The Right Understanding of Manas

Chapter 7: The Relationship Between the Manas and the Tathāgatagarbha (2)

Fourteen: The tathāgatagarbha has several kinds of pervasiveness: pervading all places, pervading all realms, pervading all times, pervading all stages of meditation, and pervading all dharmas. When the manas does not exist, the tathāgatagarbha abides alone, which is the state of Nirvāṇa without remainder, where the tathāgatagarbha is merely a state of existence. Now, the manas also possesses these several kinds of pervasiveness that the tathāgatagarbha has; otherwise, the tathāgatagarbha would be in a state of abiding alone. Therefore, the seventh consciousness, the manas, should also have these several kinds of pervasiveness.

The tathāgatagarbha and the seventh consciousness are mutually dependent, and neither can operate alone. Without the manas as the basis and object upon which it depends, the tathāgatagarbha certainly cannot function, cannot manifest the myriad dharmas, and cannot sustain the myriad dharmas, and the myriad dharmas would instantly vanish. Conversely, if there were no tathāgatagarbha, the manas would certainly not exist, let alone be able to function. Therefore, wherever the tathāgatagarbha operates, there must be the driving force of the manas; wherever the manas is, there must be the tathāgatagarbha cooperating in its operation. The manas is forever bound together with the tathāgatagarbha and cannot be separated from it.

Wherever the tathāgatagarbha pervades, the seventh consciousness, the manas, also pervades. The two are each other's companion and attendant, inseparable as form and shadow. Only when the tathāgatagarbha discerns the seeds within its own substance is the seventh consciousness, the manas, powerless. Because the tathāgatagarbha's discernment of the seeds within its own substance, and its transmission of seeds, are not dharmas within the three realms, the seventh consciousness cannot participate. However, when the tathāgatagarbha transmits seeds and karmic seeds, the seventh consciousness still exerts a silent driving force; otherwise, the tathāgatagarbha could not transmit the seeds—except when transmitting the consciousness-seeds of the seventh consciousness itself.

Among the dharmas operating within the three realms, the seventh consciousness, the manas, certainly follows the tathāgatagarbha in its operation; or one may say that the tathāgatagarbha operates in compliance and cooperation with the seventh consciousness. In this, because of the tathāgatagarbha's compliance and cooperation, the seventh consciousness takes all the tathāgatagarbha's functions as its own functions, and clings to these functions without letting go, yet remains unaware and ignorant of the tathāgatagarbha's functional capacities. Therefore, wherever the seventh consciousness is, there is certainly the operation of the tathāgatagarbha; the seventh consciousness cannot exist and operate alone.

From the principles expounded above, the seventh consciousness, the manas, can pervade all times and all stages of meditation, and can pervade all dharmas—but can it pervade all places and all realms? "Realms" (dhātu) refers to the eighteen dhātus. The seventh consciousness counts as only a single dhātu on its own and does not belong to the other seventeen dhātus; yet the arising and operation of the other seventeen dhātus cannot be separated from the driving function of the seventh consciousness, the manas. Otherwise, the tathāgatagarbha could not take the initiative to give rise to any other dhātu, because the tathāgatagarbha does not exercise volitional control. Once the seventh consciousness, the manas, ceases, all the other dhātus cease at that very moment and no longer exist. In this sense, the seventh consciousness can also be said to pervade all realms; it is only that its function is too hidden and difficult to see. By the same reasoning, the seventh consciousness, the manas, can also be said to pervade all places. "Places" (āyatana) refers to the twelve āyatanas, the places where the six faculties contact the six sense-objects. Without the driving function of the manas, the six faculties could not contact the six sense-objects; neither the six faculties nor the six sense-objects have any autonomy, and neither can automatically contact the other—both require the driving force of the seventh consciousness, the manas.

