The Difference in the Manas Is What Causes the Difference in Mind Consciousness

When sages come to this evil world of the five turbidities, why is their mind consciousness not easily influenced and defiled? Why is the Buddha's mind consciousness not defiled in the slightest? Whether the mind consciousness is influenced and defiled depends mainly on whether the power of the manas is strong. The manas of a sage has no afflictions, so his mind consciousness, relying on the manas, has no afflictions and is not easily influenced by the environment. The Buddha's mind consciousness is fundamentally not subject to defilement, like a lotus flower in the mud. The manas of ordinary beings is heavy with ignorance and afflictions, so the influence upon the mind consciousness is heavy, and the mind consciousness easily gives rise to afflictions. Pre-bhūmi bodhisattvas (pūrvabhūmika bodhisattva) are much the same, though slightly better. But whether one is a sage or an ordinary being, when the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) body is first born, the mind consciousness is equal in all—a blank sheet of paper, pure and flawless. Only afterward is it influenced and driven by one's own manas, and then behavioral manifestations differ. Then, further influenced by the environment, parents, and other people, the behavioral manifestations of the mind consciousness become even more different.

The same mind consciousness originally has no differences; under the pollution of the same environment, why is it that the mind consciousness of the Buddha and sages is not influenced, while the mind consciousness of ordinary beings is? Is it a difference in the environment, or a difference in the manas? Let us not speak for now of the transformation of consciousness into wisdom; let us just speak of childhood, and of the time before studying Buddhism—why is there such a great difference in the mind consciousness? In the same vat of dye, why does one become severely dyed and corrupted, with greed, anger, and delusion blazing, while the other can still maintain purity and keep oneself untainted? There is only one explanation: the difference in the manas leads to the difference in the mind consciousness—nothing more.

If the manas innately had no greed, anger, or delusion, yet the acquired mind consciousness could be influenced into the appearance of greed, anger, and delusion, that would be extremely strange—it would simply be the greatest absurdity under heaven. If that were the case, then the Buddha's manas has no greed, anger, or delusion, yet born into this evil world of the five turbidities, His mind consciousness should also be able to be dyed with greed, anger, and delusion—then what use would cultivation be? Therefore, the reason the mind consciousness possesses greed, anger, and delusion lies entirely in the manas having greed, anger, and delusion. If the manas has no greed, anger, or delusion, the mind consciousness can in no way be influenced and dyed into greed, anger, and delusion. For a bodhisattva whose consciousness has transformed into wisdom, even dwelling in defiled circumstances, the mind consciousness will not be influenced into greed, anger, and delusion; that bodhisattva's fruition-stage will not regress, will not change back into a pre-bhūmi bodhisattva (pūrvabhūmika bodhisattva) with the afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion, and will not fall back to before the third fruit (anāgāmin) and the path to the fourth fruit.

The differences between each person do not lie in a single lifetime; within one life, not that great a difference can accumulate—differences are accumulated over life after life. Therefore, the differences among sentient beings lie in the manas: it is the difference in the manas that leads to the differences in the mind consciousness's bodily, verbal, and mental actions, leads to the differences in the mind consciousness's wisdom, and leads to the differences in merit and meditative concentration (samādhi). Due to the differences in the manas, differences arise in every aspect of the mind consciousness, and the wisdom for understanding problems also differs vastly. The wisdom of the manas is extremely important; it is an asset from the previous lives of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), called the faculty of wisdom (indriya). If the manas does not have good wisdom, then our cultivation in previous lives was all cultivated in vain, and those teachings of the Buddha's dharma and worldly dharma that were influenced and cultivated in previous lives were also cultivated in vain, unable to be brought into this life for our benefit.