Chapter Twelve: Manas and Sleep

I. Dreaming occurs due to the clinging and grasping nature of manas. Because manas possesses the nature of parikalpita-svabhava (the nature of conceptualization and clinging), until this clinging nature is severed, it invariably clings to and grasps all dharmas or certain dharmas, constantly dwelling on them. Therefore, even during sleep, manas refuses to become still; it continues to cling to the objects of the six sense fields (six dusts) and to ponder various dharmas, remaining attached to the events it has experienced. Since manas lacks strong discriminatory power and thinking capacity, it compels the conscious mind (mano-vijnana) to accomplish what it intends to do. The conscious mind is thus generated to engage in discriminatory activities based on the objects manas clings to. This series of activities involving discrimination, thought, and so forth constitutes the dream state.

Because the dream state is unburdened and unrestricted by the coarse physical body, wherever manas clings, consciousness can follow and discriminate accordingly, unimpeded by time or space, freely and at will. Hence, in dreams, one may be now in the heavens, now on earth, now in the past, now in the future—all can be connected within a single dream sequence. Time, place, characters, and events are mostly discontinuous and disjointed. The common saying, "What one thinks about during the day, one dreams about at night," refers precisely to manas. "Thinking" refers to the people, matters, and things that manas ponders and dwells on during the day; unknowingly at night, they appear in the dream, all produced by manas's clinging. If manas can reduce its clinging, sleep can become peaceful, and dreaming will cease.

To subdue the parikalpita-svabhava nature of manas, one must engage the conscious mind in analytical thinking based on correct principle (yukti), persuading and guiding manas to cease its greed and attachment to worldly dharmas. This not only stops dreaming but also reduces and eliminates daytime deluded thoughts. The process of the conscious mind, through reasoning based on principle, persuading and guiding manas, is the process of subduing the mind. Only through hearing, contemplating, and practicing the correct Dharma based on principle, thereby severing the view of self (satkaya-drishti), can one truly subdue the mind, eliminate afflictions (kleshas) and habitual tendencies (vasanas), exhaust self-attachment (atma-graha), cease manas's clinging to the five aggregates (skandhas) and the worldly realm, attain liberation, and achieve some minor accomplishment in cultivation.

II. Activities of manas exist both before falling asleep and after waking up. Only upon reaching a considerable level of cultivation can one observe the various activities of manas. The transformation of consciousness (vijnana) into wisdom (jnana) for the conscious mind and manas occurs at the stages of the first and second bodhisattva grounds (bhumi) and beyond. The momentary activities right before waking up and right after falling asleep occur without the conscious mind; they can only be observed by manas, but manas must first transform consciousness into wisdom. After falling asleep, the conscious mind ceases; before waking up, the conscious mind is also absent. During the process of falling asleep, the conscious mind gradually weakens until it disappears. During the process of waking up, the conscious mind gradually appears until it can perceive the six sense objects (six dusts). Manas plays a significant role in this process. It constantly exists, constantly functions, controlling and directing the conscious mind, and managing the entire process of falling asleep and waking up. It can perceive some things, albeit unclearly, and sometimes its perceptions are erroneous or disordered.

III. During dreamless sleep, all six consciousnesses cease; only the tathagatagarbha and manas continue to operate. At this time, manas constantly grasps mental objects (dharma-dhatu), clinging to internal and external dharmas, and the tathagatagarbha, in accordance with manas, continuously manifests mental objects. Although manas can vaguely and generally perceive all dharmas, because the conscious mind has ceased, the conscious mind remains unaware. If there are no particularly significant or special events during sleep, manas does not engage in special clinging and does not wish to initiate any actions; thus, the conscious mind does not appear, and there are no dreams—this is the state of dreamless sleep.

