The Logical Relationship Between the False Self and the True Self

Let go of the self and attain no-self. What do the two "selves" refer to? Both refer to the false self.

If the logical relationship between the false self and the true self is not sorted out, practice in both the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna will be difficult. One contemplates and practices the Hīnayāna, yet arrives at a Mahāyāna conclusion. One contemplates and practices the Mahāyāna, yet arrives at a Hīnayāna conclusion. How is such contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) being done, dragging in this and that without staying on topic?

For people in the secular world who do not understand the Buddha-dharma, how can they attain no-self? As for the so-called selflessness achieved by heroes like Lei Feng in their secular endeavors—had they all accomplished the transformation of the basis (āśraya-parāvṛtti) to the eighth consciousness? From the first fruit to the fourth fruit of the Hīnayāna—had they all accomplished the transformation of the basis to the eighth consciousness? Mechanical, forced application will not work; one must actually engage in contemplative practice and personal realization. As long as one has genuinely attained realization of the fruits in the Hīnayāna, one will inevitably arrive at a reasonable and truthful conclusion, and will not stray onto the Mahāyāna dharma and arrive at a Mahāyāna conclusion.

As soon as many people's words come out, one can tell whether they have undergone actual cultivation and realization. Language can reveal whether a person's conclusions come from genuine practice and realization, or whether they are theories pieced together from emotional thinking and intellectual understanding, a parrot mimicking speech.

When a worldling, as soon as he expounds the dharma, talks about the practice of bodhisattvas at the first or eighth bhūmi, it shows that this person simply does not understand actual practice and does not know how to begin cultivating, and thus leads others this way and that, without a clear roadmap. On a path one has never walked oneself, it is impossible to have a clear roadmap. Everyone should still put in the effort to cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi). Without the deliberation (manasikāra) of dhyāna and concentration, there is no logical coherence, and things will not be clear and thorough.