A Guide to the Cultivation and Realization of the Mind: Part Two
Chapter 10: Miscellaneous Discussions on the Manas
1. How to Observe and Subdue the Imputed Nature (parikalpita-svabhāva) of the Manas
The imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva) of the manas is its pervasive deliberation upon and grasping at all dharmas, ceaselessly engaging with all dharmas without interruption. Relying on the eighth consciousness, it engages with all the dharmas manifested by the eighth consciousness, remaining in a state of knowing moment after moment, unwilling to let go of any dharma, clinging incessantly to every dharma it contacts. Past dharmas, present dharmas, and future dharmas all cling persistently in the mind; thoughts continue without interruption—there is not a single dharma it does not think of, not a single dharma it does not cling to, not a single dharma it does not dwell on. This is the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva) of the manas. Because the manas has this characteristic, the mind becomes tangled like hemp and scattered like a monkey, with thoughts never ceasing. Therefore He has no meditative concentration and cannot concentrate, consuming an enormous amount of time and energy on meaningless dharmas, so wisdom cannot advance.
If you have a way to observe these thoughts of the manas, you will realize what dharmas the manas is engaging with and grasping at, and you will then have a way to counteract and subdue the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva) of the manas, thereby being able to concentrate the mind and enhance the power of meditative concentration and the power of wisdom. How does one observe the imputed grasping and thoughts of the manas? First, observe the states and mental thoughts that appear in dreams, observing whether these states and thoughts are orderly or chaotic and unfocused. If you can observe the focal point that the states point to and what the manas's thoughts are thinking, you can know what the manas grasps at and attends to, as well as the problems existing in the mind.
Second, at the moment of just waking up, observe what your thoughts are and what your emotions are like; these thoughts belong to the manas, not the mind consciousness, because the mind consciousness has just arisen and has not yet had time to form thoughts or emotions. Third, in meditation, observe the thoughts that come and go. In meditation, the mind consciousness has already quieted down and has no thoughts, yet there are still some mental thoughts in the mind that do not settle, appearing now bright, now dim, now light, now heavy, constantly arising—arising and ceasing, ceasing and arising. These thoughts all belong to the manas. In all circumstances, the thoughts in the mind are scattered and unsettled, and most of them are unimportant and meaningless. From this, one can understand and observe the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva) of the manas. Because of this imputed nature, for beginningless kalpas we have consumed and wasted an enormous amount of energy without obtaining the wholesome fruits we should have obtained. Such pervasive engagement everywhere truly brings losses that outweigh the gains.
How can one curb and reduce the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva) of the manas? One must avoid contact with meaningless and useless people, affairs, things, and principles, reduce contact with various states, and as much as possible block out the rotten people and rotten affairs of the world and entangling human matters. If one can know one less dharma, then know one less dharma; if one can not know, then do not know. Those people and affairs have no meaning; they merely waste time and energy and leave impure thoughts in the mind. The mind should constantly engage with a meaningful dharma, focusing on this dharma without wavering, without interruption, and without admixture. Taking this dharma as the main thread, over time with deep practice, the scattered thoughts in the mind will diminish, the scattered mind can be subdued, the mind becomes concentrated, energy becomes focused and vigorous, and wisdom will grow.
2. The Quick-Wittedness of the Manas
In the middle of the night while asleep, the six consciousnesses have ceased, and a fire breaks out in the house. The manas wants to run—what to do? This thought of the manas, without the cooperation of the body faculty and without the cooperation of the six consciousnesses, cannot be realized no matter what. So it is not that the manas's wisdom is very lowly and it can do nothing; rather, whatever He wants to do, He needs tools to use. Without tools, there is no way, and He can only be like a person of low capability.
