How to Understand That the Six Sense Faculties Are Illusory and Selfless

All six faculties are subject to arising and ceasing. Among them, the five faculties are produced by the eighth consciousness in dependence on karmic seeds, the conditions of father and mother, and the grasping (upādāna) of the manas; when the conditions disperse, they perish—they are not self-existent and lack autonomy. The manas arises from the eighth consciousness transmitting consciousness seeds; it too is a false appearance of consciousness formed by moment-to-moment arising and ceasing in continuous succession. Upon entering Nirvāṇa without remainder, it can also cease; therefore it too is false and not self-existent, illusory and not the self. In contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), one must deliberate slowly and deliberate with great depth and subtlety; only then can the mind be inwardly touched, and only then can one truly acknowledge that the six faculties and the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) are not real and are not the true self. One must cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi) and deliberate and contemplate with the support of meditative power, completing the deliberation of one dharma before moving on to deliberate another. Suspend the content of your deliberation deeply in the mind—it must be deep, slow, and subtle; do not let the mind be restless and scattered. Suspend the dharma being contemplated deeply, and the mind becomes almost unmoving—in truth it moves, but very slowly and very subtly. Only such contemplative practice is the correct method of contemplative practice.