Guide to the Cultivation and Realization of the Manas: Part One
Chapter Fourteen: The Relationship Between the Manas and the Eighth Consciousness
1. Speculations and Hypotheses Before Enlightenment Can Never Achieve an Empty Mind
All dharmas are manifested by the eighth consciousness and are all empty. Before the sixth and seventh consciousnesses have realized this true principle, it is merely speculation and hypothesis; when it has not been genuinely realized, the principle is the principle and you are you; emptiness is emptiness and you are you—the two have no connection. Speculations and hypotheses before enlightenment can never achieve an empty mind. After enlightenment, only through continuous and effective observation of the eighth consciousness and the world of the five aggregates can the mind gradually become somewhat empty; after afflictions are eradicated and one attains the bhūmis, the mind can become empty to a large degree; only after the eighth bhūmi can the vast majority be emptied. Only by genuinely realizing the eighth consciousness can one gradually transform the basis toward the pure nature of the eighth consciousness; when the transformation of the basis (āśraya-parāvṛtti) succeeds, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses will transform consciousness into wisdom, becoming bhūmi-attained bodhisattvas; when the transformation of the basis is fully accomplished, one becomes a Buddha. Therefore, the emptiness of the eighth consciousness cannot substitute for the emptiness of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses; the sixth and seventh consciousnesses must undergo cultivation and realization in order to recognize and realize emptiness, and only afterward can the mind become empty; otherwise, the mouth is empty but the mind is not, and the demon of afflictions never leaves one's side.
Before the sixth and seventh consciousnesses have completely and successfully transformed the basis toward the eighth consciousness, the various pure natures possessed by the eighth consciousness do not mean that the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are likewise. For example, the eighth consciousness never keeps precepts, but the sixth and seventh consciousnesses cannot refrain from keeping precepts like the eighth consciousness, because the eighth consciousness has no ignorance or afflictions and will never violate precepts, so it need not keep precepts, and He has no mind to violate anything. But the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are not so: their afflictions and defilements are extremely heavy, and they frequently create unwholesome karma for their own selfish benefit. If they do not keep precepts, unwholesome karma will be endless, and unwholesome retribution will also be endless; then one cannot escape the suffering of evil destinies and the cycle of the six realms, and cannot attain liberation.
Another example: the eighth consciousness does not cultivate meditative concentration, yet the sixth and seventh consciousnesses cannot likewise refrain from cultivating concentration like the eighth consciousness. Because the mind of the eighth consciousness is never scattered, never grasps at any dharma, and possesses supreme wisdom, its mind is always in samādhi, neither entering nor exiting concentration. The sixth and seventh consciousnesses are not like this: scattered like monkeys, changing from thought to thought without any stability, their mind-water turbid, unable to see clearly the truth and reality, heavy with ignorance and afflictions. Therefore they must cultivate meditative concentration in order to subdue their own minds, gain the ability to deliberate well, and seek true wisdom and liberation. Another example: the eighth consciousness does not eradicate afflictions, but the sixth and seventh consciousnesses cannot avoid eradicating afflictions, because the eighth consciousness has no afflictions to eradicate, whereas the sixth and seventh consciousnesses have extremely many afflictions and ignorance; if not eradicated, one sinks into the ocean of suffering of birth and death with no end in sight.
If one wishes to compare oneself with the eighth consciousness, then compare how the eighth consciousness remains pure amid the five desires and six sense objects of the world, and the sixth and seventh consciousnesses should also be pure like Him; how the eighth consciousness is without self and without selfishness, and the sixth and seventh consciousnesses should also be without self and without selfishness like Him; how the eighth consciousness tirelessly and ceaselessly serves sentient beings, and the sixth and seventh consciousnesses should learn from this; and observe how the eighth consciousness is endowed with all wisdom, and the sixth and seventh consciousnesses must learn from this even more. Only by comparing in this way can one attain buddhahood sooner. But if one has not genuinely realized the eighth consciousness, one cannot even make such comparisons with it; an imagined nature of the eighth consciousness cannot become one's true object of cognition and cannot transform one's own mind. Therefore one still needs to diligently cultivate the six pāramitās of the bodhisattva path, hoping for genuine realization.
