The expression Mode of the Manas's Perception of Objects

Ru Chun: Last night after finishing meditation I was about to go to sleep, and soon it began to rain. The rain struck the glass with a crisp sound, and I listened as I fell asleep. Just as I was about to fall asleep, I felt as if the rain were striking my skull, and before long it had smashed away half of my skull, leaving a dark hollow with only half a skull remaining. In my mind I knew this, but I wasn't too surprised, and I fell asleep. May I ask, Master, is this because the meditative concentration from just having gotten out of meditation had not yet dissipated, or was it a hallucination? 

Assessment: This is because when you rose from the meditation seat, the mind was very tranquil and the mind consciousness was not giving rise to thoughts; especially before sleep, the mind consciousness was also not moving, so the manas directly perceived the sound of the rain. Because the perception was so subtle, any slight sound was thrown into prominence, and thus it felt as if the sound were extremely loud, and the mind felt greatly shaken. The shaking was so severe that it was exaggerated, using the image of half the head being smashed away to express this scene. The manas is quite interesting. What the manas perceives differs from what the mind consciousness perceives, and perhaps the difference is very great. Therefore, the dharmas we ordinarily see are completely different from the same dharmas seen when realizing ultimate reality. Only then does one know 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 seeing the breath, seeing bodily actions, and seeing the marks of the six sense objects, the understanding of the very same dharma before seeing the Path and after seeing the Path feels vastly different? Likewise, drinking water, bathing, seeing forms, hearing sounds, smelling scents, tasting flavors, feeling tangibles, and knowing dharmas—why does it feel vastly different before seeing the Path and at the moment of seeing the Path? Before seeing the Path, one was 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 not so: 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. Why is there such a great difference?

The more ignorant sentient beings are, the more self-confident they are. What are they confident about? Confident in their ignorance. Before seeing the Path, the mind consciousness gives rise to rampant deluded thoughts, all sorts of views and opinions, long-winded discourses, and one is terribly pleased with oneself. After seeing the Path, the mind consciousness finally settles down—everything is turned upside down. To put it precisely, it is the manas that finally settles down, and the mind consciousness has no choice but to settle down as well. Whoever loves to talk the most, whoever has the most views and opinions, whoever is the most stubborn, whoever is the most blindly self-confident—that person is the most upside-down.

 Ru Chun: Indeed, at the time I felt as if the rain were striking right on the glass, extremely loud. Do you mean that the image of half my skull being smashed away was the manas expressing things in an exaggerated way? I didn't particularly mention that the sound of the rain was very loud just now—how did you know? Why were you able, through the half of the skull that was smashed away, to discern details that even the person involved had overlooked? Is this also a function of the manas?

Assessment: This is a correct and truthful judgment of the realm-image produced by the manas. In the image, half the head was shown as smashed away—could the sound have been small? This is speaking with facts, not informing with words, and so a reasonable judgment can be made. The manas used the smashing away of half the skull to indicate that the sound of the raindrops was very, very loud.

Ru Chun: Contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) means having the mind consciousness not give rise to thoughts, letting the manas alone and personally perceive all dharmas, and thereby seeing the ultimate reality of the dharmadhātu—that is, seeing the Path.

Assessment: It is the manas that personally perceives, but not necessarily alone; in many cases it perceives together with the six consciousnesses. Even though the mind consciousness does not give rise to thoughts, it will transmit the realms it has discerned to the manas, and the manas, relying on the discernment of the mind consciousness and the discernment of the five consciousnesses, perceives and experiences the realms, thereby making judgments in accordance with reality and giving rise to wisdom. At this time, the mind consciousness only discerns, without analyzing, understanding, or speculating, and does not use its own views to interfere with the manas's unique deliberation (manasikāra). Only conclusions drawn in this way are true and reliable; if the mind consciousness is involved, there is adulteration.