When the manas encounters such an urgent, critical matter, it certainly urgently wants to wake up, letting the mind consciousness perceive the fire, and then flee together with the five sense consciousnesses. As soon as the manas becomes anxious, the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) appears first. When the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) perceives unclearly, it transforms into the consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna), the five sense consciousnesses appear accordingly, and thus one wakes up. As soon as the mind consciousness perceives that the matter is urgent, it decides to run. After the manas agrees, it takes charge and makes the five-aggregate body run, and the physical body runs out the door.
At the moment of waking up, the mind consciousness arises together with the nose consciousness; because the smell of smoke is strong, the nose consciousness arises before the other consciousnesses. Then the eye consciousness, body consciousness, ear consciousness, and tongue consciousness appear. The five sense consciousnesses appear in sequence: whichever sense-object is weightier, the corresponding consciousness arises first. If the firelight is strong, the eye consciousness arises first; if the room is too hot, the body consciousness arises first; if the sound of the fire and shouting is loud, the ear consciousness arises first.
In moments of crisis, bodily movements are extremely fast; the mind consciousness has no time to think anything, yet danger is quickly avoided. If in a critical moment one waited for the mind consciousness to perceive and deliberate, a person would probably come to harm. At such times, the role of the mind consciousness is to follow the manas's arrangements together with the five sense consciousnesses and act swiftly. The manas is extremely quick-witted in moments of crisis.
3. Does the Manas Operate Inside the Brain or in the Void Outside the Brain?
If the manas were outside the brain, it would have nothing to do with oneself. If the manas could be in empty space, whose manas would that be? Who would execute the results of its deliberation (manasikāra/manana)? How could the faculties and objects contact each other to give rise to the six consciousnesses to feed back the manas's deliberation? Therefore it is said that the manas cannot be in the void outside the brain. What lies outside the brain? Is it necessarily empty space? The Śūraṅgama Sūtra says: 虚空生汝心内，如片云点太清里。This mind of course refers to the tathāgatagarbha, but does the manas also, following the tathāgatagarbha, perceive empty space? Then is empty space inside or outside the manas? Or is the manas inside or outside empty space? The manas silently encompasses and perceives all dharmas, and is not confined within the physical body; the dharmas of the ten directions and three times can all be perceived by following the tathāgatagarbha. From this, how big is our mind, after all? It encompasses the great void.
The manas is also a conscious mind. The conscious mind does not operate inside, outside, or in the middle of the physical body, because the conscious mind is formless and markless; one cannot say the conscious mind is inside or outside the physical body. And the manas, this conscious mind, can govern all dharmas inside and outside the physical body, operating together with the tathāgatagarbha. Wherever the tathāgatagarbha is, the manas is surely following; the tathāgatagarbha cannot operate any dharma alone, except for the underlying realm (essence realm). Where the manas is not present, there is no phenomenon of life. If the manas is absent from the brain, not only can the brain no longer function, the entire physical body cannot function, and life does not exist. The dharmas that the five-aggregate body can contact are all operated by the tathāgatagarbha, and all have the manas following along; the manas, relying on the tathāgatagarbha, can perceive them all. And the dharmas that the five-aggregate body cannot contact are also operated by the tathāgatagarbha and also have the manas following along; the manas can likewise perceive these dharmas.
For example, if someone practicing recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti) attains meditative absorption (samādhi) and truly aspires to be reborn in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī), then a lotus flower for that person will appear in the lotus pond of the land of bliss (sukhāvatī). This lotus is not merely manifested by his tathāgatagarbha; rather, it is built by the tathāgatagarbha, following the manas that has made the vow of rebirth, in the lotus pond of the land of bliss (sukhāvatī). So does the manas operate inside or outside the brain? At this time, the manas is neither apart from the brain nor apart from the physical body, and at the same time is in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī). If the manas could only operate inside the brain, then what about the lotus in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī)? Whose does it belong to? The mind-made bodies (manomaya-kāya) of all the great bodhisattvas are all governed by a single manas—are the manas of each emanation body inside or outside the physical body?
