Jewels from the Treasury

Vasubandhu’s

Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma

and Its Commentary,

Youthful Play An Explanation of the Treasury of Abhidharma

by the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje

Foreword by Khenchen rangu Rinpoche

Translated from the Tibetan with reference to the Sanskrit

by David Karma Choephel

KTD Publications Woodstock, New York

KTD Publications and the translator David Karma Choephel

would like to acknowledge the generous support of the

Tsadra Foundation in the publication of this book.

Published by:

KTD Publications

335 Meads Mountain Road

Woodstock, NY 12498, USA

www.KTDPublications.org

Cover painting of Vasubandhu and illustrations of Vasubandhu

and the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje by Karma Dradul.

© 2012 KTD Publications and David Karma Choephel

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011944417

ISBN 978-1-934608-25-8

Ebook edition by dharmaebooks.org

Table of Contents

Foreword by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

Translator’s Introduction

A Note on the Translation of the Root Verses

Acknowledgments

VERSES ON THE TREASURY OF ABHIDHARMA

FIRST AREA Teachings on the Elements

SECOND AREA Teachings on the Faculties

THIRD AREA Teachings on the World

FOURTH AREA Teachings on Karma

FIFTH AREA Teaching on the Kernels

SIXTH AREA Teachings on the Paths and Individuals

SEVENTH AREA Teachings on Wisdom

EIGHTH AREA Teachings on the Absorptions

The Commentary:

YOUTHFUL PLAY. AN EXPLANATION OF THE TREASURY OF ABHIDHARMA

FIRST AREA Teachings on the Elements

SECOND AREA Teachings on the Faculties

THIRD AREA Teachings on the World

FOURTH AREA Teachings on Karma

FIFTH AREA Teachings on the Kernels

SIXTH AREA Teachings on the Paths and Individuals

SEVENTH AREA Teachings on Wisdom

EIGHTH AREA Teachings on the Absorptions

APPENDIX A English Equivalents of Tibetan Terms

APPENDIX B English Equivalents of Sanskrit Terms

APPENDIX C Tibetan and Sanskrit Equivalents of English Terms

Works Cited

FOREWORD BY

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

Among the abhidharma of the Foundation and Great Vehicles, the main text that students in monastic colleges study these days is The Treasury of Abhidharma. There are many commentaries on the Treasury. The great Chim Jamyang’s commentary and the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje’s commentary, The Springtime Cow of Easy Accomplishment, are very clear and good, but they are too long. When new students study them, they are unable to find a way into them. In order to help such students, the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje composed a commentary that is very clear and concise. Students who read it are able to develop definite comprehension of the abhidharma in general, and within that, clearly understand the points taught in the Treasury of Abhidharma. That is why it is so beneficial that the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje’s commentary on the Treasury has been translated.

Among the three baskets of Buddhist teachings, it is important to understand the abhidharma teachings. There are three main trainings: the superior training in discipline taught by the vinaya, the superior training in samadhi taught by the sutras, and the superior training in full knowing taught by the abhidharma. Of these three trainings, the primary one for destroying the afflictions and attaining the ultimate result is the superior training in full knowing. Developing this training depends mainly on the piṭaka of abhidharma, and that in turn depends mainly on the treatises of abhidharma. Of all these treatises, the easiest and clearest is the Treasury of Abhidharma, so if you study the Treasury, it will bring great benefit.

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Sarnath, India, February 17, 2008

Translator’s Introduction

English-speaking students of Buddhism are very fortunate these days: there are more and more books on Buddhism, and in-depth study of Buddhist philosophy and practice is becoming possible in an English medium. Important texts from all Buddhist schools and traditions, in particular the Indian and Tibetan, are becoming available in excellent, clear English translations that are understandable and beneficial for general readers and specialists alike. Since many students of Buddhism are primarily interested in meditation, many of the texts initially translated focused on meditation. But in order to receive the full benefits of meditation practice, it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the views of Buddhist philosophy. As Master Vasubandhu says in the Treasury of Abhidharma:

With conduct, listening, contemplation,

Completely train in meditation.

In other words, in order to achieve results in our meditation practice, we must first maintain the conduct of good discipline and then develop the prajñā or “full knowing” born of listening and contemplation through study of the Buddha’s words and the treatises that explain them. Without study we are like blind people trying to climb a cliff, it is said, but with the proper understanding that comes from thorough study and contemplation, our meditation will improve and we will be able to enjoy its fruits.

Of all the subjects to study, masters in all Buddhist traditions consider the abhidharma to be one of the most important. Abhidharma is like an encyclopedia of Buddhism: it pulls together the teachings the Buddha gave in many different sutras and discourses and pre-sents them in a systematic way. Studying it gives an understanding of what things are and why they are called by the names they are given. It provides a solid foundation for further study because other treatises often refer to concepts and phenomena that are covered most thoroughly in the abhidharma. But most important, it gives answers to such pressing questions as, what are the natures of our bodies and minds? How are we born? How do our minds work? How does karma work? What causes suffering? How do we free ourselves from suffering?

Although the Buddha himself said that his teachings could be divided into the three baskets of sutras, vinaya, and abhidharma, it would be difficult to pinpoint a specific set of his discourses that could be called abhidharma. Rather, Shariputra, Kātyāniputra, and other arhats collected and systematized the teachings the Buddha had given on many disparate occasions in many sutras and the vinaya, compiling what are called the seven treatises of abhidharma. As the different schools of Buddhism developed, each school also developed its own tradition of interpreting and explaining the abhidharma, and so there came to be several distinct presentations of the abhidharma.

The basis for the study of abhidharma in the northern Buddhist traditions that spread to Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan was provided by Master Vasubandhu’s Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma (often called the root verses) and his accompanying Explanation of the Treasury of Abhidharma (usually called the autocommentary). Written in the fourth century, these brilliant works eclipsed earlier treatises on the abhidharma to such an extent that Tibetan translators did not even consider most of the treatises it was based upon necessary to translate. Within the Tibetan tradition, Vasubandhu’s Treasury is considered one of the five great works of Buddhist philosophy. The root is especially prized for the way in which it condenses an immense topic into clear, concise, and memorable verses. Several of the verses are so often quoted in works on other topics that they are among the most commonly quoted lines in Tibetan Buddhism. When studying abhidharma, students memorize the root—in some monastic colleges, gathering every morning to recite the verses aloud from beginning to end. The meter of the verses makes them easy to recite and remember, so that as students recite them over and over, passages that at first seem impenetrable become clearer and clearer. Eventually they become reminders that flow easily over the tongue, bringing to mind the meaning described in the commentaries.

For a student new to the abhidharma, however, Vasubandhu’s work on its own is difficult. The root verses are like a key that opens the gate to a vast field of knowledge, but they are too terse to understand without explanation. On the other hand, the autocommentary is imposing for beginners. Not only is it lengthy—one English translation was published in four volumes—it covers many doctrinal disputes between different Buddhist schools in such detail that beginners might find it difficult to discern what is important. Other points are given only cursory explanation, as if it is assumed that the reader already knows the point or that a master will explain it.

For these reasons among others, many Indian and later Tibetan masters wrote commentaries on either the root verses, the autocommentary, or both. Among these, the Ninth Karmapa Wang-chuk Dorje’s explanation of the root verses entitled Youthful Play is especially useful for those who are new to the abhidharma. About a third the length of the autocommentary, its explanations of the root verses are succinct and clear; its synopses of the disputes between different schools outline the main points without providing so much detail that a new student might get confused; and it fleshes out several topics covered only briefly in the autocommentary. Youthful Play gives a thorough overview of the abhidharma for those who wish to study it but cannot do so exhaustively and provides a basis for those who wish to delve further into abhidharma studies.

When most students of Buddhism first learn about the abhidharma, at first it seems as if it is a set of scriptures—one of the three baskets or piṭaka of the Buddhist canon. However, this is only one aspect of what the word abhidharma refers to. In Vasubandhu’s presentation, there are three types of abhidharma: ultimate abhidharma, path abhidharma, and scriptural abhidharma. Ultimate or genuine abhidharma is the stainless, undefiled full knowing that correctly discerns what is and what is not, as well as the five undefiled aggregates which accompany it. The name abhidharma is also given to the defiled full knowing and treatises through which one can achieve stainless wisdom. The defiled full knowing of individuals on the path is path abhidharma, and treatises such as the seven treatises of abhidharma and this Treasury are scriptural abhidharma.

The reason it is important to study the abhidharma is that only this undefiled full knowing can liberate us from the suffering of samsara. Ordinary sentient beings lack this full knowing and are unable to properly distinguish what is from what is not. This confusion leads to greed for the things one wants and aversion toward things one finds unpleasant. This in turn leads to the actions which on a longer timeframe bind us to the cycle of rebirth, but in the short term as well lead to the difficulties of our lives. One only has to look at how many of our everyday problems—whether major or petty, real or imagined—result from misunderstandings or misplaced hopes and fears to see how important it is to develop the wisdom that sees what is as it is. As Vasubandhu says near the beginning of the Treasury:

Without full discernment of dharmas, there is not

Any method to totally quell the afflictions.

Because of afflictions, the world wanders the seas of existence.

Although the necessity for studying the treatise is to realize the undefiled full knowing that correctly discerns dharmas, the actual topic is all defiled and undefiled dharmas—in effect, all dharmas, as there are no dharmas which are neither defiled nor undefiled. As Wangchuk Dorje notes in his commentary, the reason to divide dharmas into these two categories is to indicate which dharmas we need to give up and which dharmas we need to adopt in order to bring ourselves to liberation and happiness. Defiled dharmas are those dharmas in relation to which our defilements or afflictions can occur and are primarily the dharmas included in the two truths of suffering and origin. Undefiled dharmas include the truths of cessation and path—those dharmas, which when we understand them correctly, either are liberation or bring us to liberation.

Following a brief overview that identifies defiled and undefiled dharmas, the Treasury then presents eight areas or chapters.[1] The first area, “Teachings on the Elements,” gives an overview of the classification of all phenomena into the aggregates (skandha), sense bases (āyatana), and elements (dhātu). It then further classifies dharmas by what realm they are present in; whether they are virtuous, nonvirtuous, or neutral; how they are produced; and so forth. The second area, “Teachings on the Faculties,” presents an overview of the sensory and other faculties, mental factors, nonconcurrent formations, and causes, results, and conditions. Taken together, these two areas provide a general categorization of all phenomena and demonstrate how phenomena relate to one another as perceiver and perceived, cause and result, and so forth.

The next area, “Teachings on the World,” gives a presentation of sentient beings and the world that contains them. Although many Western texts call this “Buddhist cosmology,” Tibetan commentaries say that this is a presentation of the truth of suffering: by understanding what possible rebirths there are, how one is reborn, and the places one can be reborn, one can see how none of these transcend impermanence and suffering. The first half of the area describes the different types of wanderers, or sentient beings, and explains how they take birth, what sustains them during their lives, and how they die. This includes a thorough explanation of the between or bardo state and the twelve links of interdependence. The second half of the area presents the arrangement of the outer world with Mount Meru surrounded by rings of mountains, oceans, and continents, including detailed descriptions of the god realms above and the hell realms below.

This area is one of the most fascinating for Tibetans and non-Tibetans alike, not least because the description of the outer world does not match our modern understanding of the physical universe. Many modern Tibetan khenpos and scholars explain that this is because our common perceptions of the world arise out of our shared karma. Since beings today have different karma than those of Vasubandhu’s time, the world naturally appears quite diffe-rently to us today. Another possible explanation is that the Buddha and later scholars including Vasubandhu needed to teach in ways that the people of their time could understand, and therefore they described the world according to the prevalent beliefs of their times. However we reconcile ourselves to this, at the very least this area is rich with descriptions of the mountains, seas, and places that provide much of the imagery of Buddhist literature.

The fourth and fifth areas then present the causes for the world as we know it to arise: karma and the afflictions, which are the two parts of the truth of origin. The fourth area, “Teachings on Karma,” explains all the different aspects of karma: what the virtuous and nonvirtuous actions are, what gives them their karmic strength, and how their results are experienced. The fifth area, “Teachings on the Kernels,” analyzes all the different aspects of the afflictions, focusing on the afflicted kernels, the subtle seeds of the afflictions within our beings that can flare up into full blown afflictions—the defilements, floods, yokes, and graspings also described in this chapter. This area describes in detail what the kernels focus on, how they tie us to samsara, how they develop into manifest afflictions, and so forth. As Vasubandhu says, “The root of existence is the kernels,” so fully understanding them is critical to understanding why we remain in samsara and how we can free ourselves from it. For this reason, it is not uncommon to hear Tibetan scholars say that this is the most important area in the Treasury. The fifth area also discusses how to abandon the kernels and the result of abandoning them, the perfect knowings that are the truth of cessation.[2]

The truth of the path is taught in the first part of the sixth area, “Teachings on the Paths and Individuals,” which describes the meditations one follows from the beginning stages of the ordinary individual through the paths of seeing and meditation. The four parts of the path of joining—the precursors to clear realization—and the path of seeing are described in particular detail. The area also describes the qualities and results that arise on the path, the results of the spiritual way, and the different types of noble individuals in the listener vehicle.

The last two chapters, “Teachings on Wisdom” and “Teachings on Absorption,” describe the wisdom and deep meditation that arise in different individuals, presenting the qualities of the Buddha and arhats. Knowing about their qualities helps create enthusiasm for practicing the path: If we do not feel that there will be any benefit to listening, contemplating, and meditating, it will be hard to motivate ourselves to make the necessary effort. But if we understand what kinds of qualities we can attain, then we will have joy at the prospects of following the path to liberation.

Thus the eight areas collect the Buddha’s teachings into a treasury that we can use and enjoy. It covers a vast scope—the natures of phenomena, the natures of our minds and bodies, why we exist as we do, and how we can free ourselves—but as Wangchuk Dorje says, Master Vasubandhu is “skilled in concise and simple words, and composed a text with few difficult words.” Together with the Karmapa’s clear explanations, it truly is what Wangchuk Dorje calls a “feast for those with intelligence and interest.”

The translation of these works has occupied me intermittently over the last few years since 2005, a period one could argue is not really long enough to fully penetrate a topic some scholars spend decades studying. Yet I hope that by these efforts English speakers will be able to begin an exploration of the abhidharma. May they be able to bathe in the cooling waters of the oceans of abhidharma and cleanse themselves of the stains of misunderstanding and wrong view. May they develop the confident full knowing born of study and contemplation and then progress down the paths of meditation. May all who read these words soon be free of all the sufferings and difficulties of this life and live within the greatest ease and contentment. Sarva mangalam!

1. The autocommentary also has a ninth area, “Teachings on the Individual,” which refutes the existence of an individual self. Tibetan sources generally explain that Vasubandhu wrote the ninth chapter later than the root verses, at the time that he was writing the autocommentary. The fact that this area comes after Vasubandhu’s concluding advice—“All those who want freedom, be careful!”—tends to support this position. The verses for this area do not appear in the Derge Tengyur root verses, and Youthful Play, like most Tibetan commentaries, does not comment on this area.

2. Mi bskyod rdo rje, 2003, vol. 1, 98.

A Note on the Translation of the Root Verses

One of the peculiar qualities of Vasubandhu’s Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma is its extreme concision, both in the original Sanskrit and in the Tibetan translation. The root verses do not give full explanations of most points. Instead, they give short reminders—sometimes only a short phrase or a single word—that help the student organize and remember the large body of knowledge presented in the commentaries. As such, they are brilliant and helpful both during the process of studying the abhidharma and later for remembering it, but difficult to penetrate at first.

For this reason, many contemporary translators of texts such as this take the approach of filling in the root verses to make them more understandable—adding words or phrases from the commentaries so that it can be understood on the first pass. This can certainly be helpful, but if one were to insert enough extra language to make every line of this particular text immediately clear, the resulting translation would read more like a prose commentary than the original verses; it would lack the concision and rhythm that make the Tibetan so memorable.

This translation takes a different approach, following—albeit imperfectly—the example set by the Indian master Jinamitra and the great Tibetan translator Bande Kawa Paltsek in the Tibetan translation. It is an attempt to match both the structure and content of Vasubandhu’s verses as closely as possible in English. Where Vasubandhu is concise, this translation is similarly concise. Where the antecedents of pronouns are not specified in the original, they are left unspecified here. Just as the original is metered verse, this translation is also set in meter in order to make it easier to remember and recite. In Vasubandhu’s original and in the Tibetan translation there are many lines that only make sense after one looks at a commentary, and readers will find this English translation similar in this regard as well. That being said, I have also tried to avoid being too literal in the translation, as in many passages too strict an adherence to the Sanskrit and Tibetan grammar and versification would have rendered the English unnecessarily opaque. For this reason the meter of the English translation is less regular than the original, some stanzas have extra lines, and other liberties have been taken.

People reading abhidharma for the first time may find it helpful to compare the root text as they read it to Wangchuk Dorje’s commentary, which explains all the words of the root in the order they appear in the verses. Students who are studying the text in-depth may want to recite the root verses aloud and consult the other commentaries available in English. I hope that as students grow more familiar with the verses and their explanations, they might have moments such as I had studying this text in Tibetan, when passages that had seemed inscrutable suddenly became clear and the beauty of Vasubandhu’s argument and manner became apparent.

Acknowledgments

I am deeply grateful to Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, who has supported, encouraged, and helped me in all ways while I have been translating this, and to Khenpo Losal of the Vajra Vidya Institute, who taught the class in which I first studied these texts and later helped clarify many points. Especial thanks are due to Venerable Lodro Sangpo from Gampo Abbey, who reviewed the first draft, and Michele Martin, who reviewed the manuscript when it was almost finished. They both made dozens of helpful suggestions that improved this translation immeasurably. I would also like to thank the Tsadra Foundation for their generous support of this publication as well as for their general encouragement throughout the entire process of bringing this work to publication.

I pray that these people and all the numerous others who have helped and encouraged me in many ways have success in all they do and swiftly bring themselves and others to the enduring happiness of buddhahood.

Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma

by Vasubandhu

In Sanskrit: Abhidharmakośakārikā

In Tibetan: chos mngon pa mdzod kyi tshig le’ur byas pa

In English: Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma

I prostrate to youthful Manjushri.

FIRST AREA

Teachings on the Elements

1. It is he who has conquered entirely the darkness toward all

And guides sentient beings from the mire of samsara.

He teaches the meaning as it is: I prostrate to him,

en fully explain this treatise, e Treasury of Abhidharma.

2. Abhidharma is stainless full knowing, along with its following;

at by which and treatises by which one gains it.

Since this collects them completely in meaning,

Or since they are its base, it’s e Treasury of Abhidharma.

3. Without full discernment of dharmas, there is not

Any method to totally quell the afflictions.

Because of afflictions, the world wanders the seas of existence.

at is why the Teacher taught this, they claim.

4. Defiled and undefiled dharmas:

Except the truth of path, composites

Are defiled since defilements can

Develop in relation to them.

5. e undefiled is the truth of path

And the three noncomposites, too,

Which are space and the two cessations.

Space is that which does not obstruct them.

6. Cessation that is analytic

Is a removal. ey are distinct.

e other cessation blocks arising

Forever; it’s nonanalytic.

7. Composite dharmas are the five

Skandhas of form, et cetera.

Just these are time, the bases for talk,

Emancipatible, and grounded.

8. e defiled is the aggregates

Of grasping and is disputed, too.

ey’re suffering, origin, and the world,

Locus of views, existence, too.

9. e skandha of form: five faculties,

Five objects, the imperceptible.

Supports of consciousnesses are

e eye, et cetera—lucid forms.

10. Two types of form, or twenty types,

And there are the eight types of sound,

And taste is sixfold, scent is fourfold,

Touch is elevenfold in nature.

11. Distracted, and mind-free as well,

Virtue or non, continuous,

And caused by the great sources: this

Is called the imperceptible.

12. e sources are the elements

Of earth and water, fire and air.

eir functions are to hold, et cetera.

ey are hard, wet, and hot, and moving.

13. According to the world’s conventions,

Color and form are considered earth,

Water, and fire. e atmosphere

Is the element itself, and like those, too.

14. Only these faculties and objects

Are called ten bases and elements.

Feeling’s experience. Conception

Is the perception of attributes.

15. Formation differs from four skandhas.

ese three and imperceptibles

And noncomposites are called the

Sense base and element of dharmas.

16. Consciousness is distinctly knowing.

e sense base of mind is also that,

And also seven elements—

Six consciousnesses and the mind.

17. Six consciousnesses that have just

Immediately past are mind.

To establish the support of the sixth,

We posit eighteen elements.

18. One aggregate, one sense base, and

One element include them all.

It’s by their nature—they do not

Possess another’s entity.

19. Of course there are two eyes, et cetera,

But since their type, sphere, consciousness

Are similar, they’re just one element.

To beautify, they come in pairs.

20. e meaning of aggregate is heaped,

Sense base means the gate for arising,

And element means family.

Delusions, faculties, and interests

Are threefold, so the three are taught:

e aggregates, et cetera.

21. Because they are the root of quarrels

And cause samsara and the order,

Feeling and conception are taught

As different aggregates than factors.

22. Since noncomposites do not suit

Aggregate’s meaning, they are not taught.

e order is by coarse, all-afflicted,

e pot, and so forth, the realms’ meanings.

23. e object is present, so first five.

e object is source-derived, so four.

Since at great distance or since quickly,

Or else in order of location.

24. One is specific and the main,

And one has many dharmas, the highest,

So one is called sense base of form,

And one is called sense base of dharma.

25. e eighty thousand aggregates

Of Dharma the Sage taught are all

Words or are names, and thus they are

Included in form or in formation.

26. Some say their length equals the treatise,

Or depends on aggregates, et cetera.

But aggregates of Dharma taught

Correspond to antidotes for conduct.

27. Likewise the other aggregates,

Sense bases, or else elements:

Examine their own characters;

Include them in what has been explained.

28. Openings are the element

Of space—they’re light and dark, it’s claimed.

e element of consciousness

Is defiled consciousness, arising’s basis.

29. e showable here is form alone.

e obstructive is the ten with form.

Eight neutral are just those except

For form and sound. e others are threefold.

30. ey all are in the Desire realm.

e Form realm has fourteen: except

e elements of scent and taste,

And the nose and tongue consciousnesses.

31. e Formless realm has elements

Of mind, dharma, mind consciousness.

ose three are defiled or undefiled.

And those remaining are defiled.

32. ose which consider and examine:

Five elements of consciousness.

e final three are of three types.

ose which remain are free of both.

33. e nonconceptual have no thoughts

at recognize or that remember.

ese two distract the mind’s full knowing

Or are all memory in mind.

34. e seven elements of mind

And half of dharma, too, have focus.

e nine are not appropriated:

ose eight and sound. Nine others: twofold.

35. Touch has two types. e other nine

With form and part of the element

Of dharmas, too, are source-derived.

e ten with form, conglomerates.

36. e cutter and that which is cut

Are four external elements,

As are the burnt and that which weighs.

e burner and weighed are disputed.

37. e five internal are produced

By ripening and development.

Sound is not ripened. e compatible

And ripening produce eight unobstructive.

38. Others are threefold. One has substance.

e last three are a moment. e eye

And element of consciousness:

Gained singly or together, too.

39. Twelve are internal, except form,

And so forth. Dharma must be active.

e remaining are inactive, too—

at which does not perform its function.

40. Ten are discards of meditation.

Five also. e last three, three types.

Seeing does not discard the unafflicted,

Nor form, nor what is not born from the sixth.

41. e eye and part of the element

Of dharma are views: they are eightfold.

Five minds concurrent with five consciousnesses,

Not thoughts that recognize, are not view.

42. e eye sees form when it is active.

Supported consciousness does not,

Because a form that is obstructed

Cannot be seen, or so they claim.

43. Both of the eyes can see, as well,

Because they both can clearly see.

e eye, ear, and mind do not meet

eir objects. ree perceive elsewise.

44. e nose and other two perceive

An object that in size is equal.

e last’s support is past. e five

Arise together with them, too.

45. Because when those change, they change, too,

e eye and so on are the supports.

Because of that and being specific,

ose indicate the consciousnesses.

46. e body cannot have a lower eye.

e eye cannot see forms of higher.

Neither the consciousness. eir forms,

And two of body, too, on any.

47. e ear is similar, as well.

e three are all of their own level.

e consciousness of body is lower,

Own level. Mind is indefinite.

48. Two consciousnesses, five external.

Noncompound dharmas are permanent.

One part of dharmas and those taught

As the internal twelve are faculties.

This completes the first area called “Teachings on the Elements” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

SECOND AREA

Teachings on the Faculties

1. Five exercise their power over

Four meanings. Four over two, it’s claimed.

e five and eight, over all-afflicted

And over the utterly pure.

2. For power to focus on their own

Or all objects, six faculties.

For power over femaleness and maleness:

e body’s female and male faculties.

3. For power to maintain one’s likeness,

e all-afflicted, and the pure;

Life, feelings, and five faculties

Of faith and so forth are proposed.

4. To attain high, higher, and nirvana,

Et cetera, there are faculties of

Producing all-knowing, all-knowing,

And having all-knowing as well.

5. ere are as many faculties as

e mind’s supports, distinctions, and

at which maintains, those which afflict,

Gatherers, and the utterly pure.

6. Or as supports for entry, birth,

Remaining, and enjoying there are

Fourteen, and likewise for the reverse

ere are the other faculties.

7. e faculty of suffering

Is any unpleasant bodily feeling.

Pleasant is pleasure. On third dhyana

e mind’s is the faculty of pleasure.

8. On others, it is mental pleasure.

Unpleasant feelings in the mind

Are unhappiness, and neutral feelings

Are middling since both are thought-free.

9. On the paths of seeing, meditation,

And of nonlearning, nine are three.

ree stainless. ose with form, life force,

And suffering are defiled. Nine twofold.

10. Life force is fully ripened. Twelve

Are twofold, except the last eight

And mental unhappiness. at one

Must have full ripening. Ten twofold:

11. Mind, other feelings, faith, so forth.

Eight virtuous. Unhappiness

Is twofold. Mind and other feelings

Are threefold, and the rest are onefold.

12. Except the stainless, in Desire.

Except male, female faculties,

And sufferings: in Form. In Formless

ere are none with form, nor any pleasures.

13. Mind and three feelings are threefold.

e two discard unhappiness.

By meditation, nine. Five not

Discarded, also. ree are not.

14. In Desire, at first one gains the two

Full ripened. Not miraculous birth—

With that, six, seven, or else eight.

ere are six in Form and one above.

15. When dying in Formless, just life force

And mind and neutral feeling cease.

In Form, eight cease. With miraculous

Birth in Desire, ten, nine, or eight.

16. In gradual deaths, the four will cease.

In virtuous, add five to all.

Two outer results are gained with nine.

e two with seven, eight, or nine.

17. Because it’s possible to attain

Arhat with eleven, it is taught.

One who possesses neutral feeling,

Life force, or mind must have the three.

18. ose who have pleasure or body, four,

And five have those who’ve eyes, et cetera,

Or mental pleasure. ose who have

Suffering, seven, and the female

19. Faculty and so forth have eight.

ose with the faculty of having

All-knowing have eleven. With

Producing all-knowing, thirteen.

20. ose without virtue who’ve the fewest

Have eight: life, body, feelings, mind.

e childish of the Formless likewise

Have neutral, life force, mind, and virtues.

21. e most that one could have is nineteen

Except the stainless, with two organs;

And nobles who are attached could have

All but one organ and two stainless.

22. In Desire, atoms without sound

Or faculties: eight substances.

With body faculty, nine substances.

Another faculty, ten substances.

23. e mind and factors must arise together.

All with the characteristics of composites.

Attainment, sometimes. Factors are fivefold,

Since there are different major grounds and so forth.

24. Feeling, volition, and conception,

Intention, contact, intelligence,

And mindfulness, attention, interest,

Samadhi are with all cognitions.

25. Faith, carefulness, and pliancy,

Equanimity, shame, modesty,

Two roots, and nonhostility,

And diligence are with all virtue.

26. Delusion, carelessness, and laziness,

Nonfaith, and torpor, agitation:

With all afflicted. With nonvirtue,

Immodesty and shamelessness.

27. Aggression, grudge, deceit, and envy,

Contentiousness, hypocrisy,

Stinginess, pretense, arrogance, and

Hostility: grounds of minor afflictions.

28. Minds in Desire, when virtuous, have

Considering and examining,

So they have twenty-two mental factors.

Some are augmented by regret.

29. With unmixed minds that are nonvirtuous

And have view, too, the twenty arise.

If the four afflictions; or aggression,

Et cetera; or regret, twenty-one.

30. In the obscured, eighteen. It’s said

With other neutrals, there are twelve.

Since sleep does not preclude any other,

Whenever it occurs, it’s added.

31. Of these, regret, sleep, and nonvirtues

Are not on the first dhyana’s levels.

In special, no considering;

Above that, no examining, either.

32. Shameless is disrespect; immodesty is

To view the unwholesome without fear.

Affection’s faith; respect is shame.

ese two are in Desire and Form.

33. Considering and examining

Are coarse and fine. Pride is self-inflation.

Arrogance is clinging to one’s features,

Which then consumes the mind completely.

34. Cognition, mind, and consciousness

Are equivalent. e mind and factors

Have a support, a focus, aspects,

Concurrence also that is fivefold.

35. Formations that are nonconcurrent

Include attainment, nonattainment,

Same class, Conception Free, absorptions,

And life force and the characteristics,

36. Collections of names and so forth, too.

Attainment is to get or have.

Attainment, nonattainment are of

What is in one’s stream, or two cessations.

37. Attainment of three times is threefold;

Of virtue so forth, virtue so forth;

Of any realm is in that realm;

Of what’s not in a realm is fourfold;

38. Of neither learner nor non, three;

Of what is not abandoned, twofold.

Neutral attainment: at same time,

Except clairvoyance, emanations.

39. Of form of the obscured, as well.

In Desire, of forms does not precede.

Nonattainment is unobscured neutral;

Of past and unborn, it is threefold.

40. Of Desire, et cetera, and the stainless, too.

Path’s nonattainment is asserted as

An ordinary being. It’s forfeited

When one attains that or shifts level.

41. Same status: sentient beings’ resemblance.

Conception-free stops mind and factors

Of beings in Conception Free.

Full ripening. ey’re in Great Result.

42. Likewise conception-free absorption.

Last dhyan. From wishing for release.

It’s virtue. Experienced on birth only.

Not nobles. Gained in one time only.

43. Cessation’s like that, too. Its purpose

Is staying. Born on Peak, it’s virtue.

Experienced in two or indefinite,

e nobles attain it by training,

44. e Sage by awakening. Not at first,

Since it was gained by thirty-four moments.

Both have support of Desire and Form.

Cessation is first among humans.

45. Life force is life. It is that which

Supports one’s warmth and consciousness.

e characteristics are birth,

And aging, staying, impermanence.

46. ey’ve birth of birth, et cetera, and

Engage eight dharmas or else one.

Without the causes or conditions,

Birth can’t produce what is produced.

47. Collections of names and so forth are

Collections of names, speech, and letters.

Desire and Form. Indicate beings.

Compatible and neutral. Likewise

48. Same status. Fully ripened, too.

ree realms, and its attainment is twofold.

Characteristics, too. Absorptions,

Not having are compatible.

49. Enabling cause, the coemergent,

Cause of same status, the concurrent,

e universal, and full ripening

Are the six causes, it’s proposed.

50. e enabling cause is other than self.

e coemergent: mutual result,

Such as sources; mind and its followers;

Characteristics and their base.

51. ey’re mental factors, two vows, and

e mind’s and their characteristics.

ey follow mind in terms of time,

Results, et cetera, virtue, et cetera.

52. Same status cause is similar,

Own class and level, born before.

Nine levels’ paths are mutual,

Of equal or superior.

53. Produced by training is just those two.

From listening, reflecting, so forth.

Concurrent cause is mind and factors

With a support that is concurrent.

54. e universal, of afflicted.

Own level. Universal. Five.

Full-ripening cause can only be

Nonvirtue or a defiled virtue.

55. e universal and same status

Are in two times; three in three times.

Composites and removal are

Results. Noncompounds don’t have those.

56. Full-ripened result is of the last;

e dominant result, of first.

Compatible: same status and

e universal. Personal, two.

57. Fully ripened is a neutral dharma,

Shows beings, not neutral, born later.

Compatible is like its cause.

Removal is to mentally

58. Extinguish, and the result born

From something’s power is personal.

Composites that aren’t previous are

e dominant of composites only.

59. e five hold a result in the present.

Two causes issue in the present.

Two present and past causes issue,

And one past cause issues results.

60. e afflicted, fully ripened, others,

And the first noble respectively

Arise from all except full ripening,

Universal, those two, and same status.

61. is is for mind and mental factors.

e rest are like; exclude concurrent.

ere are four conditions, it is taught.

e one called causal is five causes.

62. e mind and factors that have arisen,

But not the last, are immediate.

e objective is all dharmas, and

e enabling is the dominant.

63. Two causes’ function is directed

Toward ceasing. e three toward arising.

e two conditions other than

at are the opposite of those.

64. Four produce mind and mental factors,

And three, the two absorptions. Others

Arise from two, not God and so forth,

Since they’re successive and so forth.

65. When sources cause the sources, twofold;

When causing source-derived, fivefold.

ree ways the source-derived are mutual;

ey cause the sources in one way.

66. Minds in Desire: virtue, nonvirtue,

Obscured, or else unobscured neutral.

In Form and Formless, those except Nonvirtue.

Two are undefiled.

67. Nine minds arise from a virtuous mind

Of Desire. It can arise from eight.

Nonvirtuous mind arises from ten.

From it are four. Like that, the obscured.

68. e unobscured arises from five.

Directly from it, seven minds.

In Form, from virtuous, eleven.

at is directly after nine.

69. Obscured is from eight, and from it, six.

e unobscured mind is from three.

From that one, six. In Formless, too,

It’s similar. From virtuous mind

70. Arise nine minds. at after six.

From obscured, seven. at is so.

e learner’s from four. From it five.

Nonlearner’s mind arises from five,

71. And from it there arise four minds.

To make this dozen into twenty:

Divide the virtue of three realms

In what’s attained on birth, from training.

72. Produced by ripening, the path

Of activities, crafts, emanations:

e neutral are fourfold in Desire.

In Form, the crafts must be excluded.

73. With the three realms’ afflicted minds

One can acquire six, six, or two.

With virtuous in Form, it’s three.

With learner, four. With others, those.

This completes the second area called “Teachings on the Faculties” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

THIRD AREA

Teachings on the World

1. Hells, hungry ghosts, and animals,

And humans, and six types of gods

Are the Desire realm. By dividing

e hells and continents, there are twenty.

2. Above that there are seventeen

Higher abodes of the Form realm.

Each of the dhyanas has three levels,

But the fourth dhyana has eight levels.

3. e Formless realm has no abodes.

Because of birth, it has four types.

ere, likeness and life force as well

Support the mind’s continuum.

4. e names, the hells, and so forth, show

Five wanderers. ey’re unafflicted

And neutral. Sentient beings are called,

But not those in the between state.

5. A different body and conception;

A different body, same conception;

Reverse; same body and conception;

And the three places without form

6. Are seven places of consciousness.

e others have that which destroys it.

With beings on Peak and Concept Free,

ey’re said to be nine places for beings.

7. Since one remains against one’s wishes,

e others are not. Four more places:

Four aggregates that are defiled,

On their own level. Consciousness

8. Alone is not explained as a place.

Combined, there are four alternatives.

ere sentient beings have four modes

Of birth: from egg, et cetera.

9. Humans and animals have four.

Hell beings have miraculous birth,

As do gods and the between states.

From the womb as well are hungry ghosts.

10. In this, it is that which arises

Between the states of death and birth.

It has not reached its destination,

So the between state is not born.

11. Analogous to a grain’s continuum,

It is not born from interruption.

Since a reflection is not proven,

Nor similar, it’s not an example.

12. On one, no two are simultaneous.

It’s discontinuous, born from two.

Since mentioned, it exists. Scent-eaters,

And five are taught, and Sutra of Wanderers.

13. Since it is propelled by the same karma,

It has the body of the next.

e previous is prior to death

But onward from the moment of birth.

14. ey’re seen by their class, divine eye.

e miracles of karma have power.

Full facultied and unobstructive,

ey cannot turn back. ey eat smells.

15. e mind mistaken, out of lust

It goes into its destination.

Others from longing for a smell

Or place. ey fall head first to hell.

16. One enters wittingly, one stays,

As well, and one emerges, too.

Others are ignorant of all,

And always if oviparous.

17. e three—wheel wielding as well as

Two self-awakened—enter the womb

Because their karma or their wisdom

Or both are vast, respectively.

18. ere is no self—mere aggregates.

Continuums of between states

Assembled by afflictions and karma

Enter the womb. It’s like a lamp.

19. Just as propelled, the continuum

Arose in stages, then from karma

And afflictions goes to the next world—

Beginningless wheel of existence.

20. ese are twelve links of interdependent

Origination in three parts.

e previous and next, two each;

e middle, eight, with all complete.

21. Previous afflictions: ignorance.

Previous karma is formations.

e aggregates at linking: consciousness.

And name-and-form is on from there

22. Until the six sense bases emerge.

ose are until three are assembled.

Contact is till one knows the causes

Of pleasure and of pain, et cetera.

23. en feeling until sex. And craving

Is greed for possessions and for sex.

Close grasping is then chasing after

In order to obtain enjoyments.

24. Performing actions that result

In an existence is becoming.

Linking rebirth again is birth.

Up until feeling, aging and death.

25. ey claim that this is periodic.

e link’s called by the principal.

It’s taught to reverse ignorance

About the previous, next, and middle.

26. ree are afflictions. Two are karma.

Seven are bases and results.

Cause and result of two is concise:

One can infer them from the middle.

27. Afflictions bear afflictions, action.

From that, the bases, and from those

Arise the bases and afflictions.

at is existence’s progression.

28. Here what is arising is a cause;

What has arisen is a result.

An other dharma, opposite to knowing,

Ignorance is like untruth, unfriendly, et cetera.

29. Because of fetter and such words.

Not bad full knowing, since that is view.

Since it’s concurrent with that view;

It’s taught that it afflicts full knowing.

30. Skandhas that are not form are name.

Six contacts happen from assembly.

Five are obstructive contact, and

e sixth is designated contact.

31. Aware and unaware and other contact

Are stainless and afflicted and the rest.

Malicious, lustful contact, and

ree felt as pleasant and so forth.

32. From that, six feelings can arise:

Five bodily, the other mental.

And that has eighteen types as well

Because of movement of the mind.

33. In Desire, all focus on their own,

And twelve can have Form in their sphere.

e three on higher. On two dhyanas

Are twelve which can move toward Desire.

34. Eight focus on their own; the two

On Formless. e two dhyans have six.

Six on Desire, the four on own,

And one can focus on the higher.

35. On preparations for the Formless,

Four move toward Form, one moves toward higher.

In actual, one with own object.

All of the eighteen are defiled.

36. Others have been or will be explained.

In this, afflictions are like seeds,

Like nagas, and like roots and trees,

Like husks as well, it is proposed.

37. Karma’s like rice within its husk,

Like medicine and flowers. e bases,

Like food and drink that have been got.

Among these four states of existence,

38. e state of rebirth is afflicted

By all the afflictions of its level.

e others, threefold. ree in Formless.

Wanderers abide from sustenance.

39. e sustenance food is in Desire.

Its nature is the three sense bases,

But not the sense base form, since that

Does not affect its organ or the freed.

40. Contact, volition, and consciousness are

Stained sustenance. ey are in three.

It’s born from mind, the searching state,

Scent-eater, and the between state,

41. And reestablishing. Two have the purpose

Of developing its base and the supported.

Two have the purpose to propel,

Establish the next life, in order.

42. To sever, to restore, and to

Detach, regress, die, and be born

Are the mind consciousness alone.

At death and birth, there’s neutral feeling.

43. Not in one-pointed or no mind.

Nirvana in two neutral minds.

In gradual death, if low or human,

Divine or no rebirth, mind dies

44. In the feet, navel, or the heart.

Water, et cetera, severs the pith.

Nobles are destined for the correct;

e heinous deeds for the mistaken.

45. Now the container world is said

To have below a mandala

Of wind one million and six hundred

ousands in depth, uncountable.

46. en water to a depth of one

Million one hundred twenty thousand.

en it becomes eight hundred thousand

In depth. e rest turns into gold.

47. e mandalas of water and gold

Are in diameter one million

Two hundred and three thousand and

Four hundred fifty leagues across.

48. ey’re thrice that in circumference.

On that are Meru, the Yoke Holder,

Plow Holder, and Acacia Tree,

And likewise Lovely to Behold,

49. And Horse’s Ear and Bowing Down,

Rim Holder Mounts, then continents.

Outside there is the Outer Ring.

Seven are gold. at one is iron.

50. Mount Meru is four precious ores.

Down eighty thousand into water

Plunges Mount Meru; above as well

It lofts to eighty thousand leagues.

51. e eight are each half less in width.

eir heights are equal to their widths.

Between them, seven Playful Seas;

Across the first is eighty thousand.

52. is one is the Vast Inner Sea.

Its sides are triple to its width.

e other seas are each half less.

e rest is the Great Outer Ocean.

53. Across it is three hundred and

Twenty-two thousand leagues.

erein Is the Rose-Apple Land, two thousand

Leagues on three sides, shaped like a cart,

54. With one of three and one half leagues.

Superior Body is half-moon like.

ree of its sides are like here; one

Is three and one half hundred leagues.

55. e Bountiful Cow Land is round,

Seven thousand and five hundred leagues.

Across its mid, twenty-five hundred.

Unpleasant Sound: eight, equal, square.

56. Between are eight subcontinents:

Deha, Videha, Kurava,

Kaurava, Chāmara, Avara,

And Śaṭhā and Uttaramantriṇa.

57. To the north of here, across the nine

Black Mounts is the Snow Mountain, then

On the near side of Perfume Mountain

Is a lake with waters fifty across.

58. Below this twenty thousand leagues,

e Incessant Hell is just that size.

Above that there are seven hells,

And all eight have an extra sixteen:

59. On each of their four sides there are

e Burning Ground and Rotten Corpse,

e Razor Road and those, the River.

Eight other cold hells—Blisters, et cetera.

60. e sun and moon are at mid Meru,

Fifty plus one in diameter.

So midnight, sunset, and mid-day

And sunrise are at the same time.

61. After the second rainy month’s

Ninth day of waxing, nights grow longer

And then in the fourth month of autumn,

Grow shorter. Days are the reverse.

62. e days or nights by minutes lengthen.

It’s as the sun moves south or north.

From moving too close to the sun,

Moon shades itself with its own shadow.

63. On that there are four terraces,

e distance between which is ten thousand,

Extending sixteen thousand leagues,

And eight, four, and two thousand leagues.

64. e Basin Holders, Garland Holders,

e Always Intoxicated, and

e gods of the Four Great Kings’ Realm

Live there and in seven mountain ranges.

65. On Meru’s peak is irty-ree,

Each side of which is eighty thousand.

On peaks in each of its four corners

ere dwell the Vajra-Holder yakshas.

66. e central city Lovely to Behold,

Twenty-five hundred leagues per side,

Has golden ground of one and half

Leagues deep; it is soft and variegated.

67. Within is Utterly Conquering,

With sides two hundred fifty leagues.

Outside are Colorful Chariots,

Roughening, Mixing, and Joyous Grove.

68. To their four sides twenty leagues away,

ere are the four excellent grounds.

On the northeast corner is All-Gathering.

On the southwest corner is Good Dharma.

69. e gods above that live in palaces.

Six ways they act upon desire:

ey couple in a pair, embrace,

Or else hold hands or laugh or look.

70. e children born in those realms are

Like children aged from five to ten.

ose born in the Form realms are born

Full grown, with even their robes complete.

71. ere are three ways desirables

Arise for Desire gods and humans.

Pleasure arises in three ways

On three of the dhyanas—thus nine levels.

72. ere is as far above a realm

As there is below to the lowest realm.

Except through magic or another,

ey cannot see what is above.

73. One thousand worlds, each with four lands,

A sun and moon, and a Great Mountain,

Desire god realms, and Brahma’s World,

Are called a General Prime ousand.

74. A thousand of those, the second thousand,

And that is called a Middle World Realm.

A thousand of those is the ree ousands.

ey are destroyed and formed together.

75. e ones on the Rose-Apple Land

Are four, or three and half cubits tall.

On the East, the Bountiful Cow, and North,

ey’re twice as tall as on the previous.

76. e bodies of Desire Gods grow

From a quarter earshot in height to

One and half earshots. In the first

Of Form, they are one-half league tall.

77. Above, a half league taller each.

Beyond the highest of Lesser Light,

eir bodies double on each level.

At Cloudless, though, discard three leagues.

78. Unpleasant Sound’s life span, one thousand.

On two, it is shorter by half each.

Here it’s uncertain: from ten years

At end; incalculable at first.

79. And fifty human years are just

One day and night among the lowest

Of gods of Desire. eir life span is,

Of such a day, five hundred years.

80. Above both day-length and span double.

In Form, there’s neither day nor night,

So their life span in aeons is

Equal in number to their height.

81. In Formless each, by twenty thousand

Aeons, is longer than the previous.

On Lesser Light and up, they are

Great aeons. Below that, half aeons.

82. e Reviving and so forth, six hells,

Have days that equal Desire Gods’ lives.

Of such a day, their life spans equal

e life spans of Desire realm Gods.

83. Extremely Hot, half aeon; the Incessant,

An intermediate aeon. e longest life

For animals, an aeon. Hungry ghosts

Live month-long days five hundred years.

84. If every hundred years one took

A seed from a cart of sesame,

When that is empty is life in Blisters.

In others, twenty times as long.

85. Untimely death except in Unpleasant.

e units of form, name, and time

Are particles, letters, and instants.

Called atoms, molecules, and iron,

86. And water, rabbit, sheep, and ox,

And particles of sunlight, nits,

What comes from that, and also knuckles—

Each seven times larger than the previous.

87. ere are four and twenty fingers to

A cubit; four in every fathom.

Of those, five hundred make an earshot,

Which is a hermitage, it is said,

88. And eight of those are called a league.

One hundred twenty instants is

An instant of that. Sixty of those

Is a minute. Hours and days and months

89. Are thirty times as long as previous.

Including the impossible days

ere are twelve months in every year.

e many types of aeon are explained.

90. An aeon of destruction lasts from when

ere are no hell beings till the world’s destroyed.

Formation is from primordial wind

Until a being exists in hell.

91. An intermediate aeon lasts

From when life is incalculable

Till it is ten years. en another

Eighteen increasing and decreasing,

92. en one increasing. During those,

Lives are as long as eighty thousand.

In this way this world that is formed

Lasts twenty intermediate aeons.

93. Forming, destroying, and remaining

After destruction are the same.

ese eighty make up one great aeon.

en after three uncountable

94. Of these appears a Buddha during

e decrease to one hundred years.

In both, self-buddhas. Following

One hundred aeons, a rhino appears.

95. Wheel-wielding emperors appear

When life is not less than eighty thousand.

With wheels of gold, silver, copper, iron,

ey rule over one, two, three, or else

96. Four continents, in reverse order.

At once, there are never two, like buddhas.

When their opponents welcome them,

Or they themselves advance or gird

For battle or just brandish weapons,

ey triumph without causing harm.

97. e Sage’s marks remain in place,

Clear and complete, so they’re superior.

e earliest beings are like Form gods.

ey gradually feel greed for tastes,

98. Grow lazy, and then gather and hoard.

Land holders then appoint field chieftains.

Because of their strong karmic paths,

eir life span shortens to ten years.

99. It’s weapons, pestilence, and famine

at bring an aeon to its end,

For seven days, then seven months,

en seven years respectively.

100. en fire and water and then wind

Bring three additional destructions.

ese crest respectively at the

ree dhyanas—second and so forth—

101. Because those correspond to their faults.

But not the fourth, since it’s immovable.

Not permanent, its palaces

And beings arise, and then they perish.

102. ere are seven by fire, then one by water.

When seven by water are thus finished,

en seven by fire, and after that,

Finally wind will bring destruction.

This completes the third area called “Teachings on the World” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

FOURTH AREA

Teachings on Karma

1. From karma various worlds are born.

Volition and what that creates.

Volition is mental karma, which

Creates the karma of body and speech.

2. ose two are percepts and impercepts.

Bodily perceptible is shape.

It is not movement, since composites

Are momentary, as they perish.

3. Nothing can happen without cause.

e cause would become the destroyer.

Two would perceive it; not in particles.

Perceptible speech is speech’s sound.

4. ree kinds and stainless form are taught;

Increase; and paths not done; et cetera.

In subsequent moments, the impercepts

Of Desire are born from the past sources.

5. Stained karmas of the body and speech

Take their own sources as a cause.

e undefiled, of where it arises.

Impercepts aren’t appropriated.

6. ey are causally compatible

And indicate a sentient being.

ey arise from sources which must be

Compatible, appropriated.

e ones born of samadhi arise

From unappropriated sources

at are produced by development

And are not separate.

7. ere are no neutral imperceptibles.

e others are threefold. Nonvirtue is

In Desire. ere are impercepts in Form, too,

And percepts where there is considering.

8. ere’s no obscured in Desire, either,

Because there is no motivation.

Ultimate virtue is liberation;

Inherent: roots, shame, modesty;

9. Concurrent with that is concurrent;

Actions and such are motivated.

Nonvirtue is the opposite.

e stable is the ultimate neutral.

10. Two motivations are the causal

And the contemporaneous motives.

e first one is the instigator;

e second is the executor.

11. e consciousness that seeing discards

Is the instigator. And the mind

at is a discard of meditation

Is both. e five are executors.

12. e executors from the virtuous

And other instigators are threefold.

e Sage’s are alike or virtuous.

ose born of ripening are neither.

13. ree types of imperceptibles

Are vows, wrong vows, and neither.

Vows Are individual liberation

And dhyan-produced, and undefiled.

14. ere are the eight called pratimokṣa,

But they are four in substance since

Name alone changes with the organ.

ey’re separate but not exclusive.

15. By swearing to hold five, eight, ten,

Or all the precepts, one becomes

A pursuer of virtue, or a faster,

Or else a novice, or a bhikshu.

16. is is called discipline, fine conduct,

Karma, and vow. e percept and

Impercept of the first are individual

Liberation and the path of action.

17. e eight have pratimokṣa vows.

When one has dhyana, one has that.

e nobles have the undefiled.

e latter two follow the mind.

18. e two, on Not Unable’s paths

Of no obstacles, are called discarding.

Mindfulness and awareness are

Restraint of mind and faculties.

19. One who has pratimokṣa has

e present imperceptible

Until it’s canceled. From the first

Moment and on, one has the past.

20. It’s so for those with wrong vows, too.

ose who possess the vows of dhyana

Possess the past and future. Nobles

At first do not possess the past.

21. In equipoise, on noble paths:

e present imperceptible.

If in between, at first the middle;

From then on, one has the two times.

22. ose with wrong vows can have the virtuous,

And those with vows can have nonvirtuous

Impercepts as long as they are

Very sincere or strongly afflicted.

23. ose who are acting all possess

e percept of the present time.

From the first moment until canceled,

ey have the past, but not the future.

24. ere’s no possession of the past

Obscured, nor of the unobscured.

Wrong vows, and harmful conduct, and

Immoral, karma, and its path.

25. As it’s between, the mind is weak,

us one who acts has just the percept.

When a noble’s percept has been canceled

Yet still is unborn, they have the impercept.

26. e dhyana vows are gained with the level

Of dhyana itself. e undefiled

By nobles. Pratimokṣa is through

e perceptible of others, et cetera.

27. e vows are taken for life or else

e period of one day and night.

ere is no one-day-long wrong-vow,

Because there’s no such oath, it’s heard.

28. While kneeling low with no adornments,

Recite the words. Till morrow’s morn

One swears before another at dawn

To all the precepts of the fast.

29. ere are four, one, and three precepts

Of discipline, and carefulness,

Austerity respectively.

ose bring unmindfulness and arrogance.

30. Others may also fast, of course,

But only after going for refuge.

By promising to pursue virtue

e vow is made, it’s taught, like bhikshus.

31. If that is so and all is thus bound,

How is there single conduct, et cetera?

Hold that, and it is held, it’s heard.

ey’re weak, et cetera, like the mind.

32. All those who go for refuge to

e three take refuge in the dharmas

at make the Buddha and the Sangha—

No learning and both—and nirvana.

33. Since sexual misconduct is reviled,

Since easy, since abstention is attained.

e vow’s attained just as it’s sworn;

It is not total celibacy.

34. If one transgresses any precept,

He would end up by telling a lie.

Of the prohibited unwholesome,

Intoxicants, as one will hold the others.

35. e vows of Desire must be attained

In relation to all, both, and present.

e dhyana and undefiled vows

Relate to actual and all times.

36. Vows in relation to all beings;

Distinctions in branches and cause.

Wrong vows are gained in relation to

All and all branches; not to causes.

37. Wrong vows can be attained from action,

Or else they’re gained through a commitment.

e other impercept is gained

From field, commitment, and respect.

38. e individual liberation

Is canceled by returning vows,

Or dying, or two organs arising,

Severing the roots, or passing the night.

39. Some say it’s canceled by the downfalls;

By the True Dharma’s decline, say others.

Kashmiris propose that when it happens,

ere are both, like having debts and riches.

40. e virtue of dhyana can be canceled

By shifting level or regressing.

Formless is same; noble by gaining

A result, refining, or regressing.

41. Wrong vows are canceled by gaining vows

Or dying or two organs arising.

Mid-vows, when force or undertaking,

Act, object, life, or the roots cease.

42. e Desire realm’s immaterial virtue,

By severing roots and rebirth higher.

e immaterial afflicted

Perishes when its anti arises.

43. Except sexless, neuters, hermaphrodites,

Unpleasant Sound, humans can have

Wrong vows. e vows are similar.

e gods as well. Humans have three.

44. e gods born in Desire and Form

Have dhyan-produced. Except for beings

In special dhyana and Concept Free,

ey’ve undefiled—in Formless, too.

45. Pleasant, unpleasant, and other karma

Are virtue, nonvirtue, and other.

Merit, nonmerit, and unmoving.

e three experienced as pleasure, et cetera.

46. Merit is virtuous karma of

Desire. Unmoving is of higher:

Because the karma fully ripens

On just those levels, it does not move.

47. Virtue’s experienced as pleasure

rough the third dhyana.

Above that It’s felt as neither pain nor pleasure.

Nonvirtue is felt as suffering here.

48. Some say that in the lower, there

Is middling, too, since there is ripening

In special dhyan, and since the three

Can ripen without earlier or later.

49. Inherently, concurrently,

rough focus, as full ripening,

Or else directly manifesting:

Five ways that karma is experienced.

50. ey’re definite or indefinite.

ere are three definite because

ere’s visibly experienced,

Et cetera. Some propose five types,

51. And others, four alternatives.

ree karmas will propel a likeness.

In all realms, there are four propulsions.

In hell, there are three virtuous.

52. A child detached stably from a realm

Does none experienced on birth there.

Nobles do none experienced in others,

Even those not stable toward Desire or Peak.

53. ere are twenty-two propulsions in

e between state of the Desire realm.

ese are a visible result.

ese are one single likeness only.

54. An action done out of intense

Afflictions or sincerity,

To the field of qualities, continuous,

Or killing parents: that is definite.

55. Karma has visible results

From excellence of field and intention,

From stable detachment from the level

When it has definite full ripening.

56. To help or harm those risen from

Cessation, unprovocative,

Love, seeing, or arhat’s result,

Brings swiftly experienced results.

57. Virtuous karma that is free of

Considering will fully ripen

Only as feelings in the mind.

Nonvirtue ripens on the body.

58. A distraught mind is mental mind.

It’s born from fully ripened karma,

From fear or harm, imbalance, sorrow

Among the attached, not in the North.

59. e crooked, faulty, degenerate

Are born of deceit, hate, desire.

Four types of karma are distinguished

As white and black, et cetera.

60. Nonvirtue, virtue of Form realm,

And of Desire, respectively

Are karma that is black, white, both.

What douses them is undefiled.

61. Forbearance of dharmas and eight paths of

No obstacles that bring detachment:

ese are the twelve volitions that

Are karma which destroys the black.

62. Volition of the ninth is what

Extinguishes the black and white.

e last path of no obstacles

To dhyan’s detachment douses white.

63. Some say the two are what is felt

In hell and elsewhere in Desire.

Others call seeing’s discards black;

e rest in Desire, black and white.

64. Nonlearners’ karma of body and speech

And just their mind respectively

Are silence of the three.

All three Fine conducts are three purifiers.

65. Nonvirtue of the body, et cetera,

Is proposed as three harmful conducts.

To covet and so forth aren’t action

But are three harmful mental conducts.

66. Fine conduct is the opposite.

Among them, to consolidate grossly,

e various virtues and nonvirtues

Are taught as the ten karmic paths.

67. Six nonvirtues are imperceptible.

e one is both. If done, they are as well.

e seven virtues are both. What samadhi

Produces is an imperceptible.

68. e preparations are perceptible.

ey might be imperceptible, or not.

e aftermath is opposite of that.

e preparations come from the three roots.

69. ey follow the three roots immediately,

So coveting and so forth come from them.

e virtues, preparation, aftermath,

Arise from nongreed, nonhate, nondelusion.

70. Hatred brings killing and harsh words

And malice to completion. Greed

Brings coveting, adultery,

And also stealing to completion.

71. Wrong view, completed by delusion.

e rest by three, it is proposed.

e bases, they are sentient beings,

Enjoyments, name-and-form, and words.

72. When killers die before or else

Together, there’s no actual—

ey’ve been born in another body.

In wars and so forth all of them

Have the same goal, so all possess

e karma, like the perpetrator.

73. To take life is to kill another

Intentionally, unerringly.

To steal is to make another’s wealth

One’s own by force or thievery.

74. To lie with one who shouldn’t be lain with:

Four kinds of sexual misconduct.

To say one thing while thinking another,

When clearly understood, is lying.

75. at which is experienced by eye,

By ear, mind consciousness, and three,

Is seen, heard, cognized, and perceived

Respectively, it is explained.

76. Divisive speech is words said with

An afflicted mind to divide others.

Harsh speech is words that are unpleasant.

Any afflicted words are chatter—

77. Some say afflicted speech that’s other

an those, like flattery, song, shows,

Or else bad treatises. To covet

Is wrongly greeding for others’ wealth.

78. Malice is hate for sentient beings.

Believing there’s no virtue or

Nonvirtue is wrong view. Of these,

ree are paths and seven karma, too.

79. e nihilist view severs the roots

Of Desire that were attained at birth.

Denial of cause and result. All.

Gradual. By humans. ey are cut

80. By men and women acting on views.

e severance is nonpossession.

Restored by doubt and view of existence;

Who’ve done a heinous deed, not here.

81. Up to eight nonvirtues and volition

Can simultaneously arise;

When they are virtuous, up to ten,

And yet not one, not eight, not five.

82. In hell, there is chatter and harsh words,

And malice in two ways; wrong view

And covetousness by possession.

ere are three in Unpleasant Sound.

83.e seventh is manifest there, too.

Elsewhere in Desire, the ten nonvirtues.

ree virtues are in all by way

Of being possessed or manifest.

84. Beings in Concept Free and Formless

Have seven by possession, and

In the rest they’re manifest as well,

Except in hell and Unpleasant Sound.

85. It’s proposed these all give dominant,

Compatible, and ripened results.

Since it makes suffering, and kills,

And destroys vigor, three results.

86. Acting with body and speech from greed:

Wrong livelihood. It’s hard to cleanse,

So it’s taught separate. Saying it’s greed

For sustenance contradicts the sutras.

87. e karma of stained discarding paths

Brings five results. e stainless, four,

As do the other defiled karmas,

Whether they’re virtue or nonvirtue.

88. e remaining that are undefiled

Have three results, as does the neutral.

e virtue and so forth of virtue

Are four and two and likewise three.

89. Nonvirtue’s virtue and so forth

Are two, three, four, respectively.

e virtue and so forth of neutral

Are two and three and likewise three.

90. Results of past in all three times

Are four, as are the middle’s future.

e middle has two, and the unborn

Has three results that are unborn.

91. On its own level, four results.

On different levels, three or two.

ree learner and so forth of learner.

Results of karma of nonlearners,

92. e learners’ dharmas and so forth,

Are one or three or otherwise two.

Results of karmas other than those

Are learner, et cetera, two, two, five.

93. Results of the discards of seeing,

Et cetera, are three, four, and one.

Two, four, and three results of karmas

at are discards of meditation.

94. Results of what is not discarded

Are one, two, four, respectively.

Improper is afflicted action,

Degenerate ways as well, some say.

95. One action propels one rebirth.

ere are multiple completing factors.

e two absorptions without mind

Do not propel, nor does attainment.

96. e karma of the heinous deeds;

Severe afflictions; lower realms,

Beings in Concept Free, and the North

Are agreed to be three obscurations.

97. e heinous deeds are in three lands.

e sexless and so forth do not

Since little benefit, no shame.

Five wanderers have the remaining.

98. A schism of the Sangha is

Discord by nature, nonconcurrent.

It’s not afflicted; it is neutral.

e Sangha does possess the schism.

99. e unwholesome act is telling lies;

It is possessed by the schismatic.

It ripens for an aeon in Incessant.

Additional bring additional pain.

100. A bhikshu acting upon views,

Who is disciplined, divides. Elsewhere.

Childish. Accepting other teachers

And paths divides. It does not last.

101. It is called a schism of the Wheel.

Rose-Apple Land. Not less than nine.

Ritual schisms happen in

ree continents, with at least eight.

102. At first, at end, before there are faults

Or a pair; or when the Sage has passed,

When boundaries are not established,

A schism of the Wheel can’t happen.

103. Since fields of benefit and qualities

Are abandoned and annihilated.

Even if organs change, it is.

She whose menses bore one is the mother.

104. Intent to beat the Buddha is not,

Nor if they become an arhat later.

When one has prepared a heinous act,

Detachment is impossible.

105. To tell a lie in order to split

e Sangha is the gravest crime.

Of worldly virtues, the volition

Of Peak bears the greatest result.

106. To violate one’s arhat mother,

To kill a certain Bodhisattva

Or learner, and to rob what has

Been gathered for the Sangha’s purpose

107. Are similar to heinous deeds.

e fifth is to destroy a stupa.

Gaining forbearance, nonreturner,

And arhat totally blocks karma.

108. Since when is he the Bodhisattva?

Since doing the karma of the marks.

High realms, high caste, full faculties,

Male, recalls lifetimes, irreversible.

109. A male in Rose-Apple Land, when present,

With the volition to awaken,

rough contemplation, propels these

Over one hundred aeons more.

110. Each arises from one hundred merits.

e last of three uncountables, Vipashyin,

Dipa, Ratnashikhin

Appeared. e first was Shakyamuni.

111. Giving all to all compassionately

Perfected generosity.

While not detached, to cut his limbs

Did not perturb him: patience and discipline.

112. By praising Tiṣya, diligence.

Samadhi and mind, just prior to.

e three are merit, action, or

e basis, like the karmic paths.

113. What makes one gives is generosity,

Wishing to offer or to help.

It is body and speech karma, and

Intention, resulting in abundance.

114. Generosity brings benefit

To self or other, both or neither.

Distinctions of the donor and

Of things and field distinguish it.

115. Donors excel through faith, et cetera,

And make gifts with respect and such.

is brings them honor and abundance

In time and with no obstacles.

116. From excellently colored things

And so forth, there comes beauty, fame,

Affection, and most youthful flesh,

Pleasing to touch in all the seasons.

117. e fields of wanderers, suffering,

Benefit, qualities are highest.

e highest is from freed to freed

Or by the Bodhisattva. Eighth.

118. Although they are not noble, gifts

To parents, the ill, or Dharma teachers,

e Bodhisattva’s last rebirth

Bring yields surpassing any measure.

119. Aftermath, field, base, preparation,

Volition, and intention, too:

When these are great or small in scope,

e karma, too, is great or small.

120. Intentional, complete, without

Regret, no anti, ripening,

Association: due to these

Karma is called accumulated.

121. Giving to stupas is merit caused

By giving: as with love, not taken.

Cause and result are infallible,

So bad fields, too, bear pleasant fruit.

122. Immoral is nonvirtuous form

at twofold discipline discards.

at which the Buddha barred as well.

Four qualities of the utterly pure:

123. Not sullied by immoral or

Its cause; based on the anti and peace.

Infusing the mind with meditation

Is the virtue of equipoise.

124. For high realms, discipline is prime,

And for removal, meditation.

Because one dwells in joy for aeons

In high realms, four are Brahma’s merit.

125. To give the Dharma is teaching sutras,

Without affliction, as they are.

Precursors to merit and nirvana,

And realization are three virtues.

126. reefold industrious karma with

Its motivation: writing letters

Or carving; poetry and counting;

Enumeration, in that order.

127. Obscured, bad, and unwholesome are

Afflicted dharmas. Stainless virtues

Are sublime. Practice compounded virtue.

And liberation is unexcelled.

This completes the fourth area called “Teachings on Karma” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

FIFTH AREA

Teaching on the Kernels

1. e root of existence is the kernels.

ey’re six: desire, and likewise anger,

Pride, ignorance, and view, and doubt.

ese six are taught as seven when

2. Desire is split. at which arises

In two realms is desire for existence

Since it looks inward. It is taught

To rebut the idea it is freedom.

3. Five views are personality;

Wrong view; and holding the extremes;

Overesteeming view; and discipline,

Austerity. ere are thus ten.

4. ey’re ten and seven, seven and eight,

Excluding three or else two views.

When suffering and so forth of

Desire Is seen, they are discarded in order.

5. Four are discards of meditation.

Excluding anger, these same are

In Form. e Formless is like that.

us they’re proposed as ninety-eight.

6. e Peak’s that forbearance destroys,

Are discards just of seeing. On others,

Of seeing and meditation. What forbearance

Does not destroy are just of meditation.

7. As me, mine; permanent and ceasing;

As nonexistent; overesteeming

e low; and viewing what is not cause

Or path as such: these are five views.

8. Since clinging to Ishvara, et cetera,

As cause, initially mistakes

em to be permanent and self,

Just seeing suffering discards it.

9. Among three views, there are four errors,

Since they’re mistaken, since they’re thoughts

at judge, since they exaggerate.

Mind and conception, from their power.

10. e prides are seven. Nine types, three.

Destroyed by seeing, meditation.

Discards of meditation are

Entangled with killing and so forth.

11. Craving destruction, too. In nobles,

e prides, et cetera, that think “me”—

Developed by view—do not occur.

Nor does nonvirtuous regret.

12. e views and doubts that one discards

By seeing suffering and cause

And simultaneous and unmixed

Ignorance are the universals.

13. Of these, the nine can focus higher,

Excluding two views. What arises

Along with them is universal

As well, attainment not included.

14. Wrong views and doubts discarded by

Seeing cessation and the path,

Concurrent and plain ignorance:

ese six take the undefiled as sphere.

15. Cessation that is of their level.

Because paths can be mutual causes,

e paths of the six and nine levels

Are objects of whose sphere they are.

16. Desire does not, since it’s discarded.

Nor hatred, since they do not harm.

Since they are peace, pure, and supreme,

Pride does not, nor does overesteeming.

17. e universal kernels can

Develop through a focus on

Any that is of their own level.

Nonuniversal, on own class.

18. Not those whose sphere is high or stainless

Since those are not made mine, since anti.

e ones concurrent with one, then

Develop through concurrence with that.

19. In higher, all neutral. In Desire,

e personality, extreme,

And simultaneous ignorance.

e rest here are nonvirtuous.

20. Desire, aversion, and delusion

In Desire are the roots of nonvirtue.

ere are three roots of neutral: craving,

And ignorance, intelligence.

21. Others act dually, loftily,

So they are not. e Bāhyaka

Propose these four: craving, view, pride,

Delusion. From ignorance, three dhyanists.

22. Categorical, distinguishing,

And questioning, and the declining

Responses answer queries on death,

Rebirth, superior, self or other.

23. One is tied down to things toward which

Desire and anger, pride as well,

Of both the past and present have

Arisen but not been abandoned.

24. e future mental tie to all.

e others tie in their own time.

e nonarising, to all times.

All that remain tie one to all.

25. e times always exist, it was said.

Since two, objects exist, result.

Because they say these all exist,

ey’re called ose Who Say All Exists.

26. ey’re four, called thing and character

And state and relative dependence.

e third is best, because the times

Are there presented through their action.

27. ey’d block. What’s it? Not different,

Not logical as time. If they

Exist, why don’t they arise and perish?

So deep are the natures of dharmas.

28. Suffering is seen, they’ve been discarded;

Still other universals bind them.

e first has been abandoned, yet

Still tied by stains whose sphere it’s in.

29. ose of Desire, discards of seeing

Suffering and cause, of meditation,

Are in the sphere of their own three,

Of one of Form, of stainless, too.

30. And those of Form are in their own,

ree low, one high, and stainless, too.

ose of the Formless, in the sphere

Of these three of three realms, of stainless.

31. Discards of seeing path and cessation,

Are in the same spheres, plus their own.

e undefiled are in the sphere

Of three realms’ last three and the stainless.

32. Two ways the afflicted can have kernels;

e unafflicted, through development.

Out of delusion, doubt; from that,

Wrong view, then personality.

33. From that, extreme, then overesteeming

Discipline, overesteeming view.

For one’s own view, there’s pride, attachment,

And hate for others, in this order.

34. e kernels being not abandoned,

e object being present near,

And inappropriate attention

Fulfill the causes of afflictions.

35. In Desire, defilements are the afflictions

Except delusion, and the entanglers.

In Form and Formless, kernels alone

Are the defilements of existence.

36. Since they are neutral and look inward

On levels of equipoise, they’re one.

e root is ignorance, so it

Is taught as a separate defilement.

37. e floods and yokes are like that, too,

But views are separate, since they’re sharp.

Not as defilements—without helpers,

ey do not tend to put, it’s claimed.

38. ose just explained and ignorance,

With views divided into two,

Are grasping. Ignorance produces

No clinging, and it is combined.

39. Since they are subtle, since connected,

Since they develop in two ways,

Since they pursue, because of these,

ey are explained to be the kernels.

40. Because they put and ooze, because

ey carry away, attach, and grasp:

ese are the explanations of

e words defilement and so forth.

41. When these are classified as fetters,

Et cetera, they’re taught as five types.

Alike in substance, overesteeming,

e two views are a separate fetter.

42. Since they are both nonvirtuous only,

And are autonomous, it’s taught

at jealousy and stinginess

Are fetters separate from those.

43. ere are five that lead to the lowest.

e two prevent transcendence of Desire.

e three will send one back.

e three include the gates and roots.

44. Not having any desire to go,

Wrong path, and doubt about the path

Prevent one from arriving at

Liberation, so these three are taught.

45. ere are just five that lead to higher:

e two desires of Form and Formless,

Excitement, pride, delusion, too.

ree bonds by force of the three feelings.

46. ose mental factors, different from

Afflictions, in the aggregate of

Formations are near afflictions, too.

ey are not to be called afflictions.

47. Shamelessness and immodesty

And jealousy and stinginess,

Excitement, regret, torpor, sleep:

ese are the eight types of entanglers.

48. Aggression and concealment. From desire

Come shamelessness, excitement, stinginess.

Concealment is disputed. Ignorance

Gives rise to torpor, sleep, immodesty.

49. From doubt, there comes regret.

Aggression And jealousy are caused by anger.

ere also are six filths of affliction:

Pretense, deceit, and arrogance,

50. Contentiousness, resentment, and

Hostility. Desire leads to

Pretense and arrogance. From anger,

Resentment and hostility.

51. From overesteeming views, contentiousness.

View motivates deceit. Of these,

Immodesty, and shamelessness,

Excitement, torpor, sleep are twofold.

52. e rest, discards of meditation,

Are autonomous, as are the filths.

ey are nonvirtue in Desire.

ree twofold. Above they are neutral.

53. Deceit and pretense are in Desire

And on first dhyan, as Brahma deludes.

Torpor, excitement, arrogance

Are in three realms. e rest in Desire.

54. Discards of seeing, sleep, and pride:

On the level of mind consciousness.

Autonomous near afflictions, too.

e others, in six consciousnesses.

55. Desire can be concurrent with

e pleasures. Hate is the reverse.

Ignorance with all. e nihilist,

With pleasure of mind, unhappiness.

56. Doubt with unhappiness. e others

With happiness when in Desire.

And all with neutral. Higher levels

Are with those which are on their level.

57. Regret, and jealousy, and anger,

Hostility, resentment, and

Contentiousness, with unhappiness.

But stinginess, with opposite.

58. Deceit, pretense, concealment, sleep

Concur with both, while arrogance

Is with two pleasures. Neutral feeling

With all. e other four with five.

59. e obscurations are in Desire.

eir incompatibilities,

And nourishment and action are

e same, so therefore two are one.

Because they harm the aggregates,

Because of doubt, there are just five.

60. By knowing the focus perfectly,

Extinguishing what focuses

On that, and discarding the focus.

Extinguished by the anti’s birth.

61. ere are four types of antidotes:

Discarding, base, and distancing,

Disgust, so called. Afflictions are

Discarded through their focus, it’s said.

62. rough different characteristics, and

rough incompatibility,

rough separate place and time, like distance

Of sources, discipline, region, times.

63. ey are extinguished once.

Removal Is then attained again and again

On birth of anti, attaining the

Results, refining faculties.

64. Nine perfect knowings: in Desire,

Upon exhausting the first two,

ere’s one. Exhausting two, there are two.

And likewise just those three above.

65. What leads to lowest,

Form, and the extinction

Of all defilements: three more perfect knowings.

e six are the results of forbearance;

e rest are the results of knowing.

66. ey’re all results of Not Unable.

Five of the dhyanas, or else eight.

e one is of the preparations;

One of three actual Formless, too.

67. ey all are of the noble paths.

Two of the worldly. Subsequent, too.

e three results of dharma knowing,

Six of its similar kind, and five.

68. Since they are undefiled attainment

Of a removal, weaken the Peak,

And utterly destroy two causes,

ey’re perfect knowings. Transcending realms.

69. Not one. ose on the path of seeing

May possess fully up to five.

ose on the path of meditation

May possess six or one or two.

70. ey are combined when one becomes

Detached from realms or gains a result.

Some forfeit one, two, five, or six;

But five cannot be gained.

This completes the fifth area called “Teachings on the Kernels” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

SIXTH AREA

Teachings on the Paths and Individuals

1. It’s taught afflictions are discarded

By seeing truth and meditating.

e path of meditation is twofold,

But seeing, so called, is undefiled.

2. e truths are four, it is explained.

us suffering and origin,

Cessation and the path. is is

e order in which they are realized.

3. e attractive and the unattractive,

And the defiled other than those

Are suffering without exception

Because they have three sufferings.

4. If not engaged by mind when it’s

Destroyed or mentally excluded,

It’s relative, like vases or water.

Ultimate being is different.

5. With conduct, listening, contemplation,

Completely train in meditation.

Full knowing of listening, et cetera,

Are subjects of name, both, and meaning.

6. ose with two distances. Not the

Insatiable, dissatisfied.

To crave for more is insatiable;

To want what is not had, dissatisfied.

7. e opposite is their antidote.

ese two are in three realms or stainless.

Nongreed, the noble family.

Of these, three are content by nature.

8. e three teach conduct; the last, action.

As anti for the arising of craving.

To quell desire for things one grasps

As mine or me, for a time, forever.

9. One enters that through the repulsive

And mindfulness of in, out breath,

For those with excess desire or thoughts.

e skeleton for all desirous.

10. At first imagine bones that spread

As far as the sea, then narrow down.

e trained discard bones from the foot

To half the skull. Perfect attention

11. Holding the mind between the eyebrows.

Repulsive is nongreed. It’s on

Ten levels, focusing on the

Appearance of Desire. By humans.

12. e mindfulness of breath is full knowing.

It’s on five levels; its sphere is wind.

Desire realm. Outsiders do not.

Six types are counting and so forth.

13. In and out breath, on those of the body,

Called beings, are not appropriated.

ey arise from a compatible cause

And are not observed by lower mind.

14. After accomplishing tranquility

Meditate on the founds of mindfulness

By examining two characteristics

Of body, feeling, mind, and dharmas.

15. Full knowing from listening, et cetera.

e others from connection, focus.

e order is as they arise,

Four antis for the erroneous.

16. It is the foundation of dharmas

at focuses on them combined.

ey view them as impermanent,

And suffering, empty, and selfless.

17. e warmth arises out of that.

It has the four truths as its sphere

With sixteen aspects. Out of warmth

Comes peak, which is like that as well.

18. rough dharma, they both aim at aspects,

Develop through the others, too.

From that, forbearance. Two like that.

Dharmas develops all of them.

19. e object of the great is suffering

Of Desire realm. It is one moment.

So is supreme dharma. ey are all

Five aggregates, without attainments.

20. e four precursors to realization

Must be produced by meditation

On Not Unable, special, and

e dhyanas. Two below, perhaps.

21. Support of Desire realm, and women

Gain supreme dharma on both supports.

e nobles forfeit them when leaving

A level; nonnobles at death.

22. e first two by regressing, too.

e actual sees truth in this.

If one regresses, gained anew.

Both forfeitures are nonpossession.

23. When peak is gained, roots can’t be severed;

Forbearance goes not to low realms.

Two can withdraw from the learners’ family

And become buddhas. Others, third.

24. e Teacher and rhino, all on one

Seat and dhyan’s end until awakening.

Before that, the precursor to freedom.

e swiftest in three lives are freed.

25. From listening and contemplation,

ree karmas are propelled by humans.

From the supreme of worldly dharmas

Comes undefiled dharma forbearance

26. Of suffering of Desire, from which

Arises dharma knowing of

Just that itself. And likewise for

e rest of suffering arises

e subsequent forbearance, knowing.

ree other truths are like that, too.

27. us clear realization of the truths

Is sixteen minds. ere are three types,

Called seeing, focusing, and action,

On the same level as supreme.

28. Respectively, forbearance, knowing are

Paths of no obstacles and liberation.

From seeing the unseen, fifteen

Moments of these are the path of seeing.

29. During these, sharp and dull faculties

Are followers of faith and dharma.

ey’re entering the first result

If no discards of meditation

30. Or up to five have been destroyed.

e second, till the ninth’s extinguished.

One who is detached from Desire

Or higher is entering the third.

31. ose who are entering a result

Abide in it on the sixteenth.

Sharp and dull faculties are then

Convinced through faith, attained through seeing.

32. To gain a result is not to gain

e path of higher progress. us

ose dwelling in result, not striving

To improve it, are not enterers.

33. Each level has nine kinds of faults,

Likewise nine qualities, because

e lesser and so forth of lesser,

Middle, and great are separate.

34. ose dwelling in result without discarding any

rough meditation, at most seven times.

ose freed from three or four, with two or three

More lives, from family to family.

35. If they have conquered up to five,

ey’re also entering the second,

And when the sixth set is extinguished,

At that time, they are a once-returner.

36. When they have extinguished seven or eight

Classes of faults, one life, one obstacle.

ey also are entering the third.

When ninth has perished, nonreturner.

37. ey pass into nirvana in between,

On birth, with effort, without effort, or

ey’re bound for higher. If they alternate

e dhyanas, they are bound for Below None.

38. ey leap, half leap, or die in all

e realms, and others go to the Peak.

Four other types are bound for Formless.

Another transcends sorrow here.

39. Dividing the three in three more,

Nine bound for Form can be explained,

Distinguished by their different

Karma, afflictions, faculties.

40. Without dividing those bound higher,

ere are seven holy wanderers,

ey act on holy, not unholy;

ey go without return, so holy.

41. Nobles who in Desire transform

eir lives don’t go to other realms.

Both they and those born higher do not

Regress or refine faculties.

42. ey alternate the fourth dhyan first,

Achieved by alternating moments

In order to take birth and dwell,

Also from fear of the afflictions.

43. Because there are five types of that,

Only five births in pure abodes.

Nonreturners who have gained cessation

Are called made manifest by body.

44. ey are entering arhat until

e Peak’s eighth blockage is extinguished,

And on ninth’s path of no obstacles.

at is the vajra-like samadhi.

45. Attaining its extinction and

Knowing thereof, nonlearner arhat.

Transworldly brings detachment from

e Peak. Two kinds detach from others.

46. Nobles detached through worldly paths

Attain removal that is twofold.

Some say through the transworldly, too,

Since if they forfeit, no afflictions.

47. As when one’s freed from half the Peak’s

Or born above, they’re not possessed.

Undefiled Not Unable can

Remove attachment to all levels.

48. In victory over the three levels

e final path of liberation

Comes out of dhyan or preparation.

Above, not from the preparations.

Eight nobles are victorious

Over their own and higher levels.

49. e worldly paths of liberation

And of no obstacles have peace

And coarse, et cetera, as their aspects,

And as their sphere, the high and low.

50. From knowing extinction comes the nonarising

Intelligence if they’re unshakable.

If not, then knowing extinction or the view

Of the nonlearner, which all arhats have.

51. e spiritual way is the stainless paths;

Results are compound and noncompound.

ey’re eighty-nine: they are the paths

Of liberation, with extinctions.

52. ere are five reasons they are presented

As four results: relinquishing

e previous path on the result,

Acquiring another, and combining

53. Extinctions, gaining the eight knowings,

And also gaining sixteen aspects.

Results of worldly paths are mixed,

Supported by unstained attainment.

54. It is Brahma’s method, Brahma’s wheel,

Since Brahma is the one who turned it.

e Dharma Wheel is the path of seeing,

Since it goes fast, has spokes, et cetera.

55. ree gained in Desire, the last in three.

Above there is no path of seeing,

As there’s no weariness, and scriptures say,

“Commence here; come to the end there.”

56. It is said there are six arhats, five

Of whom come from the convinced through faith.

eir freedom is occasional.

Unshakable one cannot be shaken,

57. So that is nonoccasional freedom

Born out of the attained through seeing.

Some from the first are in their family,

And some become through purification.

58. e four regress from family,

Five from result. Not from the first.

Six families of learners and nonnobles.

ere’s no refining on the path of seeing.

59. Regression from attained, from not attained,

And from enjoyment: these are called three types.

e Teacher has the last; the unshakable,

e middle, too; and others have the three.

60. While they’re regressed, they do not die.

ey don’t do what should not be done.

Nine paths of no obstacles and liberation

For unshakable from strong familiarity.

61. One each for the attained through seeing.

ey’re undefiled, refined by humans.

Nonlearners on support of nine,

And learners on six levels, since

62. Refinement forfeits the result

And progress; the result is gained.

Two buddhas, seven listeners:

Nine have nine different faculties.

63. e seven individuals

Are made by training, faculties,

Absorption, liberation, both.

ey’re six: the three paths each have two.

64. ose who have gained cessation, liberated

By both; the others by full knowing.

From their absorption, faculties,

And results, learners are called perfect.

65. Nonlearners are perfect through two.

In brief, there are four types of path:

ey’re called distinctive, liberation,

No obstacles, and path of joining.

66. e dhyanas’ paths are easy; those

Of other levels, difficult.

Dull minds are slow to clearly know;

e other ones know clearly quickly.

67. Knowing extinction and nonarising

Is enlightenment. ey factor in it,

So the thirty-seven are its factors

In terms of name. In substance, ten:

68. Faith, diligence, and mindfulness, full knowing,

Samadhi, equanimity, and joy,

Considering, discipline, and pliancy.

e mindfulness foundations are full knowing.

69. And diligence, called right endeavor.

e feet of miracles, samadhi.

e main is mentioned. ey are also

All qualities produced by training.

70. Respectively, the seven groups

Emerge among beginners and

Precursors to clear realization,

On meditation, and on seeing.

71. e branches of bodhi and the path

Are undefiled. e rest are twofold.

ey all are on the first of dhyanas

And Not Unable, except joy.

72. On second, all except considering,

And on the two, except those two,

And special dhyan. On the three Formless,

Not those, nor factors of discipline.

73. ey’re in Desire and on the Peak,

Except enlightenment and path.

Seeing three truths gains discipline

And faith in Dharma out of knowing;

74. In the Buddha and his Sangha, too,

Upon the path’s clear realization.

e Dharma is three truths and paths

Of the self-buddhas and bodhisattvas.

75. In terms of substance, they are two:

ey’re faith and discipline. ey’re stainless.

ey’re bound, so liberation is

Not called a learner’s branch. It’s twofold.

76. Conquering afflictions, noncompound;

While interest is composite.

at is the branch; two liberations.

Enlightenment, as taught, is knowing.

77. Nonlearners’ minds are liberated

From obscurations of the future.

e path that is about to cease

Fully discards its obscurations.

78. Just noncompound is called the elements.

Extinction of all attachment is detachment;

Of others, is the element of abandonment;

Of bases, called cessation’s element.

79. Forbearance and knowing suffering

And cause can bring revulsion.

All that discard remove attachment.

ere are thus four alternatives.

This completes the sixth area called “Teachings on the Paths and Individuals” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

SEVENTH AREA

Teachings on Wisdom

1. Stainless forbearances aren’t knowing.

Minds Of extinction, nonarising are not views.

e other noble minds than those are both.

Others are knowing. Six are views as well.

2. e knowings are defiled and undefiled.

e first is called the relative.

Two types of undefiled are only

e subsequent and dharma knowings.

3. All is the object of the relative.

e sphere of dharma is suffering, et cetera,

Of Desire realm. e sphere of subsequent

Is suffering, et cetera, of the higher.

4. rough the distinctions of the truths,

Just these are four—these four are knowing

Of nonarising and extinction.

When these two first arise, they are

5. Subsequent knowing of suffering

And cause. Four know another’s mind.

at can’t know higher levels, faculties,

Or individuals, destroyed, unborn.

6. Dharma and subsequent don’t know

Each other. Listeners know two

Moments of seeing. Rhinos, three.

e Buddha without training, all.

7. Knowing extinction is recognizing

e truths are fully known, et cetera.

“ere is no more to know,” et cetera,

Is nonarising mind, it’s said.

8. From nature, antidote, or aspects,

Or aspects and the sphere, or training,

Or its work being done, or from

Development of cause, there are ten.

9. e dharma knowings of cessation

And path on meditation’s path

Are antidotes for the three realms.

e subsequent is not Desire’s.

10. e subsequent and dharma knowings

Have sixteen aspects. Relative

Knowing is like, or different, too.

ey have four from aspects of their truths.

11. Undefiled knowing others’ minds

Is like that, too. For stained, the aspects

Are the specifics of the known.

e sphere of each is a single substance.

12. e remaining possess fourteen aspects,

Except for empty and for selfless.

Unstained: no more than sixteen aspects,

But others say there are, from the Treatise.

13. In substance, there are sixteen aspects.

An aspect is full knowing. at

And that with focus can perceive.

All that exists is the perceived.

14. e first is threefold. Others, virtue.

e first is on all of the levels.

e one called dharma is on six.

e subsequent on nine. Six likewise.

15. Knowing others’ minds is on four dhyanas.

at has Desire and Form as support,

And dharma has support of Desire.

e others, on three realms’ support.

16. Cessation mind is one foundation

Of mindfulness, and knowing minds Is three.

ose which remain are four.

Nine are the sphere of dharma mind.

17. Nine of the path and subsequent mind;

And two of suffering and cause.

Ten are of four, and none of one.

ere are ten dharmas to apply.

18. e three realms, and the stainless, and

e noncompound are twofold each.

Just relative knows what is outside

Its own collection to be selfless.

19. On the first of undefiled moments,

ose who are attached possess one knowing.

On second, three. After on each

Of four moments they have another.

20. As they arise on the path of seeing,

Future forbearances and knowings

Like them are gained. On that upon

ree subsequent, the relative, too.

21. us they are called clear realization’s end.

ey are nonarising dharmas. On its own

And lower levels. Cessation’s is the last.

eir own truths’ aspects. Born of effort.

22. Attached gain six on the sixteenth.

ose detached from Desire gain seven.

Later on paths of meditation,

e attached attain the seven knowings.

23. In victory over seven levels,

Gaining clairvoyance and unshakable,

Paths of no obstacles for alternating.

Eight paths of liberation from the highest.

24. On learner’s liberation of refining,

One gains six or else seven knowings, or . . .

Six on paths of no obstacles.

Likewise on vanquishing the Peak.

25. On knowing extinction, there are nine.

Unshakable attains ten knowings,

Refining there, on the last as well.

Eight are attained on those not mentioned.

26. One gains them where one is detached,

On which is gained, and lower, too.

On knowing extinction, defiled, too; all levels.

ose previously gained are not attained.

27. ose called acquiring and maintaining

Are attainment of composite virtue.

Attainment of the antidote

And distancing are of defiled.

28. e Buddha’s unshared qualities

Are eighteen: powers and so forth.

e possible and not, ten knowings,

Karma, result is eight. e dhyanas,

29. Et cetera, faculties, and interests,

Capacities, are nine. Path might

Be ten. e two are relative.

Extinction is six or else ten.

30. e powers of previous places and

Of death and birth are on the dhyanas.

e others, on all levels. Why?

Because his powers cannot be hindered.

31. His body has Nārāyaṇa power.

Some say his joints. It is the power

Of elephants times ten seven times.

is is the sensory base of touch.

32. ere are four types of fearlessness.

ey’re similar to the first, tenth,

Second, and seventh of the powers.

e three are mindfulness, awareness.

33. e great compassion, relative mind,

Is greater from its gathering,

Its aspect, sphere, and being equal.

ere are eight ways that it is different.

34. All buddhas are the equal in

Accumulation, dharma body,

And acts for wanderers’ benefit,

But not in life span, caste, or size.

35. e dharmas common with the learners

And ordinary beings are

e unprovocative, the knowledge from

Aspiring, unhindered, clairvoyance, et cetera.

36. e unprovocative is relative

Knowing on dhyana’s end. Unshakable.

Human. Unborn afflictions of Desire,

Including their basis, are its sphere.

37. e knowledge from aspiring is

Similar, focusing on all.

Likewise unhindered knowledge of dharma,

Meaning, expression, eloquence.

38. ree are, in order, knowing names,

Meaning, and speech without obstruction.

e fourth is logical and fluent

Clear speech, and mastery of path.

39. Its focus is on speech and path.

It is nine knowings, on all levels.

Knowledge of meaning, ten or six,

On all. e rest are relative.

40. Knowledge of dharma is in Desire

And dhyan; of speech, Desire and first.

If incomplete, they’re not attained.

ose six are through the highest end.

41. It’s sixfold: it is dhyana’s end,

Gained by progressing through all levels,

Coming to highest development.

Other than Buddha, they are from training.

42. Sixfold clairvoyance manifests magic,

e ear, mind, knowing previous lives,

Death and rebirth, and knowing extinction.

ese are the mind of liberation.

43. e four are knowing relative,

And knowing minds is the five knowings.

Clairvoyance of extinction is

Like power. Five are on four dhyanas.

44. eir object is own and lower level.

Familiar is attained by detachment.

e third one is the three foundations,

And magic, ear, and eye are the first.

45. Clairvoyance of ear and eye are neutral.

e rest are virtue. ree are knowledge,

Because they stop the ignorance

Of prior lives, et cetera.

46. e last one is nonlearner’s. When two others

Arise in their mindstream, they are so called.

Although learners may have these, their streams

Have ignorance, so these are not called knowledge.

47. e first, third, sixth are miracles.

e miracle of teaching is best,

Since it is unconfused and brings

Benefit and a pleasant fruit.

48. e magical is samadhi. Motion

And emanations are from that.

e Teacher moves with mental speed;

Others: propulsion, interest.

49. In Desire, emanations are

Four external sense bases. Twofold.

In Form, two. Minds of emanation

Create them, too. ese are fourteen

50. Results of dhyan, respectively,

From two to five, not lower’s result.

It’s gained like dhyan, arising from

e pure and self. Out of it, two.

51. ey’re emanated by own level,

But speech by lower levels, too.

With emanator, except the Teacher.

After it’s blessed, another starts it.

52. ere are blessings for the dead as well,

Not for the unstable. Some say not.

First, many emanate the one;

When mastered, it is opposite.

53. Produced by meditation, neutral;

But those produced by birth are threefold.

Magic from mantra, medicine,

And karma, for five types in all.

54. ey are the divine eyes and ears,

Clear forms on levels of the dhyanas.

ey’re always active, nothing lacking.

eir sphere is distant, subtle, et cetera.

55. e arhat, rhino, and the Teacher

See a thousand squared or cubed or countless.

Others are gained on birth as well.

It cannot see the between state.

56. Knowing minds is three, created by

e intellect and mantra, too.

Hell beings know at first. With humans,

ere are not any gained on birth.

This completes the seventh area called “Teachings on Wisdom” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

EIGHTH AREA

Teachings on the Absorptions

1. e dhyans are twofold. ey are four.

Rebirth there has been fully explained.

Absorption is one-pointed virtue,

Its following, five aggregates.

2. It has examining, joy, pleasure.

e earlier branches are discarded.

Formless are like. Four aggregates,

Born of withdrawal from lower levels.

3. ey are called, with three preparations,

Destruction of conception of form.

In Formless realms, there is no form.

en form arises from cognition.

4. ey’re called the Infinite Consciousness,

Space, Nothing at All, from training so.

Since it is feeble, no conception,

But it’s not nonconception, either.

5. us actual absorption is

Eight substances. Seven are threefold:

Concurrent with enjoyment, pure,

And undefiled. e eighth is twofold.

6. e one concurrent with enjoyment

Has craving. Virtue of the worldly

Is pure, which is what that enjoys.

e undefiled transcends the world.

7. e first has five: considering,

Examining, joy, pleasure, and samadhi.

ere are four branches on the second:

Serenity, joy, and so forth.

8. Five on the third: there’s equanimity,

And mindfulness, awareness, pleasure, rest.

e last has four: mindful, equanimous,

Not pain nor pleasure, and samadhi.

9. In substance, they are eleven.

Pleasure On the first two is pliancy.

Serenity is faith, and two

Scriptures say joy is mental pleasure.

10. In the afflicted, there is no joy or pleasure;

Serenity; awareness, mindfulness;

Or equanimity, pure mindfulness;

Some say no pliancy, no equanimity.

11. e fourth is free from the eight faults,

So it’s immovable. ey are

Considering, examining, breaths,

And pleasure and the other three.

12. Dhyanas of birth have happiness,

And pleasure and the neutral feeling;

Neutral and happiness; and pleasure

And neutral; and the neutral feeling.

13. On second and so forth, the body,

Eye, and ear consciousnesses, and

What makes them perceive is of the first.

It’s neutral; it is not afflicted.

14. ose who do not possess them gain

e pure through detachment or from birth;

e undefiled is through detachment;

Afflicted, by regressing, birth.

15. Right after undefiled, the virtue

Of levels up to two above

Or below can arise. From pure,

e same, or own level’s afflicted.

16. From the afflicted, own pure, afflicted,

And one pure of the lower, too.

From pure at death, all the afflicted,

But from afflicted, not the higher.

17. Four types of pure tend toward regression,

Et cetera. Respectively,

ey tend toward birth of the afflictions,

Of own, of higher, of undefiled.

18. Tendencies to regress, et cetera,

Are followed by two, three, three, one.

Going through eight levels up and down,

Both types in sequence, or skipping one,

19. en going to the third of the

Different type is skipping absorption.

e dhyans and Formless, on their own

Or lower support. No use for lower.

20. On Peak, they manifest Nothingness

Of nobles, then extinguish defilements.

Enjoyment focuses on own existence.

All that exists is virtuous dhyan’s sphere.

21. Defiled of lower is not the sphere

Of virtuous actual of Formless.

e undefiled discard afflictions,

As do pure preparations, too.

22. For those, there are eight preparations.

ey’re pure, not pleasure and not pain.

e first is also noble. Some say, threefold.

In special dhyan, there’s no considering.

23. It’s threefold, neither pain nor pleasure,

And has Great Brahma as result.

Below, samadhi has considering,

Examining. Above, there’s neither.

24. e signless has aspects of peace,

And emptiness engages selfless

And emptiness. No wishing has

All other aspects of the truths.

25. ey’re pure or stainless.

When they’re stainless,

ey are three gates of liberation.

ere are three more samadhis, called

e empty of emptiness, et cetera.

26. Two focus on nonlearner’s aspects

Of empty and impermanent.

e signlessness of signlessness,

On peace, nonanalyzed extinction.

27. Defiled, by humans, unshakable,

Except the seven preparations.

First dhyana’s virtue is meditation

On samadhi which is happiness.

28. Clairvoyance of eye is that which sees.

Produced by training is discernment.

e vajra-like of the last dhyana

Extinguishes all the defilements.

29. Immeasurables are four, because

ey’re antidotes for malice, et cetera.

Love and compassion are nonhatred,

And joy is pleasure of the mind,

30. And equanimity is nongreed.

eir aspects are thinking,

“May they be Happy! Not suffer! Joyous! Beings!”

eir sphere is beings of Desire.

31. On the two dhyanas, there is joy.

Others on six. Some say on five.

ey don’t abandon. ey arise

In humans. One must have the three.

32. Of eight emancipations, the first two,

Repulsive, are on the two dhyanas.

e third, on the last, is nongreed.

Virtuous Formless equipoise.

33. It is absorption of cessation

at follows the subtlest of the subtle.

One rises from that through own level’s

Pure or the noble of the lower.

34. Sights of Desire are the first’s object.

e Formless’ sphere is suffering

And such of own and higher levels,

Compatible with subsequent knowing.

35. Eight overpowering sense bases.

Two like the first emancipation;

Two like the second. Others are like

Emancipation of the lovely.

36. Ten all-encompassing sense bases.

Eight are nongreed on the last dhyana.

eir sphere is Desire. Two are pure Formless;

eir sphere is their four aggregates.

37. Cessation has been explained. e rest

Are gained through detachment or by training.

e Formless are supported by

ree realms. e rest arise in humans.

38. In two realms, the power of cause and karma

Produces Formless equipoise.

ose two and also dharma nature

Produce the dhyanas in Form realm.

39. e Teacher’s True Dharma is twofold:

In essence, scripture and realization.

ese are upheld only by those

Who teach them and accomplish them.

40. I mostly have explained this abhidharma

According to the Kashmiri Exposition.

Any mistakes herein are solely ours;

e Sages are the authority in Dharma.

This completes the eighth area called “Teachings on the Absorptions” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

41. e Teacher, the eye of the world, has been closed;

e beings who were witness have mostly perished.

ose who haven’t seen thatness, those who are bad logicians

And headstrong have confounded the teachings.

42. e one self-born, those who cherish his teachings,

Have passed into the supreme peace. ere’s no refuge

Or counsel for beings, and the stains that slay qualities

Run rampant in this at their pleasure.

43. And so, as we know that for the Sage’s teachings,

It’s as if the last breaths now rasp in the throat,

at this is a time when the stains have great strength:

All those who want freedom, be careful!

This completes the Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma composed by Master Vasubandhu. Translated into Tibetan by the Indian Abbot Jinamitra and the Tibetan translator Bande Kawa Paltsek, and then corrected and finalized. Translated from the Tibetan into English by Karma Choephel, and then compared to the Sanskrit original and corrected.

The Commentary:

Youthful Play

An Explanation of the Treasury of Abhidharma

by the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje

In Tibetan: chos mngon pa mdzod kyi rnam par bshad pa chos mngon rgya mtsho’i snying po mkhyen brtse’i zhal lung gzhon nu rnam rol legs bshad chos mig rnam ’byed grub bde’i shing rta zhes bya ba bzhugs so//

In English: An Explanation of the Treasury of Abhidharma called the Essence of the Ocean of Abhidharma, The Words of Those who Know and Love, Explaining Youthful Play, Opening the Eyes of Dharma, the Chariot of Easy Practice

I prostrate to the youthful Manjushri.

FIRST AREA

Teachings on the Elements

He displays many deeds that so marvelously appear

In the oceans of glorious realms;

The sunlight from his smallest marks, from his nails,

When it strikes even the tiniest of spots,

Destroys the unbearable gloom of three poisons.

He discerns with the light of full knowing

All dharmas, and manifestly shows to all wanderers

What he sees as it is: I bow to this guide.

They unite the intellect and courage of samsara and nirvana;

They are great ships of the transcendent full knowing

That frees one from the ocean of existence.

I laud the peerless Shariputra and the other arhats.

Many ascetic virtues directed their minds, and then

Kaśyapa and the others in the line of Second Teachers

Brought splendid glory to the Buddhist teachings:

I praise the elders of the teachings, the spiritual friends.

In order to thread the exquisite cloths of the heavens of knowables

Through even the eyes of the needles of students’ faculties,

They distilled the essence of the compilations of teachings,

The oceans of specifics. I rejoice well in what they did.

Especially the Second Omniscient One, Vasubandhu,

Who had been learned in the five sciences for many lives,

Compiled the essence of the oceans of abhidharma

Into this Treasury of Abhidharma. I dedicate myself to this.

Here the fearless teacher Victorious Mikyö

Knew this without relying on others, and

From power of love, composed the detailed commentary.

With great respect I praise its words and meaning.

On a throne raised by the gods and all the world,

He conquers Mara’s hordes in one sitting,

And radiates vast inexhaustible light.

He who wears the Red Crown shines clear on the lake of my mind.

He is the chariot who makes the sunlight,

Naturally bright, shine on the students’ lands.

May Namgyal Drakpa, who has plumbed the depths

Of oceans of abhidharma, be pleased.

I who am the ninth rebirth called Karmapa,

Have sprinkled my heart with Manjushri’s water.

By uttering the words of Saraswati,

I shall shine this lamp on abhidharma’s basket.

Our Teacher, the unsurpassable, complete, perfect Buddha Shakyamuni himself, has liberated his mind from the two obscurations and their imprints. He clarified the right dharma, the unmistaken secret profound meaning that had not previously been evident to any being, even to the gods, through great knowledge mantras and light rays. In order to bestow benefit upon all beings, he turned all the Wheels of Dharma, which cannot be measured by numbers, topics, words, or measure.

As prophesied by the Thus-Gone-One himself, the eighth-level bodhisattvamahāsattva Vasubandhu composed many treatises which teach the listener school’s view, meditation, conduct, and result to help beings gradually enter the teachings. Because it is the root of all of the True Dharma and is the canon of the matrices,[3] he condensed the ocean of explanations from the Exposition school into this treatise, The Treasury of Abhidharma.

The explanation of this has two sections: I. History in terms of a reason to compose this, and II. The actual meaning of the treatise.

I. History in terms of a reason to compose this

For many inconceivable aeons in the past I have practiced merit at the feet of uncountable buddhas. From this merit, I have encountered the teachings of the Dakpo Kagyu, had the fortune to rely upon undisputed masters, and received instructions on the Three Baskets and so forth. For that reason, I have attained some slight bit of ability to comment on the thought of the buddhas, bodhisattvas, heroes, yoginis, and masters of practice.

Whether you classify the True Dharma as explaining, debating, and composing, or as listening, contemplating, meditating, as a cause to practice the Dharma it is necessary to have as one’s master someone who has received the instructions passed down from the Lord Buddha in an unbroken stream through the liberated holders of the lineage. Without this, one can practice, but as the stream of the teachings has been broken, blessings will not arise. For this reason, one might say one is practicing the path, but realization will not arise in one’s being, it is heard.

