Examining the Mental Factors (caittas) of the Manas from the Perspective of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

The three links taught in the twelve links of dependent origination—ignorance conditions volitional formations (avidyā-pratyayāḥ saṃskārāḥ), volitional formations condition consciousness, and consciousness conditions name-and-form—clearly reveal that the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death of sentient beings all arises because of the ignorance of the manas. Because of the ignorance of the manas, sentient beings have wholesome and unwholesome karma and the cycle of rebirth in the six realms; thus the ignorance of the manas encompasses all afflictions and is endowed with all afflictive mental factors. Because sentient beings possess all afflictions, they have segmented birth-and-death and transformational birth-and-death; and once the ignorance of the manas is completely eliminated, sentient beings become Buddhas. At that time, the manas is endowed with all wholesome mental factors, which constantly accompany the manas in its operation; previously they did not constantly accompany it—especially at the stage of ordinary beings, they rarely accompanied the manas in its operation.

To summarize, the manas is endowed with all mental factors, no fewer than the mind consciousness. If the manas were not endowed with all afflictive mental factors, the mind would not be so defiled, would create less karma of birth-and-death, and would experience less suffering; yet for countless kalpas, sentient beings have experienced all the suffering of birth-and-death and have created all karma of birth-and-death, which shows that the manas is endowed with all afflictive mental factors. If the manas were not endowed with all wholesome mental factors, the mind could not be completely and thoroughly pure, and one could not become a Buddha; yet all sentient beings will ultimately become Buddhas, so the manas is endowed with all wholesome mental factors. It is just that these wholesome and unwholesome mental factors do not constantly accompany the manas in its operation. The manas of ordinary sentient beings has only the four great root afflictions—self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), self-conceit, self-grasping, and self-delusion—constantly and ceaselessly accompanying the manas in its operation, never departing from it even for a moment. It is evident that these four great root afflictions are the bane of the karma and suffering of birth-and-death; through these four great root afflictions, other afflictions are induced to manifest at times and lie hidden at other times.

Once the affliction of self-view is eliminated, the other three root afflictions will also be gradually eliminated in its wake; once the four great root afflictions are eliminated, all other afflictions will be completely eliminated along with them, and segmented birth-and-death will thereby be ended. Therefore, after sentient beings eliminate self-view, the affliction of self-view can neither constantly accompany the manas in its operation nor intermittently accompany it; and even after the afflictions of self-grasping and self-conceit are completely eliminated, they can neither constantly accompany the manas in its operation nor intermittently accompany it, but will forever no longer accompany the manas in its operation. The same is true of the affliction of self-delusion: once it is completely eliminated, the manifest afflictions of the manas are exhausted, and at the end of life one can leave the three realms and enter nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa).

The wholesome mental factors of the manas of ordinary sentient beings are not complete and cannot constantly accompany the manas in its operation; rather, they appear at times and are absent at times, manifesting and hiding intermittently. Once the manas eliminates its afflictive mental factors, the wholesome mental factors will gradually become complete and will constantly accompany the manas in its operation; this is then the mental activity of a noble one, no longer the mental activity of an ordinary being. To summarize, the manas of ordinary sentient beings has only the four great root afflictions constantly accompanying it in its operation, while other afflictions appear at times and are absent at times, manifesting and hiding intermittently—this is exactly how the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra discusses it. The wholesome mental factors of the manas of ordinary sentient beings likewise appear at times and are absent at times, manifesting and hiding intermittently; after afflictions are eliminated and one becomes a noble one, the wholesome mental factors will frequently accompany the manas in its operation, and ultimately will constantly accompany the manas in its operation.

In recent decades, many people have grossly misunderstood the mental factors of the manas. The reason is a severe insufficiency of meditative concentration (samādhi) and wisdom, making them unable to observe the mental activity of the manas directly in the present; their comprehension is also not strong, and they have misunderstood the expositions of the Bodhisattvas—a misunderstanding that has continued to this day. Because the levels of meditative concentration and wisdom of the various great Bodhisattvas vary, being high and low, their expositions inevitably contain contradictions. Should such a situation arise, one should take as primary the exposition of Bodhisattva Maitreya, whose wisdom is the deepest; if there are Buddhist sūtras to corroborate it, one should take the Buddhist sūtras as primary. If there are no Buddhist sūtras to corroborate it, then one should take genuine realization as the standard and take facts as the standard, for facts, after all, speak louder than eloquence.