Guide to the Cultivation and Realization of the Manas: Part One
Chapter 5: The Relationship Between the Manas and the Mind Consciousness (2)
18. When Meditative Concentration Is Deep, the Manas and the Mind Consciousness Contemplate and Investigate Questions Simultaneously
The mind that reasons and draws inferences is the mind consciousness. When reasoning and inferring, the reasoning and thinking that float on the surface is the mind consciousness, yet at the same time the manas is also deliberating deeply behind the scenes. Both consciousnesses are operating simultaneously; apart from the manas, the mind consciousness would be unable to reason. When the power of meditative concentration is somewhat deeper, the manas's deliberation is more focused and profound, and the results of its thinking are more correct and accordant with the truth.
19. Why Can the Mind Consciousness Abide in Samādhi Without a Single Thought Arising?
Some people say that recollection is entirely a function of the mind consciousness, and the manas has nothing to do with it. The mind consciousness can indeed recollect, but the mind consciousness is a dharma born of causes and conditions; only with causes and conditions will the mind consciousness arise, and if the causes and conditions are not complete, the mind consciousness cannot arise. What causes and conditions prompt the mind consciousness to arise and recollect? Why can the mind consciousness recollect? Naturally, it is because the manas recalls past matters, the subjectively imagined realm appears, faculty and object make contact, and the manas wishes to do something; only then, following the mental activities of the manas, does the eighth consciousness give rise to the mind consciousness, which then recollects—otherwise the mind consciousness could not arise. Therefore, whether the mind consciousness can recollect depends on whether the manas attends to past matters and whether it wishes to understand something. If the manas does not recollect past matters and has no mental activities, the mind consciousness will not arise, let alone recollect or think, nor will various emotions appear.
If the manas has no mental activities and does not wish to create any dharma, the mind consciousness can abide in a state without a single thought arising; if the manas has mental activities and wants to create some dharma, the mind consciousness will inevitably follow the manas's intentions and create accordingly, and cannot possibly abide in a state without a single thought arising. Therefore, the mind consciousness's samādhi of no-thought is entirely determined by the manas and controlled by the manas; if the manas grasps at other dharmas, the mind consciousness has no way to settle into samādhi.
When the mind consciousness is without a single thought arising, the manas can likewise be without a single thought arising, or even if it generates thoughts, they will not necessarily affect the mind consciousness; without any intention to create anything, the mind consciousness can still remain without a single thought arising.
20. The Hidden Secret and Primary Cause Behind the Operation of the Mind Consciousness
Since the mind consciousness is a dharma born of causes and conditions, it has no autonomy; it cannot decide on its own to abide in a state without a single thought arising, nor can it decide on its own to give rise to thoughts. All of its activities are decided and directed by the manas. Consciousness arises from the manas and dharmas as conditions; consciousness arises from the contact of faculty and object. But even when the manas makes contact with the mental sense-objects, if the manas makes no choice or decision, the mind consciousness still will not arise, let alone create anything.
Therefore, to speak of how the mind consciousness is such and such while leaving out the deciding consciousness and the root of the mind consciousness is all false talk—not definitive, not reliable, and one may even make many errors without realizing it. The key to these problems arising is insufficient power of meditative concentration and lack of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) through direct perception, making it impossible to deeply and thoroughly observe the relationship between the manas and the mind consciousness, impossible to profoundly observe the hidden secret and primary cause behind the operation of the mind consciousness, forgetting the mind consciousness's lack of autonomy, and overlooking the sovereign behind the mind consciousness. Therefore, no one who transmits or discusses the Dharma should be too self-confident; blind self-confidence is arrogance.
21. The Manas Is the Basis of Defilement and Purity for the Six Consciousnesses
The six consciousnesses have no self-nature; they cannot determine anything for themselves and cannot be their own master, because the six consciousnesses are dharmas that have been born; therefore they are without substance and lack self-mastery (avaśatā), and their surface-level functions are all bestowed by the tathāgatagarbha and all come from the tathāgatagarbha. If any dharma has self-nature, it too comes from the tathāgatagarbha; objectively speaking, it is also the self-nature of the tathāgatagarbha.
The source of the six consciousnesses' defilement lies in the manas and comes from the manas. If the manas is defiled, the six consciousnesses are inevitably defiled; if the manas is pure, the six consciousnesses are inevitably pure. The manas is the basis of defilement and purity for the six consciousnesses. The arising and manifestation of any dharma is necessarily accompanied by the seventh and eighth consciousnesses, and is the result of the operation of these two consciousnesses.
