Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (207)

Self-Conceit and the Habitual Tendencies of Self-Conceit

This supreme bodhi can eliminate all self-conceit in the world. Ordinary sentient beings all have deep and heavy self-conceit. What is self-conceit? First, sentient beings believe that a self exists, taking the five aggregates as the self: the physical body is the self, feelings are the self, seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing are the self, the aggregate of perception is the self, bodily, verbal, and mental actions are the self, and the discriminating and discerning nature of the six consciousnesses is the self. Ordinary beings take these as the self, and then severely grasp onto the self. Because of self-view and the mind of self-grasping, a mind of self-conceit arises, believing that one's own five aggregates and eighteen realms are superior to those of other sentient beings, and that in certain aspects of worldly dharmas one is more excellent than other sentient beings. Therefore, one inwardly exalts oneself and bullies other sentient beings.

Conceit is divided into seven kinds: conceit, superior conceit, superior-superior conceit, self-conceit, inflated conceit, inferior conceit, and false conceit. All of these are conceit arising from the so-called self, so self-conceit is the root, from which the other kinds of conceit arise. The other kinds of conceit must first be eliminated through cultivation, and self-conceit is eliminated last. In the Small Vehicle, self-conceit is eliminated at the stage of the fourth fruit of arhatship, but the habitual tendencies of self-conceit still remain; in the Great Vehicle, self-conceit is eliminated at the stage of a first-bhūmi bodhisattva, but habitual tendencies still remain. These habitual tendencies of self-conceit can only be completely eliminated when one cultivates to the stage of an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva. This shows how deep-rooted habitual tendencies are.

What are the habitual tendencies of self-conceit? For example, when a disgusting insect falls from a tree onto one's body, most people instinctively shake it off immediately, without needing to think or deliberate—subconsciously they can react quickly. This is the manas's habitual protection of the self, instinctively avoiding danger and rejecting things one finds repulsive without any deliberation; this is the habitual tendency of self-conceit. Why do all sentient beings have this kind of habitual tendency? Because, from beginningless kalpas, sentient beings' manas has constantly grasped the five aggregates as the self. This habitual tendency is deep-rooted. Even after eliminating self-view and removing self-conceit, deep in the manas's mind there still exists the concept and thought of the five aggregates as self; habitually, a shadow of the five aggregates remains that has not been cleared away. Only bodhisattvas at the seventh and eighth bhūmis can eliminate these habitual tendencies of self-conceit. An arhat can prevent self-conceit from manifesting as active conduct, and only bodhisattvas at the first bhūmi and above begin to gradually eliminate the habitual tendencies of self-conceit and the habitual tendencies of greed, aversion, and delusion afflictions. When an arhat eliminates afflictions, it is also only the manifest activity of afflictions that is eliminated; all habitual tendencies only begin to be gradually eliminated at the stage of bodhisattvas of the first bhūmi and above.