A Guide to the Cultivation and Realization of the Mind: Part Two
Chapter 3: The Manas's Deliberation and the Method of Investigating
1. How to Have the Manas Deliberate on Questions Without Affecting Sleep?
If you want to assign the manas some tasks before going to sleep without affecting your sleep, letting the manas deliberate on a question during sleep, then the manas needs to be very familiar with the question, to understand what the content of the question is, so that the mind consciousness does not need to help analyze the question again, nor transmit any further information, and the question also does not need urgent resolution, with no need to know the answer right away. In this way, the manas will feel at ease letting the six consciousnesses cease.
After assigning the task and posing the question for deliberation, do not do anything else, and do not think about other things—just go to sleep directly, letting the manas's mind hold only this one matter, not covered or influenced by other things. When the manas needs to activate the mind consciousness to assist its deliberation, it is certainly because it is not yet very familiar with the question and cannot find the approach and direction for solving it, so it needs the mind consciousness to help analyze and provide reference information. If the manas is very familiar with the question and has a method of solution, even if the mind consciousness wants to help analyze, the manas will not use it, considering it an obstruction.
2. The Characteristics and Benefits of Deliberating with the Manas
The deliberation of difficult questions is divided into different levels of depth. The shallowest level is the mind consciousness's solitary thinking; because there is no meditative concentration (samādhi) and the manas is not familiar with the question, it cannot participate. During the mind consciousness's thinking process, some language, words, and sounds will be mixed in; there is an appearance of thinking in the mind, and the whole process can easily be observed—this is the mind consciousness's power of introspection (pratyavekṣā-bala) over its own operation.
Among these, language includes talking to oneself, as well as body language such as gestures; words include those written on paper, as well as mental imagination and description; sounds include audible sounds, as well as inaudible inner voice. During the thinking process, the thinking can be scattered, and the mind need not be focused, need not have meditative concentration. As for the results of the thinking, the manas does not acknowledge them, because it did not participate, the mind is not very certain, they are easily overturned, and no actual corresponding action will be taken.
Slightly deeper thinking has the manas participating, with some shallow meditative concentration; the manas and the mind consciousness deliberate together, one in the open and one in the dark, cooperating with each other, complementing each other's strengths, and this does not exclude language, words, and sounds. The mind consciousness is responsible for providing materials and examples, as well as rough analysis and inference, while the manas discards part of the objects of attention and deliberates with full or half concentration. Because the manas needs to deliberate, it has no more energy to attend to all dharmas and must necessarily discard some dharmas; thus shallow meditative concentration appears. Whether to attend to dharmas or not is decided by the manas, and what dharmas to attend to and what not to attend to is decided by the manas. If the manas does not participate in the deliberation, it will not decide to discard part of the attended dharmas, and there will be no shallow meditative concentration. The more dharmas the manas discards, the deeper the meditative concentration, the deeper the degree of participation in deliberation, and the easier it is to deliberate out a result.
The deepest level of deliberation is the manas's solitary deliberation (manasikāra). At this time, the meditative concentration is already very deep; the mind consciousness's assistance and transmission have all been completed; the manas has already understood and become familiar with the question; it has discarded the vast majority of dharma-objects and single-mindedly deliberates and investigates alone in meditative concentration, even deliberating in dreams without rest. Once a result is deliberated out, the mind consciousness understands it as soon as it wakes up, and sleep is not affected. Once there is meditative concentration in the mind, even short-term meditative concentration, the manas will inevitably be activated; and on the other hand, once the manas's deliberation process is entered, one is often very focused, other dharma-objects cannot be attended to, and meditative concentration inevitably appears.
From this it can be seen that the manas is the master consciousness that arranges and decides matters. Once it deliberates, it cannot arrange other things, and meditative concentration will inevitably arrive. Whether there is meditative concentration in the course of practice depends on the manas; the manas has the final say. Therefore, to cultivate concentration quickly, one must use the manas more; to use the manas for deliberation, one must cultivate more meditative concentration. For a person who has formed the habit of deliberating with the manas, whenever encountering any difficult question in the future, they will immediately enter the manas deliberation mode, without the mind consciousness's guidance; their attention is extremely concentrated, the mind is focused, there is no language, words, or sounds, and it does not affect the concentration of attention. From ancient times to the present, all people of profound thought, all people of great wisdom, are people accustomed to deliberating questions with the manas.
