The Right Understanding of Manas
Chapter One: The Concept of Manas
I. "Faculty" (根) signifies generative capacity. Manas is not only the faculty that generates consciousness, but also the faculty that generates all dharmas. The generative function belongs to the tathāgatagarbha (如来藏). The tathāgatagarbha, relying on manas as its faculty, gives rise to consciousness and all dharmas. Without manas as this faculty, all seeds cannot sprout.
Manas is not the brain or the nervous system. The brain and nervous system are material form (rūpa-dharma), belonging to the body faculty (身根), and are form faculties (有色根). The first five faculties (前五根) are all form faculties, possessing form and appearance. Manas, however, is a formless faculty (无色根), without form or appearance. It belongs to mind, is a mental dharma (心法), and is not a material rūpa-dharma composed of the four great elements (四大). It possesses the function and role of mind; it is the mind that constantly and everywhere acts as the sovereign. Therefore, manas possesses spiritual life. When manas is present, the body can be upheld by the tathāgatagarbha, preventing decay, and constitutes a sentient being (众生). When a sentient being dies, only manas does not perish, enabling the existence of an intermediate state body (中阴身). Within the intermediate state body, manas takes the tathāgatagarbha to seek rebirth.
Manas is consciousness (识). It possesses the function and power of consciousness; it is the driving force that produces all dharmas. As long as manas exists, even without the six functions of the six consciousnesses, it is still a living person, not wood or stone. For example, in the state of no-thought concentration (无想定) and the concentration of cessation (灭尽定), there are no six consciousnesses and no functions of the six consciousnesses, yet it is not death. An arhat emerging from the concentration of cessation can still go on alms round. During dreamless sleep, the moment of death (正死位), and unconsciousness, the functions of the six consciousnesses are absent, but manas is present; therefore, one is still a living person during these times. The cycle of birth and death for sentient beings across lifetimes is determined by the ignorance (无明) of manas, produced by the clinging (执著) and attachment (攀缘) of manas, and is also drawn out by the karmic force (业力) of sentient beings. The principle of this cycle is the twelve links of dependent origination (十二因缘法): ignorance conditions volitional formations (无明缘行); volitional formations condition consciousness (行缘识); consciousness conditions name-and-form (识缘名色); name-and-form conditions the six sense bases (名色缘六入); the six sense bases condition contact (六入缘触); contact conditions feeling (触缘受); feeling conditions craving (受缘爱); craving conditions clinging (爱缘取); clinging conditions becoming (取缘有); becoming conditions birth (有缘生); birth conditions aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair (生缘老死忧悲苦恼).
II. Some say manas is the heart; others say it is the brain. If manas were the heart, then when the heart is destroyed, manas would cease to exist. If someone undergoes a heart transplant, would manas also be transplanted? If manas were transplanted along with it, then some people would have two manas, some would have none, and some sentient beings would have nine consciousnesses or seven consciousnesses. If a sentient being had two manas, there would be two sovereign consciousnesses, causing psychological confusion and making the being unable to decide what to do. The person without manas would enter extinction (入灭), never to be born again.
If sentient beings lacked manas, there would be no sovereign mind; the six spirits (六神) would have no master, no dharmas would manifest, there would be no six spirits, and the six consciousnesses would not arise. Therefore, saying manas is the heart is incorrect; saying it is the brain is also incorrect. The brain is material rūpa-dharma, while manas is not rūpa-dharma but a mental dharma (心法). It does not perish with the destruction of the physical body; it can endure into future lives for immeasurable eons without perishing.
Manas is a unique faculty, different from the first five faculties. It is not material rūpa-dharma but belongs to mental dharmas; the other five faculties are material rūpa-dharmas. Manas possesses both the function of a faculty and the function of consciousness; it is the faculty and consciousness that can go to future lives. Therefore, after a sentient being dies, manas does not perish. Due to craving and clinging to the five-aggregate body (五阴身), it relies on the tathāgatagarbha to form an intermediate state body. Within the intermediate state body, it goes together with the tathāgatagarbha to take rebirth, acquiring the five-aggregate body of the next life. If manas were extinguished, the sentient being would enter the state of remainderless nirvāṇa (无余涅槃), with no six faculties, six objects, or six consciousnesses, and thus no sentient being would exist. Only arhats who have exhausted all afflictions are willing to extinguish manas and have the ability to extinguish manas themselves.
