The Reasons Why the Present Era Requires Greater Emphasis on Manas

Regarding the manas (mind faculty), Sravakas need only understand it simply as one of the six sense faculties, serving as the basis for the arising of consciousness, and recognize that it too is subject to birth, cessation, and change; deeper comprehension is unnecessary. Similarly, Mahayana Bodhisattvas do not require extensive understanding of the manas before attaining initial insight into the mind (ming xin). Even in the early stages after initial insight, prior to mastering the Mirage Observation (yangyan guan), profound knowledge of the manas remains unnecessary.

However, in the Dharma-ending Age, especially in the present era, sentient beings pursue spiritual practice with impatience and a desire for quick results. Their minds are restless, they lack meditative concentration (dhyana), and are incapable of cultivating it. Consequently, they often mistake intellectual understanding for genuine awakening (wu), or confuse conceptual comprehension with actual realization. The karmic retribution in future lifetimes is truly dreadful. Therefore, in this current age, it is imperative to elaborate extensively on the manas. This is to prevent the increasing prevalence of the pitiful phenomenon of mistaking intellectual understanding for genuine awakening, to curb the worsening trend of "empty words without genuine realization," and to halt the escalating superficiality within Buddhism. Once the Dharma degenerates, future generations will have nothing authentic to rely upon. Explaining the manas serves to help everyone distinguish between intellectual understanding (jie wu) and genuine realization (zheng wu). This is an urgent measure to alleviate the crisis, preventing further chaos within Buddhism and averting its premature demise. It is an action taken out of absolute necessity.

Many individuals neither wish to uphold the precepts diligently (fearing constraint), nor are they willing to endure the hardship of cultivating meditative concentration. They prefer comfort and dislike exertion, avoiding the necessary transformation of their mental disposition and the eradication of ignorance and afflictions. Their sole desire is to swiftly attain the ultimate fruit and become a sage, seeking boundless glory, unaware that blessings never fall from the sky without cause. If such an easy path truly existed, why would Shakyamuni Buddha and all the Buddhas of the ten directions withhold it from sentient beings? Instead, they expounded the practices of precepts, concentration, wisdom (Sila, Samadhi, Prajna), and the Six Paramitas of the Bodhisattva, urging sentient beings to cultivate with such arduous effort. What purpose could that serve?