The True Meaning of Dharma No-Self

The dharma of no-self in dharmas is the profound wisdom realm of Consciousness-Only realized by bodhisattvas on the bhūmis. Regarding all the dharmas surrounding the five aggregates, one gradually realizes that a portion of dharmas are not the self and lack self-nature; that most dharmas are not the self and lack self-nature; and even that all dharmas are not the self and lack self-nature, thereby ultimately attaining buddhahood. Sentient beings believe that all dharmas possess certain real attributes, and thus their minds give rise to grasping, resulting in grasping at dharmas. Post-bhūmi bodhisattvas possess profound wisdom of the seeds of Consciousness-Only (dharma-seed wisdom) and can directly observe how a portion of dharmas and most dharmas are born from and held by the eighth consciousness. Therefore, they no longer regard some portion of the dharmas of the threefold world, or most of them, as truly possessing self-nature; in this way they realize the no-self of a portion of dharmas and the no-self of most dharmas.

Pre-bhūmi bodhisattvas and ordinary sentient beings, lacking the ability to directly observe the origins and essence of a portion of the dharmas of the threefold world and most dharmas, believe in their minds that these dharmas have a certain reality and possess self-nature. They take the material universe (the vessel world) to be the vessel world itself, unable to observe in the slightest that the vessel world is an attribute of the eighth consciousness, is the functioning of the eighth consciousness, and is constituted by the seeds of the eighth consciousness. Therefore they believe dharmas have a self, and thus there arises the grasping at a self in dharmas. Sentient beings take all the principles and dharmas they cognize to be truly existent—the principles and dharmas are simply principles and dharmas—and cannot observe in the slightest what the essence of these principles and dharmas actually is, not knowing that they are all attributes of the eighth consciousness and have no so-called self-nature of their own. Therefore they believe these principles and dharmas possess self-nature and belong to the self, and thus there is grasping at a self in dharmas.

If sentient beings could directly observe that the material universe is constituted by the seeds of the eighth consciousness, is an attribute of the eighth consciousness, and is in essence the eighth consciousness itself, then they would no longer regard the material universe as the material universe; they would see the shadow of the eighth consciousness in the material universe and see its functioning, and there would be no view of a self in dharmas and no grasping at a self in dharmas. If sentient beings could directly observe that the six faculties and six sense objects are composed of the seeds of the eighth consciousness, are attributes of the eighth consciousness, and are in essence the eighth consciousness itself, then they would no longer regard the six faculties and six sense objects as the six faculties and six sense objects; they would see the shadow of the eighth consciousness in the six faculties and six sense objects and see its functioning, and thus there would be no view of a self in dharmas and no grasping at a self in dharmas. (The six faculties and six sense objects are a portion of all dharmas and are also dharmas.)

If sentient beings could directly observe that all rules, principles, conventional truth, and ultimate truth are formed by the seeds of the eighth consciousness, are attributes of the eighth consciousness, and are in essence the eighth consciousness itself, then they would no longer regard all these rules, principles, conventional truth, and ultimate truth as rules, principles, conventional truth, and ultimate truth; they would observe the shadow of the eighth consciousness in these principles and truths and see its functioning, and thus there would be no view of a self in dharmas and no grasping at a self in dharmas. Therefore, the no-self of all dharmas realized by bodhisattvas on the bhūmis does not mean that all dharmas are not the eighth consciousness; on the contrary, it is precisely that all dharmas are the eighth consciousness, that all dharmas lack any self-nature of their own, that all dharmas are empty, illusory, unreal, and destructible. "All dharmas are not the self, not different from the self, and do not inhere in it" does not mean that all dharmas are not the eighth consciousness, are not different from the eighth consciousness, and are not mixed with the eighth consciousness; on the contrary, the essence of all dharmas is the eighth consciousness—they are dharmas within the one true dharma realm, and all of them are true.