Thus, the role of the seventh consciousness, the manas, in the myriad dharmas of the three realms can be generally seen. If He were to become inactive and unmoving, the myriad dharmas of the three realms would instantly vanish. All the functions of the first six consciousnesses also rely on the driving force of the seventh consciousness, the manas, and rely on His capacity to exercise control. The six consciousnesses are bound together with the seventh consciousness at every moment and cannot be separated even for an instant. All dharmas are likewise bound together with the manas and cannot be separated even for an instant. Although many people will not admit this, a blind person's inability to see the sun and sky does not prove that the sun and sky do not exist, nor that they do not operate; it can only urge the blind person to open his eyes sooner and behold the sun and sky. The sun and sky do not cease to exist merely because the blind person cannot see them.

Fifteen: During deep dreamless sleep, breathing and metabolism do not stop but continue to operate. Although breathing belongs to bodily action (kāya-karman), it does not require the body consciousness or the mind consciousness to sustain it; it is the joint function of the manas and the tathāgatagarbha. One can also breathe while unconscious; without the body consciousness, some of the body's own activities can continue as long as the manas exists, sustained by the tathāgatagarbha, without the need for the six consciousnesses. Of course, the six consciousnesses can influence the manas and alter the activities of the material body, such as breathing and blood flow; but the metabolism of the body's cells is also something the manas cannot directly control—it is decided and carried out by the tathāgatagarbha. Of course, the manas can, through the power of intention, change the structure of the body, such as metabolism and other activities.

Those subtle bodily actions, such as breathing and heartbeat, are controlled by the manas and the tathāgatagarbha; whereas metabolism, blood flow, body temperature, nerve impulses, and so forth are things the manas also cannot control. Regarding the body's growth and all its changes, in many cases the manas is also helpless; all are sustained by the tathāgatagarbha in accordance with conditions and karmic force. Although the manas is the consciousness that exercises control, most of the time He cannot exercise that control; otherwise, we would enjoy good fortune and fulfillment at every moment. But good fortune and fulfillment are, after all, only our beautiful wish; whether they can be realized depends on karmic force, and even the manas can do nothing about it. For example, when a thorn grows in a bone or illness appears in the body, the manas does not want it, yet the manas is utterly helpless—He cannot control it.

Sixteen: The Power of the Manas Is Inconceivable

Upon plants, the tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings sharing common karma operate together, and the seeds of the four great elements change moment by moment, so the plants also change moment by moment. The particles of the four great elements in plants also radiate outward moment by moment, so plants have a certain influence on their surrounding environment and on people. The form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma they emit can affect human health and emotions; plants are also a small magnetic field.

It is therefore a normal phenomenon that human intention can influence and change plants; that the human mind can change the material environment is precisely the functional operation of the three consciousnesses of transformative agency (parināma). If the manas's power of intention is strong, then in accordance with karmic conditions, the tathāgatagarbha can not only influence the growth of plants but also change their nature and properties. The manas's power of intention can influence not only the psychology of sentient beings and plants, but also all material form. For example, when a qigong master stirs his intention, he can change the shape and position of objects and can also heal illness at a distance. Also, when the manas recites mantras or pierces effigies as substitutes, it can change another person's material body; both health and death can be manipulated in the hands of a person whose manas has strong meditative concentration and power of intention.

Seventeen: The tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings are interconnected, and one's own manas can read the seed-information flowing out from another's tathāgatagarbha; the key still lies with the tathāgatagarbha. Since tathāgatagarbhas are interconnected and interactive, and can mutually know the karmic seeds and information within each other's mind-substance, nothing is secret to the tathāgatagarbha among all dharmas—He knows everything. And the manas can thereby come to know all dharmas as well; but this depends on whether the manas has any obstructions, and how great those obstructions are. The manas, relying on the perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga) of the tathāgatagarbha, can see all dharmas and can read the information displayed by one's own tathāgatagarbha; relying on the tathāgatagarbha, it can perceive all dharmas. Things nearby that cannot be seen or touched, the manas can all know—it is only the mind consciousness that does not know. All the physiological reactions of the body are regulated by the manas, yet the mind consciousness does not know why these reactions occur.

