How to Apply Effort in Eradicating the View of Self?

In order to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), one should frequently engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the activities of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha). Whenever the six faculties contact any of the six sense objects, one should clearly distinguish the five aggregates, observe their functions clearly, contemplate their nature of suffering, emptiness, and impermanence, and strive to confirm their selflessness. Carry out this contemplative practice with meditative concentration (samādhi), slowly, gently, deeply, carefully, bit by bit, without haste or impatience. If you keep up this effort, there will eventually come a time when you break through the obstructions of your own mind, a time when you burst through ignorance, a time when you turn around the stubborn views of the manas. At that point, one's practice will have achieved initial success. When there is time and environmental conditions permit, the activities of the body faculty should be made as slow as possible—the slower the better; it is best to slow down to the point of moving like a robot. In the midst of this, the mind can become very tranquil and very subtle. Observing the activities of the body faculty and the activities of the consciousness, one will feel that they are mechanical, as if not done by oneself, and will feel a certain unreality; the notion of self will then fade, making it easier to eradicate the view of the body and the view of self. Then observe the consciousnesses within the activities of the body faculty: what is the body consciousness doing, what is the mind consciousness doing, what is the manas doing. What is the eye consciousness doing as an auxiliary alongside, what is the ear consciousness doing, what is the nose consciousness doing—how each arises, how each operates, how they cooperate closely together, and finally how they shift and how they cease. Observe and search for where the consciousnesses come from and where they go, then observe the arising point and falling point of the various mental states, and keep tracing them—be sure to see them through to the very end. The results are twofold: first, one can eradicate the view of self; second, one can discover the place of origin and attain enlightenment by seeing the mind.