The Deliberative and Wise Nature of the Manas

The elimination of self-view is the manas negating the reality of the five aggregates; 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 enlightenment to the true mind, is it the manas's wisdom that is operating, or its deliberative nature (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 factor of wisdom are functioning. Because the manas possesses the capacity for discernment, recognition, cognition, decision-making, mastership, clinging to objects, and attachment, there is the functioning of the mental factor of wisdom; without wisdom, these functions would not 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 among the six sense-objects require the cooperation of the six consciousnesses for discernment, after which the manas further discerns, judges, and decides. This also involves the functioning of the mental factor of wisdom. Without the discerning wisdom of this mental factor, the manas would have no consciousness-nature and would possess only faculty-nature; but the manas possesses both.

The deliberative nature of the manas 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 acts as master moment by moment, all dharmas can arise moment after moment without ceasing; otherwise, there would be times when all dharmas cease and become discontinuous. As long as the manas has objects upon which it relies, and as long as it has directed its attention toward and contacted all dharmas, the manas's deliberative nature will manifest upon all dharmas, so that all dharmas can operate and exist. The manas is universally present within all dharmas, and thus the manas's five universal mental factors must be universally present in the operation of all dharmas. The same is true of the five universal mental factors of the other consciousnesses.

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 errors, content, and results of deliberation differ, the conclusions drawn differ, the decisions made differ, and the actions and beneficial experiences 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 can thereby 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 thereby the wisdom of suchness can be born. The manas's deliberative nature and its discerning wisdom operate in mutual assistance and coordination; lacking either one, all dharmas could not function normally.