Why the Wisdom of Consciousness Surpasses That of the Mental Faculty

The dharmas (objects) that consciousness takes as its sphere include the dharmas of the solitary shadow state and the dharmas that manifest simultaneously with the five dusts. The memories, delusions, fantasies, and so forth that the solitary head consciousness takes as objects all belong to the solitary shadow state; this is relatively easy to observe and recognize as illusory shadows. When the eye perceives form, and consciousness observes the dharmas, it is less easy to determine them as shadows.

Because the mind is focused on contemplative practice, samadhi arises. The manas (seventh consciousness) does not cling excessively to the body nor to dharmas, resulting in the states of samadhi such as physical lightness, ease, comfort, and so forth. As long as the mind is relatively concentrated and possesses samadhi, the meaning of the dharmas contemplated and observed by consciousness is more easily accepted by manas. Once manas accepts it, changes in states occur, and various samadhi states manifest.

Engaging in such contemplative practice daily enhances wisdom for both consciousness and manas, and samadhi will naturally also be strengthened. At the beginning of contemplative practice, the components of non-valid cognition (non-pramāṇa) and inferential cognition (anumāna) are more prominent. Towards the end, the component of direct perception (pratyakṣa) becomes increasingly greater, and the mind progressively recognizes the illusory and unreal nature of the world of the five aggregates. Contemplative practice follows a certain process. As the power of concentration (samādhi-bala) strengthens, the wisdom of contemplative practice also strengthens. The strengthening of wisdom then promotes the strengthening of samadhi. For dharmas realized through contemplative practice, confirmation by consciousness is relatively easy; it is not easy for manas. Confirmation solely by consciousness brings no change whatsoever in body or mind. The degree of transformation corresponds directly to the degree of confirmation by manas.

When encountering a state (object/situation), why does one get carried away by it, why is one transformed by the state? It is precisely because the state realized through conscious contemplation has not yet gained the acceptance of manas, has not penetrated deeply into manas. Consequently, when faced with making a choice, manas makes a decision consistent with past habits, taking the state as real.

At the beginning of contemplative practice, its depth and breadth are insufficient, the scope is relatively narrow, and the various dharmas cannot be interconnected coherently, thus failing to effectively influence and guide manas. If the objects manas takes are few, the ignorance within the mind is not very deep, and one has not accumulated immeasurable karmic obstacles of birth and death over beginningless kalpas, then manas could possess wisdom like consciousness. Even with insufficient evidence, it could arrive at a reasonable conclusion, thereby realizing the truth. But manas is not like this, which is precisely why it makes our cultivation and realization so difficult.

The wisdom of consciousness far exceeds that of manas. One reason is that the objects consciousness takes are far fewer than those of manas. It is not the ruling consciousness; it does not have to make decisions about everything, hence it has far fewer attachments and can easily concentrate on contemplating issues, discerning states with relative clarity. How many objects does manas take, how many things does it attach to and discern? Too many. All dharmas produced by the Tathagatagarbha (Buddha-nature), manas can take as objects. All matters related to oneself throughout time, every subtle instantaneous change in the body root, manas can discern and know. Even matters unrelated to oneself, due to the habitual tendency of clinging, manas will still reach out to grasp and dwell on them.

Another reason why the wisdom of consciousness is greater than that of manas is that consciousness exists only for one lifetime. Its conditioning by the environment is very slight; it does not possess the afflictions, ignorance, or karmic obstacles to the extent that manas does. With fewer obscurations, consciousness is wiser than manas.