22. The Manas Is the Relay Station Connecting the Tathāgatagarbha and the Mind Consciousness
The manas is the relay station connecting the tathāgatagarbha and the mind consciousness, taking things from the tathāgatagarbha for the mind consciousness to enjoy and discern. The manas is not only a relay station; it can itself remember the events of countless kalpas that it has experienced. These events also exist as seeds in the tathāgatagarbha; the manas and the seeds are always corresponding and coordinated. When a certain matter is needed, the manas prompts the mind consciousness to recollect; the manas then hands the matter over to the mind consciousness, which recollects it and can even set about handling it.
23. Can the Manas Provide Delusive-Thought Seeds for the Mind Consciousness?
The mind consciousness's delusive thoughts are indeed triggered by the manas; the content and direction of the delusive thoughts are provided by the manas and regulated by the manas, reflecting the manas's wishes and intentions. But this seed and all seeds are still provided by the tathāgatagarbha; only the tathāgatagarbha can store the consciousness seeds and dharma seeds used for delusive thinking. The manas cannot store any seeds, because the manas is not a substantial entity, and it arises, ceases, and changes; it cannot be self-sufficient or autonomous.
If the manas could provide seeds, there would be two mind-substances capable of storing seeds, and everything would be thrown into confusion. In reality, when the manas forms the plan and decision to have delusive thoughts, the tathāgatagarbha, knowing this, cooperates by outputting the seeds needed for the delusive thoughts, including the consciousness seeds of the mind consciousness, and only then can the mind consciousness have delusive thoughts. The manas only needs to first engage in delusive thinking and grasping, and it will bring about the appearance of delusive thoughts; He is the driving force and source of delusive thoughts. The ultimate source is still the tathāgatagarbha; all dharmas ultimately flow out from the tathāgatagarbha.
24. Only When the Mind Consciousness Understands the Principles Can It Control the Manas's Habitual Tendencies
Question: Sometimes I know that my mental activities are bad and not in accord with the Dharma, but I cannot control them, and bad mental activities manifest. Afterwards, although I feel guilty, when the same thing happens again I still cannot control myself. What should I do?
Answer: This is the mind consciousness knowing that its own (the manas's) mental activities are bad, but the mind consciousness's power of persuasion is weak and cannot persuade the manas, so it cannot control the manas's habitual tendencies, and things proceed according to the manas's mental activities. To regulate the manas, the mind consciousness needs to understand the principles more, repeatedly persuading and advising the manas; then the force of the manas's habitual tendencies will gradually weaken.
To discover one's own (the manas's) bad habitual tendencies, the mind consciousness must have awareness and clear understanding, and must know what is wrong and what is right. Even if one cannot control the manas's habitual tendencies, this still has great effect: when encountering the same situation later, the mind will hesitate; when the mind consciousness goes against the manas many times, the manas will no longer insist on erroneous mental activities, and thus one has successfully cultivated and transformed the manas's bad habitual tendencies.
25. When Does the Manas Cease to Be the Hidden One Behind the Scenes?
When the mind consciousness has no awareness, does the manas have awareness? When the manas has awareness, does the mind consciousness know it? Without the mind consciousness, who observes the manas? Even when the mind consciousness is present, the vast majority of sentient beings simply cannot observe the manas, so the manas's functions become buried and misunderstood. When the manas introspects upon itself, the mind consciousness cannot observe it, and the manas cannot express it either; then we have no way to clearly, reasonably, and truthfully understand the manas's functions, and the manas has no choice but to be the hidden one behind the scenes—the master, commander, and decision-maker.
When does the manas cease to be the hidden one behind the scenes—the master, commander, and decision-maker—and step onto the front stage? Front stage and backstage are spoken of according to what? According to the degree of the mind consciousness's wisdom. For the manas to step onto the front stage, the condition is that the mind consciousness must have very powerful wisdom and observational power. For the mind consciousness to have powerful wisdom and observational power, it must, after seeing the mind (mingxin), possess the power of dhyāna at the level of the first dhyāna or above; at this time the stage of fruition is around entering the first bhūmi—generally after the first bhūmi—afflictions eradicated, with both the mind consciousness and the manas having transformed consciousness into wisdom. At this time it is not that the manas steps onto the front stage, but that the mind consciousness finally possesses sufficient wisdom and has observed the manas, so the manas's functions are never again buried.
