A Guide to the Cultivation and Realization of the Mind: Part Two
Chapter 4: The Relationship Between the Manas and Attaining the Fruits (2)
Eleven: How to Avoid Intellectual Understanding
Nowadays many people worry that in their practice of the Great and Small Vehicles they will only achieve intellectual understanding, which will obstruct their future realization. So now there is a question: how to avoid intellectual understanding?
What is the situation of intellectual understanding? Intellectual understanding means that one has become very familiar with the Dharma principles, the practice approach of the Great and Small Vehicle teachings is already very clear, one almost definitively knows that it is that principle, that it is that way, as if there were no more doubts. But this still remains at the level of determination (adhimokṣa) regarding the Dharma, and there is still some distance from realization. Although many people at this point already consider themselves enlightened, they can also easily be led to be certified as enlightened. After determination there are still mindfulness, meditative concentration, and wisdom; only when that final true wisdom — the wisdom of the manas — is developed is it genuine awakening. Before that, there is still a long stretch of arduous road that must be walked. This stretch of road is extremely difficult and hard to endure; only by relying on willpower, skill, power of aspiration, power of faith, power of forbearance, and power of compassion can one pass through it and reach the temporary endpoint, which may also be called the goal or destination.
After the mind consciousness has achieved determination regarding the Dharma, one must also steep and lead the manas to achieve determination as well. Even after the manas has achieved determination, it still does not count as enlightenment; one must form a power of mindfulness that is unbroken from thought-moment to thought-moment. Only when the power of mindfulness matures can the power of meditative concentration appear; only when the power of concentration is complete can wisdom be developed, giving rise to the wisdom of seeing the path in the Great and Small Vehicles — recognizing that path, realizing that path, confirming that path — and only then can one never regress from the bodhi path of the Great and Small Vehicles and never lose the merit of seeing the path. Otherwise, upon encountering conditions one will easily regress from the bodhi path, because the mind consciousness understands while the manas has not seen clearly, and it is perfectly normal for it to deny what the mind consciousness previously understood.
This kind of regression is also a regression of the mind consciousness — the mind consciousness no longer accepts it — but the manas has not actually regressed, because the manas never entered in the first place and never saw the path; how could it turn its face and deny it, how could it regress? This so-called regression is just making a commotion at the outer gate before seeing the path. Once one has entered through the gate, one will quiet down because of the genuine meditative absorption (samādhi) state of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā; the mind becomes empty and tranquil, and there will be no commotion at all.
Determination, mindfulness, and concentration — these three steps are all crucial; without the former there is no latter. Among them, the transmission of Dharma principles from the mind consciousness to the manas is an extremely crucial point. Once the manas accepts the Dharma, questioning doubt will arise, doubting in every thought-moment; at a certain point meditative concentration will inevitably appear, and thereafter one comes to the two checkpoints of cultivating concentration and investigating Chan. After one has achieved a certain determination regarding the Dharma, how does one raise the power of concentration, and how does one investigate? For example, take the principle of eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa): one already has a rough understanding in the mind, and the notion of no-self is more or less clear. At this point it still does not count as realization. How should one practice further from here? At this time some people have no power of concentration, and some have some power of concentration but it is still insufficient. At this time, of course, the primary task is to find a way to cultivate concentration and raise the power of concentration.
After the power of concentration has improved, the manas, within concentration, deliberates (manasikāra/manana) on the content and scope of the self, connecting all the Dharma principles related to the self one by one, thereby understanding what the self is. When the deliberation is thorough, the view of self may be eradicated. But this content is too much and too deep to deliberate through clearly all at once; it requires going bit by bit from shallow to deep, from surface to interior, with the content becoming ever more penetrating and the scope ever broader, until finally the entire self is laid out clearly in the mind.
The above is the method of investigating and realizing through contemplation within concentration. Practicing diligently by this method, one will avoid intellectual understanding. During investigation, the mind consciousness should try to forget the more detailed parts of the Dharma principles it has learned and not transmit them to the manas, or should not treat the more detailed Dharma principles as the final answer. One must raise doubt about the Dharma, must have questions — the deeper the doubt, the better — and should ask "why" more often. What the mind consciousness learns and knows is all knowing that it is so without knowing why it is so. Through investigation, let the manas clarify the why, and wisdom will continuously grow and can be carried into future lives.
Actually many teachings do not need to be learned. Practicing Buddhism is not about becoming a theorist or a debater, nor about becoming a jack-of-all-trades or knowing everything. In genuine investigation and inquiry, one will understand by analogy; the Dharma principles will spread and merge bit by bit, and teachings one originally did not know or understand will all be connected one by one through deep contemplation. The teachings that have been connected are one's own, not learned from others; in this life and future lives one cannot forget them even if one wants to — they come out readily without needing to think.
People of deep wisdom realize the Dharma themselves and investigate the Dharma themselves, rather than learning others' Dharma. What is learned is not one's own; after death it is forgotten, and in the next life one must learn it all over again. Quite a few people appear to be learned — when Dharma principles are mentioned, they talk fluently, eloquently, as if their eloquence were unobstructed — yet not a single Dharma principle has they truly penetrated, not a single one have they actually realized. Rich knowledge does not mean truly understanding the Dharma, does not mean true wisdom; once the mind consciousness disappears, nothing remains.
For the teachings of the Great and Small Vehicles, in the stage of extensive listening, it is enough to clarify the general outline and have a clear framework; there is no need to keep learning and listening everywhere. Teachings that are more or less the same — no matter how much you learn of them, they remain that way and cannot increase wisdom. True wisdom is investigated out through inquiry. Investigate a little, and a little wisdom is born; at the same time one will understand by analogy and realize more teachings. Connecting them bit by bit, one comes to understand a great many teachings, and understands them truly — even while sleeping one can practice. Once the train of thought is clear, there is no need for reminders or guidance from the mind consciousness, so when there is no mind consciousness, the manas can still investigate on its own.
Twelve: Only When the Manas Attains the Fruit Will There Be No Regression
The understanding of the mind consciousness cannot remove any afflictive knots and bonds, because the knots and bonds belong to the manas; they are the manas's ignorance. The mind consciousness cannot eliminate ignorance on behalf of the manas or sever the three fetters; the understanding of the mind consciousness fundamentally cannot remove the manas's doubt, and regression in the future is certain. But when the manas has severed the knots and bonds and eradicated the view of self, it will never regress or deny it. Even when encountering extremely adverse conditions, one might lie and deceive the other party, saying one is not a person who has eradicated the view of self, not a bodhisattva; but the manas within will not lose its faith and its wise view, and no matter what, the manas will remain steadfast and will never regress from the path of bodhi.
Whether one regresses or not is a problem of the mind consciousness; the manas has no way to regress. An established wise cognition will not change due to external forces. Because of that self, sentient beings transmigrate through birth and death life after life, suffering in hell for countless kalpas, yet still have not eradicated the view of self. How could a person whose manas has attained the fruit and seen the mind so easily regress? Is the mind so easily changed? Once the manas realizes the Dharma and its thinking changes, it will not change back; otherwise, one who becomes a Buddha could also change back into an ordinary being. If the manas's realization of the Dharma could regress, that would be a very bizarre thing. If the mind were so easily changed, eradicating the view of self and enlightenment would be extremely easy things, and becoming a Buddha would also be extremely easy — then whence come the hardships of cultivating the path through three great incalculable kalpas before finally becoming a Buddha?
Thirteen: The Realization of All Dharmas Lies in the Manas
Sentient beings all take the functions and operations of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) as the self, especially taking the feelings and perceptions of the six consciousnesses of the aggregate of consciousness as self and what belongs to self. They cling to their own feelings and perceptions, and for this they create various wholesome and unwholesome karmic actions, even not hesitating to create unwholesome karma; therefore these karmic actions cause them to sink through birth and death and receive bitter retribution. Where do the feelings and perceptions of the six consciousnesses come from? They arise after the faculties and objects contact each other; afterward the manas takes these feelings as self and grasps them (upādāna), creating ignorant karma of craving. To free oneself from birth and death, one must engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the illusory unreality, the suffering nature, the emptiness (śūnyatā), and the not-self nature of the feelings of the six consciousnesses. Knowing that feelings are empty and illusory and no longer emphasizing feelings, the mind gradually empties, and one can eradicate the view of self and no longer grasp at feelings; the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion will then fade and be eliminated, and one no longer creates ignorant unwholesome karma. Being able to contemplate feelings as empty is an extremely important matter. The five aggregates are not self, and feelings are also not self — this is a very important conceptual understanding.
