The Mind Faculty and Consciousness
Chapter 4: The Relationship Between the Mind Consciousness and the Manas
1. When the manas contacts mental sense-objects (dharma-objects) and wishes to discern them, the eighth consciousness produces the mind consciousness to help the manas discriminate the mental sense-objects. Therefore, the manas is a formless faculty and also a conscious mind; it possesses all the dharmas of a mind, and it is the mind that serves as the master of sentient beings at all times and in all places. Whatever sentient beings do, matters large and small are all decided by Him; the results discriminated by the first six consciousnesses regarding the six sense-objects must all be reported to Him, and after receiving the reports, He decides what to do next. When looking at a form-object, whether to continue looking is decided by Him; whether to keep listening to a sound or to listen to something else is decided by Him; when contacting any dharma, whether to continue contacting it or to leave it is decided by Him. Everything is decided by Him. He may make decisions according to the analytical reports of the first six consciousnesses, or He may disregard their reports and decide according to His own habits and inertial tendencies.
2. The relationship between the mind consciousness and the manas is very complex. Sometimes the manas is very compliant with the mind consciousness, so that it appears as if the mind consciousness were entirely in charge; sometimes, when the mind consciousness's choice conflicts with the manas's habits, the manas finds it difficult to make a decision, and this often manifests as indecisiveness; at other times, no matter how the mind consciousness reasons and persuades, the manas simply insists on having its own way; and at still other times, when the manas has made a decision, the mind consciousness is unwilling to obey and always wants to calmly think it over again, which also manifests as indecisiveness. When the manas insists on having its own way, it is because the manas's habits and inertial tendencies are too heavy, severely inconsistent with the mind consciousness's views and opinions, and it refuses to accept the rational decision made through the mind consciousness's analysis and deliberation. This requires giving the manas a certain amount of time to adapt and to deliberate and consider, and then letting Him make the choice; it cannot be forced. If forced, the result may be counterproductive: the manas may instead act entirely according to His own habits, or make an even more serious and more defiant decision.
If you wish to guide and persuade others, you must learn to observe their psychological state, which includes the mind consciousness as well as the manas—mainly the psychological state of the manas. You cannot go by how well some people speak, how firmly they express agreement, or even how eloquently they talk, when their manas does not actually think the same way and moreover deeply resents it; in that case, we should stop trying to deal with this person and wait for another opportunity to persuade him. Perhaps after some time, this person's manas will gradually come around, think things through, and no longer insist on his own opinions and views; then persuading him will be relatively easy. Therefore, giving the manas a certain amount of time to adapt and deliberate is absolutely necessary.
If we study the Buddha's teachings well, you, I, he, and she can all derive great benefit; the Buddha's teachings are the most practical and real. If you understand the nature of the manas, can locate the manas, and can observe the manas, then with a single glance at another person's psychology you may be able to understand it; even if you cannot meet the person in person, hearing one or a few sentences from him will let you know his state of mind—thus you can know yourself and know others. Being a psychiatrist or psychologist in the secular world is not easy: one must understand other people's psychology, be skilled at observing their surface emotions and their deep inner psychological states, know how to employ skillful means, be able to counsel people, and also display sincerity and earnestness—truly not easy.
3. The Relationship Between the Manas and the Mind Consciousness Is Like That of a Boss and Subordinates
The manas can be likened to the boss, and the mind consciousness to a subordinate. The boss is responsible for assigning and directing the subordinates' work; all the work the subordinates do is arranged by the boss—even if a subordinate wants to find something to do on his own, he must have the boss's approval; if the subordinates have any opinions or suggestions, they must all go through the boss's review and approval, and they may not act on their own authority. If a subordinate disagrees with the boss's arrangement, he may hesitate for a time and not carry it out, act after further consideration, and may even bargain with the boss, or even give the boss advice, warnings, or hints; but if the boss remains obstinately unenlightened, the subordinate has no choice but to execute the order without further word.
The working relationship between the boss and the subordinates is as follows:
After the boss, relying on the perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga) of the tathāgatagarbha, sees all dharmas, he roughly skims over them to get a general idea; because there is too much managerial work, he has no energy to examine and ponder things in detail, so whatever he considers relatively important and within the subordinates' ability to handle, he hands over to the subordinates for careful review, screening, analysis, and classification. The subordinates report the results of their analysis, research, and consideration to the boss, awaiting the boss's decision on how best to handle matters; they may also offer the boss relevant suggestions.
If the boss feels there are no particularly important or serious issues, he tosses everything, or item by item, to the subordinates for screening, and the subordinates must browse through folder after folder without any particular aim, while the boss, on the one hand supervising the subordinates' work, on the other hand continues gathering information to see if there is anything of interest. If there is still nothing special requiring special handling, then for the whole day the two of them idle along leisurely, lazily, aimlessly, passing the days according to conditions.
