The True Eradication of the View of Self Occurs When Manas Ceases to Identify the Five Aggregates as Atman and "Mine"

What does "The five aggregates are not the self, are not different from the self, and do not exist within each other" mean? Since one must contemplate the five aggregates to sever the view of self, whose view is to be severed? Is it the view of the manas-self or the view of the eighth consciousness-self? What view does the eighth consciousness have? Does it have the view of regarding the five aggregates as the self? The eighth consciousness is devoid of self-nature; it does not possess the view of self. It is the manas that regards the five aggregates as the self, thus giving rise to the view of self. Therefore, it is the manas's view of self that must be severed; it is about enabling the manas to sever the view of self. After severing the view of self, the result is the realization that "the five aggregates are without self." What does this "self" refer to? It still refers to the false self of the manas. One cannot say the five aggregates are without the eighth consciousness.

Since severing the view of self entails enabling the manas to eliminate the view of self, enabling the manas to acknowledge that the five aggregates are not the self, and changing the manas's perception and view that regards the five aggregates as the self, then the ultimate conclusion "the five aggregates are without self" must mean that the five aggregates are not the manas-self, and the manas should no longer regard the five aggregates as the self.

"The five aggregates are not different from the self" means they are not owned by the manas-self. Both the self and what belongs to the self (I and mine) are not in accordance with the Dharma; they are both wrong views and must be eradicated. Both the self and what belongs to the self are impermanent, arising-and-ceasing, illusory appearances, not real.

"Do not exist within each other" means the self of the five aggregates and what belongs to the self do not exist within each other. The self does not reside within what belongs to the self, and what belongs to the self does not reside within the five aggregates. It is erroneous for the manas to regard the five aggregates as the self and as what belongs to the self; these are both non-valid cognitions. Only by eradicating these views can one truly sever the view of self.