Spiritual practice is sweeping the mind-ground.

The manifestation of the subjectively imagined realm occurs because the manas grasps at and attends to mental sense-objects (dharma-objects), and after attending to them, a thought arises; the tathāgatagarbha then produces the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) to carry out the manas's instruction and fulfill the manas's ideation. Whatever dharma the manas attends to, the solitary consciousness arises upon that dharma, and thereafter operates according to the manas's directive. Only after a thought arises in the mind consciousness does knowing occur—knowing what the dharma is. This dharma is a mental sense-object resembling information, having nothing to do with the five sense-objects; it may be an idea or concept, a recollection or reminiscence, a longing for the future, or the deliberation, analysis, and judgment of a problem. When the manas wants to recall something, the mind consciousness recollects people and events of the past; when the manas wants to know the meaning of a certain sentence, the mind consciousness deliberates and analyzes that sentence; when the manas wants to consider the next day's itinerary, the mind consciousness deliberates the arrangements for the next day's schedule.

The arising of thoughts in the solitary consciousness is drawn forth by the manas, arising, ceasing, and moving in accordance with the manas's thoughts and ideas. For example, when the manas thinks of a person, the eighth consciousness immediately manifests the dharmas related to that person; after the manas contacts and deliberates upon them, it makes a decision to think it over, and thus the solitary consciousness appears, attending to the dharmas related to that person—contact, feeling, perception, and volition occur—and after the manas knows, it will then make a decision. Thereafter, the solitary consciousness may continue to operate in depth, or it may vanish from that dharma and appear upon other dharmas that the manas is grasping at.

The stray thoughts of the solitary consciousness are generated by the manas's various graspings. At the very moment a thought first arises, no realm has yet manifested; the first instant is knowing that a thought has arisen, and only then does the image of the realm appear—there is a process between the arising of the thought and the manifestation of the realm. The realm was there all along, but without the mind consciousness it cannot be known. When the mind consciousness appears, in the first and second instants its discernment is incomplete and unclear; in the third and fourth instants, its discernment makes the dharma manifest more clearly, and only then can a conclusion be drawn and an outline of the dharma emerge. Only afterward comes deliberation and analysis, and only then is the dharma fully understood.

Most of the stray thoughts in the mind are things experienced in the past, called "familiar realms" (previously cultivated objects). This shows that the manas often grasps at dharmas intentionally or unintentionally; its habitual force is strong, the mind is not empty, and it cannot let go of all the people, events, things, and principles it has experienced, keeping these dharmas circling in the mind, unwilling to relinquish them—like garbage piling up and filling the mind, filthy and defiled, yet never knowing to clean and tidy it up. Cultivation means regularly cleaning and tidying up the hygiene of the mind—a thorough sweeping and clearing—to maintain the purity of the mind-ground; only then can the chamber of the mind be bright and clean. The cleaning is led and urged on by the mind consciousness, with the manas's consent; still, it is the mind consciousness that does the sweeping—both devising the plans and carrying out the tasks are the work of the mind consciousness, while the manas only needs to nod, give orders, and make the final call.