The Right Understanding of Manas
Chapter 2: The Manas's Imputed Nature (parikalpita-svabhāva)
1. Another inherent nature of the manas is the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva), which has some connection with what the Śūraṅgama Sūtra says about the manas silently containing all dharmas. What are "all dharmas"? What does "silently containing all dharmas" mean? All dharmas include all the dharmas born and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, everything is included without the slightest omission. All dharmas are produced by the tathāgatagarbha; the scope it encompasses is extremely broad, including conditioned and unconditioned dharmas, material form (rūpa-dharma) and mental dharmas, defiled and pure dharmas, the past and the future. It includes all dharmas in the world of the three realms, and also includes transcendental dharmas—both worldly and transcendental dharmas are included. This is what "all dharmas" means; all are produced by the tathāgatagarbha, and in sum this is the one true dharma realm. After the tathāgatagarbha produces them, the manas can condition on all of them, and then silently contains and receives them.
The manas can universally condition on all dharmas produced by the tathāgatagarbha. As long as the tathāgatagarbha produces a dharma, the manas can condition on it and cognize it. This shows that the manas universally conditions on all dharmas, and then universally grasps (upādāna) all dharmas. The so-called "universal" means pervading the six faculties, six sense-objects, and six consciousnesses, pervading the eighteen realms, pervading the universe's material world, pervading the five aggregates and eighteen realms, pervading all dharmas of the three realms and the transcendental, as well as pervading material form and mental dharmas, pervading the past and the future.
2. The manas has the inherent nature of universal conditioning and universal containing—that is, it both universally conditions and silently contains—therefore the manas possesses the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva). Because for beginningless kalpas the manas has continuously existed following along with the tathāgatagarbha, He has never ceased. Unless one is an arhat of the fourth fruit—and moreover a fourth-fruit arhat who does not turn toward the bodhisattva path—the manas will never cease to exist; even at the time of attaining buddhahood and after buddhahood, the manas has never once been extinguished.
When He exists, He must universally impute and grasp all dharmas, universally deliberating upon and clinging to all dharmas, silently containing all dharmas. "Imputing" (计) means deliberation (manasikāra/manana), that is, calculating, grasping, and clinging. This inherent nature of His does not exist at all stages. The manas of ordinary beings and sages definitely has the imputed nature; the fourth-fruit arhat has completely eradicated the grasping at self of the person, and no longer has grasping at the five aggregates, twelve sense bases, and eighteen realms, but still has the grasping at self of dharmas not yet eradicated, so he still has the imputed nature toward many dharmas born of the tathāgatagarbha. Only after extinguishing the ignorance of the manas and attaining buddhahood does the manas no longer have the imputed nature. Bodhisattvas at and above the first bhūmi have not only eradicated the grasping at self of the person with the manas, but have also eradicated one portion or multiple portions of the grasping at self of dharmas. The Buddha's manas has completely eradicated clinging to all dharmas, without the slightest imputed nature—neither clinging to the self of the person nor to the self of dharmas; the grasping at self of the person and the grasping at self of dharmas are both completely eradicated without remainder, but it still operates very universally upon all dharmas, silently containing all dharmas—only without the nature of clinging, without the nature of deliberation. This is the meaning of "universal" in "pervading all dharmas."
The clinging nature of the manas's imputed nature is phased; it does not have clinging nature at all stages. At the stage of ordinary beings, there is clinging to all dharmas—clinging not only to the self of the person but also to the self of dharmas. This imputed nature can be gradually extinguished through cultivation. Before the fourth-fruit arhat, the manas has grasping at self of the person; after the fourth-fruit arhat, the grasping at self of the person is extinguished. After the first-bhūmi bodhisattva, the manas still has varying degrees of grasping at self of dharmas, which is eradicated portion by portion starting from the first bhūmi; when it is completely eradicated, one becomes a Buddha.
