The Characteristics and Benefits of Using the Manas to Think About Problems

Thinking about difficult questions occurs at different levels of depth and shallowness. The shallowest level is the mind consciousness thinking alone; because there is no meditative concentration (samādhi), and the manas is unfamiliar with the question, it cannot participate. In the process of the mind consciousness's thinking, some language, words, and sounds will be mixed in; there is a mental appearance of deliberation, and the whole process can easily be observed—this is the mind consciousness's power of introspection regarding its own operation. Here, language includes talking to oneself, as well as body language such as gestures; words include those written on paper, as well as mental imagination and description; sounds include audible sounds, as well as the inner voice that is not voiced aloud. During the process of thinking, the deliberation can be scattered, and the mind need not be single-pointed or possess meditative concentration. As for the results of such thinking, the manas does not acknowledge them, because it did not participate; the mind is not very certain about them, they are easily overturned, and no corresponding practical action will be taken.

Slightly deeper thinking involves the participation of the manas, with some shallow concentration; the manas and the mind consciousness think together, one in the light and one in the dark, cooperating with each other and complementing one another's strengths, and this does not exclude the presence of language, words, and sounds. The mind consciousness is responsible for providing materials and examples, as well as rough analysis and inference, while the manas sets aside part of its objects of attention and thinks with full or half concentration. Because the manas must think, it has no more energy to attend to all dharmas, and must necessarily relinquish some dharmas; thus shallow meditative concentration arises. Whether to attend to dharmas or not is decided by the manas, and what dharmas to attend to and what not to attend to is also decided by the manas. If the manas does not participate in the thinking, it will not make the decision to relinquish part of the objects of attention, and there will be no shallow meditative concentration. The more dharmas the manas relinquishes, the deeper the meditative concentration, the deeper its degree of participation in the thinking, and the easier it is to arrive at results.

The deepest level of thinking is the manas deliberating (manana) alone. By this time the meditative concentration is already very deep; the mind consciousness's role of assisting and transmitting has already been completed, and the manas has already understood and become familiar with the question. Having relinquished the vast majority of dharmas as objects of attention, it single-mindedly thinks and investigates alone within concentration, even deliberating in dreams without resting. Once a result is thought out, the mind consciousness understands it as soon as it wakes up, and sleep is not even disturbed. Once the mind possesses meditative concentration, even if only for a short time, the manas will inevitably be activated; and conversely, once the manas enters the process of deliberation, it is usually very focused, unable to attend to other dharmas as objects, and meditative concentration necessarily appears.

From this it can be seen that the manas is the consciousness that takes charge, the one that arranges and decides matters. Once He deliberates, He cannot arrange other things, and meditative concentration will inevitably arrive. Whether there is meditative concentration in the course of cultivation depends on the manas—the manas has the final say. Therefore, if one wishes to cultivate concentration quickly, one must make more use of the manas; and if one wishes to employ the manas in deliberation, one must cultivate more meditative concentration. For a person who has formed the habit of thinking with the manas, whenever a difficult question arises thereafter, he will immediately enter the manas-thinking mode, without needing guidance from the mind consciousness; his attention is extremely concentrated, the mind is focused, without language, words, or sounds, and this does not interfere with the concentration of attention. From ancient times to the present, all people of profound thought, all people of great wisdom, have been people accustomed to thinking about problems with the manas.

The benefit of thinking with the manas is that it can hit the mark in one step, directly resolving the core problem; there is no doubt, no need to agonize, no regret, and the mind is joyful. It is more penetrating, more ultimate, more thorough, deeper, and more imbued with wisdom than the mind consciousness's thinking; the mind is more convinced and more settled; it forever corresponds to the result, and there is no need to trouble oneself to memorize and recite it again—whereas the results of the mind consciousness's thinking are easily forgotten afterward and cannot be recalled.