Chapter Twelve: Manas and Sleep (2)

15. How Can Actions Like Pulling the Blanket When Cold or Scratching an Itch Occur During Dreamless Sleep?

During dreamless sleep, although the six consciousnesses are absent, the tathagatagarbha (Buddha-nature) continues to manifest the six sense objects (vishaya) through the six sense faculties (indriya) within the subtle sense faculties (indriya-prasāda). Manas knows that the physical body must rest to recover from fatigue and thus refrains from discerning these sense objects. It does not activate the volitional mental factors (caitasika) to engage in discernment, and consequently, the tathagatagarbha does not give rise to the six consciousnesses to perform specific discernment. However, manas still contacts various mental objects (dharmadhātu). Due to its inferior discerning wisdom, manas does not fully comprehend the specific content of these mental objects. When a mental object undergoes a significant change, manas wishes to discern what the situation is. The tathagatagarbha, aware of manas's volition, accordingly gives rise to the mental consciousness (manovijñāna) to perform discernment. One of the five sense consciousnesses must also arise simultaneously with the mental consciousness to discern, enabling the handling of matters in a semi-awake state.

When the tactile sensation of cold in the room becomes increasingly intense, manas contacts it and deems it necessary to address it. The tathagatagarbha then manifests the body consciousness (kāyavijñāna) and mental consciousness to discern the cold tactile sensation. These two consciousnesses convey the specific content of their discernment to manas, and manas decides to cover itself with a blanket. The tathagatagarbha, complying with manas, manifests the body consciousness and mental consciousness to pull the blanket over. The same principle applies to an itch on the body: it is manas discerning a special condition of the body faculty that requires resolution. Unable to resolve it itself, manas relies on the six consciousnesses. The tathagatagarbha, complying, manifests the body consciousness and mental consciousness to address the itch. After resolution, manas knows the body has not rested sufficiently and decides not to engage further. The mental consciousness and body consciousness then cease, and sleep continues.

16. What Is Sleep? Who Sleeps?

If one says the six consciousnesses sleep, they have ceased. If one says manas sleeps, it remains active just as during the day. If one says the tathagatagarbha sleeps, it never changes and constantly manifests the six sense objects and outputs the seeds (bīja) of manas and consciousness at all times. If one says the body sleeps, the body is like wood—how can wood sleep?

The phenomenon of sleep is a dharma co-arisen by the tathagatagarbha complying with the needs of manas. It is illusory and unreal; there is truly no sleeper. Manas knows the body is fatigued and needs rest, so it decides not to discern the six sense objects, preventing the six consciousnesses from generating physical, verbal, or mental actions, allowing the physical body to rest and replenish its required energy, reducing consumption. Thus, the five sense consciousnesses cease, the mental consciousness gradually ceases, bodily metabolism slows, activity diminishes, and the physical body rests and nourishes itself, enabling it to function again the next day.

Do the Six Consciousnesses Need Rest? Is Mental Fatigue the Fatigue of the Six Consciousnesses?

The six consciousnesses do not need rest because they do not consume energy. They are not generated by the four great elements (mahābhūta) nor require replenishment by them. The seeds of the six consciousnesses are continuously and uninterruptedly output by the tathagatagarbha moment by moment. As long as manas requires it, the tathagatagarbha will always output consciousness seeds to sustain the existence of the six consciousnesses, provided karmic seeds allow, physical conditions permit, and karmic conditions are favorable. Mental fatigue is not fatigue of the six consciousnesses themselves but rather a condition of the physical body where the four elements are imbalanced, and the manifestation of the six sense objects by the tathagatagarbha in the subtle sense faculties is obstructed, affecting the normal operation of the six consciousnesses.

