The Right Understanding of Manas
Chapter 9: The Four Aspects of the Manas and Intuition
1. Can the Perceiving-Aspect and the Object-Aspect Be Separated?
The perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga) of the six consciousnesses cannot be separated from the object-aspects (nimitta) of the six sense-objects, whereas the object-aspects of the six sense-objects can be separated from the perceiving-aspect of the six consciousnesses. Without the object-aspect, the perceiving-aspect does not exist; without an object-aspect to be perceived, the perceiving-aspect cannot exist alone. There must first be the object-aspects of the six sense-objects before the six consciousnesses can arise; once the six consciousnesses arise, the perceiving-aspect appears, the five universal mental factors become active, and simultaneously the object-aspect is discerned and manifested. When the object-aspect appears upon the consciousness, the self-cognition (svasaṃvitti) becomes present.
The seventh consciousness, the manas, also always has corresponding object-aspects existing. The manas's perceiving-aspect relies on the tathāgatagarbha's perceiving-aspect and can perceive all the dharmas illusorily manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, constantly discerning the object-aspects transformed and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, without ever ceasing. The perceiving-aspect is together with the object-aspect in every instant; the five universal mental factors are always operating; object-aspects are always appearing upon the consciousness; the perceiving-aspect and self-cognition are always actively functioning. However, when the manas had not yet appeared in the world of the five aggregates, there were no object-aspects; there were only two consciousness-minds, the tathāgatagarbha and the manas, with no other dharmas existing. Afterwards, because the manas was unwilling to remain quiescent and sought outwardly, the tathāgatagarbha then, in accordance with it, manifested the world of the three realms, and the body of the five aggregates appeared, and the object-aspects of the manas also appeared.
The perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha has always existed; the seeds and the manas have always been the object-aspects discerned by the tathāgatagarbha. After the world of the three realms was born, all dharmas are the object-aspects of the tathāgatagarbha. What the manas perceives are the illusory object-aspects manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, like reflections in a mirror, not substantial material form (rūpa).
2. Question: When the manas insists on its own views and stubbornly holds to them, which of the four aspects is functioning? When the manas repents, which of the four aspects is functioning? What is insisting on one's own views? Why should one repent?
Answer: If the manas insists on its own views and stubbornly holds to them, it means the manas knows and understands its own views and considers its own views to be correct, and therefore insists on not changing them—this is the function of the manas's self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana). If the manas wants to repent, it means the manas has recognized its own faults and thus wants to repent—this is the function of the manas's self-validating cognition.
"One's own" (己) means oneself; "one's own views" means one's own opinions—this is self-cognition (svasaṃvitti). If one insists on one's own views, first one knows that one has views and what those views are—this is self-validating cognition. Knowing one's errors and not correcting them, knowing one has faults but not wanting to correct them, is also self-validating cognition. When the manas wants to repent, it is because the manas has recognized its own erroneous views and wants to confess, eliminate, and correct them, vowing not to repeat them, and so it will repent. Whenever one knows anything about oneself, it is self-validating cognition.
3. Question: Is the object-aspect the result of the perceiving-aspect? The object-aspect of the eye consciousness is the visible colors and so forth that are seen; then what is the object-aspect of the manas? What are the mental activities (dharma-marks) of the manas's constant deliberative examination (恒审思量)? How do the manas's mental activities connect with the results of its constant deliberative examination? What is the relationship between the mode of activity (行相) and the object-aspect?
Answer: The object-aspect is the object perceived by the perceiving-aspect; it is not the result of the perceiving-aspect. Even when the perceiving-aspect does not appear, the object-aspect still exists; it simply is not manifested in the consciousness-mind. The result of the perceiving-aspect is self-cognition: having already perceived the object-aspect, and the object-aspect being manifested in the consciousness-mind, that is the result, called self-cognition.
The object-aspects of the manas are very extensive. After the tathāgatagarbha perceives the essential nature (prāptavya) of all dharmas, the shadow-like object-aspects it subsequently transforms—the manas can perceive them all, except for the seeds of the seven great elements within the tathāgatagarbha. The manas is called the consciousness of imputed grasping (遍计所执识, parikalpita-grāhin-vijñāna); because it can perceive all dharmas, it can silently encompass everything; because it can perceive all dharmas, it can universally conceptualize and grasp, including the object-aspects of the six sense-objects that the six consciousnesses can perceive, the object-aspects of the six sense-objects that the six consciousnesses cannot perceive, object-aspects that do not belong to the six sense-objects, and object-aspects of the past and future—as long as the tathāgatagarbha can perceive and manifest them, the manas can perceive them.
