From Which Characteristic of the Manas Is It Easier to Find the Manas

Question: In daily life, can the manas be found and experienced? For example, when the skin itches, when one is hungry, thirsty, or hot, or when one strongly wants to do something, one knows that the final decision is the manas's affair. At this time, the mind consciousness deliberately refrains from carrying it out and forcibly delays it. During this period, observe what the manas is doing and what it is thinking. After all, the manas still has the volition to decide whether or not to carry it out. This is searching for traces of the manas—its source, or where it comes from. If this is done over a long period of time, can one thereby find and realize the manas?

Answer: When the manas makes a decision in an instant, it is exercising mastery. The manas decides to scratch the itch, decides to eat, decides to drink water, decides to go out for some fresh air, decides to go do something. As long as something is done, it is because the manas decided and directed it—here the manas can be found. If the mind consciousness deliberately does not execute the manas's指令, observe the manas's reaction, and you can know the manas's mental activities and its habitual tendencies. When the mind consciousness does not execute the manas's指令, there is at the same time also the manas's指令 to temporarily not do something, because the mind consciousness can never be the master in any case; whether to do something or not to do it is all decided by the manas, and even the mind consciousness's unwillingness to obey the manas is likewise decided by the manas.

From this, it can also be seen that the manas sometimes still complies with the mind consciousness's decisions; it does not completely act willfully on its own, nor is it entirely a one-man dictatorship or a militaristic rule of thought. The manas exercises mastery and makes decisions in every single instant and in every single event. From this characteristic, one can find traces of the manas and thereby realize the manas.