The Right Understanding of Manas

Chapter 4: The Manas's Capacity to Be the Master

1. The manas's clinging and mastery manifests in the manas universally measuring and grasping at all dharmas, acting as the master at all times and in all places. When the eye faculty contacts external form, the tathāgatagarbha transforms the external form into inner form within the supreme faculty (indriya). When the manas clings to form, directs its attention toward form, and determines to make subtle discriminations of form, the tathāgatagarbha brings forth the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness to discriminate the inner material sense-object (inner rūpa-viṣaya). The eye consciousness first discriminates manifest colors such as blue, yellow, red, and white, light and shadow, brightness and darkness, clouds, mist, smoke, and dust; the mind consciousness almost simultaneously discerns the shapes, expressive features, and non-expressive features of the form. For example, when facing a person, discerning the person's skin color and the colors of their clothing is the eye consciousness's discrimination of manifest colors; discerning the person's height, build, hair length, and so on is the mind consciousness's discrimination of shapes; discerning bodily actions such as bending, stretching, bowing, looking up, greeting, and seeing off is the mind consciousness's discrimination of expressive features; discerning a person's male or female appearance, age, beauty or ugliness, temperament, cultivation, education, character, disposition, and so on is the mind consciousness's discrimination of non-expressive features.  

When the eye consciousness sees form, it first receives and accepts it; then the eye consciousness has a simple feeling without emotional coloring, whereas the feeling of the mind consciousness carries emotional coloring. After feeling comes perception, which is discerning, discriminating, and grasping at appearances; the next step is deliberation (manasikāra) and decision: the eye consciousness deliberates and decides whether to approach or avoid the colors, while the mind consciousness judges, analyzes, and reasons, deliberating and deciding whether to continue discriminating the mental sense-object (dharma-viṣaya) or to avoid it. Finally comes volitional formation—the decision to act, producing the next behavior. For instance, the seeds of the eye consciousness flow forth one by one at the site of the colors, the seeds of the mind consciousness flow forth one by one at the site of the mental sense-object, and the mental factors continuously change. The result of each subtle step of discrimination is transmitted to the manas, and the manas must make a decision at each small step about what to do next. For example, when the eye consciousness sees form, whether to continue discriminating is decided by the manas; whether the mind consciousness continues to feel is decided by the manas; which place to focus on is decided by the manas; which aspect to analyze is decided by the manas; and after seeing, how to treat and handle it is decided by the manas.

If the manas does not cling to the material sense-object, it will not direct attention toward it again, and then the eye consciousness and mind consciousness will cease and no longer appear with respect to that material sense-object. That is, the eye remains unmoved and non-discriminating toward form, merely making contact, without grasping at marks, no longer proceeding with discrimination, not giving rise to thoughts, and not becoming interested in that material sense-object so as to generate feelings. An arhat is in exactly this state, and this is the state of a true practitioner. But for a bodhisattva, the bodhisattva does not concern himself with these things; knowing that all is transformed by one's own mind, all is illusion, he fundamentally does not grasp at it—using it if needed—because the bodhisattva knows that form is the nature of the tathāgatagarbha and cannot defile his own mind.

2. The tathāgatagarbha supplies consciousness seeds to the seventh consciousness, and only then can the seventh consciousness arise and operate; therefore the seventh consciousness is born from within the tathāgatagarbha. The seventh consciousness is the consciousness that acts as the master; it has a nature of exercising mastery, and all dharmas are governed and decided by it. When it makes a decision, the tathāgatagarbha complies and cooperates with it. So on the surface, it appears that it controls the tathāgatagarbha and can dominate the world—whatever it wants to do, the tathāgatagarbha complies, because the tathāgatagarbha is a complying mind with no self-assertion of its own.

But in reality, the tathāgatagarbha is the true master of the three realms of existence. If there are no causes and conditions, no karma seeds, and the conditions are not complete, then even if the tathāgatagarbha wished to comply with the seventh consciousness, it could not. Therefore, in the end, everything complies with karmic force; karmic conditions are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, karma seeds are output by the tathāgatagarbha, and the seventh consciousness cannot determine the arising of karma seeds. Sometimes the seventh consciousness wishes to go against karmic conditions, but it has no way to do so and cannot resist; it can only comply with karmic conditions. Therefore, the master of the three realms is still the tathāgatagarbha.

