The Right Understanding of Manas

Chapter One  The Concept of the Manas

1. "Root" means the aspect of generative capacity. The manas is not only the root that generates the mind consciousness, but also the root that can generate all dharmas. The function of generation belongs to the tathāgatagarbha; only by relying on the manas as a root can the tathāgatagarbha give rise to the mind consciousness and to all dharmas. Without the manas as this root, no seed can sprout.

The manas is not the brain or the nervous system. The brain and nervous system are material form (rūpa), belonging to the body faculty, which is a faculty with form. The first five faculties are all faculties with form, having shape and appearance, whereas the manas is a formless faculty, without shape or appearance; it belongs to the mind, is a mental dharma, and is not a material form composed of the four great elements. It has the functions and roles of a mind, and is the mind that acts as the master at all times and in all places. Therefore the manas possesses a spiritual life. As long as the manas is present, the body can be held and sustained by the tathāgatagarbha and will not decay; one is a sentient being. When a sentient being dies, only if the manas does not perish can there be the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava), and within the neutrino-body the manas carries the tathāgatagarbha to conceive into a womb.

The manas is a consciousness; it has the functions and roles of a consciousness and the power of a consciousness, and is the driving force for producing all myriad dharmas. As long as the manas exists, even without the six functions of the six consciousnesses, one is still a living person, not wood or stone. For example, in the meditative concentration of non-perception (asaṃjñi-samāpatti) and in the cessation of perception and feeling (nirodha-samāpatti), there are no six consciousnesses and no functions of the six consciousnesses, yet one is not dead. When an arhat emerges from the cessation of perception and feeling, he can still hold an alms bowl and beg for food. In dreamless sleep, at the moment of death, and in a coma, there are no functions of the six consciousnesses, but the manas exists, and therefore at those times one is still a living person. The birth-and-death and transmigration of sentient beings through life after life is determined by the ignorance of the manas, produced by the grasping and clinging of the manas, and drawn out by the karmic power of sentient beings. The principle of this transmigration is the dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination: ignorance conditions volitional formations (avidyā-pratyayāḥ saṃskārāḥ), volitional formations condition consciousness, consciousness conditions name-and-form, name-and-form condition the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana), the six sense bases condition contact, contact conditions feeling, feeling conditions craving, craving conditions grasping (upādāna), grasping conditions existence, existence conditions birth, and birth conditions aging, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress (śoka-parideva-duḥkha-daurmanasyopāyāsa).

2. Some people say the manas is the heart, and others say it is the brain. If the manas were the heart, then when the heart is destroyed, the manas would no longer exist. If someone undergoes a heart transplant, would the manas be transplanted along with it? If the manas were transplanted along with it, then some people would have two manas, some would have no manas at all, and some sentient beings would have nine consciousnesses or seven consciousnesses. If a sentient being had two manas, there would be two consciousnesses acting as master, and such a being would be mentally deranged, at a loss as to what to do; while the other person without a manas would enter extinction and never be born again.

If sentient beings had no manas, there would be no mind acting as master; then the six spirits would have no master, no dharmas would arise, there would be no six spirits, and the six consciousnesses would not be born. Therefore it is wrong to say the manas is the heart, and it is also wrong to say it is the brain. The brain is also material form; the manas is not a form-dharma but a mind-dharma. Moreover, it does not perish along with the destruction of the physical body, and can endure into future lives for innumerable kalpas without perishing.

The manas is a special faculty, different from the first five faculties. It is not material form but belongs to the mind-dharmas; only the other five faculties are material form. The manas has both the functions of a faculty and the functions of a consciousness; it is the faculty and consciousness that can go on to future lives. Therefore, after a sentient being dies, the manas does not perish; because of its greedy attachment to the body of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), it relies on the tathāgatagarbha to form the neutrino-body, and within the neutrino-body, together with the tathāgatagarbha, it conceives into a womb and possesses the body of the five aggregates of the next life. If the manas were extinguished, sentient beings would be in Nirvāṇa without remainder (Anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), with no six faculties, six sense objects, and six consciousnesses, and no sentient beings would exist. Only arhats who have completely ended afflictions are willing to extinguish the manas, and they also have the ability to extinguish the manas themselves.

