The Difference in Attaining the Path Between the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna

The elimination of self-view (ahaṃkāra-mamakāra-parityāga) is the contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of the principle that the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are without self; it does not involve the eighth consciousness. Realizing the eighth consciousness requires studying the Mahāyāna prajñā. After the mind consciousness has acquired a considerable degree of correct prajñā knowledge and view, one must then engage in Chan investigation within meditative concentration (samādhi), investigating and probing into the eighth consciousness, in order to attain realization of the Mahāyāna path. The methods and content of practice differ between the Greater and Lesser Vehicles, and after attaining the path, the levels and substance of the mind's emptiness also differ between them. In the Lesser Vehicle, the elimination of self-view is the realization that the five aggregates are empty and without self—an emptiness that is merely a kind of nonexistence. The emptiness realized after attaining the Mahāyāna path, however, includes that emptiness of nonexistence of the Lesser Vehicle, and also includes realizing the unique emptiness (śūnyatā) inherent in the eighth consciousness itself: one knows how the eighth consciousness itself is empty, and can also observe how the five-aggregate body that He gives rise to is empty. Therefore the emptiness of the Mahāyāna is more ultimate than that of the Lesser Vehicle, closer to the truth, and better able to reveal the true reality of the dharmadhātu. At the moment of attaining the path, the wisdom of the two differs greatly.