[784] Therein, what is clinging to a doctrine of self (attavādupādāna)?
Here an uninstructed worldling (puthujjana) — not a seer of the noble ones, unskilled in the Dhamma of the noble ones, undisciplined in the Dhamma of the noble ones; not a seer of good persons (sappurisā), unskilled in the Dhamma of good persons, undisciplined in the Dhamma of good persons — regards form (rūpa) as self, or self as possessing form, or form as in self, or self as in form; regards feeling (vedanā) as self, or self as possessing feeling, or feeling as in self, or self as in feeling; regards perception (saññā) as self, or self as possessing perception, or perception as in self, or self as in perception; regards volitional formations (saṅkhārā) as self, or self as possessing volitional formations, or volitional formations as in self, or self as in volitional formations; regards consciousness (viññāṇa) as self, or self as possessing consciousness, or consciousness as in self, or self as in consciousness. That which, of such a kind, is view (diṭṭhi), resorting to views, the thicket of views, the wilderness of views, the contortion of views, the vacillation of views, the fetter of views; grasping, holding fast, adherence, misapprehension; a bad road, a wrong path, wrongness; the ground of sectarian tenets (titthāyatana), the perverted grasp — this is called clinging to a doctrine of self.
These phenomena (dhammā) are the clingings.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.