How to Eliminate the Proliferating Conceptual Clinging of Manas

To eliminate the parikalpita-svabhāva (discriminative clinging nature) of the manas (the seventh consciousness), it is essential to understand why the manas possesses this characteristic. The manas, due to its failure to comprehend the true reality of the dharma-dhātu (realm of reality) and the essential nature of all dharmas, mistakenly clings to all phenomena as real, as self, and as belonging to self, thus universally discriminating and clinging to all dharmas. If the essential nature of all dharmas is revealed—what they ultimately are—and the manas comprehends the true reality of all dharmas, what then remains for it to cling to or dispute? The parikalpita-svabhāva will gradually dissolve, thereby resolving the fundamental problem. If the manas does not realize the dharmas and does not comprehend their essential nature, how can it eradicate ignorance and exhaust the parikalpita-svabhāva? All dharmas cultivated and realized by the manovijñāna (the sixth consciousness, mental consciousness) are ultimately for the purpose of enabling the manas to realize them, to eliminate the ignorance of the manas. Only then can the fundamental state be reversed, leading to ultimate liberation.