Only when the manas cuts off doubt and gives rise to faith will the tathāgatagarbha follow.

All myriad dharmas do not exist apart from the tathāgatagarbha and the manas, and can only be spoken of in relation to them; the mind consciousness merely plays an auxiliary role. The mind consciousness is like a staff advisor, a supporting role, whereas the manas is the protagonist, like a general—all decision-making power rests with the manas. As the staff advisor, the mind consciousness must continuously gather intelligence about the six sense objects for the manas, analyze the detailed information of the six sense objects, and offer the manas appropriate, timely, and reasonable suggestions.

After receiving the intelligence and suggestions analyzed by the mind consciousness, the manas must itself engage in its characteristic deliberation and consideration, and then decide whether to handle the six sense objects according to what the mind consciousness has said, or, based on its own experience, its own habits, its own thoughts and views, decide on the next course of action. This entire process is the functional operation of the manas' mental factor of volition (cetanā). If the manas still cannot decide how to take the next step, it will again have the mind consciousness gather intelligence for its reference, just as a general, when unable to decide, has his staff advisor gather more and more useful intelligence for him and report it in detail, so that the general can make his decision.

From this it can be seen that the most important thing in eradicating doubt is eradicating the manas' doubt. If one eradicates the mind consciousness' doubt but not the manas' doubt, the manas will still have doubts. (However, the manas will sometimes also help resolve the mind consciousness' doubts.) For example, when the head of a household has a problem, the whole family must cooperate with him to solve it; if his problem is not resolved, the whole family cannot operate normally and in an orderly manner.

Eradicating doubt gives rise to faith—eradicating doubt means the manas eradicates it, and generating faith means the manas generates faith. At first it is the mind consciousness' faith, which is blind faith, faith based on veneration, doting faith—an unstable faith, not correct faith. Correct faith and deep faith are the faith of the manas; this kind of faith is deeply rooted and unwavering. If the manas has no faith, it cannot spontaneously want to cultivate and study the true Dharma. No matter how much the mind consciousness believes, if the manas gives rise to doubt, the mind consciousness can do nothing about it and can only follow the manas' ideas. The mind consciousness can only serve as the manas' staff advisor and cannot make decisions on behalf of the manas, the general. The relationship between the tathāgatagarbha and the manas is like that of father and son: whatever the son, the manas, wants to do, the father, the tathāgatagarbha, as long as He has the financial resources, material resources, and manpower, will comply with and satisfy Him.