It is the differences in the manas that lead to the differences in the mind consciousness.

When sages come to this evil world of the five turbidities, why is the mind consciousness not easily influenced and defiled? Why is the Buddha's mind consciousness not defiled in the slightest? Whether the mind consciousness is influenced and defiled depends mainly on the strength of the manas. A sage's manas has no afflictions, so his mind consciousness, relying on his manas, also has no afflictions and is not easily influenced by the environment. The Buddha's mind consciousness is fundamentally incapable of being defiled, like a lotus flower in the mud. Ordinary beings' manas is heavy with ignorance and afflictions, so the influence upon their mind consciousness is heavy, and the mind consciousness easily gives rise to afflictions. Pre-bhūmi bodhisattvas are much the same, only slightly better. But whether one is a sage or an ordinary being, when the five-aggregate body is first born, the mind consciousness is equal for all—a blank sheet of paper, pure and flawless. Only afterward is it influenced and driven by one's own manas, and then behavioral manifestations differ. Then, further influenced by the environment and by parents and other people, the behavioral manifestations of the mind consciousness become even more different.

The mind consciousness itself originally has no differences. Under the pollution of the same environment, why is it that the mind consciousness of the Buddha and sages is not influenced and defiled, while that of ordinary beings is? Is it a difference in the environment, or a difference in the manas? Let us not speak for now of the stage after consciousness has been transformed into wisdom, but speak instead of childhood, before one has studied Buddhism—why is there such a great difference in the mind consciousness? In the same vat of dye, why does one become severely defiled and corrupted, with greed, hatred, and delusion blazing, while the other can still remain pure and keep himself untainted? There is only one explanation: the difference in the manas causes the difference in the mind consciousness—nothing more.

If the manas innately had no greed, hatred, or delusion, yet the mind consciousness could be influenced and shaped into greed, hatred, and delusion after birth, that would be extremely strange—it would be utterly absurd. If that were the case, then the Buddha's manas has no greed, hatred, or delusion, yet having been born into this evil world of the five turbidities, His mind consciousness should also be able to be defiled into greed, hatred, and delusion—then what would be the use of cultivation? Therefore, the reason the mind consciousness possesses greed, hatred, and delusion lies entirely in the manas having greed, hatred, and delusion. If the manas has no greed, hatred, or delusion, the mind consciousness can in no way be influenced and defiled into greed, hatred, and delusion. For bodhisattvas whose consciousness has been transformed into wisdom, even dwelling in defiled circumstances, their mind consciousness will not be influenced and defiled into greed, hatred, and delusion; their bodhisattva stage will not regress, they will not turn back into pre-bhūmi bodhisattvas with the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, and they will not fall back to before the third fruit of non-returner or the path toward the fourth fruit of arhatship.

The differences between each person do not lie within a single lifetime; within one life, the accumulated differences cannot amount to much—differences are accumulated over life after life. Therefore, the differences among sentient beings lie in the manas: the difference in the manas causes the differences in the mind consciousness's bodily, verbal, and mental actions, causes the differences in the mind consciousness's wisdom, and causes the differences in merit and meditative concentration. Because of differences in the manas, there arise differences in every aspect of the mind consciousness, and the wisdom for understanding problems also differs vastly. The wisdom of the manas is extremely important; it is an asset carried over from one's past lives in the five aggregates, called the faculty of wisdom. If the manas does not have good wisdom, then our cultivation in past lives was all cultivated in vain, and those Buddhist and worldly dharmas we were influenced and trained in in past lives were also trained in vain, unable to be brought into this life for our benefit.