The Principle of the Direct Realization of the Manas

Chapter One: The Principle of Personally Realizing the Manas

Twenty-four: The non-self of the manas means, first, not taking the manas as real; second, not taking the five aggregates as real or as oneself; third, not taking the functions of the six consciousnesses as real or as the manas's own functions; fourth, not taking the functions of the eighth consciousness as the manas's own functions.

When eliminating the self-grasping of persons, He (the manas) must know that the five aggregates and eighteen realms are not the self. Gradually, He begins to eliminate attachment to the five aggregates and eighteen realms, beginning to observe that this function of the five aggregates is not the self, that function is not the self, and none of the functions of the five aggregates is the self. In this way, bit by bit, the manas can eliminate its attachment to the five aggregates and become an arhat of the fourth fruit. After the manas eliminates its attachment to the five aggregates, it reaches an initial stage of being untainted, and part of its imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva) is eliminated. Before attaining the fourth fruit of arhatship, one has been continuously subduing the manas's grasping at self, subduing it slowly, bit by bit, from the moment of attaining the first fruit and becoming a stream-enterer, until the fourth fruit of arhatship, when self-grasping is completely eliminated.

Bodhisattvas at the first bhūmi begin to eliminate grasping at the self of dharmas, portion by portion. To eliminate grasping at the self of dharmas, one must attain the wisdom of patience with the non-arising of dharmas, realizing the non-self nature in all dharmas, realizing that all dharmas lack autonomy and are all conjured forth by the eighth consciousness. One observes that in all dharmas there truly is no self existing, and none of them is the self. The manas then acknowledges that all these dharmas are not the self, nor are they possessed by the self. Only in this way, bit by bit, can He eliminate the grasping at all dharmas. Only when the manas reaches complete non-self, without attachment to any dharma, with the mind empty and pure, can one become a Buddha.

Twenty-five: All wealth is stored in the computer of the eighth consciousness; if the manas does not work, the wealth does not manifest. When the manas wants to take wealth, wants the dharmas of the three realms' world, wants to become a Buddha, the eighth consciousness transports all the wealth out to supply the manas for its enjoyment, and the manas must enjoy it through the six consciousnesses and the body of the five aggregates. He takes the body of the five aggregates and the six consciousnesses as Himself, as His own tools, just as the hands and feet on the body are used by the body. All dharmas are used by the manas; the eighth consciousness does not use them. It is the manas that grasps at all dharmas and needs all dharmas. The manas is the greatest of all selves. If He can be made not to take Himself as a self, not to take the body of the five aggregates and the six consciousnesses as self and mine, and not to take all dharmas as self and mine, then everything is settled: the grasping at self and grasping at dharmas are completely eliminated, and there is more than enough to become a Buddha.

Twenty-six: Sudden enlightenment, on the one hand, means the manas realizes and awakens instantaneously, and then informs the mind consciousness; it is not something the mind consciousness reasons out bit by bit. On the other hand, it is the mind consciousness that investigates continuously, deliberating bit by bit, continually permeating the results into the manas, with every thought entering the manas's mind. There is a gradual process and also psychological preparation; finally the manas confirms it, the mind consciousness also becomes settled, and then one is overjoyed, weeping with extreme joy.

How can the manas be made to acknowledge the mind consciousness's ideas? Only by truly calming the mind and thinking deeply and meticulously can the mind consciousness effectively permeate the manas, thereby achieving the effect of persuading the manas. Only when the mind is calmed can the manas exert its function; only when meditative concentration (samādhi) is present can the manas exert its function and engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and investigation together with the mind consciousness. Otherwise, without meditative concentration, the manas is busy and chaotic, and the mind consciousness is also busy and chaotic; it cannot deliberate meticulously, cannot permeate the manas, cannot transmit detailed information and data to the manas. The manas then cannot engage in deliberation (manana) and examination, cannot investigate, cannot exert its proper function, and thus cannot understand the principle, cannot confirm and personally realize the content of the mind consciousness's deliberation.

Only after personal realization can ignorance be broken through and all dharmas be changed. What exists now is only the mind consciousness's intellectual understanding. If the manas does not realize it, whether in worldly matters or in the Buddha's dharma, no matter how many millions of sighs and laments you make, afterward you no longer lament, and things remain as they were. If the manas does not realize it, one cannot turn around one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions, and there is no meritorious benefit of liberation.

