Saṃyukta Āgama, Volume 21 (Sūtra No. 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 auspiciousness and inauspiciousness" mentioned later, is the false self—the self that is to be eliminated, the self that can be destroyed—not the true self, the eighth consciousness. Therefore, to eliminate the view of self, one must contemplate that the five aggregates are without self, without lifespan, without sentient beings, and without worldly auspiciousness or inauspiciousness; they cannot be relied upon. At present, one is not yet able to contemplate the eighth consciousness within the five aggregates. Only after eliminating the view of self, when engaging in Chan investigation, can one go searching for the eighth consciousness; and only after finding it can one contemplate the relationship between the five aggregates and the eighth consciousness. The eighth consciousness is not something contemplated in the practice of eliminating the view of self within the Small Vehicle.

The view of self arises because of the identity view; to eliminate the view of self, one must first eliminate the identity view. Contemplate that within the material body there is no false self; the material body does not belong to the false self; the material body is not within the false self; the false self is not within the material body. Then, in sequence, contemplate that the aggregates of feeling, perception, 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, formations, and consciousness, and these aggregates are not within the false self. In this way, the view of self can be eliminated. 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, mutation, and impermanence, and then establishes the true self, realizing that the true self can give birth to the false self of the five aggregates, 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 scriptural 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 will not misinterpret the sutras, because they have their own experience of cultivation and realization to guide them, making it easier to understand the scriptures. 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, the conclusions reached through intellectual understanding may seem quite correct, but in reality they do not accord with the truth.

Nowadays, theoreticians who teach the Dharma are very popular, because they cater to the tastes of the masses and can please them, while the masses themselves cannot tell east from west, south from north. The wisdom of genuine contemplative practice is often inconsistent with the thinking of the masses, and thus often meets with exclusion and slander. As the Dharma is transmitted over a long time, its abuses accumulate—such is the working of sentient beings' karma.