On the internet there are all sorts of tunes about emptiness, expounding emptiness in the most flowery ways; in reality, no matter how loudly they shout about various kinds of emptiness, their minds can never become empty. One must realize emptiness and see emptiness before the mind can begin to empty bit by bit. Without realizing emptiness, it is all slogans, all imagination and conceptual thought, of no avail. As for the methods of actual practice, having not cultivated them in past lives, people do not know how to actually practice or actually realize anything; it is all imagined cultivation and imagined realization. Tracing it to the root, it is that merit is insufficient, and the causes and conditions of meditative concentration and the precepts, concentration, and wisdom are lacking.
2. Does the Manas Also Silently Contain the Tathāgatagarbha?
Question: The manas silently contains all dharmas, including silently containing the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha does not exercise mastery over any dharma, has no self-nature, and must operate together with the manas, being inseparable from the manas. Can we say that the manas is the mind-king and the tathāgatagarbha is a mental factor (caitta) of the manas?
Answer: Although the manas silently contains all dharmas, all these dharmas do not include the tathāgatagarbha, because the manas does not know that the tathāgatagarbha exists, nor does it know what specific functions the tathāgatagarbha has. What the manas silently contains are those functional operations arising from the tathāgatagarbha; it likes and clings to those operations arising from the tathāgatagarbha, but does not know that these functions all belong to the tathāgatagarbha, mistaking them for its own functions, and thus continuously craves and clings to them.
If the manas could silently contain the tathāgatagarbha, it should know the operations of the tathāgatagarbha, knowing that the dharmas of the five-aggregate world are all produced by the operations of the tathāgatagarbha, with nothing to do with itself. In that case, the manas could not only eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) but also eradicate self-grasping and dharma-grasping, and all the ignorance in its mind should be able to be broken. But in fact this is not so; therefore the manas does not silently contain the tathāgatagarbha, but silently contains the functions arising from the tathāgatagarbha and all the dharmas manifested by it, mistaking those functions of the tathāgatagarbha for its own functions—this is called internally grasping the functions of the tathāgatagarbha as self. This is also why the manas gives rise to many afflictions such as self-conceit, self-love, and self-grasping, with deep and heavy ignorance.
Although the tathāgatagarbha has no capacity for mastery and does not actively dominate any dharma, always following the manas in operating all dharmas and being inseparable from the manas, the tathāgatagarbha does not belong to the manas; He is not a mental factor of the manas, and the manas is not the mind-king of the tathāgatagarbha. On the contrary, the tathāgatagarbha is the mind-king and the manas is a mental factor, belonging to the tathāgatagarbha. Because the tathāgatagarbha can determine whether the manas exists or not, providing the seeds for the manas's survival, the tathāgatagarbha is the mind-king of the manas, and the manas is a mental factor of the tathāgatagarbha. On the other hand, the tathāgatagarbha cannot always follow the manas; in many cases, the tathāgatagarbha follows karmic seeds. Many of the manas's wishes and seeks cannot be satisfied by the tathāgatagarbha, yet the tathāgatagarbha can always and continuously output karmic seeds and follow karmic seeds. Therefore the manas has no way to be the mind-king of the tathāgatagarbha, and the tathāgatagarbha cannot be a mental factor of the manas, not belonging to the manas.
3. Between the Tathāgatagarbha and the Manas, Who Is the True Dominator?
The dharmas corresponding to and cognized by the tathāgatagarbha are more numerous than those corresponding to and cognized by the manas, and the dharmas corresponding to and cognized by the manas far exceed those corresponding to and cognized by the mind consciousness. From this we can see: first, the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to all dharmas and He encompasses everything; second, it demonstrates the mastery of the manas over the mind consciousness—the manas is the dominator and representative of conditioned dharmas; third, it demonstrates the dependent-arising nature and lack of autonomy of the mind consciousness.