The benefit of deliberating questions with the manas is that it can achieve the goal in one step, directly solving the core problem, without doubt, without agonizing, without regret, with inner joy. It is more penetrating, more ultimate, more thorough, deeper, more wise than the mind consciousness's thinking; the mind acknowledges it more, feels more grounded, and it always corresponds to the result, without needing to bother to memorize and recite again; whereas what the mind consciousness thinks out is easily forgotten afterward and cannot be recalled.
3. How to Mobilize the Manas's Deliberation in Meditative Concentration
In meditative concentration, using the manas's deliberation instead of the mind consciousness's thinking—this skill is quite deep and difficult for ordinary people to achieve. It requires a very deep foundation of meditative concentration, and also a certain degree of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā). When meditative concentration and contemplative practice are cultivated to a certain degree, one can shift from the mind consciousness's thinking to the manas's deliberation. The mind consciousness's thinking is relatively shallow, floating on the surface, and ordinary people can observe it. For example, by introspecting on what thoughts are in the mind at this moment, one knows what one is thinking about, deliberating on, and planning at this moment; these thoughts generally float on the surface and are all the mind consciousness's thinking.
At the same time, behind this there is also the manas's support and leading role. If the power of concentration and wisdom are insufficient, it is not easy to observe this, and one cannot recognize one's mind's true thoughts. When the mind has been cultivated to be very subtle, one can observe that when the mind consciousness is thinking, there is a force behind it playing the leading role, and that force and stream of thought belong to the manas. When one discovers that force of the manas behind the mind consciousness and can grasp the manas, one should gradually weaken the mind consciousness's thinking function; after weakening it to a certain degree, then discard the mind consciousness's thoughts, but after discarding them, one must still maintain thoughts in the mind, maintain the manas's deliberative activity, and not let oneself be completely without thought and without conception—this is not easy.
In meditative concentration, one must learn to strive to discover that force deep in the mind. He actually has thoughts, has mental activity, and is capable of deliberation—that is the manas's deliberative activity. After discovering it, strive to maintain that deliberative activity and not let it be lost; hand over the dharma meanings that the mind consciousness was thinking about to Him, letting Him continue to deliberate alone. This belongs to a relatively deep state of investigation; Chan investigation is just like this, and deliberating that the five aggregates are not self uses exactly this kind of skill. In this way, the manas's deliberation is mobilized; this mode of thinking, this kind of skill, is called the manas's deliberation.
To achieve this is inseparable from profound meditative concentration; the skill of meditative concentration needs to be very good, able to discard coarse wandering thoughts, and at a certain point even subtle wandering thoughts must be discarded. Wandering thoughts are thoughts deliberating other irrelevant dharmas, that is, miscellaneous and multiple thoughts; these thoughts are all interference to right mindfulness, so they must all be removed, leaving only the dharma that the mind consciousness needs to deliberate; then remove the mind consciousness's thinking as well, letting the manas deliberate on this dharma—the mind consciousness and the manas exchange roles in deliberating the question. At this time the mind consciousness still exists, playing a very light role of discernment, but it does not deeply think, analyze, and infer; rather, it lets the manas deeply deliberate, without language, words, or sounds. This deliberative function is not easy to observe when meditative concentration and wisdom are insufficient.
The manas's deliberative function is also called the thoughts deep in the mind. Everyone's mental thoughts are divided into two kinds: one floats on the surface, the shallow-level thoughts of the mind consciousness; the other is hidden in the depths, the deep level, that is, the manas's thoughts deep in the mind, representing one's true thoughts. For example, when I now tell others what I plan to do, actually I do not have this thought; the thought expressed has a perfunctory flavor, and there is another voice and thought in the mind. That thought is rather hidden and one does not want others to know it, so one uses the mind consciousness's language to cover it up or divert attention.
Continuously introspect on one's own manas's mind, grasp one's own manas's mind, then hand over the dharma that the mind consciousness originally worried about and thought about to the manas, letting the manas worry about it; in this way, the manas can worry about this dharma at all times and places, and the manas's deliberative nature manifests. If the manas agrees, the perfuming succeeds; if the manas has not accepted it, the perfuming has not succeeded; only when the skill is in place can it succeed.
