How Is the Mental Factor of Attention (Manasikāra) of the Manas Aroused?

Question: The manas' attention (manaskāra) is the crux of cultivation; understanding it will greatly benefit one's practice. Especially in cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi), the effort lies in the manas—without knowing the manas, how can one speak of cultivating concentration? Ordinary beings' manas attention always corresponds to greed and aversion, without exception. How does the pure manas of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas give rise to attention? If the manas has no greed or aversion and no motivational force of desire, how does it attend? Could the manas attend while in a state of neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā)? Can the manas attend while in a neutral/indeterminate (avyākṛta) state?

Answer: The manas' attention is not only triggered by afflictive mental factors such as greed and aversion, but also by the mental factor of desire (chanda). Desire includes wholesome desire and unwholesome desire, as well as desire that is neither wholesome nor unwholesome. Wholesome desire is great vow-power; unwholesome desire is the afflictions of greed, aversion, and delusion. Part of the manas' attention is also habitual attention, resulting from the manas' inertial momentum.

Original text from the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra: 云云何能生作意正起？由四因故﹕一由欲力。二由念力。三由境界力。四由数习力。云何由欲力？谓若于是处心有爱著。心则于彼多作意生。云何由念力？谓若于彼。已善取其相。已极作想。心则于彼多作意生。云何由境界力？谓若彼境界或极广大。或极可意正现在前。心则于彼多作意生。云何由数习力？谓若于彼境界。已极串习。已极谙悉。心即于彼多作意生。若异此者。应于一所缘境。唯一作意。一切时生。

This describes the conditions for the arising of the mental factor of attention: desire, mindfulness, sense objects, and habituation. The reason the manas grasps at objects is, in fact, that it has desire and mindfulness—Bodhisattva Maitreya has already explained this very clearly. Without desire and mindfulness, attention cannot arise. Especially with regard to the manas' desire and mindfulness: only after the manas attends can the six consciousnesses arise, and only then can the six consciousnesses attend. What does the manas rely on to grasp at objects? It is the power of desire and the power of mindfulness. Without these two powers, He has no mental activity, does not wish to grasp at any sense object, and will not give rise to attention toward dharmas; subsequent dharmas will then not appear. If the manas lacked the mental factor of desire, on what basis would the six consciousnesses give rise to the mental factor of desire? If the manas had no desire, how could the myriad dharmas appear? Even the Buddha's manas possesses the mental factor of desire, let alone ordinary beings. The five sense consciousnesses all possess determination (adhimokṣa)—how could the manas not have determination? If so, how would the manas comprehend the discernment of the six consciousnesses, comprehend everything it has experienced, and how would it react and respond?

The arising of the five universally present mental factors still takes the power of desire and the power of mindfulness as its forerunner and foundation. The manas' power of desire and power of mindfulness are the fundamental driving force behind the manifestation of all dharmas. There is also the manas' habitual inertia: when He has no desire or mindfulness, habitual grasping attention occurs, and we unconsciously see forms, hear sounds, smell scents, and feel touches, even when the mind consciousness does not wish to know these dharmas. The specific explanation is as follows:

First, the power of desire: this is the manas' craving and attachment toward sense objects. Only thus can the consciousnesses continuously attend upon those objects, continuously give rise to deliberation (manasikāra) and decision-making, and the tathāgatagarbha will then continuously produce new objects and mental activities.

Second, the power of mindfulness: this refers to the manas continuously grasping (upādāna) the marks of objects and continuously knowing them. Only then can the consciousnesses continuously give rise to the mental factor of attention toward objects, and ultimately continuously engage in deliberation and decision-making, and the tathāgatagarbha will continuously cooperate in producing subsequent mental activities and objects. This means that without desire and mindfulness, the consciousnesses cannot attend; especially with the manas' desire and mindfulness—only after the manas attends can the six consciousnesses arise, and only then can the six consciousnesses attend.

Third, the manas' continuous attention is also due to the overwhelming power of the sense objects, which draws the consciousnesses to attend upon them involuntarily; thus the tathāgatagarbha cooperates in producing subsequent mental activities and objects.

Fourth, toward objects that are frequently encountered and very familiar, the manas will attend to them frequently; the mental factor of volition will arise continuously, and the tathāgatagarbha will continuously produce subsequent mental activities and objects. The manas' power of habituation is enormous: life after life, or for beginningless kalpas, it has been immersed in the same dharmas, so when encountering these dharmas and objects in later lives, it will continuously attend and grasp at them, with tremendous force. If the mind consciousness is not strong enough, it cannot control this—for example, habits of greed such as lust, gluttony, love of sleep, greed for wealth, and so on, are exactly like this.

If it is not one of the above four situations, the manas will grasp at fewer objects, attend to fewer dharmas, deliberate upon and discern a single dharma, and it can be like this at all times. Therefore, the grasping nature also refers to the manas' habitual attention. To cultivate meditative concentration, one must control and change the manas' habitual attention and subdue its grasping nature.

Whether karmic seeds have matured has no necessary relationship with the manas' attention. Whether karmic seeds have matured is naturally known by the tathāgatagarbha, and then the tathāgatagarbha begins to produce the corresponding conditions, giving rise to the corresponding dharmas in accordance with the karmic seeds.