Transforming Wrong Views and Delusions Is the Prerequisite for Eradicating the View of Self

By frequently contemplating that the functions and activities of form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness all arise from the tathāgatagarbha, and are all produced and bestowed by the tathāgatagarbha, one will gradually come to a profound realization: whatever has been produced is subject to lack of self‑mastery (avaśatā) and cannot possess true reality; since it has no true reality, it also has no substantial so‑called self‑nature. A dharma that lacks self‑mastery cannot have a self‑nature and cannot be a self.

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