Which Consciousness Can Cause Heartache in Dreams and Outside Dreams?

Which consciousness is it that can cause heartache both within and outside of dreams? Someone dreamed that his car had been crushed and had completely vanished, and within the dream he felt utterly heartbroken; after waking up, his heart still ached. Which heart was aching? Which mind's feeling was it, so attached and so firm? In the dream, the heartache awoke him; fear awoke him; joy awoke him—why is it so? Which consciousness's feeling is it in each case? Is the mind consciousness within the dream the same as the mind consciousness outside the dream?

The manas is a continuous consciousness; past lives and this life, within dreams and outside them, it is the same—it always exists. It is the manas that can govern falling asleep and waking up. The heartache within the dream and the heartache outside the dream must be the feeling of the manas that causes the heartache; moreover, the manas can trigger changes in body and mind, so it is the manas that can make the heart ache. When the mind consciousness feels heartache, it is very slight, like a breeze gently brushing the sea surface, without ripples, not provoking reactions of body and mind.

Within the dream, through the discernment of the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta), the manas takes the dream as reality, as a realm that truly exists; therefore it is extremely attached to the dream, to the point of stirring body and mind and giving rise to the phenomenon of heartache. After waking up, the manas still seems immersed in the dream, deeply moved, causing the heart to still feel pain; although the solitary consciousness of the dream has already changed, the manas is still attached to the dream, and the solitary consciousness then recalls the scenes of the dream, also with feelings. Among these, the feeling of the manas is deeply rooted and hard to change, whereas the feeling of the mind consciousness is easy to change—upon encountering objects, it is readily influenced by them.

From this it can be seen that the feeling of the manas is not entirely neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā); otherwise it would not cause such great fluctuations of body and mind—one would not be awakened by pain, awakened by joy, or awakened by crying, and it would be impossible that after waking up one continues to cry, continues to rejoice, continues to ache. Eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), eradicating feelings, eradicating awareness—eradicating the manas's view of self, feelings, and awareness—is the most difficult; all the views, feelings, and awareness of the mind consciousness are easy.