When attaining the fruit of realization, it must be the manas that attains the fruit.

Why was it that when Śāriputra was still in his mother's womb, his mother's wisdom in debate was so excellent? Was it the wisdom of Śāriputra's mind consciousness, or the wisdom of his manas? It was the wisdom of the manas. If the function of the mind consciousness in the womb were so powerful, then everyone would be born equal, all possessing wisdom. Some children, at the age of three or four, can sit cross-legged in meditation without being taught—this is brought by the manas from previous lives. The wisdom displayed by prodigy children is also the wisdom of the manas.

Why do some people insist that the wisdom of the manas is very inferior? If the wisdom of the manas were truly inferior, there would be no one born with great wisdom. For instance, all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, when entering the womb, dwelling in the womb, and emerging from the womb, are not deluded about the world of the five aggregates and all possess great wisdom. Moreover, there are ordinary sentient beings with special talents who possess a certain gift from childhood, without needing to learn it from elsewhere or be taught by others—all of this is brought over by the manas; it is the wisdom of the manas.

With the same mind consciousness, why did Śāriputra realize the fourth fruit of arhatship the moment he heard the Buddha preach the Dharma, while others remained ordinary beings? Because Śāriputra's manas had already realized the fruits many times in previous lives; only the mind consciousness of this life was new. Therefore, upon hearing the Dharma principles again, he did not need to contemplate and practice contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) from the beginning; the moment his mind consciousness heard the Buddha's Dharma, he realized non-self, continuing the fruit-attainment of his previous life. As for the others, their manas had never realized the fruits; when they heard the Dharma, their mind consciousness merely gained some clarity, and they still needed to deliberate carefully and practice contemplative practice in meditative concentration (samādhi) in order to realize the fruits. Thus, when they lacked meditative concentration and could not effectively contemplate and practice, they could not realize the fruits and remained ordinary beings.

At the time of realizing the fruits, if one says that the manas need not realize the fruits, will this person still have the wisdom to realize the fruits in the next life? A stream-enterer (Srotaāpanna) must, after seven returns among humans and gods, attain the fourth fruit and take up nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa). After realizing the first fruit, when he dies and ascends to the heavens, if his manas has not realized the fruits, and his newly born mind consciousness has also not realized the fruits, is he still a stream-enterer when he arrives in the heavens? Clearly not. Must this person realize the first fruit anew in the heavens? Of course he needs to practice contemplative practice again to realize the fruits, because neither his mind consciousness nor his manas has realized them.

After this deva realizes the fruits again in the heavens, when his life ends he is reborn into the human world. Since his manas has not realized the fruits, and his newly born mind consciousness has likewise not realized them, this person must once again realize the first fruit anew. Then he must again make seven returns among humans and gods, and he needs to realize the first fruit anew once more. If this is so, this person would forever have to re-realize the first fruit, unable to become a once-returner (Sakṛdāgāmin), a non-returner (Anāgāmin), or an arhat. And if the conditions for realizing the fruits are not complete, whether among humans or in the heavens, he cannot even realize the first fruit and can only remain an ordinary being—then when could he ever become an arhat and attain liberation from birth and death in the three realms? Therefore, realizing the fruits requires that both the mind consciousness and the manas realize them.