In daily life, we all use the manas and the manas's deliberative function; it is just that we cannot observe it, cannot distinguish it, and do not make summaries, so we cannot distinguish whether it is the mind consciousness's thinking or the manas's deliberation. This requires increasing the skill of meditative concentration and the wisdom of contemplative practice to clarify these questions. Only when meditative concentration deepens can the mind become subtle, can one discover the difference between the mind consciousness and the manas, and can also distinguish the inner voice from the surface voice, thereby understanding the state of the manas's deliberation, grasping the manas's deliberative nature, and gradually one will know how to use it.
To reach this degree, one must strengthen the cultivation of meditative concentration, improve the wisdom of discernment, subdue afflictions, reduce wandering thoughts, and let the mind attend to the Buddha-dharma without chasing after worldly dharmas. As meditative concentration is cultivated ever deeper, the mind becomes ever more focused, wandering thoughts become fewer and fewer, to the point that wandering thoughts can be discarded whenever one wishes to discard them. When the mind becomes ever more subtle and wisdom ever deeper, the manas's functions will be exercised very well.
When the material body has been subdued and the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā is reached, one can directly use the manas's deliberation to solve problems. When the questioning doubt about a dharma is rather heavy, directly hang this dharma in the mind; at first the mind consciousness holds it, then reduce and lighten the mind consciousness's function, letting the manas hold this dharma; at this time one enters relatively deeper meditative concentration, letting the manas deeply deliberate on this dharma. The more focused the manas's deliberation, the deeper the meditative concentration; the deeper the meditative concentration, the more focused and deeply meticulous the manas's deliberation; finally the question can be clarified, and at the same time one enters a state of meditative absorption (samādhi), filled with dharma joy, with body and mind tranquil and at ease, and Chan bliss appears. Meditative absorption is the state of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā; after this state emerges, one's mental state for the whole day will be very good, and body and mind will both be very tranquil and at ease.
4. How to Quickly Enter Meditative Concentration and Investigate Dharma Meanings
Now I will introduce to everyone a method that can both quickly enter meditative concentration and simultaneously investigate and contemplate, letting everyone quickly enter the state of investigation.
To eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), the "I" among the five aggregates is crucial; just deliberate on what exactly this "I" is. If deliberating while sitting, after sitting down cross-legged, adjust the breathing—generally take several deep breaths—letting the Ren channel in front of the body be unobstructed, and the head clear without drowsiness. Then single-mindedly raise one "I"; at first the word "I" and the meaning of "I" appear in the mind consciousness's mind; then let the mind consciousness transmit the questioning doubt about this "I" to the manas; after handing it over to the manas, the mind consciousness's mental thoughts should gradually disappear, feeling as if the mind has emptied, with no thoughts.
Yet the mind has not emptied; the manas is suspending this question about the "I," feeling very deep, seemingly present yet seemingly absent, as if it can be grasped, and as if it cannot be grasped. At this time the mind consciousness should not stir thoughts, letting the questioning doubt about the "I" in the manas's mind become ever clearer and ever deeper, as firmly engraved in the mind as if carved. Thus meditative concentration arises, single-mindedly investigating the "I"; at this time the mind consciousness seems to have become dull and disappeared, but the manas has not; the manas's deliberation is not easy for the mind consciousness to grasp or feel, but the power of concentration has strengthened, and when the mind is subtle, one can still feel the manas's deep deliberation, continuous and unbroken, deep and subtle, extremely deep and subtle.
At this time the mind should be extremely still; apart from that doubt about the "I," there should be nothing in the mind. This is both profound meditative concentration and single-minded skill of investigation and contemplative practice, the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā, impartial and balanced. Because the meditative concentration is deep, the body feels very comfortable and the head very clear. During this, if one feels drowsy, or is about to enter a thoughtless concentration, the mind consciousness should remind the manas again, raise the word "I," place all attention on the word "I," with the mind neither empty nor scattered. An hour will pass quickly; when rising from the seat, one feels refreshed and invigorated, mentally joyful. The result deliberated by the manas may be clear and definite, or may not be very clear and definite, but there is confidence in the mind, much clearer than before.
