Guide to the Cultivation and Realization of the Manas: Part One
Chapter 4: The Role of the Manas in Investigative Contemplation (Canjiu)
1. The Process of Cultivation
When we hear someone talk about something, we know it right away, but knowing it does not mean we immediately believe it; we need to verify, examine, and validate it before we can believe. Only people who are simple-minded and lacking in wisdom believe and respond immediately without verification. This process of verifying information is analogous to the process of realization and enlightenment. Hearing someone talk about something beforehand corresponds to the mind consciousness's discernment; the knowing in the middle corresponds to the mind consciousness's understanding; the subsequent verification corresponds to the investigative contemplation (canjiu) by the mind consciousness together with the manas; the final believing corresponds to the realization by the mind consciousness and the manas, and the manas's faith. After that comes putting it into practice, which corresponds to the actions taken by the manas after it has changed itself.
The entire process of Chan cultivation can be summarized in six words: knowing, understanding, investigating, realizing, believing, and practicing. These six words represent six stages of cultivation, among which the mind consciousness's faith corresponds to the first and second stages, and is thus omitted here.
Many people take the mind consciousness's knowing and understanding as the ultimate goal of cultivation, thinking that cultivation is complete and finished, and so they become arrogant. In fact, this is merely the beginning; they have not even reached the middle stage. Only when the mind consciousness's knowing and understanding are correct and in accord with the principles can one reach the middle stage of investigative contemplation. It can be seen that the mind consciousness's correct knowing and understanding is also very important and not easy to achieve. The vast majority of people remain stuck at this stage, unable to get past it, unable to continue with Chan investigation. Because the foundation has not been laid well, the views are not yet in accord with the principles and have not been properly established. If one merely remains at this stage and takes it as ultimate, how shallow one's wisdom must be—no wonder such conceit arises.
The faith at the later stage of the six stages is the true faith, called faith through realization and genuine faith, not faith based on admiration or blind faith. The mind consciousness's faith is a kind of admiring faith, blind faith, and reverent faith, not correct faith, genuine faith, or faith through realization. For those who have not cultivated to the stage of correct faith, genuine faith, and faith through realization, there is always the possibility of regression with respect to the dharma they believe in, because the foundation is not solid, the views have not been fully established, and the dharma has not been verified. The shallower one's faculties, the longer the verification takes; those with very excellent faculties can verify it very quickly. A person's cultivation truly cannot be judged by just this one lifetime; one must look at the foundation from past lives. The better one cultivated in past lives and the sharper one's faculties, the faster one's cultivation in this life. When the manas believes, there is action; only when the manas realizes can it believe; only when the manas sees direct perception can it realize. Why do so many practitioners still regress? Because it is not genuine faith, without real realization.
2. Which Is Reasonable: The Mind Consciousness Realizing the Fruits Alone, or the Manas and Mind Consciousness Realizing Them Together?
At the time of realizing the fruits and enlightenment, is it enough for just the mind consciousness to understand, or does the manas need to understand simultaneously and realize the fruits together? This question is also a matter of the seed-wisdom of Yogācāra; only bodhisattvas on the bhūmis, after having transformed consciousness into wisdom, can truly observe and truly understand this issue. Because bodhisattvas before the bhūmis and ordinary beings cannot observe the manas and its operations, and cannot observe the subtle, profound, and fine role the manas plays in realizing the fruits, denying the manas's role in realizing the fruits is not in accord with the principles; it is an act of slandering and damaging the Dharma, and the retribution is not light.
Those who go along with propagating the idea that the mind consciousness alone realizes the fruits will have retributions in this and future lives that are not very optimistic, just like the retribution of a blind person pointing the way. When we do not yet understand the Dharma, we should all choose to keep our mouths shut as much as possible; the fewer views we express, the fewer disasters and troubles we incur; if we do not express opinions, we will not incur disasters and troubles. Illness enters through the mouth, and misfortune exits through the mouth—everyone should understand this principle.
