Before a thought arises in the mind consciousness, there must first be the mental movement of the manas.

He Qianxing: When I become aware of a thought arising, I can see the motive behind the thought; the motive arises first, and only then does the thought arise—that is, first the mind stirs, and only then does the thought emerge. At the beginning of awareness, a long time would pass after a thought arose before awareness arose, but after continuously practicing the skill of awareness, I gradually became able to raise awareness the instant a thought arises. But even before a thought has arisen, awareness is already present, and I can see that first there is a stirring of the mind, and only then does the thought come out.

Assessment: That you can be aware like this shows that your mind is very tranquil and very refined; your meditative concentration (samādhi) is quite good. First the mind stirs, with a motive and a purpose—this belongs to the manas; only then does a thought arise—this belongs to the mind consciousness. The surface thoughts that are easy to observe belong to the mind consciousness; the thoughts hidden very deeply and not easy to observe belong to the manas. At this stage, your meditative concentration is basically sufficient and without problem, and your wisdom is also sufficient—sufficient for eliminating the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi). Of course, you must also have merit to support it; you must also cultivate blessings, and cannot focus solely on meditative concentration and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā).

He Qianxing: After a thought arises, when I go to examine the cause and motive of the thought's arising, I can vaguely see the shadow of self-grasping. Motives also have priorities: the highest priority is my safety, that my physical body not be harmed. Then comes my greed—arising covetous craving; when greed is unfulfilled, anger arises. There is also something subtler: self-conceit, wanting to show off, wanting recognition, wanting to appear dignified, and so on. This may still be a rather coarse stage. Another motive behind my fondness for expression is: I feel bored and want liveliness; or I worry about the future, so I plan ahead; or I regret the past, so I keep reviewing it, and so forth—all of these are motives that precede the thoughts.

Assessment: The causes and motives for the arising of thoughts all belong to the manas. The manas first has purposiveness, then makes its assertion, and subsequently thoughts arise. The manas has self-view and self-grasping, so it considers the self everywhere and wants to display itself at all times; thus purposiveness arises, then thoughts appear, and then bodily, verbal, and mental actions appear. Therefore, behind every person's bodily, verbal, and mental actions there must be the purposiveness of the manas, the manas's plans, and the manas's scheming.

He Qianxing: These observations are certainly vague, but it is very certain that they are the result of countless observations, including summaries of experience and inferences by the mind consciousness—it is hard to explain clearly. But one thing can be affirmed: when, countless times, I have seen what the motive preceding my thoughts is, the capacity of this motive to be activated has clearly been continuously weakening; that is, I gradually begin to lose interest in external objects, and naturally there is no greed and no anger. But I can see that habitual tendencies still remain, and self-grasping is still operating—perhaps greed, anger, and delusion have become thinner. In this state, even if I were asked to become the world's richest person, I would have no interest whatsoever; to become the Jade Emperor would feel even more boring—aren't these just an enhanced version of the five desires?

Assessment: When the mind consciousness increasingly observes the motives of the manas, both of them become alert, and the manas gradually reduces and weakens its motives and purposiveness, becoming more pure, more simple, more without contrivance and without utilitarian intent; afflictions lighten, the mental disposition transforms and becomes pure, moral cultivation emerges, and virtue is established—how gratifying and commendable this is! In this world, people increasingly disregard virtue and moral cultivation, becoming more and more utilitarian, rushing ever more toward vanity such as wealth, fame, and gain, becoming ever more self-centered; the result is that they increasingly tend toward the three evil destinies, and the world becomes more and more chaotic.