Wine Conduct and Moral Character Are the Quality of the Manas

The state after drinking reflects the habitual tendencies of the manas; it is the manas's original appearance. After drinking alcohol, the brain nerves are anesthetized, the functioning power of the five faculties becomes weak, and the discriminating power of the six consciousnesses that arise becomes weak. In this way, these six scouts cannot investigate the realms of the six sense objects as they truly are; the manas then cuts off, or half cuts off, the sources of information. The role of the mind consciousness as advisor and assistant also becomes of little use; the mind consciousness's power of deliberation is weak, and its supervision, guidance, and oversight of the manas is weak, so the manas acts according to its own nature. At this time, everything depends on the manas's own wisdom, and the manas's nature and character are fully revealed. "In wine there is truth"—that is, the words spoken after drinking are entirely the voice of that person's manas, the person's true thoughts, without the mind consciousness's concealment and pretense. What people often call "wine character" and "personal character" refers to the quality of the manas; this is a person's original countenance.