Demonstrating the Non-neutral Nature of Manas through the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination: Ignorance conditions volitional formations, volitional formations condition consciousness, consciousness conditions name and form... The first link is ignorance, the dynamic source that initiated the universe. From this force, all things in heaven and earth sprouted forth, enabling the operation of the five-aggregate living beings. This is the origin of the birth-and-death cycle of the five-aggregate body, the ignorance of the sovereign mind (manas). The second link is volitional formations. Due to ignorance, the mind (manas) generates mental activity, desiring to create, just like the stirring before the universe came into being. When the mental activity of ignorance stirs, subsequent actions will follow. This mental activity fully possesses the three natures: wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral. Even wholesome actions contain the nature of ignorance. Without ignorance, worldly good deeds would not be performed; the mind would be pure and inactive. The third link is the six consciousnesses. Because the mental activity of the mind (manas) stirs and makes the decision to create bodily, verbal, and mental actions, the six consciousnesses arise to cooperate with the mind (manas) in creating bodily, verbal, and mental actions. The fourth link is the karmic seeds left behind after the six consciousnesses create bodily, verbal, and mental actions. These karmic seeds determine the birth of name and form in future lives.

The bodily, verbal, and mental actions of sentient beings, possessing the three natures of wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral, arise and create according to conditions. Karmic seeds are then stored in the ālaya-vijñāna according to conditions and time, thus perpetuating the cycle of birth and death without cease. The bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the three natures originate from the mental activity of the mind (manas) and are determined by it. Therefore, how could the mental activity of the mind (manas) possess only a neutral nature without wholesome or unwholesome mental activity? If so, the chain of the Twelve Links of birth and death would have no basis for continuous connection; birth and death would necessarily cease, and rebirth would inevitably end. The mental activity of the mind (manas) is the driving force for the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses. The wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of the six consciousnesses must necessarily come from the wholesome or unwholesome mental activity of the mind (manas), governed and determined by it, and cannot be separated from it. Furthermore, the wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral mental activities of the mind (manas) all arise due to the ignorance of the mind (manas). Both good and evil are rooted in ignorance; neutral is still ignorance. Without ignorance, the karmic actions of birth and death and the karmic seeds would necessarily perish, and the cycle of birth and death would cease forever.

If the mind (manas) were not wholesome, the six consciousnesses would have no basis to create numerous wholesome actions such as giving and upholding precepts; sentient beings would thus have no way to ascend to heavens and enjoy blessings and pleasures. If the mind (manas) were not unwholesome, the six consciousnesses would have no basis to create various unwholesome actions such as killing and arson; sentient beings would also have no way to fall into the three evil destinies and suffer retribution. Some might say this is determined by the wholesome or unwholesome mental activity of the consciousness. But where does the mental activity of consciousness possess such great power to exercise sovereignty, to usurp the host's role and override the mind (manas)? Moreover, if the mind (manas) had no mental activity, consciousness would have no basis to arise at all. The arising or non-arising of consciousness entirely depends on the choice of the mind (manas). If the mind (manas) does not choose, consciousness has no opportunity to arise. How then could it create wholesome or unwholesome bodily, verbal, and mental actions, thereby inverting the initiating sequence of the Twelve Links? If it could invert it, would that not mean the Buddha taught the Dharma incorrectly? When wholesome mental activity arises in the mind (manas), it necessarily desires to create wholesome karma. The six consciousnesses will then conform to the choice of the mind (manas) to arise and create wholesome karma, thereby fulfilling the aspiration of the mind (manas). The six consciousnesses are subordinate to and serve the mind (manas); they cannot have independent actions. The principle is the same when the six consciousnesses create unwholesome karma. Therefore, it is said that the mind (manas) is not merely of neutral nature; it fully possesses both wholesome and unwholesome natures. Only thus can the six paths of rebirth exist, and the Buddha could accordingly expound the Dharma of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination.