The Continual Scrutiny and Deliberation Nature of the Manas

The manas's nature of continual scrutiny and deliberation has been operating in this way since beginningless kalpas. He always clings to the existence of a self, continually scrutinizing and deliberating over what is most advantageous to himself, how to achieve his own aims, and how to fulfill his own wishes; He is forever weighing how to accept or reject all the dharmas He encounters. After deliberation, He decides to accept or reject and to act, but He needs the six consciousnesses as tools to carry out actions, for the manas Himself cannot act; He can only direct the six consciousnesses to perform bodily, verbal, and mental actions, while the eighth consciousness cooperates moment by moment. Only after the manas has subdued self-grasping and accomplished the transformation of consciousness into wisdom does His deliberative and weighing nature regarding self diminish, and He no longer always deliberates and makes choices centered on His own self-interest.