Mental Factors of the Mind base\: A Practical Compass (Second Edition) (with over 30,000 additional words, reorganized)
Chapter 4: The Afflicted Mental Factors and Wholesome Mental Factors
Section 1: The Two Kinds of Afflicted Mental Factors of the Manas
I. Constantly Operating and Non-Constantly Operating Afflicted Mental Factors
The afflicted mental factors of the manas are divided into two kinds. One kind consists of afflicted mental factors that constantly accompany the manas in its operation, without interruption for even a moment, such as the view of self, self-conceit, self-love, and ignorance (self-delusion) mentioned in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra. The other kind consists of afflicted mental factors that do not constantly accompany the manas in its operation; these refer to mental factors other than the above four afflictions, such as hatred, joy, anger, and the various great, middle, and minor affiliated afflictions. If these afflictions were constantly operating, then sentient beings' own bodies and minds, as well as those of others, would be severely damaged, their lives would be chaotic, and their lives would not last long. Only the afflictions of the view of self, self-love, self-grasping, and self-conceit are the constantly operating afflictions of ordinary sentient beings.
When all people encounter the profound dharma, they cannot engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) in the present moment and can only understand a little of the surface meaning, so they can only recite from memory. The dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination reveals that the reason sentient beings undergo ceaseless birth and death in the six realms of saṃsāra is precisely the ignorance of the manas. If the manas had no ignorance, the twelve links of dependent origination would end, the afflictions of sentient beings would end, and they would be liberated from birth and death. Ignorance conditions volitional formations (avidyā-pratyayāḥ saṃskārāḥ), and volitional formations condition consciousness. If these seven words are fully understood, one will know whether or not the manas actually has hatred. If there were no hatred within the manas's ignorance, it would not prompt the six consciousnesses to create karma of hatred, and the karma of birth and death would be reduced by nearly half. Hatred in the mind consciousness would not matter, because the mind consciousness cannot decide to create karma of hatred, so there would be no karmic seeds of hatred, and there would be no birth-and-death karma of hatred.
Furthermore, where does the mind consciousness's hatred come from? How does it arise? Many people can neither observe in the present moment whether the manas has hatred, nor sort out the logical dialectical relationship between the manas and the mind consciousness, nor do they know the origin of the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses. They only recite from memory and believe their shallow understanding to be correct. As stated in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, in the earliest period of sentient beings' lives there were only the manas and the Ālayavijñāna. Only after the manas gave rise to thoughts did heaven, earth, and all things, as well as the five aggregates and six consciousnesses, come into being. If the manas has no hatred, where does the mind consciousness's hatred come from? How does the karma of hatred arise? What causes sentient beings to fight and struggle with one another? How does this arise?
The afflictions of the mind consciousness are easy to subdue and eradicate. As long as one understands the theory and comprehends it clearly, one can effectively control the afflictions. However, because the manas does not sever afflictions, when fundamental issues are encountered and the mind consciousness is momentarily negligent, the afflictions will immediately appear, and a person will show their true colors. For example, in dreams, or after getting drunk, when the mind consciousness is weakened there is no rationality left, and the manas's afflictions will all manifest. Is the hatred and hateful behavior after drunkenness also that of the mind consciousness? Why is it easier to create evil karma after drinking? Why does one show one's true colors after drinking? Why does drinking reveal a person's character?
Subduing afflictions means cutting off the mind consciousness's afflictions, but this is only temporary, not lasting. If the manas's afflictions are not severed, the afflictions cut off by the mind consciousness will arise again when the conditions are complete, and cannot be controlled at all. Therefore, the affliction of hatred can only be completely severed at the stage of the anāgāmin, which indicates that the manas can only completely sever the affliction of hatred at the stage of the anāgāmin. As for the mind consciousness's affliction of hatred, it can be eradicated at the stage when an ordinary person understands the principles, but not ultimately; upon encountering special conditions, the mind consciousness may still manifest the affliction of hatred. For example, some people have a gentle temperament and an especially good temper; normally, no matter what happens, they will not become angry—this is the case of the mind consciousness having no hatred. But once they encounter special circumstances that touch their bottom line, even such a person might kill someone; this is the manas's hatred manifesting.
