How to Determine Whether One Has Eradicated the View of Self

If the Thirty-seven Factors of Enlightenment of the Small Vehicle are not fulfilled, the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) cannot be eradicated; if meditative concentration (samādhi) is insufficient, one cannot engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) directly and can only reason 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 far from eradicating the view of self; if the four right efforts (samyag-vyāyāma) of abandoning evil and cultivating good have not yet been practiced—evil still continues and good has not yet arisen, afflictions have not lessened, and the mind has not changed—then the view of self cannot be eradicated; if the Eightfold Noble Path is not yet fully complete, and there are still incorrect aspects in one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions, the view of self likewise cannot be eradicated; if one still craves worldly dharmas and the mind of renunciation is not strong, the view of self likewise cannot be eradicated; 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—with the four marks clearly present—then the view of self has not been eradicated.

In the process of cultivating the Thirty-seven Factors of Enlightenment, as body and mind continuously change, various auspicious dreams all indicate that afflictions are gradually falling away, karmic obstructions are gradually being eliminated, the mind is gradually attaining purity (viśuddha), the body is gradually becoming unobstructed, meditative concentration is gradually deepening, and worldly dharmas are gradually being left behind. At the moment of eradicating the view of self, the Dharma eye becomes pure, one sees that the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) are all empty and without self, and a meditative absorption (samādhi) state of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā appears; body and mind are both pure, abiding within samādhi, with extraordinary feelings in body and mind. Nowadays sentient beings' spiritual faculties (indriya) are all 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 eradicating the view of self is extremely difficult. As it stands now, many people who consider themselves to have eradicated the view of self and seen the mind have not had any of these phenomena appear, which means it was not genuine realization. 

At the time of eradicating the view of self and seeing the mind, one has already been transformed completely, like a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate; if coarse afflictions (dausthulya) have not been eliminated and the mind is not pure, 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 has crawled through the Dragon Gate—the essence is still a carp, not transformed into a dragon. At this most crucial point of Buddhist practice and realization—attaining the fruits and seeing the mind—if one is careless and not rigorous, various evil signs will appear at the time of death, and the evil destinies will be unavoidable; after death, upon finding oneself in a gloomy and terrifying place, regret will come too late.