The Driving Role of the Five Universal Mental Factors of the Manas

One feels a vague force compelling oneself to give rise to mental activity and thoughts, and then deluded thoughts arise—what mysteries lie within this? The feeling is the feeling of the mind consciousness; the vague force belongs to the manas. He is directing attention (manaskāra) and grasping at the mental sense-objects, giving rise to the volition mental factor (cetanā). The eighth consciousness, in accordance with the manas's volition mental factor, gives birth to the mind consciousness; once the mind consciousness appears and discerns the mental sense-objects, thoughts emerge.

The thoughts of the mind consciousness arise only upon contacting and knowing sense-objects; they are the result of discriminating those sense-objects. The manas also conditions these sense-objects—otherwise the mind consciousness could not arise. At this time, the manas and the mind consciousness condition the same sense-objects. The manas cannot discriminate them in detail; only the mind consciousness can discriminate them. Thus, toward these sense-objects, the manas must perform attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā), and it possesses a faint discerning wisdom. Among these, attention is easy to understand, contact is also easy to understand, feeling is the accepting and experiencing of objects, which is also easy to understand, perception is grasping and taking up marks, which is likewise easy to understand. The last one, volition, carries the meaning of choosing, deciding, and engaging in activity, as well as the meaning of deliberation and weighing—what specific mental activities are actually involved within it is rather difficult to comprehend. The volition of the manas is the most mysterious.

When the manas discerns, the five universal mental factors and the five particular mental factors are involved

The particular wisdom of the manas does not manifest at all times (except for the manas of a Buddha and bodhisattvas at certain bhūmis); it can only arise on particular occasions, which is why it is called "particular" (specific to certain objects). The five universal mental factors, however, must manifest at all times; they are the manas's aids and companions, accompanying the manas in its operation moment after moment. The operation of the manas is precisely the operation of the mental factors—one cannot find a moment when the manas exists without the five universal mental factors operating.

Grasping (upādāna) is the function of the perception mental factor (saṃjñā); its role is to discern marks and take up marks, and then to assign names to those marks. Once there are names, designations appear, and both the marks and the names are acknowledged and accepted. Only after the manas has taken up the marks can it deliberate and make decisions about how to act. Of course, the five universal mental factors must operate repeatedly, over and over, before a final overall decision can be made, and only then can action be taken. Therefore, when one observes a person being indecisive, one knows that the mind consciousness and the manas are deliberating, continuously performing attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition, with the mental factors operating in turn, and the five particular mental factors also participating in the operation—it is extremely complex. This is why the human brain is countless times more complex than a computer; a computer simply cannot compare with the human brain. What is called the brain mainly refers to the functions and activities of the manas, with the six consciousnesses coming second.