Chapter X   Manas and Non-definitive Karma

I. What is Non-definitive Karma

In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Buddha states that before the phenomenal world of the five aggregates appeared for sentient beings, only the manas and the tathāgatagarbha existed in a state of profound obscurity, in a dazed and confused state, unaware of the height of the sky or the depth of the earth. The manas is ignorant and unawakened, but since it lacked the cooperation of the six consciousnesses and the five aggregates, it was unable to create any karmic actions. Consequently, there were neither wholesome nor unwholesome karmas, nor their corresponding karmic retributions. This is the non-definitive nature of the manas.

When the five-aggregate body of sentient beings appears, even if the manas has wholesome or unwholesome mental actions, or mental actions that are neither wholesome nor unwholesome, it cannot accomplish anything by itself when the six sense faculties cannot interact and function together. It can only realize its intentions and satisfy its mental inclinations through the six consciousnesses. The reason why sentient beings experience karmic retribution is precisely because the manas, through the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses, realizes its own mental inclinations. There is a record of bodily, verbal, and mental actions, which stores karmic seeds. It is the outflow of these karmic seeds that results in retribution.

Within the non-definitive karmas of the six consciousnesses that are neither wholesome nor unwholesome, if joy, delight, or craving arises, it becomes a bond of birth and death, binding one within the cycle of birth and death. This is retribution. Even if the six consciousnesses lack craving and aversion, their non-definitive karmas, being neither wholesome nor unwholesome, are still stored as karmic seeds within the tathāgatagarbha. As long as there are karmic seeds, there will be retribution. When Buddhas and Bodhisattvas come to this world and engage in wholesome and non-definitive karmas, they do so without craving, attachment, or joy. Therefore, they are free from the bonds of birth and death and are not bound within the six paths of rebirth. Performing the same actions, some do so with mental intent, others without; thus, the karmic retribution differs.

II. What Does Non-definitive Mean

Non-definitive mental actions are those that do not belong to wholesome karma nor to unwholesome karma. These mental actions cannot be recorded as wholesome karma nor as unwholesome karma. For example, all mental actions of the eighth consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) cannot be classified as wholesome or unwholesome karma. Regardless of what mental actions the eighth consciousness has, they are not stored as karmic seeds and bear no retribution.

So, can the mental actions of the manas be stored as karmic seeds, resulting in wholesome or unwholesome retribution? The Śūraṅgama Sūtra explains that countless kalpas ago, within the life continuum, there were only the eighth consciousness and the manas. Although the manas possessed ignorance and wholesome/unwholesome mental factors (caitasika), its mental actions could not manifest. It could not create karmic actions by itself, had no karmic seeds, and thus had no retribution whatsoever—neither wholesome nor unwholesome. In reality, the ignorance and mental force of the manas are the cause, and the effect is the eventual arising of the threefold world and the five-aggregate body. From this point on, the cycle of birth and death began. Because of the manas's ignorance, mental thoughts arose; this is the karmic action. Subsequently, retribution followed: the appearance of the material world of the three realms and the production of the five-aggregate body. From then on, the suffering retribution of birth and death existed. 

Because the manas grasps outwardly, the eighth consciousness gives rise to the material world and the body composed of the six consciousnesses and five aggregates. Only then do the bodily, verbal, and mental karmic actions of the six consciousnesses arise, and the eighth consciousness begins to record these karmic actions, storing karmic seeds. The five-aggregate body thus experiences wholesome and unwholesome karmic retributions. However, these karmic actions of the six consciousnesses are entirely directed and influenced by the ignorance and wholesome/unwholesome mental actions of the manas. The manas possesses wholesome and unwholesome mental factors; thus, it has wholesome and unwholesome mental actions. It can direct the six consciousnesses to create wholesome and unwholesome karmas, yet it cannot create bodily or verbal karmic actions itself—it only has mental actions.

All mental actions of the six consciousnesses constitute karmic actions. They are all stored as karmic seeds and all bear retribution. This includes wholesome mental actions, unwholesome mental actions, and mental actions that are neither wholesome nor unwholesome. The mental actions of the manas can influence the behavior of the six consciousnesses. It is the dominant and primary factor in creating wholesome and unwholesome karmas, the master of karma creation. Therefore, it is truly the manas that experiences the retribution. Superficially, it seems the six consciousnesses experience retribution, but in essence, it is the manas that experiences it. The six consciousnesses can cease, can be replaced by new ones, and there are states without the six consciousnesses which are still retribution bodies—such as during sleep, at death, at conception, in the state of no-thought concentration (asaṃjñā-samāpatti), during unconsciousness, and in the state of cessation concentration (nirodha-samāpatti). In all these, the manas experiences retribution alone.

