The Purpose of Studying the Buddha-Dharma Is to Realize No-Self

Many people talk every day just for the sake of talking—in order to declare themselves, to show themselves off—and they speak without restraint, with a heavy "I" in their minds, not even knowing to turn the light inward and examine their own bodily, verbal, and mental actions. What is cultivation actually for? If you tell them to say one sentence less, they become unhappy. They shout "no-self" every day, yet the "I" in their minds remains very heavy. Examine yourself: what exactly has your cultivation accomplished, and has it had any real force?

Examine your own mind: why is there an emotion of unhappiness? If there were no "I" in your mind—if the "I" were not heavy—could you still be unhappy? When things go along with me, I am pleased; when they do not go along with me, there is sorrow, worry, hatred, and suffering—this is the "I" through and through. This is the very opposite of no-self. The ultimate aim of cultivation is to reach no-self. Melting away the "I" in your mind each day—this is the very best cultivation. Studying a thousand sūtras and ten thousand treatises is precisely for the purpose of reaching no-self, not for studying the Buddhadharma for its own sake. The purpose of studying the Buddhadharma is to achieve no-self. If every day you study the Buddhadharma for the sake of your own "I," and to show yourself off, is that not running directly counter to cultivation?

The reason the self-grasping of the seventh consciousness, the manas, is heavy is attachment to the sign of self, always wanting to stand out and to declare oneself—"I am this and that." If you tell such a person that he has said something wrong, that it is not like that, he will immediately defend himself, or walk away in anger—all of these are severe manifestations of the mind of self. If you truly wish to cultivate quickly and to advance swiftly on the path, every day you should examine whether your mental afflictions (caittas) have decreased compared with before; whether your emotional displays have decreased; whether your pride and mind of self have lightened. Only this is right cultivation. It is not about learning a huge pile of views and then increasing the mind of self and pride—that is learning wrongly, learning in reverse.