Guide to the Cultivation and Realization of the Manas: Part One
Chapter 5: The Relationship Between the Manas and the Mind Consciousness
1. The Cultivation Relationship Between the Mind Consciousness and the Manas
For example, when a person is going to give a speech on stage, he prepares for ten days or half a month offstage, practicing and rehearsing continuously every day, all for the sake of delivering a smooth speech of half an hour or an hour on stage, so that the content he has carefully prepared can be presented fully and without compromise, in order to influence and move the audience. The preparation offstage is analogous to the cultivation of the mind consciousness, while the formal speech onstage is analogous to the cultivation of the manas. Therefore, cultivating the manas is far more important than cultivating the mind consciousness; the cultivation of the manas determines success or failure and is the hallmark of whether one's cultivation is accomplished.
Because even if one practices very well offstage, if the performance onstage fails, no one will applaud. The audience does not care how hard one worked offstage; they only care about the performance onstage. Likewise, no matter how diligently the mind consciousness works, if it does not penetrate deeply into the manas, there will be no result; the expected goal is not achieved, cause and effect will not acknowledge it, and nothing can be changed. However, without the foundation of mind-consciousness cultivation, it is impossible to perfuse and influence the manas, and thus there can be no talk of cultivating the manas.
2. Whether the Functions of the Manas Would Decrease Without the Mind Consciousness
We should know that the manas has an extremely large number of functions. Regarding its functions with respect to the six sense objects, if it were separated from the five-aggregate body and the six consciousnesses, then even if the manas had a thousand intentions and ten thousand clever schemes, they would be difficult to display and difficult to carry out, because there would be no executor, no implementer, no subordinates, no hands and feet. So from this point of view, the manas is a neutral (avyākṛta) consciousness: its wholesome and unwholesome mental actions cannot be realized, wholesome and unwholesome deeds cannot be performed, and the seeds of wholesome and unwholesome bodily, verbal, and mental actions cannot be stored, so wholesome and unwholesome retribution cannot come to fruition. Therefore, before beginningless kalpas, before there were the material world and five-aggregate bodies, even though the manas had countless afflictions of ignorance, it had no karmic actions of ignorance and affliction, and together with the tathāgatagarbha it existed in profound obscurity. Thus, when the manas is apart from the mind consciousness, its functions are still just as many; they simply cannot be displayed or operate.
3. If the Manas Is Apart from the Mind Consciousness, Would Its Specific-Object Wisdom Be Unable to Accomplish Anything?
If the manas is apart from the mind consciousness's specific-object wisdom, it would accomplish nothing. This means that without the discernment of the mind consciousness's mental factor of wisdom (prajñā-caitta), the manas would be unable to do anything and would have nothing to occupy itself with. This would imply that the manas cannot leave the mind consciousness, that without the mind consciousness even the material body and the five aggregates could not function, and that no dharmas would appear. In fact, this question refutes itself. The states in which the mind consciousness, lacking specific-object wisdom, is in a state of cessation or extinction number five in total: at the time of death, in a coma, in dreamless sleep, in the meditative absorption of no-perception (asaṃjñā-samāpatti), and in the meditative absorption of cessation (nirodha-samāpatti). In every one of these cases, the manas still has its own functions operating independently; the manas has never stopped running, except in nirvāṇa without remainder. Once the manas is unable to accomplish anything, it will no longer uphold the body, the functions of the material body and the five aggregates will disappear, and the person will die.
In situations without the mind consciousness, such as dreamless sleep and dreaming, what is the manas doing then? Is it idle, not contacting sense objects, not discerning states? Clearly not. The manas belongs to the life-faculty (jīvita-indriya) of sentient beings, and this life-faculty is especially concerned with and attached to the material body and all dharmas related to oneself. When there is no mind consciousness, the manas still upholds and maintains the material body, discerns the condition of the body, discerns everything in the surroundings, deliberates on dharmas related and unrelated to itself, deliberates on important and unimportant dharmas, deliberates on meaningful and meaningless dharmas, and ceaseslessly grasps at objects. The five universal mental factors and other mental factors all operate as usual, and mental activity does not stop.
