The Yogācāra Meaning of Closing the Eyes to Rest the Mind

What is spirit? Spirit refers to the vitality and essence of the seven consciousnesses, that is, the mind-spirit. Nurturing the spirit means nurturing the vitality and essence of the seven consciousnesses, accumulating energy so that the seven consciousnesses have sufficient strength and vigor to deal with sense objects. Closing the eyes is the closing of the eyes by these two consciousnesses—the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness. The physical body is material form and has no function of closing the eyes. The command to close the eyes is issued by the manas. When the manas feels it should rest and recuperate, it decides to close the eyes and not see forms; the two consciousnesses follow the decision and close the eyes. If the manas wants to see forms, once the command is issued, the two consciousnesses cannot close the eyes no matter what, because they were brought into being with a purpose only because the manas needed them. If they are not needed, and there is no wish to obey the command, then there is no reason for them to arise—they have no autonomy of their own.

If the mind consciousness says, "This form is really nice, let's look a while longer," and the manas says, "Then look a while longer," the two consciousnesses will continue seeing forms without closing the eyes. In all matters, it is the manas that takes charge and makes decisions. Although some matters are suggested by the mind consciousness, the manas must still agree to the mind consciousness's suggestion before taking charge and making the decision. Once the two consciousnesses close their eyes and cease activity, the manas no longer needs to expend attention on the matter of seeing forms, thereby saving mental effort, nurturing the spirit and vigor, or turning to deliberate (manana) on other important matters.

Here, on the one hand, this demonstrates the decisive role of the manas as the master among the consciousnesses; on the other hand, it reveals a method of cultivating meditation: shut off the six consciousnesses and cease activity, and the manas will no longer be distracted; the mind settles down, and meditative concentration (dhyāna) naturally appears. When the manas's spirit is well nurtured, wisdom naturally arises. Someone might say: "No, it is the mind consciousness that is nurtured; it is the mind consciousness that becomes pure, and thereby wisdom, thinking, and discernment arise." This statement is of course also correct: when none of the seven consciousnesses chase outward after objects, when all have settled down and their spirits are fully nurtured, meditative concentration and wisdom naturally both appear. What wisdom appears in the first five consciousnesses? The eye consciousness becomes clear and discerns objects accurately; the ear consciousness becomes lucid and discerns sounds distinctly; the nose consciousness discerns scents subtly; the tongue consciousness discerns tastes delicately; the body consciousness discerns tangibles keenly; and the mind consciousness, following the five consciousnesses in discerning the six sense objects, possesses wisdom as well. Because all six consciousnesses have wisdom, their discernment is enhanced, the manas receives more precise information, its decisions and judgments become more accurate, and its wisdom becomes ever more profound, sharp, and agile.