The boss skims through the problems the six subordinates encountered in their work, then handles big problems in a big way and small problems in a small way; important problems are handled first; serious problems are handled immediately; problems as urgent as fire scorching the eyebrows, matters of life and death, are handled decisively in an instant without discussion; problems of interest are handled with emphasis, problems of no interest are temporarily left unhandled; when the subordinates' suggestions coincide with the boss's own thinking, they are handled gladly; when the subordinates' opinions severely defy his own wishes, they are handled by force; when the subordinates' opinions are intense, handling is postponed; and if the subordinates do not fear authority and argue on sound reasoning, they may be handled compliantly.
All myriad dharmas do not exist apart from the tathāgatagarbha, nor apart from the manas; the mind consciousness only plays an auxiliary role. The mind consciousness is like a staff advisor and a supporting actor, while the manas is the protagonist, like a general—all decision-making power rests with the manas. As the staff advisor, the mind consciousness must continuously gather intelligence about the six sense-objects for the manas, analyze the detailed information of the six sense-objects, and offer the manas appropriate, timely, and reasonable suggestions.
After the manas receives the intelligence and suggestions analyzed by the mind consciousness, He must apply His own distinctive processing and deliberation, and then decide whether to handle the six sense-objects according to what the mind consciousness said, or, following His own experience, His own habits, His own ideas and views, decide on the next step of action. This entire process is the functioning of the manas's mental factor of volition (cetanā). If the manas still cannot decide how to take the next step, He will have the mind consciousness gather more intelligence for His reference—just as when a general cannot decide, he has his staff advisors gather more and more useful intelligence and report it in detail, so that the general can make his decision.
From this we can see that the most important thing in eliminating doubt is eliminating the manas's doubt; if one eliminates the mind consciousness's doubt but not the manas's doubt, the manas will still have doubts. (However, the manas sometimes also helps resolve the mind consciousness's doubts.) For example, when the head of a household has a problem, the whole family must cooperate to solve it; if his problem is not solved, the whole family cannot operate normally and in an orderly way.
5. From any aspect and any angle, the manas is the false self upon which sentient beings truly rely, the primary self; moreover, this self has always taken the five-aggregate body as the self, taken the functions of the six consciousnesses as the self, and taken the functions of the eighth consciousness as the self, believing that all meritorious functions are His own meritorious functions and that the functions of all dharmas are His own functions.
The mind consciousness is also a false self, with obvious functions of seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing. Sentient beings all take the mind consciousness's seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing as primary, and take the mind consciousness's actions and activities as primary; when the mind consciousness has no seeing, hearing, awareness, or knowing, they say "I have no seeing, hearing, awareness, or knowing"; when the mind consciousness has no actions or activities, they say "I cannot speak or think." This sentient being is the manas: He relies on the mind consciousness's seeing, hearing, awareness, knowing, and activities to achieve His own aims and wishes; when there is no mind consciousness and no activities of the mind consciousness, the manas cannot accomplish anything within the six sense-objects, and the surface functions of the five-aggregate body also disappear—something the manas is unwilling to accept. Therefore, when cultivating meditative concentration so that the six consciousnesses act less or not at all, the manas at first cannot bear it; the manas always struggles, insisting that He must know the six sense-objects, and at such times cultivating concentration is very difficult.
From another perspective, the mind consciousness's seeing, hearing, awareness, knowing, and activities are all the result of the manas's direction and leadership; the two consciousnesses cooperate with each other, one in the open and one in the dark, and almost everyone takes all these activities to be the mind consciousness's activities alone, observing not the slightest of the manas's hidden functions, burying the manas's merits, not knowing that the manas is the master of these activities, not knowing that the manas is the true master, the true false self of sentient beings—solving the manas's problems can solve all problems.
6. What Is the Equal Cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā
Is there deliberation within contemplation? If there is no deliberation within contemplation, then nothing can be contemplated out. During contemplation, the mind consciousness has deliberation, and the manas has even more deliberation; the manas is certainly deliberating, and deliberating with more focus, without the mind consciousness's disturbance. Only at this time can wisdom arise and new discoveries be made. The surface deliberation of the mind consciousness is the prelude, meant to draw out the subsequent deliberation of the manas; only the manas's deliberation has decisive significance, can solve major problems, and can realize anything.
Therefore, when not a single thought arises and there are no thoughts, although the mind consciousness has no more thoughts, the manas is at His most diligent, the mind's thoughts turning, very attentive; perhaps in the space of a moment's blankness, an idea emerges, a strategy emerges—this is produced by the manas. This is deep pondering, truly deep pondering; the mind consciousness's deep pondering can induce the manas's deep pondering. Without meditative concentration, or with insufficient power of concentration, the manas cannot be made to ponder deeply, and even the mind consciousness's deep pondering is difficult—how then could wisdom arise? The manas's deep pondering is called the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā, and can give birth to various kinds of meditative absorption (samādhi).