3. The functions of the mind are the functions of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness—recognizing, cognizing, grasping, feeling, choosing, generating emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, and of sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress (śoka-parideva-duḥkha-daurmanasyopāyāsa) toward all dharmas. These functions are all elicited by the consciousness-seeds of the tathāgatagarbha. Once the seeds of the seven great elements are transmitted out, the mental activities of the seven consciousnesses and the realms of the six sense-objects appear like bubbles. From beginningless kalpas, the manas has continuously grasped at these bubbles, taking the mark of impermanence as the mark of permanence, taking the marks of suffering, emptiness, and afflictions as the mark of happiness, taking the mark of no-self of the five aggregates as the mark of self, taking the impure marks of the six sense-objects and six consciousnesses as the mark of purity, clinging to all the functions and attributes of the six consciousnesses as self, clinging to these bubbles as self and as belonging to self, and clinging to the dharmas of suffering, emptiness, and impermanence as self and as belonging to self.
Because of grasping at these dharmas, the manas cannot leave the three realms and attain liberation. After we understand these principles, in this life we should generate the mind for liberation, striving to understand how these dharmas are all illusory and unreal, by what causes and conditions they arise and by what causes and conditions they cease. After confirming that they are subject to arising and ceasing and are without self, we no longer grasp at the illusory, conditioned dharmas that are impermanent and without self. All feelings, even pleasant feelings, are impermanent and cannot be retained. When sense-object marks arise, pleasant feelings arise; when the sense-object marks cease, the pleasant feelings also cease. There is no feeling or dharma that can exist permanently without changing and perishing.
The six sense-objects are all illusory shadows presented within the brain. We grasp at these shadows and thereby produce various feelings and perceptions. The shadows are not real, and the feelings and perceptions produced from them are equally unreal. All dharmas are constantly arising and ceasing moment by moment. The past has already passed; the present instantly becomes the past; the future has not yet come. The manas cannot grasp any illusory mark of the past, present, or future. In the world there fundamentally are no such people, affairs, or principles, nor even a world. It is just like crying and laughing at the shadow in a mirror, generating thoughts and mental activity, creating all kinds of karmic actions, yet not knowing that everything one faces is merely illusory shadows—just like a foolish dog barking wildly at its own shadow in a mirror, or like a foolish monkey jumping into a lake determined to fish out the moon's reflection. Sentient beings are just this foolish. To escape foolishness and attain liberation through wisdom, one must recognize the truth and reality, no longer grasp at any dharma, and eradicate the two graspings of self and dharmas.
4. "What is thought of by day is dreamed of by night"—this is caused by the manas's imputed nature. The content the mind consciousness thinks about during the day, and all dharmas cognized by the six consciousnesses, will fall into the manas. Sometimes the manas is too busy during the day; He has no time for deliberation (manasikāra/manana), being occupied with directing and managing various matters, letting the six consciousnesses manifest their discriminating nature. Because there is too much content to discriminate, the manas also cannot deliberate on it all. At night, after the six consciousnesses have ceased, they no longer transmit information about the six sense-objects, and the manas has free time to begin deliberating on the dharmas cognized by the six consciousnesses during the day. When He deliberates on these dharmas, the tathāgatagarbha, following His deliberation, manifests dream states; what was thought about during the day is dreamed at night. Sometimes when the mind consciousness thinks about something during the day, the manas deliberates along with it, but the mind consciousness, being coarse, does not know, and the manas has not deliberated out a result and does not make a choice; at night the manas will continue deliberating. Although the mind consciousness does not know, at night the manas will still manifest the matters being deliberated through dreams.
If the manas does not cling and grasp much, there will be no dreaming at night, and the mind consciousness will not manifest at all; a whole night of dreamless sleep can restore fatigue. For example, because the arhat's manas has extinguished the ignorance of one thought, the manas no longer clings to worldly dharmas; the arhat's mind has no distraction and restlessness, no dullness and sleepiness during the day, the mind is pure and tranquil, and at night there are mostly no more dreams. Occasionally dreaming is due to some other special matters—perhaps another person's manas clings and comes into the arhat's dream with something to request, such as some ghosts and spirits needing deliverance, and so on.
