Evidence that the Manas Has Three Kinds of Feeling (V)

A mind of neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā) abides nowhere and attaches to nothing toward all good and bad objects. Toward all states it is equal and one suchness—neither delighted nor averse, neither greedy nor angry. Such a mind is the liberated mind, the tranquil mind, the unconditioned mind. The eighth consciousness is exactly like this: abiding nowhere, attaching to nothing, neither angry nor delighted, equal and one suchness, unmoving toward all states, entirely neutral feeling. If the manas were neutral feeling, it would be like the tathāgatagarbha, equal and one suchness toward all dharmas, unmoving toward all states, neither angry nor delighted, without greed, anger, or delusion, tranquil and liberated. In that case, sentient beings would no longer need to cultivate and seek liberation. Therefore, it is said that the manas is not exclusively neutral feeling; it also has pleasant and painful feelings. The manas can be perfumed by good and evil and create good and evil karma, so it is not neutral feeling. The fact that sentient beings have various greed and anger afflictions shows that the manas is not neutral feeling. The eighth consciousness never gives rise to greed or anger toward any dharma—this is the mind of neutral feeling.

The Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, fascicle sixty-three, states that the manas is fully endowed with the three feelings: 又诸转识。或于一时。一切唯与乐受相应。俱有而转。或于一时。亦有苦受。或于一时。亦有不苦不乐等受。相应俱转。阿赖耶识相应受。于一切时唯是不苦不乐. This discusses the feelings of the eight consciousnesses. Only the ālayavijñāna is neutral feeling; all the other transforming consciousnesses have three kinds of feeling. The “transforming consciousnesses” refers to the seven flowing consciousnesses. Here it says that the seven transforming consciousnesses sometimes correspond to pleasant feeling, sometimes to painful feeling, and sometimes to neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling.

The more cultivated one is, the fewer emotions one has, and the more one accords with neutral feeling. The last of the seven factors of enlightenment is the equanimity factor. The mind is extremely peaceful, without ups and downs. Whatever state one encounters, one remains calm, the mind like still water. Here there is neutral feeling of the sixth consciousness and also neutral feeling of the manas. If the manas were not neutral feeling, the sixth consciousness could not be neutral feeling. After the manas transforms consciousness into wisdom, it is not neutral feeling at all times; there are still times of emotionality, only fewer and milder than before. Because arhats have eradicated attachment to self and removed the afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion, their minds are very often flat and calm, but they are not neutral feeling at all times either; they also have pleasant and painful feelings. After the sixth consciousness eradicates afflictions and transforms consciousness into wisdom, neutral feeling increases more and more, emotionality decreases, and pleasant and painful feelings decrease. No matter how much suffering there is, arhats generally do not feel it as suffering; no matter how much pleasure there is, arhats do not regard it as pleasure, because they have no craving.

However, the manas of arhats still has pleasant and painful feelings; otherwise they would not avoid the suffering of the saha world and choose nirvāṇa without remainder, choosing to leave suffering and attain bliss. If the arhats’ manas did not feel the suffering of the world of the five aggregates, they would not reduce the body to ashes and extinguish wisdom, entering nirvāṇa without any regard for anything, extinguishing suffering in pursuit of coolness and bliss. In the Small Vehicle, when cultivating the Four Noble Truths—suffering, origination, cessation, and the path—the sixth consciousness completes the cultivation and perfumes the manas, and together with the manas realizes suffering, origination, cessation, and the path. Therefore, the manas, like the sixth consciousness, must also know suffering and sever origination, yearn for cessation and cultivate the path. In the end, the manas will know suffering and sever origination, hoping through cultivation to extinguish itself. From this, one can see that the manas knows suffering. Because He has painful feeling in His mind, He can resolutely sever origination.

Only when one has deep meditative concentration and engages in contemplative practice and deliberation on the Buddhadharma can one contemplate and arrive at the true reality, and then true wisdom arises. Only then can one truly rely on the Dharma rather than on certain authorities or famous people. Without meditative concentration, one cannot engage in contemplative practice or deliberation, and one will often have to rely on persons; it is impossible to rely on the Dharma. Reciting the words of others is all relying on persons. Relying on the Dharma means relying on the true reality. The true reality must be contemplated and deliberated upon in meditative concentration; it is absolutely not a matter of reciting famous sayings and phrases like a repeater. Nowadays the internet is full of repeaters; everyone is complacent, thinking they are so learned, know so much, and have such rich knowledge—as if they had read five cartloads of books. But no matter how many cartloads one has learned, it has nothing to do with birth and death. Knowledge cannot liberate one from birth and death, because knowledge is a dharma of arising and ceasing.