The fundamental goal of spiritual practice is to subdue the self.

The manas has been selfish since beginningless kalpas; it is a complete individualist, grasping at self at all times and in all places. We can often analyze for the manas: in the end, what can selfishness gain? Apart from the suffering of birth-and-death and saṃsāra, what else can there be? After years and months of ceaseless clinging, day and night, what has that clinging produced? Nothing but birth-and-death upon birth-and-death, ultimately gaining nothing. What have we obtained throughout countless kalpas? Nothing but karmic obstructions and afflictions.

When the manas has not realized no-self, it certainly fears birth-and-death; it has also not realized that thing which is beyond birth-and-death, and therefore it still has self-grasping. Only when the manas personally realizes that the myriad dharmas of the three realms are truly illusory and without self, and under the effect of profound meditative concentration (samādhi), can it give up its fixation and thereby eradicate self-grasping. Without realizing no-self, without realizing the true self, it is all just the understanding of the mind consciousness; understanding only serves to suppress afflictions, and has no power to cut them off. The suppression by the mind consciousness is like pressing down grass with a stone—when the stone is removed one day, the grass will grow wildly. Only by presenting facts and reasoning things out can the manas be subdued; it needs to hear detailed principles—dharma that is too coarse and sketchy it cannot understand or accept. To eradicate afflictions, one must, after eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), cultivate amid various states of circumstance; when such states arise, afflictions will poke their heads out and manifest, and at that moment the sharp blade of wisdom is needed to resolutely cut them off, and the afflictions are extinguished. If the afflictions do not emerge but always remain hidden in the mind, they cannot be uprooted, and they will grow again later. 

When cultivation can grasp hold of the manas, progress can be extremely fast—this is the great shortcut. Those who are still making a fuss and putting on a show at the level of the mind consciousness are still far from the Path. Turn your light around and reflect on yourself more often: if your meditative concentration is insufficient, you should cultivate concentration more; if your foundation is not solid, you must lay more groundwork. Do not seek quick success and instant benefit—if the foundation is not solid, the building or tower will collapse in the future. Cultivation is not a matter of leaping, and leaping is simply impossible; you must walk one step at a time, walking steadily and surely. Never seek quick success and instant benefit—that is a castle in the air. We would rather be enlightened a few years later than pick unripe melons; a melon ripened by forced storage cannot be eaten. Cultivate steadily and surely, and you can subdue afflictions and subdue the mind of pride. Once enlightened, the road ahead will be traveled quickly, and it will not be easy to stumble and fall. 

The fundamental goal of cultivation is to subdue the self. If one cultivates in order to be superior to others and stronger than others, that runs counter to the Path. Having a self that is stronger than others, that surpasses others—such a heavy mind of pride will certainly create unwholesome karma and form unwholesome karmic connections, and in the future one will undergo the retribution and suffer anguish. Always wishing oneself to be stronger than others, always determined to be above others, determined to surpass others—that is precisely the self. Without subduing this self, future cultivation will face great obstacles; the mind of pride will severely obstruct the Path, so that one stagnates for a long time, which is very painful. 

The pride of the manas often manifests as: "Look how capable I am, look how outstanding I am, look how formidable I am, look how remarkable I am; how abundant are my fame and gain, how great is my power, how numerous are my disciples..." When the mind of pride manifests like this, it severely obstructs the Path, and one cannot attain the liberating fruit and virtue of no-self. Only by seeing the manas clearly, disciplining and guiding the manas more, does cultivation get onto the right path. 

Conclusion 

Nearly one hundred percent of people take the state of the manas to be the state of the mind consciousness. Therefore, when someone speaks out about the true characteristics of the manas, they are accused of having confused the manas with the mind consciousness. Yet it is actually the one hundred percent and the ninety-nine-plus percent who are confused. Because all these people are replete with all afflictions, and because of the obscuration of ignorance and afflictions, and because they have not transformed consciousness into wisdom, they cannot observe directly the manifest functioning of the manas, and of course they will be one hundred percent mistaken. In whatever era, it cannot be that the vast majority are of high intelligence without afflictive obscuration while a few individuals are of low intelligence and thus misapprehend the Buddha-dharma. In Sahā world, those who err will always be the vast majority, and those without wisdom will also remain the vast majority; it is impossible for the vast majority to transform consciousness into wisdom and possess the wisdom of wonderful observation (pratyavekṣaṇa-jñāna)—one hundred percent impossible. So those who think themselves clever had best not be too self-confident, and still less should they slander, lest the consequences be grave.

All the content concerning the manas belongs to the domain of the seed-wisdom (bīja-jñāna) of Yogācāra; all Yogācāra content likewise belongs to the domain of Yogācāra seed-wisdom, and even more so the mental factors (caittas) of each consciousness. As long as one is not a bodhisattva who has attained the bhūmis, it is best to remain silent and not lecture and debate everywhere, because without the wisdom of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) based on direct perception, one cannot directly observe the specific functioning of the manas; what one speaks out will mostly be imagination and conjecture, often misattributing one thing to another. Students of Buddhism in the Sahā world are mostly like this—it is impossible for many people to transform consciousness into wisdom and possess the wisdom of wonderful observation and the wisdom of equality (samatā-jñāna). Without such wisdom, all should quietly apply effort, hoping to quickly attain the first dhyāna, quickly eradicate afflictive obstructions, quickly develop the wisdom of various contemplative practices, and enter early into the Tathāgata's family; then, in meditative concentration, directly observe the functioning of the manas, lead the multitude to resolve the problems of the manas, and grow in Yogācāra wisdom.