Evidence that the manas possesses the mental factor of mindfulness (smṛti-caitta) and afflictive mental factors (kleśa-caitta)

A person keeps thinking about a certain question in his mind. When he suddenly becomes aware of the thought in his mind, he feels startled, even with a guilty conscience like a thief caught in the act, and quickly shakes his head to shake off the thought, wondering: how could I have such an idea?

From this example, we can see that a person has two mental processes. One mental process arises autonomously and operates covertly—this is the mental process of the manas. The other mental process is at first unaware of the first one; when it suddenly becomes aware of it, it feels surprised—this is the mental process of the mind consciousness. This shows that the two mental processes are not in agreement; the thoughts and views of the mind consciousness and the manas are not entirely identical, and the two minds are not always in a state of mutual communication, mutual understanding, and coordination. This also shows that the mental processes of the manas can arise at any time; they can operate beyond the control of the mind consciousness, yet they can also be controlled by the mind consciousness. After the mind consciousness discovers it and deems it wrong, it feeds back to the manas, and the manas temporarily cuts off that mental process. Whether it will arise again later depends on the controlling power of the mind consciousness and the effect of its persuasion and permeation.

For ordinary people, the mind consciousness lacks sufficient meditative concentration and wisdom, and it is not easy to detect the mental processes of the manas. One does not even know what thoughts one has, yet unknowingly one is driven by these thoughts, muddleheadedly doing certain things and saying certain things, and only after awakening does one feel regret. If a thought of killing arises in the manas's mind, when the mind consciousness becomes aware of it, it suddenly shudders, feeling fear and doubt. This shows that the manas has a mind of anger (dveṣa) that the mind consciousness was unaware of; once it becomes aware, it will think: do I myself have such a thought? Afterwards, the two communicate, exchange, and mutually permeate each other. When the manas's mental process gains the upper hand and the mind consciousness decides to obey, they will then collude as partners in crime, formulating and carrying out a murder plan.

The formulation and execution of a theft plan is the same: the manas takes the lead, and the mind consciousness obeys and assists. All evil karmic actions of greed, anger, and delusion (rāga, dveṣa, moha) afflictions arise in this way. If the mind consciousness gives rise to mental processes of greed, anger, and delusion afflictions while the manas is pure, the mind consciousness's mental processes will not last long before disappearing, and may even be forgotten. These are wrong thoughts that the mind consciousness has been permeated with from the external environment; if the manas holds fast to its original mind, the mind consciousness's mental processes are like floating clouds, scattering as soon as they are said to scatter. If the mind consciousness persistently and continuously contacts defiled environments, and wrong thoughts keep arising, reaching a certain accumulation in quantity, the manas may be permeated and led astray, with the result that it will together with the mind consciousness create defiled karma of greed, anger, and delusion afflictions. Therefore, the environment a person is in plays a great role in his growth and exerts a great influence on his thoughts and views; only by choosing to dwell among the good can one follow goodness and avoid evil.