The Right Understanding of Manas

Chapter Fifteen: Analysis of the Chapter on Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva's Recollection of the Buddha Attaining Perfect Penetration in the Fifth Scroll of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra

Original text: 若众生心，忆佛念佛，现前当来，必定见佛。

The mind that can definitely see the Buddha either presently or in the future is certainly the manas, the seventh consciousness. If the manas does not wish to see the Buddha, one absolutely cannot see the Buddha; no matter how much the mind consciousness wishes to see the Buddha, it is useless—one simply cannot resonate with the Buddha. This is because the matter of seeing the Buddha is arranged and realized by the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha can only discern and cooperate with the mental activities of the manas, and realizes the manas's wishes. If the manas has not yet developed the mind of recollecting the Buddha—if the manas does not recollect the Buddha, does not think of the Buddha, and has no wish to see the Buddha—the tathāgatagarbha cannot cooperate with the manas to see the Buddha. Even if the mind consciousness very much wishes to see the Buddha, it must first permeate the manas; only when the manas decides to recollect the Buddha and think of the Buddha, and the manas directs the seeing of the Buddha, does the tathāgatagarbha help manifest the image of a transformed Buddha for the manas to cognize, and then gives rise to the mind consciousness to cognize the image of the Buddha—thus one sees the transformed Buddha.

If one is to see the Dharmakāya Buddha, it likewise requires the mind consciousness and the manas to investigate Chan together. The mind consciousness wishes to realize the Dharmakāya, and the manas must also think of seeing the Dharmakāya day and night, investigating ceaselessly whether moving, standing, sitting, or lying down; only when conditions ripen can one see the Dharmakāya. At the moment of breaking through, the manas confirms this matter, and the tathāgatagarbha records it; this person then becomes one who has realized enlightenment. The karmic seeds of this realization are stored in the tathāgatagarbha to be enjoyed in future lives; when conditions ripen in a future life, the karmic seeds are output, and one can quickly realize enlightenment again. If it is merely an intellectual understanding not confirmed by the manas—without truly realizing where the Dharmakāya resides and its genuine functions—then in future lives it will be very difficult to bring forth the merit of realization, because the manas does not accord with it, and the mind consciousness, being subject to cessation, is a newly arisen one with no memory of past lives.

From this we can know that shallow-level recollection of the Buddha is done by the mind consciousness, while deep-level recollection of the Buddha involves the participation of the manas: the manas initiates the recollection, the mind consciousness cooperates, and the tathāgatagarbha cooperates. When the mind consciousness can recollect the Buddha without conscious effort, this is initiated and decided by the manas, and is called recollecting without recollecting. Shallow-level thinking of the Buddha is the thinking of the mind consciousness; deep-level thinking of the Buddha is the thinking of the manas. Only with the manas's thinking can the tathāgatagarbha fulfill the manas's wish, and will certainly enable the manas to see the Buddha, and then the mind consciousness also sees the Buddha.

Original text: 今于此界，摄念佛人归于净土。

On the surface, it is Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva who gathers those who recollect the Buddha and leads them to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss; in reality, it is the tathāgatagarbha that brings the manas to the Pure Land, and it is also the manas that leads the tathāgatagarbha to the Pure Land. It is the manas that makes the vow wishing to be in the Pure Land; the tathāgatagarbha cooperates, and gives birth to this reciter's five-aggregate body in the Pure Land. At the time of death, the mind consciousness ceases; after arriving in the Pure Land, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the mind consciousness and a five-aggregate body corresponding to the Pure Land—that is, a five-aggregate body corresponding to the karmic seeds. The five aggregates recollect the Buddha, and through the manas the karmic seeds of recollecting the Buddha are stored into the tathāgatagarbha. When the manas has been successfully permeated by the mind consciousness's recollection of the Buddha—when the manas has deep faith and earnest vows and sincerely recollects the Buddha—the karmic seeds in the tathāgatagarbha are established. When conditions ripen, the tathāgatagarbha outputs the karmic seeds; the manas accords with the power of the vows in the karmic seeds, and together with the tathāgatagarbha goes to the Pure Land; at the same time, the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the five-aggregate body in the Pure Land, and this person becomes one of the Pure Land.

Original text: 佛问圆通，我无选择，都摄六根，净念相继，得三摩地，斯为第一。

Which mind can gather and control the six faculties? Only the manas can gather and control the six faculties. The manas is first subdued, restraining itself from indiscriminately chasing after objects everywhere, and then it controls the five faculties so they do not chase after objects everywhere. How does the manas restrain the five faculties? When material form manifests, if the manas does not attend (manaskāra), does not contact, does not receive, does not perceive, does not deliberate, and does not decide to see the form, then the tathāgatagarbha does not give rise to the eye consciousness at the site of the material form; faculty and object do not contact, and the tathāgatagarbha also does not give rise to the mind consciousness at the site of the material form. Thus, although form exists, there is no seeing, and the eye consciousness and mind consciousness remain pure. By the same principle, when a sound manifests, if the manas does not attend, does not contact, does not receive, does not perceive, does not deliberate, and does not decide to hear the sound, the tathāgatagarbha will not give rise to the ear consciousness and mind consciousness; thus the ear faculty is controlled, and the ear consciousness and mind consciousness become pure. Likewise, whenever each of the five sense-objects manifests, if the manas does not chase after them, does not attend, and does not decide to discern them, the six consciousnesses will not discern, and then the mind becomes utterly pure, with only one thought—the Buddha. This is the pure thought.