At all times the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to and manifests all dharmas. The manas has the characteristic of silently containing all dharmas; He will certainly rely on the tathāgatagarbha to contact the dharmas that the tathāgatagarbha has secondarily transformed and manifested, taking the dharmas seen by the tathāgatagarbha as what He himself sees, and taking these dharmas as His own possessions, thereby giving rise to various mental actions and thoughts, to the point of causing dreams to appear. All the thoughts and concepts in a dream belong to the manas, and all the mental actions also belong to the manas; the mind consciousness only plays an auxiliary role to the manas. Therefore, a person's true level of cultivation can be seen from his behavior in dreams, and also from his behavior when the mind consciousness is not clear, such as when drunk.
During a coma there is no mind consciousness, yet the manas is not resigned to remaining in the coma; when it notices that the body has improved slightly, it will struggle to wake up. This shows that when the manas is in a coma without the mind consciousness, it has mental activity, the mental factors are all operating, it constantly pays attention to the condition of the body faculty, can discern the state of the body, knows that the coma is bad, and also tries to find a way to wake up. Some people, while in a coma, will even have their consciousness seek out close relatives to rescue themselves, transmitting information, telling their loved ones where they are and what their situation is. Therefore, the manas can represent an independent person, with various mental actions and mental factors and much inner activity; it is merely that when operating, it needs the cooperation of the mind consciousness and the five sense consciousnesses to complete things. To summarize: in many situations the manas does not need to rely on the mind consciousness and has its own various functions; it is only when specifically discerning the six sense-object realms and handling problems that it needs the mind consciousness.
4. When There Is No Mind Consciousness, Can the Manas Discern and Deliberate on Its Own?
The manas has the characteristic of constant, attentive deliberation (manasikāra). "Constant" means frequently, always, forever, without interruption; "attentive" means examining and scrutinizing; "deliberation" means pondering, measuring, weighing, and reflecting. That the manas has this nature shows that the manas is a decision-maker, a master who has the final say over all dharmas. Then how is this function of the manas put to use? It is put to use through the manas's five universal mental factors, the five specific-object mental factors, and the wholesome and unwholesome mental factors.
Since the manas is a consciousness that is the master and has the final say over all dharmas, it must have considerable judgment in order to be the master and make choices. And how does the manas judge, and on what does it rely to judge and choose? The manas must rely on its own deliberative nature to judge and choose. If the manas could not deliberate on its own, it would have no way to make its own judgments, no way to choose anything, no way to be the master, and it would not be a master-consciousness. When the manas deliberates on its own, it sometimes also relies on information transmitted by the six consciousnesses, relying on the mind consciousness's.
When the mind consciousness is frightened but the manas is not, one's behavior is about the same as usual; the manas can still continue to regulate the five faculties and six consciousnesses to do what they should do, and one will not appear blank and stunned. When the manas is angry, the mind is immersed in the event, attending only to its anger, with no energy or mood to regulate the mind consciousness to express anything. When the mind consciousness is angry but the manas is not, the manas regulates the five faculties and six consciousnesses to do whatever they should do as usual, without being affected.
12. The Manas Directs the Mind Consciousness's Thinking Activity
As long as the eighth consciousness manifests dharmas, the manas will necessarily rely on the eighth consciousness to contact and discern them. Even if the manas has no problems, if the brain has problems, the manas cannot normally direct the movement of the whole body through the brain's nervous system, and the mind consciousness is also affected. Only after the brain is normal can the mind consciousness's thinking be normal. In later life, only when the brain is normal can the manas's direction and control be normal, and the mind consciousness's thinking activity can also be normal.
13. Only When the Manas Contacts the Inner Mental Sense-Object Does the Mind Consciousness Arise
The eleven kinds of material form—the five faculties, the five sense objects, and the form included in the dharma realm (the mental sense-object of material form)—must arise prior to the six consciousnesses; otherwise the six consciousnesses could not appear. After the six consciousnesses arise, they can propel the appearance of the subjectively imagined realm; the subjectively imagined realm also appears through the manas's imagining, letting the mind consciousness discern it, and further propels the further arising and transformation of the illusory subjectively imagined realm. When faculty and object contact each other, the consciousness subsequently arises; the mind consciousness will not arise before the inner mental sense-object appears. When the manas contacts the outer mental sense-object, the mind consciousness cannot arise; no mind consciousness is born.
