The Mental Activities of the Manas

In the middle of the night while asleep, the tactile sensation of cold arises in the body, and then the body consciousness and mind consciousness arise to resolve the problem of the cold. In the middle of the night while asleep, a painful tactile sensation arises in the body, and so the body consciousness and mind consciousness appear, feeling the painful sensation and dealing with it. One may ask: why must the mind consciousness arise? If the manas already knows whether it is cold, hot, or painful, why does the mind consciousness still need to be born—what exactly is the reason? It is because the manas cannot personally handle and resolve the problem.

When the six consciousnesses are absent, those mental activities are all mental activities of the manas; when the six consciousnesses are extremely weak, those mental activities are also almost entirely the mental activities of the manas. Observe the state of a person in a vegetative state: does the person in a vegetative state feel pain? Would they be willing to remain a vegetative-state patient? Would they be willing to continue lying in bed? When eating, are they willing to eat? What reactions do they show upon seeing their closest loved ones? All of these can demonstrate the mental activities and feelings of the manas.

During a coma, is the manas willing to be in a coma? What manifestations are there? From these manifestations one can observe the mental activities of the manas. If, during a coma, the manas were in a state of neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā), then the manas should be indifferent, just like the tathāgatagarbha, and simply continue in the coma. Yet as soon as the body improves slightly, the manas will prompt the six consciousnesses to arise and prompt the functions of the five aggregates to appear. This shows that the manas is unwilling to remain in a coma, is not resigned to the coma, and does not like being in a coma. Why is it unwilling, not resigned, and averse to the coma? First, being in a coma does not feel good; second, without the activity of the five aggregates there is nothing one can do, and one feels bored—and boredom is also a feeling of suffering. If being in a coma felt comfortable, the manas would of course maintain the comatose state. When one is unwilling to emerge from meditative concentration while sitting in meditation, does this not show that the manas finds it comfortable? Of course, if the mind consciousness is relatively clear-headed and also finds meditative concentration very comfortable, it will become attached to sitting quietly and be unwilling to rise from the seat.