On the Question of the Manas' Clinging to the Body

When a person is covered in wounds and faints from the pain, why would the manas choose to regain consciousness upon waking, only to continue suffering? It is because the manas clings intensely to the body, always desiring the activity of the five aggregates and unwilling for their functions to cease. When the conditions for the arising of the six consciousnesses are met, the manas inevitably takes charge, giving rise to the six consciousnesses and generating the activity of the five-aggregate body. During intense pain, the body faculty suffers significant damage, preventing the continued functioning and arising of the mental consciousness, which is then forced to cease. When the body faculty recovers slightly, the manas wishes to discriminate and perceive the body's condition, causing the mental consciousness and the five sense consciousnesses to arise. Alternatively, if another powerful sense object appears and the manas desires to perceive it, the six consciousnesses will arise, leading to awakening from unconsciousness. This illustrates how deeply the manas clings to the five-aggregate body.

There are also cases where people die from extreme joy. Why can death occur during immense joy? When the joy becomes uncontrollable by the mental consciousness, and the mind feels it should not be so intensely joyful yet is unable to restrain it, that is the joy of the manas. When the mental activity of joy becomes excessive, the heart cannot supply sufficient blood, causing the body faculty to malfunction or become damaged. Consequently, the six consciousnesses cannot function normally and eventually cease. The manas, finding the body faculty damaged and unusable and the six consciousnesses unable to arise again, then decides to depart from the body, abandoning it and leaving. Thus, the five aggregates die. For those who die suddenly and unexpectedly, the manas is unprepared and even more unwilling to leave the body. However, if the body is utterly destroyed and no intact physical form remains, the manas, unable to cling to the body any longer, swiftly abandons the physical form and enters the intermediate state (bardo).