The Neutral Feeling of the Manas

Neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā) is a feeling that does not experience pain or pleasure. Saying that the manas has neutral feeling has some validity: the manas is neutral toward bodily contact and does not directly experience the realms of the six sense objects. No matter how much the physical body aches, the manas does not feel the pain; it is the body consciousness and the mind consciousness that feel pain. When there is no body consciousness and mind consciousness, the physical body does not feel pain. For example, during surgery, if the body consciousness and mind consciousness are present, the person is awake and will certainly feel intense pain. In order to eliminate the sensation of pain, anesthetics are administered, first causing the body consciousness to cease, and then the mind consciousness to cease; in this way, when the incision is made, the physical body does not feel pain.

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, and upon waking the pain continues; 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. When one is in a coma, although the body is in terrible condition, one does not feel pain; upon waking, the pain becomes unbearable. When undergoing retribution in hell, one does not feel pain only after fainting from the agony, but the power of karma will not let the sinner remain unconscious; when the karmic wind blows, one wakes up again to continue undergoing retribution. In meditative concentration (samādhi), the sensation of pain also diminishes 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 the mind consciousness; the manas does not have such a feeling. Even if it does, the mind consciousness does not know it and cannot observe it. Sentient beings take the feelings of the six consciousnesses as their feelings. When the six consciousnesses cease or become faint, whatever feelings and mental states the manas may have, the mind consciousness does not know them; not knowing, it assumes the manas has no feelings, no mental activities (citta-caitta), or it says the manas is very simple and of shallow wisdom.

When the functions of the manas become powerful enough to replace the six consciousnesses, all feelings belong to the manas; but by then the manas's cultivation of meditative concentration and wisdom is already extremely superior, and it is almost all neutral feeling, with no emotional fluctuations. The manas of ordinary sentient beings still has feelings of pain and pleasure, not merely neutral feeling; it has psychological feelings similar to those of the mind consciousness—feeling wronged, depressed, vexed, resentful, joyful, happy, excited—with great emotional fluctuations; only then do emotions such as towering rage, dancing with joy, and delight showing on the face appear.