Mind Consciousness Should Effectively Perfume and Transform the Manas

Many people, when facing circumstances, involuntarily display emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness; only afterward do they notice it, and then they say that these emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness were arranged long in advance and are beyond their control. In fact, these are all the afflictive habitual tendencies of the manas, the manas's natural reactions, expressed through the six consciousnesses. After the emotions have manifested, the mind consciousness awakens and becomes aware, and only then discovers that one just experienced joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness. When the mind consciousness discovers this, it feels as though it were not something it could control, and so, having no alternative, it says these emotions were arranged long in advance and are beyond one's control. If the mind consciousness has a higher degree of awareness, better meditative concentration (samādhi), and stronger powers of observation, it can observe some of the manas's emotions and mental states, and can even slightly control the emotions. Especially in ordinary times, one should do more self-education, thereby perfuming the manas and changing some of the manas's afflictive habitual tendencies that should not exist.

Some people's mind consciousness also has improper thoughts and emotions, and lacks the ability to educate itself and carry out effective psychological construction, so they make the excuse that no matter how the mind consciousness struggles, it cannot struggle out of the circle of the manas's habits. If the mind consciousness could never, no matter how it struggled, escape the circle of the manas's habits, what use would spiritual practice be? Spiritual practice is precisely to use the mind consciousness to change the manas. If the mind consciousness struggles diligently enough, the manas will have no choice but to comply with the mind consciousness, and one's practice will then get on the right track.

Because of the manas's various mental activities, thoughts, and emotions, all kinds of bodily, verbal, and mental actions are brought forth. If one wants to have pure and wholesome bodily, verbal, and mental actions, one must give full play to the mind consciousness's dynamic initiative and guiding role, actively guiding the manas toward goodness, and creating pure bodily, verbal, and mental actions as well as bodily, verbal, and mental actions endowed with merit. If the manas's habitual tendencies are too heavy, then although the mind consciousness knows something is evil, it cannot change it—just like a drug addiction flare-up: although one knows the drugs harm oneself, one still takes them. When sentient beings' afflictions are heavy, although they know these are afflictions, although they know afflictions have faults and dangers, their afflictions still do not cease. This is the state of the most beginner-level practitioners; the road of practice is still very long.