Only when the manas accords with wholesome dharmas is the perfuming successful

Wholesome mental factors (kuśala-caittas): faith (śraddhā), shame (hrī), dread of blame (apatrāpya), non-greed (alobha), non-hatred (adveṣa), non-delusion (amoha), diligence (vīrya), pliancy (praśrabdhi), conscientiousness (apramāda), equanimity (upekṣā), and non-harmfulness (ahiṃsā).

The unwholesome mental factors opposed to these are: non-faith, absence of shame, absence of dread of blame, greed, hatred, delusion, non-diligence, non-pliancy, heedlessness, non-equanimity, and harmfulness.

If the manas does not correspond with the eleven wholesome mental factors, it must correspond with the unwholesome mental factors—one of the two must necessarily be the case; otherwise it is illogical. For example, if a horse is white, then it is not non-white; one of the two must be the case. If a person is wholesome, then he is not unwholesome; one of the two must be the case; otherwise it is illogical.

So does the manas correspond with the wholesome mental factors, or does it not? Or does it correspond with both—that is, is it both wholesome and unwholesome? If the manas does not correspond with these eleven wholesome mental factors, is that reasonable? If so, the manas would correspond with the unwholesome mental factors, and then it would possess the unwholesome mental factors: non-faith, absence of shame, absence of dread of blame, greed, hatred, delusion, non-diligence, non-pliancy, heedlessness, non-equanimity, and harmfulness—it would have the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion. Would this then be self-contradictory? Could such practice ever reach accomplishment?

"The six turning consciousnesses call it the basis of defilement and purity"—the defilement and purity of the six consciousnesses depend upon the manas: when the manas is defiled, the six consciousnesses are defiled; when the manas is pure, the six consciousnesses are pure.

Is the meaning of this statement not very profound? If the manas innately lacks a certain affliction, can the six consciousnesses still have that affliction by relying on the manas? If the manas innately possesses a certain affliction, can the six consciousnesses still be pure on their own by relying on the manas? If the six consciousnesses could become pure on their own, why would it still be said that "the six turning consciousnesses call it the basis of defilement and purity"?

For those who study and practice the Buddha-dharma—whether practicing the Mahāyāna dharma or the Small Vehicle dharma—the mind should become increasingly pure, increasingly in accord with wholesome dharmas, and the mind should become increasingly effortless (asaṃskṛta).

If, after a period of practice, the six consciousnesses have all come to accord with wholesome dharmas, yet the manas still cannot accord with wholesome dharmas, then the manas has not been successfully permeated and transformed, and the practice has not achieved initial success. The manas will still take charge and direct the six consciousnesses to create unwholesome dharmas that accord with itself; bodily, verbal, and mental actions cannot become pure, and one cannot eliminate self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) nor awaken to the true mind and attain realization. If the manas does not correspond with the eleven wholesome dharmas, studying Buddhism is a failure—the tathāgatagarbha cannot store the seeds of wholesome dharmas, and in future lives one will not get to enjoy the karmic retribution of wholesome karma.

When the manas has not been successfully permeated and transformed, all mental activities in dreams are the mental activities of the manas; the mind consciousness cannot take charge and must drift and be governed according to the manas, just as at the time of death. So when one kills and commits arson in a dream, maliciously takes revenge, comes to blows with someone, and so forth—these defiled karmic actions of hatred and anger—do they all correspond with the manas? If the manas did not have these defiled mental activities of greed, hatred, and delusion, how could it produce such dreams? Moreover, in dreams the mind consciousness cannot persuade the manas; one almost always drifts along with the waves of the manas, just like the situation in the antarā-bhava after death. Whatever afflictions appear in dreams, the manas has those same afflictions when awake. If the mental activities in dreams accord with the eleven wholesome factors, then when awake the manas accords with the eleven wholesome factors; otherwise, one could not produce karmic actions that accord with the eleven wholesome factors.