眾生無邊誓願度
煩惱無盡誓願斷
法門無量誓願學
佛道無上誓願成

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Dharma Teachings

02 Nov 2019    Saturday     2nd Teach Total 2003

The mindfulness of the mind consciousness is the result of the manas being mindful

If it is a dharma that the manas does not recollect, how could the mind consciousness recollect it? When the manas contacts the dharma it recollects and wishes to discern it clearly, the tathāgatagarbha, complying with this, gives rise to the mind consciousness; and the mind consciousness, following the manas's指令, will discern and recollect the dharma that the manas recollects. If the manas does not recollect a dharma, it does not contact that dharma, does not wish to discern it or engage in activity, and the tathāgatagarbha cannot give rise to the mind consciousness for any further act of recollection; thus there is no mind consciousness to recollect the dharma. Whatever dharma the manas does not recollect will not appear; the dharmas recollected by the mind consciousness are all the result of the manas's recollection, all the result of the manas's arrangement and mobilization. The mind consciousness cannot arise without the conditioning contact of the manas, and cannot arise without the decision of the manas's volitional mental factor (cetasika) of deliberation. The mind consciousness cannot by itself determine its own arising and all its activities; He is not the master consciousness, because of His lack of self-mastery (avaśatā); He is the tool of the manas, obeying the manas's dispatch.

——Master Sheng-Ru's Teachings
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