The Manas Possesses the Mental Factor of Mindfulness (smṛti)

If the manas does not recollect a dharma, how could the mind consciousness recollect it? When the manas contacts the dharma it recollects and wishes to discern it clearly, the tathāgatagarbha, in compliance, gives birth to the mind consciousness; the mind consciousness, following the manas's instruction, then discerns and recollects the dharma that the manas recollects. If the manas does not recollect a dharma, it does not contact that dharma, and there is no wish to discern or to act; the tathāgatagarbha then cannot give birth to the mind consciousness for any further activity, and there is no mind consciousness to recollect the dharma.

Whatever dharma the manas does not recollect will not appear. Whatever the mind consciousness recollects is the result of the manas's recollection, the result of the manas's arrangement and mobilization. The mind consciousness cannot arise without the conditioning contact of the manas, and cannot arise without the decision of the manas's mental factor of volition (cetanā). The mind consciousness cannot by itself determine its own arising and all its activities, because it is not the master consciousness, because of its lack of self-mastery (avaśatā); it is the tool of the manas, obeying the manas's dispatch.

All five sense consciousnesses possess the mental factor of mindfulness (smṛti), let alone the master consciousness, which is so keen and so important—it all the more possesses the mental factor of mindfulness.