Therefore, I shall tell the manner in which I have listened to The Treasury of Abhidharma. According to the tradition passed down from the great Ngok Lotsawa, it is not necessary to explain the lineage from the perfect Buddha to the earlier masters. Why? you ask. Master Vasubandhu listened to all the vehicles of the dharma from his elder brother Noble Asanga, and he from Lord Maitreya, who listened to them from perfect Buddha—a very short lineage. From Master Vasubandhu, it was passed to Mahapandita Sthiramati, Master Pūrṇavardhana, Mahapandita Shāntipa, Lord Puṇyashila, Ngok Lotsawa, Chim Lhaje Gocha, Chim Tsondrü Senge, Chim Don Gyalwa, Chim Tsondrü Gyaltsen, Chim Loten, Chim Namkha Drak, Chim Lobsang Drak, Rongpa Chögyal, Nyangmang Rinchen, Martön Palden Rinchen, Rongton Shākya Gyaltsen, Sangwa Logyal, Jamchen Rabjampa, the great being Karma Trinleypa, and the omniscient Mikyö Dorje. He passed it on to my abbot, who, to indicate him by his name, is the lord of the complete and perfect teachings, the glorious great Konchok Shākya Tsowoy Bang.[4] Mikyö Dorje also taught it to the great Master Vijayakīrti. From these two, the lineage has passed to me.

II. The actual meaning of the treatise. This has three topics: A. Identifying and translating the name, B. The translator’s prostration, and C. The explanation of the text.

A. Identifying and translating the name

In Sanskrit: Abhidharmakośakārikā

In Tibetan: chos mngon pa mdzod kyi tshig le’ur byas pa

In English: Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma

There are four main languages of India—Apabhraṃśa, Piśaci, Prakṛit, and Sanskrit. Of these four, in Sanskrit this treatise is called Abhidharmakośakārikā. To translate that, abhi means manifest, dharma means dharma (phenomenon), kośa means treasury, and kārikā means verse. In English it is called Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma.

B. The translator’s prostration

I prostrate to youthful Manjushri.

As he is free of the roughness of the stains of body, speech, and mind, he is gentle and pleasant, or mañju. As he is the protector and glory of all wandering sentient beings, glory or shrī. Because he appears as if he were the age of fifteen, he is called youthful. I prostrate means that I bow down with body, speech, and mind.

C. The explanation of the text. This has four topics: 1. The homage and the pledge to compose, 2. Explanation of the treatise’s name, 3. Teaching the necessity and purpose, and 4. Explaining the actual body of the treatise.

1. The homage and the pledge to compose

1.

It is he who has conquered entirely the darkness toward all

And guides sentient beings from the mire of samsara.

He teaches the meaning as it is: I prostrate to him

en fully explain this treatise, e Treasury of Abhidharma.

“It is he” means the complete and perfect Buddha, the Bhagavan. There are four possibilities of buddha and bhagavan. First, a self-buddha[5] is a buddha but not a bhagavan. Second, a bodhisattva in his last existence[6] is a bhagavan but not a buddha. Third, the Buddha is both. Fourth, ordinary beings are neither.

The Buddha has conquered entirely the darkness toward all the internal and external sense bases[7] that does not know whether they are afflicted. By extending the hand that teaches dharma, he guides sentient beings from the mire of the three realms of samsara. He does this by unerringly teaching the meaning that benefits sentient beings just as it is, not by displaying miracles or by bestowing holiness.[8] I prostrate to him, the Teacher who has such qualities, by composing this treatise and then fully explain this treatise, The Treasury of true Abhidharma. This is said as a pledge to compose the treatise. Well, what sort of qualities does this Teacher have? you ask. He has the qualities of both the sublime benefit for self and the sublime benefit for others. The first of these is the qualities of abandonment and realization, which are both taught by the words, “It is he who has conquered entirely the darkness toward all.” The qualities of benefit for others is taught by “And guides sentient beings from the mire of samsara.”

There are four possibilities of being someone who explains the meaning as is and being a Teacher. Shariputra, for example, is the former but not the latter. The non-Buddhist Pūraṇa Kāśyapa, for example, is the latter but not the former. The Buddha, for example, is both, and those other than them are neither.

To say a few words to elaborate on this, there are three points: 1) Identifying the Teacher who is the object of homage; 2) Obscurations that hinder attaining buddhahood; and 3) The antidote to abandon those.

First, identifying the Teacher who is the object of homage: The one who is the Teacher here is the complete perfect Buddha. To recognize his nature, it is the dharma body alone, which is the truth of the path with the five undefiled aggregates. The schools[9] do not say that this body supports the form bodies of enjoyment or emanation. The schools also do not agree that the bodily support on which the amṛita nectar of enlightenment has been attained, such as the flesh of Prince Siddharta, is a Buddha, because it is the full ripening of karma and afflictions. Similarly, a bhikshu, too, is posited to be the bhikshu vows, not the individual who holds them. Likewise, learners, nonlearners, and nobles are said to be the truth of the path, not the individuals. To call the individual a buddha or bhikshu is to call that which is supported by the name of that which supports it. It is like, for example, the designations “goldsmith” and “horseman.”

The Sutra school says that one can assert that the form body is characteristically the buddha. One does this optionally in situations where one does not wish to distinguish the path from the individual, or else when positing that the Buddha as he is generally thought of is merely the one to whom one goes for refuge. They do not, however, accept that this is the actual Buddha, because in their school the form body is posited as something to discard and as defiled.

Second, obscurations that hinder attaining buddhahood: The word “darkness” in the verse is a metaphor for the obscurations, because just as darkness hinders seeing, the obscurations also hinder seeing the correct meaning. There are two types of obscurations here: afflictive obscurations that primarily obscure liberation, and nonafflicted obscurations that primarily obscure omniscience. The first is held to be the six kernels[10] that are the root of existence, the cognitions that are concurrent with them, and their attainment. The Sutra school proposes that liberation is a no-negation,[11] the mere absence of that which creates suffering or obscures omniscience, but here it is presented as a thing. In this situation, it cannot be said to be either material or cognitive.

The second, nonafflictive obscuration, is primarily the mental factor delusion that is an impediment to all-knowing. It has the characteristic of cognitive obscuration and has four types: 1) not knowing because the Buddha’s qualities are profound and subtle; 2) not knowing by being fully removed from the object; 3) not knowing by being fully removed from the time; and 4) not knowing because the classifications of meaning are infinite. Shariputra, for example, has the first and third; Maudgalyana, for example, has the second; and Noble Rahula has the fourth. From the commentary:[12]

In this way, they are extremely removed from the Buddha’s qualities, object, and time, and they have nonafflicted unknowing of the infinite classifications of meaning.

Well then, do the listeners and self-buddhas conquer the darkness taught here or not? If they do that darkness could not be proven to be something only the Buddha abandons. If they do not, they would not have made an end to suffering. This is because it is said in a sutra:

If I did not clearly know, did not completely know one dharma, I would not say I have made an end to suffering… If I did not completely know and discard one dharma, I would not say I have made an end to suffering…

So you might say. These two faults cause no harm, because listener and self-buddha arhats conquer nonafflictive darkness, but do not conquer it entirely. This is because it is said in the commentary:

Of course we agree that they conquer the darkness to all, but not entirely.

Here we do not assert the presentation of cognitive obscurations as the concept of perceived and perceiver explained in the Great Vehicle, but we must assert the designation cognitive obscuration because there are both scriptural and logical proofs. First, the scriptural proof: with regards to the verse, “At once, there are never two, like Buddhas,”[13] Pūrṇavardhana explains, “They are free of afflicted obscurations, so they are equal, but they are not equally equal because they are not free of cognitive obscurations.” Second, the logical proof: holding the coarse and the continuum as substantial, obscurations that hinder refining faculties, holding dharmas of exclusion as not empty of their essence, holding the aggregates and so forth to be wholes, obscurations to the six perfections, obscurations to the attainment of final absorptions, and the four causes of unknowing are posited to be cognitive obscurations, because they are cognitions that are deluded about the nature but are not afflicted cognitions.

The schools also do not reject the selflessness of phenomena and thatness, because they assert the four seals that proclaim the view, and the thatness of things. However, they do not assert the selflessness of phenomena pervaded by emptiness of perceived and perceiver that is renowned in the Great Vehicle.

Third, analyzing the antidote: The actual antidote that discards the four causes of unknowing is asserted to be the nonlearners’ wisdom of the ten powers, because previously on the learners’ paths there is no full knowing that perceives in a way that is exclusive of their essence.[14]

Well then, the Buddha may have abandoned the four causes of unknowing, but he has not abandoned their attainment, which he must still possess, you say.[15] This is not a fault, because the arising of the future wisdom of the Buddha and the cessation of the present attainment of the four causes of unknowing are simultaneous—when the wisdom arises, the attainment of the four causes ceases, just as when you light a lamp, darkness is dispelled.

2. Explanation of the treatise’s name

2.

Abhidharma is stainless full knowing, along with its following;

at by which and treatises by which one gains it.

Since this collects them completely in meaning,

Or since they are its base, it’s e Treasury of Abhidharma.

Ultimate abhidharma is stainless, or free of defiled stains, full knowing[16] that fully discerns dharmas, along with its following, the five aggregates. In the autocommentary:

“Full knowing” is full discernment of dharmas. “Stainless” is undefiled. “Along with its following” includes what accompanies it, the five undefiled aggregates. This is what is taught as abhidharma. At this point, this is ultimate abhidharma.

Path abhidharma is that by which one attains it, the ultimate abhidharma, or that which is clearly directed toward its realization. From the autocommentary:

Because it is clearly directed toward the characteristics of dharmas, it is abhidharma.

What is meant here by “that which” is the full knowing of nonnobles on the path: the defiled full knowing of listening, contemplating, and meditating, along with its following of the other aggregates that are associated with it. This can either arise from training or be attained upon birth.

The treatises that teach those topics by which one gains it, stainless full knowing, is textual abhidharma. In the Prince’s commentary[17] it says, “Others say that what is called the ‘Treatise’ is Jñānaprasthāna… ”

The meaning of the title: Why is this treatise called The Treasury of Abhidharma? Since this treatise collects them, the essential points of the seven treatises of abhidharma including the ocean of expositions, completely in meaning, or else since they, the seven treatises of abhidharma, are its, this treatise’s, base, it is called The Treasury of Abhidharma. The meaning is taught here through the examples of a base and a treasury.

3. Teaching the necessity and purpose

1.

Without full discernment of dharmas, there is not

Any method to thoroughly quell the afflictions.

Because of afflictions, the world wanders the seas of existence.

at is why the Teacher taught this, they claim.

All treatises have a topic, necessity, vital necessity, and connection. The topic of abhidharma is explicitly taught by the word dharmas, which is explained as all that is defiled or undefiled. Alternatively the principal meaning of the topic is full knowing that is full discernment of dharmas. The necessity is to easily realize this full knowing that is full discernment of dharmas.

The text teaches the vital necessity in the negative; the actual, positive vital necessity is implied. Without what is necessary, the full knowing that is full discernment of defiled and undefiled dharmas, there are afflictions which cannot be abandoned. Why is that? Because without that full knowing there is not any method to totally quell the afflictions. Because of the afflictions, the worldly beings accumulate karma and wander the great seas of existence. They do not achieve freedom, and that, helping them attain freedom, is why the Teacher taught this abhidharma.

And so here, from among the four of the topic, necessity, vital necessity, and connection, the first is principally full knowing that fully discerns defiled and undefiled dharmas. The second is to easily realize that full knowing on the basis of this treatise. The third is to attain nirvana on the basis of that realization. The fourth is that the latter are attained through the former. The way they are taught in the treatise is as follows: “Dharmas” teaches the topic. “Full discernment” teaches the necessity. “Without…” and “there are afflictions” teach the vital necessity obliquely. The connection is implicitly taught. Well then, who first taught this abhidharma? you ask. In the tradition of the Great Exposition school, the seven treatises of abhidharma were first spoken in sections by the Teacher in various lands and to various individuals. Later, seven arhats collected them into treatises. For example, it is like the Udānavarga, a collection of verses spoken by the Teacher at different times and compiled by the monk Dharmatrāta. The seven treatises are Jñānaprasthāna by Kātyāniputra, Prakaraṇapāda by Vasumitra, Vijñānakāya by Devakṣema, Dharmaskandha by Shariputra, Prajñāptiśastra by Maudgalyāyana, Dhātukāya by Vasumitra, and Saṃgītiparyāya by Mahākauṣṭhila. Pūrṇavardhana lists it alternatively as “Saṃgītiparyāya by Shariputra.” If the abhidharma were not the words of the Buddha, even though it says in the sutras, “Bhikshus, these are the three baskets,” the three baskets would be incomplete.

The phrase “They claim” is a skeptical phrase from the Sutra school: in these treatises there are various wrong positions such as the proposition that noncomposites are substantial. As the Teacher did not say anything erroneous, these are the fabrications of the masters who assembled the abhidharma, they say.

4. Explaining the actual body of the treatise. This has two topics: a. Presenting the body, and b. Extensively explaining the limbs.

a. Presenting the body. This has two topics: i. An overview, and ii. An explanation.

i. Overview

4a

Defiled and undefiled dharmas:

Having said that dharmas are the topic of this treatise, what are they? you ask. The presentation “Defiled and undefiled dharmas” teaches everything concisely as a mutual exclusion.[18] This is an actual exclusion, because there is no third possibility. Well then, it would be logical to recite, “Composite and noncomposite are dharmas” you say. This is not a fault, because saying “defiled” teaches what is to be rejected and “undefiled” teaches what should be mostly taken up, so it is recited in this way to teach that.

Here, the undefiled is not set forth as a no-negation, a mere absence of defilements, because a mere absence cannot be a thing, so it does not hold its own characteristics. Without holding those, it is not appropriate to be a dharma, because a dharma is characterized as that which holds its own essence. Dharmas are pervasively[19] things, and things must be either composite or noncomposite. Dharmas are pervasively things, because as it says in the autocommentary:

The Sutra school says there are no noncomposites among things, and in the Abhidharma also it says, “What are dharmas that are not things, you say? They are noncomposite dharmas.” But the Great Expositionists say that is not what this means. Well then, what does it mean? you say. There are five types of things: natural things, focused things, possessed things, causal things, and completely grasped things. In this passage, the term causal thing is meant. Therefore noncomposites are solely substantial, and they also have neither causes nor results.

This explains noncomposites to be things and substantial. Noncomposite dharmas are also able to perform a function, because although they cannot perform the function of producing a result, they are able to perform the function of supporting.

If something is composite, it is not pervasively arisen, because there are future composites. Not only that, it is not pervasively going to arise, because one must assert that there are future nonarising phenomena.[20]

ii. The explanation. This has two topics: (1) Explaining the defiled, and (2) Explaining the undefiled.

(1) Explaining the defiled

4b–d

Except the truth of path, composites

Are defiled since defilements can

Develop in relation to them.

Except for the truth of the path, composites are defiled. Saying this eliminates the possibility that the Truth of the Path and noncomposites could be defiled. All that is other than those is only defiled. Why? you ask. Since defiledments[21] and near afflictions can develop in relation to them, the composites except for the path, in terms of either focus or concurrence.[22] Therefore, the characteristic of the defiled is a dharma on which defilements can develop through either focus or concurrence. Its character base[23] is composites except the truth of the path. If something is defiled the defilements do not pervasively develop in relation to it in those two ways. For example, even though arhats have abandoned defilements they still have a defiled body, but the defilements do not develop in relation to their bodies.

(2) Explaining the undefiled. This has two topics: (a) Overview, and (b) Specific explanation of noncomposites.

(a) Overview

5a–c

e undefiled is the truth of path

And the three noncomposites, too,

Which are space and the two cessations.

The character base of undefiled dharmas is the truth of the path and the three types of noncomposites. Their characteristic is a dharma on which defilements cannot develop through either focus or concurrence. The word “too” means that just as composite has classifications and dharmas can be counted as either defiled or undefiled, noncomposite dharmas also can be counted as three: they are space and the two cessations.

Some say that this text does not teach that noncomposite dharmas are definitely divided into three. This is not logical: from the Prince’s commentary:

“What are the three types of noncomposites? you say,” is a question posed because the answer is not universally known. To say “three types” is to identify them as just these three. Some—those in the school of Vatsīputra—say, however, that the only noncomposite is nirvana.

The Particularists[24] propone noncomposite atoms and many such noncomposites. In order to refute their scriptural traditions, noncomposites are identified to be just these.[25]

(b) Specific explanation of noncomposites. This has three points.

(i) Space

5d

Space is that which does not obstruct them.

Of these three types of noncomposites, according to the Exposition school the characteristic of space is that which is a noncomposite thing that does not obstruct them, those phenomena with form, and that opens the gate to the arising. Among the three, virtue and so forth, its essence is unobscured neutral.[26]

(ii) Analytic cessation

6ab

Cessation that is analytic

Is a removal. ey are distinct.

Cessation that is analytic is cessation attained by the power of analyzing suffering and the other noble truths with full knowing. Its essence is a cessation that is a removal of defiled dharmas.[27]

The classifications of analytic cessation: Is the cessation of all defiled dharmas one or separate? you ask. They, the different analytic cessations, are distinct: there are just as many substances of removal (cessations) as substances that had been possessed. There are five separate classes of discards[28] and there are five separate classes of antidotes. Therefore, there are five separate analytic cessations.

(iii) Nonanalytic cessation

6cd

e other cessation blocks arising

Forever; it’s nonanalytic.

The essence of nonanalytic cessation is a cessation that is other than analytic cessation and blocks the arising of the future composite that is negated forever. To explain the term, it is set forth as cessation attained by power that is not analytic full knowing: it is not attained by the power of individually analyzing the aspects of the four truths but rather is attained by the power of conditions not being met.

For example, when your mind is distracted by some other form, if there is a crow behind you where you cannot see it, a cognition that perceives the crow does not arise. Later when you are no longer distracted and the cognition could arise, the crow has flown off someplace else. Therefore the eye consciousness that sees the crow has become a future nonarising dharma base.

b. Extensively explaining the limbs. This has two topics: i. An overview of the eight areas, and ii. Teaching the meaning of each area.

i. An overview of the eight areas. This has three points.

(1) Establishing the number

The first two areas give a general presentation of defiled and undefiled dharmas. Following that, the middle three areas give specific explanations of defiled all-afflicted dharmas. The last three areas present specific explanations of undefiled perfectly pure dharmas. This presents everything defiled and undefiled that individuals must focus on as they progress through the paths, and whatever is not included in earlier chapters is taught in the later. These completely explain the necessary meaning, and thus the number of chapters is established as eight. Generally, by dividing the topics into eight chapters, the different topics can be combined into a coherent whole.

(2) Establishing the order

The order and connections between the areas was explained extensively by Narthangpa Sherdrag, who composed the verses that begin, “Just this desire for liberation,” and continue until the lines, “The treasury that teaches absorption/Is taught after that.”[29]

The order can be known from these, but to summarize in brief, the primary topic of abhidharma—the presentation of aggregates (skandha), elements (dhātu), and sense bases (āyatana)—is explained first in the treasury that teaches elements. That ends with a mention of the word faculties, so next there follows an extensive explanation of those in the treasury that teaches faculties. That chapter mentions the names of the three realms, so an explanation of those follows in the treasury that teaches the world. One might wonder whether these various worlds arise without a cause. They do not. In order to explain that they arise out of karma, next comes the treasury that teaches karma. Karma can only produce a fully ripened result if there are afflictions, so to explain that, next comes the treasury that teaches the kernels. As Pūrṇavardhana says:

The childish ride the chariot of birth,

Which has the wheels of karma and afflictions,

But without the one wheel of the afflictions,

The single wheel of karma cannot turn.

This chapter also explains that when the afflictions are abandoned, perfect knowings arise. In order to explain that the afflictions are abandoned by paths and individuals, next is the treasury that teaches the paths and individuals. This chapter explains dharma knowing and subsequent knowing alone, so in order to give an extensive presentation of all ten knowings, next comes the treasury that teaches wisdom. That treasury explains the Buddha’s unshared qualities, and so in order to explain the qualities of the absorptions and so forth shared in common with learners, next comes the treasury that teaches the absorptions. Elaborating on the final statement, “All those who want freedom, be careful,”[30] the Commentary then explains the logic refuting the individual self in a ninth area.

(3) What topic is taught in which area

This is known from each individual area. The establishment of order and number, which area teaches what, and so forth, are more extensively taught in the Karṭīk[31] and other commentaries, so refer there.

ii. Teaching the meaning of each area. There are eight areas. The first is “The Teachings on the Elements.” This has an explanation of the text of the area and a presentation of the area’s name.

The explanation of the text of the area. This has four sections: I. Presentation of composites, II. Presentation of the aggregates, elements, and sense bases, III. Teaching how everything is included in three dharmas, and IV. The complete classification of the aspects of elements.

I. Presentation of composites. This has three points.

A. The character base of composites

7ab

Composite dharmas are the five

Skandhas of form, et cetera.

In the above verse, “Except the truth of path, composites,” the character base for the composites mentioned is composite dharmas that are made by many causes and conditions coming together and meeting. They are the five skandhas of form, et cetera—the aggregates of feeling, conception,[32] formation, and consciousness.

B. Synonyms

7cd

Just these are time, the bases for talk,

Emancipatible, and grounded.

All the teachers of abhidharma explained and systematized the sutras. In the sutras it says, “Bhikshus, the times are three… ” and “The bases for talk are three… ” and “Whatever is clearly composited and gathered is emancipation,” and “What dharmas are grounded? you ask. All composites.” What is the meaning of these? you ask.

Just these composites are called time, or adhvā. The word adhvā means either “time” or “path.” In the meaning of “path,” composites are like the paths by which an individual went, is going, or will go to the market. In the meaning of “time,” the composites of the three times are called “time” because they have ceased, are ceasing, or will cease. Alternately, as they are consumed by impermanence, they are called “time.”

Composites are either directly or indirectly the topic of speech, so they are called the bases for talk. They are called emancipatible, because if one transcends these composites, nirvana will be attained. And they are also called grounded because they have causes.

C. Specific explanation of the synonyms of composites.

8.

e defiled is the aggregates

Of grasping and is disputed, too.

ey’re suffering, origin, and the world,

Locus of views, existence, too.

Among these composites, that which is explained as defiled is the aggregates of grasping, because grasping is afflicted, and the aggregates possess grasping in three ways: 1) Grasping is the afflictions, by which one accumulates karma out of which the aggregates arise, so calling them the aggregates of grasping is like saying “grass and a hay fire.” 2) Because the aggregates produce the afflictions, it is like saying “flowering tree” or “fruit tree.” 3) The aggregates are obtained by engaging objects under the power of afflictions, so it is like saying “the King’s men.”

They are called disputed, too: afflictions, just like worldly disputes, harm oneself and others, so they are disputes. Because the aggregates increase those, they are disputed.

As they possess the three sufferings and are incompatible with nobles, they are also called suffering. Nobles see that the third suffering, the suffering of formation that pervades all composites, is ultimately suffering.

As suffering originates from these, they are also called the origin. As they are supported on something that disintegrates, they are called the “disintegrating support” or world.[33] As views develop by focusing on them, they are called the locus of views. From beginningless time, in the way of causally compatible cause and result they have been born without interruption and arise again, they are also called existence, so they are called by these synonyms, too.

II. Presentation of the aggregates, elements, and sense bases. This has four topics: A. The individual natures of the aggregates, elements, and sense bases, B. The reason they are given the names aggregate, sense base, and element, C. The reason for teaching three dharmas, and D. The orders of the three dharmas.

A. The individual natures of the aggregates, elements, and sense bases. This has three topics: 1. Extensive explanation, 2. Teaching them in consolidation, and 3. Dispelling doubts.

1. Extensive explanation. This has three topics: a. The explanation of the aggregate, elements, and sense bases of form, b. The aggregates, sense bases, and elements of feeling, conception, and formation, and c. Those of consciousness.

a. The explanation of the aggregate, elements, and sense bases of form. This has three topics: i. Overview, ii. Explanation, and iii. How this is presented as elements and sense bases.

i. Overview

9ab

e skandha of form: five faculties,

Five objects, the imperceptible.

Above where it says, “the five / Skandhas of form, et cetera,” the skandha of form mentioned is the five faculties of eye and so forth, the five objects of form and so forth, and the imperceptible form[34] to make exactly eleven.

These dharmas, the eleven dissimilar things, are called form and characterized as the same with the characteristic of appropriate for form. The meaning of this is set forth as “able to be damaged.” The meaning of that in turn is that they can be destroyed or conquered. This in turn means that through the internal collision of forms, they become dissimilar to the previous form—they are susceptible to the damage of production. Alternatively, the meaning of appropriate for form is obstructive.

Well then, should not atoms be inappropriate for form, you say? Atoms are either substance or sense base. Of these two, in the first case, the particles of the eight substances and so forth are not simultaneously assembled in a single atom. However, when they do assemble, being appropriate for form itself makes them into something that can be damaged, so they are included within form. Well then, if these atoms of substance are form, then are they not the object of eye consciousness and so forth, you say? In general, they are not, because as explained in the autocommentary:

A single atom of the faculties or atom of an object does not produce a consciousness.

Therefore, if you include these atoms of substance in an aggregate, it has to be form. However, when they are considered a sense base, they are not included in the sense base of form, because they do not actually produce an eye consciousness that perceives them. This means the same as the passage in the Compendium of Abhidharma[35] that talks of “those of the five forms of the sense base of dharmas,” so it is included in the forms of the sense base of dharmas. Therefore, not all the forms included in the sense base of dharmas are imperceptible, and the eleven classifications of form are not all included in the aggregate of form.

Well then, are they permanent or impermanent, you say? Some say that these are what is meant in the explanation of noncomposite empty particles from the Kalachakra, so they are permanent. Of course you might say so, but that is nothing more than talk that does not go anywhere. If that were so, our own position becomes the same as the assertion by the extremist[36] Particularists and others. Their assertion that atoms are permanent is a position that the Master[37] shreds. From the Prince:

The Particularists propose many things such as noncomposite atoms and so forth, and this is to refute their scriptural tradition.

Because it has been established that there are only three noncomposites and because permanent composite particles have been refuted, you should be more careful. Therefore, in this Great Exposition presentation, atoms are proposed to be impermanent only. Otherwise, it would be logical to describe them as noncomposite substance, and they are not described as such.

In the second case of atoms as sense base, when they are combined, atoms become something showable that can obscure and obstruct made out of the particles of the eight substances. This can be demonstrated through the example of a vase.[38] As will be explained:

In Desire, atoms without sound

Or faculties: eight substances.[39]

ii. The explanation. This has three topics: (1) Explaining the five faculties, (2) Explaining the five objects, and (3) Explaining imperceptible form.

(1) Explaining the five faculties

9cd

Supports of consciousnesses are

e eye, et cetera—lucid forms.

The supports of the consciousnesses that perceive the five objects are the eye, et cetera, including the ear, nose, tongue, and body: the five internal lucid forms. The shapes of each of the faculties from the eye faculty to the body faculty are in succession flax, a knot of birch, a copper needle, a half-moon, and fur that is soft to the touch. The male and female faculties are like a thumb and the inside of a drum, respectively.

(2) Explaining the five objects. This has five points.

(a) Explaining form

10a

Two types of form, or twenty types,

There is a concise classification two types of form, color and shape, or to classify it extensively, there are twenty types:

They’re blue and yellow, red and white;

And light, dark, cloudy, smoky, dusty,

As well as misty, sunny, and shaded;

And long and short, square, round, high, low,

As well as even and uneven.

The first twelve are the colors, and

Four colors are the primary;

The other eight are secondary.

The last eight are the forms of shape.

(b) Explaining sound

10b

And there are the eight types of sound,

And to classify it concisely, there are the eight types of sound. The first is sound supported by appropriated sources[40] that indicates meaning to beings and is pleasant, such as lovely songs sung by sentient beings. The second is sound supported by appropriated sources that indicates meaning to beings and is unpleasant, such as scolding. The third is sound supported by appropriated sources that does not indicate meaning to beings and is pleasant, such as the sound of a drum or clapping. The fourth is sound supported by appropriated sources that does not indicate meaning to beings and is unpleasant, such as the sound of the body being struck. The fifth is sound supported by nonappropriated sources that indicates meaning to beings and is pleasant, such as magically emanated songs. The sixth is sound supported by nonappropriated sources that indicates meaning to beings and is unpleasant, such as emanated scolding. The seventh is sound supported by nonappropriated sources that does not indicate meaning to beings and is pleasant, such as the sound of wind-chimes in the wind. The eighth is sound supported by nonappropriated sources that does not indicate meaning to beings and is unpleasant, such as the sound of an avalanche.

(c) Explaining taste

10c

And taste is sixfold,

And taste is sixfold: sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, salty, and astringent.

(d) Explaining scent

10c

scent is fourfold,

Scent is fourfold: sweet smelling, foul smelling, strong, and weak.

(e) Explaining touch

10d

Touch is elevenfold in nature.

For touch, the four sources of earth, water, fire, and air are causal touch, and soft, rough, heavy, light, cold, hunger, and thirst comprise resultant touch. These eleven are in nature touch only.

(3) Explaining imperceptible form. This has two topics: (a) Actual explanation, and (b) Its cause, the four sources.

(a) Actual explanation

11.

Distracted, and mind-free as well,

Virtue or non, continuous,

And caused by the great sources: this

Is called the imperceptible.

The imperceptible form of a vow or so forth[41] follows the being who possesses it (i.e., the person who took the vow) even when he is distracted from the mind state that motivated him when he attained the vow. It also follows the stream of a being who is in one of the two mind-free absorptions. It follows the continuum of someone whose mind is not distracted as well. Imperceptible form is definitely only virtue or nonvirtue, because neutral minds are weak and so cannot motivate one to attain an imperceptible form. This excludes the eyes, ears, and so forth, which are neutral.

Continuous means that the imperceptible form remains in one’s continuum until that which forfeits it arises. Therefore, it is continuously present in times of distraction and so forth. This distinguishes it from mere perceptible forms or perceptible speech. The continuum of the attainment[42] of a vow is also present both when the mind is present and not, is either virtuous or nonvirtuous, and is connected to a being’s stream of being, but it is not an imperceptible form. Imperceptible form is distinguished from the mere attainment of a vow because it is caused by the great sources, the elements of earth and so forth. Imperceptible form is by nature form and action, but whereas others can distinguish an individual’s motivation when they perceive perceptible forms such as body and speech, others cannot discern an individual’s motivation from imperceptible forms. This is what is called the imperceptible, to teach the Master’s opinion.

The Master Saṅghabhadra says there are some faults in this presentation:

It is incomplete and contradicts the treatise.

It undermines, implies what is not must be,

And states an extra “as well.” It fails

To distinguish where it should distinguish.

These six faults and their refutation are thoroughly explained in the Karṭik, so refer there.

(b) Its cause, the four sources. This has four points.

(i) The sources’ classifications

12ab

e sources are the elements

Of earth and water, fire and air.

When it says above, “And caused by the great sources,” what are these sources? you ask. The sources[43] are the elements of earth and water, fire and air. From beginningless time they have never been known not to arise and they are the source that makes the form of the result arise, so they are called sources. They are the greatest of the causes of the resulting forms and form the greater part of their functions, so they are great. As they hold their own characteristics and the form of the result, they are called dhātu[44] or elements.

(ii) Their functions

12c

eir functions are to hold, et cetera.

The function of earth is to hold from falling down, et cetera: water has the function of cohering without spreading; fire, ripening without rotting or decaying; and air the function of making things increase further and further.

(iii) Their characteristics

12d

ey are hard, wet, and hot, and moving.

Earth is hard and solid. Water is wet and liquid. Fire is hot and burning, or heat. Air is moving a continuum from one place to another. Respectively, these are the characteristics of each of these elements.

(iv) Dispelling doubts

13.

According to the world’s conventions,

Color and form are considered earth,

Water, and fire. e atmosphere

Is the element itself, and like those, too.

Well then, what is the distinction between earth and the element of earth? you ask. The elements of earth and so forth must fulfill the above characteristics, but earth and so forth do not, because according to the world’s conventions, color and form are considered earth. For example, it is like saying earth is a yellow square. In the same way water and fire are too: water is said to be a white circle and fire a red triangle. The atmosphere is also in common parlance the element of wind itself.

Alternatively, earth and the others are like those, so their color and shape are called thus, too. It is said that the mandala of wind is a blue arc, but this last is said to be inconsistent with the Treatise.[45]

iii. How the form aggregate is presented as elements and sense bases

14ab

Only these faculties and objects

Are called ten bases and elements.

The Master is skilled in concise and simple words and composed a text with few difficult words. He teaches that this very aggregate of form itself is elements and sense bases. By saying the identifying words, “Only these five faculties and five objects,” he teaches that imperceptible forms are not included. When designating the five faculties and five objects as sense bases, they are called the ten sense bases that have form, and when designating them as elements, as the ten elements that have form.

b. The aggregates, sense bases, and elements of feeling, conception, and formation. This has four points.

i. Feeling

14c

Feeling’s experience.

The essence of the aggregate of feeling is to clearly experience in dependence by the manner of engaging help or harm. To classify feeling, there are the six from feeling that arises from contact assembled by eye up to feeling that arises from contact assembled by mind. Alternatively, there are also pleasant, suffering, neutral, mentally pleasant, and mental unhappiness.

ii. Conception

14cd

Conception

Is the perception of attributes.

The essence of the aggregate of conception is when one focuses on one of the six objects, to say, “These aspects are blue, and these are yellow,” discerning the individual fine distinctions. Thus in essence, it is the perception of attributes. To classify, there are the six of conception that arises from contact assembled by eye and so forth.

iii. Formation

15a

Formation differs from four skandhas.

The essence of the aggregate of formation is composites that differ from the four skandhas or aggregates: the previous three and consciousness that will be explained. Here, nonconcurrent formations[46] are proposed to be substantial. By saying “composites,” noncomposites are excluded.

If you classify formations concisely, there are two types: mental factors and nonconcurrent formations. If you classify them extensively, there are 73 mental factors and 14 actual nonconcurrent formations and their compatibles. The Teaching the Ten Areas[47] also presents seven hundred classifications.

iv. Teaching these as the sense base and element of dharmas

15b–d

ese three and imperceptibles

And noncomposites are called the

Sense base and element of dharmas.

These three—feeling, conception, and formation—and imperceptible forms and the three noncomposites, when presented as sense bases, are called the sense base of dharmas, and when presented as elements, the element of dharmas.

c. The aggregate, elements, and sense base of consciousness. This has four topics: i. The essence of consciousness, ii. Presenting it as a sense base, iii. Presenting it as elements, and iv. A specific explanation of the element of mind.

i. The essence of consciousness

16a

Consciousness is distinctly knowing.

The essence of aggregate of consciousness is distinctly, or by its own power, knowing the focus, object, and aspects, the bare meaning. By saying “its own power,” mental factors are excluded, because they do not know by their own power, and by saying “knowing,” the other three bases of the knowable[48] are excluded, because they are not cognition. Several methods of classifying consciousness are proposed, such the Great Vehicle’s and so forth, but in this tradition only the six from the eye formation to the mind consciousness are proposed.

ii. Presenting consciousness as a sense base

16b

e sense base of mind is also that,

When presenting it as a sense base, the sense base of mind is also that, these six very collections of consciousness.

iii. Presenting consciousness as elements

16cd

And also seven elements—

Six consciousnesses and the mind.

Consciousness itself is not just presented as the sense base of mind, it is also seven elements, because it is proposed as the six consciousnesses from the eye consciousness to the mind consciousness and the element of mind.

iv. The specific explanation of the element of mind. This has two points.

(1) Identifying the character base

17ab

Six consciousnesses that have just

Immediately past are mind.

What is this mind element that is different from the six collections of consciousness? you ask. Of course, there really is not any such thing. However, the six collections of consciousness that have just immediately past, without any other cognition occurring in between, provide the support for the next mind consciousness, so they are called the sense base of mind or the element of mind. Saying “six” indicates that it is in all six consciousness. Saying “past” makes the distinction with present consciousness: the present is taught as consciousness and the past as the faculty of mind or the element of mind. Saying “immediately past” indicates that it is the mind that has recently passed.

The explanation here of the mind element as immediately past is in relation just to the mind consciousness that it supports. It is not pervasively in the actual past, because it is said in the autocommentary that each of the eighteen elements has three times.[49] From the autocommentary:

If that were not so, the element of mind would be past only and would not be either future or present, but all eighteen elements are also proposed to have three times.

(2) The proof

17cd

To establish the support of the sixth,

We posit eighteen elements.

Well then, the six elements of consciousness and the element of mind can each be included within the other, so in substance there are only seventeen or twelve, you say. In substance, it is so. However, in terms of characteristics, they are not the same. Just as the five sense consciousnesses each have a dominant condition as support,[50] the mind consciousness also needs a supporting dominant condition. The sixth mind consciousness has no other support, so in order to fully establish the supporting dominant condition of the sixth consciousness, the six consciousnesses are divided into past and present parts, and the past part is presented as the so-called mind element. Thus we posit eighteen elements: the six faculties as support, the six consciousnesses that are supported, and the focus of six objects.

2. Teaching them in consolidation. This has two points.

a. The actual consolidation

18ab

One aggregate, one sense base, and

One element include them all.

Is there also a consolidated presentation of the aggregates, elements, and sense bases? you wonder. There is. The one aggregate of form includes the ten sense bases that have form, the ten elements that have form, and imperceptible form. The one sense base of mind includes the aggregate of consciousness and the seven elements of cognition. The one element of dharma includes the aggregates of feeling, conception, and formation and the sense base of dharma. It also includes imperceptible form. Thus three categories include them, all dharmas.

b. The manner of consolidation

18cd

It’s by their nature—they do not

Possess another’s entity.

Is this consolidation a characteristic consolidation where what is included is the same as what includes, like made and impermanent, or is it a nominal consolidation like the four means of magnetizing[51] or the fourfold assembly,[52] where what is included is different from what includes?

It is not a nominal, but a characteristic consolidation where what is included is the same as what includes, because it is by their own nature that what is included is contained within that which includes. This is because that which is included possesses the specific characteristics of that which includes. They do not possess the characteristics of other dharmas’ entities. Being included by something different is only an occasional or temporary inclusion, so that is only nominally an inclusion.[53]

3. Dispelling doubts

19.

Of course there are two eyes, et cetera,

But since their type, sphere, consciousness

Are similar, they’re just one element.

To beautify, they come in pairs.

Well then, there are two eyes, two ears, and two nostrils, so should there not be twenty-one elements? you ask. Of course there are two eyes, et cetera, but since their type, being merely eyes and so forth, and sphere, or the type of object they perceive such as form and so forth, are similar; and because they produce and support the same type of eye consciousness and so forth, they are similar, so therefore they are proven to be just one element. The phrase “et cetera” means that the ears and nose should be known to be the same.

Well then, it is therefore unnecessary for two to arise, you say. Here in order to beautify the body support, they come in pairs. Well then, why is it that owls and so forth have two eyes but are not beautiful? you say. This is because they are by nature not beautiful; it is not that having two eyes makes them not beautiful. If they only had one eye, they would be even uglier, so for that reason two only is beautiful.

B. The reason they are given the names aggregate, sense base, and element

20a-c

e meaning of aggregate is heaped,

Sense base means the gate for arising,

And element means family.

From a sutra:

Any form at all, whether past or future or present, internal or external, coarse or subtle, base or sublime, that is far away or near, these are all included in one: they are counted within the form aggregate…

The sutra continues in the same way up to the aggregate of consciousness. As is said, the meaning of the term aggregate is many things of the same type such as form and so forth heaped together; sense base means the gate for the arising and expansion of mind and mental factors; and element means the origin of later things of the same family.[54]

Well then, noncomposites would therefore not be an element because they are permanent and produce no future noncomposites, you say. Noncomposites have no similar class, but because they are the source for mind and mental factors by way of being their focus, they are designated as an element.

C. The reason for teaching three dharmas. This has three points.

1. Actual

20d-f

Delusions, faculties, and interests

Are threefold, so the three are taught:

e aggregates, et cetera.

Why did the Lord Buddha teach the three dharmas of aggregates, sense bases, and elements? you ask. The delusions of holding mental factors, form, and both form and mind to be a whole self, and the distinctions of the three sharp, middle, and dull faculties, and the three types of interest that seek concise, medium, and extensive explanations are all threefold, so the three are taught: the aggregates, et cetera, including sense bases and elements.

2. The reason for teaching feeling and conception as separate aggregates

21.

Because they are the root of quarrels,

And cause samsara and the order

Feeling and conception are taught

As different aggregates than factors.

Why are both feeling and conception presented as separate aggregates from the other mental factors? you ask. Because they are the root of the quarrels among both householders and monastics, they are presented separately. Householders dispute water, fields, and so forth, and the root of these disputes is feelings: they want pleasure for themselves and suffering for others, so they quarrel. Monastics conceive of their own and others’ views as good or bad and then prove and refute them. Because the root of these disputes is erroneous conceptions, the aggregate of conception is presented separately.

Alternatively, as they are the principal cause of samsara, they are presented separately. By clinging to feelings, out of mistaken conceptions one views egolessness as the self, and the four erroneous conceptions[55] become the support for many afflictions, so the wheel of samsara turns. This means that these aggregates are the root of all faults and problems, and therefore should be abandoned.

Alternatively, they are the cause of the order in which the five aggregates are taught, which will be explained below.[56] Feeling and conception are taught as different aggregates than the mental factors.

3. The reason for not teaching noncomposites as an aggregate

22ab

Since noncomposites do not suit

Aggregate’s meaning, they are not taught.

Why are noncomposites presented as elements and sense bases but not as aggregates? you ask. There is a reason that noncomposites are not presented as an aggregate: since noncomposites cannot be destroyed, demolished, or so forth, they do not suit aggregate’s meaning. A separate so-called “aggregate of noncomposites” is inappropriate: because they are not many things aggregated, they are not taught as aggregates.

This fault does not apply to presenting atomic substances as aggregates. From the autocommentary:

In that case, if the meaning of aggregating were the meaning of aggregate, the aggregates would have nominal existence,[57] because they are many substances gathered together, like aggregating or an individual, you say. It is not so, because even a single atom of substance is an aggregate. In that way, as a single unit has no aggregating itself, do not say that the meaning of aggregating is the meaning of aggregate.

As this explains, the aggregates are not pervasively many things aggregated, but the aggregates are appropriate to be many things aggregated.

D. The orders of the three dharmas. This has three points.

1. The order of the five aggregates

22cd

e order is by coarse, all-afflicted,

e pot and so forth, the realms’ meanings.

The order of the five aggregates is presented by the order of coarseness, the order in which the all-afflicted arise, the order of the pot and so forth, and the order of the three realms’ meanings.

Because form is obstructive, it is the coarsest of all, so it is taught first. Next, feeling is coarse because it is variable. Next, conception is also coarser than the final two: it delineates attributes and so is easy to know. Next, formation is by nature to clearly formulate, “I must make myself happy; I must not make myself unhappy.” As consciousness is merely focusing, it is the subtlest of all. This teaches the order from coarse to subtle.

Also the order can be taught through the order in which all-afflicted dharmas such as greed and so forth arise. First, males and females have lust for each others’ bodily forms, and that creates desire for pleasant feelings. From that come mistaken conceptions, and from those, formation comes under the power of the all-afflicted. That makes consciousness afflicted as well.

Alternatively, they are comparable to the pot and so forth—food, flavorings, cook, and eater. Form is comparable to a pot, feelings to food, conceptions to flavorings, formation to the cook, and consciousness is comparable to the eater. Alternatively, it is also taught by comparing it to the order of the Desire, Form, and Formless realms, and the Peak of Existence,[58] or the three realms. Desire is differentiated by form, the Form realm by feeling, the first three Formless realms by conception, and the Peak of Existence by formation. Consciousness is present in all, so it is taught last. This is like the order of a field, seeds, shoots, and so forth.

2. The order of the six faculties

23.

e object is present, so first five.

e object is source-derived, so four.

Since at great distance or since quickly,

Or else in order of location.

They are easy to realize as the object they perceive is in the present—the objects of form and so forth—so first the five that have form—the eye and so forth—are taught. Mind is the subject that perceives objects of the three times and noncomposites that are not included in the times, so it is difficult to realize, like for example realizing that all dharmas are egoless. For that reason, it is taught last.

Among the five, the four from eye up to tongue are subjects that perceive only the object, forms of source-derived that are results of the four sources,[59] so those four are taught first. Body is not necessarily like that because it is a subject that perceives both the sources and the source-derived.

Among these four, there is a reason that eye and ear are explained first, before the nose and tongue. Since the eye and ear perceive form and sound without contacting the object, they can engage an object at a great distance. Of these two, eye can engage an object at a much greater distance, so it is mentioned first. For instance, you can see a river from far off but not hear its sound. The nose and tongue both engage what is near, but since the nose engages the object more quickly than the tongue, it is explained first. It is like when the tongue does not yet taste the food, but the nose smells its aroma.

Or else the faculties are taught in the order of the height of their location or position. Mind is supported by them and does not stay in a location, so it is taught last.

Establishing the order of the six faculties also establishes the order of the objects and the consciousnesses. For example, it is just as when the ranks of six kings are established, the ranks of the queens and princes are also established.

3. An aside to dispel a doubt

24.

One is specific and the main,

And one has many dharmas, the highest,

So one is called sense base of form,

And one is called sense base of dharma.

If the first ten sense bases are all form, why is only the object of eye the sense base of form? And if all twelve sense bases are dharmas by nature, why is only the object of mental cognition the sense base of dharma? you ask.

The reason for the first is the one object of eye has no other name, so it is designated by applying the general name “form” to the specific sense base. One says, “This is it,” to indicate something, and in common usage that is known as form. And others say that the sense base of form is the main or principal form for three reasons: 1) because form is coarse as it has twenty types; 2) because it is the sphere of the fleshly eye, the divine eye, and the eye of nobles’ full knowing; and 3) because it is obstructive and showable.

The reason for the second is that the one object of mind has or includes many dharmas—the three middle aggregates, imperceptibles, and noncomposites—and that the sense base of dharma includes the highest of dharmas, the analytical cessation of nirvana. So in order, the one object of eye alone is called the sense base of form, and the one object of mind alone is called the sense base of dharma.

III. Teaching how everything is included in three dharmas. This has three topics: A. How the aggregates of Dharma are included, B. Including other dharmas in the aggregates, elements, and sense bases, and C. Additionally teaching the essence of two elements.

A. How the aggregates of Dharma are included. This has two topics: 1. Actual, and 2. The size of the aggregates of the Dharma.

1. Actual,

25.

e eighty thousand aggregates

Of Dharma the Sage taught are all

Words or are names, and thus they are

Included in form or in formation.

In the sutras where it says, “The eighty thousand aggregates of Dharma,” how are these included within the five aggregates? you ask. The eighty thousand aggregates of Dharma that the Sage, the Buddha, taught are all, according to the Sutra school, words or sound, or according to the Great Exposition, they are names that are the object of mind by nature. Thus they are included in the aggregate of form or in the aggregate of formation respectively, it is proposed.

2. The size of the aggregates of the Dharma. This has two points.

a. Refuting other positions

26ab

Some say their length equals the treatise,

Or depends on aggregates, et cetera.

What is the size of each of the aggregates of Dharma? you ask. Some schools say that their length equals the length of treatise composed by Shariputra, which has six thousand stanzas. Other schools propose that the size of each aggregate of Dharma depends on how long it takes to teach the aggregates, faculties, sense bases, et cetera completely, but there is not a fixed number of verses.

b. Presenting the Master’s own position

26cd

But aggregates of Dharma taught

Correspond to antidotes for conduct.

But in the Master’s own position, the size of the aggregates of Dharma taught, such as meditation on repulsiveness and so forth, correspond to the number of afflictions. They are taught as antidotes for sentient beings’ conduct motivated by the three poisons and the eighty thousand afflictions of pride and so forth. The word “but” is explained as indicating that this is the Master’s own position: there are twenty-one thousand as antidotes for each of the three poisons and twenty-one thousand as antidotes for conducted motivated by the three poisons mixed in equal parts for a total of eighty-four thousand. This is explained in the Retention of the Jewel Tala[60] and other texts, it is said.

B. Including other dharmas in the aggregates, elements, and sense bases

27.

Likewise the other aggregates,

Sense bases or else elements:

Examine their own characters;

Include them in what has been explained.

Just as the eighty thousand aggregates of Dharma are included in the five aggregates, likewise the various other dharmas named aggregates, sense bases, or else elements should be thoroughly examined on the basis of their own characteristics. Then include them in what has been explained, the five aggregates, eighteen elements, and twelve sense bases.

The five undefiled aggregates taught[61] are included in the five aggregates taught here as follows: the aggregate of discipline is included in form, and the last four are included in formation.

Among the ten all-encompassing sense bases,[62] the eight sense bases of earth, water, fire, air, blue, yellow, white, and red are also collected in nongreed, so they are included in the sense base of dharma. Including all that is associated with them, they are the five aggregates, and they are included in the sense bases of mind and dharma. The eight overpowering sense bases[63] are, as the above, included in the sense bases of mind and dharma. All-encompassing sky and consciousness, and the four sense bases of the Formless[64] have four aggregates, so they are included in the sense bases of mind and dharma.

Also in the sutras there are said to be the six elements of earth, water, fire, air, space, and consciousness. The first four are touch, the fifth is form, and the sixth is included in the seven elements of mind.

In brief, within the eighteen elements there are three groups of six, one group of four, six groups of three, and two groups of two: they are grouped in forty-four. The Great Ṭīka[65] explains this expanded manner of grouping them, so refer there.

C. Additionally teaching the essence of two elements. This has two points.

1. The element of space

28ab

Openings are the element

Of space—they’re light and dark, it’s claimed.

The characteristics of earth and the other three have been explained, and the characteristics of space and consciousness have also been explained. But the characteristics of the elements of the latter two have not been explained. Are thus space and consciousness themselves those two elements? you ask.

They are not. They say that the openings in doorframes, smoke holes, mouths, and noses are the element of space. The Great Exposition school posits that this is because in the daytime they are mostly light and at nighttime they are mostly dark. “It is claimed” is a skeptical word from the Sutra school. The Sutra school posits that space itself is the element of space.

2. Consciousness

28cd

e element of consciousness

Is defiled consciousness, arising’s basis.

The element of consciousness is defiled consciousness because those six elements themselves provide the basis of arising from rebirth-linking (the moment of conception) to death and because undefiled consciousness is unsuitable for that.

Therefore earth and the other three are included in the element of touch. The element of space is included in the aggregate of form. The element of consciousness is included in the seven elements of consciousness.

IV. The complete classification of the aspects of elements. This has seven topics: A. Classifying in two categories, B. Classifying in three categories, C. Differentiating them by what they possess, D. Classification of those with form, E. Three modes of production, F. Distinctions of attainment, and G. Classifying as external, internal, and so forth.

A. Classifying in two categories. This has two points.

1. Showable and unshowable

29a

e showable here is form alone.

Well then, among these eighteen elements, how many can be shown and how many cannot? you ask. The showable here in this discussion of the eighteen elements is the element of form alone, because phrases such as “It is here” or “Someone has it” indicate it to another. The remaining seventeen are not showable.

2. Obstructive and unobstructive

29b

e obstructive is the ten with form.

How many of the eighteen elements are obstructive, and how many are unobstructive? you ask. The obstructive are those that block: only the ten with form are appropriate for form and are obscuring and obstructive.

There are three types of obstructiveness: resistance, contact of object, and contact of focus. In the first, when there is one obstructive thing in a particular location, that thing blocks the arising of another obstructive thing in that same location. For example, if there is a hand somewhere, another hand cannot arise there, or where there already is a stone, another stone cannot arise.

Contact of object is when the subject, the eye and so forth, contacts its object of form and so forth. The Treatise on Designation gives four possibilities of eyes that contact their object when in the water but not when out, and four possibilities of those that contact their object at night but not day.

Contact of focus is when the concurrent dharmas[66] contact their focus.

B. Classifying in three categories. This has two points.

1. Categories of virtue and so forth

29cd

Eight neutral are just those except

For form and sound. e others are threefold.

Well then, of the eighteen elements, how many are virtuous, nonvirtuous, and neutral? you ask. Of the eighteen elements eight are solely neutral. They are just those that have been explained as obstructive except for form and sound. They are neutral by their very nature. The ten that are other than those eight are threefold—virtuous, nonvirtuous, and neutral. Form and sound can become virtuous or nonvirtuous by the power of virtuous or nonvirtuous motivation. The eight unobstructive elements—the seven of consciousness and the element of dharma—can be virtue, nonvirtue, or neutral.

2. Categories of the three realms

30.

ey all are in the Desire realm.

e Form realm has fourteen: except

e elements of scent and taste,

And the nose and tongue consciousnesses.

31ab

e Formless realm has elements

Of mind, dharma, mind consciousness.

Well then, how many of the eighteen elements are in the realms of Desire, Form, and Formless? you ask. They, the eighteen, are all in the Desire realm, because in the Desire realm one is not detached from their nature and craves them, making them one’s own.

The Form realm has fourteen. Which ones? you ask. All those except the element of scent, and the element of taste, and the element of the nose consciousness and the element of tongue consciousness. In the Form realm, there is no scent or taste because scent and taste are food and only those who are free of desire for food are born there. Therefore, there are neither nose nor tongue consciousness because their objects, scent and taste, do not exist.

Well then, there should not be an element of touch because there is no food, you say. There is no touch that is food, but the element of touch is presented because those in the Form realm wear clothes and so forth. Well then, there should not be faculties of nose or tongue either, you say. These two are presented because they beautify the bodily support.

The Formless realm has the three elements of mind, dharma, and mind consciousness. The remaining are not there, because one is free from craving for form, so the ten that have form do not exist there, and therefore the first five consciousnesses that arise from them do not exist either.

C. Differentiating them by what they possess. This has three points.

1. Whether or not they have defilements

31cd

ose three are defiled or undefiled.

And those remaining are defiled.

Well then, of these eighteen elements, how many are defiled and how are many undefiled? you ask. Those last three elements of mind, dharma, and mind consciousness have both defiled or undefiled aspects. The defiled aspect is that which is included in the first two truths. The undefiled aspect is that which is included in the truth of path and noncomposites. Those fifteen remaining are solely defiled. The ten with form are the truth of suffering, and the cognitions of the five sense gates look outward, so they are not on the level of equipoise and are thus discards of meditation. Also, “defilements can / Develop in relation to them.”[67]

2. Whether or not they have consideration and examination

32.

ose which consider and examine:

Five elements of consciousness.

e final three are of three types.

ose which remain are free of both.

33.

e nonconceptual have no thoughts

at recognize or that remember.

ese two distract the mind’s full knowing

Or are all memory in mind.

Well then, of the eighteen elements, how many have both consideration and examination? How many have examination but not consideration? How many have neither consideration nor examination? you ask.

Of the eighteen elements, those which consider and examine are the first five elements of consciousness, because they are coarse as they look outward and because they are on levels that are connected with consideration and examination.

The final three elements of mind and so forth are of three types: they can have both consideration and examination, or no consideration and just examination, or neither consideration nor examination. The first type is the mental factors of the last three elements that are included in Desire and the mere first dhyana’s actual practice except for consideration and examination themselves, because they are on levels that are not detached from consideration and examination. The second type is the mental factors of the last three elements that are in the special dhyana except for examination, because these have abandoned consideration and are on a level that is concurrent only with examination. The third type is the nonconcurrent of those three elements in Desire and the first dhyana, and the last three elements of the second dhyana and higher. In the second dhyana and higher, they may be concurrent, but they are on levels where consideration and examination have been abandoned. Examination in Desire and the actual practice of the first dhyana does not fall within any of these three categories because it is concurrent with consideration but not with examination. That is because examination has no second examination.

Those elements which remain, the ten with form, are free of both consideration and examination, because they are not concurrent.

Well then, if the five collections of consciousness have consideration and examination, that contradicts the sutras’ explanation of them as nonconceptual, you say. According to the Great Exposition school, there are three types of thoughts: essential thoughts, thoughts that recognize, and thoughts that remember.[68] The eye consciousness and other four do have essential thoughts, but they are nonconceptual because they have no thoughts that recognize or thoughts that remember. For example, it is like saying a horse with only one foot is a horse with no feet. Essential thoughts will be explained below. These two, thoughts that recognize and thoughts that remember, by their nature respectively 1) distract the mind’s full knowing when the mind is not in equipoise, and 2) are all memory in association with mind, whether the mind is in equipoise or not.

3. Whether or not they have a focus

34ab

e seven elements of mind

And half of dharma, too, have focus.

Well then, how many of these eighteen elements have a focus, and how many do not? you ask. Of these eighteen elements, the seven elements of mind always have focus. And not only those but the mental factors that are half of dharma, too, have a focus. The remaining ten elements with form and the portion of the element of dharma that is nonconcurrent have no focus.

D. Classification of those with form. This has five points.

1. Classification of appropriated and nonappropriated

34cd

e nine are not appropriated:

ose eight and sound. Nine others: twofold.

Well then, of these eighteen elements, how many are appropriated and how many are not? you ask. The meaning of appropriated is that which is suitable to be the support for the arising of pleasure or pain when helped or harmed by contact with something with form. The opposite is nonappropriated. In this context, of the eighteen elements, nine are solely not appropriated. They are those eight explained as having focus, with the second half of the element of dharma also added to make the whole element of dharma. These eight are not in the collection of faculties, so they cannot be either helped or harmed. And sound can be connected with the one’s stream of being, but it is not in the collection of faculties, so it cannot be helped or harmed. Therefore it is not appropriated either.

The five of eye and so forth and the four of form and so forth—the nine other elements are different from those that are not appropriated. They are twofold because they can be either appropriated or nonappropriated. The five faculties of the present are appropriated. Form, scent, taste, and touch that are of the present and not separate from the faculties are appropriated. Those external elements that are separate from the faculties and not included in the stream of one’s being—including hair, body hair, teeth, and nails with the exception of their roots—are not appropriated. All that is past or future is solely not appropriated.

2. Classification of source and source-derived

35a–c

Touch has two types. e other nine

With form and part of the element

Of dharmas, too, are source-derived.

Well then, of the eighteen elements, how many are sources? How many are source-derived? you ask. The element of touch has two types of source and source-derived. Earth, water, fire, and air are the sources. Soft, rough, heavy, light, cold, hunger, and thirst are source-derived. The other nine with form—the eye and so forth—are source-derived, and likewise part of the element of dharmas, too—imperceptible form—is solely source-derived. These are source-derived because they are derived from the cause of the four sources, which act to produce them. The remaining that do not have form are proven to be neither sources nor source-derived.

3. Classification of conglomerated and nonconglomerated

35d

e ten with form, conglomerates.

Well then, how many of the elements are accumulated, and how many are not? you ask. Of the eighteen elements, the ten elements with form are conglomerates, because they are solely collections or conglomerations of atoms. The definite article “the” is for emphasis: the elements that are unobstructive are proven not to be conglomerated.

4. Classification of cutter and that which is cut

36ab

e cutter and that which is cut

Are four external elements,

How many of the elements can cut and how many can be cut? you ask. Of the eighteen elements, the cutter, such as an axe, and that which is cut, such as wood and so forth, are the four external elements of form, smell, taste, and touch. Thus it is determined that these four elements can be both cutter and cut; the others are proven to be neither.

5. Classifications of burning and weighing

36cd

As are the burnt and that which weighs.

e burner and weighed are disputed.

Well, how many of the elements can be burned? How many are measurers? you ask. Just as the cutter and cut are the four elements, the wood and so forth which is burnt and that which weighs, scales and so forth, are also the four external elements. The faculties are neither because they are lucid, like light rays. Because it has no continuum, sound is also not that which is burnt, that which burns, that which is weighed, nor that which weighs. The burner and that which is weighed are disputed by earlier masters. Some say the four external elements only are that which burns and that which is weighed. Some say that which burns is the element of fire alone, and that which is weighed is heaviness alone.

E. Three modes of production. This has two points.

1. General

37.

e five internal are produced

By ripening and development.

Sound is not ripened. e compatible

And ripening produce eight unobstructive.

38a

Others are threefold.

Well, how many are produced by full ripening, development, and compatible cause? you ask. Of the eighteen elements, only the five internal faculties of the eye and so forth are produced by full ripening and produced by development. They can be produced by full ripening because the faculties of the lower realms are produced by the full ripening of nonvirtue and those of the higher realms are produced by the full ripening of virtue. They can also be produced by development through the four causes of food, sleep, fine conduct, and samadhi.

Sound can be either produced by development or produced by compatible cause but is not produced by full ripening, because it is the manifestation of one’s desires. Well then, it says in the Treatise on Designation:[69]

Now listen well to how a Tathagata

Attains his qualities of voice and speech:

Fully abandoning harsh words and chatter

Will bring the marks of a Tathagata.

Is this not contradictory, you say? It is not contradictory. The meaning of this passage is that abandoning harsh words and chatter produces the fully ripened result of a fine throat. The throat produces the melody of Brahma,[70] but that melody is not itself a fully ripened result.

Those elements that the compatible cause and full ripening produce are the eight unobstructive elements. Of those eight, those that are produced by a cause of same status or universal cause are produced by compatible cause. Those that have are produced by a cause of full ripening are produced by full ripening.[71] They cannot be produced by development. By essence they are not aggregations of particles and they are unobstructive, so they cannot be developed.

The others, the four that remain—form, scent, taste, and touch—are threefold: they have all three modes of production.

2. Particulars

38ab

One has substance.

e last three are a moment.

Of the eighteen elements, noncomposite dharma alone has permanent, stable substance.

The last of the eighteen elements, the three undefiled elements of mind, dharma, and mind consciousness when assembled on the first moment of forbearance of knowing dharmas of suffering[72] are a moment that is not produced by compatible cause, because prior to that there is no undefiled path compatible with them.

This teaches particular points of the lines, “The compatible / And ripening produce eight unobstructive.” The mind and so forth of the first undefiled moment and the noncomposite portion of the element of dharma are not produced by any of these three modes of production.

The mind concurrent with dharma forbearance of suffering is the element of mind and the element of mind consciousness. This presents it from the point of view of its function. All that is concurrent with this; its attainment; its arising, abiding, and perishing; and the undefiled vows attained at that moment are the element of dharma.

F. Distinctions of attainment

38b–d

e eye

And element of consciousness:

Gained singly or together, too.

Does someone who newly attains the eye element also newly attain the eye consciousness? you ask. To distinguish how the eye and the element of consciousness can be gained singly, there are four alternatives. The four are 1) newly attaining the eye but not newly attaining the eye consciousness, 2) newly attaining the latter but not the former, 3) or attaining both together or simultaneously, and 4) not newly attaining either. The first is like dying in the Formless realm and taking birth in any one of the second, third, or fourth dhyanas.

The second is like taking rebirth in Desire from the second dhyana. The third is like taking birth in Desire from the Formless. The fourth is taking birth in the Formless from the Formless. The word “too” additionally includes these following:

The ear

And element of consciousness:

Gained singly or together, too.

The others are similar.

G. Classifying as external, internal, and so forth. This has seven topics: 1. Internal and external, 2. Active and inactive, 3. Discard of seeing and so forth, 4. Whether or not it is view, 5. Which element is the object of which consciousness, 6. Permanent/impermanent, and 7. Whether or not they are faculties.

1. Internal and external

39ab

Twelve are internal, except form

And so forth.

Well then, of the eighteen elements, how many internal and external elements are there? you ask. Of the eighteen elements, twelve are internal: all except the external elements of form and so forth.

2. Active and inactive. This has two points.

a. Actual

39bc

Dharma must be active.

e remaining are inactive, too—

Of these, how many are active and how many are inactive? you ask. Of the eighteen elements, the element of dharma must be solely active, because the object of the action of the mind consciousness of either nobles or ordinary individuals is definitely pervasively active.[73] This tradition, which does not assert a self-aware cognition, proposes that this is because the cognition that thinks, “All dharmas are egoless,” has everything as its object except for itself and the assembly of mental factors that is coemergent with it. If one posits self-awareness, then the cognition itself also becomes its own object, but not positing that is a tenet of the Great Exposition school.

The remaining seventeen elements are inactive. The word “too” indicates that they can also be active.

b. The meaning of inactive

39d

at which does not perform its function.

What is the distinction between active and inactive? you ask. Any element which does not perform its own function is inactive, and the opposite of that is active. The eye is active when it looked, looks, or will look at form. It is the same for the other faculties up to the body. The eye is said to be inactive in four instances: when it does not see form and has ceased, is ceasing, will cease, or is a nonarising dharma base. So say the Kashmiris, but the Westerners say that some nonarising dharma bases possess consciousness and some do not, so there should be five. The five external elements of form and so forth are also the same. The seven mind-elements can be either active or inactive.

The six elements from the eye up to the mind are specific to one individual—it is impossible that two individuals could look with the same eye and so forth. Therefore, whichever of those is active or inactive for one individual is active or inactive for all. The five elements from form to touch are common to multiple individuals. Furthermore, it is possible that one individual might watch a dance, for example, whereas another individual might not watch that dance. Therefore these five elements are active in relation to those who are watching or so forth, and inactive in relation to those who are not watching or so forth. Therefore, since the eye and so forth are specific to one being, they are presented as either active or inactive in relation to one being. Since form and the other four are common to many individuals, they are presented in relation to many beings.

The action of the six internal elements is to provide the subject of the object and the support for consciousness. The action of the six elements that are objects is to be the object of the faculties and the focused object of the consciousnesses. The action of the six elements of consciousness is to be supported by the faculties and to provide the subject for the objects. Therefore when these perform these functions, they are active, and when they do not, they are inactive. When these are nonarising dharma bases, they are inactive, and when they have arisen or will arise, they are active.

In the abhidharma tradition of the Great Vehicle, only the five faculties are divided into active and inactive; the others are not.

3. Discard of seeing and so forth. This has two points.

a. Actual

40ab

Ten are discards of meditation.

Five also. e last three, three types.

Well then, how many of these are discarded by seeing? How many by meditation? How many are not discarded? you ask. The ten with form are solely discards of meditation, and the first five consciousnesses are also discarded by meditation. These fifteen are discards because they are defiled, but they are not discarded by seeing because the former ten have form, and the latter five look outward. The last three elements are all three types, because the eightyeight afflicted kernels, what is concurrent with them, and their attainment are discarded by seeing; everything else that is defiled is discarded by meditation; and the undefiled parts are not discarded.

b. Refuting the Vatsiputrīya’s position

40cd

Seeing does not discard the unafflicted,

Nor form, nor what is not born from the sixth.

According to the Vatsiputrīyas,[74] ordinary individuals and the body and speech karma of the lower realms are discards of seeing, because when the path of seeing is attained, they are blocked, they say.

The path of seeing does not discard ordinary individuals, because they are unafflicted, unobscured neutral. Ordinary individuals are proven to be unafflicted neutral because they are neither virtuous nor afflicted. If they were virtuous, then there could be no nonvirtuous ordinary individuals and the roots of virtue could not be severed.[75] If ordinary individuals were afflicted, then someone who had become detached through a worldly path would not be an ordinary individual. Since neither of these are the case, ordinary individuals are proven to be unobscured neutral. Something that is unobscured neutral is pervasively not a discard of seeing, like a vase, for example. Discards of seeing are definitely afflicted.

Nor does the path of seeing discard the body and speech of those in the lower realms, because they have form.

Here there are four alternatives of being free of something and discarding it. The first, being free without discarding, is like the status of an ordinary individual when the path of seeing is attained. The second is like the arhat’s faculties that have form—the arhat has abandoned them but is not free of them. The third is like discards of seeing when the path of seeing has been attained. Fourth is all the undefiled paths not included above and noncomposites.

Nor does seeing discard the consciousnesses of the five gates and their associations, because they are on a level that is not born from the sense base of mind, and because they look outward. They are not the sixth mental consciousness.

4. Whether or not it is view. This has a. Actual and b. Elaboration.

a. Actual

41ab

e eye and part of the element

Of dharma are views: they are eightfold.

Well then, how many of the elements are views? How many are not? you ask. The active part of the eye and part of the element of dharma—the five afflicted views, the correct worldly view, the learner’s view, and the nonlearner’s view—are views: they are eightfold types of view. The other sixteen elements, the inactive eye, and the remaining portions of the element of dharma are not views. The five afflicted views will be explained below.[76] The correct worldly view is presented as a virtuous, defiled full knowing that is concurrent with mental consciousness. The latter two are set forth as the undefiled views of learners and nonlearners.

b. Elaboration. This has six topics: i. Refuting the full knowing of faculties as view, ii. Proving that the eye is view, iii. Distinctions of the faculty perceiving the object, iv. Ascertaining the time of the support, v. The reason for supporter and supported, and vi. Ascertaining the levels of faculty, object, consciousness, and support.

i. Refuting the full knowing of faculties as view

41cd

Five minds concurrent with five consciousnesses,

Not thoughts that recognize, are not view.

Why is it that only the full knowing concurrent with mental consciousness can be view? you ask. The five virtuous minds or full knowings that arise in concurrence with five consciousnesses of the sense gates, since they are not thoughts that have the volition to recognize the object, are not view.

ii. Proving that the eye is view. This has two topics.

(1) Actual

42a

e eye sees form

Well then, since the eye is also nonconceptual, it should not be a view, you say. Because the active eye sees form, it is view.

(2) Dispelling doubts. This has (a) Examining whether all eyes see, (b) Examining whether it is eye or eye consciousness that sees, and (c) Examining whether both eyes see.

(a) Examining whether all eyes see

42a

when it is active.

Well then, do all eyes see? you ask. When it is active, the eye sees, but the inactive eye does not.

(b) Examining whether it is eye or eye consciousness that sees

42b–d

Supported consciousness does not,

Because a form that is obstructed

Cannot be seen, or so they claim.

Well then, it is not the eye that sees, it is the eye consciousness it supports that sees, you say. That which sees is the eye. The supported consciousness that the eye supports does not. Why is this so? Because that consciousness is unobstructive. If it were to see, it would have to see a form that is obstructed by walls and so forth, and those cannot be seen.

“Or so they claim” is the Master’s skeptical word for the Great Exposition school: Later Great Expositionists thought that the eye consciousness sees and that the faculties do not see. They spoke of many faults in the faculty of eye seeing and so forth.

The Sutra school explains that on the basis of eye and form, the eye cognition arises. There is a conventional label of “seeing form,” and following this convention, one says, “The eye sees, the consciousness knows,” as a manner of designation, but one should not be attached to this label, they explain.

(c) Examining whether both eyes see

43ab

Both of the eyes can see, as well,

Because they both can clearly see.

Does one eye see, or do both see? you ask. Both of the eyes see, as well, because if one eye sees, it sees unclearly, but if one opens both eyes, they both can see more clearly than before. The phrase “as well” means that either one of them is capable of seeing.

iii. Distinctions of the faculty perceiving the object. This has two points.

(1) Meeting or not meeting

43cd

e eye, ear, and mind do not meet

eir objects. ree perceive elsewise.

Well then, do the six faculties perceive their objects by meeting them or not? you ask. Three—the eye, ear, and mind—do not meet their objects when they perceive them. This is because both the eye and ear see or hear forms or sounds that are far off, and as the mind has no form, it is impossible for it to meet anything. The three—nose, tongue, and body—perceive elsewise from not meeting: they perceive by meeting their object, because without inhaling, scent is not perceived, and it is proven that far-away tastes and touches are not perceived. The meaning of meeting and not meeting is proposed as particles striking and joining or not.

(2) Equal or unequal

44ab

e nose and other two perceive

An object that in size is equal.

Do the eye and so forth perceive objects that are equal or unequal to themselves in size? you ask. As the nose and other two, the tongue and body, perceive an object that they meet, it is proposed all three perceive an object that in size is equal. They perceive just as much of the object as meets the faculty. The eye, ear, and mind, however, do not necessarily perceive things that are their own size. The eye perceives things that are larger, equal to, and smaller than itself; the ear hears sounds that are large, medium, and small; and the mind is not corporeal, so there is no determination of its size.

iv. Ascertaining the time of the support

44cd

e last’s support is past.

e five Arise together with them, too.

The object of the eye consciousness and so forth is always present, but the object of the mind consciousness can be in any of the three times. Are their supports the same? you ask. They are not. The support of the last of the six elements of consciousness, the mind consciousness, is the immediately past mind only; it is not the present or future mind. The supports of the first five elements of consciousness, the eye and so forth, are present because they arise together with them, the five consciousnesses. The word “too” means, “The immediately past mind supports them, too.”

v. The reason for supporter and supported. This has two points.

(1) The reason for designating just the faculty as support

45ab

Because when those change, they change, too,

e eye and so on are the supports.

If the consciousnesses arise from both the faculties and the objects, why is it that only the faculty is designated as support? you ask. The reason for that is because when those, the eye and other faculties, change, they, the consciousnesses, change, too. Benefit or harm to the faculties, such as pain and so forth, can help or harm the consciousnesses, or create pain or pleasure in them, or make them clear or unclear. If form and so forth is changed, however, it is not definite that such a change will arise in the consciousness. Therefore, the eye and so on are the supports for mind consciousness.

(2) The reason the supports distinguish the consciousnesses

45cd

Because of that and being specific,

ose indicate the consciousnesses.

Well, if both the faculty and object produce consciousnesses, why do we say “eye consciousness” but not “form consciousness”? you ask. They are called the eye consciousness and so forth because of that reason given above that faculties alone are the supports of the eye consciousness and so forth, like saying, “The King’s men.”

In addition, within a single individual’s continuum, form is a cause common to both the eye and mental consciousnesses, but the eye is the specific cause of the eye consciousness only. Form can also be the cause of eye consciousness in other individuals’ streams of being, but the eye is the cause of consciousness for only one individual. Therefore, because they are specific, those faculties form the basis on which we indicate the eye and so forth consciousnesses. It is like saying “a shoot of rice” or “the sound of a drum.”

vi. Ascertaining the levels of faculty, object, consciousness, and support. This has four topics: (1) The levels of the eye, form, eye consciousness, and support, (2) Teaching that the ear is comparable to that, (3) Ascertaining the nose, tongue, and body, and (4) Teaching the mind as uncertain.

(1) The levels of the eye, form, eye consciousness, and support

46.

e body cannot have a lower eye.

e eye cannot see forms of higher.

Neither the consciousness. eir forms,

And two of body, too, on any.

Well, what body supports the consciousness? When the eye sees form, are the body, eye, form, and consciousness on the same level only or can they also be on different levels? you ask. When someone in the Desire realm looks with his own eye at a form of the Desire realm, all four are on the same level. When that same Desire-realm individual looks at form of the Desire realm with the eye of the first dhyana, the body and form are both on the level of Desire, but the consciousness and eye are on the level of the first dhyana. When he looks at forms of the first dhyana, the form is also on the level of the first dhyana.

When the Desire-realm individual looks at his own level’s forms with the eye of the second dhyana, both the body and form are on the Desire-realm individual’s own level, but the eye is on the level of the second dhyana, and the eye consciousness is on the level of the first dhyana, because there is no eye consciousness above the first dhyana.[77] When he looks at the form of the first dhyana, the eye consciousness and form are on the level of the first dhyana, the body is of the Desire realm and the eye is on the level of the second dhyana. In the same way, the others can be extensively known.

This is determined as follows: The body of a higher level cannot have or support a lower level’s eye, because one has the superior eye of their own level, so there is no need to manifest the inferior eye of a lower level. The eye of a lower level cannot have the power to see the forms of higher levels, because the eye of the lower is coarse and the forms of the higher are subtle. Neither is the higher level’s eye consciousness supported by a lower level’s eye, because the superior consciousness of the higher is not supported by the inferior eye of the lower, just as a clay jug does not hold lion’s milk.[78] Their—the higher, lower, and own levels’—forms of all types are visible to the eye consciousness of the first dhyana as its object. It is possible for the two, the form and eye consciousness, of the body, too, to be on any the levels—one’s own level, the higher levels, and the lower levels.

(2) Teaching that the ear is comparable to that

47a

e ear is similar, as well.

As has been explained for the eye, the ear is similar, as well. The verse could be modified:

The body cannot have a lower ear.

The ear cannot hear sounds of higher.

Neither the consciousness. Their sounds,

And two of body, too, on any.

(3) Ascertaining the nose, tongue, and body. This has two points.

(a) General

47b

e three are all of their own level.

The object, body, and support of the three—the nose, tongue, and body consciousness—are all of their own level.

(b) Specifics

47cd

e consciousness of body is lower,

Own level.

Are these three always like that? you ask. That is in general. In specific, when perceiving the touch of the second dhyana and above, the consciousness of body is that of the lower first dhyana. When someone in either Desire or the first dhyana feels a touch, they perceive it with the consciousness of their own level.

(4) Teaching the mind as uncertain

47d

Mind is indefinite.

The mind’s object, body, and consciousness are indefinite, because sometimes they are all on a comparable level and sometimes they are on lower or higher levels. This will be explained extensively in the “Teachings on Absorption,” so refer there.

5. Which element is the object of which consciousness

48a

Two consciousnesses, five external.

Which of the six consciousnesses knows which of the eighteen elements? you ask. The two consciousnesses of faculty and mind take the five external elements from form to touch as their objects—form is the object of both the eye and mind consciousnesses, sound of both ear and mind consciousnesses, and so on. The internal twelve elements and dharmas are the objects of the mind consciousness only.

6. Classifying as permanent or impermanent

48b

Noncompound dharmas are permanent.

Of the elements, how many are permanent? How many impermanent? you ask. Of the eighteen elements, there is none that is wholly permanent. However, a portion of the element of dharmas is permanent: noncompound dharmas are permanent. The remaining seventeen and a half elements have arising and disintegration, so they are proven to be impermanent.

7. Classifying by whether or not they are faculties

48cd

One part of dharmas and those taught

As the internal twelve are faculties.

Of these, how many are faculties? How many are not faculties? you ask. Of the eighteen elements, one part of the element of dharma—life force, the five feelings, faith and the other four, and the three undefiled faculties, making fourteen—and those of elements taught as the internal twelve—the eye and so forth—are faculties. The remainder are not faculties. One portion of the body is the male and female faculties. Those that remain, the five external elements of form and so forth, and the remainder of the dharma element, are proven not to be faculties.

The presentation of the area’s name

is completes the first area called “Teachings on the Elements” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

This completes the explanation of the first area called “Teachings on the Elements” from The Explanation of the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma called The Essence of the Ocean of Abhidharma, The Words of Those who Know and Love, Explaining the Youthful Play, Opening the Eyes of Dharma, the Chariot of Easy Practice.

A few words here:

Through the analysis that knows all knowables,

The dharma nature will be known just as it is.

Since they are the base for both attachment and detachment,

I have explained the presentation

Of aggregates, sense bases, and the elements.

3. Skt. matṛika, Tib. ma mo. Another term for abhidharma because it classifies phenomena into groups or matrices of two or three.

4. The Fifth Shamar Konchok Yenlag.

5. Skt. pratyekabuddha, Tib. rang sang rgyas. Although commonly translated as solitary realizer, that translation is awkward and not entirely accurate, as not all self-buddhas attain realization in solitude. In the Tibetan, the syllable rang indicates that they attain enlightenment on their own, without a teacher in their last lifetime. Hence they are self-awakened or a self-buddha.

6. For example, such as the Prince Siddharta before he attained enlightenment.

7. The internal sense bases are the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, and the external sense bases are form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and dharmas.

8. Some non-Buddhists believe that the gods such as Brahma or Śakra can liberate beings through their miraculous powers or by bestowing holiness or blessings upon them.

9. The eighteen original schools of Buddhism.

10. Skt. anuśaya, Tib. phra rgyas. The six are the subtle afflictions of desire, anger, pride, ignorance, view, and doubt. The kernels are discussed at length in area V.

Many translations from the Tibetan translate this term as “subtle-expander” or a similar term, matching the literal meaning of the Tibetan compound and reflecting Vasubandhu’s explanation of the meaning of the Sanskrit term in V.39. However, this sounds clumsy and awkward in English. Translations from the Sanskrit often either leave the Sanskrit anuśaya untranslated or translate it as “predilection.” The word predilection has some merits but is frequently used in a positive sense in English. As the kernels are always afflicted, that seems inappropriate. The word kernel matches the meaning of phra rgyas in that a kernel is something small that can develop into something larger.

Additionally, different schools of Buddhism have differing opinions as to the nature of the kernels. Theravadins and the Kashmiri Vaibhashikas posit that they are latencies, like seeds, whereas the Great Vehicle abhidharma presents them as manifest, though subtle. The English word kernel can mean seed, but it also is used in other contexts to describe a manifest but subtle quality, as in the phrase “a kernel of truth.” Thus kernel can be used to describe both the Theravada and the Great Vehicle positions without prejudice.

11. Tib. med dgag. A no-negation generally negates the existence of something. In other words, the Sutra school proposes that liberation is merely the absence of obscurations, but is not in itself a thing. The same term is sometimes translated as nonaffirming negation, but here a simpler translation is preferred, although one must note that just as not every Tibetan negation that uses the word med is a med dgag, not every negation that uses no is a no-negation.

12. That is, Vasubandhu’s autocommentary.

13. See III.96d.

14. An actual antidote is unable to coexist with what it discards, so therefore other wisdoms, which unlike the wisdom of the ten powers can coexist with the causes of unknowing, are not their actual antidote.

15. The Kashmiri Great Exposition asserts that the attainment or possession of something is itself a substantial thing separate from that which is possessed. See II.36 ff.

16. Variously translated in other translations as wisdom, discernment, supreme knowledge, or left untranslated but anglicized as prajna, this term refers to both an ordinary mental factor present with every cognition as well as, especially in Great Vehicle scriptures and treatises, the sixth transcendence, transcendent full knowing. Although at first glance, these might seem to be entirely different, the Buddha characterizes both in the sutras as fully distinguishing dharma from nondharma. In other words, it is fully knowing what is true and what is not, or intelligence.

The English word wisdom seems a good translation for the term ye shes (jñāna), so it seems best not to use it for shes rab to avoid confusion between the two. Discernment seems quite appropriate for the mental factor that accompanies ordinary cognitions but somehow “transcendent discernment” does not sound particularly inspiring. Supreme knowledge is a very literal translation of the Tibetan explanations of the etymology of the word, but it is rather opaque. No one could argue that prajna has the wrong meaning, but English speakers do not naturally understand it and might think of it as being something exalted and foreign—not something that is associated with everything that happens in our minds. For these reasons, full knowing seems the best translation.

17. Prince Yaśomitra’s Sphuṭārthābhidharmakośavyākhyā, an explication of the autocommentary.

18. That is, phenomena can be either defiled or undefiled. They cannot be both, nor can they be neither.

19. That is, in all times and all situations.

20. That is, there are some future composite phenomena that exist but will not happen.

21. The defilements are types of afflictions. See V.35.

22. They develop or expand either when they observe or focus upon an object or when they are concurrent or associated with a cognition that focuses on an object. See V.17– 18.

23. Phenomena or bases that have the characteristic of being defiled.

24. The non-Buddhist Vaiśeṣika school.

25. Prince Yaśomitra’s commentary is a textual explication of the autocommentary. The phrases in quotation marks are phrases from the autocommentary itself.

26. It is unobscured neutral because it is neither virtue nor nonvirtue, and it is not concurrent with any affliction. See II.30bc.

27. For example, when one attains the state of arhat, all of the afflictions and other discards of seeing and meditation have been discarded, so they cease. That cessation is attained by the power of full knowing, so it is analytic cessation.

28. The four classes discarded by seeing the truths of suffering, origin, cessation, and path plus the one class discarded by meditation.

29. This passage is quoted in its entirety in Mikyö Dorje’s Springtime Cow.

30. See VIII.43d.

31. This refers to the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje’s commentary grub bde’i spyi ’jo (The Springtime Cow of Easy Accomplishment), which is called the Karmakaṭīka (Karmapa’s Commentary) in Sanskrit, or Karṭīk or Ṭīka for short.

32. ’du shes, saṃjñā. This is commonly translated as perception, but that has several meanings in English and this aggregate refers to only one of them. The aggregate of feeling, part of the aggregate of formations, and the aggregate of consciousness are also perception, and so calling this aggregate perception is potentially confusing and misleading. What this aggregate refers to is the mental process of forming an idea about the object: it is like when one sees a vase and thinks “That is big” or “That is small.” Additionally, in other contexts the word ’du shes matches the usage of the English words conception or idea.

33. The Sanskrit loka and Tibetan word ’jig rten translated as world literally mean “disintegrating support.”

34. See I.11.

35. The Abhidharmasamuccaya by Asanga.

36. Non-Buddhist schools are called extremist because they hold views of the extremes of either permanence or nihilism.

37. I.e., Master Vasubandhu.

38. The eight substances are earth, water, fire, air, form, scent, taste, and touch. Material objects in the Desire realm, such as vases, are made out of at least these eight substances. See II.22ff

39. See II.22ab.

40. That is, sounds produced by matter that is considered part of a being’s body and is pervaded by the faculties. See I.34bc. Sources refers to earth, water, fire, and air; see I.12–13.

41. The Great Exposition school posits that vows and some other actions have actual, substantial forms that cannot be perceived. These forms stay with the being who took the vow until the vow is forfeited. The Sutra and Mind Only schools do not accept such forms as real or substantial. These are discussed further in area IV.

42. See II.36c ff.

43. Tib. ’byung ba, Skt. bhūta. Although earth, water, fire, and air are commonly called elements in English, the literal translation of sources is used to avoid ambiguity because of other uses of the word element, as in the eighteen elements. In Tibetan, ’byung ba and khams (element) can both refer to earth and so forth, so source is used when the Tibetan uses the word ’byung ba and element when the Tibetan word is khams.

44. The Sanskrit word dhātu derives from the verb that means “to hold.”

45. Jñānaprasthāna by Kātyāniputra.

46. Formations that are not concurrent or associated with mind, such as attainment, etc. See II.35b ff.

47. Tib.: gnas bcu bstan pa.

48. Form, nonconcurrence, and noncomposites. The Kashmiri Great Exposition posits five bases of the knowable—form, mind, mental factors, nonconcurrent formations, and noncomposites—which have substantial existence.

49. That is to say, a future mind consciousness is supported by the cognition that immediately precedes it, which is also in the future (in most instances).

50. The eye consciousness has the dominant condition of the eye, the ear consciousness the dominant condition of the ear, etc.

51. The four ways bodhisattvas magnetize or attract beings: generosity, pleasant speech, meaningful conduct, and agreement in purpose.

52. Bhikshus, bhikshunis, and male and female householders who hold the five lay precepts.

53. In other words, the ten sense bases that have form are by their nature the aggregate of form and possess the characteristics of form. They do not possess the characteristics of feeling, etc. It is not a nominal inclusion where what is included and what includes have different characteristics.

54. The Sanskrit and Tibetan words actually mean “caste,” which has a sense of potential or cause, hence the explanation of the term as “origin.” Because the word caste has negative connotations in English, it is commonly translated as “family.”

55. The four erroneous conceptions are of the permanent, self, clean, and blissful. See V.9.

56. I.22cd.

57. As opposed to substantial existence. In other words, they would merely be labels applied by the mind to a collection of other things.

58. The fourth Formless level of Neither Conception nor Non-Conception.

59. See I.35.

60. dkon mchog ta la’i gzungs.

61. The aggregates of discipline, samadhi, full knowing, liberation, and the wisdom that sees liberation.

62. See VIII.36–7.

63. See VIII.35.

64. A synonym for the four Formless absorptions.

65. The Eighth Karmapa’s commentary.

66. Mind and mental factors.

67. See I.4cd.

68. Tib. ngo bo nyid kyi rtog pa, nges par rtog pa, and rjes su dran pa’i rtog pa.

69. mdo sde gdags pa

70. A reference to the Buddha’s voice as he is sometimes called Brahma. See VI.54.

71. Cause of same status, universal cause, and cause of full ripening are discussed in II.49ff.

72. The first moment of the path of seeing. See VI.28.

73. In this context, active means that the element of dharma always supports the consciousness that perceives it.

74. A school of Buddhism noted for its unorthodox positions, notably that there is an inexpressible self of the individual.

75. Severing the three roots of virtue—nongreed, nonhatred, and nondelusion—is ceasing to have them. See IV.79–80.

76. See V.7.

77. This is because there is no consideration or examination on those levels. See VIII.13.

78. Lion’s milk is said to be so potent that it will shatter a vessel made of anything other than gold.

SECOND AREA

Teachings on the Faculties

You make the lotus of your students’ intellect blossom

And expel the darkness of the night of ignorance.

To the great Master praised as the regent,

The friend, the sun, I prostrate, then

In this, rather than imposing my own concepts,

But by penetrating the depths of unchanging intelligence

Of the entire progression of schools of sutra and tantra,

I will release the mass of deep scriptural meaning.

The second area, the “Teaching on the Faculties,” has an explanation of the text of the area and a presentation of the area’s name. The explanation of the text of the area has three topics: I. The nature of the faculties, II. The manner in which composites arise, and III. The explanation of causes, conditions, and results.

I. The nature of the faculties. This has two topics: A. Identifying each faculty, and B. Understanding the aspects of the faculties’ natures.

A. Identifying each faculty. This has three topics: 1. Explaining the names of each faculty, 2. Establishing the number of faculties, and 3. The individual characteristics of the faculties.

1. Explaining the names of each faculty. This has two points.

a. According to the Great Exposition tradition

1.

Five exercise their power over

Four meanings. Four over two, it’s claimed.

e five and eight, over all-afflicted

And over the utterly pure.

In the first chapter, where it says “The internal twelve are faculties,”[79] what are the faculties? Where it says, “Composite dharmas are the five…”[80] what is the manner in which these composites arise? you ask. In order to explain the answers to these questions in depth, this second area is presented.

The meaning of the word faculty is as explained in the autocommentary:

What is the meaning of faculty (indriya)? you ask. The root idi signifies supreme controlling power. Exercising power over that, they are faculties. For that reason, exercising power is the meaning of faculty.

There are twenty-two faculties: the five sense faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body; the mind faculty; the faculty of life force; the male and female faculties; the five feelings of pleasure, suffering, mental pleasure, mental unhappiness, and neutral; the five of faith, diligence, mindfulness, samadhi, and full knowing; and the three undefiled of producing all-knowing, all-knowing, and having all-knowing.

Of these twenty-two faculties, which faculty exercises power over what? you ask. Except for the inactive faculties,[81] the five faculties of eye and so forth exercise their power over four meanings each: beautifying the support, protecting the body, producing the consciousnesses and their concurrences, and exercising exclusive power over the perception of their own object.

The four faculties of male, female, life force, and mind each exercise power over two purposes. The first two differentiate sentient beings and differentiate their specifics, such as shape, whether they have large or small breasts, and whether they have high or low voices. The faculty of life force exercises power over rebirth-linking in a likeness[82] and correctly maintaining the likeness’ continuum. The faculty of mind exercises power over rebirth-linking in the next existence and harmonizing the other faculties with the mind.[83] The meaning of life force exercising power over rebirth-linking is as said:

If at that time, a scent-eater[84] has either of two minds—a mind associated with affection or a mind associated with anger—become manifest…

The meaning of the mind exercising power over rebirth-linking is extensively explained in the sutra that says, “This world is led by the mind… ” “It’s claimed” is a skeptical word from the Sutra school for the Great Exposition.

e five defiled feelings and the eight faculties of faith, diligence, mindfulness, samadhi, full knowing, producing all-knowing, all-knowing, and having all-knowing exercise respectively power over the all-afflicted and over the utterly pure. e five feelings produce greed, hatred, and delusion. During the paths of accumulation and joining, the five from faith to full knowing are the cause of the utterly pure, and in the paths of seeing, meditation, and nonlearning, the eight are utterly pure in essence.

b. According to the Sutra school tradition

2.

For power to focus on their own

Or all objects, six faculties.

For power over femaleness and maleness:

e body’s female and male faculties.

3.

For power to maintain one’s likeness,

e all-afflicted, and the pure;

Life, feelings, and five faculties

Of faith and so forth are proposed.

4.

To attain high, higher, and nirvana,

Et cetera, there are faculties of

Producing all-knowing, all-knowing,

And having all-knowing as well.

By saying, “It is claimed,” the Sutra school said the Great Exposition tradition was illogical. Now to present their own tradition: There are six faculties from eye to mind. Of these, the five internal elements wield the power to focus on their own objects, and the mind wields power over focus on all six objects of form and so forth. For that reason, there are six distinct faculties.

For exercising power over that which defines femaleness, the female faculty is presented, and for power over that which defines maleness, the male faculty is presented. The body’s female and male faculties are presented as a part of the body faculty, from which they are not separate.

For exercising power to maintain one’s own likeness, over the all-afflicted, and over the utterly pure, respectively the faculty of life force, the faculties of the feelings, and the five faculties of faith and so forth are proposed.

This defines the faculties of producing all-knowing, all-knowing, and having all-knowing as faculties. To exercise the power to attain the high (allknowing), the higher (having all-knowing), and nirvana without remainder, et cetera, in order there are the three faculties of producing all-knowing, allknowing, and having all-knowing, which are presented. The words, “as well” mean that just as the eye and so forth are faculties, these three are also faculties. The words “et cetera” indicate that these three faculties also exercise power respectively to abandon the discards of seeing, to abandon the discards of meditation, and to reside blissfully in the visible—that is, in this lifetime.

2. Establishing the number of faculties. This has two points.

a. The Great Exposition tradition

5.

ere are as many faculties as

e mind’s supports, distinctions, and

at which maintains, those which afflict,

Gatherers, and the utterly pure.

If exercising power is a faculty, there are many powers such as creating karmic formations out of ignorance, speaking with the mouth, and so on, so fixing the number of faculties at twenty-two is illogical, you say. This is not a fault. Those exercise some small bit of power but do not exercise exclusive power, so they are not presented as faculties.

Therefore to provide the mind’s support, there are the six faculties from eye to mind. To create distinctions in the bodily support, there are the female and male faculties. To maintain one’s likeness in a similar body, there is the life force faculty. To make the consciousnesses all-afflicted, there are the feelings. Because they are the basis for gathering the utterly pure accumulations, there are the five of faith and so forth. And for power over the essence of the utterly pure, the last three faculties are presented. There are this many dharmas to exercise power over, and there are as many faculties as that, so their number is determined.

b. The Sutra school tradition

6.

Or as supports for entry, birth,

Remaining, and enjoying there are

Fourteen, and likewise for the reverse

ere are the other faculties.

Or else one can alternatively establish the number of faculties as follows: as they provide support for entry into samsara, there are the six from the eye to the mind. As they are the cause for birth in samsara, there are the male and female faculties. As it leads to remaining there, there is the life-force faculty. And as they are the cause of enjoying or making use of samsara, there are the feelings. Thus there are the fourteen faculties for the purpose of entering samsara.

And just as the entry into samsara has faculties for its support, birth, remaining, and enjoyment, likewise for the reverse of samsara as well, there are the faculties that exercise power over the support, birth, remaining, and enjoyment of the utterly pure. The support for the birth of the utterly pure is the five of faith and so forth. For power over the initial birth of the utterly pure, there is the faculty of producing all-knowing. For power over remaining in the utterly pure, there is the faculty of all-knowing, and for power over enjoying the utterly pure, there is the faculty of having all-knowing. These faculties are other than those that enter samsara; they are faculties that reverse samsara.

3. The individual characteristics of the faculties. This has two topics: a. The characteristics of the five faculties of feeling, and b. The characteristics of the three stainless faculties.

a. The characteristics of the five faculties of feeling. This has three topics:

i. Bodily feelings of pleasure and suffering, ii. Mental feelings of pleasure and suffering, and iii. Neutral feelings.

i. Bodily feelings of pleasure and suffering. This has two points.

(1) Suffering

7ab

e faculty of suffering

Is any unpleasant bodily feeling.

Among the twenty-two faculties, the seven faculties that have form and the faculty of mind have been explained. Life force and the five of faith and so forth will be explained below. Here the five faculties of feeling and the three undefiled faculties will be explained.

In this section, body is proposed to mean any of the faculties that have form. The faculty of suffering is any unpleasant bodily feeling associated with the five sense faculties, whatever it might be.

(2) Pleasure

7cd

Pleasant is pleasure. On third dhyana

e mind’s is the faculty of pleasure.

Any pleasant feeling associated with the sense faculties is the faculty of pleasure. Not only that, any pleasant feeling that arises in association with the mind on the third dhyana is the faculty of cognitive pleasure. This is because the five sense-gate consciousnesses are not present on that level, so there is no bodily feeling. The joy of the first two dhyanas is mental pleasure, but on the third level one is free of attachment to joy, so the pleasure felt on the third level is also not mental pleasure. Therefore, the faculty of pleasure combines the bodily pleasure of the sense faculties and the cognitive pleasure of the third dhyana.

ii. Mental feelings of pleasure and suffering. This has two points.

(1) Mental happiness

8a

On others, it is mental pleasure.

On levels that are other than the third dhyana—Desire and the first two dhyanas—any pleasant feeling that is associated with the mental consciousness, whatever it might be, is the faculty of mental pleasure, because on those levels one is not free of attachment to joy. The distinction between cognitive pleasure and mental pleasure is that mental joy of the levels from Desire to the second dhyana is merely produced by thought and is unstable. That is mental pleasure. On the third dhyana, the pleasant feeling in the mind that remains stably is cognitive pleasure.

(2) Unhappiness

8bc

Unpleasant feelings in the mind

Are unhappiness,

Any unpleasant feelings that arise in association with the mind consciousness are the faculty of mental unhappiness.

iii. Neutral feelings. This has two points.

(1) Characteristics

8cd

and neutral feelings

Are middling

And the faculty of neutral feeling is a middling experience that is neither pleasant nor unpleasant.

(2) The reason neutral is not divided into bodily and of mental

8d

since both are thought-free

Is this neutral feeling of body or of mind? you ask. Neutral is both bodily and mental since the middling neutral feelings of both body and mind are thought-free and born from within. The feelings of pleasure and suffering of both body and mind are not like that, so they are explained separately.

b. The characteristics of the three stainless faculties

9ab

On the paths of seeing, meditation,

And of nonlearning, nine are three.

On the paths of seeing, meditation, and of nonlearning, the nine faculties of mind, pleasure, mental pleasure, neutral feelings, and the five including faith and so forth are called the three stainless faculties. This is because on the path of seeing these nine are the faculty of producing all-knowing; on the path of meditation they are the faculty of all-knowing, and on the path of no learning they are the faculty of having all-knowing.

B. Understanding the aspects of the faculties’ natures. This has four topics: 1. Teaching the full classification of their aspects, 2. How they are acquired, 3. The number of faculties present when attaining a result, and 4. How the faculties are possessed.

1. Teaching the full classification of their aspects. This has six points: a. Whether they are defiled and undefiled, b. Whether they are fully ripened or not, c. Whether they produce fully ripened results, d. Aspects of virtuous, nonvirtuous, and neutral, e. Aspects of which realm they are in, and f. Whether they are discarded.

a. Whether they are defiled and undefiled

9cd

ree stainless. ose with form, life force,

And suffering are defiled. Nine twofold.

How many of the faculties are defiled and how many are undefiled? you ask. The three faculties that were just explained are stainless or undefiled only. Those seven faculties with form, the faculty of life force, and the faculty of suffering are solely defiled, because they are discarded by meditation. The nine faculties including mind, pleasure, mental pleasure, neutral, and the five of faith and so forth are twofold—either defiled or undefiled—because when they are associated with the paths of seeing, learning, and no learning, they are undefiled, but otherwise they are defiled.

b. Whether they are fully ripened or not

10a–c

Life force is fully ripened.

Twelve Are twofold, except the last eight

And mental unhappiness.

Well then, how many of these are fully ripened results, you ask. The faculty of life force is fully ripened only, because in the higher realms it is propelled by defiled virtue, and in the lower realms it is propelled by nonvirtue.

In the great Ṭika there is an extensive discussion of whether life force is fully ripened or not, the distinction between life force and life, proposals by Venerable Ghoṣaka and others, the necessity for the Teacher to prolong or forsake his life, and so forth. The Master’s explanation is in agreement with Venerable Ghoṣaka. From the autocommentary:

Therefore, that life force [of an individual who has extended his life through the power of meditation] is not fully ripened, but other than that, it [life force] is fully ripened.

The necessity for an arhat to prolong or forsake his life is as said:

When one has acted well with Brahmic conduct

And meditated fully on the path,

There will be joy at extinguishing one’s life,

As if it were like being free of sickness.

Twelve faculties can be either of the two—either fully ripened or not. The twelve are the faculties except for the last eight and mental unhappiness: the seven that have form plus mind and four of the feelings. The seven that have form—eye, and so forth—are not fully ripened when produced by development, but are when produced by full ripening. Mental feelings that are virtuous or afflicted, that are associated with the paths of activity such as crafts, or that are associated with emanated minds, are not fully ripened. Those other than that are fully ripened.

The last eight of faith and so forth are only virtuous. Mental unhappiness is always either virtuous or nonvirtuous. For these reasons, these nine are proven not to be fully ripened.[85]

c. Whether they produce fully ripened results

10cd

at one

Must have full ripening. Ten twofold:

11a

Mind, other feelings, faith, so forth.

How many of these have full ripening? How many do not? you ask. That one faculty of mental unhappiness alone must always have full ripening, because it is always either nonvirtue or defiled virtue. Ten faculties are twofold as they can either have full ripening or not. These ten are the mind faculty, the other four feelings excluding mental unhappiness, and the five of faith and so forth. The nonvirtue of mind and the four feelings as well as the defiled virtue of all ten have full ripening; the neutral and undefiled of all ten have no full ripening. The seven that have form and life force are neutral, and the last three are undefiled, so they are proven not to have full ripening.

d. Aspects of virtuous, nonvirtuous, and neutral

11b–d

Eight virtuous. Unhappiness

Is twofold. Mind and other feelings

Are threefold, and the rest are onefold.

How many of these are virtuous, nonvirtuous, and neutral? you ask. The last eight are always virtuous. Mental unhappiness is twofold: either virtue or nonvirtue. Mind and the other four feelings are threefold, because they can be concurrent with all three, and the rest, the seven that have form plus life force, are onefold—neutral only.

e. Aspects of which realm they are in

12.

Except the stainless, in Desire.

Except male, female faculties,

And sufferings: in Form. In Formless

ere are none with form, nor any pleasures.

Among the faculties, how many are in the Desire, Form and Formless realms? you ask. Except the three stainless faculties, nineteen of the faculties are found in the Desire realm. Except the male and female faculties, and the mental and bodily sufferings, fifteen of the faculties are also found in the Form realm. Those four faculties are not found there for the following reasons: Because those in the higher realms are free of desire for sex, there are no male or female faculties. Because the body is extremely pure and the cause of bodily suffering, nonvirtue, is not present, there is no bodily suffering. Because one’s continuum is moistened by tranquility meditation, and the nine causes of mental unhappiness[86] have been discarded, there is no mental unhappiness.

Of those fifteen faculties, in the Formless realm there are none of the five with form, nor are there any bodily and mental pleasures, so there are the eight faculties of life force, mind, neutrality, and the five of faith and so forth. The five with form are not in Formless because there is no form there. There is neither pleasure nor mental happiness there because one is detached from both of those.

It should be known that the three stainless faculties are in all instances outside of the realms.

f. Whether they are discarded

13.

Mind and three feelings are threefold.

e two discard unhappiness.

By meditation, nine. Five not

Discarded, also. ree are not.

How many of them are discarded by seeing? How many by meditation? How many are not discarded? The mind and the three feelings of pleasure, mental pleasure, and neutral feeling are threefold: one part is discarded by seeing, one part by meditation, and the third part is not discarded. Those that are concurrent with discards of seeing are discarded by seeing. Those that are defiled virtue are discards of meditation. Those that are undefiled are not discarded. The two paths of meditation and seeing discard mental unhappiness. The faculties discarded by meditation only are the nine—the seven with form, life force, and suffering because they are defiled dharmas which are not discarded by seeing. The undefiled portion of the five faculties of faith and so forth are not discarded. The word “also” indicates that their defiled portion is discarded by meditation. The last three are not discarded because they are undefiled.