On the surface, it is the seventh consciousness that controls the tathāgatagarbha and manipulates all dharmas, but in reality, who controls whom? All dharmas are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha; without seeds, the tathāgatagarbha would not comply and manifest any dharma. The tathāgatagarbha, in accordance with karma seeds, manifests adverse conditions, obstructive conditions, and favorable conditions, and the seventh consciousness cannot control the appearance of favorable or adverse conditions. Therefore, the seventh consciousness has no choice but to bear the measureless suffering of birth and death in the three realms of existence; it still cannot dominate the karma of birth and death, and all dharmas are still produced by the tathāgatagarbha in compliance with karmic conditions.

For example, if the manas wants to get rich, but in past lives this meritorious karma was not created, the tathāgatagarbha has not stored this karma seed, or the karma seed is not mature, then the tathāgatagarbha cannot manifest wealth, and it cannot make you a millionaire or multimillionaire. You may wish for a lifetime of things going your way, and the tathāgatagarbha would cooperate with you, but without the karma seeds for such fulfillment, the tathāgatagarbha still cannot make things go your way. Moreover, disasters and adversity may occur, and all kinds of obstructive conditions may arise; no matter how much the seventh consciousness acts as master, no matter how unwilling it is for adverse conditions to appear, in the end the tathāgatagarbha is still the one in charge—the tathāgatagarbha is the true master of the three realms of existence.

Although the tathāgatagarbha is the master, the true one in charge, none of the affairs arise because the tathāgatagarbha acts as master. The tathāgatagarbha has never had the mental activity of issuing commands and acting as master, because it is not a mind that exercises mastery; it has no self-nature and does not consider that a self exists, so it does not issue commands to direct all dharmas. It is precisely the seventh consciousness, the manas, that has self-nature, and therefore it issues commands and seeks to exercise mastery.

3. Only the tathāgatagarbha, which is unborn and undying, originally existent, and not generated by other dharmas, has self-nature. It need not be born, cannot be extinguished, needs no other dharma to be its master, and does not act as master itself—it is free and at ease. The tathāgatagarbha does not know of a self; it is without self-nature, and therefore it does not need to direct other dharmas to conform to its own intent; it has no intent of its own, only compliance—complying with causes and conditions and karma seeds. Even so, the tathāgatagarbha is free and at ease: no one can destroy it, no one can bring it forth, no one can determine its destiny, no one can make the tathāgatagarbha have greed, hatred, or delusion, no one can make the tathāgatagarbha have birth and death, and no one can defile the tathāgatagarbha.

But the manas's capacity to be master is extremely strong: it not only wants to be the master of the six consciousnesses and the master of its own five aggregates (pañca-skandha), it also wants to be the master of others, constantly wanting to control others' thoughts and their bodily, verbal, and mental actions; everything and everyone it can come into contact with, it wants to control so as to suit its own wishes. Regardless of who the other person is or what their status is—whether they are one's parents and children, one's teachers and elders, one's superiors and subordinates, relatives, friends, or neighbors—the manas wants to control and dominate them all, wanting to manipulate them. Those with severe grasping at self even want to manipulate sages and worthy ones, harboring the twisted, perverted mentality of "those who comply with me prosper, those who oppose me perish," seeking to control the world—not only wanting my world to be decided by me, but also wanting others' worlds to be decided by me as much as possible. Such people, with the manas severely mis-grasping, suffer measureless distress life after life, and liberation is very difficult; their path of practice is extremely long.

4. The manas, the manas-consciousness, is the conscious mind by which sentient beings exercise mastery. What we are to do in every second and instant is decided by the manas-consciousness; when one thing is done, what to do next is decided by the manas; what to do tomorrow, what to do next year, what to do in this lifetime—all are decided by the manas. Whatever the manas intends to do, the tathāgatagarbha knows it, and afterward cooperates with the manas to accomplish what is to be done. When the manas wants to see form, the tathāgatagarbha supplies the consciousness seeds of the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness, and the eye consciousness and mind consciousness simultaneously discriminate the material sense-object, and we see and discriminate the material sense-object. The other faculties likewise correspond with their respective sense-objects, the tathāgatagarbha brings forth the corresponding consciousnesses, supplying consciousness seeds to each of the consciousnesses, and we can hear, smell, taste, and touch. What to do next is still planned and decided by the manas, the manas-consciousness, and the six consciousnesses each do their work according to the manas's directives.