Twenty-seven: All the contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) for eliminating self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) corresponding to the first fruit can be understood by those who have not yet realized the fruit. Many people, after understanding it, think they have accomplished the contemplative practice and believe they have eliminated self-view. Therefore, some people think that understanding the principle of non-self means eliminating self-view, and they confirm to themselves that they have realized the fruit. This is trusting oneself too blindly, committing a great false claim, with very serious consequences. Everyone is very self-confident, but the result is blind faith; it is entirely the inner self at work, a manifestation of a heavy mind of self.

Understanding non-self is the mind consciousness's understanding; it does not even count as intellectual understanding, and there is still a great gap from the manas's realization. Sentient beings are just this foolish and hard to liberate; they will not listen to honest words, and only feel happy when praised. Some people, if you tell them they are at the eighth fruit, are extremely delighted; honest words, no matter what, they refuse to hear. Some people have greed, hatred, and delusion all very severe, heavier than ordinary worldlings (pṛthagjana), yet claim they have attained the second fruit. Sentient beings all like to be arrogant and self-aggrandizing; there is no way around it.

Any other dharma also requires the manas to realize it; it is not a matter of the mind consciousness merely understanding it. The accomplishment of various contemplative practices is realization, and in all of them the manas participates; it is the manas's realization. Truly understanding in the depths of the heart, being deeply moved—that is realization to a certain degree; truly recognizing the truth of a matter and bringing about changes in the state of body and mind—that is the manas's realization to a certain degree. Since it is called realization to a certain degree, it is not necessarily complete and thorough realization, so realization also differs in degree and level. Destroying the manas means one cannot become a Buddha; only by breaking through the manas's ignorance can one transform consciousness into wisdom. The manas must never be destroyed; only then are there the five aggregates, and only by retaining the five aggregates can one become a Buddha.

Twenty-eight: In the cultivation and realization of Yogācāra, the manas is the core. Because the tathāgatagarbha needs no one's instruction and needs no change, one can only apply the mind to the manas. Changing the manas changes a person, from ordinary worldling to a Buddha at the fruit stage. Only by changing the manas can all dharmas be changed.

All ignorance resides in the manas. Breaking through the manas's ignorance brings Buddhahood; changing the manas changes the seeds, and when the seeds change, one becomes a Buddha. The mind consciousness's ignorance all comes from the manas; only depending on the manas do the mind consciousness and its ignorance exist. The mind consciousness and its ignorance are easy to eliminate—not difficult at all; the difficulty lies in the manas. Therefore, the mental factors of the manas should not be so much fewer than those of the mind consciousness; they should be roughly the same as the mental factors of the mind consciousness. With severely insufficient power of meditative concentration and power of observation, one cannot realize the manas, much less observe the operation of the manas's mental factors. The manas's mode of operation in any given dharma is then unknown and unrealized, and so one dares to rashly deny the manas's various mental activities, insisting on describing them as activities of the mind consciousness.

If the manas does not realize the dharma, ignorance cannot be broken through; even breaking through the mind consciousness's ignorance is useless and changes nothing. It now appears that no matter what is done with the mind consciousness, it is useless. The cultivation and realization of all dharmas must reach the manas in order to solve the fundamental problem. Once this line of thinking is clarified and understood, there should be nothing more to say about the cultivation and realization of the Buddha's dharma.

Twenty-nine: When sitting quietly deliberating and contemplating the Buddha's dharma, one feels increasingly energetic and gradually shakes off torpor—this is a good sign, showing that the combined practice of śamatha and vipaśyanā has taken effect. If after rising from the seat one can still continue deliberating and contemplating, the contemplative practice has successfully permeated the manas, and the manas has begun to apply itself diligently. When cultivation can permeate the manas, there is certainly the merit of meditative concentration.

Any cultivation that involves meditative concentration and the manas will bear fruit and be grounded in the fundamental. If there is no meditative concentration in cultivation, it cannot connect with the manas; without permeating the manas, without being grounded in the manas, one cannot be diligent, the seven factors of enlightenment cannot manifest, and the Buddha's dharma cannot be realized.

The key point of both worldly and world-transcending dharmas lies in the manas; therefore, apart from the manas, there is really nothing worth saying. The ultimate essence and root of all dharmas are the tathāgatagarbha and the manas. Speaking of the mind consciousness or other things does not reach the root; it is like scratching an itch through a boot, solving no fundamental problem. Cultivation must be cultivated on the manas; cultivating only to the mind consciousness is very shallow—one cannot leave the desire realm, cannot escape the three evil destinies, and will remain forever under the Demon King's control.

