The Transformation of Consciousness into Wisdom

When seeking the manas and observing the manas, it is the mind consciousness that knows the manas. The manas contacts many dharmas and cannot clearly discern them, so it must rely on the mind consciousness for fine discernment.

However, the manas also has self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana); it can discover itself and prove itself. The manas is especially self-confident, believing in itself and firmly grasping onto itself—this is the manas's self-validating cognition. It defends itself, protects itself, and has the ability to introspect upon itself.

The manas can introspect upon itself, observe itself, and know itself, but the mind consciousness does not know this, because it lacks wisdom. Our knowing of all dharmas is still the knowing of the mind consciousness; if the mind consciousness lacks wisdom, even though all dharmas exist, it does not know them.

Only when the wisdom of the mind consciousness grows can the scope of the dharmas it knows expand, and it comes to know more and more. Especially after the mind consciousness undergoes transformation of consciousness into wisdom, its wisdom can observe and know the functions and activities of the manas, and can discern the functions and activities of the eighth consciousness even more profoundly. The knowing ability, observing ability, and wisdom of the mind consciousness can only be perfectly complete upon reaching the buddha-stage, and will no longer increase.