Dual Personality Is the Multiple Aspects of the Manas

If a person has a dual personality, is it that the mind consciousness and the manas each have one personality, or that the manas has two personalities? When the first personality manifests, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions are one way; when the second personality manifests, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions are another way. The two personalities are different, or even diametrically opposed, as if they were two separate people.

Why does the phenomenon of multiple personalities arise? Because the manas has multiple psychological needs and wishes that cannot all be accommodated simultaneously, multiple personalities emerge to satisfy the different wishes, or to display multiple temperaments. In other words, when one can no longer satisfy one's own wishes, when multiple temperaments can no longer coexist harmoniously, and when multiple life experiences can no longer overlap and blend together, there is no alternative but to form multiple personalities in order to satisfy each wish and each sense of self. When the manas is too conflicted and cannot resolve its contradictions, it forcibly splits itself in two, or into many.

From the phenomenon of multiple personalities, one can gain an early appreciation of the Nirmāṇakāya and Sambhogakāya Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The Sambhogakāya is the body manifested by the manas; the Nirmāṇakāya is a divided body, a divided body of the six consciousnesses manifested through the wishes of the manas. The two personalities of a dual personality each have different bodily, verbal, and mental actions, which is analogous to the different activities of multiple divided bodies of the six consciousnesses. The Nirmāṇakāya identities of Buddhas and bodhisattvas are different, and their activities are also different. The power of Guanyin Bodhisattva's vows is such that if sentient beings need to be liberated by a particular kind of body, He manifests that body and teaches the Dharma. Such bodies are countless Nirmāṇakāyas, transformed from the manas's vow to liberate sentient beings. A bodhisattva may come into the world manifesting two or more identities, and the respective physical bodies may not even know of each other.

The vows of Buddhas and bodhisattvas are vast and profound. A single physical body cannot fulfill so many, such great, such deep vows, so they manifest countless divided bodies to fulfill their numerous vows. The manas is the determining consciousness; as long as He has sufficient merit, meditative concentration (dhyāna), physical body, and power of vows, He will determine to create divided bodies, manifesting numerous bodies of the six consciousnesses. One set of six consciousnesses has one set of bodily, verbal, and mental actions; many sets of six consciousnesses have many sets of bodily, verbal, and mental actions, each different, yet all subsumed under the same manas and tathāgatagarbha. The personalities of a multiple personality, on the other hand, are subsumed under different facets of the same manas—different temperaments, different wishes, or different aspirations.

After studying Yogācāra, everyone should be able to become a psychological counselor, a psychology scholar, or a psychological therapist, engaging in psychological research and guidance. You will be able to see through other people's psychology at a glance; no one can hide from you, no one can deceive you, and you will be able to grasp others' psychology and guide them skillfully and patiently. Worldly people are nothing but greed, anger, and delusion, all grasping at the five aggregates as self, unable to see through the phenomenal realm, and thus naturally unable to resolve their psychological problems. Contemplate and practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) more, and you will be able to thread all the various dharma meanings together, clearly see the direction of the future, feel optimistic about the prospects of Buddhist practice and realization, and sense that the path ahead is bright.