Transforming wrong views and deluded thinking is the prerequisite for eliminating self-view (ahaṃkāra-mamakāra-parityāga)

By frequently contemplating how the functions and roles of form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness all arise from the tathāgatagarbha—all being generated and bestowed by the tathāgatagarbha—one can gradually come to a deep realization that whatever is generated lacks self-mastery (avaśatā) and cannot possess true reality. Since it has no true reality, there is no substantial so-called self-nature; a dharma lacking self-mastery cannot have a self-nature, and cannot be a self.

These concepts must be formed gradually; when they reach a certain degree, one can eliminate the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), and can also swiftly eliminate the afflictions of self-grasping, thereby attaining freedom in both body and mind. The reason we find it so difficult to eliminate the self-view is that the unwholesome views accumulated over countless past kalpas have been deeply embedded in our minds and cannot easily be turned around. If these views are not transformed, the self-view cannot be eliminated. Transforming our views is the most important content of our cultivation. Once the old ideas and views are transformed, it becomes easy to overturn previous wrong views and delusive thoughts, thereby establishing correct knowledge and views, attaining great wisdom, and liberating the body and mind of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha).