The Five Aggregates Are Not Self, Not Different from Self, and Not Mutually Present with Self

Many people say that the five aggregates are not self, not different from self, and not mutually contained, and that this "self" refers to the eighth consciousness. However, this is the contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of the Mahāyāna Dharma, practiced on the basis of having already eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa). At the stage of eradicating the view of self in the Small Vehicle, one cannot yet engage in this contemplative practice.

The entire contemplative practice of the Small Vehicle is to enable the manas to eradicate the view of self, not to enable the eighth consciousness to eradicate the view of self. The eighth consciousness does not regard the five aggregates as He, nor does He grasp at the five aggregates. Therefore, at the end of contemplative practice, if one says that the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness, such a statement is off-topic and meaningless, showing that this person has not truly done the work of contemplative practice and has not eradicated the view of self.

The World-Honored One taught the Āgama sūtras for more than ten years, guiding his śrāvaka disciples to attain realization of the fruits and liberation. In this, there was no involvement of the specific contemplative practice content of the prajñā and Yogācāra portions, because the conditions of Small Vehicle practitioners were not yet complete; for them, merely knowing that there exists a true, imperishable self was sufficient. The prajñā portion was taught more than ten years after the Āgama sūtras; only then could one investigate Chan and realize the eighth consciousness, and only after that could one engage in contemplative practice of the eighth consciousness, and only at the very end was the Yogācāra portion taught. It is just that when the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths of suffering, its origin, cessation, and the path, He implicitly told the śrāvaka disciples that there is something unborn and undying which is the true self. The disciples believed and accepted the Buddha's words, knowing that when they attained nirvāṇa in the future, there would still be something that does not perish, and only then could they cultivate the path with peace of mind, heading toward nirvāṇa.

When the śrāvaka disciples cultivated the Four Noble Truths, they only contemplated and practiced upon the five aggregates and eighteen realms as suffering, empty, impermanent, and non-self; they could not contemplate and practice upon the eighth consciousness. So could the result of such contemplative practice realize the eighth consciousness? Could they know the nature of the eighth consciousness, and contemplate the relationship between the five aggregates and the eighth consciousness? Without having studied and practiced upon that Dharma, of course they could not realize it. Since they could not realize it, how could there be a realized result that the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness, that the five aggregates are not different from the eighth consciousness, and that the five aggregates and the eighth consciousness are not mutually contained?

As long as one has not realized the eighth consciousness through contemplative practice, it is impossible to know exactly what the relationship between the five aggregates and the eighth consciousness is. In fact, the śrāvakas of the Buddha's time initially did not understand much of the principle of the eighth consciousness. The bodhisattvas of secret practice were exceptions, but they absolutely would not speak of it; they could all fully cooperate with the World-Honored One—Dharmas the World-Honored One had not taught, they would not reveal, so as not to appear very capable themselves; their minds were all very subdued.

People nowadays, although they have studied some of the tathāgatagarbha Dharma, if they have not actually engaged in contemplative practice and investigation, have not realized the tathāgatagarbha, and merely keep contemplating and practicing upon the five aggregates and eighteen realms as suffering, empty, impermanent, and non-self, likewise they cannot truly know the real relationship between the five aggregates and the tathāgatagarbha. Even if they know it, it is only knowledge and scholarship, without the realization attained through present observation, and thus they cannot truthfully draw conclusions about the relationship between the five aggregates and the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. This conclusion can only be directly and presently observed by genuine bodhisattvas who have realized the tathāgatagarbha. Those with shallow enlightenment or intellectual understanding still cannot observe it; they can only have a similar understanding, and the conclusions they draw are not conclusions of direct perception, containing a great deal of learned knowledge.