When there are dreams, it is because manas heavily grasps and clings to certain dharmas, pondering them. The tathagatagarbha, based on this, continuously manifests exclusive mental images (pratyatmaka-dhyana) and must generate the conscious mind to perceive and act. Mental activities thus continuously arise—this is dreaming. In the dream, the mind-consciousness follows the dream state, yet within the dream, one does not realize it is a dream but mistakes it for reality, taking all people, things, and events as real. Consequently, mental activities continuously arise, just as when awake. Because there is no obstruction from the physical body in the dream, the perceiving and acting of the mind-consciousness are unrestricted by time or location, as if possessing psychic powers (siddhi).

For example, in the intermediate state (antarabhava, bardo) after death, because there is no obstruction from a substantial physical body, psychic powers manifest. Ghosts, spirits, non-human beings, and so forth lack substantial physical bodies and thus possess psychic powers. Heavenly beings (devas) also lack physical body obstruction and possess psychic powers. Therefore, psychic powers should not be the object of our pursuit. When we are awake, the real world is actually as illusory as the dream state, yet we take the six sense objects as truly existent. Consequently, we generate various sensations, produce various bodily, verbal, and mental actions, increase ignorance (avidya), and thus transmigrate through the six paths of rebirth, experiencing boundless suffering.

IV. Manas constantly clings and grasps; the six sense faculties always contact the six sense objects, and the tathagatagarbha generates the six consciousnesses to perceive and process the six sense objects. If the six consciousnesses are not generated, even though the six sense objects exist, there is no mind-consciousness to perceive them, so the six sense objects remain unknown. When the body is fatigued, manas knows the body is tired and needs rest, its grasping of the six sense objects diminishes, the discriminatory function of the six consciousnesses progressively weakens until it ceases, and we gradually fall asleep.

If the mental objects perceived by manas are particularly significant—such as an earthquake, a very loud sound, extremely bright light, a pungent smell, someone shaking the body, or internal urgency—manas knows there is a major event, but it cannot handle it itself, so it awakens the six consciousnesses to observe and handle it. The same applies when the body experiences special circumstances. The tathagatagarbha generates the six consciousnesses, or fewer than six, based on manas's intention, and we gradually wake up. If the body has slept for a while and recovered somewhat from fatigue, manas, knowing this, again wishes to perceive mental objects; the tathagatagarbha will then manifest the conscious mind to discriminate, and dreams appear.

Cultivators know they are dreaming; those with good cultivation guard their minds in dreams, refrain from creating unwholesome karma, and may even cultivate some wholesome dharmas. Therefore, the level of our cultivation can be discerned from our behavior in dreams. After a day of activity, when body and mind are fatigued, manas no longer wishes to perceive the six sense objects, the six consciousnesses gradually cease, and we fall asleep. Near dawn, or when the body has recovered from fatigue, manas feels there should be activities of the five aggregates and perception of the six sense objects; the tathagatagarbha will then generate the six consciousnesses to gradually perceive the six sense objects, and we wake up. After waking up, the mind-consciousness remains as inverted as in the dream, similarly grasping all dharmas as real. Only after enlightenment does one partially awaken; after Buddhahood, one is completely awake, never again inverted.

V. What is Insomnia?

Manas knows the daily states of the body, such as fatigue and lightness/comfort. The tathagatagarbha manifests the form aspect (nimitta) of the body faculty, which manas can grasp and thus make simple and superficial perceptions. When manas perceives that the body and mind have reached a certain level of fatigue, it decides to let the body rest and sleep, itself ceasing excessive clinging. This gradually reduces the perception of the six consciousnesses until the six consciousnesses cease, and we enter sleep. Manas can grasp the daily state of the body's fatigue and the fatigue of the six consciousnesses, then decide based on the situation whether to rest or not, whether to cease [the consciousnesses] or not—all decided by manas.

Fatigue belongs to the sense object of touch (sprastavya). On this touch object, mental objects manifest; manas can grasp them, the conscious mind can perceive them, and the body consciousness can also feel the touch object. Manas will then know the state of the touch object and how to handle it, making a decision. If there are no special events, manas will decide to sleep, reduce its own clinging, and let the six consciousnesses cease. However, if manas has important matters to cling to and ponder, and while deciding to sleep, it continues to cling, the conscious mind will keep thinking back and forth, unable to cease—this results in insomnia. If the nervous system in the back of the brain develops lesions or obstructions, becoming dysfunctional and uncontrollable, and mental objects continuously flow to the subtle sense faculty (indriya), then the conscious mind must continuously perceive them and thus cannot cease—this is one cause of insomnia.

