Eliminating the View of Self in Consciousness through Vipassana Practice (Part 1)

The arising of consciousness occurs when the mental faculty (manas) contacts mental objects (dharmas). At the point where the faculty and objects contact, the eighth consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) generates consciousness. When the faculty, objects, and consciousness come together in contact, consciousness begins to discern the mental objects, giving rise to the functioning of discriminative thought. Thus, the function of discrimination is produced. Among the six consciousnesses, the scope of activity of the mental consciousness is extremely broad. Whenever we are in a waking state without fainting, or awake without truly being asleep, the mental consciousness exists and is active and functioning. Therefore, the range of mental consciousness activity is indeed very extensive; at every moment when our present bodily, verbal, and mental actions arise, the mental consciousness is currently active. The nature of consciousness is: "I am thinking," "I am discerning," "I am contemplating," "I am reflecting." We (referring to the mental faculty) often mistake consciousness for the self, and this sense of "I" is most prominent and intense.

Who takes consciousness as the self? One is consciousness itself, but primarily it is the mental faculty (manas). It firmly grasps consciousness as the self, taking all the functions and activities of consciousness as the self. The mental faculty possesses the characteristic of being conceptually constructed (parikalpita-svabhāva); it universally conceptualizes, evaluates, and grasps all phenomena as the self and as belonging to the self. It not only grasps the eighth consciousness as the self but also grasps the six consciousnesses as the self, grasping all phenomena as being the self and belonging to it. Its nature of attachment and grasping is exceptionally strong. In every activity of our bodily, verbal, and mental actions, every act of thinking, every mental function, is a function of consciousness. This includes functions such as discrimination, thinking, judgment, reflection, contemplation, and so on. The function of thinking, whether thinking about worldly phenomena, thinking about the Buddha Dharma, or investigating critical phrases (huatou), is all the functioning of the mental consciousness. Thus, it is evident that the uses of consciousness are quite extensive.

To eradicate the view of self (sakkāya-diṭṭhi), one must contemplate and observe the impermanent, arising-and-ceasing nature and the illusory nature of consciousness. One must contemplate the various conditions required for consciousness to arise, understanding that any phenomenon arising dependent on conditions is necessarily illusory and impermanent. At every moment when consciousness arises, it requires various conditions and supporting factors for it to manifest and function. If these supporting conditions are absent, consciousness cannot manifest and remains in a state of cessation. Another method is to contemplate the illusory nature of consciousness based on its overall characteristic of arising and ceasing. Once consciousness is formed, it superficially appears to be continuous and unbroken; the discriminative function of consciousness also seems to persist constantly. In reality, these functions are illusory, impermanent, and discontinuous. Consciousness necessarily ceases under the following five circumstances: at the time of actual death, during coma, during dreamless sleep, upon entering the state of no-thought concentration (asaṃjñi-samāpatti), and upon entering the state of cessation concentration (nirodha-samāpatti).

The conclusion derived from contemplation should be: All phenomena produced by causes and conditions are illusory, impermanent, empty, and not the self. Forming this understanding is also very difficult; it requires overturning erroneous thought patterns established since beginningless kalpas in order to establish the present correct and true understanding. From then on, one no longer mistakenly perceives conditionally arisen phenomena as real. This is the eradication of the view of self.