The Function of the Mental Faculty (Manas) and the Mental Factor of Wisdom (Prajñā-Caitta)

The elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) is the manas negating the reality of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha); enlightenment—seeing one's true mind—is the manas acknowledging the reality of the tathāgatagarbha. In both kinds of realization, it is ultimately the manas that is functioning. So, in the elimination of self-view and in the awakening to the true mind, is it the manas's wisdom that is operating, or its deliberation (manana)?

In the process of eliminating self-view and realizing the mind and seeing its nature, both the manas's deliberative nature and its mental concomitant of wisdom are operating. Because the manas possesses the capacity for discernment, recognition, cognition, decision-making, sovereignty, clinging, and attachment, there is the functioning of the mental concomitant of wisdom; without wisdom, none of these functions would exist. It is only that the functional character of this wisdom is rather special: it is broad and general in nature, unable to be focused and deep; its discernment cannot be too specific or fine. Therefore, the dharmas of the six sense-objects require the cooperation of the six consciousnesses for discernment, after which the manas makes its own unique discernment, judgment, and decision. This also involves the functioning of the mental concomitant of wisdom. Without the discerning wisdom of this mental concomitant, the manas would have no consciousness-nature and would possess only the nature of a sense faculty; but the manas possesses both natures.

The manas's deliberative nature universally accompanies the manas's operation. As long as the manas exists, its deliberative nature is also operating moment after moment. Because the manas deliberates moment by moment, decides moment by moment, and exercises sovereignty moment by moment, all dharmas can arise moment after moment without ceasing; otherwise, there would be times when all dharmas were interrupted and discontinuous. As long as the manas has objects upon which it relies, and as long as it applies its mental application (manasikāra) and makes contact with all dharmas, the manas's deliberative nature will manifest upon all dharmas, and only then can all dharmas operate and exist. Only through the ceaseless operation of the manas's deliberative nature can there be the operation of the manas's mental concomitant of wisdom. The manas is universally present within all dharmas, and thus the manas's five universal mental concomitants must be universally present in the operation of all dharmas; this is the prerequisite for the arising of the manas's wisdom. The five universal mental concomitants of the other consciousnesses are likewise.

Therefore, in the process of eliminating self-view and realizing the mind in awakening, the manas's deliberative nature is operating throughout. The process of deliberation also reflects the manas's wisdom: with different degrees of wisdom, the process, content, and result of deliberation differ, the conclusions drawn differ, the decisions made differ, and the actions and beneficial enjoyment of the six consciousnesses differ. Because the manas, when deliberating on the five aggregates, possesses the wisdom of the emptiness of the Small Vehicle, it can recognize that the five aggregates are empty and selfless, and thus eliminate self-view. And because the manas, when deliberating on the eighth consciousness, possesses the wisdom of the Mahāyāna dharma, it can recognize the reality of the eighth consciousness, and thus the wisdom of suchness can be born. The manas's deliberative nature and its discerning wisdom operate in mutual support and coordination; lacking either one, all dharmas could not function normally.