Section Five: The Mental Factors of Samadhi (2)

16. Wisdom Arises Only When Manas Attains Samadhi

The mystery of cultivating samadhi lies in manas; the goal is manas; the purpose is manas. It is to subdue manas and to bring forth its function. When consciousness (vijnana) focuses the mind on one point, it compels manas to direct its attention to that one point. When consciousness is not scattered, manas is also not scattered. When the six consciousnesses are not scattered, there is less discrimination, and they do not disturb manas, allowing manas to concentrate its attention. When the thoughts of consciousness are subtle, clear, and detailed, their content is transmitted to manas. Manas can then concentrate its attention on the dharmas contemplated and analyzed by consciousness. When manas is not scattered, it can also single-mindedly ponder these dharmas. Only then can the dharma be realized.

The Buddha taught the Four Foundations of Mindfulness for us to cultivate samadhi. The principle is that through the directed attention (manaskara) of consciousness, manas is directed to attend to the object focused on by consciousness without scattering. For example, manas should continuously attend to the breathing and walking perceived by the body faculty, attending to nothing else and not grasping at other objects. Only then can it single-mindedly ponder the dharmas discriminated by consciousness, leading to sudden awakening and the arising of wisdom. Sudden awakening refers to the awakening of manas; gradual understanding of principles is the result of consciousness analyzing bit by bit.

Visualizing a very interesting state binds manas to this visualization. The mind quiets down, the energy channels flow, and the mental feeling is comfortable, making manas more interested. Focusing on the dharma and attaining samadhi then becomes effortless. Consciousness is very intelligent; thinking and analyzing a dharma is not a problem. The key difficulty is making manas understand. Manas must also not scatter its attention; it must single-mindedly ponder until it finally reaches its own conclusion, leading to a sudden, great awakening and realization of the dharma. Various samadhi states then manifest in body and mind, all presented by manas.

17. All Samadhi is the Samadhi of Manas

Upon entering the samadhi of cessation of feeling and perception (nirodha-samapatti), consciousness ceases, but manas is still functioning. Is this samadhi the samadhi of manas or of consciousness? At this time, manas is still active; there are still the mental factors of attention (manaskara), contact (sparsa), and volition (cetana). As long as the volition mental factor operates, states will appear. If manas did not attend, contact, or think, the physical body would collapse into nirvana. Therefore, manas is still active in the samadhi of cessation. But the samadhi at this time is definitely the samadhi of manas, not of consciousness, because consciousness has disappeared. If a vanished consciousness could still have samadhi, then one should also have samadhi after falling asleep.

Without the appearance of the six consciousnesses, the mental activity of manas neither feels nor thinks. This precisely is samadhi. Reduced operation is samadhi. During the samadhi of cessation (nirodha-samapatti) and the samadhi of non-perception (asamjni-samapatti), the six consciousnesses are not present. Then who is in samadhi? It must be the samadhi of manas. In the samadhi of non-perception and the samadhi of cessation, the six consciousnesses are absent; they have all ceased. How then could the six consciousnesses abide or dwell in these samadhis? Clearly, this is impossible. If there are no six consciousnesses, yet they still have samadhi, how could that be? Being unconscious without the six consciousnesses would mean entering samadhi. Should we all just become unconscious then? Falling asleep without the six consciousnesses would mean entering samadhi. Should we all just sleep then, without needing to sit in meditation to enter samadhi?

If manas has no samadhi, its grasping nature remains the same as before, and all dharmas can fully manifest. Could the six consciousnesses then quiet down? We sit quietly wanting to enter samadhi and contemplate the Buddha Dharma, but manas wants to listen to birdsong, admire the scenery, and discriminate past people, events, and objects. The six consciousnesses then become chaotic in discrimination. How could they quiet down to contemplate the Buddha Dharma? Could the six consciousnesses enter samadhi? This is impossible. Therefore, it is said that all samadhi is the samadhi of manas. Only when manas is stabilized can the six consciousnesses quiet their minds to contemplate.

