How to Reverse the Unwholesome Habitual Tendencies of the Manas through the Permeation of the Mind Consciousness?

Question: Sometimes I know that my mental conduct is not good and not in accordance with the Dharma, but I cannot control it, and bad mental conduct manifests. Afterwards, although I feel guilty, when the same situation arises again I still cannot control myself. What should I do about this?

Answer: This is the mind consciousness knowing that one's own (the manas's) mental conduct is not good, but the mind consciousness's power of persuasion is weak and cannot persuade the manas, so it cannot control the manas's habitual tendencies, and one still acts according to the manas's mental conduct. This requires the mind consciousness to understand the principles more thoroughly and repeatedly persuade and admonish the manas; then the force of the manas's habitual tendencies will gradually weaken.

The key is that when one discovers one's own (the manas's) bad habitual tendencies, one must awaken to them, clearly understand them, and know what is wrong about them and what would be right. In this way, even if one cannot control the manas's habitual tendencies, it still has a great effect: later, when encountering the same situation, the mind will hesitate and be indecisive. When the mind consciousness goes against the manas many times, the manas will no longer insist on erroneous mental conduct, and in this way one has successfully transformed the manas's bad habitual tendencies through perfumation.