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

The cycle of birth and death in saṃsāra and the rebirth in the three evil destinies are caused by the ignorance (avidyā) of the manas. If the manas's ignorance is not eradicated, there will be the chain of birth and death of the twelve links of dependent origination, and sentient beings will be bound by the manas's ignorance within the six destinies, unable to escape; bound within the three evil destinies, they likewise cannot escape. Countless eons ago, because of ignorance, the manas did not know the fundamental self and the true self, did not know the ultimate reality of the dharmadhātu, and did not know to guard the original true mind; it gave rise to thoughts greedily seeking outward, and thus the five-aggregate body vainly underwent the suffering of birth and death in saṃsāra. Because of ignorance, the manas stirred delusively within, and thus the tathāgatagarbha, complying with the manas, brought forth the universe's material world (the container world) and brought forth sentient beings' five-aggregate bodies, and the worldly dharmas of the three realms appeared. Sentient beings have been undergoing birth and death in saṃsāra within the three realms for innumerable eons, which has not ended to this day—all because of the manas's ignorance, because of the manas's knots and bonds. Cultivation means severing the manas's various knots and bonds and its various ignorances; only then can one avoid being bound by ignorance, escape the various fetters of birth and death, and attain liberation.

Therefore, the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) must necessarily include eradicating the manas's view of self; only afterward can the manas's own afflictions of greed, aversion, and delusion be weakened; after that, the manas's afflictions of greed, aversion, and delusion can be severed; and finally, the manas's grasping at self (ātma-grāha) can be eradicated. If at the first fruit the manas's view of self has not been eradicated, then there will be no weakening of greed, aversion, and delusion at the second fruit, no severance of greed and aversion at the third fruit, and even less the complete severance of the afflictions of greed, aversion, delusion, and conceit at the fourth fruit—there can be no talk of completely eradicating grasping at self. From this it can be seen that the manas's view of self is eradicated at the first fruit, and only at the fourth fruit can grasping at self be eradicated. This line of cultivation thinking we should all clearly establish.