The Mind Faculty and Consciousness
Chapter 8: Manifest Activities Perfuse the Seeds, Seeds Perfuse the Manifest Activities (2)
Fourteen: In psychology there is a method for communicating with the subconscious, which introduces a method of using the mind consciousness to guide and channel the manas. Learning this method can be applied to the cultivation and realization of the Buddha-dharma, enabling the manas to acknowledge the principle that the five aggregates are without self, and to acknowledge any truth taught by the Buddha, thereby attaining realization of the Buddha-dharma more quickly.
Subduing the manas and conquering oneself lies in how effectively the mind consciousness can guide and channel the manas, thereby successfully transforming the manas. Transforming the manas sometimes requires firmness and sometimes requires gentleness; one must guide according to circumstances and patiently and skillfully induce step by step. This requires the mind consciousness to have many skillful means, with appropriate methods, learning to use both the carrot and the stick. A leader who knows how to lead others should also know how to lead oneself. Between the mind consciousness and the manas, who exactly is the leader and who is the led? In fact, they lead each other. After the manas has been thoroughly transformed, the mind consciousness no longer needs to act as the leader; forever after, the manas governs itself and makes its own decisions.
Fifteen: The Manas' Drag on the Mind Consciousness
If the mind consciousness could make decisions and not be manipulated by the manas, then learning Buddhism and cultivating practice would be a very easy, simple, and rapid matter. Once the mind consciousness has studied the Buddha-dharma and understands what should be done, it would simply do it, without needing to care whether the manas agrees or supports it—how simple that would be! If the mind consciousness has understood the principles, without needing to care whether the manas understands or accepts, one would immediately attain enlightenment, afflictions would be removed quickly, meditative concentration would arise quickly, and one could quickly transform consciousnesses into wisdom. Whatever the mind consciousness thinks of, it could accomplish. How easy and simple the study and teaching of the Buddha-dharma would be, everyone's transformation would be very rapid, and becoming a Buddha would not be a difficult matter. But in reality it is not so. The difficulty of cultivation lies precisely in the manas. The manas is extremely difficult to deal with, hard to manage and change. He has deep and heavy ignorance, does not understand principles, everywhere grasps and clings, yet insists on making decisions at all times and in all places, and the mind consciousness can hardly cope with Him.
At the very beginning of learning Buddhism, it is the mind consciousness that by chance encounters the Buddha-dharma, while the manas does not know what the Buddha-dharma is. Only after the mind consciousness has studied it does it tell the manas that this is the Buddha-dharma and what benefit it brings to oneself; only then can the manas accept it and understand a little. In fact, it was the manas that first encountered the Buddha-dharma; He simply did not know it was the Buddha-dharma and, not understanding it, handed it over to the mind consciousness. Thus the mind consciousness shoulders the responsibility of both studying by itself and teaching the manas, which is very arduous, constantly obstructed and dragged down by the manas' habitual tendencies. Keeping precepts is not easy, cultivating merit and giving generosity (dāna) is not easy either, let alone cultivating meditative concentration; wanting to eliminate afflictions is difficult upon difficult.
The mind consciousness finally endures until the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), removing some of the manas' deep and heavy self, and only then gets a bit of relief, no longer needing to follow the manas down into the three evil destinies to suffer. Yet when generating the great Mahāyāna bodhi mind and practicing the bodhisattva path, one is again obstructed by the manas' selfish mentality. After much coaxing and persuading of the manas, one finally cultivates the bodhisattva's six perfections into some semblance of shape and attains seeing the mind and enlightenment, only then truly entering the gate of Buddhism. Then one contends with the manas' grasping of self and grasping of dharmas, and finally completely and thoroughly subdues the manas. Having eradicated all of His ignorance, removed all of the manas' armor, one triumphantly ascends the throne of the Dharma King, relaxed and at ease from inside out. The arduous journey of struggle across three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas comes to an end—how difficult it was! And one has completely awakened from the dream, feeling it was only a matter of the blink of an eye.
Sixteen: How should the mind consciousness perfuse the manas? The mind consciousness must attend to all matters and principles according to reality, deliberating (manasikāra/manana) according to reality, with wholesome deliberation. At the same time this lets the manas understand correct principles, and the manas can gradually accord with correct principles—this is called perfusing the manas. The mind consciousness must deliberate; without deliberation it cannot perfuse the manas, because the content of deliberation is transmitted to the manas moment by moment, and the manas thereupon carries out thinking, deliberation, and weighing, forming its own cognition. The mind consciousness should frequently deliberate on correct principles so that the manas will comply. After being perfused, the manas can also form new habitual functions, and the old unwholesome habitual tendencies are changed.
