The Imputed Nature (parikalpita-svabhāva) of the Manas

Mahākāśyapa practiced ascetic (dhūta) conduct, sitting beneath trees, and never sat in meditation under the same tree for more than three days—on the third day he would invariably change to another tree, for fear of developing attachment to the tree, which would bring the bondage of birth and death. The great arhat liberated in both ways has a mind already liberated, able to enter nirvāṇa without remainder anytime and anywhere, so why did he still guard his mind so carefully?

The mind that guards is the mind consciousness, which has strong awareness and strong rationality. The mind that is guarded is the manas, whose awareness and rationality are poor; it possesses the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva) and easily develops attachment to all dharmas. The manas of an ordinary being can be said to attach to whatever dharma it encounters. Why does the manas attach so easily?

Since beginningless kalpas, the manas has been deeply steeped in ignorance, not knowing the principles of dharma, not seeing the substance and essence of dharmas, knowing only their surface appearances, and grasping at false appearances as ultimate. Moreover, because of ignorance and folly, it does not know its own folly, and it clings to its own views, refusing to let them go. Therefore the manas is very hard to transform, and it is not easy to turn around its cognition and habitual tendencies.

Speaking of the manas's habitual tendencies and habits: as long as the manas comes into contact with things that accord with its mind, after more than three exposures a habit easily forms. What is called a habit is the inertial force of the manas—it is willing and likes to follow what it previously thought, did, and conceived, and it will not flexibly adapt. Some of the manas's habits are not even ones it likes; through repeated exposure, mechanized thought and mental activity form.

Why does the manas have mechanized inertia? Because the manas is foolish and unskilled in deliberation; toward dharmas it has contacted that have matured over a long time, it automatically accepts them, then grasps them and acts accordingly, thereby forming habits and naturalness. As for the mind consciousness and the six consciousnesses, one unconsciously says, does, or thinks something, unable to control it. Because the manas is obstinate, how could it be easily controlled? Moreover, the mind consciousness is also unaware, having no thought or intention of controlling it at all.

There are originally no roads in the world; when many people walk, a road comes into being. The manas originally has no habits; with repeated contact and frequent practice, habits form. Once the manas has formed a habit, it will not easily be removed or corrected. Even if it is something meaningless, once the manas has become habituated, it will keep doing it thereafter without fail. It will not deliberate on whether the matter is meaningful, whether it is worth doing, or how great a price is worth paying—He pays no heed to any of it. From this point, the manas is foolish and of low wisdom.

Judging from the manas's foolishness and its susceptibility to forming habits, the manas possesses the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva). If it were endowed with wisdom, it would not have the imputed nature; with wisdom there is no attachment, much less imputed grasping. Because of the manas's foolishness, it is actually less likely to form habits with regard to wholesome dharmas, and less likely to develop attachment to them. Of course, attachment to wholesome dharmas is also bondage of birth and death and cannot bring liberation, but cultivation proceeds in stages: using the wholesome to counter the unwholesome is the initial step of cultivation. Once unwholesome dharmas are removed, wholesome dharmas are not retained either; the mind is empty and accords with the Path, and the power of the Path is complete.

Before beginningless kalpas, the environment in which the manas existed had many unwholesome dharmas and few wholesome ones, or no wholesome dharmas at all. Therefore the manas accords with unwholesome dharmas and does not accord with wholesome ones; it is habituated to unwholesome dharmas and not habituated to wholesome ones. It is rather difficult to steep it in wholesome dharmas, but if one wishes to escape the ocean of suffering and saṃsāra, however difficult it may be, one must persist in steeping it in wholesome dharmas. As long as one persists, there is victory.