Manifestations of the Manas's Attachment to the Physical Body

Question: When a snake's head is cut off, the severed head can still bite people. The nerves that direct reflexes are located in the snake's body parts, so after the head is severed, the various organs can still independently maintain their original motor functions for a period of time. Therefore, once the severed snake head is touched, it will still bite due to a conditioned reflex. How can this be explained according to the principles of Yogācāra?

Answer: A snake head that has just been severed is still being held and sustained by the manas and the eighth consciousness, and the brain's nerves are still connected to the snake's body, so the manas can still control the whole body, mainly by controlling the head. Because the manas resides in the brain, it controls the central nervous system and thereby controls the entire body. At this point the six consciousnesses have not yet ceased, so the head's movements still involve the participation of the body consciousness and the mind consciousness. If the nerves are severed, the manas can no longer direct the body through the nervous system, and the snake's body cannot move; it can only direct and control the head.

Ordinary beings in the cycle of birth and death through the six realms all have a very strong attachment to the body, and this is not limited to snakes. Some animals can still walk after their heads fall off, and half a head can survive for several months. Some people remain in a vegetative state for a long time yet refuse to relinquish their bodies; some people, unable to eat for a long time and extremely weak, still stubbornly strive to go on living. People generally call this phenomenon the will to live, but in fact it is the manas's attachment to the material body.

Is there also attachment from the consciousness involved here? The six consciousnesses are tools and assistants; the manas uses them when it can, and only abandons them when it truly cannot use them—at that point it chooses to leave the body and die.

That life remains tenacious to the very end is because the manas, attached to the body, strives to prevent the six consciousnesses from ceasing, strives to use the six consciousnesses to carry out the activity of discernment, and strives to keep the mind consciousness clear and awake; the six consciousnesses must then struggle to be active and to stay alive, however painful it may be.

From this we can see that the so-called "self" refers to the manas. The manas represents the self of the five aggregates to a degree of more than ninety percent, so eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) must include eradicating the manas's view of self; otherwise, the view of self has not been eradicated. The mind consciousness has no power whatsoever to eradicate the view of self on its own; the manas will still cause the mind consciousness to have a view of self, and the mind consciousness cannot escape the manas's control.

The manas's discerning wisdom is also not weak. Even in situations without the six consciousnesses, He understands the difference between being asleep and being unconscious; He understands the difference between being asleep and the body being unusable; He also understands the difference between being unconscious and being about to die. Because the manas's emotions and manifestations differ in sleep, unconsciousness, approaching death, the meditative absorption without perception (asaṃjñi-samāpatti), and the cessation absorption (nirodha-samāpatti), the manas possesses discerning wisdom that is by no means feeble; moreover, this wisdom is quite great, and His functions and capacities are complete and powerful. That is why He is qualified to be the consciousness that acts as the master, leading all the activities of the entire body of the five aggregates. It is not as some people say—that the manas is nothing at all, lacking and weak in every function. It is not like that at all.