The Feeling of the Manas

The manas does not have only neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā); it also has feelings of suffering and happiness. Because the manas has ignorance and afflictions, and has wholesome and unwholesome mental factors, it must necessarily have feelings of suffering and happiness, and due to these feelings of suffering and happiness, afflictions of greed and aversion arise. If the manas had only neutral feeling, it would remain unmoved when beaten, scolded, bullied, or humiliated. Although the mind consciousness might feel upset for a while, it would pass quickly, and there would be no acts of retaliation—this is the fine cultivation and virtue of a great practitioner, which ordinary people simply do not possess. If the manas had only neutral feeling, it would remain unmoved when praised and lauded to the skies; it would remain unmoved in the face of power, sensual pleasures, fame, and profit, would not chase after power, sensual pleasures, fame, and profit, and would be indifferent to glory, splendor, wealth, and rank. Although the mind consciousness might like these things, it would merely have a slight fondness for them and would not act on them or put them into practice. This is the virtue and cultivation of a great practitioner; ordinary people simply would not behave this way.

Because the manas, in receiving the objects of the six sense objects, often needs to rely on the six consciousnesses, and the six consciousnesses have a clear and distinct function of discerning sense objects, their feelings are also very obvious and direct, whereas the feelings of the manas appear somewhat indirect and obscure, and are not easily discovered by the mind consciousness; therefore it is said that the manas has no feeling. As for feelings on the physical body, they are directly received by the mind consciousness and the body consciousness; the pain and comfort of the physical body are directly felt by the body consciousness and the mind consciousness. When the six consciousnesses are absent, there is no sensation of the painful or pleasant contact on the physical body for either the mind consciousness or the body consciousness. But does the manas have sensation at this time? The manas certainly has sensation; that is why, after one falls into a coma or falls asleep, the manas will summon the six consciousnesses to discern and find ways to deal with problems of the physical body. Even if the six consciousnesses are not summoned and one does not wake up, during coma and sleep the facial expressions and bodily postures of the physical body also demonstrate that the manas has feelings.

Sentient beings all take the feelings of the six consciousnesses as feeling and cannot experience the feelings of the manas. When the wisdom of the mind consciousness is insufficient and one lacks the wisdom of the varieties of paths, one also cannot observe that the manas has feeling. So it is not surprising that many people say the manas has no feeling, but this is not the correct principle. The five universally operative mental factors are attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā). The manas also has these five universally operative mental factors, so the manas must certainly have feeling.