The Afflictive Mental Factors Associated with the Manas

Question: If the emotion of hatred reaches the point of gritting one's teeth, that is the manas's deep hatred, a reaction of the manas. Does the manas have the minor affliction of hatred?

Answer: The manas is the consciousness that takes charge. Bodily, verbal, and mental actions are directed and commanded by the manas. The bodily activity of gritting one's teeth is directed and commanded into action by the manas. No matter what thoughts, ideas, or emotions the mind consciousness has, it cannot direct and command the body to produce the phenomenon of gritting one's teeth. If you regard the manas as a normal conscious mind, it becomes easy to understand all the mental activities of the manas, and there will be no misunderstanding.

The manas is the master of the five-aggregate body, constantly dominating all bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the five-aggregate body. Our cultivation is precisely the cultivation of the manas, the transformation of the manas. After the manas has undergone the three transformations of consciousness into wisdom, one becomes a Buddha. If the manas did not have certain ignorance and afflictions, then cultivation would only require cultivating the mind consciousness, and there would be no need to attend to the manas. And cultivating the mind consciousness is extremely simple, extremely relaxed and easy: once one has learned the principles, after the mind consciousness deliberates and understands, it becomes clear and wise, and mental activities can change and be transformed. But in reality, cultivation is very difficult; it is by no means so simple and quick. Changing oneself is hard; one must undergo long-term immersion, long-term introspection, and the subduing of oneself through encountering conditions in experience, before one can make even a little progress. The manas's ignorance and afflictions are extremely numerous and extremely deep, not easy to subdue and eliminate—that is why cultivation feels difficult.

The twelve links of dependent origination show that the manas's ignorance leads to the subsequent immeasurable suffering of birth-and-death in saṃsāra, which demonstrates that the manas possesses all ignorance and afflictions. If the manas had no ignorance and afflictions, and only the mind consciousness had them, there would not be the suffering of birth-and-death in saṃsāra for beginningless kalpas, for the mind consciousness's ignorance and afflictions are all easy to resolve. So one should think further: where do the mind consciousness's ignorance and afflictions come from?

What we usually call "self" refers to the manas, mainly to the manas. As soon as we say "I," it is the manas's thoughts and views that emerge. The deeply rooted, heavily habituated views of self are the manas. So if you want to observe the manas, just observe your own arising thoughts and mental habits and inertia. The self is the manas; to observe the manas is to observe the self. Working from this angle, it is not difficult. The deep and hard-to-detect views and notions within the mind all belong to the manas; the deeply rooted, bone-deep habitual afflictions and wisdom all belong to the manas—extremely hidden, hard to know and hard to change. The mind consciousness's thoughts and views all float on the surface; they are easily immersed, easily discovered, easily subdued, and easily changed. If cultivation did not involve the manas, then studying Buddhism would be relaxed and pleasant, and becoming a Buddha would be very quick.

All the functions and roles of the manas within the five aggregates can be observed. Only by knowing what the facts are and what the truth is can one say what the manas has and what it does not have, or state it precisely, or state it with certainty. Otherwise, one must follow what the Buddha said: "Beware of trusting your own mind, for your mind is not to be trusted." One's own judgments are severely limited by the wisdom of direct perception. When wisdom is insufficient and one cannot observe something, one must cultivate diligently, striving to be able to observe things as they truly are and with direct perception as soon as possible, so as to obtain true wisdom, wisdom of suchness, and wisdom of direct perception. Before that, doubt is after all just doubt; one cannot draw a conclusion that accords with reality, so one should not draw conclusions. Studying and cultivating Buddhism must proceed with this attitude; only then will there be no fault of mistaken evaluation and misjudgment.

Strive to connect the Dharma and link it together, and then the meaning of the Dharma can be straightened out. No single dharma exists in isolation; all are connected with a subject and a main thread. Grasping the meaning of all dharmas from an overall perspective makes them easy to understand and master. Studying and cultivating Buddhism is not about memorizing some rules; rather, one must connect theory with practice and actually observe, to see whether the theories one encounters accord with the truth and the Dharma, and whether they match reality. One must strive to engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the spot, observing the operation of the five aggregates, observing bodily, verbal, and mental actions. Practice yields true knowledge; practice is the sole criterion for testing truth—this is so for both Buddhadharma and worldly dharmas. Studying Buddhism means pursuing truth, and truth is fact—fact that no one can change. Taking fact as one's reliance and truth as one's reliance is precisely the "relying on the Dharma" that the Buddha taught us. Only thus can one achieve attainment without error.