Is the manas neutral?

The neutral/indeterminate (avyākṛta) nature refers to a mental nature that belongs neither to the wholesome nor to the unwholesome, being of a character that is neither good nor evil. Because the manas is the consciousness that acts as the master, governing the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of sentient beings, if the manas had no wholesome nature, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of sentient beings could not include wholesome conduct, there would be no good people in the world, the heavenly realms would not exist, and sentient beings studying Buddhism could not become wholesome—studying Buddhism would be useless. If the manas had no unwholesome nature, it would not direct the six consciousnesses to create evil bodily and verbal actions, there would be no evil people in the world, and there would be no three evil paths in the world. In fact, this is not the case: it is precisely because the manas has wholesome and unwholesome mental actions that prompt the six consciousnesses to create wholesome and unwholesome deeds that there are good people and evil people in the world, and sentient beings undergo birth and death, transmigrating through the wholesome and unwholesome paths.

If the manas were neither wholesome nor unwholesome, then the manas would have no afflictive mental factors (caittas) and none of the eleven wholesome mental factors either; then sentient beings would originally have no afflictions, and in studying Buddhism there would be no need to eradicate afflictions; sentient beings would originally be unwholesome, and through studying Buddhism they could not become good people, let alone become Buddhas. If the manas had no wholesome or unwholesome nature and were of neutral (avyākṛta) nature, then all the good people in the world would have become good by transformation from neutral people of neither good nor evil, and all the evil people in the world would have become evil by transformation from neutral people; then there would be no innately good or innately evil people—all would have become so through the mind consciousness being conditioned after birth by wholesome and unwholesome dharmas. Yet this is impossible.

Moreover, such "good people" would merely be false good people whose mind consciousness is wholesome, and "evil people" would merely be false evil people whose mind consciousness is unwholesome; there would be no truly good people or truly evil people. If, no matter how the mind consciousness is conditioned by wholesome and unwholesome environments into becoming wholesome or unwholesome, the manas is never conditioned by the mind consciousness into becoming wholesome or unwholesome, then there would be no wholesome or unwholesome people, because the manas does not correspond with wholesome and unwholesome mental factors, has no good or evil, is neutral, and would forever remain neutral; then no matter how sentient beings cultivated, they could not become Buddhas, could not store karmic seeds of wholesome and unwholesome deeds, and could not undergo birth and death transmigrating through the six paths.

If that were so, the manas would not be the master consciousness; the activities of the five aggregates would not be decided by the manas, the manas and the mind consciousness would each govern independently, and the five aggregates would fall into chaos. The manas, as master, creates one kind of neutral (avyākṛta) karma, while the mind consciousness, as master, creates wholesome and unwholesome karma; the manas wants to go east while the mind consciousness wants to go west—where does the material body ultimately go? The mind consciousness wants to study Buddhism while the manas does not want to study Buddhism—how is the five-aggregate body to act? Can it split in two? Schizophrenia and split personality are both caused by severe inconsistency and disharmony between the mind consciousness and the manas, locked in stalemate with each other; the manas is beset by endless anguish, nearly on the verge of collapse. If the mind consciousness and the manas each had their own karmic seeds, there would be two sets of karmic retribution: the mind consciousness ascends to heaven while the manas descends into hell—ultimately, does the five-aggregate body go to heaven or into hell? Therefore, the manas has a wholesome and unwholesome nature and has wholesome and unwholesome mental factors; it is not merely of neutral (avyākṛta) nature.