The Contents of the Manas All Belong to the Category of Consciousness-Only Wisdom

Almost one hundred percent of people take the state of the manas to be the state of the mind consciousness, so when someone speaks of the true characteristics of the manas, they are accused of having reversed the manas and the mind consciousness. Yet in fact it is the one hundred percent and the ninety-nine-plus percent who are reversed. Because all of these people are replete with all afflictions, and because of the obscuration of the affliction of ignorance, and because they have not transformed consciousness into wisdom, they cannot directly observe the actual functioning of the manas, and will of course one hundred percent misunderstand it. In no era could it be that the vast majority are people of high intelligence without afflictive obscuration, while a few individuals are of low intelligence, to the point of misapprehending the Buddha-dharma. Those who err in the Saha world will always be the vast majority, and those without wisdom will likewise remain the vast majority; it is impossible for the vast majority to transform consciousness into wisdom and possess the wisdom of wonderful observation—not in a hundred years. So those self-styled clever people had best not be too self-confident, and still less should they slander, lest the consequences be grave.

All the content concerning the manas belongs to the domain of the seed-wisdom (zhongzhi) of Yogācāra; all Yogācāra content likewise belongs to this domain of Yogācāra seed-wisdom, and all the more so the mental factors (caittas) of each consciousness. Unless one is a bodhisattva who has attained the bhūmis, it is best to remain silent and not speak and debate everywhere, because without the wisdom of direct-perception contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), one cannot directly observe the specific operational state of the manas; what one speaks of will mostly be imagination and conjecture, and one will often attribute things to the wrong person. Buddhist practitioners in the Saha world are largely like this—it is impossible for many people to transform consciousness into wisdom and possess the wisdom of wonderful observation (pratyavekṣaṇā-jñāna) and the wisdom of equality (samatā-jñāna). Without such wisdom, one should quietly apply effort, hoping to swiftly attain first-dhyāna meditative concentration, swiftly eradicate afflictive obscuration (kleśāvaraṇa), swiftly develop the various contemplative wisdoms, and enter the Tathāgata's family early; then, in samādhi, directly observe the functioning of the manas through contemplative practice, and lead the multitude in resolving the problems of the manas, thereby increasing Yogācāra wisdom.