If the body is extremely fatigued, and although manas decides to sleep, it still clings to this extremely fatigued touch object, then the body consciousness and conscious mind must continuously perceive it and cannot cease, also resulting in insomnia. Or, one might barely fall asleep, but if the body is particularly fatigued or in pain, manas feels the situation is very serious yet doesn't know the specifics, so it tries to awaken the conscious mind and body consciousness to perceive it; we then wake up from sleep to feel the body's fatigue and pain and deal with it.

Another situation is neurasthenia causing sleeplessness. Neurasthenia is excessive thinking by the conscious mind and excessive pondering by manas; the mind is always worrying and dwelling on certain matters. Because manas thinks and dwells on them excessively, it prompts the conscious mind to continuously think and ponder these matters, unable to forget them, making it difficult to fall asleep—this is the insomnia phenomenon of neurasthenia. The more manas dwells on certain matters, the more it values them, the less willing it is to let the six consciousness minds cease; it always lets the six consciousness minds perceive and consider these matters. Due to excessive thinking, one cannot sleep, manifesting as neurasthenia—an inability to control internal thoughts and clinging.

VI. During dreamless sleep, the mental aspect (pratyaya) of the form sense object also exists.

The six sense faculties contact the six sense objects, generating the six consciousnesses. The prerequisite for the birth of the six consciousnesses is the prior existence of the mental aspect of the six sense objects. During dreamless sleep, if there were no mental aspect of the form sense object, then neither consciousness nor eye consciousness would arise, and sentient beings would not wake up. Therefore, during sleep, whether the eyes are closed or not, the mental aspect of the form sense object must exist. Otherwise, at dawn, manas would not know it is dawn, would not know the sun has risen; if someone shone a flashlight, manas would not know, and the person would not wake up.

Even when Arhats enter the cessation of perception and feeling (nirodha-samapatti), there is still the mental aspect of the five sense objects and mental objects present for manas to grasp; otherwise, the Arhat would not emerge from nirodha-samapatti. When some people sit in meditation with eyes closed, they can still see brightness before them, with white or yellowish-white light. Those with shallow samadhi see darkness when closing their eyes; with deeper samadhi, they see red light before them; even deeper, they see white or yellowish-white light, not darkness. Even darkness is a type of form sense object; it is the mental aspect of the form sense object manifested by the tathagatagarbha. This shows that whether the eyes are closed or not, the tathagatagarbha manifests the mental aspect of the form sense object. The same principle applies to the other five sense objects.

During sleep, manas can still grasp the six sense objects and perceive the six sense fields. If the six sense objects are very special or important and need handling, and manas cannot handle it itself, it needs the six consciousnesses as tools to handle it. Without the cooperation of the physical body and the six consciousnesses, manas is helpless regarding the six sense objects. Therefore, whenever manas has any intention, it must utilize the six consciousnesses and the physical body to fulfill its wishes; otherwise, even with soaring ambitions, it can achieve nothing.

VII. How Do People Wake Up from Sleep?

Generally, people wake up from sleep when manas feels the body is well-rested, fatigue has been recovered, or it is time to wake up; it then wishes for the activities of the five aggregates and to perceive the six sense objects. Thus, the tathagatagarbha generates the first six consciousnesses to become active. Manas itself cannot perform the activities of the five aggregates; it must let the six consciousnesses function on the physical body to have the activities of the five aggregates. This requires the tathagatagarbha to cooperate in generating the six consciousnesses. When manas generates the mental factor (caitasika) of thought (cetana), the tathagatagarbha perceives manas's mental activity and emits the seeds of the first six consciousnesses; the six consciousnesses then appear, and thus people gradually wake up from sleep.

