How Do Karmic Actions Arise?

The process by which the five universal mental factors operate is precisely the process of creating karmic actions. If wholesome mental factors join in, what is created is wholesome karma; if unwholesome mental factors join in, what is created is unwholesome karma. The mental factors of attention (manaskāra) and contact (sparśa) are themselves neither wholesome nor unwholesome; if wholesome or unwholesome mind is added, then that attention and contact become wholesome-minded or malicious. The mental factors of feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā) are likewise themselves neither wholesome nor unwholesome; if wholesome or unwholesome mental factors join in, then those feeling, perception, and volition mental factors come to contain wholesome or unwholesome qualities. If, while the five universal mental factors are operating, the mental factor of wisdom (prajñā) participates, the karmic action is one of wisdom; otherwise, it is a karmic action of foolishness. If the mental factor of determination (adhimokṣa) participates, that person is intelligent, good at understanding others' intentions, and has strong comprehension. When the mental factor of meditative concentration (samādhi) arises, feeling and perception both become slight, and the operation of the five universal mental factors becomes slow and slight; attention and contact arise passively, and the mental factors of feeling, perception, and volition manifest and operate in accordance with conditions, functioning spontaneously.

In the operation of all dharmas, the manas plays a driving role and is the master of karmic actions; this can be observed from one's usual bodily, verbal, and mental actions. For example, raising the hand, then picking up a pen, and then pressing the hand onto the paper. If this process is observed carefully, one can clearly feel a kind of mental force driving it—sometimes the driving is obvious, sometimes it is not obvious, and sometimes it is very casual, as if nothing is driving it, when in fact it is done by inertia. However, no matter how casual and effortless the manas's operation is, when the mind consciousness lacks wisdom, it is still very difficult to observe.

Take another example: when we ride a bicycle very skillfully, it seems we are riding without applying the mind—the mind consciousness does not need to think or consider how to ride—yet the manas is commanding and operating moment by moment, always applying its mind; it is only that the mind consciousness does not know it. When riding skillfully, even if you want to fall down, it is not easy to fall; when you cannot ride, even if you do not want to fall, you still fall. This is because when one is skilled, the mind consciousness need not think and control; the manas has already mastered it and can command and control with ease. When unskilled, the manas has not yet learned it, so the mind consciousness must repeatedly deliberate and permeate the manas until the manas has fully mastered it and can control freely; then the mind consciousness no longer needs to apply any effort.

Some people always say that when they did a certain thing, it was unintentional. But no matter how unintentional your mind consciousness was, the manas was intentional—it was the manas that drove the doing of that thing, and only then did that thing come to fruition; you simply did not know it. In familiar modes of operation, unconscious and subconscious movements are all operated, commanded, and controlled by the manas, not by the mind consciousness; the mind consciousness merely cooperates with the manas in a simple way, without any thoughts, opinions, or views. Moreover, the mind consciousness being unintentional does not mean the manas is unintentional; only when the manas is unintentional is the mind truly in a state of nonaction.