The Difference Between the Wisdom of the Manas and the Wisdom of the Mind Consciousness

Question: So-called memory is the storing of the content experienced by the first six consciousnesses with the participation of the manas, and later, when needed, recollection is carried out under the direction of the mind consciousness; whereas understanding is when, guided by the wisdom of the mind consciousness, the manas is prompted to deliberate, so that the manas comes to understand the internal connections and principles of things. Therefore, when encountering related problems, there is no need for recollection, and the manas directly provides answers and handles them. So when the manas has wisdom, it handles problems concisely and quickly; when the manas lacks wisdom, it has to search through memory, resulting in lengthy and inefficient problem handling. Is this understanding correct? 

Answer: The above understanding is roughly correct. When the manas lacks wisdom, it must go through the mind consciousness's recollection, then carry out comparison, contrast, and weighing before it can make a decision that may be right or wrong. The shallower the wisdom, the longer the time spent comparing and weighing, the more hesitant and indecisive, and the less confident. That kind of decisive resolution—like a swift blade cutting through tangled hemp, without the mind consciousness thinking, analyzing, comparing, or weighing—is the manas's direct decision, whether wise or not. Handling matters without showing any sign, without having to rack one's brains, without thinking back and forth, silently and automatically resolving matters—all of this is the wisdom of the manas. People who are seasoned and skillful in handling affairs all have wisdom in their manas; with rich experience, they can handle matters in a perfectly harmonious and unobstructed way, leaving no leverage for others.

When students whose manas lacks wisdom study, they generally rely on the mind consciousness's rote memorization and cannot freely improvise; when they encounter questions that are not knowledge-based, they are at a loss. Students whose manas has wisdom never bother to memorize; they always understand the problem first and then improvise freely. Therefore, in school examinations, those who score high are not necessarily students with genuine wisdom—it depends on whether the exam questions are knowledge-based content or improvisational content, whether they test knowledge or wisdom. 

The Buddha-dharma is the same. A person who, once asked, produces a whole set of theories is not necessarily someone with wisdom of realized realization. If he has read many books, is broadly learned and well-informed, has extensive knowledge and strong memory, and can skillfully use the mind consciousness to organize, categorize, summarize, and analyze the dharmas he has studied, he can put together a theoretical system—but this does not necessarily represent realized wisdom; it may also be an accumulation of knowledge. The accumulation of knowledge cannot eradicate afflictions; it only shows that the mind consciousness is clever. Studying the dharma with someone whose mind consciousness is clever, one can gain a great deal of theoretical knowledge, but realization is very difficult. Studying the dharma with someone who has realization makes realization easier, though their knowledge may not necessarily be extensive; but after realization, wisdom grows, and one can gradually expand one's scope of knowledge and supplement necessary theoretical knowledge. 

When the manas has wisdom, the wisdom is deep, there are no afflictions, the vision is grand, the mind is broad, there is boldness and courage, the vision is far-reaching, one can accurately judge major matters of right and wrong, and one will not do wrong things. The cleverness of the mind consciousness lacks profound great wisdom, and the capacity of mind is not great enough—cleverness may even backfire on the clever. A person's innate wisdom is all brought along by the manas; it is the wisdom of the manas. Wisdom acquired later is newly learned; it is the wisdom of the mind consciousness, though it may also include the wisdom of the manas.