Characteristics of the Sotāpanna and the Grave Karmic Offense of False Speech

Question: Does the Srota-āpanna fruit (Stream-enterer) sever the view that the five aggregates constitute a self or belong to a self, and does this entail severing the view that the mind root (manas) is the self? 

Answer: The severance of the view of self at the stage of the first fruit (Srota-āpanna) involves both the mind root (manas) and the mind consciousness (mano-vijñāna); both recognize that the five aggregates are suffering, empty, impermanent, and devoid of self. However, the severance of the view of self at the first fruit is not yet thorough. The severance deepens at the second fruit (Sakṛdāgāmin, Once-returner), thereby achieving the attenuation of greed, hatred, and delusion. It deepens further at the third fruit (Anāgāmin, Non-returner), enabling the complete abandonment of greed, hatred, and delusion. Only at the fourth fruit (Arhat) is the view of self utterly severed, allowing the complete eradication of the conceit of "I am" (asmimāna) and self-attachment (ātma-grāha), resulting in non-attachment to even the slightest worldly dharmas and the capability to attain final Nirvāṇa without residue (anupādhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa). 

Although a first fruit still possesses greed, hatred, and delusion, and these are not yet attenuated, the merit of severing the view of self enables the first fruit to effectively subdue these defilements. They do not manifest as easily or as obviously as they do in ordinary people (pr̥thagjana). During the path of cultivation, the first fruit completes the practice of the Thirty-seven Aids to Enlightenment (bodhipākṣikā dharmaḥ), including the full perfection of the Noble Eightfold Path (āryāṣṭāṅgika-mārga). This indicates an upright and wholesome mind, firmly established on the correct path of practice. Having completed the Four Right Efforts (samyakpradhāna), it shows that the defilements and unwholesome habits of the first fruit are subdued, no longer arising easily. Wholesome dharmas are firmly established, and the first fruit possesses the specific wholesomeness of a Stream-enterer. Through the merit of abandoning the unwholesome and cultivating the wholesome, the first fruit is endowed with the liberating merit and benefit (adhipati-phala) appropriate to their stage. It is unlike what some people who have not genuinely attained the fruit claim—that a first fruit has the same level of greed, hatred, and delusion as an ordinary person. Such claims constitute grave slander against the first fruit; the reality is absolutely not like that. 

If one encounters someone claiming to be a first fruit but exhibiting greed, hatred, and delusion as heavy as an ordinary person's, one can conclude that this person is a false first fruit, an ordinary person impersonating a Stream-enterer. Deception is rampant in the world today, and it is also prevalent within Buddhism. A few individuals do this intentionally, but most do so unintentionally, simply due to heavy self-attachment, overestimating themselves, failing to look inward, being unable to examine and reflect upon themselves, desiring to stand out, and striving to compete with others. The result is that they ultimately harm themselves. After death, because of the grave offense of major false speech (mahā-mṛṣāvāda), they will automatically fall into hell. 

Why is the offense of major false speech so severe? As the Buddha stated in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, it is like a pauper falsely claiming to be an emperor. When caught by the king, he is executed and his entire family is annihilated. Within Buddhism, an ordinary person impersonating a sage is an offense far greater than impersonating an emperor in worldly affairs, for a sage is vastly superior to an emperor. Impersonating a sage disrupts the Buddhist Dharma, confuses right understanding, makes beings unable to distinguish between sages and ordinary people, and throws the proper sequence of Buddhist practice and realization into chaos. Impersonating a sage is a pārājika offense (defeat, entailing expulsion from the Saṅgha), a capital offense (literally "beheading offense"). After death, the offender will fall into hell to be punished and atone for the sin.