The Manas and the Five Aggregates: The Composition of the Self

After consciousness is extinguished, what remains is what sentient beings perceive as the self. This self is the true root of the cycle of birth and death, replete with all ignorance and all afflictions. Because of this self, there arise the bitter retribution and suffering of birth and death for countless kalpas in future lives, as well as all good and evil karmic actions, karmic seeds, and various causes, conditions, and karmic results.

Whatever form this self takes, that is what I become. If this self has no ignorance, then I have no ignorance; if this self has no afflictions, then I have no afflictions. If I take rebirth with a self free from ignorance, I am a Buddha; if I take rebirth with a self free from afflictions, I am an Arhat or a Bodhisattva who has entered the stages; if I take rebirth with a self replete with all afflictions, I am a complete ordinary being; if I take rebirth with a self predominantly characterized by wholesome dharmas, I am a virtuous person.

Whatever the original state of this self is, that is what I am. May this self be free from all afflictions, thus saving many kalpas of cultivation time. May this self have more good and less evil, so that I may receive more good retribution and less evil retribution. I do not wish for this self to lack wholesome dharmas or to be incompatible with them; I hope this self is endowed with all wholesome dharmas.

I hope this self has no self-view; I hope this self has no self-attachment; I hope this self has no self-conceit; I hope this self has no greed, hatred, or delusion; I hope this self does not consider itself always right; I hope this self eliminates all ignorance; I hope this self is endowed with all wholesome dharmas; I hope this self is replete with merit and virtue; I hope this self possesses vast wisdom; I hope this self completely transforms consciousness into wisdom; I hope this self is utterly selfless; I hope this self is endowed with loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity; I hope this self has vast vows; I hope this self feels compassion for all beings, not abandoning a single one; I hope this self is endowed with immeasurable virtues and abilities; I hope this self becomes the refuge for all sentient beings.

In summary, I wish this self to be exactly as I hope: to sever all evils and perfect all virtues.