Mental Factors of the Mind base\: A Practical Compass (Second Edition) (with over 30,000 additional words, reorganized)
Section 3: The Manifestation of the Mental Factor of Anger of the Manas
1. The Affliction of Anger Is the Beginningless Ignorance of the Manas
Does the affliction of anger belong to beginningless ignorance or to ignorance with a beginning? If anger belongs to beginningless ignorance, then it has existed since beginningless kalpas ago, stored within the tathāgatagarbha, and is an affliction belonging to the manas. After the mind consciousness is born, the manas directly influences and transmits it to the mind consciousness, causing the mind consciousness also to possess the afflictive mental factor of anger. The wholesome and unwholesome mental factors of the mind consciousness are initially all influenced and transmitted from the manas, arising in dependence on the manas; only later are they further influenced by the environment, with the mental factor of greed being the most easily influenced by the environment.
If the affliction of anger belonged to ignorance with a beginning, that would mean the affliction of anger only appeared in the middle period of a life. Then when did sentient beings begin to have the affliction of anger? Because of what did the affliction of anger arise—what was its cause? Neither from the Buddhist sūtras nor from observation of reality can any evidence be found proving that the affliction of anger had a point of beginning. Since it has no beginning, it is beginningless; being beginningless, it corresponds to the manas and not to the mind consciousness—the mind consciousness only comes to possess the afflictive mental factor of anger through being influenced and instigated by the manas after birth. Every person is also born able to get angry, without needing to be taught or to learn it later; therefore the manas has possessed the afflictive mental factor of anger since beginningless kalpas. For example, a mental state like flying into a furious rage is entirely something the manas erupts with; the bodily, verbal, and mental actions all obey the manas's commands—only when the manas is furious can the six consciousnesses do destructive things. For example, with behavior like flying into a rage out of shame, after the manas feels shamed and humiliated, the six consciousnesses will then display the emotion of rage.
Whatever afflictions the manas may have, the mind consciousness cannot observe them when it lacks wisdom; only after the mind consciousness removes the afflictive obstructions and accomplishes the transformation of consciousness into wisdom can it gradually observe the mental activities and operations of the manas. Without the mind consciousness, it is even more impossible to observe the mental activities and operations of the manas.
Whatever mental activities are uncontrollable and involuntary belong to the manas. The consciousness that wants to control them is the mind consciousness; the mind consciousness has rationality and understands principles. When the manas's rationality is relatively weak, it must rely on the mind consciousness to control it. Once the mind consciousness cannot control the manas, the manas's afflictive emotions will erupt beyond all control, and the flood will burst its banks and overflow. Sometimes, in a single explosive outburst of rage, the mind consciousness has no time to react at all; only after the outburst does the mind consciousness realize what state it was just in. Some people, when enraged, kill someone before they have time to think; only after killing does the mind consciousness feel terror afterward, knowing the matter is extremely serious—before the killing, there was not even a thought; it was done directly at the manas's willful impulse. The manas acts without explanation and is extremely domineering; at such times karmic force has manifested. This shows that the manas's anger can at times overflow like a flood, with the mind consciousness's rationality playing no role whatsoever; if the manas had no anger, these things could never occur at all.
2. Evidence That the Manas Has Anger
The Xianyang Shengjiao Lun (Saṃdhinirmocana-upadeśa treatise) says that anger (dveṣa) is the arising of the thought to harm sentient beings. Whether this thought arises from habitual tendencies accumulated over many lifetimes, or from later discrimination and calculation, once you give rise to the thought of harming others, you will create unwholesome karma—this is the function of anger. Later it also says that anger obstructs non-anger and further increases the habitual tendency of anger; this too is the function of anger. The Xianyang Shengjiao Lun says that present greed will foster even more greed in the future; anger is the same—present anger not only makes your body and mind uneasy right now, causing you to dwell in suffering, which is its immediate effect, but it can also influence your future, causing you to develop even more anger later. This is speaking from the perspective of habituation: if you habituate the seeds of anger all day long, there will be more and more anger in the future (the above is reprinted content).