26. Why Do Some People Always Treat the Manas as a Fool?
The mind consciousness of the vast majority of people, lacking wisdom and lacking the wisdom of wonderful observation, cannot observe the manas and therefore does not understand it, and so treats the manas as a fool. Only after transforming consciousness into wisdom, with the wisdom of wonderful observation, can the mind consciousness observe the manas's operation through direct perception, thereby excavating the manas's profound and subtle characteristics, functions, and mental factors. Transforming consciousness into wisdom requires attaining first-dhyāna meditative concentration, eradicating afflictions, becoming a bodhisattva of the first bhūmi or above, and possessing the seed-wisdom of Consciousness-Only; only when the mind consciousness has no obstructions can it clearly observe the manas's operation. At the same time, the manas has also transformed consciousness into wisdom, possessing great wisdom, with mental factors that differ from those of bodhisattvas before the bhūmis.
27. The Mind Consciousness's Inability to Observe the Manas's Mental Factors Does Not Mean the Manas Has None
The mind consciousness and the manas are in a relationship of observer and observed, but the mind consciousness's inability to observe the manas's mental factors does not mean the manas's mental factors do not exist—it is because of the mind consciousness's ignorance and delusion. Just as the mind consciousness cannot observe the eighth consciousness, this does not prove the eighth consciousness does not exist. What mental activities the manas actually has during sleep, ordinary people indeed cannot observe. That does not prove the manas has no mental activities; the Buddha can know any mental activity of the manas at any time.
The extremely many mental activities of the manas cannot be observed by the mind consciousness of ordinary people, but that does not mean the manas does not have so many mental activities. In cultivation, one should make good use of logical thinking; only by well improving one's capacity for logical thinking, together with deliberation (manasikāra/manana) on the Dharma within samādhi, can one effectively raise wisdom, continuously break through ignorance, observe more and deeper dharmas, and realize more and deeper truths.
The eight consciousnesses (mind-kings) at the Buddha-ground cannot be observed by anyone, and therefore cannot serve as the basis for one's own debates. The eight consciousnesses before the Buddha-ground can be observed in small part by bodhisattvas on the bhūmis, and therefore others also cannot take them as the basis for debate. Anything not personally observed by oneself cannot be used as the basis for debate.
28. Only When the Mind Consciousness Contemplates Within Samādhi Can It Cultivate and Influence the Manas
The dharmas attended to by the mind consciousness include the mental sense-objects of the subjectively imagined realm, and the mental sense-objects that manifest together with the five sense-objects. What the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) attends to in recollection, delusive thoughts, fantasies, and so on is all the subjectively imagined realm; with the subjectively imagined realm, it is relatively easy to observe and judge that these are illusory shadows. But when the eyes see forms, it is not so easy for the mind consciousness to determine, in observing the mental sense-objects, that they are shadows.
Because the mind is wholly engaged in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), meditative concentration appears; the manas does not cling much to the body or to dharmas, and there arise meditative states such as physical tranquility (praśama) and comfort. As long as the mind is relatively focused and has meditative concentration, the Dharma principles that the mind consciousness contemplates and observes are easily accepted by the manas; once the manas accepts them, there are changes in meditative states, and various states of meditative concentration will appear.
Practicing contemplation like this every day is an elevation of wisdom for both the mind consciousness and the manas, and of course meditative concentration will also be strengthened. At the beginning of contemplative practice, the components of non-valid cognition and inference are greater; toward the end, the component of direct perception grows ever greater, and the mind increasingly comes to accept that the world of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) is false and unreal. Contemplative practice has a certain process: as the power of meditative concentration strengthens, the wisdom of contemplation also strengthens, and strengthened wisdom in turn promotes strengthened meditative concentration. For dharmas realized through contemplation, confirmation is relatively easy for the mind consciousness but not for the manas. When the mind consciousness alone confirms something, there is not the slightest change in body and mind; whatever degree the manas confirms is the degree of transformation that occurs.
The mind consciousness sees everything as illusory and unreal, yet when encountering states, why is it led astray by them and turned by them? It is because the states contemplated by the mind consciousness have not yet been accepted by the manas and have not penetrated into the manas's mind, so that when a choice must be made, the manas's choice is the same as its former habits, taking the states as real.
