Evidence that the Manas Has Three Kinds of Feelings (4)

The manas not only has neutral feeling, but also feelings of suffering and pleasure. Because the manas has ignorance and afflictions, and has wholesome and unwholesome mental factors, it must have feelings of suffering and pleasure, and due to feelings of suffering and pleasure, greed and aversion arise. If the manas had only neutral feeling, then when beaten, scolded, humiliated, or insulted, one would remain unmoved. Although the mind consciousness might feel bad, it would pass after a while, and there would be no retaliatory action. This is the good cultivation and virtue of a great cultivator, which ordinary people simply do not possess. If the manas had only neutral feeling, when praised and exalted to the heavens, one would remain unmoved, and in the face of power, sex, fame, and profit, one would still remain unmoved, not pursuing power, sex, fame, and profit, and being indifferent to glory and wealth. Although the mind consciousness might like these things, it would only be a slight liking, and one would not take action or put them into practice. This is the virtuous cultivation of a great cultivator; ordinary people would never be like this.

Because the manas's reception of the six sense-object realms often relies on the six consciousnesses, and the six consciousnesses have obvious discernment functions with regard to objects, their feelings are also obvious and direct, while the manas's feelings appear more indirect and obscure, and are not easily discovered by the mind consciousness. Therefore it is said that the manas has no feeling. As for feelings on the physical body, they are directly received by the mind consciousness and the body consciousness. Pain and comfort on the body are directly felt by the body consciousness and the mind consciousness. When the six consciousnesses are absent, the painful and pleasant contacts on the body are not felt by either the mind consciousness or the body consciousness. But at this time, does the manas have any feeling? The manas definitely has feeling. Therefore, after fainting and during sleep, the manas will rouse the six consciousnesses to discern and find ways to deal with problems on the physical body. Even if it does not rouse the six consciousnesses to wake up, during coma and sleep, facial expressions and bodily postures on the physical body also show that the manas has sensation.

Sentient beings all take the feelings of the six consciousnesses as feelings, and cannot experience the feelings of the manas. When the wisdom of consciousness is insufficient and one does not have the wisdom of the varieties of paths, one also cannot observe that the manas has feelings. Therefore it is not surprising that many people say the manas has no feeling, but this is not the correct principle. The five universally present mental factors are attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition. The manas also has the five universally present mental factors, so the manas definitely has feeling.