On Blurting Out (II)

From what is blurted out spontaneously, one can observe the functioning and operation of the manas—the mental activities (caittas) of the manas. What caittas does the manas have, and what psychological activities lead to blurting things out?

If someone, after a question is raised, answers immediately without thinking, it shows that they know the matter very well and are very familiar with it, having frequently engaged with it before, without needing to consider, ponder, or deliberate on the spot. This "self" is the manas. A person who reacts quickly has a manas with experience and wisdom regarding such matters, requiring no help from the mind consciousness in analysis. Conversely, if the manas is unfamiliar with something, or has never experienced it, then when encountering the matter, the mind consciousness is needed to help think it through and analyze it, and the manas makes its own decision based on that—this process is slow, and one cannot answer and resolve it immediately; there is a process of deliberation by the mind consciousness in between. Having to reach a conclusion this way shows that the manas lacks wisdom, having previously not known or understood the matter.

Therefore, the Chan patriarchs said: "What is obtained through thinking and gained through deliberation is the work of ghosts." True wisdom is the wisdom of the manas—it does not need to be learned on the spot, nor bought and sold on the spot. False wisdom is obtained through the mind consciousness's on-the-spot pondering and analysis, gained by relying on the mind consciousness to scout for information—and thus it can hardly be called wisdom at all.