How to Train the Manas to Think and Solve Problems

When we encounter a problem, we should not rush to immediately use the mind consciousness to think, analyze, and draw conclusions. If the matter is not particularly urgent, settle the mind down, try our best to eliminate distracting thoughts, and keep the mind fixed solely on the matter at hand—without analysis by the mind consciousness, without reasoning by the mind consciousness, without judgment by the mind consciousness, and even less by the mind consciousness's conclusions. Empty out other thoughts and fix attention on this problem; there should be no words or language in the mind, no inner voice—quietly gazing at this problem. Yet the mind is not empty, and it is not that the problem is not being considered; rather, the manas is quietly hanging this problem in the mind, silently deliberating upon it.

The mind consciousness is not thinking or analyzing, yet the manas is facing this problem, thinking and deliberating without words, language, or sound. When one lacks experience, or when the mind is not subtle, one cannot perceive the manas's mental activity; but He indeed has a great deal of mental activity—it is merely concealed by the activity of the mind consciousness. Some people's manas has very weak energy and weak thinking power, because there are too many scattered, fragmentary distracting thoughts that disperse the energy, resulting in insufficient mental power, unable to concentrate on thinking about one problem, and unable to solve a problem perfectly, reasonably, and in depth.

One of the important reasons why sentient beings' wisdom is weak and inferior is that they have many distracting thoughts; their minds are messy and chaotic, without a clear main thread, without focus. It is like a combat team whose members each act on their own; the team's strength is dispersed and cannot gather together to form a mighty force to bravely and successfully fight against hostile forces, with the result that they are routed in the face of every hostile force. Another important reason is meager merit (alpa-puṇya)—a severe lack of merit, without the support of merit. Let us not discuss this for now.

Then, in order to elevate wisdom—especially to elevate the wisdom of the manas—one must eliminate distracting thoughts and be able to concentrate the mind on very few, important, key problems. To achieve this, one must restrain the mind consciousness, use it less, and try not to employ the mind consciousness's words, language, and sounds; do not always have an inner voice, do not always have a monologue. At times it does not matter if there is the mind consciousness's monologue, but in addition, there should also be the manas's focused deliberation: while the mind consciousness is monologuing, the manas is deliberating, and what the two are attending to should be the same thing. At this time the manas's energy becomes great and its power concentrated, and it will break through the inner darkness and ignorance, find the root of the problem, and solve the problem at its root.

When the manas has deliberated clearly, it can solve the problem at its root; whereas a problem that the mind consciousness has figured out, even if solved, is not thorough, not secure, not reassuring—and moreover, it is not easy to solve the problem this way. Because the manas is the sovereign consciousness, when He has considered a problem clearly Himself, there will be no regret after solving it; if one follows the mind consciousness's analysis, one easily regrets and easily changes one's mind and thoughts. Fickle people are those accustomed to thinking with the mind consciousness and not using the manas; they are relatively shallow people. Those who have no ideas of their own and like to depend on others are all unaccustomed to using the manas to think about problems, but are accustomed to using the mind consciousness—because their own mind consciousness cannot be relied upon, they have no choice but to depend on others.

Using the manas to think about and solve problems, although secure, reliable, thorough, and definitive, able to strike directly at the root, is often rather slow, because deep thinking is slow, and only shallow thinking is fast. It is like digging a well: digging deep takes effort and is therefore slow; digging shallow takes little effort and is therefore fast. But digging slowly can reach water, while digging quickly cannot bring forth water. Therefore slow is fast, and fast is also slow; the results differ, so one should not seek speed—quality comes first. It is the same when we think about and solve problems: deep thinking and deliberation require some time, but slow work yields fine craftsmanship, and the result is perfect. A person accustomed to deep thinking, a person accustomed to using the manas, generally thinks rather slowly and also does things rather slowly, but relatively speaking the results are good, less prone to error, and less prone to regret.

If you want good results in doing things and solving problems, do not seek speed; think deeply and deliberatively, use the manas more for thinking and making decisions, train the manas's thinking power more, and practice more the concentration and observation that are without words, language, and sound. After a long period of training, when the manas has become skillful in use, you will discover that thinking with the manas has great charm and interest, great appeal—the more you think, the less you want to stop—and so you come to enjoy solitude and do not want to be disturbed; moreover, your wisdom grows ever deeper, and solving problems becomes increasingly effortless. When a person's manas has been well trained and become habitual, that person appears very deep, with rich substance and distinctive qualities, profound in thought, unique in insight, strong in ability—and, crucially, steady and reliable, trustworthy, not constantly changing his mind.