According to the Yamaka Sutta quoted below, a run-of-the-mill person thinks one of the following:
- the form to be the self
- the self as possessing form
- the form as in the self
- the self as in form
And the same applies to the other aggregates.
If someone says with identity view, that "I am a professor", "I am an American", "I am successful" etc., what would this case be?
Is "professor" a mental fabrication? So, "I am a professor" (with identity view) would be the case of assuming a mental fabrication to be the self?
From the Yamaka Sutta (SN 22.85):
"In the same way, an uninstructed, run-of-the-mill person — who has no regard for noble ones, is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dhamma; who has no regard for men of integrity, is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dhamma — assumes form (the body) to be the self, or the self as possessing form, or form as in the self, or the self as in form.
"He assumes feeling to be the self...
"He assumes perception to be the self...
"He assumes (mental) fabrications to be the self...
"He assumes consciousness to be the self, or the self as possessing consciousness, or consciousness as in the self, or the self as in consciousness.