As long as a definite answer and result have not appeared, the meditative absorption of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā has not emerged, and the view of self has not been eradicated, continue practicing in this way afterward until the result is satisfactory. Following this method, then sequentially deliberate on other dharma meanings that are not yet understood, such as deliberating on the aggregate of form, deliberating on the aggregate of feeling, deliberating on the aggregate of perception, deliberating on the aggregate of volitional formations, deliberating on the six faculties, six sense-objects, and six consciousnesses. Deliberate on any dharma meaning in this way, and doubt can be eradicated from the root, eradicating the three fetters.
At first when sitting down, the manas has no experience and cannot enter the role of the deliberator; even after entering the role, it does not know what to deliberate on. This requires the mind consciousness to remind and guide the manas toward which direction to deliberate, but one cannot remind too much; each time only remind a little, vaguely. Once the manas can deliberate with focus, it will become ever clearer and ever more penetrating. After rising from concentration, the mind consciousness should organize and summarize, thinking through all the dharma meanings deliberated by the manas once; this can deepen the impression and gain confirmation.
Practice this skill in sitting meditation, and also practice in this way while walking and doing things, only it is somewhat more difficult, energy must be somewhat dispersed, and the time needed to achieve the same effect is much longer; the method is the same. When the manas's questioning doubt is very deep, one can practice with focus whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. Why is this so, and what mystery lies within? One will then know the reason why; when the ins and outs of the dharma are thoroughly investigated, one has realized enlightenment.
5. How to Enter Meditative Concentration with Wisdom
After sitting down and adjusting the breathing, bring up in the mind the question that needs deliberation; after using the mind consciousness to sort out the question's content, do not analyze, infer, guess, or imagine, do not engage the surface mind consciousness's thinking; mobilize the manas, plant the question deeply into the manas's mind, letting the manas suspend this question; at this time there are no words, language, or sounds in either the mind consciousness's or the manas's mind; thus profound meditative concentration appears and the power of concentration arises. The manas is in the state of deliberating on the question; if the material body has no obstruction and the mind has no miscellaneous thoughts, the more the manas deliberates, the more focused it becomes, the deeper the meditative concentration, the more wisdom opens up, body and mind become ever more harmonized, and the spirit ever more joyful.
Deliberating on dharma meanings in such profound meditative concentration is entirely equivalent to profound contemplative practice, Chan investigation, and investigating; the mind will become ever clearer about the dharma meanings; once one can deliberate through them thoroughly, the mind will be very certain, without doubt, having eradicated doubt and perplexity. If one deliberates in this way on the content of eradicating the view of self and the content concerning self-nature and seeing the mind, once the deliberation and investigation clarify it, the three fetters will be eradicated, and the fetter of doubt will certainly be severed. If it is inferred and conjectured by the mind consciousness, and the manas does not understand it, the fetter of doubt is not severed, karmic obstructions are not removed, and birth-and-death cannot be ended.
Extremely many people only know how to use the mind consciousness's shallow mode of thinking and do not know how to use the manas's deep mode of deliberation, so they cannot practice Chan investigation, resulting in emotional sentiment and intellectual interpretation, with questioning doubt not extinguished and the fetter of doubt not severed; at the slightest disturbance, doubt blazes fiercely, and the dharma previously deduced will be overturned; even if not overturned, it is not actual realization or personal verification, and has no practical use. Therefore, among the many today who consider themselves enlightened, the ratio of false enlightenment is like the purity rate of gold, or even higher—only more, not less. This is the current state of the Dharma-ending age; no matter how many people are unwilling to accept it, this is the fact, corresponding to and matching the spiritual faculties (indriya) of sentient beings and the historical background of the Dharma-ending age; it will not be better than the Age of True Dharma or the Age of Semblance Dharma—absolutely not.
6. How to Induce Meditative Concentration with Wisdom
Inducing meditative concentration with wisdom, one enters concentration very quickly; the prerequisite is that both the foundations of meditative concentration and contemplative practice are fairly good, so that upon sitting down, the mind can quickly eliminate miscellaneous thoughts and delusions. Deliberate on a dharma meaning in the mind with clear content, able to quickly focus on the deliberation, becoming ever more focused; weaken and eliminate the obvious mind consciousness's thinking, but the manas in the mind is still thinking and deliberating, without language, without sound, without words, deliberating very deeply. At the beginning of practice, it will be somewhat forced and hard to endure; after becoming accustomed to it, entering concentration is very fast, body and mind are very comfortable, the whole body is transparent and clear, the head is clear; after rising from concentration, body and mind are joyful, the spirit is a hundredfold energized—much more effective than sleep.
During the manas's deliberation, one can observe that the manas does not refer to any dharma meanings, does not compare with other dharma meanings, and does not guess or imagine; therefore the manas has no mode of thinking of inference or non-valid cognition; it is entirely direct perception thinking; once a conclusion is reached, it is the wisdom of direct perception, relatively real, not easily overturned or regretted, worthy of trust—not so with the mind consciousness's thinking. Because the manas's deliberation has no language, words, or sounds, for the conclusion it deliberates out to take the form of language, words, and sounds, the mind consciousness's help is needed; one needs to awaken the mind consciousness and transmit the conclusion to it; after the mind consciousness understands it, it organizes language, forming words and sounds; the language and words formed will be very concise, clear, penetrating, and apt.
This process is rather complex and slow, much slower than the mind consciousness deliberating a question alone; but although slow, it is deep, ultimate, and apt, representing one's true wisdom. Therefore, if a person does a great deal of thinking with the mind consciousness, with mind-consciousness thinking as the mainstay, although their writing and speaking will be very fast, and the content will be abundant and miscellaneous, the quality cannot be guaranteed, let alone guaranteed to be the wisdom of direct perception; there will be much of inference and non-valid cognition, more referenced content; memory can be very good, and performance can be very good, but it does not fully represent one's true wisdom. Therefore, good food does not fear being late, nor does it fear being slow; refined delicacy is the greatest enjoyment.
7. How to Enter Meditative Concentration Quickly
When sitting in meditation, if one deliberates on dharma meanings, one enters concentration faster than silently reciting the Heart Sutra and mantras, and deeper too; faster than adjusting the breath to enter concentration, faster than any other method of entering concentration. This is so for people of sharp faculties with light afflictions and few wandering thoughts, because these people already have a foundation of cultivating concentration and the preparatory practices can be omitted; but for beginners of concentration who chase after objects heavily and have many thoughts, the more they deliberate, the more scattered the mind becomes; without meditative concentration it is just scattered thinking, a scattered and confused mind—so wait until there is a foundation of meditative concentration before deliberating. When I sit down and cross my legs, I use no preparatory methods at all, directly entering deep deliberation, with no mind consciousness's thinking, all being the manas's deliberation. After crossing the legs, first attend to the dharma that needs deliberating, then settle on that dharma without moving, without a single wandering thought—this is the state of the manas's Chan investigation.
The manas's deliberation is deep and slow, but thorough; the mind consciousness's thinking is fast and shallow, not thorough or penetrating. The mind consciousness's thinking is the preparatory practice, with the purpose of inducing the manas's deliberation; initially this is a necessary process to go through. In the manas's deliberative investigation, there is almost no knowledge gained, no increase in the amount of knowledge, but it is very interesting, with a kind of deep flavor of exploration, a kind of hazy joy of being about to discover something. What is developed is the wisdom in one's own mind-field; this wisdom is not obtained externally—what is obtained externally is all knowledge. At this degree, one no longer feels tired; I can sit for a whole morning, or even a whole day; it is just that there are concerns in the mind, and I have to rise from the seat.
8. The Benefits of Deliberating with the Manas
Question: I seem to understand how to deliberate with the manas; it is a mental activity that cannot use the thinking mind—the moment one thinks, the mind consciousness participates, and once the mind consciousness participates, that state becomes less deep and subtle. Is this so? This state lasts a very short time; when the deliberation reaches a point where the question gets stuck, I use the mind consciousness to think, and immediately the state is no longer so deep and subtle. Also, when sitting in meditation, upon introspecting (vitarka-vicāra) on the body's state, there appears the feeling of not having this material body—just a body constituted of slight sensations and the mind consciousness, very unreal. Suddenly there was a thought that the things usually seen are merely images and shadows, manifested; with this feeling, after rising from concentration, looking around, everything still seemed so real.
