The Mental Factors (Caittas) Associated with the Manas

There are many secrets in the cooperation between the manas and the mind consciousness that need to be excavated. It is not as simple as commonly circulated. Whether the manas has determination (adhimokṣa) or not results in different seeds being stored; whether the manas is with mind or without mind results in different seeds being stored; whether the mind consciousness dominates or the manas dominates results in different seeds being stored; the seeds stored when the mind consciousness knows something but the manas has not realized it differ from the seeds stored when the manas realizes it together with the mind consciousness. The Buddha's Dharma is extremely subtle and refined; it is not like what is popularly circulated among the masses.

When working on arithmetic problems, whether the manas is focused or not focused also yields different results. On the surface, it appears as whether the mind consciousness is concentrated or not, resulting in different performance, different capacity for thinking, different intelligence, and different results.

When poets compose poems and paint, they concentrate the mind in quiet contemplation, pacing back and forth and deliberating over each word—this is equivalent to the effort of investigating Chan. Only with meditative concentration (samādhi) can there be wisdom. For the great matter of studying Buddhism, without samādhi it is absolutely impossible, and even shallow samādhi cannot solve the problem.

Among children with ADHD, which one studies well? If one's mind is scattered in studying Buddhism, which one can cultivate well?

If the manas cannot attain determination, and the mind consciousness says "I should go east," but the manas does not comprehend it, then either it goes west or does not move at all. In the end, not only will the matter fail to be accomplished, but one will also become extremely frustrated, which can lead to mental derangement. When a car speeds toward you from the opposite direction, if the manas cannot comprehend the urgency of the situation, it cannot dodge immediately—what would the result be? When boiling water scalds your hand, if the manas cannot comprehend the condition of the body, the scalding will continue until the body consciousness can no longer bear it, while the manas still does not know what is happening—what kind of result would that be?

The manas is like the president of a nation. Things he does not understand or cannot do personally, he will let his subordinates do; he does not need to attend to everything himself. But if the president were nothing at all, with very inferior wisdom, unable to attain determination, unable to have aspiration and mindfulness, and unable to have samādhi, then just imagine—could this nation be well? Belittling the president is like belittling the entire nation's people. If a car's engine rusts and malfunctions, what would that car be like?