Self and What Belongs to Self Are Not Different—Both Are Self-View (ātma-dṛṣṭi)

Self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) is hard to eliminate because it is deeply rooted; the view of what belongs to self (ātmīya-dṛṣṭi) is also extremely hard to eliminate, because it too is deeply rooted. When one takes part of the functions and operations of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) as the self, one then takes another part of those functions and operations as belonging to the self. The deeply rooted grasping at "me" and "mine," and the habitual cognition, are very difficult to transform. To eliminate views that are not in accord with reality requires long-term contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), continually turning the light of introspection upon one's various views and opinions concerning the five aggregates, and thinking in accord with reality within meditative concentration (samādhi).

The self and what belongs to the self are not one; what is different is "other" (anya). For example, if one holds that the aggregate of feeling (vedanā) is the self, then the aggregate of form (rūpa) is what belongs to the self—thus the self and what belongs to the self are "other" than each other. It may seem that the self-view of taking the aggregate of form as the self has been eliminated, but the view of taking the aggregate of form as belonging to the self is also a wrong view (mithyā-dṛṣṭi), deeply rooted. The view of self and the view of what belongs to self are both self-view, and both must be eliminated, and both are hard to eliminate. After the elimination of self-view, when one's views are set right, one will hold that the self and what belongs to the self are not other: the aggregate of feeling is not the self, the aggregate of form is not what belongs to the self, and neither of the two is the self.

Before the elimination of self-view, one takes the aggregate of feeling as the self and the aggregate of form as belonging to the self, holding that the aggregate of feeling exists within the aggregate of form, and the aggregate of form exists within the aggregate of feeling, the two existing mutually and pervading each other's substance. After the elimination of self-view, when one's views are set right, one holds that the aggregate of feeling is not the self and the aggregate of form is not what belongs to the self; the aggregate of feeling does not exist within the aggregate of form, nor does the aggregate of form exist within the aggregate of feeling—the two do not exist within each other, because the five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness (saṃjñā, saṃskāra, vijñāna) are not the self.

This question is difficult to conceive and contemplate; one needs to suspend the question in the mind, in the manas, within meditative concentration, and one day there will be a breakthrough and one will penetrate its meaning. Once this knot is untied, the obstacles to the elimination of self-view will be removed, and the resistance to contemplative practice will be small.