What Is the Nature of the Manas?

Jing He's personal experience: One day I was sitting in a chair listening to the Great Compassion Mantra with headphones on, and as I listened I fell asleep without dreaming. At that moment, in the darkness before my eyes (actually not "before my eyes," because there was no sense of direction, though at the time I did not realize there was no sense of direction—it seemed like being in a vast, boundless universe), there seemed to be a slight stirring within the darkness. A sense of curiosity arose, wanting to figure out the cause, and at that point the stirring turned into a point of light.

I (at that time there was no concept of "I") continued moving toward the light, and just as I came into contact with the light, consciousness arose, and I understood that the stirring had been the sound of the Great Compassion Mantra from the headphones. (At that moment I suddenly realized: when something entered the brain from the body, the five sense faculties then became functional.) Then I recalled the state before consciousness arose—it was like an ignorant little child, or like a small animal. Drawn by a slight stirring, it followed along, without the slightest capacity for reflection.

Assessment: The "before the eyes" during sleep is not actually before the eyes; rather, it is the mental object (dharma) confronted by the manas, because at this time, even if the eye consciousness and mind consciousness have not ceased, they are extremely faint. There is no sense of direction, of before and after; the manas cannot clearly know the dharmas it faces, and so one feels only a vast, boundless expanse. It was precisely the manas, in which curiosity arose and moved toward the point of light, that was about to take dharmas as its object—the manas was about to condition dharmas, but it did not know that it was about to condition dharmas; its perception of self is weak. When it conditioned the sound of the Great Compassion Mantra, it could not discriminate it clearly and could only perceive it as a point of light, because the Great Compassion Mantra has the power of blessing, appearing like a light.

Just as the manas conditioned the sound of the Great Compassion Mantra and just as it perceived the point of light, the faint mind consciousness appeared and discriminated that this was the sound of the Great Compassion Mantra. When the mind consciousness discriminated the sound, the manas had already perceived the light (the sound) entering the brain, and the mind consciousness instantly understood; at this point the five sense consciousnesses appeared, and one became much more awake. After waking, the mind consciousness recalled the preceding process and felt that the manas was like a little child—lacking meditative concentration, following curiously after whatever stirring appeared, extremely simple and naive, yet also very quick-witted, arriving wherever something was happening. Of course, the mind consciousness's recollection was also because the manas wanted to understand what had just happened and had the mind consciousness recall it. Recalling what happened before consciousness arose relies on the manas providing the scene material; only then can the mind consciousness (that is, we ourselves) understand what exactly just occurred.

This passage precisely and accurately describes the mentality of the manas: simple, naive, and primal, lacking self-restraint, needing the mind consciousness to look after and restrain it, needing the mind consciousness to supervise and lead the way. Savor this passage's truthful description of the manas, ponder the characteristics of the manas, and come to understand its nature more deeply.