Is reciting sutras from memory done by the mind consciousness or by the manas?

Question: When I recite sūtras, I sometimes enter a state of meditative stillness, with a joyful mood and a body that feels especially comfortable. Even without looking at the book or thinking about the content, I do not recite the sūtra incorrectly. Is it the mind consciousness that is reciting, or the manas?

Answer: This situation is like driving a light cart on a familiar road—doing something with practiced ease. When one has become very proficient at reciting sūtras, the mind is settled on the sūtra, with few or no wandering thoughts, and one enters samādhi; the body also becomes still at the same time, and one feels tranquil, joyful, and comfortable. Because the mind is focused on the sūtra, the manas becomes familiar with the sūtra, to the point that it enables the mind consciousness to memorize it. This is because the mental objects (dharmas) discerned by the mind consciousness come from the transmission of the manas; dharmas that are familiar to the manas no longer require the mind consciousness to diligently discriminate and recollect them. The function of reciting and memorizing appears on the surface to belong to the mind consciousness, but in substance it is that the manas has become very familiar with the sūtra text, so that it can be recited without the mind consciousness and eye consciousness looking at the text to discern and memorize it. This is a state in which the manas and the mind consciousness recite and memorize together.

When reciting sūtras one attains samādhi; this is also because the manas has become settled that body and mind become tranquil and comfortable. This is the result of the mind consciousness restraining and guiding the manas well, and of the two cooperating well; it is also due to wholesome roots from past lives—from often reciting sūtras in previous lives and becoming familiar with them, that in this life it is easy to enter samādhi and to memorize.

Another person asked: This is somewhat different from my own experience. I have found that whenever restlessness (auddhatya) arises, it is when I have become very proficient at reciting mantras; when reciting mantras produces a cool, comfortable sensation in the head, the manas easily grasps at these states, and then the mind becomes scattered.

Answer: What you say is also correct, because when one is too familiar with a mantra, one need not apply the mind to reciting it, and the recitation is no longer focused; the manas grasps at dharmas elsewhere, the mind consciousness starts to wander off, and so the mind becomes scattered. Both of these situations exist and are not in conflict. The difference lies in whether, even though the manas has become familiar with a dharma, He still does not grasp at other dharmas: if He does not grasp, one attains samādhi; if He grasps, the mind becomes scattered. So when I first began studying Buddhism, I was unwilling to recollect the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti), because the Buddha's name is short and could not subdue wandering thoughts, so I recited sūtras instead. Later, when worldly affairs became numerous and reciting sūtras no longer worked, I switched to reciting mantras. Reciting mantras has the best effect. Although I could memorize whichever sūtra I recited, the sūtra text is still somewhat long, and when affairs are numerous it is inevitably interrupted, so I switched to reciting mantras.

 The state of samādhi and the feelings experienced while reciting sūtras arise naturally from the mind's concentration. But when the time is long and the text has become too familiar, with the slightest inattention, once the mind has scattered, disordered thoughts, the state of samādhi will vanish. No matter how a person cultivates, if meditative concentration does not appear and one does not enter samādhi, it shows the results are not yet good enough—the mind is scattered and not unified. Cultivation is precisely the cultivation of precepts, samādhi, and wisdom: with precepts, the mind is free of scattered and disordered thinking; with samādhi, the mind is settled on the dharma; wisdom is then born, transforming thoughts and views that are not in accord with reason. Without meditative concentration, one's capacity for awakening is very poor, and wisdom does not grow.

Some clever people have many thoughts and deliberations and do not easily attain samādhi, while foolish people have few thoughts and can more easily attain it. But this kind of samādhi is generally a dazed, dull samādhi that is useless and does not give rise to wisdom; rather, it can easily lead to rebirth in the animal realm, causing even greater foolishness. Therefore I do not like to see some people sitting emptily and foolishly all day long, only to end up as demented, foolish people. If one is dull and sits foolishly too much, one should recite sūtras more, study the dharma, and contemplate. Those with many deliberations should settle the mind more, adjusting and regulating samādhi and wisdom at all times.