The Fruit of Mastering the Manas

Since learning to use the manas, this disciple's work efficiency has rapidly improved, and my workload has increased severalfold. Now, no matter what I do, I never worry about methods—there are plenty of methods I can come up with. As soon as I keep something in mind, I become engaged with that matter, and then when I sit down in meditation, or even just take a nap, a whole pile of solutions will come. When methods for handling a problem appear, I have to write them down immediately or put them into practice right away, otherwise they are easily forgotten later. After putting them into practice, things get better and better. In the past, when I didn't know how to use the manas, encountering certain matters would worry me to death—especially when work was busy, I didn't know how to handle or resolve things, and it took a great deal of mental effort.

Over these years of using the manas, this disciple has indeed gained some insights, but I'm not very good at summarizing them. Sometimes the methods, tricks, and inspirations that the manas deliberates upon are simply indescribably wonderful—even I myself feel astonished, wondering how on earth they came about.

Assessment: This sharing of experience is genuine and down-to-earth, without a trace of the false or of intellectual speculation. The meditative concentration is very good—upon taking one's seat, one quickly enters meditation. The mind consciousness's function is somewhat weaker, while the manas's function is powerful, truly capable of producing wisdom that solves practical problems, including wisdom in the Buddhadharma. As long as a problem enters the manas, the deliberation is very thorough.

After the mind consciousness throws out a problem, it no longer thinks about it; the problem is suspended in the manas's mind, letting the manas deliberate in secret. The manas will then silently, unobtrusively deliberate, and the result naturally appears. When the mind consciousness becomes aware of this result, there is a sudden realization. At this moment, one discovers that although the mind consciousness is not thinking, one still senses a force of mindfulness and thinking power operating—this is a hidden way in which the manas secretly deliberates on the problem. As for how deep and how long the deliberation is, and what the result will be, that is determined by many factors.

The prerequisite for being able to actively use the manas and let it deliberate is that one must calm the mind and must have the power of meditative concentration. The deeper the meditative concentration, the more powerful the manas's deliberative function, and the more astonishing the results. If one has preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) or the concentration of the first dhyāna, then when the manas deliberates on the Buddhadharma, the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and seeing the mind and realizing one's nature become relatively much easier. If the power of concentration is insufficient, it may feel as if the manas is deliberating, but in fact the mind consciousness has not ceased and is also participating in the thinking; the result then contains elements of the mind consciousness's analysis and inference, and the result is not entirely genuine.

Once one learns to apply this skill, one will achieve great accomplishments in both worldly dharmas and world-transcending dharmas, possessing unique great wisdom, able to handle all kinds of affairs with multiplied efficiency and remarkable results. This skill can be cultivated starting from elementary school. Once the skill is mastered, not only will one achieve twice the results with half the effort, but one's self-learning ability may increase severalfold. Every profession and industry will produce outstanding talents, and such creative talents can never be caught up with or replaced by robots, no matter what.