Where does the merit of attaining fruition in past lives manifest?

Once the manas accepts a certain principle, then at any time it is absolutely resolute and without hesitation; whatever comes from the mind consciousness's deliberation (manana) is inevitably doubtful, hesitant, and vacillating. It is like riding a bicycle: knowing how to ride and believing one knows how to ride are two completely different states—the former is without hesitation, while in the latter the mind cannot be fully certain and lacks confidence. Some people harbor doubt within but do not know they are doubting, and even think they have no doubts; that is because their mind is too coarse, their power of introspection is weak, and their meditative concentration (samādhi) is insufficient. Therefore, not seeing the truth, they deceive themselves.

If only the mind consciousness eliminates self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) while the manas does not eliminate self-view, the manas has not been perfumed and remains the manas of an ordinary being (pṛthagjana). In the next life, when entering the womb, the mind consciousness ceases; when reborn as a human, neither the mind consciousness nor the manas has eliminated self-view, and the manas behaves exactly like the ordinary being of the previous life, without any difference. So where would the merit of attaining fruition in the previous life manifest?

In fact, for those who in a previous life truly attained fruition and awakened to the true mind and saw its nature, because the manas has been perfumed, when reborn as a human their mental conduct is decidedly different from that of an ordinary being. The longer one cultivated in the previous life, the purer one's mental conduct becomes, and the greater the difference from ordinary beings. Before studying Buddhism, the mind consciousness did not even know why it was different from other people; when scolded as a fool, the mind consciousness still felt distressed. Sometimes it wanted to be like everyone else, to keep pace with society, and likewise to indulge in a bit of greed, anger, and delusion, yet the manas was unwilling.