Two Kinds of Afflicted Mental Factors of the Manas

The afflictive mental factors of the manas are divided into two kinds. One kind consists of the afflictive mental factors that constantly and perpetually accompany the manifest activity of the manas without interruption for even a moment, such as the view of self, self-conceit, self-love, and ignorance (self-delusion) mentioned in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra. The other kind consists of the afflictive mental factors that do not constantly accompany the manifest activity of the manas; these refer to mental factors other than the above four afflictions, such as the great, intermediate, and minor afflictions like hatred, anger, and wrath. If these afflictions were constantly manifesting, then sentient beings' own bodies and minds, as well as those of others, would be severely damaged, their lives would be chaotic and disordered, and their lives would not last long. Only the afflictions of view of self, self-love, self-grasping, and self-conceit are the afflictions that constantly manifest in ordinary sentient beings.

When all people encounter the profound dharma, they cannot carry out contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) in the present moment and can only understand a little of the surface meaning, so they can only memorize the texts. The dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination reveals that the reason sentient beings transmigrate ceaselessly through birth and death in the six realms is precisely because of the ignorance of the manas. If the manas had no ignorance, the twelve links of dependent origination would come to an end, sentient beings' afflictions would end, and they would be liberated from birth and death. Ignorance conditions volitional formations (avidyā-pratyayāḥ saṃskārāḥ), and volitional formations condition consciousness. If one fully understands these seven characters, one will understand whether or not the manas actually has hatred. If there were no hatred within the ignorance of the manas, then it would not prompt the six consciousnesses to create karmic acts of hatred, and the karma of birth and death would be reduced by nearly half. As for hatred in the mind consciousness, it does not matter, because the mind consciousness cannot decide to create karmic acts of hatred, so there would be no karmic seeds of hatred, and thus there would be no birth-and-death karma of hatred.

Furthermore, where does the mind consciousness's hatred come from? How does it arise? Many people can neither observe in the present moment whether the manas has hatred, nor sort out the logical and dialectical relationship between the manas and the mind consciousness, nor do they know the origin of the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses. They only know how to recite from books, and they believe their shallow understanding is correct. As stated in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, in the earliest period of sentient beings' lives there were only the manas and the Ālayavijñāna; only after the manas gave rise to a thought did there come heaven and earth, the myriad things, the five aggregates, and the six consciousnesses. If the manas has no hatred, where does the mind consciousness's hatred come from? How does the karmic act of hatred arise? What causes sentient beings to fight and struggle with one another? How does it arise?

The afflictions of the mind consciousness are very easy to subdue and eradicate. As long as one understands the theory and comprehends it clearly, one can effectively control the afflictions. However, because the manas does not sever afflictions, when a fundamental issue arises and the mind consciousness is momentarily negligent, the afflictions will immediately appear, and the person will show their true colors. For example, in dreams, or after getting drunk, when the mind consciousness is weakened there is no rationality left, and the afflictions of the manas will manifest in full. After getting drunk, the hateful mind and hateful conduct—could these also belong to the mind consciousness? Why is it easier to create unwholesome karma after drinking? Why does one show one's true colors after drinking? Why does drinking reveal a person's character?

Subduing afflictions means severing the afflictions of the mind consciousness, but this is only temporary, not lasting. If the afflictions of the manas are not severed, the afflictions severed by the mind consciousness will arise again when the conditions are complete, and they simply cannot be controlled. Therefore, the affliction of hatred can only be completely severed at the stage of the anāgāmin, which indicates that only at the stage of the anāgāmin can the manas completely sever the affliction of hatred. As for the mind consciousness's affliction of hatred, it can be eradicated at the stage when an ordinary person understands the principles, but not thoroughly; upon encountering special conditions, the mind consciousness may still manifest the affliction of hatred. For example, some people have a gentle temperament and an especially good temper; normally, no matter what happens, they will not become angry—this is the case of the mind consciousness having no hatred. But once they encounter a special situation that touches their bottom line, even such a person might kill someone; this is the hatred of the manas manifesting.