Can the Imputed Nature of the Manas Be Removed?

Grasping means stagnation, blockage, obstruction, hindrance, bondage, birth-and-death, lack of self-mastery (avaśatā), and inability to attain nirvāṇa and liberation. Non-grasping means harmonious penetration, suppleness, resilience, unimpeded understanding, sudden clarity, thorough comprehension, and luminosity.

Once the manas neither grasps evil, nor grasps good, nor grasps what is neither good nor evil, there is no obstruction in any dharma it encounters; the mind becomes harmoniously penetrating, liberated, and unimpeded—more than sufficient for attaining buddhahood. As the saying goes, one who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and one who stays near ink gets stained black. When the manas is heavy with ignorance and heavy with grasping, one must distance oneself from evil dharmas and draw near to good dharmas, so as not to be perfumed by evil dharmas, gradually remove evil dharmas, and cease grasping at evil dharmas. Only by drawing near to good dharmas can one be perfumed by good dharmas and attain liberation of the mind through goodness. Everyone's manas grasps at certain dharmas; observe this frequently in daily life. As long as you know what you are grasping at, it becomes manageable—sooner or later it will be corrected and the grasping removed.

The imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva) of the manas includes grasping at the self of persons related to the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) and the eighteen realms (aṣṭādaśa-dhātu), and grasping at the subtle self of dharmas. Ordinary beings have both kinds of grasping rather severely, with grasping at the self of persons as the primary one; their understanding of the self of dharmas is neither extensive nor deep, so it cannot yet be said that they grasp at it much. The manas of arhats and pratyekabuddhas has eradicated the view of the self of persons, and consequently has also eradicated grasping at the self of persons, no longer grasping at the self of persons in the five aggregates and eighteen realms. Bodhisattvas on the ten bhūmis have eradicated the view of the self of dharmas to varying degrees, and consequently have also eradicated grasping at the self of dharmas to corresponding degrees. When a bodhisattva has completely eradicated grasping at the self of dharmas, the bodhisattva's ignorance is completely eradicated, and he becomes a Buddha.

All grasping arises from wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi). Once wrong views are shattered, grasping will subsequently be gradually eradicated. Therefore, when the manas has ignorance, it has wrong views, and thus has the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva). When a portion of the manas's ignorance is eradicated, a portion of the imputed nature is reduced, so that grasping becomes less and less and increasingly slight, until finally it is extinguished entirely and one becomes a Buddha. It is evident that the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva) of the manas can be extinguished through continuous, deepening cultivation.