Selected Lectures on the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra

Original text:又有三种诸有情类。欲为根本作业方便。一为得胜欲。二为得胜自体。三为证胜解脱道。 

Explanation: There are also three kinds of sentient beings who take desire as the fundamental starting point and adopt various methods to practice, wishing to attain the goal of liberation. The first kind of desire is that sentient beings practice in order to obtain the most supreme retribution, to realize the fruit of the Mahāyāna bodhisattva and to accomplish the Buddha Way; this is the most supremely excellent, without compare, and is called the unsurpassed dharma, whose retribution is the unsurpassed fruit.

The second kind of desire is that sentient beings practice in order to obtain more supreme pleasures of the five desires and greater blessings; the result may be rebirth in the heavens to enjoy blessings, but when the blessings are exhausted they fall again. As for the retribution of the physical body, they obtain the body of a heavenly being and its realm of existence, and the result is again bondage in birth-and-death. 

The third kind of desire is that sentient beings, through practice, ultimately wish to obtain the supreme liberated retribution of escaping the three realms; the result is that they can escape the three realms and attain temporary liberation, but cannot accomplish the Buddha's ultimate liberation.

Desire is the cause of birth-and-death, yet the pursuit of the Mahāyāna dharma can lead one not to enter nirvāṇa without remainder, so that one forever broadly benefits sentient beings within the three realms. The six consciousnesses have desire, and the manas has even more desire; it is mainly because of the manas's desire that birth-and-death is unceasing and transmigration unending.

If only the six consciousnesses have desire and the manas has none, then the desire of the six consciousnesses also has no effect; it ceases as soon as it arises, and birth-and-death will surely be ended. If only the six consciousnesses cut off desire but the manas does not, the manas will surely act as master with cravings, the six consciousnesses will surely create karma of greed and desire, birth-and-death cannot be ended, and transmigration cannot cease.

If the manas has cravings for the three realms, it certainly cannot cut off its craving-attachment to the three realms, and certainly cannot escape them. Because arhats have cut off the manas's grasping at self, they have cut off craving-attachment to the three realms—that is, they have cut off craving for the three realms—and only then can they escape the three realms and enter nirvāṇa without remainder. If an arhat turns his mind toward the Mahāyāna, because he has given rise to a mind of delight in the Mahāyāna dharma and has craving for the Mahāyāna dharma, the manas is bound by this craving; at the end of life he will certainly not enter nirvāṇa without remainder, but will certainly have the five aggregates of a desire-realm physical body and continue studying the Mahāyāna dharma, seeking to see the mind and see its nature and to become a Buddha—this is the wholesome desire for dharma of the bodhisattvas of the Common Vehicle (tongjiao).

If only the mind consciousness has this wholesome desire for dharma and the manas does not, then the manas is not bound by the wholesome desire for dharma, has no craving or seeking for the dharmas of the three realms, and at the end of life will certainly take nirvāṇa without remainder. 

If the manas has already cut off the desire for food and drink, then even if the mind consciousness pays much attention to and takes extra glances at fine foods of the desire realm, the manas will not give rise to greed, will not want to greedily eat fine food, but will merely accord with conditions. If the manas has already cut off sexual desire, then even if the mind consciousness takes extra glances at the opposite sex, there will be no subsequent mental activity, because the manas, acting as master, does not cling or crave, and the mind consciousness cannot have superfluous thoughts and cravings. If the manas has already cut off greed, craving nothing in eating, clothing, dwelling, or use, then even if the mind consciousness encounters a luxurious and extravagant living environment, it will not give rise to greed, and its eating, clothing, dwelling, and use will still follow previous habitual tendencies; this is the manas's habituation. The bodily, verbal, and mental actions of eating, clothing, dwelling, and use are directed by the manas and must conform to the manas's habitual tendencies.

Wanting to become a Buddha is a supreme desire; wanting to see the mind and see its nature is a supreme desire; wanting to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and realize the fruit of liberation is a supreme desire. If only the mind consciousness has this supreme desire and the manas does not, then the manas will not act as master to diligently practice, will not spontaneously cultivate the three unconditioned studies, will not spontaneously keep the precepts, will not spontaneously cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi), will not spontaneously read the sūtras and deliberate, still less will it give rise to the intention for contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and investigating the meaning of the dharma, nor likewise will it be devoted morning and evening, with every thought on practice. Only when the manas has the supreme desire can it actively impel the six consciousnesses to practice, keeping the mind consciousness with every thought on studying Buddhism and practicing, and enabling the mind consciousness to find ways to remove all interference and obstacles and practice diligently. 

After studying Buddhism, the mind consciousness has subdued its craving for meat, knowing that eating meat creates bad karmic connections with sentient beings and has cause and effect; but the manas has not subdued its craving for meat. When encountering meat, the mind consciousness knows it should not be eaten, while the manas somewhat wants to eat it; the mind consciousness then exhorts the manas, saying, "You cannot eat meat; you should eat vegetarian," and the manas temporarily endures. But after a while, when the mind consciousness is not exhorting and one is not paying attention, the manas decides to take a bite to satisfy the craving, and so a bite of meat is eaten. The mind consciousness, having complied with the manas and relaxed its vigilance, the manas decides to take another bite. If the mind consciousness does not condemn the manas, the manas will indulge itself and keep eating, until finally the mind consciousness can no longer control the manas and simply says, "Fine, eat—after all, I've already eaten." Failure to quit smoking follows the same principle; failure to quit gambling or drugs is all the same principle: the mind consciousness truly cannot control the manas; the manas's habits far exceed the mind consciousness's rationality, and so the mind consciousness has no choice but to follow the manas.

Therefore, if only the mind consciousness practices and the mind consciousness cuts off afflictions while the manas does not cut off afflictions, that is not true cutting off of afflictions. If the mind consciousness eradicates the view of self but the manas does not, that is also not true eradication of the view of self. If the mind consciousness understands the principle but the manas does not, that is not true understanding of the principle. No one can walk on one leg; the two legs of the mind consciousness and the manas must move in step, or one following the other, in order to walk the path well.

People whose minds incline toward goodness—almost everyone has had the experience of the mind consciousness guiding and exhorting the manas, because the manas cannot deliberate and does not know good from bad, so it takes much trouble for the mind consciousness to do the work, much exhorting of the manas toward goodness, before the bodily, verbal, and mental actions can be wholesome. From this one point alone—the manas's capacity to act as master and its decision-making power—the mighty functional role of the manas is evident. Judging from various examples, if the manas has no aspiration and no desire, nothing can be established; everything would vanish, and one would necessarily be in nirvāṇa without remainder.