Answer: You can now probably distinguish whether it is the mind consciousness thinking or the manas deliberating during sitting meditation, and the method used is also correct; it is just that the skill is not yet proficient and fluid, and you need to take it slowly, gradually deepening the foundation. When deliberating on the Buddha-dharma in stillness, indeed when the manas is used, the mind is very deep and subtle; when the mind consciousness is used, it is somewhat shallow, as if separated by a layer, not deep or penetrating enough.
When observing the material body during sitting meditation with considerable focus, the power of concentration will rise; when the power of concentration deepens, the introspection反而 becomes slight—wait, translate properly: the introspection instead becomes slight, and there is no longer awareness of the material body, and the mind empties. The power of concentration can make the mind meticulous and precise, often able to observe things not observable ordinarily, able to discover the truth of things, thereby penetrating and realizing the truth. So in concentration, feeling that some things seem like images, not so real—this is a correct view; on the basis of right view, further making the practice proficient, there is hope of realizing enlightenment.
After realizing enlightenment, upon rising from concentration one will no longer take false dharmas as real; before realizing enlightenment, views are merely views and cannot change anything. But right view after all has somewhat departed from false cognition and tends toward discovering the truth of things; maintaining and deepening this state of practice further, one can see through more clearly that all kinds of things and principles are extremely illusory and unreal; when the conditions and season are complete, there is the possibility of realizing emptiness. Therefore, the realization of all dharmas is realized within profound meditative concentration; even during activity, there is the power of concentration, and this power of concentration all derives from the meditative concentration skill of sitting, being the extension and continuation of concentration in stillness.
9. How to Accord with and Enter the Principle
The five aggregates, eighteen realms, and twelve entrances arise from the aggregation of various conditions and disappear when the conditions disperse. How is this principle to be accorded with? The mind consciousness can think it over and understand the general idea, but you yourself also know this is not true understanding; one still needs a deep and definite understanding of its meaning, with principle and evidence. This requires, in meditative concentration, suspending this principle in the mind, letting the manas single-mindedly deliberate, deliberating densely at every moment. The manas's deliberation is hidden, continuous, yet not stuck to objects, with a certain height and depth—this is called "looking from a high vantage point."
10. A Mind Like a Wall Can Enter the Path
Question: One night I entered meditative concentration in a dream; the mind was bright and clear, and the people, things, and events around were all known clearly, yet I felt these people and affairs seemed to have no connection with me and could not affect me. I seemed to be in a vacuum, without a single miscellaneous thought in the mind, only one thought of deliberating on a dharma meaning (I cannot remember exactly which dharma meaning), like a single sun shining alone in the sky without a single dark cloud, and at the same time the whole body and mind felt incomparably tranquil and comfortable—I finally knew that being in meditative concentration is so comfortable! After waking, I could still feel that comfort. If there is such meditative concentration, one truly would no longer crave worldly pleasures; that feeling was extremely tranquil and free, incomparable to the pleasures of the five desires of the world. May I ask, Master: why would such a state, never experienced in reality, appear in a dream?
Answer: This dream state is the state of investigating Chan within meditative concentration, with both concentration and wisdom, calm and insight practiced together. You cultivated this kind of meditative concentration in past lives—it was preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi); the manas experienced it in a previous life and has the memory; now the mind yearns for it and still wants to experience this state of meditative concentration, but in this life one is rather busy, and the conditions for cultivating concentration are not complete, so the manas has no choice but to dream, enjoying the bliss of meditative concentration and Chan investigation in the dream. It seems the manas is rather pitiable and helpless; modern society is too chaotic, so much so that one cannot even shut out the chaotic life to single-mindedly cultivate the Path.
In the dream, the mind consciousness was in a clear, thoughtless state, bright and aware, without thoughts; it should have been in preparatory concentration, but the manas was functioning in the state of investigating dharma meanings, deliberating on the Buddha-dharma; only by thus deliberating on the Buddha-dharma can the fundamental problem be solved and the Path be realized. Chan investigation is exactly this state: without a single miscellaneous thought in the mind, external objects do not enter the mind, and the mind is immovable (tathatā-acalita) like walls of bronze and iron. When Patriarch Bodhidharma said "a mind like a wall can enter the Path," he meant exactly this. If meditative concentration and thinking cannot reach this degree, do not expect to realize the Path.