The Xianyang Shengjiao Lun says that the thought of anger has habitual tendencies accumulated over many lifetimes—this refers to the anger of the manas; and that there is later discrimination and calculation—this refers to the anger of the mind consciousness. It also says that present anger will increase the habitual tendency of anger, meaning it increases the manas's habitual tendency of anger, leading to even more anger in the future. The meaning here is that both the manas and the mind consciousness have anger—one arises from habitual tendencies, the other is the result produced after discrimination.
From the Xianyang Shengjiao Lun it can be seen that the manas has thoughts—not only thoughts of anger but also extremely many other thoughts: wholesome, unwholesome, and neither-wholesome-nor-unwholesome thoughts all exist. The manas's thoughts delimit the mind consciousness's thoughts and guide the mind consciousness's thoughts. If the manas had no thoughts, everything would be silent, nothing would happen, and we would not need to cultivate meditative concentration at all—throughout the twelve periods of the day, the mind would always be in samādhi, which would be wonderful. If the manas, when having no thoughts, were mindless and non-active, we would forever be in samādhi. Therefore the manas must correspond to samādhi; cultivating meditative concentration is mainly about subduing the manas's thoughts, mainly making the manas settle down, not chasing after objects everywhere, not having too many mental thoughts.
This shows that the patriarchs and great bodhisattvas of the past each had different views on the same dharma, because each bodhisattva's meditative concentration and wisdom differed, and thus their contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) results differed. Which bodhisattva's contemplative practice was correct and in accord with reality, and which bodhisattva's contemplative practice was not yet ultimate—sentient beings, lacking great merit and great wisdom, and even before the sixth and seventh consciousnesses have undergone the transformation of consciousness into wisdom, cannot judge this, and so they often make determinations based on a bodhisattva's reputation, authority, and status. This is relying on the person and absolutely not relying on the dharma, because when wisdom is insufficient, one cannot rely on the dharma.
Therefore I once again urge everyone: if your wisdom is severely insufficient and you cannot make correct judgments about the dharma teachings as they truly are, then do not take a stance; once your judgment or commentary is wrong, it constitutes slandering the dharma and slandering the saṃgha, and the retribution is not light. At the same time, do not worship words, do not worship reputation and power, and do not assume that those famous ancient written works must necessarily be correct. The Buddha never certified any bodhisattva's treatises as completely correct and without error, so we should not think this way, to the point of blindly following ancient texts. Wisdom is the only basis of reliance; if you have no wisdom, then say nothing at all—choosing silence is what the wise do, not adding burdens for your future lives, not setting up obstacles for your own path to bodhi.
3. The Manifestations of the Manas's Anger
Hating someone so much that one grits one's teeth is a manifestation of the manas's afflictive mental factors; the mind consciousness's affliction is only a general kind of hatred and cannot reach the point of gritting the teeth, because changes in the physical body are directed and controlled by the manas. "Engraved in the bones and inscribed in the heart" means it has penetrated deep into the manas—the matter is firmly rooted in the manas, not merely remaining at the surface level of the mind consciousness, whether attentively or inattentively remembered; otherwise it could not be carved into the marrow. Being carved into the marrow indicates great depth—only reaching the manas counts as deep; in the mind consciousness, it merely floats on the surface. "Inscribed" means engraved in memory, also indicating great depth, not shallowness.
Being so frightened that the heart palpitates and the gallbladder trembles, the heart startled and the flesh jumping, shaking all the internal organs—this is not ordinary fear; it must have penetrated deep into the manas. The manas directly controls the physical body to undergo changes; only after the fear of a startled heart and jumping flesh appears can this person thereafter change himself, being careful and cautious in everything he does. This is the manas making the decision; the manas accepts the harsh reality and begins to change from the marrow of its bones. If the fear has not reached a certain degree, it must have only touched the surface of the mind consciousness, in a perfunctory manner; the manas does not accept it, and no change will occur in the marrow of the bones. These psychological phenomena are not too difficult to observe.
