A Relatively Effort-Saving Method for Thinking About Questions

When the mind consciousness has no clue how to think through a problem, and even focused thinking feels very tiring, what should one do at such a time?

Just let the mind consciousness package and condense the problem, then hand it over to the manas, letting the manas carry the problem at all times and deliberate upon it, while the mind consciousness does whatever it needs to do. One can do some light activities, such as moving the body, tidying clothes, cleaning up, and so on, trying not to think about other matters, so as to avoid drawing too much of the manas' attention and distracting the manas so much that it cannot deliberate on the main problem.

During these light activities, although the manas is also distracted and its attention divided, it still devotes part of its energy to considering the problem. If the activities are too many or too large, the manas will be too distracted to consider the main problem. When the manas becomes especially interested in this problem and wants to solve it, it may continue deliberating even during sleep, and dreams may appear, in which it pulls the solitary mental consciousness along to think and investigate together, while still being able to sleep. This is the best and most effortless way—the mind consciousness does not feel tired.

If the mind consciousness is not afraid of getting tired, it should also focus on thinking about this problem during the day, working together with the manas to overcome the difficulty. This is the fastest method. If the mind consciousness, fearing fatigue, does not participate in the thinking, then once the manas has worked out a rough line of thought, the mind consciousness will still be needed to think it through in detail, still working together with the manas to solve the problem. But one overall principle is that the manas must participate; if the manas does not participate, the problem cannot be solved.