Ordinary Beings and Sages: One Must Look at the Manas

Is the manifestation of a bodhisattva an ordinary being or a sage? Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva manifests thirty-two response bodies; according to what body beings are to be liberated, he manifests that very body and preaches the Dharma for them. Whether one is an ordinary being or a sage depends on the manas. Whatever the manas is, that is what this person is. If the manas has not awakened to the Way, this person is an ordinary being; whatever degree of cultivation and realization the manas has attained, that is the fruit-stage this person occupies.