Which One Is the Subject of Karmic Retribution: Manas or Mind Consciousness?

Some say that since the manas does not feel suffering or pleasure, it is not the one who receives retribution, and that the manas does not receive retribution. In fact, the manas is precisely the one who receives retribution; the six consciousnesses are merely the tools and agents through which the manas receives retribution. For even when the six consciousnesses are absent, sentient beings are still within their retribution. Regardless of whether the six consciousnesses exist, so long as a sentient being exists, that existence itself is a form of retribution; moreover, the physical body is the retributive body. It is the manas that takes the physical body as self, and therefore the manas has a retributive body—the retribution falls upon the manas, making the manas the one who receives it.

First, the matter of entering the womb, dwelling in the womb, and emerging from the womb is itself the manas's karmic retribution. Conception and entering the womb are the manas's affairs. What kind of physical body and living environment one has is what the manas cares about most, and so retribution is precisely what the manas cares about most. Dwelling in the womb and emerging from the womb, as well as the living conditions throughout one's whole life, are also what the manas cares about most; whether one's life is spent enjoying blessings or enduring suffering is what the manas cares about most—therefore the manas is the receiver of retribution. Second, death and the destination after death are matters the manas is even more concerned about. At the moment of death, the manas struggles, unwilling to die; even when the illness is unbearably painful, it does not decide to leave the physical body, refusing to breathe its last and abandon the body, unwilling to leave its family and kin. Even after becoming a vegetative patient, it is unwilling to depart and exchange for another physical body, still clinging to the faint activities of the five aggregates, continuing to endure the painful retribution.

The manas takes the suffering of the five-aggregate body as its own suffering, the suffering of the six consciousnesses as its own suffering, the pleasure of the five-aggregate body and the six consciousnesses as its own pleasure, and the feelings of the five-aggregate body and the six consciousnesses as its own feelings. But even when the six consciousnesses are absent, the manas must still undergo all feelings of suffering and pleasure and all retribution. For example, the pleasant feeling of the concentration without perception (asaṃjñi-samāpatti) and of the heaven of non-perception is received by the manas alone; the pleasant feeling within the cessation of perception and feeling (nirodha-samāpatti) is received by the manas alone—without the mind consciousness, the mind consciousness does not receive it. The suffering of entering the womb and dwelling in the womb must be received by the manas alone, for there is no mind consciousness to receive it. The suffering at the time of death and unconsciousness must be received by the manas alone—without the mind consciousness, the mind consciousness does not receive it. Whether one's sleep is peaceful or restless, comfortable or uncomfortable, it is the manas that receives it alone; even when any accident occurs during sleep, such as being burned to death, it is the manas that bears it alone—without the mind consciousness, the mind consciousness does not receive it.

Even when the mind consciousness is present, whatever feelings the mind consciousness has are intimately bound up with the manas; everything the mind consciousness undergoes is as if the manas itself underwent it, for the manas cares deeply about the feelings of the mind consciousness. Because the mind consciousness is a self of the manas, something the manas possesses, its assistant and prop—retributing the mind consciousness is the same as retributing the manas. The manas absolutely does not want the mind consciousness to suffer painful retribution, not even slight suffering. For example, parents are the heads of a household; whatever suffering or pleasure the children encounter, the parents share in it. When others come to repay or take revenge upon the parents, they do so indirectly through repaying or taking revenge upon the children—retributing the children is the same as retributing the parents. The children's honor or disgrace, life or death, are intimately bound up with the parents.

The manas is the faculty from which the mind consciousness arises; the mind consciousness is born with the manas as its condition. The manas is like the parents of the mind consciousness, so when the mind consciousness receives retribution, it is the same as the manas receiving retribution. Therefore, when the five aggregates suffer, the manas seeks to avoid it; when the five aggregates experience pleasure, the manas craves and clings without letting go. In summary, the manas is the receiver of retribution, the true master of karmic retribution.