1. There are many ways to describe “sakkaya ditthi“, the wrong idea that EITHER there is a “me” traveling samsara OR there is nothing in “me” other than my physical body and thus
“I” will not exist after the death of this physical body.
The critical point is to understand that BOTH those views are not correct.
The present life arose due to a set of actions in the past that were taken with one of those views.
As long as those views are not broken, ANY lifeform will exist in one of the 31 realms.
The problem is that most of the existence in the rebirth process WILL BE in the four lowest realms. And thus, there will be much suffering, until sakkaya ditthi is removed.
There are 10 bonds (samyojana) that keep a lifestream bound to the rebirth process. The first that needs to be removed is sakkaya ditthi.
– When that breaks, it will be followed immediately by the breaking of two more bonds (samyojana). One is to realize that following rituals is useless to progress on the path (silabbata paramasa). The other is vicikicca, any doubts about the path or in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.
When these bonds start to break one is a Sotapanna Anugami. When all three are completely broken, one would attain the Sotapanna stage.
My advice is to focus on the very fundamental process described in my above two posts. Of course, that approach would work only if one has understood the concept of gandhabba.
– One could take that process to include a set of hadaya vatthu/pasada rupa for an animal or a hell being. Which of those temporary existences (Deva, human, Brahma, animal, hell-being, etc.) is the “real me”? There is no “me” in any of them. However, there is a living being existing at each time (mostly experiencing suffering when averaged over long times).
2. There are other ways to get rid of sakkaya ditthi. The key is to realize the unfruitfulness AND dangers in the rebirth process.
– Then one should focus on the Paticca Samuppada process to see the “jati paccaya jara, marana, etc (suffering)” starts with “avijja paccaya sankhara.”
– The BASIS of that avijja is the wrong idea that EITHER there is a “me” traveling samsara OR there is nothing in “me” other than my physical body and thus “I” will not exist after the death of this physical body.
– That is what was first stated in #1 above.
Ask questions (if there are any) based on those two approaches. The first one is cleaner if one has grasped the concept of gandhabba.