The Importance of Eradicating the View of Self

There is a philosophical idea in the West that says: "I think, therefore I am." The "I" here refers, on the one hand, to the self of the manas that can deliberate, and on the other hand, to the self of the mind consciousness that can think. "I am thinking, I am discerning, I am analyzing, I am planning, I am judging, I am pondering, I am knowing," and so on. This "I" is the "I" of the mind consciousness; He is always knowing: "Today, what am I doing? I am eating, I am walking, I am discerning, I am reading, I am contemplating, I am thinking, I am engaged in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), I am investigating Chan, I am prostrating to the Buddha, I am working," and so on.

Now, this entire "I" can only arise through various causes and conditions, and must necessarily be constrained by many causal conditions; this "I" is of course a false self that constantly arises and ceases, and is not the true self at all. This "I" is an empty shell conjured up by the eighth consciousness, and all the functions and roles it possesses on the surface are bestowed by the eighth consciousness. If the eighth consciousness had no consciousness seeds, or if the eighth consciousness did not cooperate with these activities, then all these functions and roles, such as the capacity for discrimination, would vanish and cease to exist. The mind consciousness is therefore subject to arising and ceasing, illusory and false, conjured and empty—it is not the self.

We should clearly recognize: the "I" who is speaking right now, the "I" who is thinking about things, the "I" who is doing things—all are produced by causes and conditions, all arise and cease, and therefore none of them is the self. In this way, we eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) that takes the mind consciousness as the self. All the philosophers and thinkers in the world take the thinking mind consciousness as the self, which shows that they are all ordinary beings who have not eradicated the view of self. Even the devas—the devas of the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm, the devas of the three realms, including the devas of the highest heaven, the heaven of neither perception nor non-perception—likewise take the mind consciousness as the self, as a real, eternal, imperishable self. Therefore, they must all undergo endless birth and death, the cycle of saṃsāra, and suffer incessantly. How important, then, is the eradication of the view of self!

No matter what price we must pay in this life, we must eradicate the view of self. After the view of self is eradicated, we will benefit endlessly, life after life. Therefore, in our minds we should discard worldly dharmas as much as possible; these worldly dharmas can only be dealt with perfunctorily—they must not be taken seriously, must not be clung to, and still less should they be grasped. Discard as much as the mind can discard; to discard them completely and utterly would be best. Then turn back and grasp the Buddha-dharma. You may grasp the Buddha-dharma; no matter how much you grasp the Buddha-dharma, it does not matter, because the problem of birth and death has already been resolved, and the Buddha-dharma can also enable us to accomplish the Buddha-way. What could be more worthwhile!