That the minds of sentient beings can communicate with one another is also a merit of the tathāgatagarbha. When tathāgatagarbhas exchange information, the manas can accordingly come to know this information, and thereby know the other person's situation and state of mind; the manas then transmits it to the mind consciousness, and the mind consciousness can sense certain things. The better and closer the relationship between people, the more the manas understands, the more the mind consciousness has intuitive resonance, and the more common language and mutual fondness there is. The affinity and repulsion between sentient beings are functions of the manas; "karmic affinity" also refers to the manas's function of awareness. Because the manas has existed since beginningless kalpas and has never ceased, it knows all the people, things, and events it has experienced, without the obstruction of the intermediate state between lives. Therefore, when sentient beings meet, there is immediate fondness or aversion, and they know how their karmic affinity stands—all these are functions of the manas's knowing.

Eighteen: When looking at the moon, the tathāgatagarbha manifests the image of the moon; when not looking, the moon seems to have disappeared. In fact, it is that the manas does not want to look, so the tathāgatagarbha does not cooperate with the manas to give rise to the mind consciousness and eye consciousness, and there is then no conscious mind to discern the image of the moon—but the image has been there all along. The tathāgatagarbha never meddles; if the manas has not decided to see forms and hear sounds and so forth, the tathāgatagarbha will not give rise to the six consciousnesses to discern them.

Nineteen: Question: According to the research findings of modern psychology, the manas also participates in the process of constructing the human body; therefore, under correct guidance, the manas can restore or correct abnormal conditions of the body. Just like a watchmaker—the watch is something he made, and when something goes wrong, he knows how to fix it. Is this statement correct?

Answer: The construction of the material body is something the tathāgatagarbha does entirely on its own according to karmic seeds; the manas does not understand these matters and cannot be of much help. Therefore, restoring the body's condition is entirely the affair of the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha knows the karmic seeds and discerns karmic conditions, and naturally understands how to change the material body; but it also changes all dharmas, including the material body, as much as possible in accordance with the manas's intentions. For example, when one is ill, if the manas wants the body to recover, the tathāgatagarbha will, in accordance with the manas's wish, change the diseased state of the body and restore health.

The change of the material body is, on the one hand, also the result of the tathāgatagarbha moment by moment complying with the manas's mental activity of deliberation (manasikāra). Whatever the manas wants to do, the tathāgatagarbha does its utmost to cooperate and realize His ideas—this is the most important point, and this is the manas's most formidable aspect: holding the emperor hostage to command the feudal lords. The mind consciousness cannot do this; the tathāgatagarbha does not cooperate with the mind consciousness, only with the manas. The mind consciousness must pass through the manas's vetting and approval before it can realize its own ideas. Therefore, realizing the tathāgatagarbha at the level of the manas is very easy: whoever realizes the manas's ideas, whoever discerns the manas's ideas, whoever transmits consciousness-seeds to the manas—it is all the tathāgatagarbha. The entire operation and activity of the manas is the tathāgatagarbha; the entire activity of the five-aggregate body is the tathāgatagarbha—there is nothing else, pure and unmixed, all is the tathāgatagarbha, just as a cloth doll is entirely made of cloth.

Twenty: The Root of Changing All Dharmas Lies in the Power of the Manas

A phenomenon that often occurs: after becoming friends with someone, the two people, without deliberately imitating each other, gradually become more and more alike in tone of voice, gestures, and pet phrases without realizing it, and are often told, "You two are becoming more and more alike." In psychology this phenomenon is called "synchronization tendency." If one is with someone one dislikes, no matter how long, this resemblance will not occur; it appears only between two people who like and appreciate each other. The most obvious phenomenon is that within a family, parents and children are very alike in living habits and speech and silence, including facial features.

