The Acuity of the Manas

In the middle of the night while asleep, the six consciousnesses have ceased. A fire breaks out in the room, and the manas wants to flee — what to do? This thought of the manas, without the cooperation of the body faculty and without the cooperation of the six consciousnesses, can in no way be realized. So it is not that the manas's wisdom is very inferior and it can do nothing; rather, whatever He wants to do, He must have tools to use. If there are no tools, there is no way, and He can only be like a person of feeble capacity.

When the manas encounters such an urgent, pressing matter, it certainly is anxious to wake up, so that the mind consciousness can discern the fact of the fire, and then flee together with the five sense consciousnesses. As soon as the manas becomes anxious, the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) appears first; when the solitary consciousness cannot discern clearly, it transforms into the consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna), the five sense consciousnesses appear along with it, and thus one wakes up. As soon as the mind consciousness discerns that the situation is urgent, it decides to flee; after the manas agrees, it makes the decision as the master for the five-aggregate body to run, and the physical body runs out the door.

At the moment of waking up, the mind consciousness arises together with the nose consciousness; because the smell of smoke is strong, the nose consciousness arises before the other consciousnesses. Then the eye consciousness, body consciousness, ear consciousness, and tongue consciousness appear. The five sense consciousnesses appear in sequence: whichever sense-object is weighty, the corresponding consciousness arises first. If the firelight is bright, the eye consciousness arises first; if the room is too hot, the body consciousness arises first; if the sound of the fire and the shouting are loud, the ear consciousness arises first.

In a moment of crisis, the body's movements are extremely fast; the mind consciousness has no time to think anything, and one quickly dodges the danger. If in a critical moment one had to wait for the mind consciousness to discern and deliberate, a person would probably come to harm. At such times, the function of the mind consciousness is to follow the manas's arrangements together with the five sense consciousnesses and act swiftly. In moments of crisis, the manas is extremely quick-witted.