Ordinary beings have no ability to extinguish the manas, because the ignorance of one thought and the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion are all present, and they lack the ability to sever the suffering of birth-and-death and transmigration. Through innumerable kalpas of birth and death, the manas has never been extinguished; life after life it grasps at the five aggregates subject to feeling, craving worldly dharmas, and therefore there must be birth in the next life; the root of birth-and-death cannot be cut off. Yet the bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis, who do have the ability to extinguish the manas completely, are unwilling to do so; they are unwilling to extinguish body and mind and hide from the suffering of birth-and-death. They all vow to benefit themselves and benefit others within the world of the three realms, willing to endure some minor worldly suffering, to press forward bravely on the path to buddhahood while simultaneously rescuing sentient beings so they may be freed from the suffering of birth-and-death and together accomplish the buddha way. Therefore the minds of bodhisattvas are vast and boundless, far surpassing those of arhats; hence they are called great-mind bodhisattvas.

3. The manas has existed since before beginningless kalpas and can be extinguished through cultivation; it is not a dharma that cannot perish. The tathāgatagarbha moment by moment gives rise to the consciousness seeds of the manas, forming the manas's continuous state of operation; therefore the manas is also of a nature of arising and ceasing. The mental activities of the manas change without stop, its consciousness seeds arise and cease without stop, its ignorance constantly shifts, and its afflictions also arise and cease ceaselessly; therefore the manas is impermanent and suffering. The manas is produced by the tathāgatagarbha and is of a nature of arising and ceasing; therefore it is empty and illusory. Arising, ceasing, and changing is suffering; not being able to remain forever constant and single is suffering.

4. Where do the manas and the other five faculties come from? The five faculties, while in the mother's womb, are gradually manifested by the tathāgatagarbha outputting the seeds of the four great elements—earth, water, fire, and wind. They are dharmas that did not originally exist but were born later; after birth, they must continuously grow, then gradually change, and finally perish—dharmas of arising, ceasing, changing, and impermanence, not long-lasting, unreliable dharmas. How is the manas produced? The manas has existed since beginningless kalpas; it needs to rely on the tathāgatagarbha transmitting consciousness seeds in order to operate. When an arhat of the fourth fruit severs attachment to self and, at the end of life, extinguishes it and enters Nirvāṇa without remainder, this shows it is also a dharma of arising, ceasing, and impermanence. The five aggregates can then be entirely extinguished, leaving only the tathāgatagarbha existing in coolness and tranquility (praśama). Therefore the manas is also a dharma lacking self-mastery (avaśatā); it needs to rely on the tathāgatagarbha to exist. When the conditions of the world of the three realms end, the manas also ceases.

The manas has existed since beginningless kalpas because the time of its existence is so remote that no starting point in time can be found; there is no initial beginning, and therefore there has been the birth-and-death transmigration since beginningless kalpas. Otherwise, only the tathāgatagarbha would remain luminously and eternally abiding, and no bodies of the five aggregates of sentient beings would appear. After an arhat extinguishes the manas in Nirvāṇa without remainder, when the worldly conditions are complete, the tathāgatagarbha can give rise to the manas again, then produce the five faculties; with the five aggregates complete, the living being will appear once more. Therefore the arhat rests a while in the illusory city and must still come out again. It would be better to cultivate the bodhisattva path from the start, without taking such a huge detour and wasting so much time. Thinking it would be fine to no longer suffer, the result is still not ultimate; the unfinished karma still must be resolved, and the unbroken ignorance still must be broken. Taking Nirvāṇa without remainder is actually not worthwhile; therefore the Buddha called them foolish people.

5. "Innate" (jñeyaka) means what is present from birth—what exists at the time life exists is called innate. Innate attachment to self and innate afflictions refer to the manas's innate grasping at self and afflictions such as greed, hatred, delusion, and conceit; since beginningless kalpas it has carried the habit energy of grasping at self, along with the many afflictions of greed, hatred, delusion, and conceit. The manas corresponds with karmic seeds: whatever kind of seeds were created and stored since beginningless kalpas, the manas manifests corresponding mental activities, and can cause the seeds to become manifest, and can lead the mental activities of the mind consciousness to correspond with the karmic seeds. The manas is not born along with the birth of a life; it continuously exists accompanying every period of life and every form of life, together with life—hence it is called innate. Since beginningless kalpas, due to the obscuration of ignorance, the manas has constantly grasped the body of the five aggregates as self and as belonging to self; hence it is called innate attachment to self.