Another example: when the eye consciousness sees ten people in front of it, on which person's physical form does the eye consciousness actually make contact? Since it sees ten people simultaneously, the eye consciousness has simultaneously contacted the physical forms of all ten people; it is not the case that it can only contact one person and not the others at the same time. The manas is the same: relying on the tathāgatagarbha, it can simultaneously contact all the dharmas held and sustained by the tathāgatagarbha, without distinguishing inside, outside, or the middle. Inside and outside the supreme faculty (indriya) there are the same dharmas; inside and outside the brain there are the same dharmas; the manas can engage with them all and can deliberate upon them all. But the actual situation is that sentient beings who possess a supreme faculty (indriya), no matter where they go, cannot escape their own supreme faculty (indriya); even if they run to the edge of the sky, they have not stepped out of the supreme faculty (indriya).
The manas's constant, attentive deliberation operates upon all dharmas; it deliberates not only on the dharmas within the supreme faculty (indriya) but also on the dharmas outside the supreme faculty (indriya). He not only grasps at the body but also grasps at dharmas, and this grasping is the hardest to deal with. The grasping attachments of the three realms' mundane world—we still cannot free ourselves from them now; all our thinking is restricted, because our insight is shallow.
4. What Is the State of the Exhaustion of the Five Grasped Aggregates?
For the seven consciousnesses of sentient beings, the five grasped aggregates are five kinds of obstructions, blocking the full display of the vast meritorious functions of the seven consciousnesses and blocking the supernatural powers and wondrous functions of the seven consciousnesses, so that what the seven consciousnesses know and do is confined within a small scope and cannot be transcended. At the same time, they also obstruct the display of the meritorious functions of the eighth consciousness, so that the great mirror-like wisdom (ādarśa-jñāna) cannot manifest. Only through cultivating the four dhyānas and eight absorptions, reaching meditative concentration above the fourth dhyāna, can one gradually break through the limitations of the five grasped aggregates, burst out of the cage of the five grasped aggregates like a bird leaving its cage, gain freedom, and soar in the vast expanse of heaven and earth.
Extinguishing and breaking through the five grasped aggregates requires meditative concentration above the fourth dhyāna. The fourth dhyāna is the concentration of the purity of equanimity and mindfulness; when the mind has no thoughts, there are no obstructions at all, and any supernatural power and functional capacity can be brought forth, eliminating the obstructions on body and mind, unhindered by anything. The aggregate of form is the physical body and all forms possessing materiality, and is also the realm of the six sense-objects; it has an obstructing and hindering effect on the seven consciousnesses, especially on the six consciousnesses. When the manas wants to use the six consciousnesses to do things, the six consciousnesses cannot do them; hence it is said that the five grasped aggregates also obstruct the seventh consciousness.
When the aggregate of form is exhausted, the physical body and the material forms of the realm no longer obstruct the six consciousnesses. What does this mean? What is the aggregate of form's obstruction of the six consciousnesses? Influenced by the physical body and material forms, the eye consciousness wants to see distant things but cannot see; it wants to see the heavens above and the earth below but cannot see; it wants to see other celestial bodies but cannot see, let alone other buddha-lands; seeing forms is confined within distance and space. The eye consciousness wants to see forms beyond high walls, beyond high mountains, in deep water, and underground, but cannot see them, blocked by material forms. The eye consciousness wants to see forms in pitch-dark places without light but cannot; seeing forms is confined to the light.
Likewise, the ear consciousness cannot hear distant sounds; when dense matter lies in between, sounds cannot be heard; sounds beyond a certain range cannot be heard—hearing sounds is obstructed by spatial distance and material forms. The nose consciousness cannot smell scent-objects from far away, nor can it smell odor-objects wrapped in dense materials. The tongue consciousness cannot taste flavor-objects that do not contact the tongue faculty. The body consciousness cannot feel contact-objects that do not touch the body faculty. The mind consciousness does not know the people, affairs, and things of past and future lives—that is, it lacks the recollection of past lives (pūrvanivāsānusmṛti).