Manas is the turning consciousness, the leader of all dharmas. If manas is not stabilized, all dharmas will uncontrollably appear, and the six consciousnesses will be pulled around to discriminate and act. How could there be samadhi then? Samadhi stabilizes the master, the commander. What use is stabilizing servants or soldiers? For example, to stop and stabilize a car, one must stabilize the driver, making him step on the brake. What use is stabilizing the passenger or co-driver next to the driver? Can they stop the car? To stop a thief from stealing, one must stop the thief. What use is stopping unrelated people? Since manas is called the turning consciousness, and all dharmas are turned out by it, then samadhi must be the samadhi of manas. When manas is stabilized, it will not turn out unnecessary dharmas, and the mind can cease. Manas turns out the six consciousnesses; stabilizing the six consciousnesses without stabilizing manas is useless, as the six consciousnesses will still be turned out by manas.

In summary, samadhi is the samadhi of manas. The purpose of cultivating samadhi is to stabilize manas. Only then can there be samadhi, and all dharmas cease to manifest. If manas is restrained, all dharmas can be accomplished. If manas is not restrained, one will revolve in the six paths. Therefore, there is no dharma that is not manas.

18. Entering and Exiting Samadhi Are Determined by Manas

Samadhi is divided into many types and levels. Different levels of samadhi have different functions, differing only in the magnitude of their effect. The samadhi of cessation is entered by manas. In the four dhyanas and the four formless attainments, consciousness exists; one could say consciousness has samadhi. In the samadhi of cessation, consciousness has already ceased; only manas and the eighth consciousness (alayavijnana) remain. If one says manas has no samadhi, then the samadhi of cessation cannot be called samadhi. It is utterly unreasonable to say manas has no samadhi. Even the samadhi of consciousness, the samadhi of the six consciousnesses, is the result of manas being stabilized; otherwise, the six consciousnesses absolutely could not be stable.

Entering and exiting samadhi are both determined by manas. When manas gradually ceases grasping and directing attention, the mind of the six consciousnesses quiets down, and one enters samadhi. Upon entering the samadhi of non-perception, the six consciousnesses cease; only manas and the eighth consciousness remain. Manas still clings to the physical body. If manas decides to empty the physical body, one enters the samadhi of cessation. Who enters the samadhi of cessation? Manas enters the samadhi of cessation. The six consciousnesses have already ceased and do not exist; it is not the six consciousnesses entering the samadhi of cessation. Nor is it the eighth consciousness entering the samadhi of cessation, because the eighth consciousness neither enters nor exits samadhi. The self-mind is never scattered nor concentrated; it is thoughtless, non-conceptual, and non-proclaiming. The mind-substance operates within all dharmas yet is always in samadhi.

In the samadhi of cessation and the samadhi of non-perception, how is the time for exiting samadhi determined, and how does one exit? Since both samadhis lack the six consciousnesses, who exits? In samadhi without the six consciousnesses, it can only be manas in samadhi. Exiting must be manas exiting, then making choices and acting. The eighth consciousness is not inside or outside samadhi; samadhi is also not for stabilizing the eighth consciousness. Therefore, samadhi must be for stabilizing manas, and exiting samadhi is also manas exiting. Before entering samadhi, consciousness informs manas to exit at five o'clock tomorrow. At five o'clock the next day, manas immediately stirs, decides to discriminate objects, and the six consciousnesses exit samadhi and begin grasping the related objects of the six dusts (senses), because manas, for survival, inevitably acts this way.

19. The Samadhi of the Six Consciousnesses is Caused by Manas

The eyes do not move, staring straight at one place. Whose samadhi is this? What causes it? Why is it so? When the eyes stare straight at a certain place, eye-consciousness is definitely stabilized, the five-sense consciousnesses accompanying it are also stabilized, and the independent consciousness (manovijnana) does not appear. If it appears, it constitutes distraction, also called the mind being like a monkey or thought being like a galloping horse. This samadhi is manas stabilizing eye-consciousness and consciousness on the place manas is attending to. It is caused by the attention (manaskara) of manas; it is the result of manas attending to this one place. The Tathagatagarbha gives rise to eye-consciousness only to discriminate this one place; there is no second or third place. If manas attends to multiple visual objects, the Tathagatagarbha will necessarily give rise to eye-consciousness and consciousness at multiple places, and eye-consciousness will then dart around everywhere.