7. Question: By what channel or means is the result or conclusion of the manas's deliberation expressed? The manas has no mechanism for expression through language and words, and must rely on the mind consciousness to complete the process of expression—what is the mechanism of this process? How is this conclusion transmitted?
Answer: If the result and conclusion of the manas's deliberation need to be known and handled by the mind consciousness, the manas will direct attention (manaskāra), manifest the mental factor of volition, and make a choice as to how to handle the result of His deliberation; when the tathāgatagarbha discerns this, it gives birth to the mind consciousness; the mind consciousness contacts this result, knows it in the mind, then makes judgments and so forth, and thus digests the result of the manas's deliberation. If the manas does not need the mind consciousness to know, does not need the mind consciousness to take measures to handle it, the manas will not make a choice, and the mind consciousness need not arise to discern. Very often, due to insufficient wisdom, the mind consciousness still cannot know what the result of the manas's deliberation is.
The way the manas alerts the mind consciousness is by generating the mental factor of volition and making a decision about how to handle something; the result of the manas's deliberation is a kind of mental sense-object (dharma-object), and then, when the tathāgatagarbha discerns the manas's decision, it cooperates with the manas and gives birth to the mind consciousness to know the manas's thoughts and decision, whereupon the mind consciousness takes certain measures and methods to fulfill the manas's decision and wishes.
For example, if there are ghosts and spirits interfering nearby, the mind consciousness feels uncomfortable and, after much pondering, does not know what is going on. But the manas knows, and He wants to find a way to notify the mind consciousness, so that the mind consciousness will avoid it or handle it. So the manas generates the mental factor of volition and makes a decision; in the manas's mind there is a meaning of "ghosts and spirits" without language or image—a kind of mental sense-object; the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the mind consciousness at this mental sense-object, the mind consciousness will then sense the presence of ghosts and spirits, and will then find ways to handle the matter—either reciting sutras and dedicating merit, or reciting mantras to drive them away, or moving away to avoid them. The process by which the manas alerts the mind consciousness to know is roughly like this. If the manas can handle it Himself, or if the matter is minor and unimportant and does not need the mind consciousness to handle, He will not make a decision, and the tathāgatagarbha will not give birth to the mind consciousness to discern the manas's thoughts.
8. Eliminating doubt gives rise to faith; eliminating doubt must also be done in the manas, and generating faith must also be done in the manas—having only the mind consciousness eliminate doubt and generate faith is not powerful enough; one must influence and lead the manas to also eliminate doubt and generate faith. At first it is the mind consciousness's faith; the mind consciousness's faith is credulous faith, faith based on admiration, faith based on veneration, an unstable faith, not correct faith; correct faith and deep faith are the manas's faith—this kind of faith is deeply rooted and unwavering. If the manas has no faith, it cannot spontaneously want to study the Buddha's teachings. No matter how much the mind consciousness believes, if the manas becomes doubtful, the mind consciousness can do nothing and can only follow the manas's thinking. The mind consciousness can only serve as the manas's staff advisor and cannot make decisions on behalf of the manas-general. And the relationship between the tathāgatagarbha and the manas is like that of father and son: whatever this son, the manas, wants to do, as long as the tathāgatagarbha has the financial resources, material resources, and manpower, it will comply and satisfy Him. Therefore, transforming the manas through permeation and cultivation is still the correct path.
9. Hypnotherapy: the person being hypnotized is guided deep into the subconscious, at which point the defense mechanisms in the hypnotized person's subconscious are largely dismantled, and the guided healing methods can easily penetrate to the subconscious level to carry out healing. In the waking state, due to the effective protective function of the defense mechanisms, it is difficult to penetrate deeply.
The meaning of this passage is that in the waking state, the mind consciousness is very active and can, relying on the self-grasping nature of the manas, the seventh consciousness, plan, scheme, strategize, and calculate gains and losses for the self, effectively protecting the so-called self, not allowing the manas's simple directness and lack of scheming to function—the manas, grasping at self, has a powerful tool. When the mind consciousness is weak, the manas loses this powerful tool of self-grasping, and He manifests simplicity and directness, spontaneity, childishness, primitiveness, and suggestibility.
