A Yogācāra Analysis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

OCD is a symptom manifesting from the conflict between the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. A person's manas is extremely stubborn and wants to do something, but the mind consciousness is very rational and unwilling to do it, considering it inappropriate. However, the mind consciousness does not know why the manas wants to do this, and thus cannot effectively persuade and guide the manas; it can only forcefully refuse to carry it out, refusing to act.

Why does the manas have such a thought, wanting to do something so unreasonable? The most reasonable explanation is karmic obstruction, sometimes also called habitual force. The manas follows along with karmic force, being controlled and manipulated by it. The mind consciousness understands principles and has rationality; it knows this idea is very bad, and so it controls and opposes the manas's decision, refusing to execute the manas's decision and command. Thus the two clash intensely, and OCD appears. For example, a child may have harmed his mother in a previous life; in this life, due to karmic conditions, they meet again, and the mother will seek revenge on the child. But the mind consciousness has no such thought and is unwilling to follow karmic force, so it will obstruct the manas's vengeful behavior. Karmic force contends with rationality; the emotion of loving the child contends with the emotion of hating the child—love and hate intertwined, conflict arising, the mind extremely conflicted and anguished. This is the coercion of karmic conditions from a previous life.

As for who will prevail, it depends on which is stronger: whether the mind consciousness's rationality is stronger, or the manas's karmic force is stronger. To make the mind consciousness strong and prevail, one must grow the wisdom of persuasion and guidance—understanding principles thoroughly, thinking clearly, with sound reasoning and evidence, with patience, with method, with skillful means—then one can gradually guide the manas to abandon its original idea. The mind consciousness must carefully and patiently understand why the manas has such a thought; it must persuade the manas to be broad-minded and magnanimous, to maintain the mother-child relationship well, to consider more the boundless benefits and joys the child will bring in the future, to think more about the child's suffering, to realize that treating the child well is treating oneself well, and to reflect on the hardship and difficulty of one's own pregnancy.

From the relationship between the mind consciousness and the manas, we find that both have their own distinct positions. Why can their thoughts and views be inconsistent? If the two could be completely consistent, would that be good? Compulsion includes the mind consciousness compelling the manas, and also the manas compelling the mind consciousness. In OCD, who generally compels whom? It is always the manas compelling the mind consciousness, and the mind consciousness not complying. If the two could together eliminate ignorance, until ignorance is completely eliminated and there is the ultimate transformation of consciousness into wisdom, then the sixth and seventh consciousnesses would be fully unified, coordinated and consistent, cooperating in perfect tacit understanding, with powerful capacity for action. Action is the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses; the capacity for action comes from one source, the power of the mind consciousness, and from another, the power of the manas. The power of the mind consciousness can be transmitted to the manas, and the power of the manas can bless the mind consciousness; when the two are in harmony and agreement, the capacity for action is greatest.