When consciousness is concentrated in contemplation, this is the samadhi of the independent consciousness. The eye faculty may contact a visual object, but eye-consciousness and the accompanying five-sense consciousnesses do not discriminate it. This samadhi is also facilitated by manas. Manas wants to understand a problem, so it makes consciousness concentrate and contemplate, ignoring other things, not seeing, not hearing, not paying attention. Therefore, only when manas is focused can the six consciousnesses be focused and unmoving. The six consciousnesses are mobilized and directed by manas.

Children with hyperactivity, due to lack of concentration, generally do not study well. Similarly, if the mind is scattered while learning Buddhism, one cannot cultivate well. When calculating math problems, whether manas concentrates or not results in different outcomes. Superficially, it seems like the concentration or lack thereof of consciousness, but whether consciousness is concentrated or not is determined by manas. Only when manas is stabilized can consciousness concentrate. The depth of manas's samadhi differs, its thinking ability differs, its intelligence differs, its functioning differs, and thus the results differ. Poets chanting poetry and painting, concentrating in quiet contemplation, pacing while refining words, share the same skill as Chan meditation. Only with samadhi can there be wisdom. For a great matter like learning Buddhism, without samadhi one absolutely cannot succeed; shallow samadhi also cannot solve problems.

20. Mindful Concentration Arises When Manas Does Not Grasp

Because manas grasps all dharmas, its discriminative wisdom certainly cannot be detailed. If we grasp at very many things, the mind-consciousness is scattered and unfocused, discrimination likewise cannot be detailed, and the power of wisdom-discrimination is very poor. Therefore, when we need to clarify a problem, we should concentrate the mind on the problem needing contemplation. Consciousness then has samadhi. With samadhi, contemplating problems can be detailed, wisdom can arise, and the problem is solved. When contemplating problems, pacing in a room can be called walking meditation, also a form of cultivating samadhi and investigation, combining samadhi and wisdom.

21. Inconsistency Between Speech and Action is Due to Lack of Samadhi

Some people's consciousness can chant lofty principles up to the level of an eighth-ground Bodhisattva, but the cultivation of their manas remains at the level of an ordinary person. Why is there such a big difference? It is precisely because they never cultivate samadhi, do not contemplate carefully within samadhi to influence manas, and the wisdom of manas cannot keep up with the understanding of consciousness. Consequently, all actions of body, speech, and mind correspond to the ignorance of manas, and what consciousness says can never be actualized.

It is evident that samadhi is extremely important. Samadhi is the platform for communication between consciousness and manas; samadhi is the bridge for consciousness to transmit theoretical knowledge to manas; samadhi is the channel for consciousness to provide data and information to manas; samadhi is the place for consciousness to submit evidence to manas; samadhi is the indispensable nourishment for manas to be influenced and understand principles; samadhi is the calming pill to subdue manas.

The Buddha's teaching of the Threefold Training of precepts, samadhi, and wisdom is of extremely profound significance. The Buddha does not deceive us. The Buddha is one who speaks truthfully, speaks realistically, and speaks without deviation. The Buddha is the embodiment of great wisdom, immeasurable wisdom, and supreme wisdom. Believing and accepting the Buddha's words will certainly lead to Buddhahood.

22. Buddha-Recitation Samadhi is Achieved by Manas

Reciting the Buddha's name has three levels. The shallowest level is consciousness reciting alone; manas does not engage in recitation. This is scattered-mind recitation, done perfunctorily, for show, not true recitation. It does not resonate with the Buddhas, and the merit of recitation is very small. The next level is manas and consciousness reciting together, with shallow samadhi. It is semi-focused recitation, which can have slight resonance with the Buddhas. The deepest level is manas reciting alone. The recitation is relatively sincere, resonates with the Buddhas, can induce Buddha-Recitation Samadhi, and the merit of recitation is great.

When consciousness recites but manas does not like to recite, the mind is relatively scattered. One can recite while watching TV, talking, having wandering thoughts, and mixing in many things. When manas recites, one can recite while sleeping, while dreaming, while working, while contemplating problems; one can recite while doing anything, and Buddha-Recitation Samadhi can appear. Therefore, Buddha-Recitation Samadhi is necessarily initiated by manas. Manas can recite the Buddha's name at all times, without interruption, with samadhi, experiencing physical and mental lightness and ease, with a sense of joy.

