The Manas and Mental Factors (manas-caitta-dharma)

There are many secrets to be uncovered in the cooperation between the manas and the mind consciousness. It is not as simple as what is commonly circulated. Whether the manas has determination (adhimokṣa) or not affects the seeds that are stored; whether the manas is attentive or inattentive affects the seeds that are stored; whether the mind consciousness dominates or the manas dominates affects the seeds that are stored; the seeds stored when the mind consciousness knows something but the manas has not realized it differ from the seeds stored when the manas realizes it together with the mind consciousness. The Buddha-dharma is extremely subtle and fine; it is not like what is popularly circulated among the masses.

When working on arithmetic problems, whether the manas is focused or not focused yields different results. On the surface, it appears as whether the mind consciousness is concentrated or not concentrated, resulting in different performance, different thinking ability, different intelligence, and different results.

When poets compose poems and paint, they concentrate the mind and contemplate in stillness, pacing back and forth deliberating over each word—this is just like the effort of investigating Chan (can-chan). Only with meditative concentration (samādhi) can there be wisdom (prajñā). For such a great matter as studying Buddhism, without meditative concentration it is absolutely impossible, and even shallow meditative concentration cannot solve the problem.

Among children with hyperactivity disorder, which of them studies well? If one's mind is scattered in studying Buddhism, who can cultivate well?

If the manas cannot have determination (adhimokṣa), and the mind consciousness says "I should go east," but the manas does not comprehend it, then either it goes west or does not move at all. In the end, not only will the matter fail to be accomplished, but one will also feel extremely frustrated, which can even lead to mental derangement. When a car speeds toward you from the opposite direction, if the manas cannot comprehend the urgency of the situation, it cannot dodge immediately—what would the result be? When boiling water scalds your hand, if the manas cannot comprehend the condition of the body, the scalding will continue until the body consciousness can no longer bear it, while the manas still does not know what is going on—what would the result of that be?

The manas is like the president of a nation. For things he does not understand or cannot do personally, he will have his subordinates do them; he does not need to attend to everything himself. But if the president were nothing at all, with very low intelligence, unable to comprehend, unable to have intention and mindfulness, and unable to have meditative concentration—then just think, could this nation be well? Belittling the president is like belittling the entire nation's people. If a car's engine rusts and malfunctions, what would that car be like?