When the manas is engaged in constant deliberative examination, the volition mental factor (cetanā) continuously appears and operates; with volition as the dominant factor, toward the dharmas being deliberated, it continually engages in attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), and perception (saṃjñā), continually weighing, pondering, and deciding. The wisdom mental factor (prajñā) may accompany its operation, wholesome or unwholesome mental factors may appear, and perhaps the concentration mental factor (samādhi) and other mental factors participate in the operation. The dharma-marks of the manas's mental activities are precisely the modes of activity of the mental factors' operation. Only when these mental factors of the manas operate together in harmony can it constantly deliberate and examine, and only then can it deliberate out a result.
If the manas's wholesome mental factors participate in the operation, the mental activity is wholesome, and the result of the deliberation will accord with goodness, and it will decide to create wholesome karma; conversely, if the mental activity is unwholesome, the result of the deliberation will be a decision to create unwholesome karma. If the manas's concentration is strong, its wisdom-nature will be strong, and the result of the deliberation will have the quality of wisdom; otherwise, with a low wisdom-nature, the result will be the creation of foolish karma. The modes of activity of a consciousness-mind's operation can be observed and known by the mind consciousness, and therefore they are the object-aspects of the mind consciousness. The mode of activity in operation is the object-aspect; whatever can be observed by a consciousness-mind is an object-aspect. The eight consciousnesses themselves can also be observed by the mind consciousness, and therefore the eight consciousnesses are also object-aspects of the mind consciousness.
If both the manas and the eighth consciousness can introspect upon themselves and their own mental factors, then the seventh and eighth consciousnesses and their mental factors are also object-aspects of themselves.
4. As to the question of whether the manas can or cannot introspect upon itself: if the mind consciousness lacks wisdom, it cannot clearly observe it, nor can it judge what the manas has done and is doing. When the mind consciousness lacks wisdom, it knows nothing at all about the manas. So many people trust their own judgment so much—it is simply unreasonable. It is like how, for beginningless kalpas, our tathāgatagarbha has done very many things for the world of the five aggregates, yet our mind consciousness, being ignorant, simply does not know, and because of this ignorance, it denies the existence of the tathāgatagarbha and the merits He has performed. That the mind consciousness does not know does not mean He does not exist.
Likewise, that due to ignorance one cannot observe the manas's operation does not mean the manas lacks those functions and cannot operate in this way or that way. In fact, the manas does have the power of introspection and can introspect upon itself; that is why He can remain unrepentant to the death, insisting on and stubbornly holding to his own views, or else deeply blaming himself and repenting. It is only that the manas's power of introspection (pratyavekṣā-bala) is much weaker than the mind consciousness's, and he cannot introspect frequently or constantly upon his own mind. The mind consciousness, when its meditative concentration is good and it has wisdom, can frequently and constantly introspect upon its own mental activities.
When asleep, the mind consciousness may not know that it is asleep, because when asleep there is no mind consciousness. But does the manas know that you are asleep? The manas absolutely knows that you are asleep, and so the manas does not want this body of the five aggregates to be active. If the manas did not know that it was asleep, He would want to create and do everything; however, the manas knows that it is asleep and also knows that it is dark, so He does not want to know too much or too finely about the realms of the six sense-objects; the six consciousnesses obediently do not arise at all, and the body obediently does not move. The manas knows that it is itself sleeping, so the manas does have the power of introspection; it is only that the mind consciousness cannot observe the manas, and so it says the manas does not know that it is asleep and has no power of introspection. In the state of deep sleep, that the mind consciousness does not know does not mean the manas does not know. This shows that these two consciousnesses are still being confused—taking the mind consciousness's knowing and not-knowing as the manas's knowing and not-knowing.
Likewise, when unconscious (in a coma), the manas certainly knows that it is unconscious, so when the conditions for wakefulness appear, it struggles hard to wake up and get up to be active. When entering meditative concentration, the manas also knows it has entered concentration; at death it also knows death; in a vegetative state, the manas likewise knows; in these special states, His mental activities and manifestations are all different from normal. Therefore there is a conclusion: only the ignorant say that the manas knows nothing, does nothing, and can do nothing. If the manas were nothing at all, then what would you yourself be? Also nothing at all! Because the so-called "you" is the manas!
5. Question: Some people blush when they lie; others lie as if nothing had happened, very naturally. Why is there this difference? What causes blushing? And why does the face not blush, not turn dark or pale?
