Proving That Consciousness Is a Tool of the Manas through the Origin of Language

Before language is produced, a stream of qi must first be gathered in the dantian. During the process of gathering, although the qi is in the dantian, the qi field will manifest and radiate outside the body. A person with a refined mind of meditative concentration (samādhi) can perceive this qi field, as well as the direction of the breath and energy. This includes the intensity of the breath and energy—whether it is gentle and calm or fierce, with angry, emotionally agitated feelings. Emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness will manifest, and part of one's attitude will show in advance. Combined with facial expressions, the look in the eyes, and the posture and body language of the body, all of this together allows a person with keen observation and refined perception to have a presentiment of what this person is about to say, what its wholesome or unwholesome nature is like—that is, the thought content to be expressed. This wordless transmission of breath and energy, this revelation of emotion, is entirely controlled by the manas and reflects the manas's emotions. Of course, facial expressions can be faked and feigned, but this is the manas directing the mind consciousness and body consciousness in the feigning.

When the qi has gathered sufficiently in the dantian, it will move upward along the body's channel toward the navel, chest, throat, and mouth. Once it converges with the teeth and tongue, language is produced. A person in meditative concentration will feel a stream of air flowing out of the speaker's mouth and will feel a vibrating energy radiating forth. The more abundant a person's qi, the more confident, the more controlled, the more infectious their speech, and the more able to captivate people's hearts. A person with an upright mind has abundant central qi, great influence and infectious power, giving people a feeling of sincerity that readily convinces them—this is also the result of a person's virtue exerting its attraction.

Language is an action and fabrication of the mind consciousness, and it cannot be separated from the body consciousness; together with the body consciousness it expresses emotion and intention. Because the production of language requires the use of the body and the qi and blood within it, the body consciousness must participate. If the body enters samādhi and the body consciousness cannot arise, the mind consciousness cannot produce language on its own. However, the fabrication of the mind consciousness arises at the very end of the qi's circulation. The circulation of the qi is controlled by the manas; before the circulation, the manas has the intention to express, which impels the qi to gather in the dantian, and then it circulates into the mouth, where the mind consciousness together with the body consciousness brings forth the language. This phenomenon shows that the manas first stirs a thought, first has an intention, first makes a decision, and only afterward can the mind consciousness arise to fulfill the manas's intention and decision. Thus the bodily, verbal, and mental actions fabricated by the mind consciousness together with the five consciousnesses represent the manas's intention; yet this does not exclude the possibility that the manas made its decision under the influence of the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta), in which case the bodily, verbal, and mental actions also contain the intention of the solitary consciousness.