The Sūtra of Past Events (Itivṛttaka Sūtra), Volume One

(3) Original text: 吾从世尊。闻如是语。苾刍当知。世间有情。一结断时。余一切结。皆亦随断。云何一结。是谓我慢。所以者何。诸所有结。细中粗品。一切皆以我慢为根。从我慢生。我慢所长。是故我慢一结断时。余一切结。皆亦随断。譬如世间楼观中心。普为楼观。众分依止。中心若坠。余亦随堕。如是我慢。诸结所依。我慢若断。余亦随灭。若诸苾刍。已断我慢。当知即是已断余结。若诸苾刍。已断余结。当知即是已尽苦边。已修正智。心善解脱。慧善解脱。无复后有。 

Explanation: I heard these words from the World-Honored One: Bhikṣus, you should know that when sentient beings in this world sever one bond, all the remaining bonds are also severed along with it. What is this one bond? It is the bond of conceit (māna). Why is this so? Because all bonds, whether subtle, intermediate, or coarse, all take conceit as their root; they arise from conceit and are nurtured by conceit. Therefore, when the one bond of conceit is severed, all the remaining bonds are severed along with it. It is like the central pillar of a building in the world: all the other parts of the building rest upon this center, and if the center collapses, the rest also falls with it. In this way, conceit is the support of all the bonds; if conceit is severed, the rest also perish along with it. If bhikṣus have severed conceit, they should be known as having severed the remaining bonds. If bhikṣus have severed the remaining bonds, they should be known as having reached the end of suffering, having cultivated right wisdom, with the mind well liberated and wisdom well liberated, with no more future existence. 

Explanation: I heard such a teaching from the World-Honored One: Bhikṣus, you should know that when sentient beings in this world sever one bond of affliction, all the remaining bonds are also entirely severed along with it. What is this bond? It is the bond of conceit. Why is this said? Because all bonds, whether subtle or coarse afflictive bonds, take conceit as their root; they are born from conceit and grow from conceit. Therefore, when the bond of conceit is severed, all the remaining bonds are entirely severed along with it. It is like the center of a building in the world: the surrounding parts of the building stand supported by this center, and if the center collapses, the surrounding parts of the building also collapse. 

The bond of conceit is like this too: it is the support upon which the other bonds depend. If conceit is severed, the other bonds are also severed along with it. If the bhikṣus have already severed the bond of conceit, they should be known as having severed the remaining bonds; if the bhikṣus have already severed the other bonds, they should be known as having reached the far shore of suffering, having accomplished the cultivation of right wisdom, with the mind well liberated and wisdom well liberated, with no more future becoming. 

Original text: 尔时世尊。重摄此义。而说颂曰。 如楼观中心众分所依止。中心若坠堕余分皆堕落。 如是我慢结众结之所依。我慢结断时诸结皆随灭。 苾刍断我慢余结悉随断。余结既已断即得尽苦边。 既得尽苦边名已修正智。心慧善解脱后有毕竟无。 

Explanation: At that time the World-Honored One again summarized this meaning and spoke in verse: It is like the center of a building, upon which all the other parts depend; if the center collapses, all the other parts fall as well. So it is with the bond of conceit, the support upon which all bonds depend; when the bond of conceit is severed, all bonds perish along with it. When a bhikṣu severs conceit, all the remaining bonds are severed along with it. Once the remaining bonds have been severed, he reaches the end of suffering. Having reached the end of suffering, he is said to have cultivated right wisdom; with the mind and wisdom well liberated, there is ultimately no more future becoming. 

Conceit is a mental affliction of the manas, rooted in the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi). Because the manas takes the five aggregates and eighteen realms as self and what belongs to self, and compares them with the five aggregates and eighteen realms of other sentient beings, it considers its own five aggregates and eighteen realms to be more superior and excellent, and thus conceit arises, looking down upon other sentient beings. The other afflictive mental factors are induced by the affliction of conceit and center upon it; when the affliction of conceit is completely severed, all the other afflictions are also completely severed without remainder. This also includes all the afflictive mental factors of the six consciousnesses, which all take the afflictive mental factors of the manas as their root: once the root affliction is severed, the branch-and-leaf afflictions also vanish completely. The branch-and-leaf afflictions are easy to sever, but because the root affliction has not been severed, the branch-and-leaf afflictions will still arise and grow depending on the root affliction; severing only the branches and leaves is of no avail. 

To completely sever the conceit affliction of the manas, one must sever the manas's self-view, extinguishing the manas's false view of the five aggregates and eighteen realms as self and what belongs to self. Once the manas is without self, conceit will gradually cease, and the afflictions of sentient beings will be completely severed. Therefore, in eliminating self-view, one must focus on having the manas eliminate it. If the manas does not eliminate self-view, the branch-and-leaf self-views of the mind consciousness, depending on the root self-view of the manas, will still arise and can never be cut off. Therefore, a wise person who studies Buddhism should not apply mind and effort only to the branches and leaves, but should focus on the root; only after the root is severed will all the branches and leaves be forever severed.