At the beginning of contemplative practice, its depth and breadth are insufficient, its scope relatively narrow, and the various dharmas cannot be connected together, so it cannot effectively cultivate and influence the manas. If what the manas attends to is relatively few, the ignorance in its mind is not very heavy, and it has not accumulated boundless karmic obstructions of birth-and-death over beginningless kalpas, then the manas could have wisdom like the mind consciousness, and even with insufficient evidence could judge a reasonable conclusion and thereby realize the truth. But the manas is not like this, and that is why cultivation and realization are so difficult for us.
29. Only When the Mind Consciousness's Knowing Cultivates the Manas Is It Useful
When many people give rise to afflictions, the effect on both themselves and others is bad. The mind consciousness knows it should not be this way, but can do nothing about it. The mind consciousness cannot control the manas and can only let the manas's afflictions manifest, at the manas's mercy. The mind consciousness knows it should not be so, but its knowing is not detailed; the manas does not know, and so not being afflicted cannot be achieved. If the mind consciousness wishes not to create afflicted karma, it should carefully contemplate the consequences of afflictions to cultivate the manas; once the manas understands the principles, the mind consciousness can control the manas and can achieve non-affliction.
It is the manas that carries ignorance and afflictions to future lives, not the mind consciousness. Therefore, whatever the mind consciousness learns, knows, and understands must in any case be implemented in the manas; otherwise, once the mind consciousness ceases, the manas, being ignorant and unknowing, will take rebirth driven by afflictions, and there will be no good retribution. Two birds in the bush are not as good as one bird in the hand. If what the mind consciousness knows, understands, and learns is not delivered into the storehouse, then once the mind consciousness ceases, there will be no usable seeds for future lives—would that not be a pity?
30. What Do the Head and the Teeth Each Represent?
The common saying goes: You should sharpen your head, not your teeth. What is the deep meaning of this saying? What do the head and the teeth each represent? What is the relationship between the two?
When people in the world speak, language can only be produced by activating the teeth. Language is a function of the mind consciousness—superficial and frivolous, not necessarily wise. The head, the brain, is the root upon which thinking relies to give birth to wisdom, representing a person's true wisdom and insight. The manas resides within the brain, directing the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses, like a commander-in-chief. Once the commander-in-chief moves, the teeth and the whole army obey orders. Therefore, one should let the manas, this commander-in-chief, grow in wisdom and sharpen the manas's head, not spend one's energy on the teeth, this engineer-soldier; dealing with things by mere glibness of tongue has no power and solves no problems.
Sharpening the manas is fundamental; once the fundamental is sharpened and perfected, all dharmas will become perfected. Dealing with things by mouth alone, by language alone, cannot solve the fundamental problem; without sharpening the manas, it is not definitive. Therefore, possessing a wise head is far, far better than possessing sharp teeth, rich language, and glib words. After all, it is the head that represents oneself; teeth and language do not represent one's true wisdom. A person without a head (of wisdom) creates evil karma as soon as they open their mouth, and does not even know it; even after undergoing retribution they do not know why, and there is no way to remedy or save them.
31. Can the Manas Cultivate and Correct Its Own Wholesome and Unwholesome Mental Activities?
If the manas is to correct its own mental activities, it first needs to be able to introspect upon its own mental activities, and to recognize the deficiencies of its mental activities, and then it must also be willing to correct them. How can the manas introspect upon its own mental activities? Through the mind consciousness's observation, analysis, and thinking about its own mental activities, a conclusion is drawn and fed back to the manas; the manas will then deliberate on this information and thereby correctly recognize its own mental activities. At the same time, the mind consciousness thinks that such mental activities must be corrected, otherwise evil karma will be created with evil retribution, or the Path-cultivation will be obstructed, adding much suffering. When the manas knows this, it will decide to correct itself. Apart from the mind consciousness's correct and reasonable thinking and analysis, the manas cannot recognize the problems within itself and thus cannot correct itself; the mind consciousness is the manas's assistant in subduing ignorance and afflictions.
32. Why Can One React Quickly to Sudden Events?
When major events and sudden events occur, one reacts subconsciously with great speed precisely because the manas first sees the dharma, which is then transmitted to the supreme faculty (indriya), and the six consciousnesses see it again. As soon as the six consciousnesses are born, they must carry out the manas's instructions; there is no time to let the mind consciousness think and choose—one must act to handle the event. After the mind consciousness has finished handling it, it may still be baffled, not knowing what exactly happened. The manas reacts so quickly precisely because it sees the dharma first and knows the dharma first.
