The Principle of Attaining the Fruits of Realization in the Lesser Vehicle

The eighth consciousness has no mark of self; He does not consider Himself to be real, to be the true self, or to be the true mind. He has no such notion, no such view. Yet our dharmas of the five aggregates and eighteen realms all come from the eighth consciousness, arising and manifesting through Him; therefore they are all unreal—subject to arising and ceasing, subject to change—and thus impermanent. Dharmas produced by causes and conditions are therefore unreliable, not self-governing, empty and illusory. Only by realizing this can one eliminate the view of self (ātma-dṛṣṭi), be without the notion of a personal self, attain the first fruit of the śramaṇa (stream-enterer, Srotaāpanna), remove the bondage of the three fetters, and avoid falling into the three evil destinies. In the future one will only undergo painful retribution among humans; upon attaining the fourth fruit of arhatship, at the end of one's life one enters nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), and thereby gains temporary liberation from birth and death within the three realms.