The Awareness of Mind Consciousness and the Manas

When the mind consciousness is not aware, does the manas have awareness? When the manas has awareness, do we know it? Without the mind consciousness, who can observe the manas? Even when the mind consciousness is present, the vast majority of sentient beings simply cannot observe the manas, and thus the functions and roles of the manas become buried and misunderstood. When the manas introspects upon itself, the mind consciousness cannot observe it, and the manas cannot express it either; then we have no way to clearly and truthfully understand the functions and roles of the manas, and the manas has no choice but to remain a hidden figure behind the scenes, serving as the master, the commander, and the decision-maker.

When will the manas no longer remain the hidden figure behind the scenes, the master, the commander, and the decision-maker, but step forward onto the stage? On what basis do we speak of the front stage and the backstage? It is based on the degree of the mind consciousness's wisdom.

For the manas to step onto the front stage, the condition is that the mind consciousness must possess very powerful wisdom and observational power. For the mind consciousness to have powerful wisdom and observational power, it must, after seeing the mind, be endowed with the meditative power of dhyāna at the level of the first dhyāna or above. At this point, the stage of realization is around the time of entering the first bhūmi—generally speaking, after the first bhūmi—when afflictions have been eradicated and both the mind consciousness and the manas have transformed consciousness into wisdom. At this time, it is not that the manas steps onto the front stage, but rather that the mind consciousness has finally become endowed with wisdom and has observed the manas, so that the functions and roles of the manas are never again buried.