Manas Utilizes the Six Consciousnesses to Generate All Physical, Verbal, and Mental Actions

All information from the six consciousnesses is transmitted to the manas moment by moment. The manas constantly perceives the information discerned by the six consciousnesses, as well as their mental activities. Therefore, the manas is able to generate its own mental activities moment by moment based on the information from the six consciousnesses and exercise control accordingly. The six consciousnesses are the tools utilized by the manas. If the six consciousnesses become unusable, even if the manas has a reaction, it cannot manifest it—no matter how anxious it may be, it is useless. It is like a person who wants to cut down a large tree but finds the tool in hand broken and unusable; he can only watch helplessly and accomplish nothing.

When a person uses a tool to chop down a tree and the tree falls, is it the person or the tool that accomplishes this? Of course, it is the person who fells the tree; it is the person who utilizes the tool to cut it down. Credit and blame should both be attributed to the person. Similarly, the manas utilizes the six consciousnesses to create all physical, verbal, and mental actions. Credit and blame for these actions should be attributed to the manas, while the six consciousnesses are merely being directed. However, if the six consciousnesses offer advice or schemes to the manas, and the manas acts accordingly, the six consciousnesses also share responsibility.