Methods for Eradicating Sahaja Satkāya-dṛṣṭi in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra

Mahamati, the innate [view] refers to the view of selfhood eradicated by the Stream-enterer (Srotāpanna), which observes one's own body and the bodies of others, and so forth. Among these, the four aggregates of feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness lack material form and are not the material body; the material body possesses material characteristics. When material characteristics arise, they form the material body, created by the four great seeds. Material characteristics are the mutually conditioning factors that give rise to the material body; they are the causal factors forming the material body. The four great seeds arise and cease instantly; they cannot aggregate to form material characteristics, and thus material characteristics cannot aggregate to form the material body. Therefore, when the Stream-enterer observes the material body, they realize it is neither existent nor non-existent, neither both nor neither; thus, the view of selfhood is eradicated.

After eradicating the view of selfhood in this way, craving does not arise. The above describes the true characteristic of the view of selfhood: it is neither existent nor non-existent, nor both existent and non-existent. [If considered] existent, it is perceptible in form; [if considered] non-existent, the form is empty, disintegrating, arising and ceasing. [If considered] non-existent, the four great elements do not aggregate, so the form does not aggregate; [if considered] not non-existent, it is perceptible in form. [It is] neither both nor neither: it is not existent nor non-existent, [yet] existence and non-existence interpenetrate; existence has a false function, and that function is also unreal.

The material body is composed of various material dharmas; these various material dharmas are the various material characteristics. The various material characteristics are composed of particles of the four great elements; the particles of the four great elements are composed of the seeds of the four great elements. The former part discusses the apparent aspect, the latter part discusses the substance and the actuality. Superficially, the characteristic of the material body seems to exist, to function, and to be real; in reality, there is no real characteristic of the material body—it is illusory, empty, and false. For example, a person suffering from dizziness sees black spots flying wildly before their eyes; in reality, there are no such black spots—it is a misperception. One cannot say the black spots exist or do not exist; one cannot say the black spots are neither existent nor non-existent. The characteristic of the material body is likewise: one cannot speak of the material body's existence or non-existence, nor of its being neither existent nor non-existent, nor neither both nor neither. All dharmas are free from all four propositions and a hundred negations.