Does the Manas Have Determination (Adhimokṣa)?

The manas has determination (adhimokṣa). If the manas lacked determination, when a major event suddenly occurred, the manas would not be able to accurately discern it and take effective emergency measures. For example, when a car is charging toward you, after the manas determines the situation, it immediately mobilizes the physical body to avoid the danger; only thus can the physical body urgently evade the danger when the car comes charging. If the manas lacks determination, then even though all the six sense objects discerned by the six consciousnesses are transmitted to the manas, the manas cannot know them with certainty, and thus cannot make the appropriate decision, nor direct the six consciousnesses in their next course of action in accordance with reason and Dharma. If the manas lacks determination, then no matter how much the manas is perfumed by what the mind consciousness learns, it is useless: the manas cannot understand it, nor can it store the seeds, and the mind consciousness's learning is all in vain. On the other hand, after the mind consciousness continuously perfumes the manas, the manas will also come to accept and change, making correct decisions—this is the determination of the manas.

If the manas lacks determination, the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths and non-self learned by the mind consciousness cannot perfume the manas, and the manas will never be able to eliminate self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and self-grasping; if the manas lacks determination, the principle of prajñā learned by the mind consciousness cannot perfume the manas, and the manas will never be able to realize prajñā, never attain prajñā wisdom, never accomplish the transformation of consciousness into wisdom, and still less cultivate all the way to the Buddha stage, where all eight consciousnesses ultimately accomplish the transformation of consciousness into wisdom. So does the manas actually possess determination or not? The manas of course possesses determination.