Mental Factors of the Mind base\: A Practical Compass (Second Edition) (with over 30,000 additional words, reorganized)
Section Three: The Mental Factor of Feeling (vedanā-caitta)
One: When the manas Eliminates Feeling, Perception, and Craving, It Enters the Cessation Attainment (nirodha-samāpatti)
Original text of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume Eighteen: 云何无攀无住。所谓诸爱永尽离欲。寂灭涅槃。及灭尽定。所以者何。所言攀者。诸烦恼缠。所言住者。烦恼随眠。于彼处所。二种俱无。是故说言。无攀无住。此谓涅槃。无攀无住。又想名攀。受名为住。若于是处。二种俱无。即说彼处。无攀无住。如是显示。灭想受定。无攀无住。今此义中。意取灭定。
Explanation: What is called "neither grasping nor abiding"? It means that all craving of the manas has been forever exhausted and it has departed from desire, its mind has become quiescent and ceased, entering the state of nirvāṇa, or it has attained the cessation attainment (nirodha-samāpatti). Why is this said? Because "grasping" means that the manas is entangled by the various afflictions; one who is not entangled by afflictions does not grasp at the various dharmas with the mind. "Abiding" means that there are latent tendencies of affliction (anuśaya) in the mind, and therefore the mind abides in dharmas; if the afflictions and their latent tendencies have been completely eradicated, then it is said to be neither grasping nor abiding. This is the meaning of nirvāṇa being without grasping and without abiding. In this way, the state of neither grasping nor abiding within the cessation of perception and feeling (saṃjñā-veditā-nirodha) is revealed, showing that this person has attained the cessation attainment.
When the six consciousnesses have all ceased, and the manas further eliminates the two mental factors of feeling and perception, that is the cessation attainment. Feeling is the meaning of abiding in dharmas; receiving sense objects is called abiding. Perception is the meaning of grasping; knowing and apprehending constitutes perception. Grasping means entanglement by afflictions; when the manas eradicates afflictions, it does not grasp. Eradicating afflictions is called the forever-exhaustion of all craving; the forever-exhaustion of all craving is precisely departure from desire. When the manas departs from desire, all craving is forever exhausted and it no longer grasps; when the manas departs from desire, without grasping and without abiding, it enters nirvāṇa without remainder (Anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa). That sentient beings do not realize nirvāṇa without remainder shows that the manas has grasping, has craving, desire, and abiding, feels and perceives dharmas, is entangled by afflictions, and the mind is not tranquil. Revealing in this way the state in which the manas within the cessation of perception and feeling has neither grasping nor abiding is precisely the cessation attainment.
When the manas does not grasp at material sense-objects and does not abide in them, the eye consciousness and mind consciousness do not arise; when the manas does not grasp at sounds and does not abide in them, the ear consciousness and mind consciousness do not arise; when the manas does not grasp at scents and does not abide in them, the nose consciousness and mind consciousness do not arise; when the manas does not grasp at flavors and does not abide in them, the tongue consciousness and mind consciousness do not arise; when the manas does not grasp at tactile objects and does not abide in them, the body consciousness and mind consciousness do not arise; when the manas does not grasp at mental sense-objects, the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) does not arise. When the manas has no feeling and no perception with respect to the six sense objects, having extinguished the sensations and the capacity to know, not wishing to know the six sense objects, it abides in the cessation attainment.
The logic of contemplation here is very rigorous and impregnable. Bodhisattva Maitreya clearly states: when sentient beings' manas has desire and craving, there is grasping and abiding, and they cannot attain the cessation attainment, nor can they enter the state of nirvāṇa and attain liberation; if sentient beings' manas departs from desire and craving, they can attain the cessation attainment and can also attain nirvāṇa, and this is called attaining liberation.
Departing from desire—leaving behind all craving for the dharmas of the three realms—one can leave the three realms. Departing from hatred—eradicating the manifest affliction of hatred—one should not only eradicate the mind consciousness's hatred, but should even more eradicate the manas's hatred. Bodhisattva Maitreya said that greed, hatred, and delusion are sentient beings' entrenched afflictions; "entrenched" means they are difficult to eradicate and pull out, the afflictions being very deep. This refers not merely to the mind consciousness's greed, hatred, and delusion, but mainly to the manas's greed, hatred, and delusion. The mind consciousness's greed, hatred, and delusion are easy to subdue and eradicate; the mind consciousness is intelligent and wise, and through studying Buddhism it can be transformed. The manas is not intelligent, does not easily understand and comprehend the Dharma, and cannot deliberate (manasikāra/manana), so it is difficult to transform; its greed, hatred, and delusion afflictions are deeply rooted and hard to pull out.
Two: Evidence That the manas Has Three Kinds of Feeling (Part One)
Both the sixth and seventh consciousnesses have feeling with respect to their corresponding sense objects, and the first five consciousnesses also have feeling with respect to the objects of the five sense objects; this kind of feeling is often non-emotional and relatively simple—a pure reception of the objects of form, sound, scent, flavor, and touch. The mind consciousness's feeling at first is pure reception and acceptance, but after knowing, there arises feeling tinged with emotion; joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness will all manifest, and the mental activities become very numerous and complex.
The manas also has feeling. Everything that the six consciousnesses discriminate and know must be transmitted to the manas; the manas receives the detailed information transmitted by the six consciousnesses and has its own feelings. The manas also relies on the eighth consciousness and can perceive the images of all the dharmas that the eighth consciousness cognizes; He can discern all dharmas, and therefore has various feelings that the mind consciousness does not have, and feelings not known by the mind consciousness. For example, when the manas, relying on the eighth consciousness, discerns that oneself or a family member is about to have an accident, the mind becomes anxious, fearful, worried, apprehensive, terrified, and uneasy, and various suffering feelings arise; this then impels the six consciousnesses to do some inexplicable things contrary to common sense, and the mind consciousness also displays emotions such as terror and unease, without knowing why. If the manas discerns that a happy event will soon occur, there will be pleasant feelings of joy and delight within, and the mind consciousness will experience inexplicable happiness, with pleasant feelings arising.
The feeling that arises in the manas based on what the six consciousnesses have discerned: for example, one experiences something during the day, and in the evening when free, the mind consciousness carefully recalls and analyzes it and realizes it was not what it appeared on the surface; the more the mind consciousness thinks about it, the angrier it becomes. At this point the manas, knowing this, also becomes angry, and then manifests as physical discomfort in the heart, an increasingly unpleasant facial expression, or makes a new decision.
Some say that the manas's feeling is simply pure neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā), without suffering or pleasant feelings. But if the manas had no suffering or pleasant feelings and only neutral feeling, it should, like the eighth consciousness, be able to tolerate all dharmas, being neither interested in nor avoiding or rejecting any dharma; it would not drive body and mind to create emotional behaviors of joy, sorrow, anger, and happiness, there would be no excessive behaviors or emotions, and body and mind should remain placid, quiet, and steady. It is evident that the manas is not like this. Especially those who have not subdued their afflictions and lack cultivation are severely emotional, and much of the time the mind consciousness does not know why. Those who are melancholy like Lin Daiyu, or irritable like an asura, are the result of the manas having suffering feelings it cannot bear. When the manas's habitual tendencies are too strong, it is very difficult for the mind consciousness to control the arising of these emotions. This shows that the manas is not of neutral feeling; due to suffering feelings the manas has corresponding afflictions, and due to pleasant feelings it also has corresponding afflictions.
Three: Evidence That the manas Has Three Kinds of Feeling (Part Two)
What are the manifestations of the seven consciousnesses when facing the objects of the six sense objects? Grasping (upādāna), craving, aversion, hatred, and so on. From the manifestations of the seven consciousnesses facing the six sense objects, one knows that the manas is often not in neutral feeling; its emotions are intense and abnormal, and its mind is agitated like a monkey. Why is this? Because the seven consciousnesses know good and evil, right and wrong, and what is proper; they know benefit and harm, gain and loss to themselves; they know what damages and what benefits. The seven consciousnesses have a self in mind, must view things from the standpoint of self, must protect their own interests, and will inevitably have thoughts and emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness; when facing objects the mind is not calm—that is not neutral feeling. If it were neutral feeling, the mental state would be peaceful, the mental conduct would be unconditioned, any kind of object would be fine, and nothing would matter.
Remaining in the mother's womb for a long time unable to be born is an evil retribution. The Buddha's son Rāhula was born only after six years in his mother's womb because in a previous life he had blocked a mouse hole for six days, causing the mice to suffocate inside; thus he received the evil retribution of six years in the womb. While in the womb, at first there is no mind consciousness, only the manas and the tathāgatagarbha. Since being in the womb is karmic retribution, the manas must be able to undergo the retribution.
When undergoing evil retribution in the womb, the mind consciousness has not yet arisen—what does the manas feel? If the manas felt comfortable or had no feeling, it would not be called evil retribution. When unconscious, or when in a vegetative state, these are all evil retribution, or suffering retribution; at such times there are no six consciousnesses, only the manas undergoing suffering retribution—so the manas cannot be having pleasant feeling or neither-suffering-nor-pleasant feeling, otherwise it would not be called suffering retribution. In the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava), the road ahead is vast and uncertain; generally speaking this is suffering feeling, and because the manas dislikes suffering feeling it urgently seeks rebirth to escape it—at this time the manas cannot be having pleasant feeling or neither-suffering-nor-pleasant feeling. What does the manas feel after falling asleep—who can know? What does the manas feel when just waking up—who can know? What does the manas feel when encountering various matters—who can know? These dharmas are all very profound and subtle; when the mind consciousness's meditative concentration and wisdom are insufficient, they cannot be observed through direct perception.
Four: Evidence That the manas Has Three Kinds of Feeling (Part Three)
If the manas, like the tathāgatagarbha, had only neutral feeling, it should also, like the tathāgatagarbha, be immovable (tathatā-acalita) with respect to all objects; no matter what objects manifest, "the eight winds cannot move him, sitting upright on the purple-gold lotus"—not taking good objects, not rejecting bad objects, not discriminating in the mind whether objects are good or bad, beautiful or ugly; it would then not impel the six consciousnesses to create greedy and hateful behaviors of liking and disliking, and even less would it act impulsively; when encountering matters it would not fly into a rage, striking and kicking, nor would it beam with joy, dancing with delight; it should always be placid, indifferent to everything.
If the manas were indifferent no matter what situation it was in, always in neutral feeling, then it would have no afflictions and would not need to subdue its own mental afflictions through contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā); He would forever be pure, and would never lead the six consciousnesses to create greedy and hateful karmic actions, giving rise to thoughts and emotions of joy, delight, craving, and so on, or of anger, jealousy, resentment, and so on. Then the manas would have the quality of equality; the mind would be equal toward all objects, without deviation, treating enemies and dear ones equally without distinction, fair and just; the mind would neither delight in the Pure Land of Bliss (sukhāvatī) nor loathe the defiled Saha land; it would neither wish to become a Buddha or patriarch nor weary of the three realms to enter nirvāṇa.
If the manas were of neutral feeling, He Himself should be liberated like the tathāgatagarbha; wholesome and unwholesome objects could not bind Him, and He would not receive any objects—this would be a liberated mind. But the actual situation is not so: the manas's greed, hatred, and delusion afflictions are extremely heavy; its greed is inextricable, its hatred cannot save itself, and it is bound tightly by the dharmas of the three realms, especially the three evil destinies, unable to escape. Therefore it is said that the manas is not merely of neutral feeling; it has all three feelings, with neutral feeling being rare. To cultivate to the point of relinquishing suffering and pleasant feelings is extremely difficult and rare.
Much of the time there are inexplicable emotional states; whether happy or unhappy, the mind consciousness does not know why—where did the happiness or unhappiness come from? Sometimes the mind consciousness tries to figure out the reason, and sometimes no matter how it ponders, it cannot understand, because the manas is truly hard to fathom. When one is so happy that joy shows on the face, the mind consciousness says, "I should not let people see that I am happy," yet one still cannot help being excited. Who is so happy and joyful that the mind consciousness cannot stop it? It is the manas's pleasant feeling, which the mind consciousness sometimes cannot easily control, and the manas even less can control its own emotions. When one is so happy that joy shows on the face, the mind consciousness says, "I should not let people see that I am happy."
