Transforming the Wrong Views of the Manas Requires Long-Term Cultivation

The wrong view of taking the five aggregates as self belongs to the mental factor of delusion (moha). The manas innately possesses delusion and ignorance, taking the body of the five aggregates as self, and the mind consciousness consequently also has deluded wrong views. Through cultivation one can break the delusion and ignorance of these two consciousnesses, thereby eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and realizing the fruits of the path; thereafter, the mental factor of delusion is transformed by one portion.

So can we simply tell the manas that the body is false and unreal, that feelings and sensations are also not real and not self—that as long as we find a way to make the manas believe that none of this is its own and none of it is real, we can eradicate the view of self? The manas's ignorance is heavy; it does not believe whatever the mind consciousness tells it. It needs sufficient evidence and data, and then, based on these data, it must carry out its own review and deliberation (manasikāra), making its own personal judgment. When its delusion is severe, even with conclusive evidence and ample facts, it cannot quickly confirm them and is unwilling to acknowledge the fact that the five aggregates are without self. It requires long-term cultivation and gradual transformation. Three feet of ice does not form in a single day's cold; thick ice accumulated over a long time cannot be melted by a few days of sunshine.

Someone may ask: after eradicating the view of self, can one gradually eliminate one's own awareness, no longer feeling heat and cold, pain and itch, and so on? It is not so. Eradicating the view of self only removes incorrect wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi); it cannot extinguish awareness. Extinguishing awareness requires extremely deep fourth-dhyāna meditation, which can be achieved even without eradicating the view of self. Only within the fourth dhyāna, when the domain of the aggregate of form and the domain of the aggregate of feeling are broken through, can the feelings and sensations of the physical body be emptied out. Otherwise, even arhats still have various sensations in the physical body; they simply do not cling to them, so the sensations are not so painful—at the very least, the feelings of the mind consciousness are not so distressed, while the feelings of the body consciousness are about the same as those of ordinary beings.