The Two Afflicted Mental Factors of the Manas

The afflictive mental factors of the manas are divided into two kinds. One kind consists of the afflictive mental factors that constantly accompany the manifest activity of the manas, without interruption for even a moment, such as the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), self-conceit, self-love, and ignorance (self-delusion) mentioned in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra. The other kind consists of the afflictive mental factors that do not constantly accompany the manifest activity of the manas; these refer to the mental factors other than the above four afflictions, such as the great, middle, and minor derivative afflictions like anger and irritation. If these afflictions were constantly manifesting, then sentient beings' own bodies and minds, as well as those of others, would be severely damaged, their lives would be chaotic and troubled, and their lives would not last long. Only the afflictions of self-view, self-love, self-grasping, and self-conceit are the afflictions that constantly manifest in ordinary sentient beings.

When people of all kinds encounter the profound dharma and are unable to engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) in the present moment, they can only understand a little of the surface meaning, and so they can only recite from memory. The dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination reveals that the reason sentient beings transmigrate endlessly through birth and death in the six realms is precisely the ignorance of the manas. If the manas had no ignorance, the twelve links of dependent origination would be exhausted, the afflictions of sentient beings would be exhausted, and they would be liberated from birth and death. Ignorance conditions volitional formations (avidyā-pratyayāḥ saṃskārāḥ), and formations condition consciousness (saṃskāra-pratyayāṃ vijñānam). If these seven words are fully understood, one will understand whether or not the manas actually has anger. If there were no anger within the ignorance of the manas, then it would not prompt the six consciousnesses to create the karma of anger, and the karma of birth and death would be reduced by nearly half. As for anger in the mind consciousness, that does not matter, because the mind consciousness cannot decide to create the karma of anger; thus there would be no karmic seeds of anger, and there would be no birth-and-death karma of anger.

Furthermore, where does the anger of the mind consciousness come from? How does it arise? Many people can neither observe in the present moment whether the manas has anger, nor sort out the logical and dialectical relationship between the manas and the mind consciousness, nor do they know the origin of the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses; they only recite from memory, and they believe their shallow understanding is correct. As stated in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, at the very beginning of a sentient being's life there are only the manas and the ālayavijñāna; only after the manas gives rise to a thought do heaven and earth, the myriad things, the five aggregates (pañcaskandha), and the six consciousnesses come into being. If the manas has no anger, where does the anger of the mind consciousness come from? How does the karma of anger arise? Why do sentient beings fight and struggle with one another? How does this come about?

The afflictions of the mind consciousness are very easy to subdue and eliminate; as long as one understands the theory and comprehends it clearly, one can effectively control the afflictions. However, because the manas does not eliminate afflictions, when a fundamental issue is encountered and the mind consciousness is momentarily negligent, the afflictions will immediately appear, and the person will show their true colors. For example, in dreams, or after getting drunk: when the mind consciousness weakens, there is no longer any rationality, and the afflictions of the manas will manifest in full. Is the anger and angry behavior after drunkenness also the mind consciousness's? Why is it easier to create unwholesome karma after drinking? Why does one show one's true colors after drinking? Why does drinking reveal a person's character?

Subduing afflictions refers to eliminating the afflictions of the mind consciousness, but this is only temporary, not lasting. If the afflictions of the manas are not eliminated, the afflictions eliminated by the mind consciousness will arise again when the conditions are complete, and cannot be controlled at all. Therefore, the affliction of anger can only be completely eliminated at the stage of the non-returner (Anāgāmin; Pali Anāgāmī), which indicates that the manas can only completely eliminate the affliction of anger at the stage of the non-returner. As for the affliction of anger in the mind consciousness, it can be eliminated at the stage when ordinary beings understand the principles, but not thoroughly; upon encountering special conditions, the mind consciousness may still manifest the affliction of anger. For example, some people have a gentle temperament and a particularly good temper; normally, no matter what happens, they will not become angry—this is the situation of the mind consciousness being without anger. But once they encounter a special situation that touches their bottom line, even such a person may possibly kill someone; this is the anger of the manas manifesting.