The Deliberation and Cognition of the Manas and the Mind Consciousness

The manas, like the mind consciousness, is a consciousness; both possess the mental factor of volition (cetanā), and both can think, ponder, and deliberate. Because the vast majority of people cannot observe the volition of the manas, they believe there is a difference between the volition of the manas and that of the mind consciousness: they call the mind consciousness's volition "thinking" (思惟) and the manas's volition "deliberation" (思量), holding that thinking is not deliberation and deliberation is not thinking. If one says the manas can think and ponder, they consider it wrong, saying that thinking and pondering belong to the mind consciousness; if one speaks of the manas's mental activities, many say that is wrong too, that those are the mind consciousness's mental activities. So if one cannot observe the manas's mental activities yet still wants to study Consciousness-Only, and one's mind remains stubborn and obstinate, it becomes very troublesome.

Why do many people say that the manas's volition is very deep and hidden, difficult to observe? The reason is that sentient beings take the mind consciousness's knowing as their knowing: whatever the mind consciousness knows, sentient beings know; whatever the mind consciousness does not know, they do not know. If the mind consciousness lacks sufficient wisdom, does not know the manas's mental activities, and does not know what the manas knows, then sentient beings do not know the manas's mental activities or what the manas knows, and they feel that the manas's mental activities are very deep, hidden, and subtle. In fact, it is the mind consciousness's ignorance that should be blamed. When the mind consciousness has wisdom, when its wisdom is unobstructed and it can directly observe the manas's mental activities, one no longer finds the manas profound and hard to understand, no longer finds it hidden and hard to know, and one will no longer misunderstand the manas's mental factors.

What would happen if sentient beings all took the manas's knowing as their knowing? If sentient beings all took the manas's knowing as their knowing, then whatever the manas does not know, they would not know. If the manas does not know what the mind consciousness knows—no matter what the mind consciousness knows or how many dharmas it knows—the manas does not know it, and thus sentient beings would not know it. So those theories learned by the mind consciousness would be of little use; moreover, the manas does not know the eighth consciousness at all, and attaining enlightenment would become even more difficult. At that time, sentient beings would say: the mind consciousness's mental activities are deep, subtle, and hard to know, very concealed and hard to fathom; the eighth consciousness is even deeper, more hidden, and harder to know, with extremely subtle characteristics.

In fact, whether dharmas are hidden or manifest does not depend on the dharmas themselves but on the wisdom of consciousness. When there is wisdom, any dharma is manifest, easy to know, and easy to understand; without wisdom, even the most manifest dharma feels deep and hidden. Therefore, after the sixth and seventh consciousnesses undergo the transformation of consciousness into wisdom, the mind consciousness can directly observe the mental activities of the manas as well as those of the eighth consciousness, and does not find it very difficult at all. The Buddha observes all dharmas with ease; He can even know all dharmas without observing, and all dharmas are perfectly clear in His mind.

If sentient beings took the manas's knowing as their knowing, they would have supernatural powers, and perhaps there would be no secrets among them; past lives and future lives would all be perfectly clear. Then they could know causes and recognize effects, and perhaps, in order to suffer less evil retribution, they would create less evil karma. Yet still many people have heavy grasping at self: they clearly know they have suffered much for creating evil karma, yet they keep creating evil karma without cease—those who repeatedly end up in prison are just like this, refusing to repent to the very end. Moreover, because the manas lacks the mind consciousness's obvious guiding function, being simple and naive, its emotional attachment would be even heavier, its self-nature even stronger; the mind consciousness would find it hard to restrain Him, the probability of creating evil karma would be even greater, and the elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) would be even more difficult.

What would it be like if sentient beings all took the eighth consciousness's knowing as their knowing? The eighth consciousness does not know or see worldly dharmas; it does not know self, others, men, or women; it does not see forms or hear sounds; it does not know the objects of the six sense objects. If so, sentient beings could not survive: the six faculties would be closed off, and they would be in a state of nirvāṇa. Would that be good? Someone might say that then bodhisattvas could not deliver sentient beings; but at that time, what sentient being would not already be in a state of nirvāṇa and still need the Buddhas and bodhisattvas to deliver them? If sentient beings all took the eighth consciousness's knowing as their knowing, there would be no need to study Buddhism or the Dharma, and there would be no distinction between Buddhas and sentient beings.

If sentient beings all took the knowing of the five sense consciousnesses as their knowing, they could not survive, and the world of the five aggregates could not function. Because the five sense consciousnesses only discern the coarse five sense objects, not the subtle five sense objects, much less mental dharmas: they do not know the mind consciousness, do not know the manas, do not know the eighth consciousness—apart from the coarse five sense-object realms, they know nothing. If they do not even know the mind consciousness, how could they know the coarse objects of the five sense objects? The five sense consciousnesses must cooperate with the mind consciousness in discernment in order to know the coarse characteristics of the five sense objects; but knowing only the coarse characteristics of the five sense objects, not their subtle characteristics, not the mental sense objects, and not mental dharmas, one absolutely could not survive. In short, if one wishes to know all dharmas, whichever consciousness's knowing is to be primary, that consciousness must possess great wisdom—transforming consciousness into wisdom—so that only with a consciousness of wisdom can one know all dharmas.