The manas uses the six consciousnesses to create all bodily, verbal, and mental actions

All information from the six consciousnesses is transmitted moment by moment to the manas, and the manas knows moment by moment the information discerned by the six consciousnesses, as well as the mental activities of the six consciousnesses. It is precisely because of this that the manas can, based on the information from the six consciousnesses, give rise to its own mental activities moment by moment, and then moment by moment exercise its role as the master. The six consciousnesses are the tools used by the manas; if the six consciousnesses can no longer function, then no matter how the manas reacts, it cannot manifest anything—no amount of anxious urgency will help. It is like a person who wants to chop down a large tree, but the knife in his hand is broken and unusable; he can only stand there watching, unable to do anything.

When a person uses a knife to chop a tree and the tree is felled, is this something done by the person or by the knife? Of course it is the person who felled the tree—the person used the knife to chop it down, so both the credit and the fault should be attributed to the person. By the same token, the manas uses the six consciousnesses to carry out all bodily, verbal, and mental actions, so both its merits and its faults should be attributed to the manas; the six consciousnesses are merely being directed and controlled. However, if the six consciousnesses offer plans and suggestions to the manas, and the manas acts upon them after heeding them, then the six consciousnesses also bear a share of the responsibility.