The feelings of the six consciousnesses are easy to observe, but the hidden feelings of the manas behind them are extremely important and crucial. Because the manas has feelings, it has the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion; because it grasps at feelings, it drives the six consciousnesses to create karmic actions. The manas regards all dharmas as its self, as belonging to itself, and takes the mind consciousness as its own function. Therefore, eradicating the view of self means eradicating the manas's view of self, and realization also requires the manas to realize the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. Thus the realization of all dharmas lies entirely in the manas, not in the mind consciousness. Through contemplative practice that is truthful and in accord with principle, the more one practices, the more one feels that the most fundamental cultivation and realization lies in the manas. The manas is the key to becoming a Buddha and also the master of the cycle of birth and death. Once the manas has been successfully trained through steeping, one attains liberation and accomplishes the Buddha way.
Once the manas, through investigation and deliberation, realizes the Dharma, it will overturn its previous attention (manaskāra) that was not in accord with reality; its mental activity changes, it no longer grasps at the five aggregates, and it attains initial liberation — this is the key of practice. Why is it that some people, after learning much theory, all feel that the five aggregates are not the self, feel they are empty and illusory, yet still create defiled karmic actions for the sake of the body of the five aggregates, without the slightest change in their mental activity? Because that "feeling" is the kind of feeling that belongs to the mind consciousness's understanding and simply does not count. Without the manas's realization, it will as always take the five aggregates as self, following its own afflictions to create karma. Therefore all such feelings are unreliable; any teaching only counts when the manas realizes it.
The manas also constantly takes the various merits of the tathāgatagarbha as its own, taking all dharmas produced by the tathāgatagarbha as self and what belongs to self, not knowing that all dharmas are illusorily manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, not knowing that even itself is manifested by the tathāgatagarbha — and therefore it creates ignorant karmic actions. Studying Buddhism means first letting the mind consciousness know theoretically that these dharmas are not self, knowing the reality of the tathāgatagarbha, and then steeping the manas, letting the manas deliberate and realize the tathāgatagarbha within all dharmas, realizing that all dharmas are neither self nor what belongs to self.
All dharmas are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha; none of them belong to the manas — they are all functions of the tathāgatagarbha. Only after the manas realizes this principle will the mind become empty and be able to stop grasping at the self's five aggregates. In this way one can not only sever grasping at self but also sever grasping at dharmas; when grasping at dharmas is completely severed, one perfectly becomes a Buddha. Therefore the key of practice lies entirely in the manas. Ignorance belongs to the manas; severing ignorance means severing the manas's ignorance; severing afflictions also means severing the manas's afflictions; attaining liberation means letting the manas attain liberation. When the manas no longer grasps at any dharma, there are no bonds — that is liberation. Who becomes a Buddha? Because the six consciousnesses cease in every life, the six consciousnesses cannot become a Buddha; it is the manas that becomes a Buddha. The tathāgatagarbha also does not become a Buddha. But at the ultimate level of truth, even the manas does not become a Buddha — on the day of buddhahood one will know: there is no Buddha to attain, and only then is buddhahood perfectly accomplished.
Fourteen: Awakening Through Intuition Is True Awakening
Steve Jobs said: trust your intuition; it transcends thinking and lets you see what thinking cannot see. The intuition Jobs spoke of is the awareness of the manas; thinking is the awareness of the mind consciousness. The dharmas the mind consciousness can be aware of are limited, while the awareness of the manas is unlimited; the mind consciousness cannot be aware of many dharmas that the manas can be aware of.