Ordinary beings (凡夫) lack the ability to extinguish manas because the fundamental ignorance (一念无明) and afflictions like greed, hatred, and delusion (贪嗔痴烦恼) are still present; they lack the capacity to sever the suffering of the birth-and-death cycle. Sentient beings have been in the cycle of birth and death for immeasurable eons; manas has never been severed. Lifetimes after lifetime, it clings to the five aggregates subject to clinging (五受阴) and craves worldly dharmas (世俗法), thus ensuring rebirth in the next life; the root of birth and death cannot be severed. Bodhisattvas on the grounds (地上菩萨), who have the ability to fully extinguish manas, are unwilling to do so. They do not wish to extinguish body and mind (灰身泯智) to escape the suffering of birth and death. They all vow to benefit themselves and others within the three realms (三界), willingly enduring minor worldly suffering, courageously advancing on the path to Buddhahood, while simultaneously rescuing sentient beings, enabling them to leave the suffering of birth and death, and together achieve Buddhahood. Therefore, the mind of a Bodhisattva is vast and boundless, far surpassing that of an arhat; hence they are called Great Mind Bodhisattvas (大心菩萨).
III. Manas has existed since beginningless eons (无始劫) and can be extinguished through cultivation; it is not an indestructible dharma. The tathāgatagarbha moment by moment gives rise to the consciousness-seeds of manas, forming the continuous operating state of manas. Therefore, manas is also characterized by arising and ceasing. The mental formations (心行) of manas change unceasingly; its consciousness-seeds arise and cease unceasingly; ignorance constantly changes; afflictions also arise and cease without end. Therefore, manas is said to be impermanent (无常) and suffering (苦). Manas is produced by the tathāgatagarbha; it is characterized by arising and ceasing, thus it is empty (空) and illusory (幻化); arising, ceasing, and changing is suffering; the inability to be eternally singular is suffering.
IV. Where do manas and the other five faculties come from? The five faculties are gradually manifested by the tathāgatagarbha outputting the seed-nature of the four great elements (地水火风四大种子) while in the mother's womb; they are dharmas that did not originally exist but were produced later. After birth, they must continuously grow, then gradually change, and finally perish – they are dharmas characterized by arising, ceasing, changing, and impermanence; they are not long-lasting and are unreliable. How is manas produced? Manas has existed since beginningless eons; it needs to rely on the tathāgatagarbha transmitting consciousness-seeds to function. A fourth-fruit arhat (四果罗汉), upon severing self-clinging and at life's end, can extinguish it to enter remainderless nirvāṇa. Manas is also an impermanent dharma characterized by arising and ceasing; thus, the five aggregates can be completely extinguished, leaving only the tathāgatagarbha existing coolly and quiescently. Therefore, manas is also a non-autonomous dharma; it depends on the tathāgatagarbha to exist. When the conditions within the three realms cease, manas also ceases.
Manas has existed since beginningless eons because the time of its existence is so vast that no beginning point can be found; there is no initial beginning. This is why there has been the flow of birth and death since beginningless eons; otherwise, only the tathāgatagarbha would be clear and eternally abiding, and the appearance of sentient beings' five-aggregate bodies would not occur. After an arhat extinguishes manas in remainderless nirvāṇa, when conditions in the world are sufficient, the tathāgatagarbha can again give rise to manas, then produce the five faculties, and when the five aggregates are complete, a living being will reappear. Therefore, the arhat rests in the illusory city (化城) for a while but must still come out again. It would be better to practice the Bodhisattva path from the beginning, avoiding such a long detour and wasting so much time thinking that avoiding suffering is sufficient, only to find it is still not ultimate. Unfinished karma must still be resolved; unbroken ignorance must still be broken. Taking remainderless nirvāṇa turns out to be unprofitable; hence the Buddha called them foolish people.
V. "Innate" (俱生) means present at birth, existing whenever life exists. Innate self-clinging (俱生我执) and innate afflictions (俱生烦恼) refer to manas's inherent nature of clinging to self and afflictions like greed, hatred, delusion, and arrogance, etc. Since beginningless eons, it has carried the habit-energy of clinging to self and possesses many afflictions like greed, hatred, delusion, and arrogance. Manas corresponds to karmic seeds. Depending on what kind of seeds were stored from karmic actions since beginningless eons, manas manifests corresponding mental formations and can impel seeds to become manifest actions, directing the mental formations of consciousness to correspond with the karmic seeds. Manas is not born along with the birth of a life; it accompanies each life, each life-form, existing continuously, present with life; hence it is called innate. Since beginningless eons, due to the obscuration of ignorance, manas has continuously clung to the five-aggregate body as self and belonging to self; therefore, it is called innate self-clinging.