There was a person who participated in a Buddha-name recitation retreat aiming for a million recitations. Reciting one million times in a week, he held a 1080-bead mala in his hand. After finishing one round, he moved one bead on a 108-bead mala. Thus, his hands constantly moved the beads while his mouth continuously recited the Buddha's name. Simultaneously, he could watch TV, express opinions, observe others doing things, and sometimes even get angry. Truly busy! But what use is reciting like this? Manas grasps everywhere, consciousness has to recite pretentiously, without any focus. It is evident that only by subduing manas can one have recitation samadhi, can one have Buddha-Recitation Samadhi. Samadhi is still about stabilizing manas; stabilizing consciousness does not solve the problem.

23. Only When Manas is Stable Can the Six Consciousnesses Stabilize

Question: Manas silently contains all dharmas. Can "silently contains" be understood as passive acceptance? For example, the sound dust among the six sense objects: a sound is piercing, even if one doesn't want to hear it, there's no way unless one moves away from the cause and condition of the sound dust, or unless manas places its attention on other content.

Answer: The meaning of "manas silently contains all dharmas" is that manas, following the Tathagatagarbha, can see all dharmas and know all dharmas. On all dharmas, there is not only the operation of the eighth consciousness but also the operation of manas. The operation of these two consciousnesses is extremely profound and subtle. The so-called profundity and subtlety are because the samadhi and wisdom of consciousness are insufficient to observe the subtle and even subtler operations of these two consciousnesses; hence it is said that the dharmas of manas and the Tathagatagarbha are profound and subtle, and the operation of the mind-consciousness is even more profound and subtle.

Not wanting to hear a sound and wanting to move away from it is consciousness. When manas knows this thought of consciousness, it decides to place its attention on other dharmas. Passively accepting objects is done by the six consciousnesses. Due to the habitual discriminatory power of manas, consciousness cannot subdue it and is forced to discriminate some objects it does not wish to discriminate. The situation where manas passively accepts objects is: the Tathagatagarbha manifests objects of the six dusts and non-six dusts based on ripened karma-seeds; manas must then passively accept and discriminate them. Many of these are adverse conditions and adverse circumstances; there are also karmic retributions of good deeds.

When consciousness wants to enter samadhi and not receive objects of the six dusts, but manas has not been subdued, it will continuously make the six consciousnesses discriminate objects manas is interested in or objects manas habitually grasps at. The six consciousnesses will then ceaselessly discriminate according to manas. Consciousness must then continuously draw manas to stabilize on the dharma consciousness wants to contemplate and think about. When manas is persuaded and subdued by consciousness, manas reduces grasping and discrimination, stabilizes on the six dusts that need focused discrimination, and only then can the six consciousnesses enter samadhi. Actually, it is still manas that has samadhi first; only then can the six consciousnesses manage to stabilize.

24. Manas and Samadhi Are Key to Cultivation

After sitting quietly contemplating and investigating, energy becomes increasingly abundant, ultimately overcoming dullness. This is a good sign. Being able to continue contemplating and investigating after leaving the seat indicates that manas has formed a habit of contemplation and can diligently apply effort. This is the result of samadhi. All cultivation, as long as it relates to samadhi and manas, will be effective, yield results, and the cultivation will be grounded in the root. If there is no samadhi in cultivation, it also means it is not connected to manas, has not influenced manas, has not taken root in manas, the seven factors of enlightenment cannot manifest, there will be no true diligence, and one cannot realize the Buddha Dharma.

The key points of both worldly and transcendental dharmas lie in manas. Therefore, apart from manas, there is nothing to discuss. The ultimate, essential, and fundamental nature of all dharmas is the Tathagatagarbha and manas. To speak of other things is too superficial. Cultivation must also be done on manas. Cultivating only up to consciousness is too shallow; one cannot transcend the desire realm, cannot escape the three evil paths, and will forever be under the control of the demon king. Therefore, the dharmas of samadhi and manas are what the demon king fears and dreads most. He fears that Buddhists will attain samadhi and have the ability to transcend the desire realm; he fears that Buddhists will cultivate manas, realize the Buddha Dharma, and escape his control. Therefore, he tries by all means to prevent Buddhists from cultivating samadhi and prevent Buddhists from realizing the Dharma. If we wish to attain liberation and not be controlled by the desire realm demons, we must diligently cultivate samadhi, strive to make manas cultivate, in order to swiftly realize Bodhi and embark on the path of liberation.

