Let the Manas Develop the Habit of Practice

Question: I have now developed a habit: before going to sleep every night, I talk with the manas. Through testing, I have found that anything related to the Buddha-dharma (all of which involves the manas) will certainly produce dreams on that topic throughout the night. But if the topic is something outside the Buddha-dharma—not related to the manas—no related dreams appear. Does the manas really have such a great power of selection?

Answer: The deliberative mental faculty (manas-kuśala) of the manas is extremely powerful. He must exercise mastery moment by moment, and must make choices moment by moment. He has a deliberative nature with respect to all dharmas and must weigh them all. His functions of mastery and choice are very strong, and no other consciousness can substitute for Him. When the manas, through the mind consciousness, comes into contact with the Buddha-dharma and is deeply steeped in it, then every thought and every moment can be about the Buddha-dharma; the habit of cultivation is developed, forming a habitual tendency toward practice. Thus, even while asleep, He continues deliberating. Since He cannot deliberate on content that is too fine and specific, dreams are produced, in which the mind consciousness is brought in to participate. After the manas has been steeped in the Buddha-dharma, He may abandon some worldly dharmas, considering them no longer important, or considering them contrary to the Dharma and fit to be discarded; thus He no longer deliberates on or attends to unimportant dharmas. Consequently, in dreams, apart from the Buddha-dharma that He values, nothing else will appear.

The mind consciousness's forgetting and remembering arise precisely from the manas's power of selection. Matters the manas considers important are continually grasped at and kept in mind; matters the manas considers unimportant or bad are no longer grasped at or kept in mind. When faculty and object do not make contact, the mind consciousness does not arise, and so the mind consciousness does not discern matters in which the manas has no interest, while it can bring to mind and recall matters in which the manas is interested and considers important. This is the principle of remembering and forgetting. Therefore, of all the dharmas discerned by the mind consciousness, there is not one that has not been grasped at and discerned by the manas, and not one that has not been brought forth by the manas's mindfulness. If the manas does not attend to it and propel it, the mind consciousness will not arise and discern. After the manas first discerns a mental sense-object, if He is not interested, the mind consciousness cannot arise, and so that mental sense-object is not known—and dreams about that matter certainly cannot appear either.