When the Six Consciousnesses Are Absent, All Mental Activities in the Five-Aggregate Body Are the Mental Activities of the Manas

When you fall asleep in the middle of the night and a cold touch arises in the body, body consciousness and mind consciousness then arise to resolve the problem of cold. When you fall asleep in the middle of the night and a painful touch arises in the body, body consciousness and mind consciousness then arise to feel the painful touch and process it. If the manas already knows whether it is cold, hot, or painful, why does mind consciousness still need to arise? Because although the manas knows a problem has arisen, it cannot personally handle and resolve the problem; problems of the five-aggregate body require the six consciousnesses to address them. In the absence of the six consciousnesses, the mental activities that arise in the five-aggregate body are all activities of the manas; when the six consciousnesses are extremely weak, those mental activities are also almost entirely the manas'. Observe the state of a person in a vegetative state — does the person in a vegetative state feel pain? Is he willing to be in a vegetative state? Is he willing to continue lying in bed? When eating, is he willing to eat? What reactions does he show upon seeing his closest loved ones? These all reveal the mental activities and feelings of the manas.

When in a coma, is the manas willing to be in a coma, and what manifestations appear? From these manifestations, one can observe the mental activities of the manas. If the manas had a neutral feeling during a coma, then it should be indifferent like the tathāgatagarbha and simply continue being in a coma. But when the body recovers slightly, the manas impels the six consciousnesses to arise and impels the functions of the five aggregates to appear. This shows that the manas is unwilling to be in a coma and is not resigned to being in a coma. Why is it unwilling to be in a coma, not resigned to being in a coma, and disliking being in a coma? During a coma: first, it is unpleasant; second, there is no activity of the five aggregates, and doing nothing feels boring — boredom is also a suffering feeling; if it felt comfortable during a coma, the manas would naturally maintain the comatose state; third, the manas fears death. When sitting in meditation and entering meditative concentration, being unwilling to emerge from concentration — does this not indicate that the manas feels comfortable? Of course, if the mind consciousness is relatively clear and also feels that entering concentration is very pleasant, one will become attached to sitting quietly and be unwilling to rise from the seat.