Manas discerns this condition and decides to rest or sleep, thereby reducing or halting the consumption of the four elements. After sufficient rest, when the four elements are adjusted and relatively abundant, the six consciousnesses arise and function normally, appearing as mental freshness and vitality. Because the body's four elements are imbalanced and necessary nutrients are insufficient, the transmission of the five sense objects is hindered, the manifestation of the six sense objects becomes unsmooth, and the operation of the six consciousnesses becomes abnormal. Outwardly, this appears as mental fatigue, but in reality, it is the physical body's material needs not being met. When this occurs, manas decides to halt the body's operation, deciding to rest, sleep, or replenish material energy needs.

17. The Function of Manas in Dreams and Wakefulness

In dreams, the function of manas is very prominent, and its various functions are relatively obvious. During the day, when mental consciousness activity is very active, it often obscures the various psychological functions of manas. Those with weak observational power find it difficult to observe the deep activities of manas, only able to observe the superficial activities of mental consciousness. Often, the activities of both are confused and indistinguishable. After falling asleep, during dreamless sleep, there is no mental consciousness; all mental activity is that of manas, yet it is not easily known by mental consciousness. The mental consciousness of ordinary people cannot contemplate or observe the activities of manas. The immense function of the tathagatagarbha will not be discussed here for now.

During dreams, although mental consciousness has discerning and thinking activity, its force is very weak. The habits (vāsanā), mental formations (caitasika), the nature of pervasive conceptualization (parikalpita-svabhāva), the nature of deliberation (mananātmaka), and other functions of manas become prominently manifested. The inherent habits, attachments, and afflictions (kleśa) of manas are all vividly displayed in dreams. At this time, the thinking power of mental consciousness is weak and cannot control manas, so the mental formations of manas are unmasked. Especially when manas has heavy afflictive attachments, they are fully expressed in dreams. The thoughts of manas during the day can also manifest in dreams.

Like the tathagatagarbha, manas never rests and is always working. But what exactly it does, most Buddhists do not know and cannot observe. Thus, they consider manas relatively idle, incapable of much, believing all good and bad deeds are done by mental consciousness. They do not actively explore the mental activities of manas, do not seek precious Dharma, and only memorize some terms and concepts.

18. Someone Dreams of Their Car Being Crushed and Completely Disappearing, Feels Heartbroken in the Dream, and Upon Waking, the Heart Still Aches. Which Heart Aches? Which Mind Experiences This Feeling, So Attached and Firm?

In dreams, heartache wakes one up, fear wakes one up, joy wakes one up—why is this possible? Which consciousness experiences the feeling? Is the mental consciousness in the dream the same as the mental consciousness outside the dream?

The one that causes the heartache is manas. Manas is a continuous consciousness, the same in past lives, present life, dreams, and wakefulness, always existing. Heartache in the dream is the same as heartache outside the dream; it must be manas that aches because manas can trigger changes in body and mind. When mental consciousness aches, it is very slight, like a breeze gently touching the sea surface, causing no ripples and no bodily or mental reaction. In the dream, manas, through the discernment of isolated consciousness (manovijñāna without the five sense consciousnesses), takes the dream as reality, as a truly existing realm, unaware it is dreaming. Thus, it becomes very attached to the dream, to the point of affecting the body and mind, causing heartache, even waking one up. After waking, manas remains deeply affected, as if still immersed in the dream, unaware of awakening from the illusory dream, so the heart still aches.

Although the isolated consciousness in the dream has transformed, manas still clings to the dream. The isolated consciousness then recalls the dream realm and also feels affected. The feeling of manas is deeper, subtler, and more ingrained, hard to change. The feeling of mental consciousness is shallower and more superficial, easily changed, influenced by circumstances.

From this, it can be seen that the feeling of manas is not equanimity (upekṣā); otherwise, it would not cause such great bodily and mental fluctuations—waking up from pain, joy, or crying—nor would one continue to cry, rejoice, or ache after waking up. Severing self-view (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), severing feelings, severing perceptions, severing the self-view, feelings, and perceptions of manas—this is the most difficult. Severing all views, feelings, and perceptions of mental consciousness is relatively easier.

