When there is no mind consciousness, does the manas have awareness?

Some people say: Since the manas is also a form of consciousness, it should be able to perceive the external world; so why is it that when a person is in a coma, there is no perception of the external environment at all? The answer to this question is as follows: The lack of perception during a coma is because the mind consciousness has lost its perception, while the manas still has perception. When the manas perceives, once the mind consciousness ceases, it cannot know the manas's perception. Even if the mind consciousness does not cease, without the wisdom to cognize, it still cannot know the perceptive function of the manas. This is because the knowing of the manas must be conveyed to the mind consciousness for it to know, and only then can sentient beings know. Sentient beings all take the knowing of the mind consciousness as their knowing; whatever the mind consciousness does not know, they consider to be unknown.

However, the mind consciousness not knowing does not mean the manas does not know either. Therefore, when sleeping dreamlessly or in a coma, when the mind consciousness disappears, the knowing of the manas cannot be transmitted to the mind consciousness, so the mind consciousness does not know; and when the mind consciousness does not know, sentient beings do not know. Even if the mind consciousness can function normally without disappearing, when it lacks wisdom, it still does not know the knowing of the manas. When the mind consciousness lacks wisdom, it also does not know what kind of mental activity the manas is engaged in or what it has perceived. Therefore, whether the manas has the introspection of self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana) cannot be observed by the mind consciousness, and whether the manas knows of its own existence also cannot be observed by the mind consciousness. So when the mind consciousness cannot observe it, one should not make judgments about how the manas is or is not.