All Dharmas Are Tools of the Manas

How can we prove that all dharmas are the tools of the manas, that it is the manas which needs all dharmas and resolves all dharmas?

In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the World-Honored One spoke on this question: before heaven and earth came into being, there was only the manas and the eighth consciousness. The manas was in a state of primordial chaos; wanting to understand the dharmadhātu, it reached outward, grasping and seeking. Thereupon, following the manas, the eighth consciousness gave birth to the material world of heaven, earth, and the universe, and subsequently gave birth to the five aggregates and the six consciousnesses, so that the eighteen dhātus were complete. From then on, the manas has been playing about within these dharmas, never able to get out, tightly bound by them, unable to attain freedom and liberation. Finally, when the roots of goodness, merit, and conditions are complete, the mind consciousness leads the way in exploring the true reality of the dharmas of the three realms, exploring the meaning of life, finding the path to escape birth and death, eliminating all ignorance, and returning to true reality, attaining great liberation, returning home to sit in stability—yet with no home to return to. Only then does peace come to the world; all dharmas return to stillness, everything is well, and there is not even anything to be well about.

The manas leads the eighth consciousness to create all the dharmas of the world of the five aggregates, and then uses the five aggregates and six consciousnesses to seek the true truth and break through the darkness of ignorance—in fact, all of this process is accomplished by making use of the eighth consciousness. It is evident that the eighth consciousness has been played with by the manas in complete submission; being magnanimous like a grown-up, what harm is there in accompanying a child at play? When the child—the manas—gradually grows up and matures, it no longer plays pranks, no longer drags the eighth consciousness into doing bad deeds, no longer indulges in play, no longer stirs up trouble out of nothing, and also learns the grown-up magnanimity of the eighth consciousness, with a vast and expansive mind. Thereupon it settles into stillness, and the three realms become quiet and serene. As it further learns the grown-up magnanimity of the eighth consciousness and helps all the other children grow up and mature, all worlds will come to know peace.