The Issue of the Stages of Eradicating the View of Self and Chan Meditation

Whether one should first eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and then engage in Chan investigation, or directly engage in Chan investigation seeking realization and enlightenment, there is no definitive conclusion; it depends on one's spiritual faculties (indriya). The Dharma has no fixed method, and it varies from person to person. For most people, they should first seek to eradicate the view of self, clearly recognizing the false self; then, in subsequent Chan investigation, they will not confuse the false with the true, mistaking the false for the real. For those with better spiritual faculties, whose afflictions of the view of self are relatively mild and whose meditative concentration (samādhi) is also excellent, and who do not fall into the deliberation of the mind consciousness, they may directly engage in Chan investigation, eradicating the view of self during the process of investigation and then realizing the true. Because Chan investigation is precisely the investigation and verification within the five-aggregate body, and cannot be separated from the five aggregates and the eighteen realms, in the process of investigation one can also discern, one by one, the impermanent and unreal nature of the arising and ceasing of the five-aggregate body, thereby eradicating the view of self.

The Chan masters of ancient times who awakened to the Way all did so in this manner, but it cannot be guaranteed that there were no ones who merely had intellectual understanding. Among the seventeen hundred Chan public cases (gong'an), not all represent true realization. If one's meditative power is somewhat weaker, the functions of the mind consciousness will be stronger than those of the manas, and the result will be intellectual understanding rather than realization. One sees the true mind only vaguely, as merely a rough shadow; the wisdom of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) cannot arise, afflictions cannot be reduced, and the view of self cannot be eradicated. This instead hinders sudden enlightenment and the progress of one's practice—haste makes waste, and the result is the opposite of what is intended.

Modern people's power of meditative concentration is generally much weaker than that of the ancients; the deliberation of the mind consciousness is not easily subdued, and the function of the manas becomes feeble. Thus realization is very difficult, and eradicating the view of self is also very difficult; with much theoretical understanding, intellectual understanding actually comes more easily. Therefore, we should all first engage in contemplative practice on the non-self nature of the five aggregates, and only afterwards engage in Chan investigation—this is the more reliable approach.