How to Observe the Whereabouts of the View of Self

To locate one's own view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), one can observe it through one's own craving and seeking. Excessive demands are greed; unreasonable demands are greed; seeking what one should not seek is greed. Why are there so many cravings and demands? Because there is a self in the mind—one sees the physical body as self, sees the aggregate of feeling as self, sees the aggregate of perception as self, sees the aggregate of volitional formations as self—and thus one craves and seeks for the sake of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha). If there were no self in the mind, one would have few desires and know contentment, stopping at what is appropriate, not seeking and grasping excessively, and certainly would not use unwholesome means, unreasonable methods, or even ways that harm others to pursue one's own benefit.

A person without a self in the mind will not expend effort on seeking and grasping, but lives in accordance with conditions, and certainly will not seek gain by any means necessary. A person without self deals with problems from the standpoint of others, considering others' interests and being mindful of others' feelings. However, this consideration does not necessarily mean complying with others' unreasonable demands; rather, it takes others' long-term and ultimate benefit as the starting point, and one's intentions and actions may not necessarily be understood or approved by others.

A person who has a self in the mind, a person with a heavy view of self, will inevitably have heavy grasping on self as well. In dealing with people and affairs, everything proceeds from one's own mind, placing the self first, taking one's own views and opinions as the standard, not soliciting others' opinions and views, not considering others' feelings—often acting according to one's own habits first and explaining later, beheading before reporting, regardless of whether one has infringed upon others' interests. If others do not comply with oneself, one becomes exasperated and resorts to retaliation, in order to reclaim one's own interests and vent the resentment in one's heart, regardless of the consequences. In this way, in the course of struggling against self and others, each time one wins, one takes a step backward on the path of cultivating and realizing no-self, takes a step deeper into the pit of the suffering of birth-and-death, and the suffering in this life and future lives will increase accordingly.

Skillful observation is a very important link in cultivation. With skillful observation, one can weigh the true advantages and disadvantages, gains and losses in all matters. Long-term benefit is always more important than immediate benefit, and long-term effects far exceed short-term effects. A person with a heavy view of self is short-sighted, often seeing only the tiny bit before one's eyes, with both eyes blinded by the extremely small immediate benefit—this is what is called karmic obstruction (karmāvaraṇa).

What is karmic obstruction? The ignorant karmic causes from past lives intensify one's view of self and grasping on self, obstructing the arising of wisdom, so that one cannot see clearly the true nature of things, does not know what one's true benefit is, and treats what is unbeneficial as a great benefit to pursue. As a result, one runs in the opposite direction, and the losses outweigh the gains.

Sentient beings all feel that the term "ignorance" (avidyā) is rather subtle, while the term "foolishness" is rather crude. In fact, both terms have the same meaning. The Buddha used the term "foolishness" to summarize the mental nature of sentient beings, and that is already quite subtle. Sometimes the Buddha would even shout at His disciples: "Hey! Foolish people!" In fact, no matter what language is used, it cannot fully express the foolishness and stupidity of sentient beings—nothing said is forceful enough, and no matter what is said, sentient beings remain unmoved, leaving one speechless. Even using Mount Sumeru as a crowbar could not pry loose the foolishness, stupidity, and dullness in sentient beings' minds.