The Arising of Any Dharma Requires the Manas as a Condition

The manas pervasively contacts the twelve āyatanas and the eighteen dhātus; the arising of any dharma requires the condition of the manas. Without the condition of the manas, the tathāgatagarbha cannot directly give rise to any dharma—except for the manas itself. The six faculties include the eye faculty, ear faculty, nose faculty, tongue faculty, and body faculty; without the condition of the manas, these five faculties absolutely cannot arise. The six sense objects include form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma; without the condition of the manas, the tathāgatagarbha absolutely cannot give rise to them.

How were the body faculty and the other five faculties initially brought forth? Only when the manas entered the womb together with the tathāgatagarbha were the five faculties brought forth. After birth, the manas, relying on the tathāgatagarbha, fully knows every situation of the five faculties. If a situation is somewhat special and severe, and the manas cannot handle it, the six consciousnesses will arise to discern and deal with it. If it is unimportant and ordinary, the six consciousnesses will not arise; it is enough for the manas itself to know. The same applies to the six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma: the manas, following the tathāgatagarbha, can contact them all. Only if it wishes to discern and deal with them will the six consciousnesses arise; if fine-grained discernment and handling are not needed, no six consciousnesses arise, and the six consciousnesses do not know the sense objects.

Unexpected situations lie outside the mind consciousness: karmic force arrives too quickly for the six consciousnesses to arise and discern, and even though the manas knows what is happening, it is of no use—He cannot handle anything. The Śūraṅgama Sūtra says that the manas silently encompasses all dharmas. The scope of "all dharmas" here is fixed, with no exceptions.