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—this skill is quite profound, and ordinary people can hardly achieve it. 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 the manas's deliberation. The mind consciousness's thinking is relatively shallow, floating on the surface, and 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 right now, what one is pondering, and what one is planning. 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, and that force and stream of thought belong to the manas. Once one discovers that force of the manas behind the mind consciousness and is able to 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. After letting go, one must still maintain thoughts in the mind, maintain the manas's deliberative activity, and not let oneself become completely without thought or perception—this is not at all easy.

In meditative concentration, one must learn to diligently discover that force deep within the mind. He actually has thoughts, has mental activity, and is capable of thinking—that is the manas's deliberative activity. 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 belongs to 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 aside coarse wandering thoughts, and at a certain point even subtle wandering thoughts must be cast aside. 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 the mind consciousness's thinking is also removed, letting the manas deliberate on this dharma—the mind consciousness and the manas exchange roles in thinking about the problem. At this time the mind consciousness still exists, playing a very slight role of discernment, but it does not think deeply, analyze, or reason; rather, it lets the manas 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 divided into two kinds: one floats on the surface, being the shallow-level thoughts of the mind consciousness; the other is hidden deep within, being 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 your own manas and inner mind, grasp your own manas and inner 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 does not accept it, the permeation does not succeed. Only when the skill is in place can there be success.

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. This requires increasing the skill of meditative concentration and the wisdom of contemplative practice 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 apply it.

To reach this level, one must strengthen the cultivation of meditative concentration, enhance the discerning power of wisdom, 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 become fewer and fewer, to the point that one can cast them off whenever one wishes to. As the mind becomes ever more refined and wisdom ever deeper, the manas's functions will operate very well.

When the physical body has been subdued and one has reached the level of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā, one can directly use the manas's deliberation to solve problems. When one's questioning doubt about a dharma is rather strong, directly hang this 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, deep, 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 both body and mind will be very tranquil and at ease.