How to Contemplate and Practice the Emptiness of the Grasping Subject and the Grasped Object to Eliminate Self-View (ātma-dṛṣṭi)

The grasping subject is the seven consciousnesses, and the grasped objects are the six sense-objects and the myriad dharmas. Observing the emptiness of subject and object can only be contemplated and examined through contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) when one's meditative concentration is relatively good. The prerequisites are: first, meditative concentration (dhyāna) must be complete; second, one must have a rough understanding of the falsity of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha). Then, in accordance with what has been understood, one engages in contemplative practice and deliberation step by step, bringing out through contemplative practice the emptiness of the grasping mind of the seven consciousnesses, and this must be observed clearly and thoroughly. The mind must acknowledge the falsity and not-self nature of the six consciousnesses, and one must observe the grasped six sense-objects and myriad dharmas clearly and thoroughly, including the worldly phenomena of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha)—all must be brought out through contemplative practice as false, subject to arising and ceasing, subject to change, and unreal.

The falsity of the six sense-objects is relatively easy to contemplate. In the Saṃyukta Āgama, the World-Honored One taught how to contemplate the falsity of the six sense-objects. While reading, one deliberates on how the six sense-objects are false, contemplating and examining them one by one, item by item. Contemplate along with the text, deliberate along with the text; once the deliberation is thorough, one can acknowledge those principles. Without deliberation and contemplative practice, it is useless for the mind consciousness to know those principles only superficially. With logical deliberation, one can find the basis and evidence to prove the correctness of the theory. When it is brought out through contemplative practice, the mind will say: "Oh, so that's how it is!" Then the manas acknowledges it.

Contemplative practice always takes a process; in the end the mind will say: "So that's how it is!" At that point one truly knows—this is the acknowledgment of the manas. Otherwise it is merely the superficial knowing of the mind consciousness, and the knowing of the mind consciousness is often of little use. Many people can speak the principles, but in fact their own minds do not acknowledge them, because the manas does not understand these principles and does not know exactly why. For the manas to understand, the mind consciousness must deliberate on and contemplate the content of these theories. The process of contemplative practice imperceptibly influences the manas, telling it: "This is how it is, this is the principle—the evidence must be sufficient." Every item the mind consciousness analyzes is transmitted to the manas; then the manas can know this content and can comprehend the principle. If the mind consciousness does not contemplate or deliberate, the manas does not know, and self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) cannot be eliminated.