Eliminating feeling is not the primary goal of cultivation

Some people always assume that only after the feeling of sensation has been eliminated—when there is no more sensation of feeling—does one have the basis and the hallmark of realizing the Path. In fact, subduing and eliminating the feeling of sensation relies mainly on profound meditative concentration (dhyāna). Whether or not one has realized the Path, as long as one possesses very deep meditative concentration, one can eliminate the feeling of sensation; even non-Buddhist practitioners who have attained the four dhyānas and eight concentrations can accomplish this. Even the concentration of the first dhyāna cannot eliminate the feeling of sensation; the sensation within the first dhyāna is merely a pleasant feeling—a feeling of comfort—and it is still a sensation of feeling. To eliminate all sensations of feeling, one must cultivate until the aggregate of feeling (vedanā) is exhausted. Only concentration above the fourth dhyāna can exhaust the aggregate of form (rūpa); only afterward can the aggregate of feeling be eliminated, realizing the exhaustion of the aggregate of feeling, and only after that can the aggregate of perception (saṃjñā) and the aggregate of formations (saṃskāra) be eliminated. To attain liberation, it is not necessary to eliminate the feeling of sensation; as long as one does not cling to sensations, one can attain liberation. Eliminating sensations is not the primary goal of our cultivation; the primary goal is to eliminate the wrong views and false views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) accumulated since beginningless kalpas—that is, the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) that takes the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) as the self. Once the self-view is eliminated and one is no longer bound by the self-view, one can attain initial liberation, and one's subsequent cultivation will proceed on the right track.