The Decisive Role of the Manas in the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

Sentient beings undergo birth, aging, sickness, and death—the great mass of suffering—entirely because of ignorance (avidyā), and this ignorance is the ignorance of the manas. Only when the manas has ignorance do mental formations and the volitional mental factor (cetanā) arise; with the volitional mental factor, there are choices that create karma, and only afterward do the six consciousnesses appear. The first two links of the twelve links of dependent arising belong to the manas, and the six consciousnesses of the third link also appear because of the manas. Therefore, the manas plays an absolutely dominant role in birth and death, and has a driving effect on all other dharmas. Even the karmic formations of the third link, the six consciousnesses, exist in accordance with the manas, and the seeds that fall and settle also exist because of the manas. Thus, the nāma-rūpa of future lives exists because of the manas. When the manas is defiled, the six consciousnesses are defiled, the seeds are defiled, and there are many painful feelings in nāma-rūpa—especially the sufferings of the three evil destinies. 

After nāma-rūpa grows, the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana) are born. The contact between the six sense bases and the six sense objects is governed by the manas: when the manas has much grasping, there is much contact and much karma of birth and death; when the manas has little grasping, there is little contact and little karma of birth and death. As for feeling, craving, and grasping after contact—although the six consciousnesses have their own feeling, craving, and grasping, what actually plays the decisive role, what draws forth the birth of the next link, is the manas's feeling, craving, and grasping. If the manas has no feeling, craving, and grasping, the next link will not appear. The last three links—becoming, birth, and aging-and-death—arise entirely because of the manas's grasping. Therefore, in the appearance of the cycle of birth and death, the manas plays a decisive role. 

The twelve links of dependent arising clarify that the manas is the root of birth and death: both liberation and downfall lie in the manas. To end birth and death, one must resolve the problem of the manas and break through the manas's ignorance. The manas is also the root of the Four Noble Truths of suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path. Suffering comes from the manas's ignorance and mental formations prompting the six consciousnesses to create karma; its origin comes from the seeds left behind when the manas prompts the six consciousnesses to create karma; cessation is the elimination of the manas's ignorance and mental formations; and the path is obtained through the manas realizing the dharma. 

Since the manas plays such an enormously decisive role in the cycle of birth and death, it must possess all the mental factors (caittas), including all wholesome mental factors, afflictive mental factors, and neither-wholesome-nor-unwholesome mental factors. The manas's mental factors determine the mental factors of the five sense consciousnesses and determine the mental factors of the mind consciousness. When the manas's mental factors change, the mental factors of the six consciousnesses change, and all dharmas change accordingly. If the manas's mental factors are not changed, then even if the mental factors of the six consciousnesses change, they will change back again. If the manas's afflictions are not severed, then even if the mind consciousness severs its afflictions, afflictions will arise anew. If the manas lacks meditative concentration (samādhi), then even if the six consciousnesses have concentration, it cannot last long and will inevitably fall into distraction again.