Two Afflictive Mental Factors of the Manas

The mental factors of affliction associated with the manas are divided into two kinds. One kind consists of the afflictive mental factors that constantly and perpetually accompany the manifest activity of the manas without interruption for even a moment, such as the view of self, self-conceit, self-love, and ignorance (self-delusion) mentioned in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra. The other kind consists of the afflictive mental factors that do not constantly accompany the manifest activity of the manas; these refer to the mental factors other than the above four afflictions, such as the greater, lesser, and universal secondary afflictions like anger, hatred, and rage. If these afflictions were constantly manifesting, then the bodies and minds of sentient beings, both their own and others', would be severely damaged, their lives would be chaotic and disordered, and their lives would not last long. Only the afflictions of view of self, self-love, self-grasping, and self-conceit are the afflictions that constantly manifest in ordinary sentient beings.

When people of all kinds encounter the profound dharma and are unable to engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) in the present moment, they can only slightly understand a bit of the surface meaning, and so they can only memorize the texts. The dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination reveals that the reason sentient beings transmigrate ceaselessly through birth and death in the six realms is precisely because of the ignorance of the manas. If the manas had no ignorance, the twelve links of dependent origination would end, the afflictions of sentient beings would end, and they would be liberated from birth and death. Ignorance conditions volitional formations, and volitional formations condition consciousness. If these seven words are fully understood, one will know whether or not the manas actually has anger. If there were no anger within the ignorance of the manas, then it would not prompt the six consciousnesses to create karma of anger, and the karma of birth and death would be reduced by nearly half. As for anger in the mind consciousness, it does not matter, because the mind consciousness cannot decide to create karma of anger, so there would be no seeds of karma of anger, and thus there would be no birth-and-death karma of anger.

Furthermore, where does the anger of the mind consciousness come from? How does it arise? Many people can neither observe in the present moment whether the manas has anger, nor sort out the logical and dialectical relationship between the manas and the mind consciousness, nor do they know the origin of the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses; they only know how to recite the texts, and they believe their shallow understanding is correct. As stated in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, in the earliest period of a sentient being's life there are only the manas and the Ālayavijñāna; only after the manas gives rise to a thought do heaven, earth, the myriad things, and the five aggregates and six consciousnesses come into being. If the manas has no anger, where does the anger of the mind consciousness come from? How does the karma of anger arise? What causes sentient beings to fight and struggle with one another? How does this arise?

The afflictions of the mind consciousness are easy to subdue and eradicate. As long as one understands the theory and comprehends it clearly, one can effectively control the afflictions. However, because the manas does not sever afflictions, when a fundamental issue is encountered and the mind consciousness is momentarily negligent, the afflictions will immediately appear, and the person will show their true colors. For example, in dreams, or after getting drunk—when the mind consciousness is weakened, there is no rationality left, and the afflictions of the manas will manifest in full. Is the anger and angry behavior after drunkenness also that of the mind consciousness? Why is it easier to create unwholesome karma after drinking? Why does one show one's true colors after drinking? Why does drinking reveal a person's character?

Subduing afflictions means severing the afflictions of the mind consciousness, but this is only temporary, not lasting. If the afflictions of the manas are not severed, the afflictions severed by the mind consciousness will arise again when the conditions are complete, and they cannot be fundamentally controlled. Therefore, the affliction of anger can only be completely severed at the stage of the anāgāmin, which indicates that only at the stage of the anāgāmin can the manas completely sever the affliction of anger. As for the affliction of anger in the mind consciousness, it can be severed at the stage when an ordinary person understands the principles, but not thoroughly; upon encountering special conditions, the mind consciousness may still give rise to the affliction of anger. For example, some people have a gentle temperament and an exceptionally good temper; under ordinary circumstances, no matter what happens, they will not become angry—this is the case of the mind consciousness being without anger. But once they encounter a special situation that touches their bottom line, even such a person might kill someone; this is the anger of the manas manifesting.