Does the manas attend only to significant and changing mental sense-objects?

Those who cannot observe the functioning of the manas through valid direct cognition as it truly is will harbor many misunderstandings about the manas. In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Buddha said that the manas silently encompasses all dharmas. The scope of "all dharmas" is extremely broad: whatever dharmas the tathāgatagarbha can manifest, it can simultaneously discern, and the manas, following the tathāgatagarbha, can accordingly condition whatever dharmas there are. This is the meaning of the Buddhist sutra.

Some people say that the manas only conditions significant mental sense-objects, and even then only those that are changing; if a mental sense-object is neither significant nor changing, the manas cannot condition it. Is this really so? If there were dharmas that the manas could not condition, then the six consciousnesses would be even less able to condition them. Whatever dharmas the mind consciousness discerns are all dharmas that the manas has contacted and discerned. In fact, in daily life, regardless of whether a mental sense-object is significant or not, changing or not, the mind consciousness can discern it. For example, the buzzing of a mosquito, the sound of one's own heartbeat, faint sounds inside the ears, sounds inside the belly—when the mind consciousness knows even such subtle sounds, it is because the manas has drawn them forth through its conditioning. The manas must therefore have contacted and discerned them first; it is only that it cannot discern them in fine detail, so the six consciousnesses, including the mind consciousness, are brought forth to assist in the discernment. Thus, whether significant or minute, the manas, following the tathāgatagarbha, can condition and discern them all. It is only when something is considered relatively important and useful, or is habitually discerned, that the six consciousnesses are brought forth to discern it. As for the parts where the six consciousnesses have not been brought forth to discern, the manas can still condition them and discern them; it is just that the mind consciousness does not know about it.

Even when a mental sense-object does not change, the manas can still discern it continuously. For example, when the mind consciousness and eye consciousness look at an unchanging scene, they can look at it for half a day or a whole day; likewise, the manas will contact that scene for half a day or a whole day without shifting. It is not the case that the manas only contacts mental sense-objects that change frequently. Nor is it the case that the manas only conditions mental sense-objects and not the five sense-objects. For example, the manas first contacts a large mass of colors; being interested only in certain individual colors, it brings forth the eye consciousness and mind consciousness upon those colors it is interested in, so that they jointly discern them, while the other colors are left undiscerned.

Those who truly wish to study Buddhism and achieve realization must rely upon the truth and upon the way things actually are; do not rely upon people, and do not rely upon authority.