A Comparison Between the Manas and the Mind Consciousness

Question: Whatever hint is given to the manas, the manas will bring it to realization, whether positive or negative. The manas has no moral cognition, no sense of right or wrong, only habitual tendencies. The mind consciousness has moral restraint, a sense of shame, a sense of responsibility—all of these the manas lacks and cannot possess. The manas is a straightforward mind; He has accumulated the traces of all actions performed over beginningless kalpas, and whenever the occasion arises, He carries them out, without any constraint of values such as right or wrong, high or low, responsibility, honor, loss, or gain. Instinct, intuition, acting on one's natural disposition, and so forth are all characteristics of the manas. He does not conceal or adorn Himself; there is no falseness or pretense, no element of self-interest. Is this correct?

Answer: That is correct. The manas is primarily neutral (avyākṛta) in nature, unaware of concepts of good and evil, lacking the capacity for judgment of right and wrong. From this perspective, His discriminative wisdom is inferior. The manas belongs to the most primal level; being primal, He is also simple, also foolish, also straightforward—it depends on what has been cultivated through habituation in the past.

The mind consciousness is cunning, clever, and wise; its mind is not straightforward—it also depends on what has been cultivated through habituation in the past and present. It can be both good and evil: when evil, it may be more evil than the manas, instigating the manas; when good, it is more good than the manas, guiding the manas. The mind consciousness is relatively scheming, because it possesses the capacity for thinking and analysis. If others want to probe into one's private matters, the mind consciousness, when alert, will absolutely conceal them; when the mind consciousness is not alert, the manas can no longer be instigated by the mind consciousness, and whatever there is will be revealed without concealment, because He cannot judge good and evil, benefit and harm, having no orientation of values—He is relatively pure and genuine.