What mental actions of the mind are involved in silent recitation and in knowing the recitation?

Whether reciting mantras aloud or silently, it is the solitary mental consciousness that recites; the recollection of the manas is without language and words. The knowing that knows the silent recitation is the mind consciousness's power of introspection; the mind consciousness's power of introspection is precisely self-validating cognition (sva-saṃvitti-saṃvitti-bhāga), which is the solitary mental consciousness discerning and introspecting upon itself. Of course, if the recitation has become extremely familiar, there can also be the manas's recitation and knowing. When the mind consciousness silently recites, the manas has knowing; when the mind consciousness introspects, the manas also has knowing. This knowing is deeply hidden, hard to see and hard to observe. The manas takes the solitary mental consciousness's introspective function and its function of silently reciting mantras as its own functions and operations, believing that it is itself who recites and who knows.

If one's meditative concentration (samādhi) is fairly good, the manas can also participate in reciting mantras, and the mind consciousness can observe this, but one cannot distinguish the boundaries between the respective functions of the mind consciousness and the manas, so they are easily confused. When there is meditative concentration, first, body and mind can be separated, clearly and distinctly, and their connection is not so close; the sixth and seventh consciousnesses can also each be separated, standing apart at a certain distance, which makes things appear clearly and distinctly, giving a sense of illusoriness toward each dharma. Without meditative concentration, the various dharmas are twisted together and inseparable, and cannot be seen clearly, so the mixed dharmas feel very real and very actual; the grasping (upādāna) is then strong, leading to heavy afflictions. The benefits of meditative concentration are beyond enumeration; without meditative concentration, do not claim to have any cultivation.