The Contents of the Manas All Belong to the Category of the Seed-Wisdom of Consciousness-Only

Almost one hundred percent of people mistake the state of the manas for the state of the mind consciousness. Therefore, when someone articulates the true characteristics of the manas, they are accused of having reversed the manas and the mind consciousness. Yet in reality, it is the one hundred percent versus the more than ninety-nine percent who have it reversed. Because all of these people are replete with every kind of affliction, and because of the obscuration of ignorance and afflictions, and because they have not transformed consciousness into wisdom, they cannot directly observe the actual functioning of the manas; naturally they will misunderstand it one hundred percent of the time. In no era could it be possible that the overwhelming majority are people of high intelligence without obscuring afflictions, while a few individuals are of low intelligence, to the point of misapprehending the Buddha's teachings. In Sahā world, those who err have always been the overwhelming majority, and those without wisdom have likewise always been the overwhelming majority. It is impossible for the vast majority to transform consciousness into wisdom and possess the wisdom of wonderful observation—not in a hundred years, not in a hundred ways. So those who think themselves clever had best not be too self-assured, and still less should they slander others, lest the consequences be grave.

All the content concerning the manas belongs to the domain of the seed-wisdom (zhongzhi) of Yogācāra; all Yogācāra-related content likewise belongs to this domain, and this is all the more true of the mental factors (caittas) of each consciousness. Unless one is a bodhisattva who has attained the bhūmis, it is best to remain silent and not go about lecturing and debating everywhere, for without the wisdom of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) based on direct perception, one cannot directly observe the concrete functioning of the manas. What one then speaks of is mostly imagination and conjecture, and one will often misattribute things. Learners of Buddhism in the Sahā world are largely like this; it is impossible for many people to transform consciousness into wisdom and possess the wisdom of wonderful observation and the wisdom of equality. Without such wisdom, everyone should quietly apply themselves in practice, hoping to quickly cultivate the first dhyāna, quickly eliminate the obscuration of afflictions, quickly develop the various wisdoms of contemplative practice, and enter the house of the Tathāgata early. Only then should they, in meditative concentration, directly observe the functioning of the manas through contemplative practice, and lead the multitude in resolving the questions of the manas, thereby increasing their Yogācāra wisdom.