The Cetasikas of Manas from the Perspective of the Twelve Nidānas

The three links in the Twelve Nidānas—ignorance giving rise to volitional formations, volitional formations giving rise to consciousness, and consciousness giving rise to name-and-form—clearly reveal that the suffering of birth, aging, illness, and death experienced by sentient beings is all caused by the ignorance of the manas (the mental faculty). Due to the ignorance of the manas, sentient beings create wholesome and unwholesome karma and undergo rebirth within the six realms. Therefore, the ignorance of the manas encompasses all afflictions and possesses all afflictive mental factors. Because sentient beings possess all afflictions, they experience self-divided birth-and-death (分段生死) and transformative birth-and-death (变易生死). Once the ignorance of the manas is completely eradicated, sentient beings attain Buddhahood. At this point, the manas possesses all wholesome mental factors, which constantly accompany its functioning. Previously, this constancy was absent, especially during the stage of an ordinary person, where wholesome mental factors rarely accompanied the manas.

In summary, the manas possesses all mental factors, no fewer than the consciousness (vijñāna). If the manas did not possess all afflictive mental factors, the mind would not be heavily tainted, it would create less karma leading to birth and death, and suffering would be less. However, sentient beings have endured all the suffering of birth and death for countless eons and have created all karma leading to birth and death. This indicates that the manas possesses all afflictive mental factors. If the manas did not possess all wholesome mental factors, the mind would not be completely and thoroughly pure, and thus one could not attain Buddhahood. However, all sentient beings will ultimately attain Buddhahood, therefore the manas possesses all wholesome mental factors. It is just that these wholesome and unwholesome mental factors do not constantly accompany the functioning of the manas. For the manas of ordinary sentient beings, only the four fundamental afflictions—self-view (我见), self-conceit (我慢), self-attachment (我执), and self-ignorance (我痴)—constantly and uninterruptedly accompany its functioning, never separating from it even for an instant. It is evident that these four fundamental afflictions are the root cause of karma leading to birth and death and the suffering of birth and death. From these four fundamental afflictions, other afflictions arise and manifest intermittently.

If the affliction of self-view is severed, the other three fundamental afflictions will gradually be eradicated as well. Once the four fundamental afflictions are severed, all other afflictions will be completely eradicated, and self-divided birth-and-death ceases immediately. Therefore, after sentient beings sever self-view, the affliction of self-view can neither constantly nor intermittently accompany the functioning of the manas. Furthermore, after the afflictions of self-attachment and self-conceit are completely eradicated, they can neither constantly nor intermittently accompany the functioning of the manas; rather, they never accompany the manas again. The same applies to the affliction of self-ignorance. Once it is completely eradicated, the manifest afflictions of the manas are exhausted, and upon the end of that life, one can transcend the Three Realms and enter the Nirvana without residue (无余涅槃).

The manas of ordinary sentient beings does not possess wholesome mental factors fully, nor do they constantly accompany its functioning. Instead, they appear and disappear, manifesting intermittently. Once the manas eradicates the afflictive mental factors, the wholesome mental factors will gradually become complete and will constantly accompany the functioning of the manas. This is the mental activity of a sage, not that of an ordinary person. To summarize, for ordinary sentient beings, only the four fundamental afflictions constantly accompany the functioning of the manas, while other afflictions appear and disappear, manifesting intermittently. The Yogācārabhūmi-Śāstra (瑜伽师地论) discusses it precisely in this way. The wholesome mental factors of the manas in ordinary sentient beings also appear and disappear, manifesting intermittently. After eradicating afflictions and becoming a sage, the wholesome mental factors will frequently accompany the functioning of the manas, and ultimately, they will constantly accompany it.

In recent decades, many people have profoundly misunderstood the mental factors of the manas. The reason for this is a severe deficiency in concentration (śamatha) and wisdom (prajñā), making them unable to observe the mental activities of the manas directly. Their understanding is also not strong enough, leading them to misinterpret the expositions of the Bodhisattvas. This misunderstanding has persisted until now. Because the levels of concentration and wisdom among the great Bodhisattvas vary, being uneven and differing in depth, it is inevitable that contradictions appear in their expositions. When such situations arise, one should primarily rely on the expositions of Bodhisattva Maitreya, who possesses the deepest wisdom. If there are corroborating scriptures (佛经), one should prioritize the scriptures. If there are no scriptures to corroborate, one should base it on genuine realization and on facts, for facts ultimately speak louder than eloquent arguments.