The dharmas the manas clings to will manifest through dreams. Sometimes one can even dream of people and things from past lives, and can also dream of the future. The manas can also condition on karmic seeds and can know some future events. Future events will manifest in dreams—tomorrow's events can appear, the day after tomorrow's events can appear, next year's events can also appear; whenever an event is going to occur, it may appear in a dream. This is called knowing without divination.
If the manas clings to the dharmas of other worlds, the scenes of other worlds will also appear. So whatever the manas clings to, that is what will manifest in dreams. Then who manifests all dream states? The manas certainly cannot manifest them, because He does not contain seeds and has no function of directly manifesting them. Only the tathāgatagarbha can accord with the manas, output seeds, and manifest the dream states for the mind consciousness to cognize. The sixth consciousness, within the dream, can go anywhere—heavens above, earth below, past and future—truly miraculous.
5. The manas is the consciousness that acts as the master, having the imputed nature, clinging everywhere in the heavens and below; He will inevitably lead the six consciousnesses to cling everywhere as well. The six consciousnesses are born by the tathāgatagarbha in dependence on conditions, so they are of the nature of dependence on others (paratantra); external sense-objects and internal sense-objects, the various consciousnesses and karmic seeds—all are born of the tathāgatagarbha, all are of the nature of dependence on others.
The manas existed at the very beginning, beginningless kalpas ago. At that time, the tathāgatagarbha's mind-substance did not yet have the karmic seeds created by the five aggregates, yet the manas still existed. The reason for His existence is that the manas has ignorance, called beginningless ignorance; the ignorance of one thought is also beginningless, also called beginningless ignorance. The conditions for the manas's birth and existence are extremely few—the tathāgatagarbha, ignorance, and the power of the vows of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas suffice—so the manas's nature of dependence on others is not obvious or prominent. The manas's most primary characteristic is its clinging nature; as an ordinary being, there is not a single dharma it does not cling to—this is called the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva). Because of this imputed nature, segmented birth-and-death (pariccheda-maraṇa) and transformational birth-and-death (parināma-maraṇa) have no end.
The birth and existence of the six consciousnesses mainly come from dependence on the manas's imputed nature. The conditions for the six consciousnesses' birth are more numerous than for the manas; only when causes and conditions are complete can the six consciousnesses be born—therefore the six consciousnesses are said to be of the nature of dependence on others. Although the six consciousnesses also have a clinging nature, their clinging nature is still influenced, perfumed, and regulated by the manas; compared with the manas, their clinging nature is very slight and not prominent. In terms of their primary characteristic, the six consciousnesses are of the nature of dependence on others, and cannot be said to be of the imputed nature. Because the six consciousnesses cannot operate universally upon all dharmas—there are many places they do not pervade—they cannot cling to so many dharmas. Moreover, the mind consciousness has no master-like nature; it is directed and dominated by the manas, so it cannot manifest the imputed nature.
6. Question: The manas is the imputing-and-grasping consciousness. Does this "imputing" (计) refer to the manas's deliberative nature? Where exactly does this "universal" (遍) pervade? Which things does the manas's perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga) directly cognize? Which things does it cognize by conditioning on the tathāgatagarbha's perceiving-aspect or the perceiving-aspects of the first six consciousnesses?
Answer: "Imputing" (计) means calculating, measuring, planning, scheming, strategizing, and forming ideas. The manas's "imputing" contains the meaning of deliberation (manasikāra/manana), which manifests the manas's lively consciousness-mental activity as the manas-consciousness (manas), and manifests sentient beings' deep-level mental discriminating activities. This also shows that the manas has wisdom and corresponds with the mental factor of wisdom. "Grasping" (执) means stubbornness, clinging, and grasping. The manas's grasping nature is divided into grasping at self of the person and grasping at self of dharmas; when both graspings are completely eradicated, one has cultivated to the stage of buddhahood.