25. How to Make Manas "Abide Here, Abide Here"

For a dharma to penetrate deep into the heart, one must enter deep samadhi, practice both cessation and contemplation (shamatha-vipashyana). Frequently contemplating within samadhi will form uninterrupted attention (abhimukhi-manaskara), thus achieving "abide here, abide here" (constant mindfulness). Manas will then firmly hold onto this dharma, silently investigating it. One day, this dharma will be thoroughly understood. If samadhi is lacking, the meaning of the dharma cannot penetrate the heart, cannot form a sense of doubt (investigative doubt), and thus there will be no breakthrough, no ability to investigate and realize the substantive connotation. Therefore, only by cultivating samadhi can manas be sufficiently influenced. Only when manas has samadhi can wisdom arise and the Buddha Dharma be realized.

26. The Arising and Ceasing Characteristics of the Six Consciousnesses Are the Result of Manas's Restless Activity

From the perspective of characteristics, the first six consciousnesses constantly arise, cease, and change. Even during normal daytime conditions, they continuously arise from this dharma, cease from that dharma, then cease from this dharma, and arise from another dharma. The nature of the six consciousnesses is this ceaseless arising and ceasing; they fundamentally have no stability. Why do the six consciousnesses arise and cease on various dharmas? It is because of the fluctuations of manas's thoughts, the constant shifting of manas's grasping of dharmas, and the unsettled nature of manas. If manas is subdued, the mind is not scattered, manas's thoughts and mental states will not jump incessantly; they will stabilize on one or several dharmas, and the six consciousnesses will also not scatter. They will not arise and discriminate everywhere, nor jump around.

27. Samadhi States Are Induced by Manas

Observe a Buddha statue for ten seconds, then look at a white wall; the image of the Buddha statue will appear, but it will disappear after a while. How does this state appear? This is the phenomenon of persistence of vision, a memory function of eye-consciousness and consciousness, not yet penetrating deep into manas. Manas has not remembered it yet. If manas remembers, this image will appear long-term. If eye-consciousness and consciousness observe for a long time, it will influence manas. Once manas remembers, the image will appear anytime, anywhere; this is a samadhi state. Persistence of vision based mainly on eye-consciousness is short; based mainly on consciousness is longer, and one can still see it after closing and reopening the eyes.

What is photographic memory? Content remembered solely by consciousness is forgotten relatively quickly. Things remembered by manas are hard to forget; one might even recall them unconsciously, or they might even be hard to get rid of. Photographic memory means manas's samadhi is deep, so instantaneous memory is very firm. If manas's samadhi is shallow, things remembered are forgotten quickly. Therefore, all samadhi states are induced by manas. Consciousness cannot induce lasting samadhi states; it can only very briefly manifest certain states. If we wish to achieve various samadhis, we must penetrate deep into manas; the states must be induced by manas.

The power of environmental influence is great. If someone around stutters and you often watch them speak, you might slowly be influenced to stutter a bit. Appearance, lifestyle, habits are also like this. Even emotions are contagious. We should associate more with optimistic, positive, uplifting people with positive energy; we can then be infected to be optimistic, uplifting, and proactive. Hence the saying: "Near vermilion, one becomes red; near ink, one becomes black." We must associate much with wholesome dharmas and wholesome people. Only if we have the ability should we then associate with evil people to liberate them.

If one frequently contemplates a Buddha statue, enters samadhi, and makes manas remember it, see if that image always appears before one's eyes? If one can make a Buddha image appear before one's eyes, then wouldn't we know how to cultivate samadhi? Wouldn't we know how to cultivate Buddha-Recitation Samadhi? Wouldn't we know how to cultivate the Contemplation of the Skeleton? Wouldn't we know how to cultivate the Contemplation Sutra? Contemplate the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. Consciousness diligently practices; manas achieves non-forgetting. When the time of death comes, regardless of other states, as long as the mind thinks of the Pure Land, manas can abide in the Pure Land, the Pure Land will manifest, and rebirth is assured. When diligently cultivating, whose diligence is more effective? Manas's diligence is effective. Manas's diligence is true diligence. If you wish the image of the Pure Land to manifest, then make manas recite the Buddha's name; make manas and consciousness together visualize the Pure Land.

