Observing the Mental Activities of the Manas in Hypnotic States

If a person's mind consciousness is very weak, its alerting effect and pulling force upon the manas are extremely small. At such a time, if hypnosis is performed on him, the manas can easily be induced by the hypnotist into revealing all the secrets it knows. But if the manas itself is very strong, with alertness and firm willpower, it will not be induced by the hypnotist and can keep the secrets at the bottom of its heart. There is a hypnosis case in which the hypnotist wanted to know a person's account password. Taking advantage of the person being in a semi-comatose state, in which the mind consciousness's resistance and discernment were extremely low, the hypnotist hypnotized him, and at the same time installed an instrument on his head to monitor his brainwaves, so as to obtain information about his brainwaves at any time, to understand the thoughts and secrets within his mind through the brainwaves, and to translate the brainwaves into written information.

However, this person had very strong willpower and had long been on guard. When the hypnotist asked him unimportant questions, he answered truthfully; but when asked the key questions concerning the password, at first he answered randomly, and later he stopped answering altogether. Yet there were still thoughts in his mind, so the instrument could display the fluctuations of his brainwaves—electric current signals flickered on the instrument—and the brainwaves were instantly translated into written information. But when it came to the most core question about the password, this person not only refused to answer, but also abandoned the thoughts in his mind and shut down the brain's thinking. The brainwaves then became a blank and could not be displayed, and of course no text could be translated. In the end, the hypnotist used many methods but could not get this person to reveal the account password.

What can be observed from this phenomenon? During the process of hypnosis, the mind consciousness is extremely weak and can only perform a slight function of discernment; the five sense consciousnesses are also very weak, performing a slight function of discernment together with the mind consciousness, transmitting the content of the hypnotist's voice that they discern to the manas, and transmitting the pain sensations in the body to the manas. At first, the mind consciousness still has a weak function of thinking and analysis; as the depth of the coma increases, the mind consciousness becomes less and less clear-headed, until it disappears. The information of the six sense objects transmitted by the six consciousnesses becomes increasingly unclear, and the auxiliary function of thinking and analysis is gone. At this point, it is almost entirely up to the manas itself to face the hypnotist's hypnotic commands.

When the mind consciousness is operating normally, the manas can follow the opinions and suggestions derived from the mind consciousness's thinking and analysis, and the mind consciousness's thinking is also almost entirely carried out around the manas. So what the manas follows is still almost its own commands, and what it complies with is still its own thoughts. But when hypnotized, the hypnotist's commands replace the guidance and suggestions of the mind consciousness. If the manas lacks firm willpower and the hypnosis succeeds, it will follow the hypnotist's commands and, with straightforwardness and without any concealment, speak out the secrets in its heart. The manas and the six consciousnesses have a master-servant relationship: the six consciousnesses are responsible for observing and discerning the six sense objects, transmitting the information of the six sense objects, obeying the manas's commands, and expressing the manas's thoughts and views through bodily, verbal, and mental actions. When the six consciousnesses are very weak, the manas's thoughts and views cannot be revealed, and many of its functions cannot be effectively exercised; but the manas can still cognize and discern the states of the six sense objects, and still has its own guiding thoughts.

After the six consciousnesses become weak or disappear, does the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) still exist? Is the self-view at that time the same as when the six consciousnesses exist? Is the self-view at that time even more evident? In fact, the self-view belongs to the manas; the mind consciousness merely follows the manas's self-view and expresses the manas's self-view. In this case, the person was hypnotized and the six consciousnesses were weak or had disappeared—did the manas not display a very strong self-view and self-grasping? In fact, it is the manas that has been protecting the self all along. Self-grasping arises from self-view; without self-view there is no self-grasping. The strength of the manas's self-grasping precisely shows the strength of the manas's self-view.

How is language produced? How are brainwaves produced? Why is it that when the body is weak, one cannot speak? Why is it that when the body is weakened to the extreme, the brainwaves disappear? Why does the manas, fearing the password would be leaked, extinguish its thoughts and thereby make the brainwaves disappear? Measurement by the instrument found that brainwaves come first and language sounds come after. Language sounds are the function of the mind consciousness, while brainwaves are entirely the manifestation of the manas having thoughts and mental activity. Without the six consciousnesses, the manas still has mental activity and still has brainwaves. As soon as the manas has a thought, the brainwaves fluctuate; brainwaves have nothing to do with the mind consciousness. When the manas directly extinguishes its own thoughts, with no thoughts remaining, there are no brainwaves.

If the body is not weak and has strength, a stream of qi will be generated at the dantian; when this qi travels upward to the tongue faculty, language will be produced. This shows that the activity of the mind consciousness is regulated and directed by the manas and revolves around the manas. When the manas does not want to speak or does not want to express thoughts, there is no language or words; when the manas does not want to use its brain, the brainwaves fluctuate gently. What does this show? It shows that the manas is the master, the king, the sovereign, and the six consciousnesses are the servants, the ministers, the subjects. To catch bandits, first catch the king; cultivation must exert effort upon the manas—transforming the manas is the true royal way.

Does the manas actually have the mental factor of intention (manaskāra)? In the hypnotic state, it is because the manas has thoughts that brainwaves can appear; without thoughts there are no brainwaves. Wanting to achieve a certain purpose is the mental factor of desire (chanda)—does the manas have the mental factor of desire? In the hypnotic state, the manas wanted to protect the secret in its heart and so extinguished its thoughts; this thought of wanting to protect is the mental factor of desire. Clearly comprehending and determining the sense objects is the mental factor of determination (adhimokṣa)—does the manas have the mental factor of determination? In the hypnotic state, the manas clearly comprehended the content of the hypnotist's speech and understood the hypnotist's purpose; this is the mental factor of determination. The manas's unwavering protection of the secret in its heart is the mental factor of concentration (samādhi). In order to protect the secret, it shut down the thoughts in its mind; this is the manas's mental factor of wisdom (prajñā). All the mental factors of affliction also take those of the manas as primary; the mind consciousness's afflictions all revolve around the manas and do not really count—they arise easily and cease easily. As long as the manas has no afflictions, the mind consciousness of course will have no afflictions. If the king does not allow something to be done, how can the servants do it?

Consider further the wartime situation: a comrade-in-arms is captured by the enemy and subjected to torture and forced confession, enduring inhuman torment of body and mind. A person with strong willpower never betrays or sells out the organization even unto death—is this strength of the mind consciousness or strength of the manas? Is it the mind consciousness that has faith, or the manas? Is hatred that of the mind consciousness or of the manas? All dharmas lie with the manas. The manas may deeply hate a person, yet outwardly use the six consciousnesses to disguise itself, appearing to like this person very much. But a person with wisdom can tell at a glance that deep down it is hatred, not liking. In the hypnotic state, the manas's dominant position and its mental factors were clearly observed; the manas's functions and roles are extremely important.