How the Manas Engages in Mental Engagement to Make Itself Cease

When an arhat liberated by wisdom (paññāvimutti) is on the verge of death, the manas no longer craves the three realms, no longer engages in mental attention (manaskāra), no longer deliberates and chooses to perceive dharmas, has no desire to perceive dharmas, and no desire to create karma. When the five universal mental factors (pañca-sarvatraga) no longer manifest, the manas must necessarily cease. Therefore, when the manas no longer engages in attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition, the tathāgatagarbha no longer cooperates in generating dharmas. When the manas has no craving or thought toward the three realms, it will certainly not engage in attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition; the consciousnesses can no longer operate, and the functions of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) cease to arise. In this way, the manas ceases.

As long as the manas has mental activity and craving, and has a grasping tendency toward the dharmas of the three realms, the five universal mental factors will continue to operate without cease. The manas cannot cease, and the five aggregates and eighteen elements (aṣṭādaśa-dhātu) will continue to arise without end; thus sentient beings in the three realms will undergo birth and death without interruption.