The Deliberative and Determinative Nature of the Manas

The manas deliberates (manana) upon various dharmas based on the discerning capacity and the content discerned by the six consciousnesses. All dharmas discerned by the six consciousnesses through direct perception, as well as all dharmas not discerned through direct perception, can be known by the manas. While the six consciousnesses are discerning, they discern on one hand and transmit the content to the manas on the other; the manas thereby knows it simultaneously, and based on the content discerned by the six consciousnesses, He deliberates. Whatever the six consciousnesses discern, He deliberates upon; whatever He deliberates upon, He may come to confirm, and thus 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 upon all dharmas and upon the states of the six sense objects. When the six consciousnesses cease—during unconsciousness or sleep—the manas is still deliberating. As long as the manas exists, it must deliberate continually. He deliberates on how to come to know more people, affairs, things, and principles, how to make the five aggregates become active, and how to let the six consciousnesses continue discerning the six sense objects, so that He too can thereby know more dharmas.

When one is asleep without dreams, the six consciousnesses have all ceased—does the manas deliberate or not? He deliberates all the same. 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 affairs of the daytime, on matters from childhood, on matters from past lives, and on matters of the future. Whatever situation arises in the body, He may deliberate upon it, and then He decides how to handle it. He may also deliberate upon the states of the six sense objects that the consciousness discerned during the day, as well as problems that were previously unresolved. After taking up Buddhist study, when the consciousness mind is diligent, the manas will also deliberate upon the Buddhist teachings the consciousness has learned. Therefore, in dreams, the consciousness will be made to repeatedly study the Dharma or apply the Dharma. Only then does such Buddhist practice and cultivation have a certain efficacy, having penetrated deep into the mind.

The mental objects (dharmas) discerned by the six consciousnesses during the day all settle into the manas, and the manas, while asleep, also deliberates on the events experienced during the day. When He deliberates rather persistently, dreams appear. He also deliberates upon other states of the six sense objects manifested by the eighth consciousness. Although His wisdom of discernment is not strong enough, He still possesses the capacity for deliberation. If His wisdom were very high, He could give rise to decision and take charge and make determinations without excessive and deep deliberation. Because His discerning wisdom is not sufficiently refined, His deliberative capacity must be correspondingly strengthened, and there is a process of continuous weighing within it. When wisdom is inferior and one cannot discern clearly at the moment, one must deliberate back and forth, and only when one believes one has deliberated and understood clearly will one make a decision and take charge of how to act.

The manas has precisely this constant deliberative capacity, and "scrutiny" (审) certainly 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 scrutinize, it would not take charge or make decisions; therefore the manas possesses the capacity for scrutiny and deliberation. Only after scrutiny and deliberation can He make choices, adopt countermeasures, exercise mastery, and determine how the bodily, verbal, and mental actions are to be carried out. This is the deliberative capacity and the scrutinizing-decisive capacity of the manas.