III. Is Manas of Non-definitive Nature?

Non-definitive nature means a nature that is neither classified as wholesome nor unwholesome; it belongs to the category of neither wholesome nor unwholesome. Since the manas is the sovereign consciousness, governing the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of sentient beings, if the manas lacked a wholesome nature, sentient beings' bodily, verbal, and mental actions could not be wholesome. There would be no virtuous people in the world, the heavenly realms would not exist, sentient beings could not become virtuous by learning Buddhism, and studying Buddhism would be useless. If the manas lacked an unwholesome nature, it would not direct the six consciousnesses to create unwholesome bodily, verbal, and mental actions. There would be no evil people in the world, and the three evil destinies would not exist. In reality, this is not the case. The cycle through the six paths exists precisely because the manas has wholesome and unwholesome mental actions, prompting the six consciousnesses to create wholesome and unwholesome actions. Thus, there are virtuous and evil people in the world, and sentient beings transmigrate through wholesome and evil destinies.

If the manas were neither wholesome nor unwholesome, it would lack the mental factors of afflictions and also lack the eleven wholesome mental factors. Then sentient beings would inherently have no afflictions, and learning Buddhism would not require eliminating afflictions. Sentient beings would inherently lack goodness, and learning Buddhism could not make them virtuous, let alone enable them to become Buddhas. If the manas had no wholesome or unwholesome nature and were merely non-definitive, then virtuous people in the world would all have changed from neutral people (neither good nor evil) into virtuous people, and evil people would all have changed from neutral people into evil people. Then there would be no inherently virtuous or evil people; all would have become so through the later conditioning of the consciousness by wholesome or unwholesome dharmas. However, this is impossible.

Moreover, such virtuous people would be false virtuous people with a wholesome consciousness, and evil people would be false evil people with an unwholesome consciousness. There would be no true virtuous or evil people. If, no matter how much the consciousness is conditioned by wholesome or unwholesome environments to become wholesome or unwholesome, the manas is not conditioned by the consciousness to become wholesome or unwholesome, then there would be no wholesome or unwholesome people. Because the manas does not correspond to wholesome or unwholesome mental factors, lacks wholesomeness or unwholesomeness, and is neutral—and forever neutral—then sentient beings, no matter how they cultivate, could not become Buddhas, could not store wholesome or unwholesome karmic seeds, and could not transmigrate within the six destinies.

In such a case, the manas would not be the sovereign consciousness. The activities of the five aggregates would not be determined by the manas. The manas and the consciousness would each act independently, and the five aggregates would fall into chaos. The manas, as sovereign, creates a type of non-definitive karma, while the consciousness, as sovereign, creates wholesome and unwholesome karmas. If the manas wishes to go east, but the consciousness wishes to go west, where does the physical body ultimately go? If the consciousness wishes to learn Buddhism, but the manas does not, how should the five-aggregate body act? Would it split in two? Schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder are precisely caused by severe inconsistency and lack of coordination between the consciousness and the manas, where they are deadlocked against each other. The manas suffers immensely, almost to the point of collapse. If both the consciousness and the manas have their own sets of karmic seeds, there would be two sets of karmic results and retributions. If the consciousness ascends to heaven, but the manas descends to hell, does the five-aggregate body ultimately ascend to heaven or descend to hell? Therefore, the manas has wholesome and unwholesome natures; it possesses wholesome and unwholesome mental factors; it is not merely of non-definitive nature.

IV. Memory Seeds are Stored in the Tathāgatagarbha through Manas

The content of memories, as well as all dharmas, become seeds stored within the tathāgatagarbha; they cannot be stored in the brain. Seeds are formless and markless; the brain is a material form, tangible and with marks, subject to destruction. The two are incompatible. If the content of memories were stored in the brain, when the brain is destroyed, all that content would vanish in future lives. Then there would be no cause and effect. In this life, brain cells undergo birth, death, and change; the content of memories would also undergo birth, death, and change. Then, later, one would be unable to recall them.

The eighth consciousness does not have the function of memory or retention. The five sense consciousnesses have a weak function of retention. Both the mental consciousness (mano-vijñāna) and the manas have the function of memory and retention, but only the mental consciousness can recall. When the manas grasps past mental objects (dharmas), it is called retention (smṛti), not recall. Recall is more subtle; the manas cannot discern subtle details and cannot distinguish fine points.

V. Amnesia is the Forgetting of Consciousness, Not the Forgetting of Manas

There are people with amnesia, and there are elderly patients with Parkinson's disease who forget who they are and their relationships with everyone and everything around them. Problems with consciousness are related to the subtle sense faculties (indriya). But does the manas forget? If an amnesia patient is cured, their memory returns. This shows that the manas always knows all past dharmas. When an amnesia patient encounters certain people or events, they may feel vaguely familiar, indicating that the manas knows. When an amnesia patient strives to remember, to recover their memory, it is the volition (cetanā) of the manas urging the consciousness to strive and find a way.