The realization of all dharmas depends upon the manas

Sentient beings all take the functions and activities of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) as the self, and especially take the feelings and sensations of the six consciousnesses of the aggregate of consciousness (vijñāna) as the self and what belongs to the self. They cling to their own feelings and sensations, and for their sake create all kinds of wholesome and unwholesome karmic actions; they even go so far as to commit unwholesome deeds without hesitation. Because of these karmic actions, they sink through birth and death and suffer bitter retribution. Where do the feelings and sensations of the six consciousnesses come from? They arise after the sense faculties and sense objects come into contact. Afterwards, the manas takes these feelings as the self and grasps them (upādāna), creating the ignorant karma of craving and attachment. If one wishes to be liberated from birth and death, one must engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the illusory, unreal nature, the suffering nature, the empty nature, and the not-self nature of the feelings and sensations of the six consciousnesses. Knowing that feelings and sensations are empty and illusory, unreal, and no longer paying attention to them, the mind gradually becomes empty; then one can eliminate the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and no longer grasp at feelings and sensations. The afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion will then be diluted and eliminated, and one will no longer create ignorant and unwholesome karma. Being able to contemplate feelings and sensations as empty is an extremely important matter. The five aggregates are not the self, and feelings and sensations are also not the self—this is a very important conceptual understanding.

 The feelings and sensations of the six consciousnesses are easy to observe, but the hidden feelings and sensations of the manas behind them are extremely important and crucial. Because the manas has feeling, there arise the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion; because it grasps at feelings and sensations, it drives the six consciousnesses to create karmic actions. The manas regards all dharmas as "mine," as belonging to the self, and takes the mind consciousness as its own function. Therefore, the elimination of self-view means eliminating the manas's self-view, and enlightenment also requires the manas to realize the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. Thus the realization of all dharmas lies entirely with the manas, not with the mind consciousness. Through contemplative practice that is truthful and in accord with the Dharma, the more one practices, the more one feels that the most fundamental cultivation and realization rests upon the manas. The manas is the key to becoming a Buddha and also the master of the cycle of birth and death. When the training of the manas is brought to completion, one attains liberation and accomplishes the Buddha Way.

Through investigative inquiry and deliberation (manana), once the manas realizes the Dharma, it will overturn its previous mental engagement that was not in accord with reality; its mental activities change, it no longer grasps at the five aggregates, and it attains initial liberation—this is the key to cultivation. Why is it that some people, after studying a great deal of theory, all 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 body of the five aggregates, without the slightest change in their mental activities? It is because that kind of "feeling"—the kind of feeling that belongs to the mind consciousness's intellectual understanding—simply does not count. Without the manas's direct realization, it will, as always, recognize and take up the five aggregates, following along with the afflictions of its own mind to create karma. Therefore, all such feelings are unreliable; for any dharma, only when the manas realizes it does it count.

The manas also constantly takes the various merits of the tathāgatagarbha as its own, taking all dharmas produced by the tathāgatagarbha as the self and what belongs to the self, not knowing that all dharmas are illusory transformations of the tathāgatagarbha, and not knowing that even itself is a projection of the tathāgatagarbha. This is why it creates ignorant karmic actions. Studying and practicing the Buddhadharma means first letting the mind consciousness know theoretically that these dharmas are not the self, and knowing the reality of the tathāgatagarbha; then one immerses and steeps the manas, letting the manas 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 illusory transformations of the tathāgatagarbha; none of them belongs to the manas—they are all the functions and activities of the tathāgatagarbha. Only after the manas realizes this principle will its mind become empty, and only then can it cease to grasp at the self and the five aggregates. In this way, one can not only eliminate the self-grasping but also eliminate the grasping at dharmas; when the grasping at dharmas is completely eliminated, one ultimately becomes a Buddha. Therefore, the key to cultivation lies entirely in the manas. Ignorance belongs to the manas; to eliminate ignorance is to eliminate the manas's ignorance. To eliminate afflictions is also to eliminate the manas's afflictions. Attaining liberation means letting the manas attain liberation. When the manas no longer grasps at any dharma, there is no bondage—this is liberation. Who is it that becomes a Buddha? Since the six consciousnesses cease with each and every life, the six consciousnesses cannot become a Buddha; it is the manas that becomes a Buddha. The tathāgatagarbha also does not become a Buddha. But in the ultimate level of truth, even the manas does not become a Buddha. When the day of buddhahood arrives, one will know: there is no Buddha to be attained—only then can one ultimately become a Buddha.