During hypnosis, the mind consciousness's thinking and analytical activities are suppressed; it cannot think, analyze, judge, design, or scheme; without the defense mechanism, it cannot submit thinking and analysis reports to the manas, cannot guide and control the manas, cannot serve as the manas's staff advisor; the manas's capacity for self-protection is gone, and He also cannot direct the mind consciousness to lie in order to protect His own interests—things being as they are, the mind consciousness says they are as they are. At the same time, the manas can also be induced by external factors—encountering good, He becomes good; encountering evil, He becomes evil—flowing along with the circumstances. At this point, external force can completely replace the mind consciousness in guiding the manas, letting the manas change under the inspiration and guidance of external force; then the self's potential can be brought into play, the mind can be stimulated, mental illnesses can be cured, and the psyche can develop healthily.
The defense mechanism is the manas, through the mind consciousness's functions of scheming, skillfulness, analysis, calculation, and so forth, adopting certain measures and means to protect itself. But the manas itself cannot think, analyze, and plan what means to adopt; it must rely on the mind consciousness's analysis and thinking, and through the mind consciousness's strategizing, decide how to protect itself, and then direct the six consciousnesses to protect itself.
The manas, thought after thought, wants to protect itself, but without the mind consciousness's help, He is powerless; He has no mechanism, because His wisdom is lowly, and He cannot think and plan, cannot calculate. Without the mind consciousness's false teachings, the manas manifests as very simple and direct, unable to lie, unable to deceive people, without schemes, without calculations, unable to carry out so-called self-protection. The mind consciousness's self-defense is not apart from the manas's self-grasping; the defense plan also needs the manas's approval before it can pass, and only then can it be concretely operated and executed. If the manas has no guidance and instruction from the mind consciousness, the manas by Himself cannot defend against anything; He cannot calculate, cannot scheme, cannot think up bad ideas, cannot beat around the bush to cover Himself up, and will act entirely according to inertia, manifesting simplicity and directness, appearing foolish.
After hypnosis brings the mind consciousness into the subconscious, the connection between the manas's cognition and past lives becomes prominent, and the manas may bring forth matters from past lives. Because the manas connects to past lives over countless kalpas—He has never ceased to exist—His connection to the karmic seeds of past lives is far closer than the mind consciousness's; it is just that He cannot express them, so the mind consciousness cannot know these matters, and we do not know them—this is the mystery of the intervening birth. Hypnosis can reveal matters of past lives that the mind consciousness itself does not know; these are revealed by the manas. The manas holds extremely many secrets that the mind consciousness generally cannot discern, and the manas has no designations (names), cannot express them Himself, and therefore the mind consciousness cannot discern them.
10. The Western Land of Bliss—we cannot observe it through direct perception. The mind consciousness, through studying the Buddhist sutras, believes there is a Land of Bliss, and at the same time continuously permeates the manas, instilling into the manas the concept of the Land of Bliss. Some people's manas believes there is a Land of Bliss, and some people's manas does not believe there is a Land of Bliss. Believing versus not believing makes one's diligence in cultivation completely different, and the results also different.
The hells—we cannot observe them through direct perception. The mind consciousness, through cultivating the Buddha's teachings and studying the sutras, permeates the manas, but most people's manas does not believe there are hells; their bodily, verbal, and mental actions are unrestrained, and they often harbor a fluke mentality, thinking that even committing great evil karma will amount to nothing. Therefore, some so-called bodhisattvas who propagate the Dharma and deliver sentient beings can regularly preach cause and effect to sentient beings, yet their mental conduct still corresponds to the hells and they do not fear hell's retribution—that is, the mind consciousness believes there are hells but the manas does not, and the manas will still lead the six consciousnesses to create karma leading to the hells.
However, it is not the case that everyone's manas fails to truly believe in the hells; such people can restrain their mental conduct at all times. And those who have eradicated afflictions need not restrain themselves—their mental conduct is naturally pure; even when being bullied and humiliated in every way, they remain forbearing and restrained. Therefore, for logical reasoning by the mind consciousness that is well-founded and supported by sufficient evidence, the manas is able to believe it, and after believing, its mental conduct can transform to some degree.
11. What Causes the Mind to Be Constantly Undecided and Full of Contradictions
When contradictions arise in the mind or the mind cannot make up its mind, it is because the analytical reports provided by the six consciousnesses have not been clearly deliberated by the manas, who for the moment has no way to make a choice. First, it may be that the six consciousnesses' analysis is insufficient, and the manas has been waiting for the six consciousnesses' continuous discernment and the mind consciousness's analysis, needing conclusive information before making a decision; second, the matters and principles discriminated and cognized by the six consciousnesses are not quite consistent with the manas's inherent habits, so the manas does not know what would be best and is deliberating over how exactly to proceed most appropriately.
Sometimes the manas decides to do something, but the mind consciousness analyzes that doing so is wrong and may lead to bad results, and submits the analysis to the manas; the manas then begins to deliberate over how best to proceed and what would be most advantageous to Himself. At this point, the mind consciousness continuously reports the contents and results of its analysis and judgment to the manas, continuously providing information. When the manas decides to act according to His original intention, the mind consciousness may once again remind the manas that doing so will have bad results. The manas must deliberate and consider anew; He may change His mind, or may not. It depends on whether the manas's inertial force is stronger or the mind consciousness's persuasiveness is greater; when these two forces are in confrontation, it is called being unable to make up one's mind, with the heart full of contradictions.
