Mind Consciousness and Manas Perceive Differently

Question: Last night after finishing meditation I was about to go to sleep. Before long it started raining, and the rain struck the window glass with a crisp sound. I listened as I drifted off, and just as I was about to fall asleep, it felt as though the rain were striking my skull; before long it had smashed away half of it, pitch black, with only half a skull remaining. In my mind I knew this, yet I wasn't too startled, and I fell asleep. Is this because the meditative concentration from just having gotten off the cushion had not yet dissipated, or was it a hallucination?

Answer: When one gets off the cushion after meditation, the mind is still and the mind consciousness does not give rise to thoughts—especially before sleep, when the mind consciousness is also inactive. The manas directly perceives the sound of the rain, feels the sound is extremely loud, and so it exaggerates a bit, using the smashing away of half the skull to express that the sound of the raindrops was very, very loud. What the manas perceives differs from what the mind consciousness perceives—perhaps the difference is very great. Therefore, the dharmas we ordinarily perceive are completely and utterly different from the same dharmas seen when realizing ultimate reality—even the opposite. Only then does one realize that all the views and opinions one previously held were entirely wrong, and one regrets it so much one slaps one's thigh.

Why is it that after engaging in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), when observing the breath, observing bodily actions, observing the marks of the six sense objects, what is seen of the very same dharma before seeing the Path and after seeing the Path differs so drastically? The very same drinking of water, bathing, seeing forms, hearing sounds, smelling scents, tasting flavors, feeling tangibles, and knowing dharmas—why is it that before seeing the Path and at the moment of seeing the Path, one's inner feelings and views are completely opposite?

Before seeing the Path, one is so certain: form is form, sound is sound, scent is scent, flavor is flavor, tangible is tangible, dharma is dharma, self is self. After seeing the Path, everything is negated: form is not form, sound is not sound, scent is not scent, flavor is not flavor, tangible is not tangible, dharma is not dharma, self is not self, person is not person. Why is there such a great difference? What the mind consciousness perceives is completely different from what the manas perceives in meditative absorption (samādhi). That is why the mind consciousness attaining the fruits is a joke—such "attainment" and non-attainment make not the slightest difference; it is the view of a fool. The more foolish sentient beings are, the more confident they tend to be. Confident in what? Confident in their foolishness.

Before seeing the Path, the mind consciousness races with deluded thoughts, all sorts of views, long-winded discourses, feeling immensely pleased with itself. After seeing the Path, the mind consciousness finally settles down, and everything must be turned upside down. Whoever loves to talk the most, whoever has the most views and opinions, whoever is the most stubborn—that person is the most upside-down.