Contemplating the Five Aggregates and Eliminating the View of Self (Part I) (Second Edition)

Chapter 2: The Two Kinds of View of Self

Section 1: The View of Self as Defined in the Treatises

1. The View of Self as Stated in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra

Original text: 萨迦耶见者。于五取蕴。心执增益。见我我所。名萨迦耶见。此复二种。一者俱生。二者分别起。

Explanation: The Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra defines the view of self as follows: the view of self is the mind's clinging and proliferation with regard to the five grasped aggregates (pañca-upādāna-skandha), increasing the grasping of self, taking the five grasped aggregates as self and what belongs to self — this is called the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi). The view of self includes two kinds: one is innate, and the other arises through discrimination. The first is the view of self that is innate from birth, accompanying the entire process of life; it exists from the very beginning of life, requiring neither the conditioning of the external environment nor the false instruction of the mind consciousness — this refers to the view of self of the manas. The manas has accompanied the living being for countless kalpas; its view of self is deep and heavy, extremely difficult to eradicate, grasping at self and what belongs to self, hard to relinquish. The second kind of view of self arises through discriminating the six sense objects (ṣaḍ-viṣaya); this refers to the view of self of the mind consciousness, which takes the five grasped aggregates as self and what belongs to self. This kind of view of self is easy to eradicate: as long as one hears someone proclaim the principle of the Four Noble Truths of suffering, its origin, cessation, and the path, and after contemplation understands their meaning, the view of self through discrimination is severed.

However, because the mind consciousness cannot be the master over the five-aggregate body and must submit to the regulation and control of the manas, the master-making consciousness, if the manas wants to grasp the five aggregates and create karmic actions, the mind consciousness has no choice but to follow along and grasp. When the mind consciousness is strong, it can suppress the "self" of the manas and prevent it from running rampant; when the mind consciousness is weak, the manas, unable to receive information and control from the mind consciousness, will let its self-nature run rampant, creating unwholesome karma without obstruction, and drifting along with unwholesome karma will then be unavoidable. Therefore, if the manas does not sever the view of self, studying Buddhism will ultimately not be accomplished, and it will still grasp the five aggregates as self and what belongs to self.

2. The View of Self as Stated in the Mahāyāna Śataka-śāstra Vyākhyā (大乘广百论释论)

Original text of Volume 2: 又诸我见。略有二种。一者俱生。二者分别。俱生我见。由无始来。内因力故。恒与身俱。不待邪教。及邪分别。任运而起。故名俱生。

Explanation: The view of self, in brief, has two kinds: one is the innate view of self, and the other is the view of self through discrimination. The innate view of self, due to the power of internal causes since beginningless kalpas, constantly accompanies the body; it does not wait for false teaching or false discrimination, but arises spontaneously — hence it is called innate. Because of the manas's own power of ignorance since beginningless kalpas, it follows the five-aggregate body life after life without ever abandoning it; without the false instruction of the mind consciousness, and without being conditioned by the false discriminations of the mind consciousness, the manas by itself can give rise to the view of self according to conditions, taking the five-aggregate body as self and what belongs to self — hence it is called the innate view of self. This is the view of self that the manas possesses from the moment the five-aggregate body is born; it even has the view of self in the mother's womb, taking the embryo as self and what belongs to self.

Original text: 此复二种。一常相续。在第七识。缘第八识起自心相。即执为我。名为我见。二有间断。在第六识缘五取蕴。或总或别起自心相。即执为我。名为我见。如是二种俱生我见。微细难断。数数修习胜无我观。方能除灭。

Explanation: The innate view of self is further divided into two kinds. One is constantly continuous, never having been interrupted, and will not cease in the future — unless, after truly severing the view of self, there is no longer any innate view of self. This is the view of self of the seventh consciousness. The seventh consciousness conditions upon the perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga) of the eighth consciousness, taking everything seen by the eighth consciousness as what it itself sees, and clings to everything seen as self and what belongs to self — this is called the view of self.

The second kind is intermittent. When the sixth consciousness conditions upon the five grasped aggregates, the seventh consciousness either takes the totality of the five grasped aggregates conditioned upon by the sixth consciousness as self and what belongs to self, or takes individual aspects of the five grasped aggregates conditioned upon by the sixth consciousness as self and what belongs to self, thereby grasping the functions of the sixth consciousness as self and what belongs to self — this is the view of self. These two kinds of innate view of self are extremely subtle and very difficult to sever. Only through repeated, uninterrupted cultivation of the superior contemplation of no-self can they be eliminated.

This view of self arises because the manas has had ignorance since beginningless kalpas, taking all dharmas born of and upheld by the eighth consciousness as self and what belongs to self, thereby giving rise to clinging to all dharmas — this is called the consciousness of imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva). The manas has never known the ultimate reality of the dharmadhātu, not knowing that all dharmas come from the eighth consciousness and belong to the eighth consciousness; hence this is called a reversed view, a mistaken grasping. The view of self of the manas, in general terms, is all called the view of self regarding dharmas (dharma-ātma-dṛṣṭi), taking all dharmas as one's own possession; among these, the manas also takes the five aggregates born of and upheld by the eighth consciousness as self and what belongs to self — this is the reversed wrong view and mistaken grasping, called the view of self regarding the five aggregates. Because there is the view of self, there is self-grasping (ātma-grāha). This view of self can only be severed through studying and cultivating the Four Noble Truths of suffering, its origin, cessation, and the path; after it is severed, the manas's clinging to the five-aggregate body can gradually lighten and be eliminated, and when self-grasping is exhausted, one exits the three realms and attains liberation.

