We have to come back to manas. [Thay writes on the board.] First of all, we know that store consciousness operates with mental formations. Consciousness is made of mental formations like a river is made of drops of water. And in our tradition, there are more than fifty mental formations, and we know that in the tradition, store consciousness works with the five universal mental formations, which are: contact, mental contact, attention—manaskāra, feeling—vedanā, perception, and volition.

But in the Theravāda tradition, the “universal” are seven and not just five, so we add vitality —jīvitendriya—mạng căn (命根). [Thay writes on the board.] So this is the sixth universal mental formation that should be added. This is the will to live, equivalent to the "elan vital" of Henri Berson.

[Thay writes on the board.] And also the Theravāda Buddhism considers ekaggatā [Pali], ekacitta [Sanskrit] as another universal mental formation, this is called concentration, nhất tâm (一心) or định (定)—concentration.

Remember, consciousness is like a river, and mental formations are drops of water in the river. But in Plum Village, we have found out that there are more than seven universal mental formations operating with store consciousness. [Thay writes on the board.] We know that store consciousness has the capacity to touch the ultimate reality, to touch reality as it is, to touch suchness, to touch la chose en soi, l'être en tant qu'être. That is why store consciousness is a kind of consciousness that has the mental formation called insight—tuệ (慧)—prajñā, because store consciousness has direct access to the ultimate truth, to the realm of reality in itself.

[Thay writes on the board.] We know that the object of store is tính cảnh (性境)—the realm of reality in itself. So, for store, the Kingdom of God is accessible. And the form of cognition that allows store to touch the ultimate reality is hiện lượng (現量)—this is a direct perception, true direct perception—chân hiện lượng (真現量).

[Thay writes on the board.] And this is the subject and this is the object. Store consciousness as the subject, as a direct perception and the object as the ultimate reality. So everything in store reflects the nature of no-birth, no-death, no coming, no going, no being, no non-being. [Video edited.]

Chân hiện lượng is a kind of wisdom that always is there. It is the original wisdom called căn bản trí (根本智). Căn bản means root. And chân hiện lượng is a kind, a form of cognition called pratyakṣa—chân hiện lượng. And tính cảnh is svalakṣaṇa.

So store consciousness operates with a mental formation called insight. So we have the highest kind of insight in store consciousness and we have to rely on it, to base ourselves on it, we have to always go back to store consciousness, the source of insight, and we know that insight comes from concentration.

When you are mindful, when you are concentrated, then insight comes. Mindfulness generates concentration, and together they produce insight, wisdom, and that is why store has insight, store has concentration, and ekacitta is concentration, and of course, the ninth is mindfulness, memory. Store preserves everything, mind consciousness can forget, but store preserves everything. So memory is a part of store, that is why. So in this retreat, we confirm that not only store operates with the five mentioned in the tradition, but also operates with vitality, with concentration, with insight and with mindfulness.