Why is the manas's awareness called intuition? Because the manas, relying on the tathāgatagarbha, can directly know all dharmas, whereas the mind consciousness's knowing of dharmas must rely on the manas and is indirect. In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra it is expressed as: 意根默容一切法 — the manas can quickly contact all dharmas; as for the degree to which it knows them, that is another matter. Therefore the manas's awareness is extremely fast, directly facing the dharmas, directly and swiftly discriminating them — knowing if it knows, not knowing if it does not — without going through the mind consciousness's analysis and inference; at this point the mind consciousness has not yet arisen. But once a dharma falls into the mind consciousness, there must be a round of thinking, analysis, inference, and judgment — this makes a huge detour, takes a relatively long time, and the final result is not genuine, because it contains elements of inference and conjecture; it is not seeing in the present moment, knowing in the present moment.
In the past, when Chan masters guided students to enlightenment, if a student, upon being asked a question, rolled his eyes and scratched his head thinking, the master would immediately strike him with the board and tell him: "If you are going to get it, get it — what is there to deliberate about?" The Chan masters all guided students to awaken through intuition, not falling into thinking: when asked a question, awaken on the spot if you awaken; if not, you do not — falling into the mind consciousness's thinking was not permitted. If a Chan master is guiding you to enlightenment and you ponder over and over, then right when you begin pondering you should be struck with a blow of the staff and sent home — who allowed you to ponder over and over? Yet nowadays some people, to "attain enlightenment," ponder for hours, even days — such a result is even less credible. The answer pondered out might be correct, but no matter how correct, it is not it, precisely because it was figured out by the mind consciousness, not directly seen, not personally seen by the manas.
If you interrogate a person about whether they know something, and the person hemming and hawing thinks and thinks without answering directly, then that person's words are not credible — the thinking inside contains elements of concealment and adulteration. For example, if you think about, analyze, infer, imagine, and ponder the appearance of Beijing, and finally conclude that Beijing is such and such — congratulations, you pondered correctly; Beijing is roughly like that. But because you have never been to Beijing, you are not someone who has personally seen Beijing.
Only someone who has been to Beijing and entered the city is one who has personally seen Beijing; such a person's description of Beijing's appearance will be true and detailed, utterly certain, beyond doubt. This is equivalent to eradicating the view of self, severing the three fetters, severing doubt, with no misgivings. But for someone who has never been to Beijing, no matter how they describe Beijing's appearance, inwardly they feel unsure, lacking confidence, not daring to be one hundred percent certain. This is equivalent to the intellectual understanding of the mind consciousness, which cannot sever the three fetters and cannot sever doubt and give rise to faith.
Only when you have quietly done all the work behind the scenes and are short by just that little bit can the Chan master guide you to awaken and realize the Way — the water flows and the channel forms, completely natural, without the slightest contrivance, without the slightest adulteration. Or if only the right season and timing are lacking, the Chan master will observe you, will pay attention to your state, seeing whether you have reached the season; when the season arrives, he will give you the opportunity so you can awaken and enter. But if, upon observing you, he finds you are still far off, the Chan master will absolutely not step in to guide you. Yet nowadays, in "attaining enlightenment," when the student is still a hundred thousand miles away, they forcibly drag him with an iron hook — the result is like pulling a giant radish, pulling it to death alive; the future retribution is extremely terrifying.
Fifteen: The Transformation of Mental Activity After Realization
The patriarchs of the Chan school said: 悟后不异旧时人，只是不是旧时行履处。This means that after realization, the person is still the same person, but the mental activity in dealing with people and affairs has changed, different from before, no longer the mental activity of the past; the intention in doing things has changed, the view of the world has changed, and the views regarding the body of the five aggregates have changed. These changes show that realization is not merely the mind consciousness awakening — the manas must also awaken; only then, after awakening, can one be "the same person as before, yet not treading the old places." If the places one treads have not changed, if the mental activity and mental disposition have not changed, then one must examine whether one's awakening is genuine or false.
