Variations in the Depth of Manas's Permeation

Question: If upon hearing a certain insight or learning a Dharma teaching, such as the emptiness of the five aggregates, impermanence, emptiness, and non-self, one's mind genuinely changes in daily life—whether through major adjustments in work and life, or experiencing significantly diminished greed towards previously desired objects, feeling very detached—is this considered a transformation of manas (the mind root)?

Answer: This is a change occurring at the stage of cultivating the Thirty-Seven Aids to Enlightenment; it indicates that the practice is becoming quite effective. Once permeated [by the Dharma], the mind begins to transform, shifting towards the Noble Eightfold Path, subduing some coarse and heavy afflictions of greed. The transformation of body, mind, and world is precisely due to manas being permeated and transformed. This means that at any stage of practice, as long as manas is permeated, the practice will show results. The Thirty-Seven Aids to Enlightenment must also be cultivated to reach manas; otherwise, it is false practice, not yet on the Path. However, this kind of bodily and mental transformation is still insufficient to bring about a complete rebirth, to the extent of being able to sever the view of self. Therefore, many who claim to have severed the view of self show little improvement or change in all aspects of body and mind after supposedly severing it; the "bones" haven't changed, and the ordinary being's "womb" cannot be transformed into that of a sage.

Before attaining the fruition [of enlightenment], the Buddha Dharma must permeate manas. When manas is permeated by wholesome dharmas, it will undergo change, and body and mind will transform accordingly. This is especially true at the very moment of attaining the fruition; that is what is called the power of samadhi. If during the process of studying the Buddha Dharma, it does not permeate manas, and is merely the conscious mind absorbing and understanding knowledge, then manas will remain as before. There will be no transformation of body, mind, and world, and severing the view of self and attaining the fruition will remain distant and uncertain.

Even if manas is permeated before attaining the fruition, if it has not reached a sufficient degree, one still cannot sever the view of self or attain the fruition. Therefore, the transformation of body and mind, the transformation of bodily, verbal, and mental actions, severing the view of self, and realizing the mind and seeing its nature—all require manas to be permeated to a considerable extent. Merely changing manas a little is insufficient. To achieve complete rebirth, manas must be thoroughly transformed, eliminating the afflictions and defilements within it, and severing the five grades of afflictions of discursive thought in the desire realm. Only then can the karmic seeds be stored in the eighth consciousness (alaya-vijnana), ensuring rebirth in the wholesome paths of humans or devas in future lives, avoiding the three evil destinies. There are still those who stubbornly cling to the notion of attaining the fruition through the conscious mind alone, opposing the concept of attaining the fruition through manas. They are stubbornly clinging, rigid and unyielding—truly beyond remedy.