Which consciousness's thought is effective?

When practicing qigong, using the mind to guide the qi, circulate the qi, gather the qi, and employ the qi—all of this is the mental activity of the manas. When the manas mentally directs the qi to gather at the Laogong acupoint in the center of the palm, and once the qi becomes strong enough, one then mentally extends the hand and strikes the qi outward. For those with sufficient skill, mountains crumble and walls collapse, trains come to a halt, and cars move backward—this is pure qigong. But whether it is qigong or any other kind of gong, it is all a matter of training the power of mental activity (manasikāra) of the manas. When the mental activity is strong, the mental force is strong; when the qi is strong, the energy is strong, and then one can do as one pleases and be invincible wherever one goes.

Some will say: the manas has no mental activity; it is all the mind consciousness that does the thinking. Fine then, you try thinking with your mind consciousness—would the tathāgatagarbha take notice of you and heed you? Would your mental activity be of any use? Could it produce any effect? Qigong performed through the mental activity of the mind consciousness is no gong at all; it accomplishes nothing, serves no purpose—it is mere flowery fists and embroidered kicks, just for show, nothing but an act.

The qi follows the mental activity—it follows the mental activity of the manas, not the mental activity of the mind consciousness. Otherwise, everyone's mind consciousness could think, yet very few people succeed in mastering qi, and it takes a considerably long time of practice to succeed. Why does it take such a long time to practice? Because it is a matter of using the mind consciousness to train the manas: the mind consciousness finds it easy, but the manas does not. The main difference among sentient beings lies in the manas. Everyone's mind consciousness can think and can mentally direct, but it is of no use.