4. Only the Manas's Anger Can Give Rise to the Mind Consciousness's Anger
When the mind consciousness gives rise to anger, what mental activities is the manas engaged in? What deliberation (manasikāra) and decision did He make behind the scenes such that the mind consciousness became angry? How did the manas deliberate on the content of the anger, and what mental activities did He have, that prompted the mind consciousness to become angry? For example, if someone insults and reviles oneself, after the manas makes contact with this mental sense-object, the five universal mental factors begin to operate—attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā)—and then volition (cetanā): deliberating, weighing and choosing, and finally making the decision to give rise to anger and retaliate. Then the facial expression changes, the heartbeat changes, the blood circulation changes, the gaze changes, the eyes widen, the mind consciousness arises, and there are bodily, verbal, and mental actions of retaliation. Sometimes the manas cannot deliberate and decide exactly what should be done, so it gives birth to the mind consciousness; the mind consciousness begins its attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition, and after discerning, decides that some corresponding reaction should be made, transmitting this to the manas; the manas then also decides accordingly: "Fine, do as you have decided," and thus the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses are produced.
The manas's mental activities behind the mind consciousness are very difficult to observe; His modes of activity are extremely subtle and hard to know. If the manas does not give rise to afflictions, the mind consciousness cannot give rise to afflictions on its own. For example, deep hatred, hating so much that one grits one's teeth—this is hatred that has penetrated into the marrow, meaning it has penetrated into the manas; from the depths of the manas's mind, reactions arise automatically and spontaneously, without the mind consciousness needing to deliberately think, and there is not even time for the mind consciousness to think—the manas has already reacted, and the facial expressions of the physical body and so forth have changed; sometimes the jaws are clenched tight, the fists are clenched, eager to retaliate and fight to the death. If the manas has no defiled mental activities and does not give rise to the affliction of anger, the mind consciousness cannot give rise to the mental activity of anger on its own, nor can it create unwholesome karma. The mental activities of the two are consistent, or nearly so, or one influences the other, and only then do they wallow in the mire together.
5. When the Manas Has No Anger, One Is an Anāgāmin
If the manas has no anger, that is very good: as soon as the mind consciousness ceases, one is an anāgāmin without anger, and after death one takes rebirth in the identity of an anāgāmin. No need to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), no need to cultivate the first dhyāna—an ordinary person only needs to extinguish the mind consciousness to directly become an anāgāmin; even without extinguishing the mind consciousness, if the manas has no anger, one is already an anāgāmin. If the manas lacks any affliction, that is very good: as soon as one dies, one is a noble one; even while alive one is a noble one, and entering the womb is a noble one entering the womb. In future lives one need not cultivate much more—just a little contemplative practice and one can realize the fruits, quickly cultivate the first dhyāna, eradicate afflictions, and again be an anāgāmin. If the manas further has no ignorance, that is even better—one is directly a Buddha. Then you, I, he, and she cultivating here would be simply superfluous; there would be no need to cultivate at all. If the manas has no ignorance, then there is no need to break through ignorance, no need to exhaust ignorance—already a Buddha by nature, what is there to cultivate?
If the manas had no anger and no afflictions, then we would only need to sleep once—as soon as the mind consciousness ceases, everyone who is asleep would be a noble one. A newborn infant's mind consciousness and supreme faculties (indriya) are both brand new; if the manas has no anger and no afflictions, then every infant born would be a noble one—would we still need to cultivate so painstakingly? If the manas had no anger, then when an infant cannot get something, it would not fly into a furious rage and wail loudly, would not get angry and hit people, and would not say "Mommy is bad"; when a stranger wants to hold it, the infant would not push them away; the infant would never be unhappy, would not pout, would not throw tantrums or make scenes.
6. The Unwholesome Actions of the Six Consciousnesses Are Manipulated by the Manas's Angry Mind
It is because the manas has anger that it directs the six consciousnesses to create unwholesome karma; when the mind consciousness gets angry for no reason and inexplicably, it is caused by the manas's anger. When encountering situations, the mind consciousness tells itself not to get angry, that it must not get angry, yet it cannot help getting angry—this shows the manas does not heed the mind consciousness's admonitions and insists on getting angry. When the manas eradicates the mental factor of anger, it no longer directs the six consciousnesses to create unwholesome karmic actions, no longer engages in mutual retaliation with sentient beings, and the deeply rooted knot of anger is severed.
