Before a Thought Arises in the Mind Consciousness, There Must First Be a Stirring of the Manas.

He Qianxing: When I become aware of a thought, I can see the motive behind the thought — the motive arises first, and only then does the thought arise; that is, the mind first stirs, and only then does the thought emerge. At the beginning of awareness, a long time would pass after a thought emerged before awareness arose, but after continuously practicing the skill of awareness, I gradually became able to raise awareness the instant a thought arises. However, even before a thought has arisen, awareness is already present, and then I can see that first there is a stirring of the mind, and only then does the thought come out.

Comment: That you can be aware like this shows that your mind is very tranquil and very refined; your meditative concentration (samādhi) is quite good. First the mind stirs, with motive and purpose — this belongs to the manas; only then does a thought arise — this belongs to the mind consciousness. The surface thoughts that are easy to observe belong to the mind consciousness, while the thoughts hidden deep and not easy to observe belong to the manas. Having reached this stage, your meditative concentration is basically sufficient and without problem, and your wisdom is also sufficient — sufficient for eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa). Of course, this still requires merit to support it; you must also cultivate blessings, and cannot focus solely on meditative concentration and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā).

He Qianxing: After a thought arises, when I go to examine the cause and motive of its arising, I can vaguely see the shadow of self-grasping. Motives also have priorities: the highest priority is my safety, that my physical body not be harmed. Then comes my greed — the mind arises with craving; when craving is unfulfilled, anger arises. There are also subtler forms of self-conceit: wanting to show off, wanting to gain recognition, wanting to keep up appearances, and so on. This may still be a rather coarse stage. Another motive behind my fondness for expressing myself is: I feel bored and want some liveliness; or I worry about the future, so I plan ahead; or I regret the past, so I keep reviewing it over and over, and so forth — all of these are motives that precede the thoughts.

Comment: The causes and motives for the arising of thoughts all belong to the manas. The manas first has purposiveness, then makes its assertions, and subsequently thoughts arise. The manas has the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and self-grasping, so it considers the self everywhere and also wants to display itself at all times; hence there is purposiveness, then thoughts appear, and then bodily, verbal, and mental actions appear. Therefore, behind every person's bodily, verbal, and mental actions there must be the purposiveness of the manas, the manas's plans, and the manas's scheming.

He Qianxing: These observations are certainly vague, but it is certain that they are the result of countless observations, including summaries of experience and also inferences by the mind consciousness — hard to explain clearly. But one thing can be affirmed: after countless times of seeing what my motives are before my thoughts arise, the capacity of these motives to become activated has clearly been continuously weakening; that is, I have gradually begun to lose interest in external objects, and naturally there is no greed and no anger. Yet I can see that habitual tendencies still remain, and self-grasping is still operating — perhaps greed, anger, and delusion have become thinner. In this state, even if I were asked to become the richest person in the world, I would have no interest whatsoever; to become the Jade Emperor would feel even more boring — aren't these just enhanced versions of the five desires?

Comment: When the mind consciousness increasingly observes the motives of the manas, both of them become alert, and the manas gradually reduces and weakens its motives and purposiveness, becoming purer, more pristine, without contrivance and without utilitarian intent; afflictions lighten, the mental disposition transforms into purity, moral cultivation emerges, and virtue is established — how gratifying and commendable this is! In this world, people increasingly disregard virtue and moral cultivation, becoming ever more utilitarian, ever more rushing toward vanity such as wealth, fame, and gain, ever more self-centered; the result is that they increasingly tend toward the three evil destinies, and the world becomes ever more chaotic.