The Logical Relationship Between the False Self and the True Self

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

If the logical relationship between the false self and the true self is not sorted out, cultivation in both the Mahāyāna and the Hīnayāna will be difficult. One engages in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of the Hīnayāna, yet arrives at a Mahāyāna conclusion. One engages in contemplative practice of the Mahāyāna, yet arrives at a Hīnayāna conclusion. What kind of contemplative practice is this, rambling on and on without staying on topic?

For people in the secular world who do not understand the Buddha-dharma, how can they attain no-self? Like Lei Feng and other heroes who achieved so-called no-self in their worldly endeavors—had they all accomplished the transformation of the basis as the eighth consciousness? From the first fruit to the fourth fruit of the Hīnayāna, had they all accomplished the transformation of the basis as the eighth consciousness? Mechanical application will not do; one must actually engage in contemplative practice and personal experience. As long as one has genuinely attained the fruits of the Hīnayāna, one will necessarily arrive at a reasonable and truthful conclusion, and will not run off into the Mahāyāna dharma and arrive at a Mahāyāna conclusion.

As soon as many people's statements come out, one can tell whether they have gone through 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, like a parrot mimicking speech.

When an ordinary being, as soon as he expounds the dharma, speaks of the cultivation of bodhisattvas at the first bhūmi or the 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 to twist and turn 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 put in the effort to cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi). Without dhyāna, thinking lacks logic, and thus lacks clarity and thoroughness.