If the manas is not subdued and only the mind consciousness is subdued, then the manas directs the mind consciousness—wherever the manas points, the mind consciousness must strike—and one remains bound by the manas's greed, anger, delusion, and ignorance. If the mind consciousness has eradicated anger but the manas has not, then when the manas's anger arises and it directs the six consciousnesses to kill, the mind consciousness must inexplicably and helplessly kill, trembling inwardly, thinking while killing that it should not do this—yet what can it do?
So-called impulsive crimes are entirely manipulated by the manas; the mind consciousness may not even have time to think before being dragged along by the manas; only afterward, when the mind consciousness thinks it over, does it begin to regret having caused a great disaster. The manas knows it had a grudge with someone in past lives, and so hates that person; but the mind consciousness knows this person is useful and beneficial to oneself, and so advises the manas: when meeting this person, one must be patient and curry favor with him. Yet when meeting this person, while currying favor, one also feels disgust, wishing one could beat him to death—this is the manas reluctantly obeying the mind consciousness's advice. But as soon as the mind consciousness relaxes its vigilance, the manas erupts, commanding the six consciousnesses to perform actions of anger to retaliate against that person.
7. Dialogue on Whether the Manas Has the Mental Factor of Anger (1)
A: I believe anger corresponds to the manas; otherwise how could the ordinary person's mind consciousness get angry? Certainly the manas has the nature of anger and determines to give rise to anger, and then the mind consciousness cooperates by becoming angry; after becoming angry, the mind consciousness can also find many reasons to justify the angry actions just performed.
B: Sometimes, before the mind consciousness has clearly deliberated on whether this person or this matter is worth being angry about, whether one should become angry, the manas has already set the physical body in motion with reactions and changes—hair standing on end in rage, face flushed red and ears burning, eyes wide open, rapid breathing, accelerated heartbeat, tense expressions, and so on. This shows the manas reacts before the mind consciousness, and that the manas's mental activities determine the mind consciousness's mental activities. The mind consciousness's anger, or intense angry actions, are determined by the manas and directed by the manas; the mind consciousness's actions cannot possibly occur outside the manas's control—otherwise the manas would not be the consciousness that makes decisions.
A: The manas's anger, in many cases, has no reason; it is entirely instinctive.
B: Many of the body's reactions are directly regulated by the manas; the mind consciousness only later discovers that its body and mind have changed. This shows that when the manas encounters people and matters that displease it, mental activities immediately arise, and then it influences the mind consciousness—sometimes it can influence it, sometimes it cannot.
A: After the angry mind has been sent out, the mind consciousness immediately knows it was wrong; the reaction of anger comes first, and the mind consciousness knows afterward—this shows the manas has the mental factor of anger, or has the habitual tendency of anger. But the seeds of anger are directly emitted from the tathāgatagarbha.
B: Since the manas has greed and delusion, it should also have anger; the three are afflictions of equal standing, because of self-grasping and clinging to self, there is greed, anger, and delusion. The manas itself does not create wholesome or unwholesome karma; it is indeterminate (avyākṛta) in nature. But because the manas itself has afflictions, in order to gratify itself, it directs the six consciousnesses to create wholesome and unwholesome karma—this does not violate the manas's indeterminate nature. The manas does not know wholesome from unwholesome, but it naturally has wholesome and unwholesome afflictive minds; He Himself does not know He has afflictions—otherwise He could automatically and spontaneously change Himself. But He cannot change Himself; only the mind consciousness can observe Him, control Him, and change Him. He cannot control Himself, because He does not know He has afflictive defilements.
A: The manas is very straightforward; it acts entirely according to its habitual dispositions. When the mind consciousness discovers the error and tries to remedy it, that is all after the habitual tendencies have already manifested.
B: Some people, once angry, strike out and hit people without thinking—doing it just like that. This shows that because the manas has the habitual tendency of anger, it directs the six consciousnesses to create angry karma. The mind consciousness does not necessarily become angry at first; only after discerning the person and the matter can it become angry and perform angry actions—there is a process in between. But the eruption of the manas's habitual tendencies has no process.