The principle behind this is: when a person takes delight in another person, the manas accepts that person. With long-term contact, what one thinks, says, and does gradually converges. When the manas inwardly acknowledges and accommodates the other person, upon seeing the other's voice, appearance, and smile, the manas unconsciously learns them and becomes similar to that person.

When the mind transforms, the appearance can transform; when minds are the same, appearances can also be the same—for example, the Buddhas of the ten directions, without exception, all possess the thirty-two major marks and eighty minor marks. Practicing Buddhism is also a process of continually changing one's appearance. If one's appearance has not become more honest, simple, steady, and kind, if it has not become more dignified and more approachable than before, then one's practice is not yet very effective and the mind has not changed. Because when the manas changes, the seeds change, and this can impel the tathāgatagarbha to change the outer voice, appearance, and smile. If only the mind consciousness changes and the manas does not, then the tathāgatagarbha cannot make a sentient being's inner and outer aspects change, because the seeds have not changed.

In change, first the mind consciousness resonates with the other person; next, the mind consciousness influences the manas; when the manas changes, karma changes. Because the manas is the consciousness that exercises control, it can exert a decisive influence on all dharmas, and the tathāgatagarbha complies with the controlling consciousness. If the mind consciousness and the manas are not in agreement, just observe: in the end, which one does the tathāgatagarbha comply with? According to whose ideas and decisions does the result come about? Of course it still complies with the manas, cooperating with the manas's decision. This shows that the manas has power and can cause the tathāgatagarbha to change all dharmas.

Twenty-one: The manas, relying on the perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga) of the tathāgatagarbha, can see all dharmas. The tathāgatagarbha is like a mirror; the mirror's function can reflect the myriad dharmas and manifest myriad images—this reflecting function is the mirror's functional capacity. Because the mirror can reflect the myriad dharmas, it can capture the images of the myriad dharmas and display them on its surface. The manas, relying simultaneously on this mirror, can see any image on the mirror; whatever dharma the mirror reflects, the manas can see the image of that dharma.

What the tathāgatagarbha reflects is the original appearance of the myriad dharmas—the essential realm, the external sense-object realm jointly manifested by the tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings sharing common karma. What the manas sees is the virtual image that its own tathāgatagarbha alone generates dependent on the external realm; it is not the essential realm and has no real functional capacity. Therefore, only those great bodhisattvas with superknowledge can be unimpeded by the four great elements, unaffected by them—encountering water, they do not drown; encountering fire, they do not burn; encountering wind, they are unmoved; ascending to heaven or descending into the earth, there is no obstruction.

Only by relying on the perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha, on the tathāgatagarbha's reflecting function of photographing, can the manas see the images on the mirror's surface. The manas is like the person looking at the images in the mirror; the tathāgatagarbha is like the mirror; and the manifested myriad dharmas are like those images on the mirror's surface. All dharmas exist and operate inseparably from the tathāgatagarbha, and the manas is likewise so.

For whom does the tathāgatagarbha manifest these dharmas? It manifests them all for the manas. If the manas does not need them, the tathāgatagarbha rests in nirvāṇa. Of all the dharmas the tathāgatagarbha reflects, the manas can see almost all of them. The dharmas the manas knows are countless; it is only that He is not good at speaking and has no mouth with which to speak, so we do not know all that content. The dharmas that the tathāgatagarbha creates and manifests for the manas are not necessarily known to the mind consciousness; and the dharmas the five consciousnesses do not know are simply too many.

That is why we must search for the manas by every possible means, in order to understand the manas more fully, to excavate all the dharmas the manas knows, and to find from the manas the key to the tathāgatagarbha's storehouse, and then excavate all the dharmas within the tathāgatagarbha—only then can we greatly enrich ourselves with the wealth of wisdom and become great sages of the Buddha-dharma. The wisdom of our present mind consciousness is limited; the manas's wisdom is both limited and unlimited; and the tathāgatagarbha's wisdom is even more unlimited, although on the surface the manas appears very foolish. If the manas were truly so foolish, then we of the mind consciousness could not be much smarter either—for the manas is, after all, the master of the mind consciousness, able to regulate and control it, and holding all the great powers in its hands.