2. How the faculties are acquired. This has two topics: a. The actual way they are acquired, and b. Additionally, the way they cease.

a. The actual way they are acquired. This has three topics: i. Obtaining them in the Desire realm, ii. In the Form realm, and iii. In the Formless realm.

i. Obtaining them in the Desire realm. This has two points.

(1) General

14ab

In Desire, at first one gains the two

Full ripened.

In each realm, how many fully ripened faculties are acquired at first? you ask. In Desire, in the first three of the four modes of birth—birth from egg, warmth and moisture, and the womb—at first one gains the two faculties that are fully ripened by nature because the two faculties of body and life force are acquired.

Well then, is not the mind faculty also acquired? you ask. Of course it is acquired, but it is afflicted, as explained in the verse, “The state of rebirth is afflicted.”[87] For that reason, it is not fully ripened.[88]

(2) Specific

14bc

Not miraculous birth—

With that, six, seven, or else eight.

Not just two fully ripened faculties are attained in miraculous birth. With that, miraculous birth, in the case of a miraculous birth of a being with no sexual organs, such as humans in the first aeon,[89] that being attains six fully ripened faculties: the first sense faculties of eye and so forth, and life force. Or if the being has one sexual organ, they also attain either one of the sexual faculties for a total of seven. Or if the being has two sexual organs, they attain both for a total of eight fully ripened faculties acquired. In the higher realms, there is no miraculous birth with two sexual organs, but there is in the lower realms.

ii. Obtaining them in the Form realm

14d

ere are six in Form

There are six faculties acquired in Form, because the five sense faculties and life force are acquired.

iii. Obtaining them in the Formless realm

14d

and one above.

And only the one faculty of life force is newly acquired above that in the Formless realm, because there are no other fully ripened faculties in that realm.

b. Additionally the way the faculties cease. This has two topics: i. General, and ii. The particulars of when a virtuous mind is possessed.

i. General. This has three topics: (1) The manner of cessation in Formless, (2) The manner of cessation in Form, and (3) The manner of cessation in Desire.

(1) The manner of cessation in Formless

15ab

When dying in Formless, just life force

And mind and neutral feeling cease.

When dying in the three realms, which of the faculties cease simultaneously? you ask. When dying in the Formless realms, just the three of life force, and mind, and neutral feeling cease simultaneously.

(2) The manner of cessation in Form

15c

In Form, eight cease.

In Form, those three and the five sense organs, for a total of eight faculties, cease simultaneously.

(3) The manner of cessation in Desire. This has two points.

(a) The manner of cessation for miraculous birth

15cd

With miraculous

Birth in Desire, ten, nine, or eight.

For beings born by miraculous birth in Desire who have two sexual organs, ten faculties stop simultaneously: the eight just mentioned plus the two sexual organs. For those with one organ, nine, or for those with no organs, eight.

(b) For birth from womb

16a

In gradual deaths, the four will cease.

In gradual deaths, the four faculties of life force, mind, neutral feeling, and body will cease simultaneously.

ii. The particulars of when a virtuous mind is possessed

16b

In virtuous, add five to all.

When dying in a virtuous mind-state, add the five faculties of faith and so forth to all, the faculties that cease in each of the six different types of death in the Three Realms discussed above. Therefore in the Formless realm, eight faculties stop simultaneously; in the Form realm, thirteen; and in the Desire realm fifteen or so forth stop simultaneously.

There is no gradual death in the two higher realms because one is born there by miraculous birth.[90] The undefiled faculties do not cease at death.

3. Number of faculties present when attaining a result. This has three points.

a. How many are present when the last two results are attained

16c

Two outer results are gained with nine.

When counting either from the top or the bottom, the two outer results of arhat and stream-enterer are both gained with nine faculties each. The result of stream-enterer is attained with the six common faculties—mind and the five of faith and so forth—plus the faculties of neutral feeling, producing all-knowing, and all-knowing for a total of nine. Arhatship is attained by the same six common faculties; any one of the feelings of pleasure, mental pleasure, or neutral; and the faculties of all-knowing and having all-knowing for a total of nine.

b. Second, when the middle two results are attained

16d

e two with seven, eight, or nine.

The two results of once-returner and nonreturner are attained with seven, eight, or nine faculties. If they are attained by successive results and the worldly path, then they are attained by the five of faith and so forth, mind, and neutral feeling. If it is a transworldly path, in addition to those there is the faculty of all-knowing for a total of eight. When attained by skipping results, they are attained by nine. The result of once-returner is attained by the same faculties as lead to stream-enterer, and nonreturner is attained by nine: the six common faculties, any one of the three feelings, producing allknowing, and all-knowing.

c. Third, refuting a challenge

17ab

Because it’s possible to attain

Arhat with eleven, it is taught.

If it is possible to attain the state of arhat with nine faculties, then that is contradictory of the treatise Jñānaprasthāna where it states that arhat is attained with eleven faculties, you say. That explanation of attaining the state of arhat with eleven faculties and this explanation of attaining it with nine are not contradictory. This is because it is possible that some might attain the state of arhat, regress from the result over and over again,[91] and then re-attain it with eleven faculties, so it is taught there as eleven. Here it is taught as nine faculties in terms of attaining arhat a single time.

The manner in which it is possible to attain arhat by eleven is as follows: First one attains the state of arhat with the faculty of pleasure. Then one regresses from the result, and restores the result with the faculty of mental pleasure. Then one regresses again and restores again with the faculty of neutral feeling.

4. How the faculties are possessed. This has three topics: a. Must-haves, b. Minimum possessed, and c. Maximum possessed.

a. Must-haves. This has seven points: i. Three must-haves, ii. Four must-haves, iii. Five must-haves, iv. Seven must-haves, v. Eight must-haves, vi. Eleven must-haves, and vii. Thirteen must-haves.

i. Three must-haves

17cd

One who possesses neutral feeling,

Life force, or mind must have the three.

If someone has any particular faculty, then how many faculties must they necessarily possess? One who possesses any one of the faculties of neutral feeling, life force, or mind must have all three of them. This pervades, because the three are must-haves.

Well then, when absorbed in the two mind-free states, because there is neither mind nor neutral feeling, therefore one must not have life force either, you say. Mind and neutral feeling are not manifestly present, but because they have been attained, it is logical that they are possessed.

ii. Four must-haves

18a

ose who have pleasure or body, four,

Those who have either the faculty of pleasure or the body faculty, they must have four faculties, because that one is added to the three must-haves for a total of four which must necessarily be had.

iii. Five must-haves

18bc

And five have those who’ve eyes, et cetera,

Or mental pleasure.

Those who have any one of the faculties of eye, et cetera—ear, nose, and tongue—then they must have five, because in addition to that, they have the three must-haves and the body faculty. Or if they have mind pleasure, they must have five, because one has the three must-haves, pleasure, and mental pleasure.

Does someone who has been born in the second dhyana and who has not attained the third dhyana possess a faculty of pleasure? you ask. They possess the afflicted pleasure of the third dhyana.

iv. Seven must-haves

18cd

ose who have

Suffering, seven,

Those who have the faculty of suffering must have seven, because they must have body, life force, mind, and the four feelings excluding mental unhappiness.

v. Eight must-haves

18d

and the female

19a

Faculty and so forth have eight.

Those who possess either the female faculty and so forth, the male faculty, must have eight faculties, because they have that one in addition to the seven mentioned above. Not only that, one who possesses mental unhappiness must also have eight because they have mental unhappiness in addition to those seven. Those who possess the five faculties of faith and so forth must have the three must-haves in addition to those five for a total of eight.

vi. Eleven must-haves

19bc

ose with the faculty of having

All-knowing have eleven.

Those with either of the faculties of all-knowing or having all-knowing must have eleven faculties because in addition to either of those, they must have the three must-haves, pleasure, mental pleasure, and the five of faith, and so forth.

vii. Thirteen must-haves

19cd

With

Producing all-knowing, thirteen.

With the faculty of producing all-knowing, one must have thirteen faculties, because one must have mind, life force, body, the feelings with the exception of mental unhappiness, the five of faith, and so forth, and producing all-knowing. As this is the path of seeing, they must have either the male or the female faculty, but since it is not definite which of the two is possessed, neither is mentioned here.

b. Minimum possessed. This has two points.

i. The minimum possessed by those with no virtue

20ab

ose without virtue who’ve the fewest

Have eight: life, body, feelings, mind.

What is the minimum number of faculties that one can have? you ask. In Desire, those who are at the moment of death and are without virtue from severing its roots are the ones who have the fewest faculties. They have the eight faculties of life force, body, five feelings, and mind.

ii. The minimum possessed by the childish in the Formless realm

20cd

e childish of the Formless likewise

Have neutral, life force, mind, and virtues.

The childish[92] beings of the Formless realm likewise have eight because they have the faculties of neutral feeling, life force, mind, and the five virtues of faith and so forth.

c. Maximum possessed. This has two points.

i. Ordinary individuals

21ab

e most that one could have is nineteen

Except the stainless, with two organs.

What is the maximum number of faculties that one can possess? you ask. The most faculties that one individual could possibly have is nineteen, as one can have all of them except the three stainless faculties. Who could possess all these? you ask. Some individuals with two sexual organs could possess them.

ii. Nobles

21cd

And nobles who are attached could have

All but one organ and two stainless.

And nobles who are stream-enterers or once-returners and who are attached[93] could also have nineteen faculties. As it is impossible for nobles to have two sexual organs, they can possess all the faculties but one organ and either the first and last or the last two stainless faculties. If they are detached from the Desire realm, they do not have mental unhappiness, so it specifies that they are attached.

II. The manner in which composites arise. This has two topics: A. Those with form, and B. Those without form.

A. Those with form. This has three points.

1. Those that arise with eight substances

22ab

In Desire, atoms without sound

Or faculties: eight substances.

In the Realm of Desire, atoms, the smallest agglomerated masses that appear to the mind to have parts but are without either sound or faculties of body and so forth, definitely arise simultaneously with the eight substances, because they arise simultaneously with the substances of the four sources and the four source-derived.[94]

2. Those that arise with nine substances

22c

With body faculty, nine substances.

Those smallest masses with the body faculty have nine substances, because they have that faculty in addition to the previous eight, for a total of nine.

3. Those that arise with ten substances

22d

Another faculty, ten substances.

If in addition they have another faculty, they have ten substances, because in addition to the previous nine they have any one of the eye and so forth.

Saying “agglomerated” above eliminates single partless particles that do not arise in a collection.

B. Those without form. This has two topics: 1. Overview, and 2. Explanation.

1. Overview

23a–c

e mind and factors must arise together.

All with the characteristics of composites.

Attainment, sometimes.

The primary mind and its associated mental factors must arise together at the same time because they cannot mutually cannot arise without each other. As is said in a sutra:

Without the mental factors,

The mind cannot arise at all,

Just like the sun and the sun’s rays,

It is always simultaneous with them.

All composites must arise simultaneously with the characteristics of composites: arising, staying, aging, and disintegrating. The attainment that is included within their stream of being arises at the same time as the dharma that is attained, like a body and its shadow. This is in terms of attainment that arises at the same time; attainment that arises earlier or later is not so.

The word “sometimes” is a word of inquiry. Its purpose is to inform that the attainment of the two cessations arises, but the cessations that are attained do not arise.

2. Explanation. This has two topics: a. An extensive explanation of those that are concurrent with mind, and b. An extensive explanation of nonconcurrent formations.

a. The extensive explanation of those that are concurrent with mind. This has two topics: i. Brief overview, and ii. Extensive explanation.

i. Brief overview

23cd

Factors are fivefold,

Since there are different major grounds and so forth.

Mental factors are fivefold groups, since there are the different major grounds and so forth.

ii. Extensive explanation. This has four topics: (1) The classification of the major grounds, (2) Which mental factors arise in association with which cognition, (3) Drawing distinctions between similar factors, and (4) Teaching synonyms.

(1) The classification of the major grounds. This has five topics: (a) The major ground of cognition, (b) The virtuous major ground, (c) The afflicted major ground, (d) The nonvirtuous major ground, and (e) The major ground of minor near afflictions.

(a) The major ground of cognition

24.

Feeling, volition, and conception,

Intention, contact, intelligence,

And mindfulness, attention, interest,

Samadhi are with all cognitions.

Feeling, which in essence is experience; volition, which makes the mind move to the object; and conception of attributes; intention which wishes to attain its aim; contact which, after the object, faculty and consciousness combine, determines whether an object is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral; intelligence or full knowing which distinguishes defiled and undefiled dharmas; and mindfulness, which can hold the mind on its focus without forgetting it; attention, which aims the minds toward and engages the focus; interest, which is desire which perceives qualities in the focus; and samadhi, which makes the mind one-pointed, are the ten factors called the major ground of cognitions. They are called so because they arise in association with all cognitions.

(b) The virtuous major ground

25.

Faith, carefulness, and pliancy,

Equanimity, shame, modesty,

Two roots, and nonhostility,

And diligence are with all virtue.

Faith is the sincere purity of a mind that is free of the dirt of the afflictions and near afflictions. Carefulness is to value virtuous dharmas such as faith and to protect the mind from the defiled. And pliancy is workability of the mind that can withstand aiming toward its focus. Between immeasurable equanimity and the formation equanimity, equanimity here is the latter: it is the mind that spontaneously engages without dullness or agitation. Shame and modesty are both presented from the aspect of abstaining from the inherently un wholesome. They will be explained below.[95] The two virtuous roots of nondesire and nonhatred are the antidotes for greed and hatred. Nondelusion is designated as an aspect of full knowing, so it is included within the major ground of cognition and not mentioned here. Nonhostility is a loving heart, and diligence is a mind that is excited about virtuous actions. These ten are called the virtuous major ground because they are associated with all virtuous cognitions.

(c) The afflicted major ground

26a–c

Delusion, carelessness, and laziness,

Nonfaith, and torpor, agitation:

With all afflicted.

Delusion is not knowing about karma, cause and effect, and so forth. Delusion and ignorance are equivalent. Carelessness is the opposite of carefulness: it is a mind not habituated to virtue. And laziness is the opposite of diligence: it is not being excited about virtue. Nonfaith is the opposite of faith: it is impurity in the mind. And torpor makes the mind unworkable and hazy. Agitation is disturbance in the mind. These six are the greater afflicted major ground because they arise with all afflicted cognitions.

(d) The nonvirtuous major ground

26cd

With nonvirtue,

Immodesty and shamelessness.

In association with all nonvirtuous cognitions, immodesty and shamelessness must always arise.

(e) The major ground of minor near afflictions

27.

Aggression, grudge, deceit, and envy,

Contentiousness, hypocrisy,

Stinginess, pretense, arrogance, and

Hostility: grounds of minor afflictions.

Aggression is to get angry with beings who might cause harm and fight with them. Grudges or resentment is to hold a grudge after getting angry. Deceit is a mind that does not accept faults to be faults and has the aspect of fooling, and envy or jealousy is not being able to bear it when someone else has something desirable. Contentiousness is to embrace misdeeds as truly fine. As it is explained, “Contentiousness is attachment to misdeeds.” Hypocrisy is to hide one’s faults and keep them secret. Stinginess is not giving dharma or material things to others out of greed for them. Pretense is to contrive that one has qualities that one really does not out of greed for goods, fame, or so forth. Arrogance will be taught below,[96] and hostility is to wish suffering upon sentient beings. These ten are called the grounds of the minor near afflictions because the only root affliction they are concurrent with is ignorance, because they are discarded only by meditation, and because they only arise in association with cognitions in the mental consciousness that are discarded by meditation. Thus the companions they are concurrent with, their class of discards, and the support they arise from are all minor.

Within these five groups there are thirty-eight mental factors. These do not include the indefinite factors, which Vasumitra and Pūrṇavardhana list in their commentaries:

Considering, examining,

Regret, and sleep, and anger, greed,

And pride, and doubt, so called: these eight

Are taught to be indefinite.

These eight are called indefinite because unlike the major grounds, they do not definitely arise with any particular cognition.

Including these eight indefinite, there are forty-six mental factors. Why are they not all mentioned here? you ask. Although they are not explained, they can be understood from the meaning. The definite ones are explicitly taught, and the indefinite are implicitly understood.

In the Great Vehicle abhidharma there are said to be fifty-one mental factors. Why are they condensed into forty-six here? you ask. As five of the Great Vehicle’s factors have only nominal existence, they are not included in this enumeration of those with substantial existence. The virtuous factor of nondelusion, the root affliction view, and the near affliction of nonawareness are designations given to different aspects of full knowing. The near affliction of distraction is a designation given to one aspect of samadhi. Forgetfulness is a designation for one part of mindfulness.[97]

(2) Which mental factors arise in association with which cognition. This has two topics: (a) Which mental factors arise in association with cognitions in Desire, and (b) Which factors arise in association with cognitions in the upper realms.

(a) Which mental factors arise in association with the cognitions in Desire. This has four topics: (i) What is associated with virtuous cognitions, (ii) Nonvirtuous cognitions, (iii) Neutral cognitions, and (iv) Sleep added as a clarification.

(i) What is associated with virtuous cognitions. This has two points.

A. General

28a–c

Minds in Desire, when virtuous, have

Considering and examining,

So they have twenty-two mental factors,

Minds in Desire, when virtuous, have or are accompanied by the associated mental factors of the first two major grounds, considering, and examining, so therefore they have twenty-two mental factors that arise.

B. Specific

28d

Some are augmented by regret.

Some virtuous cognitions of Desire have twenty-three associated mental factors because it is possible that regret might arise in association with them, so the number of mental factors is augmented by one. Regret must be either virtuous or nonvirtuous.

(ii) What is associated with nonvirtuous cognitions

29.

With unmixed minds that are nonvirtuous

And have view, too, the twenty arise.

If the four afflictions; or aggression,

Et cetera; or regret, twenty-one.

In association with unmixed minds, concurrent with unmixed ignorance, that are nonvirtuous and have the last three views,[98] too, the twenty mental factors arise. This is because the major ground of cognition, the afflicted major ground, the nonvirtuous major ground, consideration, and examination arise with these cognitions. If the cognition is associated with one of the four indefinite afflictions of greed, hatred, pride, or doubt; or one of the near afflictions such as aggression, et cetera; or regret, then there are twenty-one, because that affliction of greed or so forth is added to the previous twenty.

(iii) What is associated with neutral cognitions. This has two points.

A. Obscured neutral cognitions

30a

In the obscured, eighteen.

In the obscured neutral cognitions that have personality and extreme views,[99] eighteen mental factors arise. The major ground of cognition, the afflicted major ground, consideration, and examination all arise. The distinction between obscured and unobscured is that although both are basically neutral, obscured neutral obscures or hinders liberation, but unobscured does not.

B. Unobscured neutral cognitions

30ab

It’s said

With other neutrals, there are twelve.

It is said that with the other neutrals, the unobscured neutral cognitions, there are twelve mental factors that arise, because in addition to the major ground of cognition, consideration and examination also arise.

(iv) Sleep added as a clarification

30cd

Since sleep does not preclude any other,

Whenever it occurs, it’s added.

Since sleep does not preclude any other, in that it can arise with all cognitions, whether virtuous, nonvirtuous, or neutral, whenever it occurs, associated with a principal cognition, it is added. If you added it to the verses, they would read as follows:

Minds in Desire, when sleepy and virtue,

Have considering and examining,

So there are twenty-three mental factors,

Some are augmented by regret.

With sleepy, unmixed, nonvirtuous minds

That have view, too, twenty-one arise.

If the four afflictions or aggression,

Et cetera, or regret, twenty-two.

In the obscured, nineteen. It’s said

With other neutrals, there are thirteen.

(b) Which factors arise in association with cognitions in the upper realms. This has two topics: (i) Which are on the first dhyana, and (ii) Which are on the second dhyana and above.

(i) Which are on the first dhyana. This has two points.

A. Which are on the mere actual practice

31ab

Of these, regret, sleep, and nonvirtues

Are not on the first dhyana’s levels.

Of these concurrent factors that have been proposed, regret, sleep, and the nonvirtuous cognitions—anger, shamelessness, immodesty, and the seven near afflictions other than deceit, pretense, and arrogance—are not on the first dhyana’s levels. This is because regret and sleep are incompatible with samadhi, and one’s continuum has been moistened by tranquility, so there is no nonvirtue.

B. On the special actual practice

31c

In special, no considering;

In the special first dhyana not only are those factors absent, there is no considering because it has been abandoned.

(ii) Which are on the second dhyana and above

31d

Above that, no examining, either.

Above that special dhyana on the levels from the second dhyana to the Peak of Existence there is no examining, because those levels transcend it. The word “either” teaches that deceit and pretense are also absent. In the first dhyana there is pretense and deceit, as will be explained below:

Deceit and pretense are in Desire

And on first dhyan, as Brahma deludes.[100]

(3) Drawing distinctions between similar factors. This has four topics: (a) The distinction between shamelessness and immodesty, (b) The distinction between affection and respect, (c) The distinction between consideration and examination, and (d) The distinction between pride and arrogance.

(a) The distinction between shamelessness and immodesty

32ab

Shameless is disrespect; immodesty is

To view the unwholesome without fear.

Well then, what is the distinction between shamelessness and immodesty? you ask. Shamelessness is disrespect for qualities and those who have qualities such as one’s abbot, masters, and so forth. Immodesty is to view the unwholesome, such as killing and so forth, without fear.[101]

(b) The distinction between affection and respect. This has two points.

(i) Actual

32c

Affection’s faith; respect is shame.

Affection is faith in qualities and those who have qualities, and respect is shame that honors qualities and those who have qualities. Faith and respect in either qualities or individuals can also be presented as having four possibilities.

(ii) What realms these are in

32d

ese two are in Desire and Form.

Those two, affection and respect toward individuals, are found in the Desire and the Form realms, but they are not found in the Formless because in that realm individuals are not within each other’s sphere of perception.

(c) The distinction between consideration and examination

33ab

Considering and examining

Are coarse and fine.

There is a distinction between considering and examining: they are respectively the coarse and fine mental factors that engage the aspects of the object’s essence and particulars.

Well then, it is illogical that these both could arise simultaneously around a single cognition, you say. It is logical because by their combined power, the cognition becomes neither too coarse nor too fine. For example, if you were to put butter in cold water and then place it in the sun, by the power of both the water and the sun the butter would get neither too hot nor too cold. Some say that the explanation of both considering and examining arising in association with a single cognition is in terms of a continuum, but they are not simultaneous.

(d) The distinction between pride and arrogance

33b–d

Pride is self-inflation.

Arrogance is clinging to one’s features

Which then consumes the mind completely.

Pride and arrogance are separate because pride is the self-inflation of thinking that one is superior to others in terms social standing and qualities, while arrogance is clinging to one’s own features, such as social standing or body, which then consumes or uses up the mind completely.

(4) Teaching synonyms. This has two points.

(a) Synonyms of cognition

34ab

Cognition, mind, and consciousness

Are equivalent.

In the sutras where it says, “Cognition, mind, and consciousness,” what is the distinction between these three? There are many assertions of distinctions between these three in the Great Exposition, Sutra, and Yogic Conduct schools, but in our own tradition, the element of cognition, the sense base of mind, and the aggregate of consciousness are equivalent.

The Great Exposition school proposes that as they distinguish between virtue, nonvirtue, and so forth, they are presented as cognitions. As they know form and so forth, they are mind. As they know distinctions in the object, they are presented as consciousness.

(b) Parallels with mental factors

34b–d

e mind and factors

Have a support, a focus, aspects,

Concurrence also that is fivefold.

The mind or mental factors are equivalent in having the eye and so forth as support, having a focus on form and so forth, and having an aspect such as thinking, “Blue!”

The concurrence also between mind and mental factors is fivefold: there is concurrence of support, focus, aspect, time, and substance.

b. The extensive explanation of nonconcurrent formations. This has three topics: i. Overview, ii. Explanation, and iii. Teaching other distinctions between dharmas as a summary.

i. Overview

35.

Formations that are nonconcurrent

Include attainment, nonattainment,

Same class, Conception Free, absorptions,

And life force and the characteristics,

36a

Collections of names and so forth, too.

The fourteen formations that are nonconcurrent include 1) attainment, 2) nonattainment, 3) same class, 4) beings in the Conception Free abode, and the two absorptions of 5) the conception-free and 6) cessation, 7) and life force and 8-11) the four characteristics of composites, and collections of 12) names and so forth including 13) words, and 14) letters. The word “too” includes schism in the Sangha and the substance that is not wasted.

These are called nonconcurrent formations because they are in the aggregate of formations and not concurrent with mind.

ii. The explanation. This has seven topics: (1) The explanation of attainment and nonattainment, (2) Of same status, (3) Of nonconception, (4) Of the two absorptions, (5) Of life force, (6) Of the characteristics, and (7) Of names, words, and letters.

(1) The explanation of attainment and nonattainment. This has three topics: (a) Identifying their essence, (b) What they are of, and (c) Distinctions.

(a) Identifying their essence

36b

Attainment is to get or have.

To classify attainment, there is the attainment of getting or acquiring and the attainment of having or possessing. The first has two: getting something anew, such as the first undefiled moment, and getting after regressing, such as getting what one had previously regressed from when attaining the actual practice of the dhyanas and formless absorptions. The attainment of having also has two: possessing the continuum, such as the second moment of the vows of individual liberation where one possesses the continuum of the first moment, and possession from the beginning, such as ordinary individuals who possess the afflictions of existence from the very beginning.

(b) What they are of. This has two points.

(i) General

36cd

Attainment, nonattainment are of

What is in one’s stream

Attainment and nonattainment are of composites that are included in one’s own stream of being, not of what is included in another being’s continuum or not included in anyone’s continuum.

(ii) Specifics

36d

or two cessations.

The two noncomposite cessations are not connected with anyone’s continuum, but since that which they negate can be connected to beings’ continuums, there is attainment and nonattainment of the two cessations. Nonanalytic cessation is possessed by all sentient beings because it is said in the abhidharma:

Who possesses undefiled dharmas? you ask. Answer.

All sentient beings.

Analytic cessation is possessed by all nobles except those in the first moment who still have all the bonds.[102] It is also possessed by certain ordinary individuals. There is no possession of space, so therefore there is no attainment of it either. If something cannot be attained, there is no nonattainment of it either, it is said in this school.

The Great Exposition says that there are many scriptural and logical proofs that attainment and nonattainment are substantial. The Master makes many criticisms of this. From the commentary:

Therefore this possession and nonpossession are in all aspects nominal dharmas, and they are not substantial dharmas.

Some Great Expositionists reply, “You make many harmful logical criticisms, but we will not give up the position that possession, nonpossession, attainment, and nonattainment are substantial because it is the position of our school.” So they say, but such is the speech of someone who cannot distinguish whether he is querying or replying. In this land of Tibet, too, such fools who cannot bear losing a debate say, “Whether or not this position of mine is compatible with the sutras and tantras, it holds.” Many such people turn their backs and listen to the echoes of their own voices.

The characteristic of attainment is a nonconcurrent formation that is the substance that makes one possess the dharma that is attained.

(c) Distinctions. This has two topics: (i) Distinctions of attainment, and (ii) Distinctions of nonattainment.

(i) Distinctions of attainment. This has six topics: A. Distinctions of time, B. Distinctions of essence, C. Distinctions of realm, D. Distinctions of learner and nonlearner, E. Distinctions of whether or not it is discarded, and F. The particulars of the distinction of time.

A. Distinctions of time

37a

Attainment of three times is threefold;

The attainment of that which is attained, dharmas of the three times, is threefold: there are past, future, and present attainments. The attainments are like the supreme bull or garuda in the fore, like the body and its shadow, or like a calf pulled behind.

B. Distinctions of essence

37b

Of virtue so forth, virtue so forth;

The attainments of virtue and so forth—neutral and nonvirtue—are themselves also those three, virtue and so forth.

C. Distinctions of realm

37cd

Of any realm is in that realm;

Of what’s not in a realm is fourfold;

The attainment of dharmas of any of the three realms is included in that realm. The attainment of a Desire-realm dharmas is itself included in the Desire realm. It is the same in the other realms.

The attainment of what is not in a realm—the two cessations and the truth of the path—is fourfold. It can be included in Desire, Form, Formless, and not included in any of the three realms. The attainment of nonanalytic cessation can be in any of three realms. The attainment of analytic cessation of Form or Formless attained by a worldly path is of either Form or Formless. The attainment of analytic cessation by a transworldly path and the attainment of the truth of the path are not included in any of the three realms.

D. Distinctions of learner and nonlearner

38a

Of neither learner nor non, three;

Learner means the undefiled paths of seeing and meditation, and nonlearner means the undefiled path of no-learning. The attainment of these two is, in order, learner and nonlearner. What is neither learner nor nonlearner is either defiled or noncomposite. There are three types of attainment of these two: the attainment of defiled dharmas or nonanalytic cessation and the attainment of analytic cessation by the worldly path are neither learner nor nonlearner. The attainment of these through the path of the learner is learner, and their attainment through the path of the nonlearner is nonlearner. Although it is on the path of learning, the path of no obstacles of the vajra-like samadhi forms the support for the attainment of removal that is the nonlearner path of liberation, so it is designated as nonlearner’s attainment.

E. Distinctions of whether or not it is discarded

38b

Of what is not abandoned, twofold.

The attainment of the discards of seeing and meditation are in order discards of seeing and meditation. The attainment of what is not abandoned by either seeing or meditation is proposed to be twofold: it is either a discard of meditation or it is not a discard. The attainment of nonanalytic cessation and the attainment of analytic cessation through worldly paths are abandoned by meditation. The attainment of analytic cessation through noble paths and the attainment of the truth of the path are not discarded.

F. The particulars of the distinction of time. This has three points.

1. The particulars of unobscured neutral

38cd

Neutral attainment: at same time,

Except clairvoyance, emanations.

The particulars of “Attainment of three times is threefold” are as follows: Well then, must attainment definitely arise in all three times or not? you ask. Not necessarily. Unobscured neutral attainment arises at the same time as the attained dharma. It does not arise earlier or later because it does not have manifest action and is weak.

However, not all attainments of unobscured neutral are simultaneous with the arising of the dharma. Excepted are the attainments of the two clairvoyances of divine eye and ear, and the neutral emanated mind. The attainment of these three arises in all three times because they are accomplished by specific training and therefore are strong.

2. The particulars of obscured neutral

39a

Of form of the obscured, as well.

The attainment of the form of the obscured neutral, as well, such as the perceptible form of Great Brahma’s lips moving when he deceives his entourage, does not arise earlier or later but arises simultaneously because the motivation is weak and the form is material.

3. The particulars of virtuous and nonvirtuous

39b

In Desire, of forms does not precede.

In Desire, the attainment of the perceptible forms of virtuous and nonvirtuous conduct and of the imperceptible forms of vows and wrong vows[103] does not arise preceding the dharma that is attained but does arise at the same time as or later than it.

However, the attainment of the forms of the dhyana vows and the undefiled vows made manifest in the Desire realm is strong and follows the mind, so it is in all three times.

(ii) Distinctions of nonattainment. This has five points.

A. Distinctions of essence

39c

Nonattainment is unobscured neutral;

Nonattainment is unobscured neutral only because those who have abandoned afflictions and those who have severed the roots of virtue both possess them, so they can be neither afflicted nor virtuous. Its characteristics are a nonconcurrent formation that is exclusive of attainment and unobscured neutral.

B. Distinctions of time

39d

Of past and unborn, it is threefold.

The nonattainment of past and unborn future dharmas, it is threefold as it has aspects of all three times. Present dharmas have no present nonattainment, because it is impossible for the attainment and nonattainment of a particular dharma to coexist simultaneously.

C. Distinctions of realm

40a

Of Desire, et cetera, and the stainless, too.

The nonattainment of dharmas of Desire, et cetera, the three realms, are included in those same realms. And the nonattainment of the stainless, undefiled dharmas can be in any of the three realms, too, because it is included within the continuum of the beings of those realms.

D. No undefiled nonattainment

40bc

Path’s nonattainment is asserted as

An ordinary being.

The undefiled path’s nonattainment is nonattainment, and those who have it in their beings are asserted as an ordinary being. The reason is explained in the Treatise:[104]

What is the ordinary individual itself? The nonattainment of the nobles’ dharmas.

Another reason is because there is no undefiled nonattainment. Well then, is this nonattainment of the nobles’ dharmas set forth as the nonattainment of nobles’ dharmas in general or nonattainment of individual dharmas? you ask. It is set forth as nonattainment in general.

Here there are distinctions and disagreements between the Great Exposition and Sutra schools, and the Master’s explanation is in accord with the tradition of the Sutra school. According to him, a stream of being in which noble dharmas have not arisen is an ordinary individual. A stream of being in which they have arisen is a noble individual. He does not present ordinary individual as a dharma distinct from individual.

E. Distinctions of the way they regress

40cd

It’s forfeited

When one attains that or shifts level.

It, that nonattainment, is forfeited when one attains that, a noble dharma, or shifts level from lower to higher, such as from Desire to Form.

Well then, is there the nonattainment of nonattainment and the attainment of attainment and so forth? you ask. Those do exist, but according to the Great Exposition tradition there is not an endless cycle of attainments of attainments of attainments, and so forth. From the autocommentary:

Do the attainment and nonattainment of attainment and nonattainment exist? Reply. Both of both exist. Therefore, does it not follow that attainments become infinite? Because they possess each other mutually, they do not consequently become infinite. Included in the nature of dharmas, three arise: the dharma, its attainment, and the attainment of the attainment. Thus when the attainment arises, one possesses the attainment of the attainment, and when the attainment of attainment arises, only attainment is possessed, so for that reason it is not infinite.

Alas, says the Master, in this tradition of infinite attainments, the attainments are having a grand feast. Fortunately, they are unobstructive so there is room to move, but were it otherwise there would not be room for a second living being in all of space. So it is explained.

Nonattainment is finite.

(2) Same status

41a

Same status: sentient beings’ resemblance.

Same status is what makes sentient beings be comparable to or resemble one another in conduct, nature, thought, and so forth. Its characteristic is a nonconcurrent formation that is the substance that makes sentient beings resemble one another. To classify it, there are two: not separate and separate. The first is like all sentient beings, who merely by being sentient beings are the same class. The second is like gods and humans, bhikshus and novices, and so forth, where the substances that create the similarity among them are separate from the beings themselves.

(3) The explanation of nonconception. This has three points.

(a) Identifying the character base

41bc

Conception-free stops mind and factors

Of beings in Conception Free.

Conception-free is the substance that stops the mind and mental factors of beings in Conception Free, gods who take birth there for five hundred great aeons.

(b) Which of the four results it is

41d

Full ripening.

It is the fully ripened result of the conception-free absorption because it has no compatible cause with separate substance, and because it is not produced by development as they have no form.

(c) What level it is on

41d

ey’re in Great Result.

They, these gods, live in one part of Great Result, the highest level of dhyana attainable by ordinary beings—their abode is not a different sort of place from Great Result. This is similar, for example, to the levels of Great Brahma and Brahma’s Ministers, which are not different realms.

The characteristic of a being in Conception Free is the result of the conception-free absorption that is the substance of cessation in the continuum of the long-lived gods.

Do such gods have no consciousness at all? you ask. They do have some consciousnesses because consciousness arises at birth and death. The Master explains that because concurrences of body and mind have ceased, these are nominal, but they are not substantial.

(4) The explanation of the two absorptions. is has two topics: (a) Explaining their individual essences, and (b) Teaching their supports together.

(a) Explaining their individual essences. This has two topics: (i) The essence of conception-free absorption, and (ii) The essence of the conception-free absorption.

(i) The essence of the conception-free absorption

42.

Likewise conception-free absorption.

Last dhyan. From wishing for release.

It’s virtue. Experienced on birth only.

Not nobles. Gained in one time only.

Just as beings in Conception Free stop mind and mental factors, likewise the conception-free absorption also stops mental factors, because it is the cause of beings in Conception Free—it has such beings as its results.

Its level is the last, fourth dhyana, because its fully ripened result ripens in Great Result. It is the contemplation of entering absorption from wishing for the definite release of liberation—the individual who enters it conceives of the being in Conception Free as liberated and the absorption that achieves that as the path. That individual strives for pure conduct through the wrong path. It, the absorption, is virtuous in motivation. That virtue is experienced on birth only[105] because it causes one to take the existence of Conception Free in the next birth. The only ones who enter it are ordinary individuals; it is not entered by noble individuals, who see it as an abyss. It is never attained in the past or the future; it is gained in the one time of the present only, like the vows of individual liberation.

Its characteristic is an absorption that stops mind and mental factors and that is included in the level of the fourth dhyana.

(ii) The essence of the absorption of cessation. This has three points.

A. Actual

43.

Cessation’s like that, too. Its purpose

Is staying. Born on Peak, it’s virtue.

Experienced in two or indefinite,

e nobles attain it by training.

The absorption of cessation is the cessation of mind and mental factors, just like that, the conception-free absorption, too. This absorption does not place attention on emancipation, but rather one enters it for the purpose of staying within the pacification of conceptions and feelings. The mental support it is born on is the Peak of Existence, because it is easiest to stop the mind and concurrent mental factors right after that subtlest of subtle minds. What motivates it is virtue. Its karmic ripening is experienced either on rebirth or in other lifetimes because it can be experienced in two instances: in the next life one is either reborn on the Peak of Existence or in the Form realm and then in the lifetime after that on the Peak. Or it can be experienced indefinitely because one could attain nirvana on the same support as one attained the absorption. Its characteristic is an absorption that stops the concurrences and that is included in the level of the Peak of Existence. Only noble individuals can support it; the childish cannot. Even the nobles do not attain it merely by becoming detached; they attain it by training, which includes efforts that produce mental strength. Like the vows of individual liberation, it is only attained in the present; there is no past or future attainment of it.

B.The specifics of how it is attained

44a

e Sage by awakening.

The Sage’s absorption of cessation does not depend upon training; it is something that is attained by acquiring awakening or the enlightenment that is the knowing of extinction and nonarising. It does not depend upon training, because as is said in a sutra:

You who are ultimate virtue

Have nothing at all come from training.

Whatever you wish for is certain:

Just by the mere wish it’s obtained.

C. The elaboration

44ab

Not first,

Since it was gained by thirty-four moments.

Some Kashmiris in the Western school say that the Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree and produced the path of seeing. Then he arose from that absorption and entered the absorptions of the Peak of Existence and lower levels. Others respond that the Bodhisattva did not make those manifest at first, before he attained the knowledge of extinction. This is since he produced the sixteen moments of clear realization of truth, the nine paths of no-obstacles of the path of meditation that are the antidotes for the Peak and the nine paths of liberation without interruption. After that it, enlightenment, was gained by these thirty-four moments. Earlier when he was an ordinary individual studying with Ārāḍa and Udraka, the Bodhisattva had become detached from and abandoned all the discards of meditation of lower levels from Desire to Nothingness. In actuality, he did not need to abandon the lower level’s afflicted discards of seeing.

In the tradition of the Foundation Vehicle, ordinary individuals cannot produce the absorption of cessation. However, the Karṭīk explains that according to the Highest Mantra ordinary individuals can have the samadhi of listeners’ cessation of absorption.

(b) Teaching their supports together

44cd

Both have support of Desire and Form.

Cessation is first among humans.

Both of these absorptions have as bodily support the realms of Desire and Form, but they do not have the Formless as their support. This is because beings in Conception Free are the result of the fourth dhyana, and because the absorption of cessation is made manifest by the body, but there is no body in the Formless realm.

In general both of these absorptions have the two realms as support, but there is a distinction: when cessation has not previously arisen, it must be produced first among humans, because the concurrences there are coarse, so one grows weary with them. In the Form realm, the concurrences are pacified, so there is no weariness, and for that reason one does not meditate on it there first. If one has previously attained cessation but regressed from it, it is produced in the Form realm by the power of previous habituation. The conception-free absorption does not come from such weariness; rather one enters it by the wrong view that conceives of it as liberation.

Well then, if there is no mind while one is in these absorptions, where does the mind that arises from them come from? you ask. The Great Exposition proposes that the past mind also has substantial existence, so it arises from that. The Sutra school proposes that mind and body contain each others’ seeds, so the body that has faculties also has the seeds of the mind, from which the mind arises. The Mind Only school proposes that when one is in either of these absorptions, the all-ground exists unceasingly, so the mind of arising is born from that.

(5) The explanation of life force

45ab

Life force is life. It is that which

Supports one’s warmth and consciousness.

The faculty of life force is the life of beings in the three realms. It, life, is that which supports or causes one’s warmth and consciousness to remain continually. In the lower two realms, it provides the support for both of those, and in the Formless for consciousness only. Its characteristic is a nonconcurrent formation that is life.

(6) The explanation of the characteristics. This has two topics: (a) Classifications, and (b) Dispelling doubts

(a) Classifications

45cd

e characteristics are birth,

And aging, staying, impermanence.

The characteristics of composites are birth that produces dharmas, and aging that makes things old, staying that makes things remain, and impermanence that makes things disintegrate—the suffix -nence means the condition of things.

Well then, it says in the sutras, “The characteristics of composites are threefold.” Is this not contradictory? you say. There, in order to produce weariness among disciples, staying is taught only implicitly, which makes that teaching provisional. The abhidharma teaches four, so it is a characteristic, not a provisional, teaching.

(b) Dispelling doubts. This has three points.

(i) Teaching that the characteristics have characteristics

46a

ey’ve birth of birth, et cetera, and

Well then is there the birth of birth, the aging of aging, and so forth? you ask. They, birth and so forth, have the birth of birth, et cetera, including the aging of aging and so forth.

(ii) Refuting that it is endless

46b

Engage eight dharmas or else one.

Well then, it becomes endless, you say. It does not become endless. This is because they engage eight dharmas or else one dharma: birth, for example, engages in the production of the three of aging, staying, and impermanence, the four of birth of birth and so forth, and one character base such as a vase, for a total of eight. The birth of birth engages in the production of the dharma of birth only. Aging and so forth are known to be the same.

The characteristics of the four are as follows. A nonconcurrent formation that is the substance which makes the composite that is its character base possess arising is the characteristic of birth. A nonconcurrent formation that is the substance which makes the composite that is its character base grow old is the characteristic of aging. A nonconcurrent formation that is the substance which makes the composite that is its character base remain is the characteristic of staying. A nonconcurrent formation that is the substance which makes the composite that is its character base disintegrate is the characteristic of impermanence.

(iii) Refuting the logical absurdity

46cd

Without the causes or conditions,

Birth can’t produce what is produced.

If future birth produces composites, then why do not the future composites arise all at once? you ask. According to this presentation, future composites will not arise at once, because without the assembly of cause and the conditions, birth alone cannot produce that which is produced.

(7) The explanation of names, words, and letters. This has two topics: (a) Essence, and (b) Particulars.

(a) Essence

47ab

Collections of names and so forth are

Collections of names, speech, and letters.

The “Collections of names and so forth, too… ” mentioned earlier are the collection of names,[106] speech, and letters. The characteristic of a name is a nonconcurrent formation that tells merely the essence of the meaning. Its character base is like saying, “Vase,” for example.

Speech and word are equivalent, because it is said in the Commentary, “Speech is words…” The characteristic of either speech or word is a nonconcurrent formation that indicates the combination of the essence and particulars of the meaning. Its character base is like saying, “Impermanent composite,” for example.

The characteristic of letters is a noncomposite formation that is the basis for designating names and words. Its character base is like, for example the Sanskrit vowel A or consonant Ka.[107]

(b) Particulars. This has four points.

(i) Distinctions of level

47c

Desire and Form.

These three collections are included only in Desire and Form, because they arise in dependence upon speech. Some say that there are words in Formless, but the Great Exposition says that is illogical. If you examine it further, however, the three collections of names, words, and letters that are formations, both that with which the mind speaks and that which the mind says, are in the Formless, because as is said, “The melodious banner is heard in all three worlds.” So is it explained in the Karṭīk.

(ii) Distinctions of whether they indicate beings

47c

Indicate beings.

They arise from beings’ efforts and are in the collection of aggregates included within a stream of being, so they indicate beings; that is, they are included in a being’s continuum.

(iii) Distinctions of sources

47d

Compatible

As they are produced by a cause of same status,[108] they are causally compatible only. This is because they arise as all that is desired, so they are not produced by full ripening, and because they do not have form, so they are not produced by development.

(iv) Distinctions of virtue, nonvirtue, and neutral.

47d

and neutral.

They are solely unobscured neutral because those who have severed the virtuous roots or gained detachment also possess them, so they are neither virtue nor nonvirtue in their essence. The Commentary explains it thus, but the Prince explains that these three have both virtuous and neutral aspects. From the Prince:

Is this said because the Buddha’s speech is virtuous, or is this said because the Buddha’s speech is neutral? you ask. It is virtuous, and it is also neutral. Which is the virtuous? you ask. The perceptible speech of the Tathagata uttered with a virtuous mind. Which is the neutral? you ask. The perceptible speech of the Tathagata uttered with a neutral mind. Also, following this, “This which is called the Buddha’s speech, what kind of dharma is it?” you ask. It is that which arranges the collection of names, the collection of words, and the collection of letters in order, and places them in order, and correctly joins them in order.

iii. Teaching other distinctions between dharmas as a summary

47d

Likewise

48.

Same status. Fully ripened, too.

ree realms, and its attainment is twofold.

Characteristics, too. Absorptions,

Not having are compatible.

Just as names and so forth indicate beings, are produced by compatible cause, and are unobscured neutral, likewise same status is like that also. The part of that which is like full ripening is produced by full ripening, too. It is of the three realms: it is included in all three, and its attainment is twofold: produced by compatible cause and by full ripening. The characteristics, birth and so forth, too, are like attainment. The two absorptions and not having or nonattainment are produced by the causally compatible.

III. The explanation of causes, conditions, and results. This has four topics: A. The explanation of causes, B. The explanation of results, C. The explanation of dharmas common to causes and results, and D. The explanation of conditions.

A. The explanation of causes. This has three topics: 1. Classifying as an overview, 2. Explaining the nature of each cause, and 3. Identifying their times as a summary.

1. Classifying as an overview

49.

Enabling cause, the coemergent,

Cause of same status, the concurrent,

e universal, and full ripening

Are the six causes, it’s proposed.

Above where it says, “Without the causes or conditions,”[109] what are the causes and conditions? you ask. That which abides in the essence that does not block the production of a result is the enabling cause. That which aids a result that is simultaneous with itself is the coemergent cause. That which aids results that are of similar realm or class is the cause of same status. That which aids the result that is concurrent through the five concurrences is the concurrent cause. That which aids the afflicted result is the universal cause. And that which aids the fully ripened result is the cause of full ripening. Thus these are the six causes, it is proposed by the Great Exposition school.

Well then, since the abhidharma is an explanation of the sutras, what sutra teaches the six causes? you ask. The Great Exposition says that the sutras that teach the six causes have mostly disappeared. However, they are explained in the treatise entrusted to Kātyāyana by the gods, they say.

2. Explaining the nature of each cause. This has six topics: a. Enabling cause, b. Coemergent cause, c. Same status cause, d. Concurrent cause, e. Universal cause, and f. Cause of full ripening.

a. Enabling cause

50a

e enabling cause is other than self.

The enabling cause of a composite is all the dharmas that are other in meaning than the composite itself, because they do not prevent the composite from arising from the collection of its causes. The potent enabling cause, such as the eye producing the eye consciousness or a seed producing a stalk, is characteristic. The impotent is like noncomposite as the cause of a stalk, or hell as the cause of the Formless. The impotent enabling cause is a mere designation of that which does not block the arising of a result as a cause. It is, for example, as when a king does not oppress his subjects and they say, “This king makes us happy.”

b. Coemergent cause. This has three topics: i. Identifying the essence, ii. Examples of character bases, and iii. Elaboration.

i. Identifying the essence

50b

e coemergent: mutual result,

The coemergent cause is those dharmas that are a mutual result with the cause—they are one another’s results.

ii. Examples of character bases

50cd

Such as sources; mind and its followers;

Characteristics and their base.

Examples of coemergent causes are such as the mutual relationships between the sources; between mind and its followers; or between the characteristics of composites, which are the characterized base’s coemergent cause, and their characterized base, which is the coemergent cause of the characteristics.

iii. Elaboration. This has two points.

(1) Identifying the mind’s followers

51ab

ey’re mental factors, two vows, and

e mind’s and their characteristics.

They, the dharmas that follow primary mind, are the mental factors; the two vows of dhyana and undefiled vows; and the mind’s and their—mind’s followers including mental factors—characteristics of birth and so forth. These are presented as coemergent cause and result in terms of their mere isolate,[110] and will be discussed thoroughly, below.

(2) The manner in which they follow mind

51cd

ey follow mind in terms of time,

Results, et cetera, virtue, et cetera.

The manner in which they follow the mind is in terms of being at the same time as mind, having the same results, et cetera, and being the same in virtue, et cetera. In detail, there are ten ways in which they follow mind: 1) time in general; in particular, 2) arising, 3) staying, and 4) disintegrating; 5) the dominant, personal, or removal result; 6) causally compatible result, and 7) fully ripened result; 8) virtue, 9) nonvirtue, and 10) neutral. In these ten ways, they mutually follow each other and arise, making cause and result, it is said.

The word same does not mean they are the same substance: if the principal mind is virtuous, then because the mental factors are similarly virtuous and comparable, they are said to be the same. Saying here that they follow by ten causes is not in terms of substance, but in terms of type. This is because virtue, nonvirtue, and neutral do not follow the same mind because it is impossible for neutral and undefiled minds to either have a fully ripened result or be the same, and because it is impossible for birth, staying, and disintegrating to be the same.

There are many ways to count four possibilities or so forth of cause and caused, but I shall not say them.

A few words here:

Renowned as good, they cling to bad traditions of scholasticism;

Pretending to be learned, they are shrouded in dark ignorance.

While they’ve been sleeping in the darkness of a lesser mind,

They who presumed to be delighting in the heavens of the scriptures

Have now become old men, while those with young intelligence

Teach themselves their own wonders. Don’t they shine?

c. Same status cause. This has two topics: i. Overview, and ii. Explanation.

i. Overview

52a

Same status cause is similar,

The character base for the same status cause of is all past and present composites with the exception of the last aggregates of an arhat,[111] because earlier ones produce and make possible later, similar ones. The virtuous five aggregates arise from a virtuous cause of same status, but within virtuous dharmas, defiled virtue and undefiled virtue are separate classes. They are similar to virtues within their own class, but merely being virtues does not make them similar. Otherwise it would follow that the first undefiled moment would arise from a cause of same status.

Afflicted dharmas are similar to nonvirtue. The obscured neutral are similar to the afflicted. The obscured neutral and nonvirtue are mutually similar. The neutral is also similar to neutral.

ii. The explanation. This has four points.

(1) Similarities of the defiled

52b

Own class and level,

The five classes of discards—four classes of discards of seeing, and one of discards of meditation—and the nine levels of the three realms produce results of their own class and own, same level. These are same status, but when the class and level are different, they are not, because their status is unequal.

(2) Distinction of time

52b

born before.

Composites that are born before—the past and the present composites—are causes of same status of what has not been born, but the future composites are not, because there is no future cause of same status.

(3) Particular explanation of the undefiled

52cd

Nine levels’ paths are mutual,

Of equal or superior.

Well then, must the cause of same status definitely be of the same level and class only? you ask. For the defiled, it definitely must be so, but the nine levels’ undefiled paths the may be mutual causes of same status even if not comparable in level. This is because the paths happen to be on those levels only circumstantially and so do not crave the levels and make them their own. Therefore they are not included in the realms. However, they are not the same status cause of lower levels but of the equal or superior levels. Dharma forbearance of suffering is the same status cause for equal, later dharmas of its own class, the superior dharma knowing of suffering, and the paths of seeing, meditation, and no learning.

Similarly, the five faculties of faith and so forth, in terms of gradual purification, are the cause of same status for the six individuals: the pair of followers of faith and dharma, the pair of conviction through faith and attainment through seeing, and the pair of occasional and nonoccasional arhats.

Alternatively, they are the causes of followers of dharma, attainment through seeing, and nonoccasional arhats.[112]

(4) Teaching how the worldly produced by training is comparable

53ab

Produced by training is just those two.

From listening, reflecting, so forth.

Not only the undefiled, but worldly virtue produced by training is the same status cause of just those two, the equal and superior. For example, this is like qualities produced by training such as those arisen from listening and reflecting and so forth, those produced by meditation.

The characteristic of the cause of same status is a cause that produces a result of a similar class as itself.

d. Concurrent cause

53cd

Concurrent cause is mind and factors

With a support that is concurrent.

The concurrent cause is mind and the mental factors with concurrence only: they have a support, focus, aspect, time, and substance that are concurrent. Its characteristic is a cause that is included within either mind or mental factors.

e. Universal cause

54ab

e universal, of afflicted.

Own level. Universal. Five.

The universal cause is the common cause of its afflicted results. It produces results on its own level. The universal cause arises prior to its result. Its characteristic is a discard of seeing that which is the specific cause of its afflicted results. The character base is the thirty-three universal kernels[113] of the three realms and that which is associated with them except for their attainment. It is the common cause of the five classes of afflictions.[114]

f. Cause of full ripening

54cd

Full-ripening cause can only be

Nonvirtue or a defiled virtue.

The cause of full ripening has a strong essence and the moisture of craving. Neutral dharmas have the moisture of craving, but are weak, like a rotten seed. Undefiled dharmas have strength but no moisture, without which they are like dried-up seeds. For that reason, the full-ripening cause can only be a nonvirtue or a defiled virtue. Its characteristic is a nonneutral dharma that is a cause that produces the full ripening of its result.

3. Identifying their times as a summary

55ab

e universal and same status

Are in two times; three in three times.

The universal and same status causes are in the two times of past and present only, and not in the future, because in the future there is no earlier or later. The three causes of coemergent, concurrent, and full ripening are in all three times, because they are recognized in all three. The enabling cause is in the three times. It can also be free of time because potent enabling causes are included in any one of the three times and impotent enabling causes are without time.

B. The explanation of results. This has two topics: 1. Overview, and 2. Explanation.

1. Overview

55cd

Composites and removal are

Results. Noncompounds don’t have those.

All composites are results that have causes because they must depend upon causes. Analytic cessations and the removal of what is abandoned by the antidote, are results that do not depend upon causes. Because they are neither clearly desired nor something to accomplish, space and nonanalytic cessation are not results. For that reason, from the Treatise:

What dharmas are results? you ask. All composites and analytic cessation.

Here, because noncomposites are explained as results, they must have a cause, and because in the section on enabling causes they are explained as causes, they must also have a result. For that reason, it follows that they are composite, you say. There is a common ground between noncomposites and result, but noncomposites do not have a cause, because they do not have any of those six causes. This is because it is impossible for any of the six causes to be the cause of nonanalytic cessation, and it is impossible for the five results to be noncomposite. Well then, perhaps the path is the enabling cause of nonanalytic cessation? you think. It is not, because analytic cessation is noncomposite and has no birth, and because at the time that analytic cessation is arising and exists, the path is not something that does not block it.

2. Explanation. This has two topics: a. Which result is of which cause, and b. The essences of the five results.

a. Which result is of which cause

56.

Full-ripened result is of the last;

e dominant result, of first.

Compatible: same status and

e universal. Personal, two.

Well then, what causes are these the results of? you ask. The fully ripened result is the result of the last cause, full ripening. The dominant result is the result of the first, the enabling cause.

How is it that an impotent enabling cause that merely does not hinder has power over a dominant result? you ask. It has the power of not hindering. For example, the five collections of consciousness have the ten sense bases as the enabling cause that produces them. The container of the world has karma as enabling cause. The ear also by continuum has the power to produce any eye consciousness, because from hearing something, the desire to look arises. Similarly, from grasping something, the desire to look arises and so forth.

The causally compatible result is the result of both the same status and the universal causes.

The personal result is the result of the two coemergent and concurrent causes. In the personal result, there is not necessarily a person who does the making; rather it is designating a mere dharma as a person, like calling a medicine “crowfoot.” The actions and qualities of a mere dharma are not separate from the dharma itself, so its personal action is called merely personal. The result of that is the personal result.

b. The essences of the five results. This has five points.

i. The essence of the fully ripened result

57ab

Fully ripened is a neutral dharma,

Shows beings, not neutral, born later.

The fully ripened result is a nonobscured neutral dharma, because if it were either virtuous or afflicted it would follow that neither individuals who have severed the roots of virtue nor arhats would possess them, and because if it were obscured neutral it would be illogical to enter the state without remainder from a mind produced by full ripening.

The phrase, “shows beings” means that it is included within the stream of an individual’s being, because if it were not included, one’s particular karmic actions would be wasted or fall upon those who did not do them. Some results produced by development and causally compatible results are also included within beings’ continuums, but in contrast with those, the cause of the fully ripened result is not neutral. There are also absorptions in the dhyana and emanated minds produced by samadhi that are neutral, included in a being’s continuum, and born from a not-neutral karma, but unlike those, the fully ripened result is born later than its cause—it is neither immediately following nor simultaneous.

ii. The essence of the causally compatible result

57c

Compatible is like its cause.

The causally compatible result is like or similar to its cause, whether that cause is virtuous, afflicted, or unobscured neutral. If it is from a cause of same status, it must have a similar continuum and aspect. If it is from a universal cause, the aspect is not necessarily similar, but it must be similar in terms of its continuum, level, and whether it is afflicted. Therefore, there are four possibilities of things that have a cause of same status but not a universal cause, etc.

iii. The essence of the result of removal

57d

Removal is to mentally

58a

Extinguish,

Removal is attained by mentally, or through distinctive full knowing, extinguishing or abandoning discards. Extinguishing is equivalent to cessation. It is said to refute that mere nonattainment is removal, Pūrṇavardhana explains.

iv. The essence of the personal result

58ab

and the result born

From something’s power is personal.

And the result born from or attained through something’s power is similar to what is made by persons, so it is personal. The character base is all composites that have arisen from causes in that manner. From the autocommentary:

For example, from a lower level’s mind of training, the samadhi of the higher; from defiled, undefiled; from the mind of dhyana the emanated mind.

There are four possibilities of causally compatible result and personal result.

v. The essence of the dominant result

58cd

Composites that aren’t previous are

e dominant of composites only.

Composites that have not previously arisen, prior to the cause itself—composites that arise at the same time or later than their cause—are the dominant result of composite causes. The causes are different from the result itself and arise either earlier or at the same time only. The word “only” indicates that composites that arise later and noncomposites do not have the power to hold or issue results, so they are not presented as having dominant results.

There is no result that is born prior to its cause, because that would render the cause meaningless. For example, it is impossible to first be a wheel-wielding emperor and later accumulate the karma that produces that result. Nor does one see shoots preceding seeds or other results preceding their cause.

The distinction between personal and dominant results is whether or not it is the result of a particular agent only. For example, a thing that is made is a personal result, and it is also the dominant result of all composites that are simultaneous or prior to it. There are also four alternatives of personal result and dominant result. The result of removal is a personal result but not a dominant result. Results whose cause has disappeared or been interrupted are dominant results but not personal. Simultaneous or immediately following composites are both. Space and nonanalytic cessation are neither.

C. The explanation of dharmas common to causes and results. This has two topics: 1. Times when causes hold and issue results, and 2. What results are produced by how many causes.

1. Times when causes hold and issue results. This has two points.

a. Holding

59a

e five hold a result in the present.

The five latter causes not including the enabling cause hold and attain the power to produce results in, among the three times, the present. This is because they cease in the second moment, so there is no action of holding then, and the future is unborn, so there is no action in it. The enabling cause also holds its result in the same way, but as it does not necessarily produce a result, it is not mentioned.

b. Issuing

59b–d

Two causes issue in the present.

Two present and past causes issue,

And one past cause issues results.

The two coemergent and concurrent causes, occur at the same time as their results, so they issue their result in the present, or prain Sanskrit, which is used in the meaning of first. As they issue their result from the first, holding and issuing are at the same time. Two types of present and past causes, the same status and universal causes, issue results.[115] Some Tibetans explain that it would be better to translate this line as, “And two through the present and past.” And the one past cause of full ripening issues its result from the past only, because the full ripening does not arise either simultaneously with or immediately following its cause.

2. What results are produced by how many causes. This has two topics: a. The mode of production of concurrent, and b. Nonconcurrent results.

a. The mode of production of concurrent results. This has two points.

i. Explanation

60.

e afflicted, fully ripened, others,

And the first noble respectively

Arise from all except full ripening,

Universal, those two, and same status.

Well, how many causes is a dharma produced by? you ask. Here there are four types of dharmas: 1) those that are afflicted, 2) those produced by full ripening, 3) the others not included in the other three categories—unobscured neutral not produced by full ripening such as the paths of conduct, crafts, emanated minds; and virtues other than the first undefiled moment—and 4) the first noble or first undefiled moment. Respectively, the first type arises from all the causes except the cause of full ripening. The second is born from all except the universal. The third is born from all except for those two, the full ripening and universal. And the fourth is born all except for the same status. They are born from the rest of the causes not mentioned.

They are not born from those causes for the following reasons. 1) The afflicted is not born from a cause of full ripening because it is afflicted. 2) The fully ripened result is not produced by a universal cause because it is not afflicted. 3) The third type is not produced by full ripening or universal cause because it is neither afflicted nor fully ripened. 4) The first noble moment is not born from same status because there is no prior undefiled of similar class.

ii. Summary

61a

is is for mind and mental factors.

This is for how the mind and mental factors arise.

b. The mode of production of nonconcurrent results

61b

e rest are like; exclude concurrent.

Dharmas that are nonconcurrent formations or have form that are 1) afflicted; 2) produced by full ripening; 3) the remaining—neutrals except the fully ripened and virtues except the first undefiled moment—and 4) the form of the first undefiled moment are born from the rest of the causes like that earlier manner of production, excluding the concurrent cause. 1) Discarding the full ripening and concurrent causes, the afflicted are born from four causes. 2) Discarding the universal and concurrent, the fully ripened are born from four causes. 3) Discarding the full ripening, universal and concurrent, the remainder are born from three causes. 4) The forms of the first undefiled moment are born from the two causes, the enabling and concurrent causes; they are not born from the remaining four.

Therefore, there is no dharma at all that is born from only one cause. A few words here:

The power to penetrate the depths of abhidharma’s ocean With the sharp eye of mind that fully distinguishes dharmas According to Yangchen Gawa’s thought—Does this not come out of the power of habitual imprints?

D. The explanation of conditions. This has two topics: 1. Brief overview, and 2. Explanation.

1. Brief overview

61c

ere are four conditions, it is taught.

Above where it says, “Without the causes or conditions,” what are the conditions? you ask. There are four conditions, it is taught in the sutras: the causal condition, immediate condition, objective condition, and dominant condition.

2. The explanation. This has four topics: a. The essence of each of the four conditions, b. Which conditions operate at which time, c. Which things arise from how many conditions, and d. A specific explanation of the immediate condition.

a. The essence of each of the four conditions. This has four points.

i. Causal condition

61d

e one called causal is five causes.

The one called the causal condition is any one of the five causes not including the enabling cause. It is something that benefits its result. Its character base is composite dharmas.

ii. Immediate condition

62ab

e mind and factors that have arisen,

But not the last, are immediate.

The concurrent immediate condition is mind and mental factors that have arisen in the past or present, but not the last mind and mental factors of an arhat. Other than that, all mind and mental factors are the concurrent immediate condition.

As for concurrence, in a single being’s continuum, there cannot be two simultaneous cognitions of the same substantial type, so the concurrences are comparable to each individual mental substance.[116] This condition may be separated from its result in terms of time, but it cannot be interrupted by another cognition. Thus it is the condition of immediate arising.

Form is not able to be a concurrent immediate condition because it arises in dissimilar classes interrupted by others. For example, right after the imperceptible form of Desire, the form of Desire realm’s vow of individual liberation, the Form realm’s vow of dhyana, or an undefiled dharma might all arise, which confuses the classes.

Here there are four alternatives between being the concurrent immediate result of a cognition and immediately following a cognition, and also four alternatives between being the concurrent immediate result of mind and immediately following absorption. These are discussed at length in the Great Karṭīk, so refer there.

iii. Objective condition

62c

e objective is all dharmas, and

The objective condition of an eye consciousness and so forth, including its concurrences, is its own object of defiled form and so forth, which is a present dharma. The objective condition of the mind consciousness is all defiled and undefiled dharmas of the three times, or that are not included in time. The objective condition’s characteristic is a dharma that is suitable to be an object. Why then, if all dharmas are the objective condition of mind consciousness, so are noncomposites. Therefore, noncomposites must be things, because they have the function of producing a result, you say.

The Great Exposition agrees that noncomposites are things, but if they produced a result, they would either produce it always or else they would never produce it because the school asserts they are permanent things. To sometimes produce and sometimes not produce is occasional, so they would become impermanent. This would be a fault, they say. Master Jampal Gegpay De states that because noncomposites have no essence, they are merely the object of observation but are not a condition that produces result. In the Karṭīk, this is stated to be untenable but I do not see any great discrepancy between the positions of the Great Exposition and Jampal Gegpay De. Those of you who have powers of reasoning, scrutinize this.

iv. Dominant condition

62d

e enabling is the dominant.

The enabling cause is explained as the dominant condition. Its characteristics are not hindering the arising of the result and being suitable to be a condition.

Well then, if all dharmas are both objective condition and dominant condition, what is the distinction between the two? you ask. Those which are concurrent and coemergent are dominant conditions but not objective conditions.

Well then, above it explains all dharmas as the objective condition, but here it says that the coemergent and concurrent dharmas are not the objective condition. Is this not contradictory? Because this is in terms of general and specific, it is not contradictory.[117] Therefore, the dominant condition is all dharmas other than oneself: from the Commentary, “‘All’ is all composites except for its own essence.”

b. Which conditions operate at which time. This has three points.

i. The time in which the coemergent and concurrent causes operate

63ab

Two causes’ function is directed

Toward ceasing.

In terms of the causal condition, the two coemergent and concurrent causes perform their function in the present, directed toward the ceasing of the result. Their function is threefold: holding the result, issuing the result, and making use of the object.

ii. The time in which the same status, full ripening, and universal causes operate

63b

e three toward arising.

The three universal, same status, and full ripening causes perform their function in the future, directed toward the arising of the result.

iii. The time in which the immediate and objective conditions operate

63cd

e two conditions other than

at are the opposite of those.

First, the two concurrent immediate and objective conditions that are other than that, the causal condition, are the opposite of those above as they perform their function in the opposite order. The immediate condition performs its function at the arising that begins an action, and the objective condition is perceived by the present cognition and mental factors, so it performs its function on ceasing.

c. Which things arise from how many conditions. This has two topics: i. General teaching, and ii. Specific explanation of things with form.

i. General teaching. This has (1) Presenting our own tradition, and (2) Refuting other traditions.

(1) Presenting our own tradition. This has three points.

(a) From four conditions

64a

Four produce mind and mental factors,

The causal condition of mind and mental factors is all five causes. The concurrent immediate condition is previous mind and mental factors that have not been interrupted by another cognition. The objective condition is any one of the five objects or all dharmas. The dominant condition is all dharmas except the cognition’s own essence and dharmas that arise later. In this way, these four conditions produce mind and mental factors.

(b) From three conditions

64b

And three, the two absorptions.

And three, the causal, immediate, and dominant conditions, produce the two absorptions of freedom from conception and cessation. As those two are not cognitions that focus, they do not arise from the objective condition. The causal condition in this context is the coemergent cause of birth and so forth and the same status cause of prior dharmas of comparable level. The mind of entry into absorption and its concurrences are the immediate condition, and the dominant condition is everything different from them that is previously or presently arisen.

(c) From two conditions

64bc

Others

Arise from two,

The others, the nonconcurrent formations other than the two absorptions and that which has form, arise from the two causal and dominant conditions. They do not arise from the concurrent immediate or objective conditions, because they are not concurrent.

(2) Refuting other traditions

64cd

not God and so forth

Since they’re successive and so forth.

Some outsiders say all beings arise from the sole cause of God Indra, the self, the Person, the primal substance, or so forth. To refute that: all beings who are born are not born from God, a soul, the primal substance, and so forth, since they are born successively, and so forth—they are born intermittently in different locations, times, and substances. Additionally, it follows that all beings would arise at the same time, because their sole cause is permanent and single.

Here some say that the cause is permanent, but beings arise successively out of the power of God’s wishes. If you say so, then it follows that the causes of beings are multiple, because the wishes that cause beings are separate and multiple.

ii. Specific explanation of things with form. This has four points.

(1) How the sources function as conditions for the sources

65a

When sources cause the sources, twofold;

When the sources cause the sources, their function is twofold as the coemergent and same status cause.

(2) How the sources function as conditions for the source-derived

65b

When causing source-derived, fivefold.

When the sources function as causes of the source-derived, their function is fivefold: 1) because the sources produce the source-derived when it has not previously existed, arising; 2) because as a master does for his students, they support the source-derived that has arisen in correspondence with the sources, supporting; 3) like a wall with a drawing, because they are the support, remaining; 4) because if there are sources the continuum will not be interrupted, bearing; and 5) because they increase the source-derived, the increasing cause. With regard to this, Pūrṇavardhana says:

Arise, and correspond, support,

ninterrrupted, and increase:

Since they produce, support, remain,

And bear, and make increase.

(3) How the source-derived function as mutual conditions

65c

ree ways the source-derived are mutual;

There are three ways the source-derived function as mutual causes: coemergent, same status, and full ripening causes.

(4) How the source derived function as conditions for the sources

65d

ey cause the sources in one way.

They, the source-derived, function as a cause of the sources in one way as the cause of full ripening. Here, the previous life’s perceptible and imperceptible defiled virtues and nonvirtue produce the sources in the next life’s collection of faculties.

A few words:

They’ve studied much but do not comprehend;

With low capacities, they mistake the meaning.

Out of unbearable compassion for them,

I strive my utmost in this field of knowledge.

d. A specific explanation of the immediate condition. This has five topics: i. Classifying the mind in twelve, ii. The eight instances in which the twelve minds follow one another, iii. Which of the twelve minds is obtained from which, iv. Classifying the mind in twenty, and v. How afflicted minds and so forth are acquired.

i. Classifying the mind in twelve

66.

Minds in Desire: virtue, nonvirtue,

Obscured, or else unobscured neutral.

In Form and Formless, those except

Nonvirtue. Two are undefiled.

All minds included in samsara and nirvana can be collected into twelve categories. Minds of nongreed and so forth in the realm of Desire are virtue; greed and so forth are nonvirtue; those that possess personality view and so forth are obscured; or else minds can be unobscured neutral for a total of four in Desire. In Form and in Formless there are three minds each—those except for nonvirtue—for six. Two minds are undefiled: learner and nonlearner. Altogether there is a total of twelve.

ii. The eight instances in which the twelve minds follow one another There are known to be eight instances in which mind arises following upon another mind.

1) The instance of continuation is when virtuous minds and so forth arise in a continual stream of the same type.

2) The instance of comparable level is when minds of incompatible type but the same level arise following one another, such as when a nonvirtuous mind of Desire follows upon a virtuous mind and so forth of Desire.

3) The instance of entering absorption is when a higher level’s virtue arisen from training or either of the undefiled minds arises from a lower level’s virtue arisen from training.

4) The instance of arising from absorption is when Desire’s virtue arisen either upon birth or from training, or an upper level’s virtue arisen from training only, arise immediately after a higher level’s virtue arisen from training or either of the undefiled minds.

5) The instance of rebirth-linking is when a defiled mind only arises upon dying with any of the minds of the three realms. The Prince explains that this mind of birth is in the between state.

6) The instance of being troubled by the afflicted is when an upper level’s virtuous pure mind[118] becomes afflicted and one thinks, “May I arise with the virtue of a lower level.” One casts that defiled mind aside and arises with a virtuous mind. When arising from the afflicted samadhi of Form, either of the virtues of Desire can arise. When arising from the afflicted samadhi of Formless, only the virtue arisen from training of the Form realm can arise.

7) The instance of entering an emanation is when a mind of emanation of Desire or Form arises from Form’s virtue arisen from training or from a mind of emanation itself.[119]

8) The instance of arising from an emanation is when a virtue arisen from training of the Form realm only arises from a mind of emanation.

These eight instances provide the reasons why it is possible or impossible for any one of the twelve minds to follow any of the other minds.

iii. Which of the twelve minds is obtained from which. This has five topics: (1) Minds of Desire, (2) Minds of Form, (3) Minds of Formless, (4) The learner’s mind, and (5) The nonlearner’s mind.

(1) Minds of Desire. This has three topics: (a) Virtuous minds, (b) Nonvirtuous minds, and (c) Neutral minds.

(a) Virtuous minds. This has two points.

(i) How many minds can arise right after a virtuous mind

67ab

Nine minds arise from a virtuous mind

Of Desire.

Nine minds can arise directly from a virtuous mind of Desire: In the instances of continuation and comparable level, the four of its own level can arise. In the instance of entering absorption, the virtue of form and the two undefiled can arise. In the instance of rebirth-linking from Desire to the two higher realms, the two obscured neutral of the higher realms can arise.

There is no entering absorption of the Formless from a mind of Desire, because the Formless is separated from Desire by the four distances of support, aspect, focus, and antidote.

(ii) How many minds a virtuous mind can immediately follow

67b

It can arise from eight.

It, the virtuous mind of Desire, can only arise from eight minds: In the instances of continuation and comparable level, it arises from the four of its own level. In the instance of arising from absorption, it arises from the virtue of Form and the two undefiled. In the instance of being troubled by the afflicted, it arises from the obscured of Form for a total of eight. The word “only” indicates that it does not arise from the remaining four minds.

(b) Nonvirtuous minds. This has two points.

(i) How many minds a nonvirtuous mind can arise right after

67c

Nonvirtuous mind arises from ten.

The nonvirtuous mind of Desire arises from ten minds. In the instances of continuation and comparable level, it arises from the four of its own level. In the instance of rebirth-linking from the two higher realms to Desire, it arises from the three minds of each of the upper realms. This is a total of ten.

(ii) How many minds arise right after it

67d

From it are four.

From it, the nonvirtuous mind of Desire, there are four minds that can arise. In the instances of continuation and comparable level, only the four of its own level, with the exception of the emanated mind, can arise.

(c) Neutral minds. This has two topics: (i) Obscured neutral, and (ii) Unobscured neutral.

(i) Obscured neutral

67d

Like that, the obscured.

Like that nonvirtuous mind, the obscured neutral mind of Desire also can arise from ten minds and immediately after it four minds can arise.

(ii) Unobscured neutral. This has two points.

A. How many it arises from

68a

e unobscured arises from five.

The unobscured neutral mind of Desire arises from five minds. In the instances of continuation and comparable level, it arises from the four of its own level. In the instance of entering an emanation, the emanated mind of Desire, which is unobscured neutral, can arise from a virtuous mind arisen from training of Form.

B. How many arise from it

68b

Directly from it, seven minds.

Directly from it, the unobscured mind of Desire, seven minds can arise. In the instances of continuation and comparable level, the four of its own level can arise. In the instance of rebirth-linking in the two higher realms, the obscured of the higher realms can arise. In the instance of arising from an emanation, the virtuous mind of Form can arise. Thus a total of seven can arise.

(2) Minds of Form. This has two topics: (a) Virtuous, and (b) Neutral.

(a) Virtuous. This has two points.

(i) How many minds arise right after it

68c

In Form, from virtuous, eleven.

In the realm of Form, from a virtuous mind, eleven minds can arise. In the instances of continuation and comparable level, the three of its own level can arise. In the instance of entering absorption, the virtue of Formless and the two undefiled can arise. In the instance of arising from absorption, the virtue of Desire can arise. In the instance of rebirth-linking in the higher and lower realms, the obscured of Formless, the nonvirtue of Desire, and the obscured of Desire can arise. In the instance of entering an emanation, the unobscured of Desire can arise. This is a total of eleven.

(ii) How many minds it arises right after

68d

at is directly after nine.

That virtuous mind of Form arises directly after nine minds. In the instances of continuation and comparable level, it arises from the three of its own level. In the instance of entering absorption, virtuous mind of Desire. In the instance of arising from absorption, it arises from the virtue of Formless and the two undefiled. In the instance of being troubled by the afflicted, it arises from the obscured of Formless. In the instance of arising from emanation, it arises from the unobscured of Desire. Thus it arises from a total of nine.

(b) Neutral. This has two topics: (i) Obscured, and (ii) Unobscured.

(i) Obscured. This has two points.

A. How many minds it arises right after

69a

Obscured is from eight,

The obscured mind of the Form realm is arisen from the substances of eight minds. In the instances of continuation and comparable level, it arises from the three of its own level. In the instance of rebirth-linking from either the higher or lower realms, it arises from the three minds of Formless and the virtuous and unobscured of Desire, for a total of eight.

B. How many minds arise right after it

69a

and from it, six.

And from it, the obscured mind of Form, six minds can arise. In the instances of continuation and comparable level, the three of its own level can arise. In the instance of rebirth-linking in Desire, the nonvirtuous and obscured of Desire can arise. In the instance of being troubled by the afflicted, the virtuous mind of Desire can arise, for a total of six.

(ii) Unobscured. This has two points.

A. How many it arises right after

69b

e unobscured mind is from three.

The unobscured mind of Form is arisen from the three of its own level in the instances of continuation and comparable level.

B. How many arise from it

69c

From that one, six.

From that one, the unobscured mind of Form, six minds can arise. In the instances of continuation and comparable level, the three of its own level can arise. In the instances of rebirth-linking in higher and lower realms, the three afflicted of the higher and lower levels can arise, for a total of six.

(3) Minds of Formless. This has three topics: (a) Unobscured, (b) Virtue, and (c) Obscured.

(a) Unobscured

69cd

In Formless, too,

It’s similar.

In Formless, too, it, the unobscured mind, is similar to that: just like the unobscured of Form, it arises from three minds, and right after it six minds can arise. In the instances of continuation and comparable level, the three of its own level can arise, and in the instance of rebirth-linking in the two lower realms, their three afflicted minds can arise.

(b) Virtue. This has two points.

(i) How many minds arise from it

69d

From virtuous mind

70a

Arise nine minds.

From the virtuous mind of Formless, there can arise nine minds. In the instances of continuation and comparable level, the three of its own level can arise. In the instance of entering absorption, the two undefiled can arise. In the instance of arising from absorption, the virtue of Form. In the instance of rebirth-linking in the lower two realms, the three afflicted minds of the lower levels can arise. Thus nine arise from it.

(ii) How many minds it arises from

70a

at after six.

That virtuous mind of Formless arises after six minds: In the instances of continuation and comparable level, it arises from the three of its own level. In the instance of entering absorption, it arises from the virtue of Form. In the instance of arising from absorption, it arises from the two undefiled.

(c) Obscured. This has two points.

(i) How many minds arise from it

70b

From obscured, seven.

From the obscured mind of Formless, seven minds can arise. In the instances of continuation and comparable level, the three of its own level can arise. In the instance of rebirth-linking in the lower two realms, the three afflicted minds of the lower levels can arise. In the instance of being troubled by the afflicted, the virtue of Form can arise.

(ii) How many minds it arises from

70b

at is so.

That obscured mind of Formless is so, like the previous enumeration, in that it can arise immediately after seven minds. In the instances of continuation and comparable level, it arises from the three of its own level. In the instance of rebirth-linking from the two lower levels, it can arise of their two virtues and two unobscured minds for a total of seven.

(4) The learner’s mind. This has two points.

(a) How many minds it arises from

70c

e learner’s from four.

The learner’s mind arises from four minds: in the instance of continuation, from itself, and in the instance of entering absorption, from the virtuous minds of the three realms.

(b) How many minds arise from it

70c

From it five.

From it, the learner’s mind, five minds can arise. In the instance of continuation, itself and the nonlearner’s can arise, and in the instance of arising from absorption, the three virtues of the three realms can arise.

(5) The nonlearner’s mind. This has two points.

(a) How many minds it arises from

70d

Nonlearner’s mind arises from five,

The nonlearner’s mind arises from five minds. In the instance of continuation, it arises from itself. In the instance of entering absorption, it arises from the virtue of the three realms that is arisen from training only. It also arises from the learner’s vajra-like samadhi.

(b) How many minds arise from it

71a

And from it there arise four minds.

And from it, the nonlearner’s mind, there arise four minds. In the instance of continuation, itself, and in the instance of arising, the three virtues of the three realms.

In that case, five minds can arise from the nonlearner’s mind, because in the instance of regression from the result the learner’s mind can arise right after the nonlearner’s, you say. Without afflictions becoming manifest there is no regression from the state of nonlearner, and if afflictions do become manifest, it is interrupted by an afflicted mind. Therefore, the obscured minds of the three realms do not arise directly after the nonlearner’s, because the minds of arising from the undefiled are the virtuous minds of the three realms. Any one of those three arises from the nonlearner’s mind, and the afflicted mind arises from that.

iv. Classifying the mind in twenty

71b–d

To make this dozen into twenty:

Divide the virtue of three realms

In what’s attained on birth, from training.

72.

Produced by ripening, the path

Of activities, crafts, emanations:

e neutral are fourfold in Desire.

In Form, the crafts must be excluded.

To make more extensive classifications of this dozen minds into twenty categories, divide the virtuous of the three realms, into two: what is attained upon birth and what is arisen from training. In Desire, unobscured neutral is further classified: produced by full ripening, which arises from a cause of full ripening without effort and engages itself from within; the path of activities of going, walking, sitting, and standing; crafts that manufacture things; and emanation minds that wish to make emanations first and then focus on the four objects during emanations. Thus, the unobscured neutral are fourfold in the Desire realm. In the Form realm, there is no manufacturing, so the crafts must be excluded and there are only the remaining three. In Formless, there is the arisen from full ripening alone. There are also the four afflicted minds of the three realms and the two undefiled minds. Therefore, in Desire there are eight, in Form six, in Formless four, and the two undefiled for a total of twenty. Alternatively, there are eight virtue, four afflicted, and eight unobscured for a total of twenty.

v. How afflicted minds and so forth are acquired. This has four topics: (1) How many minds are acquired from afflicted minds, (2) How many minds are acquired from the virtue of Form, (3) How many are acquired from the learner’s mind, and (4) How many are acquired from the remaining minds.

(1) How many minds are acquired from afflicted minds. This has three points.

(a) How many are attained from afflicted minds of Desire

73ab

With the three realms’ afflicted minds

One can acquire six,

Among the minds of the three realms, when the afflicted minds of Desire become manifest, one can acquire six minds. When taking birth in Desire from the two upper realms, one attains the two afflicted minds of Desire and virtue attained upon birth. When regressing from the state of arhat through nonvirtue, one acquires the two obscured of the higher realms and the learner’s mind for a total of six.

(b) How many are attained from afflicted minds of Form

73b

six,

From the afflicted of Form one acquires six. When taking birth in Form from Formless, one acquires the afflicted of Form and virtue attained upon birth and the two emanated minds of Desire and Form. When the entanglers[120] of Form make one regress from the state of arhat, one acquires the afflicted of Formless and the learner’s mind, for a total of six.

(c) How many are attained from afflicted minds of Formless

73b

or two.

Or one acquires two minds from the afflicted of Formless: when the entanglers of Formless make one regress from the state of arhat, one acquires the obscured of Formless and the learner’s mind.

(2) How many minds are acquired from the virtue of Form

73c

With virtuous in Form, it’s three.

With virtuous minds born in Form first becoming manifest, that virtuous mind is acquired. When the mind of actual practice of dhyana becomes manifest, the two emanated minds of Desire and Form are acquired, for a total of three, as it is explained. However, it is impossible to acquire all three at once. Pūrṇavardhana states that at the time of attaining the actual practice of the first dhyana, three are acquired from absorption.

(3) How many are acquired from the learner’s mind

73d

With learner, four.

With the manifestation of the learner’s mind of dharma forbearance of suffering, four are acquired: When entering the absorption of the first undefiled moment, that undefiled path itself is acquired. When it makes one detached from Desire, the emanated minds of Desire and Form are acquired. When it makes one detached from Form, the virtuous of Formless is acquired.

(4) How many are acquired from the remaining minds

73d

With others, those.

With the other minds not just explained—the virtues of Desire and Formless, the nonlearner, and the three unobscured neutral—with these six minds, just those themselves are acquired, no others.

Second, presenting the area’s name

is completes the second area called “Teachings on the Faculties” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

This completes the explanation of the second area called “Teachings on the Faculties” from The Explanation of the “Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma” called The Essence of the Ocean of Abhidharma, The Words of Those who Know and Love, Explaining the Youthful Play, Opening the Eyes of Dharma, The Chariot of Easy Practice.

A few words here:

When my mind’s seven horses[121] shine their hundred rays

Of acuity in expansive skies of knowables,

The minds of students yearning for emancipation

Will blossom in the lotus garden of abhidharma.

The tirtikas who arrogate that they are Brahma

Do not know the intent or meaning of the vast canon.

Audaciously they write their ṭīkas on

The surface meaning of sharp and clear words

Without a fine analysis of difficult points.

Alas! They pretend to know the meaning of the texts,

But are like bees trying to measure the sky’s limits.

Unable to bear this, I strive to explain this text.

79. See I.48d.

80. See I.7a.

81. Faculties that are not performing their function. See I.40.

82. A likeness is the continuum of similarity throughout a being’s lifetime. The Tibetan word ris mthun pa refers both to the continuum of a being in a similar body during the course of one lifetime and to discards that are of similar types. In this translation, when it refers to the continuum of a being, the term likeness is used, as the Tibetan ris can also mean an image or likeness of something.

83. That is, if the mind is virtuous, then the actions and so forth that arise from its power will also be virtuous.

84. Beings in the between state, so called because they cannot eat solid food but subsist on scent instead.

85. Fully ripened results are always unobscured neutral. See 57d.

86. The nine causes of mental unhappiness are: thinking they have hurt me, they are hurting me, or they will hurt me; thinking they have hurt, are hurting, or will hurt my friend or relative; and thinking they have helped, are helping, or will help my enemy.

87. See III.38a.

88. A fully ripened result must be unafflicted neutral, so the afflicted mind consciousness at birth cannot be a fully ripened result.

89. See III.98.

90. Beings born in a single instant by miraculous birth likewise die in a single instant without a gradual process of death.

91. The Great Exposition asserts that some arhats temporarily regress or fall from the state of arhatship when subtle afflictions arise in their beings. See VI.22.

92. Childish beings are ordinary beings who have not yet matured into nobles by directly seeing the four noble truths.

93. Attached means still attached to the Desire realm—that is, not having abandoned the afflictions that lead to rebirth in Desire.

94. That is, they are made out of the four sources and four source-derived.

95. See verse 32b.

96. See III.33–34.

97. Nonawareness is a weak aspect of full knowing, distraction is weak samadhi, and forgetfulness is weak mindfulness.

98. The last three views are wrong view, over-esteeming views, and over-esteeming discipline and austerity. See V.7.

99. Personality view is viewing the aggregates as me or mine, and extreme view is holding the self to be permanent or to have a definite end. See V.7.

Many translations from the Tibetan translate personality view rather literally as “view of the transitory collection”. Here the example of translators from the Theravada tradition who say personality view is followed for ease of comprehension.

100. See V.53ab.

101. In other texts, the distinction between shamelessness and immodesty is said to be whether one disregards oneself or another when committing misdeeds.

102. Since afflictions are only abandoned starting from the second moment of the path of seeing, nobles on the first moment of the path of seeing who have not previously attained the dhyanas have not yet abandoned any afflictions and thus have not been freed from any of their bonds. Once they attain the second moment, they possess the analytic cessation of the afflictions that focus on suffering in Desire. See IV. 61 and VI.28.

103. Wrong vows are commitments to perform misdeeds. See IV.13.

104. Jñānaprasthāna.

105. That is, experienced in one’s next rebirth. See IV.50bd.

106. The Sanskrit root text assembled by V.V. Gokhale here reads saṃjñā or conception, not name. This translation follows the Tibetan.

107. Note that in Sanskrit and Tibetan, the letter is considered the phoneme or sound, not the sign on the page.

108. See II.52a.

109. See II.46c.

110. The isolate is what we perceive when we think of an object. Here the mere isolate refers to the thing itself.

111. The last aggregates of an arhat passing into nirvana without remainder do not produce any subsequent aggregates, so they are not same status causes.

112. These six types of individuals will be explained in VI.29, 31 & 56.

113. Universal kernels are kernels that focus on all levels and classes of discards. See V.12–13.

114. This last sentence does not appear in Wangchuk Dorje’s commentary but was filled in from Mikyö Dorje’s Springtime Cow so that all the words of the root text would be explained.

115. That is, when present same-status and universal causes issue results, the result arises in the immediately following moment. When past same status and universal causes issue result, the result arises after an interruption in time. (Mchims 1989, 201)

116. That is to say, someone who sees a vase, for example, has only one eye consciousness that perceives the vase but may have another consciousness, such as an ear consciousness, simultaneously. Each of the consciousnesses has its own set of concurrent mental factors.

117. In other words, when a cognition arises, the mental factors that are concurrent with it and dharmas that are coemergent with it are not its objective conditions—they are not its object in that specific instance. In general terms, however, they are suitable to be the objective condition for another cognition.

118. The virtuous pure mind of a higher level is the worldly virtuous absorption of a higher level of dhyana or Formless. See VIII.6.

119. Minds of emanation are the cognitions that arise when a being emanates something. See VII.49ff.

120. A type of affliction. See V.47ff.

121. A metaphor for the sun, which is said to be pulled through the sky by seven chariots.

THIRD AREA

Teachings on the World

Unstained by ignorance, your wisdom sees

All that is knowable, directly and unhindered.

Lord of ten powers and all-knowing guru,

Jewel of the Shakyas, I bow to you respectfully.

The treasury that teaches the world from abhidharma’s Treasury,

Is like a reflection in this mirror, taught clearly and precisely

Just as all-knowing Vasubandhu explained, without mistakes—

This is a feast for those with minds of intelligence and interest!

With these verses as a link between chapters, the third area, the “Teachings on the World,” has an explanation of the text of the area and a presentation of the area’s name. The explanation of the text of the area has two sections: I. The world of sentient beings, and II. The world that contains them.

I. The world of sentient beings. This has five topics: A. Classifications of wanderers who are born, B. The nature of interdependence, the manner of birth, C. Conditions for abiding after birth, D. The minds of staying and dying, and E. Categorizing beings in three groups.

A. Classifications of wanderers who are born. This has three topics: 1. Classifying in three realms. 2. Classifying wanderers in five, and 3. Classifying in the four modes of birth.

1. Classifying in three realms. This has three topics: a. Desire realm, b. Form realm, and c. Formless realm.

a. Desire realm. This has two points.

i. General classification

1a–c

Hells, hungry ghosts, and animals,

And humans, and six types of gods

Are the Desire realm.

Just the names of the three realms have been mentioned, but what are the three realms? you ask. This area is intended to teach that. The connection between the chapters in terms of meaning is that individuals who wish for liberation should among the four truths internalize the characteristics and character bases of the truth of suffering first. This develops weariness with the world, it is said.

The actual meaning of this verse is as follows. Beings in the hells are led there by nonmeritorious causes that do not have even the slightest pleasant result and cannot find protection until extricated by the full ripening of karma. The hungry ghosts are overwhelmed by hunger and thirst. And there are the “bent-goers” or animals who bend as they go. And humans are predominantly mental. And the six types of gods of Desire have their palaces in the sky.[122] Including their environment or container, these are the Desire realm.

ii. Specific classification

1cd

By dividing

e hells and continents, there are twenty.

To classify these further, by dividing the hot hells into eight and the humans into the four continents, there are ten lower realms and ten higher realms. Thus the Desire realm has twenty. The eight cold hells surround the Reviving Hell and so forth; the Occasional Hells are in indefinite location, number and size; the sub-continents surround the continents; and demigods are in the Desire realm, but are included within the other five types of beings. Therefore these are not counted separately.

b. Form realm. This has two points.

i. General classification

2ab

Above that there are seventeen

Higher abodes of the Form realm.

Above that Desire realm there are seventeen higher abodes from Brahma’s Abode to Below None, which are called the Form realm, because they are realms where one is detached from desire but still attached to form.

ii. Specific classification. This has two points.

(1) The classification of the first three

2c

Each of the dhyanas has three levels,

In that Form realm, of the four dhyanas, each of the first three dhyanas has three levels: the first has Brahma’s Abode and so forth.[123] Each dhyana is divided into three levels because it can be caused by lesser, medium, or greater absorption.

(2) The classification of the fourth

2d

But the fourth dhyana has eight levels.

On the fourth dhyana, there are the three levels of Cloudless and so forth[124] for ordinary individuals who have meditated on it. Nobles can have five levels of the absorption of alternation, such as the lesser, medium, and so forth absorptions of alternation.[125] Corresponding to these, there are five pure abodes.[126] Thus the level of the fourth dhyana has eight levels.

c. Formless realm. This has three points.

i. Teaching that there is no classification by abode

3a

e Formless realm has no abodes.

In the Formless realm, the four name aggregates[127] of birth establish themselves in that very level on which the being died. There is no designation of other higher or lower abodes.

ii. Classifying in four by birth

3b

Because of birth, it has four types.

Because of differences in birth, it has different four types: the sense bases of Infinite Space, Infinite Consciousness, Nothingness, and Neither Conception nor Nonconception. These absorptions are so called because of the way one trains to achieve them. First, when both the conception of form and the part of it that is perceived have disintegrated, one thinks, “Space is infinite.” From transcending the negation of the existence of anything perceived in mere space, there is a not-negation[128] of it as a thing and one thinks, “Consciousness is infinite.” Then one thinks, “This mere awareness cannot be proven to be any particular essence.” Then one fears that conceptions are like results and pain, but the lack of conceptions is total stupidity, so one does not stop the subtle, unclear movement of conceptions. During the actual absorption, one attains a result similar to those trainings, so the absorptions are therefore named after them.

iii. How the continuum of mind is engaged

3cd

ere, likeness and life force as well

Support the mind’s continuum.

In Desire and Form, the continuum of mind is supported by the bodily form, but what supports it here? you ask. There in the Formless realm, likeness of same status and life force as well support the mind’s continuum. “As well” means that the continuum by mind is also supported by karma, nonpossession, attainment, birth, and so forth.

Well then, why do likeness and life force not support life in the realms of Desire and Form as well? you ask. That is because in those realms one is not free of the conception of form, and because life force and so forth are weak in comparison. The Formless realm arises from a particular absorption that has no conception of form, so the life force and so forth propelled by previous karma are strong.

In the philosophical school of the Great Exposition, these two support the mind, and the mind also supports them.

2. Classifying wanderers in five. This has three topics: a. Actual, b. Particulars of elements, and c. Elaboration on these points.

a. Actual

4ab

e names, the hells and so forth, show

Five wanderers.

Saying the names in the three realms, the hells and so forth, animals, hungry ghosts, humans, and gods, show five types of wanderers.[129] These include all sentient beings of the previous state.[130]

The Levels[131] says that demigods are lesser gods. Others explain them as hungry ghosts. Gandharvas are gods. The Yaksha demons are probably gods but are also explained as hungry ghosts. Naga serpents, kinnaras, and garudas are animals. Kumbhaṇḍas, ghouls, banshees, and other demons are mostly hungry ghosts.

b. Particulars of elements

4b–d

ey’re unafflicted

And neutral. Sentient beings are called,

But not those in the between state.

In terms of their self-isolate, they, the five wanderers, are unafflicted, and they are neither virtue nor nonvirtue, but unobscurerd neutral only. If that were not so and they were either afflicted or virtuous, the different beings would become mixed up, and those who have severed the roots of virtue and nobles would not be included among wanderers. As the environment of the world is not a wanderer, only sentient beings are called wanderers, but those in the between state are not. From the Prajñāptiśastra:

The four modes of birth included the five wanderers, but the five wanderers do not include the four modes of birth. What is not included? you ask. The between state.

Therefore the Great Exposition proposes that beings are unobscured neutral only, because they are separate from the cause that establishes them, karmic becoming. This pervades because the full ripening propelled by karma is a wanderer.

c. Elaboration on these points. This has four topics: i. The seven places of consciousness, ii. The nine places for beings, iii. The four places of consciousness, and iv. Analyzing the four possibilities of the four places and seven places.

i. The seven places of consciousness. This has two points.

(1) Actual

5.

A different body and conception;

A different body, same conception;

Reverse; same body and conception;

And the three places without form

6a

Are seven places of consciousness.

In these three realms of the five wanderers, seven places of consciousness are explained. 1) Gods and humans of Desire, and those who arise in the first dhyana in later epochs have a different body and conception. 2) Great Brahma and the assembly of gods around him have different robes, colors, and shapes, so they have a different body, but as they all conceive that, “Great Brahma created me,” and Brahma also conceives that “I have created these beings,” so they have the same conception. 3) In the reverse of the preceding, the gods of the second dhyana have bodies that are the same in that their nature is light, but their conception is sometimes pleasure and sometimes equanimity, so their conceptions arise differently. This is because the pleasure of this level is not stable. 4) The gods of the third dhyana are the same in having a body that is light by nature and the conception of pleasure, because the pleasure of this level is stable. These four places that have form and the three places without form of 5) Infinite Space, 6) Infinite Consciousness, and 7) Nothingness are the seven places of consciousness. These seven places are taught in the sutras. These are called the places of consciousness because in them the manner of craving supports and develops the consciousness.

(2) What is not that

6b

e others have that which destroys it.

The others that were not mentioned—the three lower realms, the fourth dhyana, and the Peak of Existence—are not places of consciousness because the lower realms have suffering, the fourth dhyana has both the causal and resultant conception-free absorption, and on the Peak there is the absorption of cessation, so they have that which destroys it, consciousness.

ii. The nine places for beings. This has two points.

(1) Actual

6cd

With beings on Peak and Concept Free,

ey’re said to be nine places for beings.

Along with beings on the Peak of Existence and in Conception Free, they, these seven places of consciousness, are said to be the nine places for beings. This is because sentient beings always remain there with pleasure.

(2) What is not that

7ab

Since one remains against one’s wishes,

e others are not.

Since their nature is that one remains in them against one’s wishes—one is forced to stay by the demons of karma—the other three lower realms are not places for beings. They are, for example, like prisons.

iii. The four places of consciousness. This has two points.

(1) Actual

7b–d

Four more places:

Four aggregates that are defiled,

On their own level.

There are four more places in another manner than the seven taught in a sutra:

The places for consciousness are approaching form, and approaching feeling, conception, and formation.

Their nature is the four aggregates of form and so forth that are defiled and that are on their own level, but not those that are undefiled or on other levels. This is because the undefiled is the antidote for consciousness, and it is not logical that one level be the support of another level’s consciousness.

(2) What is not that

7d

Consciousness

8a

Alone is not explained as a place.

Here, in differentiating the basis for staying and what stays, the Teacher says that the consciousness, which is what stays, alone is not explained as a place for consciousness. For example, it is like not mentioning the king himself.

iv. Analyzing the four possibilities of the four places and seven places

8b

Combined, there are four alternatives.

Do the seven include the four, or do the four include the seven? you ask. If you examine how they can be combined, there are four alternatives. The first alternative (included in the seven but not in the four) is the consciousness on the seven places. The second alternative (included in the four but not the seven) is the defiled aggregates other than consciousness in the three lower realms, in the fourth dhyana, and on the Peak. The third alternative (included in both) is the first four defiled aggregates in the seven places. The fourth alternative (included in neither) is consciousness in the lower realms, fourth dhyana, and Peak; and undefiled dharmas.

3. Classifying in the four modes of birth. This has three topics: a. Where one enters: the classification of the modes of birth, b. What enters: the explanation of the between state, and c. The manner it goes to the place of birth.

a. Where one enters: the classification of the modes of birth. This has two topics: i. Actual classification, and ii. Examining which beings have which modes of birth.

i. Actual classification

8cd

ere sentient beings have four modes

Of birth: from egg, et cetera.

There, in those three realms, sentient beings are known to have four modes of birth: there is birth from egg, et cetera, including birth from womb, birth from warmth and moisture, and miraculous birth.

The so-called modes of birth are birth. They group together many different types of sentient beings who have their type of birth in common. For that reason, they are similar, and so these are the modes of birth.

ii. Examining which beings have which modes of birth. This has three points.

(1) Which are possessed by humans and animals

9a

Humans and animals have four.

Which wanderers have how many modes of birth? you ask. Humans and animals can have any of the four modes. The elders Śaila and Upaśaila, for example, are humans born from eggs. Present humans are born from the womb. Māndhātar, Āmrapāli and so forth are born from warmth and moisture. Humans of the first aeon and Noble Aryadeva have miraculous birth.

Three of the modes of birth for animals are easy to understand; some nagas and garudas, for example, are born by miraculous birth.

(2) Which are possessed by hell beings, gods, and so forth

9bc

Hell beings have miraculous birth,

As do gods and the between states.

Hell beings have miraculous birth only, as do gods and beings in the between states.

(3) Which are possessed by hungry ghosts

9d

From the womb as well are hungry ghosts.

Most hungry ghosts are born by miraculous birth, but from the womb as well are some hungry ghosts born.

Among all the modes of birth, miraculous birth is the best, but the Teacher demonstrated birth from the womb in order not to fulfill the predictions of non-Buddhists, who had prophesied that a magician would appear and deceive the world. He also took birth from the womb to bring his Shakyan kinsfolk into the Dharma and leave relics of his body.

b. What enters: the explanation of the between state. This has two topics: ii. The essence and proof, and ii. Distinctions of bodily form and so forth

i. The essence and proof. This has three topics: (1) Essence, (2) Dispelling doubts, and (3) Proof.

(1) Essence

10ab

In this, it is that which arises

Between the states of death and birth.

What is the essence of the between state? you ask. In this here, it is that continuum of the five defiled aggregates which arises between the cessation of the preceding state of death and the upcoming state of birth.

(2) Dispelling doubts

10cd

It has not reached its destination,

So the between state is not born.

What is the reason that it is arisen but not born? you ask. It has not reached its destination, the previous state with complete name-and-form and the six sense bases propelled by karma, so the between state is not born.

(3) Proof. This has (a) Logical proofs, and (b) Scriptural proofs.

(a) Logical proofs. This has three topics: (i) Actual proof, (ii) Teaching that the example is illogical, and (iii) Proving the reason for that.

(i) Actual proof

11ab

Analogous to a grain’s continuum,

It is not born from interruption.

The Buddhist Mahāsāṃghika and Mahīśāsaka schools say that the birth state only happens immediately following the state of death, so there is no between state. This is the opponent’s position.

Because the form of the birth state in Desire and Form is similar to a grain of seed, from which a shoot, from which a trunk, and so forth arise in an uninterrupted continuum, it is analogous to a grain’s continuum and to the result of that continuum. Therefore, because the essence of the continuum of existence arises in a different place, it is not born solely from the continuation of a state of death that has been interrupted. This is a result reason of a prior cause[132] where the reason and the example are taught simultaneously.

(ii) Teaching that the example is illogical

11cd

Since a reflection is not proven,

Nor similar, it’s not an example.

Well, one does see instances where the cause’s continuum is interrupted but the result arises. For example, the reflection of a face that appears in a mirror is the result of that face, but it arises even though it is interrupted in space. For this reason, the birth state also arises from the interrupted state of death, you say.

This is not so, since a reflection is not proven to be a form. The word “nor” includes the alternatives: even if a reflection were proven to be a form, because it is not similar to an actual form, it is not suitable to be given as an example.