5. The manas's capacity to be master is such by the very nature of dharmas (dharmatā); as long as this consciousness exists, it will act as master, and this has nothing to do with seeds or karma seeds. When the tathāgatagarbha outputs the consciousness seeds, the manas arises and functions; once arisen, it acts as master at every moment and in every place—this is its nature, originally so. Therefore, it cannot be said that the tathāgatagarbha directs it, nor can it be said that seeds direct it; it itself is of this nature, this function, so from birth it is thus, such by the nature of dharmas, with no rationale to be given.

But the manas is also governed by karmic force and karma seeds—that is, the karmic actions it created in the past out of ignorance are stored in the tathāgatagarbha; when the karma seeds become manifest, it is governed by karmic force, and past afflictive habits arise. For example, if in past lives one loved food and drink, in this life it manifests as gluttony; if in past lives one loved music, in this life one likes melodies; if in past lives one was combative, in this life, upon encountering conditions, one cannot help joining in strife, and so on. But karma seeds can be changed; through perfuming (vāsanā), it can change the karma seeds, and once the karma seeds are changed, it itself sheds certain habits and is no longer as before.

The manas's capacity to be master and make decisions works in this way: on the one hand, it deliberates based on the analysis, judgment, and discriminated content of the first six consciousnesses, and then acts as master to make decisions. If the first six consciousnesses do not arise to discriminate the six sense-objects, it has no way to know the specific circumstances of the six sense-objects. For example, if one now wants to go to a certain place and does not know whether to go east or west, it cannot make a choice. Only when the sixth consciousness has clearly judged the directions of east and west, analyzed clearly whether the place can be reached and what landmarks there will be along the way, and then transmitted all this information to it, can it deliberate on that basis and finally decide as master whether to go east or west; without the information reports from the first six consciousnesses, it cannot decide as master whether to go east or west.

Therefore, the first six consciousnesses can also govern the manas and can also perfume the manas; through this perfuming, the manas is changed, its ignorance and defilements are removed, and only then can Buddhahood ultimately be attained. Without the perfuming of the first six consciousnesses, we would remain forever in the darkness of ignorance and could never become Buddhas. Because the manas has existed since beginningless kalpas, and since beginningless kalpas it has had ignorance, greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, doubt, and wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi)—such is its nature by the very nature of dharmas. It itself cannot awaken; it can only rely on the six consciousnesses understanding the principles, thereby awakening it.

6. The manifest colors discriminated by the eye consciousness cannot directly become seeds deposited in the tathāgatagarbha; they must first be processed by the mind consciousness and the manas before becoming seeds that then settle into the tathāgatagarbha. With the two discriminating together, the entire process can become seeds stored in the tathāgatagarbha. The eye consciousness cannot discriminate manifest colors alone and therefore cannot become seeds; the mind consciousness must cooperate to discriminate together the shapes, expressive features, and non-expressive features; the two together completely discriminate the material sense-object, and after transmitting it to the manas, the manas stores it in the tathāgatagarbha, where it becomes a karma seed.
    The discrimination of the material sense-object by the eye consciousness and mind consciousness is first decided by the manas acting as master; if the manas does not direct attention, does not choose, and does not act as master to discriminate the material sense-object, the tathāgatagarbha cannot bring forth the mind consciousness and eye consciousness to cooperate and discriminate the material sense-object together. Second, during the process of discrimination, it is also the manas that moment by moment directs the discrimination of the eye consciousness and mind consciousness—whether to continue discriminating, or to interrupt the discrimination, or to switch the object of discrimination—is decided by the manas. The manas, in acting as master, may also rely on the information transmitted moment by moment from the eye consciousness and mind consciousness; after the manas discerns the information and makes a judgment, it then moment by moment decides as master whether to continue the discrimination. In this process, the process and results of the eye consciousness's and mind consciousness's discrimination, together with the manas's process of discrimination and the results of its judgment, as well as the mental activities of each consciousness, as formless seeds, are also moment by moment stored in the tathāgatagarbha, to be output and manifested when conditions ripen.