Seventeen: The manas' habitual tendency seeds are stored in the tathāgatagarbha. Changing the manas' afflictive habitual tendencies essentially changes the karmic seeds in the tathāgatagarbha; when the karmic seeds change, the habitual tendencies of future lives change. Manifest activities can perfuse seeds: the mind consciousness, through studying correct Buddha-dharma views, gains wisdom, and uses this wisdom to guide and perfuse the manas. Perfused by the mind consciousness, the manas can change its habitual tendencies, and the manas' mental activities, as seeds, are stored in the tathāgatagarbha; in the future the manas will manifest the changed mental activities, and the bodily, verbal, and mental actions will be changed. Therefore it is said that changing the manas changes the karmic seeds.
Eighteen: How to Subdue the Manas' Imputed Nature (parikalpita-svabhāva)
The manas universally measures and clings to all dharmas as self and as belonging to self. The scope of "all dharmas" is extremely broad: whatever is manifested by the eighth consciousness, the manas can take as its object and grasp as its own. But He grasps with emphasis; if He grasped everything simultaneously, He would become mentally chaotic and suffer a mental breakdown, ultimately obtaining nothing. So He also selects which dharmas to grasp according to specific circumstances and His own conditions, sometimes grasping these dharmas, sometimes those. He takes the dharmas manifested by the eighth consciousness as all belonging to himself, as all being his own functions and operations—this is erroneous grasping, a realm of non-valid cognition, and therefore He cannot attain liberation or become a Buddha. At the stage of ordinary beings, the manas mainly grasps the five aggregates and eighteen realms as himself, takes the functions of the six consciousnesses as his own, and appropriates all dharmas as his own—this is precisely the manifestation of His ignorance.
If we wish to attain liberation, we must gradually remove His ignorance and change His foolish nature, letting Him recognize the ultimate reality of the dharma-realm, so that His grasping nature can be severed and He can move toward liberation and accomplish the Buddha-way. Our mind consciousness should frequently deliberate on the Buddha-dharma, telling the manas: this is false and without self, that is also false and without self; no dharma is self, nor belongs to self; do not cling or crave anymore. Whatever one can come into contact with is all manifested by the eighth consciousness; all is illusory transformation, none of it real. If the mind consciousness deliberates like this frequently, the manas will relax its grasping nature. By deliberating on the falsity of the five aggregates, He will not take the five aggregates as himself and cling to them, and liberation becomes hopeful. Moreover, strive to realize the eighth consciousness, letting the manas know that all dharmas are manifested by the eighth consciousness and none are his; thereafter the manas can have right view, can break through ignorance, foolishness, afflictions, and delusions, can gradually attain liberation, and can obtain great wisdom, transform consciousnesses into wisdom, and ultimately become a Buddha.
Nineteen: After learning Buddhism and cultivating practice, the mind consciousness is the first to be able to change, because the mind consciousness has a relatively strong nature of wisdom; it can deliberate, analyze, judge, infer, compare, and so on, has relatively strong receptivity and high comprehensibility, so it can first be influenced and educated, changing relatively quickly. The manas, the seventh consciousness, is very hard to change, because He is the consciousness of self-grasping, existing from beginningless kalpas until now without interruption; all afflictive habitual tendencies have accumulated extremely deeply, stubborn as solid ice, and He makes decisions and has the final say in all matters big and small. This stubbornness is difficult to change in a short time. Grasping mainly refers to this mind. To change Him requires long-term influence and education by the mind consciousness, constant persuasion and instruction.
Cultivation must first, through the mind consciousness' contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), let the mind consciousness and the manas confirm that the five aggregates are indeed false and not self. After the manas confirms this principle, His mental activities will gradually change, no longer grasping the five aggregates as self; grasping will lessen, and only then can self-conceit be fully severed, and the manas' grasping at self will also be fully severed. Only thus can one escape the suffering of birth-and-death and saṃsāra in the threefold world. If one has not eradicated the view of self and become a srotāpanna, yet claims to sever grasping, that is merely shouting empty slogans, forever unachievable. If one could sever the manas' grasping at self without eradicating the view of self, then the non-Buddhist practitioners of the Buddha's time would have severed it long ago—why then would the World-Honored One personally come to this evil world of the five turbidities, donning filthy garments, enduring every hardship, to transmit the dharma of liberation?
Twenty: Why One Is No Longer Sleepy When Encountering a Game One Likes While Feeling Very Tired
The manas likes playing games, the mind attached to games, craving the pleasure of games; He continuously attends to and chooses games, and the mind consciousness continuously plays and cannot cease. The more interested the manas is, the more highly concentrated the mind consciousness' energy, and thus the mind consciousness develops an excited psychology and is no longer sleepy. If the manas is not interested in the game, the mind consciousness will lose all interest, and drowsiness will creep over the mind.
