The Deliberation and Cognition of the Manas and the Mind Consciousness

Both the manas and the mind consciousness are consciousnesses; both possess the volition mental factor (caitta) and are capable of thinking, pondering, and deliberating. Because the vast majority of people cannot observe the manas's volition, they believe there is a difference between the manas's volition and that of the mind consciousness: they call the mind consciousness's volition "thinking" (cintanā) and the manas's volition "deliberation" (manana), holding that thinking is not deliberation and deliberation is not thinking. If one says that the manas can think and ponder, they consider it wrong, insisting that thinking and pondering belong to the mind consciousness; if one speaks of the manas's mental activities, many say it is wrong, claiming those are the mind consciousness's mental activities. Therefore, if one cannot observe the manas's mental activities yet still insists on studying Consciousness-Only, and remains stubbornly obstinate at heart, it becomes very troublesome.

Why do so many people say that the manas's volition is very deep and hidden, difficult to observe? The reason is that sentient beings take the mind consciousness's knowing as their knowing: whatever the mind consciousness knows, sentient beings know; whatever the mind consciousness does not know, they do not know. If the mind consciousness lacks sufficient wisdom, does not know the manas's mental activities, and does not know what the manas knows, then sentient beings will not know the manas's mental activities or what the manas knows, and will feel that the manas's mental activities are very deep, hidden, and subtle. In fact, it is the mind consciousness's ignorance that should be blamed. When the mind consciousness possesses wisdom—when its wisdom is unobstructed—and it can directly observe the manas's mental activities, one will no longer feel that the manas is profound and hard to understand, no longer feel that the manas is hidden and hard to know, and will no longer misapprehend the manas's mental factors.

What would the situation be like if sentient beings all took the manas's knowing as their knowing? If sentient beings all took the manas's knowing as their knowing, then whatever the manas does not know, they would not know. If the manas does not know what the mind consciousness knows—no matter what the mind consciousness knows, no matter how many dharmas it knows—then the manas does not know, which means sentient beings do not know. Consequently, those theories learned by the mind consciousness would be of little use; and since the manas knows even less about the eighth consciousness, attaining enlightenment would become even more difficult. At that point, sentient beings would say: "The mind consciousness's mental activities are deep, subtle, and hard to know, very concealed and difficult to fathom; the eighth consciousness is even deeper, more hidden, and harder to know, with extremely subtle modes of activity."

In reality, whether dharmas are hidden or evident depends on the wisdom of consciousness, not on the dharmas themselves. When there is wisdom, any dharma is evident, easy to know, and easy to understand; when there is no wisdom, even the most evident dharma feels deep and hidden. Therefore, after the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are transformed into wisdom, the mind consciousness can directly observe the mental activities of the manas as well as those of the eighth consciousness, and does not find it very difficult at all. The Buddha observes all dharmas with ease; He can even know all dharmas without observing, and every dharma is perfectly clear in His mind.

If sentient beings took the manas's knowing as their knowing, they would have superknowledges (abhijñā), and perhaps there would be no secrets among them; past lives and future lives would all be perfectly clear. In this way they could know causes and recognize effects, and perhaps, in order to suffer less evil retribution, they would commit fewer evil deeds. Yet there are still many people with heavy self-grasping (ātma-grāha) who clearly know they have suffered greatly for committing evil deeds, yet continue to commit them without cease—those who repeatedly end up in prison are just like this, refusing to repent to the very end. Moreover, because the manas lacks the mind consciousness's obvious guiding function, being simple and naive, its emotional attachments would be even heavier, its nature of self-clinging even stronger; the mind consciousness would find it hard to restrain Him, the probability of committing evil deeds would be even greater, and the elimination of self-view would become even more difficult.

What would it be like if sentient beings all took the eighth consciousness's knowing as their knowing? The eighth consciousness does not know or see worldly dharmas; it does not know self, others, or anyone; it does not see forms or hear sounds, and does not know the objects of the six sense objects. In that case, sentient beings could not survive: the six faculties would be shut, and they would abide in a state of nirvāṇa. Would this be good or not? Someone might say that then bodhisattvas could not deliver sentient beings—but at that point, what sentient being would not already be abiding in a state of nirvāṇa and still need the Buddhas and bodhisattvas to deliver them? If sentient beings all took the eighth consciousness's knowing as their knowing, there would be no need to study Buddhism or the Dharma, and there would no longer be any distinction between Buddhas and sentient beings.

If sentient beings all took the knowing of the five sense consciousnesses as their knowing, they could not survive, and the world of the five aggregates could not function and operate. This is because the five sense consciousnesses only discern the coarse five sense objects, not the subtle five sense objects; still less do they understand mental dharmas—they do not know the mind consciousness, do not know the manas, do not know the eighth consciousness. Apart from the coarse five sense objects, they know nothing. If they do not even know the mind consciousness, how could they know the coarse objects of the five sense objects? The five sense consciousnesses must cooperate with the mind consciousness in discernment in order to know the coarse marks of the five sense objects; but knowing only the coarse marks of the five sense objects, not their subtle marks, not knowing the mental sense objects, not knowing mental dharmas, one absolutely could not survive. In short, if one wishes to know all dharmas, whichever consciousness's knowing is taken as primary, that consciousness must possess great wisdom—consciousness must be transformed into wisdom, for only a consciousness endowed with wisdom can know all dharmas.