The Sequence of Contemplative Practice (vipaśyanā-caryā)

Question: When contemplating in practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) that the mind consciousness is not self, I simply cannot find any evidence. You said that the mind consciousness ceases after discerning one mental sense-object, and then operates on another mental sense-object. But I feel that this "knowing" mind consciousness is still me. Although it is constantly changing, the nature of this "knowing" has not changed. I am quite troubled by this.

Answer: The Four Noble Truths: suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self. Pay attention to the sequence in which the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths—impermanence, emptiness, suffering, non-self—each link connected to the next in an orderly progression. When engaging in contemplative practice, one must contemplate according to this sequence. When the first truth has been contemplated completely and from all aspects, the second conclusion should be drawn forth or derived; when the second has been contemplated, the third conclusion should be drawn forth; when the third has been contemplated, the fourth conclusion should be derived. If it does not proceed this way, obstructions and resistance arise. What are these obstructions? They are the ingrained ideas and views accumulated over beginningless kalpas that obstruct oneself, making one unable to turn around one's former views and unable to form new views and understandings. For example, dharmas that are impermanent are empty, unobtainable, and cannot be grasped. If you only know impermanence but cannot enter into the thought of emptiness, then you stop and cannot proceed further with contemplation.

If you can contemplate the stage of emptiness completely, yet cannot form the view that what is empty is suffering, an obstruction arises and the contemplation stagnates, unable to proceed further. If you contemplate that the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are all suffering, yet cannot arrive at the conclusion that the root of suffering is not self, then the final bottleneck appears. How can this bottleneck be broken through? Or how can each of these bottlenecks be broken through, changing one's former ingrained erroneous views and ideas? This requires us to ponder deeply, and ponder again.