What Does It Mean That the Manas Does Not Correspond to Language and Words?

The meaning of the manas not corresponding to written words and spoken language is that the manas cannot use words or language to express its own thoughts, views, and opinions. But this does not mean the manas does not understand written and spoken language. Since He is the master consciousness that oversees the overall situation, He has the authority to direct and deploy the six consciousnesses. Although He cannot speak or express Himself in words, He can let the mind consciousness speak and let the mind consciousness express things in words; many things He cannot do Himself can be accomplished with the assistance of the six consciousnesses. For example, a president has limited energy and cannot be in two places at once; he can only govern the overall affairs of the nation and cannot carry out specific tasks such as market research and statistical analysis, but he can appoint subordinates to complete these tasks. Because the manas must oversee the overall situation, He cannot personally attend to specific matters and can only use the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses (pañcavijñāna-sahagata-manovijñāna) and the solitary mental consciousness to handle specific, trivial affairs; the manas simply needs to listen to the reports. In the process of listening to these reports, He uses the mental factor of volition (cetanā), the mental factor of wisdom (prajñā), and the mental factor of determination (adhimokṣa) to make judgments and decisions, and then issues commands for the six consciousnesses to resolve problems according to those instructions.

The manas is like a mute person who, though unable to speak, can understand what others say. The eighth consciousness is the same: although He cannot speak and does not engage with language and words, He has His own unique mode of discernment, discerning unique information, different from the seven consciousnesses; likewise, the manas is different from the mind consciousness. The manas's deliberation is not inferior to that of the mind consciousness. If a president were to set aside time and energy to specialize in market research, he might do it even better than his subordinates—it is only that he lacks the time and energy. If the manas were to take the place of the six consciousnesses, He might well surpass them; it is only that at present His energy is insufficient. This is precisely why one must cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi), cultivate it, and cultivate it again—to free up time and energy for the manas, to focus, focus, and focus again. Only in this way can the manas's great wisdom emerge.

If you regard the manas as a consciousness, or as a person, you can understand His essential nature and His mental factors. The mind consciousness and the five sense consciousnesses exist to do work on the manas's behalf. If the manas has sufficient wisdom, then whatever the six consciousnesses do, the manas can know it clearly and completely. If the manas lacks sufficient wisdom and the power of determination (adhimokṣa) is also not strong, there will be misunderstandings, or He will fail to understand the ways of the six consciousnesses and be unclear about what they are doing. If the mind consciousness cannot express itself, or expresses itself unclearly, the manas will be unable to fully understand and will not comprehend the mind consciousness's intentions.