Only by transforming the manas can all dharmas be transformed

In the cultivation and realization of Yogācāra, the manas is the core. Because the tathāgatagarbha needs no guidance from anyone 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 stage of fruition, it is only by transforming the manas that all dharmas can be transformed.

All ignorance resides in the manas. When the ignorance of the manas is eliminated, 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; it is only by relying on the manas that the mind consciousness and its ignorance exist. The mind consciousness and its ignorance are both easy to eliminate—it is not difficult at all. The difficulty lies in the manas. Therefore, the mental factors of the manas cannot be that much fewer than those of the mind consciousness; they should be roughly the same as the mental factors of the mind consciousness. If both one's meditative concentration and 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 in any given dharma is unknown and unrealized, one dares to rashly deny the various mental activities of the manas, insisting that they are the mental activities of the mind consciousness.

If the manas does not realize the dharma, ignorance cannot be eliminated; even eliminating the ignorance of the mind consciousness is useless and changes nothing. It now appears that no matter what one does with the mind consciousness, it is of no use. The cultivation and realization of all dharmas must reach the manas before the fundamental problem can be solved. Once this line of thinking is clearly understood, there should be nothing more to say about the cultivation and realization of the Buddha's teachings.