3. True Realization of the Dharma Is the Manas's Realization
When truly engaged in Chan investigation and exerting effort, because meditative concentration is very deep, the mind consciousness has almost nothing to attend to; only the manas is in a state of sustained examination (vicāra), wanting to understand, investigating deeply, and when the conditions finally become complete, the manas will suddenly find the tathāgatagarbha operating right on the five aggregates, and thus realizes enlightenment, simultaneously transmitting this message to the mind consciousness, which then suddenly sees the great light, realizing enlightenment almost simultaneously with the manas, with the manas directing the mind consciousness to slap its thigh. Whenever the manas realizes enlightenment, the body and mind at that moment will react differently from the ordinary state: the body and mind are tranquil and at ease (praśrabdhi), the mood is joyful and delighted, relaxed and free. If there is only the mind consciousness's understanding, there will be none of these signs and reactions, because the mind consciousness does not take charge and cannot direct the body faculty. Without meditative concentration, or with shallow concentration, the manas cannot be put to use, because He contacts many dharmas and cannot investigate alone, nor investigate together with the mind consciousness.
Generally speaking, whenever any dharma is truly realized, there is meditative concentration, the manas participates in the investigative process, and in the end it is always the manas that realizes, and then tells the mind consciousness. If the mind consciousness realizes first and then tells the manas, the manas cannot fully investigate and deliberate; it reluctantly agrees with the mind consciousness's views and opinions, the depth of enlightenment is shallow, the manas does not fully and completely understand, and regression is very easy. When the manas realizes it first by itself, it is usually firmly convinced and will not regress.
As for the mind consciousness alone engaging in emotional thinking and intellectual interpretation, with the manas not participating in the entire thinking activity, even if the mind consciousness understands some principles, the manas remains muddled and full of doubts; when the mind consciousness is coarse, it generally cannot detect the manas's mental state. Any conclusion or answer the mind consciousness arrives at by itself is neither ultimate nor thorough, without evidence or with insufficient evidence; there is no question of regression or non-regression, because there was never any forward progress—how can there be talk of stepping back?
The deeper the meditative concentration, the more the manas can be put to use; the shallower the concentration, the more powerless the manas. Regression or non-regression lies with the manas. When the manas firmly and solidly investigates and deliberates by itself to find the answer, once it reaches a conclusion, He is extremely convinced and will not doubt, for everyone trusts themselves most.
Therefore, with little effort, the realization is shallow, doubt cannot be fully severed, and regression is easy in the future. If the manas does not realize, doubt cannot be eliminated even a little, so it does not count as realization, cannot sever the bonds and fetters, and thus there is no question of regression. If one is investigating the tathāgatagarbha, there is also no question of the transformation of the basis as tathāgatagarbha (āśraya-parāvṛtti-tathāgatagarbha), because without realizing it, how can one rely on it? Without relying on it, there can be no transformation. Without forward progress, there is no stepping back.
Merely playing tricks with the mind consciousness, one will suffer great loss at the time of death—will it still be too late for regret? Some people will say: realizing the first fruit without having severed afflictions, the body and mind will not transform, there is no change, and this is normal. But in worldly matters, when the manas truly learns something, one can become extraordinarily excited, with great changes in the body, the mind thrilled to the extreme, or eyes brimming with hot tears, or body and mind trembling, or a solemn expression, or... .
During the process of cultivating the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment before realizing the fruits, the body and mind will change little by little. If there is no change, then there has been no cultivation, the direction of cultivation is wrong, or one is simply not diligent and not attentive.
4. The Analogy of Taking the Bus to Illustrate the Manas's Knowing and Realizing
A person wants to take a bus to place A. Walking to the bus stop, he finds Bus No. 1 and Bus No. 2. He looks at the stop names of the two buses, and the mind consciousness knows he should take Bus No. 2, so he decides to take Bus No. 2; after boarding, he will arrive at the destination.
Question: Does the manas know the content that the mind consciousness knows? Was the decision to take Bus No. 2 made by the mind consciousness or by the manas? Boarding the bus—was it directed by the mind consciousness or by the manas?
Answer: The manas uses the six consciousnesses to discern the dharmas it wants to discern. The manas contacts sense objects and gives rise to the mind consciousness; the dharmas discerned by the mind consciousness are also continuously contacted by the manas with attention (manaskāra), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā). If the manas stops contacting the dharma, the mind consciousness disappears with respect to that dharma. Therefore, the dharmas the mind consciousness knows are simultaneously known by the manas; the difference lies in whether what the two consciousnesses know is consistent.