28. The Relationship Between Manas and Samadhi States

At the culmination of the Contemplation of the Skeleton, one achieves the Skeleton-Contemplation Samadhi. Opening or closing the eyes, one can see one's own and others' physical bodies as skeletons. This belongs to the form born of samadhi (dhyana-nimitta-rupa); others cannot see it; only the person who has cultivated this samadhi state can see it. Such a samadhi state is achieved through consciousness's long-term visualization, successfully influencing manas. Manas then believes the physical body truly has the appearance of a skeleton. Consequently, the Tathagatagarbha manifests the skeleton appearance, and consciousness can see the skeleton appearance anytime, anywhere. Thus, the contemplation is accomplished.

Therefore, all samadhi states and samadhis are the result of consciousness visualizing and successfully influencing and changing manas; that is, they are achieved by manas. Manas, being influenced, attains samadhi, and only then do the samadhi states appear. Consciousness easily accepts various theories; it's just that manas, due to deep ignorance and habits, finds it hard to accept principles. This creates the difficulty in cultivation. The degree of ignorance in each sentient being's manas differs; habits also differ. The thinner the ignorance, the faster the cultivation, the easier it is to manifest samadhi, the easier to enter samadhi, the easier to realize the Dharma. When the Skeleton Contemplation is achieved, the view of the body (sakkaya-ditthi) is severed; one denies the body as self, greed is subdued, one no longer clings to the body, and attains a degree of liberation.

The same is true for the achievement of the Sun-Contemplation, and indeed for the achievement of all contemplations, all samadhi states. "When the mind is pure, the Buddha land is pure." Bodhisattvas thus achieve pure Buddha lands. This cannot be separated from consciousness, cannot be separated from manas, cannot be separated from the Tathagatagarbha, cannot be separated from samadhi states, cannot be separated from the achievement of samadhi.

29. All Visualization States Are Achieved by Manas

Question: When this disciple contemplates the setting sun, the eyes feel warm, and there is a faint sensation of yellow light, just no clear outline; it feels like a blurry mass of light. What is the reason for this?

Answer: This is the result of manas's attention. Manas attends to seeing the setting sun; attention is at the space between the eyebrows. After a long time, the eyes feel warm. Consciousness recalls the brightness of the setting sun, and it seems as if there is light before the eyes. Manas thinks of something; the Tathagatagarbha compliantly manifests whatever it thinks; then we have whatever it is. Our five aggregates are conjured up by the deluded thoughts of manas. For example, pointing at a stone and calling it gold: originally there is no gold, but manas in very strong samadhi insists on turning it into gold; the Tathagatagarbha has no choice but to turn it into gold for you. Originally we do not have a trichiliocosm (three-thousandfold world system), but when a Bodhisattva reaches the eighth ground, with both samadhi and wisdom very powerful, if manas thinks of having a trichiliocosm, the Tathagatagarbha compliantly conjures a trichiliocosm out of thin air.

Therefore, "All dharmas are mind-made" (cittamatra). One meaning is that the Tathagatagarbha directly creates for us. But what does the Tathagatagarbha base its creation on? It bases it on what manas thinks. Grasp what manas thinks, and you can have things as you wish. Manas thinks of good things and can create good things; manas thinks of bad things and creates bad things. For example, if manas has greed, hatred, and delusion, the Tathagatagarbha creates the suffering of birth and death in the six paths. Is consciousness thinking useful? Consciousness thinking is useful only if it influences manas, making manas think the same thing. If it doesn't make manas think likewise, consciousness's thinking has no effect. The principle is like this. What about our illnesses? If the body truly has cancer, but manas considers it nothing, the mind is carefree and empty; then the cancer disappears. If your mind believes it doesn't exist, the Tathagatagarbha withdraws the four great elements (mahabhuta) of that cancer; the cancer is gone. All dharmas arise from the mind; this is the principle.

Contemplate the setting sun; the mind thinks of the setting sun. In the future, achieve the samadhi state; opening or closing the eyes, it's all the setting sun, as if real. This is the Tathagatagarbha compliantly manifesting what manas thinks. The key is how to make consciousness's thought become manas's thought. Once manas's thought becomes unshakeable, the scene of the setting sun is instantly before one's eyes at all times. All samadhi states are cultivated this way. Cultivate one, then you can cultivate two, three, even four, five; infinite samadhis will manifest, and the world will change.