Before waking up, the six consciousnesses are absent; only the tathagatagarbha and the seventh consciousness (manas) exist. The tathagatagarbha manifests the various conditions of the body and the surrounding environment; manas, based on this, perceives the body's condition and the environment, feels it should get up, and thus wakes up. Or, manas sets a wake-up time before sleep; when the time comes, manas generates the mental factor of thought, and the tathagatagarbha cooperates by generating the six consciousnesses, and the person wakes up. There are also special circumstances for waking up; all are decided by manas that one should wake up, then the tathagatagarbha generates the six consciousnesses, and the person wakes up.

VIII. Why Does Each Person Wake Up Every Day?

The clinging nature of manas includes clinging to time. Due to long-term repetition of the same activities, manas develops habits; it knows what should be done at what time—this is called inertia. Each person's habitual wake-up time is also manas's inertia. What is commonly called the biological clock refers to manas's inertia. If one plans to do something at a certain time, manas will continuously cling to it; then, at that time, manas generates intention, the six consciousnesses appear, and the person wakes up.

However, manas does not specifically perceive time, because time is merely a nominal designation (prajnapti), a non-concurrent formation (viprayukta-samskara) of the mind, without substantial reality; it is not a real dharma (dravya). Manas does not comprehend nominal designations. Time is manifested based on certain physical forms and appearances, such as the light, brightness, darkness, etc., manifested when sunlight falls on the form sense object. After the tathagatagarbha manifests these phenomena, manas grasps them, perceives and ponders, knows it is time to wake up, makes a decision, and wishes for the activities of the five aggregates—thus the person wakes up. Going to sleep on time at night is also a habit formed by manas, the function of manas's inertia.

If one cannot sleep due to preoccupation, it is because manas is heavily clinging to certain sense objects, dwelling on certain matters; the conscious mind then tosses and turns, pondering the matters manas clings to. When thinking becomes excessive, the conscious mind cannot cease, and one cannot sleep. At this point, medication must be used to forcibly cease the conscious mind to fall asleep. Buddhists use methods like reciting the Buddha's name or mantras, relying on the power and blessings of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, to calm the mind, eliminate scattered thoughts, and thus fall asleep. Why can medication make people sleep? Because medication can numb and block the brain's conduction nerves, preventing certain six sense objects from normally arising at the subtle sense faculty; thus, the six consciousnesses cease, and one falls asleep.

IX. When a person is asleep and dreaming, as long as mind-consciousness exists, there are the functions of consciousness, including the aggregate of consciousness (vijnana-skandha), aggregate of feeling (vedana-skandha), aggregate of perception (samjna-skandha), and aggregate of mental formations (samskara-skandha). During dreamless sleep, the six consciousnesses cease, but the six sense faculties still exist; manas grasps the six sense objects, and the tathagatagarbha, through the six sense faculties, continues to manifest the internal six sense objects based on the external six sense objects, but there are no six consciousnesses to perceive them. The body faculty and the other five faculties are still functioning; thus, there is bodily activity, including breathing, heartbeat, pulse, blood flow, cell metabolism, etc., unlike a dead person. Because manas still clings to the physical body, there are activities of life faculty (ayu), warmth (usman), and consciousness (vijnana).

If manas decides to leave the physical body—for example, if a person is utterly disheartened and does not wish to live—the tathagatagarbha, perceiving this, will comply with manas's decision and leave the physical body, and the person dies. If a person is gravely ill, the body almost unusable, but his manas is extremely attached to the physical body and unwilling to leave, the tathagatagarbha complies with manas, also not leaving the physical body, continuing to accompany manas to maintain life activities; the physical body still has weak functional activity, and the patient painfully struggles to live. Therefore, the clinging nature and decisive power of manas are very strong. Nevertheless, they do not transcend karmic conditions (karma-vipaka) and cannot overcome the force of karma.