The manas's "universal" pervades all dharmas manifested solely by one's own tathāgatagarbha—pervading the five faculties, pervading the six sense-objects, pervading the six consciousnesses, pervading the five aggregates, pervading past and future lives, pervading the universe's material world, and so forth, all dharmas whatsoever. What the Śūraṅgama Sūtra says about the manas silently containing all dharmas is exactly this meaning.
The manas's cognitions are all cognitions made by conditioning on the tathāgatagarbha's perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga). For example, the manas cognizes one's own and others' experiences in past lives and experiences of future lives that have not yet occurred, the affairs of beings in the six realms of rebirth, others' mental states and thoughts, and can cognize all matters of people, affairs, objects, and principles that the six consciousnesses could only cognize when possessing the five superknowledges. When corresponding to and discriminating the currently manifest six sense-object realms, the manas mostly relies on the six consciousnesses' cognition of the six sense-objects to make its own cognition and finally make a choice. At other times, the manas can, without the assistance of the six consciousnesses, cognize the six sense-object realms by itself—for example, while asleep, while unconscious, during various states of meditative concentration (samādhi), at the time of death, and so on. The manas alone cognizes the six sense-object realms, then makes judgments and choices; afterward, the six consciousnesses will be born to assist the manas in creating bodily, verbal, and mental actions to complete the manas's choice. The parts the manas directly cognizes are also cognitions made by conditioning on the tathāgatagarbha's perceiving-aspect. Without the tathāgatagarbha, without relying on the tathāgatagarbha's perceiving-aspect, the manas could not possibly have perception on its own, because it cannot operate independently.
7. The manas is the self-grasping consciousness, at all times and places clinging to the five aggregates and six consciousnesses as self, and also clinging to the manas's own functions as belonging to self. The manas's clinging to the self of the five aggregates can only be eradicated when one cultivates to the fourth fruit, no longer clinging to the five aggregates as oneself. Nowadays one always hears people say they want to eliminate grasping, but these people do not understand the stages and progression of cultivation. A person who is still very far from the first fruit's eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) wants to cultivate in one step to the fourth-fruit arhat's eradication of grasping; there are even people loudly proclaiming they want to eradicate the grasping at self of dharmas that only bodhisattvas at the bhūmis should eradicate—this is simply fantasy.
If one does not understand the arising, ceasing, impermanence, and mutability of the five aggregates of self, if the most basic three fetters have not been severed, yet one wants to sever the deeper five fetters of the higher realms; if one does not even have basic meditative concentration (samādhi) skill, yet wants to leap in one bound to a very high level of cultivation—that is impossible. Many people shout slogans their whole lives, yet at death still have to accept the retribution of the three evil destinies—truly pitiable beings. If one does not yet understand the content of the first fruit's realization and cannot attain the first fruit, then even less can one accomplish the fourth-fruit arhat's eradication of the manas's grasping at self. Cultivation has its sequence; one cannot ascend to heaven in a single step.
The manas is the self-grasping consciousness; for beginningless kalpas it has continuously clung to self without ever stopping. Its clinging nature is deeply rooted; without gradual cultivation through intermediate stages, it is impossible to eradicate grasping all at once. Since the manas has a clinging nature, He cannot remain serenely unmoved toward all sense realms. He clings at all times and places. If He could remain serenely unmoved, then we could attain meditative concentration (samādhi) and stillness at all times, the mind at ease and free, unencumbered by any dharma, and our power of concentration would be very deep. But the facts are not so, which shows that the manas still has movement and mental activity toward all dharmas or the vast majority of dharmas, so that the six consciousnesses linger not for a moment, discriminating without cease.
The manas is the consciousness that acts as master; there is nothing that further directs the manas. But all of the manas's mental activities require the tathāgatagarbha's cooperation, and the tathāgatagarbha does not cooperate without cause and condition; the tathāgatagarbha cooperates with the manas's mental activities in accordance with conditions and karmic seeds—there are certain conditions and prerequisites. That is to say, the manas's master-like nature cannot prevail over karmic power; in many major matters it must still accord with karmic conditions and cannot act as master.
