According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, the post-canonical Pali commentary uses the three terms viññāa, mano and citta as synonyms for the mindsense base ; however, in the Sutta Pitaka, these three terms are generally contextualized differently:
Viññāa refers to awareness through a specific internal sense base, that is, through the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body or mind. Thus, there are six sense-specific types of Viññāa. It is also the basis for personal continuity within and across lives.
Manas refers to mental "actions", as opposed to those actions that are physical or verbal. It is also the sixth internal sense base, that is, the "mind base," cognizing mental sensa as well as sensory information from the physical sense bases.
Citta includes the formation of thought, emotion and volition; this is thus the subject of Buddhist mental development, the mechanism for release.
Overlapping Sanskrit terms for "mind"
According to Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki the Lankavatara Sutra presents the Zen view of the Eight Consciousnesses rather than the Yogacara view. In his introduction to his translation of the Lankavatara Sutra he clarifies the distinction between the overlapping terms:
Various descriptions of "Manas-vijnana"
One of the primary functions of Manas-vijnana is to perceive the subjective position of the store consciousness and erroneously regard it as one's own ego, thereby creating ego attachment.
The basic nature of Manas-vijnana is that of thought.
There is a difference between the "thought" of this seventh consciousness, Manas-vijnana, and the sixth consciousness "thought" of cognition.
Not consciously controllable, Manas-vijnana is said to be a mind of a realm that gives rise to contradiction of conscious decisions, and to incessant self-love.
Manas-vijnana can be described as "the consciousness which sees the limits of human variation from within".
Manas-vijnana consciousness is also described as the place where good and evil are eternally accumulated.
Manas-vijnana consciousness is theorized as the connecting realm between the mano-consciousness and the ālayavijñāna.
Manas-vijnana as the seventh consciousness is the basis of human existence, which unceasingly continues and changes, and serves as the ground for the sixth consciousness of cognition.
In part II of Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki's Introduction, to his translation of the Lankavatara Sutra, the Manovijñāna, or "that which knows thought", is directly related to an inner faculty known as "Manas". "Manas" is a strong power that attaches to the result of thinking. From this viewpoint one could discern that the "thought-consciousness", that part of the mind that is conscious of thought, also has the power to "velcro" itself to a completed thought process. This would explain the human difficulty of observing one's own thoughts, as the "manas" or "velcro" must first be detached, so to speak.
