What Does the Mind of Numinous Awareness Free from Thought Refer To?

The thought-free numinous knowing mind, apart from referring to the state of the mind consciousness discerning the six sense objects when it is without thoughts, also points to another mind that has no language or surface-level thinking and analysis, yet can know the six sense objects as well as dharmas beyond the six sense objects—one that is more nimble, more hidden, more profound, more deliberative, with greater power of deliberation and stronger ability to solve problems. That is the manas.

The manas cannot deliberate and analyze the six sense objects the way the mind consciousness does, but the manas has its own unique mode of deliberation, and its deliberative nature is extremely strong. Sentient beings rely mainly on the manas's deliberation to make decisions and take charge. If the mind consciousness lacks sufficient wisdom and is unable to observe and know the manas's unique and hidden deliberative nature, the manner and pulse of His deliberation are unknown to others and also unknown to one's own mind consciousness; therefore many people misunderstand Him and rack their brains over Him.

There are also many instances of the manas deliberating on its own. For example, if you fall asleep at night with a problem unsolved, the moment you open your eyes the next morning, the mind consciousness knows how things stand—the problem has been solved. There are many problems that the mind consciousness cannot think through clearly and leaves unresolved, and it goes off to do other things without paying attention; then at some unknown moment, suddenly there is a flash of inspiration—a slap on the forehead: "Right, that's how it is!" It has been figured out, and the solution is known. This is the deliberative function of the manas; He deliberates quietly and silently, and the mind consciousness does not know it.

Although the mind consciousness has temporarily given up and no longer thinks and analyzes, the manas has not given up; He has been keeping it in mind, dwelling on it, deliberating over it, and pondering it all along. The mental factors of the manas have been operating continuously. He does not have the mind consciousness's obvious thinking and analytical function, and there are some differences from the mind consciousness's thinking and analytical function; but exactly what those differences are, even bodhisattvas who have attained the patience with non-arising cannot know. This content is far, far too profound.

Whether the manas's deliberation is obvious or not is said in relation to the wisdom of the mind consciousness. The manas simply operates as He does, without deliberately concealing anything; it only depends on whether the mind consciousness has the wisdom to observe and discover. The mental activities and operations of the eighth consciousness are also very obvious—just as obvious as the operations of the five sense consciousnesses and the mind consciousness. He does not deliberately hide Himself; it only depends on whether the mind consciousness has very strong observational wisdom. If the mind consciousness's power of wisdom (prajñā-bala) is not strong, it cannot even observe its own mental activities, let alone the mental activities of the manas and the eighth consciousness.

In fact, the dharmas the manas deliberates upon are very, very many, and the scope is very, very broad; what the mind consciousness knows is only a very small part. When the mind consciousness lacks wisdom, it understands nothing at all of the manas's deliberative nature. Regardless of whether the mind consciousness understands it or not, the manas still has His own deliberative functions and His own mode of deliberation. For example, when the manas deals with the matter of one's bones left over from a past life, the mind consciousness can never know of such a thing, yet the manas can deliberate on his own about how to resolve it. Another example: when the manas enters another person's dream, or expounds the Dharma to someone, or asks someone for something, these are all operations the manas performs alone, and they all involve the manas's deliberative nature, which the mind consciousness does not know.

As for the dharmas the manas deliberates upon within the six sense objects, He may let the mind consciousness know, or may not let it know—this is not a matter of letting or not letting; it depends on whether the mind consciousness has wisdom. There are many dharmas that even a person with wisdom has no way of knowing what the manas is deliberating. As for the results of the manas's deliberation, sometimes the mind consciousness can know them, and sometimes it cannot; in fact, most of the time the mind consciousness does not know, due to insufficient wisdom.

When the manas deliberates and reaches a result, drawing a conclusion—"This matter is important!"—an important matter must be handed over to the six consciousnesses to execute and resolve, so He must find a way to let the six consciousnesses know. If the matter is not important and the manas can resolve it on His own, He will not deliberately find a way to alert the mind consciousness to know it. When the mind consciousness is rather dull and has little awareness, it does not know the dharmas the manas has deliberated upon or the conclusions He has drawn. Even if the mind consciousness does not know, the manas still directs the six consciousnesses to carry things out just the same.

When not a single thought arises, the mind consciousness has ceased producing thoughts, but the manas is not so—His thoughts generally never cease. When not a single thought arises, if the mind consciousness suddenly thinks of a matter and immediately gets up and goes out to attend to it, this is the result of the manas's thoughts turning while the mind consciousness is producing no thoughts.