Contemplative Practice on the Five Aggregates as Suffering, Empty, Impermanent, and Selfless (One)

Saṃyukta Āgama, Scroll One

(9)如是我闻。一时。佛住舍卫国祗树给孤独园。尔时。世尊告诸比丘。色无常。无常即苦。苦即非我。非我者亦非我所。如是观者。名真实正观。如是受．想．行．识无常。无常即苦。苦即非我。非我者亦非我所。如是观者。名真实观。圣弟子。如是观者。厌于色。厌受．想．行．识。厌故不乐。不乐故得解脱。解脱者真实智生。我生已尽。梵行已立。所作已作。自知不受后有。时。诸比丘闻佛所说。欢喜奉行。

Explanation: The World-Honored One told the bhikṣus that the aggregate of form is impermanent; what is impermanent is suffering; what is suffering is not the self (the false self); what is not the self (the false self) is also not what belongs to the self (the false self). The self and what belongs to the self are not different—neither is the self. One who engages in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) in this way is engaged in true contemplative practice and is a genuine contemplative practitioner. One who does not engage in contemplative practice in this way is not practicing contemplation in accordance with reality; without contemplative practice in accordance with reality, one cannot truly realize that the aggregate of form is not the self, and cannot eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi).

Regarding the impermanence of the aggregate of form, there is much content for contemplative practice, which requires deliberation (manasikāra/manana) within meditative concentration (samādhi), in accordance with the Dharma and with reality. One cannot merely think about it a bit and consider the contemplative practice finished, or think that having mentally accepted it one has passed the test, or believe that the eradication of the view of self is not far off. In fact, no matter how the mind consciousness thinks, it does not count; getting the manas to accept it is the real skill. Apart from meditative concentration, the mind consciousness's thinking and deliberation cannot penetrate deeply into the manas, and the manas cannot carry out its own deliberation; therefore one cannot understand the truth that the aggregate of form is impermanent. What the mind consciousness ordinarily considers very simple principles are not simple at all when they reach the manas. Therefore one must contemplate deeply and thoroughly within meditative concentration, striving for sufficient evidence, well-reasoned and well-grounded, and must also give the manas a certain amount of time to digest this evidence and these arguments.

Once the manas understands that the aggregate of form is truly impermanent, He will sigh with feeling: was it worthwhile to pay such a great price for the aggregate of form year after year? He will feel it was not worthwhile, and thereafter His care for the physical body will diminish and lessen. This is the change in body-and-mind experience during the actual process of cultivation. When a person truly begins to cultivate, as long as the cultivation is effective, body and mind will certainly undergo change; otherwise the cultivation has not been done well and is not effective—one should then think of other means and be more diligent.

Without such an actual cultivation process, genuine realization is simply impossible. The mind consciousness's understanding is useless; it is merely a theory. Theories can be obtained by anyone, but genuine realizers cannot be even one in ten thousand. Realizers have their own unique insights, which may not win the agreement of many people, because most people have not cultivated in practice; they usually take things for granted, not understanding the thread of actual cultivation, much less the wisdom realm of realization. Taking things for granted is vastly different from the thinking of actual cultivators. Theorists tend to take things for granted; having never gone through the actual stages and process of cultivation, their cognition of the Dharma is very coarse and sloppy, unable to be fine-grained; their exposition of the Dharma cannot hit the mark and cannot withstand questioning. Realizers, however, can endure anyone's interrogation and challenge, for they always have a firm, well-founded position.

After the contemplative practice on the impermanence of the aggregate of form has borne fruit, the next step is to contemplate that what is impermanent is suffering. This step cannot be done merely by taking things for granted; one must contemplate deeply within meditative concentration: why is what is impermanent suffering? The evidence must be sufficient, without the slightest forced interpretation; there can be no vagueness, no carelessness. Only by truly contemplating out the feeling of suffering from the impermanence of the aggregate of form does it count, and the mind (the manas) must genuinely accept that it is indeed suffering, without any doubt. Once the manas understands the impermanence and suffering of the physical body, it will certainly dislike the suffering, will certainly sigh over the suffering it has undergone, and will gradually and spontaneously reduce its pursuit of suffering.

In actual cultivation, because the manas has come to know the true characteristics of the aggregate of form and has understood the true principle, it will constantly emit sighs and laments, and will make new resolutions. Otherwise the cultivation has not reached the mark—theoretical sentiments and intellectual understanding outnumber actual contemplative practice.

The most crucial point below is: how can one get the manas to accept that what is suffering is not the self? This is the most difficult step. Previously the manas always took the aggregate of form to be the self or to belong to the self. Now one must negate this view of His, and after a complete one-hundred-eighty-degree turn, He must accept that He was wrong before—that the aggregate of form is fundamentally not the self or what belongs to the self. This difficulty is still quite considerable.

Once the manas accepts and confirms that the aggregate of form is not the self or what belongs to the self, the view of self is eradicated. But is the view of self easy to eradicate? It is truly not easy at all. Let each person introspect on this present life, year by year, month by month, day by day: the deeply rooted view of self within the mind—taking the physical body as real, as the self, as mine—craving and grasping, every thought being of the body as self, caring for and maintaining it in every minute detail; in eating, clothing, dwelling, using, and traveling, one thinks first of oneself; the karmic actions created for the sake of the physical body are countless. Therefore the view of self is indeed very hard to eradicate.

But theoretically, eradicating the view of self is not that difficult. Some people, after mulling it over, know that the aggregate of form is not the self, and consider that they have eradicated the view of self. How many people in this world have theoretically eradicated the view of self and the view of self regarding the aggregates? They are already beyond counting. Those who hold the view that the five aggregates are without self merely at the level of knowledge are called "sectarians of intellectual understanding" (zhijie zongtu). This term was first uttered by the Sixth Patriarch. The Sixth Patriarch predicted that the monk Shenhui would be a sectarian of intellectual understanding, and indeed the monk Shenhui remained stuck at the level of intellectual understanding his whole life, without any genuine realization.