30. Manas Can Only Change Everything Within Samadhi

When using self-suggestion to contemplate the Buddha Dharma, consciousness often suggests to manas: "The five aggregates are empty; all dharmas are empty; they are all the functional manifestations of the Tathagatagarbha." After a certain time, manas will accept this and perhaps be able to sever the view of self (sakkaya-ditthi), thereby unleashing one's potential and changing oneself. This suggestion is similar to self-hypnosis. Adjust oneself to a relatively quiet and calm state, a state where one can hear the inner voice. Then one can perform self-suggestion.

Slowly articulate the above content about severing the view of self with intonation, influencing manas, and giving manas some buffer time to accept the information, organize thoughts, and contemplate the meaning of the dharma within the information. This requires a certain amount of time and a specific environmental setting—making manas not pay attention to other problems, only focus on the guided content. The inner mind should be calm, peaceful, and serene, able to fully accept the guidance of consciousness. If consciousness can guide where, manas can contemplate where, then manas is relatively obedient and has been preliminarily influenced, just not yet finally successful. The key lies in whether consciousness can observe manas's reaction, whether it has experience in guidance, and whether it truly understands the principle of non-self. Such guided hypnosis can be conducted repeatedly multiple times at appropriate times and settings. As long as consciousness is proficient in theory, can observe manas, can guide manas, and can maintain a stable and calm state, after a certain period, one can sever the view of self.

This state of guidance and hypnosis can be called a state of samadhi. This state can change manas's thoughts, thereby bringing forth the function of manas. Why is the change of manas related to samadhi? Why is bringing forth the function of manas related to samadhi? Why is changing oneself related to samadhi? Why is the accomplishment of all dharmas related to samadhi? Why is severing afflictions related to samadhi?

Because in samadhi, the six consciousnesses manifest less. Manas can reduce discrimination and response to the six consciousnesses; energy is concentrated, enabling focused contemplation. The power of consideration (cetana) is strong; one can recognize the truth of facts, recognize truth, give birth to wisdom. Then there is power in the mind; one can have very strong, correct power of choice (adhimoksha), thereby being able to subdue afflictions, change oneself, and even change all dharmas. Otherwise, consciousness clearly knows it is affliction but just cannot subdue it because manas's mental power is insufficient; it does not recognize it as affliction, so it cannot possibly decide to change itself. When manas is in a state without samadhi, it can grasp all dharmas, especially dharmas of the six dusts; it must grasp them. Mental power is not concentrated; it cannot single-mindedly contemplate; cannot recognize truth and facts; thus cannot have correct choice. After cultivating samadhi, manas grasps fewer dharmas; its contemplation is profound and subtle; its power of choice is great. All dharmas are changed within samadhi. All dharmas are governed by manas; they are changed by the Tathagatagarbha. In samadhi, the superficial thoughts of consciousness are controlled. Manas, with its powerful function, can change all dharmas.

Why does manas have potential? Why does inspiration come from manas? Because manas has experienced countless lifetimes; it knows too many things, unlike consciousness which only corresponds to the experiences of this lifetime. Since beginningless kalpas, manas has always existed, accumulating boundless and endless experiences. Like an old horse knowing the way, it knows everything. Mobilize manas, stimulate inspiration, bring forth its rich experiences from beginningless kalpas; it can also be the master—then nothing cannot be accomplished; one succeeds wherever one goes; is ever-victorious.

31. Manas's Discriminative Wisdom is Low Without Samadhi

Why is manas's discriminative wisdom (prajna) inferior? Because it grasps all dharmas; it grasps at every dharma, directs attention to every dharma, receives (vedana) every dharma, clings (upadana) to every dharma, considers (cetana) every dharma. Therefore, its attention is particularly scattered, unfocused, not concentrated, unable to focus attention on any particular dharma. It grasps at all dharmas; the mind-consciousness flows in too many directions, so samadhi cannot appear. Without samadhi, there is no very clear discriminative wisdom; it cannot clearly discriminate any dharma.

The more scattered the mind-consciousness, the less clear the discrimination. From this principle, it is said: without samadhi there is no wisdom. Consciousness should not grasp everywhere like manas, discriminate everywhere, be interested in everything, invest energy in everything. If it did, wisdom would also be very superficial; nothing would be clearly understood. Understanding the nature of manas, one knows that consciousness should not grasp everywhere, should not act everywhere; one must learn to concentrate; only then can wisdom arise. But consciousness's wide-ranging interests are still caused by manas grasping everywhere. Whether manas has samadhi determines whether consciousness has samadhi. Cultivating samadhi still requires focusing effort on manas.

Then, what should consciousness do if it wants to have samadhi? It must subdue manas, persuade and educate manas, tell it: "This dharma is false; that dharma is impermanent; this is empty; that is without self." Slowly, manas knows and accepts this principle and will consider: "Since it's all empty, impermanent, without self, why should I cling to these?" It then does not direct attention to many dharmas; attention is not scattered; consciousness can then concentrate.

Why, when manas is subdued, does consciousness have samadhi? Because whenever manas grasps any dharma, directs attention to any dharma, considers any dharma, the eighth consciousness will give rise to consciousness to follow manas in grasping that dharma, directing attention to that dharma, discriminating that dharma, considering that dharma. Thus, consciousness is pulled around everywhere by manas; of course, it has no samadhi. Consciousness without samadhi has no wisdom; manas likewise has no wisdom.

For cultivating samadhi to be effective, one must continuously suggest to manas: "All dharmas are empty, false, impermanent, without self." When manas understands, it will no longer grasp. Then, on many meaningless dharmas, consciousness also no longer needs to discriminate; it will concentrate on the currently most important mental object (dharmas), only on one mental object or two mental objects to discriminate. Thus, it stabilizes. Consciousness has samadhi; its discrimination of the mental object is very focused and concentrated; its discriminative wisdom is excellent; wisdom easily arises; one can contemplate the dharma clearly and thoroughly. This is the principle of cultivating samadhi.

Since manas grasps whatever dharma, consciousness subsequently discriminates whatever dharma, why are there still many things one does not know, like knowing nothing about past lives? Because the mental objects corresponding to manas and consciousness differ. The scope of mental objects corresponding to consciousness is smaller than that of manas. If manas grasps mental objects within the subtle mental faculty (manas-indriya), consciousness must follow and discriminate them. But some mental objects grasped by manas do not belong to the subtle mental faculty; they do not correspond to consciousness; the eighth consciousness cannot give rise to consciousness to discriminate them; consciousness then does not know.

Unless consciousness has psychic powers, the mental objects it discriminates can be almost the same as those of manas. When becoming a Buddha, consciousness may know all mental objects manifested by the eighth consciousness. Regarding the five sense objects, consciousness may also discriminate them. The first five consciousnesses may also discriminate mental objects. The eighth consciousness can also discriminate the six dusts. After all eight consciousnesses are transformed into wisdom, there are no limitations. The function of each consciousness expands to the limit. Even the mental factors (caitasika) of the eighth consciousness can have many functions. That is truly an extraordinary matter beyond our imagination. Therefore, the Buddha is the honored one of the three realms, supremely worthy of our reverence.

32. The Supernormal Power of Flight is Achieved by the Samadhi Mental Factor of Manas

When practicing the supernormal power of flight (rddhi), sit cross-legged on the seat. Consciousness visualizes the body rising one inch off the seat. When samadhi power is sufficient, the body can rise one inch off the seat. This is called "lifting the body with the mind." But is it consciousness that lifts the body? Not consciousness; consciousness thinking alone is useless. Manas must also want to do this; only then might it be possible for the master to lift the body. Then, while consciousness visualizes, manas is also striving to lift the body. Without samadhi power, manas is also willing to be the master and make the body fly; why can't it fly? Because without samadhi or insufficient samadhi power, manas's mental power is insufficient, its strength is not great, and the Tathagatagarbha cannot help.

The difference in manas's manifestation and strength between having samadhi and not having samadhi is so great precisely because without samadhi, manas's power is not full. In profound samadhi, the seeds of manas flow concentratedly; its power of choice (adhimoksha) and power of investigation (vicara) are great, and it can accomplish whatever it thinks of.