Dual Personality Is the Multiple Compartments of Manas

When a person has a dual personality, is it that the mind consciousness and the manas each have a personality, or that the manas has two personalities? When the first personality manifests, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions are one way; when the second personality manifests, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions are another way. The two personalities are different, or even diametrically opposed, as if they were two different people.

Why does the phenomenon of multiple personalities occur? Because the manas has multiple psychological needs and wishes that cannot all be accommodated simultaneously, multiple personalities emerge to satisfy the different wishes, or to display multiple temperaments. In other words, one can no longer satisfy one's own wishes, multiple temperaments can no longer coexist harmoniously, and multiple experiences can no longer be overlapped and blended together; having no alternative, multiple personalities are formed to satisfy each wish and each self. The manas is too conflicted and unable to resolve its contradictions, so it forcibly splits itself into two, or into many.

From the phenomenon of multiple personalities, one can gain an early appreciation of the Nirmāṇakāya and Sambhogakāya Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The Sambhogakāya is the body manifested by the manas, while the Nirmāṇakāya is a divided body, a divided body of the six consciousnesses manifested by the wishes of the manas. The bodily, verbal, and mental actions of each of the dual personalities differ, which is analogous to the different activities of multiple divided bodies of the six consciousnesses. The Nirmāṇakāya identities of Buddhas and bodhisattvas differ, and their activities also differ. Guanyin Bodhisattva's power of vow is: whatever body sentient beings need in order to be liberated, He manifests that body to teach the Dharma. "Whatever body" refers to countless Nirmāṇakāya bodies, transformed from the manas's vow to liberate sentient beings. A bodhisattva may come into the world manifesting two or more identities, and each physical body may be entirely unaware of the others.

The power of vow of Buddhas and bodhisattvas is vast and profound; a single physical body cannot fulfill so many, such great, such deep vows, so they manifest countless divided bodies to fulfill their numerous vows. The manas is the consciousness that makes decisions; as long as He has sufficient merit, meditative concentration (samādhi), physical body, and power of vow, He will decide to create divided bodies, manifesting numerous bodies of the six consciousnesses. One set of six-consciousness bodies has one set of bodily, verbal, and mental actions; many sets of six-consciousness bodies have many sets of bodily, verbal, and mental actions, each different, yet all subsumed under the same manas and tathāgatagarbha. The personalities of a person with multiple personalities are subsumed under different facets of the same manas—different temperaments, different wishes, or different aspirations.

After studying Yogācāra, everyone should be able to become a psychological counselor, or a psychological scholar, or a psychological therapist, engaging in psychological research and guidance. You will be able to see through other people's psychology at a glance; no one can hide from you, no one can deceive you, and you will be able to grasp others' psychology and guide them patiently and skillfully. Worldly people are nothing but greed, anger, and delusion, all grasping at the five aggregates as self, unable to see through the phenomenal realm, and therefore naturally unable to resolve their psychological problems. Contemplate and practice contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) more, and you will be able to thread all the various dharma meanings together, clearly see the direction of the future, feel optimistic about the prospects of Buddhist practice and realization, and feel that the future is bright.