The Function of the Manas and the Wisdom Mental Factor

The eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) is the manas negating the reality of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha); enlightenment—seeing the mind—is the manas acknowledging the reality of the tathāgatagarbha. In both kinds of realization, it is ultimately the manas that is functioning. So when one eradicates the view of self and when one attains enlightenment by seeing the mind, is it the manas's wisdom that is functioning, or its deliberation (manasikāra/manana)?

In the process of eradicating the view of self and seeing the mind and seeing one's nature, both the manas's deliberative nature and its mental factor of wisdom are functioning. Because the manas has the capacity for discernment, recognition, cognition, decision-making, mastery, clinging to objects, and attachment, there is the functioning of the mental factor of wisdom; without wisdom, none of these functions would exist. It is only that the functional characteristics of this wisdom are rather special: it is broad and general in nature, unable to be focused and deep, and its discernment cannot be too specific and subtle. Therefore, the dharmas among the realms of the six sense objects require the cooperation of the six consciousnesses for discernment, after which the manas makes its own unique discernment, judgment, and decision. This also involves the functioning of the mental factor of wisdom. Without the discerning wisdom of the mental factor of wisdom, the manas would have no cognitive nature and would possess only the nature of a faculty; but the manas possesses both.

The deliberative nature of the manas universally accompanies the manas's operation. As long as the manas exists, its deliberative nature also exists and operates moment after moment. Because the manas deliberates moment by moment, decides moment by moment, and acts as master moment by moment, all dharmas can arise moment after moment without ceasing; otherwise, there would be times when all dharmas become discontinuous and cut off. As long as the manas has objects to which it attends, as long as it directs attention toward and contacts all dharmas, the manas's deliberative nature must manifest upon all dharmas in order for all dharmas to operate and exist. Only through the continuous operation of the manas's deliberative nature can there be the operation of the manas's mental factor of wisdom. The manas exists universally within all dharmas, so the manas's five universal mental factors must exist universally within the operation of all dharmas—this is the prerequisite for the arising of the manas's wisdom. The same is true of the five universal mental factors of the other consciousnesses.

Therefore, in the process of eradicating the view of self and realizing enlightenment by seeing the mind, the manas's deliberative nature is operating continuously, and the process of deliberation also manifests the manas's wisdom. With different degrees of wisdom, the process, content, and results of deliberation differ, the conclusions drawn differ, the decisions made differ, and the actions of the six consciousnesses and the enjoyment of merit differ. Because the manas, when deliberating on the five aggregates, possesses the wisdom of the emptiness of the Small Vehicle, it can recognize that the five aggregates are empty and without self, and can thereby eradicate the view of self. And because the manas, when deliberating on the eighth consciousness, possesses the wisdom of the Mahāyāna dharma, it can recognize the reality of the eighth consciousness, and thereby the wisdom of ultimate reality can be born. The manas's deliberative nature and its discerning wisdom operate in mutual support and coordination; lacking either one, all dharmas could not function normally.