The Connotation of the Constant Deliberation of Manas

The manas possesses the nature of constant, attentive deliberation (manasikāra). "Constant" refers to permanence and perpetuity; the nature of scrutiny and deliberation always accompanies the manas. As long as the manas exists, it will scrutinize and deliberate upon all dharmas. Since beginningless kalpas, the manas of sentient beings has never ceased to exist; only when one cultivates to the stage of the fourth fruit arhat of the Small Vehicle or the pratyekabuddha fruit does one gain the ability to extinguish it. Apart from this, for other sentient beings, the manas will not perish in future lives all the way to the buddha ground, and even after reaching the buddha ground it does not perish. Thus the manas will exist permanently and forever, and it will impel the eighth consciousness to continuously manifest all the myriad dharmas of the world. This non-ceasing nature of the manas is called "constancy," and its deliberative nature also accompanies the manas' current functioning moment after moment, never stopping—this is the constancy of the manas.

"Attentive" (shen) means careful consideration, examination, scrutiny, and evaluation. It also represents the nature of doubt—the desire to probe and clarify a certain situation, to understand a certain principle or matter. Because one cannot know for certain and there is doubt in the mind, one needs to scrutinize and deliberate, to judge what a certain dharma is really like, whether it is truly correct and real, whether it is a certain kind of situation—this mental activity is called "attentiveness." In worldly affairs, annual review, examination, scrutiny, interrogation, and questioning all carry this meaning of "shen." The manas has this nature of attentiveness. Without it, He would be unable to make choices and decisions. He is constantly examining, considering, and scrutinizing, and only after the mind has become clear can He finally make a choice.

"Deliberation" (siliang) means that the manas performs a certain degree of weighing, selecting, choosing, considering, investigating, measuring, planning, and discerning with respect to all dharmas—weighing what the content and meaning of a certain dharma is, what it is really like, whether it is beneficial to oneself, what is the right way to act, how to fulfill one's wishes and achieve one's aims—only then can one make selections and choices. Therefore the manas possesses the nature of deliberation. Only after deliberating can the manas, based on the results of its deliberation, make a decision—to take or to abandon—and only then can it direct the six consciousnesses to undertake the corresponding bodily, verbal, and mental actions in order to achieve its aims. The eighth consciousness, in turn, has no choice but to revolve around the manas' deliberations and choices, compliantly and cooperatively giving rise to the myriad dharmas.