The Verification of All Dharmas Lies in Manas

All sentient beings regard the functions of the five aggregates as the self, especially identifying the perceptions of the six consciousnesses within the aggregate of consciousness as the self and what belongs to the self. They cling to their own feelings and sensations, thereby creating various karmic actions of good and evil, even resorting to unwholesome deeds without hesitation. Consequently, these karmic actions cause them to sink into the cycle of birth and death, suffering retribution. Where do the perceptions of the six consciousnesses come from? They arise after the contact between the sense faculties and their objects. Subsequently, the manas takes these perceptions as the self and clings to them, generating the ignorance-driven actions of craving and attachment.

To liberate oneself from birth and death, one must contemplate and investigate the illusory nature, the nature of suffering, the emptiness, and the non-self nature of the perceptions of the six consciousnesses. Knowing that perceptions are illusory and unreal, one gradually ceases to emphasize them. As the mind gradually becomes empty, one can sever the view of self, no longer clinging to perceptions. Then, the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion will diminish and cease, and one will no longer create ignorant, unwholesome karma. Being able to contemplate perceptions as empty is extremely important. The five aggregates are not the self, and perceptions are also not the self—this is a crucial concept.

The perceptions of the six consciousnesses are relatively easy to observe, but the underlying perceptions of the manas are vitally important and pivotal. Because the manas has perceptions, it gives rise to afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, and by clinging to perceptions, it prompts the six consciousnesses to create karmic actions. The manas considers all dharmas to be the self and to belong to itself, regarding consciousness as its function. Therefore, severing the view of self means severing the manas’ view of self, and realization entails the manas realizing the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. Thus, the realization of all dharmas entirely depends on the manas, not on consciousness. Through truthful and rational contemplation and investigation, the more one contemplates, the more one realizes that the most fundamental cultivation and realization lie with the manas. The manas is the key to Buddhahood and the master of the cycle of birth and death. When the manas is successfully transformed through cultivation, one attains liberation and accomplishes the Buddha Way.

Through investigation and deliberation, once the manas realizes the Dharma, it overturns its former irrational mental formations. When mental formations change and it no longer clings to the five aggregates, one attains initial liberation. This is the key to practice. Why is it that after studying much theory, some people come to feel that the five aggregates are not the self, that they are empty and illusory, yet they still create defiled karmic actions for the sake of the five-aggregate body, without changing their mental formations in the slightest? Because such feelings are merely an understanding at the conscious level, which fundamentally does not count. Without the manas’ actual realization, it will continue to recognize the five aggregates as before, following its afflictions to create karma. Therefore, all such feelings are unreliable; any Dharma must be realized by the manas to be valid.

The manas also consistently regards all the merits of the tathāgatagarbha as its own, considering all dharmas produced by the tathāgatagarbha as the self and what belongs to the self. It does not know that all dharmas are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, nor does it realize that even itself is manifested by the tathāgatagarbha. This is why it creates ignorant karmic actions. The practice of the Buddha Dharma is to enable consciousness to know theoretically that these dharmas are without self, to know the reality of the tathāgatagarbha, and then to influence the manas, enabling it to deliberate and realize the tathāgatagarbha within all dharmas, realizing that all dharmas are neither the self nor what belongs to the self.

All dharmas are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha; they do not belong to the manas but are the functional manifestations of the tathāgatagarbha. Only after the manas realizes this principle will the mind become empty, enabling it to cease clinging to the self of the five aggregates. This not only severs the attachment to self but also severs the attachment to dharmas. When the attachment to dharmas is completely severed, one ultimately attains Buddhahood. Therefore, the key to practice lies entirely with the manas. Ignorance belongs to the manas; eliminating ignorance means eliminating the ignorance of the manas. Eliminating afflictions means eliminating the afflictions of the manas. Attaining liberation means enabling the manas to attain liberation. When the manas no longer clings to any dharma, there is no bondage—this is liberation. Who attains Buddhahood? Since the six consciousnesses cease and perish in each lifetime, they cannot attain Buddhahood. It is the manas that attains Buddhahood. The tathāgatagarbha also does not attain Buddhahood, but ultimately, even the manas does not attain Buddhahood. On the day of Buddhahood, one realizes there is no Buddha to attain; only then can one ultimately attain Buddhahood.