The Consciousness-only Implication of "A Thousand Words and Ten Thousand Phrases Are All in the Unspoken"

"A thousand words are all contained in silence" — what does this really mean? What kind of state of mind is this? How do the manas and the mind consciousness each express their own thoughts? What is the relationship between a thousand words and not speaking?

Ru She: From my shallow view as a disciple, this is the manas's expression preceding the mind consciousness's expression. Feelings that the mind consciousness cannot describe with language and words, the manas can already express clearly and thoroughly. One thought is a thousand words, and the other person can also feel it — just like when using mindful recollection to think of the Buddha and bow to the Buddha, or when giving the Dharma (dharma-dāna), using one's intention to wish that sentient beings may benefit. It is also the point of effort 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 on its behalf. But can the mind consciousness 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, but 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 when speaking are people who use the mind consciousness a great deal, and are also people lacking wisdom; whereas those who speak concisely and swiftly, going straight to the point, are people who use the manas a great deal, people with wisdom, with clear thinking and strong logical power. People with strong logical power are very rare in this world; most people are full of scattered minds and random chatter, experts at beating around the bush — even if they circle the earth once, 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 speaking it out through words.

Shan Zhi: How does the manas express itself? For example, out of gratitude for benefits received, being moved by the other's great kindness, with great stirring of body and mind, warm currents and electricity passing through the body, tears possibly welling up — these are all expressions of the manas through the six consciousnesses and the bodily faculty. A thousand words are subordinate to not speaking.

It can only be understood in the mind, not conveyed in words. People often say language is pale and feeble, precisely because it cannot express the manas's unspoken mental thoughts. So the Master says that in personally realizing contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) with direct perception, one must not use the mind consciousness to speculate, because only by correctly following the manas's characteristics in cultivation can correct results be fulfilled. So when the Master judges whether someone has eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), he will look at whether that person's body and mind have been thoroughly transformed, including analyzing dream scenarios (which are also first attended to by the manas) — no faking whatsoever is possible. The above is my personal speculation.

Assessment: The thousand words that the mind consciousness wants 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 state of mind and mental realm. The depth and breadth of the unspoken, as well as the emotions and so on, may all be beyond the reach of a thousand words, or unattainable by them. Then whose wisdom is higher, the manas's or the mind consciousness's? The unspoken contains a thousand words, deeper and broader than a thousand words, while a thousand words are a part of the unspoken, shallower and smaller than the unspoken.

Why do some people fail to speak concisely, clearly, and to the point, and insist on long-winded, rambling discourse instead? First, because their mind consciousness cannot accurately perceive and articulate their manas's thoughts and ideas, lacking the wisdom to summarize, condense, and refine; second, because their manas does not have such clear ideas and mental thoughts; third, because the mind consciousness's wisdom is insufficient, unable to grasp the central idea of a dharma, unable to master the dharma with precision, and thus forced to beat around the bush and play at the edges, forced to roam far and wide, to compensate for the lack of wisdom.

Can those who frequently use the mind consciousness match those who use the manas? Of course not, especially in competitive arenas, 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 try to figure out a plan or countermeasure 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, letting body and mind complete its instructions in an instant, without slowly pondering for solutions; it has experienced many things, is rich in experience, so its reactions are swift and its handling appropriate.