Profound Mental and Emotional States Originate from Manas

Hypnosis is a technique that utilizes psychological suggestion to communicate with the subconscious mind of the subject. Because the subconscious mind's functions of doubt and resistance towards external information weaken, the practitioner employs positive hypnotic suggestions, also referred to as messages, such as confidence, courage, and dignity, to replace the subject's original negative messages, also known as experiences, such as anxiety, fear, and depression. This enables the subject to enter a state different from their original one.

What does the above article about hypnosis illustrate? Where do human thoughts and emotions originate from? Especially those thoughts and emotions that are more hidden, difficult to perceive, manage, and overcome—where do they come from? Are these thoughts and emotions vedanā (feeling/sensation)? Is vedanā very complex? Why does vedanā exist?

The article illustrates that human thoughts and emotions all originate from the mental faculty (manas). They are the mental faculty's reaction to objects, the vedanā towards phenomena—that is, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness (vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, viññāṇa). Because objects are taken as real when encountered, the mind cannot remain unattached, and thus vedanā arises. Those thoughts and emotions are neither enjoyable nor pleasant, nor do they bring ease or comfort. This is why one lies awake all night, resorting to countless treatments to eliminate those thoughts, emotions, and sensations, unwilling to maintain them. These vedanā include pleasant feelings, unpleasant feelings, and neutral feelings that are neither unpleasant nor pleasant; vedanā is not limited to a single type.