Innate attachment to self is the wrong view (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) of the manas, from beginningless time, continuously falsely habituating to the five aggregates as self; the habit energy of grasping the five aggregates has accompanied the five aggregates of every life. The mind consciousness, however, is new in every life; it cannot correspond with memories of past lives and has no innate attachment to self. Its nature of attachment to self is influenced and led both by the innate manas and by the conditioning of the later environment. The mind consciousness is drawn by the habit energies of the manas. For example, upon seeing an enemy from a past life, the mind consciousness does not recognize or know this person, yet simply dislikes this person, without knowing why in the mind—this is the manas pulling the mind consciousness to stir up hatred.

The mind consciousness has no innate nature. The consciousness of a newborn infant, and even the consciousness in the womb, is newly born and brand new, carrying none of the afflictions and habit energies of past lives and beginningless kalpas. All dharmas of this life must be learned anew to be mastered; only the degree and speed of mastery are still related to the karmic seeds of accumulated lives, promoted by the conditioning of the manas and the karmic seeds. On one hand, the mind consciousness is conditioned by the living environment of this life, giving rise in accordance with conditions to wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral (avyākṛta) mental factors; on the other hand, it is conditioned by the manas: if the manas is wholesome, the mind consciousness is wholesome; if the manas is unwholesome, the mind consciousness is unwholesome.

Therefore, when the manas gives rise to the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, often without the mind consciousness being able to explain or choose, the manas will lead the mind consciousness to inexplicably manifest mental activities of greed, hatred, and delusion, creating karmic actions of greed, hatred, and delusion; the rationality of the mind consciousness sometimes cannot play its due role. When karmic seeds become manifest, and the emotions and habit energies of the manas become manifest, even if the mind consciousness has rationality, it is hard pressed to cope—let alone that the mind consciousness of the vast majority of people lacks rationality; then the afflictions will overflow.

6. The subconscious is just another name for the manas, the manas consciousness (manas-vijñāna); it is a synonym for the manas. Because ordinary beings outside the Buddhist community do not know of the manas, they describe the functions of the manas as another kind of function of the mind consciousness, calling it the function of a hidden consciousness—the subconscious. Confusing the manas and the mind consciousness without distinction is what people outside the Buddha's gate say; this is precisely the ignorant manifestation of not understanding the difference between the manas and the mind consciousness. The Buddhist community, especially the Consciousness-Only school, says the manas is the manas-vijñāna, a consciousness distinct from the mind consciousness, and treats the functions of the manas separately, not confusing them with the mind consciousness. Only by thus distinguishing the mind consciousness and the manas can there be great wisdom. This is the statement of experts with wisdom, and also what the Buddha taught.

Without the power of meditative concentration (samādhi) and wisdom, one simply cannot observe the functions of the manas—the mind is too coarse. The abilities of the manas are not something ordinary people can discover. The one who knows all the abilities of the manas is the World-Honored One (Buddha); those who can observe the operation of the manas are the bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis. Among the seven consciousnesses, the one with the greatest ability is the manas, called the second transformative agency (parināma); next is the mind consciousness, called the third transformative agency; the five consciousnesses are also included in the third transformative agency, together with the mind consciousness. The power and leading role of the manas are considerable: all myriad dharmas of the three realms are initiated by the manas. When the manas is completely transformed, one becomes a Buddha oneself; when the manas's defilements are extremely heavy, one can enter hell while still alive.

 7. The definition of the manas in the Mahāyāna Śraddhotpāda Śāstra (Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna) composed by Bodhisattva Aśvaghoṣa: "此意复有五种异名，一名业识，谓无明力不觉心动。二名转识，谓依动心能见境相。三名现识，谓现一切诸境界相；犹如明镜现众色像，现识亦尔，如其五境对至即现，无有前后，不由功力。四名智识，谓分别染净诸差别法。五名相续识，谓恒作意相应不断，任持过去善恶等业，令无失坏；成熟现、未苦乐等报，使无违越；已曾经事忽然忆念，未曾经事妄生分别。"

This says the manas has five different names:

(1) The manas is the karmic consciousness, corresponding with karmic power. Because of the operation of the power of ignorance and karma, the manas, without awakening, gives rise to thoughts, and the mind stirs and turns outward to cling. The mental factors of attention (manaskāra), feeling, perception, and volition (cetanā) manifest; the tathāgatagarbha cooperates with them, and corresponding dharmas are produced—the dharmas of the three realms are born, and the body of the five aggregates is born. The thoughts of the manas are mainly the activity of the volition mental factor; when the tathāgatagarbha discerns the thoughts of the manas, it will do its utmost to fulfill the manas's thoughts; if the seeds are complete, the tathāgatagarbha will certainly realize the manas's thoughts.

