The Supreme Realm of Skillfully Using the Manas

I have a disciple who learned to use the manas. Whenever he encounters a problem, wisdom gushes forth, and solutions to problems emerge one after another. As the solutions appear, he has to immediately go solve the problems, implementing each plan one by one, resulting in working day and night without a moment's rest, until his body could no longer bear it. Because after wisdom emerges, if the thoughts in the mind are not put into practice, those ideas may be forgotten afterward, which would be a great pity. After solving one problem, his thinking broadens, another idea appears, and he must then implement that idea to solve another problem. In this way, he has no choice but to work continuously, becoming a workaholic. Although his work efficiency has increased severalfold, many times over, his body cannot keep up.

I gave him this suggestion: from now on, whenever gushing sparks of wisdom and thought appear, immediately record them with your phone; just record them in concise, to-the-point language, or even just with a few keywords. Because these are ideas that arose from your own mind (the mind of the manas), when you open the record later and let the mind consciousness browse through it, you will recall the general content, the train of thought will reappear, and the resource of wisdom will not be wasted.

There is also another disciple who, a few years ago after studying the Dharma with me, went abroad to study and work. In only fifteen months, he completed nearly five years' worth of work and study tasks, and signed a ten-year contract. All of this benefited from his use of the manas, so that his wisdom in handling problems grew rapidly, and he exceeded his work and study tasks. It can be seen that the potential of the manas is enormous; the only fear is that the mind consciousness and physical stamina cannot keep up, and the body cannot endure it.

I teach the Dharma using this very method. For a given point of Dharma meaning, as long as the mind settles down and becomes immersed in it, all kinds of ideas and thoughts keep welling up. Sometimes my body is fatigued and the mind consciousness cannot keep up, so there is no way to put all the trains of thought into written records. Forming all the thoughts in the mind into written words also consumes much vital energy and blood, and for me, vital energy and blood are precious resources that must be used sparingly. So I have no choice but to record only fragments, or only keywords, and when I open them to read later, the trains of thought will reappear. But because there are too many recorded fragments, there is simply no time to organize them, while new ideas and thoughts keep emerging; the old records have been piling up for years without the energy to process them. Therefore I can no longer respond to the questions of the various disciples; otherwise it would be endless, and no Dharma teaching could ever be formed into writing and published.

If you know how to use the manas, there truly is an inexhaustible supply of wisdom. The manas never rests, yet the energy of the mind consciousness falls far short; words and language cannot keep up with the thoughts of the manas, and wisdom cannot be formed into writing—which also feels like a great pity. Such is the way of a quick mind: self-benefit is no problem, but enabling others to benefit from it presents obstacles. Yet this is still far better than a quick mind consciousness with a manas devoid of wisdom. When the mind consciousness is quick, one can talk fluently and eloquently, but in reality it may not be what it seems at all.

It can be seen that the mind consciousness and the manas are not necessarily in harmony. There are some things we can sometimes do, and although we can do them, we cannot summarize and generalize them; if we must express them in language and writing, it becomes extremely difficult, or there is no time and energy to form them into language and writing. For example, the great arhat Cūḍapanthaka had extremely high realization and virtue in his own manas, yet he was unable to express these in language and writing to benefit sentient beings—this is a deficiency of the wisdom of the mind consciousness. The manas accomplished it, but the mind consciousness could not articulate it or express it—able to do but not to say. Conversely, some people are the opposite: the mind consciousness talks brilliantly and eloquently, but the manas cannot move a single step—able to say but not to do. As for the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, because they have long been transforming and guiding sentient beings, they can both do and say; their manas and mind consciousness work in coordination, being versed not only in the essential truth (zong) but also in the teachings (jiao). The essential truth is the wisdom of the manas, and the teachings are the wisdom of the mind consciousness; both kinds of wisdom are very profound.

From the perspective of the wisdom realms derived from the manas, once the wisdom of the manas is opened up and fully activated, it is not inferior or weak; on the contrary, it is very vigorous, while the wisdom of the mind consciousness appears somewhat inferior and weak, unable to keep up with the rhythm of the manas. Language and writing cannot describe the meditative absorption (samādhi) realms of the manas, and often one cannot even understand the realms of the manas. Moreover, as cultivation deepens continuously, the wisdom of the manas becomes ever deeper, until finally it is so deep that it completely replaces the functions and roles of the six consciousnesses, extinguishing the six consciousnesses and not using them—one taking the place of seven. How powerful must such functional wisdom be—so powerful that the mind consciousness can no longer even be called inferior and weak. To those who, from ancient times to the present, have said that the wisdom of the manas is inferior, what thoughts arise upon seeing such facts? Do they still remain obstinately deluded, stubbornly clinging to theories concocted by the incomplete deliberation of the mind consciousness? In what follows, the realms of actual realization of the various sages will be used to shatter these false and incomplete ideas and concepts.