The Relationship Between the Mental Factors of the Mind Consciousness and the Mental Factors of the Manas

Question: "After the seeds of consciousness give birth to and form the seven consciousnesses, the mental factors (caittas) operate alongside them, and only then does the conscious mind have the three natures of wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral (avyākṛta)." These mental factors belong to the manas, right? Because the manas contains innate and discriminated habitual tendencies, while the first six consciousnesses, when born and formed from the seeds of consciousness, should all be pure; only after being influenced by the mental factors of the manas do they acquire the three natures. Is this understanding correct?

Answer: Whichever consciousness is operating, the mental factors of that consciousness operate alongside it. Because the mind consciousness is regulated and directed by the manas, once the mind consciousness begins to operate, the arising of its own mental factors is inevitably influenced by the mental factors of the manas and regulated by the manas. When the manas wishes to do good, after wholesome mental factors arise, they inevitably lead to the birth of the mind consciousness's wholesome mental factors, in order to carry out the manas's instructions. It is the same when unwholesome mental factors and neutral mental factors arise.

If the manas wants to practice generosity (dāna), it must direct the six consciousnesses to carry out the specific operations; thus the birth of the six consciousnesses serves to cooperate with the manas, to execute this wholesome deed of generosity. Therefore, the mental factors of the mind consciousness, once born, are necessarily wholesome, consistent with the mental factors of the manas. If the manas wants to practice generosity, it must direct the six consciousnesses to carry out the specific operations; thus the birth of the six consciousnesses serves to cooperate with the manas, to execute this wholesome deed of generosity. Therefore, the mental factors of the mind consciousness, once born, are necessarily wholesome, consistent with the mental factors of the manas. If the manas does not want to practice generosity, then with regard to this wholesome deed of generosity, there is no birth or operation of the mind consciousness and its mental factors. That is to say, whenever the mental factors of the conscious mind operate, the three natures will appear. Therefore, to purify the conscious mind, one need only purify the mental factors of the manas at the root, and the other conscious minds will become pure accordingly.

If the manas wants to kill people and set fires, it will give birth to the six consciousnesses to accomplish this evil deed, because the specific operations of killing and arson can only be completed with the six consciousnesses; the manas cannot perform them. Therefore, once the six consciousnesses are born, their mental factors are necessarily unwholesome, consistent with the mental factors of the manas. Thus the manas possesses all wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral mental factors, so that it can enable the six consciousnesses to possess all mental factors to carry out bodily, verbal, and mental actions. It is not as some people say, that the manas has only a portion of the mental factors. If the manas's mental factors were not complete, there would be many things the manas could not decide and carry out; and for matters in which the manas does not take charge, how could the six consciousnesses operate?

The mental factors of the mind consciousness are at first consistent with the manas, but after deliberation, if it feels that something is not right, it will also change its mental factors and turn back to persuade and influence the manas. There are times when the mind consciousness goes against the manas. For example, the manas may want to do something bad, but the mind consciousness hesitates and does not carry it out; after changing its thinking, it can also change the manas's thinking—this is the influencing role of the mind consciousness. Changing the manas is always accomplished through the mind consciousness's influence. After experiencing something, the mind consciousness will deliberate on the pros and cons, and thus the manas will come to know the pros and cons, and in future actions it will make choices accordingly. It is only that the mind consciousness's influence may be fast or slow, depending on the wisdom and skillful means of the mind consciousness.