The Function of the Manas in Receiving and Processing Information

Some materials introduce that: the brain receives a large amount of information every second, yet can only process a very small portion of it; if it were to process all of this information, the brain would be overwhelmed. In order to function normally, the brain automatically filters information, automatically ignoring information it does not care about or that is trivial, and only attends to important information that is useful to itself. Since each person's focus differs, different people see different phenomena in the same information, and their attitudes and methods of handling it differ. When encountering a problem, how can one remember the key points and the main theme, enhance wisdom, and solve the problem? One must proactively pose questions to the brain; such a question should point to the core and key points of the problem, as well as the method of solution. In this way, the brain will think along these directions and thereby solve the problem.

What does "brain" refer to? Worldly people do not understand that the brain is material form and lacks the functions of a conscious mind; what they call the brain generally refers to the manas. It is the manas that receives a large amount of information and selectively processes problems—not the brain, and not the mind consciousness either. Because at that time the mind consciousness has not yet appeared, all the information falls into the manas, and the manas does not have the capacity or energy to face and process all of the information; it can only screen out the useful and relatively important information to process. Only after this selection does the mind consciousness appear to help the manas process the information.

From this, we can see the manas's nature of silently encompassing all dharmas, and the manas's capacity to take charge over all dharmas. All dharmas of course include the five sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch, as well as the six sense objects. If the manas only contacted the mental sense object and did not contact the five sense objects, where would the information of the five sense objects fall? Who would receive and screen it? Who would decide how to process it? Only after the manas makes an initial screening of the five sense objects are the five consciousnesses brought forth to discern and process them; therefore, the manas holds the power of decision and processing over the five sense objects and the five consciousnesses.

It is the manas that automatically filters information and automatically attends to useful information relevant to itself. This is the initial screening stage for the large amount of information; at this time the mind consciousness has not yet appeared and is ignorant and unaware of the manas's activities and all the information. Therefore, the mind consciousness has no part in, no power of decision over, and no authority over it; it can only passively accept the information the manas gives to Him, being directed and regulated by the manas. If the manas did not filter and screen information, it could not cope with the massive amount of information and might even collapse. Even the information remaining after screening is enormous and very difficult to deal with entirely. This causes the manas to simultaneously attend to an extremely large number of dharmas, and thus it cannot concentrate its energy on dealing with this information, appearing to lack wisdom.

How can the manas be made to develop wisdom? Of course, one must continually filter out and reduce useless information, attending only to the information that should be processed in the present moment, paying no attention to anything else. Only when energy is concentrated in this way can one process the attended information with wisdom. However, concentrating one's energy is extremely difficult; it requires continual training through cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi), so that the manas can firmly settle on a single dharma to contemplate.

It is also the manas that remembers key information and the main theme, and attends to and deliberates upon them. This is the function of the master consciousness capable of receiving all information. When the manas performs these functions, the mind consciousness does not know of it and cannot participate. Only after the manas remembers the information can it deliberate on how to process it, deciding whether to discard and ignore it or to deepen the discernment of it. If it wishes to deepen the discernment, the six consciousnesses will appear and discern this information; after the discernment, the manas understands and will again decide how to face and handle it. From this we can see that at every stage, it is the manas that makes decisions and exercises dominion, while it is the six consciousnesses that carry out specific discernment and analysis; the six consciousnesses are subordinate to the manas.

Who is it that poses questions to the brain? It is the mind consciousness posing questions to the manas; it is the mind consciousness wanting the manas to deliberate upon, select, and process the large amount of information, and to attend to the key points and useful information. Posing questions is not something the manas can do, because questioning involves silent language, written words, and sounds, with which the manas does not accord; the manas can only use hints toward the mind consciousness, and the mind consciousness is unknowingly directed by them. The brain described by worldly people as capable of receiving and processing information refers to the manas; what can temporarily store information is the supreme faculty, and the manas can contact, know, and process the dharmas within the supreme faculty. The Śūraṅgama Sūtra says that the manas silently encompasses all dharmas, and the manas's extensive characteristic of grasping is fully revealed in this material.

Is the manas busy? Does He passively receive a large amount of information or actively receive it? There is both active and passive reception. Actively receiving a large amount of information is called extensive grasping; passive reception is a matter of necessity, because karmic seeds have matured and the tathāgatagarbha must manifest and transmit them—such as information about illness or car accidents, which He cannot miss. Active thinking, more than passive acceptance, can better enhance wisdom. So who is it that poses questions, who thinks, who solves problems, and who enhances wisdom? If you know what problem needs to be solved, you will know who should solve it. The problem to be solved—screening information and attending to information—is the manas's responsibility.