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

Many people talk every day just for the sake of talking—in order to express themselves and show themselves off—speaking 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 cultivating? 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 have you cultivated, and has it had any effect?

Examine your own mind: why is there an emotion of unhappiness? If there were no "self" in your mind—if the self were not heavy—could you be unhappy? When things accord with me, I am happy; when they do not accord with me, there is sorrow, worry, hatred, and suffering—this is the self through and through. This is the exact opposite of no-self. The ultimate purpose of cultivation is to reach no-self; melting away the "I" in your mind each day is the very best cultivation. Studying thousands of sūtras and treatises is precisely for the purpose of reaching no-self, not for studying the Buddhadharma for the sake of studying the Buddhadharma. 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 counter to cultivation?

The reason the self-grasping of the seventh consciousness, the manas, is heavy is attachment to the mark of self, constantly wanting to stand out and assert oneself—how I am this, how I am that. When told that he has said something wrong, that it is not like this, he immediately defends himself, or leaves in anger—all of these are severe manifestations of the mind of self. If you truly want to cultivate quickly and advance rapidly on the path, you should examine every day whether your mental factors of affliction have decreased compared with before; whether your emotional displays have decreased; whether the arrogance and mind of self have lightened—only this is correct cultivation. It is not about learning a pile of views and then increasing the mind of self and arrogance; that is learning wrongly, learning in reverse.