The Manifestation of the View of Self

In real life, which aspects of conditioning increase the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi)? What is the reason the view of self is so hard to eradicate? Why is it that a person who eradicated the view of self in a past life can, upon encountering the Buddha's teachings again in this life, eradicate it very quickly? Find out all these phenomena, then bit by bit subdue the cherishing of the physical body, and eradicating the view of self will go faster. All forms of protection of the physical body stem from the view of self. In what ways do we protect and cherish the physical body?

If we learn something about the precepts of monastics, we will understand why the Buddha established so many precepts, so detailed—they were all established to subdue the view of self and the view of "I." Monastics do not understand this and complain that the precepts constrain them too much. If one keeps well the precepts established by the Buddha, one can attain liberation. The precepts of the Small Vehicle are also called the precepts of individual liberation: if you can keep one precept, you gain the liberation of that one precept. Therefore, as long as one leaves home to cultivate, one will certainly attain the fourth fruit of arhatship in the future; there will always be a day of attaining liberation. There are many benefits to leaving home: liberation and freedom.

The modern way of life makes it very hard for people to eradicate the view of self—everything is too fastidious and picky, too indulgent in enjoyment, heedless of anything else, caring only about comfort and pleasure. Observe your own view of self: observe from all aspects and angles of daily eating, clothing, dwelling, using, and moving; observe from the aspects of wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep; begin observing from the aspects of seeing forms, hearing sounds, feeling touch, smelling scents, and tasting flavors. If you find that you especially value these aspects, especially care about the physical body, especially attend to and look after the physical body, and are especially particular about the body's enjoyments, then your view of self is relatively heavy, and you should find ways to subdue it.

For modern people, a life that feels rather dull and uninteresting is actually nourishing to the mind and makes it easier to eradicate the view of self and the view of "I." Because such a life does not easily lead to craving and attachment, the mind is relatively simple and pure, not paying much attention to or caring much about the physical body, so the view of self is easy to eradicate, and the view of "I" is also slight and easy to eradicate. Moreover, such a life does not waste merit; with merit supporting it, progress on the path is very fast. A true bodhisattva should cherish his own merit and not casually consume it, and therefore does not indulge in enjoyments. When a bodhisattva is born into this world, he does not choose a wealthy and noble family, lest his merit be squandered in childhood under his parents' control. People nowadays do not understand and do not care about these matters of merit, and unknowingly and casually consume it through enjoyment—such a pity. They themselves do not know it, and even take pride in enjoying wealth and splendor. Parents must be responsible to their children and must not casually decide on their children's behalf to consume their merit. If that merit is consumed away in childhood, then when they grow up their merit will be meager, and they will suffer; when they study Buddhism, the merit available for use on the path will be insufficient, and attainment on the path will be difficult.

In bygone eras, there were no various ornaments for the body, no home decorations, no all kinds of fancy clothing and foods. Back then, people did not smear anything on their bodies, did not spray anything indoors, and did not use excessive decoration—simple and plain—so it was not easy to attach to form, sound, scent, taste, and touch, and people rarely pampered the physical body. With simple minds, the view of self was easy to eradicate. For the wealthy, cultivating the path is difficult—craving habits are too heavy; for the poor, generosity is difficult—meager merit (alpa-puṇya). Therefore, cultivating the path starts from bit by bit, accumulating small into great, accumulating little into much, developing a good habit of practice—then there is no worry of not attaining the Way.