The sixth and seventh consciousnesses are transformed on the cause-ground, while the fifth and eighth are perfected on the fruit-ground.

This is saying that the result of cultivation is the perfect clarity of the four wisdoms. The four perfectly clear wisdoms include the wisdom of the five sense consciousnesses, the wisdom of the mind consciousness, the wisdom of the manas, and the wisdom of the eighth consciousness. "Perfect clarity" means perfect, bright, and wondrous; when wisdom has reached its ultimate pinnacle and will never increase further, it means there is no longer any need to cultivate, having reached the stage beyond training (aśaikṣa) with respect to all dharmas—the highest position, which is the buddha stage.

Since at the buddha stage the four wisdoms are perfectly clear, this shows that all four kinds of consciousnesses can possess ultimate, perfect, bright, and wondrous wisdom; it is only at the stage of ordinary beings that they are not perfectly clear and bright, being tainted and having ignorance. But the eighth consciousness has no taints and no ignorance—so why is it not perfectly clear at the stage of ordinary beings, and why does it still need the transformation of consciousness into wisdom? Because the karmic seeds of the first seven consciousnesses are stored in the eighth consciousness, dragging it down so that it cannot radiate the ultimate, perfectly harmonious, unobstructed light; or, although it can radiate perfect and unobstructed light, the ignorance of the seven consciousnesses obscures a portion of the eighth consciousness's unobstructed light, so that the functions and activities of the eighth consciousness are obstructed and have a certain limitation. Once the ignorance of the seven consciousnesses is completely eliminated, this obstruction is removed, and the great light of the eighth consciousness manifests in full.

Since the first seven consciousnesses at the stage of ordinary beings are tainted and have ignorance, the cultivation over the three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas must completely eliminate the ignorance of the seven consciousnesses. The first ignorance to be subdued is that of the mind consciousness, followed immediately by the subduing of the ignorance of the manas; but when ignorance is eliminated, the ignorance of the mind consciousness and the manas is eliminated simultaneously. Because the manas is the dominant condition (adhipati-pratyaya) of the mind consciousness, being its master and director, if the manas does not eliminate its ignorance, then even if the mind consciousness can eliminate it, under the manas's directing influence, ignorance will arise again and create karmic actions of ignorance.

After the elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and seeing one's true mind (awakening to the true mind), the mind consciousness and the manas break through the initial ignorance and attain the initial wisdom of patience with non-arising (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti). However, at this time the ignorance of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses is still rather heavy, the wisdom is not deep enough, there is still rather heavy discriminative tendency, and there is still a considerable degree of self-nature (the nature of self-clinging), so it is not yet sufficient for the transformation of consciousness into wisdom. Only after passing through the final barrier and entering the first bhūmi, when a portion of attachment to dharmas is eliminated and ignorance becomes thinner, does the first transformation of consciousness into wisdom begin: the discriminative tendency toward worldly dharmas weakens, the unconditioned nature strengthens, the realization of emptiness (śūnyatā) deepens, and the wisdom becomes profound. But because the five sense consciousnesses are rather dull, great wisdom does not manifest in them, so they cannot undergo the transformation of consciousness into wisdom. And the eighth consciousness is still obscured by the ignorance of the seven consciousnesses, so its wisdom's functioning is limited to a certain degree.

As the first-bhūmi bodhisattva continues cultivating up to the eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva stage, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses break through more and more ignorance, the ignorance becomes increasingly slight, and the wisdom becomes increasingly deep and sharp; then the second transformation of consciousness into wisdom occurs. When the sixth and seventh consciousnesses undergo the third transformation of consciousness into wisdom, the five sense consciousnesses subsequently transform consciousness into wisdom as well. When none of the seven consciousnesses is any longer obscured by ignorance and all karmic seeds are completely purified, the eighth consciousness becomes the great perfect mirror wisdom (ādarśajñāna), illuminating all dharmas without the slightest obstruction—wisdom perfectly clear and bright.