12. How to Explain Memory and Recollection Using the Theory of the Eight Consciousnesses
Among the seven consciousnesses, only the mind consciousness can recollect; when recollecting, it uses language and sounds to express, or silently thinks and recites in the mind; the other consciousnesses do not have these functions, and the eighth consciousness certainly does not go about recollecting or memorizing anything. The reason the mind consciousness can recollect is that the manas and the mind consciousness want to know the details of past events, letting those events reappear in the mind. These events appearing in the mind belong to mental sense-objects. Because the manas wants to know the details of the events, there will be thoughts; after contacting the mental sense-objects, the mental factor of volition decides to know them, and the tathāgatagarbha will continuously output the karmic seeds, reproducing the entire event, and give birth to the solitary consciousness upon this mental sense-object to carefully discriminate the whole event.
The manas is always conditioning upon and contacting these mental sense-objects, which ensures the mind consciousness's existence and continuous discernment, continuous knowing and continuous expression, and the continuous arising of feelings, reflections, and various views. Because it is the manas who wants to discern the details of past events, or the mind consciousness drives the manas to have this thought, and because the manas continuously conditions upon the mental sense-objects of past events, the mind consciousness can arise and the mental activity of recollection can occur. Therefore, the manas has the function of retaining past events, and with the tathāgatagarbha's cooperation, the mind consciousness can be prompted to recollect. The eighth consciousness has no function of memory or retention; the five consciousnesses have a weak retention function; the mind consciousness and the manas both have the functions of memory and retention, but only the mind consciousness can recollect.
Memory is the conditioning, grasping, and knowing of experienced events; recollection is the reappearance of past events—the two are different functions, and they require the conscious mind to be continuous and uninterrupted; if it ceases, there can be no recollection, and what was memorized is gone; for instance, this life's mind consciousness has no memory or recollection of past lives. The mind consciousness's memory and recollection are different from the eighth consciousness's recording function: at the very moment our bodily, verbal, and mental actions are performed, the eighth consciousness records and stores the seeds of these actions, storing them through the manas. After storage, if the manas considers something very important, the mind conditions upon it unceasingly; thus the mental sense-objects continue, and the mind consciousness must constantly remember and recall these matters, never forgetting them thought after thought—then the memory is firm. If the manas considers something unimportant, He rarely conditions upon it, and the mind consciousness will not think of these matters, temporarily forgetting them.
The mind consciousness's recollection and recall occur through the manas outputting the seeds of those events from the eighth consciousness; if the manas does not condition upon these mental sense-object seeds, the eighth consciousness will not output them. When the manas faces the mental sense-objects, the eighth consciousness produces the mind consciousness to discern these mental sense-objects, and the mind consciousness recollects these events; there are thoughts in the mind, and mindful remembrance. Matters the manas considers important, the mind consciousness will remember—only if there is an obstruction in the supreme faculties will there be no memory or recollection.
13. All bodily, verbal, and mental actions, as seeds, are stored into the tathāgatagarbha instant after instant; when the manas needs them and the conditions for the seeds' manifestation ripen, the tathāgatagarbha outputs the seeds, manifesting the corresponding dharmas, and only then can the mind consciousness discern them—this is memory and recollection. The more important the matter, the more the manas needs it, the more easily the conditions ripen, and the more easily the mind consciousness recollects it. The manas can keep certain matters in mind but cannot concretely recollect certain matters, because recollection contains details, which require the conscious mind's relatively fine discernment; the manas cannot perform fine discernment, only rough discernment. After the manas discerns, if He considers it important, He will grasp at and condition upon it, keeping it in mind.
Whatever the mind consciousness discerns is directed and regulated by the manas; whatever the mind consciousness remembers is also what the manas values and considers important; whatever the mind consciousness recollects is also what the manas needs and conditions upon—everything the mind consciousness has is given by the manas. But the manas cannot recollect, because recollection contains concrete details, which the manas cannot discern too concretely and finely; He can only have a rough knowing—but this knowing is extremely important.
When the mind consciousness investigates the huatou (critical phrase), after the manas has been permeated and considers the matter extremely important, His every thought is on the huatou; even while sleeping in the middle of the night He keeps the huatou in mind, and so He dreams, and the mind consciousness investigates the huatou in the dream. As for the dharmas the mind consciousness normally contemplates, if after being permeated the manas considers them important, He will contemplate them even in the dead of night, contemplate them in dreams, and refuse to let go of them in His heart. If the manas does not keep these dharmas in mind, the mind consciousness could not possibly investigate the huatou and contemplate the meaning of the Dharma in the middle of the night.
