How to Observe Where the Self-View (ātma-dṛṣṭi) Manifests

To locate where your self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) lies, you can observe it through your own cravings and demands. Excessive demands are greed; unreasonable demands are greed; seeking what should not be sought is greed. Why are there so many demands? Because there is a self in the mind—one sees the physical body as self, sees the aggregate of feeling (vedanā) as self, sees the aggregate of perception (saṃjñā) as self, sees the aggregate of formations (saṃskāra) as self—and thus one craves and seeks for the sake of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha). If there were no self in the mind, one would have few desires and know contentment, stopping at what is appropriate, would not seek and grasp excessively, and certainly would not use improper means, unreasonable methods, or even ways that harm others to pursue one's own benefit.

A person without a self in mind will not exert effort to seek and grasp, but lives in accord with conditions, and certainly will not seek gain by any means whatsoever. A person without self will handle matters from the standpoint of others, considering their interests and being mindful of their feelings. However, such consideration does not necessarily mean complying with others' unreasonable demands; rather, it takes others' long-term and ultimate benefit as the starting point, and one's intentions and actions may not necessarily be understood or approved of by others.

A person who has a self in mind, one with heavy self-view, will inevitably also have heavy self-grasping. In dealing with people and affairs, everything proceeds from one's own mind, placing the self first, taking one's own views and opinions as the standard, not soliciting others' opinions and views, not considering others' feelings—often acting according to one's own habits first and explaining later, beheading before announcing, regardless of whether one has infringed upon others' interests. If others do not comply with oneself, one becomes exasperated and resorts to retaliation, in order to reclaim one's own interests and vent the resentment in one's heart, heedless of the consequences. In this way, in the course of struggling with self and others, each time one wins, one takes a step backward on the path of cultivating and realizing no-self, sinks one step deeper into the pit of the suffering of birth-and-death, and the suffering of this life and future lives will intensify.

Skillful observation is a very important link in cultivation. With skillful observation, one can weigh the true advantages and disadvantages, gains and losses in all matters. Long-term benefit is always more important than immediate benefit; long-term effects far outweigh short-term effects. A person with heavy self-view is short-sighted, often seeing only the tiny bit before their eyes, blinded by the extremely small immediate gains—this is what is called karmic obstruction.

What is karmic obstruction? The ignorant karmic causes of past lives have increased one's self-view and self-grasping, obstructing the arising of wisdom, so that one cannot see the truth of things clearly, does not know what one's true benefit really is, and pursues what is unprofitable as if it were a great benefit. The result is running in the opposite direction, where the loss outweighs the gain.

Sentient beings all feel that the term "ignorance" (avidyā) is rather subtle, while the term "foolishness" is rather crude. In fact, both terms mean the same thing. The Buddha used the word "foolishness" to summarize the mental nature of sentient beings, and that is already quite subtle. Sometimes the Buddha would even shout at his disciples: "Hey! You fool!" In fact, no matter what language is used, it cannot fully express the foolishness and stupidity of sentient beings—nothing quite hits the mark, nothing moves sentient beings no matter what is said, leaving one speechless. Even using Mount Sumeru as a crowbar could not pry loose the foolishness, stupidity, and dullness in sentient beings' minds.