The Thinking and Knowing of the Manas and Mind Consciousness

The manas, like the mind consciousness, is a consciousness; both possess the mental factor of volition (cetanā), and both can think, reflect, and deliberate. Because the vast majority of people cannot observe the manas's volition, they believe there is a difference between the manas's volition and the mind consciousness's volition, calling the mind consciousness's volition "thinking" (思惟) and the manas's volition "deliberation" (思量), holding that thinking is not deliberation and deliberation is not thinking. If one says the manas can think and reflect, they consider it wrong, insisting that thinking and reflecting belong to the mind consciousness; if one speaks of the manas's mental activities, many say that is wrong too, claiming those are the mind consciousness's mental activities. Thus, being unable to observe the manas's mental activities while still wanting to study Yogācāra, and being stubbornly attached in one's mind, is quite troublesome.

Why do so many people say that the manas's volition is very deep and hidden, difficult to observe? The reason is that sentient beings take the mind consciousness's knowing as their knowing: whatever the mind consciousness knows, sentient beings know; whatever the mind consciousness does not know, they do not know. If the mind consciousness lacks sufficient wisdom, does not know the manas's mental activities, and does not know what the manas knows, then sentient beings will not know the manas's mental activities or what the manas knows, and will feel that the manas's mental activities are very deep, hidden, and subtle. In fact, it is the mind consciousness's ignorance that should be blamed. When the mind consciousness has wisdom, when its wisdom is unobstructed and it can directly observe the manas's mental activities, one will no longer feel that the manas is profound and hard to understand, no longer feel that the manas is hidden and hard to know, and will no longer misunderstand the manas's mental factors (caittas).

What would happen if sentient beings all took the manas's knowing as their knowing? If sentient beings all took the manas's knowing as their knowing, then whatever the manas does not know, they would not know. If the manas does not know what the mind consciousness knows—no matter what the mind consciousness knows or how many dharmas it knows—the manas does not know it, and thus sentient beings would not know it. So those theories learned by the mind consciousness would be of little use; moreover, the manas does not know the eighth consciousness, and attaining enlightenment would be even more difficult. At that time, sentient beings would say: the mind consciousness's mental activities are deep, subtle, and hard to know, very hidden and difficult to fathom, and the eighth consciousness is even deeper, more hidden, and harder to know, with extremely subtle characteristics.

In reality, whether dharmas are hidden or not, manifest and clear or not, depends on the consciousness's wisdom, not on the dharmas themselves. When there is wisdom, any dharma is manifest, clear, easy to know, and easy to understand; when there is no wisdom, even the most manifest dharma feels deep and hidden. Therefore, after the sixth and seventh consciousnesses undergo the transformation of consciousness into wisdom, the mind consciousness can directly observe the mental activities of the manas as well as those of the eighth consciousness, and does not find it very difficult. The Buddha observes all dharmas with ease; He can even know all dharmas without observing, and all dharmas are perfectly clear in His mind.

If sentient beings took the manas's knowing as their knowing, they would have supernatural powers, and perhaps there would be no secrets between one another; past lives and future lives would all be perfectly clear. Then they could know causes and understand effects, and perhaps, in order to suffer less evil retribution, they would commit fewer evil deeds. Yet there are still many people with heavy grasping at self, who clearly know they have suffered much because of committing evil deeds, yet still keep committing evil deeds—like those repeatedly imprisoned, who refuse to repent until death. But because the manas lacks the mind consciousness's obvious guiding function, being simple and naive, its emotional attachments would be even heavier, its self-nature even stronger; the mind consciousness would find it hard to restrain Him, the probability of committing evil deeds would be even greater, and eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) would be even more difficult.

What would it be like if sentient beings all took the eighth consciousness's knowing as their knowing? The eighth consciousness does not know or see worldly dharmas; it does not know self, others, he or she; it does not see forms or hear sounds; it does not know the realms of the six sense objects. If so, sentient beings could not survive; the six faculties would be closed off, and they would be in a state of nirvāṇa. Would this be good? Some would say that then bodhisattvas could not deliver sentient beings—but at that time, what sentient being would not already be in a state of nirvāṇa, still needing the Buddhas and bodhisattvas to deliver them? If sentient beings all took the eighth consciousness's knowing as their knowing, there would be no need to study Buddhism or the Dharma, and there would be no distinction between Buddhas and sentient beings.

If sentient beings all took the knowing of the five consciousnesses as their knowing, they could not survive, and the world of the five aggregates could not function and operate. Because the five consciousnesses only discern the coarse five sense objects, not the subtle five sense objects, much less understand mental dharmas; they do not know the mind consciousness, do not know the manas, do not know the eighth consciousness—apart from the coarse five sense-object realms, they know nothing. If even the mind consciousness is not known, how could the coarse realms of the five sense objects be known? The five consciousnesses must cooperate with the mind consciousness in discernment to know the coarse marks of the five sense objects, but they only know the coarse marks of the five sense objects, not their subtle marks; they do not know mental sense-objects, do not know mental dharmas—and such a being absolutely could not live. In short, if one wishes to know all dharmas, whichever consciousness's knowing is primary, that consciousness must possess great wisdom, must undergo the transformation of consciousness into wisdom; only with wisdom-consciousness can one know all dharmas.