X. If the conscious mind exists during sleep, it means one is not asleep or is sleeping very lightly, or is dreaming. In this case, the conscious mind does not rest sufficiently, and one will certainly feel fatigued the next day. In true sleep, the conscious mind is interrupted and ceases, while manas does not cease, and the tathagatagarbha is also present. Manas still grasps the six sense objects, so the tathagatagarbha must continuously manifest the six sense objects; it's just that there are no six consciousnesses to perceive them, so nothing is known. Actually, the six sense objects all exist at this time; the six sense objects are present in the subtle sense faculty. If a special event occurs, manas wishes to know what it is, cannot perceive it in detail, and wants to handle it; the tathagatagarbha, knowing this, manifests the conscious mind to perceive and handle it.

During dreamless sleep, mental objects exist; manas contacts mental objects and wishes to perceive them, so consciousness is born, contacts mental objects, and discriminates them. Moreover, the first five sense objects also exist. These six sense objects are manifested by the tathagatagarbha based on manas's intention and clinging; subsequently, eye consciousness, ear consciousness, body consciousness, etc., will be generated by the tathagatagarbha to perceive what situation has arisen. Sometimes it's urinary urgency, sometimes strong light, sometimes a loud noise, sometimes someone shaking him awake, sometimes pain, etc. This means that during dreamless sleep, manas is still clinging and not still; it does not sleep, the tathagatagarbha does not sleep; both are steadfastly at their posts, each fulfilling its function. If manas wishes to leave the physical body, the tathagatagarbha will also leave accordingly, and the person dies immediately. If manas does not leave the body, the tathagatagarbha sustains the body, maintaining all life activities of the physical body. With the tathagatagarbha present, the physical body possesses life faculty, warmth, and consciousness—it is a living being.

XI. During sleep, if one feels the quilt is heavy and automatically turns over, even if unaware at the time, there is still the function of body consciousness and consciousness. Turning over is also a function of consciousness. The body faculty itself is a passive receiver and transmitter; without the function of consciousness, the faculty is like wood or stone. Manas decides to turn over; the six consciousnesses arise and make the body move. At this time, there is faint body consciousness and consciousness. Why does manas decide to turn over? Because the quilt is heavy; manas contacts this mental object, knows it affects the body, causing discomfort from pressure, so it lets body consciousness and consciousness arise to perceive the situation and handle it; thus, body consciousness and consciousness together turn the body over.

If one turns over frequently, sleep is poor, and one feels tired the next day because the body did not rest well. If turning over during sleep were not the function of the six consciousnesses, then during coma, when manas wishes to move the body, it should be able to do so. However, during coma, the body cannot move; even though manas always wishes to make the body move and wake itself up, it cannot succeed—the six consciousnesses must assist.

When turning over in the middle of the night, due to bodily fatigue, the conscious mind is weak and may not necessarily be able to introspect its own functioning. The strength of the conscious mind varies, so introspective ability also differs. Therefore, some people know their state and actions in the middle of the night, while others do not. When unaware, sleep is deep and of good quality, but there is still rapid and faint perception by the conscious mind. When the conscious mind is very faint, one almost cannot feel its own existence and functioning, and the role of manas is prominent. The content directly perceived by manas is often unknown to the conscious mind, and manas lacks verbal expression, so it cannot convey it.

XII. Dreams and Cultivation

Dreams arise according to manas's clinging and are controlled by manas. When the body is fatigued in the morning, one dreams. In the dream, manas wishes to get up, but the body is too tired to rise; manas knows this but still wishes to wake up. In the semi-awake state, the mind is unclear and muddled, so manas decides to let consciousness pat the back of its own head to wake itself up. However, when patting, the hand cannot reach the back of the head, indicating there is no body consciousness in the dream.

Manas can clearly perceive the body's condition and perceive time. It has its own mental factor of thought, its own pondering nature, and its own actions. When Buddhist practice deepens to the level of manas, it also corresponds with the mental factor of diligence (virya), no longer greedy for sleep; in dreams, it also corresponds with the dharmas learned during the day. If manas is heavily afflicted by greed, hatred, and delusion, during dreams it similarly makes the conscious mind create actions of greed, hatred, and delusion. Sometimes the conscious mind can introspect this; sometimes it cannot. When it can introspect, the conscious mind is awakened and shows some cultivation, able to somewhat control its own actions of greed, hatred, and delusion—its mental conduct is not bad. If it does not create unwholesome karma of greed, hatred, and delusion at all, that is even better. If one cannot control oneself in dreams, cultivation is still not effective, and more effort is needed.

