How to Determine Whether Self-View Has Been Eliminated (ātma-dṛṣṭi)

If the Thirty-seven Factors of Enlightenment of the Small Vehicle have not been fulfilled, the elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) cannot be accomplished; if meditative concentration (samādhi) is insufficient, one cannot engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) directly and can only speculate and imagine; if the factor of joy, the factor of tranquility, the factor of meditative concentration, and the factor of equanimity are not complete, or have not even appeared at all, one is still very far from eliminating self-view; if the four right efforts (samyag-vyāyāma) of abandoning evil and cultivating goodness have not yet been practiced—evil still continuing and goodness not yet arisen, afflictions not lessened, the mind not transformed—then self-view cannot be eliminated; if the Eightfold Noble Path has not yet been fully complete, and there are still unwholesome aspects in one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions, self-view likewise cannot be eliminated; if one still craves worldly dharmas and the mind of renunciation is not strong, self-view likewise cannot be eliminated; if there is still the mark of self in the mind, constantly and everywhere taking self as the master and the center, and there are still the mark of a person, the mark of sentient beings, and the mark of a life span—the four marks plainly evident—then self-view has not been eliminated.

In the process of cultivating the Thirty-seven Factors of Enlightenment, as body and mind continuously transform, all kinds of auspicious dreams are revealing that afflictions are gradually falling away, karmic obstructions are gradually being eliminated, the mind is gradually becoming pure, the body is gradually becoming unobstructed, meditative concentration is gradually deepening, and worldly dharmas are gradually being left behind. At the moment of eliminating self-view, the Dharma eye becomes pure, one sees that the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are all empty and without self, and a state of meditative absorption (samādhi) with the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā appears, with body and mind both pure and abiding within samādhi, and the experiences of body and mind are extraordinary. Nowadays sentient beings' spiritual faculties are rather shallow, so such samādhi is very difficult to realize, and the precepts, concentration, and wisdom are also not easy to cultivate to completion; therefore eliminating self-view is extremely difficult. As it stands now, many people who consider themselves to have eliminated self-view and seen their true mind have not had any of these phenomena appear, which means it was not genuine realization. 

At the time of eliminating self-view and seeing one's true mind, one has already been utterly transformed—a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate. If coarse and heavy afflictions (dausthulya) have not been eliminated and the mind is not pure, then the bones are still the original ones and the embryo will not change. If one lowers the various conditions for seeing the path, with the Thirty-seven Factors of Enlightenment and the bodhisattva's six perfections all incomplete and imperfect, then one is merely crawling through the Dragon Gate—in essence still a carp, not transformed into a dragon. At this most critical point of Buddhist practice and realization—attaining the fruits and awakening to the true mind—if one is casual and not rigorous, then at the time of death all kinds of evil signs will appear, and the evil destinies will be unavoidable; after death, upon finding oneself in a gloomy and terrifying place, regret will come too late.