A: The mind consciousness's anger occurs because the manas's angry nature has erupted; the mind consciousness finds many reasons to intensify the anger, and so the more it thinks, the angrier it gets; the more it looks, the more it flares up. After the manas discerns the mind consciousness's thoughts, it decides to retaliate, and the mind consciousness devises many ways to retaliate. If rationality is lost, a great disaster will occur—murder is done exactly this way. In this situation the two are accomplices to each other, both lacking rationality.
B: Losing rationality means the mind consciousness cannot think correctly and can no longer control the manas; the two fall together.
A: In this situation, indeed the mind consciousness cannot persuade the manas; the manas then directs the mind consciousness to create angry karma. Afterward, when the mind consciousness reflects and knows the seriousness of the matter, it feels terror.
B: When the mind consciousness hesitates, it is consulting with or admonishing the manas, or analyzing how the matter should best be handled; the two are in conflict and confrontation—a contest between rationality and habitual tendencies. If the manas continues to decide on anger, then the manas's habitual tendencies have gained the upper hand; if it gives up becoming angry, then the mind consciousness's rationality has gained the upper hand. There is also another situation: when the matter occurs, the manas is not angry, but the mind consciousness thinks it over and over and feels the matter is worth being angry about, and wants to become angry. After the manas knows this, it may follow the mind consciousness's decision to become angry, or may not decide to become angry. In the end, however, the mind consciousness submits to the manas's decision. So as long as the mind consciousness's angry actions appear, the manas must have decided on anger, and its mind is defiled and impure.
8. Dialogue on Whether the Manas Has the Mental Factor of Anger (2)
A: If the manas-consciousness does not correspond to the fundamental affliction of anger and has no volition, how would the six consciousnesses create angry karma, and how would they act according to volition?
B: The manas's inherent nature differs from its habitual dispositions formed after being influenced by the mind consciousness. The manas's anger can be discussed in terms of habitual tendencies, or in terms of its inherent nature.
A: The manas-consciousness is a consciousness that makes decisions at all times and in all places. When sentient beings hate, if the manas-consciousness does not correspond to the fundamental affliction of anger, then the manas-consciousness at that time does not hate. Since the decision-making manas-consciousness has decided not to hate, could the mind consciousness still, in violation of the manas's decision, take charge and hate? Then how many consciousnesses do sentient beings have making decisions? When sentient beings create the karma of killing, lusting, or coveting wealth, are all these actions the volition of the mind consciousness or the volition of the manas? Which consciousness makes the decision to do these things? If the manas-consciousness does not decide to kill, can the six consciousnesses go kill? Can the six consciousnesses create on their own what the manas-consciousness has no volition for and has not decided?
B: Obviously they cannot; the mind consciousness always acts according to the manas's volition. The mind consciousness often instructs the manas; the manas develops habitual dispositions—originally without anger, it creates anger by following the mind consciousness's influence.
A: Then why is it said that the manas-consciousness does not correspond to the fundamental affliction of anger? If that were truly so, why would the manas-consciousness be influenced at the mind consciousness and acquire the nature of hatred, and take charge in creating hateful karma? If the manas-consciousness truly did not correspond to the fundamental affliction of anger, then ordinary sentient beings' manas-consciousness would not take charge in creating hateful karma, and ordinary sentient beings would not have created hateful karma since beginningless kalpas—but is that the case in fact? If the manas-consciousness does not correspond to the fundamental affliction of anger, can the manas-consciousness take charge for the mind consciousness in creating hateful karma? Is not the manas-consciousness's function precisely to make decisions for the mind consciousness and determine the mind consciousness's actions? If not, would that not mean the mind consciousness makes the decisions while the manas-consciousness is the servant? If the mind consciousness were not manipulated by the manas-consciousness, then learning Buddhism would be far too easy for the mind consciousness.
B: The manas-consciousness's discerning wisdom is poor, yet it must make decisions; at some times it must follow the mind consciousness's guidance and instruction. Over time, the manas cannot avoid being influenced—hence the worldly saying that a lie repeated a thousand times becomes truth.
A: That cannot show that the manas-consciousness does not correspond to the fundamental affliction of anger. If He did not correspond to the fundamental afflictions and had no volition, would He act against His own will to take charge for the mind consciousness in creating hateful karma? Only the Buddha's manas-consciousness has had its defiled habits of greed and anger completely purified; it does not correspond to the fundamental affliction of anger, nor to the habitual tendencies of anger, and only then does the manas-consciousness no longer take charge in creating hateful karma.
