As the Manas Is, So Are Sentient Beings

Question: If only the mind consciousness realizes the eighth consciousness, and the manas has not realized the eighth consciousness, and the manas is not needed to realize it either—then after this person dies and is reborn in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī), or is born in the heavens, in the land of bliss the material body is the body of a deva, and the mind consciousness is the newly born mind consciousness of that deva. If the manas has not realized the eighth consciousness, is this person still a bodhisattva who has awakened to seeing the mind in the land of bliss? What is their stage of attainment? Is their situation the same as that of ordinary beings who reach the land of bliss? Do they all count as ordinary beings? Do they receive the same treatment as ordinary beings?

Answer: No matter in what world or in what form sentient beings exist, their identity and fruit-realization are primarily determined by the manas—whatever the manas is, that is what the sentient being is. Because the manas is the master of the sentient being, the consciousness that makes decisions, and it also corresponds to karmic seeds and can continue into future lives, whatever karma the manas has created, that is the retribution one will receive. If the manas has created the karma of an ordinary being, one will be an ordinary being in future lives; if the manas has eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), one will be a person of the first through fourth fruits in future lives; if the manas has awakened to seeing the mind and seeing the nature, one will be an enlightened bodhisattva in future lives. The seven stages of attainment are determined by the degree of the manas's enlightenment or non-enlightenment.

If, while in a human body, the manas has not realized the eighth consciousness, one is an ordinary being; being reborn in the land of bliss, one goes there with the identity of an ordinary being, and upon arriving in the land of bliss one is still an ordinary being, dwelling within the lotus flower for a number of kalpas of varying length. Only when one's karmic obstructions have been eliminated to a certain degree does the lotus flower open and one sees the Buddha, hears the Dharma, and awakens to the Path—only then does one become a true bodhisattva. The mind consciousness's understanding while in a human body does not play a fundamental role; if it has been somewhat infused into the manas, corresponding faint seeds will be stored, and in future lives the manas will be able to be infused and to attain realization somewhat more easily.