Does Manas Possess Discriminative Power?

Question: Does the manas possess the faculty of judgment?

Answer: The manas certainly possesses the faculty of judgment, because it is the governing consciousness that dominates the functioning of the entire five aggregates. Without the faculty of judgment, it would be unable to govern the physical, verbal, and mental actions of the five aggregates, and thus could not function as the governing consciousness. Then who would be in charge? The issue lies rather in the degree of judgment—whether it is great or small, accurate or inaccurate—and in which dharmas its judgment is strong and in which it is weak. Such distinctions exist. In dharmas that the manas clearly discerns, its judgment is strong, for clear discernment facilitates judgment, enabling swift and accurate decisions. If the manas does not discern clearly, it cannot judge, or cannot judge swiftly and accurately. Regarding dharmas it cannot comprehend, the manas either hesitates or makes inaccurate judgments, resulting in blind and erroneous decisions. When the manas makes erroneous choices, the execution by the six consciousnesses will also be erroneous.

However, we may observe: within worldly dharmas, are all decisions made by sentient beings erroneous and blind? Clearly not. There are many instances of correct and flawless decisions; indeed, most decisions are reasonable and appropriate. This demonstrates that the manas does possess the faculty of judgment, and its judgment is not insignificant. Yet, situations where judgment fails do exist, as do moments of hesitation, and cases of misjudgment are certainly present. This relates to the inherent wisdom of the manas itself and its faculty of decisive understanding (adhimokṣa).

The judgment of the manas operates in two ways. On one hand, it judges directly based on dharmas. The more familiar the manas is with a dharma, or the more experience it has with it, the more easily it makes judgments independently. The more significant or urgent the dharma, the more readily it makes swift, independent judgments, followed by decisions, after which the six consciousnesses arise to execute the actions. If the manas cannot decisively understand the objective dharmas it encounters, it will be unable to make swift and accurate judgments. On the other hand, the discernment of the manas is coarse. To discern finely, it must rely on the discernment of the six consciousnesses, relying on the mental consciousness's thinking, analysis, investigation, reasoning, and judgment. It then makes its own independent consideration and judgment based on the information transmitted by the six consciousnesses, after which the six consciousnesses arise to execute the actions. If the manas cannot decisively understand the content discerned by the six consciousnesses, nor decisively understand the content thought, analyzed, comprehended, and judged by the mental consciousness, it will be unable to make judgments and decisions, or will make erroneous judgments and decisions, leading to erroneous execution by the six consciousnesses.

Just as the head of a household, if lacking judgment, would lead the family either to immediate demise or to a state of near-death, unable to survive.