The Decisive Role of Manas

The eye faculty contacting form dust is divided into external eye faculty contacting external form dust, and internal eye faculty contacting internal form dust. Only when the internal eye faculty contacts internal form dust can eye consciousness arise to discern form dust. However, the eye faculty is material form, not mind—how can it actively contact form dust? For example, when there are trees, stones, grass, and flowers before the eyes, how does the eye faculty selectively choose to contact only the flowers, causing eye consciousness to discern only the flowers and not other objects? How long does it take for the eye faculty to contact form dust? How long does it take for eye consciousness to discern the flowers? What determines this?

All of this is determined by the mental faculty (manas). The mental faculty is the master of the body of five aggregates, the one in charge. Of course, the mental faculty is a false master, merely borrowing power from others, unknowingly relying on the true master, the eighth consciousness, behind the scenes. When this false master, the mental faculty, faces numerous internal form dusts, it exclusively chooses flowers because the mind delights in flowers. If there are no other matters to attend to at the moment, it simply wishes to admire the flowers. If there were important matters, it would disregard the flowers.

When the mental faculty wants to see flowers, the form dust of these flowers is already present at the internal eye faculty. Once the mental faculty makes a decision, eye consciousness arises. Thus, the eye faculty, form dust, and eye consciousness come together in contact, and eye consciousness discerns the form dust of the flowers. How long eye consciousness discerns is determined by the mental faculty. When the mental faculty has admired the flowers sufficiently and no longer wishes to look at them, eye consciousness ceases on the flowers and arises elsewhere. During this process, seeds fall away and are stored in the eighth consciousness, giving rise to future existence. The craving of the mental faculty and the craving of mental consciousness are both faithfully recorded by the eighth consciousness, becoming seeds. Eye consciousness also has slight craving; it craves only by following the mental faculty and mental consciousness. Eye consciousness fundamentally cannot act as master; it is completely involuntary.

If we wish to be liberated from worldly suffering, we must prevent our actions from leaving behind seeds, especially seeds of greed, hatred, and delusion. So what should we do? We must control the thoughts of the mental faculty, preventing greed, hatred, and delusion from arising. We must prevent the six consciousnesses from creating unwholesome physical, verbal, and mental actions—or at least create fewer such actions. Moreover, while acting, we must not allow greed, hatred, or delusion to arise, striving to leave behind only pure karmic seeds.

Who determines the reduction of karmic actions? It is determined by the mental faculty. The source of karmic actions lies with the mental faculty. The mental faculty’s ignorance conditions volitional formations; it is because the mental faculty, due to various reasons, various mental formations, and various ignorances, wishes to act that karmic actions arise, karmic seeds are retained, and future suffering appears. Thus, having found the source of the suffering of birth and death, it should be clear how one should conduct oneself in the world henceforth. Reduce contact; reduce the duration of contact. If contact is unavoidable, during contact, reduce or eliminate mental formations, keeping the mind as empty as possible, preventing afflictive seeds from falling away. By gradually training oneself in this way, liberation becomes attainable.