What Is Uninterrupted Attention?

"Intermittent" means with gaps and interruptions; "uninterrupted" means continuous, without gaps and without interruption. Manasikāra (attention) means directing attention toward a dharma, the mind turning toward a dharma and focusing on it. Manasikāra is one of the five universally associated mental factors of the conscious mind; all eight consciousnesses have manasikāra, and all can turn toward and focus on some dharma.

Among these, is the manasikāra of the eighth consciousness uninterrupted or intermittent? We know that all dharmas are born and upheld by the eighth consciousness. Once the eighth consciousness no longer applies manasikāra toward a certain dharma, it no longer operates on that dharma and no longer outputs seeds onto it, and that dharma must then vanish and perish. Therefore, as long as a certain dharma exists, there must be the uninterrupted, continuous operation of the eighth consciousness's manasikāra. However, the existence of all dharmas arises in two ways: first, the eighth consciousness spontaneously gives rise to them according to mature karmic seeds; second, they arise from the manasikāra and grasping of the manas. Thus, at times the eighth consciousness's manasikāra is triggered by the manas's manasikāra. Once the manas no longer applies manasikāra, the eighth consciousness also ceases to give birth to and uphold that dharma, and that dharma necessarily disappears. So the existence of a certain dharma necessarily also involves the operation of the manas's manasikāra mental factor. As long as a certain dharma continues to exist without interruption, the manas's manasikāra mental factor must be operating continuously and unceasingly; otherwise, that dharma must vanish and disappear.

Therefore, it can be said that the manasikāra of the eighth consciousness can be uninterrupted, and the manasikāra of the manas can also be uninterrupted. Can the mind consciousness's manasikāra be uninterrupted? We know that the mind consciousness is interrupted during much of each day and inevitably ceases involuntarily at times. Even if the mind consciousness has uninterrupted manasikāra, it lasts only for a period of time; it is impossible to sustain it twenty-four hours a day without interruption. Even when the mind consciousness's manasikāra is uninterrupted for a period of time, it is entirely due to the uninterrupted manasikāra of the manas. Once the manas no longer applies manasikāra, the eighth consciousness stops outputting the seeds of the mind consciousness, and the mind consciousness necessarily disappears with respect to that dharma.

Therefore, only under the condition of the manas's uninterrupted manasikāra can there be the mind consciousness's uninterrupted manasikāra over a period of time. In fact, in the vast majority of cases, after applying manasikāra for a while, the mind consciousness becomes fatigued and becomes scattered and ceases; it cannot sustain manasikāra for too long, and even more so with the manasikāra of the five sense consciousnesses. Without the manas's manasikāra and without the eighth consciousness's manasikāra, even a momentary manasikāra of the six consciousnesses would not exist. All six consciousnesses depend on the eighth consciousness and the manas in order to manifest and operate; they cannot be independent and cannot be the master.

Once the manas forms uninterrupted manasikāra toward a certain dharma, it means the mind consciousness's perfuming has succeeded; the manas will then automatically and spontaneously direct the six consciousnesses to act in accordance with the principle that has been realized and known. In this way, the mental activities will necessarily change, and the bodily, verbal, and mental actions will also necessarily change, without the mind consciousness needing to supervise and remind anymore. Only when the manas has not been successfully perfumed does one need the mind consciousness's constant supervision, reminders, and regulation—this is so because the manas is not spontaneous, and it is only when it has not been perfumed and has not realized the dharma that this is the case.