How to Engage the Mentation of Manas in Dhyāna

In meditation, using the deliberation of the mental faculty (manas) without the thinking of consciousness is a profound practice that is difficult for ordinary people to achieve. It requires a deep foundation in samadhi and a certain level of contemplative practice. When samadhi and contemplative practice reach a certain stage, one can shift from the thinking of consciousness to the deliberation of manas. The thinking of consciousness is relatively superficial, floating on the surface, and can generally be observed by anyone. For example, by reflecting on what thoughts are present in the mind at this moment, one can know what they are currently thinking about, contemplating, or planning. These thoughts generally float on the surface and belong to the thinking of consciousness.

Simultaneously, there is also the support and guiding function of manas operating in the background. If one's concentration and wisdom are insufficient, it is not easy to observe this, making it difficult to recognize one's true inner thoughts. When the mind is refined to a very subtle level, one can observe that behind the thinking of consciousness, there is a force playing a guiding role. That force and the flow of thoughts belong to manas. Once one discovers this force of manas behind consciousness and is able to grasp manas, one should gradually diminish the functioning of conscious thinking. After diminishing it to a certain degree, one should then relinquish the thoughts of consciousness. Even after relinquishing them, one must maintain thoughts in the mind—the thinking activity of manas—without allowing oneself to become completely thoughtless or devoid of mental activity. This is extremely difficult.

In meditation, one must learn to diligently discover that force deep within the mind. It actually has thoughts, mental activity, and the capacity to think—this is the deliberative activity of manas. After discovering it, one should strive to maintain that deliberative activity and prevent it from vanishing. Hand over the Dharma principles contemplated by consciousness to it, allowing it to continue deliberating alone. This constitutes a relatively deep state of investigation. This is how Chan (Zen) meditation works; contemplating that "the five aggregates are not the self" employs this very practice. In this way, the deliberation of manas is activated. This mode of thinking, this practice, is called the deliberation of manas.

Achieving this is inseparable from profound samadhi. One's samadhi practice must be very advanced, enabling the relinquishment of coarse distracting thoughts. Moreover, at a certain point, even subtle distracting thoughts must be relinquished. Distracting thoughts refer to thoughts thinking about other irrelevant dharmas—essentially, miscellaneous and excessive thoughts. These thoughts interfere with right mindfulness and must all be removed, leaving only the Dharma that consciousness needs to contemplate. Then, the thinking of consciousness itself is also relinquished, allowing manas to deliberate on this Dharma. Consciousness and manas essentially swap roles in contemplating the issue. At this stage, consciousness still exists, performing a very subtle function of discrimination, but it does not engage in deep thinking, analysis, or reasoning. Instead, manas is allowed to deliberate deeply, without language, words, or sound. This deliberative function is difficult to observe when samadhi and wisdom are insufficient.

The function of this deliberation by manas is also called the thoughts deep within the mind. Everyone's inner thoughts are divided into two kinds: one floats on the surface, belonging to the shallow thoughts of consciousness; the other is hidden deep within, belonging to the profound level—the thoughts of manas deep in the mind, representing one's true thoughts. For example, if I tell someone now that I plan to do something, but in reality, I don't have that thought, the expressed thought carries an element of perfunctoriness, while there is another voice and thought deep inside. That thought is relatively concealed, and one may not want others to know it, so one uses the language of consciousness to cover it up or divert attention.

Continuously introspect the inner manas, grasp your inner manas, and then transfer the Dharma that consciousness was clinging to and contemplating over to manas, letting manas cling to it. This allows manas to constantly and pervasively cling to this Dharma, and the deliberative nature of manas becomes manifest. If manas agrees, the influence (or "perfuming") is successful; if manas does not accept it, the influence is not successful. Only when the practice is sufficient can it succeed.

In daily life, we all use manas and its deliberative function, but we just cannot observe it, cannot distinguish it, and do not summarize it, so we cannot tell apart the thinking of consciousness from the deliberation of manas. This requires increasing one's samadhi practice and contemplative wisdom to clarify these issues. Only when samadhi deepens can the mind become subtle enough to discover the distinction between consciousness and manas. One can also distinguish the inner voice from the surface voice, thereby understanding the state of manas's deliberation, grasping that deliberative nature of manas, and gradually learn to utilize it.

To reach this level, one must strengthen the practice of samadhi, enhance the discerning power of wisdom, subdue afflictions, reduce distracting thoughts, and let the mind condition upon the Buddha Dharma without clinging to worldly dharmas. As samadhi is cultivated more deeply, the mind becomes increasingly focused, and distracting thoughts become fewer and fewer, to the point where one can relinquish them at will. As the mind becomes subtler and wisdom deeper, the functional role of manas will be well manifested.

After the physical body is subdued and one attains the state of balanced concentration and wisdom (samatha-vipassana), one can directly use the deliberation of manas to resolve problems. When doubt regarding a Dharma principle is particularly strong, directly fix that Dharma in the mind. Initially, consciousness holds it, then the function of consciousness is lightened and diminished, allowing manas to hold onto this Dharma. At this point, one enters a deeper level of samadhi, letting manas deeply deliberate on this Dharma. The more focused manas is in its deliberation, the deeper the samadhi becomes; the deeper the samadhi, the more focused, profound, and subtle manas's deliberation becomes. Ultimately, one can clarify this issue, simultaneously entering a state of samadhi, filled with the bliss of Dharma (Dharma joy), experiencing physical and mental lightness and ease, and the joy of meditation (dhyana-sukha) arises. Samadhi is the state of balanced concentration and wisdom. Once this state emerges, one's mental state throughout the day will be excellent, with both body and mind feeling very light and at ease.