The Close Relationship between Mind Consciousness and Manas

Since the mind consciousness is a dharma produced by causes and conditions, it has no autonomy: it cannot, of its own accord, keep itself in a state of not giving rise to a single thought, nor can it, of its own accord, give rise to mental activity. All of its activities are directed and governed by the manas. The mind consciousness arises from the conjunction of the manas and mental sense-objects (dharmas); it arises from the contact between the faculty and the sense-object. However, even when the manas contacts the mental sense-objects, if the manas makes no decision whatsoever, the mind consciousness still will not arise, let alone engage in any activity. Therefore, to speak about the mind consciousness in this way or that way while setting aside the consciousness that makes decisions—the root of the mind consciousness—is all idle talk, unreliable, and not ultimate; moreover, many errors may arise without one even being aware of them. The key reason these problems arise is insufficient meditative concentration (samādhi): without contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) based on direct perception, one cannot deeply and thoroughly observe the relationship between the manas and the mind consciousness, cannot profoundly observe the hidden secret and primary cause behind the operation of the mind consciousness, forgets the lack of autonomy of the mind consciousness, and overlooks the master behind it. Therefore, no matter who is transmitting the Dharma or discussing the Dharma, one should not be overly confident; blind self-confidence is nothing but arrogance.