Evidence that the Manas Is Not Neutral Feeling (I)

All seven consciousnesses have feeling with respect to their corresponding states of experience. The first five consciousnesses also have feeling with respect to the states of the five sense objects, and this feeling is often non-emotional, a relatively simple sensation—simply receiving the states of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch. The feeling of the mind consciousness begins as simple reception and acceptance, but after knowing arises, there is feeling tinged with emotion; joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness will all manifest, and the mental activities become very numerous and complex.

The manas also has feeling. Whatever the six consciousnesses discriminate and know must be transmitted to the manas, and the manas receives the detailed information conveyed by the six consciousnesses, and thus has its own feelings. The manas also relies on the eighth consciousness and can perceive the images of all dharmas that the eighth consciousness takes as object; it can discriminate all dharmas, and therefore there are various feelings that are not known by the mind consciousness. For example, relying on the eighth consciousness, if the manas discriminates that oneself or a family member is about to have an accident, it will feel anxious, afraid, worried, apprehensive, terrified, and uneasy in its mind, and various feelings of suffering will arise. This will then prompt the six consciousnesses to do some inexplicable things that run counter to common sense, and the mind consciousness will also display emotions such as terror and unease, without knowing why. If the manas discriminates that a happy event will soon occur, there will be pleasant feelings such as joy and delight within, and the mind consciousness will feel inexplicably happy, with pleasant feelings arising.

Feelings that arise in the manas based on what the six consciousnesses have discriminated: for example, one experiences an event during the day, and in the evening when one has free time, the mind consciousness carefully recalls and analyzes it and realizes that things were not as they appeared on the surface. The more the mind consciousness thinks about it, the angrier it becomes—this is because the manas knows and also becomes angry, and then one feels discomfort in the heart, one's expression grows increasingly unpleasant, or one makes a new decision.

Some say that the feeling of the manas is simply neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā), without feelings of suffering or happiness. But if the manas had no feelings of suffering or happiness and only neutral feeling, it should, like the eighth consciousness, be able to tolerate all dharmas, being neither interested in nor avoiding or rejecting any dharma; it would not drive body and mind to create emotional behaviors such as joy, sorrow, anger, and happiness, there would be no excessive behaviors or emotions appearing, and it should keep body and mind calm, quiet, and steady.

It is evident that the manas is not like this. Especially for those who have not subdued their afflictions and lack cultivation, the emotionalism is even more severe, and often the mind consciousness does not know why it is so. Those who are melancholy like Lin Daiyu, or irritable like an asura, are the result of the manas having feelings of suffering that it cannot bear. The habitual tendencies of the manas are too great, and the mind consciousness finds it very difficult to control the arising of these emotions. This shows that the manas does not have neutral feeling; due to feelings of suffering, the manas has corresponding afflictions, and due to feelings of happiness it also has corresponding afflictions.