The Meaning of the Manas as the Presently Manifesting Consciousness

The "presently manifesting consciousness" (现识) of the manas means a consciousness of direct perception (pratyakṣa), meaning that the manas sees dharmas directly, discerns dharmas directly, or presents dharmas directly. Some people understand the manas's presently manifesting consciousness as the manas having a function like a mirror reflecting images, a functional capacity to manifest images of dharmas like a mirror—this is a great misunderstanding. The relationship between a mirror and its image is one of generating and being generated: the generator must be a dharma that neither arises nor ceases, whereas the generated is subject to arising, ceasing, and change. The manas is precisely subject to arising, ceasing, and change; it is a generated dharma. Therefore, it is not the manas that manifests the myriad images like a mirror; rather, it is the tathāgatagarbha that manifests the myriad images like a mirror, and the manas is itself one of those myriad images.

Why is the manas said to be a consciousness of direct perception? Because when the manas sees dharmas, it sees dharmas that are presently existing, sees dharmas as they truly are; it has no capacity to see dharmas by inference or by erroneous cognition. In the very first instant when the tathāgatagarbha conjures forth a dharma, the manas can already see it. This is an Image-Only Object of the mixed type (带质境), close to the essential object (本质境), relatively true and reliable. After the manas sees this mixed-type object, if it wishes to discern it further in detail, it then transmits the dharma to the six consciousnesses to perceive. What the six consciousnesses then see is no longer the relatively true mixed-type object; what they see is a dharma that has already undergone alteration. The dharma they manifest is yet another layer removed from the essential object and the true object, more illusory than the dharma seen by the manas. Moreover, the mind consciousness, when seeing dharmas, also involves inference and erroneous cognition, so the credibility of the dharmas it manifests is considerably lower.

If we compare this with the meaning of "presently manifesting consciousness," the tathāgatagarbha's seeing of dharmas is even more a seeing of direct perception, more true and reliable than the manas's seeing. Whatever dharma the tathāgatagarbha sees, it is a dharma that it has itself presently generated and upheld; there is not the slightest separation or obstruction between it and the dharma. Whatever dharma it generates, that is the dharma it sees; whatever dharma it upholds, that is the dharma it sees. If it does not generate, it does not see; if it does not uphold, it does not see. There is never any seeing of dharmas by inference or erroneous cognition. For the tathāgatagarbha, there are fundamentally no dharmas of the past and no dharmas of the future—all are dharmas of the present moment. Even dharmas from countless kalpas ago are dharmas of the present moment. But for the six consciousnesses, they are no longer dharmas of the present moment. In fact, the six consciousnesses cannot see dharmas of the present moment: whatever dharma they see is a dharma that has already undergone alteration, a dharma of the past.