The manas's state of deliberative investigation can only arise and be maintained continuously under conditions of extreme quietness, and only then can deep and subtle, extremely deep and subtle dharma principles be investigated out. Therefore, true practitioners will shut out all external conditions; it is absolute solitude and loneliness, alone without companions; cultivating the Path is inherently the great undertaking of a solitary person, not something that can be accomplished in bustling company; those who cannot endure loneliness cannot walk the path of true cultivation. Meditative concentration can subdue and eradicate afflictions, and can obtain tranquility, joy, and happiness; nothing is more joyful than cultivating the Path. Therefore, people with meditative concentration all dislike worldly dharmas; the mind does not attach to the world, does not pursue wealth, sex, fame, food, sleep, fame, and gain, does not covet power and status; being greedy for worldly dharmas is truly unwise behavior.
Some people say that as long as one has a dozen or so minutes of thinking on dharma meanings without miscellaneous thoughts, one can attain the fruit and see the mind. Such talk is simply absurd; with only such a short time of deliberating on the Buddha-dharma, it is fundamentally impossible to have deep and subtle deliberation, and impossible to cultivate to the state of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā of Chan investigation. It is like boiling a large pot of water, which takes an hour; if one boils for five or ten minutes and then turns off the fire, continuing the next day, even boiling like this for a year or ten years, the pot of water cannot be boiled. Treating the Buddha-dharma as child's play like this, the retribution for toying with the Buddha-dharma is quite unwholesome. If the Buddha-dharma could be cultivated and realized this easily, how could there be so many sentient beings in the three evil destinies? People of the world all like to take shortcuts, but the result of taking shortcuts harms oneself. One part cultivation, one part harvest; to achieve anything, one must relinquish body and mind and be willing to put in the effort.
11. Why Does the Manas, Which Constantly and Deliberately Deliberates, Still Need Sleep?
Sleep is the cessation of the six consciousnesses, letting the material body and the six consciousnesses go dormant, while the manas neither ceases nor goes dormant; therefore sleep does not affect the manas's constant and deliberate deliberation, and the manas's constant and deliberate deliberation does not affect sleep. Sleep is to restore the material body's energy and eliminate the body's fatigue, so that the six consciousnesses can operate normally, better and more effectively. The manas regards the material body as its own possession, regards the six consciousnesses as its own possession, regards the five aggregates and eighteen realms all as its own possessions, and also relies on the eighth consciousness to know the body's condition moment by moment. The activity of the six consciousnesses consumes energy; in order to reduce energy consumption, the manas decides not to let the six consciousnesses be active anymore, actively shutting off the six consciousnesses' discernment of the six sense-objects, not wanting to know the six sense-objects anymore, relying only on the manas's own knowing. Thus energy continuously accumulates; when energy has recovered to a certain degree, the manas will decide to wake up, contact sense-objects, and continue the activities of the five aggregates.
If the material body is fatigued, sleep is needed to restore energy, and the manas will decide to sleep, not letting the six consciousnesses be active anymore; the manas itself wants to shut off the six sense-objects and not know them; thus the five sense consciousnesses and the mind consciousness will gradually cease. Therefore, it is not that the manas needs to sleep, but that the material body needs rest, to replenish energy and restore energy. This is precisely the result of the manas's constant and deliberate deliberation. But sleep does not affect the manas's constant and deliberate deliberation; the manas can continue deliberating during sleep, and can also manifest dream states, deliberating within the dreams.
12. Body, Speech, and Mind Are All Simultaneously Governed and Controlled by the Manas
A question lingers in the mind and cannot be resolved for a long time. During a relatively leisurely time, the manas decides to deliberate on it properly, so the mind consciousness and the manas begin to ponder deeply together. But why, during deep pondering, do the hands cooperate by propping up the chin, and the eyes cooperate by slightly closing, so that the body becomes quiet and stops moving about? And when the deep pondering finally obtains the answer and solves the problem, why do the two hands cooperate by clapping, dancing with joy, and the face blossoms with delight?
