The Deliberative and Adjudicative Nature of Manas

The manas deliberates upon dharmas based on the discerning nature and content of the six consciousnesses. It is aware of all dharmas that the six consciousnesses directly perceive, as well as all dharmas they perceive non-directly. During the process of discernment, the six consciousnesses simultaneously transmit their content to the manas, which immediately knows it. According to the meaning discerned by the six consciousnesses, the manas deliberates. Whatever the six consciousnesses discern, the manas deliberates upon. Whatever it deliberates upon, it may confirm, and thus seeks to dominate, make decisions, and formulate responses. Consequently, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses are then produced.

Even without the six consciousnesses, the manas still deliberates upon all dharmas and the objects of the six dusts. When the six consciousnesses cease—during unconsciousness or sleep—the manas still deliberates. As long as the manas exists, it continuously deliberates. It deliberates on how to know more about people, affairs, and principles; how to activate the five aggregates; and how to enable the six consciousnesses to continue discerning the six dusts, so that it too may know more dharmas.

When asleep without dreams, all six consciousnesses have ceased. Does the manas still deliberate? It certainly does. What does it deliberate upon? It deliberates upon a great many dharmas: whether the five-aggregate body has rested sufficiently, when it should awaken, events from the daytime, childhood events, matters from past lives, and future matters. It may deliberate upon any condition that arises in the body and then decide how to handle it. It may also deliberate upon the objects of the six dusts discerned by the conscious mind during the day, or unresolved problems from the past. After one begins learning the Buddha Dharma, if the conscious mind is diligent, the manas will also deliberate upon the Dharma content studied by the conscious mind. Consequently, during dreams, it may cause the conscious mind to repeat the study or application of the Dharma. Only then does such practice of learning the Buddha Dharma attain some efficacy, penetrating deeply into the mind.

All dharmas discerned by the six consciousnesses during the day settle into the manas. While asleep, the manas deliberates upon the events experienced during the day. When it deliberates with particular persistence, dreams arise. It also deliberates upon the other objects of the six dusts manifested by the eighth consciousness. Although its discerning wisdom is not particularly strong, it still possesses the nature of deliberation. If its wisdom were very high, it could give rise to decisions and dominate without requiring extensive or profound deliberation. Because its discerning wisdom is not meticulous enough, its deliberative nature must correspondingly intensify, involving a continuous process of weighing options. When wisdom is inferior and it cannot discern clearly at once, it deliberates back and forth, believing it has deliberated thoroughly, before finally making a decision and dominating how to act.

The manas possesses this constant nature of deliberation; "examination" certainly refers to examination and deliberation. Even during sleep, the manas deliberates on whether it is time for the five-aggregate body to become active and whether it should awaken. If the manas did not examine and assess, it would not dominate or make decisions. Therefore, the manas possesses the nature of examination, assessment, and deliberation. Only after examining, assessing, and deliberating can it make choices, adopt countermeasures, exercise dominion, and determine how bodily, verbal, and mental actions are to be produced. This is the deliberative and decisional nature of the manas.