The Key to Managing Bodily, Verbal, and Mental Actions Is to Tame the Manas

If one manages one's own mind consciousness and manas well, one can manage well the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses. The manas of an arhat has long been tamed, having eradicated afflictions; there is nothing in the world to be attached to or greedily loved. From the stage of anāgāmin onward, the mind has already been liberated, and the bodily, verbal, and mental actions are pure. When going out on alms rounds to beg for food, the arhat keeps the eyes on the ground about a foot ahead, with lowered brows and downcast gaze, paying no heed to the left, right, or other directions; the eyes do not contact objects carelessly, the mind does not think randomly—either single-minded or without mind. When the eyes inevitably come into contact with material sense-objects, upon knowing the form, the arhat stops right there, giving rise to neither feeling nor perception, still less to grasping; no karmic seeds are left behind, no further becoming is received, and the four postures of dignified conduct move humans and devas alike.

If there is external conditioning from the environment, even the mind consciousness is not influenced by it, let alone the manas; even if the mind consciousness stirs slightly, the manas does not stir, because afflictions have been completely eradicated. Arhats do not need the mind consciousness to urge, supervise, or regulate the manas; rather, the manas can regulate the mind consciousness. Whereas ordinary beings whose practice is still on the right track must constantly use the mind consciousness, at all times and in all places, to supervise, regulate, and restrain the manas, because the manas has not yet been influenced by wholesome conditioning; without such regulation, it would violate precepts and its fundamental nature would be exposed. Therefore, those who always need the mind consciousness to remind themselves are still far from genuine practice; as for those whose mind consciousness is even muddled and unclear, there is simply no question of any practice at all. Only after the manas has been influenced by wholesome conditioning and ignorance has been broken through can the bodily, verbal, and mental actions gradually become pure—automatic and self-aware, without the need for watching over them.