All matters are decided by the manas, who has the final say. Whether to sleep or not is decided by the manas. If He likes something, the mind consciousness must focus on it, the mental state becomes excited, and the mind consciousness cannot cease and go to sleep. According to this principle, we must make the manas like the Buddha-dharma. This so-called "making" is the mind consciousness, through deliberating on Buddhist principles, perfusing and educating the manas so that the manas becomes interested in the Buddha-dharma. When the mind consciousness is perfused by wholesome dharmas and then perfuses the manas, the manas can change, removing unwholesome mind and unwholesome habits and becoming wholesome mind and wholesome habits. Wholesome seeds are then stored in the eighth consciousness, and unwholesome seeds in the eighth consciousness are eliminated—this is manifest activities perfusing seeds.
After the manas becomes wholesome, if He encounters unwholesome dharmas, He will not let the mind consciousness practice unwholesome dharmas, thereby controlling and changing the mind consciousness—this is called seeds perfusing manifest activities. So what is cultivation cultivating? We should be clear in our minds. If the manas is not perfused and changed, no matter how the mind consciousness understands, those theories it comprehends are useless, because the mind consciousness does not make decisions. Only by changing the master's mind, changing the leader's mind and the decision-maker's mind, can everything be changed.
Twenty-one: To change the manas, one must use the mind consciousness' correct deliberation to correct and influence the manas' incorrect deliberation, perfusing the manas, letting the manas also possess correct deliberation, understand correct Buddhist principles, so that He can make correct choices and reduce afflictions and habitual tendencies of greed, anger, and delusion. Especially in important matters, the mind consciousness should deliberate more on correct principles, transmitting to Him wholesome, reasonable, and feasible viewpoints and opinions for His deliberation, reference, and choice. If one finds His choice is still incorrect, then postpone action, deliberate on correct principles again, and find grounds and evidence to persuade Him again; perhaps then He can be convinced and make choices according to the mind consciousness' correct deliberation. Only then may one agree with the manas' decision and carry it out and execute it.
Twenty-two: The Power and Result of Repentance
Repenting face to face can eliminate the seeds in both people's tathāgatagarbhas, but the person must sincerely repent, and the other person must sincerely accept the repentance; only thus can enmity be dissolved and knots released. Why must one sincerely repent and sincerely accept repentance? Sincerity and genuineness represent the manas' repentance from the bottom of the heart outward, and the manas' acceptance from the bottom of the heart outward. Only when the manas repents and accepts will the two people's tathāgatagarbhas make new records, changing the former karmic seeds in the two people's tathāgatagarbhas. Because the original karmic seeds in the tathāgatagarbhas are eliminated, the two people no longer have enmity knots.
Bodhisattvas on the bhūmis change the karmic seeds in their own tathāgatagarbhas precisely by using the mind consciousness to perfuse and persuade the manas, letting the manas see clearly the harmfulness of one's own afflictive habitual tendencies, thereby resolving to repent; thus one's mental nature changes, and the karmic seeds in the tathāgatagarbha are eliminated. Because of their profound power of meditative concentration and wisdom, as well as the power of merit (puṇya-bala), bodhisattvas on the bhūmis can, by changing their own manas' mental activities and habitual tendencies, purify their own minds, and thereby eliminate the karmic seeds in their tathāgatagarbhas.
As for the mind consciousness' perfunctory, fake repentance, it has no real effect and is often seen through by others. If the mind consciousness wants to repent but cannot overcome the manas' afflictive habitual tendencies, what should be done? Then one should frequently condemn the manas. As long as one knows how to condemn others, one can condemn oneself; condemning oneself is condemning the manas. All of one's unwholesome mental activities should be exposed and revealed. Even though the manas is unwilling and displeased, sometimes one must do this. If the manas truly cannot accept it and the habitual tendencies are too heavy, then do not force it; proceed bit by bit, tentatively, without rushing, otherwise it will backfire—the manas throwing caution to the wind is also very dangerous.
