Why the Five Aggregates Are Not the Self

Because the five aggregates and eighteen realms, arising and ceasing moment by moment, are illusory false appearances, having no self-mastery of their own, they are not the self. For example, a pile of wood, earth, and water mixed together according to a certain principle forms a house; this house is an illusory false appearance subject to arising and ceasing, without autonomy—it falls apart as soon as it is said to fall apart. It cannot be regarded as a self-governing, truly existent thing and then grasped as a "house." Likewise, the so-called self of the five aggregates is also composed of the combination of the seven great seeds; it is also a dharma that arises and ceases and is unreal, without autonomy and without self-mastery. It cannot be taken as the self, nor as belonging to the self. Therefore, the five aggregates are not the self nor what belongs to the self; there is no self and nothing belonging to the self. There is no need to crave and cling, to grasp; do not take a dharma assembled from various parts to be a self that can be relied upon and depended on. Then, after no longer relying on and depending on dharmas formed by combination, what happens? One no longer grasps at the five aggregates and eighteen realms—what else is there? If this thought arises in the mind, thinking "what else is there?", then I-attachment has not been fully eliminated; there is still grasping and still seeking, and thus there is still birth-and-death and still suffering. 

If one does not clearly understand the "self" in the elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), one cannot truly eliminate self-view. If one arrives at a conclusion such as "the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness, are not the eighth consciousness, and yet are not different from the eighth consciousness," then there is no need to speak of having eliminated self-view, nor has there been any contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) upon the five aggregates and eighteen realms in accordance with reality and principle. The mind still holds the existence of a self of the five aggregates and eighteen realms; the self of the five aggregates and eighteen realms has not been abolished—it is merely that the mind consciousness believes the five aggregates and eighteen realms are not the eighth consciousness.