The Five Names of Manas and Their Meanings (1)

Original text of the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna (Mahāyāna-śraddhotpāda-śāstra): 生灭因缘者。谓诸众生。依心意识转。此义云何。以依阿赖耶识。有无明不觉起。能见能现。能取境界。分别相续。说名为意。

Explanation: The arising and ceasing of all dharmas are manifested through causes and conditions. These causes and conditions include the three transforming consciousnesses (ālayavijñāna, manas, and mind consciousness), among which the manas is the most important cause and condition for the manifestation of all dharmas; all sentient beings transmigrate in dependence upon the manas. Although the ālayavijñāna is the direct cause for the birth of all conditioned dharmas of arising and ceasing, it is brought about by the manas. Without the cause and condition of the manas, the ālayavijñāna would not give birth to any dharma. The manas relies on the ālayavijñāna, and following the ignorance of its own mind, it will perceive all the realm-dharmas born by the ālayavijñāna; then it manifests in the mind all the realm-dharmas born by the ālayavijñāna, grasps at all the realm-dharmas born by the ālayavijñāna, and discriminates them continuously and unceasingly, without awakening in the slightest to the fact that it has such ignorance. Such a mind-substance is called the manas.

Original text: 此意复有五种异名。一名业识。谓无明力。不觉心动。

Explanation: Such a manas has five different names. The first name is the karmic consciousness. The manas is the master of karma creation; because it has ignorance and does not awaken to its own ignorance, the power of ignorance impels the manas's mind to stir and give rise to intention. After the mental engagement (manaskāra), the subsequent contact, feeling, perception, and volition appear. After the manas's mind has made its decision, the bodily, verbal, and mental karmic actions of the six consciousnesses are carried out, thereby leaving behind karmic seeds to be received as retribution in later lives, and thus birth-and-death continues without interruption. Therefore it is said that the manas is the karmic consciousness, corresponding to the karmic power of ignorance, corresponding to karmic seeds, and corresponding to birth-and-death; of course, through cultivation it will correspond to emptiness, to purity, to tranquility, and to liberation. Therefore, cultivation means cultivating the manas: eliminating self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), seeing one's true mind and awakening to one's nature, transforming consciousness into wisdom, possessing the seed-wisdom of Yogācāra, and ultimately attaining buddhahood.

Since the manas corresponds to karmic power and to karmic seeds, the pure karma of eliminating self-view is sustained and held by the manas, and the pure karma of seeing one's true mind and awakening to one's nature is sustained and held by the manas. Only when the manas has eliminated self-view and realized the true mind and its nature can it sustain such pure karmic seeds; otherwise the manas cannot sustain them, and there will be no such pure karmic retribution in later lives. By the same token, the karmic seeds of unwholesome karma are also sustained and held by the manas. Only when the manas's mind is unwholesome can it create unwholesome karma and sustain the seeds of unwholesome karma until later lives. Therefore, the manas possesses all the afflictive mental factors as well as all the wholesome mental factors.

Original text: 二名转识。谓依动心。能见境相。

Explanation: The second name of the manas is the transforming consciousness. "Transforming" means flowing and transmigrating, and also operating and turning. Relying on the power of ignorance, the manas can cause dharmas to flow out and operate out of the ālayavijñāna. When the manas's mind stirs, the ālayavijñāna will accordingly give birth to realms, and the manas will perceive the appearances of those realms. When the mind stirs again, the six consciousnesses will be born and create karmic actions, and the functions of the five aggregates will become manifest, so that birth-and-death in later lives continues unceasingly. Realms and the five aggregates all appear following the stirring of the manas's mind, and birth-and-death also appears following the stirring of the manas's mind. Therefore it is said that the manas is the switch that turns all dharmas; the manas is the transforming consciousness.

Original text: 三名现识。谓现一切。诸境界相。犹如明镜。现众色像。现识亦尔。如其五境。对至即现。无有前后。不由功力。

Explanation: The third name of the manas is the manifesting consciousness. "Manifesting" here means presenting. After the manas perceives all dharmas, it will present all dharmas, and all dharmas will appear as images in the manas's mind. The manas relies on the ālayavijñāna; whatever realms the ālayavijñāna manifests, the manas can discern those realms, and the mind can present those realms. It is like a bright mirror manifesting all the appearances of realms. For example, with the appearances of the five sense-objects, as soon as the manas contacts them, it immediately presents the appearances of the five sense-objects. When the ālayavijñāna gives birth to realms, the manas almost simultaneously, without any temporal sequence, presents the realms in the mind, without any deliberate processing.

Why is it said to be the appearances of the five sense-objects, rather than the appearances of the six sense-objects, or the appearances of the mental sense-objects? Here the five sense-objects in essence include the mental sense-objects, making up the six sense-objects, with the five sense-objects as representatives, each of which has its own mental sense-object. This is an abbreviated way of speaking. Otherwise, one would have to say: form objects and the mental sense-objects upon form objects, sound objects and the mental sense-objects upon sound objects, odor objects and the mental sense-objects upon odor objects, flavor objects and the mental sense-objects upon flavor objects, tactile objects and the mental sense-objects upon tactile objects—which would be extremely cumbersome, and so it is briefly stated as the five sense-objects.

Generally speaking, the manas contacts the mental sense-objects and gives rise to the mind consciousness. But how are the five sense consciousnesses generated? Some would say that the five sense consciousnesses are generated when the five sense faculties contact the five sense-objects. However, the five sense faculties are material form, not mental dharmas, not conscious minds; how could they have the dynamic agency of conscious minds to actively contact the five sense-objects? In essence, the contact of the five sense faculties with the five sense-objects is still brought about under the direction of the manas. The manas directs the five sense faculties to contact the five sense-objects and give rise to the five sense consciousnesses, while at the same time contacting the mental sense-objects to give rise to the mind consciousness. Since the manas is the director, the manas also contacts the appearances of the five sense-objects, and after contact, it presents the complete appearances of the six sense-objects. After making its choice, the six consciousnesses are born to discern and process the appearances of the six sense-objects. The six consciousnesses discern some of the six sense-objects and not others—this is the role of choice and direction performed by the manas.