What is Doubt-View? How to Eliminate the Knot of Doubt?

When there exist dharmas within the mind that one cannot resolve or determine—when one cannot be certain whether the five aggregates are real or not, whether they are subject to arising and ceasing and impermanent or not, whether they are an imperishable self that can be relied upon, and whether they can go on to future lives—then due to this unclear doubt, one will hesitate and be unable to make a decisive determination. In that case, one will still have some reliance upon and trust in the five aggregates, and the karmic deeds of the three evil destinies created in dependence on the five aggregates cannot be eliminated, and one will transmigrate through the three evil destinies according to that karma. This view of doubt is a bond of affliction; if it is not eliminated, there will surely be afflictions or karmic suffering that do not cease. How then is the affliction of the view of doubt to be eliminated?

Some people say: "As soon as I contemplate that the five aggregates truly have no self, my mind no longer doubts, and I confirm that the five aggregates are without self, thereby cutting off the bond of doubt." Can the doubt deep within the mind be eliminated by the mind consciousness merely deliberating a little on the five aggregates being suffering, empty, impermanent, and non-self? Probably not. For countless eons before beginningless time, we have had no doubt about innumerable matters of worldly dharmas; some people even go their whole lives without doubting what they themselves do, believing they are right and very wise. Yet before dying, they may never have done a single thing properly. While alive they were indeed very self-confident, but because they lacked wisdom, they did not know that they were without wisdom. Confidence born of not knowing is unreliable.

Therefore, some people are very confident that they have truly accepted that the five aggregates are without self and have eliminated the self-view, yet this conviction and confirmation is blind. At the time of death, when the facts are laid before them, they can only drift along according to their karma, utterly unable to be their own master.

How can the bond of doubt be eliminated? One must cultivate meditative concentration, and within dhyāna concentration carefully engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and deliberation, or follow the contemplative method of the four foundations of mindfulness taught by the Buddha, applying effort genuinely and truly, without resorting to shortcuts. One must earnestly cultivate the Eightfold Noble Path and the seven factors of enlightenment, and bring forth dhyāna concentration and the samādhi of emptiness.

Beings of great spiritual faculties (indriya) and extremely great faculties who lived when the Buddha was in the world could, at the very moment of hearing the principle that the five aggregates are without self, realize the fourth fruit of arhatship—their robes donned, hair and beard falling away by themselves, supernatural powers manifesting. For example, Mahākāśyapa, Śāriputra, Subhūti, and others: they realized the fourth fruit in past lives, which was already countless eons ago—even as many as three countless eons—and their identities may have been those of Buddhas coming again. They could of course realize the fruit immediately upon hearing a single sentence. Because the manas had already realized the fruit countless eons ago, although the five aggregates of this life are new, and the mind consciousness is new, the manas has never ceased and has always known that the five aggregates are without self; only the mind consciousness did not know it. In this life, upon hearing one sentence of Buddha-dharma, the mind consciousness, without needing to deliberate, can realize that the five aggregates are without self, while the manas has always known it. There is no need for the mind consciousness to laboriously permeate and teach the manas again—this is why realizing the fruit can be so swift.

For anyone who realized a fruit in a past life, realizing the fruit in this life is very fast; the mind consciousness need not again permeate and teach the manas. The more times the fruit was realized in past lives, the faster it is realized in this life, because the manas no longer obstructs the Path.

Those whose manas has been permeated and turned around are extremely quick-witted; it suffices that the mind consciousness can understand. If in a past life one only realized the first fruit, then in this life realizing the first fruit is easy, but realizing the second fruit is not easy, because the manas only corresponds to contemplative wisdom at the level of the first fruit.

For those who realized the second fruit in a past life, realizing the second fruit in this life is relatively easy, but realizing the third fruit is not easy, because the manas does not yet correspond to the third fruit; the content of the third fruit must again be permeated and taught before the mind consciousness and the manas can realize the third fruit.

For those who realized the third fruit in a past life, realizing the third fruit again in this life is relatively easy, but realizing the fourth fruit is not easy, because the manas does not correspond to the realm of the fourth fruit; the content of the fourth fruit must again be permeated and taught before the mind consciousness and the manas can realize the fourth fruit.

This is the reason why returning ones—those who have come again—realize the fruits and awaken to the true mind faster than others.