The Benefits of Contemplating with Manas

Question: I seem to understand how to use the manas (the seventh consciousness) for deliberation. It is an activity of the mind that cannot be achieved through thinking, because once thinking occurs, the sixth consciousness (mano-vijnana) becomes involved. Once the sixth consciousness participates, that state becomes less profound and subtle. Is this correct? This state lasts only briefly. When deliberation reaches a point where the problem gets stuck, I start thinking with the sixth consciousness, and immediately the state becomes less profound and subtle. Also, during meditation, when I contemplate the state of the body with awareness, a feeling arises where this material body seems absent. There is only a slight sense of awareness and a body composed of consciousness, which feels very insubstantial. Suddenly, the thought arises that the things we usually see are merely images, projections manifested by the mind. Having this feeling, yet after emerging from samadhi and looking around, everything still appears so real.

Answer: You are now roughly able to distinguish during meditation whether it is the sixth consciousness thinking or the seventh consciousness (manas) deliberating. Your method is correct, but your skill is not yet pure, mature, and effortless. You need to proceed slowly, gradually deepening your foundation. When contemplating the Dharma in stillness, using the manas indeed allows the mind to be very profound and subtle. Using the sixth consciousness feels somewhat shallow, as if separated by a layer, lacking depth and penetration.

When observing the material body with great concentration during meditation, samadhi power increases. As samadhi deepens, the contemplation and awareness actually become subtler, the perception of the material body vanishes, and the mind becomes empty. Samadhi power enables the mind to be meticulous and precise, often allowing one to observe things not normally perceived, to discover the truth of phenomena, and thus thoroughly comprehend and realize the truth. Therefore, feeling in samadhi that seeing things seems like images, less substantial, is a correct view. Building upon this correct view and refining your skill to maturity holds the potential for realization.

After realization, upon emerging from samadhi, one no longer mistakes false dharmas for real. Before realization, correct views are merely views; they change nothing. However, correct views do represent some departure from false cognition, tending towards discovering the truth of phenomena. Maintaining and deepening this state of practice allows one to see even more clearly how all phenomena and principles are utterly illusory and insubstantial. When causes and conditions are fully ripened, it becomes possible to realize Emptiness. Therefore, the realization of all dharmas occurs within profound samadhi. Even during activity, there is samadhi power, which stems from the meditative concentration cultivated in seated meditation; it is the extension and continuation of the samadhi attained in stillness.