The Difference Between True and False Eradication of the View of Self

In the cultivation and realization of the Buddha-dharma, there is likewise a distinction between genuine cultivation and realization and false cultivation and realization. The eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) is divided into genuine eradication of the view of self and false eradication of the view of self, and seeing the mind is divided into genuinely seeing the mind and falsely seeing the mind. The true and the false pervade both worldly life and Buddhist practice, making them difficult to distinguish. Whatever is false exists only on the surface of the mind consciousness; it can be said to be pretense, something put on and affected. Whatever is genuine corresponds deeply with the manas, is acknowledged by the manas, flows out from the depths of the mind, comes from the bottom of the heart, is unaffected, and inspires trust—honest and without deception.

If the eradication of the view of self is merely the mind consciousness eradicating the view of self while the manas does not eradicate it, then the manas has not severed the three fetters, and the mental activities of the manas still correspond to the three evil destinies. The ropes have not been untied, so one cannot be guaranteed not to fall into the three evil destinies. Because whether one falls into the three evil destinies is determined by karmic seeds and karmic power, and the manas corresponds to karmic seeds and karmic power, being the consciousness that connects the three periods of time, if the manas has not severed the three fetters, the karmic seeds have not changed; at the end of life, drawn by karmic power, one will fall into the three evil destinies. One can know this by observing the manas's behavior in the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava): in the neutrino-body, the manas fully corresponds to its own afflictive habits, and it will certainly follow the manifestation of its own afflictive habits to take rebirth.

The mind consciousness can do nothing about this, because the mind consciousness cannot be the master, and it is something that ceases; after it has ceased, it certainly cannot be the master of what follows. Therefore, cultivating only the mind consciousness is of no use at all; with only the mind consciousness eradicating the view of self, the problems of birth-and-death and of not falling into the three evil destinies cannot be resolved. To take a step back, even if the mind consciousness could decide not to fall into the three evil destinies, at the time of death the mind consciousness perishes first, leaving only the manas and the tathāgatagarbha, with no mind consciousness existing; yet there are still the manas and karmic power, and the fetters of the manas have not been severed—of course one cannot avoid falling into the three evil destinies. The mind consciousness cannot correspond to karmic seeds and karmic power; whether one goes to the three evil destinies or not is something the mind consciousness cannot decide at all—even the very existence or nonexistence of the mind consciousness itself is not something it can decide—so how could it decide not to fall into the three evil destinies?