The Thinking and Knowing of Manas and Mind Consciousness

The manas, like the mind consciousness, is a consciousness; both possess the mental factor of volition (cetanā), and both can deliberate, think, and ponder. Because the vast majority of people cannot observe the volition of the manas, they believe there is a difference between the volition of the manas and that of the mind consciousness: they call the volition of the mind consciousness "deliberation" (思惟) and the volition of the manas "pondering" (思量), holding that deliberation is not pondering and pondering is not deliberation. If one says that the manas deliberates and thinks, they consider it wrong, saying that deliberation and thinking belong to the mind consciousness; if one speaks of the mental activities of the manas, many people say that is wrong too, claiming those are the mental activities of the mind consciousness. Therefore, if one cannot observe the mental activities of the manas yet still wants to study Yogācāra, and one's mind remains stubbornly attached, it becomes very troublesome.

Why do many people say that the volition of the manas is very deep and hidden, difficult to observe? The reason is that sentient beings take the knowing of the mind consciousness 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 mental activities of the manas, and does not know what the manas knows, then sentient beings will not know the mental activities of the manas or what the manas knows, and will feel that the mental activities of the manas are very deep, hidden, and subtle. In fact, it is the ignorance of the mind consciousness that should be blamed. When the mind consciousness has wisdom, when its wisdom is unobstructed and it can directly observe the mental activities of the manas, it 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 misapprehend the mental factors of the manas.

What would happen if sentient beings all took the knowing of the manas as their knowing? If sentient beings all took the knowing of the manas 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 would 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 either, and attaining enlightenment would become even more difficult. At that time, sentient beings would say: the mental activities of the mind consciousness are deep, subtle, hard to know, and very secretive, difficult to fathom; the eighth consciousness is even deeper, more hidden, and harder to know, with extremely subtle characteristics.

In reality, whether the dharmas are hidden or not, clear or not, depends on the wisdom of the consciousnesses, not on the dharmas themselves. When there is wisdom, any dharma is clear, easy to know, and easy to understand; when there is no wisdom, even the clearest dharma feels deep and hidden. Therefore, after the sixth and seventh consciousnesses achieve 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 them, and all dharmas are perfectly clear in His mind.

If sentient beings took the knowing of the manas as their knowing, they would have supernatural powers, and perhaps there would be no secrets among one another; past lives and future lives would all be perfectly clear. In this way 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: even knowing clearly that they have suffered much because of committing evil deeds, they still keep committing evil deeds—like those who repeatedly go to prison, refusing to repent to the very end. Moreover, because the manas lacks the obvious guiding function of the mind consciousness, it is simple and naive; its emotional attachments would be heavier, its self-nature heavier, and the mind consciousness would find it hard to restrain Him, so the probability of committing evil deeds would be even greater, and the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) would be even more difficult.

What would it be like if sentient beings all took the knowing of the eighth consciousness as their knowing? The eighth consciousness does not know or see worldly dharmas; it does not know self, others, or anyone; it does not see forms or hear sounds; it does not know the realms of the six sense objects. In that case, 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 or not? Some would say that in this way bodhisattvas could not deliver sentient beings; but at that time, what sentient being would not already be in a state of nirvāṇa and still need to be delivered by the Buddhas and bodhisattvas? If sentient beings all took the knowing of the eighth consciousness 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 continue to function. This is 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 were 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 in order to know the coarse characteristics of the five sense objects; but knowing only the coarse characteristics of the five sense objects, not their subtle characteristics, not knowing mental sense objects, not knowing mental dharmas—one absolutely could not survive. In short, if one wishes to know all dharmas, whichever consciousness's knowing is taken as primary, that consciousness must possess great wisdom, must achieve the transformation of consciousness into wisdom; only with wisdom-consciousness can one know all dharmas.