Then, how can this pure thought be made continuous without interruption? The mind consciousness always becomes weary and fatigued, always needs rest, always needs to sleep and eat, and always needs to deal with the miscellaneous affairs of the five aggregates; therefore it must always undergo cessation. To be continuous without interruption, only the manas—which never rests and never ceases—recollecting the Buddha and thinking of the Buddha, can be continuous without interruption. Whether in sleep, whether in eating, drinking, and other bodily functions, whether in drowsiness, the manas can maintain the state of recollecting the Buddha; even after falling asleep, when dreams appear, it recollects the Buddha in the dream. Such recollection of the Buddha is as if recollected into the marrow, continuous and unbroken.

Then how can one enter meditative absorption (samādhi)? Samādhi is the ground of the equal cultivation of samādhi and prajñā, where the six consciousnesses do not stir, the mind consciousness is not scattered, and it is anchored on one thought—the Buddha. To achieve this, the manas must necessarily be tamed, also not scattered and not chasing after objects, not attending to, contacting, receiving, perceiving, deliberating, or fabricating with respect to the realms of the six sense-objects, able only to be anchored on one object—the Buddha. Only thus can the six consciousnesses be guaranteed not to be scattered and not to chase after objects; the mind consciousness can only recollect the Buddha with no other thoughts, and thus enters the samādhi of recollecting the Buddha.

As for wisdom: within this recollection of the Buddha, one deeply investigates: Who is the one recollecting the Buddha? Deeply harboring questioning doubt—whether moving, standing, sitting, or lying down, whether eating or sleeping, there is always the doubt, doubted down into the marrow. When the causes and conditions are complete, one can realize who ultimately is the one recollecting the Buddha; the great matter is concluded, and one enters samādhi, with every thought being the Buddha. In all of this, the merit of the manas is extremely, extremely great. Without Him, one could never hope to reach even the edge of samādhi, and would never enter within its bounds.

Reciting the Buddha's name with the mouth but not the mind is false recollection of the Buddha, not true recollection. True recollection of the Buddha is recollecting from the heart, emanating outward from within the mind; it is the recollection of recollecting without recollecting, recollecting the Buddha with every thought without interruption, even being able to recollect the Buddha while asleep. The mind consciousness absolutely cannot recollect the Buddha while asleep, and absolutely cannot recollect with every thought without interruption. Recollection by the mind consciousness alone is false recollection of the Buddha—a recollection done for show, recited for others to hear, to let others know that one is diligently recollecting the Buddha; in reality the mind may not necessarily be on the recollection, with tangled masses of scattered thoughts, the manas dragging the mind consciousness to wander everywhere with no fixed abode. In true recollection of the Buddha, no matter what the five aggregates are doing, the mental thought is on recollecting the Buddha; the manas attends only to recollecting the Buddha and takes no delight in other matters.

In cultivating the practice of generosity (dāna), there are also true cultivation and false cultivation. Those who recite with the mouth but not the heart, using words to deceive others and themselves, are engaged in the mind consciousness's false generosity, while the manas does not actually wish to give. True generosity can be expressed through actual action, without deceiving people with flowery words—one does solid, real work, and even after doing it, one need not necessarily announce it.

Since there is the true and the false, when one seeks the true, the mind consciousness must persuade and permeate the manas, letting the manas recollect the Buddha, letting the manas practice generosity, letting the manas cultivate. When the manas has been permeated and agrees, and then takes actual action, this is called getting serious—true recollection, true generosity, true cultivation—not the deception of saying one thing and doing another. The mind consciousness persuading the manas is negotiating, consulting, and bargaining with the manas, or applying both soft and hard tactics; as long as the manas can be brought to agree, the mind consciousness achieves its aim and the matter succeeds. When the master moves, things get done. The leader is, after all, the leader, and the advisor is, after all, only the advisor; the one with decision-making power is the real boss.

Recollecting the Buddha with the mind consciousness is false cultivation: it cannot resonate with the Buddha, cannot enable the lotus to open and see the Buddha, and cannot awaken to non-arising. Only recollection of the Buddha by the manas is true recollection; sooner or later one will certainly see Amitābha and merge into Amitābha's ocean of nature. Only then is there power of action and power of resonance, and only then can one accord with all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; thereby one can come face to face with that Buddha and the great Bodhisattvas, be reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss (sukhāvatī), have the lotus open and see the Buddha, awaken to non-arising, and abide in the Pure Land of mind-only.