Without Eradicating the View of Self, One Cannot See the Mind.

Eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) is the sixth abode stage; seeing the mind is the seventh abode stage. Without eradicating the view of self, one cannot see the mind. If one sees the mind without having eradicated the view of self, two "selves" will be present, and with deeply entrenched arrogance, one will make a great uproar and cause serious trouble.

If one has not realized the falsity of the five aggregates as the self, how can one accord with no-self? To feel accord without any realization is merely the mind consciousness's self-assumption, without any basis—it belongs to sentimental thinking and intellectual conjecture. The mind consciousness's delusive perception is precisely a manifestation of the self-nature; not understanding oneself and the actual situation, one will place a tall hat on one's own head. Many people are like this: having realized nothing at all, they yet believe their mind has become empty, that the four marks are gone, that everything is like a dream and illusion, that they are about to enter nirvāṇa, that the precepts with marks no longer need to be cultivated and they can begin cultivating the precepts of the mind-ground, and so on—very quickly they become inflated and haughty. This is an enormous misunderstanding of Buddhist practice and realization.