19. When Asleep, Manas Still Perceives External Sense Objects; the Tathagatagarbha Transmits Them Through the Five Sense Faculties, Manifesting Internal Sense Objects in the Subtle Sense Faculties.

Manas, relying on the tathagatagarbha, can perceive and contact all dharmas manifested by the tathagatagarbha. Thus, manas can perceive and discern all dharmas regardless of size, importance, or unimportance. It can perceive not only significant mental objects but also very subtle mental objects, such as the sound of the heartbeat, breathing, where the body is clear or blocked, where there is pain or itch, etc. Manas can discern and know all these. If it deems it important, it allows mental consciousness to emerge and handle it; otherwise, it remains quietly asleep.

However, manas can only discern things roughly, not in detail or clearly. This rough, general discernment allows manas to judge whether something is important, whether the six consciousnesses need to emerge for detailed discernment and handling. When asleep, if manas discerns that the mental objects are no different from usual, it judges them as unimportant, knows the body needs rest, does not wish the six consciousnesses to emerge for discernment, lacks the drive for them, and allows the body to continue resting. When a mental object is relatively special or significant, manas decides it should be specifically handled. The tathagatagarbha, discerning manas's volition, cooperates to give rise to mental consciousness, which then emerges to discern the mental object manas wishes to discern. One of the five sense consciousnesses must also emerge to discern together to achieve clarity. When all five sense consciousnesses emerge, the person wakes up completely.

The tathagatagarbha can discern the body faculty and the first five sense faculties. Manas, relying on the tathagatagarbha, can thus discern the condition of the five sense faculties and has the drive to command their operation. Manas can also determine the vitality of the five sense faculties. If manas decides to abandon the five sense faculties, upon leaving them, they immediately become no different from wood.

20. During a Nightmare, Who Struggles to Escape the Dream—Manas or Mental Consciousness?

Manas's control over the physical body is possible only under certain conditions. If conditions do not permit, manas cannot control its physical body. At such times, manas is governed by karmic force (karma), and the five aggregates (skandha) body is also controlled by karmic force. If manas could fully control the body faculty, there would be no death, no illness, no aging, no adverse conditions, no poverty, no disasters. Even a Buddha, though without negative karmic force, if the Buddha's manas wishes to liberate sentient beings and exhaust all beings, if conditions are not complete, the Buddha cannot accomplish it and must wait for causes and conditions to mature.

Dreams arise from manas's grasping, preoccupation, longing, and attachment to experienced or unexperienced matters. The tathagatagarbha, complying with its grasping nature, manifests the dream. Manas's grasping and attachment belong to its nature of pervasive conceptualization (parikalpita-svabhāva). All mental formations of manas are known by the tathagatagarbha, which, knowing them, complies with manas's mental inclinations and karmic force to manifest dreams, allowing sentient beings to continue grasping and attaching in dreams. If manas does not grasp or attach, the tathagatagarbha will not actively manifest dreams.

Therefore, when some practitioners gain strength in their practice, their dreams gradually change from turbid to pure, from many dreams to few. This is because their practice has subdued manas. After being influenced by practice, manas has reduced ignorance (avidyā) and diminished attachment. The manas of Arhats, having severed all self-attachment afflictions and eliminated greed for worldly dharmas, rarely experiences dreams.

In dreams, there is the manifest operation of the sixth consciousness (mental consciousness), the seventh consciousness (manas), and the tathagatagarbha—three consciousnesses. The first five consciousnesses are absent. Thus, dream images are hazy, unlike the clarity of wakefulness. When awake, the five sense objects are clear and distinct; in dreams, they are not. Although upon waking, one feels one saw forms with the eyes, one cannot see the colors of people and things. Although one can feel colors, feel spaciousness, feel light and dark, this is only the feeling of mental consciousness, not the eye consciousness truly seeing these scenes. The realms seen in dreams and wakefulness differ greatly.