The dharma of meditative concentration and the manas is the dharma the Demon King most dreads and fears. He fears that Buddhist practitioners will attain meditative concentration and leave the desire realm; he fears that practitioners will cultivate to the manas, realize the Buddha's dharma, and escape his control. Therefore, he tries by every means to prevent practitioners from cultivating concentration and from realizing the dharma. If we want liberation and not to be controlled by the desire-realm demon, we must diligently cultivate meditative concentration, work hard on cultivating the manas, realize bodhi as soon as possible, and walk the path of liberation.

Thirty: The manas can also be influenced and permeated by the mind consciousness's incorrect deliberation, making wrong choices. For beginningless kalpas, the mind consciousness has been deliberately or inadvertently deceiving the manas, telling the manas that the five aggregates are the self, that all dharmas are mine, that the world of the five aggregates is beautiful and joyful and should be pursued without letting go. The mind consciousness plays the role of a false teacher, and so the manas greedily defiles itself with the worldly five desires and grasps at the five aggregates as itself. Before and after eliminating self-view, the mind consciousness begins to act as the manas's good teacher and helpful friend; after reforming itself and returning to the right, it then helps the manas reform and return to the right, together subduing afflictions and eliminating ignorance, together transforming consciousness into wisdom, advancing hand in hand.

Thirty-one: After the mind consciousness perishes, what remains is the self that sentient beings consider to be "I." This self is the true root of birth-and-death and saṃsāra, endowed with all afflictions and ignorance. Because of this self, there are the boundless kalpas of bitter retribution and suffering in future lives, and all the wholesome and unwholesome karmic actions and various karmic causes and effects of future lives.

Whatever this self is like, that is what I am like. If this self has no ignorance, I have no ignorance; if this self has no afflictions, I have no afflictions. Conceiving with a self without ignorance, I am a Buddha; conceiving with a self without afflictions, I am an arhat, a bodhisattva who has entered the bhūmis; conceiving with a self endowed with all afflictions, I am a thoroughgoing ordinary worldling; conceiving in saṃsāra with a self in which wholesome dharmas predominate, I am a good person; cycling with a self in which unwholesome dharmas predominate, I am an evil person.

Whatever the original appearance of this self is, that is what I am like. May this self be free of all afflictions, thus sparing many kalpas of arduous cultivation; may this self have more wholesomeness and less evil, and thus I will have more wholesome retribution and less evil retribution. I do not wish for this self to lack wholesome dharmas and be discordant with wholesome dharmas; I wish for this self to be endowed with all wholesome dharmas.

I wish for this self to have no self-view; I wish for this self to have no self-grasping; I wish for this self to have no self-conceit; I wish for this self to have no greed, hatred, or delusion; I wish for this self not to be self-righteous; I wish for this self to remove all ignorance; I wish for this self to be endowed with all wholesome dharmas; I wish for this self to be endowed with all merit; I wish for this self to have vast wisdom; I wish for this self to completely transform consciousness into wisdom; I wish for this self to be endowed with loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity; I wish for this self to have vast vows; I wish for this self to compassionately cherish all beings, abandoning not a single sentient being; I wish for this self to be completely without self; I wish for this self to be endowed with immeasurable virtues and abilities; I wish for this self to become the refuge of all sentient beings.

In short, I wish for this self to be just as I hope: eliminating all evil and being endowed with all goodness. Therefore, learning the Buddha's dharma and cultivating practice means exerting effort on this self, letting this self realize all dharmas and change all dharmas; exerting effort on the mind consciousness is useless.

Thirty-two: To what category of dharma does the content of the mind consciousness's deliberation belong? From where is it born? The dharmas deliberated by the mind consciousness come from the tathāgatagarbha, and are precisely drawn out by the manas's grasping, induced by the manas, propelled forth by the manas. Therefore, the manas first contacts the dharma, and the mind consciousness contacts it afterward. In this case, it is possible that the manas first realizes the dharma and the mind consciousness realizes it afterward. After the mind consciousness deliberates on a dharma, it must transmit it to the manas instant by instant; the manas then engages in its own deliberation (manana), and when the deliberation is thoroughly understood, that is realization.

