The Power of Introspection of the Manas

Whether the manas can introspect itself or cannot introspect itself—if his mind consciousness lacks wisdom, it cannot observe it, nor can it judge what the manas has done or is doing; when the mind consciousness lacks wisdom, it simply does not know. So for so many people to trust their own judgment so completely is simply unreasonable.

It is like how, from beginningless kalpas, our tathāgatagarbha has done countless things for the world of the five aggregates, yet our mind consciousness, being ignorant, knows nothing of it at all; and because of this ignorance, it denies the existence of the tathāgatagarbha and the merits He performs. That your mind consciousness does not know does not mean He does not exist. By the same token, that ignorance cannot observe the functioning of the manas does not mean the manas lacks those functions and capacities, or that it cannot operate in this way or that way.

When asleep, the mind consciousness may not know that it is asleep, because when asleep there is no mind consciousness; but does the manas know that you are asleep? The manas absolutely knows that it is asleep, and therefore it does not want this body of five aggregates to be active. If the manas did not know it was asleep, it would want to fabricate and do everything; but since the manas knows it is asleep, and also knows it is dark, it does not want to know too much or too finely of the six sense objects, so the six consciousnesses, obediently, do not arise at all, and the body, too, obediently stays still. The manas knows that it is itself sleeping, so the manas does possess the power of introspection; it is only that the mind consciousness cannot observe the manas, and so it says the manas does not know it is asleep and has no power of introspection. In the state of deep sleep, the mind consciousness not knowing does not mean the manas does not know—this shows that the two consciousnesses have still been confused with each other, taking the mind consciousness's knowing and not-knowing as the manas's knowing and not-knowing.

By the same token, when unconscious, the manas certainly knows that it is unconscious, so when the conditions for wakefulness appear, it struggles hard to wake up and get up and be active. When in meditative concentration, the manas also knows it is in concentration; at death it also knows death; in a vegetative state, the manas likewise knows, and so in these special states, His mental activity and behavior are all different from normal. Hence there is a conclusion: only the ignorant would say that the manas knows nothing, does nothing, and can do nothing. If the manas were nothing at all, then what would you yourself be? You would likewise be nothing at all! Because you—you are the manas!