For example, seeing people from past lives or people from other worlds cannot possibly be seen by eye consciousness. Eye consciousness absolutely cannot see people from past lives or other worlds; otherwise, all sentient beings would have the divine eye (dibba-cakkhu). Without the divine eye, eye consciousness cannot see people and things from past lives, future lives, or other worlds. If eye consciousness could see them, the eye faculty would be able to confront those forms. In reality, the eye faculty cannot confront those forms nor make contact with them. Otherwise, the eye faculty could go to past lives and other worlds, and the body faculty could also go to other worlds. In fact, the body remains asleep in bed, having gone nowhere.

Dreams are isolated realms, dharma object realms directly manifested by seeds output by the tathagatagarbha. Only manas and the sixth consciousness can make contact with them, and only the sixth consciousness can clearly discern them. Manas outputs karmic seeds, manifesting the mental objects in dreams, because manas has a grasping and clinging nature. When manas grasps, the tathagatagarbha complies and manifests the dream. "Daytime thoughts, nighttime dreams" illustrates this principle. It is precisely because of the thoughts and contemplations of manas's volition that manas manifests dreams.

21. Who Decides Sleep?

Sleep is also decided by manas. When it knows the body needs rest, it decides to sleep, no longer wishing to discern the six sense objects. At this point, it cuts off the discernment of the five sense consciousnesses and mental consciousness, thus entering the sleep state. Of course, during sleep, there are no six consciousnesses, only manas and the tathagatagarbha. So who sleeps? If manas is greedy for the six sense objects and always wishes to discern, unwilling to stop, then it does not decide to sleep, and the six consciousnesses must continuously discern and act. Mental consciousness may feel uncomfortable without sleep, but if manas's interest is too intense, the six consciousnesses must remain alert, greedily engaging with the six sense objects without ceasing. Therefore, sleep is decided by manas. During sleep, when manas discerns that the physical body has recovered energy and is no longer fatigued, it decides to discern the six sense objects and thus wakes up. Therefore, waking is also decided by manas.

Manas perceives all dharmas; there is no dharma it cannot perceive. If manas does not perceive a certain dharma, mental consciousness cannot discern that dharma, because mental consciousness arises dependent on manas and mental objects (mano-dhātu).

22. Does Manas Know It Is Sleeping?

While sleeping, manas is clearly aware that it is sleeping because sleep is decided and brought about by manas. It must care for the physical body to prevent excessive fatigue. When rest is needed, manas decides to cease discerning the six sense objects. The tathagatagarbha, complying, ceases to give rise to the six consciousnesses. With the six consciousnesses extinguished, sleep occurs. Moreover, during sleep, manas does not overly focus on the six sense objects, reduces interest, and minimizes activity to ensure the physical body rests and nourishes itself. Unless a special matter arises that manas cannot handle, it allows its tool—the six consciousnesses—to handle it, at which point one wakes up. Or, when the body has rested sufficiently, manas discerns this and allows the six consciousnesses to emerge, naturally waking up. Or, at a predetermined time, regardless of sufficient rest, manas leads the awakening from sleep.

From the above, during sleep, manas must know it is sleeping, so its behavior differs from when awake. If manas did not know it was sleeping, its behavior during sleep should be the same as when awake. If not restricted by something, manas would not be content without clear perception and discernment of the six sense objects nor without the activities of the five aggregates. If manas, due to some important matter, needs the six consciousnesses to handle it together, it does not wish to sleep, the six consciousnesses cannot disappear, and sleep becomes impossible.

23. Do Children Wet the Bed Due to Dreams of Needing to Urinate?

When a child dreams of urgently needing to urinate at night and wets the bed, not only are the sixth, seventh, and eighth consciousnesses present, but because physical and mental actions occur during bedwetting, subtle body consciousness and mental consciousness arise, so four consciousnesses are operating. In the dream, mental consciousness feels the need to urinate, manas instructs mental consciousness to find a place to handle it. Because the child is accustomed to urinating anywhere, it does not distinguish time or place, resulting in bedwetting. The tathagatagarbha, discerning manas's volition, first awakens and gives rise to mental consciousness accompanied by the five sense consciousnesses (samprayukta-manovijñāna). The isolated consciousness is replaced by mental consciousness accompanied by the five, body consciousness arises, and then bedwetting, scratching, turning over, and other physical actions occur. When such things happen at night, sleep is not very sufficient. If dreams are frequent and long, the quality of a night's sleep is poor.

