The Constancy of Manas Deliberation

The manas deliberates (manasikāra) on various dharmas based on the discerning capacity and the content discerned by the six consciousnesses. All the dharmas that the six consciousnesses discern by direct perception, as well as all the dharmas they discern by non-direct perception, can be known by the manas. While the six consciousnesses are discerning, they discern on the one hand and, on the other, transmit the content to the manas; the manas thereby simultaneously knows the content discerned by the six consciousnesses, and He will then engage in deliberation. Whatever the six consciousnesses discern, He deliberates upon; whatever He deliberates upon, He may confirm, and thereby He must take charge, make decisions, and adopt countermeasures; then the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses will be carried out.

Even when the six consciousnesses are absent, the manas still deliberates on all dharmas and deliberates on the realms of the six sense objects. When the six consciousnesses cease to exist—during unconsciousness or sleep—the manas is still deliberating; as long as the manas exists, He must deliberate continuously. He deliberates on how to know more about people, affairs, things, and principles, on how to make the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) become active, and on how to let the six consciousnesses continue discerning the six sense objects; thereby He can come to know more dharmas.

In dreamless sleep, when the six consciousnesses have all ceased, does the manas deliberate or not? He still deliberates. What does He deliberate upon? There are very many dharmas He deliberates on: He deliberates on whether the five-aggregate body has rested well, on when it is time to wake up, on the matters encountered during the day, on matters from childhood, on matters from past lives, and on matters of the future. Any condition that arises in the body, He may deliberate upon; all the realms manifested by the eighth consciousness, He may deliberate upon, or deliberate upon selectively, and then He will decide how to handle them. The realms of the six sense objects discerned by the mind consciousness during the day, He may also deliberate upon; problems that were not resolved before, He may deliberate upon as well. After taking up Buddhist study, when the mind consciousness is diligent, the manas will also deliberate on the Buddhist teachings the mind consciousness has learned; therefore, in dreams, the mind consciousness will be made to repeatedly study the Buddha-dharma or apply the Buddha-dharma. Only then does such Buddhist practice and cultivation have some real effect, for it has penetrated deep into the mind.

The dharmas (dharmāyatana) discerned by the six consciousnesses during the day all settle into the manas, and the manas deliberates even while asleep; when He is rather attached, dreams appear. Although His wisdom of discernment is not sufficiently refined, He can still discern the overall picture and general outline of dharmas. If His wisdom is very high, He can give rise to determination and take charge and make decisions without excessive and deep deliberation. Because His wisdom of discernment is not sufficiently refined, His deliberative nature must be correspondingly strengthened, and within this there is also a continuous process of weighing and balancing. When the power of wisdom (prajñā-bala) is insufficient and one cannot discern clearly at once, one must deliberate back and forth, and only when one believes one has deliberated to clarity will one make a determination and take charge of how to act.

The manas has this constant deliberative nature; "examination" (śīla) means examining and pondering. During sleep, the manas is also deliberating on whether it is time for the five-aggregate body to become active and whether one should wake up. If the manas did not examine and assess, He would not take charge or make decisions; therefore the manas has the nature of examination and deliberation. Only after examining and deliberating can He make determinations, adopt countermeasures, act as the master, and decide how the bodily, verbal, and mental actions are to be carried out—this is the deliberative nature and the examining-and-determining nature of the manas.