The Reason Why Beings in the Form Realm Lack the First Five Consciousnesses

The devas of the form realm possess the meditative concentrations (samādhi) from the first dhyāna to the fourth dhyāna. Although the devas of the first dhyāna have a nose and a tongue, they have no nose consciousness or tongue consciousness. The devas of the second dhyāna and above, although they have the five sense faculties, do not have the first five consciousnesses. The devas of the formless realm of non-perception not only lack the first five consciousnesses but also lack the mind consciousness. Since both the faculties and the sense objects—the material forms of faculties and objects—all exist, why do the mental dharmas of the five consciousnesses and the mind consciousness not arise? Because the six consciousnesses serve the manas; if the manas does not need to discern the six sense objects, then the six consciousnesses are not needed, and the six consciousnesses naturally will not arise.

What determines whether the six consciousnesses arise is the manas. If the manas, in meditative concentration, does not need to experience and enjoy the sense objects, the six consciousnesses have no reason to arise. Therefore, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of sentient beings are governed by the manas, and the wholesome or unwholesome nature of these bodily, verbal, and mental actions is determined by the mental factors (caittas) of the manas. Thus the manas possesses all the afflictive mental factors and all the wholesome mental factors; according to one's level of cultivation, all mental factors can change at any time, increasing or decreasing. For some dharmas, the six consciousnesses arise only after the manas has received them; the receiving mental factors determine the arising of the six consciousnesses and their wholesome or unwholesome nature. Therefore, the manas can not only possess all mental factors but can also have the three kinds of feeling; it will not have only neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā).