Reciting Scriptures: Is It Done by the Mind Consciousness or the Manas?

Question: When I recite sūtras, sometimes a state of stillness and meditative concentration arises, with a joyful mood and the body feeling especially comfortable. Even without looking at the book or thinking about the content, I do not recite the sūtra incorrectly. Is it the mind consciousness reciting, or the manas reciting?

Answer: This situation is like driving a familiar route with practiced ease. When one has become very proficient at reciting sūtras, the mind is settled on the sūtra, with few or no wandering thoughts, and one enters meditative concentration; the body also becomes still at the same time, and one feels tranquil, joyful, and comfortable. Because the mind is focused on the sūtra, the manas becomes familiar with the sūtra, to the point that it can enable the mind consciousness to memorize it by recitation. This is because the mental objects (dharmas) discerned by the mind consciousness are transmitted from the manas; dharmas familiar to the manas no longer require the mind consciousness to make great effort in discriminating and recalling them. The function of reciting and memorizing superficially belongs to the mind consciousness, but in essence it is because the manas is already very familiar with the sūtra text, so that it can be recited without the mind consciousness and eye consciousness needing to look at the text to discern and memorize it. This is a state in which the manas and the mind consciousness recite and memorize together.

When reciting sūtras one attains meditative concentration—this is also because the manas has become settled; only then do body and mind feel tranquil and comfortable. This is the result of the mind consciousness restraining and guiding the manas well, and of the two cooperating well; it is also due to wholesome roots from past lives—having frequently recited sūtras and become familiar with them in past lives, it is easy in this life to enter concentration and to memorize by recitation.

Another person asked: This is somewhat different from my own experience. I have found that whenever restlessness (auddhatya) arises, it is when I have become very proficient at reciting mantras; when reciting mantras produces a cool, comfortable sensation in the head, the manas easily grasps at these states, and then the mind becomes scattered.

Answer: What you say is also correct, because when one is too familiar with the mantra, one no longer needs to apply the mind to reciting it, and the recitation becomes unfocused; the manas grasps at dharmas elsewhere, the mind consciousness starts to wander off, and so the mind becomes scattered. Both of the above situations exist, and they do not conflict. The difference lies in whether, although the manas is already very familiar with the dharma, He still does not grasp at other dharmas—if He does not grasp, one attains concentration; if He grasps, the mind becomes scattered. So when I first began studying Buddhism, I was unwilling to recollect the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti), because the Buddha's name is short and could not subdue wandering thoughts, so I recited sūtras. Later, when worldly affairs became numerous and reciting sūtras no longer worked, I switched to reciting mantras. Reciting mantras has the best effect. Although I could memorize whichever sūtra I recited, the sūtra text is still somewhat long, and when affairs are numerous it inevitably gets interrupted, so I switched to reciting mantras.

 The state of concentration and the feelings experienced while reciting sūtras arise naturally from the mind's focus. But when a long time has passed and the text has become too familiar, with the slightest inattention, once the mind has scattered and disordered thoughts, the state of concentration will vanish. No matter how a person cultivates, if meditative concentration does not appear and one does not enter concentration, it shows the results are not yet good enough—the mind is scattered and not unified. Cultivation means cultivating precepts, concentration, and wisdom: with precepts, the mind is free of scattered thoughts and random imaginings; with concentration, the mind rests on the dharma, giving rise to wisdom and transforming thoughts and views that are not in accordance with reality. Without meditative concentration, the capacity for enlightenment is very poor and wisdom does not grow.

Some clever people have many thoughts and deliberations and do not easily attain concentration, while foolish people have few thoughts and can attain concentration more easily. But this kind of concentration is generally a dazed, dull concentration, which is useless and does not give rise to wisdom; on the contrary, it can easily lead to falling into the animal realm, resulting in even greater foolishness. That is why I do not like to see some people sitting vacantly and foolishly all day long, only to end up becoming dazed and foolish. If one is dull, one should not sit idly; one should recite sūtras more, study the dharma, and contemplate. Those with many deliberations should settle the mind more, adjusting and regulating concentration and wisdom at all times.