When the manas cannot discern fine details, the mind consciousness discerns on His behalf; when the manas cannot analyze, reason, and judge, the mind consciousness analyzes, reasons, and judges on His behalf. After the manas knows, He deliberates and weighs it Himself; if it is consistent with the mind consciousness's view, He agrees with the mind consciousness's judgment and decision; if not, He lets the mind consciousness think again, and then the manas deliberates further. This constant, sustained deliberation (恒审思量) of the manas arises at all times; He must vet every dharma before letting it pass, making His final decision.
Question: When the mind consciousness knows that only Bus No. 2 can reach the destination, does the manas also need to realize this principle? If the manas cannot deliberate and realize this principle, can one still reach the destination by taking the bus?
Answer: For the manas to know the content discerned by the mind consciousness, He must deliberate it personally; it is not a matter of whatever the mind consciousness says goes. The manas's constant, sustained deliberation serves exactly this function, so the manas has His own thoughts and wisdom, and is not a blockhead.
When the mind consciousness knows that only Bus No. 2 can reach the destination, the manas does not necessarily know this principle; if the manas cannot deliberate and realize this principle, one cannot reach the destination. This involves the question of the manas's wisdom, also the question of the mind consciousness's capacity for thinking and analysis, also the question of whether there are afflictive obstructions, and here there is also the question of meditative power.
Many dharmas that the mind consciousness understands and knows are not understood by the manas, so He delays making decisions and never takes action. For example, with the matter of generosity (dāna): the mind consciousness feels it should be done, but the manas does not understand and is unwilling to do it. By the same reasoning, when the mind consciousness contemplates and analyzes that the five aggregates are suffering, empty, impermanent, and non-self, if the mind consciousness just skims over the surface without careful contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), the manas, due to poor analytical and comprehension ability, will not understand this principle, and will also fear that there really will be no self, not knowing what benefit there is in non-self, and will not let the mind consciousness continue contemplating this matter.
Therefore, although some people's mind consciousness understands a little that the five aggregates are non-self, the manas may not necessarily understand; what the mind consciousness knows, the manas may not necessarily realize. If the manas cannot realize the non-self of the five aggregates, then the three fetters cannot be severed, all bodily, verbal, and mental actions cannot change, and the problem of birth and death cannot be solved. Taking the bus is decided by the manas—could it be that the great matter of birth and death need not be decided by the manas, but by the mind consciousness? The first mouthful of rice, the second mouthful of vegetables—all are decided by the manas; the mind consciousness just serves as an advisor; as for what to eat or not eat, and how much, the master, the manas, makes the final call.
In studying Buddhism to end birth and death, one cannot bury one's head in the sand like an ostrich and think everything is fine. One must face the problem and solve it, not avoid it. The great matter of birth and death cannot be avoided; one must face it and resolve it to be at peace.
5. The Special Function of the Manas When the Mind Consciousness Is Absent
When the recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti) penetrates deep into the manas and turns around the manas's thinking, one can recite the Buddha's name even while asleep. When Chan investigation arouses questioning doubt in the manas, one investigates Chan even while asleep, sleeping uneasily. When a problem has not been solved and the manas considers it very important, He continues deliberating even after falling asleep; the moment one wakes and opens one's eyes, the mind consciousness will suddenly understand—the problem is solved.
Hand over the dharmas the mind consciousness has not understood to the manas; the manas deeply doubts and deliberates, while the mind consciousness does whatever it should do; at some unknown moment, the manas resolves the questioning doubt, and the mind consciousness suddenly understands, seeing the great light.
With regard to the Buddha's teachings, the manas uses the mind consciousness to study the theoretical knowledge of the Buddhadharma, and then the manas digests and absorbs it based on this learned theory, analogous to a cow chewing its cud while resting. Many people only rely on the mind consciousness to study everywhere and collect large amounts of knowledge, then output it, never knowing to let the manas absorb and digest it, transforming it into the nourishment they need and into their true wisdom. The patriarchs said that a person without realization teaching the Dharma is just "entering the ear and exiting the mouth" dharma, or dharma of emotional thinking and intellectual interpretation. Not having benefited oneself, how much less can one benefit others.
