All Dharmas of the World Are Utterly Unattainable and Cannot Be Possessed

When we eliminate the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), we will realize that the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are not the self. Since there is not even a self, there can be nothing possessed by the self. On the surface, the six sense objects seem to be things we possess, but those dharmas arise and cease, changing and mutating; they have no autonomy and no self-mastery (avaśatā); they are all illusory transformations, and therefore none of them can be possessed.

Possession and use are merely an illusory false appearance, without any substance. Possession is the appropriation by the seven consciousnesses, but the consciousnesses are formless and without characteristics—how could they possess anything? Take clothing, for example: how could the seven consciousnesses possess clothing? Money: how could the seven consciousnesses possess money? Possessing a person: how could the seven consciousnesses possess a person? We cannot even possess our own body of the five aggregates, let alone possess the five-aggregate bodies of others, or possess fame and gain—how could the seven consciousnesses possess fame and gain? It is simply impossible. That is why the Buddha said that all dharmas are illusory and utterly unobtainable; all dharmas are unobtainable. How could illusory things be obtained? Let us count on our fingers: since beginningless kalpas, what have we actually obtained? Just now, for instance, what did we actually obtain? Nothing but the illusory feelings manifested from our own mind—where is there any real dharma? Since beginningless kalpas, each of us has simply been constantly clinging to our own illusory feelings, pursuing and taking satisfaction in illusory feelings. Where has anything ever been gained or lost?