Sixteen: The Mind Consciousness Thinks Its Thinking; the Manas Does Its Doing
All dharmas attain nothing. The Heart Sutra says: 以无所得故，菩提萨埵; the Diamond Sutra says that the World-Honored One, because His mind attained nothing, received the prediction from the ancient Buddha Dīpaṅkara. Some people then think: since all dharmas attain nothing, with no self and nothing belonging to self, then there is no need to strive at all — even let thought stop, just be non-action (wu-wei) and be done with it. When thinking this way, the mind feels very relaxed, but this state cannot last long; immediately there is action again — upon encountering conditions, events, or people, there is not the slightest non-action.
Because before the empty mark (śūnyatā-lakṣaṇa) of all dharmas has been realized, the emptiness that the mind consciousness believes in has no power at all and cannot be the master at all — things are as conditioned as ever, and cannot be emptied in the slightest. The mind consciousness may wish not to move and not to create, but it cannot be the master of the body of the five aggregates; the manas, which is the master, has its pursuits, and when it wants to create something, the mind consciousness must comply, with no recourse whatsoever. Therefore, although the mind consciousness may understand some principles, if the manas does not understand, no substantive problem can be solved. Thus the mind consciousness attaining the fruit and seeing the mind fundamentally changes nothing: afflictions are still afflictions, ignorance is still ignorance, birth and death are still birth and death. Only by settling that master, the manas, can all problems be solved and earth-shaking transformation occur.
Seventeen: Can the Mind Consciousness and the Manas Be Separated?
The manas is the basis of defilement and purity for the six consciousnesses: if the manas is defiled, the six consciousnesses are necessarily defiled; if the manas is pure, the six consciousnesses are necessarily pure. Then, if the manas has not eradicated the view of self, can the mind consciousness eradicate the view of self? If the manas has not severed the afflictive knots and bonds, has not severed the three fetters, can the mind consciousness sever the three fetters? Since the manas has not severed the three fetters, at the end of life it will be drawn by karmic obstructions toward hell to receive retribution — at that time, where is the mind consciousness to go?
The manas is at the stage of an ordinary being's ignorance — can the mind consciousness alone become a sage of the first fruit? Is such a person counted as an ordinary being or a sage who has attained the fruit? Or is it split into two, cut apart? If someone has harmed oneself, and the manas is extremely obstinate about the self, insisting on retaliation, how does the mind consciousness deal with this? When the mind consciousness is clear-headed, understands correct principles, and has received steeping, it can reason with the manas, re-steep the manas, and thereby suppress and subdue the manas so it does not retaliate and create unwholesome karma. But at the time of approaching death and in the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava), the mind consciousness's power is weak and it has no way to lead the manas or persuade it.
In dreams, can the mind consciousness guide and admonish the manas? If one cannot control oneself even in dreams, then at the time of death one can control oneself even less. What is called "controlling"? It is the mind consciousness understanding principle, taming the manas, rectifying the manas, and keeping the manas's direction well in hand. Clearly, at the time of death and in the neutrino-body, the mind consciousness has no way to control the manas; the manas at that time will be drawn by karmic power, or drawn by the power of aspiration — not drawn by the mind consciousness. So if practice remains only at the stage of the mind consciousness and refuses to advance one step further, is that not dangerous and unreliable?
Eighteen: The Brain Determines the Strength of the Mind Consciousness's Functions
What is the difference between the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) in dreams and the solitary consciousness outside of dreams? During sleep, the circulation of qi and blood weakens, and the circulation of qi and blood in the brain also weakens. The six consciousnesses arise and operate depending on the brain as the supreme faculty (indriya). After the solitary consciousness arises in a dream, due to problems with the supreme faculty, the functions of the consciousness mind are relatively weak; in the dream the mind consciousness discriminates insufficiently clearly and finely, and what is memorized is not firm. But if the manas considers the dream very important and is strongly stimulated by it, the impression will be deep, and it will have the solitary consciousness deepen the impression. After waking, the mind consciousness can remember it vividly and recall the dream clearly.