6. Suspending the Doubting Thought in the Manas's Mind Is Investigating Chan
The fastest way to subdue and change the manas and let the manas understand the principles is: after the mind consciousness roughly understands the principles, in meditation suspend these principles in the mind without thinking about them, just quietly watching and holding them there; then at some unpredictable moment one will feel a slight understanding, or suddenly understand completely. This is the result of letting the manas deliberate alone. This method is extremely effective; I often use it this way, rather than liking the mind consciousness's shallow analysis and research. The thought suspended in the mind and in the head is a question; any problem one does not understand can be placed with the manas, letting Him deliberate; the mind consciousness may cooperate, or may not stir up trouble or interfere, or may continue handling daily trivial matters as usual. As for when the manas can give the answer, that depends on the manas's own wisdom, also on the quality of meditative concentration, and on how well the mind consciousness cooperates.
The method of suspending a thought in the mind is the Chan investigation method commonly used by the Chan patriarchs of the past; for people in today's world who lack meditative concentration, it is rather difficult to practice. At first one often cannot find the way in, feeling there is no place to start; one needs to keep pondering and experimenting oneself; once one has mastered the method and entered the door, things become easy; thereafter, whenever one encounters difficult problems, one uses this method, which can solve problems at their root. Many principles seem understood but are not truly understood—in fact, it is the manas that does not understand, while the mind consciousness understands somewhat. Quiet down, give the manas time and energy, let Him deliberate, and the result that emerges will be quite satisfactory, without doubts. This requires the mind consciousness to have a general direction of thought and to have understood the principles a little. For those whose concentration and wisdom are both good, even if the mind consciousness does not understand, it works—just suspend the problem deep in the mind, and understanding will come before long.
Without meditative concentration, it is almost all the mind consciousness thinking; the manas cannot exert force, and the thinking is generally rather superficial and not deep. Modern people, generally lacking meditative concentration, very rarely know how to investigate Chan. Yet some people have never investigated Chan and still became enlightened; some people have never cultivated the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment, the seven factors of enlightenment, or the four foundations of mindfulness, and still eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and realized the fruits. Taking such shortcuts through the back door, the one who loses the most is oneself, and the one who will suffer the most in the future is still oneself; the loss outweighs the gain.
7. Being Too Familiar with the Dharma Principles Actually Obstructs Enlightenment
Studying the Dharma is for the sake of realizing the Dharma. To realize the Dharma, one must not let the mind consciousness become overly saturated with the Buddha's teachings. Why say this? Because when the mind consciousness has it thoroughly memorized, it will feel it already understands, will disdain and lose interest in further careful contemplation and investigation, and thus will fall into mere "Chan of the mouth," half-understanding, which greatly obstructs the Path. Only with dharmas the mind consciousness does not quite understand will it be interested in investigating deeply; the manas will then participate, and only then is there the possibility of realizing the Dharma.
Because many people cannot develop meditative concentration and cannot contemplate deeply and finely with contemplative practice, they have no choice but to repeatedly and continuously recite the dharma principles, to the point that the principles are thoroughly memorized and can be recited backwards, yet they cannot profoundly comprehend their meaning, much less realize them, and cannot thereby eliminate deep karmic obstructions—very regrettable.
Those who constantly burrow into old books and papers have wisdom far inferior to those who do not read much but love deep thinking; the latter's words are all language they have awakened to themselves, never picking up others' spittle; the former, as soon as they speak, emit the voices of others, repeating others' words.
8. Not Being Able to Figure Out What Ālayavijñāna Means
"Figuring out" the Ālayavijñāna means using the mind consciousness to ponder, research, analyze, and understand. The Ālayavijñāna is not understood into existence, not imagined into existence, nor researched into existence; it must be personally realized in meditative concentration, breaking through the ignorance of both the mind consciousness and the manas. If the manas's ignorance is not broken, bodily, verbal, and mental actions will forever be ignorant, and the ignorance will continue to be carried into future lives, remaining ignorant life after life.
