In the following situations, the manas gives rise to the six consciousnesses without advertence.

First, when one is asleep and dreaming no dreams, the manas knows that the physical body needs rest, does not want to grasp at or cognize anything, and makes no attention (manaskāra); thus the six consciousnesses do not arise and no discrimination occurs. Second, during the fetal stage, there are no fully developed five gross sense faculties or supreme faculties (indriya), so the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana) cannot form; the eighth consciousness has not manifested the inner object-aspect (nimitta), the manas does not contact the six sense objects, and therefore the first six consciousnesses cannot arise, and there is no six-consciousness experiencing and discerning. Third, when one is in a coma, the brain, as the supreme faculty, is damaged, the entry of the six sense bases into the supreme faculty is obstructed, and the causes and conditions for the arising of the six consciousnesses are incomplete, so no discrimination occurs. Fourth, in the meditative concentration of no-perception (asaṃjñi-samāpatti), although the supreme faculty is intact, the manas does not wish to make subtle and detailed discernment of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma; therefore the six consciousnesses do not arise. Fifth, in the cessation meditative concentration (nirodha-samāpatti), both the feeling mental factor and the perception mental factor of the manas have ceased, and the manas does not grasp at the six sense objects; therefore there is no six-consciousness experiencing of the six sense objects.

As long as the manas exists, it has attention (manaskāra) toward the realms of the six sense objects; even in a coma and in the no-perception concentration there is still attention, and it also relies on the eighth consciousness to make attention toward the body faculty; only thereby can one wake up from a coma and emerge from concentration. Otherwise, one could not wake up, nor could one emerge from the no-perception concentration or the cessation concentration.

When one is asleep in the middle of the night and an earthquake suddenly occurs, the manas also wants to run—so why can it not run? Because running, this bodily action, must be directed by the manas and jointly executed by the body consciousness and the mind consciousness; if the six consciousnesses cannot arise quickly, the manas can only fret helplessly. When a nightmare demon presses down on the body, the manas also wants to shake it off—so why can the body not move? The manas also wants to move—so why can it not move? The mind consciousness even knows that the chest is being pressed down heavily, but it simply cannot move. All of this is because the six consciousnesses are very weak, and their strength is insufficient to deal with the nightmare demon.