The Relationship between Mind Consciousness and Manas in Cultivation

The relationship between the mind consciousness and the manas in cultivation is like a person who is going to give a speech on stage. He prepares offstage for ten days or half a month, diligently rehearsing every day, all for the sake of delivering a smooth speech lasting half an hour or an hour on stage, so that the content he has carefully prepared can be conveyed fully and without compromise, in order to influence and move the audience. The preparation offstage is analogous to the cultivation of the mind consciousness, while the formal speech onstage is analogous to the cultivation of the manas. Therefore, cultivating the manas is far more important than cultivating the mind consciousness; the cultivation of the manas determines success or failure and is the hallmark of whether or not one attains accomplishment in cultivation. For even if one's offstage practice is excellent, if the onstage performance fails, no one will applaud; the audience does not care how hard one worked offstage—they care only about the performance onstage. Likewise, no matter how the mind consciousness exerts effort, if it does not penetrate deeply into the manas, there will be no result; the intended goal is not achieved, and cause and effect will not be moved—nothing can be changed.