Why the Wisdom of the Mind Consciousness Is Greater Than the Wisdom of the Manas

The wisdom of the mind consciousness is far greater than that of the manas. One reason is that the objects cognized by the mind consciousness are far fewer than those of the manas; He is not the master consciousness, and does not need to take charge of anything, so He has not so many concerns and can easily focus on thinking through problems, and His discernment of objects is relatively clear. The manas has many dharmas that He cognizes, is concerned with, and discerns: whatever dharmas the tathāgatagarbha brings forth, the manas can reach and cognize them; all things, past and present, related to oneself—the manas can discern even the minute changes occurring in the body faculty at every instant, and knows them all. Even things unrelated to Himself, due to the habit of clinging, He will still cling to and be concerned with them. Therefore His mental activity is not easily concentrated, His discerning wisdom is weak, and His understanding of the Dharma is not clear.

Another reason the mind consciousness has greater wisdom than the manas is that the mind consciousness exists for only one lifetime, is only very lightly influenced by environmental conditioning, and does not have the manas's many afflictions and ignorance, nor so many karmic obstructions; with fewer obscurations, the mind consciousness is more intelligent than the manas.

If the manas had fewer objects to cognize, if the ignorance in the mind were not very deep and heavy, and if He had not accumulated boundless karmic obstructions of birth and death over beginningless kalpas, then the manas would be as wise as the mind consciousness; even with insufficient evidence, He could still reach a reasonable conclusion and thereby realize the truth. But the manas is not like this, and that is why it is so difficult for us to cultivate and attain realization.