Why Do Some People Always Treat the Manas as a Fool?

The consciousness of the vast majority of people, lacking wisdom and lacking the wonderful observing wisdom (pratyavekṣaṇa-jñāna), cannot observe the manas, and therefore does not understand the manas—this is why they regard the manas as a fool. Only after the transformation of consciousness into wisdom, when the consciousness possesses the wonderful observing wisdom, can it directly perceive the operation of the manas, thereby uncovering the manas's profound and subtle nature, functions, and mental factors. And the transformation of consciousness into wisdom requires attaining the meditative concentration of the first dhyāna, eliminating afflictions, becoming a bodhisattva of the first bhūmi or above, and possessing the seed wisdom of consciousness-only (Yogācāra); only when the mind consciousness is free of obstructions can it clearly observe the operation of the manas. At the same time, the manas itself has also undergone the transformation of consciousness into wisdom, possessing great wisdom, and its mental factors differ from those of pre-bhūmi bodhisattvas.