The Meaning of Manas Being the Manifest Consciousness

The "presently-acting consciousness" (现识) of the manas means a consciousness of direct perception (pratyakṣa), meaning it perceives dharmas directly, discerns dharmas directly, or presents dharmas directly. Some people understand the manas's presently-acting consciousness as meaning that the manas has a function like a mirror reflecting images, a functional capacity to manifest images of dharmas like a mirror—this is a great misunderstanding. The relationship between a mirror and its images is one of generating and being generated: the generator must be a dharma that is unborn and unceasing, whereas what is generated is subject to arising, ceasing, and change. The manas, however, is precisely subject to arising, ceasing, and change—it is a generated dharma. Therefore, the manas does not manifest the myriad images like a mirror; rather, it is the tathāgatagarbha that manifests the myriad images like a mirror, and the manas is itself one of those myriad images.

Why is the manas said to be a presently-acting consciousness of direct perception? Because when the manas perceives dharmas, it perceives dharmas that are presently existing, perceiving dharmas as they truly are; it has no capacity to perceive dharmas through inference (anumāna) or non-valid cognition (anīyata). In the very first instant that the tathāgatagarbha conjures forth a dharma, the manas can perceive it. This is a subjectively supported realm (bhautika-rūpa-āśraya), close to the essential realm, relatively true and reliable. After the manas perceives this subjectively supported realm, if it wishes to discern it further in detail, it then transmits the dharma to the six consciousnesses to perceive. What the six consciousnesses then perceive is no longer the relatively true subjectively supported realm; what they perceive is a dharma that has already undergone alteration, and the dharma they manifest is once further removed from the essential realm and the realm of truth—more illusory than the dharma perceived by the manas. Moreover, when the mind consciousness perceives dharmas, there is also inference and non-valid cognition, so the credibility of the dharmas it manifests is considerably lower.

If we compare this with the meaning of "presently-acting consciousness," the tathāgatagarbha's perception of dharmas is even more a perception of direct perception, more true and reliable than the manas's perception. Whatever dharma the tathāgatagarbha perceives is a dharma that it has itself presently generated and upheld; there is not the slightest barrier between it and the dharma. Whatever dharma it generates, that is the dharma it perceives; whatever dharma it upholds, that is the dharma it perceives. If it does not generate, it does not perceive; if it does not uphold, it does not perceive. There is certainly no occurrence of perceiving dharmas through inference or non-valid cognition. For the tathāgatagarbha, there are fundamentally no dharmas of the past and no dharmas of the future—all are dharmas of the present moment. Even dharmas from countless eons ago are dharmas of the present moment. But for the six consciousnesses, they are not dharmas of the present moment. In fact, the six consciousnesses cannot perceive dharmas of the present moment; whatever dharma they perceive is a dharma that has already undergone alteration, a dharma of the past.