All Grasping at Dharmas Is Governed by the Manas

The seven consciousnesses all have the nature of grasping at the dharmas they contact and love, but ultimately it is only when the manas grasps them that they are collected as karmic seeds and passed on to later lives. The grasping of the six consciousnesses is also initially initiated and determined by the manas. When the manas engages with the six sense objects, if it has an interest in investigating the dharmas within them, it will give rise to the six consciousnesses to discern them. After the six consciousnesses discern, feeling and craving arise, and afterwards there may be mental activities of grasping. After the manas discerns the appearances of the six sense objects discerned by the six consciousnesses, feeling and craving arise, and afterwards mental activities of grasping are produced, and thus the six consciousnesses crave without cease.

The conscious minds that grasp the marks of dharmas are mainly two: the mind consciousness and the manas. The five sense consciousnesses also do so, but their function is minute and can be neglected. When the mind consciousness engages with mental objects (dharma-dhātu), it is the mind consciousness that grasps the marks of dharmas; afterwards, based on the discernment and craving-grasping of the mind consciousness, the manas also gives rise to mental activities of craving and grasping. After the manas grasps, the result appears. Before the mind consciousness has discerned the marks of dharmas, the manas also has contact and grasping; it is only that the manas does not have ultimate knowledge of the marks of dharmas, so the purpose of grasping the marks of dharmas is to have the six consciousnesses discern them, with the mind consciousness acting as advisor, and then to make the final decision. As for the marks of the five sense objects, the five sense consciousnesses also grasp them, but the five sense consciousnesses have no decision-making power, and their grasping mind is extremely subtle. When wisdom is insufficient, it is extremely difficult to observe the mental activities of the five sense consciousnesses, and it is also extremely difficult to distinguish clearly between the five sense consciousnesses and the mind consciousness. The mental factors (caittas) of the five sense consciousnesses are generally bound together with those of the mind consciousness and the manas and cannot be observed, so they are neglected.