The Non-Self of the Five Aggregates: What Is Negated?

I am the meaning of sovereignty, autonomy, and eternal immutability, the meaning of truth. The five aggregates, however, possess no such characteristics or attributes; therefore, the five aggregates are not the self. The five aggregates cannot be controlled, lack sovereignty, are not autonomous, are not eternal and immutable, and are not true. The five aggregates are the meaning of destruction, impairment, and the emptiness of annihilation. By observing and practicing to realize these principles, one attains the realization that the five aggregates are devoid of self and are not the self.

Here, the eighth consciousness, the Tathagatagarbha, is not involved. It suffices for the Śrāvakas to know that there exists an eighth consciousness which is neither born nor perishes, and which serves as the basis for the five aggregates; this is entirely sufficient for them to sever the view of self. When those non-Buddhists encountered the Buddha and listened to his teaching for just a few minutes, they attained the fruition of the fourth stage, becoming great Arhats. They had no time to understand the eighth consciousness, nor did they know the meaning of the eighth consciousness, much less had they time to observe and contemplate the relationship between the five aggregates and the eighth consciousness. It was impossible for them to contemplate and realize that the five aggregates are devoid of the eighth consciousness or that the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness; they could not arrive at such a conclusion. Yet, they indeed attained Arhatship and entered Nirvana before the Buddha.

In the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha taught his disciples to observe, practice, and attain realization. Throughout the entire sutra, the eighth consciousness as the basis of the five aggregates was never mentioned. Throughout the entire observation process, the disciples did not touch upon the eighth consciousness at all; they did not observe the eighth consciousness, nor did they relate the five aggregates to the eighth consciousness in their contemplation. Ultimately, many disciples realized that the five aggregates are suffering, empty, impermanent, and devoid of self, attaining the purification of the Dharma eye from the first to the fourth fruition. Therefore, the conclusion of non-self was reached, but it did not imply that the five aggregates are devoid of the eighth consciousness.