Especially at death when going to the three evil destinies, He can only obey fate's arrangement and the summons of causes and conditions, and cannot help but wander in the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) hoping for the best destination; yet the final destination often does not accord with His wishes, and He can only accord with fate's arrangement. While worldly people are alive, the manas always wants to direct everything and dominate everything, yet it can never dominate its own destiny. This is the result of not diligently cultivating, not eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), not eradicating grasping at self.
8. The manas clings to all dharmas. "Clinging" (攀缘) means drawing on other things and climbing up—pulling, drawing, relying, taking refuge in, climbing, comparing, attaching—in common parlance, forcibly establishing connections. From this concept, the manas's clinging nature toward the myriad dharmas can be clearly understood: He forcibly establishes connections with certain dharmas, attaches to certain dharmas, relies on certain dharmas, unwilling to abandon or let go, mentally grasping (upādāna) the appearances of these dharmas, loading these dharmas, keeping these dharmas in mind, thinking of these dharmas, mindful of these dharmas, without letting go. The manas's clinging nature can be defined as: continuously generating attention (manaskāra) and even the mental factor of volition (cetanā) toward mental sense-objects—this is the manas's clinging nature, that is, keeping in mind, being mindful of, and grasping.
If you say the manas clings, everyone can accept it, because the books all say so, so people accept it directly without thinking, to the point that it becomes a habit of speech and a habit of thought, without knowing what the ultimate meaning of "clinging" is. If one uses somewhat more apt and easier-to-understand words to explain the meaning of the manas's clinging, replacing the word "clinging," some people would probably strongly object, because of ignorance. Not knowing what clinging means, how can one rely on the Dharma? Not understanding the manas's deliberative nature, how can one rely on the Dharma? Not knowing the substance of the manas's habitual functioning, how can one rely on the Dharma? Not knowing on what basis the manas makes choices, how can one rely on the Dharma? Not knowing what functions the manas's mental factor of volition (cetanā) has, how it operates, how great its effect is—knowing nothing when asked, how can one rely on the Dharma?
Using "keeping in mind and being mindful of" to replace the word "clinging" is entirely appropriate. Some people have this experience: whenever they are about to sleep, as long as they contemplate dharma principles—for example, contemplating the manas's non-valid cognition (non-valid cognition) realm, and how to use the power of the mind consciousness to change it into a realm of direct perception—this is useful for attaining realization of the fruits. As a result, dreams continue night after night, all revolving around dharma principles. This shows that keeping in mind and being mindful of are equivalent to clinging; without the mental activity of mindfulness, there would be no conduct of clinging.
Why does the manas still generate attention (manaskāra) and the mental factor of volition (cetanā) toward things that have already passed? What kind of mental activity is this? Toward things that have passed, the manas still generates the five universally operative mental factors of attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition, even producing dream states, letting the mind consciousness continue thinking within the dream. What function is this? Is this not being mindful and keeping in mind? Is this not remembering? How is the continuity of past and present things realized? Things have already ceased, yet the manas still generates attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition—this is keeping in mind, being mindful of, attaching to, forcibly establishing connections, being unable to let go in the mind.
The manas's keeping in mind and being mindful of differ from the mind consciousness's memory and recollection. The mind consciousness's memory and recollection means the mind consciousness can clearly, systematically, comprehensively, and in detail recall things it has experienced, while the manas cannot; the manas can only attach to, only think of, only keep in mind and be mindful of, but cannot recall specific details and plots, cannot have clear images and written or spoken language appear.
