The Yogācāra Meaning of "Myriad Words Are All Contained in Wordlessness"

A thousand words are all contained in silence — what exactly does this mean? What state of mind does this reflect? How do the manas and the mind consciousness each express their own thoughts? What is the relationship between a thousand words and silence?

Ru She: In my humble view as a disciple, this is because the expression of the manas precedes the expression of the mind consciousness. Feelings that the mind consciousness cannot describe in words, the manas can already express clearly and thoroughly. One thought is a thousand words, and the other person can feel it — just as when one recollects the Buddha and prostrates to the Buddha, or when giving the Dharma (dāna) one uses intention to wish that sentient beings may benefit — this is also the point of exertion in cultivating wisdom through meditative concentration (samādhi).

Assessment: The manas first has a thought but cannot speak it, so it must let the mind consciousness speak on its behalf; the mind consciousness then uses a thousand words to express the manas's thought. But can it express the manas's thought clearly and thoroughly, in accordance with the manas's wishes? The answer is: not necessarily. Look, everyone — the manas's thought manifests in an instant through a mental thought, or is expressed in an instant through emotion. However, due to the gap between the mind consciousness's thought and the manas's thought, even with a thousand words the mind consciousness may not be able to explain the manas's idea clearly; after finishing, one still feels something is left unsaid and wants to add further explanation.

It can be seen that the manas's thought is concise and swift, completed in an instant, whereas the mind consciousness has no choice but to be long-winded, circling endlessly around the manas's mental thought. So those who like to be verbose in speech are people who use the mind consciousness a great deal, and are also people of insufficient wisdom; whereas those who speak concisely and swiftly, going straight to the point, are people who use the manas a great deal — people of wisdom, with clear thinking and strong logical power. People with strong logical power are very rare in this world; most people just have heaps of scattered, rambling chatter — experts at going around in circles, and even if they circle the whole globe, they cannot return to the central point. So there is no need to engage in debate with most people — it is exhausting and not worth it.

Ru Hua: The manas's expression overflows into speech yet is not spoken; the mind consciousness's expression is precisely speech that is spoken.

Shan Zhi: How does the manas express itself? For example, because of having received benefit, being moved by the other's great kindness, with great stirring of body and mind — warm currents and electric sensations passing through the body, tears possibly welling up — these are all expressions of the manas through the six consciousnesses and the physical faculties. A thousand words are subordinate to silence.

It can only be understood in the mind, not conveyed in words. People often say that language is pale and feeble precisely because it cannot express the manas's unspoken mental thoughts. So the Master says that realizing direct perception through contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) cannot be done by means of the mind consciousness's conjecture, because only by correctly following the manas's characteristics in cultivation can correct results be brought to fruition. So when the Master judges whether someone has eliminated self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), he will look at whether that person's body and mind have been thoroughly transformed, including analyzing scenes in dreams (which are also first attended to by the manas) — no faking is possible. The above is my personal speculation.

Assessment: The thousand words that the mind consciousness wishes to express are all in the manas's mind, in the manas's unspoken mental thoughts. But even a thousand words may not be able to encompass all the content of the unspoken, nor may they be able to express the unspoken intentions and state of mind. The depth and breadth of the unspoken, as well as its emotions and so on — a thousand words may all fail to reach them, or be unable to touch them. So whose wisdom is higher, the manas's or the mind consciousness's? The unspoken contains a thousand words; it is deeper and broader than a thousand words, while a thousand words are only a part of the unspoken — shallower and smaller than the unspoken.

Why do some people fail to speak concisely and to the point, and instead must go on at length, long-windedly? First, because their mind consciousness cannot accurately perceive and articulate the manas's thoughts and ideas, lacking the wisdom to summarize, condense, and refine. Second, because their manas does not have such clear thoughts and mental intentions. Third, because the mind consciousness's wisdom is insufficient — it cannot grasp the central idea of a dharma, cannot grasp the dharma with precision, and so has no choice but to circle around and skirt the edges, to roam far and wide, in order to compensate for its insufficient wisdom.

Can those who frequently use the mind consciousness prevail over those who use the manas? Of course not — especially in arenas of competition, in war, and in sudden emergencies: before your mind consciousness's thinking even gets underway, the event has already happened and concluded in an instant, and everything has become a settled matter. If you must improvise and think of countermeasures on the spot, your life is already gone. After all, the mind consciousness has experienced too few things, is severely lacking in experience, and moreover cannot be the master of body and mind, cannot directly command body and mind to carry out its instructions — it must go through the manas. Whereas the manas, upon encountering a critical situation, immediately takes charge, causing body and mind to complete its instructions in an instant, without needing to slowly deliberate and think of solutions. Having experienced many things and being rich in experience, it reacts swiftly and handles matters appropriately.