The Neutral Feeling of the Manas

Neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā) is a feeling that is neither pleasant nor painful. Saying that the manas is associated with neutral feeling is partially reasonable — the manas is neutral toward bodily contact and does not directly experience the six sense objects. No matter how painful the physical body is, the manas does not feel the pain; it is the body consciousness and mind consciousness that feel pain. When there is no body consciousness or mind consciousness, the physical body does not feel pain. For example, during surgery, if body consciousness and mind consciousness are present, the person is awake and will definitely be in great pain. In order to eliminate the sensation of pain, anesthesia is administered to first extinguish the body consciousness, then extinguish the mind consciousness, so that the body does not feel pain during the operation.

When one has a toothache, after falling asleep the six consciousnesses cease and the pain is no longer felt, but the inflammation in the tooth still exists. Upon waking, the pain resumes, and sometimes one can even be awakened by the pain in the middle of the night. Why can one be awakened by pain in the middle of the night? Because the manas can perceive the pain in the body. While unconscious, even if the body is in terrible condition, one does not feel pain; upon regaining consciousness, the pain becomes unbearable. When undergoing retribution in hell, one only stops feeling pain after fainting from the agony, but karmic force does not allow the offender to remain unconscious — when the karmic wind blows, one regains consciousness and continues to undergo retribution. In meditative concentration (samādhi), the sensation of pain is also reduced or disappears, because at that time the six consciousnesses have either ceased or become faint.

Therefore, the sensation of pain is a feeling experienced jointly by the body consciousness and mind consciousness. The manas does not have such a feeling; even if it does, the mind consciousness is unaware of it and cannot observe it. Sentient beings all take the feelings of the six consciousnesses as their feelings. When the six consciousnesses cease or become faint, no matter what feelings or mental states the manas has, the mind consciousness does not know them. Not knowing, one assumes that the manas has no particular feelings and no particular mental activities — or that the manas is simple and its wisdom is shallow.

When the function of the manas becomes powerful and replaces the six consciousnesses, all feelings belong to the manas. But at that time, the manas's cultivation of meditative concentration (samādhi) and wisdom is already extremely superior, and it is almost entirely neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā) with little emotional fluctuation. The manas of ordinary sentient beings still has pleasant and painful feelings, not only neutral feeling. It has mental feelings similar to those of the mind consciousness — grievance, oppression, depression, vexation, resentment, joy, delight, excitement — with great emotional fluctuation, which is why emotions such as towering rage, dancing with joy, and beaming with delight appear.