Answer: Blushing is the doing of the manas. The manas has a sense of shame and conscience (hrī-apatrāpya), knows that lying is bad, and feels ashamed in the mind, and so the face blushes. For those whose faces do not blush when lying, the mind consciousness may lie deliberately or not deliberately; in either case, the manas has made lying a habit and prompts the mind consciousness to do it. Or perhaps neither of the two consciousness-minds is aware, or perhaps only the mind consciousness is aware and knows lying is bad while the manas does not yet know lying is bad, lacking the power of introspection, with self-validating cognition not appearing, and therefore there is no sense of shame.
The mental factors of shame and conscience are wholesome mental factors. In a person who has not cultivated, either the mind consciousness lacks shame, or the manas lacks shame, or both consciousnesses lack the mental factors of shame—all are unwholesome. The mental factors of shame and conscience are born from long-term cultivation and permeation with wholesome dharmas; one who understands the principles has shame and conscience; the ignorant have none. A person who has the mental factors of shame and conscience can gradually correct errors and bad habits; a person without them cannot correct bad habits, and for now we should not expect him to change his own bad habituations.
Bad habituations and afflictions are created under the direction and leadership of the manas—sometimes incited by the mind consciousness, sometimes done by the manas having permeated the mind consciousness. But the true changing of bad habits must certainly be led by the manas. For the manas to change bad habits, it must first recognize its own bad habits, know that it is wrong, and that having bad habits is not good. And knowing that one is wrong and that it is not good is the function of the manas's self-validating cognition, and is the result of the mind consciousness's permeation and guidance.
The stronger the manas's self-validating cognition function is, the more wisdom and awareness the manas has. The same is true of the mind consciousness: the stronger its self-validating cognition function, the greater its power of contemplative observation, the more it can awaken, and the more wisdom it has. And the manas's awakening—its self-validating cognition function—is led by the mind consciousness and stimulated by the mind consciousness; the mind consciousness must first awaken, and only when the mind consciousness has wisdom can this be achieved.
6. It is the mind consciousness that seeks out the manas, observes the manas, and knows the manas. The manas attends to many dharmas and cannot discern them clearly, so it must rely on the mind consciousness for fine discernment. But the manas also has self-validating cognition and can discover and validate itself. The manas's particular self-confidence and belief in itself, and its firm grasping at itself—this is the manas's self-validating cognition; defending itself and protecting itself, it has the ability to introspect upon itself.
The manas can introspect upon itself, observe itself, and know itself, but when the mind consciousness's wisdom is insufficient, it does not know this, because it lacks wisdom. Our knowing of all dharmas is still the mind consciousness's knowing; when the mind consciousness lacks wisdom, even though all dharmas exist, it does not know them. Only when the mind consciousness's wisdom grows can the range of what it knows expand and broaden, knowing more and more. Especially after the mind consciousness transforms consciousness into wisdom (āśraya-parāvṛtti), its wisdom can directly perceive (in the mode of direct perception) and know some of the manas's functions, and can discern the manas's functions in a deeper and subtler way. The mind consciousness's capacity for knowing, its capacity for observation, and its wisdom can only be perfected and complete upon reaching the buddha-bhūmi, no longer increasing.
7. The manas has self-cognition and can discern dharmas; when images appear in the mind, that is the result of self-cognition. The manas can know what dharmas it has come to know—this is self-validating cognition. The manas also has moments of full self-confidence—this is self-validating cognition. The manas stubbornly holding to its own views is self-validating cognition. A stubborn old diehard, utterly obstinate, unwilling to change his own opinions and views, believing himself to be right—within this there is self-validating cognition; otherwise there would be no stubbornness, no obstinacy. In the state of dreamless sleep, the manas still contacts and discerns dharmas, can know the six sense-objects, can observe the six sense-objects, yet the mind consciousness does not know what the manas is actually doing.
Self-validating cognition is a consciousness-mind's introspection upon itself. In the meditative concentration of the second dhyāna there is the mind consciousness, and the mind consciousness's perceiving-aspect, self-cognition, and self-validating cognition all exist, only very subtle; when wisdom is insufficient, one cannot understand the conditions of one's own perceiving-aspect, object-aspect, self-cognition, and self-validating cognition. Learn more knowledge about meditative concentration, then enter concentration and experience it, and you can directly perceive and understand more dharmas.
The manas also has a perceiving-aspect, object-aspect, self-cognition, and self-validating cognition. When the sixth and seventh consciousnesses have not transformed consciousness into wisdom, these contents cannot be distinguished or observed. For bhūmis-attained bodhisattvas prior to the bhūmis (地前菩萨), the manas seems to have no self-validating cognition and cannot introspect upon itself, but bodhisattvas after attaining the bhūmis (地后菩萨) can observe that the manas has self-validating cognition. Some profound dharmas the Buddha did not even teach to bodhisattvas prior to the bhūmis, fearing that the bodhisattvas would not understand and would give rise to misunderstandings.
