The Deliberative Nature and Wisdom Nature of Manas

Eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) is the manas negating the reality of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha); enlightenment—seeing the 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 eradicating the view of self and in enlightenment—seeing the mind—is it the manas's wisdom that is functioning, or its deliberation (manasikāra/manana)?

In the process of eradicating the view of self and of seeing the mind and seeing one's nature, both the manas's deliberative nature and its mental factor of wisdom are functioning. Because the manas has the! capacity for discernment, discrimination, cognition, decision-making, mastery, grasping toward objects, and attachment, the mental factor of wisdom is therefore activated; without wisdom, none of these functions would exist. It is only that the functional capacities of this wisdom are rather special: they are broad and general, unable to be focused and deep, and the discernment cannot be too specific or subtle. Therefore, the dharmas among the realms of the six sense-objects require the cooperation of the six consciousnesses for discernment, after which the manas again performs discernment, judgment, and decision-making—here too the activation of the mental factor of wisdom is involved. Without the discerning wisdom of the mental factor of wisdom, the manas would have no consciousness-nature and would possess only the faculty-nature; but the manas possesses both.

The manas's deliberative nature universally accompanies the manas's operation. As long as the manas exists, its deliberative nature also exists and operates 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 of attention, as long as it directs attention toward and contacts all dharmas, the manas's deliberative nature will manifest upon all dharmas, and only then can all dharmas operate and exist. The manas exists universally within all dharmas, and thus the manas's five universal mental factors must exist universally within the operation of all dharmas. The same is true of the five universal mental factors of the other consciousnesses.

Therefore, in the process of eradicating the view of self and of realizing enlightenment by seeing the mind, the manas's deliberative nature is operating continuously, and the process of deliberation also manifests the manas's wisdom. With different degrees of wisdom, the errors, contents, and results of deliberation differ, the conclusions drawn differ, the decisions made differ, and the actions and beneficial enjoyment of merit by 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 without self, and can thereby eradicate the view of self. 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 ultimate reality can be born. The manas's deliberative nature and its discerning wisdom operate in mutual support and coordination; if either were lacking, all dharmas could not function normally.