How to Mobilize the Deliberation (manana) of the Manas in Meditative Concentration

In meditative concentration, using the manas's deliberation instead of the mind consciousness's thinking is a rather profound skill that ordinary people find very hard to achieve. It requires a very deep foundation in meditative concentration as well as a certain degree of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā). When meditative concentration and contemplative practice are cultivated to a certain level, one can shift from the mind consciousness's thinking to deliberation by the manas. The mind consciousness's thinking is relatively shallow and floats on the surface; ordinary people can observe it. For example, by introspecting at this moment to see what thoughts are in the mind, one knows what one is thinking about, pondering, and planning right now. These thoughts generally float on the surface and are all the mind consciousness's thinking. 

At the same time, behind this there is also the support and guiding role of the manas. If one's meditative power and wisdom are insufficient, it is not easy to observe this, and one cannot clearly recognize one's own innermost true thoughts. When the mind has been cultivated to a very refined state, one can observe that when the mind consciousness is thinking, there is a force behind it playing the leading role—that force and that stream of thought belong to the manas. Once one discovers that force of the manas behind the mind consciousness and can grasp the manas, one should gradually weaken the mind consciousness's thinking function. When it has been weakened to a certain degree, one then lets go of the mind consciousness's thoughts. Even after letting go, one still keeps thoughts in the mind, keeps the manas's thinking activity going, and does not let oneself become completely without thought or perception—this is not at all easy. 

In meditative concentration, one must learn to strive to discover that force deep within the mind. He actually has thoughts, has mental activity, and is capable of thinking—that is the manas's activity of deliberation. After discovering it, strive to maintain that deliberative activity and not let it perish. Hand over the dharma principles that the mind consciousness has been pondering to Him, and let Him continue deliberating on His own. This counts as a relatively deep state of meditative investigation; investigating Chan is just like this. Deliberating that the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are not self is done with exactly this kind of skill. In this way the manas's deliberation is activated. This mode of thinking, this kind of skill, is called the manas's deliberation. 

To achieve this, profound meditative concentration is indispensable; one's meditative concentration must be very good, able to cast off coarse wandering thoughts, and at a certain point even the subtle wandering thoughts must be cast off. Wandering thoughts are thoughts that ponder other irrelevant dharmas—that is, scattered and proliferating thoughts. These thoughts are all interference to right mindfulness, so they must all be removed, leaving only the dharma that the mind consciousness needs to ponder. Then one removes the mind consciousness's thinking as well, letting the manas deliberate on this dharma—the mind consciousness and the manas swap roles in thinking about the problem. At this point the mind consciousness still exists, playing a very slight role of discernment, but it does not think deeply, analyze, or reason; rather, the manas is allowed to deliberate deeply, without language, words, or sound. This deliberative function is not easy to observe when meditative concentration and wisdom are insufficient. 

The manas's deliberative function is also called the thoughts deep within the mind. Everyone's mental thoughts are of two kinds: one floats on the surface—the shallow-level thoughts of the mind consciousness; the other is hidden in the depths—the deep level, that is, the manas's thoughts deep within the mind, representing one's true thoughts. For example, if I now tell others what I plan to do, but in fact I do not have that thought, the thought I speak has a perfunctory flavor, and there is another voice and thought within the mind. That thought is rather hidden, and one does not want others to know it, so one uses the mind consciousness's language to cover it up or to divert attention. Constantly introspect on the manas within your own mind, grasp the manas within your own mind, and then hand over the dharma that the mind consciousness originally dwelt upon and pondered to the manas, letting the manas dwell upon it. In this way the manas can dwell upon this dharma at all times and in all places, and the manas's deliberative nature will manifest. If the manas agrees, the permeation succeeds; if the manas has not accepted it, the permeation has not succeeded. Only when the skill is in place can it succeed. 

In daily life, we all make use of the manas and its deliberative function; it is just that we cannot observe it, cannot distinguish it, and do not know how to summarize it, so we cannot tell whether it is the mind consciousness's thinking or the manas's deliberation. We need to increase our skill in meditative concentration and our contemplative wisdom in order to clarify these questions. Only when meditative concentration deepens can the mind become refined, and only then can one discover the difference between the mind consciousness and the manas, and also distinguish the inner voice from the surface voice, thereby clearly understanding the state of the manas's deliberation and grasping that deliberative nature of the manas; gradually one will know how to use it.

To reach this level, one must strengthen the cultivation of meditative concentration, enhance wisdom's power of discernment, subdue afflictions, reduce wandering thoughts, and let the mind rest on the Buddha's Dharma without chasing after worldly dharmas. As meditative concentration is cultivated ever more deeply, the mind becomes ever more focused and wandering thoughts ever fewer, to the point that one can cast them off whenever one wishes to. When the mind becomes ever more refined and wisdom ever deeper, the manas's functions will operate very well. Once the physical body has been subdued and the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā is achieved, one can directly use the manas's deliberation to solve problems. When one's questioning doubt about a dharma is rather strong, directly hang that dharma in the mind—at first the mind consciousness holds it, then reduce and lighten the mind consciousness's role, letting the manas hold this dharma. At this point one enters a relatively deeper meditative concentration, letting the manas deliberate deeply on this dharma. The more focused the manas's deliberation, the deeper the meditative concentration; the deeper the meditative concentration, the more focused, profound, and refined the manas's deliberation becomes. In the end one can clarify this question, and at the same time one enters a state of meditative absorption (samādhi), filled with Dharma joy, with body and mind tranquil and at ease, and Chan bliss arises. Samādhi is the state of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā. Once this state emerges, one's mental state for the whole day will be excellent, and body and mind will both be very tranquil and at ease.