The Constancy of Manas Deliberation

The manas deliberates on certain dharmas based on the six consciousnesses' capacity for discernment and the content of their discernment. The manas can know all dharmas that the six consciousnesses discern through direct perception, or all dharmas they discern through non-direct perception. While the six consciousnesses are discerning, they transmit the content to the manas as they discern; the manas simultaneously knows the meaning of what the six consciousnesses discern, and then He begins to deliberate. Whatever the six consciousnesses discern, He deliberates on; whatever He deliberates on, He may confirm; and then He must take charge, make decisions, and adopt countermeasures. After that, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses are produced.

Even in the absence of the six consciousnesses, the manas still deliberates on all dharmas and deliberates on the realms of the six sense objects. When the six consciousnesses cease, when one is unconscious or asleep, the manas also deliberates. As long as the manas exists, He ceaselessly deliberates. He deliberates on how to know more people, affairs, things, and principles, how to activate the five aggregates, and how to have the six consciousnesses continue to discern the six sense objects. In this way, He can know more dharmas.

When asleep without dreams, the six consciousnesses have all ceased. Does the manas deliberate or not? He still deliberates as usual. What does He deliberate on? He deliberates on very many dharmas: He deliberates on whether the five-aggregate body has rested well, when it is time to wake up, the events encountered during the day, matters from childhood, matters from past lives, and matters of the future. He may deliberate on any condition that arises in the body, and He may deliberate on all the realms manifested by the eighth consciousness, or He may deliberate selectively. Then He decides how to handle things. He may also deliberate on the realms of the six sense objects that the mind consciousness discerned during the day, and He may deliberate on problems that were not resolved before. After one begins to study Buddhism, if the mind consciousness is diligent, the manas will also deliberate on the content of the Buddha's teachings that the mind consciousness has studied. Therefore, in dreams, He will have the mind consciousness repeatedly study or apply the Buddha's teachings. Only then does such Buddhist practice have a certain efficacy, reaching deep into the mind.

During the day, the mental objects discerned by the six consciousnesses all fall into the manas. When asleep, the manas also deliberates. When He is relatively attached, dreams appear. Although His wisdom of discernment is not sufficiently fine, He is still able to discern the overall picture and general outline of dharmas. If His wisdom is very high, He can generate a choice and take charge and make decisions without excessive or deep deliberation. Because His discernment wisdom is not fine enough, His deliberative nature must correspondingly increase, and within that there is a process of continuous weighing. When the power of wisdom is insufficient and He cannot discern clearly for the moment, He must deliberate back and forth, and only when He thinks He has deliberated and understood will He make a choice and take charge of how to act.

The manas has this constant deliberative nature. "Examine" means to examine and ponder. During sleep, the manas also deliberates on whether it is time for the five-aggregate body to be active and whether it should wake up. If the manas did not examine and measure, He would not take charge or make decisions. Therefore, the manas has the nature of examination and deliberation. Only after examining, measuring, and deliberating can He make a choice, adopt countermeasures, act as master, and decide how the bodily, verbal, and mental actions are to be produced. This is the manas's nature of deliberation and decisive examination.