Contemplating the Five Aggregates and Eliminating the View of Self (Part I) (Second Edition)
The Realm of Complete No-Self
If you can calm your mind and examine that so-called "self" within your own mind, you will discover that no matter how cultivated you consider yourself to be, there is still a self everywhere in your mind; in doing every single thing, you still habitually consider your own gains and losses first, proceeding from your own personal interests, and only secondarily can you consider the interests of others; you take all dharmas as truly existent, and that is precisely why you contend with all dharmas. Truly accomplishing no-self is very difficult. As for the ingrained habitual tendencies accumulated since beginningless kalpas, even being able to detect them oneself is not easy, let alone being able to subdue and eradicate them.
For what purpose, in the end, have we been learning Buddhism and cultivating practice for innumerable kalpas? It is precisely in order to attain complete no-self. As long as we can refrain from taking any dharma whatsoever as self, as truly existent, and refrain from contending with any dharma whatsoever, then we would no longer need to study Buddhism or cultivate practice—we would already be beyond training (aśaikṣa) in both the Greater and Lesser Vehicles.
How should one counteract the various forms of self in the mind? First, one must know what the so-called self actually refers to and how broad its scope is. First eradicate the narrowest view of self, then subdue the nature of self and eradicate self-grasping. After that, there is still the broader view of self—taking all dharmas of the world of the three realms as self, as real. This must be gradually subdued and eradicated along the path of practice hereafter. When it is all eradicated, from then on the world will be truly at peace, and there will be no more troubles—ultimate permanence, bliss, self, and purity. How delightful that would be!
As long as one takes a dharma as truly existent and contends with it, that is the nature of self. When one truly does not contend, the mind is exceedingly peaceful, exceedingly gentle, exceedingly tame, exceedingly loving, exceedingly bright; the mind is luminous and clear, open-minded and magnanimous, boundlessly radiant. When can one fully accomplish this? "Not a single dharma stands before the mind"—easy to say, but far too difficult to do; it is simply that the habitual tendencies are too deep, hard to eradicate completely.
Not opposing any person, not contending with any matter, not taking any dharma as an enemy—the mind is open and upright, peaceful and harmonious, candid and forthright, bright and luminous, radiant and clear, tranquil and still, empty and unencumbered, harmonious and congenial—this may well be the state of mind of complete no-self. Only such a life has true value and true meaning, and is worth cherishing. Yet there is no longer even a thought of cherishing it; the mind neither values any dharma nor slights any dharma—it is almost equal to the realm of the tathāgatagarbha.
