Two Afflictive Mental Factors of the Manas

The afflictive mental factors of the manas are divided into two kinds. One kind consists of the afflictive mental factors that constantly and perpetually accompany the manifest activity of the manas without a moment's interruption, such as the view of self, self-conceit, self-love, and ignorance (self-delusion) mentioned in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra. The other kind consists of the afflictive mental factors that do not constantly accompany the manifest activity of the manas; these refer to the mental factors other than the above four afflictions, such as the great, intermediate, and minor afflictions like hatred, anger, and rage. If these afflictions were constantly manifest, then the bodies and minds of sentient beings, both their own and others', would be severely damaged, their lives would be chaotic and disordered, and their lives would not last long. Only the afflictions of the view of self, self-love, self-grasping, and self-conceit are the afflictions that are constantly manifest in ordinary sentient beings.

 When people of all kinds encounter the profound dharma and are unable to engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) in the present moment, they can only understand a little of the surface meaning, and so they can only memorize the texts. The dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination reveals that the reason sentient beings transmigrate ceaselessly through birth and death in the six realms is precisely because of the ignorance of the manas. If the manas had no ignorance, the twelve links of dependent origination would come to an end, the afflictions of sentient beings would be exhausted, and they would be liberated from birth and death. Ignorance conditions volitional formations, and volitional formations condition consciousness. If one fully understands these seven words, one will understand whether or not the manas actually has hatred. If there were no hatred within the ignorance of the manas, then it would not prompt the six consciousnesses to create hateful karma, and the karma of birth and death would be reduced by nearly half. As for hatred in the mind consciousness, it does not matter, because the mind consciousness cannot decide to create hateful karma, and thus there would be no karmic seeds of hatred, and there would be no birth-and-death karma of hatred. 

Furthermore, where does the hatred of the mind consciousness come from? How does it arise? Many people can neither observe in the present moment whether the manas has hatred, nor sort out the logical and dialectical relationship between the manas and the mind consciousness, nor do they know the origin of the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses; they only know how to memorize texts, and they believe their own shallow understanding is correct. As stated in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, in the earliest period of sentient beings' lives there were only the manas and the Ālayavijñāna; only after the manas gave rise to thoughts did there come to be heaven and earth, the myriad things, the five aggregates, and the six consciousnesses. If the manas has no hatred, then where does the hatred of the mind consciousness come from? How does hateful karma arise? What is it that causes sentient beings to fight and struggle with one another? How does this arise?

The afflictions of the mind consciousness are very easy to subdue and eradicate. As long as one understands the theory and comprehends it clearly, one can effectively control the afflictions. However, because the manas does not sever afflictions, when a fundamental issue is encountered and the mind consciousness is momentarily negligent, the afflictions will immediately appear, and the person will show their true colors. For example, in dreams, or after getting drunk, when the mind consciousness is weakened there is no rationality left, and the afflictions of the manas will manifest in full. Is the hatred and hateful conduct after drunkenness also attributable to the mind consciousness? Why is it easier to create unwholesome karma after drinking? Why does one show one's true colors after drinking? Why does drinking reveal a person's character?

Subduing afflictions means severing the afflictions of the mind consciousness, but this is only temporary, not lasting. If the afflictions of the manas are not severed, the afflictions severed by the mind consciousness will arise again when the causes and conditions are complete, and they simply cannot be controlled. Therefore, the affliction of hatred can only be completely severed at the stage of the anāgāmin, which indicates that only at the stage of the anāgāmin can the manas completely sever the affliction of hatred. As for the affliction of hatred in the mind consciousness, it can be eradicated at the stage when an ordinary person understands the principles, but not thoroughly; when encountering special conditions, the mind consciousness may still give rise to the affliction of hatred. For example, some people have a gentle disposition and an especially good temper, and under ordinary circumstances they will never give rise to hatred no matter what—this is the situation of the mind consciousness being without hatred. But once they encounter a special situation that touches their bottom line, even such a person might kill someone; this is the hatred of the manas manifesting.