8. Original text of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the World-Honored One said: “诸灭尽定得寂声闻。如此会中摩诃迦叶。久灭意根圆明了知。不因心念。”
The cessation attainment (nirodha-samāpatti) is the ninth of the nine successive absorptions, above the four dhyānas and eight samāpattis. Within the cessation attainment, not only are the six consciousnesses extinguished, but the manas's two mental factors of feeling and perception are also extinguished; yet the manas still has the three mental factors of attention, contact, and volition functioning. If all five of the manas's universal mental factors were extinguished, there would be no physical body and no first seven consciousnesses, leaving only the tathāgatagarbha, and one would enter nirvāṇa without remainder. For the fourth-fruit great arhat who has entered the cessation attainment, because the six consciousnesses and the manas's mental factors of feeling and perception have been extinguished, there is no feeling-sensation and no grasping nature toward the six sense-objects, and the mind attains quiescence. Although only three mental factors remain, Mahākāśyapa is able to use these three mental factors to perfectly and clearly know all dharmas, substituting for the functions of the six consciousnesses without obstruction. Without the mind consciousness's mental factor of mindfulness, nor the manas's mental factor of mindfulness, without moving a thought, the manas can perfectly and clearly know all dharmas.
The manas's perfect and clear knowing, substituting for the six consciousnesses, can discern the realms of the six sense-objects, and can even know realms beyond the six sense-objects. Within this knowing, the perceiving-aspect, object-aspect, self-cognition, and self-validating cognition are all complete; it also possesses the mind consciousness's modes of deliberation and knowing, and can discern the subtle dharmas of the six sense-objects—omnicompetent. When the manas substitutes for the six consciousnesses in discernment, it can discern the subtle dharmas of the six sense-objects; form, sound, smell, taste, and touch can all be known clearly; it can also introspect upon its own mind, directly perceive and discern all dharmas; it also has discernment by inference and by non-valid cognition; it spans the three natures of wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate; it can recall and remember—all the functions of the six consciousnesses are present.
9. Intuition is the manas's awareness-nature and perception; it can very directly perceive certain things without the mind consciousness's deliberation and imagination. The manas's intuition is often very accurate, because it comes directly from the karmic-seed information of the tathāgatagarbha, without the mind consciousness's deliberation and guessing, and it has a certain connection with karmic power. Some intuitions do not tolerate the mind consciousness's doubt or persuasion; the manas firmly believes in its heart: "It is so, no mistake." This is the tathāgatagarbha's alerting of the manas after knowing the karmic seeds; it cannot directly alert the mind consciousness, because the tathāgatagarbha is a bit more distant from the mind consciousness—the manas first knows the information. Some of this information concerns oneself, some concerns others; all of it is communicated to the manas by the tathāgatagarbha in a specific way. Many people always rely on intuition to perceive certain people and things, and are very confident, precisely because they are directly linked to the karmic seeds.
Intuition is closely connected with karmic seeds. For example, when the karmic seeds of blessings ripen and one is due to make a great fortune, the tathāgatagarbha notifies the manas in a specific way, but the mind consciousness is still quite doubtful, holding an attitude of skepticism; yet the manas's intuition, brooking no negotiation, makes the decision to adopt some method to make money, and as a result a great fortune is truly made. Among those who play the stock market and make investments, quite a few rely on intuition to try their luck. But not all intuitions are correct. When the manas lacks wisdom, intuition will constantly err; especially when the mind consciousness also lacks wisdom and cannot analyze, deliberate, and judge in accordance with principle, it simply complies with the manas's decision, and the result is predictable. When looking at a person, intuition can perceive some information about that person—that is one's own tathāgatagarbha communicating the information through the other person's tathāgatagarbha, letting one's own manas know it; the manas then transmits it to the mind consciousness, letting the mind consciousness further analyze, weigh, and judge, and one can then have a rough assessment and understanding of that person.
10. Intuition has a close relationship with the tathāgatagarbha. The content and information of intuition come directly from the tathāgatagarbha; otherwise the manas could not be so miraculous as to know things before divination—things that have not yet happened, He can know in advance. This is the manas using the tathāgatagarbha and directing the tathāgatagarbha to provide more information for itself, then letting the mind consciousness discern it and take measures to actively accept or avoid the occurrence of certain things. Then the tathāgatagarbha can be actively used by us—it just depends on whether we have this ability.
