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Mind-Only 7B
The object of Manas is the “self-image with substance,” arising from the interaction between Manas (the seventh consciousness) and Alaya (the eighth consciousness). Its main function is “measuring” – to measure, to think as an intuition that is easily mistaken, always clinging to that as “me” rather than the true nature of reality.
The seventh consciousness serves as the “carrier of defilement and purity” for the six evolving consciousnesses (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind), determining their level of defilement or purity. It is associated with
- The five universal mental formations: contact, attention, feeling, perception, volition
- The four afflictions: self-delusion, self-view, self-conceit, self-love
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The eight secondary afflictions: anger, resentment, concealment, vexation, jealousy, stinginess, hypocrisy, flattery
All are “obscured” (covered over) but “neutral” (inactive, neither wholesome nor unwholesome) and can be transformed.
Manas is the mechanism of self-preservation, the instinct of craving – always seeking pleasure but easily bringing about suffering. On the Bodhisattva path, at the first bhumi, one ends the obstacles of afflictions and knowledge; only at the eighth bhumi is the “innate self-grasping” completely ended, and simultaneously Alaya releases its energy, transforming at the root.