The Wisdom of the Manas Is the Most Crucial

All eight consciousnesses possess the mental factor of wisdom (prajñā-caitta). Setting aside for now the wisdom mental factor of the eighth consciousness, among the wisdom mental factors of the first seven consciousnesses, the wisdom mental factor of the seventh consciousness, the manas, is the most important and most crucial in cultivation and realization; it represents a sentient being's fundamental level of wisdom. Because the manas determines the arising and operation of the six consciousnesses, determines all the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses, and to a certain extent also determines the wisdom of the six consciousnesses—the first six consciousnesses are subject to the manas—the wisdom of the manas plays a decisive role, bearing upon a sentient being's survival in birth and death, and upon whether one attains liberation or remains bound in the cycle of birth and death.

If the manas lacks wisdom, then no matter how wise the six consciousnesses may be, it will be of no avail. The karmic actions created by the six consciousnesses are governed by the manas; what kind of karmic seeds there will be is determined by the mental actions of the manas; what kind of karmic retribution there will be in future lives is determined by the mental actions of the manas; and whether in later lives one remains in the cycle of birth and death or attains liberation and becomes a Buddha is determined by the mental actions of the manas. Therefore, the wisdom of eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), the wisdom of enlightenment, and all the wisdom of meditative concentration/meditative absorption (samādhi) must all be attained by the manas. Apart from the wisdom of the manas, one cannot speak of any results from cultivation—including the first fruit and the path leading to the first fruit, as well as the various transformations during the stage of being an ordinary person.