Sometimes a person's single glance or small gesture can reveal that person's information. This is the manas discerning the information of karmic seeds in the other person's tathāgatagarbha and hinting it to the six consciousnesses; after the mind consciousness discerns and analyzes it, it can judge and know that person roughly. This is the result of information communication between two tathāgatagarbhas, after which the manas obtains the other's tathāgatagarbha's information from its own tathāgatagarbha. Then one person's manas can sense the habitual tendencies of another person's past and future lives—this is the function of intuition. When cultivated to a certain degree, one can directly use the manas's intuition to know all dharmas. Intuitive judgments of people and matters are sometimes very accurate and sometimes also err; the key is whether the manas is obstructed by karmic power, whether the manas is pure, and whether its wisdom-nature is good.
11. When the intuitive function is very powerful and extremely deep and subtle, the manas can substitute for the mind consciousness and the five sense-consciousnesses to discern all dharmas. Many people trust intuition, which is trusting the manas itself, which is equivalent to trusting the karmic seeds. And trusting oneself is introspecting upon one's own discernment and considering one's own discernment to be correct—this is the manas's self-validating cognition; trusting that one's own decision is correct and not allowing the mind consciousness to deliberate and judge further—this is the manas's self-validating cognition; stubbornly holding to one's own views, not listening to the mind consciousness's rational deliberation, nor to others' persuasion, being obstinately unchanging—this is also the manas's self-validating cognition.
Trusting one's own self-worth, believing oneself to be noble, believing oneself to be valuable, believing oneself to be capable, believing oneself to be superior—within this there is innate belief and also belief acquired later through observation and comparison. Innate belief is the manas's self-confidence, which must be produced by the manas's grasping-at-self nature and arrogance-of-self nature; here there is the manas's self-cognition as well as the manas's self-validating cognition.
Acquired belief is the mind consciousness's self-confidence, a self-confidence born from the mind consciousness's contact with the environment and comparison with others—trusting one's own views, trusting one's own thoughts and opinions, trusting one's own intelligence and talents; here there is the mind consciousness's self-cognition and self-validating cognition. The self—the innate self—exists from birth; it is the manas's view of self and arrogance of self, the manas's self-cognition. The acquired self is partly the result of being taught and influenced by the manas, and partly the result of environmental permeation; it is the mind consciousness's view of self and arrogance of self, the mind consciousness's self-cognition.
The manas's self-validating cognition is also manifested in its obstinately unchanging nature. Because the manas's habituations are deep and heavy, and it is foolish and does not know good from bad—especially not knowing that it has ignorance and defilement—the manas stubbornly holds to its own views, obstinately grasping at its own thoughts and habits, believing there is no error. Therefore the manas cannot be taught, cannot be persuaded, and no matter what, absolutely refuses to correct itself. This is the manas's self-validating cognition: He can know His own habits and thoughts, but because of foolishness He does not know right from wrong and cannot judge Himself in accordance with principle; the beginningless kalpas of ignorance and habituation are very hard to eliminate.
People are very stubborn because of the manas's grasping nature and self-grasping nature. The manas grasps at the self, believing that everything about itself is correct without error, all right and all good. The manas believes that its attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition are all correct, and that its decisions are all correct; therefore it refuses to repent and change, does not listen to advice, and insists on acting willfully. As long as the manas considers its own decisions correct and its views correct without error, then the manas can introspect upon its own decision-making and deliberative nature—this is the manas's self-validating cognition. Always highlighting and displaying the self in front of others is the manas's self-grasping nature and arrogance-of-self nature. A person whose manas has heavy self-grasping and arrogance of self might, even in front of the Buddha, presume to expound the Dharma to the Buddha; beings in the evil destinies, if their self-grasping and arrogance of self are heavy, would expound the principles of being human to people in front of people.
12. The manas's self-validating cognition is greatly different from the mind consciousness's self-validating cognition. The mind consciousness's self-validating cognition can introspect upon its own wholesomeness or unwholesomeness and know its own modes of activity in operation. But when the manas has not awakened and its wisdom is low, it cannot introspect upon its own afflicted and defiled nature, nor upon its own foolishness, self-grasping, and arrogance of self; yet it can introspect upon its own discernment of karmic seeds, and can introspect upon its own deliberation and decision-making. Within self-confidence there is the manas's self-validating cognition: the manas trusts its own intuition and decisions, believing that its deliberation and decisions are not wrong. The manas has self-validating cognition and can validate whether its discernments and decisions are correct or not, but when He lacks wisdom, what He validates is not necessarily correct. Bodhisattvas prior to the bhūmis cannot observe the manas's self-validating cognition, mainly because the manas and the mind consciousness are entangled too tightly and are hard to separate, and the manas's operation is too hidden and deep and subtle; when wisdom and meditative concentration are insufficient, it is extremely difficult to observe.
