When Words and Mind Are Not One: Which Consciousness Do Speech and Thought Respectively Correspond To?

In daily life, we often encounter situations where people say one thing but mean another, where their words and minds do not match. For example, one inwardly feels hatred toward a certain person A, yet the verbal and bodily actions one displays are compassion and loving care, concealing one's true inner thoughts. So are these true inner thoughts the mental activities of the mind consciousness or the mental activities of the manas? When we ordinary people can introspect and observe this situation, it should belong to the mind consciousness; the true inner mind corresponds to the manas, so it should belong to the manas. But the manas is the consciousness that makes decisions, and the verbal and bodily actions displayed are the result of the six consciousnesses complying with the manas, so this compassion and loving care should also be the mental activity of the manas. Yet the so-called true inner thought we introspect—hatred toward person A—is displayed as compassion and loving care, which is not the true inner thought. Where exactly does the problem lie?

When the mental activities of the mind consciousness and the manas are inconsistent, if the mind consciousness is powerful enough to override the manas, the manas has no choice but to submit to the mind consciousness's wishes, allowing the mind consciousness to speak and express itself according to its own ideas; but when the manas acts, it still acts according to its own original intent, and in this way the mind consciousness's behavior represents only itself, not the manas. What is not the manas's intention is pretense and falsification, words and mind not matching—this is what the secular world means by "not speaking with one's hand on one's heart": the mind consciousness does not speak or take a stance according to the manas's original intent. At such a time, the mind clearly harbors hatred, but the mind consciousness is unwilling to reveal this hateful mentality for others to know, because if others knew, they would think one is bad and lacking in virtue. So, in order to appear virtuous, the mind consciousness displays an appearance of great compassion and loving care toward others, in order to gain a good impression and good evaluation from them.

When pretending, it is entirely the mind consciousness's disguise. The mind consciousness can devise schemes or crafty plots and force the manas to agree; when the manas has no ideas of its own, it also follows the mind consciousness's arrangements. Once the mind consciousness lets down its guard and no longer keeps watch over the manas, the manas will act according to its own true thoughts, and its true colors will show. Only the mental activities without the mind consciousness's disguise are a person's true virtue and cultivation; at such times, whether or not the manas has cultivation can be seen.

The mind consciousness can exert a certain influence on the manas. If the mind consciousness's ideas and thoughts accord with the manas's mental activities, the manas will fully agree and can make a decision very quickly without hesitation. If the mind consciousness does not accord with the manas's mental activities, the manas will deliberate and consider before making a decision. If the mind consciousness's analytical power is especially strong and its persuasiveness is also strong, the manas, though not quite approving, will reluctantly agree. If the manas's position is very firm, then the mind consciousness cannot make the manas comply and agree. If the manas is very stubborn, the mind consciousness also cannot persuade the manas.

If the manas is not controlled by the mind consciousness and acts entirely according to its own mental activities, this person will be very unrestrained, very innocent, very simple and honest, very willful, very stubborn, displaying entirely his own true colors—good is good, bad is bad, with a strong personality. If there is regulation by the mind consciousness, then the manas cannot fully display its true colors and must disguise itself to varying degrees, especially in front of others, in front of people with whom one has vested interests—one must put on a disguise. This is because the manas is not yet good enough that disguise is needed; when there are people and matters one cares about, one cannot act freely according to one's nature.

If a person's inherent nature is habitually lying, with lie upon lie, it shows that the manas's essence is very bad; if the mind consciousness does not regulate it, it can never change. If the manas has no habit of lying and does not like to lie, but at times the mind consciousness insists on lying to cover up certain facts, this is disguise—the mind consciousness giving false guidance to the manas.