The Medicine Buddha Sutra Demonstrates That Manas Possesses the Nature of Good and Evil

The Sutra of the Medicine Buddha states: During the period of the Semblance Dharma, there will be beings afflicted by various sufferings. They suffer from prolonged illness, becoming emaciated and weak, unable to eat or drink, with parched throats and lips. Everything appears dark to them, and the signs of death manifest before them. Their parents, relatives, friends, and acquaintances weep and surround them. Yet, while their body lies in its original place, they see the messengers of Yama escorting their consciousness (vijñāna) to the presence of Yama, the Dharma King. Now, all sentient beings possess an innate deity (sahaja-deva) that records all their actions, whether sinful or meritorious, in full detail. It presents this record entirely to Yama, the Dharma King. At that time, the king interrogates the person, calculates their deeds, and judges them according to their sins and merits, determining their fate accordingly.

Explanation: During the period of the Semblance Dharma, beings possess scant merit. When the evil karmic seeds sown in past lives and the present existence come to fruition, they are afflicted by the retribution of their evil karma. They suffer from prolonged illness, lying in bed, their bodies emaciated and weak, unable to eat, with dry mouth and lips. Everything appears dim and dark to them, and the signs of death manifest. Their parents and family members weep, surrounding their body. However, while the patient's body lies sick in bed, their consciousness is escorted by the black and white impermanence ghosts to stand before King Yama. The patient's innate deity manifests all the sinful and meritorious karma they have created throughout their life and presents it to King Yama. At this time, King Yama interrogates the patient, judges the quantity of sinful and meritorious karma from their actions, determines their karmic retribution, and decides their destination.

All sentient beings possess an innate deity. This refers to the seventh consciousness, the mind-root (manas), the sovereign consciousness that has always existed and never ceased. The impermanence ghosts who seize people also guide this sovereign consciousness, the mind-root, to King Yama. Before King Yama, the mind-root of every person automatically manifests all the meritorious and sinful karmic actions performed throughout their life. Because King Yama possesses supernatural powers, he knows with his mind all the various karmic actions performed by the individual, reviewing them swiftly like images on a silver screen. After this rapid examination, King Yama begins the judgment.

This demonstrates that it is the mind-root that creates sinful and meritorious karma, good and evil karma. The judgment is of the mind-root. The conscious mind (mano-vijñāna) from when the person was alive has long since ceased and cannot follow them to King Yama. What accompanies the mind-root is the temporarily arisen consciousness within the intermediate state (antarābhava) body. This shows that the mind-root possesses the nature of good and evil; otherwise, how could good and evil karma arise? At this time, the conscious mind has already ceased and is non-functional. Even if it functions, it is merely the servant and helper of the mind-root, assisting it in its tasks. King Yama does not concern himself with the conscious mind; he only seeks the mind-root to discern the sinful and meritorious karma and the corresponding retribution.

When a person dies or is half-dead (in a state resembling death), the conscious mind is almost entirely non-functional. Regardless of the circumstances, the mind-root is forever the sovereign of sentient beings, the master consciousness. After death or a death-like state, the mind-root is pulled by karmic forces to appear before King Yama. After King Yama reviews the sinful and meritorious karma of the mind-root, if he sees that there remains a little unused merit and the person should not yet die, he then returns that person's mind-root to within their physical body in the human realm. The person then revives. Reviving signifies the mind-root returning to the physical body, which then summons the conscious mind to resume activity.

When King Yama judges the dead, he knows to seek the master of the deceased, not the assistants or underlings of the deceased. Debts have their master; karma even more so has its master. Only a fool would seek out the subordinate assistants, minor underlings, errand runners, servants, or nursemaids. Therefore, the mind-root can create all karmas—good, evil, and neutral. It possesses the nature of good and evil and contains the mental factors (caittas) of good and evil.