How Is the Manaskāra (Intentional Attention) Mental Factor of the Manas Aroused?

Question: The manas' mental engagement (manaskāra) is the crux of cultivation. Understanding its meaning will greatly benefit one's practice. Especially in cultivating meditation (samādhi), the effort lies in the manas; without knowing the manas, how can one speak of cultivating meditation? Without knowing the hidden meaning of the manas' mental engagement, how can one touch the secret? The manas' mental engagement is invariably associated with greed and aversion—nothing surpasses this. Of course, this refers to the manas of ordinary beings. But how does the pure manas of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas engage mentally? Without the driving force of greed, aversion, and desire, how does the manas engage mentally? Can the manas engage mentally in a state of neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā)? Can the manas engage mentally in an indeterminate (avyākṛta) state?

Answer: The manas' mental engagement is not only triggered by afflictive mental factors such as greed and aversion, but also by the mental factor of desire (chanda). Desire includes wholesome desire and unwholesome desire, as well as desire that is neither wholesome nor unwholesome. Wholesome desire is the power of great vows; unwholesome desire is greed, aversion, and delusion. Part of the manas' mental engagement is also habitual mental engagement, brought about by the manas' inertial tendency.

Original text of the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra: 云何能生作意正起？由四因故﹕一由欲力。二由念力。三由境界力。四由数习力。云何由欲力？谓若于是处心有爱著。心则于彼多作意生。云何由念力？谓若于彼。已善取其相。已极作想。心则于彼多作意生。云何由境界力？谓若彼境界或极广大。或极可意正现在前。心则于彼多作意生。云何由数习力？谓若于彼境界。已极串习。已极谙悉。心即于彼多作意生。若异此者。应于一所缘境。唯一作意。一切时生。

This describes the conditions for the arising of the mental factor of mental engagement (manaskāra): desire, mindfulness, objective realm, and habituation. First, the power of desire means the consciousness mind's craving for and attachment to an objective realm; only then can the consciousness mind continuously engage mentally upon that realm, and continuously bring forth deliberation and decision-making, and the tathāgatagarbha must then continuously give rise to new realms and mental activities.

Second, the power of mindfulness means that the consciousness mind continuously grasps the characteristics of the objective realm and continuously cognizes it; only then can the consciousness mind continuously give rise to the mental factor of mental engagement toward the realm, and ultimately continuously bring forth deliberation and decision-making, and the tathāgatagarbha must then continuously cooperate in giving rise to subsequent mental activities and realms. This means that without desire and mindfulness, the consciousness mind cannot engage mentally; especially the manas' desire and mindfulness—only after the manas engages mentally can the six consciousnesses arise, and only then can the six consciousnesses engage mentally.

Third, the consciousness mind's continuous mental engagement is also due to the objective realm's power being so strong that it draws the consciousness mind to engage mentally upon the realm despite itself; thus the tathāgatagarbha cooperates in giving rise to subsequent mental activities and realms.

Fourth, toward realms that are frequently encountered and very familiar, the consciousness mind will engage mentally upon them repeatedly; the mental factor of volition (cetanā) will continuously arise, and the tathāgatagarbha must continuously give rise to subsequent mental activities and realms. Among these, the manas' power of habituation is extremely great: life after life, or for beginningless kalpas, it has been steeped in the same dharmas; in later lives, upon encountering these dharmas and realms, it will continuously engage mentally and grasp at them, and its power is so strong that if the mind consciousness is not strong enough, it cannot control it. For example, habits of greed such as lust, gluttony, love of sleep, and greed for wealth are like this.

If it were not for these four circumstances, the consciousness mind would be able to hold only a single mental engagement toward a single object of reliance (ālambana), and could do so at all times. Therefore, the tendency to grasp and wander (攀缘性) also refers to the manas' habitual mental engagement. If one wishes to cultivate meditation (samādhi), one must control and change the manas' inertial mental engagement and subdue its grasping, wandering tendency.

Whether or not karmic seeds have ripened has no necessary connection with the manas' mental engagement. Whether or not karmic seeds have ripened, the tathāgatagarbha naturally comes to know it, and then the tathāgatagarbha begins to give rise to the corresponding conditions, producing the corresponding dharmas in accordance with the operation of the karmic seeds.