Saṃyukta Āgama (289), Part Three

Original text:愚痴无闻凡夫宁于四大身。系我我所。不可于识。系我我所。所以者何。四大色身。或见十年住。二十三十。乃至百年。若善消息。或复小过。彼心意识。日夜时克。须臾转变。异生异灭。犹如猕猴。游林树间。须臾处处。攀捉枝条。放一取一。彼心意识。亦复如是。异生异灭。

Explanation: The Buddha said: The ignorant, unlearned ordinary being would rather take the four-element body as self and belonging to self than take the consciousness-mind as self and belonging to self. Why is this said? Because the body composed of the four great elements can only remain in the world for ten years, twenty years, thirty years, or even a hundred years before it perishes; if one takes good care of the body, it may perhaps last a little over a hundred years. But the mind-consciousness (citta-manas-vijñāna), day and night, at every moment, is flowing and changing in every instant, arising here and ceasing there, arising in one place and ceasing in another. It is like a monkey wandering among the trees of a forest—in just a short while it roams through many places, climbing up trees and grasping branches, letting go of one branch and seizing another, never at rest. What people call the mind-consciousness is also like this: arising differently and ceasing differently, arising at this moment and ceasing at another, arising in one place and ceasing in another, arising on this dharma and ceasing on that dharma, arising on that dharma and ceasing on this dharma, vanishing from this body and arising again in another body, transforming in various ways day and night, at every moment, never stopping—arising at different times, arising in different places, arising in different kinds [of existence].

The most serious view of self among ordinary beings is taking the functions and activities of the consciousness-mind as the self, as belonging to the self; this view of self is the hardest to eradicate. The view of self regarding the physical body is somewhat easier to eradicate, because the phenomena of the body's arising, ceasing, and change are easy to observe, and the body can be separated from the consciousness-mind. The phenomena of arising, ceasing, and change of the consciousness-mind are not easy to observe and understand, because all the functions and activities of the five-aggregate body belong to the consciousness-mind; they are so dense and continuous that they feel real, as if it were oneself functioning, one's own functioning, and it is very difficult to separate the functions of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness of the consciousness-mind from oneself and see through them.

If one takes the consciousness-mind as self and belonging to self, then at the time of death, one will want to grasp the consciousness-mind firmly, single-mindedly wanting to keep seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, fearing the gradual disappearance of seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing. Clearly perceiving that the functions of the consciousness-mind are growing weaker and weaker, that the body is becoming less and less responsive, yet one simply does not want the consciousness-mind to cease, feeling intense suffering, unable to accept the phenomenon of death. Even so, the ordinary being still does not recognize that his consciousness-mind is impermanent, arising, ceasing, and changing, and still hopes that these functions will continue to operate.