33. What to Do When the Mind Consciousness Lacks Meditative Concentration and Wisdom?
The manas can attend to and contact all dharmas transformed and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, and He can also introspect upon Himself; but when the mind consciousness lacks meditative concentration and wisdom, it does not know the manas has these functions. The manas can know events from countless kalpas ago and countless kalpas hence; without meditative concentration and wisdom, the mind consciousness still does not know this knowing of the manas, and that is why it has no superknowledges. The manas can ascend to the heavens and enter the earth; without meditative concentration and wisdom, the mind consciousness still cannot follow along ascending to the heavens and entering the earth. Therefore, do not deny or doubt that the manas has so many marvelous functions.
When you do not know some dharmas, do not deny them; think this way: "My mind consciousness has no meditative concentration, no wisdom, no merit; for now I cannot yet know these matters. The problem lies with the mind consciousness itself; do not deny or belittle the people, affairs, things, and principles you do not understand." After the mind consciousness truthfully knows that it has no meditative concentration and no wisdom, it should think of ways to change this situation; if it cannot truthfully know this, it cannot think of ways. After thinking of ways, do not keep suggesting to the manas "I can't do this, I can't do that," but rather suggest to the manas: "I can certainly make up for it, I can certainly correct it, I can certainly do it, I can certainly become a Buddha." This is wholesome cultivation, influencing the manas in a way accordant with truth and Dharma.
34. What Is a Subconscious Reaction?
A subconscious reaction is completed very quickly, with no opportunity for the mind consciousness's thinking and analysis; the mind consciousness and the five sense consciousnesses immediately obey the manas's instructions. Because many people do not know or understand the manas, they call this function of the manas the "subconscious" or "subconscious reaction." When the manas's habitual tendencies are too heavy, upon encountering things it likes, phenomena resembling conditioned reflexes will appear, giving the mind consciousness no opportunity at all to reason, train, or regulate—everything responds entirely according to habitual tendencies.
Any bodily, verbal, or mental action involves the mind consciousness; without the mind consciousness, the manas alone cannot have bodily, verbal, or mental actions—otherwise, when a person falls unconscious, they would simply remain unconscious, and the manas would not struggle to wake up. The mind consciousness and the body consciousness and the five sense consciousnesses are in a parallel, coordinate relationship, arising simultaneously and jointly completing bodily, verbal, and mental actions; none can command the others—all are directed by the manas.
35. Which Consciousness's Function Is Speaking Without Thinking?
When encountering a very familiar question, one answers without thinking, blurting it out—which consciousness's function does this display? Is it that of the six consciousnesses or the seventh consciousness? It is the function of the seventh consciousness, the manas. The manas is so familiar with this question that without the mind consciousness engaging in present thinking at all, it prompts the mind consciousness to blurt out the expression. When He contacts the object, He immediately knows the object-realm, makes a decision, and has a reaction, not allowing the mind consciousness to think further or consider further, making the decision autocratically, and the six consciousnesses obey at once. Afterwards one may regret it: this is the mind consciousness, after analysis and thinking, feeling that what was just done was wrong, too rash, and so regretting it.
36. Do the Mind Consciousness and the Manas Attend to Each Other?
Faculty and object in contact give rise to the mind consciousness; then faculty, object, and consciousness—the three—further combine in contact, and the mind consciousness discerns the mental sense-object realm, upon which the manas makes its overall choice based on it. The mind consciousness and the manas contact each other, and necessarily attend to each other and know each other's minds, cooperating with each other, so that dharmas can continue to operate and bodily, verbal, and mental actions can be created. If the mind consciousness and the manas did not attend to each other, the mind consciousness could not operate; the mind consciousness's birth would be useless, and thereafter the manas would never again choose to let the mind consciousness arise. The purpose of the mind consciousness's birth is to cooperate with and serve the manas's needs; of course, as soon as it is born, the mind consciousness knows what the manas wants Him to do, and so automatically and spontaneously acts according to the manas's intentions. Of course, in between, it inevitably offers some opinions and suggestions, and sometimes has its own views inconsistent with the manas's intentions; then there is inner conflict, and when encountering matters, one cannot decide.
