The Five Aggregates and the Six Consciousnesses Are All Tools of the Manas

Repentance is divided into true repentance and false repentance; the actions of body, speech, and mind are likewise divided into true and false. Whatever is false—not genuinely intended, not arising from the heart—is merely superficial affectation of the mind consciousness. Whatever is true and sincere arises from the heart and is what the manas intends to enact.

Therefore, true repentance is the manas's sincere repentance flowing from the heart outward, not a pretense. When the manas wishes to repent, it must express its intent of repentance through the mind consciousness and the five sense consciousnesses, through the five-aggregate body. Apart from the five-aggregate body, apart from the mind consciousness and the five sense consciousnesses, the manas has no tools, cannot work, and cannot fulfill its own wishes. From this perspective, the manas can accomplish nothing apart from the mind consciousness. But the manas absolutely has its own wisdom and cognition; innate intelligence and wisdom refer precisely to the manas, brought by the manas from past lives and countless lives into this present life.

This wisdom does not need to be taught by the mind consciousness; it is innately possessed. The manas possesses much wisdom that the mind consciousness does not have; there are many dharmas that the mind consciousness does not understand but the manas does. Moreover, the mind consciousness must rely on the manas for its edification. When the mind consciousness cannot judge people, affairs, and principles through analysis, deliberation, and reasoning, it must rely on the manas's intuitive function to judge and decide. Thus, after many things have been done, the mind consciousness still does not know what happened—the matter gets done in a muddled way, and sometimes it is done quite well.

Very often, after bodily, verbal, and mental actions have been carried out, the mind consciousness still does not know what happened; the mind consciousness simply does not understand, and could not possibly have analyzed, deliberated, and judged. Therefore, it was all the manas itself that took charge and directed the outcome. Even afterward, the mind consciousness still does not know and does not understand the inside story. Where is there even the slightest participation of the mind consciousness's wisdom here?

The five-aggregate body, the mind consciousness, and the five sense consciousnesses are all tools used by the manas. Apart from these tools, not a single one of the manas's ideas within the six sense objects can be realized. The manas must utilize the six consciousnesses to enact bodily, verbal, and mental actions and to express its own ideas and thoughts; otherwise, it would be like a deaf-mute or a disabled person, able to accomplish nothing. This shows that the manas itself has its own unique views, perspectives, wisdom, and cognition, which exist innately without needing the mind consciousness. When the mind consciousness is present, it can conveniently rely on it for expression; without the mind consciousness, it cannot be expressed. Therefore, one must not attribute the manas's wisdom and all of the manas's merits to the mind consciousness, burying the manas's innate, unique abilities accumulated over countless kalpas, life after life. That would be unfair, a manifestation of the ignorance of worldly people.

In many major matters, especially urgent and critical ones, matters concerning life and death and survival, where would the mind consciousness still have the opportunity and capacity to deliberate, analyze, think, and judge? Yet the manas takes charge and decides, adopts emergency measures, and averts calamity after calamity, disaster after disaster, ultimately turning misfortune into fortune. Even afterward, the mind consciousness still does not understand what exactly happened.

Every one of us sentient beings truly ought to be grateful for the manas's ability to turn misfortune into fortune. Without the manas's innate wisdom and decision-making, our lives would perish soon after birth, and we would never live to old age and natural death.

As for judgments of worldly people—especially judgments of someone met for the first time, a person not yet known—the mind consciousness is often powerless; it all relies on the manas's experience accumulated over kalpas. This is intuition, and this is wisdom.