Twenty-two: The manas's inverted thinking lies in taking the false as real—taking the images conjured up by the tathāgatagarbha as real, taking the images in the tathāgatagarbha's mirror as the essential realm that actually exists outside, passing off the false as the true, deceiving oneself and others life after life. The manas controls and directs the six consciousnesses to continually manipulate the people, things, and objects inside the mirror, engaging in ceaseless activity on the mirror's surface. When this activity becomes severe, and the accumulated karmic seeds become many and great, eventually the actual entity outside the mirror can also undergo very great change, thereby very obviously altering the essential realm, and cause and effect then change. After the manas has eradicated ignorance, knowing that all dharmas are illusory transformations, it still acts within the six destinies and the three realms, yet is without attachment to the people, affairs, and things of the three realms; in this way one can escape the suffering of birth-and-death and saṃsāra in the three realms and six destinies, and the mind is no longer inverted.

But at the level of ultimate reality, is there such a thing as saṃsāra, and is there a person who transmigrates? No. Because at the time of death, the body faculty ceases and no longer exists—the body faculty does not transmigrate; the mind consciousness and the five consciousnesses also cease and vanish at the time of death, so they certainly do not transmigrate either; and the manas, life after life, never ceases—it has no former life and no later life, so of course transmigration cannot even be spoken of. Then the manas even less transmigrates; likewise it has no before or after; moreover, the six destinies have nothing to do with it, and it does not undergo suffering. Then who transmigrates? No one transmigrates.

Twenty-three: On the realm of the six sense-objects, the six consciousnesses and the manas have always been performing a two-person act; thus one can discover the traces of the manas in the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses. The manas and the tathāgatagarbha are likewise performing a two-person act; thus one can also find the traces of the tathāgatagarbha in the operations of the manas—in the manas's attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and deliberation (cetanā), one can find the traces of the tathāgatagarbha; in all the manas's functions of making decisions and exercising control, one can find the traces of the tathāgatagarbha. Then, awakening to the Way at the place where the manas functions is deeper, more direct, more thorough, and more ultimate; the wisdom aroused in this way is the most profound and wondrous.

Twenty-four: Besides discerning the mental activities of the manas, the tathāgatagarbha also discerns the mental activities of the mind consciousness. How does it discern the mind consciousness's mental activities? After the tathāgatagarbha discerns the mental activities of the manas, according to the manas's decision, it outputs the consciousness-seeds of the mind consciousness and the six consciousnesses onto the sense-object realm that the manas wishes to discern in detail and act upon, producing the mind consciousness and the six consciousnesses; then the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses appear. After the mind consciousness and the six consciousnesses have discerned and acted upon the six sense-objects, their decisions are transmitted to the manas; the manas deliberates and decides again, and the tathāgatagarbha, cooperating, will again give rise to the mind consciousness and the six consciousnesses, completing the manas's decision.

Of course, after the tathāgatagarbha outputs the consciousness-seeds of the six consciousnesses and gives rise to the six consciousnesses, those consciousness-seeds then return moment by moment into the tathāgatagarbha; in this way the tathāgatagarbha can discern the karmic actions and mental activities of the six consciousnesses, and thereby stores the karmic seeds of the karma created by the six consciousnesses.

Twenty-five: What Is the State of the Manas at the Time of Death When the Four Great Elements Dissolve?

At this time the manas is also helpless. He knows perfectly well that this body can no longer be used, but He still holds on, because the mind consciousness has not yet ceased. When the mind consciousness also ceases, the manas feels that there is no hope at all, and will withdraw from the body; the tathāgatagarbha then follows and departs, for it cannot sustain the material body alone—the tathāgatagarbha is the last to leave. In fact, it is not the last to leave; it departs simultaneously with the manas. If the manas were not present, the tathāgatagarbha would immediately be unable to sustain the body and could not remain in the material body.

