A person's momentum, temperament, demeanor, and cultivation largely reside in the manas

The manas has a broad scope of discernment; it governs the overall situation and the whole, grasping the macro picture and emphasizing strategy. The mind consciousness, by contrast, has a limited scope of discernment; it masters the partial, the subtle, and the in-depth, emphasizing tactics. A person whose manas is wise is suited to be a leader or a general, while one whose mind consciousness is clever is suited to be a staff advisor or a department head, responsible for managing specific affairs. When the two are combined, one can rise high or go low, be broad or be fine-grained, possessing both strategy and tactics, and will be invincible wherever one goes.

A person with the bearing of a great general is one whose manas is wise and experienced. Those engaged in scientific research have a mind consciousness that is meticulous and penetrating. Thus a person's aura, temperament, demeanor, and cultivation mostly reside in the manas and mostly refer to the manas. This is something that cannot be learned; it is too late to learn it on the spot. Even if the mind consciousness tries to fake it, it cannot keep up the pretense for long. What is innate is a person's distinctive traits and characteristics; that is not something learned on the spot and cannot be disguised.

Those who can accurately grasp the development and overall direction of the Buddhist community must be long-trained bodhisattvas. Because they have trained for a long time, their manas has gone through much, and being widely experienced and knowledgeable, they understand far more of Buddhist and cultivation history than newly trained bodhisattvas, and can see through many phenomena within Buddhism. Therefore, what accords with the Dharma and what does not, the advantages and disadvantages within the Buddha-Dharma—they see very clearly, and they also see very clearly whether sentient beings' faculties are sharp or dull. All this is the credit of the manas, though of course it does not depart from the mind consciousness's discrimination and deliberation.

Newly trained bodhisattvas, having gone through little and burdened with heavy afflictions, lack experience; they cannot see clearly the affairs within Buddhism, cannot discern whether sentient beings' faculties are sharp or dull, and cannot understand the direction of the Dharma and its advantages and disadvantages. They often view issues in a very one-sided and superficial way, without thoroughness, so the mistakes they make will be more numerous, and the people and affairs they misjudge will also be more numerous.