XIII. Why is it easier to wake up from nightmares than from ordinary dreams?

During a nightmare, the conscious mind is very frightened in the dream and always wishes to avoid or leave the dream state. Manas, knowing this, decides to escape the dream state. Thus, the exclusive mental consciousness (mano-vijnana, perceiving the dream) transforms into mental consciousness accompanied by the five sense consciousnesses (manas-sahaja-vijnana). When mental consciousness accompanied by the five sense consciousnesses appears, one of the five sense consciousnesses also appears, and the five aggregates wake up. Immediately after waking up, the conscious mind is still fearful; after thinking for a while, realizing it was a dream, one calms down and is no longer afraid, though one might recall the dream, and the heart may still harbor lingering fear.

Why is there lingering fear, a fearful feeling in the heart? Because manas experienced the dream, relying on the perception of consciousness, knowing the dream was terrifying; after waking up, manas still knows the dream was terrifying. Because it heavily clings to self, the mental consciousness accompanied by the five sense consciousnesses, relying on manas, feels lingering fear. However, the mental consciousness accompanied by the five sense consciousnesses did not experience the dream; the exclusive mental consciousness experienced the dream. Although they are the same consciousness, the perceived objects are not entirely identical; there are some differences. The mental consciousness accompanied by the five sense consciousnesses can still recall the dream state to some extent, after all, it is the same consciousness. Matters from past lives, however, cannot be recalled.

In an ordinary dream, the conscious mind feels neutral in the dream, neither joyful nor fearful, not wishing to avoid it; manas thus does not decide to wake up from the dream. Then, following manas's clinging, the dream continues, and one does not wake up startled from the dream or wake up due to joy or excitement. Because manas does not cling much to the dream, after waking up, the conscious mind also finds it difficult to recall; it is often mostly forgotten.

XIV. Question: In the middle of the night, during dreamless sleep, a sudden fire occurs, and one wakes up. After waking up, the conscious mind certainly exists. Was the conscious mind involved one second before waking up?

Answer: Waking up is manas's decision after perceiving a major and special event like a fire. Manas also has a certain perceptual ability; it can perceive coarse mental objects and can independently make decisions. Even when consciousness exists, manas can independently decide, not following the conscious mind's arrangements or suggestions. Most of the time, manas makes decisions independently, not listening to the conscious mind's analysis or persuasion; some sentient beings' conscious minds do not even know how to analyze or persuade.

When a fire occurs, manas decides to wake up. Manas contacts the situation of the fire, knows it is bad, knows this matter is very serious and dangerous, but cannot avoid or resolve the fire itself, so it decides to wake up quickly. Thus, when eye consciousness and consciousness appear, the five aggregates body produces a rapid emergency response—this is controlled by manas; the conscious mind has no time for detailed analysis. Of course, the mental object of the fire comes from the external five sense objects. Manas knows it is serious and wishes the conscious mind to perceive it quickly, so consciousness is born. Consciousness alone cannot perceive it; one of the five sense consciousnesses, eye consciousness, then appears to perceive it together with consciousness. The exclusive mental consciousness changes to mental consciousness accompanied by the five sense consciousnesses, and thus the five aggregates wake up. Manas decides to get up, the five aggregates body gets up, either to escape or to find a way to extinguish the fire. The consciousness in the dream is exclusive mental consciousness; the consciousness upon waking is mental consciousness accompanied by the five sense consciousnesses. At least one of the five sense consciousnesses must appear for sentient beings to wake up.

Manas cannot perceive the six sense objects too specifically; otherwise, consciousness would be useless, and manas could function alone. During coma and death, it would not fear, as it could rely on itself instead of consciousness. In fact, this is not the case.