In the handling of all dharmas, on the surface it appears that the mind consciousness handles everything, but in fact it is the manas directing and handling things behind the scenes; in essence, it is the tathāgatagarbha that handles them using the seeds of the seven great elements. The tathāgatagarbha is the true dominator of all dharmas. As for the speed of handling, the tathāgatagarbha is beyond speed—instantaneous, in the very moment, never separated from dharmas even for an instant. The tathāgatagarbha's handling of dharmas is based, first, on karmic seeds, and second, on the manas's seeks and its choices regarding dharmas.
For the parts it can cognize clearly, the manas handles them extremely quickly, finishing the handling before the mind consciousness even knows; the mind consciousness is a late knower. For example, with minor incidents occurring in the physical body, the manas can immediately handle them, occasionally borrowing the help of the mind consciousness. For dharmas the manas cannot cognize clearly, it must rely on the cognition of the mind consciousness, and its handling must also be done through the mind consciousness, so its handling speed is slower than that of the mind consciousness. The mind consciousness alone cannot handle anything; it always handles things in cooperation with the manas—either assisting the manas in handling, or coercing the manas into handling. If the manas does not agree, the mind consciousness cannot handle anything; though this does not exclude cases where the manas is deceived or coerced by the mind consciousness.
4. The Five Aggregates and Nāma-rūpa
The five aggregates are also called nāma-rūpa (name-and-form). Rūpa is the aggregate of form; nāma is the four aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness—these four aggregates are invisible, being merely a name. Form includes the faculty-body and the inner and outer six sense objects, but does not include the essential realm. When the manas and the eighth consciousness first enter the womb, there is only the fertilized egg as form, no other form; only the manas as name, no other name. All dharmas are merely names, without substance or self-nature, except for the tathāgatagarbha's own substance and its nature and function (svabhāva-vyāpāra). In Yogācāra there are the five dharmas and three natures: mark, name, discrimination, correct wisdom, and suchness. All dharmas born of the eighth consciousness have dharma-marks; a provisional name is established for each mark; the conscious mind makes discriminations; correct cognition is correct wisdom; and all these dharmas are suchness—illusory appearances born and displayed by the tathāgatagarbha.
Bodily actions are produced by the joint operation of the body consciousness and the mind consciousness; verbal actions are produced by the body consciousness and mind consciousness; mental actions include the mental activities of the surface mind consciousness as well as the deep-level mental activities of the manas. Behind all bodily, verbal, and mental actions there is simultaneously the mental action of the manas. When we give a name to a certain function of the six consciousnesses, calling it the aggregate of volitional formations, the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of feeling, or the aggregate of consciousness, these are all just names, without actual functions. What are the actual functions? They are all the functions of the eighth consciousness.
The aggregation of the aggregate of volitional formations—who aggregates it? The aggregation of the aggregate of perception—who aggregates it? The aggregation of the aggregate of feeling—who aggregates it? The aggregation of the aggregate of consciousness—who aggregates it? The eighth consciousness completely possesses the function of aggregation. In the profound dharma of the Mahāyāna, the eighth consciousness should also have the function of aggregating, being able to aggregate the five aggregates and, in coordination with the manas, give birth to the five aggregates. The seventh consciousness, the manas, of course also has an aggregating function, mobilizing the eighth consciousness to aggregate all dharmas—its contribution cannot be overlooked.
The functions of the conscious mind upon the five faculties of the physical body are called feeling, perception, and volition. When the physical body and the conscious mind combine, there are the functions of the five aggregates. The physical body is the tool of the conscious mind, and the six consciousnesses are the tools of the manas.