If one cultivates to the fourth dhyāna, the aggregate of form can be broken through, and seeing forms, hearing sounds, and feeling contacts will no longer be obstructed by the aggregate of form. Then the eye power, ear power, nose power, and tongue power of the superknowledges appear, the supernormal power of the body (ṛddhi) also appears, and the mind consciousness's superknowledge of others' minds and the recollection of past lives (pūrvanivāsānusmṛti) also appear. This is what is called the freedom of the five superknowledges. Non-Buddhist practitioners who cultivate the four dhyānas and eight absorptions also have these five superknowledges. There is also one more, the superknowledge of the exhaustion of defilements, which non-Buddhists cannot obtain, because that is the superknowledge of wisdom that exhausts afflictions. Non-Buddhists have not eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), so self-grasping cannot be fully eliminated, and they cannot have the superknowledge of the exhaustion of defilements. After the aggregate of form is exhausted, one must gradually break through the domains of the aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of volitional formations, and the aggregate of consciousness; what is seen becomes vast and unobstructed, without limitation.
Only when the domain of the aggregate of feeling is completely broken through can one be free from the limitations and control of bodily sensations. No matter what happens to the physical body, the mind is unaffected; fire burning, knives cutting, water flooding—none can subdue this flesh body; facing any state, the mind remains suchness is immovable (tathatā-acalita). When the domain of the aggregate of feeling has not been broken through, the body's tactile sensations will affect the fluctuations of the six consciousnesses.
All these supernatural powers are initiated by the manas. Originally, the manas also wanted to know vast realms, but because the six consciousnesses were obstructed by the five grasped aggregates, the manas could do nothing about it. Now that the obstructions have been cleared away, the manas's wishes can be fulfilled without obstruction. This requires an enormous amount of merit as support, as well as the support of precepts and the power of meditative concentration. Lacking any one of these three conditions, no supernatural power can be brought forth.
5. The Decisive Role of the Manas
The eye faculty contacting form sense-objects is divided into the outer eye faculty contacting outer form sense-objects, and the inner eye faculty contacting inner form sense-objects (inner rūpa-viṣaya). Only when the inner eye faculty contacts the inner form sense-object (inner rūpa-viṣaya) can the eye consciousness arise and perceive the form sense-object. But the eye faculty is a material form, not a mind—how could it actively contact form sense-objects? For example, before one's eyes there are trees, stones, grass, and fresh flowers; how does the eye faculty choose to contact only the fresh flowers, and then the eye consciousness perceives only the fresh flowers and not the other objects? How long the eye faculty takes to contact the form sense-object, and how long the eye consciousness takes to perceive the fresh flowers—what determines this?
All of this is determined by the manas. The manas is the master of the five-aggregate body, the one who takes charge. Of course, the manas is a false master, merely a fox borrowing the tiger's might; it relies behind the scenes on the true master, the eighth consciousness, yet does not know it. When this false master, the manas, faces numerous inner form sense-objects (inner rūpa-viṣaya), it alone selects the fresh flowers, because inwardly it delights in the fresh flowers, and there is currently nothing else to attend to; it only wants to admire the flowers. If there were important matters, it would have no time for the flowers.
The manas wants to look at the fresh flowers; the form sense-object of these flowers has already landed at the inner eye faculty. As soon as the manas decides, the eye consciousness will arise; thus the eye faculty, the form sense-object, and the eye consciousness—the three—conjoin in contact, and the eye consciousness recognizes the form sense-object of the fresh flowers. How long the eye consciousness perceives is determined by the manas. When the manas has admired enough and does not want to look at the flowers anymore, the eye consciousness disappears from the flowers and arises elsewhere. In this process, seeds fall and are deposited into the eighth consciousness, giving rise to future existence; the manas's craving-attachment and the mind consciousness's craving-attachment are also faithfully recorded by the eighth consciousness as seeds. The eye consciousness also has slight craving-attachment; it has craving-attachment only by complying with the manas and the mind consciousness. The eye consciousness fundamentally cannot take charge; it is completely not its own master.
