Understanding the Non-Self of the Five Aggregates Is Not the Abandonment of the Self-View

Some of us are mentally aware that we are illusory, merely a false shell—does this count as Breaking the View of Self? Understanding non-self and recognizing oneself as illusory involves comprehension by both the conscious mind and the manas (root mind). The understanding of the conscious mind is further divided into genuine understanding and false understanding; understanding without genuine contemplative practice and reflection is not true understanding. Moreover, mere understanding by the conscious mind remains superficial and often lacks significant effect. The manas deep within remains unaware, still clinging to the five skandhas as the self. Consequently, it cannot resolve practical problems, much less attain liberation or escape the cycle of rebirth. Because the manas governs and determines all physical, verbal, and mental actions of the five skandhas—including the activities of the conscious mind—and because the manas remains bound by the fetters of birth and death, it will continue to drag the five skandhas and six consciousnesses into the cycle of birth and death.

Genuine Breaking the View of Self requires the manas to acknowledge and confirm that the five skandhas are indeed illusory and impermanent; the manas must comprehend the principle that the five skandhas are non-self. For the manas to acknowledge and confirm this, the conscious mind must engage in deep, thorough, and comprehensive contemplative practice. Through this practice, the process and results of reflection are transmitted to the manas, enabling the manas to understand. Only then can the manas, through its own deliberation, confirm the illusory nature of the five skandhas as the self. The conscious mind must contemplate that each of the five skandhas is illusory, that each of the eighteen elements is illusory, and reflect upon this exhaustively—especially penetrating deeply into the illusory nature of the conscious mind itself. Only then can the manas acknowledge and confirm that the five skandhas are indeed non-self, that all is illusory. As a result, the innermost thoughts undergo a significant transformation. Only then is the View of Self truly broken.