If the tathāgatagarbha were to leave first, then the manas could not exist either and must cease simultaneously; the tathāgatagarbha cannot leave first, nor can it leave last—it must leave simultaneously with the manas. Then, is the tathāgatagarbha the first to enter the material body? That also will not do. The tathāgatagarbha cannot sustain the material body alone, nor does it have any inclination to sustain it; influenced by the manas's mental activity of deliberation (manasikāra), it complies with the manas and in an instant enters the fertilized egg to sustain it, taking up residence in the mother's womb simultaneously with the manas. Because the tathāgatagarbha and the manas are inseparable as form and shadow, and the manas and the tathāgatagarbha are likewise inseparable, unable to part even for an instant, therefore their taking up residence in the mother's womb and their departure from the material body have no sequence of first and last. If there were a sequence, it would mean the two could separate from each other, and then the tathāgatagarbha could exist alone and operate alone—and then the dharma-meaning would be completely wrong.

The seeds of the four great elements come out of the tathāgatagarbha. When the tathāgatagarbha is about to leave the material body, it certainly must withdraw all the seeds of the four great elements, so that the seeds within the tathāgatagarbha neither increase nor decrease and can continue to be transmitted to give rise to the myriad dharmas. Before a sentient being dies—even long before—the tathāgatagarbha already knows, because it can discern karmic seeds and knows the time of death, even the exact time. It gradually changes the seeds of the four great elements, making the body emit a foul odor and making the body's functions weaken; only when the person is about to breathe their last does the true dissolution of the four great elements begin, withdrawing the seeds of the four great elements; when they have all been withdrawn, the material body becomes a corpse.

Twenty-six: The tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the myriad dharmas, but it cannot give rise to them alone—it necessarily requires the participation of the manas. Before a sentient being's five aggregates have arisen, the sentient being must already have the manas in existence; from beginningless kalpas, sentient beings have had these two consciousnesses: the tathāgatagarbha and the manas. Because the manas grasps at the myriad dharmas of the three realms, the tathāgatagarbha complies with the manas and manifests the myriad dharmas of the three realms, manifesting the five-aggregate body. From beginningless kalpas, the manas has always existed, and from beginningless kalpas there has been ignorance within the manas, corresponding with ignorance; from beginningless kalpas the manas has carried ignorance. Because the manas has ignorance and is unaware of true reality, it gives rise to mental activity and creates karma, and the tathāgatagarbha gradually gives rise to all dharmas; the world of the three realms appears, and the five-aggregate body appears. That is to say, from beginningless kalpas, the tathāgatagarbha has always contained the manas's ignorance; because the manas, due to ignorance, grasps outwardly beyond the mind, the tathāgatagarbha complies and manifests the myriad dharmas of the three-realm world.

If the manas is said to arise after the fact, that refers to the case of an arhat in the state of Nirvāṇa without remainder: the eighth consciousness itself, due to the flowing forth of its own consciousness-seeds, must operate continuously; when it has operated to a certain point, it will bring forth the seeds of the wholesome dharmas the arhat cultivated before entering cessation, or the seeds of the Mahāyāna dharma. After these are brought forth, the eighth consciousness, in accordance with these karmic seeds, manifests the arhat's manas. Once the manas is manifested, it will certainly again desire a five-aggregate body. He always wants to have a five-aggregate body, and the eighth consciousness, according to the manas's wish, manifests the arhat's five-aggregate body. This is the case of the manas arising after the fact; only in this one case is the manas born after the fact; at all other times, the manas exists forever without ceasing. In all other cases, sentient beings all have the eighth consciousness and the seventh consciousness, the manas; the two exist forever, and even until buddhahood, the manas will not cease. Apart from arhats, who must extinguish the manas, ordinary beings and bodhisattvas before the first bhūmi have no ability to extinguish the manas; bodhisattvas after attaining the bhūmis and the Buddhas are all unwilling to extinguish the manas and do without it.