Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (167)

How to Eradicate the View of Self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and Realize the First Fruit?

When Hīnayāna practice reaches a certain level, one can realize that the entire world of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) is empty, that all dharmas of the eighteen realms are empty, and thereby sever the three inner fetters: the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), the view of grasping at views, and the view of doubt. Thereafter one can advance toward liberation and be liberated from the suffering of birth-and-death in saṃsāra. Practice means recognizing that the so-called self is empty: the physical body is empty, the mind is empty, feelings are empty, thoughts are empty, deliberation and initial application and sustained examination (vitarka-vicāra) are empty, and actions and karmic formations are empty—all five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness are empty. The eighteen realms are all empty: the six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are empty; the material sense-objects (rūpa-viṣaya) that the six faculties confront are empty—form is empty, sound is empty, smell is empty, taste is empty, tangibility is empty, and mental dharmas are empty; the six consciousnesses are all empty—eye consciousness is empty, ear consciousness is empty, nose consciousness is empty, tongue consciousness is empty, body consciousness is empty, and mind consciousness is empty; and finally the manas is also empty. When all five aggregates are realized as empty, one thereby eradicates the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and attains the realization of the first fruit, srotāpanna.