The Process of Arising and Abandoning Aversion in the Manas

Ru Chun: Today I discovered that afflictions arose in my mind. I felt all the pores of my body opening, my muscles stiffening, my heart tightening, anger surging upward, and my head feeling tight and dizzy. All kinds of counterattack methods rapidly formed in my mind, very much like a rooster preparing for battle. I really disliked being like this, so I quickly sat down, leaned over the desk, and forced myself to calm down.

Assessment: This is the external manifestation of anger arising when encountering an event. Was it the mind consciousness that became angry, or the manas? When anger arises, all the pores of the body open—that is, the body hairs stand on end. Why do they stand up? Because the anger in the manas's mind causes the energy of the whole body to rush outward, pushing the body hairs up. Only the manas has the authority to do this; the mind consciousness cannot. By controlling the central nervous system in the brain, the manas controls the entire body; it can even mobilize every cell and pore of the body, and it can mobilize the energy and blood circulation of the whole body. Therefore, when the manas has emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, happiness—the whole body cooperates to make the emotions manifest. Thus the manas certainly possesses the mental factor of anger, possesses all afflictions, and possesses all wholesome and unwholesome mental factors.

Muscle stiffness is a manifestation of the manas involuntarily tensing the nerves; the tightness in the heart is a phenomenon of the manas controlling the heart. Anger is fire, and it travels from the heart toward the head, hence the surge of anger upward. The head feeling tight and dizzy is caused by the manas's anger suppressing the normal circulation of energy and blood, resulting in insufficient energy and blood supplied to the head. All kinds of counterattack methods rapidly formed in the mind—here there may have been counterattack methods devised by the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta); the manas had the solitary consciousness think them up and also adopted them, preparing to strike back. One can see how severe the manas's anger is, and what things it can do when angry. This is the anger formed from the self-nature of the manas accumulated over beginningless kalpas: no one may touch one's own interests, otherwise one will become angry and want to fight, thereby creating evil karma and receiving evil retribution. It has been like this throughout beginningless kalpas; without cultivation, it will continue on.

Ru Chun: I asked myself: What is it right now that ties you to this affliction? Is it your own mind, the matter itself, or other people? What is its essence? You are now being tightly gripped by the aggregate of perception and the aggregate of feeling. This won't do. Although I lack the ability to see through the falsity of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), I cannot remain so powerless to resist. So I drew my mind away from the affliction of anger and readjusted my state of mind: If others want it, let them have some of it; if it's unreasonable, then so be it—it's no big deal. Be kind to others, avoid forming bad karmic bonds, let it go. None of these things are brought along at birth or taken away at death. The Great Wall still stands today, but Qin Shi Huang of those years is seen no more. It is far too unworthy to delay one's cultivation and create knots in one's heart over such a trivial matter. In this way I counseled myself, and as I counseled, my whole being loosened up. With an attitude of kindness toward others, I stopped dwelling on it.

Assessment: This passage describes the process of the mind consciousness counseling the manas. Clearly, the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) understands the principles and is free of anger; it uses the principles it has learned to guide the manas to abandon its anger and understand cause and effect. The manas accepted it, the mind opened and understanding dawned; it thought things through and gave up the thought of anger, and thus was positively permeated by the anger-free solitary consciousness. Once the manas stops dwelling on things and abandons its fixations, the whole body relaxes and the energy and blood return to normal. If a person is chronically angry and prone to rage, the energy and blood will congeal and stagnate, the body will develop problems, and lifespan will be affected. The process of cultivation is precisely like this—using correct principles to guide one's own mind. Without cultivation, the manas will, like a fighting rooster, frequently go into battle, resulting in unceasing evil karma and unceasing evil retribution.