(iii) Proving the reason for that. This has two points.

A. The proof that it is not established as an obstructive form

12a

On one, no two are simultaneous.

On the object of a mirror, the color of the mirror and the color of the reflection do not both arise simultaneously at one time, because on one object no two obstructive forms of similar type are able to arise simultaneously. A reflection is not an obstructive thing, but it is not logical for it to be any other type of thing either. If it were, the mirror would not be necessary as a support for the reflection. The Prince explains:

Therefore, the state of birth is in the continuum of the state of death, but a reflection is not the same with respect to form, so the example of the reflection is not proof. The example of the essence that arises later in a grain’s continuum is something that has its own continuum, thus it is a compatible example.

B. The proof that the example and meaning are dissimilar

12b

It’s discontinuous, born from two.

It, the reflection of a face’s form in a mirror is discontinuous from the face’s form because the reflection is connected to the continuum of the mirror and arises simultaneously as the face’s form. The reflection is born from the two principal conditions of the mirror and the face’s form, but here the state of birth is not born from two causes of the state of death and some other cause, because no principal cause other than the state of death can be observed. The primary cause of the state of birth cannot be the semen, blood and so forth, because miraculous birth arises from space without any semen or blood.[133]

(b) Scriptural proofs

12cd

Since mentioned, it exists. Scent-eaters,

And five are taught, and Sutra of Wanderers.

The Great Chim[134] summarized this thus:

The Seven States, and Entering the Womb,

Āśvalāyana, and nonreturners,

Sutra of Wanderers, and other words

Explain it, so the between state is taught to be.

To comment on this: From the Sutra of Seven States:[135]

The states are seven: the state of hell, the state of animals, the state of hungry ghosts, the state of gods, the state of humans, the karmic state, and the between state.

Since it is actually mentioned in the Buddha’s teachings, it, the between state, exists. We do not recite any sutra like that because it does not appear in our scriptures, you say. Well then, from the Sutra of Entering the Womb:[136]

From the manifestation of three situations, the child is conceived in the mother’s womb: a suitable mother who has a menstrual flow, the parents becoming lustful and joining, and the scent-eater also being nearby.

The scent-eater mentioned here is a just synonym for the between state. Also, it is also said in the Āśvalāyana Sutra, “Your scent-eater who is nearby… ”

We do not recite any such sutras, you say. From another sutra:

The nonreturners are five: complete nirvana in the intermediate, complete nirvana upon birth, complete nirvana without effort, complete nirvana with effort, and bound for higher.

Here five nonreturners are taught. And it is proven in the Sutra of the Seven Holy Wanderers.[137] The word “and” means that in addition to the logical proofs, there are the above scriptures and many other scriptures that prove it, such as:

Put dhyanas in four groups of ten,

The Formless in three groups of seven,

Conception in one group of six,

And all is put in categories.

Well, it is said that the demon named Criticism went directly to the Incessant Hell in one instant in his own body, so there is no between state. It is also said that if you commit a heinous deed, you will be born in hell immediately. So it is said, you say. These do not mean that there is no between state, but rather that while still alive the body is surrounded by the flames of hell, and then one dies and goes to hell in the between state. The latter also means that it is karma experienced on rebirth without any other intervening existence.

With regard to one sinful brahman:

Brahman, when youth has been carried away

There’s aging and sickness: the demons approach.

Between there is no place for you,

There are no provisions for your journey.

Although this says there is no place in between, this means that between that life and the lower realms there is no place of birth in the higher realms; it does not teach that there is no between state.

However, when one is born from Desire or Form into Formless, there is no between state.

ii. Distinctions of bodily form and so forth This has five topics: (1) Distinctions of body, (2) Distinctions of miracles, (3) Distinctions of faculties, (4) Of manner of going, and (5) Of food.

(1) Distinctions of body. This has three points.

(a) Actual

13ab

Since it is propelled by the same karma,

It has the body of the next.

Since it, the between state, is a corporeal sentient being propelled by the one same propelling karma as the upcoming previous state, it has the body shape and form of the next previous state that will arise.

(b) Identifying the previous state

13cd

e previous is prior to death

But onward from the moment of birth.

Well then, what is the previous state itself? you ask. The previous state is the continuum of the five aggregates of grasping themselves prior to the state of death but onward from the moment of the state of birth.

Therefore, among the four states, the between state and the previous state have been explained. The state of birth is the moment of rebirth-linking as a new being. The last moment of death is the state of death: it is what occurs before the between state for those who will take birth among sentient beings with form. Thus the states of birth and death are moments, and the other two states are continuums.

(c) What they are seen by

14a

ey’re seen by their class, divine eye.

They, the between states of hell, are seen by hell beings, and the between states of gods are seen by gods of their comparable class, and they are seen by the clairvoyance of the divine eye that is produced by meditation and free of the eleven faults. They are not seen by the extremely pure divine eye attained upon birth. The eleven faults are as follows:

They’re doubt and inattention,

A body that’s unworkable,

And torpor, sleep, and agitation,

Harsh diligence, and crooked mind,

Anxiety, and various conceptions,

Too talkative, harsh meditation.

Some say that those in the between state of the gods can see the between states of all five wanderers, and those in the intermediates states of humans, hungry ghosts, animals, and the hells cannot see the higher ones.

(2) Distinctions of miracles

14b

e miracles of karma have power.

They have the miracles of being able to fly in space and so forth out of the force of karma. These miracles have power; these are not emanated miracles. Not even the Buddha can block them because of the strength of karma.

(3) Distinctions of faculties

14c

Full facultied

They have full and complete faculties of eye and so forth.

(4) Distinctions of manner of going

14cd

and unobstructive,

ey cannot turn back.

They cannot be blocked even by a vajra and so forth because they are unobstructive. For example, if you melt and smash a ball of iron, vermin can be seen inside it. Once the between state of a human, for example, is established, it cannot turn back into a god or other wanderer. In the higher abhidharma,[138] reversal to a higher between state is accepted.

(5) Distinctions of food

14d

ey eat smells.

They, the beings in the between state of Desire, eat the subtle smells of food; they do not eat coarse food. Those of lower classes with limited faculties eat smells that are not nice. Those with developed faculties eat nice smells.

How long does a being stay in the between state? you ask. There are many different propositions by Venerable Dharmatrāṇi of the Sutra school, the Second Teacher Vasubandhu, Venerable Vasumitra, the Great Exposition school, Saṅghabhadra, and so forth. To summarize them with verses from my own Ṭīka:[139]

The venerable elders of the Sutra school

Say the between state has indefinite duration.

If a being with provisions for one hundred years

Spends a year in between, once he has eaten that year’s,

He has only enough for some ninety-nine more

In the previous state. By that logic it’s known.

Vasumitra says if the conditions are met,

Within seven days. Or if not, after staying

Seven days there’s migration. And if the conditions

Are still not met, one can remain seven weeks.

Some certain proponents of the Sutra school

And Venerable Asanga and so forth say definitely

They will not stay longer than just seven weeks.

The Great Exposition says if the conditions

For one to be quickly reborn are not met—

For instance, if horses are not in mating season—

By karma, conditions will ripen and cause

Copulation, and they will link rebirth in there.

c. The manner it goes to the mode of birth. This has three topics: i. What frame of mind it enters with, ii. What shape it enters with, and iii. Explaining other distinctions of frame of mind.

i. What frame of mind it enters with. This has three points.

(1) The frame of mind in birth from the womb and egg

15ab

e mind mistaken, out of lust

It goes into its destination.

With the eye that arises from the power of karma, a being in this period of the between state sees the place where he will be reborn from far off. When entering either of the modes of birth from womb or from egg, if the being will be male, he has lust for mother and hatred for the father, or if female, lust for the father and anger for the mother, and if neuter, he has the desire of either the male neuter or the female neuter. As the being has this particular desire, the mind is mistaken and out of lust goes between the organs during copulation. Then it wants to sleep, so it goes amongst the semen and blood into its destination, the uterus. Once it has gone into the womb, which is like a ball of yarn, it feels affection for the semen and blood as “mine,” and it stays.

(2) The frame of mind in birth from warmth

15c

Others from longing for a smell

Unlike the two just described, in birth from warmth other beings go to a clean or unclean place from longing for a smell, according to their karma.

(3) The frame of mind in miraculous birth

15d

Or place.

In miraculous birth, they go out of longing for a place. This is entering the place of birth in a different manner than in either birth from the womb or the egg.

Well then, how is that one longs for hell? Because the mind is mistaken, one is tormented by cold rain and wind. Seeing fire in hell, one wants to get warm and rushes there. Alternatively, when suffering from and tormented by heat, one sees the cold hells as cool and rushes there. Thus is the link to the next rebirth made.

The between state of the gods is like arising from a cushion and going up. Humans, animals, and hungry ghosts go according to their situations.

ii. What shape it enters with

15d

ey fall head first to hell.

They, hell beings in the between state, fall head first to hell. This is because it is said:

All those who slander the austere

And fully restrained seers

Will tumble headlong into hell

And not to anywhere else.

The austerities are general, and the full restraint is abiding in the twelve purified qualities. The seers are buddhas and bodhisattvas.

iii. Explaining other distinctions of frame of mind. This has six points.

(1) What distinguishes wheel-wielding emperors

16a

One enters wittingly,

When the being in the between state enters the womb, it is not always because the mind is mistaken at orgasm. The sutras tell of four instances of entry into the womb. In the first of these, one stays in and emerges from the womb without awareness, but enters it wittingly.

(2) What distinguishes self-buddhas

16ab

one stays,

As well,

One not only enters, but stays knowingly as well.

(3) What distinguishes bodhisattvas

16b

and one emerges, too.

And one not only both enters and stays, but emerges knowingly, too.

(4) What distinguishes ordinary beings

16c

Others are ignorant of all,

Others are ignorant of all three: entering, staying, and emerging.

(5) Distinctions of birth from egg

16d

And always if oviparous.

And the being is always deluded if oviparous, or born from an egg.

(6) Explaining the reason for the first three

17.

e three—wheel wielding as well as

Two self-awakened—enter the womb

Because their karma or their wisdom

Or both are vast, respectively.

First those who enter knowingly but stay and emerge unknowingly, and those who enter and stay knowingly but emerge unknowing, and those who are knowing in all three, are the three—respectively the wheel-wielding emperor as well as the two self-awakened individuals, self-buddhas and tathagatas—that enter the womb knowingly. This is because their—wheel wielding emperors’—karma or merit is vast, or because of their—self-buddhas’—wisdom from meditating for one hundred aeons is vast, or because of both of the buddha’s accumulations are vast, respectively. When they enter the womb, they are not yet buddhas and so forth, but they are called by their future appellation.

But the self-buddha both entering and staying knowingly and birth from the egg always being deluded are contradictory, because the son of King Pañcāla was born from an egg and was a self-buddha, you say. This is not a fault, because entering and staying knowingly is in terms of the rhinolike, and birth from the egg is in terms of the congregating self-buddhas,[140] according to Pūrṇavardhana’s explanation. Alternatively, entering and staying knowingly is in terms of birth from the womb.

B. The nature of interdependence, the manner of birth. This has three topics: 1. The manner the aggregates alone link rebirth, 2. The beginningless continuum of the aggregates, and 3. Understanding the nature of interdependence.

1. The manner the aggregates alone link rebirth

18.

ere is no self—mere aggregates.

Continuums of between states

Assembled by afflictions and karma

Enter the womb. It’s like a lamp.

According to outsiders, it follows that there is a self because sentient beings transmigrate to different worlds, you say. This does not pervade, because there is no self that accepts or rejects in the internal aggregates that make up the being.

Well then, what provides continuity between the state of death and rebirthlinking? you ask. There is merely the continuum of the aggregates themselves. Labeling that continuum as the “self ” is not refuted, because it is suitable to call it by any name. The aggregates alone have no power to transmigrate to new aggregates without stopping, because continuums of the between states that are fully ripened results and personally made results assembled by afflictions and karma enter the womb. It is like a lamp that is momentary but burns in a continuum of moments.

2. The beginningless continuum of the aggregates

19.

Just as propelled, the continuum

Arose in stages, then from karma

And afflictions goes to the next world—

Beginningless wheel of existence.

Just as it was propelled by ignorance and formation, the continuum arose in stages of consciousness, name-and-form, six sense bases, contact and feeling. Here death in the womb, death as a small child, and death in the prime of life are propelled by the prior accumulation of the being’s own specific karma. The order it develops is described in the scriptures:

At first it’s mushiness.

From mushiness, the oval.

From the oval comes the oblong,

From the oblong comes the solid.

From the solid, the hands and feet move.

Hair, fur, and nails, and such;

The faculties with form;

And organs develop in sequence.

The faculties produced by sustenance and so forth mature, and then from accumulating karma and performing afflicted conduct itself the body disintegrates. Then just as before the continuum of the between state goes to the next world by aging and death and by birth. This is because from karma and afflictions comes birth, and from birth, too, karma and afflictions are accumulated, so it is a beginningless wheel of existence.

3. Understanding the nature of interdependence. This has four topics: a. The periodic links of interdependence, b. The essence of each link, c. Teaching the three all-afflicted through examples, and d. Teaching these links as the four states.

a. The periodic links of interdependence. This has two topics: i. Overview of the classifications, and ii. Extensive explanation of the links.

i. Overview of the classifications. This has two points.

(1) Classifying in twelve

20ab

ese are twelve links of interdependent

Origination

The continuum of the aggregates comes from another world to this next one and goes from here to the next—the period of three births. In order to refute that the entry into samsara happens either without a cause or incompatibly with its cause, it is taught that there are twelve links of interdependent origination: ignorance, formation, consciousness, name-and-form, six sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, grasping, becoming, birth, and aging and death.

(2) Condensing into three

20b

in three parts.

These are in the three parts of previous, middle, and next lives, or the three times.

ii. Extensive explanation of the links. This has three topics: (1) How they are completed in three lifetimes, (2) Grouping them into afflictions, karma, and bases, and (3) Dispelling others’ doubts.

(1) How they are completed in three lifetimes. This has four topics: (a) Explaining their individual natures, (b) Explaining the three periods that arise, (c) Teaching that these are periodic, and (d) Rebutting that this contradicts the sutras.

(a) Explaining their individual natures

20cd

e previous and next, two each;

e middle, eight, with all complete.

Of these three lifetimes, in the previous lifetime and next lifetime there are two each: they are ignorance and formation, and birth and aging and death respectively. In the middle, the eight from consciousness to becoming are presented. This is intended in terms of all of the links complete, as in the first three modes of birth in Desire. In miraculous birth, the between state, and the two higher realms, it is not necessarily thus.[141]

(b) Explaining the three periods that arise. This has three points.

(i) Explaining what arises in the previous life

21ab

Previous afflictions: ignorance.

Previous karma is formations.

The previous period’s five aggregates during afflicted conduct is the link of ignorance. In relation to this life, these are called the link of ignorance, because the afflictions act simultaneously with ignorance and the afflictions always arise by the power of ignorance. It is just as when the king arrives, the attendant also comes. The five aggregates in the previous lifetime at the time of accumulating meritorious and other karma are formations.

(ii) Explaining what arises in the middle

21cd

e aggregates at linking: consciousness.

And name-and-form is on from there

22.

Until the six sense bases emerge.

ose are until three are assembled.

Contact is till one knows the causes

Of pleasure and of pain, et cetera.

23.

en feeling until sex. And craving

Is greed for possessions and for sex.

Close grasping is then chasing after

In order to obtain enjoyments.

24ab

Performing actions that result

In an existence is becoming.

The single moment of the five aggregates at the time of rebirth-linking in the mother’s womb is the link of consciousness. And the link of name-and-form is the five aggregates on from there, the moment of rebirth-linking, until or before the six sense bases emerge. Name is the four aggregates—like names, they are unobstructive. Form is the fetal stages of mushiness and so on. The link of those, the six sense bases, is the five aggregates from the time when those have completely emerged until the three of object, faculty, and consciousness are assembled. The link of contact is the five aggregates from then until the object, faculty, and consciousness are assembled and one knows the causes—a pleasant, unpleasant, neutral, or other object—of pleasure and of pain, et cetera, including neutral feeling. Then the link of feeling is the five aggregates from the time one is able to discern the causes of the three feelings until the lust for sex arises. And the link of craving is the five aggregates during the period of especial greed for the possession of desirable things and for sex before one actively seeks the object. The link of close grasping is the five aggregates during the period when one begins actively seeking and then chases after everything in order to obtain the enjoyments of desirable objects such as horses, cattle, grain, treasures, and so forth as well as the pleasures of sex. The five aggregates that, in chasing after things, perform actions or karmas that accumulate virtue and nonvirtue and will later produce a happy or miserable result of existence is the link of becoming. As it will arise, becoming is a synonym for karma. If you examine it closely, it is not separate in essence from the interdependent link of formation.

(iii) Explaining what arises in the next life

24cd

Linking rebirth again is birth.

Up until feeling, aging and death.

When karma makes one die in this and migrate to the next, the five aggregates at the time of the linking of rebirth again are the link of birth. What is presented as the link of consciousness in this life is presented as the link of birth in the next lifetime. In order to instill world-weariness in disciples, the Bhagavan taught that the aggregates from birth up until feeling are the link of aging and death.

(c) Teaching that these are periodic. This has two points.

(i) Actual

25a

ey claim that this is periodic.

There are four ways to classify the links of interdependence: momentary, prolonged, connected, and periodic. The manner in which the twelve links are posited as a single moment is described in the autocommentary:

How are they momentary, you ask? In a single moment there are all twelve links. This is how: that which is the delusion that kills out of the power of greed is ignorance. That which is the volition is formation. Individually knowing things is consciousness. The four aggregates that arise simultaneously with consciousness are name-and-form. The faculties that reside within name-and-form are the six sense bases. The six sense bases coming together is contact. Experiencing contact is feeling. That which is greed is craving. The entanglers that are concurrent with that are grasping. The actions of body and speech that those motivate is becoming. The arising of those actions is birth. Their complete ripening is aging. Their disintegration is death.

Thus among the four classifications of interdependence, the Bhagavan presented the continuum of the five aggregates over the period of three lifetimes as the twelve links. They of the Great Exposition claim here in this context that this is the teaching of the links to be periodic.

The word “claim” indicates that this is the Great Exposition’s position: it is a skeptical word from the Sutra school, which says it is admissible to present the six sense bases and name-and-form as periods of the five aggregates, but how could ignorance and formation be a period of the five aggregates?

(ii) Dispelling doubts

25b

e link’s called by the principal.

If in all twelve links there are all five aggregates, why is the first link known simply as ignorance? you wonder. Because at that point ignorance is principal, the link is called by the name of the principal, like saying, “The king has come” when an army with four divisions[142] arrives. In the same way, the links from formation to aging and death are known by that which is principal at that point.

(d) Rebutting that this contradicts the sutras

25cd

It’s taught to reverse ignorance

About the previous, next, and middle.

In the abhidharma, the links of interdependence are taught with regards to both sentient beings and all other composite phenomena. In the sutras, however, they are only taught with regard to sentient beings in order to reverse the doubt and ignorance about the self in the three times of the previous, next, and middle lives, such as the doubt, “Did it occur or not? Will it occur or not? What is it like here in the middle?”

(2) Grouping them into afflictions, karma, and bases. This has three points.

(i) Actual

26ab

ree are afflictions. Two are karma.

Seven are bases

Of the twelve links, three are afflictions: ignorance, craving, and grasping. Of these, ignorance is the cause of the current birth, and craving and grasping are the cause of future birth. The two links of formation and becoming are karma. These cause the present and future births. Because they are the support of karma and afflictions, seven links are bases: the five from consciousness to feeling, birth, and aging and death.

(ii) Teaching that seven are result

26b

and results.

The seven branches that are the bases for karma and the afflictions are also results, because the result of ignorance and formation is the five from consciousness to feeling, and the result of craving, grasping, and becoming is the two links of birth and aging and death.

(iii) The reason for not explaining the previous and next lives in detail

26cd

Cause and result of two is concise:

One can infer them from the middle.

Well, for this lifetime the five results from consciousness to feeling and both karma and the afflictions are explained in detail, so why in the future lifetime are they condensed into the two results of birth and aging and death? Why are they condensed in the previous lifetime into the cause ignorance only? you ask. The links of cause and result of the two past and future lives is taught concisely; the detailed explanations of the two causes in past lifetime and five results in future lifetime are not given. This is because one can infer them from the detailed explanation of cause and effect in the middle. There is no need to tire oneself pointlessly.

(3) Dispelling others’ doubts. This has two points.[143]

(a) Dispelling doubts as to the quantity

27.

Afflictions bear afflictions, action.

From that, the bases, and from those

Arise the bases and afflictions.

at is existence’s progression.

Well, it follows that samsara has a beginning and an end, because ignorance has no cause and aging and death no result. If you agree, it follows that more links should be added, because those two need a cause and result. This would therefore become endless because of your assertion, you say.

Even if those two links have causes and results, it does not follow that more links need to be added. The Bhagavan said that the affliction of craving bears the affliction of grasping, and afflictions bear the karma of action itself: formation arises out of ignorance, and becoming arises out of grasping. From that karma of formation and becoming, the bases of consciousness and birth arise. From those arise the bases from name-and-form to feeling and aging and death, and from these bases of feeling and aging and death, the afflictions of ignorance, craving, and grasping arise. This is how the links of existence progress.

(b) The distinction between arising and arisen

28ab

Here what is arising is a cause;

What has arisen is a result.

Here in this presentation from the sutras, what is arising in interdependence is a link that is a cause, because something arises from it. What has arisen in interdependence is proposed as a link that abides, because it has arisen. Therefore all of the links are proven to be both arising and arisen, because they are both a cause and a result. Although this is so, cause and result do not get mixed up, because when they arise depending on something else, that something does not depend upon them. For instance, in relation to one’s own father, one is the child and not the father.

b. The essence of each link. This has two topics: i. Actually explaining four links, and ii. Teaching that the other links are known from elsewhere.

i. Actually explaining four links. This has four topics: (1) An explanation of ignorance, (2) Of name, (3) Of contact, and (4) Of feeling.

(1) An explanation of ignorance. This has two topics: (a) Identifying its essence, and (b) Dispelling wrong conceptions.

(a) Identifying its essence

28cd

An other dharma, opposite to knowing,

Ignorance is like untruth, unfriendly, et cetera.

The meaning of ignorance: ignorance is an other dharma that is an unclear mental factor and is opposite to correct knowing of truth, karma and result, the jewels, and so on. As nonthings and matter are also the absence of knowledge or something that is not knowledge, ignorance is not merely either of those two. For example, it is like untruth, which is understood as a lie, unfriendly as enemies, nondharma as nonvirtue, “not its meaning” as “the incorrect meaning,” wrong action[144] as unmindful action, et cetera.

Well then, from what do we know that ignorance is not merely the absence of knowing? you ask. It says in a sutra, “Through the condition of ignorance, formation arises.”[145] It is also logically proven because the eye and so forth, which are not knowing, are not the condition for formations, and rabbits’ horns and such, which are the nonexistence of awareness, also do not function as the causes for formations.[146]

(b) Dispelling wrong conceptions. This has two points.

(i) Refuting that ignorance is a mere absence because it is a name for an affliction.

29a

Because of fetter and such words.

Ignorance is not presented as merely the absence of knowing or not knowing, because in teaching fetter and such words as the three bonds, four floods, and four yokes, it is taught as a separate mental factor.

(ii) Refuting calling bad full knowing “ignorance”

29b–d

Not bad full knowing, since that is view.

Since it’s concurrent with that view;

It’s taught that it afflicts full knowing.

If that is so, then like saying a bad child is not your child, bad full knowing is ignorance, you say. Ignorance is not such bad full knowing, since that is an afflicted view. In that case, afflicted bad full knowing that is not a view is ignorance, you say. That is also not so, since it, ignorance, is concurrent with that view, and because views are full knowing, and it is never possible for two substances of full knowing to be concurrent with each other. Additionally, bad full knowing is not ignorance, because it is taught that ignorance afflicts full knowing, making it afflicted.

(2) An explanation of name

30a

Skandhas that are not form are name.

The four skandhas or aggregates that are not form—feeling and so forth—are name in the link name-and-form because they engage their object by power of names, and because they are unobstructive, like names.

(3) An explanation of contact

30b–d

Six contacts happen from assembly.

Five are obstructive contact, and

e sixth is designated contact.

31.

Aware and unaware and other contact

Are stainless and afflicted and the rest.

Malicious, lustful contact, and

ree felt as pleasant and so forth.

The six contacts from eye to mind happen from assembly, because they arise from the assembly of object, faculty, and consciousness coming together.

Well then, the first five faculties and consciousness arise simultaneously, so they meet by assembly, but in contact assembled by mind it is not definite that all three will be assembled, because it is not logical that the mind faculty that has ceased, future dharmas that have not arisen, and the present mind consciousness could be assembled simultaneously, you say. This does not pervade, because the assembly of cause and result is called an assembly, even though they are not necessarily simultaneous. Alternatively, the single result itself has the meaning of assembly, because result is compatible with the production of a single contact. The many divergent opinions of earlier masters about contact appear in the Great Ṭīka, so refer there.

Of these contacts, the first five are obstructive contact, because they are contact that arises based upon obstructive faculties that have form. And the sixth is called designated contact because one meaning may be labeled with many names, so names are designations, and this is the contact that focuses on those. The eye consciousness knows blue, but does not know to think, “This is blue,” whereas the mind consciousness does know to think, “This is blue”—it knows what the name of a given meaning is.

Also, these six can become three: aware contact, and unaware or ignorant contact, and other contact that is neither of those two. The first two are respectively stainless, undefiled contact and afflicted contact, because the aware mentioned here is undefiled full knowing, and ignorance in this context is afflicted full knowing, and these contacts are concurrent with those. The third is the rest other than those two: it is put forth as contact concurrent with virtuous defiled or unobscured neutral full knowing, because it is contact that is not concurrent with either of the two above full knowings. Within ignorant contact, malicious and lustful contact, which are labeled by the names of their companions, are especially harmful, so they are taught separately.

Alternatively, all contact can be included within the three categories of contact felt or experienced as pleasant and so forth, including contact experienced as unpleasant and contact experienced as neutral, because they are the compatible causes of the experiences of pleasure and so forth. In this way, there are sixteen types of contact.

(4) An explanation of feeling. This has two topics: (a) General classification, and (b) A specific explanation of mental feeling.

(a) General classification

32ab

From that, six feelings can arise:

Five bodily, the other mental.

From that contact, there are six feelings that can arise: feeling that arises from contact assembled by eye and so on. Of these, because the first five depend upon faculties with form, they are bodily feeling. The mental feeling is other than those five; it is feeling that arises from contact assembled by mind. Does feeling arise after contact or together with it? you ask. Some Great Expositionists say they are together, because they are mutual coemergent causes. The Sutra school asks, if they arise simultaneously, how can the producer be proven to produce the thing that is produced? In response, the Great Exposition asks in return, why it would not be proven? The Sutra school replies that two coemergent dharmas cannot be proven to be producer and produced because after a dharma has arisen, there is no power to produce it again. There are many other such debates between the Exposition and Sutra schools which can be found in the great Ṭīka itself.

(b) A specific explanation of mental feeling. This has three topics: (i) Overview, (ii) Explanation, and (iii) Summary.

(i) Overview

32cd

And that has eighteen types as well

Because of movement of the mind.

And that mental factor of feeling itself is presented as having eighteen types as well, because of the movement of mind—mental pleasure, mental unhappiness, and neutral toward form and the other five objects.

The following appears in the Great Chim’s commentary:

The Great Exposition proposes that feeling moves to the object on the support of the mind as its mount. The Sutra school says mind moves to the object on the support of feeling.

(ii) Explanation. This has three topics: A. Explanation of feelings of the Desire realm, B. Of Form, and C. Of Formless.

A. Explanation of feelings of the Desire realm. This has three points.

1. Focusing on own level

33a

In Desire, all focus on their own,

In the realm of Desire, there are all eighteen of those movements of mind. They all focus on their own level.

2. Focusing on Form

33b

And twelve can have

Form in their sphere.

And there are twelve movements of mind of Desire that can have the Form realm in their sphere. Since there is no scent or taste there, the six that focus on those two are not included.

3. Focusing on Formless

33c

e three on higher.

The three feelings of Desire that focus on dharmas only can focus on the higher Formless, because the five objects of form and so forth do not exist there.

B. Of Form. This has two topics: 1. Explaining the feelings of the first two dhyanas, and 2. Of the higher two dhyanas.

1. Explaining the feelings of the first two dhyanas. This has three points.

a. Focusing on objects of Desire

33cd

On two dhyanas,

Are twelve which can move toward Desire.

On the first two dhyanas, as there is no mental unhappiness nor its six movements, there are the remaining twelve, which can move toward Desire because they can focus on or perceive its six objects.

b. Focusing on Form

34a

Eight focus on their own;

There are eight movements to the four objects (except the four that move to scent and taste) that focus on their own level of Form.

c. Focusing on Formless

34ab

the two

On Formless.

Dharma alone is the object of the two feelings, mental pleasure and neutral, when focusing on the Formless.

2. Explaining the feelings of the higher two dhyanas. This has three points.

a. Focusing on Desire

34bc

e two dhyans have six.

Six on Desire,

The higher two dhyanas have only the six movements of neutral feeling. The other, mental pleasure, is not present, because it has been abandoned. Those six focus on all six objects of Desire.

b. Focusing on Form

34c

the four on own,

There are the four objects of its own Form realm, because there is neither scent nor taste.

c. Focusing on Formless

34d

And one can focus on the higher.

And one, neutral feeling, can focus on the object of dharma only of the higher Formless realm.

C. Explaining the feelings of Formless. This has two topics: 1. Feelings of the preparations, and 2. Feelings of the actual absorption.

1. Feelings of the preparations. This has two points.

a. Focus on Form

35ab

On preparations for the Formless,

Four move toward Form,

On the preparations for the Formless level of Infinite Space, the focus is on four objects, because they move toward the fourth dhyana of Form, so they focus on its form, sound, feeling, and dharma.

b. Focus on Formless

35b

one moves toward higher.

On the preparation for Infinite Space, one movement of neutral feeling that focuses on the object dharma moves toward the higher Formless realm.

2. Feelings of the actual absorption

35c

In actual, one with own object.

In the four actual absorptions of Formless and the preparations for the three higher levels, there is only one movement, because those levels do not focus on Desire or Form but focus only on their own level’s dharma as object, with no other movement.

(iii) Summary

35d

All of the eighteen are defiled.

All of the eighteen movements of the mind are defiled because they all propagate existence, so there are not any undefiled. The noble path is entered without effort and enters the expanse with no attributes, but the movements are the opposite of that.

ii. Teaching that the other links are known from elsewhere

36a

Others have been or will be explained.

In that case, if this is a teaching on interdependence, why are only ignorance, name, contact, and feeling explained, and the others not? you ask. The other links of form, consciousness, and the six sense bases have already been explained, or formation, becoming, craving, and grasping will be explained in the fourth and fifth areas. The remaining links—birth, and aging and death—are not explained separately, because they are included within the others.

c. Teaching the three all-afflicted through comparisons. This has three points.

i. Teaching the all-afflicted afflictions through comparisons

36b-d

In this, afflictions are like seeds,

Like nagas, and like roots and trees,

Like husks as well, it is proposed.

In this discussion, the afflictions are like seeds: just as trunks, branches, and leaves grow from seeds, afflictions, karma, and the bases grow out of the afflictions. They are like nagas: just as a lake will not dry up if there is a naga in it, the lake of birth will not dry up if there is the naga of afflictions. And they are like the roots of a thicket: just as if you do not pull those out, it will re-grow even if you cut off the branches, if you do not pull the afflictions out from the root, wanderers will be reborn. And they are like trees: just as trees produce flowers and fruit in season, afflictions are the cause of afflictions, karma, and the bases. They are like the thick husks of rice grains, as well, it is proposed: if there are husks, the grains produce a crop but without them do not. Similarly karma that has the husk of the attainment of afflictions leads to rebirth in the next lives, but without that, karma alone does not.

ii. Teaching the all-afflicted karma through comparisons

37ab

Karma’s like rice within its husk,

Like medicine and flowers.

Karma is like rice within its husk, because just as if there is a husk, the germ of a rice grain produces a fruit, karma that has the husk attained through the afflictions produces the result of birth. Like medicine that gives its power a single time, karma also produces a single fully ripened result, and does not produce any more. And like flowers that are the proximate cause for the arising of fruit, karma is the proximate cause of full ripening, and the afflictions are the distant cause.

iii. Teaching the all-afflicted bases through a comparison

37bc

e bases,

Like food and drink that have been got.

The bases are like food and drink that have been got. For example, once food and drink has been obtained, it is no more than something to enjoy; it is not something that needs to be produced again. Similarly, the fully ripened bases also are merely something to enjoy and not to produce in other lifetimes, because after fully ripening they have no connection to other full ripening in other lifetimes.

d. Teaching these links as the four states

37d

Among these four states of existence,

38a–c

e state of rebirth is afflicted

By all the afflictions of its level.

e others, threefold. ree in Formless.

Among these four states of existence, the between state, the state of rebirth, the previous state, and the state of death, the state of rebirth is always afflicted, as there is neither virtue nor unobscured neutral in that state. Whatever level that state of rebirth is on, it is afflicted by all the afflictions of its own level. However, it is not afflicted by five autonomous entanglers: jealousy, stinginess, regret, aggression, and concealment.[147] The three states that are other than the state of rebirth, the between state, previous state, and state of death, are threefold—virtue, afflicted, and neutral. There are three states with the exception of the between state in Formless, which implies that all four states are in Desire and Form.

C. Conditions for abiding after birth. This has three topics: 1. Overview, 2. Explanation, and 3. As a summary, ascertaining that there are four types of sustenance.

1. Overview

38d

Wanderers abide from sustenance.

Wanderers all abide from sustenance. There are four types of sustenance: food, contact, mental volition, and consciousness.

2. Explanation. This has three topics: a. Explaining food, b. Explaining the remaining kinds of sustenance, and c. Additionally, explaining the synonyms for the between state.

a. Explaining food. This has three points.

i. What level it is on

39a

e sustenance food is in Desire.

The sustenance food is only in Desire and not in the two higher realms because one has no attachment to food there.

ii. What sense base it is

39b

Its nature is the three sense bases,

Its nature is the three sense bases of smell, taste, and touch: the three faculties of nose, tongue, and body discern a bite of food, and then one swallows and eats it, so it is food.

iii. Dispelling a doubt

39cd

But not the sense base form, since that

Does not affect its organ or the freed.

Doesn’t it follow that the sense base form is food, because after discerning color, et cetera, as a bite of food, one eats? you ask. The sense base form is not food, since if it were, when swallowed it would have to benefit its faculty (the eye) and the sources that support that faculty, but it does not. If that does not affect its own organ or faculty, then it is impossible that it affect other faculties, and seeing the form of enticing food does not affect the nonreturners and arhats who are freed from desire for food.

b. Explaining the remaining kinds of sustenance. This has two points.

i. Identifying their essence

40ab

Contact, volition, and consciousness are

Stained sustenance.

Contact that arises from the assembly of object, faculty, and consciousness; the mental karma of volition; and consciousness are, between the two of defiled and undefiled, stained or defiled sustenance; they are not undefiled.

The Great Exposition says the undefiled contact, volition, and consciousness are not sustenance, because sustenance sustains existence by propelling what had not been propelled and completing what had been propelled, whereas those three exhaust existence and arise as its antidote.

ii. What realms they are in

40b

ey are in three.

They are in all three realms.

c. Additionally, explaining the synonyms for the between state

40cd

It’s born from mind, the searching state,

Scent-eater, and the between state,

41a

And reestablishing.

What seeks out existence? you ask. As it does not depend on future parents, warmth and moisture, and so forth, and arises from just mind, it is called born from mind. As its condition is to seek the state of rebirth, it is called the searching state. As it eats smells for sustenance, it is called a scent-eater. And it is called the between state, and as it is clearly directed toward taking birth in a body, it is called reestablishing.

3. As a summary, ascertaining that there are four types of sustenance

41a-d

Two have the purpose

Of developing its base and the supported.

Two have the purpose to propel,

Establish the next life, in order.

If everything defiled maintains existence, why are only these four presented as sustenance? you ask. It is taught because they are of primary importance. Of the first two types of sustenance, food is presented as having the purpose of developing its, this life’s, base, the body with its faculties, and contact is presented as having the purpose of developing the supported mental factors. The other two are sustenance of volition, which has the purpose to propel the next life, and the sustenance of consciousness, which has the purpose to actually establish the next life once it has been propelled. Thus they are presented in this order. In this way, the first two are like a wet nurse who takes care of someone after birth, and the latter two are like a mother who gives birth to someone who has not yet been born.

A few words here:

The wonderful acuity that purifies rebirth Is not begrimed with filth from creatures of degenerate times. Within this feast of explanations for those wanting freedom, There is a great gate to inexhaustible nectar.

D. The minds of staying and dying. This has three topics: 1. Identifying the mind of death, 2. Where the consciousness stops, and 3. The cause of severing the pith.

1. Identifying the mind of death. This has two topics: a. General teaching, and b. Specific explanations.

a. General teaching

42a–c

To sever, to restore, and to

Detach, regress, die, and be born

Are the mind consciousness alone.

To sever the roots of virtue through wrong views; to restore the virtuous roots through correct view or doubt; and to detach oneself from realms and levels, to regress from a result through malice or another inappropriate attention; to die, which is similar to the motion of the five faculties contracting and their continuum being cut; and be born, which is rebirth-linking through a mistaken mind, are the mind consciousness alone, not the others. The mention of birth also includes rebirth-linking in the between state.

b. Specific explanations. This has three points.

i. Distinctions of feeling

42d

At death and birth, there’s neutral feeling.

At death and at birth there is neutral feeling only, because pleasure and suffering are clear, but a clear consciousness is unsuitable for death or birth.

ii. Distinctions of mind

43a

Not in one-pointed or no mind.

Those who were born in the Desire realm do not die or take birth while they are resting in one-pointed equipoise or in a state with no mind. This is because death and birth are not the same status as samadhi, because samadhi arises from effort and is beneficial, and because those who are in states with no mind cannot be harmed by fire, weapons, or so forth.

iii. The manner of entering the state without remainder

43b

Nirvana in two neutral minds.

The mind of the state of death is explained to be virtuous, nonvirtuous, or neutral. Of these, an arhat passes into nirvana in one of two neutral minds. If one proposes that there is fully ripened neutral feeling in Desire, then it is either that of the path of conduct or full ripened. If one proposes there is not, it is either a virtuous mind of a path of conduct or an unafflicted neutral mind, it is said. In particular, those two are weak, which makes them consistent with severing the continuum of mind, whereas other minds are strong.

2. Where the consciousness stops

43cd

In gradual death, if low or human,

Divine or no rebirth, mind dies

44a

In the feet, navel, or the heart.

In that case, what part of the body does the consciousness cease in? you ask. In dying a gradual death, if they are going to the low or human or divine god realms, or if they are arhats who have no rebirth, the mind is said conventionally to die in the feet, the navel, or the heart, because the body faculty ceases there. Some say that arhats exit through the crown of their heads. If one dies instantaneously, the body faculty stops in an instant along with the mind.

3. The cause of severing the pith

44b

Water, et cetera, severs the pith.

In some of these instances, the duḥkha said to be of the pith being severed arises. The pith is that part of the body which harming will cause death. Severing is an intolerable feeling arising there. In cases when there is a lot of phlegm, this is caused by the element of water being disturbed. Included by the phrase “et cetera,” when there is a lot of bile, the element of fire is disturbed, and if there is a lot of wind, the element of wind is violently disturbed. It is not severed by the other source, earth: this is similar to the destruction of the environment, the world.[148]

These three are all in terms of gradual death. In the instantaneous death of those born by miraculous birth, the faculties are not discarded through a single part of the body, nor is the pith severed. The gods of Desire do not have their pith severed, but when the five near signs and five distant signs of death appear, they experience unfathomable suffering.

E. Categorizing beings in three groups

44cd

Nobles are destined for the correct;

e heinous deeds for the mistaken.

From a sutra:

Three groups of sentient beings are recognized: the group that is destined for the correct, the group destined for the mistaken, and the uncertain group.

Of these three groups that are taught, nobles are destined for the correct because they are certain to be born in the higher realms and not the lower, and then attain freedom, and those who have done the heinous misdeeds are destined for the mistaken, because immediately after dying they are certain to be reborn in hell. Everyone else is uncertain.

The explanation of sentient beings is thus completed. A few words:

In the full-knowing mirror of my mind,

The characters of what there is to know

From abhidharma are distinct,

Like brilliant stars, or gems in clear lake waters.

Alas! The teachings of this age’s buddha

Are convoluted by those with evil minds!

Deceitfully they’ve criticized,

Sowing dissension, so I’ve tired myself.

But then, when I remember the great kindness

Of the translators, scholars, kings, and aides

Of olden times, my mind is seized

With excitement for the methods of this dharma!

II. The world that contains them. This has three topics: A. The nature of the supporting container, B. Additionally, the sizes of sentient beings, and C. Units of measure.

A. The nature of the supporting container. This has four topics: 1. A general teaching of the container’s nature, 2. An explanation of particular places, 3. Identifying the world of three thousands, and 4. Teaching that the three thousands arise and are destroyed together.

1. A general teaching of the container’s nature. This has two topics: a. An explanation of the three supporting mandalas, and b. An explanation of the mountains and seas they support.

a. An explanation of the three supporting mandalas. This has two topics: i. The size of the mandala of wind, and ii. The size of the other two mandalas.

i. The size of the mandala of wind

45.

Now the container world is said

To have below a mandala

Of wind one million and six hundred

ousands in depth, uncountable.

To explain the container, the world: in general, according to sutras of the Foundation and Great Vehicles, some world realms are upside down, some are sideways, some have no cover above, some have no sun and moon, in some a single sun and moon orbit the entire three thousands,[149] and in some the entire three thousands is the size of the Bodhi tree. Many such worlds that are said to exist, but in this presentation it is time to explain the Unbearable World Realm of our Teacher the Buddha Shakyamuni.[150] Now the container, this world realm of three great thousands, is said to exist as follows:

Through the power of sentient beings’ karma, in the space that is the foundation below it, this world, there is a mandala of wind. That is one million and six hundred thousand leagues[151] in depth and uncountable leagues across in diameter. It is so hard that even a vajra of great power cannot destroy it.

ii. The size of the other two mandalas. This has two topics: (1) Explaining their depth individually, and (2) Explaining their diameter together.

(1) Explaining their depth individually. This has two topics: (a) Water, and (b) Gold.

(a) Water. This has two points.

(i) Its size at the time it coalesces

46ab

en water to a depth of one

Million one hundred twenty thousand.

By the power of the karma of sentient beings, sheets of rain the drops of which are the size of yokes then fall in space from clouds with golden essences. That becomes a mandala of water to a depth of one million one hundred twenty thousand leagues. The water does not immediately spill away because of the force of karma.

(ii) Its size when it abides

46cd

en it becomes eight hundred thousand

In depth.

Then a wind that arises from the karma of sentient beings churns all the water, and it becomes eight hundred thousand leagues in-depth.

(b) Gold

46d

e rest turns into gold.

Just as when milk boils curd forms, the rest turns into the earth itself with a nature of gold and a depth of three hundred twenty thousand leagues.

(2) Explaining their diameter together. This has two points.

(a) Their diameter

47.

e mandalas of water and gold

Are in diameter one million

Two hundred and three thousand and

Four hundred fifty leagues across;

The mandalas of water and gold that lie under each of the hundred million worlds of four continents are in diameter of one million two hundred and three thousand four hundred fifty leagues across. The diameters of these two mandalas are equal.

(b) Their circumference

48a

ey’re thrice that in circumference.

They are thrice that in circumference, it is said, which means that their circumferences are 3,610,350 leagues.

b. An explanation of the mountains and seas they support. This has two topics: i. An explanation of the nine mountains, and ii. An explanation of the eight seas.

i. An explanation of the nine mountains. This has three topics: (1) Where they are, (2) What cause they are created from, and (3) Explaining their sizes.

(1) Where they are

48b–d

On that are Meru, the Yoke Holder,

Plow Holder, and Acacia Tree,

And likewise Lovely to Behold,

49a–c

And Horse’s Ear and Bowing Down,

Rim Holder Mounts, then continents.

Outside there is the Outer Ring.

The mandala of golden earth is supported above the water, and on that in the middle there is Mount Meru. It is surrounded by the seven remaining mountain ranges: Yoke Holder, Plow Holder, and Acacia Tree, and likewise the Lovely to Behold, and Horse’s Ear and Bowing Down, and the Rim Holder Mountains. Then there are the four continents. Outside the continents there is the Outer Ring, which surrounds it in a ring.

(2) What cause they are created from

49d

Seven are gold. at one is iron.

50a

Mount Meru is four precious ores.

The seven mountain ranges of Yoke Holder and so forth are gold. That one Outside Ring of mountains is iron. Mount Meru is created of four precious ores: its east is silver, the south vaidurya,[152] the west red crystal, and the north is gold. The color of the four faces of the Supreme Mountain[153] and the color of the sky of their corresponding continents appear similarly.

The reason for this is that the sheets of rain that fell from space and formed the mandala of water below the golden earth contained the elements of gold, various jewels, and so forth. When churned by the wind, these elements became the Supreme Mountain and the rest.

(3) Explaining their sizes. This has two topics: (a) Explaining how far they descend into the water together, and (b) Explaining how high each ascends above the water individually.

(a) Explaining how far they descend into the water together

50bc

Down eighty thousand into water

Plunges Mount Meru;

Down eighty thousand leagues into the water that is on the golden earth plunge Mount Meru and the other eight mountain ranges.

(b) Explaining how high each ascends above the water individually. This has two topics: (i) The size of Mount Meru, and (ii) The sizes of the others.

(i) The size of Mount Meru

50cd

above as well

It lofts to eighty thousand leagues.

Just as it descends into the water, above as well, it lofts to eighty thousand leagues. Combining the two, the height of the Supreme Mountain is 160,000 leagues.

(ii) The sizes of the others. This has two points.

(A) Width

51a

e eight are each half less in width.

The eight including the seven mountain ranges and the Perimeter Circle are each half less than the previous mountain range in width. The Yoke Holder is the largest with a width of 40,000 leagues, and Plow Holder is half that width, or 20,000, and so on until the iron mountains which are 312½ leagues in width.

(B) Height

51b

eir heights are equal to their widths.

Their, the mountains in these ranges, heights are equal to their widths.

i. An explanations of eight seas. This has two topics: (1) An explanation of the seven Playful Seas, and (2) An explanation of the Outer Ocean.

(1) An explanation of the seven Playful Seas. This has three points.

(a) The way the seven Playful Seas are

51c

Between them, seven Playful Seas;

In the areas between them, the mountain ranges, are the seven Playful Seas. Their waters have the eight qualities.[154]

(b) The size of the innermost Playful Sea

51d

Across the first is eighty thousand.

52ab

is one is the Vast Inner Sea.

Its sides are triple to its width.

Across the first Playful Sea is eighty thousand leagues. This one is the Vast Inner Sea. Its sides along the shores of the Yoke Holder Mountain are triple to its width, or 240,000 leagues.

(c) The size of the other six

52c

e other seas are each half less.

The other Playful Seas are each half less in width than the previous.

(2) An explanation of the Outer Ocean

52d

e rest is the Great Outer Ocean.

53ab

Across it is three hundred and

Twenty-two thousand leagues.

The rest of the water from the Rim Holder Mountains to the outer iron mountains is the Great Outer Ocean. It is filled with salt water. In its width, across it is three hundred and twenty-two thousand leagues.

2. An explanation of particular places. This has three topics: a. The places of humans, b. The places of hell, and c. The places of the gods.

a. The places of humans. This has two topics: i. Teaching of the twelve lands in general, and ii. A particular explanation of the Rose-Apple Land.

i. Teaching of the twelve lands in general. This has two topics: (1) Explaining the four continents, and (2) Explaining the eight subcontinents.

(1) Explaining the four continents. This has four points.

(a) The shape and size of the Rose-Apple Land

53b–d

erein

Is the Rose-Apple Land, two thousand

Leagues on three sides, shaped like a cart,

54a

With one of three and one half leagues.

Therein, in that poisonous ocean, to the south of the Supreme Mountain is the Rose-Apple Land, which is two thousand leagues on its three long sides. It is shaped like a cart,[155] with one short side of three and one half leagues. Its perimeter measures 6,003½ leagues. Its depth extends eighty thousand leagues down—all four continents have an equal depth.

(b) The shape and size of Superior Body

54b–d

Superior Body is half-moon like.

ree of its sides are like here; one

Is three and one half hundred leagues.

From the Rose-Apple Land, on the side of the supreme mountain is the eastern Superior Body, which is half-moon like in shape. Three of its sides are like here, the Rose-Apple Land, at a length of 2000 leagues each. One side is three and one half hundred, or 350, leagues long. Its perimeter measures 6,350 leagues. Because its level is seven talas above sea level, or alternatively, because the humans born there have bodies that are twice as large as humans here, it is called the Superior Body.

(c) The shape and size of the Bountiful Cow Land

55a–c

e Bountiful Cow Land is round,

Seven thousand and five hundred leagues.

Across its mid, twenty-five hundred.

On the west face of the Supreme Mountain is the Bountiful Cow Land. It is round, and it is seven thousand and five hundred leagues in circumference. Across its mid, its diameter is twenty-five hundred leagues. It is bountiful with cows and jewels, and the river Sawaka flows through its middle.

(d) The shape and size of Unpleasant Sound

55d

Unpleasant Sound: eight, equal, square.

On the north face of the Supreme Mountain is Unpleasant Sound, where they speak the language of ghosts, or where one’s death is prophesied seven days prior to occurring. Its perimeter is eight thousand leagues, with four equal sides of two thousand leagues each and square in shape.

Humans’ faces are similar in shape to the continents they live on.

(2) Explaining the eight subcontinents

56.

Between are eight subcontinents:

Deha, Videha, Kurava,

Kaurava, Chāmara, Avara,

And Śaṭhā and Uttaramantriṇa.

Between them there are eight subcontinents: Deha and Videha on the sides of the eastern continent. Kuruva and Kaurava are on the sides of the northern continent. Chāmara and Avaracāmara are on the sides of the southern continent. And Śaṭha and Uttaramantriṇa are on the sides of the western continent.

ii. A particular explanation of the Rose-Apple Land

57.

To the north of here, across the nine

Black Mounts is the Snow Mountain, then

On the near side of Perfume Mountain

Is a lake with waters fifty across.

To the north of here, the Rose-Apple Land, across the nine Black Mounts, there is the great Snow Mountain. Then further to the north of that is Perfume Mountain, and ten leagues away on its near south side, there is a lake with waters fifty leagues across. This is the Unheated Lake, whose waters have the eight qualities. It is difficult for people who do not have miraculous powers to get there.

On the shore of the Unheated Lake there is a rose-apple tree with sweet fruit. When its clay-pot sized fruit ripens, the nagas emanate as fish and eat it, and what is not eaten becomes the gold of the Rose-Apple River, it is heard. Based on this tree, this continent is called the Rose-Apple Land. There were some trees of this type around the ancient city of Kapilavastu, because it is told that the Bodhisattva achieved dhyana under the shade of such a tree.

b. The places of hell. This has two topics: i. An explanation of the hot and neighboring hells, and ii. An explanation of the locations of the cold hells.

i. An explanation of the hot and neighboring hells. This has three topics: (1) An explanation of the location of the Incessant Hell, (2) An explanation of the locations of Extremely Hot and the other six, and (3) An explanation of the locations of the neighboring hells.

(1) An explanation of the location of the Incessant Hell

58ab

Below this twenty thousand leagues,

e Incessant Hell is just that size.

Below this Rose-Apple Land twenty thousand leagues, there is the Incessant Hell, so called, which is the largest of the hells. It is just that size: twenty thousand leagues in width and depth.

(2) An explanation of location of Extremely Hot and the other six

58c

Above that there are seven hells,

Above that Incessant Hell there are the seven hells of Extremely Hot, Hot, Great Wailing, Wailing, Crushing, Black Line, and Reviving, one above another.

(3) An explanation of the locations of the neighboring hells. This has two points.

(a) The number of neighboring hells

58d

And all eight have an extra sixteen:

And all eight of the hot hells have an extra sixteen perils.

(b) The location of the neighboring hells

59a

On each of their four sides

They are on each of their, the eight hot hells’, four sides.

(c) The names of each class

59a-c

there are

e Burning Ground and Rotten Corpse,

e Razor Road and those, the River.

There are the Burning Ground, where you sink into a burning ground up to your knees; and Rotten Corpse, a filthy mire; Razor Road and those others: the forest of trees with sword-like leaves and the grove of iron shalmali trees with sharp thorns sixteen fingers in length, all three of which are similar to weapons and thus grouped together; and the Unfordable River of boiling, ashy water.

ii. An explanation of the locations of the cold hells

59d

Eight other cold hells—Blisters, et cetera.

There are also eight more hells that are other than the hot hells in both type and location. These are the cold hells of Blisters, et cetera: Bursting Blisters, Chattering Teeth, Whimpering, Howling, Cracked Like an Utpala, Cracked Like a Lotus, and Greatly Cracked Like a Lotus.

It says of the occasional hells in the autocommentary:

Their location is uncertain: they are in rivers, mountains, wastelands, other places and also below.

The animals have as their sphere land, water, and the sky. The hungry ghosts, whose king is named Yama, mainly live five hundred leagues below the city Rajgir in this Rose-Apple Land.

c. The places of the gods. This has two topics: i. Actual, and ii. Additionally, distinctions of their inhabitants.

i. Actual. This has two topics: (1) Those connected to the earth, and (2) Those not connected to the earth.

(1) Those connected to the earth. This has two topics: (a) The Realm of the Four Great Kings, and (b) The Realm of the Thirty-Three.

(a) The Realm of the Four Great Kings. This has two topics: (i) Palaces, and

(ii) Places on mountains.

(i) Palaces. This has four topics: A. Measuring the sun and moon, B. The way they function, C. Distinctions of season that depend upon them, and D. The reason the moon waxes and wanes.

A. Measuring the sun and moon. This has two points.

1. The altitude of the sun and moon

60a

e sun and moon are at mid Meru,

The sun and moon are at the middle of Mount Meru: they orbit at the same altitude as the peaks of the Yoke Holder mountains.

2. The sizes of the sun and moon

60b

Fifty plus one in diameter.

The orb of the moon is fifty leagues and the orb of the sun is fifty plus one, or fifty-one, leagues in diameter. They are 6 1/18 leagues in-depth. The moon is made from water crystal, and the sun from fire crystal. Their shapes are fine and lovely to behold, and they are inhabited by the divine children Sun and Moon, who have great wealth, and their entourages.

The largest of the stars are eighteen earshots[156] and the smallest are one earshot in size.

B. The way they function

60cd

So midnight, sunset, and midday

And sunrise are at the same time.

So the way a single sun and single moon function in all four continents is that midnight in Northern Unpleasant Sound, sunset in Eastern Superior Body, and midday in the Rose-Apple Land, and sunrise in Bountiful Cow are all at the same time. In the same way, when it is midnight in the east, it is sunset in the south, noon in the west, and dawn in the north, and so forth; the order of times is related in this way.

C. Distinctions of season that depend upon them. This has three points.

1. When day length changes

61.

After the second rainy month’s

Ninth day of waxing, nights grow longer

And then in the fourth month of autumn,

Grow shorter. Days are the reverse.

From a commentary:

The seasons, for Buddhists, are first autumn, second spring, and third rains.

The autumn, spring, and summer mentioned here each have four months. The four autumn months are Āṣvina, Kārttika, Mārgaṣīrṣa, and Paiṣa. The four spring months are Māgha, Phālguṇa, Caitra, and Vaiṣakha. The four rainy months are Jyeṣṭha, Āṣādha, Śravaṇa, and Bhādra.

The first autumn month, Āṣvina, begins on the day following the full moon of the eighth month of the Tibetan calendar,[157] and continues one month until the next full moon. It is followed by the second autumn month, Kārttika, and then Mārgaṣīrṣa and so forth in order. In this tradition, the waning phase is presented as the first half of the month, and the waxing phase the second.

The month of Jyeṣṭha begins from day after the full moon of the middle Tibetan summer month (May-June) and continues until the full moon of the last Tibetan summer month. From the day after that full moon until the full moon of the first Tibetan month of autumn is the second month of rains or the rains, the month of Āṣādha. On the eighth day of its last half or waxing phase, the days are eighteen hours long and the nights twelve hours long.[158] After the second rainy month’s ninth day of the waxing phase of the moon, the nights grow longer and the days grow shorter. From the commentary:

The nights grow longer from the ninth day of the waxing phase of the second rainy month Āṣādha.

And then on the eighth day of the last half in the fourth month of autumn, the sun reverses, and from the ninth day nights grow shorter. The days are the reverse of that and grow longer. From the commentary:

From the ninth day of the last half of the fourth of the winter months they grow shorter, it is said: this is from the ninth day of the waxing phase of the second spring month.

2. The amount it changes by

62a e days or nights by minutes lengthen.

The days or nights by the duration of minutes lengthen. The duration of a minute is 1/900th of the length of a day and night. According to the Kalachakra, it is the duration of the inhalation, holding, and exhalation of twenty-four breaths. That is explained as four moments, so in each moment there are six breaths.

3. Position of the sun in the sky

62b

It’s as the sun moves south or north.

It is as the sun moves to the south that the nights lengthen or as it moves north that the days lengthen.

D. The reason the moon waxes and wanes

62cd

From moving too close to the sun,

Moon shades itself with its own shadow.

What causes the moon to wane? you ask. From the house of the moon moving too close to the house of the sun, the light of the sun falls on the moon and the moon’s own shadow falls on the opposite side, so it appears as if the mandala shades itself with its own shadow and wanes, it is said, like a candle and a pillar.

(ii) Places on mountains. This has two topics: A. An explanation of the terraces on the Supreme Mountain, and B. Which gods live on which mountains.

A. An explanation of the terraces on the Supreme Mountain

63.

On that there are four terraces,

e distance between which is ten thousand,

Extending sixteen thousand leagues,

And eight, four, and two thousand leagues.

On this Supreme Mountain there are four terraces, the distance between which is ten thousand leagues. As for the distance they extend out, the first extends out by sixteen thousand leagues, and the second by eight thousand, and also the third by four thousand, and the fourth by two thousand leagues.

The terraces start from the base, so they come up to the middle of the Supreme Mountain.

B. Which gods live on which mountains. This has two points.

1. Which live on the Supreme Mountain

64a-d

e Basin Holders, Garland Holders,

e Always Intoxicated, and

e gods of the Four Great Kings’ Realm

Live there

On the first of these terraces live the yakshas called the Basin Holders. On the second live the Garland Holders, on the third the Always Intoxicated, and the gods of the Four Great Kings’ Realm live there on the fourth: Dhritarashta in the East, Virudhaka in the South, Virupaksha in the West and Vaishravana in the North, along with the gods in their retinues.

2. Which live on the seven gold mountains

64d

and in seven mountain ranges.

The cities and villages of these gods are also in the seven mountain ranges of Yoke Holder and so forth. The class of gods of the Four Great Kings is much more numerous than the other classes either individually or together.

(b) The Realm of the Thirty-Three. This has three topics: (i) General teaching, (ii) Describing the location of the Vajra-Holders, and (iii) An extensive explanation of the Realm of the Thirty-Three.

(i) General teaching

65ab

On Meru’s peak is irty-ree,

Each side of which is eighty thousand.

On Mount Meru’s peak is the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, each side of which, just like Mount Meru, is eighty thousand leagues, for a perimeter of 320,000 leagues.

(ii) Describing the location of the Vajra Holders

65cd

On peaks in each of its four corners

ere dwell the Vajra-Holder yakshas.

On four peaks that have a height of 500 leagues in each of its—the Supreme Mountain’s—four corners, there dwell the Vajra-Holder yakshas in order to protect the careless gods.

(iii) An extensive explanation of the Realm of the Thirty-Three. This has two topics: A. The city, and B. The groves.

A. The city. This has two points.

1. The city in general

66.

e central city Lovely to Behold,

Twenty-five hundred leagues per side,

Has golden ground of one and half

Leagues deep; it is soft and variegated.

In the center of the ground on the top of the Supreme Mountain is the city of the god Śakra called Lovely to Behold. It has twenty-five hundred leagues per side, and has golden ground of one and one half leagues deep. It is soft to the touch and variegated with one hundred hues.

2. Indra’s palace

67ab

Within is Utterly Conquering,

With sides two hundred fifty leagues.

Within the center of that city is the palace of Śakra,[159] Utterly Conquering. It is made out of various precious substances and is lovely to behold. Elevated four and one half leagues, its glory is greater than any other’s and it overwhelms all. Each of its sides are two hundred fifty leagues, for a perimeter of one thousand leagues.

B. The groves. This has four points.

1. The actual groves

67cd

Outside are Colorful Chariots,

Roughening, Mixing, and Joyous Grove.

On the outside of the city’s four sides there are four groves, the grove of Colorful Chariots, the grove of Roughening, the grove of Mixing, and the Joyous Grove.

2. The grounds

68ab

To their four sides twenty leagues away,

ere are the four excellent grounds.

To their—the four groves’—four sides twenty leagues away, there are four excellent and pleasant grounds that rival the groves, as it were.

3. The tree

68c

On the northeast corner is All-Gathering.

On the outside of the northeast corner of the city Lovely to Behold is the All-Gathering Earth-Piercing wish-fulfilling tree. Its roots are explained to penetrate five, or according to the Prajñāptiśastra, fifty leagues into the ground, and it reaches one hundred leagues into the sky. Its branches spread fifty leagues. The scent of its blooming flowers and petals carries one hundred leagues downwind and fifty leagues upwind.

4. The gathering place

68d

On the southwest corner is Good Dharma.

On the southwest corner of that city is the gathering place Good Dharma, where the gods gather and discuss what to do or not to do. Good Dharma is round in shape with a circumference of 900 leagues and is made of crystal.

This is where the gods of Thirty-Three live.

(2) Those not connected to the earth

69a

e gods above that live in palaces.

The gods above that Heaven of the Thirty-Three live in palaces. The heavens from Conflict Free to Mastery over Others’ Emanations are here in order.[160]

ii. Additionally, distinctions of their inhabitants. This has five topics: (1) Acts of desire, (2) Birth of children to the gods, (3) The arising of desirables and pleasure, (4) The distance between the higher and lower levels, and (5) The way of ascending.

(1) Acts of desire

69b–d

Six ways they act upon desire:

ey couple in a pair, embrace,

Or else hold hands or laugh or look.

From the Realm of the Four Great Kings to Mastery over Others’ Emanations, there are six ways they act upon desire. Those of the lower two realms that are connected to the earth, they couple in a pair with their male and female faculties touching, like humans. As there is no flow of sperm or water, there is nothing unclean. The gods of Conflict Free couple by embracing, or else the gods of Joyous by holding hands, or the gods of Joy of Emanations by laughing, or the gods of Mastery over Others’ Emanations by looking. This is because just that is enough to free them from the throes of desire.

When a boy or girl appears in the lap of either a god or goddess, that is their son or daughter.

(2) Birth of children to the gods. This has two points.

(a) Children of gods of Desire

70ab

e children born in those realms are

Like children aged from five to ten.

The children born in those god realms are like children aged from five in the Realm of the Four Great Kings, the age of six in the Thirty-Three, and so on in a similar fashion up to ten-year-old children in Mastery over Others’ Emanations. This is in comparison to the size of children in this land at a time when the life span is one hundred years.

(b) Children of Form

70cd

ose born in the Form realms are born

Full grown, with even their robes complete.

Those gods born in the Form realm are born full grown with all parts of their body perfect, with even their robes complete.

(3) The arising of desirables and pleasure. This has two points.

(a) Actual

71ab

ere are three ways desirables

Arise for Desire gods and humans.

In the sutras, the three ways desirable objects arise are explained as a distinction among beings. There are three ways desirable things arise for Desire realm gods and humans. It is like this: first, humans and four classes of gods enjoy what arises from the power of previous karma. Second, out of the power of karma, the gods of Joy of Emanation emanate whatever they themselves desire and then enjoy it. Thirdly, out of the power of karma, the gods of Mastery over Other’s Emanation enjoy whatever they or others emanate in common just as they desire.

(b) Additionally the arising of the pleasure of Form

71cd

Pleasure arises in three ways

On three of the dhyanas—thus nine levels.

The sutras explain that pleasure arises in three ways: pleasure that arises from solitude, the joyous pleasure that arises from samadhi, and pleasure without joy. These are all three on the first three of the dhyanas, thus they are explained as nine levels.

(4) The distance between the higher and lower levels

72ab

ere is as far above a realm

As there is below to the lowest realm.

There is as far above a realm up to the next higher realm as there is below to the lowest realm of the Rose-Apple Land. Just as there are eighty thousand leagues from the Thirty-Three down to the Rose-Apple Land, there is the same number from it up to Conflict Free. Just as there are one hundred sixty thousand leagues from Conflict Free down to the Rose-Apple Land, there is the same number from it up to the Joyous. Continuing in that way, finally just as it is eighty trillion leagues from Great Vision down to the Rose-Apple Land, it is equally distant from there up to the realm of Below None.

(5) The way of ascending

72cd

Except through magic or another,

ey cannot see what is above.

Can beings born in lower realms go to higher realms and see them? you ask. Except through the magic of higher realms that one has attained or the help of another individual who has attained it, they who are in lower realms cannot go to higher realms and see what is above. Individuals from higher realms can easily descend to lower realms, and when they have descended it is possible for those of similar level to see them, but those of dissimilar level do not see them.[161]

3. Identifying the world of three thousands. This has three points.

a. The General Prime Thousand

73.

One thousand worlds, each with four lands,

A sun and moon, and a Great Mountain,

Desire god realms, and Brahma’s World,

Are called a General Prime ousand.

One thousand worlds, each single world with four lands of the Rose-Apple Land and so forth, a sun and a moon, and a Great Supreme Mountain, the six Desire God Realms, and Brahma’s World, are called a General Prime Thousand.

b. The middle second thousand

74ab

A thousand of those, the second thousand,

And that is called a Middle World Realm.

A thousand of those General Prime Thousands is the second thousand, and that is called a Middle World Realm. The middle is a thousand of the lesser thousands, or a million Rose-Apple Lands.

c. Identifying the Great Thousands of Three Thousands

74c

A thousand of those is the ree ousands.

A thousand of those second thousands is the Three Thousands. It has a billion of the four continents.

4. Teaching that the three thousands arise and are destroyed together

74d

ey are destroyed and formed together.

When those are destroyed, they are all destroyed together, and when they are formed, they are formed together.

B. Additionally, the sizes of sentient beings. This has two topics: 1. Bodily height, and 2. Life span.

1. Bodily height. This has three topics: a. Height of humans, b. Height of gods of Desire, and c. Height of gods of Form.

a. Height of humans. This has two points.

i. Humans on the Rose-Apple Land

75ab

e ones on the Rose-Apple Land

Are four, or three and half cubits tall.

The human ones on the Rose-Apple Land are four cubits or three and half cubits tall.

ii. Humans on the other three continents

75cd

On the East, the Bountiful Cow, and North,

ey’re twice as tall as on the previous.

On the East, the Bountiful Cow, and the North, they are twice as tall as on the previous, as it is said. Therefore, if the inhabitants of the Rose-Apple Land when the life span is one hundred years are four cubits tall, the inhabitants on the other three lands are eight, sixteen, and thirty-two cubits tall respectively.

b. Height of gods of Desire

76a–c

e bodies of Desire Gods grow

From a quarter earshot in height to

One and half earshots.

The heights of the bodies of the six Desire Gods grow from a quarter earshot in height in Four Kings to one and half earshots in Others’ Emanations.

c. Height of gods of Form

76cd

In the first

Of Form, they are one-half league tall.

77.

Above, a half league taller each.

Beyond the highest of Lesser Light,

eir bodies double on each level.

At Cloudless, though, discard three leagues.

In the first of the realms of Form, Brahma’s Realm, they, the gods there, are one-half league tall. Above Brahma’s Realm on Brahma’s Ministers, Great Brahma, and Lesser Light, they are a half league taller on each level, or one league, one and a half leagues, and two leagues respectively. Beyond highest of Lesser Light, on Immeasurable Light and higher, their bodies double in size on each level. At Cloudless, though, discard three leagues from the doubled size. In this way, the height goes from four leagues on Immeasurable Light to sixteen thousand on Below None.

In Formless there is no body, so there is no body height.

2. Life span. This has two topics: a. Actual, and b. Examining whether there is premature death.

a. Actual. This has two topics: i. Life span in the higher realms, and ii. Life span in the lower realms.

i. Life span in the higher realms. This has three topics: (1) Life span of humans, (2) of Desire gods, and (3) of Form and Formless.

(1) Life span of humans. This has two points.

(a) Life span on the other three continents

78ab

Unpleasant Sound’s life span, one thousand.

On two, it is shorter by half each.

On Unpleasant Sound, the life span is one thousand years. On the two continents of Bountiful Cow and Superior Body, it, the life span on is shorter by half of the previous each, or five hundred and two hundred fifty years.

(b) Life span on the Rose-Apple Land

78cd

Here it’s uncertain: from ten years

At end; incalculable at first.

Here on the Rose-Apple land, it, the life span, is uncertain—sometimes it is long, and sometimes it is short. The shortest is ten years at the end, and the longest is the incalculable life span of the humans of the first aeon.

(2) Life span of Desire gods. This has two points.

(a) Life spans in the Realm of the Four Great Kings

79.

And fifty human years are just

One day and night among the lowest

Of gods of Desire. eir life span is,

Of such a day, five hundred years.

And fifty human years are just one day and night among the lowest of gods of Desire, the gods of the Four Great Kings. Their life span is, of such a day, counting thirty such days as a month and twelve months as a year, five hundred years. This is nine million human years.

(b) Life spans in the other five

80a

Above both day-length and span double.

In the five god realms above that, both the day-length and the life span double: therefore in the Thirty-Three, there are one hundred human years per day and they live for one thousand of their own years, and so on up to Others’ Emanations, where the life span is sixteen thousand years with a day-length of sixteen hundred human years.

(3) Life span of Form and Formless. This has three points.

(a) In the Form realm

80b–d

In Form, there’s neither day nor night,

So their life span in aeons is

Equal in number to their height.

In the Form realm there is neither day nor night, so one cannot count years, but there is a life span: their life span in aeons is equal in number to their bodies’ height in leagues.

One could recite the verse as follows:

In the first

Of Form, they live one half aeon long.

Above each lives a half aeon longer.

Beyond the highest of Lesser Light,

Their life spans double on each level.

At Cloudless, though, discard three aeons.

(b) In the Formless realm

81ab

In Formless each, by twenty thousand

Aeons, is longer than the previous.

In the Formless level of Infinite Space, the life span is twenty thousand aeons. Each of the higher level by twenty thousand aeons is longer than the previous or lower level. On Infinite Consciousness, Nothingness, and the Peak of Existence, the life spans are forty, sixty, and eighty thousand aeons respectively.

(c) As an elaboration, examining the length of the aeons

81cd

On Lesser Light and up, they are

Great aeons. Below that, half aeons.

On the divine abode of Lesser Light and up, they, the aeons used to measure life spans here, are great aeons.[162] Below that on Great Brahma and so forth, they are half of a great aeon, or forty intermediate aeons that are presented as an aeon. In the world, in the space of three spans of twenty intermediate aeons the world forms, and then it stays, and then is destroyed. Thus these sixty intermediate aeons are explained as the one and half aeon life span on Great Brahma.

ii. Life span in the lower realms. This has four topics: (1) Hot hells, (2) Animals, (3) Hungry ghosts, and (4) Cold hells.

(1) Hot hells. This has three points.

(a) Life span in the upper six

82.

e Reviving and so forth, six hells,

Have days that equal Desire Gods’ lives.

Of such a day, their life spans equal

e life spans of Desire realm Gods.

The Reviving Hell and so forth, the first six hot hells, have days that are equal in length to the six Desire realm gods’ life spans. Of such a day, there are thirty days to a month and twelve months to a year, and their life spans in such years are five hundred, one thousand, two thousand, four thousand, eight thousand, and sixteen thousand years, equal in number of years to the life spans of the Desire realm gods.

(b) Life span in Extremely Hot

83a

Extremely Hot, half aeon;

In the Extremely Hot hell, the life span is a half intermediate aeon.

(c) Life span in the Incessant Hell

83ab

the Incessant,

An intermediate aeon.

The life span in the Incessant Hell is an intermediate aeon.

(2) Animals

83bc

e longest life

For animals, an aeon.

The longest life span for animals is an aeon, as garudas and the lord of the nagas live for an intermediate aeon. The shortest is just an hour.

(3) Hungry ghosts

83cd

Hungry ghosts

Live month-long days five hundred years.

Hungry ghosts live month-long days that are equal in length to a human month. Of such days, they live for five hundred years. That is fifteen thousand human years.[163]

(4) Cold hells. This has two points.

(a) Life span in the Blisters

84a–c

If every hundred years one took

A seed from a cart of sesame,

When that is empty is life in Blisters.

If every one hundred years one took a single seed from a cartful of sesame seeds, which in the land of Magadha contains eighty bushels, when that is empty is the life span of those in Blisters. Some say it is twenty times that.

(b) Life span in the other seven

84d

In others, twenty times as long.

In the other seven, the life spans are each twenty times as long as the life span of the next higher.

b. Examining whether there is premature death

85a

Untimely death except in Unpleasant.

There is untimely death except in Unpleasant Sound, so life span is uncertain.

C. Units of measure. This has two topics: 1. What is combined, and 2. Units that measure what has been combined.

1. What is combined

85bc

e units of form, name, and time

Are particles, letters, and instants.

The smallest units of aggregated form, name, and time are particles, letters, and instants respectively. Particles in this context are aggregated particles that are objects of the faculties and perform the functions of obscuring and obstructing. The particles of substance[164] are not meant here, because they are too small for the faculties to perceive and have no parts.[165]

The letters that are the units of name are the letters in names and words, which are the vocal sounds that are the basis for forming names.

2. Units that measure what has been combined. This has two topics: a. Units of distance, and b. Units of time.

a. Units of distance. This has three topics: i. Units from atoms to knuckles, ii. Units up to earshots, and iii. The size of the actual unit, the league.

i. Units from atoms to knuckles

85d

Called atoms, molecules, and iron,

86.

And water, rabbit, sheep, and ox,

And particles of sunlight, nits,

What comes from that, and also knuckles—

Each seven times larger than the previous.

The units called atoms, molecules, and iron and water, rabbit, sheep, and ox, and particles of sunlight, nits, what comes from that or lice, and also knuckles are each seven times larger than the previous.

ii. Units up to earshots. This has two points.

(1) Actual

87a–c

ere are four and twenty fingers to

A cubit; four in every fathom.

Of those, five hundred make an earshot,

There are four and twenty fingers to a cubit, and four cubits in every fathom. Of those fathoms, five hundred make an earshot.

(2) Hermitage

87d

Which is a hermitage, it is said.

One earshot outside of town is a hermitage, it is said.

iii. The size of the actual unit, the league

88a

And eight of those are called a league.

And eight of those earshots are called a league.

b. Units of time. This has two topics: i. The length of a year, and ii. The length of an aeon.

i. The length of a year. This has two points.

(1) The length of the months used to measure

88b–d

One hundred twenty instants is

An instant of that. Sixty of those

Is a minute. Hours and days and months

89a

Are thirty times as long as previous.

One hundred twenty instants of the limit of time is an instant of that. Sixty of those is a minute. Thirty of those is an hour. Hours and days and months are thirty times as long as the previous.[166]

(2) The actual year

89bc

Including the impossible days

ere are twelve months in every year.

Including the six impossible days, there are twelve months in every year. The way impossible days are discarded is described in the commentary:

When one and one half months of autumn,

Of rains, and of the spring have passed,

The wise from the half month remaining,

Discard one impossible day.

ii. The length of an aeon. This has three topics: (1) Identifying aeons, (2) The way the long beginning diminishes, and (3) Destructive aeons.

(1) Identifying aeons. This has two topics: (a) Overview, and (b) Explanation.

(a) Overview

89d

e many types of aeon are explained.

In the sutras and treatises, the many types of aeon are explained: intermediate aeons, aeons of destruction, aeons of formation, and great aeons.

(b) Explanation. This has three topics: (i) Explaining aeons of destruction and formation, (ii) Explaining aeons of abiding, and (iii) Explaining great aeons.

(i) Explaining aeons of destruction and formation. This has two points.

A. Aeons of destruction

90ab

An aeon of destruction lasts from when

ere are no hell beings till the world’s destroyed.

An aeon of destruction lasts from the time at end of an aeon of abiding when the life span is eighty thousand years, there is no birth of a new hell being in the Incessant Hell and its prior inhabitants have all died, so that it is empty. Then in the same way, the other hells, hungry ghost, and animal realms are also gradually destroyed. Then the humans of the Rose-Apple Land, without any teacher, attain the first dhyana by the dharma nature, gradually die and are reborn in the Brahma’s World. The eastern and western continents are the same. The humans of Unpleasant Sound are reborn as Desire gods, and the Desire gods are then successively reborn in the first dhyana. Those in the first dhyana attain the second dhyana by dharma nature and are born in the second dhyana and so forth. In this way the destruction of sentient beings lasts for nineteen intermediate aeons.

Then seven suns that are four times as hot as our sun appear, and all the brooks, rivers, the four great rivers, the Unheated Lake, and the great oceans up to the Supreme Mountain dry up. Smoke billows and fires burn: the container of the world becomes one great fire and everything up until Brahma’s World is burnt without even a trace left over and the container world is destroyed. This lasts one intermediate aeon, which makes a total of twenty intermediate aeons. In the same way everything up to the second dhyana is destroyed by water, and everything up to the third dhyana is destroyed by wind.

B. Aeons of formation

90cd

Formation is from primordial wind

Until a being exists in hell.

The aeon of formation is after the destruction by fire, water, and air. It lasts one intermediate aeon from the primordial formation of the wind mandalas that are the ground first under Full Virtue, Radiant Light, Great Brahma, and then in order down to Conflict Free, until the previously described formation of the mandala of wind and so on.

After that, in the same order, from the first rebirth of one being from the fourth, third, or second dhyana into Full Virtue, Radiant Light, or Great Brahma, beings are reborn in the god realms in descending order. Humans are born successively in the north, west, east, and southern continents, and as a result of humans in the Rose-Apple Land acting nonvirtuously, they are reborn in the animal, hungry ghost, and hell realms, until a being attains the existence of the prior state in the Incessant Hell. This lasts nineteen intermediate aeons.

(ii) Explaining aeons of abiding. This has A. Explanation, and B. Summary.

A. Explanation. This has four points.

1. The long beginning

91a–c

An intermediate aeon lasts

From when life is incalculable

Till it is ten years.

The aeon of abiding is twenty intermediate aeons. Of these, an intermediate aeon lasts from when the life span of humans is incalculable, then decreases to eighty thousand years, and then until it is a life span of ten years. This one intermediate aeon is called the long beginning.

2. The eighteen intermediate cycles

91cd

en another

Eighteen increasing and decreasing,

Then after that there are another eighteen intermediate aeons that have life spans that increase to eighty thousand and decrease to ten years. These are known as the intermediate cycles that are different from the long beginning.

3. The long ending

92a

en one increasing.

The word then links this to the previous verse. At the end of all these there is one intermediate aeon known as the long ending that has life spans that lengthen or increase. Therefore, there are twenty intermediate aeons of abiding.

4. The maximum increase of the life span

92ab

During those,

Lives are as long as eighty thousand.

During those periods of increase, the life span increases to as long as eighty thousand years.

B. Summary. This has two points.

1. Actual

92cd

In this way this world that is formed

Lasts twenty intermediate aeons.

In this way this world that is formed lasts twenty intermediate aeons.

2. Teaching that destruction and formation are also equal

93ab

Forming, destroying, and remaining

After destruction are the same.

Aeons of forming, destroying, and the empty aeons that remain after destruction are all of the same duration, twenty intermediate aeons.

(iii) Explaining great aeons. This has two topics: A. Actual, and B. Additionally, the way the three individuals appear.

A. Actual

93c

ese eighty make up one great aeon.

These eighty such intermediate aeons make up one great aeon. As explained by the words “Just these are time,”[167] the nature of an aeon is the five aggregates.

B. Additionally, the way the three individuals appear. This has three topics: 1. How buddhas arise, 2. How self-buddhas arise, and 3. How wheel-wielding emperors arise.

1. How Buddhas arise. This has two points.

a. The cause of the buddhas

93d

en after three uncountable

94a

Of these appears a Buddha

Then after three uncountable of these great aeons of gathering accumulations appears a Buddha. Here so-called uncountable is a novemdecillion (1060), a number described in Short Discourses; it is the name of a number that exists, not something that cannot be counted.

Well, what are the numbers? you ask. They are:

One, ten, hundred, thousand,

Ten thousand, hundred thousand,

Million, ten and hundred million,

These are the common numbers.

Billion, ten and hundred billion,

Trillion, ten and hundred trillion,

Quadrillion, ten and hundred quadrillion,

Quintillion, ten and hundred quintillion,

Sextillion, ten and hundred sextillion,

Septillion, ten and hundred septillion,

Octillion, ten and hundred octillion,

Nonillion, ten and hundred nonillion,

Decillion, ten and hundred decillion,

Undecillion, ten and hundred undecillion,

Duodecillion, ten and hundred duodecillion,

Tredecillion, ten and hundred tredecillion,

Quattuordecillion, ten and hundred quattuordecillion,

Quindecillion, ten and hundred quindecillion,

Sexdecillion, ten and hundred sexdecillion,

Septendecillion, ten and hundred septendecillion,

Octodecillion, ten and hundred octodecillion,

And novemdecillion: that is one uncountable.

b. The time when they appear

94ab

during

e decrease to one hundred years.

The Buddhas appear during the decrease of beings’ life spans to one hundred years. They do not appear during the period of increase or when the life span is less then one hundred years, because it is difficult for beings to develop weariness during the former, and because the latter is a bad and lowly time of the five degenerations of life, time, afflictions, views, and sentient beings.

2. How self-buddhas arise. This has two points.

a. The time when self-buddhas appear

94c

In both, self-buddhas.

In both times when the life span is increasing and when it is decreasing, selfbuddhas appear. The eighty thousand attendants of King Given by Fire became self-buddhas during a period of increase, and Excellent White Tip appeared on earth during a period of decrease, at which time there were five hundred self-buddhas who appeared in the Deer Park of the Fallen Sages.

b. Their cause

94cd

Following

One hundred aeons, a rhino appears.

Following one hundred aeons of the three trainings, the accumulations of enlightenment, as the cause of awakening, a rhinoceros-like self-buddha attains self-enlightenment and appears.

3. How wheel-wielding emperors arise. This has three topics: a. The time they appear, b. Classifications of their types, and c. Distinctions in qualities.

a. The time they appear

95ab

Wheel-wielding emperors appear

When life is not less than eighty thousand

Wheel-wielding emperors, who wield political power through their all-powerful weapons, wheels, appear during a time when human life ranges from uncountable to not less than eighty thousand years. When the life span is shorter than that, there is not sufficient wealth for one to appear.

b. Classifications of their types. This has four points.

(1) Actual classification

95c

With wheels of gold, silver, copper, iron,

They have wheels of gold, silver, copper, and iron: the supreme, nearly supreme, middle, and least.

(2) Which continents they have power over

95d

ey rule over one, two, three, or else

96a

Four continents, in reverse order.

They rule over one continent, two continents, three continents, or else four continents, in reverse order.

(3) Elaboration

96b

At once, there are never two, like buddhas.

There is only one wheel-wielding emperor at a time: at one time, there are never two. It is like buddhas, for example, of whom there are never two that appear in the world at the same time.

(4) How they achieve victory

96c–f

When their opponents welcome them,

Or they themselves advance or gird

For battle or just brandish weapons,

ey triumph without causing harm.

The way the four wheel-wielding emperors are victorious over all is respectively when their opponents welcome them, or they themselves advance, or merely gird for battle, or after preparing just brandish their weapons. They triumph without taking life or causing any other harm.

c. Distinctions in qualities

97ab

e Sage’s marks remain in place,

Clear and complete, so they’re superior.

Wheel-wielding emperors also have the major marks, so what is the difference between their marks and the Sage’s? you ask. The Sage’s marks remain in their place without moving. They are more radiant and their parts are clear and complete with a thousand spokes and so on, so they are superior.

(2) The way the long beginning diminishes. This has three topics: (a) The particulars of the first aeon, (b) How it diminishes, and (c) What happens at the end of the diminishing.

(a) The particulars of the first aeon

97c

e earliest beings are like Form gods.

Just after the formation of the world, the earliest human beings are born miraculously, do not eat food, have radiant bodies, perform miracles, and live for incalculable numbers of years, like the Form realm’s gods.

(b) How it diminishes. This has three points.

(i) How the Age of Threefold Qualities arose[168]

97d

ey gradually feel greed for tastes,

Then they gradually ate the three foods of honey-like nectar of the earth, yellow dust, and the grove of reeds, so their bodies became heavy and their radiance weakened and became dark. By the force of karma, the sun, moon, and so forth then provided light. Those who ate a lot of those foods developed a bad color, and those who ate a little had good color. Because of this, those with good color scorned those with bad, and acted nonvirtuously, so those foods disappeared. Then they began to feel greed for the taste of the salu rice crops that grew without toil, so filth and so forth appears. They developed male and female faculties, and their shapes and colors became different. When they saw each other, desire arose, and they acted indecently. Others criticized this, and they built houses and such for propriety.

(ii) How the Age of Twofold Qualities and the Age of Strife arose[169]

98ab

Grow lazy, and then gather and hoard.

Land holders then appoint field chieftains.

When they wanted to take the salu rice, they grew lazy, and then some started to gather and hoard, so they began threshing the rice and also reaping it. When that happened, it did not grow, so then those beings became unfriendly. Each took full possession of his own, and they divided the fields. The land holders stole from each other, and a man who was good by nature was then appointed and installed as the field chieftain. He was granted a sixth of the crop and called the King Respected by Many.

(iii) How the life span becomes ten years

98cd

Because of their strong karmic paths,

eir life span shortens to ten years.

Because of acting out of their strong nonvirtuous karmic paths, their life span shortens to ten years for humans, and they are not able to live any longer than that.

(c) What happens at the end of the diminishing. This has two points.

(i) Teaching how the three ages of calamities happen

99ab

It’s weapons, pestilence, and famine

at bring an aeon to its end,

When the human life span is ten years, it is ages of weapons, pestilence, and famine that bring an intermediate aeon to its end.

(ii) The duration of those three

99cd

For seven days, then seven months,

en seven years respectively.

Those sentient beings are killed by weapons for seven days, then by pestilence for seven months and seven days, and then by famine for seven years, seven months, and seven days in succession. The plural of the word days in the root indicates that the seven days also follow the latter two. When these happen in the Rose-Apple Land, something somewhat similar also happens on the other two continents.

(3) Destructive aeons. This has three topics: (a) How levels up to the third dhyana are destroyed, (b) How the fourth is destroyed, and (c) The number of destructions by fire, water, and wind.

(a) How levels up to the third dhyana are destroyed. This has three points.

(i) What destroys what

100ab

en fire and water and then wind

Bring three additional destructions.

Then when all sentient beings have been gathered in one dhyana, there is destruction by fire for seven days, and then by water from rain and floods, and then destruction by extremely violent wind, so these bring three additional destructions: not even an atom remains.

(ii) The crests that remain undestroyed

100cd

ese crest respectively at the

ree dhyanas—second and so forth—

These three additional destructions crest respectively at the three dhyanas because those dhyanas remain after destruction. The crest of destruction by fire is the second dhyana. The phrase “and so forth” indicates that the crest of destruction by water is the third dhyana, and the crest of destruction by wind is the fourth dhyana. This is because the first dhyana and below are destroyed by fire, the second and below by water, and the third and below are destroyed by wind.

(iii) The reasons for those

101a

Because those correspond to their faults.

This is because those, fire, water, and wind, correspond to their, the three dhyana’s internal faults: considering and examining are like fire; joy and pleasure are like water; and the inhalation and exhalation are like wind. They are destroyed by fire, water, and wind, respectively.

(b) How the fourth is destroyed. This has two points.

(i) Teaching that it is not destroyed by fire, water, or air

101b

But not the fourth, since it’s immovable.

But there is not an external cause for destruction on the fourth dhyana since it is immovable by the eight faults, as will be explained in the eighth area.[170]

(ii) The actual way it is destroyed

101cd

Not permanent, its palaces

And beings arise, and then they perish.

The container of the fourth dhyana is not permanent, because its palaces and beings arise, and then they perish.

(c) The number of destructions by fire, water, and wind

102.

ere are seven by fire, then one by water.

When seven by water are thus finished,

en seven by fire, and after that,

Finally wind will bring destruction.

There are seven times when there are destructions by fire. After those, there is the one destruction by water. Then after a succession of seven destructions by fire, there is another destruction by water, and when seven destructions by water are thus finished, then there is a sequence of seven destructions by fire, and after that at the end of every sixty-four great aeons, there is finally destruction by wind.

Second, presenting the area’s name

is completes the third area called “Teachings on the World” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

This completes the explanation of the third area called “Teachings on the World” from The Explanation of the “Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma” called The Essence of the Ocean of Abhidharma, The Words of Those who Know and Love, Explaining the Youthful Play, Opening the Eyes of Dharma, The Chariot of Easy Practice.

A few words here:

Because of the second Vasubandhu, Vijayakīrti’s

Full explanation of these signs and meanings

And the development of my intelligence,

I have explained the Treasury of the world.

May the great masses of virtue greatly please

The mighty guides appearing in all three times.

May their one hundred peals of laughter

Pacify the tumult of false teachers.

122. These explanations of the different wanderers reflect the Sanskrit names for the five different types of wanderers: naraka, preta, tiryañc, manuṣya, and deva.

123. The three levels of the first dhyana are Brahma’s Abode, Brahma’s Ministers, and Great Brahma. The three levels of the second dhyana are Lesser Light, Immeasurable Light, and Radiant Light. The three levels of the third dhyana are Lesser Virtue, Immeasurable Virtue, and Full Virtue.

124. The three impure levels of the fourth dhyana are Cloudless, Merit Born, and Great Result.

125. The alternation of dhyanas is where nobles switch rapidly back and forth between the defiled and undefiled dhyanas. There are five different levels of alternation. See VI.42–43.

126. The five pure abodes are Not Great, Without Pain, Excellent Appearance, Great Vision, and Below None.

127. The aggregates of feeling, conception, formations, and consciousness. See III.30a.

128. ma yin dgag. This is a negation that primarily blocks the attributes of something, such as thinking in this context, “It is not a thing.” A not-negation is characterized as a negation in which after the object of negation is negated another dharma is implied. This is sometimes translated as an “affirming negation.”

129. Wandering sentient beings, who wander from realm to realm in samsara.

130. The state prior to death, or in other words, this life. Note that although it is called the previous state, it comes after birth. See III.13cd.

131. Yogacāryābhūmi by Asanga.

132. A reason that proves the prior existence of its cause. For example, the presence of smoke proves the prior existence of smoke-producing fire.

133. It is traditionally explained that a new being is born in a womb when the father’s semen, the mother’s blood, and the consciousness of the between state come together.

134. Chim Jamyang, whose commentary on the Treasury is the basis for most later Tibetan commentaries.

135. The Saptabhavasūtra (srid pa bdun pa’i mdo).

136. mgnal ’jug gi mdo. In Minor Topics (Dergye Tengyur, ’dul ba, vol. tha, pp. 136ff ).

137. skye bu dam pa’i ’gro ba bdun ston pa’i mdo.

138. That is, the Great Vehicle abhidharma.

139. I.e., from the Ṭīka he wrote during his previous incarnation as Mikyö Dorje.

140. There are three types of self-buddha: the rhinolike who achieve realization in solitude, and the greater and lesser congregators who achieve realization in groups of five hundred.

141. In birth from the womb, egg, or warmth and moisture, the being develops in stages, so all twelve links arise in order. In miraculous birth, the being arises all at once, there are not the separate stages of development of each of the links.

142. The four divisions are the infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariots.

143. One page of the original Tibetan manuscript is missing, so the commentary on the next three points is excerpted from Mikyö Dorje’s Springtime Cow.

144. The Tibetan word literally means “not-action.”

145. Because ignorance is a condition, it must be a thing and cannot be mere absence, which is noncomposite and not suitable to act as a condition.

146. This concludes the section excerpted from Mikyö Dorje’s Springtime Cow.

147. These five are autonomous because they are concurrent only with ignorance, not other afflictions. See V.52ab.

148. The world is destroyed by fire, water, and wind. See III.100ff.

149. One billion worlds. See III.75.

150. This world is called Unbearable because beings here have strong afflictions that make it difficult to tolerate and because the bodhisattvas who take birth here have exceptional fortitude.

151. One league is 20,000 cubits. See verse 88.

152. A clear and transparent blue crystal, the color of the sky. Frequently mistranslated as lapis lazuli, it is more likely blue beryl.

153. Another name for Mount Meru.

154. The eight qualities are that the water is sweet, cool, soft, light, pure, clean, does not harm the throat, and benefits the stomach. The seas are called playful because the kings of the nagas disport in and enjoy their waters. (Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo, p. 2730.)

155. Carts whose sides slope down between the two wheels, making a nearly triangular shape when viewed from behind, can still be seen hauling improbable loads of hay and sugarcane in rural parts of northern India.

156. An earshot is 500 fathoms. See III.88.

157. This usually falls in early October in the Gregorian calendar.

158. In the ancient India tradition, the day was divided into 30 hours, not 24. See III.89.

159. Śakra is another name for Indra.

160. These realms are in order, Conflict Free, Joyous, Joy of Emanations, and Mastery over Others’ Emanations.

161. For example, when gods of the realm of Brahma’s Ministers descend to Brahma’s Realm, the gods of that realm can see them because they are similarly on the level of the first dhyana, but if they should descend to the Desire realm, beings who have not attained the level of first dhyana could not perceive them.

162. There are eighty intermediate aeons per great aeon. See III.94a.

163. The Tibetan original gives a figure of 1,900,000 years, which appears to be a misprint. According to the calculation, it should be 15,000 years.

164. That is, single particles of the individual sources and the source-derived.

165. See Cf. I.9ab.

166. To compare with modern units of time, an “instant” would be 13.333 milliseconds. An “instant of that” is 1.6 seconds. A “minute” is 96 seconds. An “hour” is 48 modern minutes.

167. See I.7c.

168. “Age of Threefold Qualities” refers to the second age during an aeon. The first age is the Age of Perfection, during which humans have six qualities: 1) bodies as radiant as the gods of Form, 2) the ability to mentally create things with magic, 3) enjoyable food to eat, 4) all their limbs complete, 5) all faculties complete, and 6) equality and long life for all sentient beings, et cetera. This is the age referred to in verse III.97c. During the Age of Threefold Qualities, humans have the three qualities of primarily giving up the three misdeeds of mind, as during the time of the Buddha Kanakamuni. Alternatively, it is an age when humans have three of the six qualities of the Age of Perfection. (Mi bskyod rdo rje 2004, vol. 2, 728–729).

169. During the Age of Twofold Qualities, humans have two qualities of primarily giving up malice and covetousness, as during the time of the Buddha Kashyapa. Alternatively, it is an age when humans have two of the six qualities of the Age of Perfection. The Age of Strife is an age of great turmoil, as during the time of the Buddha Shakyamuni. (Mi bskyod rdo rje 2004, vol. 2, 729).

170. See VIII.11.

FOURTH AREA

Teachings on Karma

The illumining master, the Karmaka, skilled

In shining in the playful, ocean-like skies

Of the Land of Snows, playing in vibrant compassion:

I prostrate to him who’s omniscient. And then

From love and compassion for those

Whose six-legged, wingèd intelligence

Could go to the ends of the skies

Of his unexcelled explanations,

This short commentary of mine

Whose cool rays make clear the Karmapa’s intent

Comes from the great ocean of the abhidharma.

The fourth area, the “Teachings on Karma,” has an explanation of the text of the area and a presentation of the area’s name. The explanation of the text of the area has three topics: I. How everything arises from karma, II. Understanding karma itself, and III. Teaching the synonyms of dharmas as a summary.

I. How everything arises from karma

1a

From karma various worlds are born.

What created the environment of the world and its inhabitants, sentient beings, described above? It was not created out of forethought by Ishvara or some other god. Instead, from various virtuous and nonvirtuous karmas the environments and inhabitants of various happy and wretched, good and bad worlds are born.

II. Understanding karma itself. This has three topics: A. Identifying karma, B. The presentation of karma, and C. The meaning of karma as explained in the sutras.

A. Identifying karma. This has three points.

1. Classifying karma in two

1b

Volition and what that creates.

What is karma like? you ask. If you classify it, there are two types: volitional karma and what that volition creates, intended karma. This is because it is said in the sutras, “Karma is twofold: volitional and intended karma.” Intended karma is also classified in two, so there are three types.

2. Their individual essences

1cd

Volition is mental karma, which

Creates the karma of body and speech.

Of those three, the mental factor volition is the mental karma. That which volition creates, intended karma, is the karma of body and the karma of speech.

3. Perceptible or imperceptible karma

2a

ose two are percepts and impercepts.

Those two, karma of body and speech, are the perceptible karma of body, the imperceptible karma of body, and the perceptible and imperceptible karmas of speech.

B. The presentation of karma. This has three topics: 1. Classifying karma in two, 2. The presentation of general features of the three karmas, and 3. The presentation of imperceptible karma.

1. Classifying karma in two. This has two topics: a. Perceptible, and b. Imperceptible.

a. Perceptible. This has two points: i. Perceptible of body, and ii. Perceptible of speech.

i. Perceptible of body. This has three points.

(1) Identifying its essence according to the Great Exposition tradition

2b

Bodily perceptible is shape.

When the mind thinks, “I will prostrate,” bodily perceptible action, such as prostrating and joining one’s palms, is proposed to be shape.

(2) Refuting the doubts of the Vatsiputrīya school

2cd

It is not movement, since composites

Are momentary, as they perish.

3ab

Nothing can happen without cause.

e cause would become the destroyer.

Followers of the Vatsiputrīya school agree that some composites such as rainstorms or flames are momentary but mostly do not assert momentary impermanence. Therefore perceptible actions of body are not impermanent because they are actions that move the body from one location to another. They are not unmoving actions, they say.

This is illogical. It, karma or action of the body, is not movement to another location without ceasing since it is composite, like cognition and so forth. To prove that this is pervasively true, all composites are without a doubt momentary phenomena that are destroyed immediately upon arising, as without a doubt they immediately perish independent of other causes or conditions. The disintegration of composites does not depend upon some other cause because nothing that depends upon a cause can happen without a cause, but lightning and so on are directly seen to perish without any cause at all.

In that case, some things such as lightning are like that, but we can see that hammers and such are the cause of the destruction of clay jugs and so forth, you say. If that were so, the cause of the red color of a clay jug that is heated, fire, would become the destroyer of the red color of the heated jug: it would follow that the creator was also the destroyer.

(3) The tradition of the Sutra school

3c

Two would perceive it; not in particles.

The Sutra school holds that shape does not exist substantially, because when it is destroyed, there is no mind that perceives it, just as with a vase. If shape were to exist, the two faculties of body and eye would both perceive it, because the eye would see shape directly and know it, and also when the body faculty touches it, a cognition that thinks “long” or so forth would occur. One cannot agree, because then it would be senseless to have multiple faculties, and the correspondence between the sense bases and substances would be weakened. Any existing obstructive form at all must exist in the atoms that are aggregated. Long and other such shapes do not substantially exist, because there is not any such thing in the particles, because atoms have no parts.

At this point, there are many arguments and counter-arguments between the Great Exposition and Sutra schools, but I shall not go into them here.

ii. Perceptible of speech

3d

Perceptible speech is speech’s sound.

The perceptible karma of speech is speech’s sound—sound that has the nature of speech—because it makes the desire that motivates the speaker to talk perceptible to others.

b. Imperceptible forms. This has two topics: i. Proof they exist substantially, and ii. Presentation of their features.

i. Proof they exist substantially

4ab

ree kinds and stainless form are taught;

Increase; and paths not done; et cetera.

The Sutra school says that imperceptible forms do not substantially exist. This is because they are merely promises not to do something any more from this time forward until forfeited which are merely given the label imperceptible form; because they are designated based upon the past sources, but the past sources do not exist in essence; and because they do not fulfill the characteristics of form.

The Great Exposition school says that imperceptible forms exist substantially. As proof of this, a sutra says:

The three types of form include all forms. There is form that is showable and obstructive. There is also form that is not showable but is obstructive. There is also form that is neither showable nor obstructive.

Thus imperceptible forms exist because three kinds of form are taught. A sutra also says:

These forms for which greed or anger do not arise are called undefiled dharmas.

Thus it is also proven because stainless form is taught, and without imperceptible forms it would not be logical for there to be such forms.

If it is one of the seven material merits or the seven immaterial merits, the merit increases greatly.[171] The seven material merits are:

To give a monastery or a temple,

A bed, or sustenance continuously,

A passing guest, or nursing for the sick

Or generosity in times of darkness:

These are the seven material merits.

The seven immaterial merits are:

To hear he[172] dwells or plans to come or else

Has embarked upon the road, arrived; to see him,

To hear the Dharma, hold the basic precepts:

If these should make true faith and joy arise,

These are the seven immaterial merits.

Additionally, it would follow that the karmic paths not done by oneself but that one incites others to do would not exist because there is no imperceptible form. The phrase “et cetera” means that imperceptible forms exist also because it is taught that there is form in the sense base of dharmas, because the eightfold noble path is taught, and because it is taught that vows obstruct immorality like a dike and water. There are many additional proofs, so imperceptible form is proven to exist.

At this point, there are many refutations, presentations, and positions from others, including the Yogic Action, Sutra school, Dārṣṭāntika, earlier masters, the venerable elders of the Great Exposition, the Master, and so forth. These appear in the Ṭīka.

ii. Presentation of their features. This has four topics: (1) The features of their cause, (2) of their level, (3) of their essence, and (4) Other attributes of their cause.

(1) The features of their cause. This has two points.

(a) Attributes of the cause of the first moment

A small number of the present and future forms that act as causes arise from the past sources. In the first moment of an imperceptible form of Desire—at the time of swearing a vow or so forth—the sources of the basis and the sources of the support are both coemergent sources of the present imperceptible.

(b) Attributes of the cause of subsequent moments

4cd

In subsequent moments, the impercepts

Of Desire are born from the past sources.

In subsequent moments, the imperceptible forms of Desire are born from the sources of the basis, past sources, and the present sources of the bodily support.

(2) The features of their level. This has two points.

(a) Attributes on the defiled levels

5ab

Stained karmas of the body and speech

Take their own sources as a cause.

The sources of which level function as their cause? you ask. The imperceptible forms of stained or defiled karmas of the body and speech from the Desire realm up to the fourth dhyana take their own level’s sources as a cause.

(b) Attributes on the undefiled levels

5c

e undefiled, of where it arises.[173]

Undefiled forms take the four sources of the support of the level where they arise. If the undefiled vow is attained on the support of a Desire-realm body, its great sources also must arise or originate out of the sources of the Desire realm. If the undefiled vow is attained on a support of the first dhyana, its great sources also must be from the first dhyana.

(3) The features of their essence

5d

Impercepts aren’t appropriated.

6ab

ey are causally compatible

And indicate a sentient being.

Imperceptible forms are unobstructive, so they are not appropriated, and as they are always either virtuous or nonvirtuous, it is impossible for them to be neutral. As they are not produced by development, by implication they are produced by compatible cause. They indicate a sentient being because they are included within the continuum of one.

(4) Other attributes of their cause. This has two points:

(a) Attributes of the causes of imperceptible forms of Desire

6cd

ey arise from sources which must be

Compatible, appropriated.

They, imperceptibles of Desire, arise from the cause of the great sources in the continuum of the assemblage of the body, which must be causally compatible and appropriated.

(b) Attributes of the causes in the dhyanas and undefiled levels

6e-h

e ones born of samadhi arise

From unappropriated sources,

at are produced by development

And are not separate.

Since they follow the mind, the ones born of samadhi—undefiled and dhyana vows—arise from the cause of unappropriated sources. Because they are developed by samadhi, they are produced by development. They are born from one set of four sources, as the four sources that produce all seven different abandonments are not separate.[174]

Here there are different assertions made by the Great Exposition, Sutra school and Mind Only school.

2. The presentation of general features of the three karmas. This has two topics: a. Presenting the actual meaning, and b. Explaining motivation in detail.

a. Presenting the actual meaning. This has three topics: i. Distinctions of virtue and so forth, ii. What is in which realm, and iii. The individual classification of the three dharmas.

i. Distinctions of virtue and so forth

7ab

ere are no neutral imperceptibles.

e others are threefold.

Among the three types of karma explained above,[175] there are no neutral imperceptible karmas that are neither virtuous nor nonvirtuous. The perceptible and volitional karmas that are other than that are threefold. For example, there are virtuous perceptibles such as joining palms in prayer, nonvirtuous such as taking life, and neutral such as the crafts and so forth—all three are possible. Likewise volition can be all three.

ii. What is in which realm. This has four points:

(1) Which realm nonvirtue is in

7bc

Nonvirtue is

In Desire.

Nonvirtuous karma is only in the Desire realm. It is not in the higher realms, because beings in those realms have discarded shamelessness and immodesty.

(2) Which realms imperceptibles are in

7c

ere are impercepts in Form, too,

There are the imperceptibles of dhyana and undefiled vows in Form, too. The word “too” indicates they are also in Desire. They are not in Formless.

(3) Which realm mere perceptibles are in

7d

And percepts where there is considering.

And there are perceptibles, including action, in those levels where there is considering—Desire and the first dhyana. They are not in the second dhyana and higher, because there is neither the motivation of consideration and examination, nor obscured neutral.

(4) Which realm obscured perceptibles are in

8ab

ere’s no obscured in Desire, either,

Because there is no motivation.

Not only in the levels without consideration, but there is no obscured neutral perceptible in the Desire realm either. What is the reason? Because there is no motivation for it: in Desire, the obscured is only associated with personality and extreme views, and these are always discards of seeing only, so they directed inward. For that reason they are not suitable as the motivation for perceptible karma.

iii. The individual classification of the three dharmas. This has three topics: (1) The classification of virtue, (2) of nonvirtue, and (3) of neutral.

(1) The classification of virtue. This has four points.

(a) Ultimate virtue

8c

Ultimate virtue is liberation;

What is called ultimate virtue is the liberation of nirvana, because it is both exalted and truly virtuous. That is because it is the supreme happiness that is free of suffering, like freedom from illness, for example.

(b) Inherent virtue

8d

Inherent: roots, shame, modesty;

Inherent or intrinsic virtue is the three virtuous roots of nongreed, nonhatred, and nondelusion; shame; and modesty, because they do not depend upon concurrence or motivation, like beneficial medicine, for example.

(c) Concurrent virtue

9a

Concurrent with that is concurrent;

Dharmas that are concurrent with that, inherent virtue, are concurrent virtue, because there are no virtues in a mind that is not concurrent with the roots of virtue, like drink that is mixed with medicine.

(d) Virtue of motivation

9b

Actions and such are motivated.

The actions or karmas of body and speech motivated by those and such things, including birth, attainment, cessation, the absorption of the conception-free are motivated virtue, like the milk from a mother who has drunk a beverage mixed with beneficial medicine.

(2) The classification of nonvirtue

9c

Nonvirtue is the opposite.

Nonvirtue, which also has four types, is the opposite of the four virtues. All that is in the end samsaric is ultimate nonvirtue. The three nonvirtuous roots, shamelessness, and immodesty are inherent nonvirtue. Dharmas that are concurrent with those are concurrent nonvirtue. The karmas of body and speech that these motivate, as well as the characteristics of birth and so forth and the attainment of nonvirtue, are motivated nonvirtue. An example to illustrate this would be milk from a mother who has drunk a beverage mixed with harmful drugs.

(3) The classification of neutral

9d

e stable is the ultimate neutral.

That which is stable is the ultimate neutral: space and nonanalytic cessation among the noncomposites. The inherent neutral is that which is obscured by personality and extreme view in the Desire realm and by all afflictions in the higher realms. The concurrent neutral is that which is concurrent with the mind of crafts, et cetera. Motivated neutral is the perceptibles of body and speech in the path of conduct and so forth, birth and so forth, and attainment.

b. Explaining motivation in detail. This has three topics: i. Classification of motivation, ii. The nature of each classification, and iii. Examining the four possibilities of their dharma bases.

i. Classification of motivation

10ab

Two motivations are the causal

And the contemporaneous motives.

Well then, if the cognition of a discard of seeing cannot motivate a perceptible, then it contradicts the sutra that says, “From that wrong view come wrong thought, wrong speech, and extreme actions,” you say.

It is not a contradiction. In general, there are two types of motivations, which are called the causal and the contemporaneous (with the action) motivations.

ii. The nature of each classification

10cd

e first one is the instigator;

e second is the executor.

The first one of the two motivations is the instigator because it is both cause and motivation and because it impels the karma. The second one, the contemporaneous motive, is the executor because one engages in action according to it at the time of the action. Without the contemporaneous motivation, there might be the causal motivation, but the action will not be brought to a perceptible end. For example, it is like someone who resolves to go to the market but dies in the interim and does not reach the market.

iii. Examining the four possibilities of their dharma bases. This has five topics: (1) The possibility of being only the instigator, (2) The possibility of being both, (3) The possibility of only being the executor, (4) The possibility of analyzing the way they mutually engage, and (5) The possibility of being neither.

(1) The possibility of being only the instigator

11ab

e consciousness that seeing discards

Is the instigator.

The consciousness that seeing discards is the perceptible’s instigator only, because the causal motivation is a motivation that is the basis for the consideration and examination. At the time that the executor is looking outward, the six groups of consciousness arise in succession, so the earlier motivation that looked inward does not exist and thus cannot be the executor.

(2) The possibility of being both

11b–d

And the mind

at is a discard of meditation

Is both.

And of the different kinds of mind consciousness, those that are a discard of meditation are both instigator and executor, because they engage when focused outward and inward.

(3) The possibility of only being the executor

11d

e five are executors.

The five sense consciousnesses are only executors because they are thoughtfree consciousnesses.

Undefiled consciousness is neither because it rests in equipoise, looks inward, and is exclusive of engagement.

(4) The possibility of analyzing the way they mutually engage. This has two points.

(a) General

12ab

e executors from the virtuous

And other instigators are threefold.

Additionally, it is not definite that the instigator and executor are similar. The executors that come from the virtuous and other, nonvirtuous and neutral, instigators are also threefold: these executors can be either virtuous, nonvirtuous, or neutral, so there are a total of nine combinations. For example, the vows of individual liberation have a mental factor of virtuous intention as their causal motivation. For the contemporaneous motivation at the time of the ceremony, however, either the continuation of that intention, hatred, or the mind of the path of activities[176] might be manifest, so the attainment of the vow could be any one of these.

(b) Specific

12c

e Sage’s are alike or virtuous.

The Sage’s instigator and executor are alike because his virtue engages out of virtue and neutral engages out of neutral. The word “or” is a conjunction. Alternatively, following a neutral instigator, the executor, is virtuous, but after a virtuous instigator there can only be a virtuous executor and never a neutral one because it is impossible that the Buddha’s powers could decrease.

(5) The possibility of being neither

12d

ose born of ripening are neither.

Those cognitions that are born of full ripening are neither instigator nor executor, because they are born naturally without effort.

3. The presentation of imperceptible karma. This has two topics: a. An overview of the classifications, and b. The extensive presentation.

a. An overview of the classifications

13ab

ree types of imperceptibles

Are vows, wrong vows, and neither.

There are said to be three types of imperceptibles. They are vows that bind the continuum of immorality; their opposite, wrong vows that arise as extremely harmful conduct of body and speech; and the mid-vow that is neither of those two.

b. The extensive presentation. This has two topics: i. Explaining vows in particular, and ii. Explaining the three types of karma together.

i. Explaining vows in particular. This has two topics: (1) Overview, and (2) Explanation.

(1) Overview

13b–d

Vows

Are individual liberation

And dhyan-produced and undefiled.

The discipline that a dharma practitioner maintains in Desire is called the vow of individual liberation. And the discipline that dhyana primarily produces and that is effective in the Form realm is called the vow of dhyana. And undefiled discipline is called the undefiled vow.[177]

(2) Explanation. This has three topics: (a) The explanation of vows of individual liberation, (b) The explanation of the undefiled vows and vows of dhyana, and (c) Additional points.

(a) The explanation of vows of individual liberation. This has two topics: (i) Teaching them together, and (ii) Teaching them separately.

(i) Teaching them together. This has three points.

A. Classifying in eight in terms of name

14a

ere are the eight called pratimokṣa,

There are the eight vows called vows of pratimokṣa, individual liberation: the vows of the bhikshu or “almsman,” the vows of the bhikshuni, the vows of the śikṣamāṇa or “nun postulant,” the vows of the male and female śramanera or novices, the male and female upāsaka lay precepts or “pursuer of virtue,” and the vows of fasting or upavāsastha. The vows of fasting can be held by the sexless and neuters as well as males and females, so the male and female fasting vows are not counted separately.

B. Combining in four in terms of substance

14bc

But they are four in substance since

Name alone changes with the organ.

The vows are eight in terms of name, but they are four in substance: the bhikshu vows, novice vows, fasting vows, and pursuer of virtue vows. The reason for this is since just the name alone changes to bhikshuni with the change of sexual organs of a bhikshu.[178] As there is no cancellation, attainment, or shift in the essence of the vows, they are proven to be the same continuum as before.

C. How they relate

14d

ey’re separate but not exclusive.

When a single individual has all three vows, they are definitely, solely separate in their characteristics because otherwise, if one should forfeit the bhikshu vows, one would also forfeit the other two, which is not the case.

In that case, because they abandon the same class but are substantially separate, they should be simultaneously exclusive[179] in the stream of a single being, you say. They are not simultaneously exclusive of each other in that way because taking a later vow is not the cause of forfeiting the previous.

(ii) Teaching them separately. This has four points.

A. Their individual essences

15.

By swearing to hold five, eight, ten,

Or all the precepts, one becomes

A pursuer of virtue, or a faster,

Or else a novice, or a bhikshu.

What makes someone a pursuer of virtue and so forth? you ask. By swearing (1) to hold for the rest of one’s life the five precepts of abandoning taking life, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, lying, and intoxicants; (2) to hold for one day the eight precepts of abandoning the root four plus intoxicants; refraining from dancing, ornaments, and so forth counted as one; no high beds; or food after noon; (3) to hold for the rest of one’s life the ten precepts of those eight with dancing and ornaments counted separately to make nine, plus abandoning taking gold and silver for a total of ten; or (4) to hold for the rest of one’s life all the precepts of abandoning all the harmful conducts of body and speech, is how one becomes respectively (1) a pursuer of virtue, (2) or a faster, or (3) else a novice, or (4) a bhikshu.

B. Synonyms

16ab

is is called discipline, fine conduct,

Karma, and vow.

This is called discipline as it correctly settles one and is the attainment of cool relief from the torments of immorality.[180] As it is praised by the wise, it is called fine conduct. As its nature is action, it is karma. And as it binds the body and speech, it is called the vow of individual liberation.

C. Explaining their names

16b–d

e percept and

Impercept of the first are individual

Liberation and the path of action.

At the time of correctly taking a vow, the perceptible and imperceptible of the first moment are called individual liberation because they liberate the individual from misdeeds. They are also called the vow of individual liberation because they bind the harmful conduct of body and speech. And they are also called the actual path of action, because they are not the aftermath but part of the actual basis.[181]

The perceptibles and imperceptibles of the second moment are similar to individual liberation and are born from individual liberation, so they are called a vow of individual liberation only. However, they are not actually individual liberation, because one has already been liberated by the first moment alone.

D. The individuals who possess them

17a

e eight have pratimokṣa vows.

The eight individuals from bhikshu to faster have pratimokṣa vows of individual liberation.

(b) The explanation of the undefiled vows and vows of dhyana. This has three points.

(1) Who possesses them

17bc

When one has dhyana, one has that.

e nobles have the undefiled.

When one has dhyana—when dhyana has arisen—one definitely has that, the vow of dhyana. In the preparations[182] as well there are vows of dhyana and undefiled vows, so the preparations are also taught as dhyanas, just as when we say, “There is a rice field in this town,” the area surrounding a town is called the town.

The nobles, individuals who are learners and nonlearners, have the undefiled vows.

(2) Teaching how they follow the mind

17d

e latter two follow the mind.

During the discussion of the coemergent cause, it was mentioned that the two vows follow the mind. Of these three vows, the latter two, vows of dhyana and undefiled vows, follow the mind.[183] The vows of individual liberation do not follow the mind because they follow one even when one has a different cognition or is in a mind-free state such as the absorption of cessation.

(3) Teaching how they are vows that discard

18ab

e two, on Not Unable’s paths

Of no obstacles, are called discarding.

The two, vows of dhyana and undefiled vows, if supported on the level of Not Unable,[184] and produced as the essence of the path of no obstacles, discard immorality and the afflictions that motivate it, so they are called discarding vows. Therefore there are four possibilities between dhyana or undefiled vows and discarding vows.

(c) Additional points

18cd

Mindfulness and awareness are

Restraint of mind and faculties.

The sutras say:

Restraint of body is excellent.

Restraint of speech is excellent.

Restraint of mind is excellent.

Restraint in all is excellent.

They also say, “Whoever binds the faculty of the eye abides by a vow.” What is the nature of the vows or restraint of the mind and faculties explained there? you ask. They do not have the nature of an imperceptible. Well then, what are they? you ask. Mindfulness, which does not forget what to do and what not to do, and awareness, which knows what that is, are both also said to be restraint of the mind and restraint of the faculties because these two prevent the mind and faculties from acting incorrectly toward the object and bind them.

ii. Explaining the three types of karma together. This has four topics: (1) How long they are possessed, (2) How they are attained, (3) Causes that cancel them, and (4) What support possesses them.

(1) How long they are possessed. This has four topics: (a) How imperceptibles are possessed, (b) How perceptibles are possessed, (c) Synonyms of wrong vows, and (d) Explaining their four possibilities.

(a) How imperceptibles are possessed. This has three topics: (i) How vows that are not equipoise are possessed, (ii) How vows of equipoise are possessed, and (iii) How mid-vows are possessed.

(i) How vows that are not equipoise are possessed. This has two points.

A. Vows

19.

One who has pratimokṣa has

e present imperceptible

Until it’s canceled. From the first

Moment and on, one has the past.

One who has pratimokṣa or vows of individual liberation has the present imperceptible as long as they have the vows until it is canceled by that individual returning the vows and so forth. From the first moment and on until the vows are canceled, one also has the past.

B. Wrong vows

20a

It’s so for those with wrong vows, too.

It is so for those individuals who have wrong vows, too, as they possess their wrong vows similarly.

(ii) How vows of equipoise are possessed

20b–d

ose who possess the vows of dhyana

Possess the past and future. Nobles

At first do not possess the past.

21ab

In equipoise, on noble paths:

e present imperceptible.

Those who possess vows of dhyana, from the moment they arise until they are canceled, must always possess both the past and the future imperceptible. Noble individuals, at the time of the first undefiled moment, do not possess the past undefiled vow, since it has not previously arisen. This is because the vow has never arisen before the dharma forbearance of knowing suffering, so the past imperceptible cannot have been possessed. Those who abide in the equipoise of the worldly paths and possess the vows of dhyana and those in the equipoise of the noble path who possess undefiled vows have the present imperceptible, so they have all three times.

(iii) How mid-vows are possessed. This has two points.

A. Actual

21cd

If in between, at first the middle;

From then on, one has the two times.

If there is the imperceptible of a mid-vow that is in between a vow and a wrong vow, in the first moment, the imperceptible of the middle time between the past and future, the present, is possessed. From then, the first moment, on until the mid-vow is canceled, one also has the past, so one possesses two times.

B. As an elaboration, how those who have vows or wrong vows possess mid vows.

22.

ose with wrong vows can have the virtuous,

And those with vows can have nonvirtuous

Impercepts as long as they are

Very sincere or strongly afflicted.

When those with wrong vows do something virtuous such as a prostration out of great sincerity, they can have the virtuous mid-vow, and when those with vows do something nonvirtuous, such as killing or beating someone out of the force of afflictions, they can have the nonvirtuous mid-vow’s imperceptible. These remain with them as long as they are very sincere or strongly afflicted.

(b) How perceptibles are possessed

23.

ose who are acting all possess

e percept of the present time.

From the first moment until canceled,

ey have the past, but not the future.

24ab

ere’s no possession of the past

Obscured, nor of the unobscured.

Those who abide by vows, wrong vows, or mid-vows and are actually, perceptibly acting, all possess the perceptible of body and speech of the present time. From the first moment until the action is canceled by the cause of cancellation, they also have the past. But there is not any possession of the future perceptible because it does not follow the mind.

There is no possession of the past obscured, nor of the unobscured neutral perceptibles, because they are extremely weak and thus are unable to create past or future attainment.

(c) Synonyms of wrong vows

24cd

Wrong vows, and harmful conduct, and

Immoral, karma, and its path.

The body and speech are not bound, so they are wrong vows. And they are criticized by the exalted and produce an unpleasant result, so they are harmful conduct. And they are the opposite of discipline, so they are immorality. They are karma of body and speech, so they are karma. When the actual taking of life is completed, they are included in the actual basis, and so for that reason they are its karmic path.

(d) Explaining the four possibilities of possessing perceptibles and imperceptibles.

25.

As it’s between, the mind is weak

us one who acts has just the percept.

When a noble’s percept has been canceled

Yet still is unborn, they have the impercept.

The first possibility: as it, a mid-vow is between a vow and a wrong vow, the mind is weak. Thus one who performs a virtuous or nonvirtuous act has just the perceptible only. The second possibility is when a noble individual’s perceptible from their previous lifetime has been canceled and yet their perceptible for this life still is unborn; that noble has no perceptible but does have the imperceptible.[185] The third possibility is such as when someone who has vows prostrates. The fourth possibility is such as an ordinary individual in the Formless realm. Because the last two possibilities are easy to understand, they are not mentioned in the root text.

(2) How they are attained. This has three topics: (a) How vows are attained, (b) How wrong vows are attained, and (c) How mid-vows are attained.

(a) How vows are attained. This has two topics: (i) Actual, and (ii) What vows are attained in relation to.

(i) Actual. This has three topics: A. How vows of dhyana are attained, B. How undefiled vows are attained, and C. How the vows of individual liberation are attained.

A. How vows of dhyana are attained

26ab

e dhyana vows are gained with the level

Of dhyana itself.

The dhyana-produced vows are gained by attaining the actual practice and preparations of the mind of the level of dhyana itself because they arise simultaneously with the mind of dhyana. Not Unable is attained by training. The actual practice is attained by detachment. If the first dhyana arises out of the higher second dhyana, it is attained when either the preparations or the actual practice arise.

B. How undefiled vows are attained

26bc

e undefiled

By nobles.

The undefiled vows are attained by the arising of the noble levels: any one of the six levels of undefiled dhyana.

C. How the vows of individual liberation are attained. This has two topics: 1. General overview, and 2. Specific explanations.

1. General overview

26cd

Pratimokṣa is through

e perceptible of others, et cetera.

Those vows called pratimokṣa individual liberation are attained through the perceptible speech and prayers to the Sangha of others including abbots, masters and so forth, because others can perceive that the vow has been born in one’s being, and one can also perceive for oneself the proof that it is born within one’s continuum. The phrase “et cetera” includes the desire to take the vow, the knowledge of attaining it, and renunciation.

The vows of the bhikshu and bhikshuni are attained from the Sangha. The novice monk, novice nun, and male and female pursuer of virtue vows are attained from an individual. The phrase “et cetera” is mentioned in order to include the ten ways the Great Exposition vinaya says the bhikshu vows may be taken. The ten ways the vows are taken are taught in the autocommentary:

(1) The buddhas and self-buddhas take bhikshu vows spontaneously. (2) The five supports, by developing certainty.[186] (3) Ājñāta and the others, by being summoned, “Bhikshu, come hither.” (4) Mahākāshyapa, by accepting the Buddha as Teacher. (5) Sodāyin, by delighting the Buddha with his response to a question. (6) Mahāprajapatī, by accepting the dharmas of respect.[187] (7) Dharmadinnā, by messengers.[188] (8) People in remote lands, by five upholders of the vinaya. (9) People in central lands, by an assembly of ten. (10) The assembly of the good group of sixty took bhikshu vows by repeating three times that they go for refuge.

At this point, the glorious Shakya Chokden explains that the Buddha taking vows spontaneously refers to him renouncing his household and so forth, but this is an imaginary fabrication. It is thoroughly and completely refuted in the Great Karṭīk The Springtime Cow of Easy Accomplishment itself, so I shall not beat that dead thing over again.

Philosophies one’s own mind imagines,

Not heard of in the Noble Land,

May delight all the fools in Tibet,

But alas, can they bring true relief

To all those who want liberation?

2. Specific explanations. This has four topics: a. The time vows are taken for, b. Ascertaining the time period of wrong vows, c. Specifics of fasts, and d. Specifics of the five lay precepts.

a. The time vows are taken for

27ab

e vows are taken for life or else

e period of one day and night.

The seven classes of vows of individual liberation are taken for the rest of this life, or else the fasting vows are taken for the period of one day and night. The end of the period of the vows of individual liberation is either the end of life or the end of a day and night.

Here the Great Exposition proposes that fasting vows can only last one day and night. The Sutra school says there is no harm in fasting vows lasting for many days. The Master explains there is no logical problem with fasting vows lasting many days, but fasting vows are taken for a single day only because that is how it was established by the Buddha. The modern tradition of taking fasting vows for every month, where one takes a vow today, for example, and maintains it on the eighth or some other day of every lunar month, is said to be Lord Atisha’s tradition.

Some scholars say that this is illogical. If one were to take fasting vows for one particular day of every month, would such a vow arise or not? In the first instance, one would have to maintain the fasting vow continually from that day on. In the second instance, there would be no possibility of maintaining the vows on the eighth day or full moon of the subsequent months, so they say.

Well then, it follows that one can take the eight precepts of fasting for the rest of one’s life, because you have explained that the individual who swears to uphold the eight precepts of fasting for the rest of his life is a righteous pursuer of virtue.[189] You cannot deny the proof, and the pervasion holds. If you agree, it contradicts your position that the fasting vows cannot last longer than one day and night.

Our own position is that when one promises to maintain the fasting vows on the full moon or eighth day of the following lunar months, the vow arises out of the power of resolve in the mind. Extensive proofs and rebuttals of this appear in the great Ṭīka.

b. Ascertaining the time period of wrong vows

27cd

ere is no one-day-long wrong-vow,

Because there’s no such oath, it’s heard.

There is no one-day-long wrong vow. What is the reason? you ask. Because there is no such oath where one says, “May I possess a wrong vow for one day and night,” it is heard.

c. Specifics of fasts. This has three topics: i. General presentation, ii. Establishing the quantity of precepts, and iii. The need to begin by going for refuge.

i. General presentation

28.

While kneeling low with no adornments,

Recite the words. Till morrow’s morn

One swears before another at dawn

To all the precepts of the fast.

How does one swear to the day-long fast? It is taken while the person who is taking the vow is kneeling on one or both knees with their palms joined lower than the preceptor. One should adorn oneself with no new adornments. One recites the words, repeating after the preceptor. The period for which the vow is taken is until the sun rises on the morrow or next day’s morn, one complete day and night. The time when one commits is when one swears before another at dawn before eating any food to all the precepts of the fast.

ii. Establishing the quantity of precepts. This has two points.

(1) Actual

29a–c

ere are four, one, and three precepts

Of discipline, and carefulness,

Austerity respectively.

There are four root precepts, one precept of abandoning alcohol, and the last three precepts. These are the precepts of discipline, which abandon the inherently unwholesome; and the precept of carefulness, remaining in mindfulness; and the precepts of austerity, which are compatible with those precepts, respectively.

(2) Dispelling doubt

29d

ose bring unmindfulness and arrogance.

Those, drinking alcohol and eating food after noon, respectively bring unmindfulness of what to do and what not to do and weaken the mindfulness of the fast. High seats, song, dance, and so forth not only weaken mindfulness, they make one arrogant.

iii. The need to begin by going for refuge

30ab

Others may also fast, of course,

But only after going for refuge.

Can only people who hold the lay precepts take the fasting vows, or may others as well? you ask. Others than just those who have the pursuer of virtue vows may also fast, of course, but only after first going for refuge to the Three Jewels on that day. Otherwise the vow will not arise.

d. Specifics of the five lay precepts. This has five topics: i. Explaining the meaning of a quotation from a sutra, ii. Rebutting that it is contradictory of the sutras, iii. Distinctions between lesser and greater vows, iv. Explaining the sources of refuge, and v. Specifics of the precepts.

i. Explaining the meaning of a quotation from a sutra

30cd

By promising to pursue virtue

e vow is made, it’s taught, like bhikshus.

From the Mahānāman Sutra:[190]

Mahānāman, thus if a householder dressed in white clothes who possesses the male faculty of a man goes for refuge in the Buddha and goes for refuge to the Dharma and Sangha, and then also says the words, “Accept me as a pursuer of virtue,” by that alone he becomes a pursuer of virtue.

Can one become a pursuer of virtue who holds the lay precepts merely by going for refuge? you ask. The Aparāntakas say one can. The Kashmiris say that alone does not make one a pursuer of virtue, but by promising after going for refuge, “Accept me as a pursuer of virtue for the rest of my life,” the vow is made and arises—one becomes a pursuer of virtue.

Well then, reciting the liturgy “Just as the noble Arhats… ”[191] then become meaningless, you say. It does not, because it is taught not as a way to attain something that has not yet been attained but as a way to know what limits have been attained and must be upheld. For example, it is like reciting the precepts of a bhikshu or a novice after attaining the vows.

ii. Rebutting that it is contradictory of the sutras

31a–c

If that is so and all is thus bound,

How is there single conduct, et cetera?

Hold that, and it is held, it’s heard.

If that is so and all five precepts of a pursuer of virtue are thus bound, how is it that the Buddha spoke of four types of pursuers of virtue: those who abandon taking life alone as single conduct, et cetera, including those who hold two precepts as partial conduct, those who hold three or four as majority conduct, and those who hold all five as complete pursuers of virtue?

In response, the Great Exposition says that the intent of this is that at first all of these attain all five precepts completely. Later one violates some precepts, but one holds that, another of the precepts, without violation. And that is how it, single conduct or any of the others, is held, it is heard.

iii. Distinctions between lesser and greater vows

31d

ey’re weak, et cetera, like the mind.

The cause for them, vows, being weak, et cetera, middling and strong, is that although there are differences in how many precepts are held, one’s motivation is primary, so the vow is stronger or weaker, like the stronger or weaker faith in one’s mind.

iv. Explaining the sources of refuge

32.

All those who go for refuge to

e three, take refuge in the dharmas

at make the Buddha and the Sangha—

No learning and both—and nirvana.

What are the Three Jewels to which we go for refuge? you ask. All those who go for refuge to the Three Jewels, take refuge in the Buddha: they go for refuge in the dharmas that make the Buddha, the truth of the path of no more learning. And going for refuge in the Sangha is going for refuge in the dharmas that make the Sangha, the truth of the path of no learning and learning both. And going for refuge to the Dharma is going for refuge in the dharma that makes the jewel of the Dharma, nirvana, which is the cessation of all afflictions and suffering without exception.

The Great Exposition proposes that the dharma body alone is the Buddha who is the source of refuge, and the form body is not the Buddha. Likewise, the Sangha that is the source of refuge is the truth of the path only, while the Sangha that is its support is not the Sangha that is a source of refuge. The Sutra school proposes that both the support of the form body and the dharma body it supports are the Buddha who is the source of refuge, and both the support of the Sangha and the truth of the path it supports are the Sangha that is the source of refuge.

v. Specifics of the precepts. This has three topics: (1) The meaning of presenting sexual misconduct as a precept, (2) The meaning of presenting lying as a precept, and (3) The meaning of presenting intoxicants as a precept.

(1) The meaning of presenting sexual misconduct as a precept. This has two points.

(a) Actual

33ab

Since sexual misconduct is reviled,

Since easy, since abstention is attained.

In all the other vows, abandoning sexual activity in its entirety is presented as a precept. Why in the lay precepts is abandoning sexual misconduct presented as a precept? you ask. The reason for this is since lustful sexual misconduct dishonors another’s spouse, because it is on its own a cause for rebirth in the lower realms, because it is utterly reviled in the world, and because not all sexual activity is like that. It is also since it is easy for householders to vow to abandon lustful misconduct, whereas abandoning sexual activity is difficult because of habituation from beginningless time. In addition, it is since abstention from lustful misconduct in other lifetimes as well is a vow that the nobles have attained.

(b) Dispelling a doubt

33cd

e vow’s attained just as it’s sworn;

It is not total celibacy.

If a pursuer of virtue should subsequently take a bride, that alone does not violate his vow. The vow is attained just as it is sworn, so one promises not to commit sexual misconduct. It is not saying, “I will not act out of desire and will practice total celibacy.”

(2) The meaning of presenting lying as a precept

34ab

If one transgresses any precept,

He would end up by telling a lie.

Why is lying presented as a precept? you ask. It is because if someone should transgress any precept, when asked about it they might possibly say, “I did not do that.” He would possibly end up by telling a lie on top of their previous violation. Abandoning lying is presented as a lay precept in order to prevent that.

(3) The meaning of presenting intoxicants as a precept

34cd

Of the prohibited unwholesome,

Intoxicants, as one will hold the others.

Of the prohibited unwholesome acts,[192] why is only abandoning intoxicants presented as a precept? you ask. The reason is that if one abandons drinking intoxicating beverages, one will hold the other precepts.

(ii) What vows are attained in relation to. This has two topics: A. Individual explanations, and B. Combined explanation.

A. Individual explanations. This has two points.

1. Where the vows of individual liberation are attained from

35ab

e vows of Desire must be attained

In relation to all, both, and present.

When one attains any one of the vows of individual liberation, dhyana, or undefiled from one basis,[193] does one also attain the remaining from that basis? you ask. No. The vows of individual liberation of Desire must be attained in relation to all three aspects of karma: the preparation, the actual act, and the aftermath. They are attained in relation to both inherently unwholesome acts and prohibited unwholesome acts, and in relation to both that which indicates and does not indicate sentient beings. And because they engage the mind’s support, they are attained in relation to the present aggregates, sense bases, and elements. They are not attained from the future or past because these are not counted as sentient beings.

2. Where the vows of dhyana and the undefiled vows are attained from

35cd

e dhyana and undefiled vows

Relate to actual and all times.

If the dhyana and undefiled vows are attained in relation to the actual basis but not the preparation and aftermath, what need is there to mention the prohibited unwholesome? These vows are attained in relation to the aggregates, elements, and sense bases of all three times.

B. Combined explanation

36ab

Vows in relation to all beings;

Distinctions in branches and cause.

Are these vows attained in relation to all sentient beings, precepts and cause, or are they attained in relation to specific ones? The vows are attained in relation to all sentient beings, but there are divisions in branches and cause. The bhikshu vows are attained from all seven branches, and the lesser vows from four.[194] If you propose the three virtuous roots as a cause, the three arise together, and if you propose greater, middling, and lesser volition as cause, they do not arise together, so there is division. They are attained if one is free of the five qualifications.[195]

(b) How wrong vows are attained. This has two points.

(i) Where they are attained from

36cd

Wrong vows are gained in relation to

All and all branches; not to causes.

Wrong vows are attained in relation to all sentient beings and all the branches of karmic paths. Because it is impossible to have all three roots of nonvirtue simultaneously, they are not attained in relation to all causes, the Great Exposition proposes.

The Master explains that vows have the intention to help all sentient beings, so it is logical to attain vows with regard to all sentient beings, but butchers and so forth do not have wrong intentions with regards to their parents, so how could they attain their wrong vows in relation to all sentient beings? He considers that illogical.

(ii) How they are attained

37ab

Wrong vows can be attained from action,

Or else they’re gained through a commitment.

Wrong vows can be attained from being born in a particular caste and beginning the preparations for the action of killing and so forth, or else they are gained through a commitment: “I will pursue this for my livelihood.”

(c) How mid-vows are attained

37cd

e other impercept is gained

From field, commitment, and respect.

After vows and wrong vows, the other virtuous or nonvirtuous imperceptible of a mid-vow is gained from the field, such as with the seven material merits of offering a monastery and so forth.[196] It can also be attained by making promises and commitments such as, “I will not eat until I have prostrated to the Buddha” or “I will donate food for one month or half a month,” or from the opposite of such commitments. And it is gained from paying respect. The imperceptible of the mid-vow is attained through a strong afflicted or sincere intent.

(3) Causes that cancel them. This has four topics: (a) Causes that cancel vows, (b) Causes that cancel wrong vows, (c) Causes that cancel mid-vows, and (d) Causes that cancel other dharmas.

(a) Causes that cancel vows. This has three topics: (i) Causes that cancel vows of individual liberation, (ii) Causes that cancel vows of dhyana, and (iii) Causes that cancel undefiled vows.

(i) Causes that cancel vows of individual liberation. This has two points.

A. General teaching

38.

e individual liberation

Is canceled by returning vows,

Or dying, or two organs arising,

Severing the roots, or passing the night.

With the exception of fasts, the vows of individual liberation are canceled by going in front of a cognizant person and resolutely returning vows because this produces a perceptible that is exclusive of the previous complete commitment. Or they are canceled by dying and leaving that class of beings because one has cast away the support with which one made the commitment. Or they are canceled by the two male and female sexual organs arising simultaneously because that weakens the male or female body that was the support for taking the vows. They are also canceled by severing the roots of virtue completely because the basis of the vows, the roots of virtue, have been severed.

The fasting vows are canceled by those causes or by the passing of the night because they had only been resolved for a single day and night. These five are the causes that cancel the taming of individual liberation.

The vows of individual liberation are called taming because they make the faculties tame.

In the Vinaya, the sexual organs changing three times, and the person taking the vow not being twenty and knowing that he is not twenty, are explained as causes of cancellation.

B. Presenting different proposals. This has three points.

1. Proposing the root downfalls as a cause of cancellation

39a

Some say it’s canceled by the downfalls;

Some say if it, either the bhikshu or novice vow, is canceled by any one of the four root downfalls happening.

2. Proposing the disappearance of dharma as a cause of cancellation

39b

By the True Dharma’s decline, say others.

The vows are canceled by the True Dharma’s decline because there would be no poṣadha[197] or similar rituals, say the others, the red-robed Dharmaguptas

3. The Kashmiri proposal that root downfalls do not cause cancellation

39cd

Kashmiris propose that when it happens,

ere are both, like having debts and riches.

The Kashmiris propose that when it, one of the root downfalls, happens, it is like a person who has debts and also has riches, for example. Similarly, whichever root downfall has happened is canceled and broken, but the other ones remain unviolated, so there are both immorality and maintained discipline. This is because otherwise when you take one you would take all, they say. They also say there is scriptural proof.

(ii) Causes that cancel vows of dhyana. This has two points.

A. Actual

40ab

e virtue of dhyana can be canceled

By shifting level or regressing.

All of the virtue of dhyana can be canceled by shifting one’s level by both shifting from a lower to a higher level, which cancels the virtue of the lower level, and by shifting from a higher to a lower level, which cancels the virtue of the higher level. Or it can also be canceled by regressing from absorption. It is possible that the virtue of the preparations for both dhyana and the undefiled can be canceled by death, it is explained.

B. Supplementary point

40c

Formless is same;

Just as the virtue of the dhyanas is canceled by shifting levels and regressing, the virtue of Formless is canceled like that, too.

(iii) Causes that cancel undefiled vows

40cd

noble by gaining

A result, refining, or regressing.

The noble or undefiled vow is canceled by gaining a result or by refining faculties. The first cancels those included in the path of entering, and the second those included in the paths of dull faculties. Some that are included in the two higher paths are also canceled by regressing.

(b) Causes that cancel wrong vows

41ab

Wrong vows are canceled by gaining vows

Or dying or two organs arising.

Wrong vows are canceled by gaining either of the two vows, or they are canceled by dying, or by two organs arising simultaneously, because the body is discarded and the support weakened.

(c) Causes that cancel mid-vows

41cd

Midvows, when force or undertaking,

Act, object, life, or the roots cease.

The imperceptible of the midvow is canceled when the force of the sincerity or afflictions that propelled the imperceptible ceases, like a potter’s wheel or the flight of an arrow.[198] It is also canceled by giving up on what has been properly undertaken, saying, “Undertaking this is enough,” and by the action ceasing when one does not do the action as one had undertaken. It is also canceled by the cessation of the object: stupas, monasteries, temples, beds, seats, snares, traps, weapons, and poison.[199] It is canceled by the cessation of life. It is also canceled by the roots of virtue ceasing or being severed. If one frees oneself from the desire of the Desire realm, the roots of nonvirtue are severed and the nonvirtuous mid-vow is canceled.

(d) Causes that cancel other dharmas. This has two points.

(i) The cause for canceling immaterial virtue

42ab

e Desire realm’s immaterial virtue,

By severing roots and rebirth higher.

The Desire realm’s immaterial virtue is canceled by severing the roots of virtue and by rebirth in the higher Form and Formless realms.

(ii) The cause for canceling the immaterial afflicted

42cd

e immaterial afflicted

Perishes when its anti arises.

All that is immaterial and afflicted of the three realms perishes and is canceled when its own antidote’s path arises.

(4) What support possesses them. This has two topics: (a) How wrong vows are possessed, and (b) How vows are possessed.

(a) How wrong vows are possessed

43a–c

Except sexless, neuters, hermaphrodites,

Unpleasant Sound, humans can have

Wrong vows.

Except for the sexless, neuters, hermaphrodites with two sexual organs, and those who live on Unpleasant Sound, humans can have wrong vows.

(b) How vows are possessed. This has two topics: (i) General overview, and (ii) Which support possesses which vow.

(i) General overview

43cd

e vows are similar.

e gods as well.

The vows are just like or similar to wrong vows: they can be possessed only by men and women of the three continents. Not only that, the gods can possess them as well. Other wanderers cannot possess them because their minds are unclear since they cannot forbear the antidote of discrimination; because they have very little modesty and shame; or because they have the obscurations of full ripening.[200]

(ii) Which support possesses which vow. This has two topics: A. Which vows humans possess, and B. Which vows gods possess.

A. Which vows humans possess

43d

Humans have three.

Humans can have the three vows: individual liberation, dhyana, and undefiled.

B. Which vows gods possess. This has two points.

1. Who possesses the dhyana vow

44ab

e gods born in Desire and Form

Have dhyan-produced.

The gods born in the realms of Desire and Form have dhyana-produced vows, but the gods of Formless do not because there is no form on their level and those attained on lower levels have been canceled when they shifted levels.

2. Who possesses the undefiled vow

44b–d

Except for beings

In special dhyana and Concept Free,

ey’ve undefiled—in Formless, too.

Undefiled vows can be possessed in Desire. Except beings in the special dhyana level of Great Brahma and beings born in Conception Free, they, the gods born in Desire and Form, can have undefiled vows. Gods born in Formless, too, can have them in terms of possession. They are not manifest in Formless because there is no form there.

C. The meaning of karma as explained in the sutras. This has two topics: 1. General teachings, and 2. Specific explanations.

1. General teachings. This has four topics: a. Classifying in terms of cause and result, b. Teaching the many enumerations of karma, c. Which karma has how many results, and d. Other presentations of karma.

a. Classifying in terms of cause and result. This has three topics: i. Classifying in terms of result, ii. Classifying in terms of cause, and iii. Classifying in terms of both cause and result.

i. Classifying in terms of result. This has four topics: (1) Classifying in three as virtue, etc., (2) Classifying in three as merit, etc., (3) Classifying in three by experience, and (4) The explanation of the latter two.

(1) Classifying in three as virtue, etc.

45ab

Pleasant, unpleasant, and other karma

Are virtue, nonvirtue, and other.

The sutras say, “Karma is threefold.” Karma that produces pleasantness, and that does not produce pleasantness but produces unpleasantness, and other karma that does not produce either pleasantness or unpleasantness are in succession virtue, nonvirtue, and the other, neutral.

(2) Classifying in three as merit, etc.

45c

Merit, nonmerit, and unmoving.

The sutras also say that there are the three types of meritorious, nonmeritorious, and unmoving karma.

(3) Classifying in three by experience

45d

e three experienced as pleasure, et cetera.

Additionally, there are another three types of karma that are taught: karma experienced as pleasure, et cetera, including karma experienced as suffering and karma experienced as neutral.

(4) The explanation of the latter two. This has two topics: (a) Explaining merit and so forth, and (b) Explaining the three ways it is experienced and additional points.

(a) Explaining merit and so forth. This has two points.

(i) Meritorious karma

46ab

Merit is virtuous karma of

Desire.

Because it is the antidote for nonmerit, merit is virtuous karma of the Desire realm.

(ii) Unmoving karma

46b–d

Unmoving is of higher:

Because the karma fully ripens

On just those levels, it does not move.

Unmoving karma is virtuous karma of the higher Form and Formless levels. Well then, a sutra says, “In this first dhyana, there is analysis and examination, so the nobles move…” Does this not explain that the three dhyanas are moving? you ask. This is said because those levels have the faults of samadhi; it is not in terms of unmoving karma.

Completing karma[201] of the Form and Formless realms cannot fully ripen on another level. What is the reason? Because the karma fully ripens on just those levels. This pervades because it is unmoving: it does not move to other levels in dependence upon conditions.

Well then, in Desire as well the full ripening does not move to other levels because in Desire there are no separate levels, you say. This is not a fault. There are no separate levels there, but wanderers of the higher realms and lower realms are separate. In the higher realms it definitely ripens in one type of wanderer only.

These are taught solely in terms of the defiled.

(b) Explaining the three ways it is experienced and additional points. This has three topics: (i) The actual explanation of the three ways karma is experienced, (ii) Additionally, teaching the five ways karma is experienced, and (iii) Understanding the particulars of experience.

(i) The actual explanation of the three ways karma is experienced. This has two points: A. The essence of each individually, and B. Presenting others’ positions.

A. The essence of each individually. This has three points.

1. Karma experienced as pleasure

47ab

Virtue’s experienced as pleasure

rough the third dhyana.

Defiled virtue from the Desire realm through the third dhyana is karma experienced as pleasure because the beings in those three levels have the pleasure of body and mind. The feeling of pleasure in Desire and on the first dhyana is bodily pleasure. On the second dhyana, it is mental pleasure. On the third dhyana, it is cognitive pleasure.[202]

2. Karma experienced as neutral

47bc

Above that

It’s felt as neither pain nor pleasure.

Above that third dhyana it, virtuous karma, is felt or experienced as neither pain nor pleasure because in those levels there are feelings of neither pleasure nor suffering.

3. Karma experienced as suffering

47d

Nonvirtue is felt as suffering here.

The nonvirtuous karma is karma felt or experienced as suffering here in the Desire realm. “Here” indicates that the feeling of suffering is only in Desire. Not only is the feeling itself the result of nonvirtue, but the faculty and object including the characteristics of consciousness in the assembly of sense bases is also its result.

B. Presenting others’ positions

48.

Some say that in the lower, there

Is middling, too, since there is ripening

In special dhyan, and since the three

Can ripen without earlier or later.

Some say that in the lower levels of the third dhyana and lower, there is middling, the karma experienced as neutral, too. Why? you ask. It is since in the actual practice of the first dhyana, there is fully ripened feeling in special dhyana, and that is a level where there is only neutral feeling.

Additionally, the Treatise says:

In this way, can the full ripening of the three karmas fully ripen without any earlier or later? you ask. They can.

This is since it is proposed that the three karmas can fully ripen without earlier or later in the Desire realm, which is impossible in the other realms.

(ii) Additionally, teaching the five ways karma is experienced

49.

Inherently, concurrently,

rough focus, as full ripening,

Or else directly manifesting:

Five ways that karma is experienced.

Inherent experience is feeling. Concurrent experience is contact: the contact that is compatible with the experience of pleasure is experienced as pleasure. Objects are experienced through the focus on them. Karmas are experienced as full ripening of the result. Or else experience through directly manifesting is feeling, because it is said:

At the time that the feeling of pleasure is experienced, at that time the two feelings cease.[203]

The karma experienced in these ways can be experienced as pleasure, suffering, or neutral, so thus there are five ways that karma is experienced.

(iii) Understanding the particulars of experience. This has two topics. A. Overview, and B. Explanation

A. Overview

50a

ey’re definite or indefinite.

They, the three ways karma is experienced, are twofold: the definitely experienced and the indefinitely experienced.

B. Explanation. This has three topics: 1. General classification, 2. Their individual attributes, and 3. Teaching on karma that will definitely be experienced.

1. General classification. This has two points: a. Own tradition, and b. Others’ traditions.

a. Own tradition

50b–d

ere are three definite because

ere’s visibly experienced, Et cetera.

There are three types of definitely experienced karma because there is karma that is visibly experienced in this lifetime, et cetera, including karma experienced on birth and karma experienced in other lifetimes.

b. Others’ traditions. This has two points.

i. The tradition that proposes it as five

50d Some propose five types,

Some earlier masters propose that the indefinitely experienced karma is divided into indefinite full ripening and the indefinite period, so that there are five types of karma. The way this is counted is that there are two indefinite: karma with definite ripening but indefinite time frame, and karma with both indefinite. Adding the three definite of visibly experienced and the others, this makes a total of five. Alternatively, in addition to the three (visibly experienced and the other two) whose time frame is definite, there is karma whose essence will be definitely experienced as something four, and both essence and time frame indefinite for five.

Visibly experienced karma ripens in the very same life in which it is committed. Karma experienced on birth is experienced in the next life. Karma in other lifetimes is experienced after that.

ii. The tradition that proposes it as four possibilities

51a

And others, four alternatives.

And others, the Dārṣṭāntikas, say there are four alternatives: definite period but indefinite full ripening, definite full ripening but indefinite period, both definite, and both indefinite. Examples can be found in the Ṭīka.

2. Their individual attributes. This has two topics: a. Which karmas propel likeness, and b. How many karmic propulsions there are for the realms and beings.

a. Which karmas propel likeness

51b

ree karmas will propel a likeness.

In one moment, can all four of the visibly experienced and so forth be propelled? you ask. They can. Of those four karmas, visibly experienced does not propel a likeness, but experienced on birth and the other three karmas will propel a likeness.[204] The former does not propel likeness, but because it occurs in a likeness that has been propelled by another karma, it produces its result in that very one.

b. How many karmic propulsions there are for the realms and beings. This has two topics: i. General, and ii. Specific.

i. General

51c

In all realms, there are four propulsions.

How many propulsions are there for each realm and wanderer? In all realms and for all beings there are four virtuous and nonvirtuous propulsions. The intent here is that nonvirtuous propulsions occur in Desire only.

ii. Specific. This has two topics: (1) How many propulsions there are in the state of birth, and (2) How many propulsions there are in the between state.

(1) How many propulsions there are in the state of birth. This has three points.

(a) How many there are in the birth state of hell

51d

In hell, there are three virtuous.

“For all beings” above was in general, but in specific, in hell, while there are four nonvirtuous propulsions, there are the three virtuous karmas of karma experienced on birth, karma experienced in other lifetimes, and indefinitely experienced karma. There is no visibly experienced virtuous karma because there is no pleasant full ripening in hell.

(b) How many there are in the birth state of superior ordinary individuals

52ab

A child detached stably from a realm

Does none experienced on birth there.

A childish ordinary individual with sharp faculties who is detached stably from a realm and who does not regress in that lifetime does no karma that is experienced on birth there in that level, but does perform the others.

(c) How many there are in the birth state of Nobles

52cd

Nobles do none experienced in others,

Even those not stable toward Desire or Peak.

Nobles who are stably detached from a particular level not only perform no karma experienced on birth in that level, they also do not accumulate karma experienced in other lifetimes, because they will not return to that level. They do perform visibly experienced and indefinitely experienced karma. Even those who are not stably detached from Desire and the Peak of Existence do not perform any karma experienced on birth or in other lifetimes because when they regress from those, they regress from either the result of a nonreturner or arhat, and if one regresses from those results, it is impossible to die without first restoring them.[205]

(2) How many propulsions there are in the between state. This has two points.

(a) Classifications

53ab

ere are twenty-two propulsions in

e between state of the Desire realm.

Can karma be propelled in the between state? you ask. There are twenty-two propulsions in the between state of the Desire realm. When one will take birth in an egg or from the womb only, there is one propulsion into the between state itself, five into the periods of the womb explained above, and five into the period after birth,[206] for a total of eleven. By distinguishing between definite and indefinite propulsions, this makes twenty-two types. In Form there are no propulsions into the womb.

(b) Proving that the eleven definite are visibly experienced

53cd

ese are a visible result.

ese are one single likeness only.

These eleven definite propulsions are karma that has a visibly experienced result, because these aggregates at the time of performing the karma and the aggregates at the time of experiencing the result are the continuum of one single likeness only that is propelled by a single karma.[207]

3. Teaching on karma that will definitely be experienced. This has three topics: a. General explanation, b. Explaining visibly experienced in particular, and c. Teaching other ways karma and result can be experienced.

a. General explanation

54.

An action done out of intense

Afflictions or sincerity,

To the field of qualities, continuous,

Or killing parents: that is definite.

How is karma definitely experienced? you ask. A nonvirtuous action that is done out of a motivation that is intensely afflicted, or virtuous actions performed with a motivation that is intensely sincere, help or harm that may be performed without intense motivation but is done to the field of qualities—the three jewels and five individuals who will be explained below—and those virtuous or nonvirtuous preparations that are done continuously, or, like the Persians, killing parents with a meritorious intention:[208] that, any of these karmas, is definitely experienced.

b. Explaining visibly experienced in particular. This has three points.

i. Visibly experienced by power of the karma

55ab

Karma has visible results

From excellence of field and intention

Karma has visibly experienced results from the excellence of the field, like the bhikshu named Defeated by Quarreling who once called some Sangha members women during an argument and later became a woman. It is also from excellence of intention, like the blind eunuch of King Kaṇika who gave a gift that saved five hundred bulls from castration and then regained his manhood.

ii. Visibly experienced by the power of the antidote

55cd

From stable detachment from the level

When it has definite full ripening.

From stable detachment from the level of Desire or another level, when it, the karma, has a definitely experienced result, it is visibly experienced. What is this karma like? you ask. This is karma whose period is indefinite, but whose full ripening is definite.

iii. Distinctions of the field

56.

To help or harm those risen from

Cessation, unprovocative,

Love, seeing, or arhat’s result,

Brings swiftly experienced results.

What is karma that is visibly experienced like? you ask. To give help or bring harm to the Sangha of the Buddha’s bhikshus or to the five individuals—those who have just (1) risen from the absorption of cessation that is like going to nirvana, (2) aroused from the unprovocative samadhi,[209] (3) aroused from the samadhi of loving-kindness that has the supreme pure intention, (4) aroused from new transformation of abandoning all the discards of seeing that is the stainless path of seeing, or (5) aroused from the new transformation of abandoning all the discards of meditation that is the arhat’s result—brings swiftly experienced results. Others on the path of meditation do not have these causes, so help or harm to them is not necessarily visibly experienced.

c. Teaching other ways karma and result can be experienced. This has four points.

i. The way feelings are experienced

57.

Virtuous karma that is free of

Considering will fully ripen

Only as feelings in the mind.

Nonvirtue ripens on the body.

Full ripening is primarily feeling, so is there any type that is only mental feeling and not bodily feeling? you ask. There is. Virtuous karma that is free of considering, from the levels of the special dhyana to the Peak of Existence, will fully ripen only as feelings in the mind, or mental feelings, because bodily feeling is always accompanied by considering. This implicitly teaches that the full ripening of virtuous karma on the first dhyana and below is both mental and bodily feeling. Nonvirtuous karma fully ripens on the body as bodily feeling only. It is not mental, because the suffering of mind is mental unhappiness, which is not a fully ripened result, as was explained in the “Teaching on Faculties.”[210]

ii. Where the distracted mind is

58a

A distraught mind is mental mind.

Well then, where does a distraught mind come from, and what is its cause? you ask. A distraught and crazed mind is in the mental mind or consciousness. It is not in the consciousnesses of the five gates, because these do not think with thoughts that recognize and thoughts that remember.

iii. What results produce that

58bc

It’s born from fully ripened karma,

From fear or harm, imbalance, sorrow

It, the distraught mind, is born from being confused by others through substances or mantras, from being given intoxicants, and from other full ripenings of karma. The mind is also made distraught from the conditions of the mind being adversely affected by fear from seeing the ugly form of a nonhuman, and when angering it, the harm of being stricken with illness, an imbalance of the elements when agitated by wind, bile, or phlegm, and sorrow at the death of a beloved child.

iv. What beings can have that

58d

Among the attached, not in the North.

Which sentient beings can become distraught? It happens among the sentient beings who are attached, but not in the Northern Unpleasant Sound, because if gods can be crazed, what need is there to speak of humans, hungry ghosts, hell beings, and animals? Except for the Bhagavan, nobles can be distraught because of imbalances of the elements, but they cannot be distraught by other causes or karma, because definite karmas ripened earlier when they were ordinary individuals, and the indefinite ones do not ripen when they are nobles.

ii. Classifying in terms of cause

59ab

e crooked, faulty, degenerate

Are born of deceit, hate, desire.

As taught in a sutra, there is the karma of body, speech, and mind that is said to be crooked, faulty or harmful, and degenerate. These are respectively karma born of deceit that is dishonest, hate that is most extremely harmful, and desire that is hard to separate from.

iii. Classifying in terms of both cause and result. This has two topics: (1) Overview, and (2) Explanation.

(1) Overview

59cd

Four types of karma are distinguished

As white and black, et cetera.

The sutras teach four types of karma that are distinguished as white karma that has a white full ripening, and black karma that has a black full ripening, et cetera, including mixed white-and-black karma that has a mixed whiteand-black full ripening, and that which is neither white nor black and has no full ripening but extinguishes karma.

(2) Explanation. This has three topics: (a) General teaching, (b) Specific explanation of the extinguisher, and (c) Presenting other traditions.

(a) General teaching

60.

Nonvirtue, virtue of Form realm,

And of Desire, respectively

Are karma that is black, white, both.

What douses them is undefiled.

Nonvirtuous karma is always afflicted only and produces only unpleasant full ripening. Virtue itself of the Form realm is not mixed with nonvirtue and produces only pleasant full ripening. The virtue of Desire is not mixed in its essence, but appears mixed with nonvirtue in one person’s being, so its full ripening can be mixed with unpleasant full ripening of nonvirtue. For that reason, respectively these are the karma that is taught in a sutra:

Black karma that fully ripens as black, white karma that fully ripens as white, black and white karma that ripens as both black and white…

That which does not have full ripening, is not afflicted, and discards or douses them, the other three karmas, is undefiled karma, which is described as:

Karma that is neither white nor black, has no full ripening, and extinguishes other karma.

(b) Specific explanation of the extinguisher. This has three topics: (i) That which extinguishes the black, (ii) That which extinguishes the white-andblack, and (iii) That which extinguishes the white.

(i) That which extinguishes the black

61.

Forbearance of dharmas and eight paths of

No obstacles that bring detachment:

ese are the twelve volitions that

Are karma which destroys the black.

Not all undefiled karmas or paths extinguish all three karmas. The four forbearances of knowing dharma of suffering and the other truths that are part of the path of seeing and first eight undefiled paths of meditation of no obstacles that bring detachment from the Desire realm are the twelve volitions that are karma which destroys the black, because they abandon Desire’s dharmas of nonvirtuous misdeeds. The four dharma knowings and the eight detached paths of liberation are not, because the paths of no obstacles have already extinguished the black. The four subsequent forbearances and four subsequent knowings are not antidotes for the black because they are only antidotes for the higher realms.[211]

(ii) That which extinguishes the white-and-black

62ab

Volition of the ninth is what

Extinguishes the black and white.

The volition of the ninth path of no-obstacles that detaches one from the Desire realm is what extinguishes the black-and-white karma, because it abandons the ninth black afflicted karma of Desire by severing the attainment of its essence, and it also abandons the white of Desire by freeing one from intentional desires.

(iii) That which extinguishes the white

62cd

e last path of no obstacles

To dhyan’s detachment douses white.

The last to arise of the four paths of no obstacles to detachment from the essence of the four dhyanas—the volition that abandons the ninth meditation discard—douses or extinguishes white karma. As long as that ninth discard has not been discarded, when it focuses on something, it is possessed as a discard. When discarded, it is discarded in terms of removing the desire of intention.

(c) Presenting other traditions

63.

Some say the two are what is felt

In hell and elsewhere in Desire.

Others call seeing’s discards black;

e rest in Desire, black and white.

Some masters say the two, black karma and black-and-white karma, are as follows: karma which is felt or experienced in hell is black karma that fully ripens as black, and karma experienced by other wanderers elsewhere in Desire is logically both black and white. Some limited completing karmas are said to be neutral. Others say that the karmas of seeing’s discards are not mixed with virtue, so they are only black. The rest produced in Desire, the discards of meditation, are black-and-white karma, because it is possible for them to be either virtuous or nonvirtuous.

b. Teaching the many enumerations of karma. This has two topics: i. Classifying in terms of function, and ii. Explaining karmic paths in particular.

i. Classifying in terms of function. This has five points.

(1) Explaining the silence of the three

64a–c

Nonlearners’ karma of body and speech

And just their mind respectively

Are silence of the three.

Nonlearners’ undefiled karma of body and speech and just their undefiled mind, respectively are said in the sutras to be the silence of the three, body, speech, and mind. These have in the ultimate sense silenced and abandoned all the impediments of the three gates, and are free of everything afflicted.

(2) Explaining the three cleansers

64cd

All three

Fine conducts are three purifiers.

The sutras tell of the three cleansers of body, speech, and mind. All three fine conduct of body, speech, and mind, are respectively the three purifiers of body, speech, and mind, because defiled fine conduct temporarily and undefiled fine conduct permanently abandon the stains of harmful action. The purpose of this is to rebut the non-Buddhist views that merely sitting without talking or falsely cleansing by washing on a river bank could cleanse or purify the stains.

(3) Three types of harmful conduct

65ab

Nonvirtue of the body, et cetera,

Is proposed as three harmful conducts.

What are the three harmful actions the sutras teach? you ask. The three nonvirtuous karmas of body, et cetera, including speech and mind, produce unpleasant full ripening, so they are proposed as the three harmful conducts of the three gates.

(4) Three types of harmful mental conduct

65cd

To covet and so forth aren’t action

But are three harmful mental conducts.

To covet and so forth, to have malice and wrong views, are not inherently action but are the three harmful conducts of mind. The reason is that they are greed, hatred, and delusion, so they are not karma, because they are afflictions contained within the six root afflictions.[212] The Dārṣṭāntikas say the Conceived for That Purpose Sutra[213] teaches that covetousness and so forth only are mental karma.

(5) Three types of fine conduct

66a Fine conduct is the opposite.

Fine conduct is the virtues that are the opposite of those three types of harmful conduct of the three gates. These are the virtuous karma of the three gates, the absence of covetousness, the absence of malice, and the correct view.

ii. Explaining karmic paths in particular. This has two topics: (1) Overview, and (2) Explanation.

(1) Overview

66b–d

Among them, to consolidate grossly,

e various virtues and nonvirtues

Are taught as the ten karmic paths.

Among them, fine conduct and harmful conduct, to consolidate grossly or present very coarsely the actual basis, the various virtuous and nonvirtuous karmas are taught in the sutras as the ten virtuous and nonvirtuous karmic paths in order to know what to take up and what to give up. Saying “various” indicates that this is a coarse consolidation that does not include everything. What is not included? you ask. The preparations and aftermaths of the seven karmas of body and speech, and the mental karma of volition are not included. Additionally, many nonvirtues such as destroying stupas or beating sentient beings, and many virtues such as abandoning drinking alcohol, generosity, and pleasant speech are not included.

(2) Explanation. This has four topics: (a) Classifications of perceptible and imperceptible, (b) The three virtuous and three nonvirtuous roots, (c) Teaching the three completing factors, and (d) Teaching the individual karmas.

(a) Classifications of perceptible and imperceptible. This has two topics: (i) Actual and (ii) Additionally, ascertaining which are the preparation and the aftermath.

(i) Actual. This has two points.

A. Ascertaining which nonvirtue is

67ab

Six nonvirtues are imperceptible.

e one is both. If done, they are as well.

The six nonvirtues of body and speech excluding sexual misconduct are solely imperceptible when they arise from ordering somebody to do something. The one, sexual misconduct, cannot be completed by ordering someone else and must be done oneself, so it is both perceptible and imperceptible. If one does them oneself, they—the previous six—are both perceptible and imperceptible as well when completed at the time that the perceptible has not ceased, but imperceptible only when completed at the time that the perceptible has ceased.

B. Ascertaining which virtue is

67cd

e seven virtues are both. What samadhi

Produces is an imperceptible.

The seven virtuous, material karmic paths are both perceptible and imperceptible because correct discipline is without a doubt dependent upon the perceptible. The dhyana and undefiled vows which samadhi produces are only imperceptible because they are dependent on just the mind.

Previously it said in the Ṭīka that undefiled vows have both perceptible and imperceptible aspects, but I cannot find the source and wonder whether it might be a typographical error.

Here some say that the verse, “The percept and/Impercept of the first”[214] presents the four possibilities of individual liberation and the vows of individual liberation, so the first moment of taking the vow correctly is individual liberation but not a vow. This is not harmed by the root text and commentary on the lines, “If done, they are as well./The seven virtues are both…” because this teaches that there are both perceptibles and imperceptibles at the time of the actual basis of the seven karmic paths of body and speech. The perceptible of the first moment of taking a vow is not an actual karmic path, so they explain that a vow of individual liberation is not pervasively imperceptible.

Such twisted explanations appear to make many contradictions of both the root verses and the commentary, so it is like the chatter of common beings who have eaten thorn apple[215] and is not worthy of being spoken by wise exalted beings such as yourselves. Modern students of the abhidharma, look at the entire root and commentary and choose your words carefully!

(ii) Additionally, ascertaining which are the preparation and the aftermath

68a–c

e preparations are perceptible.

ey might be imperceptible, or not.

e aftermath is opposite of that.

The preparations for the seven virtuous and seven nonvirtuous karmic paths have without a doubt a perceptible nature. If they are undertaken out of intense entanglers[216] or sincerity, they might be imperceptible, or if with a weak mind, not. The aftermath of the karmic path is the opposite of that, the preparations. Until it is canceled, there is definitely an imperceptible. If one performs an action that is in accord with the actual basis, there is also a perceptible, but if not, there is none.

Well then, what is the distinction between preparation, actual basis of the karmic path, and aftermath? you ask. When someone wishes to kill a living creature, the actions from getting up off the seat, approaching that being, taking a weapon, and striking the creature once or twice, until actually taking the life of that being, are the preparations. The perceptible and imperceptible moment of striking the creature and taking its life is the actual karmic path. The following imperceptible moments and the perceptible skinning the animal, selling, cooking, eating its meat, and so forth are the aftermath. It is similar with the other six.

Covetousness, malice, and wrong view do not depend upon the actual basis or the aftermath, but become a karmic path by merely manifesting.

(b) The three virtuous and three nonvirtuous roots. This has two topics: (i) Nonvirtuous, and (ii) Virtuous.

(i) Nonvirtuous. This has two points.

A. Roots of nonvirtue of body and speech

68d

e preparations come from the three roots.

From a sutra:

Bhikshus, taking life is threefold: that produced by greed, hatred, and delusion…

The others up to wrong view are taught similarly. The meaning of this is that the motivation of the preparations for the seven karmic paths of body and speech come or arise from the three nonvirtuous roots. Taking life produced by desire is killing out of craving for meat and so forth; that produced by hatred is killing for revenge; and that produced by delusion is animal sacrifice, or the Persians killing their elderly parents or those who are extremely ill, and so on. Stealing and so forth are similar.

B. Roots of nonvirtue of the mind

69ab

ey follow the three roots immediately,

So coveting and so forth come from them.

They follow the three roots, the three poisons, immediately, so coveting and so forth also come from them.

(ii) Virtuous

69cd

e virtues, preparation, aftermath,

Arise from nongreed, nonhate, nondelusion.

The virtuous karmic paths, their preparations, and their aftermath, arise from nongreed, nonhate, and nondelusion, because they are motivated by a virtuous mind and such virtuous minds are concurrent with nongreed and so forth. These discard the nonvirtuous aftermaths.

For example, the perceptible and imperceptible karmas of a novice who wishes to take full ordination up until they complete the actual basis are the preparation. The perceptible and imperceptible attained during the phrase “For that purpose, if the Sangha grants full ordination…” on the third repetition of the motion is the actual basis, and those from then on are the aftermath.[217]

(c) Teaching the three completing factors. This has three topics: (i) Actual, (ii) What their bases are, and (iii) Delineating what is or is not the actual basis.

(i) Actual. This has four points.

A. The three completed by hatred

70ab

Hatred brings killing and harsh words

And malice to completion.

Hatred brings killing and harsh words and malice to completion, because killing eradicates life, and a harsh mind is manifest in the other two.

B. The three completed by desire

70b–d

Greed

Brings coveting, adultery,

And also stealing to completion.

Greed brings coveting, adultery or sexual misconduct, and also stealing to completion.

C. The one completed by delusion

71a

Wrong view, completed by delusion.

Wrong view is brought to its completion by delusion, because it is confused about dharma.

D. The three completed by all three

71b

e rest by three, it is proposed.

The rest—the three that remain, lying, divisive speech, and idle chatter—are brought to completion by any one of the three—greed, hatred, or delusion—it is proposed.

(ii) What their bases are

71cd

e bases, they are sentient beings,

Enjoyments, name-and-form, and words.

The basis or object for taking life is sentient beings. The basis for lying with someone else’s spouse and so forth is enjoyments. The basis for wrong view is feeling and the other four aggregates of name and the aggregate of form, and the basis for the other four of lying and so forth is a collection of words, because speech engages words.

(iii) Delineating what is or is not the actual basis. This has two points.

A. Those which seem to be but are not

72a–c

When killers die before or else

Together, there’s no actual—

ey’ve been born in another body.

If a killer and his victim should die together or the killer should die first, is there an actual basis of karma or not? you ask. When killers die before or else together with their victims, there is no actual karmic path, because at the time that the taking of life is completed, they, the killer, have been reborn in another body than the one in which they performed the preparations.

B. Those that do not seem to be but are

72d–f

In wars and so forth all of them

Have the same goal, so all possess

e karma, like the perpetrator.

Well then, when many people gather and agree to make war or so forth, if one person actually deprives another sentient being of life, do the others also have the misdeed of taking life or not? you ask. In wars, hunts, and so forth, all of those sentient beings have the preparations for the same goal and so forth, so all those who are not actually killers possess the actual karmic path of taking life, like the perpetrator who did the actual killing. Those who were conscripted against their will possess it if they later develop a mind intent upon the same goal, but if they do not wish to do harm even at the cost of their own life, they do not possess it.

(d) Teaching the individual karmas. This has four topics: (i) The characteristics of each karma, (ii) How many can simultaneously engage volition, (iii) Which wanderers have how many karmic paths, and (iv) Teaching the results of the karmic paths.

(i) The characteristics of each karma. This has two topics: A. Identifying each one, and B. Explaining wrong view in particular.

A. Identifying each one. This has four points: 1. Karma of the body, 2. Karma of speech, 3. Karma of mind, and 4. The distinction between karma and karmic paths.

1. Karma of the body. This has three points.

a. Taking life

73ab

To take life is to kill another

Intentionally, unerringly.

What is the nature of taking life and the other karmic paths? you ask. To take life is to kill another being—someone other than oneself—intentionally, thinking “I will kill him.” It is unerringly killing the one whom the killer intended to kill. Thus it has three aspects, otherwise it possesses merely the harm of the preparation.

Life is a nonconcurrent formation or the distinctive wind that occurs based on the support of the body and mind. Taking it is merely preventing it from continuing.

b. Taking what is not given

73cd

To steal is to make another’s wealth

One’s own by force or thievery.

To steal or take what’s not given is to make another’s wealth one’s own either by force through actually robbing or by thievery, taking without being detected. Here also it must be intentional and unerring. Merely taking without the intention to make it one’s own does not constitute a fault, and taking Yajñadatta’s things when one wanted to take Devadatta’s merely produces the fault of preparation, not that of the actual basis.

Well then, if one takes what has been offered to a stupa, an unowned treasure, or the wealth of a dead monk, from whom is one taking without being given? you ask. In the first instance, one is taking from the Buddha, in the second, from the king of that region, and in the third from the Sangha, which are extremely grave faults.

c. Sexual misconduct

74ab

To lie with one who shouldn’t be lain with:

Four kinds of sexual misconduct.

To lie with someone who should not be lain with and so forth are the four kinds of lustful sexual misconduct: lying with someone who should not be lain with, with the wrong part of the body, in the wrong place, and at the wrong time. The first is with someone who has been taken as another’s spouse and so forth. The second is in the mouth, the anus, and so forth. The third is in the open or near stupas, and so forth. The fourth is with pregnant or nursing mothers, and so forth.

2. Karma of speech. This has four points: A. Lying, B. Divisive speech, C. Harsh speech, and D. Idle chatter.

a. Lying. This has two points.

i. Actual

74cd

To say one thing while thinking another,

When clearly understood, is lying.

To say one thing while thinking another about the subject that is being spoken of, when the meaning is clearly understood, is lying. If the words are not understood, it becomes merely idle chatter.

ii. The meaning of seeing, hearing, and so forth

75.

at which is experienced by eye,

By ear, mind consciousness, and three,

Is seen, heard, cognized, and perceived

Respectively, it is explained.

What are seeing, hearing, consciousness, and realizing? you ask. That which is experienced by the eye consciousness, and likewise by the ear consciousness, the mind consciousness, and by the three consciousnesses of nose, tongue, and body is seen, heard, cognized, and perceived respectively, it is explained. The reason that scent, taste, and touch are taught in a single group is that they are similar in being only neutral, or in Master Saṅghabhadra’s presentation, they are similar in terms of being perceived upon contact.

b. Divisive speech

76ab

Divisive speech is words said with

An afflicted mind to divide others.

What is divisive speech? you ask. It is words whose meaning can be understood, that are unerringly said with or motivated by an afflicted mind in order to divide others. It is not intended to help.

c. Harsh speech

76c

Harsh speech is words that are unpleasant.

Harsh speech is words of an afflicted mind that are unpleasant, understandable, and unerring, which one actually says to another out of a desire to speak.

d. Idle chatter. This has two points.

i. Actual

76d

Any afflicted words are chatter—

Any afflicted words, spoken with an afflicted motivation, are idle chatter. Lying and the others are all three idle chatter, but because they are more harmful, they are classified separately.

ii. Others’ proposals

77a–c

Some say afflicted speech that’s other

an those, like flattery, song, shows,

Or else bad treatises.

Some others say that afflicted speech that is other than those previous three are idle chatter, like, for example, flattery spoken sweetly out of a desire for personal gain, honor, and fame; singing songs out of desire; shows intended to make people laugh and so forth. Or else it is also like reciting bad treatises out of attachment to their erroneous views. Other words intended to bring fame and so forth are also idle chatter.

3. Karma of mind. This has three points.

a. Covetousness

77cd

To covet

Is wrongly greeding for others’ wealth.

Coveting is wrongly or inappropriately greeding for others’ wealth—wealth that belongs to another. It is the desire to take something by force or thievery.

b. Malice

78a

Malice is hate for sentient beings.

Malice is hate for sentient beings that has the aspect of wanting to harm others.

c. Wrong view

78bc

Believing there’s no virtue or

Nonvirtue is wrong view.

Believing there is no virtue or nonvirtue is like this: saying that there is no generosity, no burnt offerings, no offerings, and no fine conduct is denial of cause. Saying there is no fully ripening of the result of fine conduct and harmful conduct is denial of result. Saying that this world, the next world, fathers, mothers, and miraculous birth of sentient beings do not exist is denial of function. Saying there are no arhats in the loka is a view that destroys existing things. Such views are wrong views. The root teaches the denial of cause explicitly as an illustration of the others.

4. The distinction between karma and karmic paths

78cd

Of these,

ree are paths and seven karma, too.

Of these nonvirtues, the three of mind are the gates to enter karmic volition, so they are karmic paths, but they are not karma. And the seven karmic paths of body and speech are karma of body and speech, so they are karmic paths and are karma, too.

B. Explaining wrong view in particular. This has two topics: 1. How the roots of virtue are severed, and 2. How they are restored.

1. How the roots of virtue are severed. This has six points.

a. What severs them

79a

e nihilist view severs the roots

The nihilist view that there is no cause and result from the ten nonvirtues severs the roots of virtue. The others are exclusive of virtue but do not sever the roots.

However, the Treatise says:

Well then, what are the great roots of nonvirtue? you ask. The roots of nonvirtue are that which severs the roots of virtue and that which is discarded first of all by those who attain detachment from Desire.

Is this not contradictory? you say. It is not contradictory. The intent of this is that the roots of nonvirtue lead to wrong view. Therefore it is like saying that the thief who set the fire burned the town down even though he is not himself the actual combustion.

b. What is severed

79b

Of Desire that were attained at birth.

Which roots of virtue are severed? you ask. The roots of virtue of Desire that were attained at birth are completely severed, because the person who has the wrong view that severs the roots of virtue does not have the virtue or nonvirtue of the two higher realms, and because the attainment of those that were attained by training in listening, contemplating, and meditating was previously severed when he had the lesser of lesser wrong views.

c. What the views that sever them focus on

79c

Denial of cause and result. All.

What is the focus of views that cut the virtuous roots? you ask. Wrong views that are a denial of cause, saying there is no fine or harmful conduct, and result, saying there is no full ripening of result, sever the roots.

Some say those that focus on the defiled and realms of the same status sever the roots, but those that focus on the undefiled and realms of different status do not sever them. Here the Great Exposition explains that denial of cause and effect and all that focuses on the same or different status or on defiled or undefiled sever them.

d. How they are severed

79d

Gradual.

Some say that like the discards of seeing, the roots of virtue are severed at once. Here, however, similar to the afflictions discarded by meditation, the nine roots of virtue are gradually severed by the nine wrong views from the least of lesser wrong view, middling of lesser wrong view, and so forth up to the greatest of greater wrong views, which severs the smallest of small roots of virtue. This is also the Master’s explanation.

e. What support they are severed on

79d

By humans. ey are cut

80a

By men and women acting on views.

They are severed by humans but not by other wanderers, because in the lower realms afflicted and unafflicted full knowing are not stable, the gods perceive karma and result directly, and in Unpleasant Sound there is no intention to perform misdeeds, so they are not severed there. Thus they are cut or severed by the men and women of the three continents. The sexless, neuters, and so forth, do not sever them. Among them craving is very powerful, so they do not cut them, because they have unstable intentions, like beings in the lower realms. The roots are severed by those who act on strong views, because they have stable, sinful intentions and are ensnared by nonvirtue.

f. Its essence

80b

e severance is nonpossession.

When the roots of virtue have been severed, the attainment of the virtuous roots also does not arise, so it is said that if the nonpossession or nonattainment of the virtuous roots arises, they have been severed.

2. How they are restored. This has two points.

a. Actual

80c

Restored by doubt and view of existence;

How are the virtuous roots restored? you ask. What was severed is restored when doubt about cause and effect arises and when the correct view that believes in the existence of cause and effect arises. At that time, their attainment arises, which is called their restoration. When that arises, the attainment of the nine attained upon birth arises simultaneously, but they become manifest gradually, just as a patient recovers his strength gradually.

b. How they are restored in those who have committed a heinous deed

80d

Who’ve done a heinous deed, not here.

If one has not done a heinous deed, the roots can be restored in the very same lifetime. The virtuous roots of individuals who have done a heinous deed cannot be restored here, in this lifetime. If they were severed by conditions, they will be restored in the between state before birth in hell, and if severed by causes, they are restored when about to die and transmigrate from hell. There are four possibilities of those who have severed the roots of virtue and those who are destined for the mistaken:[218] the first is Pūraṇa Kāśyapa and the other five logicians. The second is King Ajātaśatru. The third is Devadatta. The fourth is people other than those.

(ii) How many karmic paths can simultaneously engage volition. This has two points.

A. How many nonvirtues can simultaneously engage volition

81ab

Up to eight nonvirtues and volition

Can simultaneously arise;

To analyze how many karmic paths and one volition can arise simultaneously: as far as the nonvirtues, because it is possible for any one of the three of mind and the seven of body and speech—either done by oneself or by ordering others—to be completed simultaneously, from one up to eight nonvirtues and volition can simultaneously arise. Nine or ten cannot arise, because it is impossible for the three of mind to arise simultaneously, and sexual misconduct cannot be completed by ordering another.

B. How many virtues can simultaneously engage volition

81cd

When they are virtuous, up to ten,

And yet not one, not eight, not five.

When they, the karmic paths, are virtuous, up to ten can arise with a single volition in general, and yet in particular, there is not only one single karmic path and volition, because the absence of covetousness and absence of malice come together with a virtuous mind, and there is no vow that has the nature of only abandoning one discard.

Volition does not arise simultaneously with only eight, because a bhikshu who has abandoned seven has seven when he has an afflicted or neutral contemporaneous motivation, and when he has a virtuous mind of the five sense consciousnesses, nongreed and nonhatred both arise, so there are nine, and if it is mental consciousness, there is also the correct view for ten.

It does not arise simultaneously with only five, because if one is a novice or holds the lay precepts it is impossible to have a single virtue of mind in addition to the four discards: if it is one of the five sense consciousnesses, in addition to the four discards there are nongreed and nonhatred, which both arise for a total of six, and if it is mental consciousness, in addition to those there is correct view for a total of seven.

(iii) Which wanderers have how many karmic paths. This has two topics: A. Which have nonvirtue, and B. Which have virtue.

A. Which have nonvirtue. This has three points.

1. How many there are in hell

82a–c

In hell, there is chatter, and harsh words,

And malice in two ways; wrong view

And covetousness by possession.

How many of the virtuous and nonvirtuous paths are there, both manifest and in terms of possession? you ask. In hell, as there is lamentation and wailing, there are idle chatter, and the harsh words of quarrels with one another, and the malice that motivates them. These three exist in the two ways of being manifest and by possession. There is covetousness and wrong view by possession, as they have not been abandoned by an antidote, but they are not manifest, because there are no things to desire and karma and result are directly perceived.

In the hells, killing someone does not make them die, there is no ownership of sexual partners or things, there is no need to lie, and there is no one who is near to one’s heart so everyone is already divided. For that reason, the five from taking life to divisive speech are not manifestly present, nor is there any attainment of them.

2. How many there are in Unpleasant Sound

82d

ere are three in Unpleasant Sound.

83a

e seventh is manifest there, too.

There are three of mind that are possessed in Unpleasant Sound, but they are not manifest, because there is no clinging to mine, their beings are gentle, there is nothing cruel, and they do not have sinful intentions. The seventh, idle chatter of singing songs out of desire and so forth, is manifest there, in Unpleasant Sound, too. The other six of taking life and so forth are not manifest, because they do not have sinful intentions, the lifespan is definite, and there is no ownership of sexual partners or things. Whoever wishes to behave impurely takes the hand of the woman he desires and goes near a tree. If she is someone who may be lain with, the tree screens them and they lie together, and if not, the tree does not screen them and they do not.

3. How many there are in the Desire realm other than those two

83b

Elsewhere in Desire, the ten nonvirtues.

Elsewhere in other Desire realms excluding the hells and Unpleasant Sound, the ten nonvirtuous karmic paths are present both manifestly and by possession. Among animals, hungry ghosts, and gods, they are included in the nonvirtuous mid-vows, and among humans they can also be included in wrong vows.

Gods do not kill gods, but do kill hungry ghosts and other wanderers. Others say that gods do kill gods, because when the gods and demigods battle, if the limbs or torso are cut they rejuvenate, but if the head or neck is cut, it cannot be healed and they die.

B. Which have virtue. This has two topics: 1. Where the three of mind are, and 2. Where the seven of body and speech are.

1. Where the three of mind are

83cd

ree virtues are in all by way

Of being possessed or manifest.

The three virtues of mind—the absence of covetousness and so forth—are present in all realms and all five wanderers by way of being possessed or being manifest.

2. Where the seven of body and speech are. This has two topics: a. How many there are in Formless and Conception Free, and b. How many there are among other wanderers.

a. How many there are in Formless and Conception Free

84ab

Beings in Concept Free and Formless

Have seven by possession, and

Sentient beings in Conception Free and Formless have the seven karmic paths of body and speech by possession. They have either the dhyana or the undefiled vows, because nobles born in the Formless possess the past and future undefiled vows, and because beings in Conception Free have the vows of dhyana. “And” is a conjunction with the next line.

b. How many there are among other wanderers. This has two points.

i. General

84c

In the rest they’re manifest as well,

In the rest, the realms and wanderers other than the Formless and Conception Free, they, the seven virtuous karmic paths, are manifest as well. Among animals and hungry ghosts, there are those except for the ones included in vows. In the Form realm, there are those included in the vows of dhyana, and except for the gods and the Northern Unpleasant Sound, there are both those in vows and those in mid-vows. There might be any of the three vows.

ii. Exceptions

84d

Except in hell and Unpleasant Sound.

However, this is except for in hell and Unpleasant Sound, because there is no correctly undertaken discipline there.

(iv) Teaching the results of the karmic paths. This has two topics: A. Actual, and B. Additional points.

A. Actual. This has two points.

1. The position

85ab

It’s proposed these all give dominant,

Compatible, and ripened results.

It is proposed that these virtuous and nonvirtuous karmic paths are all give dominant results, causally compatible results, and fully ripened results. To illustrate this through the example of taking life, the dominant result of the karmic path of taking life is that one does not have any beautiful external things and so forth. The causally compatible result is that one is born as a human but has a short life and so forth. The fully ripened result is to be born in the hells.

2. The reason

85cd

Since it makes suffering, and kills,

And destroys vigor, three results.

Why do these karmic paths create the three results? you ask. To illustrate with taking life, since one makes another being suffer, there is the fully ripened result of enduring the suffering of the hells, and because killing prevents life from continuing, the causally compatible result is a short life. Because it destroys vigor in the region of the heart, the dominant result is to be born with little vigor or power. There are these three results. The remaining, taking what is not given and so forth, are similar.

The lesser, medium, and greater results of the virtues are respectively birth among humans, gods of Desire, and the gods of the higher realms. The causally compatible and dominant results are the opposite of the nonvirtues’ results: a long life in a place with great vigor, power, and so forth.

B. Additional points. This has three topics: 1. Identifying wrong livelihood of speech, 2. The reason for presenting it separately, and 3. Refuting other traditions.

1. Identifying wrong livelihood of speech

86ab

Acting with body and speech from greed:

Wrong livelihood.

The Bhagavan taught about wrong speech, wrong action, and wrong livelihood. The first two of these are the karma of speech and the karma of body produced by hatred and delusion. Acting with body and speech from greed is not only wrong speech and wrong action, it is also wrong livelihood.

2. The reason for presenting it separately

86bc

It’s hard to cleanse,

So it’s taught separate.

The dharma of greed is subtle and also seizes the mind, it is not easy even for the extremely wise to guard themselves from the karmas it motivates, and it is hard to cleanse or purify for the rest of one’s life. Therefore it is taught separately from wrong speech and wrong action.

3. Refuting other traditions. This has two points.

a. Presenting their position

86cd

Saying it’s greed

For sustenance

It is said that if it is body and speech karma aroused by greed for sustenance, that alone is wrong livelihood. It is not logical for the dancing and singing that please us to be wrong livelihood.

b. Refuting it

86d

contradicts the sutras.

Because this proposal contradicts the Discipline Sutra,[219] it is not logical. It is said in that sutra:

Watching elephant fights and so forth is presented as wrong livelihood. What is the reason? you ask. Because it is enjoying a wrong object.

c. Which karma has how many results. This has six topics: i. How many results defiled and undefiled have, ii. Virtuous and so forth, iii. Karma of the three times, iv. Karma of one’s own level and other level, v. Learner, nonlearner, and so forth, and vi. How many results discards of seeing and so forth have.

i. How many results defiled and undefiled have. This has four points.

(1) How many results defiled paths that abandon have

87ab

e karma of stained discarding paths

Brings five results.

Of the five results explained above, which karmas have how many results? you ask. The karma of stained or defiled discarding paths, paths of no obstacles, bring all five results. Their fully ripened result is the pleasant full ripening included in their own level. The causally compatible result is the later similar dharmas that arise from samadhi. The result of removal is only removal: it is not that which has abandoned. The personal result is the dharmas it brings forth: the path of liberation, that which is coemergent with that, what is attained in the future, and also that which has abandoned. The dominant result is all composites different from its own essence, except for those that arise earlier.

(2) How many results undefiled paths that abandon have

87b

e stainless, four,

The karmas of the stainless paths that abandon have four results. As there is no full ripening of the undefiled, this does not include the fully ripened result. The other four are as above.

(3) How many results the defiled that are not paths that abandon have

87cd

As do the other defiled karmas,

Whether they’re virtue or nonvirtue.

As do the stainless, the other defiled karmas except for the paths that abandon, whether they are virtue or nonvirtue, have four results: those except for the result of removal.

(4) How many results the undefiled that are not paths that abandon and the neutral have

88ab

e remaining that are undefiled

Have three results, as does the neutral.

The remaining karmas that are undefiled, other than the paths that abandon, have the three results excluding the fully ripened result and result of removal, as do the karmas that are neutral.

ii. How many results virtuous and so forth have. This has three results.

(1) How many results virtuous karma has

88cd

e virtue and so forth of virtue

Are four and two and likewise three.

The virtuous and so forth results of virtuous karma are, if they are virtuous, the four excluding the fully ripened result, and if nonvirtuous, the two personal and dominant results, and likewise if they are neutral, the three results discarding the causally compatible and result of removal.

(2) How many results nonvirtuous karma has

89ab

Nonvirtue’s virtue and so forth

Are two, three, four, respectively.

Nonvirtue’s virtuous results and so forth—nonvirtuous and neutral results—are the two of personal and dominant, the three excluding the result of removal and fully ripened result, and the four excluding only the result of removal respectively.

How is it that nonvirtue, which has full ripening, and neutral, which does not, can be causally compatible even though they are dissimilar? you wonder. This is not a problem, because nonvirtue and obscured neutral are similar in being afflicted. They are suitable as a cause of same status, because nonvirtue can also be the causally compatible result of the neutral, and the unobscured neutral personality view and extreme view are the causally compatible results of the nonvirtuous universal desire and so forth[220] discarded by seeing suffering and origin.

(3) How many results neutral karma has

89cd

e virtue and so forth of neutral,

Are two and three and likewise three.

The virtuous and so forth results of karma that is just neutral, if they are virtuous, are two: the personal result that arises immediately after and the dominant result. This excludes the other three. And the nonvirtues produced by neutral karmas are the three excluding the result of removal and, as there is no nonvirtuous full ripening, the fully ripened result. As it is actually produced, there is the personal result. There are also dominant results. When neutral produces nonvirtue, they are similar in being afflicted, so there is a causally compatible result, because the five classes of nonvirtue from the discards of seeing suffering to the discards of meditation are the causally compatible result of the neutral personality and extreme views. And likewise the neutral results of neutral are only the three excluding the fully ripened result and result of removal.

iii. How many results karma of the three times has. This has three points.

(1) Results of the past

90ab

Results of past in all three times

Are four,

The results of past karma in all three times are the four excluding the result of removal.

(2) Results of the present

90bc

as are the middle’s future.

e middle has two,

As the results of the past are four, the future results of karma that is in the middle between the past and future—that is, the present—are four as well. The present results of the middle present karma are the two personal and dominant results.

(3) Results of the future

90cd

and the unborn

Has three results that are unborn.

And the unborn or future karma also has three results that are unborn or in the future, excluding the causally compatible result and result of removal.

iv. How many results karma of one’s own level and other level have

91ab

On its own level, four results.

On different levels, three or two.

When the results of karma are dharmas that are on its, the action’s, own level, there are four results excluding the result of removal. If the result is an undefiled dharma on a different level, there are three results, excluding full ripening and the result of removal, which is not included in any realm. Or else if the result is defiled, it is the two personal and dominant results.

v. How many results learner, nonlearner, and so forth have. This has three points.

(1) Results of learners’ dharmas

91c

ree learner and so forth of learner.

There are three results that are learner and so forth, nonlearner and neither of those two, of learner’s dharmas. They are the same in number. The first two (results that are learner and nonlearner) exclude full ripening and removal, the last excludes full ripening and causally compatible.

(2) Results of nonlearner’s dharmas

91d

Results of karma of nonlearners,

92ab

e learners’ dharmas and so forth,

Are one or three or otherwise two.

The results of the karma of nonlearners, if they are the learner’s dharmas and so forth, are the one dominant result. Or if they are nonlearner itself, the three, excluding full ripening and removal. Or otherwise if they are neither, the two of personal and dominant.

(3) Results of dharmas other than those two

92cd

Results of karmas other than those

Are learner, et cetera, two, two, five.

Results of karmas which are other than those learner and nonlearner, are if they are learner, et cetera, the two personal and dominant; if nonlearner, also those two; and if neither, all five results.

vi. How many results discards of seeing and so forth have. This has three points.

(1) How many results discards of seeing have

93ab

Results of the discards of seeing,

Et cetera, are three, four, and one.

Results of the karma of the discards of seeing, if they are discards of seeing, et cetera, are the three excluding full ripening and the result of removal. If they are discards of meditation, they are the four, excluding the result of removal. And if they are not discards, they are the one, dominant result only.

(2) How many results discards of meditation have

93cd

Two, four, and three results of karmas

at are discards of meditation.

There are two, four, and three results of karmas that are discards of meditation. If they are discards of seeing, they are the two dominant and personal. If they are discards of meditation, they are the four excluding the result of removal. If the result is a discard, they are the three excluding full ripening and causally compatible.

(3) How many results karmas which are not discarded have

94ab

Results of what is not discarded

Are one, two, four, respectively.

Those results of karmas that are not discarded are, if the results are discards of seeing, the one dominant result. If they are discards of meditation, they are the two personal and dominant, and if they are not discards, they are the four excluding full ripening. These are presented respectively.

d. Other presentations of karma. This has two topics: i. Which karmas are caused by which cause, and ii. The distinction between propelling and completing karma.

i. Which karmas are caused by which cause

94cd

Improper is afflicted action;

Degenerate ways as well, some say.

From the Treatise:

The treatises teach action that is improper, proper, and neither proper nor improper. What are the characteristics of these? you ask.

Some say that improper karma is afflicted karma, because of inappropriate attention itself. Alternatively, actions that have degenerated from the abandonment of the five wrong ways of acting are improper actions as well, some say, because the way the person walks, sits, eats, dresses are improper or not in accord with custom, so it is called improper action. Proper action is virtuous karma. Others say it is ways that are not degenerate. Karma other than those two is neither.

ii. The attributes of propelling and completing karma. This has three points.

(1) The attributes of propelling karma

95a

One action propels one rebirth.

Does one action propel only one rebirth or does it propel multiple rebirths? Likewise, do multiple actions propel one rebirth or do they propel multiple rebirths? you ask. This is the position of this school: one action propels only one rebirth. One action does not propel multiple rebirths, and multiple actions do not propel one rebirth.

Well then, in a sutra, Elder Aniruddha said to the monks:

By that one merit fully ripening, I was born seven times among the gods of the Thirty-Three, until I was born now in the clan of the rich Shakyas.

Is this not contradictory? you ask. It is not. The meaning of this is that when he was born in the higher realms, he remembered his previous birth and out of enthusiasm performed more virtue, which led him to be reborn there again. For example, it is like when one finds a single coin, uses it to make a profit, becomes rich, and then says, “I got rich from a single coin.”

(2) The attributes of completing karma

95b

ere are multiple completing factors.

If many karmas propelled a single birth, many similar likenesses would be propelled, which is not logical. It is proposed that there are multiple completing factors for a likeness propelled by a single karma. Beings born as human from a single propelling karma are similar in being born as humans, but some have beautiful bodies and so forth because of virtuous completing factors, and some have ugly bodies and so forth because of nonvirtuous completing factors. It is like, for example, a single artist drawing the outlines and several other artists filling in the color.

(3) Dispelling doubts about propulsion

95cd

e two absorptions without mind

Do not propel, nor does attainment.

There are other things with full ripening than just propelling karma. The two absorptions without mind do not propel a likeness, because they do not arise simultaneously with action. Nor does attainment of propelling karma propel a likeness, because what is attained and the result are separated. Not only that, all Āryan karma and worldly beings’ precursors to clear realization[221] are not propelling karma, because they are directed against the karma of becoming.

2. Specific explanations. This has three topics: a. Explanation of the three obscurations to discard, b. Explanation of the three bases of meritorious action to rely upon, and c. Explanation of the three virtuous precursors.

a. Explanation of the three obscurations to discard. This has three topics: i. The essence of the three obscurations, ii. Which obscurations are where, and iii. Explaining karmic obscurations in particular.

i. The essence of the three obscurations

96.

e karma of the heinous deeds;

Severe afflictions; lower realms,

Beings in Concept Free, and the North

Are agreed to be three obscurations.

Those who kill their own father or commit the other karma of the heinous deeds have karmic obscurations. Neuters, et cetera, and the severely afflicted in whom afflictions continually arise have afflicted obscurations. Those in the lower realms, sentient beings in Conception Free and humans of the North, Unpleasant Sound, have obscurations of full ripening. Because these obscure the Āryan paths, they are agreed to be three obscurations.

Well then, karma that definitely ripens in places with no leisure such as the lower two realms, the first two modes of birth, and so forth should also be a karmic obscuration, you say. It should not. Here it is easy to show the basis, result, wanderer, birth, individual, and five causes of heinous karma, and easy to label it conventionally, so only heinous karma is taught and the others are not. This means that heinous karmas are taught because they are extremely powerful and the most important.

ii. Which obscurations are where. This has three points.

(1) The heinous deeds in general

97ab

e heinous deeds are in three lands.

e sexless and so forth do not

First of all, the heinous deeds are found in three lands or continents, but because they are not found in Northern Unpleasant Sound or among other wanderers, what need is there to mention other realms? In those three, they are found only among men and women. The sexless and so forth, neuters and hermaphrodites, do not have them.

(2) The specifics of the heinous deed of killing one’s parents

97c

Since little benefit, no shame.

If the sexless and so forth should kill their parents, it is not a heinous deed since their parents gave them bodies that are not conducive to liberation, so there is little benefit, and because although their births depended upon their parents, they have very little or no shame and modesty.

(3) Where the other two obscurations are found

97d

Five wanderers have the remaining.

All five wanderers have the remaining afflictive and fully ripened obscurations, because among humans, those on Unpleasant Sound and among gods, the beings in Conception Free have them.

Killing an arhat or killing one’s father or mother is the karmic path of taking life. Drawing blood from the Tathagata with harmful intent is the preparation for taking life, and creating a schism in the Sangha is the karmic path of lying.

iii. Explaining karmic obscurations in particular. This has two topics: (1) Heinous deeds, and (2) The near heinous deeds.

(1) Heinous deeds. This has three topics: (a) Actual heinous karma, (b) Its karma and result, and (c) Additional points on karma and result.

(a) Actual heinous karma. This has two topics: (i) An extensive explanation of the heinous deed of creating a schism, and (ii) Explaining all five heinous deeds together.

(i) An extensive explanation of the heinous deed of creating a schism. This has three topics: A. Essence, B. Its result, and C. Explaining it in terms of its aspects.

A. Essence. This has two topics: 1. The schism that is the division, and 2. The schism that is that which divides.

1. The schism that is the division. This has two points.

a. Essence

98a–c

A schism of the Sangha is

Discord by nature, nonconcurrent.

It’s not afflicted; it is neutral.

A schism of the Sangha is a dharma that is discord between two camps of the Sangha by its nature. It is substantially existent and nonconcurrent with mind. Because it is not afflicted and not virtuous, it is unobscured neutral, so it is not a heinous karma.

b. Who possesses it

98d

e Sangha does possess the schism.

The Sangha does possess the schism; but the schismatic Devadatta does not possess it.

2. The schism that is that which divides. This has two points.

a. Essence

99a

e unwholesome act is telling lies;

The perceptible and imperceptible unwholesome act of speech of the schism is telling lies.

b. Who possesses it

99b

It is possessed by the schismatic.

It, the lie, is possessed by the schismatic Devadatta who split the Sangha.

B. Its result. This has two points.

1. Actual

99c

It ripens for an aeon in Incessant.

It ripens for the schismatic of the Wheel[222] as an entire intermediate aeon in the Incessant Hell because there is no longer lifespan than that in the Desire realm. The other heinous deeds are not definitely destined for the Incessant.

2. Dispelling doubts

99d

Additional bring additional pain.

If heinous karma cannot be experienced in other lifetimes and must be experienced on rebirth only, how can the results of multiple heinous karmas ripen on someone who has committed several? Multiple additional heinous karmas bring two, three, four, or five times as much suffering. The being is born with a huge body that has especially tender flesh, so they experience an immense amount of extremely unbearable additional pain.

C. Explaining it in terms of its aspects. This has three topics: 1. Aspects of a schism of the Wheel, 2. Explaining a ritual schism, and 3. Identifying times when a schism of the Wheel does not arise.

1. Aspects of a schism of the Wheel. This has eight points: a. Who is the schismatic, b. Where the schism occurs, c. Who is divided, d. What they are divided by, e. How long it lasts, f. Explanation of the term, g. Which continents it is on, and h. The number of bhikshus.

a. Who is the schismatic

100ab

A bhikshu acting upon views,

Who is disciplined, divides.

The schism is perpetrated by a bhikshu, and not by a householder, who would not be an equal in the body of bhikshus that is divided, or a bhikshuni and so forth who would not have such power of persuasion over the bhikshus. The bhikshu who creates the schism acts upon and enters into the five views of personality view and so forth. Only such a one can uphold another Teacher or path through his ability to analyze and discern, because he is ensnared in stable wicked intentions. It is not someone who acts out of craving because such a person does not have stable intentions toward the all-afflicted and utterly pure. A bhikshu who is disciplined divides the Sangha: someone with weak discipline does not have enough power behind his words to be able to create a schism.

b. Where the schism occurs

100b

Elsewhere.

The schism happens elsewhere than where the Bhagavan actually is. Because it is difficult to overcome his splendor and his words are potent, it is not possible to create a schism where he actually resides.

c. Who is divided

100c

Childish.

Only childish ordinary beings can be divided. Āryans cannot be divided because they have directly perceived the dharmas of scripture and realization and because they have undivided faith.

d. What they are divided by

100c

d Accepting other teachers

And paths divides.

Accepting other teachers than the Tathagata and paths other than the one he taught, such as the five bases of not drinking milk, not eating meat, not using salt, wearing uncut robes, and staying in monasteries in towns, is enough to divide the Sangha.[223]

e. How long it lasts

100d

It does not last.

It, the schism, does not last longer than from sun-down to sun-up, because the Sangha will definitely be reunited before daybreak.

f. Explanation of the term

101a

It’s called a schism of the Wheel.

This schism of the Sangha is called a schism of the Wheel, because it breaks the Dharma Wheel of the Tathagata and creates an obstacle to entering the path.

g. Which continents it is on

101b

Rose-Apple Land.

It happens in Rose-Apple Land, not the other continents, because there is no Teacher there, so there is no rebellious person such as Devadatta who wishes to be the Teacher’s equal.

h. The number of bhikshus

101b

Not less than nine.

In number, there are not less than four bhikshus on each side and the schismatic in the middle, so it is completed by nine or more, but not by fewer. This sets the minimum.

2. Explaining a ritual schism

101cd

Ritual schisms happen in

ree continents, with at least eight.

Ritual schisms are created by sowing discord among two groups who perform poṣadha and other rituals within a single boundary. This is in any of the three continents where the Teachings are. The ritual schism does not need a schismatic, so it is completed with at least four bhikshus on each side, or eight or above.

3. Identifying times when a schism of the Wheel does not arise

102.

At first, at end, before there are faults

Or a pair; or when the Sage has passed,

When boundaries are not established,

A schism of the Wheel can’t happen.

At first, immediately after the Wheel of Dharma has been turned, everyone is happy, overjoyed, and harmonious, and at the end immediately after the parinirvana, everyone is focused on impermanence and they are united in grief, so schisms do not arise. Or in between before there are faults in śīla or views; or before the one supreme pair who quickly reunite the Sangha appears; or as there is no one to compete with, when the Sage has passed; as the schism is disunity within the boundaries of one monastery, when boundaries are not yet established: in these times, a schism of the Wheel cannot happen.

(ii) Explaining all five heinous deeds together. This has two topics: A. Establishing the quantity of the five heinous deeds, and B. As an elaboration, refuting a doubt.

A. Establishing the quantity of the five heinous deeds

103ab

Since fields of benefit and qualities

Are abandoned and annihilated.

Why is it that among the karmic paths of taking life and so forth, only killing one’s mother and so forth are heinous deeds? you ask. Since parents produce a body that is suitable for attaining freedom, they are the field of benefit, and the other three are a supreme field of qualities. These are abandoned in one’s mind. In the first three life is annihilated, and in a schism the Sangha’s harmony is destroyed. The Tathagata cannot be killed by anyone, but one makes the preparations to do so.

B. As an elaboration, dispelling doubts. This has three topics: 1. Dispelling doubts about killing one’s mother, 2. Dispelling doubts about drawing blood with an evil intent, and 3. Dispelling doubts about killing arhats.

1. Dispelling doubts about killing one’s mother. This has two points.

a. Examining when sex changes

103c

Even if organs change, it is.

Even if their sexual organs change to the other sex, it is a heinous deed to kill one’s parents. From the Treatise:

If one kills a man who is neither his father nor an arhat, can it become a heinous unwholesome act? you ask. It can. If one kills his mother whose organ has changed…

Murdering one’s father whose sex has changed is comparable.

b. Dispelling the doubt about when the fetus is transplanted into another womb

103d

She whose menses bore one is the mother.

If one is conceived in one woman’s womb and then transplanted into another, murdering which of the two is a heinous deed? you ask. She whose menses bore one is the mother, so murdering her is a heinous deed. The other is similar to a mother so of course she deserves respect, but murdering her is not actually a heinous deed.

2. Dispelling doubts about drawing blood with an evil intent

104a

Intent to beat the Buddha is not,

Drawing blood from the Buddha becomes a heinous act because of the intention to kill the Buddha, but if one draws blood when intending to beat up the Buddha, it is not a heinous deed, because there is no intention that he die.

