The Neutral Feeling of Manas

Neutral feeling is the feeling that does not experience pleasure or pain. It is partially reasonable to say that the manas (mental faculty) experiences neutral feeling; the manas remains neutral regarding bodily contact and does not directly perceive the objects of the six dusts (sensory fields). No matter how severe the physical pain may be, the manas does not feel it; it is the body consciousness and mental consciousness that experience the pain. When body consciousness and mental consciousness are absent, the physical body does not feel pain. For example, during surgery, if body consciousness and mental consciousness are present, the person remains conscious and will inevitably experience intense pain. To eliminate the sensation of pain, anesthesia is administered to first extinguish body consciousness and then mental consciousness, so that the physical body does not feel pain during the operation.

When experiencing a toothache, the pain ceases upon falling asleep as the six consciousnesses vanish, yet the inflammation in the tooth persists. Upon waking, the pain resumes, sometimes even awakening one in the middle of the night. Why does pain wake one up at night? During unconsciousness, though the body may be in a poor state, one does not feel pain, yet upon regaining consciousness, the pain becomes unbearable. When undergoing retribution in hell, the agony causes one to faint, ceasing the sensation of pain. However, the force of karma does not allow the sinner to remain unconscious; when the karmic wind blows, the sinner revives and continues to suffer retribution. During meditative absorption, the sensation of pain may also lessen or disappear, as the six consciousnesses either vanish or become extremely faint.

Therefore, the sensation of pain is an experience jointly perceived by body consciousness and mental consciousness. The manas does not possess such perception, and even if it did, mental consciousness would not know it and could not observe it. Sentient beings perceive feelings solely through the six consciousnesses. When the six consciousnesses cease or become faint, regardless of what feelings or mental activities the manas may have, mental consciousness remains unaware. Unaware, it assumes the manas has no feelings, no mental formations, or that the manas is very simple and possesses shallow wisdom.

When the functions and roles of the manas become powerful enough to replace the six consciousnesses, all sensations belong to the manas. However, by this stage, the meditative and wisdom cultivation of the manas has already become exceedingly transcendent, predominantly characterized by neutral feeling with little emotional fluctuation. For ordinary sentient beings, the manas still experiences feelings of pleasure and pain, not merely neutral feeling. It possesses psychological sensations similar to those of mental consciousness—grievance, depression, vexation, resentment, joy, happiness, excitement—with significant emotional fluctuations. It is due to this that intense emotions like burning rage, dancing for joy, and beaming with delight manifest.