The Importance of Realizing That Feelings Are Not Self

Sentient beings all take feelings and sensations as real, as the self, as belonging to the self, and then pursue them, seeking to satisfy and comply with them, and for the sake of their own feelings and sensations they do not hesitate to perform all kinds of karmic actions, especially unwholesome karmic actions.

If we wish to be liberated from the suffering of birth and death, we must contemplate the illusory nature, unreality,幻化 nature, emptiness (śūnyatā), and not-self nature of feelings and sensations. In this way we can realize that feelings and sensations are indeed empty, illusory, and unreal, and we will no longer attach importance to them or pursue them. On the one hand, this eradicates the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi); on the other hand, the mind can gradually attain tranquility (praśama), and the afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion gradually fade. When one no longer pursues feelings and sensations, one will no longer perform the ignorant and unwholesome karmic actions of greed, anger, and delusion.

How are feelings and sensations empty and illusory? Where do they come from? Feelings and sensations are mainly those of the six consciousnesses. In fact, the feelings and sensations of the manas behind them are also extremely important. If the manas had no feelings and sensations, it would not impel the six consciousnesses to perform karmic actions of greed and defilement, nor would it be possible for one to seek liberation and diligently cultivate and study the Buddha's teachings. The feelings and sensations of the six consciousnesses come, on the one hand, from the manas, being influenced and directed by it; on the other hand, when the six consciousnesses themselves discern the objects of the six sense objects (ṣaḍāyatana), they are influenced by those objects, developing greed or aversion toward them, and when the associated mental factors (caittas) arise, feelings of suffering or pleasure are produced.

How do the feelings and sensations of the six consciousnesses arise? The tathāgatagarbha outputs the consciousness seeds, forming the six consciousnesses. Once the six consciousnesses are generated, they begin to operate, and the five universal mental factors and the five particular mental factors appear; they then discriminate the six sense objects and grasp at them, and feelings and sensations toward the objects arise. Afterwards, these feelings and sensations are taken as real and as the self—what accords with oneself arouses greed, what opposes oneself arouses anger—and one then performs the ignorant karmic actions of greed, anger, and delusion, after which the retributive results of birth, death, and saṃsāra continue without end. Therefore, if we contemplate feelings and sensations as empty, the minds of greed and anger can be subdued. This matter is extremely important: realizing that the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) are not the self, and that feelings and sensations are also not the self, is the most important thing.