3. Dispelling doubts about killing arhats

104b

Nor if they become an arhat later.

Nor is the killing a heinous deed if one strikes someone who is not an arhat with a weapon and they become an arhat later, after being struck. This is because one did not make the preparations with regard to the arhat.

(b) Its karma and result. This has two points.

(i) General teaching

104cd

When one has prepared a heinous act,

Detachment is impossible.

If one has made preparations for a heinous karma, is it possible to attain a result of detachment without stopping them? you ask. When one has done preparations for a heinous act and not stopped them, attaining the result of detachment that transcends the world, the loka, is impossible.

(ii) Explaining the specifics

105ab

To tell a lie in order to split

e Sangha is the gravest crime.

Among these heinous deeds, which is the most harmful? you ask. To tell a lie in order to split the Sangha even while knowing the difference between dharma and nondharma is proposed to be the gravest of crimes, because it pierces the Tathagata’s dharma body and because it hinders worldly ones on the path to the higher realms and the freedom of enlightenment. Among the heinous deeds, killing one’s mother, killing an arhat, and drawing blood from the Tathagata with an evil intent are each successively heavier than the previous; killing one’s father is lighter.

(c) Additional points on karma and result

105cd

Of worldly virtues, the volition

Of Peak bears the greatest result.

Among the fine conducts, which has the greatest result? you ask. Of all worldly virtuous karmas, the volition of the Peak of Existence bears the greatest fully ripened result, because it ripens as eighty thousand great aeons in the higher realms. In terms of results of removal, among all virtues, there is none greater than the vajra-like samadhi, and in terms of personal results, supreme loka dharma[224] has the greatest.

(2) The near heinous deeds. This has three topics: (a) Actual, (b) Additionally, explaining what blocks the three paths, and (c) Particular explanation of the certain bodhisattva.

(a) Actual

106.

To violate one’s arhat mother,

To kill a certain Bodhisattva

Or learner, and to rob what has

Been gathered for the Sangha’s purpose

107ab

Are similar to heinous deeds.

e fifth is to destroy a stupa.

Not only the five heinous deeds lead to birth in hell; the five that are near to them also lead to birth in hell. What are they? you ask. To violate one’s arhat mother through sexual misconduct, to kill a certain Bodhisattva or killing an Āryan learner, and to rob food for one day or more that has been gathered for the Sangha’s purpose. These four are similar to the first four heinous deeds of killing one’s mother and so forth so they are near it. The one near the fifth is to destroy a stupa, the place of offering to the body, speech, and mind. Here killing a certain bodhisattva is far more harmful than killing one’s father, so it is difficult to understand why it is given as a near heinous deed.

(b) Additionally, explaining what blocks the three paths

107cd

Gaining forbearance, nonreturner,

And arhat totally blocks karma.

Gaining forbearance on the path of joining, nonreturner, and arhat respectively totally blocks the definite karma for rebirth in the lower realms, Desire and the two upper realms, because that karma can only be experienced in those realms. It is like when you quit a country and free yourself from debt.

(c) Particular explanation of the certain bodhisattva. This has two topics: (i) General teaching, and (ii) In particular the deeds of the Teacher

(i) General teaching. This has three topics.

A. Threshold

108ab

Since when is he the Bodhisattva?

Since doing the karma of the marks.

Since when is he the certain Bodhisattva? you ask. Since the time of doing the deeds that accumulate the karma that has as its full ripening the thirtytwo major marks, he attains buddhahood in one hundred aeons.

B. Dharmas that are his qualities

108cd

High realms, high caste, full faculties,

Male, recalls lifetimes, irreversible.

From that time on he is free of the four faults, so he is born in the high realms of gods and humans. He has high caste birth in the Great Sala Tree House of the Kshatriya caste and so forth. He is born with full faculties and as a male only. He has the two qualities of recalling his lifetimes and being irreversible or unable to be turned away from attaining awakening. In order to benefit all sentient beings, he is not discouraged by any aspect of suffering or any misunderstanding.

C. Explaining his aspects

109.

A male in Rose-Apple Land, when present,

With the volition to awaken,

rough contemplation, propels these

Over one hundred aeons more.

110a

Each arises from one hundred merits.

Only a being on the support of a male in Rose-Apple Land can propel the karmas that will ripen as the marks; inhabitants of other continents or females cannot. He accumulates them when a Teacher who is the object for accumulating the karma is actually present. Whether the volition of, “May I become a buddha in this way” is manifest or hidden, he performs the karmas only with the volition that focuses on awakening. Karma born of listening is low, and that born of meditation does not ripen in Desire, so this is born through contemplation. He propels these over one hundred great aeons more, so they are not visible results. From his diligence in praising the Buddha Tiṣya, our Teacher shortened that by nine aeons, and propelled the karma through more than ninety-one aeons. As it says in a sutra, “Village chief, I remember from ninety-one aeons to now completely… ” so he naturally remembers his lifetimes. Each of the fully ripened thirty-two major marks that are thus propelled arises from one hundred merits or volitions. As far as the quantity counted as one hundred, some say that it is the same as all the merit from generosity of all sentient beings. There are many other such proposals.

(ii) In particular the deeds of the Teacher. This has two topics: A. How he accumulated merit, and B. How he perfected the transcendences.

A. How he accumulated merit

110b-d

e last of three uncountables,

Vipashyin, Dipa, Ratnashikhin

Appeared. e first was Shakyamuni.

When our Teacher was a bodhisattva, how many buddhas did he pay respects to in each of the incalculable aeons? you ask. In the first incalculable aeon, he paid respects to seventy-five thousand buddhas, in the second, seventy-six thousand, and in the third, to seventy-seven thousand buddhas. Among them, the last buddhas of the first three uncountable aeons respectively were the buddhas Vipashyin, Dipankara, and Ratnashikhin, who had appeared. Before all of those, the first buddha to appear was called the Sage of the Shakyas, or Shakyamuni. He appeared in a time of strife, and his life span, the duration of his teachings, his mother, and so on, were all similar to our Teacher’s. During his time, our Teacher was a potter named Illumination who offered him sweet water, massages with ointment, and service, and then prayed, “May I, too, awaken in the same fashion as him.”

B. How he perfected the transcendences. This has four topics: 1. How he perfected transcendent generosity, 2. How he perfected transcendent discipline and patience, 3. How he perfected transcendent diligence, and 4. How he perfected transcendent dhyana and full knowing.

1. How he perfected transcendent generosity

111ab

Giving all to all compassionately

Perfected generosity.

Giving all from his eyes to his feet to all who needed it, not from hope for a high state but compassionately, he completely perfected transcendent generosity.

2. How he perfected transcendent discipline and patience

111cd

While not detached, to cut his limbs

Did not perturb him: patience and discipline.

While he was not detached at the time, to cut his limbs did not even perturb him. At that time he perfected the transcendence of patience and discipline.

3. How he perfected transcendent diligence

112a

By praising Tiṣya, diligence.

When the Bhagavan was a bodhisattva, he saw the Tathagata Tiṣya in a mountain cave in the absorption of the all-encompassing fire element and stood on one foot praising him for seven days with a single verse. By reciting praises of Tiṣya in this way, he gathered nine aeons’ merit and completed the perfection of transcendent diligence.

4. How he perfected transcendent dhyana and full knowing

112b

Samadhi and mind, just prior to.

He produced the vajra-like samadhi and at that time completed the transcendences of dhyana and mind or full knowing just immediately prior to enlightenment.

Because these six go beyond in terms of their own excellence, they are transcendences.

b. Explanation of the three bases of meritorious action to rely upon. This has three topics: i. Explaining the terms in general, ii. The nature of each classification, and iii. Specific explanation of the generosity of dharma.

i. Explaining the terms in general

112cd

e three are merit, action, or

e basis, like the karmic paths.

From a sutra:

The bases of meritorious action born from generosity, born of discipline, and born of meditation…

The three are either merit that has an attractive full ripening, actions with the nature of karma, or the basis for engaging the intention that is both, so they are said to be the bases of meritorious actions. For example, it is like was explained with the ten karmic paths: some are both karma and karmic path, and some only karmic paths. To illustrate this with the merit born of generosity first, the karmas of generosity of body and speech are all three, the volition is both merit and action, and the dharmas simultaneous with that are merit only. The other two follow the same pattern. The reason these three are explained is that achieving possessions, karma, and liberation, or alternatively achieving possessions, a human or divine body, and a body in one of the higher two realms depend upon these.

ii. The nature of each classification. This has two topics: (1) Explaining merit born of generosity, and (2) Explaining the other two merits.

(1) Explaining merit born of generosity. This has three topics: (a) The essence of generosity, (b) Classifications, and (c) Distinctions.

(a) The essence of generosity. This has two points.

(i) Actual

113a–d

What makes one give is generosity,

Wishing to offer or to help.

It’s body and speech karma, and Intention,

That which makes one give itself is called generosity. Clothes and so forth that are given are called by that name, but they are not actually generosity because they are neutral. Likewise, giving without the motivation of virtuous volition, such as out of fear, a wish for a response, desire, or so forth, is not virtuous, so it is not giving that is generosity. Thus generosity is giving with a wish to offer or to help, which are distinguished in terms of the recipient.[225] It is the body and speech virtuous karma, and motivating intention that is concurrent with nongreed along with its associations. From the commentary:

When beings make gifts of their own

Possessions with virtuous minds,

At that time, the virtuous aggregates

Are said to be called generosity.

(ii) Its result

113d

resulting in abundance.

The basis of meritorious action born from generosity results in great abundance. It is abundance’s nature that it should arise from this source.

(b) Classifications

114ab

Generosity brings benefit

To self or other, both or neither.

When nobles who are not detached or ordinary individuals who are detached give to a stupa, that is generosity that brings benefit to one’s self only, because it does not benefit another. Or when nobles who are detached give to another sentient being, with the exception of visibly experienced results, it is generosity that is only for the benefit of the other, because it benefits the others. It is not for the nobles’ own benefit, because they have transcended the level where it fully ripens. When nobles who are not detached or ordinary individuals who are detached give to another sentient being, that is generosity for the benefit of both self and other. Or when nobles who are detached give to a stupa, it is generosity for neither’s benefit: it is no more than offering to pay respect and to repay kindness.

(c) Distinctions. This has two topics: (i) Overview, and (ii) Explanation

(i) Overview

114cd

Distinctions of the donor and

Of things and field distinguish it.

Distinctions of the donor and of the things given and the field of the recipient, distinguish it, generosity.

(ii) Explanation. This has five topics: A. Distinctions of donor, B. Distinctions of what is given, C. Distinctions of field, D. Identifying superior generosity, and E. Elaborations.

A. Distinctions of donor. This has three points.

1. Actual

115a

Donors excel through faith, et cetera,

Donors are excellent when they give with faith, et cetera—qualities such as discipline, learning, and so forth. Included in the phrase “and so forth” is giving with charity, full knowing, few desires, and so forth.

2. Distinctions in the manner of giving

115b

And make gifts with respect and such.

When one makes gifts with the preparation of respect for the recipient and such, including giving with one’s own hand, at a good time, and without harming anyone else, the generosity becomes superior.

3. Its result

115cd

is brings them honor and abundance

In time and with no obstacles.

From these four causes of generosity, there are four distinctions, respectively. This first will bring them honor, and the second will bring vast abundance. The third brings the abundance in a timely manner, and from the fourth, one will receive the abundance with no obstacles.

B. Distinctions of what is given. This has two points.

1. Actual

116ab

From excellently colored things

And so forth,

From excellently colored things and so forth, including fragrance, taste, and touch, gifts are superior.

2. Their result

116b–d

there comes beauty, fame,

Affection, and most youthful flesh,

Pleasing to touch in all the seasons.

From these ways of being generous, respectively there comes beauty; one will have fame that spreads in all directions, like fragrance; one will have affection, like delicious taste, and one’s body will have the most youthful flesh that, like a precious queen, is pleasing to touch in all the seasons of the year. During the cold seasons, it will be warm; during the hot seasons, it will be cool; and during normal seasons, it will be natural.

C. Distinctions of field

117ab

e fields of wanderers, suffering,

Benefit, qualities are highest.

There are the four superior fields. Of these, the one that is superior in terms of wanderers is, for example, as is said:

If you give to those born in the places of animals, hope for one hundred times the full ripening. If you give to humans with faulty śīla, hope for one thousand times the full ripening.

The superior field of suffering is such as among the seven material merits,[226] giving nursing, or giving during cold seasons. The superior field of benefit is giving to parents and other benefactors. When it is through qualities that the field is highest or superior, it is as is said:

If one gives to those who have discipline, one can hope for one hundred thousand times the result.

D. Identifying superior generosity. This has two topics: 1. Supreme generosity, and 2. Immeasurable generosity.

1. Supreme generosity. This has two points.

a. Actual

117cd

e highest is from freed to freed

Or by the Bodhisattva.

The highest of all the different types of generosity is from one who is freed and has no desire to one who is freed and has no desire, or generosity given by the Bodhisattva in order to benefit all sentient beings. That is giving by one who is not freed to those who are not freed, but it is also supreme, because it is generosity given in order to benefit all sentient beings.

b. Identifying the supreme of the eight types of generosity

117d

Eighth.

Likewise, from a sutra:

Generosity is eightfold: giving to the near; giving out of fear; giving because someone has given to you; giving so that someone will give to you; giving because your parents gave before; giving for the purpose of the higher realms; giving out of desire for fame; and giving in order to attain the mind’s ornament, the mind’s necessities, the collection of yogas, and the supreme purpose.

Of these, the eighth, giving for the purpose of attaining the mind’s ornament and so forth, is supreme.[227]

2. Immeasurable generosity

118.

Although they are not noble, gifts

To parents, the ill, or Dharma teachers,

e Bodhisattva’s last rebirth

Bring yields surpassing any measure.

It is said in the sutras that giving to stream-enterers and other nobles brings great and immeasurable merit. In addition, although they are not nobles but ordinary individuals, gifts to parents, the ill, or Dharma teachers, or the Bodhisattva in his last birth[228] bring yields surpassing any measure in terms of result.

Well then, the others are in the fields of benefit, suffering, and qualities, but what are the Dharma teachers included in? you ask. They give all beings who are blinded by ignorance the eye of full knowing, teach what is Dharma and what is not, and accomplish the undefiled dharma body, and in brief, accomplish the activity of the buddhas, so they are spiritual friends. For that reason, they are the field of benefit.

E. Elaborations. This has three points.

1. Distinctions in size

119.

Aftermath, field, base, preparation,

Volition, and intention, too:

When these are great or small in scope,

e karma, too, is great or small.

What makes the distinction between heavy and light karma? you ask. The aftermath of completing the karmic path, the field to which help or harm is done, the base of any of the karmic paths of the three gates, the preparation that begins the karmic path, the volition that motivates karmic paths of body and speech, and the intention, too, that thinks, “I will do this in this way.” When these six causes are great or small in scope, the karma, too, is great, that is, heavy, or small, that is, light.

2. The distinction between accumulated and not accumulated

120.

Intentional, complete, without

Regret, no anti, ripening,

Association: due to these

Karma is called accumulated.

When we say that we have done and accumulated karma, what is accumulated karma? It is karma that is neither unwitting nor involuntary but that is done after consideration, or intentionally; that is completed, by which it will have full ripening, and that is done without regret after the karma is completed; that has no antidote; that is karma that has a definitely experienced full ripening; and that has all the corresponding associations.[229] Due to these, karma is called accumulated.

3. Dispelling doubts

121.

Giving to stupas is merit caused

By giving: as with love, not taken.

Cause and result are infallible,

So bad fields, too, bear pleasant fruit.

When someone who is detached gives to a stupa, there is no enjoyment of the gift, so how is it meritorious? you ask. There are two types of merit: merit that is caused by giving, and merit that is caused by enjoyment. The merit of giving to stupas is merit caused not by enjoyment, but merit that is caused by giving. For example, it is as with meditation on loving-kindness or the others of the four immeasurables, or like the correct worldly view, which are meritorious, even though it is not taken or does not benefit another.

Well then, if it is logical that being generous with gifts to a good field produces a pleasant result, how is it that giving to a bad field brings a pleasant result? Because whatever type a cause might be, the result born from it is infallibly of the same type, so it is logical that giving to a bad field, too, should bear a pleasant fruit or result. For example, grape seeds produce sweet fruits, and neem seeds produce bitter fruits.

(2) Explaining the other two merits. This has three topics: (a) The nature of each, (b) The result of both, and (c) Additionally, an explanation of the four merits of Brahma.

(a) The nature of each. This has two topics: (i) Merit born of discipline, and (ii) Merit born of meditation.

(i) Merit born of discipline. This has three points.

A. Identifying what is discarded

122ab

Immoral is nonvirtuous form

at twofold discipline discards.

Immorality is the form of unwholesome nonvirtues from taking life to idle chatter. The four or seven abandonments of nonvirtuous form is discipline. That discarding is the twofold discipline of the perceptible by which one discards immorality and the imperceptible that is the discarding.

B. Its antidote, discipline

122c

at which the Buddha barred as well.

Discipline is not pervasively the antidote for immorality. There are things that may be done in particular times or circumstances but in other times and circumstances become the causes of the inherently unwholesome. This is because that which not immoral by nature but which the Buddha’s word barred, such as swearing not to eat at wrong times, has both perceptible and imperceptible forms and is discipline as well. Having sworn to the precept of abandoning something, if one does it, it becomes immoral, because it is disrespectful of the Bhagavan’s word. This teaches implicitly that it is not immoral for those who have not sworn to the discipline.

C. The merit of purifying it

122d

Four qualities of the utterly pure:

123ab

Not sullied by immoral or

Its cause; based on the anti and peace.

There are four qualities of the utterly pure discipline, because the opposite of that is impure. What are the four? you ask. It is not sullied by immoral nonvirtue—it does not arise as a fault; it is not sullied by its, nonvirtue’s, cause, the root and near afflictions; it is based on its, immorality’s, antidote, the four foundations of mindfulness; and as it is dedicated toward freedom, it is based on peace.

(ii) Merit born of meditation

123cd

Infusing the mind with meditation

Is the virtue of equipoise.

Meditation infuses the mind with meditation, the qualities of samadhi, and makes it similar to samadhi, so it is called the virtue of the samadhi of equipoise and what is associated with it. For example, it is like infusing oil with the scent of flowers.

(b) The result of both

124ab

For high realms, discipline is prime,

And for removal, meditation.

Well then, if it is logical that generosity produces abundance, what comes from discipline and meditation? you ask. Of course generosity can be the cause of the high realms, but for the sake of attaining a body in the high realms, maintaining discipline is primary, and for the sake of removal of desire, what is principal is meditation, because these and just these are their primary causes.

(c) Additionally, an explanation of the four merits of Brahma

124cd

Because one dwells in joy for aeons

In high realms, four are Brahma’s merit.

Because building a stupa for the Tathagata’s relics in a place where there was not one before, offering a monastery for the Sangha of the four directions and building a temple there, reconciling a split among the listeners of the Tathagata, and meditating on immeasurable love are four causes for one to dwell, living in joy, for forty intermediate aeons one after the other in the high realms, they are similar to the merit of Brahma’s Ministers, so the merit of these four is called Brahma’s merit. This is said in the sutras and explained by earlier masters. The Great Exposition explains that these are equal to what was explained as the size of each of the merits that fully ripens as a major mark.

iii. Specific explanation of the generosity of dharma

125ab

To give the Dharma is teaching sutras,

Without affliction, as they are.

To give the Dharma is teaching the sutras, et cetera, including the rest of the twelve precepts, with a mind without afflictions that does not desire rewards and fame, not teaching them wrongly but correctly and just as they are.

c. Explanation of the three virtuous precursors

125cd

Precursors to merit and nirvana,

And realization are three virtues.

Of the three precursors, the precursor to merit propels an attractive full ripening included in existence. And the precursor to freedom is something that, once it has arisen, becomes a dharma base that attains nirvana.[230] As a sign of its presence, when one hears about the faults of samsara and qualities of nirvana, one’s hair stands on end out of faith. And the four of warmth and so forth that will be explained are the precursors to clear realization.[231] Thus are the three virtues of the precursors taught.

III. Teaching the synonyms of dharmas as a summary. This has three points.

A. The synonyms of the three worldly karmas

126.

reefold industrious karma with

Its motivation: writing letters

Or carving; poetry and counting;

Enumeration, in that order.

The threefold, engaged through the industrious learner’s method, karma of body, speech, and mind with its motivation is writing letters or carving them into stamps; reciting poetry, and counting; and tallying enumerations with the mind, and vows. These are presented in that order.

B. Synonyms of the afflicted

127ab

Obscured, bad, and unwholesome are

Afflicted dharmas.

They obscure freedom, they are bad since they are solely something to reject, and they are unwholesome since they are disparaged by the exalted. These three are synonyms of afflicted dharmas.

C. Synonyms of the virtuous

127b–d

Stainless virtues Are sublime.

Practice compounded virtue.

And liberation is unexcelled.

The undefiled or stainless virtues are the ultimate of purity, so they are called sublime. Practice compound virtues, because they produce an attractive result and are something to be familiar with. Because other things lack these two reasons, they are not something one practices. All other dharmas are excelled by something, but there is no dharma at all that is superior to the liberation of nirvana, so it is also called unexcelled, because it is virtuous and permanent. This is the supreme dharma that is superior to all other dharmas.

Second, presenting the area’s name

is completes the fourth area called “Teachings on Karma” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

This completes the explanation of the fourth area called “Teachings on Karma” from The Explanation of the “Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma” called The Essence of the Ocean of Abhidharma, The Words of Those who Know and Love, Explaining the Youthful Play, Opening the Eyes of Dharma, The Chariot of Easy Practice.

A few words here:

The behavior of unruly beings, the poisonous nightshade

Of millions of manifestations of black piled on black—

My mind had been sickened by distractions and clamor,

And so at that time I climbed up into one-pointed solitude.

And then out of faith in the buddhas and bodhisattvas,

Unbearably great fervor opportuned tears,

And now day and night by transcending through dharma,

I’ve sworn in my mind to discard life’s distractions.

With the good eye medicine of prajñā I’ve purified

The cataracts of ignorance, no more to arise.

I’ve gained the mind’s eye of the Wheel of the teachings

To explain and debate and compose in these times.

And thus I’m emboldened with complete sincerity

To explain the Tathagata’s intent as it is

In all of the Sugata’s scriptures, particularly

The Treasury of Dharma’s matrix, abhidharma.

In the stainless space of examining, the radiant

White treasury that teaches on karma is completed.

With all of the branches of scriptures and words,

In White Cave, this place so delightful to dwell,

The monk of the Shakya, Vajreshvara composed this.

By the power of virtue that’s gained in three times

By the tenth emanation to enter Karma’s teachings,

May these teachings flourish to the end of four times.

171. As taught in the Vinaya, the seven material and immaterial merits are merit that “increases always and continuously, whether one is going, staying, lying down, or not lying down” (Dge ’dun grub, 647). The autocommentary clarifies that if there were no imperceptible form, it would not be logical for merit to increase in such a way (folio 169).

172. The Buddha or a listener disciple of the Buddha (Dge ’dun grub, 647).

173. Author’s note: As undefiled sources are impossible, these are the sources of the level where the individual’s bodily support was born.

174. That is to say, the sources that produce the imperceptible form of abandoning taking life are not separate from the sources that produce the imperceptible form of abandoning stealing, sexual misconduct, and so on.

175. Here, the three types of karma are volitional karma, perceptible karma of body and speech, and imperceptible karma of body and speech. See IV.1 & 2.

176. That is, a neutral mind that is thinking about sitting, going, standing, and so forth.

177. The Sanskrit saṃvara and Tibetan sdom pa normally translated here and in many other works as “vow” actually mean restraint of one’s actions, not necessarily an oath or oral commitment. The dhyana and undefiled vows are thus the restraints on one’s behavior that naturally arise out of abandoning the discards and attaining the dhyanas or undefiled paths.

178. That is, if a male bhikshu should lose his male sexual organs and gain female organs, he becomes a bhikshuni. There are stories of such spontaneous sex changes in the sutras and vinaya.

179. Two things that cannot exist without harm on the same basis at the same time are said to be simultaneously exclusive. Traditional examples include owls and crows, or discards and antidotes.

180. The Sanskrit word śīla translated as “discipline” literally means “cool.”

181. Karmas have three aspects: preparation, the actual basis or action, and the aftermath. See IV.68, below.

182. The preparations for dhyana are levels of meditation that discard the obscurations that prevent one from attaining dhyana. See VIII.22.

183. See II.51cd

184. The preparations for the first dhyana, so called because it can act as the antidote for the discards of all levels. See VI.47cd.

185. That is, someone who becomes a Noble in one lifetime loses the perceptible at death. When they are reborn, even as a baby they still have the imperceptible form, but they do not possess the perceptible until they actually do something virtuous.

186. Five supports refers to the first five disciples, All-Knowing Kauṇḍinya, Aśvajit, Vaṣpa, Mahānāman, and Bhadrika, who became bhikshus when they developed certainty in the Buddha’s first teaching of the Sutra of the Wheel of Dharma.

187. Mahāprajapatī and other five hundred first bhikshunis received their vows when they accepted the eight additional strictures for bhikshunis, called here dharmas of respect but also sometimes called heavy dharmas. (Dge ’dun grub, 72).

188. Dharmadinnā had been betrothed since before birth but wished to go forth and become a bhikshuni. Her parents would not let her, but the Buddha sent a nun as a messenger to give her dharma instructions, through which she achieved the result of stream-enterer. On the day she was to be sent off to be married, the Buddha once again sent the nun to give her vows and instructions, and through these instrutions she achieved the state of arhat. She was then released from her betrothal and went to join the bhikshunis. (Dge ’dun grub, 73ff ).

189. A righteous pursuer of virtue is one who takes the eight precepts of the fasting vow for the rest of their life, not just one day.

190. Ming chen gyi mdo

191. This is a text recited during the ceremony for taking the vow in which one promises to turn away from killing, stealing, and so forth, just as the Noble arhats did.

192. There are two types of unwholesome actions: inherently unwholesome acts and prohibited unwholesome acts. Inherently unwholesome acts include killing, stealing, and so on, which are unwholesome by their very nature. Prohibited unwholesome acts are actions such as consuming intoxicants or eating after noon that the Buddha prohibited lay practitioners or bhikshus from doing. According to the Prince, although they are not necessarily unwholesome, someone who has vows commits a misdeed by doing them because they have disrespected the word of the Buddha. See IV.122c.

193. Here basis refers to the aggregates, elements, and sense bases.

194. That is to say, the bhikshu vows give up all seven misdeeds of body and speech; the lesser vows only give up four: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and lying.

195. The five qualifications are setting qualifications with regards to sentient beings, branches, places, time, and occasion—that is, saying one will only abandon killing certain sentient beings, or only abide by certain branches in certain places or for a certain time, etc.

196. Fields are the categories of recipients of the action. See IV.117. For the material merits See IV.4a.

197. The service conducted by bhikshus on the full and new moons to purify any transgressions and restore their vows.

198. That is, when the force that propelled the potter’s wheel or arrow is used up, the wheel stops and the arrow falls to the ground.

199. For example, if one makes a commitment to circumambulate a stupa every day for a year but that stupa is destroyed before the end of the year, the mid-vow of the commitment is canceled.

200. The obscurations of full ripening are rebirth in the lower realms, Conception Free, and Unpleasant Sound. See IV.96.

201. See IV.95ab.

202. Cf. II.7c–8a.

203. According to Mikyö Dorje, when the feeling of pleasure is being experienced, it does not depend upon another feeling to be experienced: the other two feelings are blocked and an additional feeling of its own class is also blocked, so there can be no additional feeling on which it depends. Thus it is directly experienced.

204. That is, they propel a new being that will maintain a continuum of similarity or likeness.

205. See VI.60ab.

206. The five periods in the womb are mushiness, oval, oblong, round, and hands and feet moving. See III.19. The five periods of this life are childhood, youth, prime of life, middle age, and old age.

207. That is, the eleven results are all visibly experienced within the continuum of the being in the between state, before that being dies again.

208. A reference to an ancient Persian custom of euthanasia.

209. See VII.36.

210. See II.10c.

211. This passage refers to the different moments and paths that one progresses through as one discards the defilements. The forbearances of knowing dharma (or dharma forbearances) are the moments of the path of seeing where one can withstand seeing each of the four truths of the desire realm. The knowing of dharma (or dharma knowings) are the knowings that arise out of seeing the truths of Desire. There are also the subsequent forbearances that can withstand seeing the nature of the truths of the two higher realms and the subsequent knowings that arise from those. There is a dharma forbearance, dharma knowing, subsequent forbearance, and subsequent knowing for each of the four truths. See VI.28. The undefiled paths of meditation of no obstacles refers to the nine paths of no obstacles that abandon the discards of meditation for the Desire realm. See VI.33.

212. Afflictions and karma are exclusive of one another because they are the two separate classifications of the truth of origin and because the afflictions cause karma.

213. Skt: Saṃcetanīyasūtra, Tib.: ched du bsam par bya ba’i mdo.

214. See verse IV.16bc.

215. A hallucinogenic plant, datura alba.

216. A type of affliction. See V.47–53.

217. When someone takes full ordination as bhikshu, the vow is attained on the third repetition of the motion to grant them ordination, which is why the imperceptible and perceptible actions at that moment are the actual basis.

218. See III.44cd.

219. The Śīlaskandhikā (sh’i la’i mdo).

220. See V.12.

221. Tib. nges ’byed cha mthun, Skt. nirvedha-bhāgīya. The four stages of the path of joining that lead to the path of seeing. Most translators from the Tibetan translate this term as either “partial concordance with definite discernment” or “aids to penetration,” neither of which seem particularly informative. The Sanskrit bhāgīya means “leading to,” so here precursor is used to indicate that these four stages of the path of joining are the precursors to the clear realization of the path of seeing. Clear realization is used rather than “penetration” or the literal “definite discernment” for comprehensibility.

222. See IV.101a.

223. Devadatta created the schism during the Buddha’s time by convincing his followers that the Buddha’s behavior was not sufficiently ascetic and that bhikshus should not drink milk, eat meat, and so forth.

224. The last of the precursors to clear realization. See VI.19bc.

225. That is, offerings are made to the Three Jewels and those superior to oneself out of respect, and gifts are given to those below oneself out of a wish to help.

226. See the commentary to IV.4a.

227. Attaining the mind’s ornament means miraculous powers. The mind’s necessities are the eightfold noble path. The collection of yogas are tranquility and insight meditation. The supreme purpose is attaining arhatship and nirvana. (Mi bskyod rdo rje 2005, Vol. 3, 331)

228. That is, before he attained the Noble paths while sitting under the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya.

229. That is, the associated mental factors.

230. Both individuals who have entered the path and those who have not entered the path have the precursors to merit. The precursor to freedom is equivalent to the path of accumulation. (Mi bskyod rdo rje 2003, vol. 2. 127)

231. See VI.17ff.

FIFTH AREA

Teachings on the Kernels

Your wisdom itself, from its origin truly awake,

Makes gifts that illumine all wanderers with help and with happiness

By tearing away all the darkness of the fleeting stains—

You great precious Kagyupas, grant us your blessings.

The thicket of suffering and origin’s faults not ripped out,

We have not arrived in complete freedom’s happiest place,

So in order to cut out its radix, the kernels,

I’ll open the door to the Treasury that teaches the kernels.

The fifth area, the “Teachings on the Kernels,” has an explanation of the text of the area and a presentation of the area’s name. The explanation of the text of the area has three topics: I. The nature of the kernels, II. What discards the kernels, and III. The results of discarding the kernels.

I. The nature of the kernels. This has two topics: A. Teaching the kernels as the root of existence, and B. Understanding the kernels.

A. Teaching the kernels as the root of existence

1a

e root of existence is the kernels.

“From karma are various worlds born,” it is explained. That karma is accumulated by the power of the afflicted kernels: without the kernels, existence would not be able to be manifestly established, so for that reason, know that the root of existence is the kernels.

B. Understanding the kernels. This has three topics: 1. Classifications of the kernels, 2. How the kernels arise, and 3. Enumeration of the kernels.

1. Classifications of the kernels. This has three topics: a. Classifications of the essence, b. Classifications of the aspects, and c. Classifications of what has the kernels.

a. Classifications of the essence. This has two topics: i. General classification, and ii. Specifically classifying views and pride.

i. General classification. This has four topics: (1) Classifying as six, (2) Classifying as seven, (3) Classifying as ten, and (4) Classifying as ninety-eight.

(1) Classifying as six

1bc

ey’re six: desire, and likewise anger,

Pride, ignorance, and view, and doubt.

To classify the kernels concisely, there are six. What are the six? They are desire, and likewise anger, pride, ignorance, and view, and doubt, because they are ascertained to be six in their focus. The word “likewise” means that anger and the others can likewise develop in relation to anything that desire focuses on.

(2) Classifying as seven. This has two points.

(a) Actual classification

1d

ese six are taught as seven when

2a

Desire is split.

These six kernels are taught as seven kernels when desire is split into the desire for Desire and the desire for existence, because then there are desire for Desire, anger, desire for existence, pride, ignorance, view, and doubt.

Here the meaning of what are called kernels is proposed by the Great Exposition to be manifest afflictions, by the Vatsiputrīyas to be attainment, and by the Sutra school to be seeds.

(b) Identifying desire for existence

2a–d

at which arises

In two realms is desire for existence

Since it looks inward. It is taught

To rebut the idea it is freedom.

That desire which arises in the two Form and Formless realms is explained to be desire for existence since they, the two desires of Form and Formless, are attachment to absorption and its support, so they are similar in looking inward. The reason it is taught that these are desire for existence is to rebut the wrong idea that it, existence in those two realms, is freedom.

(3) Classifying as ten

3.

Five views are personality;

Wrong view; and holding the extremes;

Overesteeming view; and discipline,

Austerity. ere are thus ten.

In the abhidharma, the kernels are also classified as ten by dividing view into five views. These are the view of personality, and wrong view, and the view of holding the extremes, the view of overesteeming view, and the view of overesteeming discipline and austerity. There are thus five views and five nonviews, for a total of ten kernels.

(4) Classifying as ninety-eight. This has two topics: (a) Actual, and (b) Additional point.

(a) Actual. This has three topics: (i) Explaining the thirty-six included in the level of Desire, (ii) Explaining the sixty-two included in the levels of the higher realms, and (iii) Summary.

(i) Explaining the thirty-six included in the level of Desire. This has two points.

A. Explaining the thirty-two discarded by seeing

4.

ey’re ten and seven, seven and eight,

Excluding three or else two views.

When suffering and so forth of Desire

Is seen, they are discarded in order.

The Sutra of Abhidharma explains the kernels as ninety-eight. To summarize, they are the discards of seeing and meditation of all three realms. Of these, they, the discards of seeing of the Desire realm are thirty-two: from the previously explained ten, they are all ten of suffering, and seven of origin, seven of cessation, and eight of path. For origin and cessation, there are these ten excluding the three views of personality, extreme, and overesteeming discipline and austerity, or else for the path, the first two personality and extreme views, because a discard must mistakenly engage the truths either directly or indirectly, and those views do not mistakenly engage those truths.

When the nature of the truths of suffering and so forth—origin, cessation, and path—of Desire is seen, they are discarded in order.

B. Explaining the four discarded by meditation

5a

Four are discards of meditation.

The four that cannot be discarded by seeing the truth—desire, anger, pride, and ignorance—are discards of meditation, because they are discarded by meditating on the path.

In summary, there are twelve views, four types of doubt, five types of desire, five types of anger, five types of pride and five types of ignorance for a total of thirty-six kernels that function in Desire.

(ii) Explaining the sixty-two included in the levels of the higher realms

5bc

Excluding anger, these same are

In Form. e Formless is like that.

In the higher realms, one’s being is moistened by tranquility, the bodily support is clear, and the basis for anger’s development, the feeling of suffering, is absent. Therefore excluding anger, these same thirty-one kernels function in the Form realm. The Formless is like that Form realm with thirty-one kernels. Thus for the higher realms one should recite the verses thus:

They’re nine and six and six and seven,

Excluding anger, three, two views.

When suffering and so forth of Form

Is seen, they are discarded in order.

Three are discards of meditation.

(iii) Summary

5d

us they’re proposed as ninety-eight.

Thus by classifying the six kernels in terms of aspect, class, and realm, they, the kernels are proposed as ninety-eight by the masters of the abhidharma.

Here in the Compendium of Ascertainments,[232] the view of overesteeming discipline and austerity is said to mistakenly engage all four truths, so there are ninety-four discards of seeing. The discards of meditation are explained similarly to this explanation. In the Compendium of Abhidharma,[233] all five views as explained to mistakenly engage all four truths, so there are 112 discards of seeing, and the views of personality and holding extremes also have instinctive types that are discards of meditation, for a total of sixteen discards of meditation. Drangti explains that the former is the tradition of the Sutra school and the latter of the Mind Only school. The Great Chim says that both are the Mind Only tradition, but the first is in terms of actually exclusive aspects and the latter in terms of mere exclusion.

(b) Additional point

6.

e Peak’s that forbearance destroys,

Are discards just of seeing. On others,

Of seeing and meditation. What forbearance

Does not destroy are just of meditation.

Well then, are the discards of seeing definitely discarded by seeing? It is not definite. There are two types of discards that are destroyed: those destroyed by forbearance and those destroyed by knowing. The first is equivalent to the discards of seeing and the second to the discards of meditation. The discards born on the Peak of Existence that forbearance destroys are definitely discards just of seeing, but those on the other eight levels that forbearance destroys can be discarded by both the path of seeing and the path of meditation. When nobles discard them, they are discarded by the path of seeing, and when the childish discard them, by the path of meditation. Those discards of meditation that forbearance does not destroy are discards just of the path of meditation, because it is impossible for the path of seeing to abandon a discard of meditation.

The path of meditation can be either defiled or undefiled. Of these two, the former is the eight preparations for the levels from the first dhyana to the Peak, which take coarseness and purity as their aspects. The second, the undefiled path of meditation, is the subsequent knowing of path and so forth.[234]

ii. Specifically classifying views and pride. This has two topics: (1) Classifying views, and (2) Classifying pride.

(1) Classifying views. This has three topics: (a) The nature of each of the five views, (b) The reason the fifth is not a discard of seeing the origin, and (c) Classifying as the four erroneous.

(a) The nature of each of the five views

7.

As me, mine; permanent and ceasing;

As nonexistent; overesteeming

e low; and viewing what is not cause

Or path as such: these are five views.

What is the nature of the five views? you ask. When focusing on the aggregates of grasping, viewing them as me and mine is personality view. Viewing that me itself as permanent or ceasing is extreme view. Viewing the truth of suffering and so forth as nonexistent is wrong view. Overesteeming the low, personality view, and the others, is overesteeming the view. And viewing what is not the cause—Indra, the Lord of Living Creatures Brahma, and so forth—as the cause, viewing what is not the cause of high realms—entering fire and water and so forth[235]—as the cause of high realms, or viewing what is not the path—mere śīla and austerity—as such is overesteeming discipline and austerity. These are the natures of each of the five views.

(b) The reason the fifth is not a discard of seeing the origin

8.

Since clinging to Ishvara, et cetera,

As cause, initially mistakes

em to be permanent and self,

Just seeing suffering discards it.

If viewing as a cause what is not a cause is overesteeming discipline and austerity, why is it not also a discard of seeing origin? you ask. This is since clinging to or holding Ishvara, et cetera—things that are not causes—as causes initially engage by power of mistaken views of them as permanent and as a self. Directly seeing the characteristics of the truth of suffering eliminates clinging to permanence and a self. When that has been abandoned, viewing Ishvara and so forth who are not causes to be causes is also discarded. For that reason just seeing suffering discards it, clinging to Ishvara and so forth as causes.

(c) Classifying as the four erroneous. This has two points.

(i) Actual

9a–c

Among three views, there are four errors,

Since they’re mistaken, since they’re thoughts

at judge, since they exaggerate.

Well then, must the errors necessarily be just the two errors of self and permanence? you ask. Not necessarily. From among the three views of personality, extreme, and holding view supreme, there are four errors presented as one set. Clinging to a self is presented from personality view. The view of permanence is presented out of extreme view. Views of the clean and blissful are presented out of holding views supreme.

Well then, other afflictions are not presented as errors, so why are these three presented as errors? you say. They are presented as errors because of three reasons: because they are solely mistaken about their focus, since they are thoughts that judge, and since they exaggerate. Other afflictions do not fulfill one or more of those reasons, so they are not presented as errors.

(ii) Additional point

9d

Mind and conception, from their power.

Well then, both mind and conception must not be errors, because they do not make one have thoughts that judge. If you agree, it is contradictory of the sutras which tell of both erroneous mind and erroneous conception, you say. This is not contradictory, because mind and conception are concurrent with those erroneous views and so are presented as erroneous from their power.

Well then, the feelings that are concurrent with those three also become erroneous, you say. In common parlance, feelings are not called erroneous, so they do not become so.

(2) Classifying pride. This has three points.

(i) Actual classification

10a

e prides are seven. Nine types, three.

There are not only classifications of views: pride can be classified as well. There are seven types of pride: pride, superior pride, more proud than pride, pride in thinking me, pride of exaggeration, pride in thinking almost, and mistaken pride. The first is the conceit of thinking one is better than an inferior, and that one is equal to his equals. The second is thinking one is superior to his equals. The third is thinking one is superior to his betters. The fourth is the conceit of thinking, “That’s me” when focusing on the aggregates of grasping. The fifth is the conceit of thinking one has attained clairvoyant powers when one has not. The sixth is the conceit of thinking one is almost as good as his superiors. The seventh is thinking one has qualities he does not.

In the treatise Jñānaprasthāna, there are nine aspects of pride that are taught. The nine types are included in three: pride, superior pride, and pride in thinking almost.

(ii) What antidotes discard them

10b

Destroyed by seeing, meditation.

Those seven prides are destroyed by either the path of seeing or the path of meditation, because those concurrent with discards of seeing are extinguished by seeing and those concurrent with discards of meditation are extinguished by meditation.

(iii) Why discards of meditation do not manifest themselves in nobles’ beings even though they have not been discarded

10cd

Discards of meditation are

Entangled with killing and so forth.

11.

Craving destruction, too. In nobles,

e prides, et cetera, that think “me”—

Developed by view—do not occur.

Nor does nonvirtuous regret.

The nobles have not abandoned the discards of meditation, but do they act upon them? you ask. Kernels that are discards of meditation are entangled with the seven nonvirtues of killing and so forth and with what focuses on those. They have not been abandoned but they do not become manifest among nobles, because they are developed through the condition of wrong views, which nobles have abandoned. Similarly both craving destruction by thinking, “What would be wrong with ceasing to exist?” and craving birth, too, by thinking, “What would be wrong with becoming the lord of the gods?” do not manifest themselves in nobles, because they are developed by extreme views, which nobles have discarded.

In nobles, the nine types of pride, et cetera, and the pride that thinks “me” that are included among the discards of meditation do not manifestly occur, because they are developed by personality view, which nobles have abandoned. Nor does nonvirtuous regret become manifest because it is developed by doubt, which the nobles have discarded.

b. Classifications of the aspects. This has five topics: i. Classification of universal or not, ii. Distinctions of focusing on the undefiled or not, iii. Developed by concurrence and by focus, iv. Classification as nonvirtuous and neutral, and v. Which kernels tie one down in the three times.

i. Classification of universal or not. This has three points.

(1) Universals of same status realm

12.

e views and doubts that one discards

By seeing suffering and cause

And simultaneous and unmixed

Ignorance are the universals.

Among the kernels, how many are universal, and how many are not universal? you ask.[236] There are eleven universal kernels of same status: seven views—the five views discarded by seeing the truth of suffering plus the two discarded by seeing the truth of origin, wrong view and overesteeming view—two doubts that one discards by seeing the truths of suffering and cause; and the ignorance that is simultaneous with those; and unmixed ignorance that is not mixed with other kernels. These are the universal kernels of same status because they focus on all five classes of discards of their own level.

(2) Universals of realms of dissimilar status

13ab

Of these, the nine can focus higher,

Excluding two views.

Of these eleven universals, the nine kernels can focus on higher levels and realms, so they are universals of realms of dissimilar status. This is excluding the two of personality and extreme views, because these view only the aggregates of one’s own being mistakenly. The way these nine focus is that sometimes they focus on one realm of dissimilar status and sometimes on two, as is stated in the Treatise.

(3) Explaining other universals than those

13b–d

What arises

Along with them is universal

As well, attainment not included.

Are only kernels universal? you ask. What arises along with and at the same time as them, the kernels—feelings, etc., and arising, etc.—is universal as well. However, attainment is not included, because the kernels and attainment have dissimilar results, attainment does not produce full ripening, and their compatible causes are also dissimilar.

Here there are four alternatives between universal kernels and universal causes.

ii. Distinctions of focusing on the undefiled or not. This has two topics: (1) Those that focus on the undefiled, and (2) Those that do not focus on the undefiled.

(1) Those that focus on the undefiled. This has two points.

(a) Overview

14.

Wrong views and doubts discarded by

Seeing cessation and the path,

Concurrent and plain ignorance:

ese six take the undefiled as sphere.

How many of them focus on the defiled? How many focus on the undefiled? you ask. The two wrong views and two doubts discarded by seeing cessation and the path, the ignorance that is concurrent with them, and plain, unmixed ignorance: these six take the undefiled cessation and path as their sphere; those two are their object. In aspects, they engage them through denial, through being of two minds or other doubt, or through unclear aspect.

The mistaken engagements that focus on mistaken engagement of cessation and path and the mistaken engagements of suffering and origin focus on the defiled.[237]

(b) Explanation

15.

Cessation that is of their level.

Because paths can be mutual causes,

e paths of the six and nine levels

Are objects of whose sphere they are.

The object of the wrong views discarded by seeing cessation is the antidote, cessation that is of their own level. Because paths can be mutually causes of same status, the paths compatible with the dharma knowing of the six levels of dhyana are objects of the three of wrong views, et cetera, of Desire that have those paths as their sphere. And all the paths compatible with the subsequent knowing of the nine undefiled levels are the objects of wrong view, et cetera, of the eight higher levels whose sphere they, the paths, are in, because these paths are definitely in the family of antidotes of those levels.

(2) Those that do not focus on the undefiled

16.

Desire does not, since it’s discarded.

Nor hatred, since they do not harm.

Since they are peace, pure, and supreme,

Pride does not, nor does overesteeming.

Desire does not focus on cessation and path since its focus is that which is discarded only. Otherwise it would be like intention toward virtuous dharmas. Hatred focuses on things that generate hostility, so nor does hatred focus on cessation and path, since they do no harm. Additionally, since they are both peace, because they are pure and purifying, and because they are supreme, respectively, pride does not focus on the peaceful, nor are they the object of the views of overesteeming—the fifth view that holds what is not a purifier to be so, and the view of holding view supreme, which holds the inferior to be supreme. In this way, those that focus on the undefiled are direct mistaken engagements. Those that focus on the defiled of those two classes are mistaken engagements of mistaken engagements.

iii. Developed by concurrence and by focus. This has two points.

(1) Those which develop through focus

17.

e universal kernels can

Develop through a focus on

Any that is of their own level.

Nonuniversal, on own class.

18ab

Not those whose sphere is high or stainless,

Since those are not made mine, since anti.

Among the kernels, how many develop in terms of their focus? How many develop in terms of concurrence? you ask. The universal kernels can develop through a focus on any of the afflicted five classes that is of their own level. The nonuniversal develop through focus on their own class. This is in general.

Specifically, the kernels that do not develop through focus are those universal kernels whose sphere is the higher levels and the nonuniversals whose sphere is the stainless. This is since the kernels develop in relation to things that are divided into sets by craving and made into “mine” through self-view, whereas those are not made mine. It is also since the undefiled and higher levels are in the class of their antidotes, so they are overwhelmed. For example, a burning stone is not a place where one can rest the sole of one’s foot.

(2) Those which develop through concurrence

18cd

e ones concurrent with one, then

Develop through concurrence with that.

The ones, kernels, which are concurrent with one cognition, feeling, or other dharma, then develop through concurrence with that dharma. The word “then” draws the distinction that this is as long as it has not been abandoned. Kernels, such as the two concurrences with pleasure and greed, that have been abandoned when past are on the past level, and when future, they are simultaneously on the future level. However, they do not develop, as in the example of Shariputra.[238]

Therefore, all kernels that focus on the undefiled and all those which focus on the higher realms’ defiled develop only through concurrence. The remainder develop through either focus or concurrence. There are none which develop solely through focus.

iv. Classification as nonvirtuous and neutral. This has three topics: (1) Actual, (2) Specifics of the roots, and (3) An elaboration.

(1) Actual

19.

In higher, all neutral. In Desire,

e personality, extreme,

And simultaneous ignorance.

e rest here are nonvirtuous.

How many of the kernels are nonvirtuous? How many are neutral? you ask. The kernels that arise in the higher Form and Formless realms are all neutral, because the full ripening of afflicted dharmas is suffering, and that is in neither of those two as there is no cause for harming another. In Desire, the view of personality, the view of holding extremes, and simultaneous ignorance—ignorance concurrent with them—are neutral, because they are not exclusive of generosity and other such virtuous dharmas, and because they look inward so they are unable to motivate harmful conduct. The rest, kernels other than those three, here in the Desire realm are nonvirtuous.

(2) Specifics of the roots. This has two topics: (a) The roots of nonvirtue, and (b) The roots of the neutral.

(a) The roots of nonvirtue

20ab

Desire, aversion, and delusion

In Desire are the roots of nonvirtue.

How many of them are roots of nonvirtue? How many are not? you ask. All desire, aversion, and delusion in the Desire realm, except those concurrent with personality view and extreme view, are the roots of nonvirtue. Only those that are both nonvirtues and also the roots of nonvirtue are agreed to be the roots of nonvirtue. The remaining kernels of doubt and pride are nonvirtuous, but they are not the roots of nonvirtue.

(b) The roots of the neutral. This has two points.

(i) Kashmiri tradition

20cd

ere are three roots of neutral: craving,

And ignorance, intelligence.

21ab

Others act dually, loftily,

So they are not.

How many of them are roots of the neutral? How many are not? you ask. The Kashmiris say that there are three roots of the neutral. They, the roots, are craving, and ignorance, and intelligence or full knowing. The latter can be arisen from full ripening, but those that are slightly neutral are the roots of the neutral.[239] Others, doubt and pride, which are other than those kernels, act in doubt’s case dually and unstably, and in pride’s case loftily, they do not deserve to be called roots. In common parlance, roots are said to be things that are stable and underneath. So thus they, doubt and pride, are not roots, because they are dissimilar to roots, it is said.

(ii) Aparāntakas’ tradition

21b–d

e Bāhyaka

Propose these four: craving, view, pride,

Delusion. From ignorance, three dhyanists.

The Bāhyaka (Aparāntakas) propose these four roots of the neutral: craving, view, pride, and delusion. What is the reason? you ask. From the power of ignorance, there arise the three meditators of dhyana, who have excessive craving, view, and pride.

(3) An elaboration

22.

Categorical, distinguishing,

And questioning, and the declining

Responses answer queries on death,

Rebirth, superior, self or other.

What are the fourteen neutral, indeterminate dharmas mentioned in the scriptures? you ask. They are questions whose answer was not actually indicated, so they are called neutral or indeterminate. Giving a categorical response, distinguishing response, and questioning response, and the declining response are four ways to answer queries. The first of these is like when asked, “Will all beings die?” answering, “They will die.” The second is like when asked, “Will all who die be reborn?” answering, “Those who have not extinguished the afflictions will be reborn, but those who have will not.” The third is like when asked, “Is this person inferior or superior?” responding with the question, “In relation to whom? In relation to gods he is inferior. In relation to the lower realms, he is superior.” The fourth is like when asked, “Is the self other than the aggregates or not?” This is asking about nonexistent attributes, like whether the child of a childless woman is blue or white, so it is something to put aside only. The fourteen indeterminates are similar.

v. Which kernels tie one down in the three times. This has four topics: (1) The things to which one is tied, (2) Examining the three times, (3) Discarded yet possessed, and (4) Which dharmas are the objects of which cognitions.

(1) The things to which one is tied. This has two topics: (a) How specific afflictions bind, and (b) How general afflictions bind.

(a) How specific afflictions bind.[240] This has two points.

(i) How they bind in the past and present

23.

One is tied down to things toward which

Desire and anger, pride as well,

Of both the past and present have

Arisen but not been abandoned.

One is tied down to any thing that is an object, toward which object desire, and anger, and pride as well, of both the past and present have arisen but not been abandoned. The individual is tied down to them because they are specific afflictions. For example, it is like when a calf is tied to a stake with a rope, the calf cannot leave the area where it is tied.

(ii) How they bind in the future

24a–c

e future mental tie to all.

e others tie in their own time.

e nonarising, to all times.

The future desire, anger, and pride associated with the mental consciousness that has arisen but not been abandoned tie one to all things of the three times, because all three times are the object of mind. Desire and anger that are future arising dharma bases of the five groups of consciousness other than the mental tie one down in their own time, the future focus. The desire and anger of the five groups of consciousness that are nonarising dharma bases tie one down to the things they focus on in all three times, like flax.[241]

(b) How general afflictions bind

24d

All that remain tie one to all.

As long as they have not been discarded, all that remain—view, doubt, and ignorance of all three times—tie one to all things that are objects of focus of all three times in all five classes, because they are general afflictions[242] as they are tied to all five aggregates.

(2) Examining the three times. This has two topics: (a) Presenting the position of this school, and (b) Rebutting criticism.

(a) Presenting the position of this school. This has three topics: (i) The position that all three times exist substantially, (ii) Presenting the proof, and (iii) Teaching that this is the tradition of the Great Exposition.

(i) The position that all three times exist substantially

25a

e times always exist,

Well then, do past, present, and future composites exist substantially or not? If so, they must be permanent. If not, one cannot be tied to them in the present, you say. The position is that the times always, at all times, exist.[243]

(ii) Presenting the proof. This has two points.

A. Scriptural proof

25ab

it was said.

Since two,

The times exist because it was taught in a sutra:

Bhikshus, if there were no past form, the well-versed noble listeners would not view past forms, but because past form exists, the well-versed noble listeners view past form…

So it was said. It is also since it was said that consciousness arises from the two, object and faculty.

B. Logical proof

25b

objects exist, result.

The past and future exist in their own time because if the focused object exists, consciousness arises, but if it does not exist, consciousness does not arise. Since the past and future can be objects of the mind consciousness, they must therefore exist. Also because there is production by past karma of a later fully ripened result, we know the past exists.

(iii) Teaching that this is the tradition of the Great Exposition. This has three points: A. Actual, B. Divisions of schools, and C. Analyzing which of the four traditions is best.

A. Actual

25cd

Because they say these all exist,

ey’re called ose Who Say All Exists.

Someone who claims to be a Sarvāstivādin must certainly hold this position, it is known. Because they say these three times all exist, they are called Those Who Say All Exists, or Sarvāstivādin. Those who distinguish and say the present and past karma that has not yet produced a result exist, but the future and the past that has produced a result do not exist, are called Vibhajyavādin, those who say there is a distinction.

B. Divisions of schools

26ab

ey’re four, called thing and character

And state and relative dependence.

They, the Sarvāstivādins, have four traditions, called transforming thing, transforming characteristics, transforming state, and relative dependence.

The first of these is the tradition of the Venerable Dharmatrāta. He says that as dharmas progress through time, the thing transforms, but the substance does not transform. For example, if you destroy a gold vessel and make it into something else, the shape has changed but the gold’s color and nature do not change. The second is the tradition of Venerable Ghoṣaka. He says that as dharmas progress through time, in the past it possesses the characteristics of the past, but it does not not possess the characteristics of the other two times. The others times are similar. For example, when one man feels manifest lust for one woman, he is not free of desire for others.

The third is the tradition of Venerable Vasumitra. He says that as dharmas progress through time, when the action has not been done, they are future. When the action is being done, they are present. When the action has been done and ceased, they are past. When they go from one time period to another, they are different in terms of being in a different state, but not in terms of substance. For example, if you put a token in the ones column it is called “one,” but if you put it in the hundreds column it is called “one hundred.”

The fourth is the tradition of Venerable Buddhadeva. He says that as dharmas progress through time, in relation to earlier and later they are called differently. For example, one woman can be both a mother and a daughter.

C. Analyzing which of the four traditions is best

26cd

e third is best, because the times

Are there presented through their action.

The first tradition is subsumed within the non-Buddhist Saṃkhya tradition because it says that dharmas completely transform. In the second, since everything has the characteristics of all the times, the times would get mixed up. The fourth is illogical as well, since at any one time all three times would be present. Therefore of all these traditions, the third, transforming state, is the best position, because the times of past and so forth are there presented through or in terms of their action. Any dharma that has not yet performed its action is future. When it is doing its action, it is present. When the action is done and ceased, it is past, so it is heard.

(b) Rebutting criticism. This has two points.

A. The criticism

27a-c

ey’d block. What’s it? Not different,

Not logical as time. If they

Exist, why don’t they arise and perish?

They, the two times, would block the action from happening because they have action and exist substantially. Additionally, what is it, so-called action—is it different from time or not? If it is different from time, then it is noncompound, and so action would be permanent. However, if it is not different, all the times would have action, so it would not be logical for the action not to be performed in the past and the future times as well.

If the action exists, then it is not separate from time, but in the two times the action has not arisen or it has destroyed, so it does not exist, you say. That also does not make sense. If you propose that just as they are in the present, they, actions, also exist in the other two times, one must ask why do they not arise and perish in them? It would follow that action should not be arisen and should have perished in the present.

B. Its rebuttal

27d

So deep are the natures of dharmas.

The Great Exposition says that the past and future must exist. To those who cannot be convinced, they say, “So deep are the natures, the inherent essences, of dharmas, which without a doubt are not the sphere of sophists.”

(3) Discarded yet possessed. This has two points.

(a) Discards of seeing

28ab

Suffering is seen, they’ve been discarded;

Still other universals bind them.

When one has discarded a thing, has it been removed—that is, is one free of it? Has everything one has removed been abandoned? you ask. When one has removed something, one has abandoned it, but it is possible to abandon something without removing it. When suffering is seen, they, all those kernels, have been discarded upon seeing suffering, but still the other remaining universals that are discarded by seeing the origin bind them.

(b) Discards of meditation

28cd

e first has been abandoned, yet

Still tied by stains whose sphere it’s in.

Among the nine types of discards of meditation, the first, the greater of greater, may have been abandoned and removed,[244] yet one is still tied to it by the focus of the remaining stains whose sphere it is in, the middle greater, lesser greater, and so forth afflictions that focus on it.

(4) Which dharmas are the objects of which cognitions. This has two topics: (a) Which cognitions focus on the five dharmas of each of the three realms, and (b) Which cognitions focus on the undefiled.

(a) Which cognitions focus on the five dharmas of each of the three realms. This has two topics: (i) Which cognitions focus on the first two discards of seeing and the discards of meditation, and (ii) Which cognitions focus on discards of seeing cessation and path.

(i) Which cognitions focus on the first two discards of seeing and the discards of meditation. This has three points.

A. Which cognitions focus on those on the level of Desire

29.

ose of Desire, discards of seeing

Suffering and cause, of meditation,

Are in the sphere of their own three,

Of one of Form, of stainless, too.

In order to easily understand with few words how many kernels develop through focus on the different classes of things, this is taught in brief. To briefly categorize all dharmas that are objects, there are the five classes of discards in each of the three realms plus undefiled dharmas, for a total of sixteen classes. The perceiving subjects, cognitions, are likewise also sixteen. The word cognition is used as an illustration—it includes all the concurrences.

Among these, those of Desire that are discards of seeing suffering and its cause, the origin, and those which are discards of the path, meditation—three dharmas—are in the sphere of the five subjects each: their own three cognitions of Desire, of one virtuous cognition, the preparation for the first dhyana included within meditation discards of the Form realm, and also the consciousness that is compatible with stainless dharma knowing.

B. Which cognitions focus on those on the levels of Form

30ab

And those of Form are in their own,

ree low, one high, and stainless, too.

And those same three classes of dharmas[245] of the Form realm are in the sphere of eight cognitions. They are the objects of the three of their own cognitions in the Form realm, three from the lower Desire realm—the two universals of dissimilar status and virtuous discards of meditation—one cognition from the preparation for Infinite Space from the higher Formless, and the consciousness that is compatible with stainless subsequent knowing, too.

C. Which cognitions focus on those on the levels of Formless

30cd

ose of the Formless, in the sphere

Of these three of three realms, of stainless.

Those same three classes of dharmas of the Formless are the focus of ten cognitions. They are in the sphere of these three classes of cognitions of three realms, or nine cognitions, plus the sphere of stainless cognition.

(ii) Which cognitions focus on discards of seeing cessation and path

31ab

Discards of seeing path and cessation,

Are in the same spheres, plus their own.

The dharmas of the three realms that are discards of seeing path and cessation are the in the same sphere of all the previous minds, plus the cognitions of their own class.

(b) Which cognitions focus on the undefiled

31cd

e undefiled are in the sphere

Of three realms’ last three and the stainless.

The undefiled are in the sphere of each of the three realms’ last three of the five classes of discards—they are in the sphere of the direct mistaken engagements of cessation and path, and of virtuous discards of meditation—and also the stainless undefiled cognition. Thus they are the sphere of ten cognitions.

c. Classifications of what has the kernels

32ab

Two ways the afflicted can have kernels;

e unafflicted, through development.

If the fifteen dharmas and cognitions are put forth as defiled, do they have kernels only through the development of the kernels? you ask. First of all, it is presented that there are two ways or reasons by which the afflicted cognitions can have kernels. When their companions, the kernels, have not been abandoned, the kernels develop in them, so they are presented as having the kernels. Kernels that have been abandoned do not develop in but do coexist with afflicted minds, which are thus presented as having those kernels.

If the kernels have been abandoned, how can they coexist with an afflicted mind? you ask. When abandoning the kernels, they are not separated from the afflicted mind and then discarded. Instead they are abandoned together with it. Since this merely makes it so that they will not arise in the future, they still coexist in the period of the past, it is said.

All defilements of the unafflicted minds, such as defiled virtue, are presented as having them, the kernels, through the development of the kernels through focus.

2. How the kernels arise. This has two points.

a. The order in which they arise

32cd

Out of delusion, doubt; from that,

Wrong view, then personality.

33.

From that, extreme, then overesteeming

Discipline, overesteeming view.

For one’s own view, there’s pride, attachment,

And hate for others, in this order.

First out of total delusion about the truths comes doubt, and then from hearing or contemplating wrongly, wrong view arises. From that denial of the selfless nature of the aggregates then comes the view of personality. From that comes holding the extremes of oneself as permanent or ceasing, and then, from that extreme view, comes the belief in the purifying power of discipline and austerities, the view of overesteeming discipline and austerities, and then overesteeming that inferior view itself. Next, for one’s own view, there is pride and attachment that arise, and out of excessive attachment to one’s own view, there is hate for others. Thus they arise in this order.

b. The causes of their arising

34.

e kernels being not abandoned,

e object being present near,

And inappropriate attention

Fulfill the causes of afflictions.

There are three principal causes that produce the afflictions: The kernels being not abandoned—if one has not severed the attainment of the origin of the kernels, they have not been abandoned; the object that is compatible with the arising of the afflictions being present near; and by the immediate condition of being mistaken about the appearance of the object, inappropriate attention.

These produce the afflictions. These three are the power of cause, object, and training. These fulfill the principal causes of the afflictions.

However, they do not necessarily all have to be fulfilled, because from the power of the object alone arhats can regress, it is heard. The Sutra school is skeptical of this: it says that arhats cannot regress from abandonment.

3. Enumeration of the kernels. This has three topics: a. The actual enumeration, b. What the kernels are concurrent with, and c. Teaching the five obscurations.

a. The actual enumeration. The first has two topics: i. Points from the sutras, and ii. Points from the treatises.

i. Points from the sutras. This has two topics: (1) Actual, and (2) Explaining terms.

(1) Actual. This has three topics: (a) Defilements, (b) Floods and yokes, and (c) Grasping.

(a) Defilements. This has three topics: (i) Defilements of Desire, (ii) Defilements of existence, and (iii) The reason ignorance is taught separately as a defilement.

(i) Defilements of Desire

35ab

In Desire, defilements are the afflictions

Except delusion, and the entanglers.

In the Desire realm, the defilements are the afflictions except the five delusions—the twelve views, four doubts, and five each of desire, anger, and pride for thirty-one—and the ten entanglers of shamelessness and so forth that will be explained below.[246] Thus there are forty-one defilements of Desire.

(ii) Defilements of existence. This has two points.

A. Identifying the character base

35cd

In Form and Formless, kernels alone

Are the defilements of existence.

In Form and in Formless, excluding ignorance, there are the twelve views, four doubts, five desires, and five prides for twenty-six that function in Form and also twenty-six that function in Formless. These fifty-two kernels alone are the defilements of existence.

B. The reason the two higher realms’ are defilements of existence

36ab

Since they are neutral and look inward

On levels of equipoise, they’re one.

Since they, the kernels of both of the higher realms are neutral, and since they do not primarily act on an object but mainly engage by looking inward, and since they are on levels of equipoise, for those three comparable reasons they are combined into one and called the defilements of existence.

(iii) The reason ignorance is taught separately as a defilement

36cd

e root is ignorance, so it

Is taught as a separate defilement.

The root of the defilements of Desire, etc., and of samsara is ignorance, so it is especially harmful. For that reason, the fifteen types of ignorance of the three realms are taught as a separate defilement.

(b) Floods and yokes

37.

e floods and yokes are like that, too,

But views are separate, since they’re sharp.

Not as defilements—without helpers,

ey do not tend to put, it’s claimed.

The floods number four: except for the views, the defilements of Desire are the floods of Desire. The defilements of existence themselves are the floods of existence. There are the floods of views and the floods of ignorance. The yokes should be known like that, too. But the views are by nature full knowing, so they are taught separately as floods and yokes since they are sharp, it is heard. Why are they not taught as separate defilements? you ask. The views are not taught as separate defilements, as the meaning of defilement is “that which puts one in samsara,” but without helpers, the views are sharp so they do not tend to put one into samsara. The aside “it is claimed” is said in order to teach that ignorance should not be taught as a separate floods or yoke because it is also stable and unclear, explains Purṇavardhana.

Thus there are twenty-nine floods of Desire, twenty-eight of existence, thirty-six of views, and fifteen of ignorance. The first is the fifteen floods of desire, anger, and pride; four types of doubt; and ten entanglers for a total of twenty-nine. The second is five types each of desire and pride for each of the two realms plus eight types of doubt for a total of twenty-eight. The third is twelve views for each of the three realms, or thirty-six. The fourth is the fifteen types of ignorance of the three realms. The yokes are the same.

(c) Grasping

38.

ose just explained and ignorance,

With views divided into two,

Are grasping. Ignorance produces

No clinging, and it is combined.

Among those just explained, the twenty-nine substances of the yokes of Desire and the five types of ignorance, or thirty-four substances only, are grasping at Desire: five each of desire, anger, pride, and ignorance; four doubts; and ten entanglers. The thirty-eight substances of the floods of existence, including ignorance, are grasping at belief in a self: five each of desire, pride, and ignorance for each higher realm; and eight doubts. However, it is not that this does not make four[247] because the views are divided into the two of grasping at views and grasping at discipline and austerity.

Grasping at discipline and austerity has one each for both suffering and path in each of the three realms, for a total of six. Why are these pulled out separately from view? you ask. They are enemies of the path and deceive both householders and those who have gone forth, so they are taught separately as grasping.

Well then, why is ignorance explained as combined with the other graspings and not taught separately? you ask. The reason for this is because the meaning of grasping is clinging to existence, but unmixed ignorance is not strong and produces no clinging to existence, and it, mixed ignorance, is combined with the afflictions other than view and taught as grasping.

(2) Explaining terms. This has two points.

(a) Explaining the meaning of kernels

39.

Since they are subtle, since connected,

Since they develop in two ways,

Since they pursue, because of these,

ey are explained to be the kernels.

What is the reason to teach the afflictions as kernels and so forth? you ask. Since they are subtle causes or engagements, since they are connected with attainment, since they develop in two ways through focus and concurrence, and since until they are discarded they pursue not secretly but manifestly, because of these four reasons, they are explained to be the kernels. The first and third are the actual explanation of the word, and the other two explain the meaning.[248]

(b) Explaining the meaning of defilements and so forth

40.

Because they put and ooze, because

ey carry away, attach, and grasp:

ese are the explanations of

e words defilement and so forth.

Also, because they, the afflictions, put and yoke one into samsara in an unmoving way and ooze and flow through the wounds of the six sense bases;[249] because they lead or carry one away to other wanderings and other lands; because they yoke and attach one to places and things; and because they cling to the body of existence, or closely hold and grasp the consciousness of Desire and so forth, these are the explanations of the words defilement and so forth, including floods, yokes, and grasping.[250]

ii. Points from the treatises. This has two topics: (1) Overview, and (2) Explanation.

(1) Overview

41ab

When these are classified as fetters,

Et cetera, they’re taught as five types.

When these afflictions are classified as the fetters, et cetera, including bonds, kernels, near afflictions, and entanglers, they are taught as five types.

(2) Explanation. This has four topics: (a) Fetters, (b) Bonds, (c) Near afflictions, and (d) Entanglers.

(a) Fetters. This has three topics: (i) Explaining the nine fetters, (ii) Those which lead to the lowest, and (iii) Those which lead to the higher.

(i) Explaining the nine fetters. This has three points.

A. Identifying the nine fetters

From a sutra:

The fetters are nine: the fetters of greed, anger, pride, ignorance, view, holding supreme, doubt, jealousy, and stinginess.

B. The reason that views are divided into two different fetters

41cd

Alike in substance, overesteeming,

e two views are a separate fetter.

Among the fetters, why are three views taught separately as the fetter of view and two views taught separately as the fetter of holding supreme? you ask. The first three and last two views are alike in having eighteen substances each, and because the last two views overesteem the first three—the first three are what is overesteemed and the last two are similar in overesteeming the inferior—so the latter two views are said to be a separate fetter from the first three.

C. The reason jealousy and stinginess are explained separately as fetters

42.

Since they are both nonvirtuous only,

And are autonomous, it’s taught

at jealousy and stinginess

Are fetters separate from those.

Among the eight entanglers, why are jealousy and stinginess explained as separate fetters? you ask. Since they, jealousy and stinginess, are both nonvirtuous only and, as they are concurrent only with ignorance, autonomous, it is taught that jealousy and stinginess only are fetters separate from those—the other six entanglers—which are not like that.

(ii) Those which lead to the lowest. This has two points.

A. Actual

43a–c

ere are five that lead to the lowest.

e two prevent transcendence of Desire.

e three will send one back.

The sutras explain that there are five fetters that lead to the lowest: personality view, overesteeming discipline and austerity, doubt, pleasure seeking, and malice. Lowest means the lowest of the three realms, the Desire realm: the inferior is indicated by the word “lowest.” These five are precursors to that.

Because they are consistent with Desire, the two guards of pleasure-seeking and malice prevent one from transcending the prison of Desire. If the guards are careless and one should escape, the three of personality view and so forth will send one back.

The Mind Only school says that the first three lead to the lowest of sentient beings, ordinary individuals, and the latter two lead to the lowest of the realms, the Desire realm.

B. Dispelling a doubt

43d

e three include the gates and roots.

44.

Not having any desire to go,

Wrong path, and doubt about the path

Prevent one from arriving at

Liberation, so these three are taught.

Why is it that when stream-enterers have discarded all the discards of seeing without exception, they are said to have only abandoned personality view, overesteeming discipline and austerity, and doubt? you ask.

These three are taught to include the gates and the roots of the afflictions discarded by seeing. The gates of the afflictions are onefold, twofold, and fourfold. Personality view includes one gate, discards of seeing suffering. Overesteeming includes the two outside gates, discards of seeing suffering and path. Doubt includes all four, discards of seeing the four truths.

The Master explains that these teach the blocks to discard that prevent stream-enterers from entering liberation. In order, they are inherently not having any desire to go to liberation, entering the wrong path, and doubt about path. These three alone prevent one from arriving at liberation, so these three are taught as an illustration of the primary obstacles.

(iii) Those that lead to the higher

45a–c

ere are just five that lead to higher:

e two desires of Form and Formless,

Excitement, pride, delusion, too.

Just as the Bhagavan explained that five fetters that lead to the lowest, there are just five fetters that are explained to lead to the higher Form and Formless—the two desires of Form and Formless, excitement, pride, and delusion or ignorance, too—because without discarding them one cannot transcend the higher realms.

(b) Bonds

45d

ree bonds by force of the three feelings.

The three bonds of desire, hatred, and delusion develop toward pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings by the force of the three feelings. Desire and hatred can develop on neutral feelings, but do not develop as much as delusion does. Because delusion corresponds to neutrality in being lacking intensity, it develops greatly.

(c) Near afflictions

46.

ose mental factors, different from

Afflictions, in the aggregate of

Formations are near afflictions, too.

ey are not to be called afflictions.

Those mental factors that are different from the root afflictions in meaning and are afflicted dharmas included in the aggregate of formations are near to the root afflictions, so they are the near afflictions, too. They are not to be called the root afflictions, because they are not roots. These are the entanglers and the filths, as well as the displeasure and yawns mentioned in the Minor Topics.[251]

(d) Entanglers. This has three topics: (i) Actual meaning, (ii) A supplementary explanation of the filths, and (iii) Explaining the distinctions among entanglers.

(i) Actual meaning. This has two topics: A. Identifying their essence, and B. What they are causally compatible with.

A. Identifying their essence. This has two points.

1. Those taught in the treatise Prakaraṇapāda

47.

Shamelessness and immodesty

And jealousy and stinginess,

Excitement, regret, torpor, sleep:

ese are the eight types of entanglers.

How many entanglers are there? you ask. They are shamelessness, immodesty, jealousy, stinginess, excitement, regret, torpor, and sleep: these are the eight types of entanglers. Virtuous regret and sleep are not included among these.

2. Those proposed by the Great Exposition

48a

Aggression and concealment.

The Great Exposition proposes that in addition to those, aggression and concealment are also entanglers, for a total of ten.

B. What they are causally compatible with

48a-d

From desire

Come shamelessness, excitement, stinginess.

Concealment is disputed. Ignorance

Gives rise to torpor, sleep, immodesty.

49ab

From doubt, there comes regret.

Aggression And jealousy are caused by anger.

The near afflictions are the causally compatible results of the root afflictions, so this verse teaches which root afflictions they arise out of. From desire come three: shamelessness, excitement, and stinginess. Some say concealment is causally compatible with craving, but some say it is causally compatible with ignorance, so it is disputed. Ignorance gives rise to the causally compatible results of torpor, sleep, and immodesty. From doubt, there comes regret. Aggression and jealousy are results caused by anger.

(ii) A supplementary explanation of the filths. This has two points.

A. The classification of the filths

49cd

ere also are six filths of affliction:

Pretense, deceit, and arrogance,

50ab

Contentiousness, resentment, and

Hostility.

Just as filth comes out of the body, there are also six filths that come out of the root afflictions: pretense, deceit, and arrogance, contentiousness, resentment, and hostility. The natures of these have already been taught above.[252]

B. Their individual causes

50b–d

Desire leads to

Pretense and arrogance. From anger,

Resentment and hostility.

51ab

From overesteeming views contentiousness.

View motivates deceit.

Of the six filths, desire leads to pretense and arrogance. From anger arise resentment and hostility. From overesteeming views comes contentiousness. The affliction wrong view motivates deceit.

(iii) Explaining the distinctions among the entanglers. This has three points.

A. Distinctions of whether they are discarded by seeing or by meditation

51b–d

Of these,

Immodesty, and shamelessness,

Excitement, torpor, sleep are twofold.

52ab

e rest, discards of meditation,

Are autonomous, as are the filths.

Of these ten entanglers that have been explained, the five of immodesty, and shamelessness, excitement, torpor, and sleep are twofold: they are discarded by both seeing and meditation. Those concurrent with discards of seeing are abandoned by seeing, and those concurrent with discards of meditation are abandoned by meditation. Other than those five, the rest—the five of jealousy and so on included among the near afflictions—are only discards of meditation and are autonomous, because those five are concurrent only with ignorance. Just as the five of jealousy and so forth are autonomous discards of meditation, likewise the six afflicted filths are discards of meditation and autonomous.

B. Distinctions between nonvirtuous and neutral

52cd

ey are nonvirtue in Desire.

ree twofold. Above they are neutral.

They, the seven entanglers that have been explained, excluding torpor, excitement, sleep, deceit, and so forth, are nonvirtue in the Desire realm. The three of torpor, excitement, and sleep are twofold: either nonvirtue or neutral. Above that Desire realm, they, the near afflictions that can possibly be found there, are neutral.

C. Distinctions of realm and level

53.

Deceit and pretense are in Desire

And on first dhyan, as Brahma deludes.

Torpor, excitement, arrogance

Are in three realms. e rest in Desire.

Both deceit and pretense are in Desire and on the first two dhyanas. When noble Aśvajit asked Great Brahma where the four sources cease, even though he did not know, Brahma replied saying, “I am Brahma, I am Great Brahma.” As Brahma tried to delude Aśvajit with such inappropriate answers as these, there is pretense, which also proves that there is deceit.

Torpor, excitement, and arrogance are in three realms. Excluding those three, pretense, and deceit, the rest—the eleven that remain—arise in the Desire realm only.

b. What the kernels are concurrent with. This has two topics: i. Which cognitions they are concurrent with, and ii. Which feelings they are concurrent with.

i. Which cognitions they are concurrent with

54.

Discards of seeing, sleep, and pride:

On the level of mind consciousness.

Autonomous near afflictions, too.

e others, in six consciousnesses.

All the root and near afflictions that are discards of seeing and the discards of meditation, sleep, and pride are all only on the level of mind consciousness. The eleven autonomous near afflictions are like that, too. The ones contained among discards of meditation other than those, including the three poisons, shamelessness, immodesty, torpor, excitement, carelessness, laziness, and faithlessness, are supported in all six consciousnesses.

ii. Which feelings they are concurrent with. This has two topics: (1) Which root afflictions are concurrent with which feelings, and (2) Which near afflictions are concurrent with which feelings

(1) Which root afflictions are concurrent with which feelings. This has two points.

(a) In Desire

55.

Desire can be concurrent with

e pleasures. Hate is the reverse.

Ignorance with all. e nihilist,

With pleasure of mind, unhappiness.

56a–c

Doubt with unhappiness. e others

With happiness when in Desire.

And all with neutral.

Desire can be concurrent with the pleasures of body and mind. Hate is the reverse, concurrent with duḥkha of body and mind. Ignorance is concurrent with all five feelings. The nihilistic view is concurrent with nonvirtuous pleasure of mind and for those with meritorious karma, with unhappiness. Doubt is concurrent with unhappiness. The other five kernels are on the mental level and have a joyous aspect only, so they are concurrent with happiness. This is in terms of strong instances when they arise in Desire. When they are directed toward ceasing, they are weak, so they are all ascertained to be concurrent with neutral and all afflictions.

(b) In the higher realms

56cd

Higher levels

Are with those which are on their level.

The afflictions of higher levels of Form and Formless are, according to their level, concurrent with those consciousnesses and faculties of feelings that are present on their own level. Which consciousnesses and feelings are present on which levels has already been explained.[253]

(2) Which near afflictions are concurrent with which feelings.

57.

Regret, and jealousy, and anger,

Hostility, resentment, and

Contentiousness with unhappiness.

But stinginess, with opposite.

58.

Deceit, pretense, concealment, sleep

Concur with both, while arrogance

Is with two pleasures. Neutral feeling

With all. e other four with five.

Because regret, and jealousy, and anger, hostility, resentment, and contentiousness engage with the aspect of discontent and are on the level of mind, they are concurrent with unhappiness. But stinginess is concurrent with the opposite, mental pleasure, because it arises from the cause of greed and engages with the aspect of joy. Deceit, pretense, concealment, and sleep are concurrent with both mental pleasure and mental unhappiness, because sometimes one deludes another out of mental pleasure, and sometimes out of mental unhappiness. It is similar for pretense, concealment, and sleep, while arrogance is concurrent with the two pleasures, the pleasure of mind of the second dhyana and below and the pleasure of the third dhyana. Neutral feeling, as it goes with all the near afflictions, is concurrent with all, just as above. The other four, the entanglers of shamelessness, immodesty, torpor, and excitement, are concurrent with the five faculties of feeling, because the first two are the nonvirtuous major ground and the other two are the afflicted major ground.

c. Teaching the five obscurations. This has two topics: i. Their essences, and ii. Establishing their quantity.

i. Their essences

59a

e obscurations are in Desire.

From a sutra:

Pleasure-seeking, malice, torpor and sleep, excitement and regret, and doubt are the five obscurations.

Of these that are taught, torpor, excitement, and doubt are in all three realms, so are those of all three realms obscurations, or just those of Desire? you ask. It is the latter. From a sutra:

These are an unmixed, complete, and total heap of nonvirtue. They are thus: the five obscurations.

This says that they are solely nonvirtue. The obscurations of the dhyanas and absorptions are in Desire but not in the other realms.

ii. Establishing their quantity. This has two points.

(1) The reason this is not contradictory with the explanation of them as seven

59b–d

eir incompatibilities,

And nourishment and action are

e same, so therefore two are one.

Why are both torpor and sleep and both excitement and regret taught as one obscuration each even though they are separate mental factors? you ask. The reason is because their incompatible antidotes, and cause or nourishment, and karmic action are the same, so therefore both sets of two are made into one.

Thus the antidote for both torpor and sleep is the conception of light. Their nourishment is lethargy, displeasure, yawning, the heaviness of undigested food, and depression. Their action is to depress the mind. Likewise, the antidote for both excitement and regret is tranquility. Their nourishment is thoughts of those dear to one, thoughts of one’s homeland, thoughts of immortality, and remembering exciting games and so forth from the past. Their action is to distract the mind.

(2) The reason they are established as five

59ef

Because they harm the aggregates,

Because of doubt, there are just five.

Because they, pleasure-seeking and malice, harm the aggregate of discipline; torpor and sleep harm the aggregate of full knowing; and excitement and regret harm the aggregate of samadhi; and because without samadhi and full knowing one will have doubts about the truth, it is explained that there are just these five obscurations.

II. What discards the kernels. This has five topics: A. How they are discarded, B. Classifications of the antidotes that discard, C. What they are divided from and discarded, D. What distances one from what has been discarded, and E. Teaching that the abandonment is attained over and over.

A. How they are discarded. This has two points.

1. How discards of seeing are abandoned

60a–c

By knowing the focus perfectly,

Extinguishing what focuses

On that, and discarding the focus.

There are three ways that discards of seeing are abandoned. They are discarded by knowing the focus perfectly, by extinguishing the afflicted subject that focuses on that, and by discarding the focus.

The first method discards the first two classes, discards of seeing suffering and origin of all three realms, with the exception of the nine universals that focus on higher realms, or thirty-eight kernels. It also discards the twelve types of wrong view and doubt of the three realms discarded by seeing cessation and path, for a total of fifty kernels. In addition, it discards the portion of the six ignorances from those two classes that focuses on the undefiled and the portion of the nine universals of Desire that focuses on its own level. Just as knowing something is a scarecrow blocks the perception of it as a human, these kernels are discarded by simply seeing the actual characteristics of the four truths.

The second method discards the portion of the nine universals of Desire that focus on higher realms. Even though one does not know the truths of the higher realms, when the subject that focuses on these truths, the universals of same status of the kernels’ own level, is extinguished, they are blocked.

The third method discards all twenty-three discards of seeing cessation and path that focus solely on the defiled, and the portion of their six ignorances that focus on the defiled. When their focus, the subjects of the undefiled, are discarded, they have no objects, so they also do not arise.

These three methods of discarding happen at the same time with separate isolates: there is no order of earlier or later.

2. How discards of meditation are abandoned

60d

Extinguished by the anti’s birth.

The discards of meditation in one’s own being are extinguished not by completely knowing the focus and so forth. Rather, the nine lesser, medium, and so forth discards are extinguished by the nine lesser, medium, and so forth antidotes’ birth. They are discarded by severing the attainment of the essence. Those in others’ beings are discarded through becoming free of the desire of interest, because one does not have the attainment of them and because when the afflictions in one’s own being have been discarded through severing the attainment, they will also be abandoned.

B. Classifications of the antidotes that discard

61a-c

ere are four types of antidotes:

Discarding, base, and distancing,

Disgust, so called.

There are four types of antidotes: the discarding antidote, the path of no obstacles that completely severs the attainment of the discard; the base antidote, the path of liberation consolidates the abandonment; and the distancing antidote, the distinctive path distances one from what has been discarded; and the antidote of disgust, so called, which is any path that sees a realm as deficient and creates disgust.

C. What they are divided from and discarded

61cd

Afflictions are

Discarded through their focus, it’s said.

When the afflictions are discarded, what are they proposed to be discarded through? you ask. They cannot be divided from the concurrences, because they cannot be detached from their own group. Therefore the afflictions are to be discarded through their focus, it is said, because if that is discarded they cannot arise through a focus on it.

D. What distances one from what has been discarded

62.

rough different characteristics, and

rough incompatibility,

rough separate place and time, like distance

Of sources, discipline, region, times.

There are four ways of being distant: being far apart through having different characteristics even within one assemblage; being far apart through being incompatible with the antidote; being far apart through separate places, and being far apart in time. In order, these are like the distance of the four sources, the distance between immorality and discipline, the distance between the two regions of east and west, or, in the Treatise’s explanation, the distance between the two times of past and future.

E. Teaching that the abandonment is attained over and over

63.

ey are extinguished once. Removal

Is then attained again and again

On birth of anti, attaining the

Results, refining faculties.

Is the attainment of the removal of abandonment by the previously explained methods of discarding only caused by abandoning the discards with the antidote? you ask. It is not. When the antidotes have discarded what they abandon, those are extinguished once. Their removal is then attained again and again, becoming better. It improves in this way upon the birth of the antidote, the path of liberation; upon attaining the four results of the spiritual way;[254] and upon refining faculties from dull to sharp. This is a total of six instances. This teaches all of the causes for obtaining improved attainments of removal.

III. The results of discarding the kernels. This has five topics: A. The classification of the results, B. Which perfect knowings are the result of what, C. Establishing their quantity, D. How they are possessed by individuals, and E. Forfeiting and attaining.

A. The classification of the results

64.

Nine perfect knowings: in Desire,

Upon exhausting the first two,

ere’s one. Exhausting two, there are two.

And likewise just those three above.

65ab

What leads to lowest, Form, and the extinction

Of all defilements: three more perfect knowings.

Well then, is the abandonment of all discards presented as a single perfect knowing? you ask. It is not. There are nine perfect knowings of abandonment. Firstly, in the realm of Desire, upon exhausting the first two discards by seeing suffering and origin, there is one perfect knowing. In the Desire realm only, upon exhausting two discards by seeing cessation and path, there are two perfect knowings, one each, for a total of three perfect knowings in Desire. And just as there are three perfect knowings of the abandonment of discards of seeing in Desire, likewise there are just those three above in Form and Formless: the first upon abandoning those discarded by seeing suffering and origin, the second upon abandoning those discarded by seeing cessation, and the third upon abandoning the discards of seeing the path. Thus the abandonment of the discards of seeing of the three realms is six perfect knowings.

On the path of meditation, there is one perfect knowing of the abandonment of the discards that lead to the lowest. It is called by that term because it has extinguished all the defilements of the Desire realm. In the abandonment of the defilements of Form, there is the perfect knowing of the extinction of desire for Form, its primary fetter. And the extinction of all defilements is also one: the perfect knowing of the total elimination of all fetters. Thus there are three more perfect knowings on the path of meditation.

B. Which perfect knowings are the result of what. This has three points.

1. Which are the results of the knowings and forbearances

65cd

e six are the results of forbearance;

e rest are the results of knowing.

Among them, the six perfect knowings of the abandonment of discards of seeing are the results of forbearance, and the rest, perfect knowing of the abandonment of that which leads to lowest, etc., are results of the knowings: results of the path of meditation, because the path of meditation is pervasively knowing and has no forbearances.[255]

2. Which are the results of what levels

66.

ey’re all results of Not Unable.

Five of the dhyanas, or else eight.

e one is of the preparations;

One of three actual Formless, too.

They, the nine perfect knowings, are all results of the preparations for the first dhyana, Not Unable, as that level can act as the antidote for all discards:

Undefiled Not Unable can

Remove attachment to all levels.[256]

In the tradition of the Great Exposition, there are five perfect knowings that are results of the actual dhyana: the three of the abandonment of the discards of seeing of the two higher realms and the latter two perfect knowings of the abandonment of discards of meditation of the two realms. If on the basis of the dhyanas, nonreturners previously detached produce the path of seeing, they attain the three perfect knowings of the abandonment of the two higher realms’ discards of seeing, and when they produce the path of meditation, they also attain the last two perfect knowings. The four perfect knowings of the abandonment of Desire’s discards have already been attained earlier by the level of Not Unable, so they are not attained, they say.

The phrase “or else” indicates the position of Venerable Ghoṣaka. According to him, if nonreturners previously detached produce the path of seeing on the actual practice of dhyana, the three isolates of the perfect knowings of the abandonment of Desire’s discards of seeing are individually obtained at that time, so there are eight results of the dhyanas. They also, of course, obtain the isolate of the perfect knowing of the abandonment of that which leads to the lowest, but that is only attained incidentally with the perfect knowing of the abandonment of the higher realms’ discards of seeing the path, so it is not counted separately, he says.

Of the Formless, there is one perfect knowing that is a result of the preparations for Infinite Space: the extinction of desire for Form. That is a worldly path, but only nobles are presented as having perfect knowings as result, so it is possible to attain undefiled removal. The one perfect knowing of the total elimination of all fetters is the only result of three undefiled actual Formless, too.

3. Which are the results of what paths

67.

ey all are of the noble paths.

Two of the worldly. Subsequent, too.

e three results of dharma knowing,

Six of its similar kind, and five.

They, the nine perfect knowings, all are results of the noble paths, because they are results revealed by the dharma and subsequent knowing of the paths of seeing and meditation. The two perfect knowings of that which leads to the lowest and extinction of desire for Form are the results of the worldly paths in nobles’ beings. The results of subsequent knowing on the path of meditation are two perfect knowings, too: extinction of attachment to Form and the total elimination of the fetters.

The three perfect knowings of abandonment of that which leads to the lowest and so on are results of dharma knowing contained in the path of meditation, because dharma knowing is the antidote for the discards of meditation of all three realms. The six perfect knowings, excluding the perfect knowings of the abandonment of the higher realms’ discards of seeing, are the results of its similar kind, dharma knowing including dharma forbearance, and the perfect knowings similar in kind to subsequent knowing are five: the three perfect knowings of the abandonment of the higher realms’ discards of seeing that are the results of subsequent forbearance and knowing, and the last two perfect knowings.

C. Establishing their quantity. This has two points.

1. Establishing the quantity of the six of the abandonment of discards of seeing

68a-d

Since they are undefiled attainment

Of a removal, weaken the Peak,

And utterly destroy two causes,

ey’re perfect knowings.

Well then, of those two types of discards, there are eight, twelve, or eightyone abandonings, so should there not be the same number of perfect knowings? you ask. First of all, since they, the removals that are results of the forbearances, gain undefiled attainment of a removal, weaken the afflictions of the Peak of Existence, and discard and utterly destroy the universals of the two causes, suffering and origin, they are superior through three causes, so they are presented as perfect knowings.

2. Establishing the quantity of the three of the abandonment of discards of meditation

68d

Transcending realms.

The abandonment that is the result of the knowing of the path of meditation attains the name perfect knowing through those three causes and from completely transcending any one of the three realms.

D. How they are possessed by individuals

69.

Not one. ose on the path of seeing

May possess fully up to five.

ose on the path of meditation

May possess six or one or two.

70ab

ey are combined when one becomes

Detached from realms or gains a result.

Ordinary individuals do not have even one perfect knowing, because they do not have any undefiled attainment of removal. Those nobles on the path of seeing do not possess any up through the fifth moment, but may possess fully one from the sixth moment, two from the eighth, three from the tenth, four from the twelfth, and up to five on the fourteenth and fifteenth moments.[257] Those nobles on the path of meditation who are attached or who have regressed from detachment may possess the first six, or if they have previously been or later become detached from Desire, they possess the one perfect knowing of the abandonment of that which leads to the lowest. Or if they are detached from Form, they possess the two perfect knowings of abandonment of the afflictions of Form and that which leads to the lowest. Arhats possess the last, single perfect knowing of the exhaustion of all defilements.

Why are nonreturners who are not detached from Form and arhats presented as having one perfect knowing? you ask. The reason for that is they, the individual abandonments, are combined when one becomes detached from a realm or has newly gained a result. When these two are combined, the individual attainments of removal for each abandonment are forfeited and a single one is acquired, so the individual abandonments are combined and presented as a single perfect knowing.

E. Forfeiting and attaining

70cd

Some forfeit one, two, five, or six;

But five cannot be gained.

How many perfect knowings can one forfeit and attain? you ask. Some forfeit one perfect knowing: if one regresses from the state of arhat or detachment, one perfect knowing is forfeited. Nonreturners who are detached from Form forfeit two if they regress from detachment from Desire. Nonreturners previously detached forfeit five when abiding in subsequent knowing of path, or some forfeit six in instances when the successive nonreturner[258] has gradually detached himself from Desire.

Likewise, there can be attainment of one, two, or six, but five cannot be gained, because it is impossible to regress from the state of a previously detached nonreturner. There is attainment of one in instances such as when a nonreturner attains arhatship. There is attainment of two in instances such as when an arhat regresses through the afflictions of Formless. There is attainment of six in instances such as when an arhat or nonreturner regresses through the afflictions of Desire.

Second, presenting the area’s name

is completes the fifth area called “Teachings on the Kernels” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

This completes the explanation of the fifth area called “Teachings on the Kernels” from The Explanation of the “Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma” called The Essence of the Ocean of Abhidharma, The Words of Those who Know and Love, Explaining the Youthful Play, Opening the Eyes of Dharma, the Chariot of Easy Practice.

A few words here:

The trunk of rebirth and stained karma’s great tree

Is the kernels, two types of discards, and if you

Should wish to uproot their attainments, their seed,

As the lord of twice-drinkers,[259] when scorched by the sun,

Dives into the lake spread with full lotus blossoms,

All those who have freedoms and riches and zeal

Should plunge into dharmas that classify kernels.

When satisfied sippling this nectar that is drunk

From the ladle of listening, contemplate well.

In a place that is peaceful, one-pointedly meditate—

How wondrous these victuals of undefiled bliss!

232. Nirnayasaṃgraha (rnam par gtan la dbab pa bsdu ba) by Asanga.

233. Abhidharmasamucchaya (mngon pa kun las bstus pa) by Asanga.

234. Subsequent knowing of the path is the sixteenth moment of clear realization. See VI.25–27.

235. Entering fire refers to the non-Buddhist practice of sitting in the middle of five fires: fires in each of the four directions and the sun above. Entering water refers to ritual bathing in the Ganges and so forth.

236. Universal means a kernel that can focus on any of the classes of discards. Nonuniversals can only focus on their own class. For example, a universal kernel of seeing suffering can focus on the discards of seeing any of the truths or meditation, but a nonuniversal kernel of suffering can only focus on the truth of suffering.

237. Discards of seeing are sometimes called “mistaken engagements,” and they are classified in two types: direct mistaken engagements and mistaken engagements of mistaken engagements. Direct mistaken engagements focus on one of the four truths in an erroneous manner. For example, doubt that is discarded by seeing cessation actually focuses on the truth of cessation but sees it mistakenly, doubting its truth. Mistaken engagements of mistaken engagements focus not on the actual truth, but on one of the direct mistaken engagements. For example, desire discarded by seeing the path does not focus on the path, but might take the form of attachment to the view of holding austerity and discipline supreme, etc. (Mi bskyod rdo rje 2003, vol. 1, 357–8)

238. Shariputra has past kernels from when he was an ordinary individual, but because he has become an arhat, they do not develop.

239. For example, craving that is concurrent with enjoyment. Cf. VIII.5.

240. Specific afflictions are afflictions that arise because of a specific object. For example, when focusing on a pleasant object, desire arises. When focusing on an unpleasant object, anger arises. When one focuses on a pleasant object and gets conceited, pride arises.

241. Yaśomitra explains that just as flax is directed toward the production of its flowers and seeds, future phenomena must be directed toward an object of any of the three times. (Tengyur, ngu pa, 113A).

242. General afflictions can arise with regard to any object.

243. In this and following points, time refers to composite dharmas of the past, present, and future. See I.7c. In other words, the Great Exposition school posits that past and future objects have substantial existence in the same way that present objects do.

244. This is one point where Wangchuk Dorje’s position differs from the autocommentary. The autocommentary says these stains have been abandoned but not removed, answering the question posed in 28ab.

245. I.e., the discards of seeing suffering, of seeing origin, and of meditation.

246. See V.47ff.

247. There are four graspings presented in the sutras: grasping at Desire, grasping at views, grasping at overesteeming discipline and austerity, and grasping at belief in a self (Mchims 2009, p. 471). Since unlike the floods, ignorance is combined into the other graspings, some people might wonder how there could be four graspings, and Wangchuk Dorje is addressing such a concern with this statement.

248. This is an explanation of the Sanskrit anuśaya (kernel) as a compound of words meaning “subtle” and “expand.” The Tibetan term phra rgyas literally means “subtle expander.”

249. The words for defilement in Sanskrit and Tibetan, āsrava and zag pa, literally mean the pus and nastiness that oozes out of wounds.

250. Put and ooze are the explanations of defilement, carry away is the explanation of flood, attach is the explanation of yoke, and grasp is the explanation of grasping.

251. Kṣudravastaka or gzhi phran tshegs.

252. See II.27.

253. See I.30–31 and II.12.

254. Stream-enterer, once-returner, nonreturner, and arhat. See VI.51–53.

255. As will be explained below in areas VI and VII, the forbearances are solely on the path of seeing; the path of meditation is made up of the knowings which follow that.

256. See VI.47cd.

257. Moment here refers to the fifteen moments of the path of seeing. See VI.27–28.

258. A nonreturner who progresses through the results in succession.

259. That is, the elephant.

SIXTH AREA

Teachings on the Paths and Individuals

To the all-seeing Teacher, the physician for wanderers,

To the unequaled Gautam I prostrate.

This sixth part, the treasury that tells of individuals—

The focus of two paths, the truths,

The manner to train in abiding in discipline,

And listening, reflecting, meditating,

How five paths arise, those who enter and dwell,

Results of the spiritual, factors—

The treasury that fully classifies these

Is what I shall now explain.

The sixth area, the “Teachings on the Paths and Individuals,” has an explanation of the text of the area and a presentation of the area’s name. The explanation of the text of the area has three topics: I. Explanation of the paths, II. Explanation of individuals, and III. A specific explanation of paths.

I. Explanation of the paths. This has four topics: A. The link between chapters, B. The essence of the paths, C. The focus of the paths, and D. How the paths arise.

A. The link between chapters

1ab

It’s taught afflictions are discarded

By seeing truth and meditating.

In the fifth area, abandonment is given the name perfect knowing. With regards to that abandonment, it is taught above that afflictions of the kernels are discarded by seeing truth, the path of seeing, and by meditating on the truths, the path of meditation. Here it is those paths that abandon that are explained.

B. The essence of the paths

1cd

e path of meditation is twofold,

But seeing, so called, is undefiled.

Which of those paths are defiled and which are undefiled? you ask. The path of meditation is twofold: the defiled worldly path and the undefiled transworldly path. But the path of seeing, so called, is transworldly undefiled only, because it is the antidote for all three realms including the Peak of Existence, because it discards the nine sets of discards of seeing of the three realms at one time, and because the worldly paths do not have such power to discard.

C. The focus of the paths. This has two topics: 1. Explaining the four truths, and 2. Explaining the two truths.

1. Explaining the four truths. This has three points.

a. Essence

2a

e truths are four, it is explained.

The truths mentioned in the line, “By seeing truth,” are four, it is explained. The line “The undefiled is the truth of path”[260] explicitly teaches the truth of the path. The line “Cessation that is analytic”[261] explains the truth of cessation. The line “They’re suffering, origin, and the world… ”[262] explains the truths of suffering and origin.

b. Order

2b–d

us suffering and origin,

Cessation and the path. is is

e order in which they are realized.

Is that the only order in which they must be known? you ask. It is not. Well then, what is the order? you ask. Thus they are the truths of suffering and origin, cessation and the path. This is the order. The word “thus” means that their essences are just as has been already described. They are presented in the order in which they are realized, because on the path of seeing, one clearly realizes duḥkha first and then origin, cessation, and path. The reason for that is that on the paths of accumulation and joining, the truths are fully realized in that order. For example, when you see illness, you think of its cause, and then out of the desire to eliminate the illness you look for the method, which is medicine. Because only nobles see the truths from suffering to path as something that is just as it is, they are called the noble truths. Because ordinary individuals see the truths and so forth incorrectly, they are not called ordinary individuals’ truths.

c. Elaboration

3.

e attractive and the unattractive,

And the defiled other than those

Are suffering without exception

Because they have three sufferings.

There are three types of suffering: the attractive are the suffering of change, and the unattractive are the suffering of suffering, and the defiled other than those two are the suffering of formation. Everything defiled without exception is suffering due to any one of the three sufferings, because they, the defiled composites, have the three sufferings.

The three of attractive and so forth appear in an order that is compatible with the three feelings, so pleasant feeling is the suffering through change. From a sutra: “Pleasant feeling is pleasant when it arises. It is pleasant while it stays. When it changes, it is suffering.” Unpleasant is by its very nature suffering. From a sutra: “The feeling of suffering is suffering when it arises. It is suffering while it stays.” Feeling that is neither pleasant nor unpleasant is manifestly formed by conditions so it is suffering only through formation, because it is said, “Whatever is impermanent is suffering.”

2. Explaining the two truths

4.

If not engaged by mind when it’s

Destroyed or mentally excluded,

It’s relative, like vases or water.

Ultimate being is different.

The sutras teach the four truths, but they also teach relative and ultimate truth. What are those two? you ask.

If a thing is not engaged by mind when it is destroyed by a hammer or so forth, or when it is mentally excluded through full knowing, it exists relatively, like vases or water. They are true merely in conventional terms.[263]

Ultimate being or existence is different from such relative things that may be damaged. It is dharmas such as form, subtle particles, instants, and noncomposites that the mind can engage even when they are destroyed or when a dharma is excluded by mind.[264] As that is the highest meaning of wisdom, it is ultimate, and as it is also truth, it is the ultimate truth.

The respective characteristics of the two truths are those things that when destroyed or disintegrated the mind that perceives them is discarded or not discarded.

Here the explanation in the Ṭīka of “permanent subtle particles of substance” means merely that they do not disintegrate through destruction by force; it seems not to mean permanent as in the context of permanent and impermanent, I would think.

D. How the paths arise. This has two topics: 1. An overview of how to enter the paths, and 2. An explanation of how to meditate.

1. An overview of how to enter the paths. This has two points.

a. Actual

5ab

With conduct, listening, contemplation,

Completely train in meditation.

Those who wish to see the truth should first abide in the disciplined conduct of definite renunciation, retain the meaning from listening that is compatible with seeing the truths and then, by knowing the meaning they have listened to, contemplate appropriately. Possessing both of these qualities, then they should completely and unerringly train in the samadhi meditation on the meaning they have contemplated. Contemplation arises from listening, and meditation arises from contemplation.

b. The essence of the three full knowings make one enter

5cd

Full knowing of listening, et cetera,

Are subjects of name, both, and meaning.