5. The Meaning of "The False Originally Has No Cause; It Arises Through Delusion"
The false originally has no cause; it arises through delusion. This does not conflict with the dharma of causes and conditions, because beginningless eons ago, the manas had ignorance within its mind-substance without any cause, but there was no cause that produced this ignorance. Because of the manas's ignorance, all illusory dharmas were subsequently born; the arising of these illusory dharmas occurred only because the manas was deluded and inverted. This is the meaning of "the false originally has no cause; it arises through delusion." Because the manas has this ignorance, the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the entire subsequent series of dharmas, in accordance with the dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination.
6. The Manifestations of the Manas and the Tathāgatagarbha After Death
At the time of death, after the manas decides to leave the body and depart, the eighth consciousness cooperates with the departure, and the person dies. The process of dying is very complex and may take eight hours or more than ten hours before death is truly complete. The parts of the body relinquished by the eighth consciousness become cold and stiff, because the four great elements have disintegrated, and the body no longer has the fire element, wind element, water element, or earth element.
What is the manas doing at this time? Has it left the body? When the six consciousnesses cease, the manas will leave the body, but because the manas clings to all dharmas, including its own corpse, it will certainly still care for its corpse. Then the tathāgatagarbha cannot completely ignore this corpse; the way it manages it is certainly very different from the way it manages the five-aggregate body, so the corpse after all cannot have the functions of a five-aggregate body and will gradually rot and disappear. Then the manas clings to the remaining bones, and the tathāgatagarbha likewise cannot completely ignore the bones; the way it manages them differs from managing the five-aggregate body and the corpse, until the bones gradually weather away and vanish.
Even if the manas does not cling to the corpse and bones, the corpse and bones still bear a person's individual markings and information, which will not be erased. One with great supernatural powers, by means of a single bone, can know all information about the bone's owner's past and future. For others not to know, one must not do it oneself—the traces of karma created can never be erased. Every person has performed countless farces over immeasurable eons, has forgotten them all, and only goes to watch other people's farces.
7. What Dharmas Do the Manas and the Eighth Consciousness Each See?
The manas follows the eighth consciousness moment by moment and cannot leave it; the eighth consciousness also accompanies the manas moment by moment, the two inseparable as shadow follows form. Without the manas, the eighth consciousness cannot manifest any dharma; apart from the eighth consciousness, the manas ceases, and no dharma can be seen. Therefore the dharmas seen by the manas all come from the eighth consciousness; it sees dharmas by relying on the eighth consciousness. As long as the eighth consciousness manifests a dharma, the manas can see it by relying on it. Then the question arises: what dharma exactly does the manas see? Is what it sees the same as what the eighth consciousness sees?
We should know that the eighth consciousness pertains to the ultimate truth (paramārtha-satya), while the manas pertains to conventional truth (saṃvṛti-satya). Therefore what the eighth consciousness sees is not the content of conventional dharmas, differing from what the manas sees. And the manas also cannot see the content of the dharmas that the eighth consciousness sees; the two have different identities and statuses, different functions, and their angles, levels, sequences, and contents of seeing dharmas cannot be the same.
Their functions of drawing forth dharmas also differ; after seeing a dharma, their choices regarding it also differ; after choosing, their handling of the dharma also differs. Generally speaking, the manas and the eighth consciousness differ in their attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā) toward dharmas. Because the manas is conventional truth and the eighth consciousness is the supreme faculty/ultimate truth, the conventional represents ignorance and afflictions, while the ultimate truth represents no ignorance and no afflictions; therefore the manas has ignorance and afflictions, while the eighth consciousness has no ignorance and no afflictions.
Because the manas sees conventional dharmas, it will draw forth afflictions and draw forth the notion of self; the eighth consciousness does not see conventional dharmas, so there is no conventional affliction to speak of—it is pure and non-active, without self. So if, after we teach the dharma, we do not fall into conventional marks, we will likewise, like the eighth consciousness, not draw forth a self and will not give rise to afflictions; the mind will be pure and radiate great light.
What dharma, then, does the manas see? Since the manas cannot see what the eighth consciousness sees, yet closely relies on the eighth consciousness to see conventional dharmas—after the eighth consciousness sees a dharma, it continuously transmits and displays and manifests it; the dharma after being manifested by the eighth consciousness is conventional dharma, and only this part can be seen by the manas.
