The Functions of the Volitional and Wisdom Mental Factors of the Manas

Eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) is when the manas negates the reality of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha); enlightenment and seeing the mind is when the manas acknowledges the reality of the tathāgatagarbha. In both kinds of realization, it is ultimately the manas that is functioning. So when eradicating the view of self and when becoming enlightened and seeing the mind, is it the manas's wisdom that is functioning, or is it its deliberation (manasikāra/manana) that is functioning?

In the process of eradicating the view of self and of seeing the mind and seeing one's nature, both the manas's deliberative nature and its mental factor of wisdom are functioning. Because the manas has the capacity for discernment, recognition, cognition, decision-making, mastery, grasping toward objects, and attachment, the mental factor of wisdom is therefore brought into play; without wisdom, these functions and operations would not exist. It is only that the functional capacities of this wisdom are rather special: they are broad and general in nature, unable to be focused and deep, and the discernment cannot be too specific and subtle. Therefore, the dharmas within the realms of the six sense objects require the cooperation of the six consciousnesses for discernment, after which the manas makes its own unique discernment, judgment, and decision. This also involves the functioning of the mental factor of wisdom. Without the discerning wisdom of the mental factor of wisdom, the manas would have no cognitive nature and would possess only the nature of a faculty; but the manas possesses both.

The manas's deliberative nature universally accompanies the manas's operation. As long as the manas exists, its deliberative nature also exists and operates moment after moment. Because the manas deliberates moment by moment, decides moment by moment, and acts as master moment by moment, all dharmas can arise moment after moment without ceasing; otherwise, there would be times when all dharmas would cease and be discontinuous. As long as the manas has objects toward which it attends, and as long as it attends to and contacts all dharmas, the manas's deliberative nature will manifest upon all dharmas, and only then can all dharmas operate and exist. Only when the manas's deliberative nature operates ceaselessly can the manas's mental factor of wisdom operate. The manas exists universally within all dharmas, and the manas's five universal mental factors must therefore exist universally within the operation of all dharmas; this is the precondition for the arising of the manas's wisdom. The five universal mental factors of the other consciousnesses are likewise.

Therefore, in the process of eradicating the view of self and of realizing enlightenment and seeing the mind, the manas's deliberative nature is operating throughout. The process of deliberation also manifests the manas's wisdom. With different degrees of wisdom, the process, content, and results of deliberation differ, the conclusions drawn differ, the decisions made differ, and the actions and beneficial enjoyment of merit by the six consciousnesses differ. Because the manas, when deliberating on the five aggregates, possesses the wisdom of the emptiness of the Small Vehicle, it can recognize that the five aggregates are empty and without self, and thus can eradicate the view of self. And because the manas, when deliberating on the eighth consciousness, possesses the wisdom of the Mahāyāna dharma, it can recognize the reality of the eighth consciousness, and thus the wisdom of ultimate reality can be born. The manas's deliberative nature and its discerning wisdom operate in mutual assistance and coordination; if either one is lacking, all dharmas cannot function normally.