually afflictions arising from manas, which then affect body and mind, causing adverse reactions. Consciousness alone giving rise to afflictions has almost no effect on the body. Once manas gives rise to afflictions, it's serious—one is at a loss, cannot eat well, cannot sleep peacefully, easily gets agitated, complexion and blood color can change, appearing anxious and restless, and physical illnesses can appear. Therefore, the most stubborn and powerful ox is still manas; it has too much force and also has the authority to command. Only subduing manas's afflictions is truly subduing afflictions.
19. "Leakage" (āsrava) means having the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion. "Non-leakage" (anāsrava) means being without the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion. The six consciousnesses all have greed, hatred, and delusion; manas also has greed, hatred, and delusion. If manas's greed, hatred, and delusion are not severed, it will command the six consciousnesses to create karmic actions of greed, hatred, and delusion; the six consciousnesses cannot be non-leaking. Therefore, non-leakage primarily refers to manas's non-leakage. From this, we see how important changing manas is.
How to make manas uphold precepts? Consciousness must study the Buddhadharma, understand the function of precepts, know the benefits of upholding precepts, and the consequences of not upholding precepts. Then, continuously analyze and contemplate the various merits of receiving and upholding precepts, contemplate what kind of suffering results from not receiving and not upholding precepts, thereby permeating manas and enabling it to understand this principle. Once manas understands, it will proactively receive and uphold precepts; that is true receiving and upholding of precepts, not merely the false receiving and upholding of precepts by consciousness orally. When manas has not been successfully permeated, it does not want to receive precepts, nor uphold them. Sometimes it passively receives precepts instigated by consciousness but absolutely will not uphold them. When manas does not understand cause and effect, it absolutely will not automatically and consciously uphold the precepts. Consciousness must then force manas; this is called suppressing manas; manas is not willing. When first receiving precepts, one must constrain oneself (manas) like this. Later, when manas understands the principle, it will automatically uphold precepts without violation.
20. A person with cultivation, even when encountering unwholesome conditions in dreams, knows to uphold precepts and not create unwholesome karma. This is a person whose cultivation is truly effective. Bodily, verbal, and mental actions in dreams better reflect a person's level of cultivation. If one can be in control and not create unwholesome karma in dreams, then in the intermediate state (bardo) after death, one has some certainty. In dreams, the conscious mind's control is weaker; manas's habits completely dominate. If in dreams, manas has no afflictive, defiled habits, it indicates that this person's cultivation has permeated manas, and manas has been subdued. Because the manas in dreams is the same manas outside dreams, the manas of the daytime; manas does not sleep, does not cease, it is continuous. Therefore, daily cultivation can influence dreams.
If consciousness is cultivated very well, consciousness knows it is in a dream and can resist manas's defiled nature, not creating unwholesome karma. Therefore, true cultivation should be able to change manas; cultivation that has not reached manas is still not effective. Many people have not even successfully permeated consciousness; consciousness still creates unwholesome karma openly and righteously, does not even want to uphold the five precepts. Such a person has not yet begun true cultivation; they are still a beginner in studying Buddhism.