Some members of the Great Exposition say that the natures of the three full knowings born out of listening, et cetera, contemplation and meditation, are respectively conscious subjects that take the name only, both the name and meaning, and the meaning only as their object, like beginner, intermediate, and expert swimmers grabbing onto a float when learning to swim, it is heard. The Master says that if that is so, there is no contemplation separate from listening or meditation. Therefore he explains that the three are the full knowings born respectively from credible scriptures, analyzing with logic, and samadhi.

2. An explanation of how to meditate. This has two topics: a. Attributes of the support, the meditator, and b. The stages of the path one meditates upon.

a. Attributes of the support, the meditator. This has three topics: i. The support that will complete the path, ii. The support that will not complete the path, and iii. As an elaboration, an explanation of the noble families.

i. The support that will complete the path

6a

ose with two distances.

How can meditation be completed? you ask. Those who first are with or possess the two distances from bodily distractions and mental negative thoughts will entirely complete meditation.

ii. The support that will not complete the path. This has two topics: (1) What is to be discarded, and (2) The antidote.

(1) What is to be discarded

6a–d

Not the

Insatiable, dissatisfied.

To crave for more is insatiable;

To want what is not had, dissatisfied.

Those two distances are easy for those who have few desires and who are satisfied. They are not easy for the insatiable or the dissatisfied. The proponents of the abhidharma say that when one has received an excellent dharma robe and so forth, to crave for more is to be insatiable, and to want what is not had is to be dissatisfied, it is heard. The Master explains that mental displeasure at getting only a few, poor things is insatiability, and not getting many good things but wanting to is dissatisfaction.

(2) The antidote

7ab

e opposite is their antidote.

ese two are in three realms or stainless.

The opposite of insatiability and dissatisfaction is their antidote: it is contentment and satisfaction. These two, contentment and satisfaction, are in the three realms, or they are stainless, for four types. They are both nongreed by nature.

iii. As an elaboration, an explanation of the noble families. This has two points.

(1) Overview

7c

Nongreed, the noble family.

Among these types of nongreed, those that produce nobles are called the noble family.

(2) Explanation

7d

Of these, three are content by nature.

8.

e three teach conduct; the last, action.

As anti for the arising of craving.

To quell desire for things one grasps

As mine or me, for a time, forever.

Of these four noble natures, the first three, satisfaction with having a dharma robe, alms, and a bed, are content by nature. The fourth noble family is joy for being without what has been abandoned and for meditating. This is also nongreed by nature, because it is directed against existence and the desire for existence.

The four noble natures explained by the Bhagavan teach both method and action to students who yearn for liberation. Of these, the first three teach the conduct, and the last teaches action. As it says in a sutra, “If you do this action by these methods, before long you will attain liberation.” They are taught as an antidote for the arising of craving. The four cravings are taught in a sutra:

Bhikshus, if craving arises, it arises for a dharma robe, for alms, for a bed, and a seat. If it stays, it stays. If it is manifest attachment, it is attachment. Bhikshus, if craving arises, it arises thus for birth and destruction.

The first three are desire for things one grasps as mine such as dharma robes and so on, and the fourth is to desire or crave for the thing grasped as me, the body. The conduct quells craving for things grasped as mine for a time or temporarily, and action quells craving for both the things grasped as mine and those grasped as me forever.

b. The stages of the path one meditates upon. This has two topics: i. Methods for tranquility meditation, and ii. Methods for insight meditation.

i. Methods for tranquility meditation. This has two topics: (1) The order in which to begin, and (2) The actual methods of samadhi meditation.

(1) The order in which to begin

9a–c

One enters that through the repulsive

And mindfulness of in, out breath,

For those with excess desire or thoughts.

How should someone who is thus a suitable vessel enter meditation? you ask. One first enters that by the meditation on the repulsive and meditation on mindfulness of in-breath and out-breath, as these will tame the mind. Whose mind? you ask. This is for those with greatly excessive desire or excessive thoughts.

(2) The actual methods of samadhi meditation. This has two topics: (a) Methods for meditation focused on the repulsive, and (b) Methods for meditation focused on the breath.

(a) Methods for meditation focused on the repulsive. This has three topics: (i) Overview, (ii) Explanation, and (iii) Particular attributes.

(i) Overview

9d

e skeleton for all desirous.

There are four types of desire: greed for color, shape, touch, and respect. The antidote for the first is to meditate upon the bluishness, foulness, and redness of a corpse. The antidote for the second is to think of it wasting and being torn apart. The antidote for the third is to meditate on it being eaten by bugs, and the bones being just barely held together. The antidote for the fourth is to meditate on an unmoving corpse. Meditating on the skeleton is the antidote for all the desirous, because it does not allow for any of the four types of greed.

(ii) Explanation. This has three points.

A. The method for beginners

10ab

At first imagine bones that spread

As far as the sea, then narrow down.

At first, the beginner yogi who is meditating on repulsiveness at first turns their attention to their forehead or any other suitable body part and imagines that the flesh gradually rots and falls off, visualizing their body as a skeleton. Then they imagine bones that spread and fill everything as far as the sea, and then narrow the visualization down to only their own body. This is the yoga for the beginner.

B. The method for the trained

10cd

e trained discard bones from the foot

To half the skull.

In order to enhance this gathering of the mind, the completely trained yogi discards bones from the body, starting with the foot, and directs their attention on the remainder. Then one discards or casts away all the bones up to half of the skull and focuses the attention on half the skull.

C. The method to perfect the attention

10d

Perfect attention

11a

Holding the mind between the eyebrows.

When honing in the meditation, yogis who have perfected attention on the repulsive discard half the skull as well, and hold the mind on a bone that is just the size of a thumb between the eyebrows, it is heard.

(iii) Particular attributes

11b–d

Repulsive is nongreed. It’s on

Ten levels, focusing on the

Appearance of Desire. By humans.

The nature of the repulsive meditation is nongreed. It is on the ten levels: nine of the four dhyanas, their four preparations and special dhyana, plus the level of Desire. In Desire there is no equipoise, but this is meant in terms of similarity. Its focus is on the appearances of Desire, which are color and shape. Because it focuses on color and shape, it is proven that it does not focus on names, it focuses on meaning. Its support: if it is not even among other wanderers, what need is there to mention other realms? It is only produced by humans. However, it is not in Northern Unpleasant Sound, because there is no path to detachment there.

(b) Methods for meditation focused on the breath. This has two topics: (i) Common overview, and (ii) Particular explanation. (i) Common overview

12a–c

e mindfulness of breath is full knowing.

It’s on five levels; its sphere is wind.

Desire realm. Outsiders do not.

The mindfulness of in-breath and out-breath is the full knowing that knows the two just as they are. However, because it is produced by and arises out of the power of mindfulness, it is called mindfulness. It is concurrent only with neutral feeling. As it focuses on just the in-breath and out-breath, it is only on the five levels where those two are: the lower three preparations, special dhyana, and Desire. Some say neutral feeling is also present in the actual practice of the three lower dhyanas, so according to their proposal, there are eight levels. Its sphere is wind, and it has the gods and humans of Desire realm as its support. It is practiced only among practitioners of this Dharma; outsiders do not practice it.

(ii) Particular explanation. This has three points.

A. Classifications of the methods of meditation

12d

Six types are counting and so forth.

The six types of causes that perfect it are counting and so forth: following, placing, closely considering, modifying, and completely purifying.

In the first, counting, if one tries to count too many, they will become distracted, and if too few, discouraged, so one counts from one to ten only. If two are counted as one, then it is incomplete, or if one is counted as two, there are extra. If the in-breath is perceived as the out-breath or the out-breath perceived as the in-breath, the count is confused: these three faults must be avoided.

In following the breath, pay attention as the in-breath goes from the throat, heart, navel, and calves down to the feet, and then as the out-breath goes out the nostrils out to a hand’s width or arm span.

In placing, consider that it is like a string of jewels from the tip of the nose to the feet that is beneficial and warm.

In closely considering, the object of the wind is a form comprised of the eight substances, and the perceiving subject of full knowing includes the four name aggregates, so consider it as the five aggregates.

In modifying, the mind that focuses on the breath engages higher and higher along the path as far as supreme dharma, and in completely purifying, up to the path of seeing and so forth. Alternatively, some say that modifying is from the four foundations of mindfulness to vajra-like samadhi, and completely purifying is the knowing of extinction, et cetera.

As a summary of these, the autocommentary says:

The mindfulness of breathing in

And breathing out is counting, following,

Placing, considering, modifying,

And purifying: these six types.

B. The essence of the object

13a–c

In and out breath, on those of the body,

Called beings, are not appropriated.

ey arise from a compatible cause

What level are the in-breath and out-breath on? They are on those levels that have a body from Desire to the third dhyana, because they both are a part of the body. Both the in-breath and out-breath are called or counted as a sentient being, because they can be attained, not attained or possessed, and because they are imagined as one’s being. Because they are engaged separately from the faculties, they are not appropriated. As they are produced by a cause of same status, they arise from compatible cause and not from development or full ripening, because they can diminish even if the body grows, and when cut, they can be restored.

C. Distinctions in the subject

13d

And are not observed by lower mind.

The mind of one’s own level and higher levels realizes the in-breath and outbreath, but if the in-breath and out-breath of a higher level are not observed by even the lower mind of conduct and emanated minds, what need is there to mention the virtuous or afflicted?

ii. Methods for insight meditation. This has three topics: (1) The path of accumulation, (2) The path of joining, and (3) The path that directly realizes the truths.

(1) The path of accumulation. This has two topics: (a) Overview, and (b) Explanation.

(a) Overview

14ab

After accomplishing tranquility

Meditate on the founds of mindfulness

Through the two gates of entry, meditation on repulsiveness and on the breath, the samadhi of tranquility has been accomplished, but without the full knowing of insight, the afflictions cannot be discarded from their root, because as a sutra says, “The afflictions are what is conquered by wisdom.” For that reason, having pacified the afflictions or distractions, after accomplishing the tranquility of a mind that remains within, then meditate on the foundations of mindfulness in order to generate the full knowing of insight that discards the afflictions from their root. By meditating on them, insight will be accomplished, as it says in a sutra: “Bhikshus, the one path to go down is this one. It is this: the four foundations of mindfulness.”

(b) Explanation. This has two topics: (i) Common features, and (ii) The method for meditating on the mindfulness of dharmas in particular.

(i) Common features. This has four points:

A. Method of meditation

14cd

By examining two characteristics

Of body, feeling, mind, and dharmas.

The foundations of mindfulness are known by examining the two specific and general characteristics of body, feeling, mind, and dharmas. The specific characteristics of the body are the sources and source-derived; of feeling is experience; of mind is focus; and of dharmas are the conceptions, formations, and noncompound dharmas other than body, feeling, and mind. The general characteristics are that composites are impermanent; defiled dharmas are suffering; and all dharmas are empty and selflessness. The characteristic of suffering is incompatibility with the nobles.

B. Essence

15ab

Full knowing from listening, et cetera.

e others from connection, focus.

The essence of the four foundations of mindfulness is full knowing. From a sutra: “The viewing of body in the body is the foundation of mindfulness.” This is full knowing that is born from listening, et cetera, contemplating and meditating, but not that attained upon birth. The word mindfulness is used because these are produced by the power of mindfulness, or in the Master’s explanation, this simultaneously applies mindfulness, so it is explained as thus. Thus full-knowing is the natural foundation of mindfulness. Its companions, the others that are concurrent with it, from their connection with it are called connected foundations of mindfulness. Their focus—body, feeling, mind, and dharmas—are the focus of both, so they are called the focused foundation of mindfulness. For this reason, a sutra says, “Bhikshus, that which we call ‘all dharmas’ is a synonym for the four foundations of mindfulness.”

C. Order

15c

e order is as they arise,

The order of earlier and later is, according to some from the Great Exposition, the same as the order in which they arise, because the earlier ones are coarser and easier to realize, so that is how they are seen, they say. The Master says it is because on the basis of the body desire arises, which is attached to or manifestly desires feeling, which disturbs the mind, and because of that afflictions are not abandoned.

D. Establishing their quantity

15d

Four antis for the erroneous.

The body is like feces, so it is unclean. Feelings are suffering. The mind changes quickly, so it is impermanent. Dharmas have no independent single self, so these four foundations of mindfulness are taught as antidotes for the erroneous ideas of cleanliness, bliss, permanence, and the self. More than that are unnecessary, but fewer would not include everything.

(ii) The method for meditating on the mindfulness of dharmas in particular

16.

It is the foundation of dharmas

at focuses on them combined.

ey view them as impermanent,

And suffering, empty, and selfless.

Having familiarized oneself with the foundations of mindfulness that focus on body and so forth, it, that familiarization, is the foundation of dharmas that rests focusing on them in general or combined. They, the yogis, generally combine all the foundations of body and so forth and view them as the four aspects of impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and selflessness.

(2) The path of joining. This has four topics. (a) How it arises, (b) Essence, (c) Features, and (d) Preliminaries.

(a) How it arises. This has five topics: (i) Warmth, (ii) Peak, (iii) Forbearance, (iv) Supreme dharma, and (v) Common features.

(i) Warmth

17a–c

e warmth arises out of that.

It has the four truths as its sphere

With sixteen aspects.

The warmth of virtuous roots gradually arises out of that meditation on the dharma foundation of mindfulness. Just as when you rub two sticks, warmth arises as a sign of forthcoming fire, this is called warmth. It, warmth, has the four truths as its sphere: it focuses on the truths of the higher and lower realms in succession, since it cannot focus on them in a single moment. As training for dharma knowing and forbearance, it meditates in a general way on the four truths of the Desire realm as the sixteen aspects.[265] As training for subsequent knowing and forbearance, it meditates on the four truths of the two higher realms as sixteen aspects. Thus it is the near training for the path of seeing, so it is the path of joining in the sense of training. It is meditation with the sixteen aspects of impermanence and the others.

(ii) Peak. This has two points.

A. The actual peak

17cd

Out of warmth

Comes peak, which is like that as well.

Out of the gradual increase of warmth through the lesser, medium, and greater comes the peak, which is like that, warmth, as well in focus and aspects: it focuses on the four truths and views them as the sixteen aspects. Because it is the peak of unstable roots of virtue, it is called the peak.

B. Common features of both warmth and the peak

18ab

rough dharma, they both aim at aspects,

Develop through the others, too.

Through the foundation of mindfulness of dharma, they, both warmth and the peak, first aim at and engage the aspects in the four truths. They are also developed or familiarized and refined through the others—those other than the foundation of mindfulness of dharma—all four foundations of mindfulness.

(iii) Forbearance. This has two points.

A. Actual

18cd

From that, forbearance. Two like that.

Dharmas develops all of them.

What arises from that development of the lesser, middle, and greater peak is called forbearance. When one is childish, one fears for oneself and cannot bear to see the truth. When one has attained warmth and the peak, one can bear the lesser and medium truth but one falls away from that. Because at this stage one has great forbearance for seeing the truth without falling away from it at all, it is called forbearance.

The two, lesser and middle forbearance, are like that, the peak, in the way they aim at the aspects of the truths. The foundation of mindfulness of dharmas develops all of them, lesser, middle, and greater forbearance. The first two each have individual aims and development, so they are also like that, but greater forbearance is a single instant, so it is not like that. This is said in terms of how it engages the truths. It does not engage them through the other foundations because it is near supreme dharma and the path of seeing. Thus it is the mindfulness of dharmas, which is close to those.

B. Explaining the particular features of greater forbearance

19ab

e object of the great is suffering

Of Desire realm. It is one moment.

Because it is near supreme dharma, the object of the greater forbearance is the suffering of Desire realm: it focuses on that in any one of its four aspects. It is one moment; it does not have a continuum.

(iv) Supreme dharma

19c

So is supreme dharma.

So is supreme dharma similar to greater forbearance: it focuses on the suffering of Desire and is one moment. It is worldly, but it is the supreme of worldly dharmas, or alternatively its power leads to the path of seeing, which has no cause of same status, so it is the supreme of all that is worldly. For these reasons, it is called supreme dharma.

(v) Common features

19cd

ey are all

Five aggregates, without attainments.

20a

e four precursors to realization

They, the four, are all inherently the foundations of mindfulness, so they are primarily full knowing and its associations. They are also equipoise, so they have an imperceptible form. For that reason, they are the five aggregates. They are without attainments, which are not included as warmth and the others, because the nobles have the attainments in a manifest way. Otherwise it would follow that nobles would also manifestly have warmth and the others.[266] In this way, warmth, the peak, forbearance, and supreme dharma are the four precursors to clear realization.

(b) Essence

20b

Must be produced by meditation

All four of the precursors to clear realization must be produced by meditation: they do not arise from listening or contemplating.

(c) Features. This has five topics: (i) Distinctions of level, (ii) Distinctions of support, (iii) Distinctions in how they are forfeited, (iv) Distinctions in qualities, and (v) Distinctions in family.

(i) Distinctions of level

20cd

On Not Unable, special, and

e dhyanas. Two below, perhaps.

These are on the levels of the preparation for the first dhyana Not Unable, the special dhyana, and the four actual practices of the dhyanas, or six levels. As these are contained in those six levels, there are no precursors to clear realization on the levels of Formless. This is because clear realization is the practice of the path of seeing, which is not present on the levels of Formless. The reason there is no path of seeing there is because the path of seeing focuses on the Desire realm, and Formless does not focus on the Desire realm.

In the tradition of Venerable Ghoṣaka, the two, warmth and the peak, are also below in the Desire realm. The word “perhaps” indicates that this is a separate tradition in which those two would be on seven levels: the six levels of dhyana and Desire. In that case, since they could be supported on a level of Desire, they would not necessarily be meditation-produced.

(ii) Distinctions of support

21ab

Support of Desire realm, and women

Gain supreme dharma on both supports.

The first three can be newly produced in those men and women of the three continents who have not previously had them. Those that have already arisen can become manifest among the gods, and the fourth can be produced among the gods, so they all have the support of Desire realm, and women can gain supreme dharma on both male and female supports.[267] Men can only attain it with a male support, because they also attain a nonanalytic cessation of becoming female.

(iii) Distinctions in how they are forfeited. This has two topics: A. How the nobles forfeit them, and B. How ordinary individuals forfeit them.

A. How the Nobles forfeit them

21cd

e nobles forfeit them when leaving

A level;

The nobles forfeit them, the paths of joining attained on the support of a particular level, when they leave a level and are born in a higher. Because their roots of virtue are greatly increased by the path of seeing, unlike ordinary individuals they do not forfeit them through regression or death.

B. How ordinary individuals forfeit them. This has two points: 1. Actual, and 2. Elaboration.

1. Actual

21d

nonnobles at death.

22a

e first two by regressing, too.

Nonnoble ordinary individuals who are detached forfeit them when they transmigrate from one level to be reborn in a higher at death, and by discarding their likeness. Those not detached also forfeit them by discarding their likeness, even when not transmigrating to a new level. The first two, warmth and the peak, are forfeited during the period of an ordinary individual, by regressing, too, through the afflictions that are incompatible with them. Even ordinary individuals cannot regress from forbearance or supreme dharma.

2. Elaboration. This has three points.

a. The particulars of forfeiture through death

22b

e actual sees truth in this.

Someone who has produced the precursors to clear realization of the level of the actual practice of the first dhyana will definitely see the truth in this very lifetime, because they have great revulsion. The explanation of forfeiture through regression and death is for those on Not Unable, so there is no contradiction.

b. How they are re-attained

22c

If one regresses, gained anew.

If one who has regressed from the precursors to clear realization later attains them again, one gains them anew, like the vows of individual liberation. One does not re-attain the same ones previously forfeited, because they are something that is unfamiliar and created through effort.

c. The essence of the two types of forfeiture

22d

Both forfeitures are nonpossession.

What are the natures of forfeiture and regression? you ask. All loss of attainment is called forfeiture, and in particular, forfeiture because of an incompatible affliction is called regression. Both forfeitures are in essence nonpossession: nonattainment from forfeiting the attainment.

(iv) Distinctions in qualities

23ab

When peak is gained, roots can’t be severed;

Forbearance goes not to low realms.

When peak is gained, if one regresses, one might commit heinous misdeeds and go to the lower realms, but the roots of virtue cannot be severed, because one has attained sincere faith in the Three Jewels through training in their qualities. When lesser forbearance is attained, there is also the attainment of the freedom of not going to lower realms. When greater forbearance is attained, one also attains freedom from being reborn in certain modes of birth, births, bodies, and so forth.

(v) Distinctions in family. This has two points.

A. The families that can change

23cd

Two can withdraw from the learners’ family

And become buddhas. Other, third.

Two, those who have attained warmth and the peak, can withdraw from the learner’s family of listeners, develop the mind of great enlightenment, and become buddhas, but those who have attained forbearance cannot, because from then on there is no birth in the lower realms, but a bodhisattva takes birth there for others’ benefit. Those other than the Buddha, self-buddhas, on the third stage of the path of joining, forbearance, can also change because they do not go to the lower realms even for others’ benefits. Once supreme dharma has been attained there is no changing family.

B. The families that cannot change

24ab

e Teacher and rhino, all on one

Seat and dhyan’s end until awakening.

The Teacher, the Buddha, and the rhinolike self-buddha cannot change family at any time after reaching warmth, because all the paths from the precursors to clear realization arise on one seat and only on dhyana’s upper end, the fourth dhyana, until awakening to enlightenment.

(d) Preliminaries

24cd

Before that, the precursor to freedom.

e swiftest in three lives are freed.

25ab

From listening and contemplation.

ree karmas are propelled by humans.

Do the precursors to clear realization arise right from the beginning, or must something precede them? you ask. Before that precursor to clear realization, one must produce the virtuous roots of the precursor to freedom.[268] The absolutely swiftest of all in three lifetimes are liberated. For example, just as one plants a seed, the fruit forms and the fruit ripens: in the first lifetime one produces the virtuous roots of precursor to liberation, in the second the precursor to realization, and in the third produces the noble path. The being gradually enters, ripens, and is completely liberated in this dharma.

The precursors to liberation arises from listening and contemplation; they do not arise from meditation. They are primarily karma of mind, but because they are embraced by prayers, they are also karma of speech, so they are the three karmas of body, speech, and mind. They are propelled by humans of the three continents only, and not by others, who lack either full knowing or world-weariness.

(3) The path that directly realizes the truths. This has four topics: (a) How the sixteen moments of cognition arise, (b) Teaching the three types of clear realization, (c) Which levels support it, and (d) Classifying the cognitions as sixteen.

(a) How the sixteen moments of cognition arise

25cd

From the supreme of worldly dharmas

Comes undefiled dharma forbearance

26.

Of suffering of Desire, from which

Arises dharma knowing of

Just that itself. And likewise for

e rest of suffering arises

e subsequent forbearance, knowing.

ree other truths are like that, too.

27ab

us clear realization of the truths

Is sixteen minds.

From the supreme of worldly dharmas, the undefiled dharma forbearance immediately arises. That focuses on suffering of Desire. It is forbearance for the sake of the dharma knowing of duḥkha, so it is called exactly that, like saying “flowering tree” or “fruit tree.” Immediately after or from that forbearance, there arises the dharma knowing of just that itself, the suffering of Desire. This is given the designation dharma knowing of suffering in the Treatise. This is in all respects an undefiled moment, so it is called undefiled dharma knowing.

Just as forbearance of dharma knowing of suffering and the dharma knowing arise, likewise forbearance of subsequent knowing for the rest of suffering of Form and Formless arises immediately following the dharma knowing of suffering. It focuses on general characteristics and is called the subsequent forbearance, or the forbearance of subsequent knowing of suffering. Then the so-called subsequent knowing of suffering arises.

Just as the four forbearances and knowings of the truth of suffering arise, the four forbearances and knowings of each of the other three other truths of origin, cessation and path arise like that, too. Thus in this way, through this progression, the clear realization of truth is sixteen moments of mind.

(b) Teaching the three types of clear realization

27bc

ere are three types,

Called seeing, focusing, and action,

There are three types of clear realization. Directly realizing the truth with undefiled full knowing is called the clear realization of seeing. The feelings and so forth that are concurrent with that full knowing and also the full knowing itself focus on the truth, so they are called the clear realization of focusing. The clear realization of the action is knowing, discarding, making manifest, and meditating during the path. It is the five aggregates of a single assembly: discipline that is not concurrent with full knowing, arising and so forth, attainment and so forth, and that which is concurrent with full knowing. This is because these all perform those actions. Thus there are said to be three clear realizations of truth.

(c) Which levels support it

27d

On the same level as supreme.

The sixteen cognitions of clear realization explained above are on the same level as supreme dharma. These are the six levels explained earlier.[269]

(d) Classifying the cognitions as sixteen. This has two points.

(i) Classifying them as paths of no obstacles and paths of liberation

28ab

Respectively, forbearance, knowing are

Paths of no obstacles and liberation.

Respectively the eight forbearances and eight knowings here are, presented in this order, the paths of no obstacles that discard the four classes of discards of Desire and the four classes of discards contained in the higher realms and the paths of liberation, for a total of sixteen.

(ii) Explaining the term path of seeing

28cd

From seeing the unseen, fifteen

Moments of these are the path of seeing.

These sixteen cognitions are not all the path of seeing. From seeing what had been the unseen, fifteen moments of these sixteen cognitions, from forbearance of dharma knowing of suffering to forbearance of subsequent knowing of path, are the path of seeing. The sixteenth moment of cognition is the path of meditation only. This is because there is no previously unseen truth to see; instead it familiarizes one with seeing the truth.

II. Explanation of individuals. This has three topics: A. Explaining the four pairs of individuals, B. Classifying into seven enumerations, and C. Combining them into six substances.

A. Explaining the four pairs of individuals. This has three topics: 1. Explaining entering stream-enterer, 2. Explaining those previously detached, and 3. Explaining successive results.

1. Explaining entering stream-enterer. This has two points.

a. Classifications of mind

29ab

During these, sharp and dull faculties

Are followers of faith and dharma.

During the period when they are abiding in these fifteen moments of the path of seeing, the two types of individuals with sharp and dull faculties are called, if of dull faculties, followers of faith and if of sharp faculties, followers of dharma. This is because those of dull faculties clearly realize the truth because of the spiritual advice of other masters during their previous period as ordinary individuals, whereas those of sharp faculties did not rely on other masters during their previous time as ordinary individuals. They realize the meaning of the scriptures on their own through full knowing and clearly realize the truth.

b. Distinctions in abandonment and realization

29cd

ey’re entering the first result

If no discards of meditation

30a

Or up to five have been destroyed.

They, those two individuals, are entering the first of all results to be attained and are called entering the result of stream-enterer if no discards of meditation have been discarded previously by a worldly path and they possess all the bonds. Or if up to five discards of meditation have been destroyed by the worldly path, they are entering the first result, just as they were when they still possessed all the bonds. The phrase “up to” includes one, two, three, four, or five discards.

2. Explaining those previously detached. This has two topics: a. Enterers, and b. Abiders in result.

a. Enterers. This has two points.

i. Entering once-returner

30b

e second, till the ninth’s extinguished.

They are entering the second result of once-returner if any one of the sixth, seventh, eighth, or up until the ninth discard of meditation is extinguished.

ii. Entering nonreturner

30cd

One who is detached from Desire

Or higher is entering the third.

One who is detached from Desire or a higher level up to Nothingness is entering the third result of nonreturner.

b. Abiders in result. This has two points.

i. Actual

31ab

ose who are entering a result

Abide in it on the sixteenth.

Those, whether follower of faith or dharma, who are entering a result abide in it, that result, on the sixteenth moment. Arhatship is not attained at first, because the path of seeing does not abandon discards of meditation, and because it is impossible to have previously detached oneself from the Peak of Existence by the worldly path.

ii. The names they are called

31cd

Sharp and dull faculties are then

Convinced through faith, attained through seeing.

Between those with sharp and those with dull faculties, those with dull faculties are then, at the time one abides on the sixteenth moment, called convinced through faith, and those with sharp faculties are called attained through seeing, because they are respectively brought about by great faith and full knowing.

3. Explaining successive results. This has four topics: a. Entering and abiding in stream-enterer, b. Entering and abiding in once-returner, c. Entering and abiding in nonreturner, and d. Entering and abiding in arhat.

a. Entering and abiding in stream-enterer. This has two topics: i. Entering, and ii. Abiding.

i. Entering. Entering has already been taught above.

ii. Abiding. This has (1) General teaching, and (2) Individual explanations.

(1) General teaching. This has two points.

(a) Teaching that the mere abider in result is not an enterer

32.

To gain a result is not to gain

e path of higher progress. us

ose dwelling in result, not striving

To improve it, are not enterers.

When stream-enterers have abandoned the fifth discard and are on the sixteenth cognition, why are they not entering the result of once-returner? you ask. At that time, they have gained a mere result of stream-enterer, but that is not to gain the path of higher progress. Thus those stream-enterers are dwelling in result, not striving to attain the second result that improves it. Those who are not making efforts to attain a result are not enterers in that result.

By this logic one can also know the reason why someone who has abandoned the eighth discard of Desire and abides on the sixteenth moment is not called entering the result of nonreturner, and the reason why someone who is detached from Nothingness and abides on the sixteenth moment is not entering the result of arhat.

(b) Classifications of the path of enterer and discards of meditation

33.

Each level has nine kinds of faults,

Likewise nine qualities, because

e lesser and so forth of lesser,

Middle, and great are separate.

The nine sets of afflictions of Desire have been taught, and likewise each level from the first dhyana to the Peak of Existence has nine kinds of faults each. Likewise, in the same way as the faults, each of the levels also has nine sets of qualities—the antidotes, the paths of no obstacles—and also the paths of liberation. This is because the lesser and so forth, middle, and greater of lesser—the lesser, middle, and greater of middle, and the lesser, middle, and greater of greater—are all separate. The lesser of lesser path discards the greater of greater afflictions, and the greater of greater path discards the lesser of lesser afflictions. This is because at the very beginning the greater path is impossible and when the greater path arises, the greater afflictions are impossible.

(2) Individual explanations. This has two topics: (a) Seven-timer, and (b) From family to family.

(a) Seven-timer. This has two points.

(i) Ascertaining the seven-timer

34ab

ose dwelling in result without discarding any

rough meditation, at most seven times.

Those who dwell in a result without discarding any of Desire realm’s afflictions which are discarded through meditation, if they reach the uppermost limit, will be reborn in at most seven more lives—they are a seven-timer. Since not all stream-enterers are seven-timers, this is the lowest of all results.

Stream-enterers are so called because they have entered the stream of the path to nirvana.

Some proponents of the Great Exposition say that “seven more lifetimes” means seven more births each in the prior state of gods and the prior state of humans plus their between states, for twenty-eight, but as they are similar in having sets of seven, it is called “seven times.” It is like for example calling a plant seven leaved, they say. Others say it is seven rebirths combining the rebirths as gods and humans. The noble Master’s explanation is consistent with the former.

Well then, does this not contradict The Sutra of Many Realms,[270] which states:

There is no occasion and no opportunity for an individual with excellent view to produce an eighth existence. There is no place for that.

It is not contradictory, because this is about not producing existence in one class of beings in Desire. Otherwise it would be impossible to die and be reborn in all places.[271]

(ii) The family of seven-timers

Seven-timer is the longest, but it is possible to make nirvana manifest before the seventh birth. Additionally, ordinary individuals on the paths of accumulation and joining whose beings have been ripened are also seven-timers.

(b) From family to family

34cd

ose freed from three or four, with two or three

More lives, from family to family.

Those stream-enterers who have three causes—in terms of discarding, being freed from three or four of the afflictions; in terms of faculties, attainment of their antidote, the undefiled faculties; and in terms of birth, with two or three more lifetimes remaining—are stream-enterers who are born from family to family.

b. Entering and abiding in once-returner. This has two topics: i. Entering, and ii. Abiding in result.

i. Entering

35ab

If they have conquered up to five,

ey’re also entering the second,

If they, stream-enterers abiding in the distinctive result, have conquered up to five sets of the discards of meditation of the Desire realm, they are also entering the second result.

ii. Abiding in result. This has two points.

(1) Mere abiding in result

35cd

And when the sixth set is extinguished,

At that time, they are a once-returner.

And when the sixth set of Desire’s discards of mediation is extinguished, at that time they have attained the second result of once-returner. It is possible that they will be reborn once more in Desire, but twice or more is impossible.

(2) Distinctive abiding in result

36ab

When they have extinguished seven or eight

Classes of faults, one life, one obstacle.

The distinction in terms of abandonment is that they who are abiding in the result of once-returner have extinguished the seventh or eighth class of faults of Desire that are discarded by meditation and have attained the undefiled path that is its antidote. The distinction in terms of birth is that they have one intervening lifetime before attaining nirvana. Alternatively, they have only one aspect of affliction preventing them from attaining the result of nonreturner. Thus for that reason, they are called one lifetime, one obstacle.

This is explained to rebut the doubt that the three lesser afflictions together make one take rebirth in Desire, but perhaps only one or two might not have that power to cause rebirth. The reason that one set of afflictions cannot prevent the attainment of the result of once-returner in this lifetime but can prevent the attainment of nonreturner is that for the former one does not need to transcend the Desire realm, but for the latter one does.

c. Entering and abiding in nonreturner. This has two topics: i. Entering, and ii. Abiding in result.

i. Entering

36c

ey also are entering the third.

They, one-obstacle once-returners who have discarded the seventh and eight sets, also are entering the third result of nonreturner.

ii. Abiding in result. This has two topics: (1) Overview, and (2) Individual explanations.

(1) Overview

36d

When ninth has perished, nonreturner.

Those who abide in the result of nonreturner, when the ninth set of discards of meditation of Desire has perished, are nonreturners, because they will not return to the Desire realm even once. The essence of this result is a combination of the composite ninth liberation and the noncomposite extinction of the discards. The continuum that possesses those two is an individual who abides in the result.

(2) Individual explanations. This has five topics: (a) Explanation of those bound for Form, (b) Explanation of those bound for Formless, (c) Explanation of visible peace, (d) Explaining the many classifications of nonreturners, and (e) Explanation of those made manifest by body.

(a) Explanation of those bound for Form. This has two topics: (i) General classifications, and (ii) Particular explanation of the classifications of those bound for higher.

(i) General classifications

37a–c

ey pass into nirvana in between,

On birth, with effort, without effort, or

ey’re bound for higher.

Of the many different nonreturners, they, the nonreturners bound for Form, are fivefold. There are those who pass beyond sorrow into nirvana without remainder in the between state, those who pass into nirvana on birth, with effort, without effort; or they are those who are bound for the higher.

The first of these dies here, makes the path manifest in the between state for any of the sixteen abodes other than Great Brahma, and attains the state of arhat. By their dharma nature, they do not remain long in the between state, and as they do not have the afflictions of birth, they immediately enter the state without remainder.

The second passes into nirvana with remainder not long after birth in Form because of effort and the path appearing naturally.

The third makes efforts, but the path does not appear naturally, so they pass into nirvana with effort a somewhat long time after taking birth.

The fourth attains nirvana without effort, but not immediately after birth: they do not actually make efforts, but the path appears naturally, so they pass into complete nirvana without great efforts.

The fifth does not make efforts and the path does not appear naturally. They do not attain arhat in the lower abodes, but transmigrate to higher realms and pass into nirvana in any one of them.

The first of these has discarded the fetters of birth and so attains nirvana solely without remainder. Those who attain nirvana immediately after birth are not asserted to attain it without remainder, because those who have not attained the highest end of dhyana[272] on the support of a human body on the three continents do not have the power to cast off life, and the karma that makes one remain in the previous state is also very strong.

As for the order they are presented, the sutras explain nirvana without effort before nirvana with effort, and the Master also explains it thus. The Great Exposition, however, says that as their path arises naturally, if they are mentioned first there would be no distinction between them and those who pass into nirvana immediately upon birth, and so list it later.

(ii) Particular explanation of the classifications of those bound for higher. This has two points.

A. Those who will go to Below None

37cd

If they alternate

e dhyanas, they are bound for Below None.

38ab

ey leap, half leap, or die in all

e realms,

There are two types of those bound for higher in terms of cause and result. In terms of cause, there are those who train in insight and those who train in tranquility. If they alternate the defiled and undefiled dhyanas and meditate mixing them, those who train insight are ultimately bound to go as far as Below None in terms of result. They are also threefold: leapers, half leapers, or those who die in all the realms.

A leaper is someone who alternates dhyanas as a human but regresses through the afflictions of the first dhyana and is reborn in Brahma’s Abode, et cetera. There they meditate on the great alternation, and so are born in Below None, where they make nirvana manifest.

A half leaper is unable to produce the great alternation in Brahma’s Abode and so forth and meditates only on the lesser or medium alternation. Through that they are reborn in Not Great or Without Pain, where they meditate on the great alternation, and then they are born in Below None and make nirvana manifest.

One who dies in all realms is born in all the sixteen abodes, with the exception of Great Brahma, in succession and then makes nirvana manifest.

B. Those who will go to the Peak of Existence

38b

and others go to the Peak.

Those other than the ones who alternate the dhyanas and go to Below None are those who enjoy tranquility and neither meditate on alternation nor go to Below None. They go from the first dhyana through all levels with the exception of the fourth dhyana’s pure abodes and ultimately to the Peak of Existence. They can also be similar to leapers and so forth. They do go to the Formless realms later, but since they first go to the dhyanas, they are called bound for Form.

Can they pass into nirvana in the meantime? you ask. It is possible. Here Below None and the Peak of Existence are taken as the upper limit, but there can be attainment of nirvana without going to them, similar to the seventimers, it is explained.

These are nobles who prefer samadhi and train in tranquility. The former who are ultimately bound for Below None prefer full knowing and train in insight.

(b) Explanation of those bound for Formless

38c

Four other types are bound for Formless.

Additionally there are four other types, different from the previously explained nonreturners, who have attained the mind of Formless in Desire and not regressed. They are the four types bound for Formless. There is no between state, so they are the four types of nirvana upon birth and so on. It is also suitable to give them the designations of leaper and so on. Thus this is the sixth type of nonreturner.

(c) Explanation of visible peace

38d

Another transcends sorrow here.

Another nonreturner, different from those bound for Form and Formless, transcends sorrow by attaining nirvana here in the Desire realm itself in the very same lifetime as they attain nonreturner. This is the seventh nonreturner, called visible peace.

Thus the five bound for Form can each be born in the sixteen abodes, with the exception of Great Brahma. They have six families,[273] nine detachments,[274] and three faculties. By multiplying these, there are 12,960 bound for Form. The four bound for Formless have four supports, six families, nine detachments, and three faculties, which when multiplied makes 2,592 bound for Formless. Visible peace has nine supports, six families, seventy-two detachments, and three faculties, which when multiplied makes 11,664 who are visible peace.

(d) Explaining the many classifications of nonreturners. This has four topics: (i) Classifying those bound for Form as nine, (ii) Explaining the holy wanderers, (iii) Identifying nobles whose lives have been completely transformed, and (iv) Methods for meditating on alternation of the dhyanas.

(i) Classifying those bound for Form as nine. This has two points.

A. Actual

39ab

Dividing the three in three more,

Nine bound for Form can be explained,

Dividing the three nonreturners who achieve nirvana in the between state, upon birth, and bound for higher in three more each, the nine bound for Form can be explained. The way they are classified is that the first category has those who attain nirvana quickly, not quickly, and after a long time. The second category has those who attain nirvana immediately after birth, with effort, and without effort. The third category has leapers, half-leapers, and those who die in all realms. Alternatively it is explained that it is possible to classify all three as those who attain nirvana quickly, not quickly, and after a long time.

B. Their distinctions

39cd

Distinguished by their different

Karma, afflictions, faculties.

The nine are distinguished by their different karma, afflictions, and faculties. They are individually classified through karma that produces manifest results, that is experienced on rebirth, or that is experienced in other lifetimes; through lesser, medium, and greater afflictions that are harder or easier to discard; and through faculties that are sharp, medium, or dull.

(ii) Explaining the holy wanderers. This has two points.

A. Actual

40ab

Without dividing those bound higher,

ere are seven holy wanderers,

The seven holy wanderers taught in the sutras are the three who pass into nirvana in the intermediate, three who pass into nirvana upon birth and without dividing those bound for the higher, one bound for the higher. Thus there are seven holy wanderers, it is proposed. Pūrṇavardhana explains that the reason for not dividing those bound for higher is its classifications are so confusing. The Prince explains that it depends upon the disciples’ interests.

B. Elaboration

40cd

ey act on holy, not unholy;

ey go without return, so holy.

Why are only these, and not the attached learner stream-enterers and oncereturners, presented as holy wanderers? you ask. Between the two types, holy and unholy beings, they, the former, only act upon virtuous, holy conduct, whereas the latter merely do not act on the nonvirtuous or unholy. This is the meaning of holy. They are also called holy from going to the higher realms without return either to that or a lower level. That is the meaning of wanderer. So therefore only the nonreturners are holy. Because the learners who are stream-enterers and once-returners do not fulfill those two criteria, they are not.

However, it says in a sutra:

What is a holy being? you ask. One who has the correct view of the learners…

Additionally, attached learners have attained vows to never do five misdeeds and have mostly discarded nonvirtue, for which reason they are qualifiedly holy. Here the explanation is for the unqualifiedly holy, so there is no contradiction.

(iii) Identifying nobles whose lives have been completely transformed. This has two points.

A. Actual

41ab

Nobles who in Desire transform

eir lives don’t go to other realms.

Are there such classifications of the nobles whose lives are completely transformed in Desire? you ask. There are not. Well, what are they like? you ask. Nobles who in Desire completely transform their lives do not go to other realms, because in that very life they attain the result of nonreturner and then completely pass into nirvana.

Those whose lives are completely transformed in the Form realm can also enter into the Formless realms, such as those bound for higher that are going to the Peak of Existence.

Well then, a sutra says:

Śakra said, “If after I die here, I am born as a human and attain nirvana, that would be excellent. If I do not attain nirvana then, may I then be reborn in Below None.”

What does this mean? The Great Exposition says that Śakra merely does not know the abhidharma and the Teacher did not refute him in order to please him.

B. Dharmas connected with it

41cd

Both they and those born higher do not

Regress or refine faculties.

Both they, nonreturners whose lives are completely transformed in Desire, and those nobles born in the higher realms have familiarity with the path through continuous lifetimes and have attained superior supports that cannot regress. For these reasons, they do not regress, and because that in itself fully ripens their faculties, they also do not refine faculties.

(iv) Methods for meditating on alternation of the dhyanas. This has four points.

A. The alternated dharma

42a

ey alternate the fourth dhyan first,

Where it says, “If they alternate/The dhyanas, they are bound for Below None…”[275] what is alternated first? you ask. They alternate both the defiled and undefiled fourth dhyana first, because that is the most workable of all levels and because it is the supreme of the easy paths. The dhyanas arise in order from the first up, and the one that is alternated first is the fourth. Later the third, second, and first are also alternated. The support is that at first one can alternate only as a human in one of the three continents, and then later one can alternate in the Form realm as well.

B. The measure of accomplishment in alternating meditation

42b

Achieved by alternating moments

Great Expositionists say that right after an undefiled moment a defiled moment is manifested, and then right after that defiled moment another undefiled moment is manifested. In that way alternation is achieved by alternating the defiled and undefiled moments, like flowers on a garland. The undefiled and defiled moments are like the path of no obstacles, and the third undefiled moment is like the path of liberation, so they say.

The Master says that no one except for the Buddha can alternate three single moments, so alternation is performed by entering the three equipoises in succession for as long as they wish.

C. The reason to perform alternating meditation

42cd

In order to take birth and dwell,

Also from fear of the afflictions.

What is the purpose of alternating dhyana? you ask. Nonreturners with sharp faculties alternate in order to not pass into nirvana here but to take birth in the pure abodes and to dwell in bliss in the visible.[276] Those with dull faculties also meditate from fear of the afflictions, in order to keep from regressing from the result by distancing themselves from the samadhi that is concurrent with enjoyment.[277] Those nonreturners with dull faculties alternate for all three reasons (birth, abiding, and fear), the sharp for the former two, dull arhats for the latter two, and sharp arhats for only the second reason.

D. The cause for the pure realms being definitely five

43ab

Because there are five types of that,

Only five births in pure abodes.

Why are there only five births in pure abodes? you ask. It is because there are five types of that alternating meditation. In the lesser, there is one defiled between two undefiled moments—three minds are manifest. In the middle, it is doubled for six minds; in the greater it is tripled for nine alternations. In the very great another three are added for twelve alternations, and in the extremely great there are fifteen alternations. As results of these types, there are only five births in the pure abodes from Not Great to Below None out of the power of their defiled aspects

(e) Explanation of those made manifest by body

43cd

Nonreturners who have gained cessation

Are called made manifest by body.

Nonreturners who have gained the absorption of cessation are explained in the sutras as being called made manifest by body, it is proposed. The reason is because like liberation, the peace of cessation arises on the support of a body with no mind, the Great Exposition explains. The Master states that there is mind at the times when one arises from or enters the absorption of cessation.

d. Entering and abiding in arhat. This has three topics: i. Entering, ii. Abiding in result, and iii. The classifications of arhat enterers and abiders.

i. Entering

44.

ey are entering arhat until

e Peak’s eighth blockage is extinguished,

And on ninth’s path of no obstacles.

at is the vajra-like samadhi.

They, nonreturners, are in the state of entering arhat from the time of abandoning the first dhyana’s greater of greater discards until the Peak of Existence’s eighth blockage is extinguished or abandoned, and those who are on the ninth obstacle’s path of no obstacles that abandons it are also enterers. That path of no obstacles is the vajra-like samadhi, because like a diamond vajra, it is the greatest of all the paths of no-obstacles, so it has the power to conquer all the kernels.

ii. Abiding in result. This has two topics: (1) Actual, and (2) Supplementary topics.

(1) Actual

45ab

Attaining its extinction and

Knowing thereof, nonlearner arhat.

When a noble has attained its, the ninth’s, extinction or abandonment and the simultaneously arising knowing thereof, the knowing of extinction that is the ninth path of liberation, then that noble is called a nonlearner, because there is no more learning for the purpose of another result. For that reason, they have attained the ultimate benefit for themselves, so they are capable of performing benefit for others. Because they are worthy of respect from all ordinary individuals and from attached learners, they are an arhat.

(2) Supplementary topics. This has two topics: (a) Analyzing methods of detaching from desire, and (b) Explaining the results of the spiritual way.

(a) Analyzing methods of detaching from desire. is has four topics: (i) An overview of detachment, (ii) How the attainment of removal arises, (iii) Which levels discard attachment, and (iv) Analyzing the focus and aspects of the paths.

(i) An overview of detachment from desire

45cd

Transworldly brings detachment from

e Peak. Two kinds detach from others.

When it says, “The path of meditation is twofold,”[278] which learner path detaches one from the desire of which levels? you ask. Only the transworldly path brings detachment from the Peak of Existence. The worldly paths cannot, for there is nothing worldly above that and because they are not antidotes for their own levels. Both of the two kinds of paths—the worldly paths of preparation for higher levels and the transworldly path—can detach one from levels other than the Peak of Existence.

(ii) How the attainment of removal arises. This has two topics: A. Worldly, and B. Transworldly.

A. Worldly

46ab

Nobles detached through worldly paths

Attain removal that is twofold.

Well then, what is the distinction between the removal caused by those two paths? you ask. Noble stream-enterers who practice tranquility, for example, and become detached through worldly paths attain removal that is twofold: the attainment of both worldly and transworldly removal arises.

B. Transworldly. This has two points.

1. Presenting others’ propositions

46cd

Some say through the transworldly, too,

Since if they forfeit, no afflictions.

Some schools say there can be double attainment through the transworldly paths, too, since if a nonreturner who has been detached only through the distinctive undefiled path from all levels up to Nothingness refines their faculties, they forfeit the distinctive path of the dull and attain the mere result of the sharp, yet they have none of the higher level’s afflictions.

2. Refuting them

47ab

As when one’s freed from half the Peak’s

Or born above, they’re not possessed.

The Master says that although such nonreturners do not have the attainment of worldly removal, they do not have those levels’ afflictions. For example, it is just as when one has no worldly attainment of freedom from half of the Peak of Existence’s afflictions, if one forfeits the transworldly paths by refining faculties, those afflictions would not be possessed. Or for example, when an ordinary individual is born above in a level of the first dhyana or higher, they forfeit the attainment of removal of the afflictions of Desire but do not possess them. Thus the opponents’ position is not convincing. Therefore, those nonreturners do not possess the afflictions since there is their nonattainment.

(iii) Which levels discard attachment. This has two topics: A. Not Unable, and B. The other eight levels.

A. Not Unable. This has two points.

1. Actual

47cd

Undefiled Not Unable can

Remove attachment to all levels.

Which levels can detach one from the desire for which levels? you ask. The undefiled preparations for the first dhyana Not Unable can remove attachment to all the higher and lower levels from Desire to the Peak of Existence. The other preparations are definitely defiled, so they can only detach one from the desire of lower levels.

2. Dispelling a doubt about its freedom

48a–d

In victory over the three levels

e final path of liberation

Comes out of dhyan or preparation.

Above, not from the preparations.

Do all paths of liberation arise out of the preparations, like the paths of no obstacles? you ask. They do not. Well, how is it? you ask. In victory over the three levels of Desire and the first two dhyanas, if the faculties are sharp, one can switch feelings and as there is little affection for the preparations, the dhyana or essence of the actual practice arises. The final path of liberation thus comes out of dhyana or the actual practice. Or if the faculties are dull, one cannot switch feelings, so the final path of liberation arises from the essence of the preparations.[279]

In victory over the higher levels of the third dhyana and above, the preparations and actual practices of the fourth and so forth have compatible feelings. Because of that, and because there is respect for the actual practice, the path of liberation is not born from the last preparations for these higher realms, but from the essence of the actual practice.

B. The other eight levels

48ef

Eight nobles are victorious

Over their own and higher levels.

The eight noble or undefiled absorptions—the four actual, special samadhi, and first three Formless—are victorious over their own and higher levels and remove the desire for those levels. They do not detach one from lower levels, because if one is not detached one cannot manifest the actual practice, so one has already detached from lower levels.

(iv) Analyzing the focus and aspects of the paths. This has two points.

A. Actual

49.

e worldly paths of liberation

And of no obstacles have peace

And coarse, et cetera, as their aspects,

And as their sphere, the high and low.

Well then, if transcendent paths of no obstacles and liberation have the truths as their focus and also have their aspects, what do the worldly paths have? you ask. The worldly paths of liberation and of no obstacles have peace, et cetera, sublimity and emancipation, as aspects, and coarse, et cetera, like rigidity and thick walls, as their aspects, respectively. And as their sphere, the paths of liberation focus on the higher level and the paths of no obstacles on the lower level.

B. What arises immediately following the knowing of extinction

50.

From knowing extinction comes the nonarising

Intelligence if they’re unshakable.

If not, then knowing extinction or the view

Of the nonlearner, which all arhats have.

What cognitions can arise immediately after knowing extinction? you ask.

From knowing extinction comes the nonarising intelligence if they, arhats, are unshakable ones who will not regress. If they are not unshakable, then only knowing extinction or the correct view of the nonlearner arise from the knowing of extinction. As there is no regressing from knowing nonarising, that knowing does not arise in those who are not unshakable. That correct view of the nonlearner is something which all arhats have or produce. For even the unshakable, sometimes only the knowing of nonarising arises from the knowing of nonarising, and sometimes the nonlearners’ correct view arises.

(b) Explaining the results of the spiritual way. This has two topics: (i) Classifications of the results of the spiritual way, and (ii) Explaining the spiritual way itself.

(i) Classifications of the results of the spiritual way. This has four points: A. Classifying in brief, B. Classifying extensively, C. Establishing the number of the four results, and D. Rebutting that not all are included.

A. Classifying in brief

51ab

e spiritual way is the stainless paths;

Results are compound and noncompound.

What are the four results that have been explained? you ask. They are results of the spiritual way. What is the so-called spiritual way? you ask. The spiritual way is the eighty-nine stainless paths of no obstacles. Its results are the same number of compound paths of liberation and noncompound results of removal. In the sutras, these are said to be fourfold.[280] Because ordinary individuals have not produced lasting peace, they are not ultimately spiritual.

B. Classifying extensively

51cd

ey’re eighty-nine: they are the paths

Of liberation, with extinctions.

They, the spiritual ways and their results, if classified extensively, are eightynine each. How? you ask. There are the eight classes of discards of seeing for Desire and the higher realms. There are the eighty-one discards of meditation, nine for each of the nine levels, for a total of eighty-nine. The paths of no obstacles that discard these are the ways. They, the results of the ways, are the eighty-nine composite paths of liberation, along with the eighty-nine cessations that are the extinction of those discards.

C. Establishing the number of the four results

52.

ere are five reasons they are presented

As four results: relinquishing

e previous path on the result,

Acquiring another, and combining

53ab

Extinctions, gaining the eight knowings,

And also gaining sixteen aspects.

Well then, does the Buddha’s presenting the results to be four have the fault of being too few? It does not. In any given period, there are five reasons they are presented as four results. For that reason, the results are presented as four.

What are the five causes? you ask. They are 1) relinquishing the previous entering path when abiding on the result, 2) acquiring the path of abiding in another result, and 3) combining extinctions or discards and acquiring an attainment of removal, and 4) gaining the complete set of eight knowings—four dharma knowings and four subsequent knowings—and also 5) the complete attainment of gaining all sixteen aspects of impermanence and so forth. In brief, each of the four results has these five causes.

D. Rebutting that not all are included

53cd

Results of worldly paths are mixed,

Supported by unstained attainment.

Well then, if only the undefiled paths are spiritual ways, how is it logical for the two results attained by worldly paths to be results of the spiritual way? you ask. Because the two results, once-returner and nonreturner, are not attained by the worldly path alone but are also attained by the undefiled path, they are results of the spiritual path. With the two types of result for individuals who were previously detached, it is because the previous defiled attainment of removal and the later removal of the undefiled path of seeing are mixed into one and attained together. Or if it is a successive result, the abandonment is supported by the previous unstained attainment of removal.

(ii) Explaining the spiritual way itself. This has three topics: A. Explanation of Brahma’s wheel of the path, B. Explaining the path of seeing in particular as the wheel of dharma, and C. How many results of the spiritual way are attained in which realms.

A. Explanation of Brahma’s wheel of the path

54ab

It is Brahma’s method, Brahma’s wheel,

Since Brahma is the one who turned it.

It, that which is explained as the spiritual way, itself is Brahma’s method, because it discards many types of nonvirtuous dharmas of afflictions and misdeeds. The Bhagavan is the Brahma of the unexcelled undefiled path, the method of Brahma, so it is Brahma’s Wheel, since Brahma, the Bhagavan, is the one who turned it. It says in a sutra:

The Bhagavan is called Brahma. He is also called peaceful and cool.

B. Explaining the path of seeing in particular as the Wheel of Dharma

54cd

e Dharma Wheel is the path of seeing,

Since it goes fast, has spokes, et cetera.

What is the essence of the Wheel of Dharma? you ask. The essence of the Dharma Wheel is the path of seeing, since it is comparable to the wheel of a wheel-wielding emperor. Just as the precious wheel spins quickly, vanquishes the unvanquished, brings the vanquished to natural ease, flies up to high levels, and then descends, the fifteen moments of the path of seeing go fast and so on. They cast off the previous truths and enter the later. The paths of no obstacles vanquish personality view and the other unvanquished afflictions by severing their attainment. The paths of liberation bring the vanquished to natural ease. It flies up to the truths of the higher realms and, focusing on the truths of the lower, descends.

The Venerable Ghoṣaka says that the noble eightfold path is comparable to spokes, et cetera, so it is called a wheel. Right view, thought, effort, and mindfulness are like spokes. Right speech, action, and livelihood are like the hub. Right samadhi is like the rim.

Where does the saying that the path of seeing is the Wheel of Dharma come from? you ask. When the path of seeing arose in noble Kauṇḍinya, the yakshas above the earth exclaimed, “The Bhagavan has turned the Wheel of Dharma.” This was repeated three times. There is a repetition for the essence of the truth: “These are the noble truths of duḥkha, origin, cessation, and path.” There is a repetition for their actions: “I shall respectively know them, discard them, manifest them, and meditate on them.” There is a repetition for their completions: “I have known them, discarded them, manifested them, and meditated on them.” For each of the twelve aspects, “Upon appropriate attention, the eye, knowledge, awareness, and mind arose,” dividing them each into four. If you multiply these, there are twelve repetitions and forty-eight aspects, but they are similar in being sets of three and sets of twelve, so that is what they are called. For example, there are twelve sense bases, but because they are similar in being sets of two, a sutra combines them in a like way:

Bhikshus, I will show you two. Listen to them well, retain them in your mind, and explain them. What are the two? you ask. The eye and form… [and so forth up to] and mind and dharma.

The three repetitions teach the paths of seeing, meditation, and no more learning respectively, the Great Exposition says. The Master asks, if that is so, how can the path of seeing alone be the Wheel of Dharma, since it does not fulfill all three repetitions? Therefore, that enumeration of dharmas itself is the Wheel of Dharma, and the three repetitions are also the twelve. It is also turned because their meaning is taught fully and made understood in another’s being. Alternatively, all noble paths are Wheels of Dharma, and the three repetitions of the twelve aspects as before are from the specifics of repeating the four truths. Turning is producing it in another’s being. Where the sutra says, “When the path of seeing arose in Kauṇḍinya, he had turned the Wheel of Dharma…” this means the first turning, it is explained.

C. How many results of the spiritual way are attained in which realms. This has two points.

1. Actual

55a

ree gained in Desire, the last in three.

Well, how many results of the spiritual path are attained in which realms? you ask. Of the four results, the three results of stream-enterer, once-returner, and nonreturner are gained in Desire but not in the other realms. The last result is arhat itself, which can be attained in all three realms.

2. Dispelling a doubt

55b–d

Above there is no path of seeing,

As there’s no weariness, and scriptures say,

“Commence here; come to the end there.”

In that case, it is logical that the results of stream-enterer and once-returner, which are attained by those not detached from Desire, are not attained in the higher realms, but why is not the result of nonreturner attained there? you ask. Above the realm of Desire there is no path of seeing. Without that, there is no attainment of the result of detached nonreturner. That is the proof.

Why is there no path of seeing there? you ask. In the Formless realm, there is no listening and one does not focus on the lower realms. In the Form realm, one never grows weary because there is attachment to the bliss of absorption and because there is no feeling of suffering, and if there is no world-weariness one cannot attain the noble path. Thus there is no path of seeing there. This is the logical proof.

And it is also because The Scripture that Teaches the Ten Groups of Ten[281] says, “The five individuals from those who pass into nirvana in the between state to those bound for higher commence here and come to the end there.”

In this, “here” is Desire and “there” is the higher realms. “Commence” means to enter the gate to the path of liberation.

iii. The classifications of arhat enterers and abiders. This has two topics: (1) Classifying in six, and (2) Classifying in nine.

(1) Classifying in six. This has two topics: (a) Actual classification, and (b) Methods for refining faculties.

(a) Actual classification. This has two topics: (i) Overview, and (ii) The explanation.

(i) Overview

56a

It is said there are six arhats,

The verse says, “From knowing extinction comes the nonarising / Intelligence if they’re unshakable… ”[282] so are there also classifications of arhats? you ask. There are, because in the sutras it is said there are six arhats: the regressed one, the one with volition for death, the protected one, unshaken from abiding, capable to realize, and the unshakable one.

(ii) The explanation. This has five topics: A. Condensing into two, B. The families and results from which one regresses, C. Applying the classification of families to others, D. On which paths faculties can be refined, and E. The complete classification of regression.

A. Condensing into two. This has three points.

1. Teaching the five families as occasional liberation

56a–c

five

Of whom come from the convinced through faith.

eir freedom is occasional.

Five of whom, these six arhats except for the unshakable one, arise out of the convinced through faith that precedes them. Their, those five’s, freedom or liberation of mind is occasional, so it should be known as contingent, because it must always be protected. For just that reason, they are called occasional liberation. They depend upon occasion and are liberation, so they are occasional liberation, like saying butter dish. Because they depend upon specifics of provisions, good health, and place to manifest samadhi, they depend upon occasion.

2. Teaching the sixth family as nonoccasional liberation

56d

Unshakable one cannot be shaken,

57ab

So that is nonoccasional freedom

Born out of the attained through seeing.

Because the liberation of the unshakable one cannot be moved through regression, it cannot be moved. So for that reason that is called nonoccasional freedom. Because it directly manifests the samadhi of all that is desired, it is not dependent upon occasion and is liberation.

Alternatively, of these two results, it is possible for one to regress and impossible for the other, so the one is liberated until another occasion and the other is liberated forever. For this reason they are occasional and nonoccasional liberation.

The unshakable is definitely preceded by attainment through seeing, so it should be known as born out of the cause of the attained through seeing.

3. Elaboration on these points

57cd

Some from the first are in their family,

And some become through purification.

Are these six arhats in one family only from the very first, or can they change later? you ask. Of the six arhats, some from the very first are in their family of those with volition for death, and some become it through purification of their faculties from regressed one to one with volition for death. Know that it is thus up to the unshakable one, it is taught.

Regressed ones without a doubt regress from their result. Those with volition for death think, “If I do not kill myself, I will regress from my result, but if I kill myself, I will not regress.” Protected ones will regress from the result if they do not protect their mind from desirable things, but if they protect it, they will not regress. Those unshaken from abiding will not regress from visible bliss whether or not they protect their mind, but they do not have the capability to purify their faculties. Those capable to realize will not regress from visible bliss whether or not they protect their mind and have the capability to purify their faculties from dull to sharp. Unshakable ones will not regress from the result whether or not they protect their mind and do not need to purify their faculties, because from the beginning they have been in the family of those with sharp faculties.

B. The families and results from which one regresses

58ab

e four regress from family,

Five from result. Not from the first.

Well then, can these all regress from their result or family? you ask. The four—one with volition for death and so on—can completely regress from their family, and the five—regressed one and so on—can regress from the result because they have dull faculties. However, there is not any regression from the first family, because there is no lower family than that, and it is made stable by the learner, nonlearner, worldly, and transworldly paths. There is no regression from the first result, stream-enterer, because the first result is distinguished by the abandonment of discards of seeing, and the discards of seeing have no basis. For that reason, there is no complete regression from the result of stream-enterer.

Well then, why is it possible to regress from the higher three results but not from stream-enterer? you ask. It is because the discards of seeing have no basis since they are rooted in personality view. They engage the basis of the self, and that self does not exist.

The three results delineated by the abandonment of discards of meditation can regress. The afflictions discarded by meditation may have been discarded once, but their object, mere things themselves that are attractive and so forth, do exist, so by that condition it is possible that the afflictions might arise again. For that reason, the discards of meditation do have a basis.

From a sutra:

Gain and respect make obstacles even for arhats, I declare.

From the Sutra like a Heap of Ashes:[283]

Noble listeners who are well versed, for those who act in this way and dwell in this way, thoughts of nonvirtuous misdeeds will occasionally arise out of weakened mindfulness.

In another sutra, Venerable Godhika also regressed many times, it is explained. These are the reasons, it is said.

The Sutra school says there is no regression from any result attained through an undefiled path, because that conquers afflictions from their root, so it is impossible that the afflictions could arise again. Also, from a sutra:

Whatever has been discarded through noble full knowing, that has been discarded.

It is possible to regress from what has been attained through a worldly path, because that cannot conquer the seed of afflictions from its roots.

Therefore, the first and last results are definitely only attained by undefiled paths, so regression is impossible, but the middle two both can be attained by either of the paths, so they are possibly both regressable and nonregressable. It is in terms of this that, “I say to the learners, ‘Be careful!’” was said, while that was not said to the nonlearners.

Well then, if all arhats thus become only unshakable, why are they explained as six? you ask. They are unshakable from the result only, but they can be divided into six in terms of regression some qualities such as samadhi. This is the intent behind saying that gain and respect make obstacles. The latter two scriptures are intended in terms of learners.

C. Applying the classification of families to others

58c

Six families of learners and nonnobles.

Do only the arhats have six families, or do others also have six families? you ask. Not only arhats, there are six families of learners and nonnoble ordinary individuals in the same way, because the families of arhats precede the attainment of arhat.

D. On which paths faculties can be refined

58d

ere’s no refining on the path of seeing.

On the paths other than seeing, the faculties can be refined, but there is no refining faculties while on the path of seeing, because training is impossible. Some refine their faculties while ordinary individuals. Some refine while they are in the state of interest through faith.

E. The complete classification of regression. This has three points.

1. Actual

59ab

Regression from attained, from not attained,

And from enjoyment: these are called three types.

From a sutra:

I declare that those who have attained bliss in the visible, the four that arise from the superior training in mind, can regress from any one of them, but I declare that in no way at all can one regress from this one unshakable liberation of mind made manifest by body.

So it is said, but how can an unshakable one who abides in bliss in the visible regress from the attainment of the four dhyanas? you ask. In general, there is regression from what has been attained by losing qualities, regression from what has not been attained by not attaining what is to be attained, and regression from enjoyment by not manifesting what has been attained. These are called the three types of regression.

2. Which individuals regress in which way

59cd

e Teacher has the last; the unshakable,

e middle, too; and others have the three.

Of those types of regression, the Teacher, the Buddha, has only the last, regression from enjoyment: he possesses all qualities but does not make them all manifest. He does not have the other types of regression. The unshakable one has that and the middle, regression from what is not attained, too, because they have not attained the dharmas of the superior individual. And because the other arhats can also regress from what is attained, they have the three regressions. For that reason, because unshakable ones can completely regress from enjoyments, this does not contradict the sutra.

3. The reason there is no death while regressed from result

60ab

While they’re regressed, they do not die.

ey don’t do what should not be done.

Is an arhat who has regressed from the result reborn? you ask. There is no such thing, because while they, all those who have regressed, are regressed, they do not die before they have restored the result. From a sutra:

Bhikshus, noble listeners who are well-versed might have some slight regression in mindfulness, but that will disappear very quickly and be completely extinguished and completely eliminated.

If that were not so, it would not be logical for their minds to be stable with regards to celibacy. They, those who have regressed from a result, do not do anything that should not be done that is exclusive of the result, such as sexual conduct, just as a great hero who has slipped cannot be struck.

(b) Methods for refining faculties. This has four topics: (i) Refining faculties while on the path, (ii) The essence of those paths, (iii) What the support for refining is, and (iv) On which levels one refines faculties.

(i) Refining faculties while on the path. This has two points.

A. Nonlearner

60cd

Nine paths of no obstacles and liberation

For unshakable from strong familiarity

How many paths of no obstacles and liberation are there for refining faculties? you ask. Someone who is capable of realization has nine paths each of no obstacles and liberation to refine to the state of the unshakable one. The reason is from strong familiarity with the dull family: they have been accustomed to it for a long time and it has been stabilized by the leaner and nonlearner paths. For example, if someone is accustomed to bad grammar, it is difficult to correct it.

B. Learner.

61a

One each for the attained through seeing.

One can train with one path of no obstacles and liberation each to refine one’s faculties from convinced through faith into the attained through seeing, because it has not been stabilized by both the learner and nonlearner paths so it is easy to change. Both only have one path of training.

(ii) The essence of those paths

61b

ey’re undefiled,

They, all of those paths of no obstacles and liberation, are undefiled, because defiled paths cannot refine the faculties of noble individuals. Ordinary individuals refine their faculties through the defiled aspects of peaceful and coarse.

(iii) What the support for refining is

61b

refined by humans.

On what support does one refine faculties? you ask. They are refined by humans, not on other supports, because nobles born in higher realms cannot regress, as is said:

Both they and those born higher do not

Regress or refine faculties.[284]

Nobles born as gods of Desire develop renunciation for great and fine objects and then see the truth, so their faculties are naturally sharp and they do not regress, the Prince explains.

(iv) On which levels one refines faculties. This has two points.

A. Nonlearner

61c

Nonlearners on support of nine,

On what levels can one refine faculties? you ask. Nonlearners refine their faculties on the support of nine levels: Not Unable, special dhyana, the four dhyanas, and the first three Formless levels, because the result of refinement is contained within any one of these nine levels.

B. Learner

61d

And learners on six levels, since

62ab

Refinement forfeits the result

And progress; the result is gained.

And attached learners refine their faculties on Not Unable, and if they are detached, on any of the six levels of dhyana that they have attained. If they have attained the three levels of Formless, why do they not refine faculties on its support? It is since refinement of faculties forfeits both the mere result of the dull and the path of higher progress even if it has been attained, because the mere result of sharp faculties is always gained. Therefore, since there is no mere nonreturner result on the levels of Formless, these levels do not support refinement.

(2) Classifying in nine. This has two points.

(i) Actual classification

62c

Two buddhas, seven listeners:

There are nine arhats by distinctions in their faculties. The buddha and self-buddha are instances of unshakable only, because these two buddhas are both included within those liberated through both parts.[285] The five of regressed one, etc., and the two unshakable ones—those who became unshakable through purification and those who were unshakable from the first—are the seven listeners.

(ii) The reason for this classification

62d

Nine have nine different faculties.

Those nine noble individuals are presented as nine since there are dull, medium, and sharp faculties, each of which is divided into three, so they have nine different faculties. The regressed one, the one with volition for death, and the protected one are the three lesser, medium, and greater dull faculties. The one unshaken from abiding, the capable to realize, and the unshakable one from purification are the lesser, medium, and greater medium faculties. The unshakable from the first, self-buddha, and buddha are the lesser, medium, and greater sharp faculties.

B. Classifying into seven enumerations

63a–c

e seven individuals

Are made by training, faculties,

Absorption, liberation, both.

Noble individuals can also be classified as seven: followers of faith and dharma, convinced through faith and attained through seeing, made manifest by body, freed through full knowing, and liberated through both aspects. Of these seven individuals, the distinctions in the first two are made by training, because they trained in the meaning by relying on others from the first or by following the meaning of the sutras and so forth. Interest through faith and attained through seeing are distinguished by dull or sharp faculties, because the faculties are dull with strong conviction through faith and sharp through strong full knowing. Made manifest by body is distinguished through absorption, because those in that state can make the absorption of cessation manifest through their bodies. Liberated through full knowing is distinguished by liberation from the afflictions, and liberated through both aspects is distinguished both by liberation from the afflictions and by absorption. The former are liberated from the afflictive obscurations through full knowing and the latter are liberated from those and the obscurations to the absorptions respectively. As they have attained absorption, they are liberated from the obscurations to absorption or liberation.

C. Combining them into six substances. This has two topics: 1. Actual, and 2. Elaboration.

1. Actual

63d

ey’re six: the three paths each have two.

In terms of their names, there are seven individuals, but they are six in substance. It is like this: the three paths of seeing and so forth each have two substances. On the path of seeing there are followers of faith and followers of dharma. On the path of meditation, there are convinced through faith and attained through seeing. On the path of no learning, there are occasional and nonoccasional liberation.

To classify them extensively, followers of faith alone can be classified in terms of faculty, family, path, detachment, and support for a total of 147,825 classifications. Followers of dharma and so forth can all also be calculated in the same way. The detailed method of classification appears under this topic in the Ṭīka.

2. Elaboration. This has two points.

a. Identifying the two liberations

64ab

ose who have gained cessation, liberated

By both; the others by full knowing.

Well then, what are liberation through both aspects and liberation by full knowing? you ask. Those who have gained the absorption of cessation through the actual dhyana have been liberated by both, because they are liberated from afflictive obscurations by full knowing and from the obscurations of liberation by samadhi. The obscurations of liberation are the five obscurations of forgetting the focus, torpor, agitation, effort, and lack of effort. The obscurations of absorption are the inability to produce the actual first dhyana even when detached from the three realms because the mind is not workable and so forth.

The others—those other than those who are liberated through both aspects—are liberated by full knowing from the afflictive obscurations only on the basis of the preparation for the first dhyana Not Unable. This is liberation through the aspect of full knowing. These two are known as ornamented arhat and unornamented arhat.

b. Distinctions in perfection of qualities

64cd

From their absorption, faculties,

And results, learners are called perfect.

65a

Nonlearners are perfect through two.

From a sutra:

All those who have discarded five afflictions And have the unlosable dharmas are perfect.

What is it that makes learners and nonlearners perfect? you ask. From their perfection of absorption (attainment of cessation, the dharma which is similar to liberation) the perfection of faculties (sharp faculties which cannot be lost through conditions) and the perfection of results (nonreturner who has abandoned the five afflictions that lead to the lowest) learners are called perfect.

There are four alternatives of nonlearners who are perfect and those who are not through the two aspects of faculty and absorption. There is none whose result is not perfect.

III. A specific explanation of paths. This has three topics: 1. Qualities of the different paths, 2. Presentation of the factors of enlightenment, and 3. Liberation attained through the path.

1. Qualities of the different paths. This has two points.

a. Distinctions of the four paths of joining and so forth

65b–d

In brief, there are four types of path:

ey’re called distinctive, liberation,

No obstacles, and path of joining.

Many paths have been explained, but to put it concisely, how many paths are there? you ask. In brief, there are four types of all the paths: they are the paths called the distinctive path, the path of liberation, the path of no obstacles, and the path of joining. In the text they are presented from top down, but to explain them in accord with the way they arise, there are the path of joining, which is the cause of the path of no obstacles; the path of no obstacles, which for the most part is what actually discards obscurations; the path of liberation, which is the first arising of freedom from obscurations; and the distinctive path, which is the continuum of liberation following that. To illustrate with the path of seeing, for example, the precursors to realization, eight forbearances, eight knowings, and that which follows subsequent knowing of path are these four respectively.

Why are these called paths? you ask. As one goes from there to nirvana, or one finds nirvana by these, they are called paths.

b. Distinctions of difficult, easy, slow, and fast

66.

e dhyanas’ paths are easy; those

Of other levels, difficult.

Dull minds are slow to clearly know;

e other ones know clearly quickly.

From a sutra:

There are paths that are slow to know clearly and difficult. There are paths that are quick to know clearly and difficult. Likewise there are also two that are easy.

What are these? you ask. The four dhyanas’ paths are easy because they are fully embraced by the branches of dhyana and arise naturally through equal parts of tranquility and insight, without need for effort. Those paths of the other levels, Not Unable, special dhyana, and the Formless, are difficult because they are not embraced by the branches and must be produced by making efforts at the path as tranquility and insight are not equally balanced. On the first two there is less tranquility, and in Formless there is less insight. Those with dull minds or full knowing, whether on an easy or difficult path, are slow to clearly know and realize, because they direct themselves toward an object and then come to know it slowly. The other ones, those with sharp faculties, know clearly quickly, whatever level they are on, because their minds are quick.[286]

2. Presentation of the factors of enlightenment. This has five topics: a. Classifications and groupings of the factors of enlightenment, b. During which periods one meditates on them, c. Examining whether they are defiled or undefiled, d. Examining which levels they are on, and e. When faith from knowing is attained.

a. Classifications and groupings of the factors of enlightenment. This has two topics: i. The result, enlightenment, and ii. The cause, dharmas of the path.

i. The result, enlightenment

67ab

Knowing extinction and nonarising

Is enlightenment.

The path is given the name factors of enlightenment. The thirty-seven factors are the four foundations of mindfulness, four complete abandonments, four feet of miracles, five faculties, five powers, seven branches of enlightenment, and the noble eightfold path. [287]

Knowing extinction and nonarising is called enlightenment because it is the ultimate abandonment and realization. To classify it in terms of individuals, there are three: the enlightenment of the listeners, that of the self-buddhas, and complete enlightenment.

ii. The cause, dharmas of the path. This has three topics: (1) Explaining the term as an overview, (2) The actual classification and grouping, and (3) The proof of the grouping in ten.

(1) Explaining the term as an overview

67b–d

ey factor in it,

So the thirty-seven are its factors

In terms of name.

They factor in it, so the thirty-seven of enlightenment, the four foundations of mindfulness, et cetera, are called its, enlightenment’s, factors. They are classified in terms of their names.

(2) The actual classification and grouping

67d

In substance, ten:

68a–c

Faith, diligence, and mindfulness, full knowing,

Samadhi, equanimity, and joy,

Considering, discipline, and pliancy.

In substance, they are ten: faith, diligence, and mindfulness, full knowing, samadhi, equanimity, joy, considering, discipline, and pliancy.

(3) The proof of the grouping in ten. This has two points.

(a) Actual

68d

e mindfulness foundations are full knowing.

69ab

And diligence, called right endeavor.

e feet of miracles, samadhi.

How are these thirty-seven grouped as ten? you ask. The four mindfulness foundations are full knowing, because as it is said, “He views the body as the body and rests.”[288] And diligence is called right endeavor or the four complete abandonments, because as it is said, “Arouse interest, make efforts, be diligent.” The nature of the four feet of miracles is samadhi. The faculties and powers are, as told by their names, faith, diligence, mindfulness, samadhi, and full knowing in substance.

The four foundations of mindfulness; the branch of enlightenment, the right full discernment of dharmas; and right view are full knowing only. The four right endeavors, the branch of enlightenment right diligence, and right effort are solely diligence. The four feet of miracles, the branch of enlightenment samadhi, and right samadhi are solely samadhi. The branch of enlightenment mindfulness and right mindfulness are solely mindfulness. Three branches of enlightenment, joy, pliancy, and equanimity as well as right thought are indicated by their names. Right speech, right action, and right livelihood are discipline in substance.

(b) Elaboration

69cd

e main is mentioned. ey are also

All qualities produced by training.

In the explanation of the four foundations of mindfulness and so forth as full knowing, discipline, and samadhi by nature, the main substance is mentioned, but if their associated factors are included, they, the foundations of mindfulness and the others, not including faith and so forth that are attained upon birth, are also all qualities of listening, contemplation, and so forth that are produced by training.

b. During which periods one meditates on them

70.

Respectively, the seven groups

Emerge among beginners and

Precursors to clear realization,

On meditation, and on seeing.

During which stages do which factors of enlightenment emerge? you ask. The Great Exposition says that respectively these seven groups of the foundations of mindfulness, complete abandonments, feet of miracles, faculties, powers, branches of enlightenment, and the noble eightfold path, emerge among beginners, and on the four precursors to clear realization, on the paths of meditation, and on the path of seeing.[289] Others present the seven branches of enlightenment as the path of seeing and the noble eightfold path as the path of meditation.

c. Examining whether they are defiled or undefiled

71ab

e branches of bodhi and the path

Are undefiled. e rest are twofold.

How many of the factors of enlightenment are defiled and how many are undefiled? you ask. The branches of bodhi, or enlightenment, and the eightfold path are solely undefiled because they are contained within the paths of seeing, meditation, and no learning. The rest are twofold, both defiled and undefiled, because they can be present during the equipoise and post-meditation of all five paths.

d. Examining which levels they are on

71cd

ey all are on the first of dhyanas

And Not Unable, except joy.

72.

On second, all except considering,

And on the two, except those two,

And special dhyan. On the three Formless,

Not those, nor factors of discipline.

73ab

ey’re in Desire and on the Peak,

Except enlightenment and path.

How many factors of enlightenment are there on each of the levels? you ask. They all are able to be on the actual practice of the first of the dhyanas, and on Not Unable there are thirty-six with the exception of joy. On the second dhyana, there are all, except for thought, which is considering, for thirty-six. And on the two, the third and fourth dhyanas, there are thirty-five except those two, joy and thought. And on the special dhyana, too, there are likewise thirty-five. On the first three Formless, too, there are not those two, joy and thought, nor are there the three factors of discipline, right speech, and so forth, so there may be thirty-two. They, twenty-two, are in Desire and on the Peak, except for fifteen: the branches of enlightenment and the noble eightfold path. These may be included in the substance of either the paths of accumulation or the nobles’ training or post-meditation.

e. When faith from knowing is attained. This has two topics: i. Actual, and ii. Elaboration.

i. Actual

73cd

Seeing three truths gains discipline

And faith in Dharma out of knowing;

74ab

In the Buddha and his Sangha, too,

Upon the path’s clear realization.

At what point are the factors of enlightenment known to be the attainment of faith from knowing? you ask. Upon seeing the three truths of suffering, origin, and cessation, one gains or attains the discipline that pleases the nobles and faith in the Dharma out of knowing. One attains faith from knowing in the Buddha and his Sangha of listeners, too, upon the truth of the path’s clear realization. Faith in these two is faith in the nonlearner dharmas that make the Buddha and faith in the learner dharmas that make the Sangha. The word “too” indicates that faith in discipline and Dharma from knowing are also attained.

ii. Elaboration. This has three points.

(1) Identifying the essence of the Dharma

74cd

e Dharma is three truths and paths

Of the self-buddhas and bodhisattvas.

What is thought of as Dharma here? you ask. The Dharma in this context is the clear realization the first three truths, and the learner and nonlearner paths of the rhinolike self-buddhas, and truth of the path of bodhisattvas, and the seventeen antidotes for the Peak of Existence. Within these, there is not a gathering of four bhikshus, so they are not the Sangha. As they hold their own essence, they are dharma.

(2) How many substances it has

75ab

In terms of substance, they are two:

ey’re faith and discipline.

In terms of substance they are two: they are faith in the Three Jewels from knowing, which is faith, and discipline that pleases the nobles, which is discipline.

(3) Essential features

75b

ey’re stainless.

They, the faiths from knowing, are solely stainless. The meaning of faith through knowing is that knowing means realizing the truths correctly as they are through full knowing and faith means belief.

3. Liberation attained through the path. This has three points: a. Right liberation, b. Right knowing, and c. A particular explanation of liberation.

a. Right liberation. This has two points.

i. The reason liberation is not a learner’s branch

75cd

ey’re bound, so liberation is

Not called a learner’s branch.

From a sutra:

The learners possess eight branches. The nonlearners possess ten branches.

Why are learners not explained as having liberation and right knowing? you ask. They, the learners, are bound by any one of the bonds of the afflictions, so liberation is not called a learner’s branch. Without liberation, there can hardly be right knowing, because that is inherently the knowing of extinction and nonarising.

ii. Classifications of liberation

75d

It’s twofold.

76a–c

Conquering afflictions, noncompound;

While interest is composite.

at is the branch; two liberations.

It, liberation, is twofold: the cessation of conquering afflictions is noncompound, while the nonlearner’s mental factor interest is composite. That composite liberation is the branch of the path, because it is not logical for a noncomposite to be a branch. Composite liberation itself is said in the sutras to be the two liberations of liberation of the mind from desire and liberation of full knowing from ignorance.

Others say that mind and full knowing are also taught as liberation, so therefore liberation can be other things than just interest. It is primarily the liberation itself of the mind from afflictions.

b. Right knowing

76d

Enlightenment, as taught, is knowing.

That which is enlightenment, as previously taught, is known as right knowing. It is this: the knowing of extinction and nonarising.

c. A particular explanation of liberation. This has four topics: i. Which paths are freed from obscurations, ii. Which paths discard obscurations, iii. Distinctions of liberation and so forth, and iv. The four possibilities of revulsion and so forth.

i. Which paths are freed from obscurations

77ab

Nonlearners’ minds are liberated

From obscurations of the future.

What is this mind that is liberated? The nonlearners’ minds are liberated from obscurations of the future, it is said in the Treatise. The nonarising dharma bases and worldly cognitions in their mind are also liberated for the same reason.

ii. Which paths discard obscurations

77cd

e path that is about to cease

Fully discards its obscurations.

At what time does the path discard the obscurations of the nonlearner’s mind? you ask. The present path that is directed toward and about to cease fully discards its present obscurations.

iii. Distinctions of liberation and so forth

78.

Just noncompound is called the elements.

Extinction of all attachment is detachment;

Of others, is the element of abandonment;

Of bases, called cessation’s element.

Just the liberation taught as noncomposite is classified in the sutras as three, called the elements of abandonment, detachment, and cessation. The features of these three are that the extinction of all attachment is the element of detachment. The extinction of all other afflictions than desire is the element of abandonment. The complete extinction of the bases of all the afflictions is called cessation’s element. That basis is the defiled aggregates excluding the afflictions.

iv. The four possibilities of revulsion and so forth

79.

Forbearance and knowing suffering

And cause can bring revulsion.

All that discard remove attachment.

ere are thus four alternatives.

Does a thing by which one develops revulsion free one from desire? you ask. There are four possibilities. The forbearances and knowings of suffering and cause, the origin, can bring revulsion, because they focus on things for which one feels revulsion. Forbearance and knowing of cessation and path do not, because they focus on things that are supremely pleasing. All the forbearances and knowings of suffering, origin, cessation, and path that discard remove attachment, because they are what discards the afflictions.

Thus there are four alternatives between revulsion and detachment. The first, that which is revulsion but not freeing from desire, is the paths that focus on suffering and origin that do not discard. The second possibility is discarding paths that focus on cessation and path. The third is discarding paths that focus on suffering and origin. The fourth is paths other than discarding paths that focus on cessation and path.

Second, presenting the area’s name

is completes the sixth area called “Teachings on the Paths and Individuals” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

This completes the explanation of the sixth area called “Teachings on the Paths and Individuals” from The Explanation of the “Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma” called The Essence of the Ocean of Abhidharma, The Words of Those who Know and Love, Explaining the Youthful Play, Opening the Eyes of Dharma, The Chariot of Easy Practice.

A few words here:

The only refuge of all those who yearn for peace,

Is the supreme protector, the great and perfect Buddha.

I followed with respect the Glorious Jewel,

Disciple of the Shakyan King,[290] and Vajrakīrti,

The great master, and received all levels of the teachings.

I became unafraid to explain the meaning as it is

Of the three baskets and four classes of tantras.

In this, the Buddha’s teachings were exalted.

At that time I awakened to all knowledge,

And so while dwelling in White Cave I wrote

This treasury on paths and individuals,

The sixth part of my explanation of the Treasury.

The stainless waxing moon of virtue

Destroys the darkness that besmirches

The Victor’s teachings in this Land of Snow.

May the teachings of the Karma Kagyu blaze!

260. I.5a.

261. I.6a.

262. I.8c.

263. When a vase is destroyed by a hammer, someone who looks at its remains will think of them as shards, not as a vase. When one examines water with full knowing, one sees that it is merely a collection of particles of the eight substances and no longer conceives of it as water. Thus vases and water are said to exist only in relative or conventional terms.

264. When examining form, for example, whether one tries to destroy it or exclude it with mind, the perception of form is not discarded.

265. The sixteen aspects of the four truths are described in VII.13.

266. In other words, if the attainments were part of the four precursors to clear realization, then noble beings, who have the manifest attainments of the four precursors, would still have the four precursors in a manifest way. However, the precursors are no longer manifest in nobles, who have progressed on to higher levels.

267. Someone who first attains supreme dharma as a woman and then subsequently changes sex and attains a male body (either in the same life or the next), reattains supreme dharma on that male support as well.

268. Precursor to freedom or liberation is a synonym for the path of accumulation.

269. See VI.20b–d.

270. khams mang po’i mdo.

271. See VI.38ab.

272. The highest development of the fourth dhyana. See VIII.41.

273. See VI.56a.

274. That is, freedom from the nine meditation discards of their level.

275. See VI.37cd.

276. That is, they dwell in bliss in this lifetime, which is visible because we can see it in this life.

277. Samadhi that is afflicted with craving. See VIII.6.

278. See VI.1c.

279. That is to say, since the first three dhyanas are all characterized by different feelings, someone with sharp faculties is able to switch from the feeling of a lower to the higher and attain the higher level on the basis of the actual practice. Someone of dull faculties is unable to do so and must go through the preparations. The “final path of liberation” is the path of liberation that arises from abandoning the last of the discards to the higher level.

280. That is, stream-enterer, once-returner, nonreturner, and arhat.

281. bcu tshan bcu ston pa’i lung.

282. VI.50ab.

283. sol ba’i phung po lta bu’i mdo.

284. VI.41cd.

285. Liberated through both full knowing and samadhi, as explained in VI.64.

286. In this passage, “clearly knowing” is a translation of the Sanskrit abhijña and Tibetan mngon shes, which in many instances refer to clairvoyance. However, from the descriptions in various commentaries, it appears in this context to refer to merely knowing something clearly, not clairvoyance.

287. The four foundations of mindfulness are mindfulness of body, feeling, mind, and dharmas, discussed above in VI.14ff. The four complete abandonments (also called right endeavors) are abandoning nonvirtuous dharmas that have arisen, preventing those that have not arisen from arising, producing virtuous dharmas that have not yet arisen, and developing virtuous dharmas that have arisen. The four feet of miracles are developing faith, being diligent, taking control of the mind, and fully engaging oneself to manifest wisdom. The five faculties are faith, diligence, mindfulness, samadhi, and full knowing, described above in II.1. The five powers are the same as the faculties, but more highly developed. The seven branches of enlightenment are mindfulness, full discernment of dharmas, diligence, joy, pliancy, samadhi, and equanimity. The noble eightfold path is right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right samadhi.

288. Cf. VI.15ab.

289. That is, the foundations of mindfulness arise on the path of accumulation. The complete abandonments arise on warmth, the feet of miracles on the peak, the faculties on forbearance, the powers on supreme dharma, the branches of enlightenment on the path of meditation, and the noble eightfold path on the path of seeing.

290. That is, Wangchuk Dorje’s teacher Shamar Konchok Yenlag.

SEVENTH AREA

Teachings on Wisdom

On my mind’s clean white dukūla[291] cloth, the many hues

Of all dharmas I distinguish clearly are so bright!

At that time if I do not forget my glorious lama,

Youthful Manju, then how could I wander in samsara?

The Ganges’ current, explanations

Of the paths of three baskets, washes

Away all stains of faulty views.

This is the cleanser I release.

The seventh area, the “Teachings on Wisdom,” has an explanation of the text of the area and a presentation of the area’s name. The explanation of the text of the area has four topics: I. The knowings, II. Explanation of possession, III. How the knowings are attained, and IV. Qualities of the knowings.

I. The knowings. This has three topics: A. Distinctions between forbearances, knowings, and views, B. Identifying the ten knowings, and C. Examining distinctions among the knowings.

A. Distinctions between forbearances, knowings, and views. This has two points.

1. Undefiled

1a–c

Stainless forbearances aren’t knowing. Minds

Of extinction, nonarising are not views.

e other noble minds than those are both.

In the abhidharma, the terms forbearance, knowing, correct view, and right knowing all appear. Is there anything that is a forbearance but not a knowing, or right knowing but not a view? you ask.

The eight stainless forbearances of the path of seeing are views but not knowing, because knowing is inherently recognition, but the forbearances are paths of no obstacles, so at that point the kernels they discard have not been abandoned and there is doubt with regard to their object. Because they are inherently right thought, they are view. Saying they are not knowing does not mean that they are not cognition but means that they are not included among the ten knowings.

Although the undefiled forbearances are views but not knowing, in contrast the minds or knowings of extinction and nonarising have no right thought and do not have the intention to thoroughly investigate, so they are knowings but not views.

The undefiled full knowing of other noble minds than those, the undefiled forbearances and the knowings of extinction and nonarising, are both view and knowing, because they are right consideration and complete recognition, so they have discarded doubt.

2. Defiled

1d

Others are knowing. Six are views as well.

Those which are other than the undefiled, all that are defiled worldly full knowing, are knowing. This relative knowing does not have to be solely free of doubt. Six of these—personality view and the rest of the five views and the correct worldly view—are not only knowing, they are views as well. In particular, some full knowings of the precursors to clear realization are all three,[292] because they are an instance of the correct worldly view and are also forbearances that are compatible with seeing the truth. Other worldly knowings are knowing but not view.

B. Identifying the ten knowings. This has two topics: 1. The actual classification, and 2. Teaching knowing others’ minds in particular.

1. The actual classification. This has two topics: a. Overview, and b. An explanation.

a. Overview

2.

e knowings are defiled and undefiled.

e first is called the relative.

Two types of undefiled are only

e subsequent and dharma knowings.

How many knowings contain them all? you ask. They are contained in ten: 1) dharma knowing, 2) subsequent knowing, 3) relative knowing, 4) knowing others’ minds, 5–8) knowing of the four truths, and 9–10) knowing extinction and nonarising. Knowing death, rebirth, individuals, samsara, and so forth are all contained within just these.

In brief, there are the two knowings, which are defiled knowing and undefiled knowing. The first can be perception of either general or self-characteristics but is mostly perception of relative things such as vases, blankets, men, women, and so forth, so it is labeled with the name of the majority of its objects and called the relative knowing. To condense the undefiled, there are two types of undefiled as well: they are only the subsequent and dharma knowings. Since there is no undefiled knowing not comprised within those two, the word “only” is said.

b. An explanation

3.

All is the object of the relative.

e sphere of dharma is suffering, et cetera,

Of Desire realm. e sphere of subsequent

Is suffering, et cetera, of the higher.

4.

rough the distinctions of the truths,

Just these are four—these four are knowing

Of nonarising and extinction.

When these two first arise, they are

5ab

Subsequent knowing of suffering

And cause. Four know another’s mind.

Well then, what are the objects of these knowings? you ask. All dharmas, whether compound or noncompound, are the object of the relative knowing. The sphere of dharma knowing is the four truths of suffering, et cetera, of the Desire realm. The sphere of subsequent knowing is the four truths of suffering, et cetera, of the higher realms.

Through the distinctions of the four truths, just these, dharma and subsequent knowing, are the four knowings of suffering, origin, cessation, and path because they focus on suffering and so on. These four from suffering to path, when they are dharma and subsequent knowing that is not by nature view, are knowing of nonarising and knowing extinction. When these two first arise, they are the subsequent knowing of suffering and cause, origin, because without a doubt they focus on the aspects of subsequent knowing of suffering and origin that are on the Peak of Existence.

Well, does not vajra-like samadhi have the same focus as those two? you ask. If vajra-like samadhi focuses on suffering or origin, it is the same, but if it focuses on cessation or path, it does not have the same focus. For example, when struck by a poisoned arrow, the deadly poison spreads to all parts of the body, but at the time of death it collects in the area of the wound only and is not in the other parts.

Four knowings, dharma, subsequent, path, and relative knowing, can know another’s mind, because that is the nature of those knowings. To speak similarly of the other knowings:

Dharma and subsequent are known by seven each.

The relative by two, and the three truths

By four each. Knowing path is by five.

Extinction, nonarising are each known by six.

2. Teaching knowing others’ minds in particular. This has two topics: a. Features of knowing others’ minds, and b. The distinction between knowing extinction and knowing nonarising.

a. Features of knowing others’ minds. This has two points.

i. General teaching

5cd

at can’t know higher levels, faculties,

Or individuals, destroyed, unborn.

Knowing others’ minds should be recognized in this way: That, knowing others’ minds, knows minds that are equal or inferior to it. A superior mind is not the object of the inferior. For that reason the mind of a lower level cannot know the minds of higher levels that surpass it; the mind of dull faculties, interest through faith, cannot know higher faculties that surpass it, or an inferior individual cannot know the minds of superior individuals that surpass them, because these all surpass what that mind can know. Because it is a subject that perceives the present mind only, it does not know the destroyed past or unborn future.

ii. During the time of the path

6.

Dharma and subsequent don’t know

Each other. Listeners know two

Moments of seeing. Rhinos, three.

e Buddha without training, all.

The knowing of others’ minds that is dharma mind or subsequent mind knows only those minds of its own class. Those two knowings of mind do not mutually know each other, because they focus on the separate antidotes of the Desire and the higher realms. It is like looking at the ground or looking at the sky.

There is no knowing of others’ minds on the path of seeing, but that path can be its object. If they train, those listeners who can know others’ minds and wish to know the path of seeing can know through knowing others’ minds two moments of seeing: forbearance of dharma knowing of suffering and dharma knowing. As far as focusing on subsequent knowing, because it is something that is accomplished through the effort of other trainings, subsequent knowing is not known.

Because their faculties are sharper, the rhinolike self-buddhas[293] have at that point completed two trainings and can know three moments: the first two moments of dharma forbearance of suffering and dharma knowing plus the eighth moment of subsequent knowing of origin. Some say they can know the first two and the fifteenth moment: in either case, they only know three moments and not more. The buddha, without any training, knows all fifteen moments of the path of seeing.

b. The distinction between knowing extinction and knowing nonarising

7.

Knowing extinction is recognizing

e truths are fully known, et cetera.

“ere is no more to know,” et cetera,

Is nonarising mind, it’s said.

What is the distinction between knowing extinction and knowing nonarising? you ask. The Kashmiris say the two are similar during equipoise, but the distinction is in terms of the recognition by post-meditation cognitions. Knowing extinction is knowing that recognizes for each of the truths of suffering and so forth, “I have fully known suffering...,” et cetera: “I have discarded the origin. I have made cessation manifest. I have meditated on the path.” Saying “I have completely known suffering: there is no more to know,” et cetera up to “I have completely meditated on the path; there is no more to meditate on” is the nonarising mind or knowing, it is said.

Unlike the Kashmiris who assert that undefiled equipoise can only have sixteen aspects, the Aparāntakas assert twenty-eight undefiled aspects, so they say this difference is known by equipoise as well as post-meditation.

C. Examining distinctions among the knowings. This has four topics: 1. Distinctions of the ten knowings, 2. Distinctions of antidote, 3. Distinctions of aspect, and 4. Explaining other distinctions.

1. Distinctions of the ten knowings

8.

From nature, antidote, or aspects,

Or aspects and the sphere, or training,

Or its work being done, or from

Development of cause, there are ten.

If there are the three knowings—dharma, subsequent, and relative—why are they presented as ten? you ask. The ten knowings are presented because of seven causes, it is heard. Relative knowing is presented from its nature and essence because it does not know the ultimate. Dharma and subsequent knowing are presented as the antidote, because they are antidotes for Desire and the higher realms. Or knowing suffering and origin are presented from their aspects, because their focuses are not separate. Or knowing cessation and path are presented from aspects and the focus, because they have separate aspects and sphere. Or knowing others’ minds is presented from training: it is not as if it does not know mental factors of course, but because it arises from training in order to know others’ minds, it is called knowing others’ minds. Or knowing extinction is presented from its work being done because at first it arises from the cause of its action being completed.[294] Knowing nonarising comes from the development of its cause, because it has all undefiled knowings as its cause. Thus there are determined to be ten knowings.

2. Distinctions of antidote

9.

e dharma knowings of cessation

And path on meditation’s path

Are antidotes for the three realms.

e subsequent is not Desire’s.

Dharma knowing is explained as the Desire realm’s antidote, and subsequent knowing as the higher realms’ antidote. The distinction between them is this: The dharma knowings of cessation and path on meditation’s path first achieve victory over Desire. Because it then is possible that very continuum of the path of familiarization will also achieve victory over the higher realms, they can also be antidotes for the three realms.

The subsequent cannot possibly be the Desire realm’s antidote, because subsequent knowing only arises after dharma knowing, so when it arises, dharma knowing has already achieved victory.

Thus if it is logical for subsequent knowing not to be explained as the antidote for the Desire, why is dharma knowing not taught as the antidote for the higher? you ask. That is because it is impossible for all dharma knowing on the path of seeing and dharma knowing of suffering and origin on the path of meditation to act as the antidote for the higher realms.

3. Distinctions of aspect. This has two topics: a. The aspects of each knowing, and b. The essence of each aspect.

a. The aspects of each knowing. This has five topics: i. Through which aspects dharma knowing and subsequent knowing engage, ii. Relative knowing, iii. The knowings of the four truths, iv. Knowing others’ minds, and v. Through which aspects knowing of extinction and nonarising engage.

i. Through which aspects dharma knowing and subsequent knowing engage

10ab

e subsequent and dharma knowings

Have sixteen aspects.

From those ten knowings, the subsequent and dharma knowings have sixteen aspects, because the four truths each have four aspects. The sixteen aspects will be explained below.[295]

ii. Relative knowing

10bc

Relative

Knowing is like, or different, too.

Relative knowing is like dharma and subsequent knowing, with sixteen aspects on warmth, peak, and so forth, or it is different with aspects of revulsion, the in-breath and out-breath, loving-kindness, and so forth, too, because it perceives the specific and general characteristics of all dharmas. The phrase “and so forth” includes things which are not specific or general characteristics, including commands such as “Make!” “Drink!” or “Go!” or things such as vases and blankets.

iii. The knowings of the four truths

10d

ey have four from aspects of their truths.

They, the knowings of the four truths, have four aspects each from the aspects of their own individual truths.

iv. Knowing others’ minds. This has two points.

(1) How the stainless engage

11ab

Undefiled knowing others’ minds

Is like that, too.

Undefiled knowing others’ minds is like that—knowing path—too, in having the aspects of the truth of the path as its aspects, because it is also knowing of the truth of path.

(2) How the stained engage

11b–d

For stained, the aspects

Are the specifics of the known.

e sphere of each is a single substance.

For stained knowing of minds, the perceived aspects are the specific characteristics of the known, mind and mental factors. Both the stained and the stainless cannot perceive the two substances of mind and mental factors simultaneously, so for that reason the sphere of each is a single substance.

v. Through which aspects knowing of extinction and nonarising engage

12ab

e remaining possess fourteen aspects,

Except for empty and for selfless.

The two remaining from the eight previously explained, knowing extinction and knowing nonarising, possess fourteen aspects of impermanence and so forth, except for empty and for selfless. They do not have the aspects of empty or selfless because these knowings designate the self in conventional labels, thinking, “I have extinguished rebirth. I shall know no existence beyond this one.” However, when meditating on the empty and selfless, such conventional designations become illogical through the power of that meditation.

b. The essence of each aspect. This has four points: i. Examining whether the undefiled have specific characteristics as aspects, ii. Proving that the sixteen aspects are substantial, iii. The essence of the aspects, and iv. The distinction between perceiver and perceived.

i. Examining whether the undefiled have specific characteristics as aspects. This has two points.

(1) Own tradition

12c

Unstained: no more than sixteen aspects.

Do the undefiled knowings have self-characteristics as aspects? you ask. The Kashmiris propose that the unstained have no more than the sixteen aspects of impermanence and so on.

(2) Other tradition

12d

But others say there are, from the Treatise.

But others, the Aparāntakas, say that there are also aspects of specific characteristics. The reason comes from the Treatise, Jñānaprasthāna:

Does the mind that does not possess know dharmas? you ask. It knows. In terms of being produced logically, it knows impermanence, suffering, empty, selflessness, cause, origin, fully arising, condition, that this is the place, and that this is the basis.[296]

ii. Proving that the sixteen aspects are substantial

13a

In substance, there are sixteen aspects.

The Aparāntakas say that in substance there are the four aspects of suffering and one each for origin, cessation, and path, for a total of seven aspects. The others are synonyms. The Great Exposition proposes that there are sixteen substantially established aspects.

The aspects of the truth of suffering are as follows: because it depends upon conditions, impermanent. Because it is inherently harmful, suffering. As it is incompatible with the view of “mine,” empty. As it is incompatible with viewing “me,” selfless.

The aspects of the truth of origin are: In the manner of a seed, cause. In the manner of arising, origin. In the manner of connection, production. Through the meaning of manifestly establishing, condition.

The aspects of the truth of cessation are: Because the aggregates have been destroyed, cessation. Because the three fires[297] are pacified, peace. Because there is no hostility, sublime. Because it is free of all faults, emancipation.

The aspects of the truth of path are: Through the meaning of going, path. Because it has proof, reasoning. Through the meaning of completely accomplishing, accomplishing. Because it makes one transcend utterly and completely, deliverance.

iii. The essence of the aspects

13b

An aspect is full knowing.