Why does the manas's view of self have intermittent continuity? Because the mind consciousness is intermittent. When the mind consciousness has ceased, the manas cannot grasp the perceiving-aspect of the mind consciousness as its view of self, cannot take the mind consciousness's seeing as its own seeing, and this portion of the manas's view of self is thereby severed. When the mind consciousness is born again and can once more condition upon the five aggregates, this portion of the manas's view of self appears again.

Original text: 分别我见。由现在世外缘力故。非与身俱。要待邪教及邪分别。然后方起。故名分别。此亦二种。一缘邪教所说蕴相。起自心相。分别为我。名为我见。二缘邪教所说我相。起自心相。分别为我。名为我见。如是二种分别我见。

Explanation: The second kind of view of self is the mind consciousness's view of self through discrimination. This view of self is born after birth due to the conditioning of the living environment; it is not born together with the five-aggregate body, does not accompany the five-aggregate body, and only arises after being falsely taught and falsely conditioned by others, giving rise to incorrect discrimination — hence it is called the mind consciousness's view of self through discrimination. When the mind consciousness's view of self in turn conditions the manas, it increases the manas's view of self and self-grasping.

The view of self through discrimination is also divided into two kinds. One is conditioning upon others' incorrect teaching about the five aggregates — saying this is the form aggregate, this is the feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness aggregates — after which one gives rise to one's own image of the five aggregates, and through discrimination considers the five aggregates to be self; this is called the mind consciousness's view of self. The second kind is conditioning upon the image of self spoken through false teaching and false conditioning, giving rise to one's own image of self, considering this to be my form-body image, my feeling image, my cognition image, this is my thoughts and views, this is my decisions, this is my words and actions — the mind consciousness discriminates these images as self, called the mind consciousness's view of self. These are the mind consciousness's two kinds of view of self through discrimination.

3. The View of Self as Stated in the Āgama Sūtras

Taking the functions of the six consciousnesses as one's own functions is the view of self. Grasping the seeing of the six consciousnesses as one's own seeing is the view of self. Taking the information the six consciousnesses obtain through the six windows as what one oneself has discerned is the view of self. Taking the feelings of the six consciousnesses at the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana) as one's own feelings is the view of self. Taking the six consciousnesses' thoughts and views about the six sense objects as one's own is the view of self. Taking the bodily, verbal, and mental actions created by the six consciousnesses as one's own creation is the view of self. Who is this "self"? Only the manas.

The view of self that the Buddha taught in the Āgama sūtras is precisely the view of the manas; severing the view of self means making the manas sever its view of self. So did the Buddha mention the manas in the Āgama sūtras? Of course — everywhere he pointed to the manas. The manas's view of self is in essence the view of self regarding dharmas, taking all dharmas as self and what belongs to self, not knowing that they all belong to the eighth consciousness. Among these is the manas's view of self regarding the five aggregates, taking the five aggregates as self and what belongs to self.

The manas has self-grasping regarding persons and self-grasping regarding dharmas, corresponding to which there is the view of self regarding persons and the view of self regarding dharmas. In fact, the view of self regarding dharmas includes the view of self regarding the five aggregates; the manas only has the view of self regarding dharmas, taking all dharmas as self and what belongs to self. Thus the manas's self-grasping regarding dharmas includes self-grasping regarding persons; the manas only has self-grasping regarding dharmas, clinging to all dharmas as self and what belongs to self. When the view of self regarding dharmas and self-grasping regarding dharmas are exhausted, ignorance is exhausted, and one becomes a Buddha. Cultivation is nothing more than this matter, yet it has taken three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas of toil. If one can make a ruthless resolve — of what should be severed, not one thing left; of what should be cut off, not one thing left — then three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas would not be needed, and the suffering endured would be much, much less.

The manas has the view of self because of the ignorance within its own mind. Studying Buddhism and cultivating the path is precisely to break through these ignorances of the manas, letting Him know that all dharmas are not mine, that they all belong to the eighth consciousness, including the five aggregates and eighteen realms. In this way, the manas will gradually sever self-grasping regarding persons and self-grasping regarding dharmas; when ignorance is exhausted, the Buddha path is accomplished.

The ignorance of sentient beings is entirely the ignorance of the manas. The ignorance of the six consciousnesses arises from the ignorance of the manas, conditioned and produced by the manas's ignorance. When the manas has no more ignorance, there is no view of self or self-grasping, nor any view of self regarding dharmas or self-grasping regarding dharmas. This entire small self, false self, is the manas, corresponding to a great true self, the eighth consciousness. The two combined together manifest all dharmas of the world: one is willful and has self-nature, the other is compliant and without self-nature. Cultivation is cultivating the manas; there is nothing else to cultivate — all dharmas serve Him. Understanding this principle, one will understand the origins and workings of all worldly dharmas, understand why one cultivates the Buddha path and how to cultivate it, and the mind will become bright and clear, without obstruction.

If anyone has a courageous mind, they can form a "death-defying squad," mutually supervising and cooperating, to let all "self" die. What use is the self? It is the root of birth and death; with a self, one cannot attain great ease and freedom, cannot attain great liberation. The entire process of Buddhist practice and realization is the process of seeing through and letting go. Seeing through is already extremely difficult; letting go is even more difficult. When everything is let go, one becomes a Buddha.