Only When One Attains the Fruit through the Manas Will One Not Regress

The mind consciousness's "understanding" cannot eradicate any fetters or bonds, because the fetters and bonds are those of the manas; they are the manas's ignorance. The mind consciousness cannot eradicate ignorance on behalf of the manas or sever the three fetters. The mind consciousness's "understanding" simply cannot eradicate the manas's doubt, and in the future one will certainly regress. But when the manas severs the fetters and eradicates the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), one will never regress or deny it. Even when encountering extremely adverse conditions, one might possibly lie and tell the other person that one is not someone who has eradicated the view of self, not a bodhisattva, yet the manas deep within will not lose its faith and its wise view; no matter what, the manas will remain steadfast and will never fall away from the bodhi path.

Whether one regresses or not is a matter of the mind consciousness; the manas has no way to regress. Settled, established wisdom and cognition will not be changed by external forces. Because of that "self," sentient beings transmigrate through birth and death life after life, suffering in hell for countless kalpas, yet still have not eradicated the view of self. How could someone whose manas has realized the fruits and seen the mind easily regress? Can one's thinking really be changed so easily? Once the manas has realized the Dharma and its thinking has transformed, it will not change back; otherwise, even a Buddha could change back into an ordinary person. If the manas's realization of the Dharma could regress, that would be a truly bizarre thing. If thinking were so easily changed, then eradicating the view of self and enlightenment would be extremely easy things, and becoming a Buddha would also be extremely easy—then whence would come the hardship of cultivating the path through three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas before finally attaining Buddhahood?