The mind consciousness thinks as it thinks, and the manas does as it does.

All dharmas are attained by nothing; the Heart Sutra says, "Because there is nothing to be attained, the bodhisattva"; the Diamond Sutra says that the World-Honored One received the prediction from the ancient Buddha Dīpaṃkara because His mind had nothing to attain. Some people then think: since all dharmas have nothing to be attained, and there is no self and nothing belonging to self, then there is no need to strive at all—let even thought come to a stop, and simply be non-active (wu-wei). When thinking this way, the mind feels very relaxed, but this state cannot last very long; soon one becomes active again, and when encountering conditions, affairs, or people, one is not non-active in the slightest.

This is because, before the empty mark of all dharmas has been realized, the emptiness that the mind consciousness conceives of has no power at all and cannot be the master at all; whatever active engagement there should be, there still is, and nothing can be emptied in the slightest. The mind consciousness may wish to be still and non-fabricating, yet it cannot be the master of the five aggregates; the manas, which is the master, has its pursuits, and when it wants to fabricate something, the mind consciousness must comply, with no way out at all. Therefore, even though the mind consciousness understands some principles, the manas does not understand them, and no substantive problem can be resolved. Thus, the mind consciousness attaining the fruits or awakening to the true mind fundamentally changes nothing: afflictions are still afflictions, ignorance is still ignorance, and birth-and-death is still birth-and-death. Only by settling the manas—that which acts as master—can all problems be resolved and a heaven-and-earth-transforming change take place.