The mind consciousness should effectively perfume and transform the manas

Many people, when facing situations and circumstances, involuntarily display emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness; only afterward do they notice it, and then they say that joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness were arranged long in advance and are beyond their control. In fact, these are all the afflictive habits of the manas, the manas's natural reactions, manifested through the six consciousnesses. After the emotions have manifested, the mind consciousness awakens and becomes clear, and only then does it discover that it had just experienced joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness. When the mind consciousness discovers this, it feels as though these were not something it could control, and so, having no alternative, it says these emotions were arranged long in advance and are beyond its control. If the mind consciousness has a higher degree of awareness, better meditative concentration (samādhi), and stronger powers of observation, it can observe some of the manas's emotions and mental states, and can even exercise a degree of control over the emotions. Especially in ordinary times, one should engage in much self-education, thereby permeating the manas and transforming some of the manas's afflictive habits that should not exist.

Some people's mind consciousness itself has improper thoughts and emotions and lacks the ability to educate itself and carry out effective psychological cultivation, so they make the excuse that no matter how the mind consciousness struggles, it cannot struggle its way out of the manas's habitual circle. If the mind consciousness, no matter how it struggles, could not escape the manas's habitual circle, what use would cultivation be? Cultivation is precisely about using the mind consciousness to transform the manas. If the mind consciousness struggles diligently enough, the manas will have no choice but to comply with the mind consciousness, and cultivation will then get on the right track.

Because of the manas's various mental activities, thoughts, and emotions, all kinds of bodily, verbal, and mental actions are brought forth. If one wishes to have pure and wholesome bodily, verbal, and mental actions, one must give full play to the mind consciousness's dynamic initiative and guiding role, actively guiding the manas toward the wholesome, and creating pure bodily, verbal, and mental actions as well as bodily, verbal, and mental actions endowed with merit. If the manas's habitual tendencies are too heavy, the mind consciousness, though knowing something is evil, cannot change it—just like a drug addiction flare-up: though knowing the poison harms oneself, one still takes the drug. When sentient beings' afflictions are heavy, though they know these are afflictions, though they know afflictions have faults and dangers, the afflictions still do not cease. This is the state of the most beginner-level practitioners; the path of cultivation is still very long.