The Meaning of Neither Identity nor Difference

I am not within what is mine, and what is mine is not within me; this is a mutual relationship. At times, the mental faculty takes the form skandha as "I," then regards the sensation, perception, volition, and consciousness skandhas as "what is not mine," and perceives that "I" and "what is mine" are mutually fused together. At times, the mental faculty takes the sensation skandha as "I," then regards the form, perception, volition, and consciousness skandhas as "what is mine," believing that the sensation skandha and the other skandhas are mutually fused together.

In reality, the form skandha is not "I," and the sensation, perception, volition, and consciousness skandhas that are regarded as "what is mine" are also not "what is mine." They are all unrelated to me, are not me, and must be severed. Do not mistake these functions and activities as real and indestructible. Regarding the five skandhas as "I" is a wrong view, and regarding them as "what is mine" is equally a wrong view. Both should be abandoned. Only by establishing the correct view that the five skandhas are neither "I" nor "what is mine" can one gradually attain liberation from the cycle of birth and death.