For example, with certain matters, the mind consciousness very much wants to endure, but in the end cannot bear it and the emotion erupts, uncontrollable—this is the result of the manas feeling the suffering feelings of depression, anguish, and anger. Sometimes one is terrified by certain matters; the mind consciousness counsels itself: "No need to be afraid, it's no big deal, nothing will happen." Yet one remains terrified nonetheless—who cannot control this terror? The manas's terror is not easy to control; at this time the manas is in suffering feeling.
Five: Evidence That the manas Has Three Kinds of Feeling (Part Four)
The manas does not have only neutral feeling; it also has suffering and pleasant feelings. Because the manas has ignorance and afflictions, and has wholesome and unwholesome mental factors, it must have suffering and pleasant feelings, and from these suffering and pleasant feelings arise the afflictions of greed and hatred. If the manas had only neutral feeling, it would be unmoved by being beaten, scolded, or bullied; although the mind consciousness might feel bad for a while, it would soon pass, and there would be no acts of revenge—this is the fine cultivation and virtue of a great practitioner, which ordinary people simply do not possess. If the manas had only neutral feeling, even being praised to the skies would leave it unmoved; in the face of power, beauty, fame, and profit it would remain unmoved, would not chase after power, beauty, fame, and profit, and would be indifferent to riches and honor. Although the mind consciousness might like these things, it would merely have a slight liking, without any action or putting into practice. This is the virtue and cultivation of a great practitioner; ordinary people simply would not be like this.
Because the manas's reception of the objects of the six sense objects often needs the aid of the six consciousnesses, and the six consciousnesses have obvious discriminating functions with respect to objects, their feeling is also obvious and direct, whereas the manas's feeling appears more indirect and obscure, not easily discovered by the mind consciousness; therefore it is said that the manas has no feeling. As for feelings on the physical body, they are directly received by the mind consciousness and body consciousness; pain and comfort on the body are directly felt by the body consciousness and mind consciousness. When there are no six consciousnesses, the painful and pleasant contacts on the body are not felt by the mind consciousness or body consciousness—but does the manas feel them at this time? The manas definitely has sensation, which is why after unconsciousness or falling asleep, the manas will arouse the six consciousnesses to discern and find ways to deal with the body's problems. Even if the six consciousnesses are not aroused to wakefulness, the facial expressions and bodily postures during unconsciousness and sleep show that the manas has sensations.
Sentient beings take the feelings of the six consciousnesses as feeling and cannot experience the manas's feeling; when the mind consciousness's wisdom is insufficient and there is no wisdom of the varieties of paths, one also cannot observe that the manas has feeling. So it is not surprising that many people say the manas has no feeling—but this is not correct principle. The five universal mental factors are attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā); the manas also has these five universal mental factors, so the manas definitely has feeling.
Six: Evidence That the manas Has Three Kinds of Feeling (Part Five)
A mind of neutral feeling dwells nowhere and attaches to nothing with respect to all good and bad objects; toward all objects it is equal and uniform, neither delighted nor disgusted, neither greedy nor hateful. Such a mind is a liberated mind, a tranquil mind, an unconditioned mind. The eighth consciousness is just like this: the mind dwells nowhere and attaches to nothing, neither hating nor rejoicing, equal and uniform, immovable (tathatā-acalita) toward all objects, completely neutral feeling. If the manas were of neutral feeling, it would be equal and uniform toward all dharmas like the tathāgatagarbha, immovable toward all objects, neither hating nor rejoicing, without greed, hatred, and delusion, tranquil and liberated. If so, sentient beings would no longer need to cultivate and seek liberation. Therefore it is said that the manas is not merely of neutral feeling but also has suffering and pleasant feelings. The manas can receive the perfuming of good and evil and create wholesome and unwholesome karma, so it is not of neutral feeling; sentient beings have various afflictions of greed and hatred, showing that the manas is not of neutral feeling. The eighth consciousness never gives rise to greed or hatred toward any dharma—only this is a mind of neutral feeling.
The Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume Sixty-Three, discusses that the manas possesses all three feelings: 又诸转识。或于一时。一切唯与乐受相应。俱有而转。或于一时。亦有苦受。或于一时。亦有不苦不乐等受。相应俱转。阿赖耶识相应受。于一切时唯是不苦不乐。This passage discusses the feelings of the eight consciousnesses: only the Ālayavijñāna has neutral feeling, while the other transforming consciousnesses all have three kinds of feeling. The transforming consciousnesses refer to the seven flowing consciousnesses; here it says the seven transforming consciousnesses are sometimes associated with pleasant feeling, sometimes with suffering feeling, and sometimes with neither-suffering-nor-pleasant feeling.
The more cultivated one is, the fewer emotions one has, and the more one corresponds to neutral feeling. The last of the seven factors of enlightenment is the enlightenment factor of equanimity: the mental state is very peaceful, without fluctuation, calm in the face of any object, the mind like still water. Here there is the mind consciousness's neutral feeling and also the manas's neutral feeling; if the manas were not of neutral feeling, the mind consciousness could not have neutral feeling. Even after the manas has transformed consciousness into wisdom, it is not in neutral feeling at all times; there are still emotional moments, only fewer and milder than before. Because arhats have eradicated grasping at self and removed the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, their minds are placid most of the time, but not at all times in neutral feeling; they also have suffering and pleasant feelings. After the mind consciousness eradicates afflictions and transforms consciousness into wisdom, neutral feeling increases, emotional states decrease, and suffering and pleasant feelings decrease. However great the suffering, arhats generally do not feel it as suffering; however great the joy, arhats do not feel it as joy, because they have no craving.
But arhats' manas still has suffering and pleasant feelings; otherwise they would not avoid the suffering of the Saha world and choose nirvāṇa without remainder, choosing to leave suffering and attain happiness. If the arhat's manas did not feel the suffering of the world of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), it would not reduce the body to ashes and extinguish wisdom, entering nirvāṇa at all costs to eliminate suffering and seek coolness and happiness. In the Hīnayāna cultivation of the Four Noble Truths of suffering, origin, cessation, and path, after the mind consciousness cultivates them, it perfumes the manas, and together with the manas realizes suffering, origin, cessation, and path. Therefore the manas, like the mind consciousness, must also know suffering and eradicate the origin, yearning for cessation, cultivating the path (nirodhābhiprāya-mārga-bhāvanā); in the end the manas will know suffering and eradicate the origin, hoping through cultivating the path to extinguish itself. From this one can see that the manas knows suffering; because it has suffering feeling in its mind, it can resolutely eradicate the origin.
Only with profound meditative concentration (dhyāna), contemplating and practicing the Buddha's Dharma, can one contemplate the truth of facts, genuine wisdom will arise, and one can truly rely on the Dharma rather than on certain authoritative celebrities. Without meditative concentration, unable to contemplate and deliberate, one invariably relies on persons rather than on the Dharma. Reciting others' words all belongs to relying on persons, whereas relying on the Dharma means relying on the truth of facts. The truth of facts must be contemplated and deliberated within meditative concentration—it is by no means reciting famous sayings and quotations like a parrot machine. Nowadays the internet is full of parrot machines, and everyone is smugly pleased with themselves, thinking how learned they are, how much they know, how rich their knowledge is—simply "learned enough to fill five carts." But no matter how many carts of learning one has, it has nothing whatsoever to do with birth and death; knowledge cannot liberate one from birth and death, because knowledge is a conditioned, arising-and-ceasing dharma.
Seven: The manas's Neutral Feeling
Neutral feeling is a feeling that does not experience suffering or pleasure. Saying the manas is of neutral feeling has partial truth: the manas is of neutral feeling with respect to bodily contact, not directly feeling the objects of the six sense objects. However painful the physical body is, the manas does not feel the pain—it is the body consciousness and mind consciousness that feel pain; when there is no body consciousness or mind consciousness, the physical body does not feel pain. For example, during surgery, if the body consciousness and mind consciousness are present, the person is awake and will certainly feel severe pain. To eliminate the sensation of pain, anesthetic is administered, first making the body consciousness cease, then the mind consciousness; thus during the operation the body does not feel pain.
