Sakkāyadiṭṭhi
(self-view)
Identity-view of an atta
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Venerable sir, concerning the various views that arise in the world — 'The cosmos is eternal' or 'The cosmos isn't eternal'; 'The cosmos is finite' or 'The cosmos is infinite'; 'The soul and the body are the same' or 'The soul is one thing, the body another'; 'A Tathagata exists after death' or 'A Tathagata doesn't exist after death' or 'A Tathagata both exists & doesn't exist after death' or 'A Tathagata neither exists nor doesn't exist after death'; these along with the sixty-two views mentioned in the Brahmajala — when what is present do these views come into being, and when what is absent do they not come into being?"
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'Concerning the various views that arise in the world... when what is present do they come into being, and what is absent do they not come into being?'?"
"Yes, venerable sir."
"Concerning the various views that arise in the world, householder... when self-identity view is present, these views come into being; when self-identity view is absent, they don't come into being."
SN 41.3
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There is the case, monk, where a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones ... does not assume form to be the self, or the self as possessing form, or form as in the self, or the self as in form. He does not assume feeling to be the self... does not assume perception to be the self... does not assume fabrications to be the self... He does not assume consciousness to be the self, or the self as possessing consciousness, or consciousness as in the self, or the self as in consciousness.
MN 109 - also SN 22.82 ++
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A well-taught noble disciple ... does not abide with a mind obsessed and enslaved by identity view; he understands as it actually is the escape from the arisen identity view, and identity view together with the underlying tendency to it is abandoned in him. He does not abide with a mind obsessed and enslaved by doubt…by adherence to rules and observances…by sensual lust…by ill will; he understands as it actually is the escape from the arisen ill will, and ill will together with the underlying tendency to it is abandoned in him.
MN 64
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Venerable sir, knowing how and seeing how does the self view get dispelled?”
“Monk, by knowing and seeing unpleasantness*, in the eye self view gets dispelled.
Monk, by knowing and seeing unpleasantness in forms, eye-consciousness, eye-contact and whatever feelings pleasant, unpleasant or neither unpleasant nor pleasant born of eye-contact, self view gets dispelled. Repeat for ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
SN 35.166 (no parallel)
Note: unpleasantness (dukkha) is a consequence of realizing the impermanence in the khandhas.
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For a young tender infant lying prone does not even have the notion ‘identity,’ so how could identity view arise in him? Yet the underlying tendency to identity view lies within him.
MN 64
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Related suttas: (escape from the Self-view).
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Bhikkhus, when I was not yet enlightened, it occured to me: In this world what is the satisfaction, what is the danger and what is the escape? Then I occured to me: The arising of pleasure and pleasantness in the world on account of something, is the satisfaction in this world. That there is impermanence, unpleasantness and change in the world, that is the danger. The driving out, interest and greed in the world, the dispelling of interest and greed is the escape from the world. Bhikkhus, until I knew as it really is, the satisfaction as the satisfaction, the danger as the danger and the escape as the escape, I did not announce to the world together with its gods, Maras, Brahmas, the community of recluses and brahmins, my rightful enlightenment. Knowledge arose to me about my vision. The release of my mind is unshakeable. This is my last birth, there will be no more rebirths.
AN 3.103 (no parallel)
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"Dependent on the intellect and ideas there arises consciousness at the intellect. The meeting of the three is contact. With contact as a requisite condition, there arises what is felt either as pleasure, pain, or neither pleasure nor pain. If, when touched by a feeling of pleasure, one does not relish it, welcome it, or remain fastened to it, then the underlying tendency to passion does not lie latent within one. If, when touched by a feeling of pain, one does not sorrow, grieve, or lament, beat one's breast or become distraught, then the underlying tendency to resistance does not lie latent within one. If, when touched by a feeling of neither pleasure nor pain, one discerns, as it actually is present, the origination, passing away, allure, drawback, and escape from that feeling, then the underlying tendency to ignorance does not lie latent within one. That a person -- through abandoning the underlying tendency to passion with regard to a feeling of pleasure, through abolishing the underlying tendency to resistance with regard to a feeling of pain, through uprooting the underlying tendency to ignorance with regard to a feeling of neither pleasure nor pain, through abandoning ignorance and giving rise to clear knowing -- would put an end to suffering and stress in the here and now: such a thing is possible.
MN 148
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And how is there unyoking from ignorance?
There is the case where a certain person discerns, as it actually is present, the origination, the passing away, the allure, the drawbacks, & the escape from the six sense media. When he discerns, as it actually is present, the origination, the passing away, the allure, the drawbacks, and the escape from the six sense media, then — with regard to ignorance concerning the six sense media — he is not obsessed with not-knowing.
Avijjāyogavisaṃyogo ca kathaṃ hoti?
Idha, bhikkhave, ekacco channaṃ phassāyatanānaṃ samudayañca atthaṅgamañca assādañca ādīnavañca nissaraṇañca yathābhūtaṃ pajānāti. Tassa channaṃ phassāyatanānaṃ samudayañca atthaṅgamañca assādañca ādīnavañca nissaraṇañca yathābhūtaṃ pajānato yā chasu phassāyatanesu avijjā aññāṇaṃ sā nānuseti.
But those who comprehend sensuality
& the yoke of becoming — entirely —
who have thrown off the yoke of views
and are dispassionate
toward ignorance,
disjoined from all yokes:
they — their yokes overcome —
are sages indeed.
AN 4.10
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