All dharmas are first contacted and first discerned by the manas

The manas resides in the brain, regulating the entire brain and nervous system and thereby governing the whole body. When the cranial nerves move, the whole body moves, and the six consciousnesses then move in turn; the movement of the six consciousnesses always appears after the movement of the manas. This proves that for all dharmas, it is the manas that first makes contact and first discerns, and only afterward do the six consciousnesses appear. Therefore, there is no dharma that the six consciousnesses know while the manas does not; the difference lies only in whether the content known is true or false, clear or unclear, and how coarse or subtle it is. Wherever the conscious mind may be, it is formless and without mark, having no concrete location. When it is said here to be in a certain place, that refers to its range of function.