How to Assess the Degree of Eradicating Sakkāya-Diṭṭhi?

In the secular world, among those who have not encountered the Dharma, some also consider the body to be impermanent, subject to birth and death, unreal, merely a temporary shell used by oneself. Have they cut off the view of the body as self? Some among them also pay no heed to what they eat, wear, live in, or use, nor do they care when their body is ill. Have they cut off the view of the body as self? Neither case constitutes cutting off the view of the body as self. Their indifference to the body stems from certain conditioning factors and limitations, such as poverty, stinginess, or the pursuit of other goals, causing them to temporarily neglect the physical body. Once conditions are sufficient, they will still cherish and treasure the physical body, clinging to it and seeking its pleasures and comforts.

Cutting off the view of the body as self requires comprehensive investigation. It must be examined through the lens of precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom, through the aspects of the Thirty-seven Aids to Enlightenment, through the scrutiny of mental states, and through the observation of mental conduct. One cannot make a sweeping generalization based on partial aspects. Although some people may be indifferent to certain matters concerning the body, this might be due to inadequate living conditions, inner ignorance, or a shift of attention to other pursuits related to the body, driven by specific purposes. For the sake of the body, they may even create unwholesome karmas leading to the three lower realms, unwilling to relinquish the material comforts they possess. Therefore, this is not cutting off the view of the body as self.

All bodily, verbal, and mental actions form seeds, like archives that those with spiritual powers can consult at any time. These archives never disappear, though the karmic seeds themselves can be extinguished. Clinging produces karmic seeds of clinging; non-clinging produces karmic seeds of non-clinging. The records within the tathagatagarbha differ, and thus the karmic results differ. That is to say, when performing an action, if the mental conduct differs, the tathagatagarbha records it differently, the karmic seeds are different, and consequently, the karmic retribution is different.