Only by Changing the Manas Can All Dharmas Be Transformed

In the cultivation and realization of Yogācāra, the manas is the core. Because the tathāgatagarbha needs no one's guidance and does not need to be changed, one can only apply one's mind to the manas. When the manas is transformed, a person is transformed. From an ordinary being to a Buddha at the fruition stage, only by transforming the manas can all dharmas be transformed.

All ignorance resides within the manas. When the ignorance of the manas is eradicated, one becomes a Buddha; transforming the manas transforms the seeds, and when the seeds are transformed, one becomes a Buddha. The ignorance of the mind consciousness all comes from the manas; only by relying on the manas do the mind consciousness and its ignorance arise. The mind consciousness and its ignorance are both easy to eradicate—not difficult at all. The difficulty lies in the manas. Therefore, the mental factors of the manas cannot be so much fewer than those of the mind consciousness; they should be roughly the same as the mental factors of the mind consciousness. If both the power of meditative concentration (samādhi) and the power of observation are severely insufficient, one cannot realize the manas, let alone observe the operation of the manas's mental factors. Since the state of the manas's operation within any given dharma is neither known nor realized, one then dares to rashly deny the various mental activities of the manas, insisting on describing them as mental activities of the mind consciousness.

If the manas does not realize the Dharma, ignorance cannot be eradicated. Even eradicating the ignorance of the mind consciousness is useless and cannot change anything. It now appears that no matter what is done with the mind consciousness, it is useless. The cultivation and realization of all dharmas must reach the manas before the fundamental problem can be resolved. Once this line of thinking is clearly understood, there should be nothing more to say about the cultivation and realization of the Buddha's Dharma.