Our manas-consciousness's habitual tendency of anger is too heavy; the fundamental afflictions have not yet been removed, and it still corresponds to the fundamental affliction of anger—only thus can it take charge at all times in creating such karma. If the habitual tendency of anger were exhausted, it would not act against its will to create hateful karma that differs from its own mental nature. As for the specific details, the mind consciousness only serves as an advisor; if the advisor has a hateful mind, but the decision-making manas-consciousness has no hateful mind and does not correspond to a hateful mind, the manas-consciousness would not act against its will to serve as an accomplice for the mind consciousness and take charge. If the mind consciousness could take charge in becoming angry, then who ultimately makes the decisions—the commander-in-chief or the advisor? Birds of a feather flock together; if their inclinations were not the same, would the manas take charge in obeying the mind consciousness and let itself be manipulated by the mind consciousness?
B: The mind consciousness's continuous erroneous instruction can influence the manas, which is why the manas displays such appearances of anger; the manas itself does not know that this is anger.
A: But to say that the manas has been influenced by angry karma and yet say He does not correspond to the fundamental affliction of anger is self-contradictory. Only the Buddha's manas does not correspond to the fundamental affliction of anger, because His habitual tendencies are exhausted and He is no longer influenced.
B: Right. The Buddha's manas has been cultivated to complete purity; it has no habitual tendency of anger and creates no unwholesome karma. Therefore, for a person who has attained enlightenment, the mind consciousness has correct wisdom and no longer erroneously instructs and influences the manas.
A: Since the manas-consciousness has been influenced, it corresponds to the fundamental affliction of anger. When the manas-consciousness is no longer influenced, it does not correspond to the fundamental affliction of anger or its habitual tendencies. As long as the manas-consciousness has been influenced, although it does not know this is anger and angry karma, at that time it must correspond to anger—only thus does it take charge in creating hateful karma. Although sentient beings have taken up Buddhism and the mind consciousness wants to change the manas's angry mind, it will not change in a short time; it will still frequently correspond to anger, and so in the cultivation of changing the angry mind there will be very uncomfortable feelings. If it is said that the manas does not correspond to the affliction of anger, then He certainly could not be influenced by the habitual tendency of anger and form habitual dispositions that fundamentally do not correspond to Him.
B: In fact, the manas is changeable—that is, with different influences, different manifestations—because His wisdom is inferior.
A: The Buddha's manas-consciousness is purely wisdom, without ignorance, and is no longer subject to influence.
B: The Buddha's mind consciousness has been transformed into the wisdom of wondrous observation of the highest grade and no longer influences the manas with wrong views; the manas is also no longer influenced and is thus ultimately pure.
Conclusion: The manas is the decision-making consciousness and is also indeterminate (avyākṛta) in nature. "Indeterminate" means the manas itself has no ability to create wholesome or unwholesome karma, nor can it specifically discern wholesome and unwholesome karma. But He still has afflictive defilement and afflictive mental factors, so He can take charge in making the six consciousnesses follow His habitual tendencies and create afflictive, defiled karma. After creating it, He does not know whether it is wholesome or unwholesome, but the result must accord with the manas's mental nature; otherwise the manas could not take charge in directing the six consciousnesses to create unwholesome karma. All bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses are decided by the manas; the six consciousnesses cannot make decisions and create karma on their own.
If the manas were pure, it would absolutely be impossible for it to direct the six consciousnesses to create unwholesome karma—unless the manas had gone deranged, but the manas has no such state of derangement and no mental factor of derangement. Therefore the final conclusion is: whatever the six consciousnesses execute and create is commanded and directed by the manas; the heavier the manas's defilement, the more fiercely the six consciousnesses act. It is impossible for the manas to be pure while the mind consciousness is defiled; it can only be that the mind consciousness has become pure while the manas remains defiled. The mind consciousness transforms before the manas; the manas is harder to transform, because the mind consciousness can discern the principles of cultivating the Buddha-dharma, while the manas cannot directly discern them. The manas's habitual tendencies are deeply rooted, and it does not know good from bad; it needs to rely on the mind consciousness's guidance to transform itself. Therefore the transformation of the manas's defilement necessarily comes one step later than the mind consciousness's.