When the manas understands that the current question is important, it will focus on deliberating and have no time to chase after other mental sense-objects. The manas is the master consciousness of the preceding six consciousnesses; when the manas is quiet, the body is quiet. Those who cannot cultivate meditative concentration should carefully examine their own manas, see what things are stored inside, and quickly empty out the manas. If you cannot subdue the manas, do not think of having meditative concentration, and do not think of being able to truly practice diligently.
Not a few people think themselves quite good; perhaps the mind consciousness is good, but the manas is not—deep down, they are not yet good. Those who can truly see themselves clearly are not many. Some people dare not explore the depths of their own minds, fearing that some bad thoughts and views might be found. Many good people's mind consciousness is better than their manas—what does this show? Many bad people's manas is better than their mind consciousness—what does this show? It shows that the power of environmental perfuming is great, and the mind consciousness is easily perfumed by the wholesome and unwholesome. Does the phenomenon of the manas being better than the mind consciousness exist? Under rather harsh environments, the mind consciousness, having received unwholesome perfuming, may be worse than the manas; some bad people are not bad deep down, only forced by circumstances.
13. All Dharmas Have No Master and No Maker
Original text of the Sutra on the Ten Wholesome Karmic Paths Spoken by the Buddha:诸法集起。毕竟无主。无我我所。虽各随业。所现不同。而实于中。无有作者。故一切法。皆不思议。自性如幻。
Explanation: The accumulation and arising of all worldly dharmas ultimately has no sovereign, no master, and neither the nature of self nor the nature of what belongs to self. Although these dharmas each arise following their own different karmic seeds and karmic conditions, the dharma-marks that manifest are different. Yet in the process of these dharmas arising and ceasing, there is truly no maker; therefore all these dharmas are inconceivable, and the self-nature of dharmas is like an illusion.
"Dharmas gathering" means karmic actions gathering together, forming karmic seeds; after the karmic seeds mature, with the assistance of karmic conditions, the various dharmas are born. And the birth of dharmas has no one acting as sovereign within, controlling the arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing of the dharmas—there is no controller. These dharmas have no nature of self; they are selfless, and they do not belong to self. For example, the gathering and arising of the aggregate of form—who makes the aggregate of form gather and arise? The tathāgatagarbha has no mental activity of gathering and does not govern the aggregate of form; the manas is also illusory and does not govern the aggregate of form; the karmic seeds and karmic conditions are also illusory, and none has a mind of gathering—yet the aggregate of form inexplicably appears. Is the aggregate of form the self? It is not the self, because it has no autonomy and is empty. Is the aggregate of form what belongs to self? It also does not belong to self, because it is empty. The aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness are all like this, and so are the six faculties, six sense-objects, and six consciousnesses.
Sentient beings A, B, C, D, although all appearing in the six realms of rebirth following their own karmic actions and karmic seeds, each manifest different appearances and identities, statuses, merit, races, and so on; yet truly within the manifested marks, there is no maker—no one fabricated the marks of sentient beings' rebirth in the six realms. Therefore, A's heavenly-mark is inconceivable; the self-nature of the heavenly mark is like an illusion or conjuration, without any substantial deva; B's human mark is inconceivable; the self-nature of the human is like an illusion or conjuration, without any substantial human; C's hell mark and D's hungry ghost mark are both like this—inconceivable, their self-nature like illusions and conjurations, without substance.
These dharmas may not be too difficult for the mind consciousness to understand intellectually, but the mind consciousness can only understand the rough outline, not the inner details; that is to say, the mind consciousness cannot know the specific causes and the specific operations of the dharmas. It is like looking at flowers through fog—blurry and indistinct. Only by using the manas to deliberate deeply in meditative concentration can one penetrate and realize it, with all details seen completely, knowing the reason why; from then on one has personally realized the dharma, fathomed the dharma to its very source, and will never again look at flowers through fog or scratch through a boot. For any dharma, the more the manas deliberates, the more interesting it becomes, the more one wants to investigate it clearly, the more wisdom one has, the more meditative concentration one has; the whole person becomes intoxicated—this is the joy of exploring truth. Abandon the mind consciousness's shallow interpretation and learn the manas's deep deliberation, and one will become ever wiser, with ever clearer thinking, logic, and trains of thought, ever more steady and sagacious; all difficult problems will no longer be difficult and will all be readily solved.
