Where Does the Enjoyment of the Merit of Liberation Come From?

Knowing is easy, but practicing is difficult; the key lies in where the knowing is actually established. If it is only established in the mind consciousness, then not even a bit of practice can be spoken of. When the mind consciousness knows that the five aggregates are without self, there is not even a trace of the beneficial experience of liberation's merit. Therefore, a person of the first fruit absolutely cannot be one whose mind consciousness merely knows that the five aggregates are without self; the manas must also know it. Only in this way does the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) bring the beneficial experience of merit, enabling an initial liberation and drawing a clear dividing line from ordinary beings (pṛthagjana).

If a person of the first fruit has partially realized liberation and possesses some beneficial experience of liberation's merit, then the principle that the five aggregates are without self must be realized by the manas. If it is merely realized by the mind consciousness, there will be no beneficial experience of merit and no partial realization of liberation.