Because the manas is obstructed by ignorance, when it discerns all dharmas it does not know their essence, does not know their true characteristics, and cannot break through ignorance to give rise to wisdom, which causes the functions of the six consciousnesses to be hindered and limited. When the mind consciousness studies the Buddha-dharma and continuously perfuses the manas, after the manas understands the principles, it will realize that the worldly dharmas of the five aggregates are all subject to arising and ceasing, changeable and unreal, empty and without self; going a step further, it will realize that the essence of the five-aggregate body and all dharmas is the tathāgatagarbha.
14. Why Must a Paired Set of Organs Be Coordinated in Order to Accomplish Anything?
When two hands are to move together, they must be coordinated, with identical movements, in order to accomplish the task; otherwise it is difficult. The same is true of the two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, two feet, and two legs: their movements must be coordinated and their goals identical or similar for things to be easily accomplished; otherwise it is not easy to perform non-coordinated movements. Why is this? The movements of the two hands are commands issued by the brain, and the brain is directed and controlled by the manas. When the manas wants to use the hands to do something, it issues a command, and the two hands must move in coordination simultaneously. If the manas wants to use the left and right hands to do two different things at the same time, the commands transmitted by the brain must be split into two parts, and the mind consciousness and body consciousness must be divided into separate streams; the nervous system will struggle to cooperate, unless one has undergone a period of special training.
As for the two eyes, no matter how one trains, they cannot each contact, attend to, and discern separately; they are very hard to separate. The two nostrils are also hard to separate, one exhaling and one inhaling—perhaps possible with special training. The two ears are relatively easier to separate in their activities. The two feet and two legs are also rather difficult to separate into independent, uncoordinated activities. The reason it is difficult is that they belong to one faculty, one nervous transmission system, one brain command. The difficulty or ease lies in whether the manas's attention and energy are sufficient, and also in whether the energy of the six consciousnesses is sufficient.
Separating the functions of the manas and the mind consciousness allows one to understand the respective natures of the manas and the mind consciousness better and more clearly; when they are mixed together, the nature of neither consciousness can be understood clearly. After the functions of the manas and the mind consciousness are separated, by observing the manas alone, one can know what characteristics the manas has, what afflictions, what habits, what mental factors; one need not chew over other people's words anymore, but has the ability oneself to observe the true situation.
15. The Mind Consciousness Can Influence the Manas's Decisions
Pure great elements have the aspect of generative capacity and can generate material form; material form is generated by the tathāgatagarbha, arising in dependence on sentient beings' karmic conditions, arising and ceasing and changing. Specifically, it is still the result of the combined operation of the three transformative consciousnesses (the three that can transform); it is not entirely determined by the karmic seeds within the tathāgatagarbha—there are also acquired factors, and acquired factors cannot be separated from the manas and the mind consciousness. For example, if the mind consciousness lives in the world and everything goes against its wishes, it will feel that the world is utterly tedious; after the manas knows this, it may have the thought of not wanting to live, and may then find a way to commit suicide. If the mind consciousness does not care about the material body, the manas will decide not to strengthen its nutrition, and the body will become weak and frail. The intentions of the manas and the mind consciousness can direct everything and change everything; when our power of intention is strong, we can also change external things.
16. How to Correctly and Properly Guide the Manas
When the mind consciousness studies the dharmas of the five-aggregate world—suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self—and deliberates on them, it will perfume and guide the manas, telling it not to keep grasping at these conditioned, impermanent dharmas. When studying various teachings, one must always deliberate on them and perfume the manas; once the manas understands the principles of the Dharma, its grasping and attachment will gradually diminish. The mind consciousness frequently engaging in correct, reasonable, and Dharma-accordant contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) is the effective way to guide the manas.
17. The Conditions Required for Seeing the Mind and Attaining Enlightenment
The first point for seeing the mind is that the sixth and seventh consciousnesses should be in a normal state, relatively serene, with inner peace, fully endowed with meditative concentration, possessing the wisdom of deep contemplative practice, being fairly familiar with the issues of the five-aggregate body, and having eradicated the view of self or being close to eradicating it—only then is there an opportunity to see the mind.
