The Difference Between the Manas and the Activities of the Mind Consciousness

The Difference Between the Activities of the Manas and the Mind Consciousness

If the manas is moved, there will be various reactions in the physical body, such as blushing, a racing heart, shyness, bulging veins, trembling all over, and so on. When only the mind consciousness is moved, the body has little reaction and remains relatively calm. People who only talk but do not act are operating with the mind consciousness alone, while the manas is unmoved; people who say one thing and do another speak with the mind consciousness, while the manas does not want to act, and so they do not act; people with a habit of deceiving others perform with the mind consciousness, while the manas is not moved at all. Therefore, to observe a person's character, one must look at how they act, not merely at how they speak—doing is more real than saying.

The activity of the manas consumes a certain amount of energy, whereas the activity of the mind consciousness does not necessarily consume energy, or consumes relatively little. If the activity of the mind consciousness consumes energy, it also involves the whole body, because energy flows throughout the entire body; the whole body uses the same stream of energy—energy is not divided into separate parts. It is merely that people who like to use their brains to think consume the energy in the brain first, and only when the brain's energy is insufficient does the body consume energy from the whole body. The brain drives the whole body; when the brain is tired, the whole body becomes fatigued along with it, and rest is needed.

In the activity of the mind consciousness, the activity of the manas is not entirely absent; the manas is involved to some degree, so energy is consumed—the more the manas is involved, the more energy is consumed. If I do not think about problems attentively, and spend the whole day quietly engaged only in superficial activities of the mind consciousness, I do not feel tired even after a whole day and night, nor do I feel very hungry. If I think about problems attentively, I feel tired after a short while and get hungry easily. That is why I am completely unwilling to engage with people and affairs, unwilling to exercise my mind, unwilling to consider unimportant matters—unless they are meaningful and relatively important.

When investigating Chan (canhua) attentively, a great deal of energy is also consumed; when cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi) without thinking, not much energy is consumed, and the body instead feels very comfortable and relaxed. Cultivating concentration without thinking is relatively effortless, while contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and thinking can possibly burn out the brain. When thinking with the mind consciousness, because the attention is shallow and minimal, it is relatively fast and easy—one can speak in generalities, flowingly like drifting clouds and flowing water, with a steady stream of clever words—but the content is shallow, reflecting one's level of knowledge and memory rather than one's level of wisdom. When thinking with the manas, because the attention is very deep, the conscious mind operates more slowly and laboriously, but the content is deep and far-reaching in significance, reflecting a person's deep-level wisdom.

Let me use an analogy to illustrate the difference between using the mind consciousness and using the manas. Suppose a person is walking in mud: if the mud is shallow, only reaching the soles of the shoes, walking is still relatively fast and effortless; if the mud reaches the ankles, the calves, or the knees, it is not easy to pull the feet out, and every step takes great effort, making walking very slow. Thinking with the mind consciousness is like walking on a surface with shallow mud; thinking with the manas is like walking on a surface with deep mud. Therefore, for a person who thinks about problems with the manas, if they always remain at the deep level of the manas and are highly focused, then each time they shift a thought or switch to a new problem, the flow of thought is very slow, requiring the consumption of much energy and feeling somewhat tiring. Such a person therefore likes quietude and does not want people or affairs from the outside to disturb them.