II. Does the Manas Have the Affiliated Affliction of Resentment?
Question: If the emotion of resentment reaches the level of gnashing one's teeth, it is the manas's deep resentment, a reaction of the manas. Does the manas have the minor affiliated affliction of resentment?
Answer: The manas is the master consciousness; bodily, verbal, and mental actions are decided, directed, and commanded by the manas. The bodily activity of gnashing one's teeth is created through the manas's direction and command. No matter what thoughts, ideas, or emotions the mind consciousness has, it cannot direct or command the body to produce the phenomenon of gnashing teeth. If one regards the manas as a normal conscious mind, it becomes easy to understand all of the manas's mental activities, and there will be no misunderstanding.
The manas is the master of the five-aggregate body, constantly dominating all bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the five-aggregate body. Our cultivation is precisely the cultivation of the manas, the transformation of the manas. After the manas undergoes the three transformations of consciousness into wisdom, one becomes a Buddha. If the manas did not have certain afflictions of ignorance, then cultivation would only require cultivating the mind consciousness, and there would be no need to attend to the manas. Cultivating the mind consciousness is extremely simple, relaxed, and easy: as long as one learns the principles, after the mind consciousness deliberates and understands, it becomes clear and wise, its mental activities can change, and it is transformed. But in reality, cultivation is extremely difficult, by no means so simple and quick. Changing oneself is very difficult; one must undergo long-term permeation, long-term introspection, and the subduing of oneself through encountering conditions and circumstances over a long period before achieving even a little progress. The manas's afflictions of ignorance are extremely numerous and extremely deep, not easy to subdue and eradicate—that is why cultivation feels difficult.
The twelve links of dependent origination show that the manas's ignorance leads to the subsequent immeasurable suffering of birth and death in saṃsāra, which demonstrates that the manas possesses all afflictions of ignorance. If the manas had no afflictions of ignorance and only the mind consciousness had them, there would not be the suffering of birth and death in saṃsāra for beginningless kalpas; the mind consciousness's afflictions of ignorance are all easy to resolve. Then one should think further: where do the mind consciousness's afflictions of ignorance come from?
What we usually call "I" mainly refers to the manas. Whenever we speak of "I," it is the manas's thoughts and views that emerge. The deeply rooted, habitually ingrained concept of "I" is the manas. Therefore, if you want to observe the manas, just observe your own arising thoughts and habitual tendencies. The "I" is the manas; to observe the manas is to observe the "I." Working from this angle, it is not difficult. The deep, hard-to-discover and hard-to-observe thoughts and views within the mind all belong to the manas; the deeply rooted, bone-deep habitual afflictions and wisdom all belong to the manas, extremely hidden, hard to know and hard to change. The mind consciousness's thoughts and views all float on the surface; they are easily permeated, easily discovered, easily subdued, and easily changed. If cultivation did not involve the manas, then learning Buddhism would be relaxed and pleasant, and attaining buddhahood would also be very quick.
All the functions and roles of the manas within the five aggregates can be observed. Only by knowing what the facts are and what the truth is can one say what the manas has and what it does not have, or state it precisely, or state it affirmatively; otherwise one must follow what the Buddha said: "Take heed not to believe your mind; your mind is not to be believed." One's own judgments will be severely limited by the wisdom of direct perception. When wisdom is insufficient and one cannot observe, one must cultivate diligently, striving to be able to observe things as they truly are and with direct perception as soon as possible, in order to obtain genuine wisdom, truthful wisdom, and the wisdom of direct perception. Before that, doubt is, after all, just doubt; one cannot draw a truthful conclusion, so one should not draw a conclusion. Only by maintaining such an attitude in learning and practicing Buddhism can one avoid the fault of erroneous evaluation and misjudgment.
