Is the manas associated with neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā)?

The mind of neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā) dwells with the mind abiding nowhere and attached to nothing toward all agreeable and disagreeable states; toward all states it is equal and uniform, neither delighted nor disgusted, neither greedy nor hateful. Such a mind is the liberated mind, the mind of tranquility (praśama), the unconditioned mind. The eighth consciousness is exactly like this: the mind abides nowhere and attaches to nothing, without hate or delight, equal and uniform, immovable in suchness toward all states, completely in neutral feeling. If the manas were of neutral feeling, it would be equal and uniform toward all dharmas just like the tathāgatagarbha, immovable in suchness toward all states, without hate or delight, without greed, hate, or delusion, tranquil and liberated. If that were so, sentient beings would no longer need to cultivate in pursuit of liberation. Therefore it is said that the manas is not solely of neutral feeling; it also has painful and pleasant feelings. The manas can be perfumed by wholesome and unwholesome influences and can create wholesome and unwholesome karma, so it is not of neutral feeling. That sentient beings have all kinds of afflictions of greed and hate shows that the manas is not of neutral feeling. The eighth consciousness never gives rise to greed or hate toward any dharma—only this is the mind of neutral feeling.

The Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, Volume 63, discusses that the manas possesses all three feelings: 又诸转识。或于一时。一切唯与乐受相应。俱有而转。或于一时。亦有苦受。或于一时。亦有不苦不乐等受。相应俱转。阿赖耶识相应受。于一切时唯是不苦不乐。 This passage discusses the feelings of the eight consciousnesses: only the ālayavijñāna is of neutral feeling, while the rest, the transforming consciousnesses, all have the three kinds of feeling. The transforming consciousnesses refer to the seven flowing consciousnesses. Here it says that the seven transforming consciousnesses are sometimes associated with pleasant feeling, sometimes with painful feeling, and sometimes with neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling.

The more cultivated one is, the less emotional one is, and the more one accords with neutral feeling. The last of the seven factors of enlightenment is the enlightenment factor of equanimity: the mind-state is very peaceful, without fluctuation; whatever state one encounters, one remains calm, the mind like still water. Here there is the neutral feeling of the mind consciousness as well as the neutral feeling of the manas; if the manas were not of neutral feeling, the mind consciousness could not be of neutral feeling. Even after the manas has transformed its consciousness into wisdom, it is not of neutral feeling at all times; there are still emotional moments, only fewer and milder than before. Because arhats have eliminated self-grasping and removed the afflictions of greed, hate, and delusion, their minds are plain and calm most of the time, but not at all times; they too have painful and pleasant feelings. After the mind consciousness eliminates afflictions and transforms consciousness into wisdom, neutral feeling increases more and more, emotionality decreases more and more, and painful and pleasant feelings grow fewer and fewer. However great the suffering, arhats generally do not feel it as suffering; however great the pleasure, arhats do not regard it as pleasure, because they have no craving.

But the manas of arhats still has painful and pleasant feelings; otherwise they would not flee the suffering of the Sahā world and choose nirvāṇa without remainder, choosing to leave suffering and attain bliss. If the manas of an arhat did not feel the world of the five aggregates as suffering, it would not discard the body and extinguish consciousness, entering nirvāṇa at all costs to eliminate suffering and seek coolness and happiness. In the Small Vehicle's cultivation of the Four Noble Truths of suffering, its origin, cessation, and the path, once the mind consciousness has finished cultivating them, it perfumes the manas, and together with the manas realizes suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path. Therefore the manas, like the mind consciousness, must also know suffering, eliminate its origin, aspire to cessation, and cultivate the path. In the end the manas knows suffering and eliminates its origin, hoping through cultivating the path to extinguish itself. From this it can be seen that the manas must know suffering and have painful feeling in order to resolutely eliminate its origin.

Only with profound meditative concentration (samādhi), contemplating and practicing the Buddha's Dharma, can one contemplate and practice one's way to the truth of facts; then genuine wisdom will arise, and only then can one truly rely on the Dharma, rather than relying on certain authorities or celebrities. Without meditative concentration, one cannot contemplate and practice, and one invariably ends up relying on persons, never able to rely on the Dharma. Reciting other people's words all belongs to relying on persons, whereas relying on the Dharma means relying on the truth of facts. The truth of facts must be contemplated and worked out through contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) within meditative concentration—it is by no means reciting famous sayings and quotations like a parrot machine. Nowadays the internet is full of parrot machines everywhere, and each person is still smugly pleased with themselves, thinking how learned they are, how much they know, how rich their knowledge is—simply "learning filling five carts." Even if the learning filled a hundred carts, it would have nothing to do with birth and death, and could not liberate one from birth and death.