37. The Principle by Which the Manas Governs the Arising and Ceasing of the Mind Consciousness
Question: The manas and dharmas serve as conditions, with the manas as the dominant condition (adhipati-pratyaya), an assisting cause; the seeds of the mind consciousness are the generating cause, and it is the attention (manaskāra) mental factor that determines the arising of the mind consciousness. Why then say that the manas governs the arising and ceasing of the mind consciousness?
Answer: The contact of faculty and object is the necessary and indispensable condition for the six consciousnesses to be born. The manas and dharmas as conditions give rise to the mind consciousness—the manas making contact with the mental sense-objects is the necessary and indispensable condition for the eighth consciousness to give birth to the mind consciousness. Conditions represent prerequisites. If there were no faculty such as the manas making contact with the mental sense-objects, the eighth consciousness could not give birth to the mind consciousness, because there would be no prerequisite condition—that is, no reason to give birth to the mind consciousness. This shows that for the eighth consciousness to give birth to the mind consciousness and the five sense consciousnesses, there must be a prerequisite condition, a reason. The eighth consciousness will not give birth to the six consciousnesses without cause, because the eighth consciousness has no self-nature; it does not act on its own initiative, does not manipulate any dharma, does not act as sovereign; He is a mind that accords with conditions—when there is a condition, He gives birth to dharmas; when there is no condition, He does not.
Moreover, whatever dharma is born, it is born by the eighth consciousness, because the eighth consciousness has seeds and gives birth by means of seeds; what has no seeds cannot be born. The consciousness seeds of the mind consciousness are a cause—or one may call it a condition—for the birth of the mind consciousness. But seeds have no mind and no mental factors, so seeds themselves cannot give birth to any dharma; it is the eighth consciousness that uses the seeds contained within its own substance to give birth to dharmas.
Furthermore, the attention (manaskāra) mental factor is not a mind-consciousness; it has no initiative and cannot determine the arising of the mind consciousness. The arising of the mind consciousness is determined, on the one hand, by the manas's volition (cetanā) mental factor, and on the other, by the eighth consciousness's volition mental factor; then the eighth consciousness gives birth to the mind consciousness. Therefore, the birth of the mind consciousness has two important sovereigns: one is the manas—if the manas does not decide, the mind consciousness cannot be born; the other is the eighth consciousness—if the eighth consciousness's volition mental factor does not decide, the mind consciousness cannot be born. And the eighth consciousness's volition mental factor's decision is brought about by the manas's volition mental factor's decision; if the manas's volition mental factor does not decide, the eighth consciousness's volition mental factor has no decision.
38. How Is the Manas Successfully Cultivated?
For the manas to be successfully cultivated by the mind consciousness, it must, regarding the contacted realm-dharmas or the information transmitted to Him by the mind consciousness, have gone through His own deliberation (manasikāra/manana), and only after deliberating through to clear understanding does He trust and confirm it; after accepting it, His thoughts and views transform, and He is turned by that dharma. For the manas to deliberate on a dharma clearly and thoroughly, it must be done on the premise of reducing grasping, carried out under conditions of relatively little interference; only with a certain degree of focused power can there be the wisdom to deliberate through to understanding, and only then can the dharma enter the mind. Therefore, the manas's wisdom is necessarily related to meditative concentration: the deeper the meditative concentration, the more penetrating the wisdom—whereas the mind consciousness's thinking does not necessarily require much meditative concentration. The manas's successful cultivation does not depend on how many times the mind consciousness repeats things to the manas; no matter how many times the mind consciousness repeats things, if the manas does not deliberate, or deliberates without understanding, the manas still has no wise cognition and still cannot transform.
If the manas has not been successfully cultivated and influenced, its thoughts and views cannot transform, it cannot break through ignorance and exhaust afflictions, and it will remain as it was. If the principles grasped by the mind consciousness are relatively strong, it can also subdue and suppress the manas; but once the mind consciousness is not quite clear-headed, the learned principles do not function, and it cannot regulate the manas, so the manas's afflictions will manifest. This is the situation of sentient beings before eradicating afflictions; at this time, sentient beings can only keep the precepts of body and speech without violating them, but cannot keep the mind from violating precepts; the Mahāyāna mind-ground precepts cannot be strictly kept or automatically kept without violation—they cannot yet hold the bodhisattva's mind-ground precepts, because their mind has not transformed. This is a process in sentient beings' learning of Buddhism and cultivation; the length of this process varies from person to person, depending on sentient beings' wholesome roots and merit.
