How to Determine Whether the Self-View Has Been Cut Off

If the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment of the Hinayana path are not fulfilled, one cannot sever the view of self. With insufficient meditative concentration, one cannot engage in direct contemplation and can only rely on reasoning and imagination. If the enlightenment factors of joy (prīti), tranquility (praśrabdhi), concentration (samādhi), and equanimity (upekṣā) are not complete or have not arisen at all, one remains far from severing the view of self. If the four right efforts to abandon unwholesome states and cultivate wholesome states have not been practiced, if unwholesomeness persists and wholesomeness has not yet arisen, if afflictions have not diminished and the mind remains unchanged, one cannot sever the view of self. If the Noble Eightfold Path is not fully complete, and there are still improper actions of body, speech, and mind, one also cannot sever the view of self. If one still clings to worldly dharmas and lacks strong renunciation, one likewise cannot sever the view of self. If the notion of self still exists in the mind, where one constantly places oneself at the center, and notions of person, sentient beings, and life span are distinctly present—if these four notions remain vivid—then the view of self has not been severed.

During the cultivation of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment, as the body and mind continuously transform, various auspicious dreams indicate that afflictions are gradually falling away, karmic obstacles are gradually being eliminated, the mind is gradually becoming purified, the body is gradually becoming unobstructed, meditative concentration is gradually deepening, and worldly dharmas are gradually being relinquished. At the moment of severing the view of self, the dharma-eye becomes purified, one sees that the five aggregates are empty and devoid of self, and the samādhi state of balanced concentration and wisdom arises. Body and mind are purified and abide in samādhi, experiencing extraordinary sensations. In this era, the faculties of sentient beings are generally shallow; such samādhi is extremely difficult to realize, and precepts, concentration, and wisdom are not easily cultivated to fulfillment. Therefore, severing the view of self is exceedingly difficult. Currently, many who consider themselves to have severed the view of self and realized the mind lack these phenomena; thus, it is not genuine realization.

When severing the view of self and realizing the mind, one has already undergone a complete transformation, like a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate. If coarse and heavy afflictions have not been eliminated and the mind is not purified, the "bones" remain the same, and the "form" does not change. If the conditions for realizing the path are lowered, and the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment or the six pāramitās of a bodhisattva are incomplete and unfulfilled, then it is like crawling over the Dragon Gate—the essence remains that of a carp, not transformed into a dragon. At this most crucial point of realizing the fruition and realizing the mind in Buddhist practice, if one is casual and lacks rigor, various evil signs will manifest at the time of death, and evil destinies become unavoidable. After death, finding oneself in a dark and terrifying place, regret will come too late.

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