Innate self-clinging is the erroneous view, continuously and falsely habituated by manas since beginningless time, of taking the five aggregates as self; the habit-energy of clinging to the five aggregates accompanies the five aggregates of every lifetime. Consciousness, however, is new each lifetime; it cannot correspond to memories of past lives and lacks innate self-clinging. Its self-clinging nature is influenced and driven both by the innate manas and by the conditioning of the postnatal environment. Consciousness is pulled by the habit-energy of manas. For example, upon seeing an enemy from a past life, consciousness does not recognize or know this person, yet dislikes them without knowing why; this is manas pulling consciousness to stir up hatred.
Consciousness lacks innate nature. The consciousness of a newborn infant, even in the womb, is newly born and completely fresh, not carrying the afflictions and habit-energy from past lives or beginningless eons. Regarding all dharmas of this life, it must learn anew to master them, although the degree and speed of mastery are still related to karmic seeds accumulated over lifetimes, facilitated by the conditioning of manas and karmic seeds. On one hand, consciousness is conditioned by the living environment of this life, giving rise to wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral mental factors (心所法) depending on conditions. On the other hand, it is conditioned by manas: if manas is wholesome, consciousness is wholesome; if manas is unwholesome, consciousness is unwholesome.
Therefore, when manas gives rise to afflictions like greed, hatred, and delusion, often without allowing consciousness to deliberate or choose, manas will dominate consciousness to inexplicably manifest mental formations of greed, hatred, and delusion, creating karmic actions of greed, hatred, and delusion. The rationality of consciousness sometimes cannot function as it should. When karmic seeds manifest and the emotions and habit-energy of manas manifest, even if consciousness has rationality, it is hard to withstand it. Moreover, the consciousness of most people lacks rationality, so afflictions will run rampant.
VI. The subconscious (潜意识) is another name for manas, the manas-consciousness (末那识), a synonym for manas. Because ordinary beings outside the Buddhist community are unaware of manas, the manas-consciousness, they describe the functions of manas as another function of consciousness, calling it the hidden function of consciousness, the subconscious. Confusing manas and consciousness together is said by those outside the Buddha Dharma; this precisely demonstrates ignorance of the distinction between manas and consciousness. Within the Buddhist community, especially the Consciousness-Only (唯识) school, manas is called the manas-consciousness, a consciousness distinct from consciousness, its functions discussed separately, not confused with consciousness. Distinguishing consciousness and manas in this way leads to great wisdom. This is the explanation of wise experts and also what the Buddha taught.
Without meditative concentration (定力) and wisdom, it is fundamentally impossible to observe the function of manas; the mind is too coarse. The ability of manas is not something ordinary people can discover. The one who fully knows the ability of manas is the Buddha. Those who can observe the operation of manas are Bodhisattvas on the grounds. Among the seven consciousnesses, the most capable is manas, called the second transforming consciousness (第二能变识). Next is consciousness, called the third transforming consciousness (第三能变识). The five sense consciousnesses are also within the third transforming consciousness, grouped with consciousness. The power and dominant role of manas are considerable. All dharmas of the three realms are initiated by manas. When manas is completely transformed, one becomes a Buddha. When manas is extremely defiled, one can enter hell while still alive.
VII. The definition of manas in the *Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana* (大乘起信论) composed by Bodhisattva Aśvaghoṣa (马鸣菩萨): "This manas also has five different names: 1. Karmic consciousness (业识), meaning that due to the power of ignorance, the mind moves without awareness. 2. Evolving consciousness (转识), meaning that relying on the moving mind, it can perceive objective appearances. 3. Manifesting consciousness (现识), meaning it manifests all appearances of objects; just as a bright mirror reflects all images, so too the manifesting consciousness: as the five sense objects confront it, they are immediately manifested, without sequence, without effort. 4. Discriminating consciousness (智识), meaning it discriminates the various differentiated dharmas as defiled or pure. 5. Continuity consciousness (相续识), meaning it constantly corresponds with mental attention without interruption, upholds past wholesome and unwholesome karmas, preventing their loss or decay; matures present and future karmic results of suffering and happiness, ensuring they are not transgressed; suddenly remembers events already experienced; and falsely discriminates events not yet experienced."
