Which of the manas and the mind consciousness is the subject that undergoes karmic retribution?

Some people say that since the manas does not feel pleasure or pain, it is not the recipient of retribution, and the manas does not receive retribution. In fact, the manas is the true recipient of retribution; the six consciousnesses are merely the tools and agents through which the manas receives retribution. Because even when the six consciousnesses are absent, sentient beings are still within their retribution. Regardless of whether the six consciousnesses exist, as long as a sentient being exists, that existence itself is a form of retribution. Moreover, the physical body is the body of retribution; it is the manas that takes the physical body as "self," and therefore the manas has a body of retribution. The retribution falls upon the manas, making the manas the one who receives it.

First, the matter of entering the womb, dwelling in the womb, and emerging from the womb is itself the karmic retribution of the manas. Conceiving and entering the womb is the affair of the manas. What kind of physical body and living environment one has is what the manas cares about most, so retribution is what the manas cares about most. Dwelling in the womb and emerging from the womb, as well as the living conditions throughout one's life, are also what the manas cares about most. Whether one's whole life is spent enjoying blessings or suffering hardship is what the manas cares about most; therefore the manas is the recipient of retribution. Second, death and one's destination after death are matters the manas is even more concerned about. At the time of death, the manas struggles and does not want to die; even when gravely ill and in unbearable pain, it does not decide to leave the physical body, refusing to breathe its last and abandon the body, unwilling to leave family and relatives. Even after becoming a vegetative patient, it is unwilling to depart and exchange for another physical body, still clinging to the faint activities of the five aggregates and continuing to endure painful retribution.

The manas takes the suffering of the five-aggregate body as its own suffering, takes the suffering of the six consciousnesses as its own suffering, takes the pleasure of the five-aggregate body and the six consciousnesses as its own pleasure, and takes the feelings of the five-aggregate body and the six consciousnesses as its own feelings. But even when the six consciousnesses are absent, the manas still has to endure all feelings of pleasure and pain and all retribution. For example, the pleasant feeling of the cessation-of-perception samādhi (asaṃjñi-samāpatti) and of the heaven of non-perception (asaṃjñi-sattva) is received by the manas alone; the pleasant feeling of the cessation samāpatti (nirodha-samāpatti) is received by the manas alone—without the mind consciousness, the mind consciousness does not receive it. The painful feelings of entering the womb and dwelling in the womb must be received by the manas alone, for there is no mind consciousness to receive them. The painful feelings at the time of death and unconsciousness must be received by the manas alone—without the mind consciousness, the mind consciousness does not receive them. While asleep, whether one sleeps soundly or restlessly, comfortably or uncomfortably, it is all received by the manas alone. Even if any accident occurs during sleep, such as being burned to death, it is all endured by the manas alone—without the mind consciousness, the mind consciousness does not receive it.

Even when the mind consciousness is present, any feeling of the mind consciousness is intimately connected with the manas. Everything the mind consciousness endures is as if the manas itself endured it, for the manas cares deeply about the feelings of the mind consciousness. Because the mind consciousness is a "self" belonging to the manas, something the manas possesses, the manas's assistant and prop. Retributing the mind consciousness is the same as retributing the manas. The manas absolutely does not want the mind consciousness to suffer painful retribution—not even slight suffering. For example, parents are the heads of a household; whatever suffering or pleasure the children encounter, the parents share in that suffering or pleasure. When others come to repay or take revenge on the parents, they do so indirectly through repaying or taking revenge on the children—retributing the children is the same as retributing the parents. The children's honor or disgrace, life or death, is intimately connected with the parents.

The manas is the faculty from which the mind consciousness arises; the mind consciousness is born with the manas as its condition. The manas is like the parent of the mind consciousness, so the mind consciousness receiving retribution is the same as the manas receiving retribution. Therefore, when the five aggregates suffer, the manas wants to avoid it; when the five aggregates experience pleasure, the manas clings to it with craving and cannot let go. In summary, the manas is the recipient of retribution, the true master of karmic retribution.