The manas is the relay station and pivot connecting the six consciousnesses and the tathāgatagarbha, the driver of all dharmas. Without the manas's driving, the tathāgatagarbha would rest, abiding in the tranquility of Nirvāṇa without remainder (Anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), producing no dharmas.

7. The various changes of the material body, such as aging, sickness, and death, are mainly manifested by the tathāgatagarbha in accordance with karmic force; the manas mostly cannot direct them, and moreover the manas would not willingly direct the aging, sickness, and death of the material body. Relying on the tathāgatagarbha, the manas can at any time and place make an extremely rough discrimination of the body's condition. We mistakenly think it has the ability to choose the changes of the material body, but in fact it still must comply with karmic force, with the tathāgatagarbha directing the continuous changes of the body's state. It itself also has no self-nature and cannot determine its own existence; it must be brought forth and upheld by the tathāgatagarbha.

The manas has the inertial force of beginningless kalpas; for especially major, weighty, or urgent matters, without the mind consciousness's analysis, judgment, and after discriminating the material body.

8. Why can the manas realize dreams and turn fantasies into reality? Because behind it the tathāgatagarbha supports it, able at any time to provide the seeds of the seven great elements and karma seeds, to transform and create all dharmas, letting the manas realize its dreams. Whether the body is good or bad lies with the manas; adjust the manas's mental state well, and the body will naturally be healthy. The manas is also called the emotional disposition (qingzhi), and it can influence the material body. Because the tathāgatagarbha follows behind it, it can follow the manas's intent.

Giving the manas positive, uplifting things is far better than giving it negative information. Let the manas be perfumed more with positive things, and the manas will become positive and uplifting, striving forward, realizing lofty ideals and goals. The dark sides of society and other people's errors should be mentioned and reported as little as possible, so the manas is not perfumed and stained by them. Report more positive information, encourage the public more, criticize people less, and the manas will be perfumed with positive, uplifting ideas; then the manas will turn positive convictions into reality.

9. Those who win the people's hearts win the world; those who lose the people's hearts lose the world. No one should make enemies of the whole world or oppose anyone. One person's manas may have little power, but the combined power of many people's manas is enormous, and the one who is hated by all will surely suffer calamity. As the saying goes, the spit of the multitude can drown a person—that is exactly this principle. A practitioner's manas has more power than an ordinary person's; the manas of a person with meditative concentration (samādhi) has more power than an ordinary person's; the manas of a person with an upright mind has more power than an ordinary person's; the manas of a person with great wholesome karma has more power than an ordinary person's. Therefore, do not oppose those who truly cultivate, do not oppose upright and good people—this is the wise course.

10. The Manas's Capacity to Be the Master

When itching appears, the brain issues the command to "scratch"; if this command cannot be carried out and the neural regulation malfunctions, the body seeks another way, making the muscles twitch to relieve the itch by itself.

The brain does not actually issue any command—was the command issued by the manas or by the tathāgatagarbha? It is the result of the manas's mobilization. The body does not think of ways either—was the way thought up by the manas or by the tathāgatagarbha? It was the manas that thought of the way. The tathāgatagarbha does not issue commands, nor does it think of ways. At this time the mind consciousness has not yet arisen, so it was not a command issued by the mind consciousness, nor a way thought up by the mind consciousness. Even if the mind consciousness is present, the autonomous behavior of the body's neurons also occurs during sleep, in which the mind consciousness cannot participate and cannot help; in the phenomenon of leg cramps, the mind consciousness knows only afterward; in the body's various reactions during deep coma, there is no function of the mind consciousness; when a mosquito suddenly bites, the mind consciousness has no time even to think—a slap is delivered with a smack—and here there is no thinking, analysis, or decision by the mind consciousness at all; the mind consciousness does not even know there was a mosquito bite.