What Is the "Self" in the Non-Self of the Five Aggregates?

The five aggregates are the self; the five aggregates are not the self—what is this "self" referring to? Ordinary people regard the five aggregates as the self, while sages regard the five aggregates as not the self. What exactly is this "self" referring to?

Some say this "self" refers to the eighth consciousness, Tathāgatagarbha. Is this view correct? If it were correct, then ordinary people, because they possess a "self," would regard the five aggregates as the eighth consciousness, Tathāgatagarbha. Do ordinary people possess such cognition or such conceptual understanding? Certainly not. If they possessed such conceptual understanding, every one of them would directly transcend the Three Sage Positions and become a bodhisattva on the bhūmi stages of the holy path. For only bodhisattvas on the bhūmi stages possess the capacity to observe that every aspect of the five aggregates and eighteen elements is entirely the nature of Tathāgatagarbha—that in essence, all are Tathāgatagarbha. Realizing one part or multiple parts of the One True Dharma Realm, and realizing that the entire Dharma Realm is the One True Dharma Realm—that would be Buddhahood.

Therefore, it is impossible for ordinary people to possess the wisdom and cognition that the five aggregates are the eighth consciousness, Tathāgatagarbha. In fact, ordinary sentient beings do not possess such conceptual understanding or cognition. Even among ordinary sentient beings who study Buddhism, most are unaware of the existence of the eighth consciousness, Tathāgatagarbha. Among those who know of it, many do not acknowledge the reality and non-falsity of the eighth consciousness, Tathāgatagarbha. Naturally, they have not realized it and thus do not regard the five aggregates as the eighth consciousness, Tathāgatagarbha. Sentient beings in the three lower realms, in particular, are even less capable of connecting the five aggregates with the eighth consciousness. Yet, all sentient beings in the three lower realms possess the view of self; they all regard their own five-aggregate body as "self" and "belonging to self," and they protect it accordingly. This is especially true of animals, who are extremely ignorant. They have no concepts whatsoever in their minds; they simply know the five-aggregate body as "self," without even the concept of "self." Yet this does not hinder them from protecting this self, because the mental faculty (manas) knows the five-aggregate body as "self" without language, words, or thought—knowing nothing else.

In this case, it is entirely unnecessary for ordinary sentient beings to study the Four Noble Truths and contemplate the five aggregates only to negate the absolute truth that the five aggregates are the eighth consciousness, Tathāgatagarbha, and instead arrive at the erroneous conclusion that the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness, Tathāgatagarbha. This conclusion directly negates the profound great wisdom of the bodhisattvas on the bhūmi stages regarding Consciousness-Only, contradicting the correct principle of Consciousness-Only and also contradicting the correct principle of the One True Dharma Realm as taught in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. Therefore, arriving at the conclusion that the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness, Tathāgatagarbha, through realization of the fruit, is to have not realized the fruit at all. It indicates a lack of genuine contemplative practice and an absence of a true process of cultivation. Those who have undergone genuine cultivation would never arrive at such a conclusion. This is a wrong path in the contemplative practice of severing the view of self; it cannot yield the correct fruit of severing the view of self, nor can it lead to the purification of the Dharma-eye or liberation.