The Difference Between the Manas and the Activities of Mind Consciousness

If the manas is stirred, 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 stirred, the body has little reaction and remains relatively calm. People who only talk but do not act are those whose mind consciousness alone is active while the manas is not stirred; people who say one thing and do another are those whose mind consciousness speaks while the manas does not want to act, and so they do not act; people with a habit of deception all use the mind consciousness to perform, while the manas is not stirred at all. Therefore, to observe a person's character, one should 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 does consume 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 first consume the energy in the brain, and only when the brain's energy is insufficient will the energy of the whole body be consumed. The brain drives the whole body; when the brain is tired, the whole body becomes fatigued along with it, and rest is then needed.

Within the activity of the mind consciousness, there is not a complete absence of the manas's activity; the manas is involved to some degree, so energy is consumed—the more it is involved, the more energy is consumed. If I do not ponder problems attentively and just quietly engage in superficial activity of the mind consciousness all day, I do not feel tired even after a whole day and night, and I do not feel very hungry either. If I ponder problems attentively, I feel tired after a short while and get hungry easily. That is why I am entirely 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 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 using the mind consciousness to think, because the attention is shallow and scant, it is relatively fast and easy—one can speak in generalities, fluently and eloquently, with a stream of clever words, but the content is shallow and superficial, reflecting one's level of knowledge and memory rather than one's level of wisdom. When using the manas to think, because the attention is very deep, the conscious mind operates more slowly and laboriously, but the content is profound 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 with the manas, if they always remain at the deep level of the manas and are highly focused, then whenever they shift a thought or switch to a new problem, their thinking will be 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 outside to disturb them.