What Does 'Self' Refer to in 'The Five Aggregates Are Non-Self'?

"The five aggregates are me" and "the five aggregates are not me" — what does this "me" refer to? Ordinary beings believe the five aggregates are "me," while sages believe the five aggregates are not "me." What exactly does this "me" refer to?

Some say this "me" refers to the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. Is this statement correct? If it were correct, then ordinary beings, because they have a self, would consider the five aggregates to be the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. Do ordinary beings have such cognition, such ideas and concepts? Certainly not. If they had such ideas and concepts, then none of them would be ordinary beings anymore; they would directly leap over the three stages of the thirty-one to fifty-first bhūmis and become bhūmi bodhisattvas of the noble stages. Because only bhūmi bodhisattvas have the ability to observe that all aspects of the five aggregates and the eighteen realms are entirely the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, that in essence they are all the tathāgatagarbha. One who has realized one portion or many portions of the nature of the one true dharmadhātu, and who has realized that the dharmadhātu in its entirety is the one true dharmadhātu — that would be a Buddha.

Therefore, it is impossible for ordinary beings to have the wise cognition that the five aggregates are the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. In fact, ordinary sentient beings do not have such ideas, concepts, or cognition. Even among ordinary beings who study Buddhism, most do not know of the existence of the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha; and among those who do know, many do not acknowledge the reality and non-illusoriness of the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. Naturally, they have not realized it either, and so they would not take the five aggregates to be the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. Especially sentient beings in the three evil destinies are even less able to connect the five aggregates with the eighth consciousness. Yet all sentient beings in the three evil destinies have the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), and all of them treat their five-aggregate body as "me" and "mine" and protect it accordingly. Most especially animals, who are utterly ignorant and have no concepts in their minds at all — they only know that the five-aggregate body is "me," and they do not even have the concept of "me." But this does not hinder the animals' protection of the self, because the manas knows, without language, words, or deliberation, that this five-aggregate body is "me," while knowing nothing else whatsoever.

If that is so, then ordinary sentient beings have absolutely no need to study the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths and engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the five aggregates in order to negate the "absolute truth" that the five aggregates are the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha, and thereby arrive at an erroneous conclusion that the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. This conclusion directly negates the profound great wisdom of consciousness-only (yogācāra) of the bhūmi bodhisattvas, contradicts the correct principle of consciousness-only, and also contradicts the correct principle of the one true dharmadhātu taught in the Huayan Sūtra (Avataṃsaka Sūtra). Therefore, one who attains realization and arrives at the conclusion that "the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha" has not actually attained realization, nor has he carried out truthful contemplative practice; he has no genuine process of practice. A person who has gone through a truthful process of practice could never arrive at such a conclusion. This is a wrong path in the contemplative practice for eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa); it cannot yield the true fruit of eradicating the view of self, cannot attain purity of the Dharma eye, and cannot attain liberation.