The Feeling of the Manas

The manas does not have only neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā); it also has feelings of suffering and happiness. Because the manas has ignorance and afflictions, and has wholesome and unwholesome mental factors, it must necessarily have feelings of suffering and happiness, and due to these feelings of suffering and happiness, afflictions of greed and anger arise. If the manas had only neutral feeling, it would be indifferent to being beaten, scolded, bullied, or humiliated. Although the mind consciousness might feel upset for a while, it would pass quickly, and there would be no acts of retaliation—this is the fine cultivation and virtue of a great practitioner, which ordinary people simply do not possess. If the manas had only neutral feeling, it would be indifferent even when praised and flattered to the skies; it would remain unmoved in the face of power, sensual pleasure, fame, and gain, would not chase after power, sensual pleasure, fame, or gain, and would be indifferent to wealth and honor. Although the mind consciousness might like these things, it would merely have a slight liking for them, without taking any action or putting anything into practice. This is the virtue and cultivation of a great practitioner, which ordinary people simply do not have.

Because the manas, in receiving the states of the six sense objects, often needs to rely on the six consciousnesses, and the six consciousnesses have an obvious function of discerning sense objects, their feeling is very obvious and direct, whereas the feeling of the manas appears more indirect and obscure for a while, and is not easily discovered by the mind consciousness; therefore it is said that the manas has no feeling. As for feelings on the physical body, they are directly received by the mind consciousness and the body consciousness; the pain and comfort of the physical body are directly felt by the body consciousness and the mind consciousness. When the six consciousnesses are absent, there is no sensation of the painful contact and pleasant contact of the physical body in either the mind consciousness or the body consciousness. But does the manas have sensation at this time? The manas definitely has sensation. That is why, after fainting or falling asleep, the manas will summon the six consciousnesses to discern and find ways to deal with problems of the physical body. Even if the six consciousnesses are not summoned to wake up, the facial expressions and bodily postures during coma and sleep also demonstrate that the manas has feeling and sensation.

Sentient beings all take the feeling of the six consciousnesses as feeling and cannot experience the feeling of the manas. When the mind consciousness lacks wisdom and does not possess the wisdom of the varieties of paths, it also cannot observe that the manas has feeling. So it is not surprising that many people say the manas has no feeling, but this is not the correct principle. The five universally operative mental factors are attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā). The manas also has these five universally operative mental factors, so the manas must necessarily have feeling.