14. The manas has matters He attends to and matters He does not attend to; the more He attends to something, the more He grasps at it; the more He grasps at it, the more firmly the mind consciousness and manas memorize it. The less the manas grasps, the less He cares, the lighter the memory, or there is no memory, and the mind consciousness will forget in the blink of an eye, and perhaps afterward can hardly recall it. Therefore, if someone says, "I forgot my promise to so-and-so, forgot that matter," or "I didn't have time to do that thing," it shows that for the time being that matter is not yet important to his manas, and he has other important matters on his mind. The manas always conditions upon and keeps in mind what He himself considers most important, and acts according to what He himself considers most worth doing. Thus, some matters fade from memory while others remain vivid, which shows the degree of importance of matters to the manas.
15. The Manas's Habitual and Grasping Tendencies
Some people say that all the manas's decisions come from the mind consciousness's discernment; in fact, in many cases, the mind consciousness's discernment and decisions mean nothing to the manas, who does not much heed the mind consciousness's views and judgments. If the manas heeded the mind consciousness's views, knowledge, and judgments, then when the mind consciousness genuinely believes the glass bridge is safe and can be walked on with confidence, why doesn't the manas obey and decide to take a step? When the mind consciousness tells the manas to practice generosity more and accumulate merit, why doesn't the manas decide to take out his money and practice generosity?
When the manas is angry, the mind consciousness hints to the manas not to be angry, to stay steady, to suppress the anger, not to erupt; yet the manas still trembles with rage, face turning livid, face red and neck thick, eyes wide open, even cursing loudly and coming to blows, ruining the matter—why is this? The mind consciousness hints to the manas to cool down, yet the manas still pants with rage, his lungs about to burst. Why at this time does the manas not obey, not submit to the mind consciousness's admonition?
The so-called "the body does not act of its own accord" (shēn bù yóu jǐ) means that the body is controlled by the manas, not decided by the mind consciousness, not managed by the mind consciousness. At critical moments, the manas's habits, inertial tendencies, and grasping tendencies play the decisive role; the mind consciousness's power of thinking is so insignificant—it is simply powerless and helpless. The "jǐ" (self) in "the body does not act of its own accord" refers to the mind consciousness: the body is not decided by the mind consciousness. "Not acting of one's own accord" (bù yóu zì zhǔ) likewise means it is not decided by the mind consciousness—the mind consciousness cannot be the master of itself; the manas must be the master.
16. The mind consciousness's agency operates within an extremely small range and is not of its own accord; one cannot say the mind consciousness is agentic, autonomous, not fully prearranged, or possessed of free will. Only when the mind consciousness's will conforms to the manas's will, or has persuaded the manas, can it be exercised; otherwise, the manas must be the master, directing and arranging. When the manas wants to discern and act, He uses the tool of the mind consciousness; when He does not want to discern and act, the mind consciousness does not manifest, and the tool is set aside unused. Agency resides in the manas, but the mind consciousness can make requests and persuade the manas, after which the manas may allow the mind consciousness some indulgence.
17. The Influence of the Conscious Mind on the Physical Body
Body and mind can depend on each other and influence each other; the movements of the conscious mind have a great influence on the physical body, especially the operation of wholesome and unwholesome mental factors, and the operation of afflictions and habits, which have an enormous influence on the physical body. We can observe carefully: when the six consciousnesses' minds move, do the body faculty move and change along with them? When the six consciousnesses' minds move, do the eye, ear, nose, and tongue faculties move and change together? When the manas moves, do the brain nerves change, and does the whole body change along with them?
When the seven consciousnesses move, especially when the manas moves, brainwaves are produced—first fluctuating within the brain, then fluctuating on the scalp, and later there are reactions in certain parts of the body; simultaneously accompanied by the movement of the six consciousnesses' minds, bodily, verbal, and mental actions appear. Why are brainwaves produced? Because when the manas is active at the brain's supreme faculty, as soon as the conscious mind moves and turns, it can touch the brain's neural tissue (but the manas cannot directly touch the brain's material form—there is more to this, which we will not discuss for now); the neural tissue transmits the touch it receives to the entire head and scalp, like the conduction of electric current, like there being fluctuations, and the head and scalp feel as if electric current is passing through, a tingling sensation. Among these, the cells in the brain are also touched, causing changes in the four great elements; like the release of bioelectricity, there is a kind of energy conduction, and the scalp and brain have a tingling sensation.
