Characteristics and Benefits of Thinking with the Manas

Thinking about difficult problems occurs at different levels of depth and shallowness. The shallowest level is the mind consciousness thinking alone; because there is no meditative concentration (samādhi), and the manas is not familiar with the problem, it cannot participate. In the process of the mind consciousness's thinking, some language, words, and sounds will be mixed in; there is a mental appearance of deliberation, and the whole process can easily be observed—this is the mind consciousness's power of introspection (pratyavekṣā-bala) over its own operation. The language here includes talking to oneself, as well as body language such as gestures; the words include those written on paper, as well as mental imagination and description; the sounds include audible sounds, as well as the silent voice of the mind. During the process of thinking, the deliberation can be scattered, the mind need not be single-pointed, and meditative concentration is not required. As for the results of such thinking, the manas does not acknowledge them, because it did not participate; the mind is not very certain about them, they are easily overturned, and no corresponding practical action will be taken.

Slightly deeper thinking involves the participation of the manas, with some shallow meditative concentration; the manas and the mind consciousness think together, one in the open and one in the dark, cooperating with each other and complementing each other's strengths, and this does not exclude the presence of language, words, and sounds. The mind consciousness is responsible for providing materials and examples, as well as rough analysis and inference, while the manas sets aside a portion of its objects of attention and thinks with full or half concentration. Because the manas must think, it has no more energy to attend to all dharmas, and must inevitably relinquish some dharmas; thus shallow meditative concentration arises. Whether to attend to dharmas or not is decided by the manas, and which dharmas to attend to and which not to attend to is also decided by the manas. If the manas does not participate in the thinking, it will not decide to relinquish a portion of the attended dharmas, and there will be no shallow meditative concentration. The more dharmas the manas relinquishes, the deeper the meditative concentration, the deeper its participation in the thinking, and the easier it is to arrive at the results of thinking.

The deepest level of thinking is the manas deliberating (manasikāra) alone. At this time, the meditative concentration is already very deep; the mind consciousness's auxiliary and transmitting functions have all been completed, the manas has already understood and become familiar with the problem, and it has relinquished the vast majority of its dharma-objects, single-mindedly thinking and investigating alone within meditative concentration—deliberating even in dreams without rest. Once a result is thought out, the mind consciousness understands it as soon as it wakes up, and sleep is not disturbed. Once the mind has meditative concentration, even meditative concentration of a short duration, the manas will inevitably be activated; and conversely, once the manas enters the process of deliberation, it is often very focused, other dharma-objects can no longer be attended to, and meditative concentration inevitably appears.

From this it can be seen that the manas is the consciousness that takes charge, the one that arranges and decides matters. Once He deliberates, He cannot arrange other things, and meditative concentration will inevitably arrive. Whether there is meditative concentration in the course of cultivation depends on the manas—the manas has the final say. Therefore, if one wants to cultivate concentration quickly, one must make more use of the manas; and if one wants to use the manas to deliberate, one must cultivate more meditative concentration. For a person who has formed the habit of thinking with the manas, whenever a difficult problem arises in the future, he will immediately enter the manas-thinking mode, without needing the mind consciousness to guide him; his attention is extremely focused, his mind concentrated, without language, words, or sounds, and without affecting the concentration of attention. From ancient times to the present, all people of profound thought, all people of great wisdom, have been people accustomed to thinking about problems with the manas.

The benefit of thinking with the manas is that it can reach the goal in one step, directly resolving the core problem, without doubt, without agonizing, without regret, and with inner joy. It is more penetrating, more ultimate, more thorough, deeper, more imbued with wisdom, more accepted by the mind, more grounded, forever corresponding to the result, and requires no effort to memorize and recite again; whereas what the mind consciousness thinks out is easily forgotten afterward and cannot be recalled.