Twenty-three: The manas is the last of the six faculties, the consciousness of self-grasping, clinging to all dharmas at all times and in all places, with the afflictions and habitual tendencies of lifetime after lifetime dormant and following along; therefore the manas has a kind of inertial force. There is a saying: "Rivers and mountains may change, but one's nature is hard to alter"—this alludes to the manas' extremely strong habitual force, which can manifest even in the mother's womb, without later learning or environmental influence. All our bodily, verbal, and mental actions and creations have a habit, which is the manas' habitual force. To change this inertia, one must study correct Buddha-dharma. When the mind consciousness has right view, upon encountering matters it will deliberate, analyze, and choose; this process is the process of perfusing the manas. When the mind consciousness frequently deliberates that this matter accords with the Dharma and that matter does not, at first the manas may not accept it, but over time, once the mind understands the principles, the manas can also acknowledge and change itself; mental activities will change, and bodily, verbal, and mental actions will change.
The mind consciousness' attention and deliberation according to reality can perfuse and influence the manas. By frequently deliberating on correct dharma principles, the manas can gradually accept the correct principles that the mind consciousness deliberates and analyzes, and afflictions and habitual tendencies can be lessened and changed. Everything done by the six consciousnesses, big or small, must be transmitted to the manas, and the manas will decide what to do next and how to do it based on this information. He may comply with the six consciousnesses' choices, or may not, still making choices according to his own ingrained habits; then the six consciousnesses must act according to the manas' afflictive habits. Only by long-term perfusing of the manas, with the six consciousnesses frequently transmitting correct reports to the manas, can the manas gradually change, and cultivation will gain power.
Twenty-four: The mind consciousness' acquired self-grasping nature arises from acquired external conditioning forces and from wrong teachings and wrong discriminations. This self-grasping nature of the mind consciousness inevitably perfuses the manas, in turn increasing the manas' innate self-grasping nature, making the force of the manas' innate self-grasping seeds greater. If the mind consciousness receives positive teaching and perfusion, it can easily subdue this self-grasping nature. But it is only subduing; if the manas' self-grasping is not severed, He will continuously control the mind consciousness, and the mind consciousness' self-grasping nature is also hard to sever.
As for discriminating nature, the mind consciousness is the strongest, because its deliberation is agile, deep, subtle, and broad; but the manas also has a discriminating nature. As for self-grasping and the grasping-at-self nature, although the mind consciousness also has them, the manas is primary; grasping mainly refers to the manas', and self and self-nature mainly refer to the manas'. Because the manas takes all dharmas as self and belonging to self, takes the eighth consciousness' functions as his own functions, and takes the six consciousnesses' functions as his own functions—in fact the manas takes the manas himself as self, with all dharmas belonging to and used by the manas; the eighth consciousness and the six consciousnesses and the five aggregates are merely tools used by the manas, belonging to the manas. Then the manas' self-grasping is simply grasping at the manas himself, grasping at all the tools he possesses. From this point of view, the manas must have self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana); it is only that the mind consciousness' wisdom is insufficient and cannot know the manas' self-validating cognition function.
Because the mind consciousness has strong discriminating ability, it easily accepts the perfusion of reality and presently manifest realms; therefore the mind consciousness is subdued relatively quickly and changes its mind relatively quickly. Once the mind consciousness changes its mind, it must transmit its thoughts, concepts, and information to the manas to perfuse the manas and let the manas transform. Once the manas transforms, the karmic seeds change, and subsequent mental activities change. If the manas has not yet been successfully perfused by the mind consciousness, then upon encountering conditions He will manifest the original ingrained habitual inertia, and the mind consciousness will be powerless to stop it.
If the mind consciousness is powerless to stop it, how do the manas' habitual tendencies and inertia manifest? The manas must manifest and express his habitual inertia through tools such as the mind consciousness and the five consciousnesses; He will fully utilize the six consciousnesses as tools to operate, otherwise He cannot express himself, cannot reveal himself, cannot erupt. Therefore, in cultivation, if one has only subdued the mind consciousness but not the manas, there is not much real effect. The mind consciousness supervises the manas at all times and in all places, yet there are always moments when control fails; the wildness of the manas-bull is indeed very hard to tame.
Twenty-five: The mind consciousness knows good from bad, but the manas is not in sync with it; regardless of what the mind consciousness thinks, the manas acts according to his own ingrained notions. The manas is very stubborn: if He thinks something is good, then it is good, and even if it is not good He will do it; if the manas thinks something is not good, then it is not good, and no matter how good it is He will not do it—such is the operation of the manas' habitual inertia.
How should the mind consciousness influence and turn around the manas? Sometimes the mind consciousness' power is relatively strong, its control over the manas relatively great, able to manipulate the manas, and the manas has no choice but to follow the mind consciousness' ideas in deciding what to do. But the manas will always have a day of breaking free from restraint; He cannot always comply with the mind consciousness. Therefore the mind consciousness must subdue the manas with reason, not always by force; once the manas understands the principles, He will automatically and consciously make choices according to reason. The process of persuading the manas with reason is precisely perfusing and influencing the manas.