9. The Difference Between Killing with an Angry Mind and Killing Without Intent
The more important and valued a matter is in the manas's view, the more attached its mental activities will be, and the more profound and clear the eighth consciousness's record of those mental activities will be; in the future, the eighth consciousness will more easily transmit out the karmic seeds, and the retribution will be realized more quickly. Take killing, for example: because of ignorance and karmic force, the manas has a deep grudge against someone and strong hatred for them, and so it drives the mind consciousness to plot to kill that person; the six consciousnesses cooperate with the manas, using the appropriate opportunity and certain means to kill the person. The killing at that time is deliberate killing and killing with an angry mind; the killing karma itself, plus the mind of anger, makes the killing karma heavy. Because the eighth consciousness also records the mental activities of the manas and the mind consciousness, it is equivalent to recording the degree of the consciousnesses' defilement; when the seeds are emitted upon encountering conditions in the future, the evil retribution received will be heavy.
If the manas has no continuous attention and no continuous arising of deliberative thought toward this person, then it is without intent rather than with an angry mind; although the six consciousnesses killed someone, it was not a deliberate arising of the intention to kill. He had no mental activity of anger; only because of karmic force did He inadvertently kill the person. The eighth consciousness also records the killing, but it does not record the angry mental activities of the manas and the mind consciousness, because at that time the manas had no angry mental activity of wanting to kill; the eighth consciousness does not make records of angry actions without cause.
When the eighth consciousness emits the seeds upon encountering conditions in the future, the evil retribution the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) receive will be light; one may also be killed by someone unintentionally. One who kills with an angry mind will in the future also be killed by someone with an angry mind, and there is additionally the intrinsic offense (byāpatti) of the angry mind—at death one must fall into hell to receive evil retribution. For unintentional killing, there is no intrinsic offense, and one may not need to fall into hell. Whatever the mental activities of the seventh consciousness are, the eighth consciousness records them all clearly and truthfully, and the retribution will also manifest truthfully. Therefore, in doing the same deeds, with different intentions the retribution differs; this is so for both wholesome and unwholesome deeds.
10. The Mind Consciousness Does Not Necessarily Understand the Cause of the Manas's Anger
When some people get angry, the mind consciousness continuously controls its emotions for an hour or even longer, yet the manas's emotions still cannot be controlled—showing that when the manas's afflictions are heavy, they are indeed not easy to regulate. Very often after becoming angry, oneself (the mind consciousness) does not even know why the anger arose; being angry without knowing why—then it is not the mind consciousness's own anger, for the mind consciousness's anger can always find causes and reasons. The manas's anger, however, the mind consciousness does not understand; the mind consciousness thinks the anger is without cause—when it does not know why, the mind consciousness considers it causeless. In fact, the cause of the manas's anger cannot be known by the mind consciousness. Because the mind consciousness is ignorant of the manas and cannot accurately grasp the manas's psychology, all of the manas's emotions seem to the mind consciousness inexplicable and unreasonable. Only when the mind consciousness develops great wisdom and understands the manas's psychological characteristics can it grasp the manas's mental state, adjust the manas's attitude, and subdue the manas's afflictions.
11. Correcting Several Claims About the Manas
Question: Someone says: "The manas has a strange habitual disposition unknown to ordinary people: He often craves the flavor of anger. For example, some people cannot stand seeing others do well—as long as others are stronger than they are, they give rise to anger. Worse still, some even satisfy their own pleasure by harming the lives of sentient beings. The manas is also a two-faced character: one side defiled, one side pure. Therefore the Yogācāra school calls Him the basis of defilement and purity (kleśa-viśuddhāśraya), because on one side of Him is the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha, and on the other side are the six transforming consciousnesses; the tathāgatagarbha on which He depends is eternal and pure, while the six transforming consciousnesses on which He depends are constantly turning and defiled. For this reason, students of Yogācāra learn that the manas is the basis of defilement and purity." Are the above statements appropriate?
