The View of 'Mine' Is Not Different from the View of Self: Both Must Be Eradicated.

The view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) is hard to eradicate; it is deeply rooted. The view of what belongs to self ("mine") is also extremely hard to eradicate, equally deeply rooted. When one takes a portion of the functions and operations of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) as the self, one then takes another portion of those functions and operations as belonging to the self, deeply and firmly grasping them as "mine, belonging to me."

Self and what belongs to self are not one — they are different, they are not the same. For example, if one holds that the aggregate of feeling is the self, then the aggregate of form is not the self but is "mine, belonging to me." This may seem to have eradicated the view of self that takes the aggregate of form as the self, but in fact, taking the aggregate of form as belonging to the self is also a form of the view of self. The view of what belongs to self is deeply rooted; it is likewise a wrong view (mithyā-dṛṣṭi), contrary to the Dharma, and it too must be eradicated. After the eradication of the view of self, when one's views are set right, one will realize that self and what belongs to self are not different — both are the view of self, and both must be eradicated. The aggregate of feeling is not the self; the aggregate of form is not the self and is not what belongs to the self either — neither of them is the self.

Before eradicating the view of self, one takes the aggregate of feeling as the self and the aggregate of form as belonging to the self, believing that the aggregate of feeling exists within the aggregate of form, and the aggregate of form exists within the aggregate of feeling, mutually existing and pervading each other's substance. After eradicating the view of self, when one's views are set right, one holds that the aggregate of feeling is not the self, and the aggregate of form is not what belongs to the self; the aggregate of feeling is not within the aggregate of form, nor is the aggregate of form within the aggregate of feeling; the two do not exist within each other, because the five aggregates — form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness — are not the self.

This question is difficult to fathom. One needs, within meditative concentration (samādhi), to suspend the question in the mind, to suspend it in the manas. One day there will be a breakthrough, and its meaning will be thoroughly understood. Once this knot is untied, the obstacles to eradicating the view of self will be removed, and the resistance to contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) will be diminished.