If the manas's mental conduct continues to change, the brainwaves and brain nerves transmit throughout the body, and the body will exhibit corresponding vibrations and changes—all changes triggered by the manas's mental conduct. For example, when greed arises in the mind, the water element in the body changes, and various fluids emerge—such as drooling when craving food, shedding tears when experiencing craving and attachment, and so on; when anger arises, glaring furiously, hair bristling with rage, face red and neck thick, cheeks burning, eyes wide open, whole body trembling—the six consciousnesses function simultaneously, bodily and verbal karma manifest simultaneously, the body faculty changes, and the six consciousnesses also have corresponding feelings arise.
When the manas contacts the mental sense-objects at the supreme faculty and discerns them, conscious mental activity is produced, touching the cerebral cortex, and can trigger brainwaves; brainwaves carry a kind of energy, or produce a kind of heat—all of which are normal phenomena. When we feel embarrassed in our hearts, there are reactions on the physical body such as a flushed face and burning cheeks; when anxious and nervous, there are reactions such as sweat on the forehead, inner feelings of heat and restlessness, burning impatience, sweaty palms, and cold soles of the feet; when emotions are agitated, there are reactions such as eyes brimming with hot tears, burning eyes, and buzzing in the head. These reactions all occur because the manas's conscious mental activity stirs the brain nerves, thereby driving the activity of the whole body.
The mind consciousness's various mental conducts can also influence the physical body, causing changes in it. In fact, the physical body's activities are all directed by the manas and carried out by the six consciousnesses; therefore it is said that body and mind depend on and influence each other. The manas is also mind—He is both faculty and mind; when contacting mental sense-objects, He can influence the activity of the brain's neural tissue, and influence and control the whole body's activity; with different thoughts and different emotions, the six consciousnesses' bodily and mental activities differ.
When the manas is deliberating, He certainly also touches the supreme faculty, and brainwaves are produced—including when the mind consciousness contemplates the Dharma, there are also brainwave fluctuations, because when the mind consciousness contemplates the Dharma, it is directed and commanded by the manas; therefore our conscious mental activity causes corresponding changes in the physical body. For example, bodily actions such as calming the spirit to aid thinking, knitting the brows, appearing lost in thought, propping the chin with the hand, tapping the head with the hand, biting fingers with the teeth, and so on. Among these, the greatest change is probably in the brainwaves; brainwaves carry a kind of energy that can cause a swollen head, flushed face, a face that swells, turns purple, and burns—this shows that the conscious mind within is active, thinking and deliberating, that there are some thoughts and views within. As soon as the conscious mind moves, the physical body moves along with it; body and mind lean on each other, depend on each other, influence each other. The mutual dependence of body and mind, of course, all operates through the tathāgatagarbha acting as the connecting link in the middle.
The manas's influence on body and mind is by no means trivial; whether matters are large or small, instant after instant He influences the body's subtle changes; all changes in the physical body are influenced and stirred by the manas, and the manas can influence the body's state of health. If one subdues the manas, the mental nature becomes pliant, afflictions diminish, and physical health can improve, illnesses can be reduced and eliminated—the manas's role is pivotal and cannot be ignored. Mastering the manas well makes cultivation very swift. Among the eight consciousnesses, the tathāgatagarbha can manifest all dharmas, so of course the tathāgatagarbha is of first importance; the manas can drive the arising of all dharmas and can also hasten the perishing of all dharmas, so of course He is also very important, able to play a decisive role with respect to all dharmas; the tathāgatagarbha only stores seeds and manifests all dharmas, obeying and complying with the manas.
18. What Is Meant by "Becoming Abnormal and Revealing One's True Form"
"Becoming abnormal" or "revealing one's true form" refers to situations where, for some reason—such as being dull and not fully awake—the mind consciousness cannot regulate the manas, and the manas acts according to His own original habits and inertial tendencies; that is the manas's true face. When awake, the mind consciousness has rationality and can think and analyze how to respond to sense-object circumstances; the manas relies on this and can receive guidance and correction, and His habits can be somewhat restrained. Once the mind consciousness is not awake, it cannot think and analyze correctly; the manas, without the guidance of correct views, acts according to His own habits—this is called revealing one's true form.
Everyone's true form is different, because the manas's cultivation differs, afflictions differ, and habits and inertial tendencies differ. For example, when men and women are together, for one who has attained the first dhyāna and severed desire, no matter how they interact, it does not matter—no thoughts will arise—because the manas has already been subdued, like the one who remains undisturbed even with a woman sitting in his lap. If it is not like this—without meditative concentration, without eradicating afflictions—when men and women come together, one cannot guarantee that no thoughts will arise.