Many people turn the Ālayavijñāna over and over in the words and texts, dissecting the words—what the Chan patriarchs called burrowing into old paper piles, their two eyes almost melting the words and piercing through the paper. Some people compile a huge pile of study materials, reading them every day; some can even recite them backwards; the texts are extremely familiar, coming out at the drop of a hat, yet none of them have truly digested and absorbed those dharma principles. Why? Without meditative concentration, they cannot realize them; they do not understand the true meaning, learning only superficialities, like memorizing books.
With such effort, which consciousness is being used? It is all the mind consciousness analyzing, reasoning, and researching. Without meditative concentration, one cannot penetrate to the manas, cannot mobilize the manas, cannot turn the Dharma into one's own, and will forever be merely learning words. Without meditative concentration, thinking stops as soon as it goes slightly deeper, unable to penetrate further, so one can only float on the surface, knowing some shallow knowledge. Therefore, everyone should introspect on their own way and method of cultivation; if incorrect, correct it quickly, get onto the right track of cultivation as soon as possible, and attain great wisdom.
9. Repetition by the Mind Consciousness Is Not the Same as the Manas's Deliberation
Question: One must repeatedly repeat behaviors so that they become habits; only unconscious habits count as the manas's "knowing." Is that right?
Answer: Repeat, and repeat again—but without meditative concentration, no matter how many times one repeats, if the manas does not effectively think about and deliberate on the repeated content, one still does not know why it is so, cannot realize, cannot truly know. When there is concentration, no repetition is needed; the dharma principles reach the manas directly, letting the manas deliberate by Himself; one day, He will deliberate through to understanding—that is realization.
10. The Manas's Deliberation Is Investigative Contemplation
The five aggregates, eighteen realms, and twelve entrances all exist through the convergence of various conditions; when the conditions disperse, they vanish; therefore they are false, unreal, and non-self. How is this principle to be inwardly realized? The mind consciousness can think it over and understand the general idea, but one knows clearly in one's heart that this is not true understanding—knowing that it is so but not yet knowing why it is so—still needing to continue deeply and definitively understanding. This requires, in meditative concentration, suspending this principle in the mind and letting the manas deliberate. The manas's deliberation does not stick to sense objects; it has a certain height, called "looking from a high vantage point," also called deep and fine investigative contemplation.
11. When the Manas Ponders a Problem, Understanding Comes in the Middle of the Night
Question: Sitting in meditation at night contemplating dharma principles, until rising from the seat it was only half-understood; with the unresolved problem suspended in the mind, I fell asleep, and in the middle of the night suddenly understood; at the moment of understanding, the mind was especially clear, and I was too excited to sleep. The understanding that came in the middle of the night—who understood?
Answer: If the problem contemplated is rather deep and has been suspended in the mind all along, it means the manas has also participated in the deliberation. If no conclusion has been reached and it has not been thought through, the mind consciousness will become fatigued, shift its attention, or cease, while the manas will continue deliberating, and at some unknown moment the manas will have deliberated the problem through clearly.
Many problems are considered more clearly at night than during the day. Why? Because there is less interference, the manas is relatively focused, and participates more in the deliberation. Scanning around (攀缘)—is it the mind consciousness scanning or the manas scanning? It is the manas scanning, but because there is no cooperation from the six consciousnesses, the manas's scanning is reduced. Therefore, after the six consciousnesses quiet down, the manas can concentrate on deliberating a single problem alone. At night, without the six consciousnesses, the manas scans less; the six consciousnesses no longer disturb the manas with the information they discriminate, and the manas begins to chew the cud, single-mindedly deliberating the dharma principles the mind consciousness could not think through, and it becomes possible to suddenly understand the dharma principles in the middle of the night.
12. The Process of the Manas's Realization
In preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) or the first dhyāna, the mind consciousness transmits to the manas the process and result of having contemplated a certain dharma principle in accord with the principles; the manas, after careful deliberation, verifies and confirms the mind consciousness's cognition; or the manas and mind consciousness have not arrived at a conclusion that accords with the principles and with reality, with no result, and the manas, on the basis of the clues provided by the mind consciousness, deliberates and investigates alone by Himself, finally arriving at a conclusion that accords with the facts—this is realization. The manas's realization cannot be separated from meditative concentration; apart from concentration, the manas becomes scattered and scans around, unable to deliberate and examine single-mindedly, and cannot truly realize. But the mind consciousness's thinking and understanding can occur with or without meditative concentration; the requirement for concentration is not high, because the mind consciousness's power of wisdom (prajñā-bala) is greater than the manas's.