However, the mind consciousness's memory and recollection are all the result of the manas's continuous clinging, continuous keeping in mind and being mindful of. If the manas no longer thinks of experienced things, those experienced things will not appear in the form of subjectively imagined realm mental sense-objects, and the mind consciousness will not be born to cognize this subjectively imagined realm; then there would be no such thing as memory and recollection occurring. The difference between memory-recollection and keeping in mind: keeping in mind is relatively coarse, corresponding with the manas; memory-recollection is relatively fine, with details, corresponding with the mind consciousness. So when the manas coarsely reminds, the mind consciousness must finely cognize and recall.
The manas's mental factor of perception is the function of cognizing and grasping. Things that have passed, the manas can all condition on, can all cling to, can all pull into dreams, showing that the manas has not forgotten these things; when conditions are met they can manifest, even manifesting into dreams—this is what the world commonly calls "what is thought of by day is dreamed of by night." What is the difference between the manas's mental factor of volition (cetanā) and its mental factor of perception? The mental factor of volition is deliberation (manasikāra/manana) and choosing, acting as master and deciding; it is the decisive mental activity made after the mental factor of perception's cognition and analysis, possessing more wisdom than the mental factor of perception.
The manas not only clings to and is mindful of things from past lives and long ago kalpas, but is also endlessly mindful of things about to happen in the future. For example, someone keeps thinking about the next day's election and cannot sleep all night, keeping in mind how to arrange the next day's matters, to the point of being unable to sleep. Being unable to sleep is because the manas does not let the six consciousnesses cease—especially not letting the mind consciousness cease—letting the mind consciousness think left and right, to the point of excessive rumination, the body tossing and turning, unable to sleep peacefully. This is the result of the manas's severe clinging, grasping, and mindfulness.
Sometimes people often dream of people and things from elementary school mixed together with present-day people—these are all produced by the manas's mindfulness, clinging, and attaching. In fact, one oneself knows that in the mind those people and affairs are unforgettable and clung to. Although the mind consciousness may not think of these now, after dreaming of them, the feelings are still as if they had just happened. The manas has actually never let go, continuously clinging and being mindful. Mindfulness and keeping in mind can be said to be relatively light clinging—for example, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas being mindful of how sentient beings can attain liberation; whereas clinging can be said to have a kind of blind clinging nature, like some celebrity-chasing fans—that can be called clinging.
The manas's clinging and grasping is the manas's imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva), the continuously operating state of the manas's attention (manaskāra) and mental factor of volition (cetanā). "Imputing" (计) is the manas's grasping function, the operation of the mental factor of perception, which also involves the operation of the mental factor of volition, being relatively intense; whereas mindfulness and keeping in mind are relatively light and relatively coarse, and may not involve specific details. In fact, clinging can also not involve specific details, being relatively coarse. The manas has active clinging nature; the mind consciousness has passive clinging nature. Surface emotions are the state of the mind consciousness—feelings born in the mind consciousness from the manas clinging to certain dharmas. There are also deep-level emotions, directly initiated by the manas, which are the manas's mental activities. Feeling something inexplicable means the mind consciousness does not know, while the manas knows but cannot express it in language and written thought. If one knows why one has a certain emotion, with relatively clear reasoning and train of thought, it was discriminated and cognized by the mind consciousness; if one does not know why one has such an emotion, then it was stirred up by the manas.
Some people, once asleep, can wake up at whatever time they want to get up, never using an alarm clock. How does the manas accurately know the time? This is what the world calls the biological clock phenomenon. The biological clock refers to the manas. If the manas knows that the next day one must get up very early to catch a train or plane—if the manas usually gets up at five o'clock, the next day He will get up at three or four o'clock; sometimes if He is overly mindful in the middle of the night, He will wake up to check the time—showing that the manas has not forgotten the matter of getting up early the next day; He has been continuously keeping it in mind and being mindful of it. What exactly the manas's cognizing nature is like, how deep and broad it is, what dharmas it can recognize—these require us to continuously engage in ever deeper and subtler contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and exploration.
