The Discrimination of the Six Consciousnesses Is Governed by the Manas

Some say that the manas only takes mental sense-objects as its object. But then, who directs the five consciousnesses in discerning the five sense-objects, and from what cause does this arise? The arising of the six consciousnesses and their activities of discernment upon the six sense-objects are all directed by the manas; they appear only because the manas wishes to engage in some activity upon the six sense-objects. Likewise, the discernment of the five sense-objects by the five consciousnesses is also decided and determined by the manas. For example, when the eye consciousness always moves along with a certain color, who decides and directs this? It is because the manas has a particular interest in that color that the eye consciousness moves along with it. When the ear consciousness always chases after a certain coarse sound-object, paying attention to rumbling noises, who decides and directs this? Again, it is manipulated by the manas. The manas finds the sound distinctive and wants to discern it clearly, so it makes the ear consciousness keep attending to and discerning it.

Most people say that dharmas which themselves (the mind consciousness) do not know do not exist; in reality, dharmas that exist are not necessarily made known to your mind consciousness. Dharmas that the mind consciousness does not know, the manas nevertheless knows—the manas can take them as its object and has a rough and general awareness of them. Some dharmas simply cannot be made known to the mind consciousness and the six consciousnesses, for several reasons: one is that the mind consciousness lacks the wisdom to perceive them; another is that the manas lacks the wisdom to prompt the mind consciousness to know them; and another is that the conditions are incomplete, so the mind consciousness cannot know them. Some dharmas need not be made known to the six consciousnesses, because the manas does not wish to discern and process them in detail. Countless people take the six consciousnesses as themselves, but in fact the true "false self" is still the manas, not the six consciousnesses.

"I think, therefore I am"—this refers to the manas: the deep-level deliberation, that kind of inner thought and conception, all belongs to the manas. Ordinary people generally say, "I know, therefore I am," and this knowing refers to the six consciousnesses. When the six consciousnesses are not knowing, the mind consciousness feels that it itself no longer exists. But regardless of whether the six consciousnesses know or not, the inner and outer six sense-objects all exist, and countless dharmas all exist. Even when the six consciousnesses can know, they cannot know very many dharmas; the range of their discernment is limited.