In the earlier stage of the mind consciousness's contemplative practice, one must observe with direct perception; the more it is direct perception, the greater the inspiration for the manas. In many cases, even dharmas observed by the mind consciousness with direct perception are difficult for the manas to cognize, let alone what is not observed with direct perception; the mind consciousness's non-valid cognition (non-valid cognition) of imagination and inference cannot get the manas to cognize and agree. The mind consciousness's inference and non-valid cognition have little effect on the manas, which does not easily accept and believe them. The manas must rely on the mind consciousness's direct perception, then activate His own deliberative nature; when the deliberation reaches understanding, He will agree and realize it; if the deliberation does not reach understanding, it is still just the mind consciousness knowing alone.
For example, the mind consciousness clearly knows that the material body changes quickly year by year: a person grows from childhood in the blink of an eye, and in another blink becomes a young adult; especially in middle and old age, due to one's state of mind, one feels even more that the days pass too quickly, fears dying too early, and cherishes life greatly. Why cherish life and fear time passing quickly? All because of knowing that the material body will sooner or later perish, that it is not forever unaging, unailing, and undying, knowing it is impermanent, and at times also feeling it is suffering. But what use is the mind consciousness knowing these things? The manas never pays attention nor deliberates, so life after life things remain as they are, and the cycle of birth and death becomes unavoidable. For many things, the mind consciousness's knowing is useless; the manas does not know, and things proceed as they would anyway, changing nothing in the slightest.
Therefore, the manas's realization is crucial and important. He is the taking-charge consciousness connecting past, present, and future: birth, death, and saṃsāra are decided by Him; severing afflictions and ignorance is decided by Him; liberation is decided by Him; and becoming a Buddha is also decided by Him. In cultivation, nothing is more important than the manas. Although the eighth consciousness is even more important than the manas, cultivation does not require cultivating the eighth consciousness; without the manas, the eighth consciousness can accomplish nothing—the eighth consciousness alone is of no use; the accomplishment of all dharmas depends entirely on the manas's propelling force. Therefore, the dharmas the mind consciousness has thought about must be infused into the manas, letting the manas deliberate, weigh, and choose, letting the manas also realize the Dharma; only then does what the mind consciousness does have merit, have results, have retribution.
13. The Nature of Constant, Sustained Deliberation Demonstrates the Manas's Important Role in Investigating Chan
The character "审" (examine) in the manas's constant, sustained deliberation reveals the manas's mental activities and also exposes the role the manas plays. This shows that the manas is not a useless ornament but has a very important, decisive role, and is a lively, active conscious mind. Whatever dharma the manas contacts, He must examine it; whatever dharmas the six consciousnesses discern, the manas must examine them; once examined, He must make a decision and handle them. So what role does the manas play in investigating Chan? What role in eradicating the view of self? What role in seeing the mind and seeing the nature? What role in realizing all dharmas? In all cases, He plays the decisive role.
All dharmas must pass the manas's vetting; if the manas's examination does not pass, no handling can be done. When the manas examines, there is His own conscious mental activity; He must weigh things Himself and does not completely obey the six consciousnesses—He does not immediately approve whatever the six consciousnesses discern. Therefore, everything seen by the six consciousnesses must be clearly and distinctly understood by the manas; if the manas does not understand, the examination fails, does not pass the gate, and the manas cannot decide. Eradicating the view of self, as well as seeing the mind and seeing the nature, must all pass the manas's examination and review; if the manas does not agree, the view of self cannot be eradicated, and seeing the mind and seeing the nature cannot occur. The mind consciousness's unilateral eradication of the view of self and seeing of the mind is merely the mind consciousness's own understanding and belief; if the master-leader does not approve, it does not count. For the mind consciousness to arbitrarily declare eradication of the view of self and seeing of the mind without the manas-leader's approval does not count—there is no such principle.
