The Status and Relationship of the Manas and the Mind Consciousness within the World of the Five Aggregates

In the earliest period of life, there existed only the eighth consciousness and the manas—one true and one false. The true self and the false self thus coexisted peacefully with each other, in a state of primal obscurity. Because of the manas's ignorance and deluded thinking, being restless with the status quo and seeking outwardly, the eighth consciousness satisfied the manas, and the world of the three realms gradually took shape. Afterwards, the five-aggregate body formed, and only then did the phenomenon of birth-and-death saṃsāra appear, with the six consciousnesses coming to know and undergo the suffering and happiness of birth and death.

Thus, the most fundamental self, the most primordial self, the self that can make decisions, is the manas, not the mind consciousness. The mind consciousness is merely a product of the manas's grasping and deluded thinking—a tool for the manas to explore the world and to crave and cling to the world. The manas uses it when it wants to and discards it when it does not.

From this, one can see the status and relationship of the manas and the mind consciousness within the world of the five aggregates: the manas's dominant position is far beyond the reach of the mind consciousness. Then, exactly who possesses the self-view becomes crystal clear; the source of the self-view becomes crystal clear; whose self-view is to be eliminated becomes crystal clear; and how to eliminate the self-view also becomes crystal clear.

Why do the vast majority of sentient beings keep making a great fuss over the mind consciousness? Because the mind consciousness floats on the surface of the five aggregates, being relatively shallow, and is easy to observe and perceive. The manas is buried deep and hidden; its dominant function is covert and extremely difficult to observe and perceive. Since He is the master, the one in charge, He must be this deep and hidden, must rule from behind the curtain—how could He let Himself be seen easily? This is the same principle as sentient beings seeing only the mundane world but not the true truth of the tathāgatagarbha.

For instance, in the world, for figures as noble as emperors, how could common people, lacking a certain degree of merit, easily get to see the emperor and his ministers? They can only frequently see the soldiers and officials who run errands for the emperor and his ministers. Then, for the good deeds and bad deeds done by these officials and soldiers, to whom should the credit or blame be attributed? They are all the directives of the emperor and his ministers! By the same token, whose fault is the self-view and wrong view of the five-aggregate body? It is entirely the fault of the manas, and nothing else. Therefore, in cultivation, one should teach the manas, transform the manas, and eliminate the manas's self-view—this is what is fundamental.