Strive to connect the dharma teachings together, linking them up, and then the meaning of the dharma can be sorted out. No dharma exists in isolation; all are connected with a subject and a main thread. Grasping the meaning of all dharmas from an overall perspective makes them easy to understand and master. Learning and practicing Buddhism is not about memorizing rules, but about connecting theory with practice—actually going to observe, to see whether the theories one encounters accord with the truth and the dharma, and whether they match reality. One must strive to engage in actual contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), observing the operation of the five aggregates, observing bodily, verbal, and mental actions. Practice yields true knowledge; practice is the sole criterion for testing truth—this is so for both the Buddha-dharma and worldly dharma. Learning Buddhism means pursuing truth; truth is fact, facts that no one can change. Taking facts as one's reliance and truth as one's reliance is precisely the "relying on the dharma" that the Buddha taught us; only thus can one achieve attainment and not go astray.
III. The Four Innate Afflictions Constantly Operating in the Manas
Original text of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Fascicle 51: 又前说末那。恒与阿赖耶识俱转。乃至未断。当知常与。俱生任运。四种烦恼、一时相应。谓萨迦耶见。我慢我爱。及与无明。此四烦恼。若在定地。若不定地。当知恒行。不与善等相违。是有覆无记性。
Explanation: As stated previously, the manas operates together with the Ālayavijñāna eternally, never having been severed even once. Therefore it should be known that the manas constantly corresponds simultaneously with the four innate, spontaneously operating afflictions. These four afflictions are: the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), self-conceit, self-love, and ignorance. Whether in meditative concentration or not in meditative concentration, these four afflictions should be known to be always operating, and they do not conflict with the eleven wholesome mental factors; when wholesome mental factors are present, these four afflictions are also present, and the presence of these four afflictions does not preclude the presence of wholesome mental factors. The nature of the manas is obscured-neutral (nivrta-avyakrta).
Many people have misunderstood this passage from the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra. They all believe that the manas has only these four afflictions—the view of self, self-love, self-conceit, and ignorance—but in fact the original text does not mean this. Even if it did mean this, then the single affliction of ignorance would encompass all afflictions, and the ordinary person's manas would possess all afflictions in full. The meaning here is that the manas operates together with these four innate afflictions at every moment, never separating even for an instant. "Constantly operating" means operating perpetually without ceasing. When the manas has not severed the view of self, the view of self manifests in its operation, frequently corresponding with the view of self, placing it at the stage of an ordinary person; when the manas has not severed self-conceit, its mind frequently manifests self-conceit, extremely dense and deeply rooted, placing it at the stage from before the third fruit down to the ordinary person stage; when the manas has not severed craving and attachment, it manifests a mentality of craving and attachment toward all dharmas of the three realms, clinging to worldly dharmas and unable to transcend, placing it at the stage from before the second fruit down to the ordinary person stage; when the manas has not severed ignorance, its mind constantly corresponds with ignorance, never abandoning it, placing it at the stage of an ordinary person.
The manas also has afflicted mental factors that do not operate constantly; these do not always operate together with the manas, do not always manifest, but sometimes manifest and sometimes do not. Apart from the four afflictions mentioned above, all others are non-constantly operating afflictions. Thus the manas's afflicted mental factors are divided into two parts: one part constantly operates and exists, and the other part occasionally operates along with the manas.
The manas has the affliction of ignorance, and ignorance encompasses all afflictions; all afflictions are generated by the manas's ignorance. The manas's afflictions trigger the mind consciousness's afflictions, creating all karma of affliction. Therefore, only by severing the manas's afflictions is the severing of afflictions ultimate. If the manas no longer has a certain affliction, then that affliction need not be severed, and cultivation is spared some trouble and obstruction.
