What exactly is self-conceit?

Conceit is divided into seven types: conceit, superior conceit, superior-superior conceit, self-conceit, inflated conceit, inferior conceit, and wrong conceit. All of these arise because of the so-called "self," so self-conceit (māna) is the root, and from it the other conceits arise. The other conceits should be eradicated first through practice, while self-conceit is eradicated last. In the Small Vehicle, self-conceit is eradicated at the stage of the arhat of the fourth fruit, but the habit-energy of self-conceit still remains; in the Great Vehicle, self-conceit is eradicated at the stage of a first-bhūmi bodhisattva, but the habit-energy still remains, and this habit-energy of self-conceit can only be completely eradicated when one cultivates to the stage of an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva. This shows how deeply rooted habit-energy is.

What is the habit-energy of self-conceit? For example, when a disgusting insect from a tree falls onto one's body, most people instinctively shake it off immediately, without needing to think or deliberate—instinctively they can react quickly. This is the manas's habitual protection of the self, avoiding danger and rejecting what one finds disgusting without any deliberation; this is the habit-energy of self-conceit. Why do all sentient beings have this habit-energy? Because sentient beings' manas, since beginningless kalpas, has continuously grasped the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) body as the self. This habit-energy is deeply rooted; even after eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and removing self-conceit, deep within the manas there still remain the concept and thought of the five-aggregates self, and habitually there is still a shadow of the five aggregates that has not been cleared away. Only bodhisattvas at the seventh or eighth bhūmi can eradicate this habit-energy of self-conceit. An arhat can prevent self-conceit from manifesting as current activity, and only bodhisattvas at the first bhūmi and above begin to gradually eradicate the habit-energy of self-conceit and the habit-energies of greed, hatred, and delusion afflictions. When an arhat eradicates afflictions, it is also only the current manifestations of afflictions that are eradicated; all habit-energies only begin to be gradually eradicated at the bodhisattva stages of the first bhūmi and above.

The afflictions in our minds are extremely deep and heavy, and their number is immense, making them very difficult to eradicate. In fact, to say it is difficult is not really difficult—as long as we cultivate with courage and diligence, afflictions will melt away like snow beneath the rising sun, so difficulty and ease depend entirely on one's own mind. For example, when those who have awakened describe the difficulty or ease of Chan enlightenment, Pang Yun said: 难难难，十担麻油树上摊（参禅开悟就像把十担芝麻摊放在树上一样难）！Then Old Woman Pang said: 易易易，百草头上西来意！Lingzhao: 也不难，也不易，饥来吃饭倦来眠。The three people had three different feelings and three different views about enlightenment. Therefore, the difficulty or ease of all dharmas lies in the person, in whether a person's faculties are sharp or dull; difficulty and ease are relative dharmas, false appearances—there is no real difficulty or ease that exists.

Supreme bodhi can break through all the wrong views/false views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) of the world. Where do wrong views come from? They also come from the view of self. Before ordinary beings attain any fruit of realization, they all believe there is an "I" existing—the material body is the self, the five aggregates are the self; all kinds of views that take the self as their starting point belong to wrong views. Cultivating and realizing the Buddha-dharma can break through all wrong views and can extinguish all the evil deeds of sentient beings. When one attains the first fruit of srotāpanna, one breaks through the three fetters including the wrong view concerning the self, and the karma of the three evil destinies created since beginningless kalpas is eliminated, so that in the future one will never fall into the three evil destinies again. The remaining karmic retribution is only received among humans, experiencing suffering in the human realm; however great the suffering in the human realm may be, it is still happier than in the three evil destinies, and the suffering is milder than that in the three evil destinies.

Those who have not realized the first bhūmi are called ordinary beings (pṛthagjana); those who have attained the first bhūmi are noble ones, who have extinguished the nature of being an ordinary being and no longer create evil karma of birth and death. All sentient beings who have not eradicated the karmic seeds stained by birth and death belong to the ordinary beings; when this present lifespan ends, there will be another life, only born at another time and in another place—whether in the heavens, or in the human realm, in hell, or among hungry ghosts—this is called birth at a different time and in a different place. Both first-bhūmi bodhisattvas and ordinary beings have segmented birth-and-death (pariccheda-maraṇa). For example, a person lives one lifetime of a hundred-odd years, or a thousand-odd years; when the lifespan ends, there is the next life—birth and death occur in segments, and this is called segmented birth-and-death. If a first-bhūmi bodhisattva is reborn in the heavenly realms, the lifespan is extremely long; if reborn in the human realm, the lifespan is the same as that of ordinary sentient beings, and there is also segmented birth-and-death; if reborn into the animal destiny by the power of vows, the lifespan is also as brief as that of animals, and there is also segmented birth-and-death. Besides segmented birth-and-death, there is also transformational birth-and-death/subtle birth-and-death (parināma-maraṇa). Transformational birth-and-death means that although the lifespan is extremely long, the stained seeds of birth and death within the tathāgatagarbha mind have not all been eradicated, so it can still induce the karma of birth and death and cannot forever extinguish the false appearance of birth and death. Before the seeds of arising and ceasing in the mind are eradicated at the Buddha stage, they cannot be eliminated, and therefore there is transformational birth-and-death.