Language

Watch this talk

Login or create a free account to watch this talk and discover other teachings from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.

The title, description and transcript may contain inaccuracies.

Manas: The Root of Attachment to Self

Thich Nhat Hanh · December 12, 1999 · Plum Village, France · Audio Only
Feedback

The personal error of manas is analyzed through six points:

  1. Unlike the other five consciousnesses, without manas there is no mind consciousness.
  2. In terms of the original meaning of the term, without manas, “mind” loses its meaning.
  3. The two concentrations (non-perception and cessation) are distinguished only by manas.
  4. In the realm of non-perception, if there were no manas, how could there still be defilement and attachment to self?
  5. Manas manifests in wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate (neither wholesome nor unwholesome) states.
  6. The first two (points 1 & 2) and the last three (points 3–5) are in contradiction if manas is absent.
    – Manas is present throughout body, speech, and mind, and is associated with the four afflictions:
    • view of self
    • pride in self
    • love of self
    • ignorance of self
      The nature of manas is obscured (covered over) and indeterminate (can be transformed), hidden in both wrong concentration and right concentration.

From the perspective of the mind’s essence, only alaya consciousness (store consciousness) is worthy to be called the substance of mind; the other seven consciousnesses (manas and the six “transforming” consciousnesses) are manifestation and function.

  • Alaya contains all seeds (sarvabīja), and gives rise to manas and the six consciousnesses through the condition of habitual energy (vāsanā).
  • Manas is the function of cogitation, always grasping its object as “self.”
  • The other six consciousnesses are discriminative awareness of objects (form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas).

The concept of alaya (the fundamental consciousness) is also referred to by equivalent terms in various schools:

  • fundamental consciousness (mūla-vijñāna)
  • consciousness accompanying birth and death (āsaṃsārika-vijñāna)
  • life-continuum consciousness (bhavanga-citta)
    – showing that this teaching is latent in both the Śrāvaka and Mahāyāna traditions.
read more
Previous Talk December 12, 1999
58m

Living from Ālaya-Vijñāna: The Practice of No Birth, No Death

Next Talk December 15, 1999
54m

The Bhikshuni Precepts – Venerable Nun Tu Nghiem