What the eighth consciousness sees is the most original dharma, the most fundamental dharma, untouched and unprocessed by the seven consciousnesses, which cannot reach it. After the eighth consciousness sees the original dharma, it absorbs the four great element particles within the dharma and begins to transmit them outward, forming images—this belongs to the conventional dharma part, which the manas sees. In the process of transmission, the eighth consciousness passes through certain intermediate media, and some of the four great element particles will be blocked, so the dharma transmitted by the eighth consciousness will change somewhat. No matter how many times the dharma transmitted by the eighth consciousness changes along the way, the manas can see by relying on it; until the dharma lands in the supreme faculty at the back of the brain, the manas can continuously see it.
So the dharmas the manas sees are the various levels of conventional dharmas transformed and arisen by the eighth consciousness after it sees the original dharma. The manas can see the dharmas transmitted by the eighth consciousness all along the way, so the manas can know the entire course of changes of a dharma. For the mind consciousness and the six consciousnesses, the manas is called the one who knows before divination, called premonition and intuition; without language, words, or thought, it can yet know all dharmas and judge everything, much of which the mind consciousness cannot dispute or resist.
What is the original dharma that the eighth consciousness sees? Of course it does not depart from the seeds of the four great elements that constitute the dharma—the structure, appearance, proportions, and composition of the seeds. This part will not cause the eighth consciousness to give birth to afflictions. If the seven consciousnesses all saw only this content, of course they would not draw forth any afflictions either, because it is not conventional dharma and has no benefit or utilizable value of conventional dharma.
After the eighth consciousness sees the original dharma, does it still see the conventional dharmas it manifests? Of course it continuously sees them; otherwise the manas could not see them. But although the eighth consciousness can also see the dharmas the manas sees, it never falls into conventional marks; the eighth consciousness does not see the conventional aspect of dharmas—seeing all dharmas, it sees their ultimate-truth aspect, namely the seed contents contained within the dharmas. So the eighth consciousness sees all dharmas of the great trichiliocosm, missing none, yet has no afflictions, no ignorance, nothing unknown; its light brilliantly illuminates the great trichiliocosm, yet it does not wish to possess it, with no self-notion, greed, or anger.
The conventional dharmas seen by the seven consciousnesses are all seen wrongly, not the true reality, because of ignorance, and therefore there are afflictions. What is the true reality of dharmas? It is the seed contents seen by the eighth consciousness—no other dharma; all dharmas are seeds, no other dharma. All seeds belong to the eighth consciousness, so the eighth consciousness is a wealthy elder; it does not need to possess anything, still less covet anything. Only the poor have greed; when a person is poor, they will inevitably hope to gain something; only those poor in mind are insatiably greedy. The eighth consciousness is very content, yet shows no state of mind of contentment; He has no state of mind, no feelings, never sighing over thousands or millions of things—calm and tranquil.
The eighth consciousness is the original buddha-dharma, the original Buddhism. Without the eighth consciousness there are no dharmas at all—not even the manas, much less the six consciousnesses, not the five aggregates. Without the eighth consciousness, the seven consciousnesses cannot see any dharma. Not studying the eighth consciousness, and only extracting the extremely small portion of dharmas derived from it—this is foolishness. Therefore the Buddha said that arhats are foolish people and ordinary beings are ignorant people.
8. The Connection Between the Manas and the Eighth Consciousness
The manas and the eighth consciousness, these two consciousnesses, are tightly connected; the manas cannot exist apart from the eighth consciousness—apart from it, it ceases. But this does not prevent each from having its own substance and mental nature, each having its own functions. What the manas cognizes are the dharmas manifested by the eighth consciousness; because the dharmas it cognizes are numerous and its wisdom is not sufficiently subtle, it can only cognize the general outline and broad framework. For fine cognition, it must let the six consciousnesses help with cognition before it can make choices.
