The "I" of the Conscious Mind is a False Self

The arising of solitary consciousness requires the eighth consciousness and the manas, the seeds of consciousness itself, and the involvement of dharmas as objects. At this time, the conditions necessary for the manifestation of solitary consciousness are fewer than those required for simultaneously arising consciousness and fewer than those needed for the manifestation of the five consciousnesses. Therefore, solitary consciousness in a scattered state is the most easily manifested. This shows that our minds are often scattered, making it difficult to cultivate concentration and challenging to focus when performing tasks. We tend to indulge in random thoughts, constantly thinking about this and that, and sometimes we are not even aware of what we are thinking. These solitary consciousnesses all arise from the manas clinging and grasping to all dharmas, with their root lying precisely in the manas. Thus, only by subduing the manas and preventing it from clinging everywhere can we attain single-mindedness, enabling the conscious mind to achieve stability.

Since the arising of the solitary conscious mind also requires certain conditions, this conscious mind is therefore dependently originated and not autonomous. Dharmas that are dependently originated are characterized by arising and ceasing, impermanent, and fundamentally not the self. What changes constantly is impermanent, and what is impermanent is suffering. What suffers is not the self. The true self is free from suffering, eternal, neither arising nor ceasing, nor discontinuous. Unconstrained by any conditions, it inherently exists without the phenomena of birth and death—that is the true self. Apart from this, all else is illusory, a mirage-like false self. What is constrained by various conditions is not real and therefore not the self. By contemplating this principle frequently, one can gradually transform their thinking.