9. What does it mean that the creation of bodily, verbal, and mental actions is intense? It means the mental activity is heavy, the manas's clinging is heavy—only because one considers something very important does one create intensely. After bodily, verbal, and mental karmic actions are stored as seeds in the tathāgatagarbha, if the manas's clinging is heavy and wants to bring the seeds into manifestation and experience them once again, the seeds easily mature and easily manifest, making the mind consciousness's memory appear relatively firm. In fact, this is caused by the manas's clinging and grasping nature. For example, if you lend someone ten thousand yuan, and this ten thousand yuan is very important to you, the manas will not let go, continuously clinging and being mindful in the mind. Although the mind consciousness is not thinking of it, on the surface it seems this matter has been temporarily set down, as if forgotten. Yet at some unknown moment, the mind consciousness can suddenly recall this matter, with or without a reason. This is information provided to the mind consciousness by the manas, the result of the manas constantly keeping it in mind; otherwise the mind consciousness could not actively recall this matter. If it is lending someone one yuan, this sum is too small, not important to oneself; the mind consciousness feels it does not matter, the manas does not take it to heart, does not cling to or keep in mind this matter much, and the mind consciousness cannot recall it.
When a matter has passed and become a karmic seed, the key is whether it is important to the manas. If important, there is relatively heavy clinging; then continuously conditioning on this dharma and keeping this dharma in mind can prompt the mind consciousness to recall this matter. For unimportant matters, the manas is not mindful, and cannot prompt the mind consciousness to think of this matter.
10. Extinguishing the Manas's Imputed Nature Is Attaining the Buddha Way
Birth and death exist because of the manas's imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva). Among these, the manas's grasping at self of the person can induce segmented birth-and-death (pariccheda-maraṇa), causing continuous transmigration life period after life period, accompanied by coarse and subtle sufferings of birth and death; the manas's grasping at self of dharmas induces transformational birth-and-death (parināma-maraṇa), causing subtle yet long-lasting phenomena of birth and death that cannot be forever exhausted, still accompanied by subtle ignorance, afflictions, karma, and suffering. Since this is so, when the manas eradicates the grasping at self of the person, one can end segmented birth-and-death—equivalent to the fourth-fruit arhat's eradication of clinging to the five aggregates and eighteen realms; only when the manas eradicates the grasping at self of dharmas can transformational birth-and-death be extinguished and one attain ultimate buddhahood.
Why is this said? Because all dharmas are grasped at and clung to by the manas; clinging means bondage, grasping means being entangled and bound, and from this ignorance there is birth and death. Because the manas grasps at the functions of the five aggregates as self, grasps at the eighteen realms as self and belonging to self, grasps at the world of the three realms, greedily loving without letting go, it is thereby bound by the five aggregates, bound by the eighteen realms, bound by the world of the three realms, unable to escape the suffering of the three realms. Only by making the manas eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) regarding the five aggregates and eighteen realms can the clinging to the five aggregates and eighteen realms be eradicated, thereby eradicating greedy love for the world of the three realms, releasing the bonds, and temporarily attaining liberation.
Because of the manas's ignorance, not knowing the true reality of the dharma realm, not realizing the tathāgatagarbha, and not knowing the seed-functions of the tathāgatagarbha, it greedily clings to all dharmas transformed and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha as self and belonging to self, clinging without letting go; thus there is the bondage of dharmas, transformational birth-and-death is not eliminated, and there is no great liberation. Only by making the manas gradually recognize the true facts, realizing that all dharmas are the functions of the tathāgatagarbha and all belong to the tathāgatagarbha, with not the slightest bit being one's own, can the manas give up its resolve, completely eradicate love for dharmas, extinguish all ignorance, release all adhesive bonds, attain ultimate liberation, and restore its original countenance.
Therefore, studying Buddhism and cultivating practice means completely breaking the manas's ignorance, realizing that all dharmas are without self, releasing the manas's greedy clinging, transforming and completely eradicating the manas's imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva). Only then can the shackles of birth and death be entirely removed—free in birth and death, free in the dharmas—becoming a great Dharma King, becoming the Honored One of the Three Realms.