The eighth consciousness has no self-nature; it creates all dharmas entirely in accordance with karmic seeds, and also gives birth to all dharmas in accordance with causes and conditions and the manas's wishes. If the eighth consciousness is to operate some dharmas, the manas must be operating simultaneously; if there are no illusory conventional dharmas needing to be operated, the eighth consciousness abides in nirvāṇa, doing nothing.
9. The Manas and the Tathāgatagarbha Are Inseparable
Apart from the eighth consciousness there is no seventh consciousness. The two consciousnesses must be bound together and operate jointly for the seventh consciousness to have function, and for the eighth consciousness to have function as well. As long as the seventh consciousness has not exhausted its karma, when karmic seeds mature, it will necessarily take rebirth and receive retribution following the manifestation of the matured karmic seeds. One cannot say the eighth consciousness relinquishes its retribution, because the eighth consciousness has no karmic retribution, as it does not create worldly bodily, verbal, and mental actions.
Cultivation has its sequence and steps: first subdue the self and suppress the self, then eradicate the self, and finally remove grasping. If the earlier steps are not accomplished, the later ones cannot be achieved.
10. The Manas and the Tathāgatagarbha Are Like Fish and Water
If we take the fish as a metaphor for illusory dharmas and water as a metaphor for the wondrously bright true mind, the fish cannot leave the water, and illusory dharmas cannot leave the true dharma. When the fish moves, the water moves, stirring up waves; when the fish does not move, the water does not move, the waves calm and still. When the manas moves, the tathāgatagarbha moves, manifesting states; when the manas does not move, the tathāgatagarbha does not move—nirvāṇa and tranquility.
11. Between the Manas and the Tathāgatagarbha, Who Is Suited to Be the Film Producer?
Producing means manufacturing, which requires funds and raw materials. The manas does not have these things; He has no storehouse and cannot store them. Only the tathāgatagarbha is endowed with these dharmas, having the seeds of all dharmas, and can create all dharmas—this corresponds to the role of producer. The tathāgatagarbha produces films according to karmic seeds; karmic seeds are the tathāgatagarbha's choices—this is conditioned dharma.
The tathāgatagarbha also has a conditioned nature; all dharmas are conditioned forth by the tathāgatagarbha. If the tathāgatagarbha were completely unconditioned and ignored all matters, the world would not arise and exist, the five aggregates would not exist, and even the manas would not exist. What kind of film is made is indeed decided by the tathāgatagarbha, not by the manas, which cannot exercise mastery. Deciding the film decides the karmic retribution, and cause and effect are thereby requited.
12. The Tathāgatagarbha's Recording of the Karmic Actions of the Manas and the Mind Consciousness
Question: When a film actor plays a villain or a bad person, acting very convincingly and deeply immersed in the role, how should the tathāgatagarbha record the actor's karmic actions, and what are the karmic seeds like?
Answer: Acting is also called pretending; the mental activity is not genuinely so. The so-called acting and pretending means that the mind consciousness believes one should act in a certain way, inconsistent with the manas's thoughts; the behavior is the mind consciousness's fabrication, with the mind consciousness trying its best to genuinely display mental activity not possessed by the manas, making people feel it is real, that it truly happened.
Karmic actions subjectively manifested by the mind consciousness differ greatly from karmic actions dominated and controlled by the manas; the karmic seeds stored differ, and the retribution differs. It is like a child in a family doing bad things versus a parent doing bad things—the nature differs, and the punishment and discipline received differ; the child receives light discipline, while the parent receives heavy punishment.
And when the child is disciplined, it will certainly implicate the parents, requiring the parents to be punished on the child's behalf. Karmic actions created subjectively by the mind consciousness are light, but the punishment will also fall upon the manas; when the manas creates karma of its own volition, the punishment falls entirely upon the manas itself—the parent must bear all responsibility. But what the parent should receive will also be specifically borne by the child, or borne on the parent's behalf, because the parent is honored; likewise, the manas's retribution will specifically be borne on its behalf by the six consciousnesses, because the manas as master is honored.
