The Wisdom of the Manas and the Deliberation of the Manas

The manas itself has no language, words, or sound-marks; it does not think by means of language and words, and when it exerts mental effort there is no sound either. Therefore, the mental activity and operational characteristics of the manas are hidden and difficult to observe, not easy to capture. When meditative concentration (samādhi) is insufficient, the mind is not subtle, and it becomes very difficult to observe; then misunderstandings about the manas are inevitable.

The mind consciousness sometimes has wisdom and sometimes lacks wisdom; the manas likewise sometimes has wisdom and sometimes lacks wisdom. When the wisdom of the mind consciousness functions well, it can assist the manas in discerning and making decisions. But if the manas itself already has wisdom, it does not need the assistance of the mind consciousness's wisdom, or it does not need the mind consciousness to assist in deliberation and analysis—only helping with discernment is enough. As long as the manas discerns the coarse and subtle aspects of a dharma, it immediately knows how to handle and deal with it. This is how it is when the manas itself has wisdom. When the manas lacks wisdom, it needs the mind consciousness not only to assist in discernment but also to assist in deliberation, analysis, reasoning, and judgment; then the manas deliberates (manasikāra) based on the mind consciousness's judgment and makes its own decision—but not necessarily consistent with the mind consciousness's judgment, and its decision may go beyond what the mind consciousness expects.

When the mind consciousness introspects its own mind, that is self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana); if what the mind consciousness observes is a mental thought of the manas, that is self-cognition (svasaṃvitti). However, when the mind consciousness lacks wisdom, it may not necessarily be able to distinguish clearly whether it is its own mental thought or a mental thought of the manas, and it will take both to be the mind consciousness's own mental thoughts. That is why many people say: "This is clearly the function and operation of the mind consciousness—how can you say it is the function and operation of the manas?" In fact, it is because one's own mind consciousness lacks the wisdom to clearly distinguish the differences and boundaries between the mind consciousness and the manas, and lacks the wisdom of the varieties of paths. Wanting to clearly distinguish the functions of the mind consciousness and the manas is indeed extremely difficult.