For an anāgāmin, the manas's afflictive true form has changed: the afflictions of craving and aversion are already gone; no matter the circumstances, the manifestations of craving and aversion cannot occur, but habitual tendencies are still unavoidable. Only bodhisattvas at the first bhūmi have the ability to begin eradicating afflictive habitual tendencies; before this, afflictions and habits are only suppressed—eradicating one portion reduces one portion, the seeds become purified by one portion, and the manas's true form is purer than that of anāgāmins and arhats. At this point, the mind consciousness can always rationally regulate the manas, and in many cases the manas no longer needs the mind consciousness's regulation, having already been subdued and able to regulate Himself spontaneously; the mind has already softened—this is the benefit and enjoyment of the merit of eradicating afflictions and transforming consciousness into wisdom.
When the mind consciousness has rationality, the manas cannot easily become abnormal and reveal His true form, because the mind consciousness can think and supervise the manas; the manas will comply with the mind consciousness, be restrained by it, and know how to respond to everything around him in accordance with the Dharma and with propriety, without giving rise to afflictions, with cultivation and virtue—thus the mind consciousness regulates the manas, so that speech and behavior are all appropriate and without lapses.
19. How Can the Manas's Bad Habits Be Changed
If the manas drank alcohol in a past life, then in this life, upon seeing alcohol, He wants it desperately. Why does He act so desperately upon seeing alcohol? Drinking regularly becomes a habit, becomes an addiction, and one always wants to drink. The mind consciousness persuades that drinking is bad for the body, but it is useless; the manas insists on drinking all the same. After drinking causes trouble, the mind consciousness declares it will never drink again. But the manas's greed is unceasing and He has no memory; upon encountering alcohol, He still decides to drink without fail—never mind who is who, never mind whether you regret it, never mind whether you get drunk—drink first, talk later. Over this matter, the mind consciousness and the manas frequently fight; at critical moments, the manas still prevails, drinking without fail every time. Until finally, a major event occurs that is engraved on the manas's bones and heart, and He resolutely decides: never to drink again—and even makes a dire vow; only then is the alcohol given up. Ah! It was not easy at all! How much tribulation was endured, what a great price was paid, before the alcohol was given up. "Not shedding tears until seeing the coffin, not turning back until hitting the dead-end wall, not giving up until reaching the Yellow River"—this describes the manas.
When giving up alcohol, there is an unwavering power of will—does this refer to the mind consciousness or the manas? If it refers to the mind consciousness, all of the mind consciousness's opinions and views are merely suggestions, which the manas may or may not heed. Then the mind consciousness cannot have an unwavering power of will, because the mind consciousness has no power, cannot make the final and ultimate decision, and has no power of action, cannot be the master of bodily, verbal, and mental actions. Therefore, as for the power of will—since the will has power and wants to implement it—that is the manas's will, the manas's aspiration, the manas's choice, the manas's active force. When the manas suffers setbacks and makes the firm resolution to give up alcohol, only then is there the unwavering power of will, and finally the alcohol is given up. The mind consciousness cannot move even a finger; if it wants to have power, it must employ the manas, must find ways to coax the manas into heeding it and deciding according to its decision. So in the end it is still the manas's decisive power that changes everything, because the manas can be the master—and no one can do anything about that.
20. After the manas discerns all the dharmas manifested by the eighth consciousness, He will deliberate and weigh how to handle them; once decided, the six consciousnesses must act according to the manas's decision. Therefore, the manas can govern all dharmas and silently encompasses all dharmas. But the mind consciousness cannot discern all dharmas; therefore, what the manas discerns will always be more than what the mind consciousness discerns, far deeper and broader than the mind consciousness. The manas's nature is deeper, subtler, and more important than the mind consciousness's nature; whether one becomes a Buddha depends entirely on the manas. The manas's own operation cannot be called simple or complex, because the manas's wisdom of discernment regarding the concrete six sense-objects is poor; the manas does not have a strong power of introspection (pratyavekṣā-bala) regarding His own operation of contacting and discerning mental sense-objects; only when He feels the mental sense-objects are important and He cannot discern them clearly does He summon the mind consciousness to come forth and discern them.
For example, take the matter of eating: the eighth consciousness presents the condition of the stomach being empty; the manas discerns it and has the mind consciousness concretely discriminate what the situation is; the mind consciousness contacts the mental sense-object of the stomach region, discerns that the stomach is empty, and feels hunger; then the manas decides to eat. It is the mind consciousness that feels hunger; perhaps the mind consciousness decides to eat and the manas agrees, or perhaps the manas first decides to eat and the mind consciousness obeys—but either way, if the manas's mental factor of volition does not decide to eat, the five aggregates cannot eat.
In any matter, so long as bodily, verbal, and mental actions appear—whatever the matter—it has the manas's approval and assent. The manas's assent may be active or passive; whether active or passive, it is the decision made by the mental factor of volition after the manas's assent. The mind consciousness's ideas—the manas may assent or may not; if He does not assent, there is contradiction. The manas's decisions—the mind consciousness may assent or may not; whether or not the mind consciousness assents, they must be carried out without fail.
