The Wisdom of the Manas Is the Most Crucial

All eight consciousnesses possess the mental factor of wisdom (prajñā). Setting aside for now the wisdom mental factor of the eighth consciousness, among the wisdom mental factors of the first seven consciousnesses, the wisdom mental factor of the seventh consciousness, the manas, is the most important and the most crucial in cultivation and realization, for it represents a sentient being's fundamental level of wisdom. Because the manas determines the arising and operation of the six consciousnesses, determines all their bodily, verbal, and mental actions, and to a certain extent also determines their wisdom, the first six consciousnesses are subject to the manas. Therefore the wisdom of the manas plays a decisive role, bearing upon a sentient being's survival through birth and death, and upon whether one attains liberation or remains bound in the cycle of birth and death.

If the manas lacks wisdom, then no matter how wise the six consciousnesses may be, it will be of no avail. The karmic actions created by the six consciousnesses are governed by the manas; what kinds of karmic seeds there will be is determined by the mental activities of the manas; what kinds of karmic retributions there will be in future lives is determined by the mental activities of the manas; and whether in later lives there is the cycle of birth and death or liberation and buddhahood is determined by the mental activities of the manas. Therefore the wisdom of eliminating self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), the wisdom of enlightenment, and all the wisdom of meditative concentration (samādhi) must be attained by the manas. Apart from the wisdom of the manas, there can be no talk of any fruits of cultivation—including the stream-enterer (Srotaāpanna) and those striving toward it, as well as the various transformations that occur during the stage of ordinary beings (pṛthagjana).