What the manas is, that is what sentient beings are

Answer: No matter in what world or in what form sentient beings exist, their identity and fruit of realization are primarily determined by the manas—whatever the manas is, that is what the sentient being is. Because the manas is the master of the sentient being, the consciousness that makes decisions, and it corresponds with karmic seeds and can continue into future lives, whatever karma the manas has created, that is the retribution it must undergo. If the manas has created the karma of an ordinary being, it will be an ordinary being in future lives; if the manas has eliminated self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), it will be a person of the first through fourth fruits in future lives; if the manas has awakened to the true mind and seen its nature, it will be an enlightened bodhisattva in future lives. The seven stages of fruit are determined by the degree of the manas's enlightenment or non-enlightenment.

If, while in a human body, the manas has not realized the eighth consciousness, then the person is an ordinary being, and when reborn in the land of bliss, they go there with the identity of an ordinary being and remain an ordinary being in the land of bliss, dwelling within the lotus flower for varying numbers of kalpas. Only when their karmic obstructions have been eliminated to a certain degree will the flower open and they see the Buddha, hear the Dharma, and awaken to the Way—only then do they become a true bodhisattva. The intellectual understanding of the mind consciousness while in a human body does not play a fundamental role; if it has somewhat permeated the manas, corresponding faint seeds will be stored, and in future lives the manas will be able to receive permeation and attain realization somewhat more easily.