Evidence that the Manas Has Three Kinds of Feelings (4)

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 anger 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 soon pass, 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 still remain unmoved in the face of power, sensual pleasure, fame, and gain, would not chase after them, and would be indifferent to riches and honor. Although the mind consciousness might like these things, it would merely have a slight liking and would not act upon them or put them into practice. This is the virtue and cultivation of a great practitioner, which ordinary people simply would not have.

Because the manas, in receiving the states of the six sense objects, often needs the assistance of the six consciousnesses, and the six consciousnesses have a clear function of discerning those states, their feeling is very evident and direct, whereas the feeling of the manas appears more indirect and obscure, 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; pain and comfort on the physical body are directly felt by the body consciousness and the mind consciousness. When the six consciousnesses are absent, the mind consciousness and body consciousness have no sensation of painful or pleasant contact on the physical body. But does the manas have sensation at this time? The manas definitely has sensation; that is why, after fainting or falling asleep, the manas will summon the six consciousnesses to discern and find ways to deal with problems of the physical body. Even if it does not summon the six consciousnesses to wake up, the facial expressions and bodily postures during coma and sleep also demonstrate that the manas has feeling.

Sentient beings all take the feeling of the six consciousnesses as feeling and cannot experience the feeling of the manas. When the wisdom of the mind consciousness is insufficient and there is no 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 present mental factors are attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā). The manas also has these five universally present mental factors, so the manas must necessarily have feeling.