The Deliberation of the Manas

The object-aspects manifested by the eighth consciousness include both material sense-objects and mental sense-objects, and the manas deliberates on all of them, including deliberation on the forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and dharmas of material sense-objects, and deliberation on the six consciousnesses and mental factors of mental sense-objects. It can also deliberate on the manas itself; when it deliberates on itself, that is the manas's self-validating cognition (sva-saṃvitti-saṃvitti-bhāga) manifesting and operating. After enlightenment, the manas gains great wisdom and can even deliberate on the eighth consciousness. Many object-aspects that the six consciousnesses cannot discern or contact, the manas can also deliberate on, without needing the mind consciousness to provide information and assistance. From this it can be seen that the range of what the manas attends to is extremely broad, and the objects and content it deliberates on are vast in number; therefore, attaining meditative concentration (samādhi) in it involves considerable difficulty, and subduing it is far more difficult than subduing the mind consciousness.

The manas's deliberation on material sense-objects—for example, its deliberation on the physical body: relying on the eighth consciousness, it can attend to the body faculty and thereby discern the various states of the body faculty. Then it deliberates on how to make the body faculty act and change, how to keep the body in the most comfortable and pleasing state, how to eliminate discomfort and pain from the body, how to keep the body from dangers and accidents, how to let the body rest and recover from fatigue, how to lighten the body's burden, how to make the breathing smooth, and so on. There is also deliberation during sleep about what posture the body should be in to be stable and comfortable; if it is uncomfortable, the manas will make the body turn over, scratch an itch, urinate or defecate, and so on. Regarding bodily discomfort or accidents, after deliberating, the manas will have the six consciousnesses awaken to discern and deal with them, so as to prevent the body from being damaged or becoming abnormal.

The manas deliberates on forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and dharmas, and after deliberating, decides whether to let the six consciousnesses discern and act on them in detail, or directs the six consciousnesses to avoid them, letting the body accept or evade them. Some mental sense-objects, after the manas deliberates on them, the six consciousnesses lack the ability to contact and handle, and can only be handled with the cooperation of the eighth consciousness; so after some matters are concluded, the six consciousnesses do not know about them and have no awareness of them. For the mental sense-objects the manas deliberates on itself, if the deliberation is not completed, it will not make a decision; it must keep deliberating, to the point that it manifests in dreams at night, though the mind consciousness does not necessarily know what significance there is to it.

This deliberative nature of the manas operates simultaneously with the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses, without mutual obstruction; this is the mindless-seeming performance of bodily, verbal, and mental actions, which people call being absent-minded. Yet this deliberation of the manas is very deep, often with a persistent, unrelenting drive, and is not easily detected. Some Chan practitioners meditating on the huatou have cultivation experiences exactly like this: whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, abiding mindfulness of this very object, unrelenting, hanging a huatou deep within the mind's thought, reaching deep into the manas—not the shallow thinking and analysis of the mind consciousness.

Engaging the manas's deliberative nature enables deep awakening, thereby opening the treasure trove of wisdom. Once the manas accepts and realizes something, the mind's activity undergoes a qualitative leap, and the body and mind change greatly—far more profound and clear than the views easily acquired by the mind consciousness. Because this is personally realized by the manas, not obtained by the six consciousnesses through hearsay, not gained by the six consciousnesses from others or by speculation, one therefore believes it deeply without doubt; the mind is shaken, and the mind's activity changes. This kind of cultivation solves the great problem at its root.

The manas's deliberation on mental sense-objects is deliberation on the six consciousnesses' discernment of the six sense-objects—whether the discernment has been completed, whether the six consciousnesses are fatigued, whether they need rest or should continue discerning, and whether the six consciousnesses like or are weary of the six sense-objects. After deliberating, it will decide whether to let the six consciousnesses stop their activity and cease their current bodily, verbal, and mental actions, or decide to switch the six consciousnesses to another realm of the six sense-objects, shifting to other objects and content.

The manas also has a deliberative nature toward itself; this is part of its self-validating cognition (sva-saṃvitti-saṃvitti-bhāga). It will deliberate on whether its own decision just made was correct and in accord with reason, whether it has been completed, and whether it needs supplementing or revision. After deliberating, it may change its decision, or it may firm up its decision, determined to put it into action and to achieve the goal. Some people's manas has a very strong habitual force—this is what is meant by calling someone very stubborn: the manas clearly knows its decision just made was wrong and should be changed, yet it persists to the end, regardless of the outcome; it also lacks the wisdom to deliberate on and attend to the results of matters. Therefore, some people's manas has wisdom and some people's manas lacks wisdom; their deliberative natures differ, their decision-making powers differ, and the results are vastly different.

The manas's deliberation on the eighth consciousness can only proceed by relying on the mind consciousness's thinking and guidance; the manas cannot awaken to the eighth consciousness automatically on its own. Because the manas's ignorance is deeply rooted, having existed since beginningless kalpas—since beginningless kalpas it has been together with the eighth consciousness, yet does not recognize it, and even appropriates the eighth consciousness's functions as its own. After the mind consciousness studies the principles of the eighth consciousness, it constantly permeates the manas, enabling the manas also to discern the nature of the eighth consciousness. The manas will then deliberate on and know the nature of the eighth consciousness, and if it wants to seek and realize the eighth consciousness, it will decide to investigate Chan.

After realizing the eighth consciousness, through the mind consciousness's observation and contemplation of the eighth consciousness, the manas will deliberate on the eighth consciousness's function of generating all dharmas, deliberate on the selflessness of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha), deliberate on the selflessness of the six consciousnesses, and also deliberate on the selflessness of the manas itself; it can then give rise to great wisdom, increasingly accepting that the five aggregates, the six consciousnesses, and the manas itself are not real, and thereby can eliminate the attachment to self. It also gradually ceases to regard the eighth consciousness's functions and effects as its own. The manas's wisdom will grow ever deeper, its selflessness ever greater, its ignorance ever fainter, and its mental activity ever more pure and equanimous. Once the manas accomplishes the transformation of consciousness into wisdom, it can deliberate on the eighth consciousness independently, no longer being deluded about many dharmas as belonging to itself; its mental activity is selfless, and its equanimity grows ever stronger.