Eliminating the Self-View of the Mind Consciousness through Contemplative Practice (Vipaśyanā-caryā) (II)

Let us contemplate and engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā). The mind that is currently deliberating, the mind that is discerning objects—by what causes and conditions does it arise? Without these conditions, would my discriminating mind then cease to exist? Without these conditions, my present capacity for thinking would be gone, and my present discerning nature would be gone. By pondering back and forth in this way, one can come to know how deluded and how unreal this mind truly is! After gradual contemplation, one will no longer mistakenly take the conscious mind—the mind that can think and discern—as the self. It is best to contemplate while in a state of meditative concentration (samādhi); such contemplation will then be very deep and subtle, and the mind consciousness and the manas will more readily accept this principle, no longer grasping at the consciousness as the self. Thus the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) is eliminated.