When one has a toothache, after falling asleep the six consciousnesses cease and the pain is not felt, but the inflammation in the tooth still exists, and upon waking the pain continues; sometimes one is even awakened by pain in the middle of the night. Why can one be awakened by pain at midnight? Because the manas can perceive the pain in the body. During unconsciousness, although the body is in terrible condition, no pain is felt; upon waking, the pain becomes unbearable. When undergoing retribution in hell, one does not feel pain only after fainting from the pain, but the power of karma does not let the sinner remain unconscious; when the karmic wind blows, one wakes up again to continue undergoing retribution. In meditative concentration, pain also lessens or disappears, because at that time the six consciousnesses have either disappeared or become faint.
Therefore pain is a sensation experienced jointly by the body consciousness and mind consciousness; the manas does not have such sensation, and even if it did, the mind consciousness would not know and could not observe it. Sentient beings take the sensations of the six consciousnesses as sensation; when the six consciousnesses cease or become faint, whatever the manas's sensations and mental activities may be, the mind consciousness does not know them. Not knowing, it assumes the manas has no feelings, no mental activities, or that the manas is very simple with shallow wisdom.
When the manas's functions become strong enough to replace the six consciousnesses, all sensations belong to the manas; but by then the manas's cultivation of meditative concentration and wisdom is already extremely superior, almost all neutral feeling, with hardly any emotional fluctuation. Ordinary sentient beings' manas still has suffering and pleasant feelings, not merely neutral feeling; it has psychological sensations similar to the mind consciousness's—feeling wronged, oppressed, depressed, resentful, or joyful, happy, excited—with great emotional fluctuation; only thus do emotions like towering rage, dancing with joy, and beaming with happiness appear.
Eight: When There Are No Six Consciousnesses, All Mental Activities in the Five-Aggregate Body Are the manas's Mental Activities
In the middle of the night while asleep, a cold contact arises in the body, and then the body consciousness and mind consciousness arise to solve the problem of cold. In the middle of the night while asleep, a painful contact arises in the body, and the body consciousness and mind consciousness arise to feel the pain and deal with it. If the manas already knows it is cold, hot, or painful, why must the mind consciousness still arise? Because after the manas knows a problem exists, it cannot personally handle and solve it; the problems of the five-aggregate body require the six consciousnesses to deal with. When there are no six consciousnesses, the mental activities that appear in the five-aggregate body are all the manas's mental activities; when the six consciousnesses are extremely weak, those mental activities are also almost all the manas's. Observe the state of a person in a vegetative state: does the vegetative person feel pain? Do they want to be in a vegetative state? Do they want to continue lying in bed? Do they want to eat at mealtimes? What manifestations do they show upon seeing their dearest loved ones? All of these can demonstrate the manas's mental activities and sensations.
During unconsciousness, does the manas want to be unconscious, and what manifestations does it show? From these manifestations one can observe the manas's mental activities. If during unconsciousness the manas were of neutral feeling, then the manas should be indifferent like the tathāgatagarbha and simply continue being unconscious. But as soon as the body recovers a little, the manas impels the six consciousnesses to appear and impels the functions of the five aggregates to appear; this shows the manas does not want to be unconscious and is not resigned to being unconscious. Why does it not want to be unconscious, is not resigned to it, and dislikes it? First, being unconscious does not feel good. Second, there is no activity of the five aggregates; having nothing to do feels boring, and boredom is also a suffering feeling. If being unconscious felt comfortable, the manas would of course maintain the unconscious state. Third, the manas fears death. When sitting in meditation and entering samādhi, not wanting to leave the samādhi—does this not show that the manas feels comfortable? Of course, if the mind consciousness is relatively clear-headed and also feels entering samādhi is very comfortable, it will become attached to sitting quietly and unwilling to rise from the seat.
