The Yogācāra Meaning of Closing the Eyes and Nourishing the Spirit

What is "spirit" (shen)? Spirit refers to the vitality and energy of the seven consciousness-minds, that is, the mind's spirit. Nurturing the spirit means nurturing the vitality and energy of the seven consciousnesses, accumulating energy, so that the seven consciousnesses have sufficient strength and energy to deal with sense objects. Closing the eyes means that the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness—these two consciousness-minds—close their eyes; the material body is material form (rūpa-dharma) and has no function of closing the eyes. The command to close the eyes is issued by the manas. When the manas feels that it should rest and recuperate, it decides to close the eyes and not see forms; the two consciousnesses follow the decision and close their eyes. If the manas wants to see forms, once the command is issued, the two consciousnesses cannot close their eyes no matter what, because they were brought into being with a purpose only because the manas needed them; if they are not needed and do not want to obey the command, there is no reason for them to arise—they have no autonomy of their own.

If the mind consciousness says, "This form is really nice, let's look at it a bit longer," and the manas says, "Then look a bit longer," the two consciousnesses will continue seeing forms without closing their eyes. In all matters, it is the manas that takes charge and makes decisions; although some matters are suggested by the mind consciousness, the manas must still agree to the mind consciousness's suggestion before taking charge and deciding. Once the two consciousnesses close their eyes and cease activity, the manas no longer needs to expend attention on the matter of seeing forms, thus saving mental effort, nurturing the spirit and energy, or turning to deliberate (manasikāra) on other important matters.

Here, one point reflects the decisive role of the manas as the master of the consciousnesses; another point reveals a method of cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi): by shutting down the six consciousnesses and ceasing activity, the manas is no longer distracted, the mind settles down, and meditative concentration arises naturally. Once the manas's spirit is well nurtured, wisdom naturally arises. Someone might say: "No, it is the mind consciousness that is nurtured; it is the mind consciousness that becomes pure, and thereby wisdom, thinking, and discernment arise." This statement is of course also correct: when all seven consciousnesses do not chase outwardly after objects, all settle down, and their spirits are fully nurtured, meditative concentration and wisdom naturally both appear. What wisdom appears in the first five consciousnesses? The eye consciousness becomes clear and discerns objects accurately; the ear consciousness becomes lucid and discerns sounds distinctly; the nose consciousness discerns scents subtly; the tongue consciousness discerns tastes delicately; the body consciousness discerns tangibles keenly; and the mind consciousness, following the five consciousnesses in discerning the six sense objects, has wisdom in all of them. Because the six consciousnesses all have wisdom, their discernment is enhanced; the manas receives more precise information, its decisions and judgments become more accurate, and its wisdom becomes ever more profound, sharp, and agile.