How Is the Attention Mental Factor of the Manas Aroused?

Question: The manas' attention (manaskāra) is the crux of cultivation. Understanding its meaning will greatly benefit one's practice. Especially in cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi), the effort lies in the manas; without knowing the manas, how can one speak of cultivating concentration? Without knowing the hidden meaning of the manas' attention, how can one touch upon the secret? The manas' attention invariably corresponds with greed and aversion, without exception. Of course, this refers to the manas of ordinary beings. But how does the pure manas of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas attend? If the manas has no greed or aversion and no motivational force of desire, how does it attend? Could the manas attend while in a state of neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā)? Can the manas attend while in a neutral/indeterminate (avyākṛta) state?

Answer: The manas' attention is not only triggered by afflictive mental factors such as greed and aversion, but also triggered by the mental factor of desire (chanda). Desire includes wholesome desire, unwholesome desire, and desire that is neither wholesome nor unwholesome. Wholesome desire is great vow-power; unwholesome desire is greed, aversion, and delusion. Part of the manas' attention is also habitual attention, brought about by the manas' inertial tendency.

Original text from the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra: 云何能生作意正起？由四因故﹕一由欲力。二由念力。三由境界力。四由数习力。云何由欲力？谓若于是处心有爱著。心则于彼多作意生。云何由念力？谓若于彼。已善取其相。已极作想。心则于彼多作意生。云何由境界力？谓若彼境界或极广大。或极可意正现在前。心则于彼多作意生。云何由数习力？谓若于彼境界。已极串习。已极谙悉。心即于彼多作意生。若异此者。应于一所缘境。唯一作意。一切时生。

This describes the conditions for the arising of the mental factor of attention (manaskāra): desire, mindfulness, sense objects, and habituation. First, the force of desire: the consciousness mind craves and clings to sense objects, and only then can the consciousness mind continuously attend upon those objects, continuously engage in deliberation (manasikāra) and decision-making, and the tathāgatagarbha must then continuously give rise to new objects and mental activities.

Second, the force of mindfulness: this refers to the consciousness mind continuously grasping (upādāna) the marks of sense objects and continuously cognizing them; only then can the consciousness mind continuously generate the mental factor of attention toward those objects, and ultimately continuously engage in deliberation and decision-making, while the tathāgatagarbha must continuously cooperate in giving rise to subsequent mental activities and objects. This means that without desire and mindfulness, the consciousness mind cannot attend; especially the desire and mindfulness of the manas—only after the manas attends can the six consciousnesses arise, and only then can the six consciousnesses attend.

Third, the continuous attention of the consciousness mind is also due to the overwhelming power of the sense objects, which draws the consciousness mind so that it cannot help but attend to them; thus the tathāgatagarbha cooperates in giving rise to subsequent mental activities and objects.

Fourth, toward objects that are frequently encountered and very familiar, the consciousness mind will attend to them repeatedly, the deliberating mental factor will continuously arise, and the tathāgatagarbha must continuously give rise to subsequent mental activities and objects. Among these, the manas' power of habituation is extremely great—life after life, or for beginningless kalpas, it has been immersed in the same dharmas; when encountering these dharmas and objects in later lives, it will continuously attend to and cling to them, and its force is so strong that if the mind consciousness is not strong enough, it cannot control it. For example, habits of greed such as lust, gluttony, love of sleep, and craving for wealth are like this.

If it were not for these four circumstances, the consciousness mind could attend to only one object of focus with only one instance of attention, and could do so at all times. Therefore, the clinging nature also refers to the manas' habitual attention. If one wishes to cultivate meditative concentration, one must control and change the manas' inertial attention and subdue its clinging nature.

Whether karmic seeds have matured has no necessary connection with the manas' attention. Whether karmic seeds have matured, the tathāgatagarbha naturally knows it, and then the tathāgatagarbha begins to give rise to the corresponding conditions, producing the corresponding dharmas in accordance with the karmic seeds.