Manas Is the Core of Yogācāra Practice and Realization

In the cultivation and realization of Yogācāra, the manas is the core. Because the tathāgatagarbha does not need anyone's guidance to suddenly change, one can only apply one's mind to the manas; by transforming the manas, one transforms a person—from an ordinary being to a Buddha at the stage of fruition. Only by transforming the manas can all dharmas be transformed.  

All ignorance resides in the manas; by eradicating the ignorance of the manas, one becomes a Buddha. Transforming the manas transforms the seeds, and when the seeds are transformed, one becomes a Buddha. The ignorance of the mind consciousness all comes from the manas; it is only by relying on the manas that there is the mind consciousness and the ignorance of the mind consciousness. The mind consciousness and its ignorance are both easy to eradicate—it is not difficult at all; the difficulty lies in the manas. Therefore, the mental factors of the manas cannot be so much fewer than those of the mind consciousness; they should be roughly the same as the mental factors of the mind consciousness. When both the power of meditative concentration (samādhi) and the power of observation are severely insufficient, one cannot realize the manas, let alone observe the operation of the manas's mental factors. Not knowing or realizing the state of the manas's operation within any given dharma, one then dares to rashly deny the various mental activities of the manas, insisting on describing them as mental activities of the mind consciousness.

If the manas does not realize the dharma, ignorance cannot be eradicated. Even eradicating the ignorance of the mind consciousness is useless and cannot change anything. It now appears that no matter what one does with the mind consciousness, it is useless; the cultivation and realization of all dharmas must reach the manas in order to resolve the fundamental problem. Once this line of thinking is clearly understood, there should be nothing more to say about the cultivation and realization of the Buddha's teachings.