Understanding the Non-Self of the Five Aggregates Is Not the Eradication of the View of Self

Some of us already understand in our hearts that we are false and illusory, just an empty shell—does this count as the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa)? Understanding no-self, understanding that oneself is false and illusory—this involves both the mind consciousness's understanding and the manas's understanding. The mind consciousness's understanding is further divided into true understanding and false understanding; understanding without genuine contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and deliberation is not true understanding. Moreover, understanding by the mind consciousness alone is still quite superficial and often does not have much effect; the manas deep within the mind does not understand and still takes the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) as self. Therefore, it cannot solve actual problems, let alone attain liberation and escape saṃsāra. Because the manas can dominate and determine all bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the five aggregates, including the activities of the mind consciousness, if the manas still has the bonds of birth and death, it will drag the five aggregates and the six consciousnesses to continue transmigrating through birth and death.

True eradication of the view of self requires the manas to acknowledge and confirm that the five aggregates are indeed false, impermanent; the manas must comprehend the principle that the five aggregates are without self. For the manas to acknowledge and confirm this, the mind consciousness must carry out deep, subtle, and comprehensive contemplative practice. Through contemplative practice, the process and results of deliberation are transmitted to the manas; only then can the manas understand, and thus through its own personal deliberation (manasikāra/manana) confirm the falsity of the self of the five aggregates. The mind consciousness must contemplate and examine that each of the five aggregates is false, and that each of the eighteen dhātus is false; the contemplation must be thorough, and especially the falsity of the mind consciousness itself must be contemplated exhaustively. Only then can the manas acknowledge and confirm that the five aggregates are truly not self, that all are false and illusory, whereby the thoughts deep within the mind will undergo a considerable transformation. Only then is the view of self eradicated.