24. How Do Dreams Appear?

Dreams arise from manas's grasping and attachment to experienced or unexperienced matters. The tathagatagarbha, complying with its grasping nature, manifests the dream. Manas's grasping and attachment belong to its nature of pervasive conceptualization. All mental formations of manas are known by the tathagatagarbha, which, knowing them, complies with manas's mental inclinations and karmic force to manifest dreams, allowing sentient beings to continue grasping and attaching in dreams. If manas does not grasp or attach, the tathagatagarbha will not actively manifest dreams.

Therefore, when some practitioners gain strength, their dreams gradually change from turbid to pure, from many to few. This is because their practice has subdued manas. After being influenced by practice, manas has reduced ignorance and diminished attachment. The manas of Arhats, having severed all self-attachment afflictions and eliminated greed for worldly dharmas, rarely experiences dreams.

In dreams, the manifest operation of the sixth consciousness, seventh consciousness, and tathagatagarbha—three consciousnesses—occurs. The first five consciousnesses are absent. Therefore, dream images are hazy, unlike the clarity of wakefulness. When awake, the five sense objects are clear and distinct; in dreams, they are not. Although upon waking, one feels one saw forms with the eyes, one cannot see the colors of people and things. Although one can feel colors, feel spaciousness, feel light and dark, this is only the feeling of mental consciousness, not the eye consciousness truly seeing these scenes. The realms seen in dreams and wakefulness differ greatly.

For example, seeing people from past lives or other worlds cannot be seen by eye consciousness. Eye consciousness absolutely cannot see people from past lives or other worlds; otherwise, all sentient beings would have the divine eye. Without the divine eye, eye consciousness cannot see people and things from past lives, future lives, or other worlds. If eye consciousness could see them, the eye faculty would be able to confront those forms. In reality, the eye faculty cannot confront those forms nor make contact with them. Otherwise, the eye faculty could go to past lives and other worlds, and the body faculty could also go to other worlds. In fact, the body remains asleep in bed, having gone nowhere.

Dreams are isolated realms, dharma object realms directly manifested by seeds output by the tathagatagarbha. Only manas and the sixth consciousness can make contact with them, and only the sixth consciousness can clearly discern them. Manas outputs karmic seeds, manifesting the mental objects in dreams, because manas has a grasping and clinging nature. When manas grasps, the tathagatagarbha complies and manifests the dream. "Daytime thoughts, nighttime dreams" illustrates this principle. It is precisely because of the thoughts and contemplations of manas's volition that manas manifests dreams.

25. Who Decides Sleep?

Sleep is also decided by manas. When it knows the body needs rest, it decides to sleep, no longer wishing to discern the six sense objects. At this point, it cuts off the discernment of the five sense consciousnesses and mental consciousness, thus entering the sleep state. Of course, during sleep, there are no six consciousnesses, only manas and the tathagatagarbha. So who sleeps? If manas is greedy for the six sense objects and always wishes to discern, unwilling to stop, then it does not decide to sleep, and the six consciousnesses must continuously discern and act. Mental consciousness may feel uncomfortable without sleep, but if manas's interest is too intense, the six consciousnesses must remain alert, greedily engaging with the six sense objects without ceasing. Therefore, sleep is decided by manas. During sleep, when manas discerns that the physical body has recovered energy and is no longer fatigued, it decides to discern the six sense objects and thus wakes up. Therefore, waking is also decided by manas.

Manas perceives all dharmas; there is no dharma it cannot perceive. If manas does not perceive a certain dharma, mental consciousness cannot discern that dharma, because mental consciousness arises dependent on manas and mental objects.