If we want liberation from worldly suffering, we should not let our actions deposit seeds, especially seeds of greed, hatred, and delusion. What to do then? We must control the manas's mental thoughts, not have afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, not let the six consciousnesses create unwholesome bodily, verbal, and mental actions, or create fewer of them, and when creating them, not give rise to afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion—if seeds are to be left, let pure karmic seeds be left.
Who decides to create fewer karmic actions? It is decided by the manas. The source of karmic actions lies in the manas. Ignorance conditions volitional formations (avidyā-pratyayāḥ saṃskārāḥ) in the manas: because of various causes, various mental activities, and various ignorances, the manas wants to create actions, and only then do karmic actions appear, karmic seeds are deposited, and the suffering of future lives appears. In this way, the source of the suffering of birth and death is found, and how one should conduct oneself in the world hereafter should become clear. Reduce contact; reduce the time of contact. If contact is unavoidable, then at the time of contact reduce or extinguish mental activities, let the mind be as empty as possible, and do not deposit seeds of afflictions. Train yourself gradually in this way, and liberation will have hope.
6. How to Depart from Suffering?
In the process of cultivation, gradually extinguish the manas's ignorance, extinguish afflictions, extinguish self-grasping. When the manas has no mind toward the three realms, the dharmas of the three realms will be extinguished; finally the manas itself must cease, entering Nirvāṇa without remainder (Anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), tranquil and cool. Ignorance is the fundamental and primary cause of the cycle of birth and death. If ignorance is not extinguished, the manas's volitional activities do not cease; the craving-desire within the three realms does not cease, and the suffering of birth and death does not cease. Yet sentient beings have become accustomed to the suffering of birth and death—long dwelling in a cesspit, they do not notice the stench—and do not feel that birth and death are great suffering, do not feel there is great suffering within birth and death, and cling greedily to birth and death. When sentient beings do not wish to awaken, even the Buddha coming cannot save them.
7. Which Karma Is Greater: Creating Karma with Intention or Without Intention?
"With intention" means having preparation, having a target, having a purpose—it is deliberate. "Without intention" means having no preparation, no target, no purpose—it is unintentional. When creating karma with intention, the mind is not empty; when creating wholesome karma, the karma is small and the merit small. When doing good without intention, the mind is empty, the karma is great and the merit great. When creating unwholesome karma with intention, the mind is evil, the karma is great and the offense great. When creating unwholesome karma without intention, there is no evil mind, the karma is small and the offense small. "With intention" and "without intention" must be understood and observed from the standpoint of purpose and mental activity; whether there is a purpose, and what kind of purpose, is also key. When sentient beings do good with intention and purpose, the goodness is small; doing good without purpose, the goodness is great. Doing evil without intention, the evil is small; doing evil deliberately with intention, the evil is great.
Creating karma from the depths of the heart means the manas wants to create wholesome or unwholesome karma; both wholesome and unwholesome karma are then great, because the fundamental mind that takes charge is of wholesome or unwholesome nature. When sentient beings do good without intention—that is, originally having no thought of doing good, the mind not being wholesome, yet coincidentally doing good under favorable circumstances—their merit is small. This is not the same principle as the Buddha's "no-mind," nor is it on the same level. Doing good without considering the retribution also counts as "without intention," and its merit is great. Because the power of wholesome dharmas is great, it can temporarily prevent the conditions for unwholesome karma from ripening, and great unwholesome karma can be forever prevented from ripening—this is the power of great vows. Without this power, at the time of death one will surely follow the force of unwholesome karma; most people are like this. The tathāgatagarbha at all times, toward all people and affairs, has no mind; it has neither merit nor offense, yet its merit and virtue are the greatest. The Buddha does all things with no-mind, and His merit is boundlessly great.
