The Cultivation Relationship Between the Mind Consciousness and the Manas

The practice relationship between the mind consciousness and the manas is like a person who is going to give a speech on stage: beforehand, he spends ten days or half a month preparing backstage, diligently rehearsing every day, all for the sake of delivering a smooth speech of half an hour or an hour on stage, so that the content he has carefully prepared can be presented fully and faithfully, in order to influence and move the audience. The preparation backstage is analogous to the practice of the mind consciousness, while the formal speech on stage is analogous to the practice of the manas. Therefore, cultivating the manas is far more important than cultivating the mind consciousness; the practice of the manas determines success or failure and is the hallmark of whether or not one's practice is accomplished. For even if one rehearses extremely well backstage, if the performance on stage fails, no one will applaud; the audience does not care how hard one worked backstage—they only care about the performance on stage. By the same token, no matter how diligently the mind consciousness works, if it does not penetrate deeply into the manas, there will be no result; when the expected goal is not achieved, cause and effect will show no favor, and nothing can be changed.