All Cultivation Includes the Cultivation of the Manas

Question: All fruition of realization in the Great Vehicle and the Small Vehicle necessarily involves the transformation of both the sixth and seventh consciousnesses together. If only the mind consciousness understands the principles while the manas remains untransformed, at most it is the accomplishment of wisdom through deliberation (manasikāra/manana), and cannot be called genuine realization. However, in Small Vehicle Buddhism, such as the Satipaṭṭhāna Sūtra, the various contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) methods taught by the World-Honored One are clearly cultivated by the mind consciousness, and nothing is said about the manas. May I ask how the manas is transformed into the untainted when attaining fruition?

Answer: Although the World-Honored One did not explicitly point out that the manas should also participate in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) when teaching the Dharma, all cultivation includes the cultivation of the manas. It is only that when a person lacks meditative concentration (samādhi), the cultivation remains merely at the level of the mind consciousness; when there is meditative concentration, it will inevitably reach the manas. Even if one does not understand the manas or know its nature, the cultivation will naturally be implemented in the manas. It is the same principle as all sentient beings not knowing that the eye consciousness exists, yet all sentient beings have always been using the eye consciousness.

When the World-Honored One taught the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness, as long as sentient beings earnestly practiced according to this teaching, meditative concentration would arise. Only when there is meditative concentration will the contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) be implemented in the manas, and the manas will engage in contemplative practice and attain fruition together with the mind consciousness. Thereafter, the manas will transform body, mind, and the world, abiding in the samādhi of purity of the Dharma eye. If one does not earnestly cultivate according to what the World-Honored One taught, but harbors a mentality of seeking shortcuts, meditative concentration will certainly not arise, the manas will not be influenced and permeated, will not engage in contemplative practice along with the mind consciousness, and thus one will not attain fruition, and the samādhi state of purity of the Dharma eye will not appear.