When the manas is hesitant and cannot make up his mind, He is willing to listen to the mind consciousness' deliberation and analysis, to heed the mind consciousness' opinions, and His behavior can then be rational. Knowing something is wrong yet insisting on doing it is the manas' irrational behavior; if He can heed the mind consciousness' advice, then the mind consciousness' rationality prevails; knowingly committing a wrongdoing means the manas' ignorance and habitual tendencies prevail.
Twenty-six: Those of the third and fourth fruits are born with tranquil (praśama) minds, because the manas has already severed afflictions and will not generate afflictions again. But if the mind consciousness is influenced by the environment and then influences the manas, slight afflictions may still appear. After attaining fruition again and cultivating the first dhyāna, neither the mind consciousness nor the manas will be influenced to give rise to afflictions anymore; only habitual tendencies may sometimes still manifest.
Once the manas' mind is pure, external appearance no longer matters. Bodhisattvas who have severed afflictions often pay no attention to external appearance; only in order to influence and embrace sentient beings do they attend to outward appearances, but in their minds there are no marks anymore. Therefore, many times, in order to liberate sentient beings, bodhisattvas' bodies and speech may comply with sentient beings while their minds remain pure. After becoming a Buddha, the mind is extremely pure, as pure as the tathāgatagarbha; therefore no precepts are needed to regulate the Buddha's bodily, verbal, and mental actions, just as no precepts are needed to regulate the tathāgatagarbha. Because the tathāgatagarbha's mind is inherently pure, with no unregulated mental activities whatsoever, whatever evil karma and precept violations are created in compliance with the seven consciousnesses do not belong to the tathāgatagarbha as evil karma, and the tathāgatagarbha bears no retribution whatsoever. Likewise, the Buddha's mental activities have been thoroughly and ultimately purified; the appearances of evil persons and evil ghosts and so on manifested in order to liberate sentient beings, and all deeds done, carry no evil karmic retribution, because the mind is extremely pure.
Bodhisattvas on the bhūmis can manifest any form of body in the six destinies and do anything; perhaps in ordinary people's eyes it may seem impure, yet bodhisattvas have their own principles and norms. As long as the mind is pure, everything is for Buddhism and sentient beings, the purpose is pure, without self and without selfishness, then no precept is violated. For example, in order to liberate gamblers, Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva manifested as a gambler and gambled with gamblers, finally leading the gamblers into the Buddhist gate. Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva participated in gambling, yet without the slightest mental activity of liking gambling, not corresponding to the gamblers' minds, and thus there was no gambler's evil retribution. On the contrary, by this special means of liberating gamblers, His merit is immeasurable; and if the gamblers afterward can become pillars of Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva's merit is also immeasurable.
When Śākyamuni Buddha was a bodhisattva, in order to save a person who wantonly intended to murder the bodhisattva from falling into hell, having no other alternative, he killed this person, willing to risk falling into hell himself so that the killed person would be spared the evil consequence of hell. By such means Śākyamuni Buddha not only saved the lives of five hundred bodhisattvas but also rescued the evil person who intended to harm the bodhisattva, sparing him from many great kalpas of evil retribution in hell. The Bodhisattva Precepts in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra stipulate that if one encounters sentient beings who should be liberated, one should liberate them even at the cost of violating precepts; if one fears violating precepts and does not liberate them, one violates the bodhisattva precepts. Yet in all these actions the bodhisattva's mental activities remain pure throughout, solely for sentient beings to gain peace and happiness, not for one's own liberation; the mind is nearly like the tathāgatagarbha—what precept could be violated!
Twenty-seven: Because the seventh consciousness, the manas, everywhere grasps at all dharmas, the mind consciousness must discriminate all dharmas, and after discrimination various thoughts arise—this is how thoughts come about. If the manas' grasping and clinging nature is subdued, the mind consciousness will quiet down and no longer give rise to various thoughts. Therefore, only by subduing the manas can meditation succeed and deeper dhyāna be attained. To subdue the seventh consciousness, the manas, one must let the mind consciousness deliberate on the falsity and impermanence of all dharmas, then transmit this to the manas, letting the manas be perfused.
The more deeply and subtly the mind consciousness deliberates, the more easily the manas is perfused and the more clearly He understands; the grasping nature will weaken and clinging will decrease. Find ways to make the manas understand more principles; first the mind consciousness itself must understand more principles, frequently engaging in correct study and reflection, then transmitting the principles it has deliberated and understood to the seventh consciousness, thereby perfusing and changing the manas; then the manas will be effectively subdued.
