When Meditative Concentration Is Deep, the Role of Manas Becomes Prominent

Question: When meditative concentration deepens, does breathing become slow and short, with longer intervals between breaths? Also, recently when contemplating the Dharma teachings in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), I often get stuck halfway through the contemplation without any words or language, feeling somewhat disconnected from the content I was deliberating earlier.

Answer: When meditative concentration becomes deeper and deeper, because of the concentration, the manas relaxes its control over the body and no longer controls the breathing much; it no longer grasps at the breathing, so the breath becomes increasingly faint and gentle, the duration of each breath lengthens, and in between it seems as if the breath has stopped—this is mistaken for a short interval between breaths. Because the breathing is faint, one mistakenly feels as if the breath is about to cease; in reality, the time needed for one breath has lengthened, and it has become extremely slow. It feels very slow, very light, and very deep. Only when it feels as if the breath is about to cease might one feel it is short. Breathing only ceases in the fourth dhyāna; before the fourth dhyāna there is still breathing—it is only that one may feel as if it is about to cease, with the intervals lengthened. At this time deliberation also comes to a stop; deliberation becomes very slow, feels very tiring, and only emptying the mind feels comfortable.

When deliberating within samādhi and the concentration deepens, the manas is unwilling to engage with any dharma, and the mind consciousness operates extremely slowly; one feels as if the mind consciousness is about to cease, and no longer wants verbal language and words, finding them superfluous and burdensome. As the mental activities become slower and slower, one becomes unwilling to think about problems, and wandering thoughts diminish—even having wandering thoughts is tiring. When the mind consciousness does nothing, the function of the manas becomes prominent, because when the mind consciousness's deliberation is active, the manas's function is obscured. When meditative concentration is deep, the function of the manas stands out, and one will discover that at this time there are no words or language in the mind. But when the mind consciousness has no words or language and the manas emerges, there is also no words or language. At this point, the function of the manas becomes very prominent and obvious.