The Difference in the Manas's Clinging to Internal and External Four Great Elements

The ordinary person's manas has the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva) and may develop attachment to all dharmas it encounters; only the degree and urgency of the attachment differ, as do the ways of attachment. What the manas is most attached to is the physical body and the functions and activities of the six consciousnesses, because these dharmas are vividly alive and real, the manas is very close to these dharmas, cannot be separated from them even for a moment, and relies on these dharmas to manifest itself. The manas grasps the physical body composed of the inner four great elements as "self" and "mine"; the physical body influences the manas most strongly and most directly—one may say they are intimately connected—and it represents the life characteristics of the manas-self, and can also be directly controlled; therefore the manas is most attached to the physical body.

However, the manas also attaches to the material form composed of the external four great elements and to the material universe (the receptacle world), regarding these dharmas as its own possessions and believing that it can enjoy these material forms. For the manas, these dharmas are not intimately connected and inseparable even for a moment; they are merely what the life of the physical body requires, are difficult to control directly, and their relationship with the manas is somewhat more distant. Attachment to the external four great elements is also for the sake of the internal four great elements; in essence it is still attachment to the internal four great elements, so the manas's attachment to the external four great elements is lighter than its attachment to the physical body. If a person also has very severe attachment to material forms, this shows that the person's greedy and grasping nature is too heavy and liberation is difficult.