Examining the Mental Factors (caittas) of the Manas from the Perspective of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

The three links in the twelve links of dependent origination—ignorance conditions volitional formations (avidyā-pratyayāḥ saṃskārāḥ), volitional formations condition consciousness, and consciousness conditions name-and-form—clearly reveal that the birth, aging, sickness, and death suffering of sentient beings all result from the ignorance of the manas. Because of the manas's ignorance, sentient beings have wholesome and unwholesome karma and the cycle of rebirth in the six realms; thus the manas's ignorance encompasses all afflictions and possesses all afflictive mental factors. Because sentient beings have all afflictions, they have segmented birth-and-death and transformational birth-and-death; and once the manas's ignorance is completely eliminated, sentient beings become Buddhas. At that time the manas possesses all wholesome mental factors, which constantly accompany the manas in its operation—whereas previously they did not constantly accompany it, especially in the stage of ordinary beings, when they rarely accompanied the manas in its operation.

To summarize, the manas possesses all mental factors, no fewer than the mind consciousness. If the manas did not possess all afflictive mental factors, the mind would not be so heavily defiled, would create less karma of birth-and-death, and would experience less suffering; yet for countless kalpas, sentient beings have possessed all the suffering of birth-and-death and have created all karma of birth-and-death, which shows that the manas possesses all afflictive mental factors. If the manas did not possess all wholesome mental factors, the mind could not be completely and thoroughly purified, and one could not become a Buddha; yet all sentient beings will ultimately become Buddhas, so the manas possesses all wholesome mental factors. It is just that these wholesome and unwholesome mental factors do not constantly accompany the manas in its operation. In the manas of ordinary sentient beings, only the four great root afflictions—self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), self-conceit, self-grasping, and self-delusion—constantly and ceaselessly accompany the manas in its operation, never departing from it for even a moment. It is evident that these four great root afflictions are the bane of the karma and suffering of birth-and-death; it is from these four great root afflictions that other afflictions are triggered, manifesting at times and lying hidden at others.

Once the affliction of self-view is eliminated, the other three root afflictions will also be gradually eliminated in its wake; once the four great root afflictions are eliminated, all other afflictions will be completely eliminated along with them, and segmented birth-and-death will thereby be ended. Therefore, after sentient beings eliminate self-view, the affliction of self-view can neither constantly accompany the manas in its operation nor intermittently accompany it; and even further, after the afflictions of self-grasping and self-conceit are completely eliminated, they can neither constantly accompany the manas in its operation nor intermittently accompany it, but will never again accompany the manas in its operation. The same is true of the affliction of self-delusion: once it is completely eliminated, the manifest afflictions of the manas are exhausted, and at the end of one's life one can depart from the three realms and enter nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa).

The wholesome mental factors of ordinary sentient beings' manas are not complete; they cannot constantly accompany the manas in its operation, but appear at times and disappear at others, manifesting and hiding intermittently. Once the manas eliminates its afflictive mental factors, the wholesome mental factors will gradually become complete and will constantly accompany the manas in its operation. This is then the mental activity of a noble one, no longer the mental activity of an ordinary being. To summarize: in ordinary sentient beings, only the four great root afflictions constantly accompany the manas in its operation, while other afflictions appear at times and disappear at others, manifesting and hiding intermittently—this is exactly how the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra discusses it. The wholesome mental factors of ordinary sentient beings' manas likewise appear at times and disappear at others; after afflictions are eliminated and one becomes a noble one, the wholesome mental factors will frequently accompany the manas in its operation, and ultimately will constantly accompany it in its operation.

In recent decades, many people have grossly misunderstood the mental factors of the manas. The reason lies in a severe insufficiency of meditative concentration (samādhi) and wisdom, rendering them unable to observe the manas's mental activity directly in the present, and their comprehension is also weak, so they have misunderstood the bodhisattvas' expositions—a misunderstanding that has persisted to this day. Because the levels of meditative concentration and wisdom of the various great bodhisattvas vary, being high and low, there are inevitably contradictions among the bodhisattvas' expositions. When such a situation arises, one should give primacy to the exposition of Bodhisattva Maitreya, whose wisdom is the deepest; if there are Buddhist sūtras to corroborate, one should give primacy to the sūtras. If there are no sūtras to corroborate, then one should take genuine realization as the standard and facts as the standard, for facts, after all, speak louder than eloquence.