What karmic seeds are stored at the time of creating karma determines what retribution one receives in the future, entirely depending on the manas's mental activity, or primarily on the manas's mental activity. The one acting is the mind consciousness, pretending to be a bad person doing bad things; the manas is not bad, so in essence it is not bad, and evil karmic seeds cannot be stored. If the manas becomes moved during the play, giving rise to mental activity identical to that in the play, then it no longer counts as acting—it is pure karma creation, and the karmic seeds are recorded as they are. If the manas is not moved and it is only the mind consciousness pretending, there are still karmic seeds—all behavioral fabrications must also be recorded. But the nature of the karmic seeds differs; what kind of karmic seeds and retribution there are is entirely determined by the manas's mental activity.
If, during the play, the mind consciousness does not act well, acting unconvincingly, it shows that the mind consciousness's skill is not good enough, that the mind consciousness does not quite correspond to the villain role, and also shows that the manas is not bad, has not been tainted bad by conditioning, and so has to strive to pretend to be a bad person, with insufficient performance. But even if the manas is a very good person, if the mind consciousness's acting skills are superb—knowing how to act and pretend—immersion in the role will be quick and deep. The karmic seeds stored are still seeds of acting and pretending, not seeds of a bad manas, so the retribution is not bad. However, if one pretends to be a bad person for a long time, it will also secretly condition the manas, making the manas unknowingly familiar with badness and adapted to badness, and it may at some point actually do something bad.
By the same token, it can be proven that in the process of cultivating and realizing the buddha-dharma, if only the mind consciousness attains realization while the manas does not, it is false realization, not true realization—roughly equivalent to acting; seeds are also stored, but the wholesome retribution is slight. True realization is realization led by the manas; once the master has attained realization, what is there to say about the subordinates—they follow the master in receiving retribution and enjoying the fruit. There has never been a case where the manas as master has not attained realization, yet the subordinate mind consciousness alone can attain realization and enjoy the fruit. Could it be that the servant can be above the master, with a position higher than the master, usurping the host's role? There is no such principle.
13. The Respective Object-Aspects Corresponding to the Manas and the Tathāgatagarbha
Question: When the outer six faculties contact the outer six sense objects, the resulting outer six entrances are the outer object-aspect, not yet having become the inner six entrances. As for what leads the six faculties to contact the outer six sense objects, is it that the manas draws out the four great element seeds of the tathāgatagarbha to make contact?
Answer: The outer six sense objects are originally born from the four great element seeds of the tathāgatagarbha; after they are born, the tathāgatagarbha continuously outputs the four great element seeds to maintain the existence of the outer six sense objects. So the outer six sense objects can only be contacted by the tathāgatagarbha; what the manas contacts is that portion transformed and conjured by the tathāgatagarbha after absorbing the four great elements of the outer six sense objects—it cannot contact the real outer six sense object realms born from the real four great element seeds of the tathāgatagarbha.
How does the manas draw out the four great element seeds within the tathāgatagarbha? The outer six sense objects jointly manifested by the tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings with common karma can only be contacted by the tathāgatagarbha. The four great element seeds of these outer six sense objects constantly arise, cease, and change, with the four great element particles constantly emanating outward. After each sentient being's tathāgatagarbha contacts them, it absorbs and transmits them—a process like a mirror displaying images—and only then can the manas contact the images transmitted by the tathāgatagarbha. Then, through the six faculties, they are conducted into the supreme faculty, becoming the inner six sense objects. Throughout the whole series of processes in which the tathāgatagarbha displays images, the manas can cognize by relying on the tathāgatagarbha; the only question is whether it can cognize clearly. Therefore the manas can react to some dharmas extremely quickly—before the mind consciousness has even reacted, the manas has long since finished handling them. The manas is the prior knower, the mind consciousness is the late knower. Only for dharmas the manas truly cannot cognize, relying on the cognition of the mind consciousness, is it a late knower.
