Dreams Are Projected by the Manas

Question: When sleeping with the air conditioner on in summer, one sometimes dreams of walking in an icy, snowy landscape, feeling cold all over. From the perspective of Vijñaptimātratā (Consciousness-Only), how is this explained?

Answer: Sleeping with the air conditioner on late at night makes the body very cold. Without the six consciousnesses to perceive the cold, the problem of bodily cold cannot be resolved. Manas (the seventh consciousness) does not sleep. Although it knows the body is cold, it cannot handle this matter—it cannot cover itself with a blanket or turn off the air conditioner. To address this, it generates dreams about the body suffering from cold. In the dream, it causes the sixth consciousness (mano-vijñāna) to feel the body is very cold, shivering with cold in the icy, snowy environment.

If the sixth consciousness is relatively alert, it will wake up. Upon waking, it realizes the body is truly cold, then investigates why it is cold, discovers the air conditioner is on, turns it off, covers itself with the blanket, and after resolving the matter, returns to sleep. If the sixth consciousness is less vigilant, it will continue to endure the cold until waking at dawn, potentially even catching a cold. This incident demonstrates that manas can know many dharmas (phenomena), but without the assistance of the six consciousnesses as helpers to act on its behalf, it is powerless and cannot operate the activities of the five aggregates (skandhas). The six consciousnesses serve manas, act on its behalf, and fulfill its needs.

Dreams are all conceived by manas. The mental activities of manas are manifested in many aspects: manifested in dreams, manifested in the karmic actions of body, speech, and mind, manifested in various mental activities, manifested in emotions, manifested in the body's subconscious reactions, and manifested in the body's involuntary responses. Manas, together with the tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature/womb of the Tathāgata), controls and regulates the physical body and the five aggregates. When manas generates a thought, the body moves, and the five aggregates begin to operate.

Ordinary people observe only the superficial phenomena of the six consciousnesses or attribute the mental activities of manas entirely to the sixth consciousness, failing to distinguish between the mental activities of manas and the sixth consciousness. When the sixth consciousness disappears or becomes weak and powerless, manas strongly desires the five aggregates to function, wanting them to operate normally. However, if the six consciousnesses do not appear or are too feeble to activate the five aggregates, the anxious helplessness felt by manas is generally not perceived by ordinary people. Even if aware, they mistake it for the anxiety and powerlessness of the sixth consciousness. Their cognitive understanding remains confined to the level of the sixth consciousness, taking it as the sole authority, unable to delve deeper into the underlying psychological layers of manas behind the sixth consciousness.