When the mind consciousness deliberates on exactly how the five aggregates are illusory, how does this content arise? The manas wants to understand how the five aggregates are illusory; the eighth consciousness, complying with the manas, gives birth to the mind consciousness; the mind consciousness deliberates and searches for evidence, finding each piece of evidence and reporting it to the manas, submitting it to the manas for review. The mind consciousness itself cannot make the final determination; it must be determined by the manas. The manas reviews the evidence provided by the mind consciousness, and after its own scrutiny and deliberative examination, reaches a conclusion that the five aggregates are indeed illusory and without self, without doubt. Once it is certain and beyond doubt, that is realization. The manas then informs the mind consciousness of the confirmed information, and the mind consciousness's mind settles, thereby believing without doubt.

After the manas receives the report, how does it need to operate? He must engage in His own deliberation and examination before He can make the final decision. There are also times when the mind consciousness cannot reach a conclusion and hands over the content it has not thoroughly understood to the manas; the manas investigates and researches it, reaches a final conclusion, and then lets the mind consciousness know. Whenever a conclusion is reached by the manas's own personal examination, it is believed without doubt and is very firm.

Thirty-three: When entering concentration, fearing one's own disappearance, fearing not coming back—this is all the manas's fear, because the manas takes the body of the five aggregates as itself and grasps at the functions of the body of the five aggregates, and so fears the five aggregates themselves disappearing. To change this situation, the mind consciousness needs to use reason to persuade the manas not to grasp at its own body of the five aggregates, that the body of the five aggregates is not real. Therefore, eliminating self-view requires the manas to eliminate it; eliminating afflictions requires the manas to eliminate them; eliminating ignorance requires the manas to eliminate it. All afflictions are the manas; liberation is solving the problem of the manas.

How many examples illustrate this problem: with insufficient power of meditative concentration and insufficient power of wisdom, one cannot recognize this point. That manas is so dull and stupid—while the mind consciousness is on fire, it does not even know that the manas itself has caught fire, and goes to put out the mind consciousness's fire; the family property has all burned up, and it is still wandering around the periphery. Sentient beings are just this lacking in wisdom.

Thirty-four: After the six consciousnesses have all perished and no longer exist, there is still a self at that time—the manas. If the manas has not eliminated self-view, then self-view still exists, and one is still an ordinary worldling with self-view. The self-view at this time is the same as the self-view when awake, with no difference. Because the manas has the existence of self-view, it thinks that without seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing, it cannot perceive the six sense objects and cannot act within the six sense objects. It then gives rise to the intention to discern the realms of the six sense objects; the tathāgatagarbha cooperates and gives birth to the six consciousnesses; seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing manifest; the five aggregates appear; the manas can then grasp the realms of the six sense objects, grasp seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing, grasp the activities of the five aggregates, and is thus bound within the world of the three realms, unable to attain liberation.

Therefore, in eliminating self-view, one must ensure the manas eliminates it at the same time. Only after the manas has no self-view can the various kinds of grasping be lightened, the mind be liberated, and the wisdom of liberation arise. Even the self-view after death is the same as when alive; therefore, because of self-view, one grasps at the body of the five aggregates, and the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) and the bodies of the five aggregates in future lives will be born continuously. And the self-view at rebirth is still the same as in the previous life—still an ordinary worldling's body, and the manas still grasps and clings as before. Therefore, it is because of the manas's self-view that sentient beings cycle round after round, life after life, with karmic results unending and birth-and-death unending.

If self-view disappeared as soon as the six consciousnesses perished, how wonderful that would be! Unfortunately, it cannot. So merely having the mind consciousness eliminate self-view is useless and does not solve the fundamental problem; one must find a way to have the manas eliminate self-view.

Thirty-six: All wealth is stored in the computer of the eighth consciousness; if the manas does not work, the wealth does not manifest. When the manas wants to take wealth, wants the dharmas of the three realms' world, wants to become a Buddha, the eighth consciousness transports all the wealth out to supply the manas for its enjoyment, and the manas must enjoy it through the six consciousnesses and the body of the five aggregates. He takes the body of the five aggregates and the six consciousnesses as Himself, as His own tools, just as the hands and feet on the body are used by the body. All dharmas are used by the manas; the eighth consciousness does not use them. It is the manas that grasps at all dharmas and needs all dharmas. The manas is the greatest of all selves. If He can be made not to take Himself as a self, not to take the body of the five aggregates and the six consciousnesses as self and mine, and not to take all dharmas as self and mine, then everything is settled: the grasping at self and grasping at dharmas are completely eliminated, and there is more than enough to become a Buddha. (To be continued)