What does “self” refer to in “the five aggregates are the self” and “the five aggregates are not the self”?

The contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) for the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) is extremely important, and it is of utmost importance to clarify the "I" that takes the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) as self. If one cannot even clarify the "I" of the view of self among the five aggregates, how can one eradicate the view of self? Those who have the view of self are the mind consciousness and the manas; the eighth consciousness absolutely has no view of self. Therefore, eradicating the view of self means eradicating the view of self of the mind consciousness and the manas, allowing the mind consciousness and manas to confirm that the five aggregates are neither self nor belonging to self. The "I" that is not self, of course, also refers to the mind consciousness and the manas, not to the eighth consciousness. The "I" of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses is subject to destruction and ruin, is subject to arising, ceasing, and change; therefore the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are not self, they are selfless. The eighth consciousness is not subject to destruction, is not subject to ruin, is permanent and imperishable; expediently it may be called "self," but it has no self-nature—it lacks that self-nature of the seventh consciousness which acts as the master. Therefore the eighth consciousness is also selfless. So the contemplative practice of the selflessness of the five aggregates means contemplating the destructibility, ruinability, and the nature of arising, ceasing, and change of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses; once this is confirmed, the view of self and the view of what belongs to self of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are eradicated. If one treats the "I" of selflessness as the eighth consciousness, that is a sleight of hand with concepts, and as a result the view of self cannot be eradicated. Since beginningless kalpas, the manas has constantly taken the five aggregates as the real self and clung to them; the mind consciousness, incited and influenced by the manas, likewise takes the five aggregates as the real self and what belongs to self. Why does this "I" refer to the mind consciousness and the manas, and not to the eighth consciousness? Because since beginningless kalpas, sentient beings have not known of the eighth consciousness as this principle-substance, and it is impossible for them to treat the five aggregates as the eighth consciousness; there is no such thing as the view of self that "without the five aggregates there is the eighth consciousness." Therefore, eradicating the view of self does not mean contemplating that the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness. If sentient beings could take the five aggregates as the eighth consciousness, they would see the five aggregates as empty, would not cling to the five aggregates, would have no view of self and no self-grasping, and there would be no transmigration through the six realms of rebirth—this is what all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas would delight to see.

If it were so, all the Buddhas would not need to come to the Sahā world to transmit the Dharma and rescue those lost in delusion. Therefore, the result of contemplating the selflessness of the five aggregates is not the realization that the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness, or that the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are not the eighth consciousness, but rather the realization that the five aggregates in their entirety are subject to ruin, are all subject to arising, ceasing, and change, and that there is no so-called thing called "self" existing. In this way, one will no longer cling to the five aggregates, and self-grasping will gradually melt away.