The Mental Faculty Governs the Arising and Ceasing of Consciousness

Question: When mental factors serve as conditions, with the mind as the dominant condition (which is an assisting cause), and the seeds of consciousness are the direct cause, while the mental factor of attention (manasikāra) determines the arising of consciousness, why is it said that the mind faculty (manas) governs the arising and cessation of consciousness?

Answer: The contact between sense faculties and their objects is a necessary and essential condition for the arising of the six consciousnesses. When mental factors serve as the condition for the arising of consciousness, it means the mind faculty (manas) contacts mental objects (dharmas). This contact is the necessary and essential condition for the eighth consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) to give rise to consciousness. "Condition" here represents a prerequisite or premise. Without the mind faculty as the root and its contact with mental objects, the eighth consciousness cannot give rise to consciousness, because the prerequisite is lacking—there is no reason for consciousness to arise. This demonstrates that for the eighth consciousness to give rise to consciousness and the five sense consciousnesses, there must be a prerequisite, a reason. The eighth consciousness does not arbitrarily give rise to the six consciousnesses without cause, because the eighth consciousness lacks self-nature (ātman), does not act on its own initiative, does not control any dharmas, and does not act as a sovereign ruler. It is a mental function that operates according to conditions (pratītyasamutpāda); when conditions are present, dharmas arise; when conditions are absent, they do not arise.

Furthermore, regardless of what dharma arises, it is all produced by the eighth consciousness, because the eighth consciousness possesses seeds (bīja) and uses these seeds to produce dharmas. Without seeds, nothing can arise. The seeds of consciousness are one cause or condition for the arising of consciousness, but seeds themselves have no mind and no mental factors (caittas). Therefore, seeds alone cannot produce any dharma; it is the eighth consciousness that uses the seeds stored within its own essence to produce dharmas.

Additionally, the mental factor of attention (manasikāra) is not a conscious mind and lacks initiative; it cannot determine the arising of consciousness. The arising of consciousness depends on two factors: one is determined by the volitional mental factor (cetanā) of the mind faculty (manas), and the other is determined by the volitional mental factor of the eighth consciousness. Then, the eighth consciousness gives rise to consciousness. Therefore, there are two crucial governing factors for the arising of consciousness: one is the mind faculty (manas)—if the mind faculty does not decide, consciousness cannot arise; the other is the eighth consciousness—if the volitional mental factor of the eighth consciousness does not decide, consciousness cannot arise. Moreover, the decision of the eighth consciousness's volitional mental factor is triggered by the decision of the mind faculty's volitional mental factor. If the mind faculty's volitional mental factor does not decide, the eighth consciousness's volitional mental factor will have no decision to make.