The Difference Between True and False Elimination of Self-View (ātma-dṛṣṭi)

In the cultivation and realization of the Buddha-Dharma, there is likewise the distinction between genuine cultivation and realization and false cultivation and realization. The elimination of self-view is divided into truly eliminating self-view and falsely eliminating self-view; awakening to the true mind is divided into truly awakening to the true mind and falsely awakening to the true mind. The true and the false pervade both worldly life and Buddhist practice, making them difficult to distinguish. Whatever is false is superficial, a matter of the conscious mind; it can be said to be pretense, something put on for show. Whatever is true corresponds deeply with the manas, is acknowledged by the manas, flows out from the depths of the heart, comes from the bottom of one's heart, is uncontrived, inspires trust, and is honest and without deception.

If the elimination of self-view is accomplished only by the conscious mind while the manas does not eliminate self-view, then the manas has not severed the three fetters, and the mental activity of the manas still corresponds to the three evil destinies; the rope has not been untied, so there is no guarantee of avoiding the three evil destinies. Because whether one enters the three evil destinies is determined by karmic seeds and the power of karma, and the manas corresponds to karmic seeds and karmic power, being the consciousness that connects the three periods of time, if the manas has not severed the three fetters, the karmic seeds have not changed, and at the end of life, pulled by the power of karma, one will enter the three evil destinies. One can know this by observing the manas's behavior in the antarā-bhava: in the antarā-bhava, the manas corresponds entirely to one's own afflictive habits, and it will certainly follow the manifestation of its own afflictive habits to take rebirth.

The conscious mind can do nothing about this, because the conscious mind cannot be the master, and it is something that ceases; after it has ceased, it certainly cannot be the master of what follows. Therefore, cultivating only the conscious mind is of no use at all; the conscious mind alone eliminating self-view cannot solve the problem of birth and death, nor the problem of avoiding the three evil destinies. To put it another way, even if the conscious mind could decide not to fall into the three evil destinies, at the time of death the conscious mind ceases first, leaving only the manas and the tathāgatagarbha, with no conscious mind in existence. Yet the manas and the power of karma still remain; the fetters of the manas have not been severed, so of course one cannot escape falling into the three evil destinies. The conscious mind cannot correspond to karmic seeds and karmic power; whether one goes to the three evil destinies or not is something the conscious mind cannot decide at all—even the conscious mind's own existence or non-existence is not something it can decide. How could it decide not to fall into the three evil destinies?