What Is Meant by the Continual Scrutiny and Deliberation of the Manas?

The manas possesses the nature of continual scrutiny and deliberation. "Continual" refers to its permanence and perpetuity: the nature of scrutiny and deliberation always accompanies the manas. As long as the manas exists, it will scrutinize and deliberate upon all dharmas. Since beginningless kalpas, the manas of sentient beings has never ceased to exist; only when one cultivates to the fruition of the fourth fruit arhat of the Small Vehicle or the fruition of the pratyekabuddha does one gain the ability to extinguish it. Apart from this, the manas of other sentient beings will not perish in future lives, all the way up to the buddha-bhūmi and even after the buddha-bhūmi. Thus the manas will exist perpetually, and it will impel the eighth consciousness to continuously manifest all the myriad dharmas of the world. This non-ceasing nature of the manas is called "continuity," and its deliberative nature likewise accompanies the manas' ongoing functioning moment after moment, never stopping. This is the continuity nature of the manas.

"Scrutiny" means to examine, investigate, and weigh, to evaluate. Scrutiny also represents the nature of doubt—a desire to probe and clarify some situation, to understand some matter or principle. Because one cannot know for certain and there is doubt in the mind, scrutiny and deliberation are needed to judge how a certain dharma actually is, whether it is truly correct and in accord with reality, whether it is a certain situation. This mental activity is called scrutiny. The annual review, investigation, examination, interrogation, and questioning in worldly affairs all carry this meaning of "scrutiny." The manas possesses the nature of scrutiny. Without scrutiny, He would be unable to make choices and decisions. He is constantly examining, considering, and weighing; only after the mind has become clear does He finally make a choice.

"Deliberation" means that the manas performs a certain degree of weighing, taking and rejecting, choosing, considering, investigating, measuring, planning, and discerning with regard to all dharmas—weighing what the content and meaning of a certain dharma is, how it actually is, whether it is beneficial to oneself, what is the right way to act, how to fulfill one's wishes and achieve one's aims—only after which can it take or reject and make choices. Thus the manas possesses the nature of deliberation. Only after deliberating can the manas, based on the results of its deliberation, make a decision—whether to take or to reject—and only then can it direct the six consciousnesses to undertake the corresponding bodily, verbal, and mental actions to achieve its aims. The eighth consciousness, in turn, has no choice but to revolve around the manas' deliberations and choices, according with and cooperating with them to give rise to the myriad dharmas.