This means manas has five different names:
(1) Manas is karmic consciousness, corresponding to karmic force. Due to the function of ignorant karmic force, manas, lacking awareness, gives rise to thoughts, and the mind moves outward, turning to attach. Mental factors like attention (作意), sensation (受), perception (想), and volition (思) manifest. The tathāgatagarbha cooperates with this, giving rise to corresponding dharmas; dharmas of the three realms arise, and the five-aggregate body is born. The thoughts of manas primarily involve the activity of the volition mental factor. The tathāgatagarbha cognizes the thoughts of manas and will strive to fulfill them; if the seeds are sufficient, the tathāgatagarbha will certainly actualize manas's thoughts.
Therefore, if manas's mind does not move, and the volition mental factor does not manifest, the tathāgatagarbha will not cooperate to satisfy manas's needs and thoughts, and dharmas will not appear. What does "mind moves" mean? Manas has ideas, has wishes; the volition mental factor manifests, desiring to act. Only after the tathāgatagarbha cognizes this and cooperates with the volition mental factor are dharmas of the three realms born. Moreover, ignorant karmic force has existed since beginningless eons, corresponding to manas, prompting manas to give rise to mental activity and thoughts, desiring to crave outwardly, desiring to cognize the external world. The tathāgatagarbha cooperates, giving rise to the universe and receptacle world, then subsequently the five aggregates. The World-Honored One explained this in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra.
(2) Manas is evolving consciousness. "Evolving" means flowing and revolving. Due to ignorant karmic force, manas gives rise to thoughts of craving, thus revolving within the three realms and the six destinies. When manas's mind moves and revolves, the tathāgatagarbha accordingly manifests all dharmas, objective appearances manifest, manas cognizes them, then the six consciousnesses arise, the objects appear within the minds of the six consciousnesses, bodily, verbal, and mental actions manifest, karmic actions appear, karmic seeds are stored, and birth and death continue.
(3) Manas is manifesting consciousness, the second transforming consciousness. It can impel the tathāgatagarbha to manifest all dharmas. The tathāgatagarbha, relying on its volition mental factor, manifests all dharmas, like fire in a mirror – without true substance, without burning function – because it is a representational form (带质境), not the true objective form of the external five dusts.
(4) Manas is discriminating consciousness. It possesses a certain degree of wisdom, has cognitive discernment, has discriminatory nature, and can know dharmas. It not only cognizes dharmas of the six dusts but also dharmas beyond the six dusts. As long as one's own tathāgatagarbha can manifest it, manas can know it. What it cognizes are dharmas similar to the objective realm. It knows not only dharmas of the present life but also dharmas of past lives and dharmas of future lives. It can know all dharmas of heaven and earth simultaneously; its wisdom is also immeasurable, far surpassing consciousness. Consciousness only cognizes the six dust objects relatively subtly, knowing all details. Manas cannot know details and subtle dharmas; it can only cognize the general situation and rough outlines. However, this is sufficient.
(5) Manas is continuity consciousness, continuing unbroken life after life. If one does not enter remainderless nirvāṇa, manas, like the tathāgatagarbha, never perishes, possessing equal lifespan – both are immeasurable life. Because manas continues unbroken, it can carry karmic seeds from beginningless eons to future lives, corresponding to karmic seeds and karmic force lifetime after lifetime, enabling the tathāgatagarbha to continuously actualize karmic causes and effects, which it itself must bear.
Manas: "Suddenly remembers events already experienced; falsely discriminates events not yet experienced." For events it has previously experienced, manas can suddenly recall them, then alert consciousness, letting consciousness cognize the details. Consciousness then has phenomena like recollection, reminiscence, or distraction – all results of manas's attachment.
Manas also falsely discriminates events it has not experienced, similarly desiring to know them. Based on some conditions manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, it can know events that will happen in the future, possessing the ability of foreknowledge, predicting the occurrence of events, thus allowing consciousness to be prepared. Precisely because manas has the function of recollection, it can bring forth events it experienced before, letting consciousness cognize them. Consciousness, in most cases, lacks the ability to cognize dharmas beyond the six dusts. It guesses manas's thoughts, only occasionally guessing correctly; most of the time, it knows nothing.
