How Do Karmic Formations Arise?

The process by which the five universal mental factors operate is precisely the process of creating karmic actions. If wholesome mental factors join in, what is created is wholesome karma; if unwholesome mental factors join in, what is created is unwholesome karma. The mental factors of attention (manaskāra) and contact (sparśa) are themselves neither wholesome nor unwholesome; if wholesome or unwholesome mind is added, then that attention and contact become wholesome-intentioned or malicious-intentioned. The mental factors of feeling, perception, and volition are likewise themselves neither wholesome nor unwholesome; if wholesome or unwholesome mental factors join in, then those feeling, perception, and volition mental factors come to contain wholesome or unwholesome qualities. If, during the operation of the five universal mental factors, the mental factor of wisdom (prajñā) participates, the karmic action is one of wisdom; otherwise, it is a karmic action of foolish delusion. If the mental factor of determination (adhimokṣa) participates, that person is intelligent, good at understanding others' intentions, and has strong comprehension. When the mental factor of meditative concentration (samādhi) arises, feeling and perception both become slight, and the operation of the five universal mental factors becomes slow and slight; attention and contact arise passively, and the mental factors of feeling, perception, and volition manifest and operate in accordance with conditions, functioning spontaneously.

In the operation of all dharmas, the manas plays a driving role and is the master of karmic actions; this can be observed from one's usual bodily, verbal, and mental actions. For example, raising the hand, then picking up a pen, and then pressing the hand onto the paper. If one observes this process carefully, one can clearly feel a kind of mental force driving it—sometimes the driving is obvious, sometimes it is not obvious, and sometimes it is very casual, as if there were no driving, when in fact it is done out of habit. But however casual and unattentive the manas's operation may be, if the mind consciousness lacks wisdom, it is still very difficult to observe.

Take another example: when we ride a bicycle with great proficiency, it seems we ride without applying the mind—the mind consciousness does not need to think or consider how to ride—yet the manas is commanding and operating moment by moment, always applying its mind; it is just that the mind consciousness does not know it. When one is proficient at riding a bicycle, even if one wants to fall, it is not easy to fall; when one cannot ride, even if one does not want to fall, one still falls. This is because when one is proficient, the mind consciousness does not need to think and control—the manas has already mastered it and can command and control it with ease; when one is not proficient, the manas has not yet learned it, so the mind consciousness must repeatedly think and permeate the manas until the manas has fully mastered it and can control it freely, at which point the mind consciousness no longer needs to apply any effort.

Some people always say they did something unintentionally, but no matter how unintentional your mind consciousness may be, the manas is intentional—it is the manas that drives the doing of something, and only then does that thing come to fruition; you simply do not know it. In familiar modes of operation, unconscious and subconscious actions are all operated, commanded, and controlled by the manas, not by the mind consciousness; the mind consciousness merely cooperates with the manas in a simple way, without any thoughts, opinions, or views of its own. Moreover, the mind consciousness being unintentional does not mean the manas is unintentional; only when the manas is unintentional is the mind truly in a state of nonaction.