How to Apply Effort in Eliminating Self-View (ahaṃkāra-mamakāra-parityāga)

In order to eliminate the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), one should frequently engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the activities of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha). Whenever the six sense faculties contact any of the six sense objects, one should clearly distinguish the five aggregates, observe their functions clearly, contemplate their nature of suffering, emptiness, and impermanence, and strive to confirm their selflessness. Carry out this contemplative practice with meditative concentration (samādhi), slowly, gently, deeply, carefully, bit by bit, without haste or impatience. If you continue practicing in this way, there will eventually come a time when you break through the obstructions of your own mind, a time when you break through ignorance (avidyā), a time when you turn around the stubborn views of the manas. At that point, cultivation has achieved initial success. When time and environmental conditions permit, the activities of the body faculty should be as slow as possible—the slower the better; it is best to become slow like a robot. In this process, the mind can become very tranquil and very subtle. Observing the activities of the body faculty and the activities of the consciousness, one will feel a sense of mechanical operation, as if it were not done by oneself, feeling somewhat unreal; the notion of self will then fade, making it easier to eliminate the view of the body and the self-view. Then observe the consciousnesses involved in the activities of the body faculty: what is the body consciousness doing, what is the mind consciousness doing, what is the manas doing? What is the eye consciousness, which assists alongside, doing? What is the ear consciousness doing? What is the nose consciousness doing? How does each arise, how does it operate, how do they cooperate closely, and finally how do they shift and how do they cease? Observe and search for the coming and going of these consciousnesses, then observe the arising and settling points of the various mental states, and keep tracing them—be sure to see through to the very end. The results are twofold: first, one can eliminate the self-view; second, one can discover the source and awaken to the true mind, attaining realization.