Only by Eliminating the Ignorance and Fetters of the Manas Can One Attain Liberation

The cycle of birth and death in saṃsāra and rebirth in the three evil destinies are caused by the ignorance (avidyā) of the manas. As long as the manas's ignorance is not eliminated, the chain of the twelve links of dependent arising of birth and death persists, and sentient beings remain bound by the manas's ignorance within the six destinies, unable to escape; bound within the three evil destinies, they likewise cannot escape. Countless kalpas ago, because of ignorance, the manas did not know the true self and the real self, did not know the reality of the dharmadhātu, did not know to guard the fundamental true mind, and gave rise to thoughts greedily seeking outward; thus the five aggregates came to undergo the suffering of birth and death in saṃsāra in vain. Because of ignorance, the manas stirred delusively within, and the tathāgatagarbha, complying with the manas, brought forth the universe of the material world (bhājana-loka) and brought forth the sentient beings' bodies of the five aggregates; thus the worldly dharmas of the three realms appeared. Sentient beings have been undergoing birth and death in saṃsāra within the three realms for countless kalpas, which has not ended to this day—all because of the manas's ignorance, because of the manas's knots and bonds. Cultivation is precisely to sever the various knots and bonds and the various forms of ignorance of the manas; only then can one avoid being bound by ignorance, break free from the various fetters of birth and death, and attain liberation.

Therefore, the elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) must include eliminating the manas's self-view; only afterward can the manas's own afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion be weakened, and only after that can the manas's afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion be severed, and finally the manas's self-grasping (ātma-graha) be eliminated. If at the first fruit the manas's self-view has not been eliminated, then there can be no weakening of greed, hatred, and delusion at the second fruit, no elimination of greed and hatred at the third fruit, and still less the complete severance of the afflictions of greed, hatred, delusion, and pride at the fourth fruit, nor any talk of completely eliminating self-grasping. From this it can be seen that the manas's self-view is eliminated at the first fruit, and self-grasping can only be eliminated at the fourth fruit. This line of cultivation we should all clearly establish.