The Dharma Gate of Mahakasyapa Bodhisattva's Perfect Penetration of the Mental Faculty (Training Section on the Mental Faculty)

In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Mahākāśyapa Bodhisattva recounts his own cultivation and realization of the perfect and penetrating method: "I contemplate the world. The six dusts undergo transformation and decay. Only by means of emptiness and stillness, cultivating the extinction [of defilements], can body and mind then transcend hundreds of thousands of kalpas as if in the snap of a finger. Through the Dharma of emptiness, I attained Arhatship. The World-Honored One declares that I am foremost in ascetic practices. The wondrous Dharma opens and illuminates, extinguishing all outflows. When the Buddha inquired about perfect penetration, according to my realization, the Dharma-cause is supreme."

Mahākāśyapa said: "I observe that the six dust-objects within the world constantly arise and cease, coming from non-existence into existence, then decaying, perishing, and returning to emptiness—none can be relied upon. Only with a mind of empty stillness can I empty all these dharmas, with body and mind constantly abiding in the samādhi of the extinction of dharmas. In such a state of samādhi, even though body and mind pass through the long eons of hundreds of thousands of kalpas, it feels as brief as the snap of a finger. It is because I emptied the dharmas of the six dust-objects that I attained Arhatship."

What does it signify to extinguish and empty the six dust-objects from the mind in the nirodha-samāpatti (attainment of cessation)? It signifies that the six consciousnesses are also extinguished and can no longer arise. The six dusts are a condition for the arising of the six consciousnesses; if the condition is absent, consciousness cannot arise. If the six consciousnesses are extinguished, only the manas (seventh consciousness) and the tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature) remain, leaving Mahākāśyapa abiding in the nirodha-samāpatti. Then, does Mahākāśyapa emerge from this samādhi? Does he still engage with worldly affairs? What should he do when interaction is necessary? Though Mahākāśyapa cultivated to the point of extinguishing dharmas and could easily enter the nirodha-samāpatti, as a great bodhisattva, he bears the responsibility of benefiting beings and cannot remain perpetually inactive in the nirodha-samāpatti. Upon emerging from the nirodha-samāpatti, he still abides in the samādhi of the extinction of dharmas and must perform all deeds to benefit beings. This is inconceivable: if dharmas are empty, how can he perform deeds to benefit beings, since benefiting beings is also a dharma?

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra further states: "Mahākāśyapa long ago extinguished the manas (意根). Perfectly and lucidly comprehending, not relying on mental thoughts." This passage describes how Mahākāśyapa ordinarily engages with and responds to worldly affairs. How does he do so? Without using the mental thoughts of the sixth consciousness (mano-vijñāna), he perfectly, completely, clearly, and lucidly comprehends the six dust-objects.

For ordinary people, isn't this state too mysterious and inconceivable? Knowing the six dust-objects without using the sixth consciousness, and knowing them more perfectly, clearly, and penetratingly than ordinary people—how is this known? It is known by the manas (意根). The manas replaces the discerning function of the six consciousnesses; in other words, the manas directly discerns by itself, without the assistance of the six consciousnesses. The master can do everything alone, having dismissed all assistants. This signifies that the master is full of energy, his capabilities enhanced; he can handle all matters alone without helpers. How powerful is such a manas! Is this the manas an ordinary person possesses? To be precise, can a person with such a manas be ordinary? This is Mahākāśyapa, equivalent to an Eighth Ground Bodhisattva!

What then is meant by "long ago extinguished the manas" mentioned in the text? Did Mahākāśyapa long ago extinguish the manas? Here, "manas" does not refer to the sovereign seventh consciousness, but rather to the root from which the sixth consciousness arises. If the seventh consciousness were extinguished, one would enter parinirvāṇa without residue; Mahākāśyapa would no longer exist in the world, so how could there be talk of "perfectly and lucidly comprehending"?

Then, what is the root from which the sixth consciousness arises? The arising of the sixth consciousness requires several conditions. If one condition is missing, the sixth consciousness cannot arise. Among these conditions are the objects of mental perception (dharmas), but the primary one is the attention (manaskāra) of the manas (seventh consciousness). After the objects of mental perception appear, if the manas does not attend to them—being mindless towards the objects, having no mind directed to the objects—the sixth consciousness cannot arise. This is the most crucial point in cultivation. If the manas has no mind to discern the six dust-objects, having emptied the six dusts and all dharmas, the six consciousnesses cannot arise. Therefore, cultivating to the point where the manas is mindless towards objects extinguishes the root from which the sixth consciousness arises. This is the samādhi state of Mahākāśyapa's "long ago extinguished the manas."

Yet, he can still "perfectly and lucidly comprehend." Since the manas is mindless and does not intend to discern objects, how can it still comprehend and do so perfectly and lucidly? This is the natural, effortless, non-deliberate discerning function of the manas. It is like a surveillance camera being on: all scenes naturally enter the camera. Similarly, the manas, being mindless, naturally presents the dust-objects. If this "camera" of the manas were off, one would enter parinirvāṇa without residue. Bodhisattvas do not do this; keeping it on allows them to incidentally perform deeds to benefit beings. All deeds to benefit beings are accomplished solely by the manas. Then, does the manas possess wholesome mental factors (kuśala-caittas)? Is the wisdom of the manas powerful? It is absolutely not inferior or weak! Especially after the First Ground, when the manas transforms consciousness into wisdom, how could its wisdom remain inferior? Even the manas of ordinary beings sometimes possesses wisdom and is not necessarily inferior. The function of the manas is so sublime—how can we not strive diligently to cultivate and train it?