The vast majority of people, in normal states, cannot have clear thinking, cannot eradicate the view of self, and cannot see the mind; then in extremely abnormal states, it is even less possible to have clear thinking, to eradicate the view of self, or to see the mind. For example, in a state of unconsciousness, in dreamless sleep and dreaming, in the intermediate state (antarābhava), in the state after death before the intermediate body has arisen, in extreme anger, in extreme weakness, in hardship and difficulty, in a dazed state, in madness, in mental derangement, and so on—if the mind consciousness cannot think normally, how could one awaken?
When one has fainted into unconsciousness, why can one not see the mind and attain enlightenment? Because there is no mind consciousness, no thinking, and the manas is panicked; without investigation there can be no enlightenment. In dreamless sleep, why can one not see the mind and attain enlightenment? Because there is no mind consciousness to lead the manas in investigating Chan, therefore one cannot attain enlightenment. If the manas has been perfused to a very mature degree, after falling asleep it may be able to investigate on its own and perhaps succeed; but one must wait until waking up, alerting the mind consciousness, and only when the mind consciousness also understands is it enlightenment. In dreaming there is a mind consciousness—why can one not see the mind and attain enlightenment? Because the mind consciousness cannot think clearly and cannot lead the manas in investigating, therefore one cannot attain enlightenment. Unless the manas has been perfused to maturity and can investigate even in dreams—but such exceptional cases are too rare and are not universal.
After death, before the intermediate body has arisen, why can one not see the mind and attain enlightenment? Because there is no mind consciousness to think and lead, and the manas is panicked; without investigation there can be no enlightenment. In the intermediate body, why can one not see the mind and attain enlightenment? Because ordinary sentient beings obstructed by karma are in extreme panic in the intermediate body, not knowing the future, without a calm state of mind to investigate, without meditative concentration, and unable to investigate single-mindedly; therefore they cannot attain enlightenment. Can one attain enlightenment in the nirvāṇa of the intermediate state? The nirvāṇa of the intermediate state is the nirvāṇa attained by anāgāmins; anāgāmins have meditative concentration of the first dhyāna and above—generally, only with the concentration of the fourth dhyāna and above can one attain the nirvāṇa of the intermediate state. An anāgāmin who has not given rise to the aspiration for buddhahood cannot investigate Chan; if one can investigate Chan before entering the nirvāṇa of the intermediate state, one can see the mind and attain enlightenment. In nirvāṇa without remainder, can one see the mind and attain enlightenment? In nirvāṇa without remainder there are no sixth and seventh consciousnesses; without an investigator of Chan there is no one to attain enlightenment, therefore one cannot attain enlightenment; the eighth consciousness cannot substitute for the sixth and seventh consciousnesses to attain enlightenment.
For the vast majority of sentient beings, even a small matter at home disturbs their minds, and they cannot study and cultivate Buddhism normally—how could they still deliberate on the Dharma and investigate Chan? Let alone in the intermediate body, before the intermediate body has arisen, in dreams and outside of dreams? When something small happens, their hands tremble even while typing—can they still see the mind? When someone comes to curse them, they immediately cannot bear it and curse back—can they still see the mind? People who ordinarily commit much unwholesome karma and have heavy afflictions are all people without meditative concentration; their minds are impure and easily agitated; in special periods they lack meditative concentration even more, cannot deliberate on the Dharma, let alone investigate Chan. Therefore, in special periods they cannot see the mind and attain enlightenment.
If one has the concentration of the fourth dhyāna, can one see the mind in the intermediate body? If one possesses the fourth dhyāna concentration while in a human body, one can see the mind after emerging from concentration, because this person, even when not in the fourth dhyāna concentration, still has quite good concentration. In the intermediate body, the concentration is also quite good, and the intermediate body will not affect him; therefore he can attain enlightenment. The benefit of the four dhyānas and eight absorptions is that they enable one to have meditative concentration in the mind at all times, handling all human affairs calmly, thoroughly, steadily, and with clear thinking.
