How to Mobilize the Deliberation (manana) of the Manas in Meditative Concentration

In meditative concentration, using the deliberation (manana) of the manas instead of the thinking of the mind consciousness—this skill is quite profound, and ordinary people can hardly achieve it. It requires a very deep foundation of meditative concentration, as well as a certain degree of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā). When meditative concentration and contemplative practice are cultivated to a certain level, one can shift from the thinking of the mind consciousness to the deliberation of the manas. The thinking of the mind consciousness is relatively shallow, floating on the surface, and ordinary people can observe it. For example, by introspecting at this moment to see what thoughts are in the mind, one can know what one is thinking about, pondering, and planning right now. These thoughts generally float on the surface and are all the thinking of the mind consciousness.

At the same time, behind this there is also the support and guiding role of the manas. If one's power of concentration and wisdom are insufficient, it is not easy to observe this, and one cannot clearly recognize one's own innermost true thoughts. When the mind has been cultivated to a very refined state, one can observe that when the mind consciousness is thinking, there is a force behind it playing the leading role, and that force and stream of thought belong to the manas. Once one discovers that force of the manas behind the mind consciousness and is able to grasp the manas, one should gradually weaken the thinking function of the mind consciousness. After weakening it to a certain degree, one then sets aside the thoughts of the mind consciousness; but after setting them aside, one must still keep thoughts in the mind—keep the deliberative activity of the manas—and not let oneself become completely without thought or conception. This is not easy at all.

In meditative concentration, one must learn to strive to discover that force deep within the mind. He actually has thoughts, has mental activity, and is capable of thinking—that is the deliberative activity of the manas. After discovering it, strive to maintain that deliberative activity and not let it perish. Hand over the dharma principles that the mind consciousness has been pondering to Him, and let Him continue deliberating on His own. This belongs to a rather deep state of meditative investigation; Chan investigation is just like this. Deliberating that the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are not the self is done with exactly this kind of skill. In this way the deliberation of the manas is mobilized. This mode of thinking, this kind of skill, is called the deliberation of the manas.

To accomplish this, profound meditative concentration is indispensable; one's skill in concentration must be very good, able to set aside coarse wandering thoughts, and at a certain point even the subtle wandering thoughts must be set aside as well. Wandering thoughts are thoughts that ponder other irrelevant dharmas—that is, scattered and proliferating thoughts. These thoughts are all disturbances to right mindfulness, so they must all be removed, leaving only the dharma that the mind consciousness needs to ponder. Then the thinking of the mind consciousness is also removed, letting the manas deliberate on this dharma—the mind consciousness and the manas swap roles in thinking about the problem. At this point the mind consciousness still exists, performing a very light function of discernment, but it does not think deeply, analyze, or reason; rather, the manas is allowed to deliberate deeply, without language, words, or sound. This deliberative function is not easy to observe when meditative concentration and wisdom are insufficient.

This deliberative function of the manas is also called the thoughts deep within the mind. The thoughts in every person's mind are of two kinds: one floats on the surface—the shallow-level thoughts of the mind consciousness; the other is hidden deep within—deep-level, that is, the thoughts of the manas deep in the mind, representing one's true thoughts. For example, when I now tell others what I plan to do, I actually do not have that thought; the thought expressed carries a perfunctory flavor, and there is another voice and thought within. That thought is rather hidden and one does not want others to know it, so one uses the language of the mind consciousness to cover it up or divert attention.

Constantly introspect on the manas within your own mind, grasp the manas-mind within yourself, and then hand over the dharma that the mind consciousness originally dwelt upon and pondered to the manas, letting the manas dwell upon it. In this way the manas can dwell upon this dharma at all times and in all places, and the deliberative nature of the manas manifests. If the manas agrees, the permeating is successful; if the manas does not accept it, the permeating is not successful. Only when the skill is in place can it succeed.

In daily life, we all make use of the manas and its deliberative function; it is just that we cannot observe it, cannot distinguish it, and do not know how to summarize it, so we cannot tell whether it is the thinking of the mind consciousness or the deliberation of the manas. This requires increasing one's skill in meditative concentration and the wisdom of contemplative practice in order to clarify these questions. Only when meditative concentration deepens can the mind become refined, and only then can one discover the difference between the mind consciousness and the manas, and also distinguish the inner voice from the surface voice, thereby understanding the state of the manas's deliberation and grasping that deliberative nature of the manas. Gradually one will know how to apply it.

To reach this level, one must strengthen the cultivation of meditative concentration, enhance the discerning power of wisdom, subdue afflictions, reduce wandering thoughts, and let the mind rest on the Buddhadharma without chasing after worldly dharmas. As meditative concentration is cultivated ever more deeply, the mind becomes ever more focused and wandering thoughts ever fewer, to the point that one can set them aside whenever one wishes to. When the mind becomes ever more refined and wisdom ever deeper, the functions of the manas will operate very well.

When the physical body has been tamed and one reaches the level of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā, one can directly use the deliberation of the manas to solve problems. When one's questioning doubt about a dharma is rather strong, directly hang this dharma in the mind—at first the mind consciousness holds it, then reduce and lighten the function of the mind consciousness, letting the manas hold this dharma. At this point one enters a somewhat deeper meditative concentration, letting the manas deliberate deeply on this dharma. The more focused the manas's deliberation, the deeper the meditative concentration; the deeper the meditative concentration, the more focused, profound, and refined the manas's deliberation becomes. In the end one can clarify this question, and at the same time one enters a state of meditative absorption (samādhi), filled with Dharma joy, with body and mind at ease, and Chan bliss arises. Samādhi is the state of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā. Once this state emerges, one's mental state for the whole day will be excellent, and body and mind will both be very much at ease.