Whether the mind consciousness has afflictions or not is a matter of no consequence, because the mind consciousness is a dharma that ceases; once the mind consciousness ceases, its afflictions vanish, leaving only the manas. As long as the mind consciousness's afflictions do not permeate the manas, and the manas has no afflictions, sentient beings will not undergo birth and death in saṃsāra; if the manas has afflictions, birth and death in saṃsāra is inevitable. Why do countless people insist on making a big fuss over the mind consciousness? It is because these people can only understand the mind consciousness a little, do not understand the manas at all, and cannot observe the manas's mental activities at all. That is why theories of the mind consciousness are everywhere, and sentient beings are pitifully misled.
These four afflictions operate constantly at all times in the ordinary person's stage, never having been severed; other afflictions come and go. After the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), the affliction of the view of self is gone and no longer constantly accompanies the manas, but the other three afflictions continue to operate constantly. After the fourth fruit, all four afflictions are completely eliminated, the mind is pure, and there are no more constantly operating afflictions (except for the ignorance pertaining to the Mahāyāna dharma), but habitual tendencies remain—only they do not operate constantly. The six root afflictions are the trunk of the tree, and the twenty affiliated afflictions are the branches and leaves; once the trunk falls, the branches and leaves will soon wither and vanish completely.
The manas's afflictions of ignorance encompass all afflictions. Among them, the affliction of hatred cannot operate constantly; it comes and goes. If hatred operated constantly, the consequences would be unimaginable—neither oneself nor others could bear it; the poison of hatred would soon destroy the physical body, one's life would not last long, and everyone around would suffer boundlessly with no pleasant feelings. It is not specifically stated here whether the manas has the affliction of hatred and other affiliated afflictions, but the manas absolutely has the affliction of hatred and affiliated afflictions. If there were no affliction of hatred, we would not need to cultivate to sever the affliction of hatred. Hatred in the mind consciousness would not matter, because the mind consciousness cannot dominate body, mind, and world; it constantly ceases, and once it ceases there are no afflictions. It would be wonderful as long as the manas had no hatred—but the facts are not so.
The language of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra is extremely concise, and thoroughly grasping its meaning is very difficult; it requires both literary competence and realization attained through cultivation—only the combination of the two will do. True reliance on the dharma means relying on facts. As long as something is factual, sooner or later it can overcome all statements that do not accord with facts, highlighting the power of truth. Even the dharma taught by the Buddha must be verified through one's own actual contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā)—is it really so? All the dharma taught by the Buddha ultimately needs to be fully realized by us before we can become Buddhas. Without realizing and verifying it, one cannot obtain the corresponding wisdom. Reciting the Buddha's words does not solve the problem; what the Buddha said cannot represent our own realization. At the end of cultivation, one must rely on the complete truth of all facts, not even relying on the Buddha. The dharma the Buddha taught must be realized by oneself; only after realizing it all can cultivation be considered thoroughly accomplished.
The dharma the Buddha taught in the Sahā world amounts to only as much as the soil in a fingernail, while the dharma he did not teach is as abundant as the soil of the great earth. We must study and cultivate all dharmas, realize them all, and know the truth of all facts. And this truth of facts cannot be obtained by relying on a person; it must be personally realized.
This passage from the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra also contains another important meaning: the text says that the four afflictions—the view of self, self-love, self-conceit, and ignorance—whether in meditative concentration or not in meditative concentration, are constantly operating, perpetually running. Although they operate constantly, they do not conflict with the eleven wholesome mental factors. This means that the manas has afflicted mental factors, and at the same time wholesome mental factors also exist and operate; the two do not conflict. Here the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra says that the manas corresponds with the eleven wholesome mental factors, whereas some bodhisattva treatises say that the manas does not correspond with wholesome mental factors. Since the two treatises conflict, of course the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra by Bodhisattva Maitreya should be taken as authoritative.
