眾生無邊誓願度
煩惱無盡誓願斷
法門無量誓願學
佛道無上誓願成

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Dharma Teachings

14 May 2018    Monday     5th Teach Total 490

Can the Eighth Consciousness Satisfy the Needs of the Manas?

The eighth consciousness always tries its utmost to cooperate with the manas' mental factor of deliberation (manana), striving to fulfill all of the manas' demands and needs without a trace of complaint. However, whether the manas has merit to enjoy, whether seeds have been planted, whether those seeds have ripened, and whether the conditions for the growth of karmic retribution are complete—these are major questions. If these conditions are not complete, the eighth consciousness has no way to satisfy what the manas needs and seeks.

The various dissatisfactions in human life demonstrate that the eighth consciousness has no way to fulfill the manas' demands. Only when the manas has a need that goes unfulfilled does one feel dissatisfied; if the manas has no demands, there is no sense of dissatisfaction or such feeling, because no such goal was ever set and no such requirement was ever made. Without requirements, without intention, without desire, one naturally would not expect to harvest any fruit. Of course, many of the wishes the manas sets are unknown to the mind consciousness, and so one does not know why the manas is displeased or unhappy, why one feels inexplicably melancholy and bereft, or why one feels inexplicably jealous of what others have gained.

——Master Sheng-Ru's Teachings
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