The Conditions for the Arising of the Mental Factor of Attention (Manasikāra)

Question: The manas' attention (manaskāra) is the crux of cultivation. Understanding its meaning will greatly benefit one's practice. This is especially true for cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi): the effort lies in the manas. Without knowing the manas, how can one speak of cultivating concentration? Without knowing the hidden meaning of the manas' attention, how can one touch upon the secret? The manas' attention always corresponds to 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 attend? If the manas has no greed or aversion and no driving force of desire, how does it attend? Could the manas attend while in a state of neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā)? Can the manas attend while in a neutral/indeterminate (avyākṛta) state? 

Answer: The manas' attention is not only triggered by afflictive mental factors such as greed and aversion; it also depends on being triggered 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 great vow-power; unwholesome desire is greed, aversion, and delusion. Part of the manas' attention is also habitual attention, brought about by inertial force.

 Original text in 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。

These are the conditions for the arising of the mental factor of attention (manaskāra): desire, mindfulness, objective realm, and habituation. That is to say, without desire and mindfulness, attention cannot occur. Especially the manas' desire and mindfulness: only after the manas attends can the six consciousnesses arise, and only then can the six consciousnesses attend.

If one wishes to cultivate meditative concentration, one must control and change the manas' habitual attention and subdue its grasping, discursive nature. The grasping, discursive nature also refers to the manas' habitual attention. Whether or not karmic seeds mature has no necessary connection with the manas' attention. Whether or not karmic seeds mature, the tathāgatagarbha naturally knows it, and then the tathāgatagarbha begins to produce certain conditions, operating the corresponding dharmas in accordance with the karmic seeds.