What Is the Nature of the Manas?

Jing He's experience: One day I was sitting in a chair listening to the Great Compassion Mantra with headphones on. As I listened, I fell asleep and had no dreams. 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 as if I were in the vast, boundless universe), there seemed to be some movement within the darkness. A sense of curiosity arose, wanting to figure out the cause. At that moment, this movement turned into a point of light.

I (at that time there was no concept of "I") continued moving toward the light. Just as I came into contact with the light, consciousness arose, and I understood that the movement was actually the sound of the Great Compassion Mantra from the headphones. (At this point I suddenly realized: it turned out that 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. When some movement beckoned, it followed along, without any capacity for reflection whatsoever.

Assessment: The "before the eyes" during sleep is not actually before the eyes; rather, it is the dharmas that the manas faces, because at this time, even if the eye consciousness and mind consciousness have not ceased, they are extremely weak, with no sense of direction of before and after. The manas cannot clearly know the dharmas it faces, so one feels a vast, boundless expanse. What gave rise to curiosity and moved toward the light was precisely the manas—this was the manas about to take dharmas as its object, but it did not know that it was about to take dharmas as its object, and its power of self-perception was weak. When it took the sound of the Great Compassion Mantra as its object, it could not discern it clearly and could only perceive it as light, because the Great Compassion Mantra has blessing power, appearing like light.

When the manas had just taken the sound of the Great Compassion Mantra as its object and had just perceived the light, the faint mind consciousness appeared, and the mind consciousness discerned that this was the sound of the Great Compassion Mantra. When the mind consciousness discerned 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—without meditative concentration, curiously following whatever movement appeared, very simple and naive, yet also quite clever, showing up wherever anything happened. 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 events from before consciousness arose relies on the manas providing the scene material; only then can the mind consciousness (that is, we ourselves) understand what actually happened just now.

This passage precisely and accurately describes the mentality of the manas: simple, naive, and primitive, lacking self-control, needing the mind consciousness to look after and restrain it, needing the mind consciousness to supervise and lead the way. Carefully contemplate this truthful description of the manas, savor the characteristics of the manas, and come to understand the nature of the manas more deeply.