Manas and Vijñāna: Thought and Knowing

Both the manas and consciousness are forms of cognition, both possess the mental factor of thought, and both are capable of deliberation, contemplation, and consideration. Since the vast majority of people cannot observe the deliberation of the manas, they assume there is a difference between the deliberation of the manas and that of consciousness. They call the deliberation of consciousness "thinking" and the deliberation of the manas "consideration," believing that thinking is not consideration and consideration is not thinking. If one says the manas thinks or contemplates, they consider it incorrect, insisting it is consciousness that thinks and contemplates; if one speaks of the mental activity of the manas, many would say it is wrong, claiming that is the mental activity of consciousness. Therefore, attempting to study Consciousness-Only (Vijñapti-mātratā) while being unable to observe the mental activity of the manas and while remaining stubbornly attached internally is very troublesome.

Why do many people say the deliberation of the manas is very profound, hidden, and difficult to observe? The reason is that sentient beings take the knowing of consciousness as knowing. What consciousness knows, sentient beings know; what consciousness does not know, they do not know. If consciousness lacks sufficient wisdom and does not know the mental activity of the manas or what the manas knows, then sentient beings will not know the mental activity of the manas or what the manas knows. Consequently, they feel the mental activity of the manas is very profound, hidden, and subtle. In truth, the ignorance of consciousness should be blamed. When consciousness possesses wisdom, when wisdom is unobstructed, and it can directly observe the mental activity of the manas, then the manas no longer seems profound and difficult to understand, nor hidden and hard to know, and misunderstandings about the mental factors of the manas will cease.

If all sentient beings took the knowing of the manas as knowing, what would the situation be like? If all sentient beings took the knowing of the manas as knowing, then what the manas does not know, they would not know. If the manas does not know what consciousness knows, then regardless of what consciousness knows or how many dharmas it knows, if the manas does not know them, then sentient beings would not know them. Consequently, the theories learned by consciousness would be of little use; the manas would know even less about the eighth consciousness, making enlightenment much more difficult. At that point, sentient beings would say: the mental activity of consciousness is deep, subtle, and hard to know, very hidden, difficult to probe; the eighth consciousness is even more profound, hidden, and difficult to know, its activities extremely subtle.

In reality, whether dharmas are hidden or manifest, obscure or clear, depends on the wisdom of the consciousness, not on the dharmas themselves. With wisdom, any dharma is clear, easy to know, and easy to understand. Without wisdom, even the most manifest dharma seems profound and hidden. Therefore, after the sixth and seventh consciousnesses transform into wisdom, consciousness can directly observe the mental activities of the manas and the mental activities of the eighth consciousness, without finding it particularly difficult. The Buddha observes all dharmas with ease; He does not even need to observe to know all dharmas, for all dharmas are perfectly clear to Him.

If sentient beings took the knowing of the manas as knowing, they would possess spiritual powers. There might be no secrets between them, and past and future lives would be clear. In this way, they could know causes and recognize effects. Perhaps to suffer less retribution, they would create less unwholesome karma. However, many would still have heavy self-attachment. Even knowing they suffer greatly due to creating unwholesome karma, they would still continuously create it. People who repeatedly go to prison are like this, unrepentant even unto death. But because the manas lacks the clear guiding function of consciousness, being simple-minded and naive, emotional attachment would be heavier, self-nature would be stronger, consciousness would find it difficult to restrain it, the likelihood of creating unwholesome karma would increase, and abandoning the view of self would become even harder.

What would it be like if sentient beings all took the knowing of the eighth consciousness as knowing? The eighth consciousness does not know or perceive worldly dharmas; it does not know self or others, does not see forms or hear sounds, and does not know the objects of the six dusts (sense fields). In this case, sentient beings would be unable to survive. The six sense faculties would cease to function, and they would be in a state of Nirvāṇa. Would this be good? Some might say that then Bodhisattvas could not liberate sentient beings. But at that point, which sentient being would not already be in a state of Nirvāṇa, still needing Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to liberate them? If all sentient beings took the knowing of the eighth consciousness as knowing, there would be no need to learn the Buddha Dharma, and there would be no distinction between Buddhas and sentient beings.

If sentient beings all took the knowing of the five consciousnesses as knowing, they would be unable to survive, and the world of the five aggregates could not function. This is because the five consciousnesses only cognize coarse objects of the five dusts; they do not cognize subtle objects of the five dusts, nor do they understand mental dharmas. They do not know consciousness, do not know the manas, and do not know the eighth consciousness. Apart from coarse objects of the five dusts, they know nothing. If they did not even know consciousness, how could they still know the coarse objects of the five dusts? The five consciousnesses must cooperate with consciousness to cognize the coarse characteristics of the five dusts. But knowing only the coarse characteristics of the five dusts, not their subtle characteristics, not knowing the dharma dust (mental objects), and not knowing mental dharmas, they would absolutely be unable to live. In short, to know all dharmas, whichever consciousness's knowing is taken as primary, that consciousness must possess great wisdom. Consciousness must be transformed into wisdom; only by using wisdom-consciousness can one know all dharmas.