Saṃyuktāgama, Volume 21 (570)

Original text:如是我闻。一时佛住庵罗聚落庵罗林中，与众多上座比丘俱。

时质多罗长者诣诸上座所，稽首礼足，退坐一面，白诸上座言：“诸世间所见，或说有我，或说众生，或说寿命，或说世间吉凶。云何尊者，此诸异见，何本、何集、何生、何转？”

时诸上座默然不答，如是三问，亦三默然。

时有一下座比丘名梨犀达多，白诸上座言：“我欲答彼长者所问。”

诸上座言：“善能答者答。”

时长者即问梨犀达多：“尊者，凡世间所见，何本、何集、何生、何转？”

尊者梨犀达多答言：“长者，凡世间所见，或言有我，或说众生，或说寿命，或说世间吉凶。斯等诸见，一切皆以身见为本，身见集、身见生、身见转。”

复问：“尊者，云何为身见？”

答言：“长者，愚痴无闻凡夫见色是我、色异我、色中我、我中色；受、想、行、识见是我、识异我、我中识、识中我。长者，是名身见。”

复问：“尊者，云何得无此身见？”

答言：“长者，谓多闻圣弟子不见色是我，不见色异我，不见我中色，色中我；不见受、想、行、识是我，不见识异我，不见我中识，识中我，是名得无身见。”

Explanation: The "self" here, like the "sentient beings," "lifespan," and "worldly fortune and misfortune" mentioned later, is the false self, the self that is to be eradicated, the self that can be destroyed; it does not refer to the true self, the eighth consciousness. Therefore, to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), one must contemplate that the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) are without self, without lifespan, without sentient beings, and without worldly fortune and misfortune—they cannot be relied upon. At present, one is still unable to contemplate the eighth consciousness within the five aggregates; only after eradicating the view of self, during the investigation of Chan (meditation), can one go searching for the eighth consciousness. Only after finding it can one contemplate the relationship between the five aggregates and the eighth consciousness. The eighth consciousness is not contemplated through contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) at the time of eradicating the view of self in the Small Vehicle.

The view of self arises because of the view of the body; to eradicate the view of self, one must first eradicate the view of the body. Contemplate that within the material body there is no false self, that the material body does not belong to the false self, that the material body is not within the false self, and that the false self is not within the material body. Then, in sequence, contemplate that the aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness are not the false self, nor do they belong to the false self; the self is not within the aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness, and these aggregates are not within the false self. In this way, the view of self can be eradicated. Do not mix the false self and the true self together without distinction. In cultivation, one first breaks through the false self, realizing its nature of arising, ceasing, change, and impermanence, and then establishes the true self, realizing that the true self can give birth to the five aggregates, the false self, and that the five aggregates are all of the nature of the true self.

Because many people do not understand the semantics of words and phrases in the Buddhist sutras, they misinterpret the sutra texts. Once preconceived notions take hold, it becomes extremely difficult to correct them later on.

Those who have genuinely gone through the actual process of contemplative practice and realized the fruits (of the path) will not misinterpret the sutra texts, because they have their own experience of cultivation and realization to guide them, making it easy to understand the sutras. The conclusions drawn from sutras and treatises after actual contemplative practice and realization often differ from the conclusions reached by theoreticians through the intellectual understanding of the conscious mind. On the surface, what is obtained through intellectual understanding may seem correct, but in reality it does not accord with the truth.

Nowadays, theoreticians' teachings on the Dharma are very popular, because they align with the tastes of the masses and cater to them, while the masses themselves cannot tell east from west, south from north. The wisdom of genuine contemplative practice often does not accord with the thinking of the masses, and thus often meets with exclusion and slander. As the Dharma is transmitted over a long time, abuses arise—such is the working of the karmic forces of sentient beings.