When external forces injure the brain and cause unconsciousness, the six consciousnesses cease. After waking, some people suffer amnesia. This is because the damaged brain obstructs the functioning of the mind consciousness; the consciousness's information-integration function becomes disordered or weakened, so that the people and events of a certain period cannot be recalled. Once the brain receives strong stimulation, the mind consciousness may possibly recover memory and recall past people and events. Children's memories from early childhood are not firm because the brain is not fully developed, resulting in weak functions of the mind consciousness and unstable memory. The mind consciousness of the elderly is generally weaker in function than in youth — discrimination is not fine, the mind is coarse — which is what is called senility.
Impaired circulation of qi and blood damages the brain, and a person becomes dull and foolish. Therefore the six consciousnesses are of dependent-arising nature, dharmas produced by causes and conditions, extremely illusory, not to be relied upon; the six consciousnesses are not the self, nor what belongs to self. In the neutrino-body, the functions of the mind consciousness are even weaker, because the neutrino-body arises temporarily, its four elements are coarse, far inferior to the human body, severely obstructing the functions of the mind consciousness. Therefore in the neutrino-body, the mental activity of the manas dominates; the mind consciousness cannot effectively regulate the manas, and the manas's inherent nature determines the destination of the next life. Therefore a fruit attained by the mind consciousness is a paper-mâché fruit; only when the manas attains the fruit at the same time is the realization firm and unregressing, carried into future lives.
Nineteen: Must the Manas Be Successfully Steeped and the Fruit Attained Within Meditative Concentration?
Attaining the fruit must occur within meditative concentration (dhyāna); the successful steeping of the manas does not necessarily have to be within meditative concentration. But steeping the manas in wholesome dharmas is easier within meditative concentration, whereas steeping in unwholesome dharmas does not require concentration. Because the manas itself contains very many unwholesome dharmas and corresponds with them, as soon as it encounters unwholesome dharmas, it can be steeped without even noticing — especially with long-term steeping, the manas will certainly be steeped into habit. Because the manas's ignorance has been deep and heavy for beginningless kalpas, it has always been within unwholesome dharmas, its afflictive defilements extremely heavy, unable to pull itself out, and rescue by others' power is also very difficult. To remove defiled afflictions and steep the mind in wholesome dharmas so that the mind becomes wholesome cannot be accomplished by short-term effort.
Normally, defilement of beginningless kalpas requires steeping in wholesome dharmas for beginningless kalpas to turn evil into good. But that takes too long, and there is no such long-lasting wholesome environment; so one must achieve the steeping within a relatively short time — say, one kalpa, one small kalpa, several million years, several hundred thousand years, or even several hundred or several tens of years. To achieve the steeping in such a short time requires meditative concentration: the shorter the time, the deeper the concentration needed. Because within concentration the mind can be unified, thinking is deep, fine, and penetrating, wisdom can be born, the manas understands principle quickly, easily accepts steeping, and wholesome dharmas are easily accomplished. Without meditative concentration, the mind is scattered, the manas's deliberation is not thorough, wisdom does not arise, it cannot accept wholesome dharmas, views cannot change, and it still acts according to unwholesome mental factors (caittas).
Attaining the fruit is even more difficult than steeping in wholesome dharmas; it requires greater and finer wisdom, a more thorough change of views that does not rebound, and thus the required meditative concentration must be deeper and firmer. Only thus can the manas more single-pointedly deliberate on the principle of no-self, deliberate the theory through thoroughly, and thereby realize the principle. Meditative concentration makes the mind unmoving or barely moving; when the mind is unmoving it can subdue afflictions, concentrate on principle, and produce wisdom — without meditative concentration there is no such merit. The manas has been accustomed to self and afflictions since beginningless kalpas; changing the habit and subduing afflictions in a short time is truly not easy. Without special methods and channels, without extremely strong willpower, without great power of aspiration and endurance, one cannot eradicate the view of self and sever afflictions.
Twenty: A Dialogue on Attaining the Fruit
A: Attaining the fruit and seeing the mind only require the mind consciousness to realize it; the manas does not need to realize it at the same time.
B: After the mind consciousness attains the fruit and becomes a sage, at night when it falls asleep — is this person at that time a sage or an ordinary being?
B: While this person has not woken up, are they an ordinary being or one who has attained the fruit? What if this person remains in a deep coma and never wakes?
