The Agility of Manas

When one is asleep at midnight and the six consciousnesses cease, if a fire breaks out in the house and the manas wishes to flee, what should be done? This intention of the manas cannot be realized without the cooperation of the body sense faculty and the six consciousnesses. Therefore, it is not that the manas is inherently inferior in wisdom or incapable of action; rather, whatever it seeks to accomplish requires the use of tools. Without these tools, it remains helpless, much like an imbecile.

When confronted with such an urgent and critical situation, the manas will inevitably strive to awaken, enabling the mental consciousness to perceive the fire, so that it may escape together with the five sense consciousnesses. In its urgency, the manas first gives rise to the solitary mental consciousness. If this solitary mental consciousness fails to perceive the situation clearly, it transitions into the five-sense-grounding consciousness, and the five sense consciousnesses subsequently arise as well, leading to awakening. Once the mental consciousness perceives the emergency, it decides to flee. After the manas consents, it commands the five-aggregate body to escape, and the physical body then runs out of the door.

Upon awakening, the mental consciousness arises alongside the nose consciousness because the strong smell of smoke causes the nose consciousness to arise before the other consciousnesses. Next, the eye consciousness, body consciousness, ear consciousness, and tongue consciousness appear. The five sense consciousnesses arise in sequence: whichever sense object is most prominent causes its corresponding consciousness to arise first. If the flames are bright, the eye consciousness arises first; if the room is excessively hot, the body consciousness arises first; if the sound of the fire or shouting is loud, the ear consciousness arises first.

In moments of crisis, bodily movements occur with great speed, and the mental consciousness acts so swiftly that it averts danger before having time to deliberate. If, during an emergency, one were to wait for the mental consciousness to perceive, analyze, and ponder, the person would likely meet with disaster. At such times, the role of the mental consciousness is to act swiftly in accordance with the manas’ directives, cooperating with the five sense consciousnesses. In critical moments, the manas proves to be exceptionally alert.