What Use Is Mind Consciousness to the Manas?

The mind consciousness and the five sense consciousnesses, as well as the five aggregates, are all tools that the manas must use. Without these tools, the manas would be powerless in the world by itself; it needs the six consciousnesses and the five aggregates to serve it, using the six consciousnesses and the five aggregates to greedily grasp all dharmas in the world. Without the six consciousnesses and the five aggregates, the manas would be helpless.

Therefore, the manas can know many dharmas, but it requires the mind consciousness to process these dharmas. For example, when ghosts or spirits appear nearby, the manas feels quite frightened, fearing they may threaten it, but it cannot deal with ghosts and spirits itself, nor can it evade them alone. So, while the hair on its body stands on end, it alerts the mind consciousness to this matter. The mind consciousness then wonders: What exactly is going on? Why do I feel afraid? Why does the surroundings feel eerie, as if something is happening? When the mind consciousness is clever and thinks about it, it may realize that there are ghosts or spirits nearby, and then it finds a way to evade them. In this way, the manas achieves its purpose.

Therefore, although the manas has the capacity of knowing, matters need to be handled by the mind consciousness and the five aggregates. After the manas realizes the Dharma, the pure bodily, verbal, and mental actions need to be carried out by the mind consciousness and the five aggregates; thus, the pure bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses manifest the purity of the manas. However, after cultivating to a considerably high level, when the four dhyānas and eight meditative concentrations have been developed and one possesses immeasurable supernatural powers and powers of the Path, the manas can substitute for the six consciousnesses. At that point, the six consciousnesses need not emerge, and all matters are handled by the manas itself—extremely swift and convenient. Therefore, the functions and status of the mind consciousness cannot compare with those of the manas; between the two there is forever a master-servant relationship. The master needs the servant to take care of trivial affairs; when the master's capabilities are great, with everything fully modernized and automated, the servant is no longer needed, and the master can handle everything well and skillfully by itself.