Is Innate Self-Grasping of the Manas or of the Mind Consciousness?

Does the mind consciousness have innate self-grasping? "Innate" means present from birth. When the mind consciousness first appears, it cannot tell east from west or south from north, and knows nothing at all—certainly it does not know of the so-called self, nor does it know its parents or siblings—so it has no self-grasping. Everything the infant's mind consciousness manifests is entirely taught and perfumed by the manas; therefore it is the manas that possesses innate self-grasping, and the manas need not be born anew. The environment and parents cannot yet perfume the infant for the time being; the mind consciousness needs to be gradually taught before it can gradually come to understand all dharmas and every dharma—whether taught by its own manas, taught by others, or perfumed by the environment. In any case, the mind consciousness must learn each and every dharma one by one; nothing is known innately, including the cognition of the self.

The mind consciousness is at first always taught and perfumed by the manas. When it is born, it has been trained up by the manas; it must be governed by the manas and has no principles or opinions of its own. All the manifestations of the mind consciousness in the womb follow entirely in compliance with the manas, without the slightest self-assertion. After birth, the mind consciousness likewise completely follows the will and habits of the manas, without the slightest self-assertion. Only later, after being perfumed by the environment and taught by others, can it acquire some cognition and some opinions of its own.

The innocence of a child lies precisely in the fact that it is entirely the manifestation of the child's own inner mind (the manas)—without falsity, without pretense, without the concealment of the mind consciousness. It is the manas acting directly and spontaneously according to its nature. The mind consciousness does not control the manas and does not disguise the manas. From a child one can directly discover the characteristics of the manas: a child is innately greedy—that is the manas's greed; innately prone to anger—that is the manas's aversion; innately foolish—that is the manas's delusion. If a child is innately exceptionally intelligent, that is the manas's wisdom; if a child innately possesses a certain special talent, that is the manas's ability. Whatever is innate, not specially learned after birth, belongs to the manas.

Some people have excellent power of wisdom (prajñā-bala) in certain areas without needing to learn after birth—being so from birth; that is the manas's wisdom, brought over from past lives. Gifted children are like this. The wisdom that the mind consciousness acquires through learning after birth takes a longer time and is not very rapid. If something is learned very quickly, it is still due to the manas's influence—having been encountered in past lives—and is related to karmic seeds and the manas. Studying Buddhism is the same: some people advance a thousand li in a day in studying Buddhism; this is called having wholesome roots and roots of wisdom, having a foundation from past lives. When the manas carries the perfumation of past lives into the present life, studying Buddhism will be extremely rapid.

When we truly cannot distinguish between the manas and the mind consciousness, we should consider: what is the situation when there is no mind consciousness? What is the situation when the mind consciousness is weak and its function is small? What is the situation when the mind consciousness has just arisen or is about to cease? All of these situations are manifestations of the characteristics of the manas.