11. The Manas's Clinging Nature Differs Toward Internal and External Great Elements
The ordinary being's manas has an imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva) and may develop clinging toward all dharmas it encounters, only with different degrees of severity and urgency of clinging, and different modes of clinging. What the manas clings to most is the physical body and the functions of the six consciousnesses, because these dharmas are vivid and lively, the manas is very close to these dharmas and cannot leave them even for a moment, and only by relying on these dharmas can He display Himself. The manas clings to the physical body of internal four great elements as self and as His own; the physical body's influence on the manas is the greatest and most direct—one can say they are intimately connected—it represents the life characteristics of the manas's self and can be directly controlled, so the manas clings most to the physical body.
But the manas also clings to the material form (rūpa-dharma) composed of the external four great elements and the universe's material world, regarding these dharmas as its own possessions, believing it can enjoy these material dharmas. These dharmas, for the manas, are not intimately connected and inseparable; they are merely what the physical body's life requires, very difficult to directly control, and their relationship with the manas is much more distant. Clinging to the external four great elements' advantages is for the sake of the internal four great elements; in essence it is still clinging to the internal four great elements, so the manas's clinging to the external four great elements is lighter than its clinging to the physical body. If a person also has very severe clinging to material dharmas, it shows this person's greedy clinging nature is too heavy and liberation is difficult.
12. The Manas's Innate Grasping at Self of the Person and Grasping at Self of Dharmas
The so-called "innate" (俱生) refers to what the five aggregates bring with them at birth, appearing together with the five aggregates, brought over from past lives, not newly learned or newly appearing, not something acquired only through later perfuming. Innate grasping at self of the person refers to the grasping at self of the person that appears together with the five aggregates—the clinging habits of past lives brought into this life; innate grasping at self of dharmas refers to the grasping at self of dharmas that appears together with the five aggregates—the clinging habits of past lives brought into this life.
The seventh consciousness is a continuous consciousness; for beginningless kalpas it has never ceased. When each five aggregates is newly born, the seventh consciousness does not need to be newly born—it is still the one continuing from the previous life—therefore its habitual tendencies, inertia, and dispositions remain the same as in the previous life, without change; all its cognitions are the same as in the previous life, without change. What does the seventh consciousness cognize? The seventh consciousness cognizes the five aggregates, knowing the five aggregates are self; cognizes the eighteen realms, knowing the eighteen realms are self and what self possesses; the seventh consciousness, relying on the eighth consciousness, cognizes all dharmas, knowing all dharmas are self and all belong to self. Because the seventh consciousness has such cognitions, and does not know that these dharmas are not self but are false dharmas manifested by the eighth consciousness, it greedily clings to the dharmas of the five aggregates and eighteen realms, and greedily clings to all dharmas manifested by the eighth consciousness.
The seventh consciousness, the manas, in the previous life clung to the five aggregates and eighteen realms as self; when just born in this life, even while in the mother's womb, it still clings to the five aggregates and eighteen realms as self. In the previous life the manas clung to all dharmas as self; when just born in this life it still clings thus. Therefore it is said that the manas's grasping at self of the person and grasping at self of dharmas are possessed from the birth of the five aggregates, requiring no present learning or present perfuming, and not relying on any dharma other than the eighth consciousness to have these graspings—that is, they can be possessed independently without relying on the six consciousnesses and the living environment, and can manifest at every instant.
13. The manas's imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva) does not cling to all dharmas, or cannot cling to all simultaneously, because its energy is insufficient, so there is some selection at any given moment. Some dharmas the manas is indifferent to; some dharmas the manas is averse to and avoids—although this also counts as clinging; some dharmas it greedily loves; some dharmas it habitually clings to and cognizes. Although the manas can universally condition on all dharmas, it also cannot condition on all of them simultaneously at one moment; there are still priorities, emphases, and selections—especially regarding dharmas it hopes the six consciousnesses will process, there is even more selection; otherwise the six consciousnesses could not cognize them all and would become exhausted and collapse. On this point the manas understands.