A: The eighth consciousness retains the dharma-seeds.
B: There are many dharma-seeds in the eighth consciousness, and there are also extremely many and extremely heavy karmic seeds of hell — which karmic seed determines his identity?
A: The karmic seeds of the mind consciousness attaining the fruit take precedence when they are heavy.
B: Although the mind consciousness has attained the fruit, the manas has not; the manas's greed, hatred, delusion, ignorance, and afflictions are also major karmic seeds. Are the manas's countless karmic seeds of greed, hatred, delusion, and hell stronger than the karmic seeds of the mind consciousness attaining the fruit?
A: ·········
B: At conception, the mind consciousness has ceased; it is the manas and the eighth consciousness that enter the womb. At this time, does one enter the womb with the identity of the mind consciousness having attained the fruit, or with the identity of the manas as an ordinary being?
A: One enters the womb according to the karmic seeds in the eighth consciousness.
B: In the eighth consciousness, the manas's countless karmic seeds of greed, hatred, and delusion are certainly stronger than the mind consciousness's seeds; the dharmas steeped by the mind consciousness will not mature because they are too light, while the afflictive karmic seeds corresponding to the manas are very heavy. At this time, where will one be conceived?
A: The karmic seeds of the mind consciousness attaining the fruit are heavy.
B: Attaining the fruit corresponds to the mind consciousness, not to the manas; it is the mind consciousness that manifests the wisdom of attaining the fruit. The manas's afflictive karmic seeds correspond to the manas; it is the manas that manifests the karmic actions of affliction. At this time the mind consciousness has ceased and can no longer manifest the wisdom of attaining the fruit, while the manas will manifest the afflictive karmic actions of greed, hatred, delusion, and the view of self — at this time, where will one be conceived?
A: ········
B: If the steeping in Buddhism is all done by the mind consciousness, how much effect can the mind consciousness still have in the neutrino-body? In the neutrino-body, is the manas's defiled karmic power stronger, or the power of what the mind consciousness steeped?
A: Conception does not necessarily always pass through the neutrino-body — for example, going directly to hell or ascending to heaven.
B: Conceptions that do not pass through the neutrino-body all involve having created major wholesome or unwholesome karma while alive. Which is greater: the wholesome karma of the sentient being's mind consciousness attaining the fruit, or the manas's defiled karma of greed, hatred, and delusion from not attaining the fruit? Does attaining the fruit by the mind consciousness really allow one to ascend to heaven directly without a neutrino-body?
A: Steeping in the true Dharma is ultimately useful.
B: Although one has steeped in the true Dharma, the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion are complete and not severed in the slightest; the afflictive karmic seeds are all retained in the eighth consciousness. In the neutrino-body, when afflictive karma manifests, does one conceive according to the afflictive karma, or according to the steeped dharmas?
A: One conceives according to the wholesome karma of the mind consciousness attaining the fruit.
B: But after all, the manas has not attained the fruit; while alive its greed, hatred, and delusion were very heavy, and the defiled karmic seeds outweigh the karmic seeds of the mind consciousness attaining the fruit. At this time, shouldn't the stronger karma draw one first, so that one conceives with the defiled ordinary-being identity of the manas?
A: ·······
B: If one takes for granted that as long as one has studied Buddhism, karmic seeds are stored and one will be reborn in wholesome destinies and escape the three evil destinies, this is an extremely biased notion. Although everyone has steeped in wholesome dharmas, the unwholesome karma in the eighth consciousness is still very heavy; the wholesome dharmas are insufficient to counter the unwholesome dharmas, and in the end the powerful unwholesome dharmas occupy the dominant position. How then can one avoid the retribution of the three evil destinies and be reborn in wholesome destinies? No matter what, the steeping of the mind consciousness cannot match the karmic power of the manas; only by changing the manas's karmic power can one be assured of rebirth in wholesome destinies. Karmic power is the power of the manas; if the manas does not attain the fruit, the karmic power cannot change, and one will inevitably follow the manas's defilement toward the three evil destinies to receive retribution. The circumstances at the end of life of countless Buddhist practitioners prove this principle.