Therefore, if the manas's mind does not stir and the volition mental factor does not appear, the tathāgatagarbha will not cooperate to satisfy the manas's demands and thoughts, and dharmas will not appear. What does "the mind stirring" mean? The manas has an idea, has a wish; the volition mental factor manifests and wants to act; after the tathāgatagarbha discerns this, it cooperates with the volition mental factor, and only then are the dharmas of the three realms born. Moreover, the power of ignorance and karma has existed since before beginningless kalpas, corresponding with the manas, prompting the manas to stir the mind and give rise to thoughts, wanting to greedily seek outward, wanting to discern the external world; the tathāgatagarbha cooperates, giving birth to the universe's vessel-world (bhājana-loka), and then giving birth to the five aggregates. This was taught by the World-Honored One in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra.

(2) The manas is the transforming consciousness. "Transforming" means flowing and turning. Because of the power of ignorance and karma, the manas stirs the mind and greedily seeks, and thus flows and transmigrates through the world of the three realms and through the six destinies. When the manas's mind stirs and turns, the tathāgatagarbha accordingly manifests all dharmas; the realm-marks appear; the manas discerns them; then the six consciousnesses are born, and the realms manifest in the minds of the six consciousnesses; bodily, verbal, and mental actions become manifest, karmic actions appear, karmic seeds are stored, and birth-and-death continues.

(3) The manas is the manifesting consciousness, the second transformative agency (parināma), which can prompt the tathāgatagarbha to manifest all dharmas. The tathāgatagarbha manifests all dharmas in accordance with its volition mental factor, like fire in a mirror, having no real substance and no burning function, because it is a subjectively imagined realm, not the real object-aspects (nimitta) of the five dusts of the external world.

(4) The manas is the discriminating-wisdom consciousness; it has a certain quality of wisdom, has discerning wisdom, has the nature of discrimination, and can know dharmas. It can not only discern the dharmas of the six dusts but also discern dharmas beyond the six dusts; as long as its own tathāgatagarbha can manifest them, the manas can discern them, and what it discerns are all dharmas resembling the essential realm. It knows not only the dharmas of this life but also the dharmas of past lives and the dharmas of future lives; it can simultaneously know all dharmas in heaven and on earth, and its wisdom is also immeasurable—the mind consciousness is far inferior. The mind consciousness is only relatively fine in discerning the realms of the six dusts, able to know the details; the manas cannot discern details and subtle dharmas, only coarse and general situations—yet this is already sufficient.

(5) The manas is the continuity consciousness, continuing life after life without interruption. If it does not enter Nirvāṇa without remainder, the manas, like the tathāgatagarbha, never perishes; their lifespans are equal, both being immeasurable lifespans. Because the manas continues without interruption, it can carry the karmic power seeds of beginningless kalpas to later lives, corresponding with the karmic seeds life after life, corresponding with karmic power, enabling the tathāgatagarbha to continuously realize karmic cause and effect, to be borne by oneself.

As for the manas—things already experienced are suddenly recalled; things not yet experienced are falsely discriminated. Regarding things it has experienced, the manas can suddenly recall them, then remind and alert the mind consciousness, letting the mind consciousness discern the details; thus the mind consciousness has phenomena such as remembering, recollecting, and distraction—all results of the manas's clinging.

Regarding things it has not experienced, the manas will likewise falsely produce discrimination, wanting to know; based on some conditions manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, it can know things that will happen in the future, having the ability of foreknowledge, able to predict the occurrence of events, thereby letting the mind consciousness be on guard. Precisely because the manas has the function of recollection, it can manifest the things it has experienced before, letting the mind consciousness discern them. In most cases, the mind consciousness does not possess the ability to discern dharmas beyond the six dusts; it guesses at the manas's intentions, only occasionally guessing accurately, and much of the time knows nothing at all.