What are the functions and roles of the mental factor of deliberation (manana) of the tathāgatagarbha?

The function of the mental factor of volition (cetanā) is mainly to discern and choose, to make decisions and determinations, and then to begin actual action. All eight consciousnesses possess the mental factor of volition; all have the capacity for discernment and choice, and all can make decisions—the difference lies only in the content of their choices and the extent of their authority. Upon what basis do the eight consciousnesses make their choices? Before making a choice, each of the eight consciousnesses has its own distinct mental activities; without any mental activity, no choice can be made. The five universally present mental factors are mental activities possessed by all eight consciousnesses: the directing of attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā) toward the object-aspect. When these mental activities run their course to the end, a decisive mind arises toward the dharma that has been discerned, preparing for some action and activity.

For example, consider the activity of the volition of the tathāgatagarbha: when the tathāgatagarbha creates a portion of the ear faculty, He must constantly decide how to create the remaining portion in the next instant. How to create it, at what location, into what form, what color and what shape—the tathāgatagarbha must continuously make decisions. These decisions are made when the tathāgatagarbha discerns the karmic seeds and the state of the ear faculty. In the process of discernment, there are mental activities of directing attention, contact and feeling, perception, and volition toward the karmic seeds, as well as activities of directing attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition toward the parts of the ear faculty already transformed and created. Then, in the corresponding locations, He outputs the seeds of the four great elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—corresponding to the karmic seeds, and the ear gradually takes shape and becomes complete.

Take another example: when a fat person wants to lose weight, the tathāgatagarbha must accord with the manas and, based on the karmic seeds and presently manifest karmic conditions, decide to output the seeds of the four great elements and absorb the subtle particles of the four great elements from the material body, constantly changing the proportional structure and ordering of the seeds of the four great elements, while at the same time cooperating with the seven consciousnesses in bodily movement and the regulation of dietary structure; in the end, the body undergoes change. Of course, the tathāgatagarbha has no concept of the five aggregates or material form, nor does He specifically discern the appearance of material form; He only discerns the karmic seeds and the volition of the manas, and then, according to the four great elements absorbed by the material body and the karmic conditions, He may perhaps allow the body to gradually become thinner. If the karmic seeds do not permit it, and the karmic conditions are not complete, then losing weight is very difficult.

For the operation of all dharmas, the tathāgatagarbha must have the mental factor of volition to make decisions; and before making a decision, He certainly has mental activities—directing attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition—though ordinary people are unable to understand this. The seventh consciousness only knows the decision that the body should become thin; the sixth consciousness only knows to make the body take on a certain appearance; as for how specifically to change it, the manas does not know. In any case, it is not the manas that changes the material body. Although the manas believes it is all its own doing, in reality it is not. When the sixth consciousness lacks sufficient observational wisdom, it also does not know how specifically the body became thin. After the tathāgatagarbha has helped the material body lose weight, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses feel that they themselves have become thin, as if they had paid some price. In reality, the manas merely made a decision; everything else was accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha.

The tathāgatagarbha discerns the mental activities of the manas the way a robot discerns a person's instructions, the way a computer reads data, the way a computer recognizes the operations of a human hand; the tathāgatagarbha discerns karmic seeds the way a computer reads a program; the tathāgatagarbha outputs and actualizes karmic seeds the way a computer completes a certain program. Therefore, although the tathāgatagarbha creates all dharmas, it is as if He has done nothing at all. His discernment is not at all a discernment of the specific appearances of people, things, and affairs, but an abstract discernment, like discerning symbols; just as a musician, by reading a musical score, is able to compose music.