眾生無邊誓願度
煩惱無盡誓願斷
法門無量誓願學
佛道無上誓願成

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Dharma Teachings

19 Mar 2018    Monday     3rd Teach Total 227

Does the Manas Have Determination (adhimokṣa)?

The manas has determination (adhimokṣa). If the manas did not have determination, when a major event suddenly occurs, the manas would not be able to accurately discern it and take effective emergency measures. For example, when a car comes rushing toward oneself, after the manas has determined the situation, it immediately mobilizes the physical body to avoid the danger; only thus can it prompt the physical body to urgently evade the danger when the car comes rushing at it. If the manas does not determine, then when all the six sense-object realms discerned by the six consciousnesses are transmitted to the manas, the manas cannot know them with certainty, and thus cannot make the appropriate decisions, nor can it properly and dharmically direct the six consciousnesses to take the next step of action. If the manas does not determine, then no matter how much the manas is permeated by what the mind consciousness has learned, it is useless; the manas cannot understand it, nor can it store the seeds, and what the mind consciousness has learned would be effort in vain. However, after the mind consciousness continuously permeates the manas, the manas will also come to accept and change, making correct decisions—this is the determination of the manas.

If the manas does not determine, then the dharma of the Four Noble Truths and non-self learned by the mind consciousness cannot permeate the manas, and the manas will never be able to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and self-grasping; if the manas does not have determination, then the principle of prajñā learned by the mind consciousness cannot permeate the manas, and the manas will never be able to realize prajñā, cannot obtain prajñā wisdom, cannot transform consciousness into wisdom, and even less can it cultivate all the way to the buddha-bhūmi, so that all eight consciousnesses ultimately transform consciousness into wisdom. So does the manas actually have determination or not? The manas certainly has determination.

——Master Sheng-Ru's Teachings
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