The Agility of Manas

When asleep at midnight, the six consciousnesses cease functioning. If a fire breaks out in the room and the manas (mind root) wishes to flee, how does it respond? Faced with such an urgent and critical matter, the manas will certainly strive to awaken swiftly, enabling the mental consciousness to perceive the fire. It will then coordinate with the five consciousnesses to facilitate escape. In its urgency, the manas first gives rise to the isolated mental consciousness. As the isolated mental consciousness perceives unclearly, it transitions into the mental consciousness associated with the five senses, and the five consciousnesses subsequently arise, leading to awakening. Once the mental consciousness perceives the critical situation, it decides to flee. The manas consents and directs the five-aggregate body to escape, enabling the physical body to run out of the door.

The mental consciousness arises together with the nose consciousness because the smoke is intense; thus, the nose consciousness arises before the other consciousnesses. Subsequently, the eye consciousness, body consciousness, ear consciousness, and tongue consciousness manifest. The arising of the five consciousnesses follows a sequence: whichever sense object carries the greatest intensity, its corresponding consciousness arises first. If the firelight is intense, the eye consciousness arises first; if the room is extremely hot, the body consciousness arises first; if the sound of the fire or shouting is loud, the ear consciousness arises first.

In moments of crisis, bodily movements occur very rapidly. The mental consciousness has no time to deliberate, allowing the body to swiftly evade danger. If, during a critical moment, one were to wait for the mental consciousness to fully perceive, discern, and deliberate, the person would likely suffer harm. At such times, the function of the mental consciousness is to follow the directives of the manas together with the five consciousnesses and act swiftly.