26. Does Manas Know It Is Asleep While Sleeping?

While sleeping, manas is clearly aware that it is asleep because sleep is decided and brought about by manas. It must care for the physical body to prevent excessive fatigue. When rest is needed, manas decides to cease discerning the six sense objects. The tathagatagarbha, complying, ceases to give rise to the six consciousnesses. With the six consciousnesses extinguished, sleep occurs. Moreover, during sleep, manas does not overly focus on the six sense objects, reduces interest, and minimizes activity to ensure the physical body rests and nourishes itself. Unless a special matter arises that manas cannot handle, it allows its tool—the six consciousnesses—to handle it, at which point one wakes up. Or, when the body has rested sufficiently, manas discerns this and allows the six consciousnesses to emerge, naturally waking up. Or, at a predetermined time, regardless of sufficient rest, manas leads the awakening from sleep.

From the above, during sleep, manas must know it is sleeping, so its behavior differs from when awake. If manas did not know it was sleeping, its behavior during sleep should be the same as when awake. If not restricted by something, manas would not be content without clear perception and discernment of the six sense objects nor without the activities of the five aggregates. If manas, due to some important matter, needs the six consciousnesses to handle it together, it does not wish to sleep, the six consciousnesses cannot disappear, and sleep becomes impossible.

Sleep and waking are both governed by manas. Therefore, when one is asleep, in the state of sleep, manas certainly knows it. When manas diligently practices, it decides to practice diligently day and night, not greedy for sleep. Especially when practicing the Pratyutpanna Samādhi (constant walking meditation) for ninety days without sleep, it is entirely due to the diligence of manas, decided by manas. Some people sleep very deeply; even a mountain collapse does not wake them. This is because manas feels the body is too fatigued and does not wish to wake up, or manas wishes to wake up but the body's condition does not permit it. If manas discerns the body faculty is relatively fatigued or finds the current six sense objects extremely dull, it reduces grasping and then falls asleep.

27. Can Manas Introspect Itself or Not?

If mental consciousness lacks wisdom, it cannot observe or determine what manas is doing or has done. When mental consciousness lacks wisdom, it doesn't even know. Therefore, it is utterly unreasonable for many people to trust their own judgment so much.

Just as since beginningless time, our tathagatagarbha has done many, many things for the five-aggregate world, yet our mental consciousness is ignorant and completely unaware. And because of this ignorance, it denies the existence of the tathagatagarbha and its meritorious deeds. Your mental consciousness not knowing does not mean it does not exist. Similarly, due to ignorance, not observing the operation of manas does not mean manas lacks those functions or cannot operate in such ways.

When asleep, mental consciousness may not know it is asleep because there is no mental consciousness during sleep. But does manas know it is asleep? Manas absolutely knows it is asleep, so it does not wish the five-aggregate body to have activity. If manas did not know it was asleep, it would want to engage in everything. However, manas knows it is asleep and knows it is dark, so it does not wish to know too much or too finely about the six sense objects. The six consciousnesses obediently do not manifest at all, and the body obediently remains still. Manas knows it is itself sleeping, so manas has introspective power and self-awareness (svasaṃvitti). It's just that mental consciousness cannot observe manas, so it claims manas does not know it is asleep and lacks introspective power. In deep sleep, mental consciousness not knowing does not mean manas does not know. This shows that the two consciousnesses are still confused—the knowing or not knowing of mental consciousness is mistaken for the knowing or not knowing of manas.

Similarly, when unconscious, manas certainly knows it is unconscious, so when conditions for wakefulness appear, it struggles hard to wake up and move. When entering samādhi, manas knows it is in samādhi. When dying, it knows it is dying. In a vegetative state, manas similarly knows. Therefore, in these special states, its mental formations and manifestations differ from normal times. Thus, a conclusion: only the ignorant say manas knows nothing, does nothing, and is incapable. If manas were nothing, then what are you yourself? Also nothing! Because you are manas!