What Conclusion Should a Hinayana Practitioner Arrive at After the Contemplation of Reality as It Truly Is?

If, after contemplating that the five aggregates are illusory and devoid of self, one arrives at the conclusion that the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness, what does this indicate? It indicates that all ordinary sentient beings, since beginningless kalpas, have always mistaken the five aggregates for the eighth consciousness. Then, upon encountering the Buddha Dharma and seeking liberation, through contemplative practice and reflection, they correct their previous erroneous cognition, changing their wrong view to the right view: the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness; the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness, nor are they non-eighth consciousness. Is this correct? Does the phrase "nor are they non-eighth consciousness" imply that the five aggregates are also the eighth consciousness?

If so, then what is wrong with ordinary sentient beings having always believed since beginningless kalpas that the five aggregates are the eighth consciousness? Is it a wrong view? There is nothing wrong! If ordinary sentient beings since beginningless kalpas truly always regarded the five aggregates as the eighth consciousness, then there would be no self-view and no self-attachment, no ignorance and no afflictions. The Buddha would not have needed to come to Saha world eight thousand times to save sentient beings. If sentient beings recognized the eighth consciousness as "I," they would not recognize the five aggregates as "I," and thus would not commit evil deeds. The most crucial point is: have ordinary sentient beings since beginningless kalpas truly regarded the five aggregates as the eighth consciousness?

If ordinary sentient beings since beginningless kalpas have always regarded the five aggregates as the eighth consciousness, and if this were truly the case, then all ordinary sentient beings would be Bodhisattvas on the Bhūmis (grounds), possessing the wisdom of consciousness-only. Because only Bodhisattvas on the Bhūmis, through the direct perception of the wisdom of consciousness-only, can observe that the entire five aggregates are the eighth consciousness, just as a cloth doll is entirely cloth, a clay figure is entirely clay, and gold ornaments are entirely gold. Then all sentient beings since beginningless kalpas would be Bodhisattvas on the Bhūmis. If so, would there still be any need to sever the self-view, sever the view of the eighth consciousness as self, or sever the view of "I" as the eighth consciousness?

If ordinary sentient beings since beginningless kalpas did not know of the existence of the true self, the eighth consciousness, and did not regard the five aggregates as the eighth consciousness, then when ordinary sentient beings encounter the Dharma of liberation and contemplate the Four Noble Truths—suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path—and contemplate suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self, could they ultimately arrive at the conclusion that the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness self, not my eighth consciousness? Is this a fallacy of equivocation? If it is a fallacy of equivocation, no one could truly sever the self-view, and all Hinayana practitioners would be unable to attain the pure Dharma-eye or achieve liberation.

Those who genuinely and truly practice the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment and engage in contemplative practice as they are, at the moment of attaining the fruit of severing the self-view, fundamentally cannot arrive at the conclusion that "the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness." Offering such a conclusion stems from intellectual understanding divorced from actual practice, lacking the process of genuine contemplative reflection. Only after severing the self-view, and then from the perspective of Mahayana contemplative practice, can one arrive at the conclusion that the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness.

When the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths to his disciples, he first informed them: within the five aggregates exists the true self, the eighth consciousness, which is neither born nor ceases. Even if the five aggregates and eighteen elements are extinguished, the eighth consciousness does not cease. Thus, the disciples all accepted the Buddha's words in faith, knowing there is something indestructible; after parinirvana, it is not annihilation or voidness—that true self is functional. The disciples, upon hearing the Buddha's words, immediately knew that the five aggregates and eighteen elements can cease, but the eighth consciousness does not cease; they knew the five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness. However, this knowing is the knowing of the mental consciousness; the mental faculty (manas) has not realized it directly. Direct realization would make them Mahayana Bodhisattvas. They also did not go seeking the eighth consciousness; they merely contemplated the nature of the five aggregates as suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self. They would not say that only after arduous contemplation did they arrive at the conclusion: "The five aggregates are not the eighth consciousness." If they did, then they did not engage in careful contemplation. This conclusion should have been known in their hearts when the Buddha spoke of the true self.

In the Āgama Sutras, the Buddha taught the Sutra on the Foundations of Mindfulness: contemplate the body as impure, contemplate feelings as suffering, contemplate the mind as impermanent, and contemplate dharmas as non-self. If a person genuinely and truly engages in this contemplation, spending several years doing so, upon severing the self-view, could they arrive at the conclusion: the body is not the eighth consciousness, feelings are not the eighth consciousness, the mind is not the eighth consciousness, dharmas are not the eighth consciousness? If they arrive at such a conclusion, I ask: how did this person contemplate? Did they contemplate according to the World-Honored One's teaching?

This person is drawing conclusions based on imagination, not genuinely engaging in proper contemplative practice. If Hinayana practitioners truly realized that the five aggregates are not different from the eighth consciousness, the Tathāgatagarbha, then they would not fear suffering and rush to extinguish the five aggregates to enter parinirvana. Because they would have realized that the five aggregates are all illusory manifestations displayed by the eighth consciousness, without substantial reality, and thus there is no real suffering.