How to Understand That the Six Faculties Are Illusory and Without Self

All six faculties are subject to arising and ceasing. Among them, the five physical faculties are produced by the eighth consciousness in dependence upon karmic seeds, the conditions of father and mother, and the grasping of the manas; when the conditions disperse, they perish—they are not self-existent and lack autonomy. The manas arises from the eighth consciousness transmitting seeds of consciousness; it is also a false appearance of consciousness formed by moment-to-moment arising and ceasing in continuous succession. When entering nirvāṇa without remainder, it too can cease; therefore it is also unreal and not self-governing, illusory and not the self. In contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), one must deliberate slowly, deliberate with great depth and subtlety; only then can the mind be inwardly stirred, and only then can one truly acknowledge that the six faculties and the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are not real and are not the true self. One must cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi), and with the support of meditative power, deliberate and contemplate—one dharma at a time, contemplating the next only after finishing the previous. Suspend the content of your deliberation deeply in the mind: deeply, slowly, subtly. Do not let the mind be restless. Hold the dharma under contemplation deeply suspended within; the mind is almost motionless—in truth it moves, but very slowly and very subtly. Only such contemplative practice is the correct method of contemplation.