The Difference Between the Manas and Thoughts of the Mind Consciousness (2024-04-24)

Ven. Shi Ruyuan: I usually, right after just waking up—when the conscious mind has not yet intended to discriminate things—at the very moment when the sound of the Buddha's name in my mind has just arisen, I clearly and distinctly hear the sound of reciting the Buddha's name; at that time the first five consciousnesses have not yet emerged to discriminate. Because I recollect the Buddha in meditative concentration, my manas has concentration, and only then can it keep the whole household from grasping at conditions and from fabricating. In dreams too, it is all the manas grasping at conditions, while the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) discerns the dream unclearly, with only a hazy feeling: when this deluded thought dwells on good things, good scenes appear; when the thought turns to wondering whether this is something bad, bad things immediately appear. Is this the phenomenon of the solitary consciousness's mental thoughts transforming the realm? When the solitary consciousness has not awakened from the dream, it follows the manas in grasping at and discerning the dream, and there are also no first five consciousnesses—is that right or not?

Assessment: Discrimination and discernment are different and must not be used casually. Discernment is when the conscious mind, at its initial arising, passively corresponds to sense objects; "discern" means to apprehend, to know roughly. Discrimination comes after discernment, actively distinguishing the sense objects, with subtle mental activity and wisdom involved—a deeper level. Just after waking, the mind consciousness hazily corresponds to mental sense objects (dharma-viṣaya); at this time it should be called discernment, without yet the capacity to discriminate, nor the capacity to intend; if there is any intending, it is the manas's intending. Once the first five consciousnesses appear, the solitary consciousness transforms into consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna), discerning the six sense objects together with the five consciousnesses.

Just after waking, the solitary consciousness hears the sound of reciting the Buddha's name—this is the manas reciting the Buddha's name. The manas may have been reciting the Buddha's name all night long; when there is no mind consciousness, the mind consciousness does not know it, and only upon waking does it find out, then mistakenly assumes that the sound of reciting the Buddha's name has just arisen—but in fact it is not so. The manas's recitation of the Buddha's name is soundless; there is a thought of reciting the Buddha's name, and the mind is entirely the Buddha. After the mind consciousness discerns it, it converts the manas's soundless recitation into audible recitation; that is, the mind consciousness interprets the manas's recitation of the Buddha's name. In fact, the recitation the mind consciousness hears is soundless; upon interpretation and discernment, the recitation becomes an audible mental sense object corresponding to the mind consciousness.

In a dream, what can transform the dream must be the manas; the solitary consciousness's thoughts are all passively following the manas's turning, controlled by the manas, and cannot transform the realm. Therefore in dreams, when the manas has good thoughts, the realm turns good; when the manas has bad thoughts, the realm turns bad. If the solitary consciousness has thoughts, they are also passive thoughts arising in compliance with the manas, unable to transform the dream; usually it serves the function of discerning the dream.