Cultivation Is Sweeping the Ground of the Mind

The manifestation of the Image-Only Object occurs because the manas grasps at and directs its attention (manaskāra) toward mental sense-objects, and a thought then arises; the tathāgatagarbha thereupon gives rise to the solitary mental consciousness to carry out the manas's instruction and fulfill the manas's thought. Whatever dharma the manas directs its attention to, the solitary mental consciousness arises upon that dharma, and thereafter operates according to the manas's intent. Only after a thought arises in the mind consciousness does knowing occur—knowing what the dharma is. This dharma is a mental sense-object resembling information, having nothing to do with the five sense-objects; it may be an idea or concept, a recollection, a longing for the future, or the deliberation, analysis, and judgment of a problem. When the manas wants to recall, the mind consciousness recollects people and events of the past; when the manas wants to know the meaning of a certain sentence, the mind consciousness deliberates and analyzes that sentence; when the manas wants to consider the next day's itinerary, the mind consciousness deliberates the arrangements for the next day's schedule.

The arising of thoughts in the solitary mental consciousness is drawn forth by the manas, arising, ceasing, and moving in accordance with the manas's thoughts and ideas. For example, when the manas thinks of a person, the eighth consciousness immediately manifests the dharmas related to that person; after the manas makes contact and deliberates, it makes a decision to think it over, and so the solitary mental consciousness appears, directing its attention to the dharmas related to that person, engaging in contact, feeling, perception, and volition. Thus, after the manas knows, it will make a decision; thereafter, the solitary mental consciousness may continue to operate in depth, or it may cease upon this dharma and appear instead upon some other dharma that the manas is grasping at.

The scattered thoughts of the solitary mental consciousness are produced by the manas's various graspings. At the very moment a thought first arises, no object has yet manifested; the first instant is knowing that a thought has arisen, and only then does the image of the object appear—there is a process between the arising of the thought and the manifestation of the object. The object was there all along, but without the mind consciousness it cannot be known. When the mind consciousness appears, in the first and second instants its discernment is incomplete and unclear; in the third and fourth instants, its discernment allows the dharma to manifest more clearly, so that a conclusion can be drawn and an outline of the dharma emerges. Only afterward does deliberation and analysis occur, and only then is the dharma fully understood.

Most of the scattered thoughts in the mind are things experienced in the past; these are called familiar objects (objects previously experienced). It can be seen that the manas often grasps at dharmas intentionally or unintentionally; the force of habit is strong, the mind is not empty, and it cannot let go of everything it has experienced—people, events, things, and principles—keeping these dharmas swirling in the mind, unwilling to relinquish them, piling up in the mind like garbage, filthy and defiled, yet never knowing to clean and sweep them away. Cultivation means regularly cleaning and sweeping the mind, performing a thorough housecleaning, maintaining the purity of the mind-ground, so that the chamber of the mind can be bright and clean. The cleaning is led and supervised by the mind consciousness, with the manas's consent; still, it is the mind consciousness that does the sweeping—both devising the plan and carrying out the task are the work of the mind consciousness, while the manas need only nod, give orders, and make the final decision.