The Relationship between the Manas, the Five Consciousnesses, and the Internal and External Five Sense Objects

First of all, the arising and operation of the five consciousnesses comes from the manas. If the manas does not attend (manasikāra) and make a decision, the five consciousnesses will not appear. After the manas attends and makes a decision, the five consciousnesses and the mind consciousness appear simultaneously, discerning the six sense objects at the place where the manas attends and makes contact. Therefore, the appearance of the five consciousnesses is not determined by the mind consciousness, but by the manas. The mind consciousness is only one of the necessary conditions for the birth of the five consciousnesses; the two must come together in harmony to jointly discern the complete object-realm. Their order of appearance is almost indistinguishable in terms of before and after, and the birth and operation of the five consciousnesses is not determined by the mind consciousness.

Since the manas can determine the birth of the five consciousnesses, why can the manas govern the five consciousnesses? We know that the birth of the five consciousnesses is necessarily brought about by the contact of the five faculties with the five sense objects, and the contact of the five faculties with the five sense objects is the result brought about by the manas. Both the five faculties and the five sense objects are material form, not consciousness; they will not actively contact one another and then decide to give rise to the five consciousnesses. It is the manas that causes the five faculties to contact the five sense objects and gives rise to the five consciousnesses.

Why can the manas cause the five faculties to contact the five sense objects? Because the manas clings to the six sense objects and wants to discern them carefully. The manas does not only cling to the mental sense object and contact the mental sense object; rather, it clings to the entire object-realm, the complete object-realm that includes the five sense objects. If it only clung to the mental sense object and not to the five sense objects, the information about the object-realm would be incomplete, and it would be unable to make decisions and choices, and the six consciousnesses would not arise. For example, if there are colorful fresh flowers in front of you, the mental sense object and the five sense objects combine to form the complete appearance of the flowers. If the manas did not cling to the five sense objects, it would not know the colors of the flowers—then how could He decide to contact the red flowers, or the blue or purple flowers? How could He choose the flowers? The reason the six consciousnesses discern the object-realm with selectivity is precisely because of the manas's decision regarding the object-realm, which necessarily includes the five sense-object realm. The five sense objects occupy a considerable and important proportion of the six sense objects, and moreover they manifest first and are easy to recognize, so the manas will not cling to the six sense objects separately and then make decisions.

For example, when the manas clings to the appearance of a person, it will not cling only to the mental sense-object appearance of the person while excluding the appearance of the person's skin color and the colors of their clothing. On the contrary, at the very beginning it is the colors that are most prominent and most attention-grabbing, and only afterward come the finer mental sense-object appearances. The same applies to other object-realms, so the manas does cling to the five sense objects. As for the five sense-object realm before the six sense objects enter the supreme faculty (indriya), the manas can of course also cling to it and make decisions about it. For example, before a car accident occurs, the manas clings to the oncoming car, knows that a collision is imminent, and thus urgently decides to dodge. If the manas only clung to the mental sense object of the car and not to the five sense-object realm of the car, how could it know that there is a car on the other side about to collide? How could it decide to avoid the oncoming car? After a huge explosion occurs, if the manas did not cling to the five sense-object realm of the explosion's sound, how could it decide to flee immediately?

After the manas makes any decision, the five consciousnesses immediately arise together with the mind consciousness to carry out the manas's instructions, showing that the birth of the five consciousnesses is determined by the manas, and that together with the mind consciousness they take orders from the manas. In which object-realm the five consciousnesses and the mind consciousness discern, how long they discern, and which contents they focus on discerning—all are directed and dominated by the manas. In summary, the manas is the master consciousness, which can take charge and make decisions regarding the five faculties, the five sense objects, and the five consciousnesses. Among them there is a relationship of the active and the passive, a relationship of dominance and obedience.