The Manifestations of the Manas's Attachment to the Physical Body

Question: When a snake's head is severed, the head can still bite people. The nerves that direct reflexes are located on the snake's body parts, so after the head is cut off, the various organs can still independently maintain their original functions for a certain period of time. Therefore, once the severed snake head is touched, it will still produce a reflex and bite. How can this be explained according to the principles of Yogācāra?

Answer: In a snake head that has just been severed, the manas and the eighth consciousness are still holding onto it, and the nerves of the brain are still connected to the snake's body, so the manas can still control the whole body, mainly by controlling the head. Because the manas resides in the brain, controlling the central nervous system and thereby controlling the entire body. At this time, the six consciousnesses have not yet ceased, so the activities of the head still involve the participation of the body consciousness and the mind consciousness. If the nerves are severed, the manas can no longer direct the body through the nervous system, and the snake's body cannot move; it can only direct and control the head.

Ordinary beings undergoing birth and death in the six realms all have a severe attachment to the body, and this is not limited to snakes. Some animals can still walk after their heads fall off, and half a head can survive for several months. Some people have been in a vegetative state for a long time yet refuse to relinquish their bodies; some people have been unable to eat for a long time and are extremely weak, yet they still stubbornly strive to go on living. Ordinary people call this phenomenon the will to live, but in fact it is the manas' attachment to the physical body.

Is there also the mind consciousness' attachment involved here? The six consciousnesses are tools and assistants; the manas uses them when it can, and only when they truly cannot be used does it give them up, at which point it chooses to leave the body and die.

When life reaches its end yet remains tenacious, it is the manas' attachment to the body: it strives to prevent the six consciousnesses from ceasing, strives to use the six consciousnesses to carry out discerning activities, and strives to keep the mind consciousness alert, so the six consciousnesses struggle to be active and to stay alive, however painful it may be.

From this we can see that the so-called "self" refers to the manas. The manas represents the self of the five aggregates to a degree of over ninety percent. Therefore, the elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) must include eliminating the manas' self-view; otherwise, self-view has not been eliminated. The mind consciousness has no power whatsoever to eliminate self-view on its own; the manas will still cause the mind consciousness to have self-view, and the mind consciousness cannot free itself from the manas' control.

The manas' discerning wisdom is also not weak. Even in various situations without the six consciousnesses, He understands the difference between being asleep and being in a coma; He understands the difference between being asleep and the body being unusable; He also understands the difference between being in a coma and being on the verge of death. Because the manas' emotions and manifestations differ in sleep, coma, near death, the concentration without perception, and the cessation of perception and feeling, the manas possesses a discerning wisdom that is by no means feeble—indeed, this wisdom is quite great. His functions and capacities are complete and powerful, which is why He is qualified to be the consciousness that takes charge, leading all the activities of the entire body of the five aggregates. It is not as some people say, that the manas is nothing at all, lacking and weak in every function—it is not like that at all.