The Meditative Concentration (Samādhi) of the Manas

When one enters the cessation of perception and feeling (saṃjñā-veditā-nirodha), the mind consciousness ceases, yet the manas is still operating. Is this samādhi the samādhi of the manas or of the mind consciousness? At this time the manas is still turning, and the mental factors of attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), and volition (cetanā) are still present. As long as the volition mental factor operates, sense objects will appear. If the manas does not attend, contact, or deliberate, the physical body would collapse and one would pass into nirvāṇa. So when the manas is in the cessation of perception and feeling, it still has activity. But the samādhi at this time—one hundred percent, ten thousand times over—must be the samādhi of the manas, not of the mind consciousness, because the mind consciousness has vanished. If a consciousness that has vanished could still have samādhi, then after falling asleep one should also be in samādhi.

With no appearance of the six consciousnesses, and the manas neither receiving nor perceiving—this is precisely samādhi. Minimal operation is samādhi. In the cessation attainment (nirodha-samāpatti) and the attainment of no-perception (asaṃjñā-samāpatti), the six consciousnesses are not manifest, so who is in samādhi? It must all be the samādhi of the manas. In the no-perception attainment and the cessation attainment, the six consciousnesses are gone, all six consciousnesses have ceased—so how could the six consciousnesses abide in samādhi within the no-perception attainment or the cessation attainment? Clearly this is impossible. If there are no six consciousnesses, yet the six consciousnesses still have samādhi, how could that be? In a coma there are no six consciousnesses—would that count as entering samādhi? Then shall we all go into comas? When asleep there are no six consciousnesses—would that count as entering samādhi? Then we might as well all just sleep, and no need to sit in meditation to enter samādhi.

If the manas could be without samādhi, its grasping and clinging nature would be just as before, able to manifest in full—could the six consciousnesses then settle down? We sit quietly wanting to enter samādhi and contemplate the Buddha-dharma, but the manas wants to listen to birdsong, wants to admire the scenery, wants to discern people and affairs from the past; the six consciousnesses will then discern in a chaotic jumble—how could one settle down to contemplate the Buddha-dharma? Can the six consciousnesses enter samādhi on their own? That is impossible. Therefore it is said that all samādhi is the samādhi of the manas. Only by fixing the manas in place can the six consciousnesses quietly contemplate.

The manas is the turning consciousness, the leading head of all dharmas. If the manas is not fixed in samādhi, all dharmas will appear without stop, and the six consciousnesses will be dragged about everywhere, discerning and fabricating—how could there be samādhi? Samādhi means fixing the master in samādhi, fixing the commander in samādhi—what use is there in fixing the servant or the soldier? For example, if you want to park and stop a car, you can only stop the driver by pressing the brake—what use is there in stopping the co-driver sitting beside the driver? Can that bring the car to a halt? If you want to stop a thief from stealing, you can only restrain the thief—what use is there in restraining unrelated bystanders? Since the manas is called the turning consciousness, and all dharmas are turned out by Him, then samādhi must be the samādhi of the manas. The manas turns out the six consciousnesses—what use is there in not fixing the manas but fixing the six consciousnesses? The six consciousnesses will still be turned out by the manas all the same. In summary, samādhi is the samādhi of the manas; the purpose of cultivating samādhi is to fix the manas. Only thus can there be samādhi, and only thus can all dharmas fail to manifest. If the manas is held in check, all dharmas can be accomplished. If the manas cannot be held in check, one will transmigrate through the six realms. Therefore there is not a single dharma that does not belong to the manas.