What Do Different Behaviors When Lying Indicate?

Question: Some people blush when lying, while others remain calm and natural. Why is there such a difference? What causes blushing? And why do some show no change in facial color—neither red, nor pale?

Answer: Blushing is caused by the manas (the seventh consciousness). The manas possesses the mental factor of shame; it recognizes lying as wrong, and it is this sense of shame that causes the blushing. Those who do not blush might be lying deliberately or unintentionally, but in either case, it results from the manas having become habituated to lying, prompting the action of the sixth consciousness (consciousness). Alternatively, both consciousnesses may lack awareness, or only the sixth consciousness might recognize the wrongness without the manas yet realizing it, lacking the self-witnessing portion and thus lacking the mental factor of shame. The mental factor of shame is a wholesome mental factor. People who lack cultivation may have no shame in their sixth consciousness, or no shame in their manas, or lack this wholesome mental factor in both consciousnesses altogether. Those who possess the mental factor of shame can gradually correct their errors and unwholesome habits. Those without it cannot correct their unwholesome habits, and for now, we should not expect them to change their unwholesome tendencies. Unwholesome habits and afflictions are produced primarily under the direction and leadership of the manas, sometimes instigated by the sixth consciousness, and sometimes through the manas influencing the sixth consciousness. However, changing unwholesome habits must be led by the manas. For the manas to change an unwholesome habit, it must first recognize that habit, acknowledge its wrongness, and understand that having such a habit is harmful. This recognition of wrongness and harm is precisely the function of the self-witnessing portion of the manas.