Answer: The vast majority of the manas's habitual dispositions are unknown to ordinary people, because ordinary people lack both meditative concentration and wisdom, cannot realize the manas, and because of the obstruction of afflictions have not transformed consciousness into wisdom, and so cannot observe the manas's operations and cannot accurately know the manas's mental activities—hence there are extremely many misunderstandings. For those who have not eradicated afflictions and have not transformed consciousness into wisdom, the manas possesses all afflictions; the greatest afflictive habitual tendencies are greed and anger. If the manas is to give rise to the mental activity of greed, He must consider the object of greed useful to Himself, something He likes, feeling comfortable and pleasant, able to satisfy His own preferences, interests, and vanity.
When the angry mind manifests and one is angry, what flavor is there? This claim is very strange, because anger is a mental factor, a mental activity of the consciousness-mind. To say the manas craves His own mental activity of anger simply does not make sense. Anger itself is an act that harms body and mind, and is even unpleasant—who likes being unpleasant and making things difficult for oneself? Unless one has masochistic tendencies, ordinary people do not like anger, and anger that can be avoided is always avoided as much as possible. Even when wanting to retaliate against others, one injures others seven parts and harms oneself ten parts; most people do not like this. Therefore to say the manas craves the flavor of anger—there is absolutely no such thing. From another perspective, "flavor" is the consciousness-mind's feeling toward the six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma. The consciousness-mind can crave feelings toward sense objects, especially pleasant and comfortable feelings; it would not crave the unpleasant feeling of being angry—there is no such principle.
People with relatively heavy anger frequently give rise to angry actions; they will vent the fire in their hearts, projecting it onto others, and only then can they calm down. Therefore people with especially heavy anger will commit violence against others to vent their anger; only after the anger is vented can they feel somewhat comfortable, or even feel happy. Some people cannot find a target for venting their emotions, so they vent on themselves or on objects, and only then can their mood calm down—only a very few special people are like this; most people are not. But this also does not show craving for the flavor of anger. Anger is anger, greed is greed; no one likes anger, but there is no help for it—the manas simply has an angry mind that erupts from time to time.
The "basis of defilement and purity" in the second passage is not to be explained that way. The true meaning of "basis of defilement and purity" is that the manas is the basis and source of the six consciousnesses' purity and defilement; whether the six consciousnesses are defiled or pure is determined by relying on the manas. Because the manas is the decision-making consciousness and can direct the six consciousnesses' actions according to its own mental activities, the six consciousnesses' mental activities depend on the manas's mental activities: if the manas is defiled, it will inevitably direct the six consciousnesses to create defiled karma; if the manas is pure, it will inevitably direct the six consciousnesses to perform pure actions, or the six consciousnesses will operate little or not at all.
Since beginningless kalpas, the manas has always relied on the tathāgatagarbha to be born and operate, relying on the tathāgatagarbha to see all dharmas; yet He has never become pure by relying on the tathāgatagarbha's purity—He has always been defiled. Therefore the tathāgatagarbha is not the manas's basis of purity. Only after truly realizing the tathāgatagarbha can one gradually rely on the tathāgatagarbha's pure nature and transform one's own defiled mental activities, becoming ever purer.
On the other hand, although the manas relies on the six consciousnesses to discern the six sense objects and create bodily, verbal, and mental actions, the manas's defilement is innate—it exists without needing the six consciousnesses' influence; even when there are no six consciousnesses, the manas has always been defiled. Conversely, in the cycle of the six realms of rebirth, the manas constantly influences the six consciousnesses with its own defilement, teaching the six consciousnesses greed, anger, and delusion; the six consciousnesses, in turn, contact defiled environments in saṃsāra and transmit the greed, anger, and delusion they have absorbed back to the manas, thus further increasing the manas's defilement of greed, anger, and delusion. Therefore the manas's defilement also does not arise by relying on the six consciousnesses. However, for the manas to transform into purity, it must rely on the six consciousnesses' cultivation of the Buddha-dharma; only when the six consciousnesses are pure can the manas gradually become pure. Conversely, once the manas is pure, the six consciousnesses will not easily be influenced by defiled environments and will necessarily also be pure.
