All Dharmas Are for the Use of the Manas, the Seventh Consciousness

The manas is a deep and subtle self; He takes all dharmas as self, and of course all dharmas are at the disposal of the manas, the seventh consciousness. He takes the five aggregates as self, so the functions of the five aggregates are His own functions; He takes the functions of the eighth consciousness as His own functions, and the functions of the six consciousnesses as His own functions; therefore all dharmas are at the disposal of the seventh consciousness, the manas. Moreover, He persists life after life without perishing, so all karmic retribution is naturally enjoyed by Him. At all times He is "me, me, me"—an extremely keen and agile conscious mind, with habitual tendencies and afflictions gathered into one body. Without the participation of the manas, the seventh consciousness, nothing can be accomplished—and Chan investigation is no exception. If the manas does not take charge and decide to investigate Chan, the mind consciousness cannot investigate; thus the method of investigating Chan is likewise put to use by the manas. Once the manas is set in motion, everything proceeds with twice the result for half the effort. Present facts and reason with the manas as much as possible, so that He realizes that there is no self in any dharma. Once the manas understands the principle, everything will be resolved at its root, all the way to buddhahood.