The Mental Factors of the Manas from the Perspective of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

The three links taught in the twelve links of dependent origination—ignorance conditions volitional formations (avidyā-pratyayāḥ saṃskārāḥ), volitional formations condition consciousness, and consciousness conditions name-and-form—clearly reveal that the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death of sentient beings is all caused by the ignorance of the manas. Because of the ignorance of the manas, sentient beings have wholesome and unwholesome karma and the cycle of rebirth in the six realms; thus the ignorance of the manas encompasses all afflictions and is endowed with all afflictive mental factors. Because sentient beings have all afflictions, they have segmented birth-and-death (pariccheda-maraṇa) and transformational birth-and-death (parināma-maraṇa); and once the ignorance of the manas is completely eradicated, sentient beings become Buddhas. At that time, the manas is endowed with all wholesome mental factors, which constantly accompany the manas in its operation—whereas previously they did not operate constantly, especially in the stage of ordinary beings, when they rarely accompanied the manas in its operation.

To summarize: the manas is endowed with all mental factors, no fewer than the mind consciousness. If the manas were not endowed with all afflictive mental factors, the mind would not be so deeply defiled, would create less karma of birth-and-death, and would experience less suffering; yet for immeasurable kalpas, sentient beings have experienced all the suffering of birth-and-death and have created all karma of birth-and-death, which shows that the manas is endowed with all afflictive mental factors. If the manas were not endowed with all wholesome mental factors, the mind could not be completely and thoroughly pure, and one could not become a Buddha; yet all sentient beings will ultimately become Buddhas, so the manas is endowed with all wholesome mental factors. It is just that these wholesome and unwholesome mental factors do not constantly accompany the manas in its operation. In the manas of ordinary sentient beings, only the four great root afflictions—the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), self-conceit, self-grasping, and self-delusion—constantly and unceasingly accompany the manas in its operation, never departing from it for even a moment. It can be seen that these four great root afflictions are the root of the calamity of the karma of birth-and-death and the suffering of birth-and-death; from these four great root afflictions, other afflictions are triggered to manifest at times and lie hidden at other times.

Once the affliction of the view of self is severed, the other three root afflictions will also be gradually eradicated accordingly; once the four great root afflictions are severed, all other afflictions will be completely eradicated along with them, and segmented birth-and-death will then be ended. Therefore, after sentient beings sever the view of self, the affliction of the view of self can neither constantly accompany the manas in its operation, nor intermittently accompany the manas in its operation; and even after the afflictions of self-grasping and self-conceit are completely eradicated, they can neither constantly accompany the manas in its operation, nor intermittently accompany the manas in its operation, but will never again accompany the manas in its operation. Even the affliction of self-delusion is the same: once it is completely eradicated, the manifest afflictions of the manas are fully severed, and at the end of life one can depart from the three realms and enter Nirvāṇa without remainder (Anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa).

The wholesome mental factors of the manas of ordinary sentient beings are not complete and cannot constantly accompany the manas in its operation; rather, they appear at times and are absent at times, manifesting and hiding intermittently. Once the manas eradicates the afflictive mental factors, the wholesome mental factors will gradually become complete and will constantly accompany the manas in its operation—this is then the mental activity of a noble one, no longer the mental activity of an ordinary being. To summarize: in the manas of ordinary sentient beings, only the four great root afflictions constantly accompany the manas in its operation, while other afflictions appear at times and are absent at times, manifesting and hiding intermittently—this is exactly how the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra discusses it. The wholesome mental factors of the manas of ordinary sentient beings likewise appear at times and are absent at times, manifesting and hiding intermittently; after afflictions are eradicated and one becomes a noble one, the wholesome mental factors will frequently accompany the manas in its operation, and ultimately will constantly accompany the manas in its operation.

In recent decades, many people have grossly misunderstood the mental factors of the manas. The reason lies in a severe insufficiency of meditative concentration (samādhi) and wisdom, making them unable to directly observe the mental activities of the manas; their comprehension is also not strong, and they have misunderstood the expositions of the Bodhisattvas—a misunderstanding that has continued to this day. Since the levels of meditative concentration and wisdom of the various great Bodhisattvas are uneven and vary in height, contradictions are inevitable in the Bodhisattvas' expositions. If such a situation arises, the exposition of the Bodhisattva Maitreya, whose wisdom is the deepest, should be taken as primary; if there are Buddhist sūtras to corroborate, the sūtras should be taken as primary. If there are no Buddhist sūtras to corroborate, then one should take genuine realization as the standard and facts as the standard, for facts, after all, speak louder than eloquence.