What is a so-called aspect itself? you ask. The Sutra school posits that an aspect is cognition’s manner of perception, but Great Exposition proposes that an aspect is full knowing.[298]

iv. The distinction between perceiver and perceived

13b–d

at

And that with focus can perceive.

All that exists is the perceived.

Well then, does only full knowing perceive? you ask. No. That full knowing and that with a focus can perceive. All that exists as knowable phenomena is what is perceived. Thus full knowing is proposed to be all three—full knowing, perceiver and perceived. All other dharmas with focus are perceiver and perceived, and all that does not have a focus is only perceived.

4. Explaining other distinctions of the knowings. This has five topics: a. Distinctions of essence, b. Distinctions of level, c. Distinctions of support, d. Distinctions of foundations of mindfulness, and e. Distinctions of focus.

a. Distinctions of essence

14a

e first is threefold. Others, virtue.

Of the ten knowings, the first, relative knowing, is threefold—virtuous, nonvirtuous, and neutral—and the other nine are virtuous only.

b. Distinctions of level

14b–d

e first is on all of the levels.

e one called dharma is on six.

e subsequent on nine. Six likewise.

15a

Knowing others’ minds is on four dhyanas.

For distinctions of levels, the first of the knowings is on all the levels from Desire to the Peak of Existence. The one called dharma knowing is on only the six levels of dhyana.[299] As that is the antidote for Desire in particular, it is not on the Formless levels. The subsequent knowing is on any of the nine undefiled levels.[300] The portion of six—knowing the four truths, knowing extinction, and nonarising—that is included within subsequent knowing is likewise also on nine. The portion included within dharma knowing is on six levels. Knowing others’ minds is difficult to produce, so only the easy paths of the actual practices of the four dhyanas support it.

c. Distinctions of support

15b–d

at has Desire and Form as support,

And dharma has support of Desire.

e others, on three realms’ support.

What supports are they on? you ask. That knowing others’ minds is supported only by the dhyanas, so it definitely has Desire and Form as its bodily support. And dharma knowing, as it is primarily weariness with Desire, has the support of Desire only. The higher two realms are detached from Desire, so they are no longer weary of it. The eight knowings other than those two have any of the three realms as support.

d. Distinctions of foundations of mindfulness

16a–c

Cessation mind is one foundation

Of mindfulness, and knowing minds

Is three. ose which remain are four.

Well then, which of the foundations of mindfulness do these knowings have as their essence? you ask. The essence of cessation mind focuses only on noncomposites, so it is only the one foundation of mindfulness of dharmas. And because minds that know others’ minds only perceive concurrences,[301] they are the three foundations other than mindfulness of body. Those eight knowings which remain are any of the four foundations of mindfulness.

e. Distinctions of focus. This has three points.

i. How many knowings does each knowing have as its focus.

16d

Nine are the sphere of dharma mind.

17a–c

Nine of the path and subsequent mind;

And two of suffering and cause.

Ten are of four, and none of one.

How many knowings are the focus of each knowing? you ask. Nine knowings are the sphere of dharma mind, because relative knowing is the object of dharma knowing of suffering and origin, and the eight undefiled except for subsequent knowing are the object of dharma knowing of path. Nine knowings other than relative knowing are the sphere of the knowing of path, because that only takes an undefiled object. And the object of subsequent knowing is the nine other than dharma knowing, as above. And two, relative knowing and defiled knowing of others’ minds, are the object of both knowing suffering and knowing its cause, origin. All ten knowings in order are the object of four knowings—relative, others’ minds, extinction, and nonarising. This is because the object of relative knowing is all dharmas, the object of knowing others’ minds is all concurrences, and knowing extinction and nonarising are partially dharma knowing and partially subsequent knowing. And none of the knowings at all are the object of the one knowing cessation, because that does not know composites and focuses on noncomposites.

ii. Which subjects focus on many dharmas

17d

ere are ten dharmas to apply.

18ab

e three realms, and the stainless, and

e noncompound are twofold each.

There are ten dharmas into which knowables can be divided. To know how many are the object of each of the knowings, apply them. The way the dharmas are divided into ten is that the defiled three realms and the stainless dharmas are each divided into concurrent and not concurrent, and the noncompound has virtue and neutral, so they are twofold each or divided in two.

iii. How much one knowing knows

18cd

Just relative knows what is outside

Its own collection to be selfless.

Can one knowing know all dharmas? you ask. It cannot. However, just the relative knowing knows all dharmas that are outside its own collection to be selfless. Here, its “own collection” is its essence and the dharmas that are simultaneous with it. Because their object is separate from their subject, because they are separate from their focus, and because they are extremely close, these do not see each other, just as the eye cannot perceive the eyebrows.

II. Explanation of possession

19.

On the first of undefiled moments,

ose who are attached possess one knowing.

On second, three. After on each

Of four moments they have another.

Which individuals possess how many knowings? you ask. An ordinary individual who is attached possesses relative knowing alone, and if detached they also possess defiled knowing of mind.

Of nobles who are on the first of the undefiled moments, those who are attached possess the one relative knowing. On the second moment dharma knowing and duḥkha knowing are added, so they have three. After that on each of four moments, the fourth, sixth, tenth, and fourteenth, they have another knowing—subsequent knowing, knowing of origin, knowing of cessation, and knowing of path respectively. On the path of meditation, they possess those seven.

If they are detached, knowing minds is added to all of these: they would possess two on the first moment and so on up to eight on the path of meditation. A nonlearner possesses the first nine if of dull faculties, and all ten if sharp.

III. How the knowings are attained. This has four topics: 1. Attained during the path of seeing, 2. Attained on other paths, 3. How many are attained from each path, and 4. Classifications of their attainment.

1. Attained during the path of seeing

20.

As they arise on the path of seeing,

Future forbearances and knowings

Like them are gained. On that upon

ree subsequent, the relative, too.

21.

us they are called clear realization’s end.

ey are nonarising dharmas. On its own

And lower levels. Cessation’s is the last.

eir own truths’ aspects. Born of effort.

At what points are how many knowings attained? you ask. As they, the eight forbearance and seven knowings, arise on the path of seeing, when they arise the future similar forbearances and knowings like them are gained in their own time. Thus when dharma forbearance of duḥkha arises, the attainment of a future dharma forbearance with similar focus and aspects arises and so forth. For the attached, the level is only Not Unable, and for those detached, any of the six levels. One attains the forbearance of two times for the level of one’s bodily support. One attains only the future forbearance of other levels, but it does not become manifest because multiple paths of seeing do not arise. On that path of seeing itself upon three subsequent knowings of suffering, origin, and cessation, the relative knowing is attained, too. It is not attained on dharma knowing, because the truth has not been clearly realized to its full extent. Why not on subsequent knowing of path? you ask. The truth of the path itself is not clearly realized by the previous worldly path, and the truth has not been clearly realized to its full extent. Thus they—the relative knowings that arise out of the subsequent knowings of suffering, origin, and cessation—are called “arisen from clear realization’s end” because they arise after the clear realization of each truth. Well, do not these relative knowings that are arisen from the end of clear realization sometimes become manifest? you ask. Because they are nonarising dharmas, they do not become manifest.

The relative knowings of how many levels are attained? you ask. Relative knowings are attained on the level that is its, the path of seeing’s, own and on lower levels. If the path of seeing is on Not Unable, relative knowings of that level and the lower level of Desire are attained.

The relative knowing arisen from the end of clear realization of cessation is the last of the four foundations of mindfulness, mindfulness of dharmas. The other two are all are foundations of mindfulness. These relative knowings arisen from the end of clear realization have their own truth’s aspects, attained on the level of the clear realization of that truth. Because they are attained by the path of seeing, they are born of effort, not through detachment.

2. Attained on other paths. This has two topics: a. Explaining those with different counts individually, and b. Explaining those similar counts together.

a. Explaining those with different counts individually. This has two topics: i. How many are attained on the path of learning, and ii. How many are attained on the path of no learning.

i. How many are attained on the path of learning. This has five topics: (1) How many are attained on the sixteenth moment, (2) On most of the path of meditation, (3) On the eight paths of liberation from the Peak of Existence, (4) On the learner’s paths of liberation when purifying faculties, and (5) On the paths of no obstacles of the Peak of Existence.

(1) How many are attained on the sixteenth moment. This has two points.

(a) Attached

22a

Attached gain six on the sixteenth.

Those who are attached to Desire gain six knowings—the four knowings of the four truths, dharma knowing, and subsequent knowing—when abiding on the sixteenth moment, subsequent knowing of path. This is knowing that is liberated from discards of seeing, but it is not liberated from discards of meditation because it is mere abiding in the result. Because subsequent knowing of path is by nature both path knowing and subsequent knowing, those are attained in the present, but the four other knowings are attained in the future only. Because these individuals are attached, it is on the level of Not Unable. It is produced by completing seeing, so it is attained from the expansion of a cause of similar status.

They do not attain knowing others’ minds because they are attached to Desire. Relative knowing is not attained because “what has already been acquired is not acquired”: it has already been acquired. Knowing extinction and nonarising are not acquired because they are learners.

(b) Detached

22b

ose detached from Desire gain seven.

Those detached from the Desire realm gain seven: knowing others’ minds in addition to the previous six.

(2) How many are attained on most of the path of meditation. This has two points.

(a) Attached

22cd

Later on paths of meditation,

e attached attain the seven knowings.

Later, after the sixteenth moment, the subsequent knowing of path, on the paths of meditation—all the paths of joining, no obstacles, liberation, and distinction—those attached to Desire attain the seven knowings: dharma knowing, subsequent knowing, four knowings of four truths, and relative knowing. If it is a worldly path of meditation that views the aspects of peaceful and coarse, the present relative knowing arises. However if the path is transworldly, since subsequent knowing is not the antidote for Desire but dharma knowing is, dharma knowing and knowing of one of the four truths arises in the present. The remaining knowings are attained in the future, because they develop the cause of same status of their own class. As the individuals are attached and learners, the other three knowings are not attained.

(b) Detached

23a–c

In victory over seven levels,

Gaining clairvoyance and unshakable,

Paths of no obstacles for alternating.

In the victory over the seven levels of the four dhyanas and three Formless that detaches one from desire, and in gaining the five clairvoyances other than extinction of defilements, learners attain seven knowings: dharma knowing, subsequent knowing, knowings of the four truths, and relative knowing.

And on realizing and attaining the status of unshakable, seven knowings, the six undefiled that go with all and knowing extinction, are attained. Relative knowing, knowing others’ minds, and knowing nonarising are not attained. The first is not attained because the paths of refining are always undefiled and there is no cause to attain anything else. The latter two are not attained because they are paths of liberation.

On any of the paths of no obstacles for the alternating meditation as well, the six undefiled and relative knowing are attained. The other three are not attained because these are not nonlearner, so the latter two are not attained, and it is not a path of liberation, so knowing others’ minds is not attained.

(3) How many are attained on the eight paths of liberation from the Peak of Existence

23d

Eight paths of liberation from the highest.

On the first eight paths of liberation that vanquish the level of the Peak of Existence that is higher than the other seven levels, seven knowings are attained: the six undefiled and knowing others’ minds.

(4) How many are attained on the learner’s paths of liberation when purifying faculties

24a–c

On learner’s liberation of refining,

One gains six or else seven knowings, or…

Six on paths of no obstacles.

On attached learner’s paths of liberation of refining faculties, one gains six knowings: dharma knowing, subsequent knowing, knowing suffering, origin, cessation, and path. Or else if detached, knowing others’ minds is added for a total of seven knowings attained. The word “or” indicates that there is another tradition that says that both attached and detached also attain relative knowing. On the paths of joining, they both also attain relative knowing.

Whether the learner is attached or detached, six knowings are attained as above on paths of no obstacles for refining faculties. Relative knowing is not attained because this is similar to the path of seeing. Knowing others’ minds is also not attained, because it is blocked on all paths of no obstacles. Why is it blocked? you ask. Because it is not an antidote.

(5) How many are attained on the paths of no obstacles of the Peak of Existence

24d

Likewise on vanquishing the Peak.

As with the previous, likewise on the path of no obstacles that vanquishes the Peak of Existence, only those six are attained.

ii. How many are attained on the path of no learning. This has three points.

(1) Dull faculties

25a

On knowing extinction, there are nine.

Upon attaining knowing extinction, there are nine knowings that those with dull faculties attain. Knowing nonarising is excluded because it is possible they might regress.

(2) Sharp faculties

25b

Unshakable attains ten knowings,

The unshakable one, who also attains the knowing of nonarising, attains ten knowings.

(3) How many are attained on paths of refining faculties

25c

Refining there, on the last as well.

When refining there, to unshakable, all ten are attained on the last path of freedom as well.

b. Explaining those similar counts together

25d

Eight are attained on those not mentioned.

Eight knowings excluding knowing extinction and nonarising are attained on those remaining paths that were not previously mentioned—the nine paths of liberation from desire for Desire, the paths of liberation from desire for seven levels, the paths of liberation for the five clairvoyances and the meditation of alternating the dhyanas, the first eight paths of liberation that create realization of the unshakable, paths of joining for detachment, and the distinctive paths.

On the nonlearners’ paths of joining, liberation, and distinction for clairvoyance, occasional nonlearners attain nine knowings excluding knowing nonarising. Nonoccasional nonlearners attain all ten. On the paths of no-obstacles for the clairvoyances and alternating meditation, the occasional attain the eight that exclude knowing of nonarising and of others’ minds. The nonoccasional attain the nine excluding the knowing of nonarising.

3. How many are attained from each path

26.

One gains them where one is detached,

On which is gained, and lower, too.

On knowing extinction, defiled, too; all levels.

ose previously gained are not attained.

On which paths are how many levels’ knowings attained? you ask. To consider relative knowing first, when attaining a level, one attains future relative knowings that are on the level of the path and the level that has been attained for the very first time.[302]

Undefiled knowings are attained not just on the levels of the paths. Well, how is it then? you ask. One gains them, undefiled knowings, on the levels where one has become detached through both the defiled and undefiled paths of joining and so on, and on that level which is gained. And the lower levels’ undefiled knowings are attained, too.[303]

On knowing extinction, the defiled qualities attained by knowing extinction are attained, too. The qualities of all levels, repulsive meditation, mindfulness of the in-breath and out-breath, and so on are attained in a way similar to cutting the cords that bind a basket[304] or releasing one’s breath. Just as when a king gains a large kingdom, the people of the country welcome him with offerings of gifts, when the kingdom that is not under the control of the afflictions is gained in the mind, one is welcomed with gathering of all the qualities of virtuous dharmas. How many are attained? you ask. Only those not previously acquired are attained; those that have previously been gained are not attained. One also does not attain those from which one has regressed, because one has forfeited the attainment.

4. Classifications of their attainment

27.

ose called acquiring and maintaining

Are attainment of composite virtue.

Attainment of the antidote

And distancing are of defiled.

Is attainment only acquisition? you ask. It is not. There are four types of attainment: acquiring attainment, maintaining attainment, attainment of antidote, and distancing attainment. The one called acquiring attainment is newly acquiring compound virtue, and maintaining attainment is the attainment of manifesting already attained composite virtue over and over again. Present dharmas can have both acquiring and maintaining attainments, but future dharmas can only have acquiring attainment, and past dharmas have neither. As far as the attainment of the antidote and the attainment of distancing, the first is the attainment of the antidote for defiled dharmas, and the second, distancing, is having abandoned them. Respectively these are making oneself detached from body and mind, and cutting the attainment of the afflictions. Therefore, undefiled attainment can be the first two, defiled virtuous attainment can be all four, and the remaining defiled attainments can be the last two.

The Aparāntakas posit that there are six attainments by adding the attainment of vows, which bind the gates of the faculties, and the attainment of disintegration, which destroys clinging to a whole by analyzing the body into its parts. The Kashmiris, however, say that these two are contained within the last two of the previous four attainments.

IV. Qualities of the knowings. This has two topics: A. Unshared qualities, and

B. Shared qualities.

A. Unshared qualities. This has three topics: 1. Overview, 2. Explanation, and 3. Summary.

1. Overview

28ab

e Buddha’s unshared qualities

Are eighteen: powers and so forth.

Generally it is explained that all individuals attain the qualities of knowing extinction, but what is it that only the Buddha acquires? you ask. The qualities only the Buddha acquires at the time of knowing extinction are not common to listeners, self-buddhas, or others, so they are unshared qualities. They are eighteen: the ten powers and so forth including the four fearlessnesses, three foundations of mindfulness, and great compassion.

2. Explanation. This has four topics: a. Explanation of the ten powers, b. Explanation of the four fearlessnesses, c. Explanation of the three foundations of mindfulness, and d. Explanation of great compassion.

a. Explanation of the ten powers. This has two topics: i. Powers of wisdom, and ii. Powers of the body.

i. Powers of wisdom. This has three points: (1) Distinctions of essence, (2) Distinctions of level, and (3) Explanation of the term.

(1) Distinctions of essence

28cd

e possible and not, ten knowings,

Karma, result is eight. e dhyanas,

29.

Et cetera, faculties, and interests,

Capacities, are nine. Path might

Be ten. e two are relative.

Extinction is six or else ten.

The possible and the not possible is fact and nonfact, such as that it is impossible to become a buddha as a woman but possible as a man and so forth.[305] In brief, it is composites and noncomposites. Knowing the possible and impossible is in general the ten knowings: if one divides dharmas into ten,[306] all ten are objects of relative knowing. Dharma knowing knows five; subsequent knowing seven; knowing suffering and origin, six; knowing cessation knows noncomposite virtue alone; path knowing knows the two undefiled; knowing others’ minds knows three; and knowing extinction and nonarising knows nine dharmas, excluding neutral noncomposites.

The power of knowing karma and the full ripening of its result is the power of knowing the defiled contained within suffering and origin. In that, there are the eight knowings with the exception of knowing cessation and path.

There are also the powers of knowing the dhyanas, et cetera, including the eight emancipations, three samadhis, two absorptions, and the nine absorptions of final repose; knowing through the differences in lesser, medium, or greater faculties of faith and so forth whether someone is principal or not principal, which is the power of knowing whether the faculties are supreme or not; and the power of knowing the various interests of individuals who have interest in listeners, self-buddhas, or buddhas; and the power of knowing various capacities. Master Saṅghabhadra says that capacities are the intentions completely created by previously habituated imprints. Here it is proposed as knowing the many different distinctions in mind and mental factors. These four powers focus only on composites, so they are the nine knowings excluding knowing cessation.

The power of knowing the paths that lead everywhere from hell to cessation, if held to be knowing the path and its result, might be ten knowings. The word “might” indicates that if you hold it to be knowing only the path, it is the nine that exclude cessation.

Knowing many of one’s own and others’ previous births and their particulars is the power of remembering previous places. The power of knowing death and rebirth is seeing death, transmigration, and the good and bad colors and so forth of the between state through the utterly pure divine eye and knowing that the causes of virtuous and nonvirtuous karma make beings wander to the high or low realms. These two, as they must definitely perceive the aspects of specific characteristics, are relative knowing.

The power of knowing the extinction of defilements, if you hold the extinction of defilements to be cessation only, is the six knowings of dharma knowing, subsequent knowing, knowing cessation, knowing extinction and nonarising, and relative knowing. Or else if you hold it to be cognition in the being of one who has extinguished defilements, it is all ten knowings.

(2) Distinctions of level

30a–c

e powers of previous places and

Of death and birth are on the dhyanas.

e others, on all levels.

The two powers of remembering previous places and of knowing death and rebirth are on the four actual dhyanas, because these are something that is generated by samadhi that is the union of tranquility and insight, whereas the other powers are not. The other eight powers are on all levels—Desire, the six levels of dhyana, and the four Formless—because they are easy to generate. The undefiled ones are supported by any of the undefiled levels, and those powers contained within relative knowing are supported by all levels, it is proposed. The bodily support is a male on Rose-Apple Land only.

(3) Explanation of the term

30cd

Why?

Because his powers cannot be hindered.

Why are only the Buddha’s ten knowings called powers? The listeners and selfbuddhas also have them, so why are theirs not called powers? you ask. Because theirs are hindered, they are not called powers. Therefore, only his, the Buddha’s, are presented as powers. The reason they are said to be powers is because they engage all knowable phenomena and cannot be hindered. The others’ knowings are not like that, but the Buddha’s are.

ii. Powers of the body

31.

His body has Nārāyaṇa power.

Some say his joints. It is the power

Of elephants times ten seven times.

is is the sensory base of touch.

Well then, if his powers of mind are infinite, how much power does his body have? His, the Buddha’s, body has Nārāyaṇa power. Nārāyaṇa is the name of a power, like for example calling a number with sixty digits uncountable. Therefore, Nārāyaṇa is the power, and one who has that is called Nārāyaṇa. Alternatively, the power of people of the first aeon is also called Nārāyaṇa power.

Some say that he has the Nārāyaṇa power in each of his bones’ joints. Some venerable Dārṣṭāntika elders say that the power of his body is infinite, like the power of his mind, because if that were not the case, the body would not be able to bear the infinite power of his mind. If it could not bear that, the Buddha would not have inner nature of forbearance. The Master also gives the same explanation. The joints of buddhas, self-buddhas, and wheel-wielding emperors are respectively as strong as the most exalted knot of nagas, a chain, and driven nails.

As for the measure of what it, Nārāyaṇa power is, the power of ten ordinary elephants is one elephant chief. Likewise there are the seven powers of great quantity, completely overcoming, supreme limbs, supreme power, and Nārāyaṇa power.[307] The power of the previous times ten is the power of the next in succession, so it is multiplied seven times. Some say that ten supreme powers are half of Nārāyaṇa power.

The essence of this sort of power is the sensory base of touch. This is a feature of only the great sources; it is not source-derived. Some say that power is an eighth touch that is different from the seven that were explained before.[308]

b. Explanation of the four fearlessnesses. This has two points.

i. Overview

32a

ere are four types of fearlessness.

There are four types of fearlessness: the Tathagata proclaimed aloud, “I myself have completely, perfectly awakened. I have extinguished the defilements.” When teaching the listeners, he proclaimed “These obstruct liberation. These are the paths that definitely deliver one from samsara.” As he sees no true reason that anyone could say, “It is not like that,” and defeat him in accord with the Dharma, he has attained fearlessness.

ii. Explanation

32bc

ey’re similar to the first, tenth,

Second, and seventh of the powers.

What are their natures? you ask. They are similar to the powers. The fearlessness to proclaim the benefit for himself of perfect realization is like the first power of knowing the possible and impossible. The fearlessness to proclaim the benefit for himself of perfect abandonment is just like the tenth power of knowing the extinction of defilements. The fearlessness of teaching the dharmas that obstruct for benefit of others is just like the second power of knowing karma and its fully ripened result. And the fearlessness of teaching the dharmas of emancipation for the benefit of others is just like the seventh of the powers, knowing the paths that lead everywhere.

c. Explanation of the three foundations of mindfulness

32d

e three are mindfulness, awareness.

There are three foundations of mindfulness taught in the sutras. When the Tathagata teaches the Dharma, if the beings gathered are respectful and wish to listen, he is neither pleased nor attached; if they are not respectful and do not wish to listen, he is neither displeased nor angry; and if some are respectful and some not, he does not become in part pleased and in part displeased, but abides in equanimity with mindfulness and awareness. The essence of these is mindfulness and awareness, but they are taught as three because of distinctions in the gathering.

Well then, the listeners and self-buddhas also have this quality, so it is not appropriate to be unshared, you say. That is not the case, because the listeners and self-buddhas have not abandoned the imprints, but the buddhas have. In this context, imprints are features that out of the power of prior training in afflictions have the ability to move the body and speech. These are in the mind, the authors of the ṭīkas explain.[309] Some others say they are features of a neutral mind.

d. Explanation of great compassion

33.

e great compassion, relative mind,

Is greater from its gathering,

Its aspect, sphere, and being equal.

ere are eight ways that it is different.

The great compassion is inherently relative knowing or mind. If it were not, not only would it be proven not to focus on all sentient beings, it would be proven not to have as aspects the three sufferings, as compassion does.

Why is it called great compassion? you ask. It is greater because it is perfectly created by the great gathering accumulation of merit and wisdom, because its aspect is consideration of the three sufferings, because its focus and sphere are the focus on all sentient beings of the three realms, and because it is equal in the way it engages beings, remembering that all sentient beings of the three realms have the suffering of formation, and because it is full knowing by nature, so it is extremely sharp, and there is nothing greater than that.

How many things make compassion and great compassion different? you ask. There are eight ways they are different in essence and so forth. The eight are:

In essence, nonhatred, nondelusion.

In focus, one realm or three realms.

In aspect, one suffering or three.

In level, four dhyanas, the fourth.

In beings, the listeners, the Victor,

Attainment, detached or Peak.

In meaning, don’t fully protect, fully.

In deed, partial, or impartial.[310]

3. Summary. This has two points.

a. How the buddhas are equal in some features

34a–c

All buddhas are the equal in

Accumulation, dharma body,

And acts for wanderers’ benefit,

Are all buddhas equal in all aspects? you ask. All buddhas are the equal in three ways: the excellent cause, having completed gathering the two accumulations; the excellent result, acquiring the transformation of the undefiled accumulations, the dharma body; and the excellent benefit, acting for wanderers’ benefit to place them in the higher realms and the liberation of enlightenment. Otherwise some buddhas would be better or worse, which is impossible.

b. How they are unequal

34d

But not in life span, caste, or size.

But however, they are not equal or comparable in their life span, caste, or body size, because they display those variously in accord with those who need taming.

Three qualities’ classifications:

Four each, gathered in sets of four.

Four causes: all of two accumulations,

Familiarized for a long time

With no interruptions, respectfully.

Four results are of wisdom and also

Abandonment, power, Form Body.

Four wisdoms: knowing everything,

All aspects, untaught, without effort.

Four abandonments: all the afflictions,

Forever, all imprints as well,

And all obscurations of absorption.

Four powers are mastery to emanate

And bless and transform outside objects;

And mastery to bless or discard life;

And mastery to go where obscured,

To the sky or far off, or make smaller;

And constant display of amazements.

Four of Form Body: marks major, and signs;

The powers, relics hard as a vajra.

Four benefits: deeds of emancipating

From three lower realms and samsara;

Three vehicles and bringing to high realms.

As proofs and rebuttals are prominent,

These last are in two sets of four.

These are just in brief: no one other than the Buddha could possibly recite them in full, because the tathagatas possess infinite marvelous qualities. Those without merit could not hear of his qualities, and even if they heard of some, fools measure things against themselves and feel neither sincerity nor belief. Whoever has great sincerity and belief in the Buddha and his features, such a being is wise.

B. Shared qualities. This has two topics: 1. Overview, and 2. Explanation.

1. Overview. This has two points.

a. Brief teaching

35ab

e dharmas common with the learners

And ordinary beings

Not including the eighteen unshared qualities, other dharmas are held in common with listener and self-buddha learners, and some dharmas of qualities are common with ordinary beings.

b. Short explanation

35b–d

are

e unprovocative, the knowledge from

Aspiring, unhindered, clairvoyance, et cetera.

What are those dharmas? you ask. They are the unprovocative samadhi, the knowledge from aspiration, the four unhindered knowledges, six clairvoyances, et cetera, including four dhyanas, four immeasurables, eight emancipations, eight overpowering sense bases, ten all-encompassing sense bases, samadhis, and so on. The first five clairvoyances, four dhyanas, four Formless, four immeasurables, the first seven emancipations, the ten all-encompassing sense bases, the eight overpowering sense bases, and three samadhis are common to ordinary individuals. The others are common to noble listeners, selfbuddhas, and bodhisattvas.

2. Explanation. This has two topics: a. Those common to nobles, and b. Those common to both noble and ordinary individuals.

a. Those common to nobles. This has two topics: i. Explaining the features of each of the six qualities, and ii. Explaining the features common to all six qualities.

i. Explaining the features of each of the six qualities. This has three topics: (1) The unprovocative samadhi, (2) Knowledge from aspiration, and (3) The four unhindered knowledges.

(1) The unprovocative samadhi

36.

e unprovocative is relative

Knowing on dhyana’s end. Unshakable.

Human. Unborn afflictions of Desire,

Including their basis, are its sphere.

Some arhats produce a cognition such as, “The suffering of sentient beings arises from the afflictions, so when they know me to be a superior field of qualities, may they not produce any of the afflictions sentient beings have, such as desire and so forth, when they observe me.” Because that path does not provoke afflictions in anyone, it is called unprovocative samadhi.

The unprovocative is by nature relative knowing. It is on the support of the fourth dhyana’s end, because that is the supreme of the easy paths. It is produced by arhats who are unshakable, but not by others, because occasionally afflictions arise in others’ beings as well, so they cannot abandon the afflictions. It is produced by humans of the three continents. The unborn future afflictions of Desire including their basis are its sphere or focus, because it has the aspect of thinking, “May future afflictions not arise in others.” It cannot discard afflictions that do not have a basis.[311]

(2) Knowledge from aspiration

37ab

e knowledge from aspiring is

Similar, focusing on all.

The knowledge from aspiring is similar to the unprovocative: it is relative knowing in essence, on the level of the last dhyana, among the unshakable ones, and on human support of three continents. However, knowledge from aspiration focuses not just on the afflictions and their bases, but on all, form and all other dharmas.

Knowledge from aspiration is knowledge that comes after having made a previous aspiration. After aspiring, “I will know this and that,” one enters the equipoise of the highest end fourth dhyana and knows it as the object just as it is. Therefore, since higher levels are not the object, it does not know the Formless realms directly, says the Great Exposition. Others propose that the Buddha knows even the Formless directly through knowledge from aspiration.

(3) The four unhindered knowledges. This has three topics: (a) Teaching their common features by way of classification, (b) Explaining their individual features, and (c) Their manner of attainment as a summary.

(a) Teaching their common features by way of classification

37cd

Likewise unhindered knowledge of dharma,

Meaning, expression, eloquence.

The two previous[312] are produced by unshakable arhats on the support of humans of the three continents, and likewise the unhindered knowledge of dharma, meaning, expression, and eloquence are also similar in those respects.

(b) Explaining their individual features. This has six points: (i) The nature and focus of the first three, (ii) The four dharmas of the fourth, (iii) The two dharmas of the second, (iv) The essence of the first and third, (v) The level of the first, and (vi) Distinctions of the level of the third.

(i) The nature and focus of the first three

38ab

ree are, in order, knowing names,

Meaning, and speech without obstruction.

Their other features are different from the unprovocative and knowledge from aspiration. The first three unhindered knowings are, in order, knowing names, meaning, and speech without obstruction. The word dharma applies to many different meanings, but in terms of the unhindered knowledge of dharmas, it refers to unobstructedly knowing the collection of names, words, and letters. Unhindered knowledge of meaning is proposed as unobstructedly knowing either all dharmas that can be known or the supreme meaning, nirvana. Unhindered knowledge of speech or the expression of words is unobstructedly knowing gender, tense, usage, and other aspects of syntax.

(ii) The four dharmas of the fourth

38cd

e fourth is logical and fluent

Clear speech; and mastery of path.

39ab

Its focus is on speech and path.

It is nine knowings, on all levels.

The fourth, unhindered knowledge of eloquence, is the logic of the contradictions and connections between meanings, and fluent, clear speech itself, and through attention on oneself, having unobstructed knowledge of mastery of path by not forgetting the samadhi of tranquility and insight. The first of these is skill in articulate speech, and the second is skill in attention on oneself. These are eloquence and also unhindered knowledge, so they are the unhindered knowledge of eloquence.

Its, unhindered knowledge of eloquence’s, focus is on speech and the defiled and undefiled paths. Its nature is the nine knowings excluding knowing cessation. When focused on speech, it is in Desire and the four dhyanas, or five levels, and when focused on the path, it is on all nine of the levels.

(iii) The two dharmas of the second

39cd

Knowledge of meaning, ten or six,

On all.

Of the four unhindered knowledges, unhindered knowledge of meaning is ten knowings if the meaning that is spoken of is all dharmas, or if the meaning is nirvana, six knowings: dharma, subsequent, cessation, extinction, nonarising, and relative. The unhindered knowledge of meaning is on all the levels.

(iv) The essence of the first and third

39d

e rest are relative.

The rest, unhindered knowledge of dharma and expression, are relative knowing by nature, because they focus on dharma—the collection of names and so forth—and speech.

(v) The level of the first

40ab

Knowledge of dharma is in Desire

And dhyan;

Unhindered knowledge of dharma is in Desire and on the four dhyanas but not above that, because there is no collection of names, words and letters there.

(vi) Distinctions of the level of the third

40b

of speech, Desire and first.

The unhindered knowledge of speech or expression is in Desire and on the first dhyana but not above, because speech is inherently motivated by consideration, and on the second dhyana and above there is neither consideration nor examination.

The order of the four is as follows: On the basis of dharma or names, the meaning is realized. On the basis of the meaning, expression is known. On the basis of realizing those, eloquence is attained.

(c) Their manner of attainment as a summary

40c

If incomplete, they’re not attained.

Whoever has one must definitely have all four, because if any one is incomplete, they, the other three, are not attained.

ii. Explaining the features common to all six qualities. This has four points.

(1) Teaching the mental support in general

40d

ose six are through the highest end.

Those six qualities of unprovocative and so forth are attained through the training of dhyana of the highest end, but they are not necessarily included within the highest end, because as is said “Speech in Desire and on first” and so forth.

(2) The distinctions between what is and what is not the actual highest end

41a

It’s sixfold:

The fourth dhyana’s highest end is unprovocative samadhi, knowledge through aspiration, three of the unhindered knowledges, and the highest end alone: it is sixfold in nature. Although unhindered knowledge of expression is attained through the power of the fourth dhyana, it is not on the level of the fourth dhyana, just as the emanated mind of Desire is attained by the actual dhyana but is not the actual dhyana.

(3) Identifying the highest end of the fourth

41a–c

it is dhyana’s end,

Gained by progressing through all levels,

Coming to highest development.

It is dhyana’s especial upper end, because it is gained by progressing through all levels from Desire to the Peak of Existence, entering the absorption of each level in forward and reverse order,[313] so that it is compatible with the highest end of all levels. It has come through the lesser, medium, and greater, or to the highest development, and is even higher than that. It has arrived at the extreme upper limit of the fourth dhyana: it is like a fourth alternative.[314]

(4) The particulars of its training

41d

Other than Buddha, they are from training.

When they are in the continuum of those who are other than the Buddha, they, these six, are arisen from training: they are not attained by mere detachment. The Buddha accomplishes them without depending on training but by merely wishing, because he is the master of all qualities.

b. Those common to both noble and ordinary individuals. This has two topics: i. Distinctions of their qualities, and ii. Understanding their features.

i. Distinctions of their qualities. This has four topics: (1) Classifications, (2) Essence, (3) Distinctions of dharmas, and (4) How they are attained.

(1) Classifications

42a–c

Sixfold clairvoyance manifests magic,

e ear, mind, knowing previous lives,

Death and rebirth, and knowing extinction.

Sixfold clairvoyance manifests the magic of emanating objects and knowing how to move; the divine ear that through relative knowing associated with the ear consciousness hears all sounds whether near or far; knowing others’ minds discussed above;[315] knowing previous places or lives; knowing death and rebirth; and knowing extinction.

(2) Essence

42d

ese are the mind of liberation.

In general, these, all six clairvoyances, are the mind of the path of liberation.

(3) Distinctions of dharmas. This has three points.

(a) What knowings they are

43a–d

e four are knowing relative,

And knowing minds is the five knowings.

Clairvoyance of extinction is Like power.

In particular, the four other than the third and sixth are knowing only the relative, because they are always defiled. And the clairvoyance knowing of others minds is five knowings: dharma knowing, subsequent knowing, path knowing, knowing others minds, and relative knowing. The clairvoyance of knowing the extinction of defilements is like the power of knowing the extinction of defilements: it is either six or ten knowings and is on all eleven levels.

(b) What levels they are on

43d

Five are on four dhyanas.

The first five clairvoyances are on each of the four actual dhyanas. Clairvoyance of divine eye[316] and ear are only of the level of the first dhyana, but in terms of how they are attained and their support, they are explained to be on four.

(c) What their spheres are

44a

eir object is own and lower level.

Their, five clairvoyances’s, object is on their own and lower levels, but the higher levels are not their object, because the superior is not the object of the inferior. Therefore the object of clairvoyance of magic is knowing how to go or make emanations on its own or lower levels, but not on higher. The others are similar.

(4) How they are attained

44b

Familiar is attained by detachment.

As far as the manner of attainment of the clairvoyances, those that are not familiar from previous close paths must be attained through training, but the familiar is attained merely by detachment. In either case, manifesting them depends upon training.

ii. Understanding their features. This has two topics: (1) Understanding common features, and (2) Understanding their particular features.

(1) Understanding common features. This has four topics: (a) Their intersection with the foundations of mindfulness, (b) Their intersection with virtue and so forth, (c) Their intersection with the three knowledges, and (d) Their intersection with the three miracles.

(a) Their intersection with the foundations of mindfulness

44cd

e third one is the three foundations,

And magic, ear, and eye are the first.

Because it focuses on mind and mental factors, the third one, clairvoyance of knowing minds, is contained within the three foundations of mindfulness of feeling, mind, and dharmas. And the three clairvoyances of magic, ear, and eye are the first foundation of mindfulness of body, because they focus on form. The focus of the clairvoyance of magic is the four external sense bases excluding sound. The focuses of the consciousnesses of divine ear and divine eye are the sense bases of sound and form.

(b) Their intersection with virtue and so forth

45ab

Clairvoyance of ear and eye are neutral.

e rest are virtue.

The clairvoyances of divine eye and divine ear are not afflicted, nor are they included within the four virtues, so they are unobscured neutral. These two are full knowing that is concurrent with the eye or ear consciousnesses. The four rest are virtuous.

(c) Their intersection with the three knowledges. This has two topics: (i) Overview, and (ii) Explanation.

(i) Overview

45b–d

ree are knowledge,

Because they stop the ignorance

Of prior lives, et cetera.

The three clairvoyances of knowing previous places, death and rebirth, and extinction of defilements are called the three nonlearners’ knowledges. Why is it only these three and not the others? you ask. The reason is because respectively they stop the totally deluded ignorance of prior lives, et cetera, including future lives and the present.

(ii) Explanation. This has three points.

A. Identifying the ultimate nonlearners’ knowledge

46a

e last one is nonlearner’s.

Of those three, the last one, clairvoyance of extinction of defilements, since it is undefiled, is both nonlearner and also nonlearner’s knowledge.

B. The reason the other two are called by that term

46ab

When two others

Arise in their mindstream, they are so called.

The defiled first and second are not nonlearner by essence, but when these two others arise in their, the nonlearner’s, mindstream, they are so called, nonlearners’ knowledge.

C. Elaboration

46cd

Although the learners may have these, their streams

Have ignorance, so these are not called knowledge.

Why are those clairvoyances not called learners’ knowledge? you ask. Although the detached learners may also have these two, their mindstreams have ignorance, so these are not called knowledge in the sutras.

(d) Their intersection with the three miracles. This has two points.

(i) General teaching

47a

e first, third, sixth are miracles.

Of these clairvoyances, the first, magic, third, knowing others’ minds, and sixth, extinction of defilements, are the three miracles. This is because they are respectively miracles of magic, addressing, and teaching.[317]

(ii) Identifying the supreme among these

47b–d

e miracle of teaching is best,

Since it is unconfused and brings

Benefit and a pleasant fruit.

Of these three, the miracle of teaching is best, since it arises only from the extinction of afflictions and thus from its good cause, since is unconfused, and since it brings the benefit of freeing beings from afflictions in this life, and since in the future it brings a pleasant fruit or result that is entirely free of duḥkha. The other two are not like that.

(2) Understanding their particular features. This has three topics: (a) Understanding the clairvoyance of magic, (b) Understanding the clairvoyances of eye and ear, and (c) Understanding the natures of those attained by birth, etc.

(a) Understanding the clairvoyance of magic. This has five topics: (i) Magic’s features, (ii) Identifying the mind of emanation, (iii) How that emanates, (iv) The essence of the mind of emanation, and (v) Classifications of magic.

(i) Magic’s features. This has two topics: A. General explanation of magic, and B. Its actual features.

A. General explanation of magic

48ab

e magical is samadhi. Motion

And emanations are from that.

What is the essence of magical clairvoyance? you ask. The essence of magical clairvoyance is samadhi because that is what creates it. What is created? you ask. The three motions through the body, interest, and mental speed and emanations that did not previously exist are created from that samadhi.

B. Its actual features. This has two topics: 1. The distinctions between the three motions, and 2. Distinctions of the two emanations.

1. The distinctions between the three motions

48cd

e Teacher moves with mental speed;

Others: propulsion, interest.

The Teacher, the Buddha, moves with mental speed, because he can go long distances by merely thinking. Others cannot do this. Those other than the Buddha have motion through bodily propulsion, because their body propels them like birds. They have motion of interest, because by imagining what is far to be close, they can go there quickly.

2. Distinctions of the two emanations. This has two points.

a. Emanations that act in Desire

49ab

In Desire, emanations are

Four external sense bases. Twofold.

In general, there are two types of mind of emanation: emanations of Desire and Form. Of these, in Desire emanations are the four external sense bases of form, scent, taste, and touch by nature. They are twofold: connected to one’s own being and connected to another being.[318]

b. Emanations that act in Form

49c

In Form, two.

Because in Form there is neither scent nor taste, emanations in Form are the two sense bases of form and touch. These can also be connected to one’s own or another’s body.

(ii) Identifying the mind of emanation. This has four topics: A. What emanates, B. Classifications of the mind of emanation, C. What it is acquired through, and D. What arises from which.

A. What emanates

49cd

Minds of emanation

Create them, too.

Does only clairvoyance create emanations? you ask. No. The result of clairvoyance, the mind of emanation, creates them—emanations—too.

B. Classifications of the mind of emanation

49d ese are fourteen

50ab

Results of dhyan, respectively,

From two to five, not lower’s result.

These minds of emanation also are fourteen. What are the fourteen? you ask. The results of levels of dhyana, respectively. From the first dhyana, there are two minds of emanation on the levels of Desire and the first dhyana. The results of the second dhyana are three—those of the two lower levels and its own level. The results of the third dhyana are four—those of the three lower levels and its own level. This continues to the fourth dhyana that has five, the four lower levels and its own in succession.

Here there is something that must be known: emanating an object in Desire is the action of the emanating mind of Desire, but that emanating mind itself is contained within the levels of dhyana. Therefore, emanating minds that are results of dhyana are of their own and lower levels, but those emanating minds born from the higher levels are not the lower levels’ result, because if one has not attained the higher level, one cannot produce its emanating mind. If one has attained the higher level, the emanating mind is the result of that level itself.

C. What it is acquired through

50c

It’s gained like dhyan,

How is the mind of emanation acquired? you ask. It is gained like dhyana by detaching from lower realms. One can also acquire the emanating mind of the first dhyana by being born from the second dhyana into the first.

D. What arises from which. This has two topics: 1. What the mind of emanation arises from, and 2. What arises from the mind of emanation.

1. What the mind of emanation arises from

50cd arising from

e pure and self.

There is no arising directly from the mind of emanation itself. When first manifesting a mind of emanation—that is, in entering a mind of emanation—the emanating mind arises from the pure dhyana[319] and later also from itself.

2. What arises from the mind of emanation

50d

Out of it, two.

When abiding in a mind of emanation, there is no arising without entering samadhi, so out of it, a mind of emanation, two cognitions can arise: in the instance of arising from the mind of emanation there is a pure dhyana upon arising, and in the instance of continuation, there is the mind of emanation itself. There are no others that arise. When abiding in an emanating mind that is the result of samadhi, there is no arising from samadhi without first re-entering it.

(iii) How that emanates. This has three topics: A. Which minds of emanations emanate, B. Minds that emanate speech, and C. Whether minds of emanation are more or less numerous than emanations.

A. Which minds of emanations emanate

51a

ey’re emanated by own level,

They, all emanations, are emanated by their own level’s emanating minds: emanating minds of one level do not create emanations on other levels.

B. Minds that emanate speech. This has three topics: 1. What mind supports emanations speaking, 2. Distinctions in how emanations speak, and 3. The manner of speaking through blessings.

1. What mind supports emanations speaking

51b

But speech by lower levels, too.

But in particular, when emanations of the second dhyana and higher engage in speech, they speak only by the speaking mind of the lower level first dhyana, because above that there is no consideration or examination on their own level, and speech depends upon the motivation of consideration and analysis. The word “too” means that in Desire and on the first dhyana, only the mind of its own level engages in speech.

2. Distinctions in how emanations speak. This has two points.

a. Actual

51c

With emanator, except the Teacher.

Emanations speak along with the emanator, except if they are the Teacher’s emanations. The Teacher, the Buddha, can make multiple emanations speak. From The Long Discourses:[320]

If one speaks, then all

The emanations speak.

If one doesn’t speak,

Then none of them do.

b. Dispelling a doubt

51d

After it’s blessed, another starts it.

Well then, when there is a mind that speaks, there is no mind of emanation, so for that reason the emanation would disappear and who would speak? you ask. This is not a problem, because after it, the emanation, is blessed to be able to stay, another mind, a speaking mind, starts it speaking.

3. The manner of speaking through blessings

52ab

ere are blessings for the dead as well,

Not for the unstable. Some say not.

Are blessings only for the living, or are there also blessings for the dead? you ask. There are blessings for the dead as well, which allow them to remain for a long time, because through his own blessings, the skeleton of Noble Mahākaśyapa remained after his death. There are blessings for bones and other stable body parts, but not for the unstable flesh, blood, and so forth, because Noble Mahākaśyapa did not bless his flesh and so forth. Some say there are not any blessings for the dead, and that Noble Mahākaśyapa’s skeleton was caused to remain by the power of the gods of the pure realms.

C. Whether minds of emanation are more or less numerous than emanations

52cd

First, many emanate the one;

When mastered, it is opposite.

At first, many minds of emanation emanate the one emanation. When clairvoyance has been mastered, then it is the opposite: one mind creates many emanations.

(iv) The essence of the mind of emanation

53ab

Produced by meditation, neutral;

But those produced by birth are threefold.

Are all minds of emanation neutral? you ask. Minds of emanation produced by meditation are always neutral, because they arise on lower levels, so the lower level’s mind of emanation is manifest. But those minds of emanation that produced by attainment upon one’s birth, such as those of gods, nagas, flesh-eaters,[321] or so forth, are threefold: virtuous, nonvirtuous, and neutral, because they are produced to help or harm another, or for a neutral reason. Emanations created by gods and so forth, whether connected to their own or others’ bodies, are the nine sense bases as they have eyes, etc., and the sense bases of form excluding sound. Emanations not connected to one’s own or others’ bodies are only four sense bases.

(v) Classifications of magic

53cd

Magic from mantra, medicine,

And karma, for five types in all.

Is magic just the two produced by meditation and attained upon birth? you ask. Magic is produced by meditation; attained upon birth; produced from mantra, such as flying in the sky because of the ghandhari mantra and so forth; produced by medicine such as turtle’s mane or peacock feather; and produced by karma, such as the miracles of Māndhātar or beings in the between state, for a total of five types in all.

(b) Understanding the clairvoyances of eye and ear. This has three points.

(i) What their essence is

54ab

ey are the divine eyes and ears,

Clear forms on levels of the dhyanas.

Are the divine eye and ear only for the gods, or when the Bodhisattva, wheelwielding emperors, or precious householders see many leagues, which is like the divine eye, is this called the divine eye or ear? you ask. They, the Desire realm gods’ eyes and ears, are the actual divine eye and divine ear. When in the equipoise of dhyana, if one trains to direct the attention to appearances in the arena of the eye and ear, this creates the causes for seeing the form and hearing the sound of clear forms caused by the sources of the levels of the dhyanas, so they are on the level of dhyana.

(ii) Distinctive features

54cd

ey’re always active, nothing lacking.

eir sphere is distant, subtle, et cetera.

Both the divine eye and ear always accompany consciousness, so they are always active and never inactive.[322] As there is never any deficiency or fault, that is to say, no distortion or deafness, there is nothing lacking, just as with the eyes and ears of sentient beings of the Form realm. Their sphere is forms and sounds that are distant, subtle, et cetera, including hidden. As it is said:

The fleshly eye, it cannot see

The distant, hidden, subtle forms,

Or everything. So for that reason

This is what’s called the sight of gods.

“Everything” means that not only things in front, but things that are behind and so on are also seen.

(iii) How the three individuals see with the divine eye

55ab

e arhat, rhino, and the Teacher

See a thousand squared or cubed or countless.

Seeing lower levels with the divine eye of the first dhyana and so forth has been explained. The listeners and self-buddhas see the thousand worlds, two thousands, and three thousands with their divine eyes.[323] In particular, the listener arhats, the rhino-like self-buddhas, and the Teacher of gods and humans see through the strength of effort a thousand squared (a million) worlds, or a thousand cubed (a billion), or countless world realms respectively. The Teacher’s depends upon merely thinking of it.

(c) Understanding the natures of those attained by birth, etc. This has two topics: (i) General teaching, and (ii) Distinctions in support.

(i) General teaching. This has three points.

A. Teaching that the other four can also be attained upon birth

55c

Others are gained on birth as well,

Is magic the only clairvoyance attained upon birth, or can the others be as well? you ask. Not only magic, the others, including the divine ear and so forth, can be gained on birth as well, but since those are not produced by meditation, they are not called clairvoyance.

B. How the divine eye attained upon birth sees

55d

It cannot see the between state.

It, the divine eye attained upon birth, cannot see the between state, which can only be seen by the divine eye produced by training.

C. Detailed explanation of knowing minds

56ab

Knowing minds is three, created by

e intellect and mantra, too.

Knowing others’ minds attained upon birth, depending upon its intention, is threefold, virtue and so forth. Knowing others’ minds that is created by the intellect from perceiving the attributes of someone’s body and speech, and that created by mantra are virtuous, nonvirtuous, or neutral, too. These are not like the result of meditation, which is solely virtuous.

(ii) Distinctions in support

56cd

Hell beings know at first. With humans,

ere are not any gained on birth.

Hell beings both know others’ minds and remember previous places at first from the time they are born until they are agonized by the feelings of suffering. Once they are agonized, they no longer know because they are oppressed by suffering. Those who live among other wanderers know permanently. Of the clairvoyances that have been taught, with humans there are not any gained on birth, but there is magic that is attained by detachment, intellect, mantras, medicine, and karma.

Well then, how is it that some humans naturally remember their previous births? you ask. That is not attained upon birth but produced by previous karma. From the Precious Garland:[324]

For purpose of Dharma and likewise

Remembering the meanings of scriptures,

And stainless generosity of Dharma,

Remembrance of lifetimes is attained.

Second, presenting the area’s name

is completes the seventh area called “Teachings on Wisdom” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

This completes the explanation of the seventh area called “Teachings on Wisdom” from The Explanation of the “Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma” called The Essence of the Ocean of Abhidharma, The Words of Those who Know and Love, Explaining the Youthful Play, Opening the Eyes of Dharma, the Chariot of Easy Practice.

A few words here:

The moon of speech who has perfected fully

The all-knowing wisdom and compassion of

The master of ten powers, my glorious master,

Melts in my heart into a drop whose pureness

Then rises to my throat as Manju’s riches.

Thus have I gained some independent courage

In all the scriptures of the infinite victors—

I have no fear to teach, write, or debate.

By excellently bringing to a finish

The seventh section of this explanation

Of abhidharma, the treasury on wisdom,

While staying in retreat in solitude

In the White Cave on the side of the mountain

On the full moon of winter’s second month

When the moon rose among the Pleiades,

May the teachings of the Sage remain for ages!

291. A divine robe clear on both the outside and inside.

292. Knowing, view, and forbearance.

293. It appears that rhinolike is used here as a general term, inclusive of the congregating self-buddhas as well as the rhinolike self-buddha: the autocommentary states that self-buddhas in general have three knowings.

294. This line appears slightly differently in the autocommentary and Chim Jamyang’s commentary: “because it first arises in the continuum of a being whose action has been completed.” This might be the result of a typographical error: the Tibetan only differs by two letters. However, the meaning in both instances is similar.

295. See VII.13.

296. According to Yaśomitra, “the mind which does not possess” means undefiled, “place” here means characteristics, and “basis” means cause. (Tengyur ngu pa, 251A–B).

297. The three fires of greed, hatred, and delusion.

298. In other words, the Sutra school posits that when we perceive something, we do not directly perceive it. Instead, we perceive its aspect, a mental image or impression of the object. For example, when we see a vase, there is an image of the vase that arises in our mind, and that image is the aspect. The Great Exposition, on the other hand, posits that when we perceive an object, our consciousness engages it directly. The aspect is thus more like what we think about it. For example, when contemplating the five aggregates of grasping, nobles consider them as impermanent, suffering, and so forth, so those are the aspects. Since this is in essence full knowing—distinguishing the true nature of the object—the Great Exposition posits that the aspects are full knowing.

299. Not Unable, four actual practices, and special dhyana.

300. The previous six plus the first three levels of Formless.

301. That is, mind and mental factors.

302. Prince Yaśomitra provides an example: someone who on the support of Not Unable becomes detached from Desire and achieves the first dhyana attains two future relative knowings: one of Not Unable (the level of the path) and one of the first dhyana (the level attained for the first time). (Tengyur ngu pa, 262).

303. In Yaśomitra’s example, when someone on the support of the second dhyana becomes detached and attains the third dhyana, the path (the path of liberation over the ninth discard of the second dhyana) is on the level of the second dhyana. The level that is attained by removal of attachment is the third dhyana. Upon achieving that level, the yogi attains undefiled knowings of the level of the path (the second dhyana), the attained level (the third dhyana), and also the lower levels such as the first dhyana, special dhyana, and Not Unable. (Tengyur ngu pa, 262–263).

304. Mikyö Dorje explains this example further: when you cut the cords that bind a basket, it springs back to shape as if it were a living thing. (Mi bskyod rdo rje 2005, vol. 3, 290)

305. The Great Exposition holds that the Bodhisattva can only attain complete awakening to Buddhahood on the support of a male body. Women attain a male body (in a future life) in order to completely awaken. See IV.109. This position is not necessarily accepted by all schools of Buddhism.

306. The way all dharmas are divided into ten categories is described above in VII.18ab: there are concurrent and nonconcurrent dharmas for each of the three realms and the undefiled, virtuous noncompound, and neutral noncompound.

307. In Sanskrit, the powers are called prākṛtahastin, gandhahastin, mahānagna, praskandin, varāṅga, cāṇūra, and nārāyaṇa.

308. That is, other than the resultant touches of soft, rough, and so forth described in I.10d.

309. Here ṭīkas refers to Indian commentaries in general, not specifically to Mikyö Dorje’s commentary.

310. That is, compassion is in essence nonhatred and great compassion is nondelusion. Compassion focuses on one realm and great compassion on three. Compassion has the one suffering of suffering as its aspect, and great compassion all three types of suffering. Compassion is on all four dhyanas; great compassion on the fourth. Compassion is found among the listeners and great compassion among the Victors. Compassion is attained by detaching from Desire; great compassion by detaching from the Peak of Existence. The compassion of the listeners and self-buddhas does not have the power to fully protect beings from samsara, but great compassion does. Compassion sees suffering beings partially; great compassion sees all beings impartially. (Mi bskyod rdo rje 2005, vol. 3, 308)

311. Such as discards of seeing. See VI.58ab.

312. The unprovocative samadhi and knowledge from aspiration.

313. That is, one starts in Desire, enters the first dhyana, second dhyana, and so forth up to the Peak of Existence. Then one returns down through Nothingness and so forth to the first dhyana and Desire. Then one ascends to the fourth dhyana.

314. As in the four alternatives of two dharmas: something can be the first, or the second, or both, or neither. There is no possibility beyond the fourth alternative.

315. See VII.5cd & 6.

316. The divine eye is the clairvoyance of knowing death and rebirth.

317. The miracle of addressing is telling someone, “Your mind is like this.” The miracle of teaching is teaching correctly just as things are. (Yaśomitra, Tengyur ngu pa, 281).

318. For instance, transforming oneself into a lion is connected to one’s own being. Emanating a lion separate from oneself is connected to another being. (Tengyur ngu pa, 281).

319. An unafflicted, defiled dhyana. See VIII.5–6.

320. Skt.: Dīrghāma; Tib.: lung ring po.

321. A type of ghost.

322. See I.39cd.

323. That is, they see the general prime thousand, the middle world realm, and the three thousands described in III.73 and 74.

324. Tib. rin chen phreng ba, Skt. Ratnāvāli.

EIGHTH AREA

Teachings on the Absorptions

From the fields that bring happiness to great cooling groves

He went at his leisure, the glorious lama,

And then gave the gift of this feast that’s supreme

To beings of this fortunate aeon: I prostrate to him.

The causal, resultant pure dhyanas, the Formless,

The eight emancipations, all-encompassing, et cetera—

The eighth part, the treasury that teaches absorption—

If you wish to know these all with ease, enjoy this.

The eighth area, the “Teachings on the Absorptions,” has first an explanation of the text of the area and second, an explanation of the branch that completes the composition, the summary of the treatise. The explanation of the text of the area has three topics: I. Explanation of the dhyanas and the Formless, II. Classifications of samadhi, and III. Explanation of the qualities supported by samadhi.

I. Explanation of the dhyanas and the Formless. This has two topics: A. Individual explanations, and B. Understanding them in common.

A. Individual explanations. This has three topics: 1. An explanation of the dhyanas, 2. An explanation of the Formless, and 3. Summary of both.

1. An explanation of the dhyanas. This has two topics: a. Classifications, and b. Individual natures.

a. Classifications

1a

e dhyans are twofold. ey are four.

The qualities of the knowings have been explained in the section on the knowings. Now the other qualities must be told. Because they support all the qualities, first we must begin with the explanation of the dhyanas.

The support of the qualities, the dhyanas, are in brief twofold through the distinctions between the resultant birth and the causal absorption. They are each the four of the first dhyana and so forth.

b. Individual natures. This has two topics: i. The reason the resultant dhyanas of birth are not explained here, and ii. Understanding the causal dhyanas of absorption.

i. The reason the resultant dhyanas of birth are not explained here

1b

Rebirth there has been fully explained.

Rebirth in the dhyanas will not be further discussed here because the dhyanas of birth there have been fully explained in the Treasury that teaches the world. How were they explained? you ask. They were explained in the verses:

Each of the dhyanas has three levels,

But the fourth dhyana has eight levels.[325]

ii. Understanding the causal dhyanas of absorption. This has two topics: (1) Their general essence, and (2) Their individual essences.

(1) Their general essence. This has two points.

(a) Actual

1c

Absorption is one-pointed virtue.

The causal absorption of dhyana is without differentiation one-pointed virtue because it is samadhi by nature. By saying “virtue,” afflicted and nonobscured neutral one-pointed minds are excluded.

(b) Including what is associated with it

1d

Its following, five aggregates.

Including its following or associated dharmas, it is known as five aggregates by nature, because they include imperceptible forms and so forth, the rest of the five aggregates.

What is so-called one pointedness? you ask. It is called that because the mind rests one-pointedly on the focus of equipoise. The Great Exposition says that the dharma that is the mental factor of samadhi that makes the cognition rest in equipoise is samadhi, and that itself is one-pointedness. The Sutra school says that cognitions with the same focus only are samadhi, and other dharmas such as the mental factors are not. The Great Exposition and Sutra schools both make many propositions. The term is explained as meaning that it makes the mind contemplate.

(2) Their individual essences. This has two points.

(a) The essence of the first dhyana

2a

It has examining, joy, pleasure.

It, the one-pointed virtuous first dhyana, has examining, joy, and pleasure. Saying “examining” explains that considering is also present, because they function together, like fire and smoke. Without considering, there is no examining that possesses joy and pleasure.

(b) The essence of the remaining dhyanas

2b

e earlier branches are discarded.

The remaining dhyanas are one-pointed virtue in which the earlier branches of considering, examining, and so on are discarded. The second dhyana has discarded examination but possesses joy and pleasure. The third has discarded examination and joy but possesses pleasure. The fourth has abandoned examination, joy, and pleasure.

2. An explanation of the Formless. This has three topics: a. Their general essence, b. Their individual essences, and c. Elaboration.

a. Their general essence. This has two points.

i. Comparing similar features

2c

Formless are like.

The Formless are like those dhyanas, in that they have the resulting Formless of birth and the causal Formless of absorption. They are also the four of Infinite Space and so on. Their births have been explained.[326]

ii. Dissimilar features.

2c

Four aggregates,

Including their associations, they are four aggregates, because there is no form that accompanies them.

b. Their individual essences

2d

Born of withdrawal from lower levels.

The one-pointed virtue born of withdrawal from the lower level of the fourth dhyana is the sense base of Infinite Space. What is born from withdrawal from that is the sense base of Infinite Consciousness. What is born from withdrawal from that is the sense base of Nothingness. What is born from withdrawal from that is the sense base of Neither Conception nor Non-Conception. Thus there are the four Formless. What is withdrawal? you ask. It is the path that separates completely from the lower level, because one becomes detached from it.

c. Elaboration. This has two topics: i. Distinctions in conceptions, and ii. Explanations of terms.

i. Distinctions in conceptions

3ab

ey are called, with three preparations,

Destruction of conception of form.

They, the Formless, are called with the three higher preparations, by the name destruction of conception of form, because there is no form on their own level and they do not focus on the defiled form of lower levels. The preparation for Infinite Space is a conception that views the form of the fourth dhyana as coarse and so forth, so it is not given the name destruction of conception of form.

ii. Explanations of terms. This has two topics: (1) Explaining the term Formless realm, and (2) Explaining the names of each of the four.

(1) Explaining the term Formless realm. This has two points.

(a) Actual

3c

In Formless realms, there is no form.

The Majority school and others say that the Formless is not entirely without form, but as the form there is subtle, it is said to be Formless. Such a proposal is illogical. If its form is subtle by aspect, tiny aquatic creatures would also be present there, and if it is subtle by nature, the Form realm would also be Formless. If it is by extreme subtlety and clarity, you should only propose that the Peak of Existence is that.

Well then, merely the forms of vows of body and speech are there, you say. They are not, because there are neither body nor speech, nor any sources there. It is also not acceptable to say that they are not on their own level but are born from other levels, similar to undefiled vows, because the forms of vows of body and speech are bound by the bonds of existence and thus cannot exert power over another level.

From the Sutra of the Great Welcome:[327]

Those dharmas that are life and that are warmth are mixed; they are not unmixed…

Also:

Name and form are mutually supporting.

And in teaching interdependence:

By the condition of consciousness, name-and-form…

These quotations are said with the lower two realms in mind. If you propose that they apply to all situations, it would follow that external warmth would also be mixed with life and all external forms would depend upon name and arise from consciousness itself. Because of this, these quotations are not proof that there is form in Formless.

From a sutra:

The Formless are emancipation from form. Whatever is one of the four peaceful Formless emancipations transcends form…

Also:

There are sentient beings who do not have form.

Also:

Having transcended the conception of form in all aspects…

These quotations contradict the proposition, so the name Formless is not arbitrary. Therefore, in the Formless realm there is no form, not even the slightest bit, which is why it is called Formless.

(b) Dispelling a doubt

3d

en form arises from cognition.

Well then, when one is born from the Formless in a lower realm, for more than a few aeons the continuum of form has been broken, so how does form arise again? you ask. Then at that time form arises from acquiring entry into the cognition that is stained with the cause of its full ripening. The grasping cause is the four sources in Desire and Form.

The Sutra school says that there is a seed of form in the mind’s continuum, from which form arises. The Yogic Conduct school says form arises from its seeds, which are in the all-ground.

(2) Explaining the names of each of the four. This has two points.

(a) Explaining the names of the first three

4ab

ey’re called the Infinite Consciousness,

Space, Nothing at All, from training so.

Are the sense bases of infinite consciousness and so forth called that because they only focus on space and so on? you ask. No. Well then, what are they like? you ask. They are called by those names because during the training for them, one views the lower levels as having faults and thinks, “Consciousness is infinite. Space is infinite. There is nothing at all.” From training so with such attention, they are called by the names Infinite Consciousness and so forth because of the training. However, any of them can focus on other dharmas.

(b) Explaining the names of the last

4cd

Since it is feeble, no conception,

But it’s not nonconception, either.

Since it, the motion of conception, is feeble, there is no clear conception, but it is not total nonconception, either. Alternatively, during the training one views both coarse conception and nonconception as faulty and generates the absorption through the attention that thinks, “This which is neither conception nor nonconception is peace.” This is the highest level of samsara, so it is also called the Peak of Existence.

3. Summary of both

5ab

us actual absorption is

Eight substances.

Thus actual absorption is eight substances: four dhyanas and four Formless.

B. Understanding them in common. This has six topics: 1. Examining their essence, 2. Identifying the branches of dhyana, 3. The manner in which absorptions are attained, 4. What support manifests them, 5. What sphere they focus on, and 6. Identifying what discards afflictions.

1. Examining their essence. This has two topics: a. Classifying in terms of their essence, and b. The meaning of each classification.

a. Classifying in terms of their essence. This has two points.

i. Classifications of the seven lower absorptions

5b–d

Seven are threefold:

Concurrent with enjoyment, pure,

And undefiled.

The seven absorptions other than the Peak of Existence are threefold. Absorptions of those with the lowest faculties where there is great craving, view, pride, and doubt are concurrent with enjoyment, the absorptions of those with medium faculties are pure, and the absorptions of those with the highest faculties are undefiled.

ii. Classifications of the Peak of Existence

5d

e eighth is twofold.

The eighth, the Peak of Existence, is twofold: it can be concurrent with enjoyment or pure. There is no undefiled Peak of Existence.

b. The meaning of each classification

6.

e one concurrent with enjoyment

Has craving. Virtue of the worldly

Is pure, which is what that enjoys.

e undefiled transcends the world.

The one called concurrent with enjoyment has concurrence with craving. It is also concurrent with other afflictions, of course, but the reason that only craving is taught here is because craving is realized to be the greatest hindrance to emancipating oneself onto higher levels. The virtue of the worldly absorptions is called pure because it is concurrent with nongreed and other positive dharmas.

What does the concurrent with enjoyment enjoy? you ask. Pure absorption passes, immediately after which is what, the experience, that concurrent with enjoyment enjoys. It is regression from that which it experiences.

The undefiled absorption transcends the world and takes the truths as aspects.

2. Identifying the branches of dhyana. This has three topics: a. Correlating the branches to each absorption, b. Teaching three branches in particular, and c. Teaching the distinctions among the absorptions.

a. Correlating the branches to each absorption. This has two points: i. Classifying in terms of name, and ii. Summarizing in terms of substance.

i. Classifying in terms of name

7.

e first has five: considering,

Examining, joy, pleasure, and samadhi.

ere are four branches on the second:

Serenity, joy, and so forth.

8.

Five on the third: there’s equanimity,

And mindfulness, awareness, pleasure, rest.

e last has four: mindful, equanimous,

Not pain nor pleasure, and samadhi.

The first dhyana has five branches: through abandoning such impediments as desire of the Desire realm, malice, hostility, and so on, there are the two antidotal branches of considering and examining. Having discarded the impediments through considering and examining, there is joy and pleasure born of withdrawal, which are the branches of benefit. These former are accomplished through the power of one pointedness, so there is the supporting branch of samadhi. Samadhi is both a branch and also dhyana. The others are only branches, it is heard. The Master explains that, “The dhyana of five branches is just like an army with four branches.”

There are four branches on the second dhyana: the antidotal branch that abandons the impediments of consideration and examining, true inner serenity; and the branches of benefit and support, joy, and so forth, pleasure and one-pointedness itself.

There are five branches on the third dhyana: the three antidotal branches that discard the impediment of the lower levels’ joy: the formation equanimity, which by not striving for joy has the characteristic of spontaneity in relation to the focus; and mindfulness, which does not forget the continuum of sequanimity; and awareness, which does not forget mindfulness. The branches of benefit and support are respectively pleasure and the samadhi of a mind that rests.

The last, fourth dhyana, has four branches: completely pure mindfulness, the formation equanimity that is free of the eight faults of lower levels, and neutral feeling that is not pain nor pleasure, and completely pure samadhi.

In terms of names, the branches of dhyana are eighteen, because the first and third have five branches each, and the second and fourth each have four.

ii. Summarizing in terms of substance

9a

In substance, they are eleven.

In substance, they are eleven. The first dhyana has five substances. The second’s true inner serenity, and the third’s equanimity, mindfulness, awareness, and pleasure make ten. The fourth’s neutral feeling makes eleven. For that reason, there are four alternatives of branches that are on the first dhyana but not on the second, etc.

b. Teaching three branches in particular. This has three points.

i. Explaining distinctions in pleasure

9ab

Pleasure

On the first two is pliancy.

Why is the pleasure of the third dhyana said to be a different substance than the pleasure of the first two dhyanas? you ask. What is called the branch of pleasure on the first two dhyanas is pliancy; it is not a feeling. Because the pleasure of the third is the feeling of pleasure, it is logical to say that it is a different substance than the pleasure of the first two levels.

The pleasure of those two levels is not the feeling of pleasure because the dhyanas of absorption block the sense consciousnesses, so it is not bodily pleasure. Joy is taught as a branch, and that is mental pleasure, which cannot arise simultaneously with cognitive pleasure, the Great Exposition proposes.

The Dārṣṭāntikas do not assert pleasure born of cognition and so present only bodily pleasure as a branch. The branch is not pliancy called by the name of pleasure. Otherwise it would follow that the pliancy of the fourth dhyana would be pleasure. If one needs a pliancy that is compatible with the feeling pleasure, it follows that the pliancy of the third would also be that. It also says in a sutra:

At the time that noble listeners have manifested through their bodies the pleasure born from complete withdrawal and perfected it, dwelling within it, at that time the five dharmas of this are discarded. The meditation of the five dharmas, great serenity, joy, pliancy, pleasure, and samadhi, is completely perfected.

Here pliancy and pleasure are said to be separate, and that would be contradicted, they say.

ii. Explaining complete serenity in particular

9c

Serenity is faith,

True inner serenity is confident faith that having attained the second dhyana, one is emancipated from the first dhyana.

iii. Explaining the distinctions of mental pleasure

9cd

and two

Scriptures say joy is mental pleasure.

Some other schools say that joy is a different mental factor and mental pleasure is taught as the branch of pleasure of all three dhyanas. This is not correct, because if it were, it would contradict the two scriptures. In the Viparītasūtra,[328] after saying, “The third dhyana,” the Bhagavan said:

On this, the arising of all faculties of mental pleasure without exception cease…

Also:

On the fourth dhyana, all faculties of pleasure without exception cease.

From the Sutra which Teaches the Branches of Dhyana:[329]

And pleasure is also discarded. Previously suffering has also been discarded, and mental pleasure and mental suffering have also previously disappeared…

Because it would not be proven that mental pleasure had previously been discarded, on the third dhyana there can be no faculty of mental pleasure. Therefore, the joy of the first two dhyanas is only mental pleasure and is not pleasure.

c. Teaching the distinctions among the absorptions. This has three topics: i. Distinctions between the afflicted and unafflicted, ii. Features of the fourth dhyana, and iii. Distinctions in feeling between causal and resultant absorptions.

i. Distinctions between the afflicted and unafflicted

10.

In the afflicted, there is no joy or pleasure;

Serenity; awareness, mindfulness;

Or equanimity, pure mindfulness;

Some say no pliancy, no equanimity.

Are those same branches previously explained also present in afflicted dhyana? you ask. They are not. Which of them are not? you ask. In the afflicted first dhyana, there is no joy or pleasure born of withdrawal, because it is not withdrawn from the afflictions of that level. On the second dhyana, there is no great serenity, because it is sullied by the afflictions of its own level. On the third dhyana, there is no awareness or mindfulness because it has been made completely deluded by afflicted pleasure. On the fourth, there is no equanimity or pure mindfulness, because those two have been stained by the afflictions. Some say there is no pliancy on the afflicted first or second dhyana, and on the third and fourth there is no equanimity, because these are virtuous major grounds, they say.

ii. Features of the fourth dhyana

11.

e fourth is free from the eight faults,

So it’s immovable. ey are

Considering, examining, breaths,

And pleasure and the other three.

The Bhagavan said, “Because the three dhyanas have faults, they are movable.” The fourth dhyana is free from eight faults explained below, so it is immovable. They, the eight faults, are considering, examining, the in-breath and out-breath, and pleasure and the other three, suffering, mental pleasure, and mental unhappiness.

iii. Distinctions in feeling between causal and resultant absorptions. This has two points.

(1) Actual

12.

Dhyanas of birth have happiness,

And pleasure and the neutral feeling;

Neutral and happiness; and pleasure

And neutral; and the neutral feeling.

Are those feelings that are in the causal dhyanas of absorption also present in the resultant dhyanas of birth? you ask.

The first dhyanas of birth have happiness of the level of mind consciousness, and pleasure of the three consciousnesses,[330] and the neutral feeling of the four consciousnesses. On the second dhyana, there are both neutral and mental happiness; and on the third there is also pleasure and neutral. And on the fourth there is only the neutral feeling.

Of these, the pleasure of the first dhyana is solely bodily feeling supported by eye, ear, and body, and its neutral feeling is both bodily and mental. From the second dhyana and above, they are all only mental feelings. Bodily feeling is always accompanied by considering and examining, and because there is no considering and examining on the second and above, there can be no bodily feelings, either.

(2) Dispelling a doubt

13.

On second and so forth, the body,

Eye, and ear consciousnesses, and

What makes them perceive is of the first.

It’s neutral; it is not afflicted.

On the second dhyana, et cetera, if there is no considering and examination, how can they see, hear, or touch, and how is the act of knowing motivated? you ask. Those who are born there are not without eye consciousness and so forth, but they are not of their own level. On the second dhyana and so forth, the third and fourth dhyanas, the body consciousness, eye consciousness, and ear consciousness, and that which is the considering and examining that makes them perceive is only manifested through those of the first dhyana. It, the consciousness on the second or higher dhyana, is unobscured neutral; because it is detached, it is also not afflicted. Because it is inferior, it is also not pure absorption.

3. The manner in which absorptions are attained. This has three topics: a. The actual manner in which they are attained, b. What arises following which, and c. The manner in which the skipping absorption arises.

a. The actual manner in which they are attained. This has three points.

i. How the pure is attained

14ab

ose who do not possess them gain

e pure through detachment or from birth;

How are the absorptions of dhyana and the Formless attained? you ask. Those who do not possess them, the dhyanas and Formless, from before gain any of the three pure with the exception of tendency toward the undefiled[331] through detachment or, except for the Peak of Existence, from birth from a higher into a lower. The Peak is not attained by birth because there is no level above it.

ii. How the undefiled is attained

14c

e undefiled is through detachment;

The undefiled actual absorptions, if one has not previously possessed them, are only attained through detachment from the lower levels. If previously possessed, they can also be attained through training such as the distinctive actual practices of the nonlearners and those with sharp faculties, but are not attained through birth or regression.

iii. How the afflicted is attained

14d

Afflicted, by regressing, birth.

Afflicted absorption, when not previously possessed, is attained by regressing such as when one regresses from detachment from the first dhyana and attains the afflicted first dhyana. Except for the Peak, it is also attained by birth from a higher realm into a lower realm. For example, when one is born from the second or higher dhyana into the first dhyana, one can attain the afflicted first dhyana. The afflicted Peak is only attained through regression. Afflicted absorption is not attained through training or detachment.

b. What arises following which. This has two topics: i. General teaching, and ii. Specifics of the latter two.

i. General teaching. This has three points.

(1) What arises right after the undefiled

15a–c

Right after undefiled, the virtue

Of levels up to two above

Or below can arise.

Right after which substances of absorption can how many arise? Right after the substance of undefiled absorption of dhyana and Formless, the pure and undefiled virtue of its own level and up to two levels above or two levels below can arise, because when doing skipping absorption, one cannot skip more than one level.[332]

(2) What arises right after the pure

15cd

From pure,

e same, or own level’s afflicted.

From the pure absorption, the pure and undefiled arise, which should be known to be the same as what has just been explained. Or in addition, just after the pure, its own level’s afflicted can also arise. The afflicted cannot arise right after the undefiled, because that is totally exclusive of entry into the afflicted.

(3) What arises right after the afflicted

16ab

From the afflicted, own pure, afflicted,

And one pure of the lower, too.

From the afflicted absorption, in the instance of taking hold of it with mindfulness and awareness and then arising from it, the pure of its own level can arise directly. In the instance of continuation, the afflicted arises. Not only that, when greatly tormented by the afflictions, one gains affection for the pure of the lower level, and so the one pure of the lower can arise, too.

ii. Specifics of the latter two. This has two topics: (1) At the time of death, and (2) Particulars of the four tendencies.

(1) At the time of death. This has two points.

(a) Pure

16c

From pure at death, all the afflicted,

It has been explained that during the period of absorption only their own level’s afflicted can follow directly upon the pure or afflicted absorptions, but other levels’ cannot. However, from a pure absorption that was attained upon birth, at the time of death it is possible to be reborn in any of the levels above or below, so at the time of rebirth-linking, all the afflicted of the nine levels can possibly arise.

(b) Afflicted

16d

But from afflicted, not the higher.

But from afflicted absorptions at the time of death, the afflicted of their own level or lower arise, but not the afflicted of higher, because if the afflicted of the lower level has not been discarded, there is no birth in the higher. This is because the lower afflicted is exclusive of rebirth-linking in the higher.

(2) Particulars of the four tendencies. This has three points.

(a) Classifying the pure in four

17ab

Four types of pure tend toward regression,

Et cetera.

Not all pure absorptions produce the undefiled. In general, there are four types of pure absorption: the tendency toward regression, et cetera, the tendency to staying, the tendency toward the superior, and the tendency toward the undefiled. On the Peak of Existence, there is no tendency toward the superior, because there is no higher level.

(b) The meaning of each classification

17b–d

Respectively,

ey tend toward birth of the afflictions,

Of own, of higher, of undefiled.

In essence, respectively, they tend in the instance of continuation toward the birth of the afflictions, toward the birth of virtue of their own level, toward the birth of virtue of a higher level, and toward the birth of undefiled. The meaning of tend here is “directed toward its birth.”

(c) What arises after which of the four

18ab

Tendencies to regress, et cetera,

Are followed by two, three, three, one.

What arises right after each of the four? you ask. The four tendencies toward regression, et cetera, may be followed immediately by the first two right after the first, and the first three right after the second. Right after the third, the last three arise, and right after the last, only the last one itself arises.

c. The manner in which skipping absorption arises. This has two topics: i. Training, and ii. Actual practice.

i. Training. This has two points.

(1) Distant training

18cd

Going through eight levels up and down,

Both types in sequence,

How does one produce skipping absorption? you ask. One goes through the eight levels, going up in ascending order and down in descending order. One enters each of the four dhyanas and four Formless, both defiled and undefiled types in sequence. In order, one enters the absorption of the defiled first samadhi. Then one enters the absorptions going up in ascending order as far as the Peak of Existence, and then coming back down in descending order to the first dhyana. Then one enters the absorption of the undefiled first samadhi. Then one enters the absorptions going up in ascending order as far as undefiled Nothingness, and then coming back down in descending order to the undefiled first dhyana. This is the initial training for skipping absorption.

(2) Near training

18d

or skipping one,

Then one enters the defiled absorption of the first dhyana, skips one level, and enters the absorption of the third dhyana. Then by skipping every other level one goes up as far as the Peak in ascending order, and then skipping every other level one comes back down as far as the defiled first dhyana in descending order. Then one enters the undefiled absorption of the first dhyana and skipping one level enters the undefiled absorption of the third. Then skipping every other level, one enters the undefiled absorption of Nothingness and then comes down to the undefiled first dhyana skipping every other level. This is the advanced training for skipping absorption.

ii. Actual practice

19ab

en going to the third of the

Different type is skipping absorption.

Following that, one then enters the defiled absorption of the first samadhi and then skips one and goes to the third dhyana of the different, undefiled type. Discarding the fourth, one enters defiled Infinite Space, and discarding another, enter undefiled Nothingness. Then one discards every other level down to the first dhyana. In this way, skipping every other level and alternating between the incompatible defiled and undefiled dhyanas and Formless is the actual practice of skipping absorption.

The explanation here that one cannot skip more than one level is in terms of listeners with dull faculties. The explanation in the Ornament of Clear Realization[333] that it is possible to skip eight is in terms of bodhisattvas with sharp faculties.

Only nonoccasional, totally liberated arhats on the support of the three continents can produce this, because they have no afflictions and have mastery over samadhi.

4. What support manifests them. This has two points.

a. General

19cd

e dhyans and Formless, on their own

Or lower support. No use for lower.

The dhyanas and the Peak and the other Formless absorptions are manifested on the support of their own level or lower levels down to Desire. When one is born in a higher level, the absorption of the lower level is not manifested, because there is absolutely no use for the substance of the lower absorption. Producing the samadhi of the lower has the function of producing the full ripening of the lower, but the higher level has transcended the full ripening of the lower, because the samadhi of the lower level is inferior.

b. An exception on the Peak of Existence

20ab

On Peak, they manifest Nothingness

Of nobles, then extinguish defilements.

That was in general, but there is an exception: when born on the Peak, they, nobles, manifest the undefiled sense base of Nothingness of nobles, and then they extinguish defilements of the Peak of Existence, because there is no undefiled path on the Peak and the undefiled sense base of Nothingness is close to the Peak.

5. What sphere they focus on. This has three points.

a. What afflicted dhyana focuses on

20c

Enjoyment focuses on own existence.

Absorptions with craving that are concurrent with enjoyment focus on their own level’s existence, defiled things. They do not focus on the lower because they are detached from it. They do not focus on the higher, because they are completely separated from the higher by craving. They do not focus on the undefiled, either, because then it would follow that they were virtuous.

b. What pure and undefiled dhyanas focus on

20d

All that exists is virtuous dhyan’s sphere.

All that is composite and noncomposite and exists is the pure and undefiled virtuous dhyana’s sphere or object.

c. What the actual Formless focuses on

21ab

Defiled of lower is not the sphere

Of virtuous actual of Formless.

The defiled of lower levels is not the sphere of the virtuous actual practices of Formless. Their sphere is either the defiled or undefiled of their own and higher levels, and also the lower level’s undefiled paths of subsequent knowing.

6. Identifying what discards afflictions. This has two topics: a. What discards what, and b. Distinctions in the discarding antidotes.

a. What discards what. This has two points.

i. What the undefiled actual practice discards

21c

e undefiled discard afflictions,

Of the dhyanas and Formless that are pure, undefiled, and concurrent with enjoyment, the undefiled discard the afflictions of their own and higher levels. There’s no need to mention the concurrent with enjoyment—even the pure does not discard. Because the preparations have detached one, the pure does not discard the afflictions of lower levels. Because it is not their antidote, it does not discard afflictions of its own level. Because they are greatly superior, it does not discard the higher level’s afflictions.

ii. What the preparations discard

21d

As do pure preparations, too.

As do the undefiled, the pure preparations for higher levels of dhyana and form discard the afflictions of the level below them, too. The word “too” means that Not Unable is included within the undefiled. It has already been explained that it can discard the afflictions of every level.[334]

Therefore, the defiled actual practices do not discard any afflictions at all because the lower level’s have already been discarded and they cannot discard the afflictions of their own or higher levels.

b. Distinctions in the discarding antidotes. This has two topics: i. Distinctions of the preparations, and ii. Identifying special dhyana.

i. Distinctions of the preparations. This has two topics: (1) Classifications, and (2) Their essences and the feelings they are concurrent with.

(1) Classifications

22a

For those, there are eight preparations.

For entering those eight actual practices, there are also eight preparations. As far as the manner of entering absorption, each of the preparations has seven aspects through which one can enter the absorption: attention on thorough knowledge of the characteristics, attention produced by interest, attention on complete withdrawal, attention on taking delight, attention on examination, attention on the end of training, and attention on the result of the end of training. The first six of these are preparations, and the last is the actual practice.[335]

(2) Their essences and the feelings they are concurrent with. This has four points.

(a) General essence

22b

ey’re pure,

On the first two dhyanas, there is the feeling joy. On the third, pleasure, and on the fourth, neutral. Do their preparations have similar feelings? you ask. They do not. They, the preparations, are pure in essence. They are not concurrent with enjoyment because they are not free of revulsion for the lower level and because they are a path that brings detachment.

(b) Which feelings they are concurrent with

22b

not pleasure and not pain.

They, the feelings on the preparations, are not pleasure and are not pain or suffering, so they are only neutral. This is because the preparations must be induced by exertion, so they arise out of effort. The pervasion holds because the paths that arise without effort are concurrent with joy and pleasure.

(c) Particulars of the essence

22c

e first is also noble.

The first of the preparations, Not Unable, is not solely pure; it can also be noble or undefiled.

(d) Others’ assertions

22c

Some say, threefold.

Some say Not Unable can be all three, including concurrent with enjoyment. The reason is because it is clear, or according to Master Saṅghabhadra, because it pursues and competes with the actual practice.

ii. Identifying special dhyana. This has four points.

(1) Identifying its essence

22d

In special dhyan, there’s no considering.

Well then, there is the term preparations and also the term special dhyana. Are these two the same or different? you ask. They are different. The former is the path that brings detachment. The special dhyan is an actual practice in which there is no considering, but in which there is examining. Thus the first dhyana has the classifications as the mere actual practice that has both considering and examining, and the special that has examining only. There is no such distinction in the second and so forth, so there is no classification of them as mere or special.

(2) Classifications

23a

It’s threefold,

It, the special dhyana, is threefold: concurrent with enjoyment, pure, and undefiled.

(3) Which feelings it has

23a

neither pain nor pleasure,

Because the special dhyana is a difficult path that must be created by exertion, it only has neutral feeling that is neither pain nor pleasure.

(4) Result

23b

And has Great Brahma as result.

And what is the particular result of the special dhyana? you ask. It has the Great Brahma realm as result, because those who meditate on it will be reborn in Great Brahma.

II. Classifications of samadhi. This has two topics: A. Classifying samadhi in three, and B. Classifying samadhi in four.

A. Classifying samadhi in three. This has three topics: 1. Classifying in terms of level, 2. Classifying in terms of path, and 3. Classifying in terms of the mode of engaging the object.

1. Classifying in terms of level

23cd

Below, samadhi has considering,

Examining. Above, there’s neither.

The sutras teach that there are three types of samadhi. Of these, on special dhyana there is samadhi that has no considering but does have examining alone. Below it, on the first dhyana and Not Unable, there is samadhi that has considering and examining. Above it, from the preparations for the second to the Peak, there is samadhi that has neither considering nor examining.

2. Classifying in terms of path. This has three points.

a. Identifying the essences of the three samadhis

24.

e signless has aspects of peace,

And emptiness engages selfless

And emptiness. No wishing has

All other aspects of the truths.

The sutras speak of the three samadhis: the samadhi of emptiness, samadhi of no wishing, and samadhi of signlessness. Of these, the signless samadhi is a samadhi that is free of the ten attributes—the five objects, the four characteristics of composites, and male and female attributes—and from focusing on noncomposites has aspects of peace, the four aspects of the truth of cessation. And the samadhi of emptiness is samadhi that, for any focus, engages only the two aspects of selfless and emptiness. The samadhi of no wishing is a samadhi that focuses on composites and only has the aspects of the truths that create revulsion, so it is concurrent with all the other aspects of the truths than those six previously mentioned. It is a samadhi that is concurrent with the ten remaining aspects: four of the truth of origin, four of path, and suffering’s aspects of impermanence and suffering. Because the other six do not create revulsion, it does not have them.

b. Classifications of their internal categories

25a

ey’re pure or stainless.

They, these three samadhis, can be pure worldly or stainless, transworldly undefiled. The pure are on the eleven levels of Desire, Not Unable, special dhyana, the four dhyanas, and the four Formless. The stainless are on the nine undefiled levels.

c. Examining their names

25ab

When they’re stainless,

ey are three gates of liberation.

When they, these three, are stainless, they are gates to liberation, so they are the three stainless gates of liberation of emptiness, no wishing, and signlessness.

3. Classifying in terms of the mode of engaging the object. This has two topics: a. Teaching the classification in general, and b. Explaining their features in detail.

a. Teaching the classification in general

25cd

ere are three more samadhis, called

e empty of emptiness, et cetera.

Also in the sutras, there are three more samadhis in addition to the previous three. They are the samadhis called emptiness of emptiness, et cetera, including no wishing of no wishing and signlessness of signlessness.

b. Explaining their features in detail. This has five points.

i. Distinctions of focus and aspect

26.

Two focus on nonlearner’s aspects

Of empty and impermanent.

e signlessness of signlessness,

On peace, nonanalyzed extinction.

Of those three, the first two focus respectively on the nonlearner’s aspect of emptiness while viewing the empty, and focus on the nonlearner’s no wishing while viewing the aspect of impermanent. As for the signlessness of signlessness, if one arises from the nonlearner’s signlessness while viewing the aspect of peace, the conditions for the continuation of signlessness are not met, so signlessness of signlessness focuses on the nonanalytic extinction or the attainment of nonanalytic cessation. Of these three, the first two look at liberation itself. The third focuses on its cessation and is thus diminished, so it is diminished liberation.

ii. Distinction of essence

27a

Defiled,

These three are solely defiled.

iii. Distinctions of support

27a

by humans,

Where are they produced? you ask. They are only produced by humans, not by gods or others.

iv. Distinctions of individual

27a

unshakable.

Who produces them? you ask. They only arise for unshakable arhats, not for others.

v. Distinctions of level

27b

Except the seven preparations.

Except the seven latter preparations,[336] they are on the eleven levels previously explained.

B. Classifying samadhi in four

27cd

First dhyana’s virtue is meditation

On samadhi which is happiness.

28.

Clairvoyance of eye is that which sees.

Produced by training is discernment.

e vajra-like of the last dhyana

Extinguishes all the defilements.

The Bhagavan said:

There are four meditations on samadhi: if you always remain in meditation on samadhi and do this many times, you will also dwell in happiness in the visible…

Of these the first, the first dhyana’s virtue—pure or undefiled—is the meditation on samadhi which is dwelling in happiness in the visible. The other dhyanas are also known to be the same. There is no certainty of dwelling in happiness in future lifetimes, because it is possible to regress, and those who are reborn in higher realms or pass into complete nirvana do not have the first dhyana’s happiness. The clairvoyance of divine eye that knows death and rebirth, and the knowing concurrent with the mind consciousness that arises after that, are proposed as that samadhi which knows and sees. The defiled or undefiled qualities of the three realms that are produced by training and everything undefiled are the meditation on samadhi of discernment or full knowing. The vajra-like samadhi that has the support of the last fourth dhyana is samadhi meditation that extinguishes all the defilements.

Thus these four samadhis are taught just as the Bhagavan himself manifested them in the past. At the very first, he produced the first dhyana in the shade of a Rose-Apple tree. Later he sat beneath the Bodhi Tree, and just after taming the Maras he saw with the divine eye the miserable deaths and births of sentient beings. In order to give them refuge, he produced the dhyanas, emancipations, and so forth during the night session. At dawn, on the basis of the fourth samadhi, he manifested the paths up to the vajra-like samadhi, the Great Exposition says.

III. Explanation of the qualities supported by samadhi. This has two topics: A. Teaching the immeasurables, and B. Teaching the other qualities.

A. Teaching the immeasurables. This has two topics: 1. Classifications, and 2. Distinguishing features.

1. Classifications. This has three points.

a. Actual classification

29a

Immeasurables are four,

As they focus on immeasurable sentient beings and have immeasurable merit, they are called immeasurables. In focusing on immeasurable sentient beings, there are four: loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.

b. Establishing their quantity

29ab

because

ey’re antidotes for malice, et cetera.

Why are there four of them? you ask. Because they are antidotes for excessive malice and so forth, including hostility, dislike, and the attachment of the Desire realm, their number is established as four.

c. The essence of each classification

29cd

Love and compassion are nonhatred,

And joy is pleasure of the mind,

30a

And equanimity is nongreed.

Love and compassion are the virtue of nonhatred, and joy is pleasure of the mind at others’ happiness, and equanimity is the virtue of nongreed. Therefore they are the antidotes for malice preceded by greed and so forth. Alternatively, the Master explains that they are nongreed and nonhatred both, so they are suitable as antidotes for both greed and hatred.

2. Distinguishing features. This has six topics: a. Distinctions of aspects, b. Distinctions of object, c. Distinctions in levels, d. Distinctions in how they function as antidotes for the levels, e. Distinctions in support, and f. Distinctions in how they are possessed.

a. Distinctions of aspects

30bc

eir aspects are thinking, “May they be

Happy! Not suffer! Joyous! Beings!”

Their aspects are thus: the aspect of love is thinking, “O! may they, sentient beings, be happy!” The aspect of compassion is thinking, “May they not suffer!” The aspect of joy is thinking, “May they have joyous minds!” The aspect of equanimity is thinking, “Without attachment to those near or hatred for the distant, I will treat all sentient beings equally.” One reflects with such an intention and enters absorption. One rests in the middle, without any prejudice, and without any attachment or animosity either.

b. Distinctions of object

30d

eir sphere is beings of Desire.

What do they focus on when they meditate on these aspects? you ask. Their focus or sphere is sentient beings of Desire, because the immeasurables are the antidote for malice and so forth that focus on beings of Desire.

c. Distinctions in levels. This has two points.

i. Actual

31ab

On the two dhyanas, there is joy.

Others on six.

How many levels are they on? you ask. On the first two dhyanas, there is joy because it is produced by meditation and is mental pleasure. The other three immeasurables are on six levels: the four dhyanas, special dhyana, and Not Unable.

ii. Others’ assertions

31b

Some say on five.

Some say that they are on the five excluding Not Unable. Others say that they are on ten, adding Desire and the four preparations.

d. Distinctions in how they function as antidotes for the levels.

31c

ey don’t abandon.

It is explained that “They’re antidotes for malice, et cetera… ” Do the immeasurables discard the afflictions? you ask. The explanation of them as antidotes for malice and the others is through distinctions in power either in terms of suppressing or distancing. They, the four, do not actually abandon, because they are the pure actual practice so they do not discard afflictions, and because they all focus only on sentient beings, so they are merely interested attention.

e. Distinctions in support

31cd

ey arise

In humans.

As far as their bodily support, because a clear mind and the power of familiarization produce them, they arise in humans, excluding those on Unpleasant Sound. Others do not produce them.

f. Distinctions in how they are possessed

31d

One must have the three.

If one possesses one immeasurable, must one also without a doubt possess all of them? you ask. It is not definite that one will possess them all. However, if one possesses any of the three excluding joy, they also have the other two, so one must have the three. Joy is mental pleasure, so it is not possessed on the third or fourth dhyana. This is intended in terms of attainment. In terms of their manifestation, they are possessed individually because their aspects are exclusive.

B. Teaching the other qualities. This has four topics: 1. The essence of the qualities attained, 2. How they are attained, 3. Distinctions of support, and

4. How samadhi arises.

1. The essence of the qualities attained. This has three topics: a. The emancipations, b. The overpowering sense bases, and c. The all-encompassing sense bases.

a. The emancipations. This has three topics: i. Classifications of the emancipations, ii. Their individual natures, and iii. The spheres of the first seven.

i. Classifications of the emancipations

32a

Of eight emancipations,

As they are directed away from their focus, they are emancipations. The eight emancipations are, according to the sutras, viewing external form while conceiving of internal form, viewing external form while conceiving of no internal form, the emancipation of loveliness, the four Formless, and the emancipation of cessation.

ii. Their individual natures. This has four topics: (1) Explanation of the first two emancipations, (2) Of the third, (3) Of the Formless emancipations, and

(4) Of the emancipation of cessation.

(1) Explanation of the first two emancipations. This has two points.

(a) Actual

32ab

the first two,

Repulsive,

Because the first two of the emancipations have the aspects of bluishness and so forth, they have the nature of meditation on the repulsive.[337]

(b) Distinctions of level

32b

are on the two dhyanas.

These two emancipations are antidotes for desire for color, so they are on the first two dhyanas, but they are absent from the third and higher, because above that there is no desire for color. That is because there is no eye consciousness above the second dhyana.

(2) Explanation of the third

32c

e third, on the last, is nongreed.

The third, the emancipation of the lovely, is on the last of the dhyanas, the fourth. As its essence is the antidote for greed, it is primarily nongreed, but since it has the lovely as its aspect, it is not repulsiveness meditation. Thus one emanates an attractive form and views it as lovely. As that itself is manifested by the body of samadhi, it is so called. Including their associations, the first three are the five aggregates by nature.

The need for the emancipation of the lovely is that by meditating on the repulsive, one’s mind is depressed, so one uplifts it with intense joy. Also, if attachment to a lovely emanation arises, the first two emancipations have not been completed, but if it does not arise, they have, so this is in order to examine that.

The emancipation of the lovely is not taught in the first three dhyanas because there is joy on those levels, so if one pays attention to the lovely and has joy and craving for that object, nongreed will not be accomplished. Alternatively, it is not taught there because they are dhyanas that have faults, so nongreed is not accomplished there.

(3) Explanation of the Formless emancipations

32d

Virtuous Formless equipoise.

Only the four virtuous—pure or undefiled—Formless equipoises are emancipations; the afflicted and the states of beings not in equipoise such as the state of death are not. On the preparations, the paths of liberation are emancipation, but the paths of no obstacles are not because they focus on the lower level.

(4) Explanation of the emancipation of cessation. This has three points.

(a) Identifying its essence

33a

It is absorption of cessation

It, the eighth emancipation, is the absorption of cessation of conception and feeling. This was explained in the second area.[338]

Why are these called emancipations? you ask. It is because the first two are directed away from greed; the third, away from being discouraged and attached; the four Formless, from the conception of form; and cessation is directed away from conceptions and feelings, or alternatively all formations.

(b) The mind of entry

33b

at follows the subtlest of the subtle.

Regarding entering the absorption of cessation, the conception of the Peak of Existence is the subtlest in the three realms, but focusing on cessation is by far the subtlest of all, so one enters that absorption of cessation immediately following that subtlest of the subtle minds.

(c) The mind of arising

33cd

One rises from that through own level’s

Pure or the noble of the lower.

When arising, one rises from that cessation, as one has resolved to do, through one’s own level—the Peak’s—pure, or through the noble undefiled mind of the lower sense base of Nothingness. In this way, the absorption of cessation and the mind that enters it are on the level of the Peak, so they are defiled only. The mind of arising can be either defiled or undefiled.

iii. The spheres of the first seven. This has two points.

(1) The sphere of the first three

34a

Sights of Desire are the first’s object.

The sights of the sense base of form of Desire are the object of the first two of the eight emancipations, and the third has an attractive object. Well then, are these not emanations on the basis of samadhi? you ask. Of course they are, but they are emanations contained in Desire.

(2) The sphere of the Formless

34b–d

e Formless’ sphere is suffering

And such of own and higher levels,

Compatible with subsequent knowing.

The sphere of the four emancipations of Formless is the suffering and such, including origin and all paths, of their own and higher levels that is compatible with subsequent knowing. It is possible that the Formless emancipations can be the samadhi of no attributes of no attributes, so they can also be nonanalytic cessation. Noncomposite space is also the object of the sense base of Infinite Consciousness.

Why is there no emancipation presented on the third dhyana? you ask. Because it has no desire for the colors of the level of second dhyana and because it is produced by absorption of pleasure, it is not presented. Well then, if on the third dhyana also there is no desire for color, why is the emancipation of the lovely produced on the fourth dhyana? you ask. As one is discouraged by repulsiveness, it is to make oneself intensely joyous or else to analyze whether or not the repulsive emancipations have been accomplished. If when paying attention to the lovely, afflictions do not arise, those two have been accomplished.

b. The overpowering sense bases. This has two topics: i. Classifications, and ii. Explanation of their characteristics.

i. Classifications

35a

Eight overpowering sense bases.

According to the sutras, while conceiving of internal form, viewing small external forms with good and bad colors and viewing large external forms with good and bad colors are the first two overpowering sense bases. While conceiving that there is no internal form, viewing the same two are the third and fourth. While conceiving only that there is no internal form, viewing external forms that are blue, yellow, red, and white are the last four. When these eight all have overpowered those forms, the sort of conception that arises is the first through the eighth overpowering sense bases.

Conceiving of internal form and that there is no internal form is the conception of the form of the viewer himself being destroyed or not. Small and large are forms of sentient beings and the world. Good and bad colors are attractive and unattractive. Overpowering them is gaining mastery. Knowing and seeing are explained as paths of no obstacles and liberation, or tranquility and insight according to Master Ārya.[339] In the sutra, for the four colors there are four phrases using the words blue and so forth that are repeated twice each, once for the example and once for the meaning. The first mention is an overview, the second the natural, the third the fabricated, and the fourth the dharmas common to both. The flax, karṇikāra flowers,[340] bandhujīvaka flowers, and the planet Venus are examples of the natural, and the cloth is an example of the fabricated.[341]

ii. Explanation of their characteristics. This has three points.

(1) Explanation of the two overpowering sense bases of that with form viewing form

35b

Two like the first emancipation;

Of those, the first two overpowering sense bases are like the first emancipation in the particulars of their nature, level, and aspects.

(2) Explanation of the two overpowering sense bases of that without form viewing form

35c

Two like the second.

Two of the overpowering sense bases, the third and fourth, are views like the second emancipation.

(3) Explanation of the four overpowering sense bases of color

35cd

Others are like

Emancipation of the lovely.

The others, the four emancipations of color, like emancipation of lovely are on the level of fourth dhyana, focus on attractive forms of the Form realm, are nongreed by nature, and are the five aggregates, it should be understood.

c. The all-encompassing sense bases. This has two topics: i. Classifications, and ii. Their individual natures.

i. Classifications

36a

Ten all-encompassing sense bases.

The sutras teach of the ten all-encompassing sense bases, which have the meaning of making the visualized aspect pervade the focus uninterruptedly. To classify them, there are the ten of earth, water, fire, air, blue, yellow, red, white, space, and consciousness.

ii. Their individual natures. This has two points.

(1) Explaining the first eight

36bc

Eight are nongreed on the last dhyana.

eir sphere is Desire.

Of these, the first eight are in essence the virtue of nongreed. They are on the level of the last fourth dhyana. Their sphere is the sense base form of Desire, similar to how the four sources are known as color and shape in the world.[342] According to some, since it says, “The atmosphere/Is the element itself… ”[343] the object of the all-encompassing sense base of wind is touch.

(2) Explaining the last two

36cd

Two are pure Formless;

eir sphere is their four aggregates.

It is explained in the Levels[344] that the other sense bases are not set forth as all-encompassing, since sound is discontinuous; and since the five faculties do not pervade the world, and scent and taste do not pervade the Form realm.

The last two all-encompassing sense bases are in nature the pure virtue of the first two Formless equipoises. Their sphere is their own level’s four aggregates only, unlike the Formless emancipations described above, because here it is in terms of focus on particulars, the learned ones have said.

The last two Formless are not set forth as all-encompassing sense bases since they are unclear and thus incompatible with expanding and contracting, or according to some, since they are the result of the all-encompassing. It is explained in the Great Compendium:[345]

… because the all-encompassing of Infinite Space and Consciousness is infinitely and immeasurably accomplished, so there is no enhancement of that.

The distinctions among the emancipations, overpowering sense bases, and all-encompassing sense bases is that their qualities gradually increase. First the emancipations are directed away from the discards. Then the discards are overpowered. Then it is made pervasive, so as the earlier are perfected and purified, the latter arise, and they are each superior to the previous. For that reason, they are lesser, medium, and greater, or cause, both cause and result, and result only.

2. How they are attained

37ab

Cessation has been explained. e rest

Are gained through detachment or by training.

Of these twenty-six, the support and attainment of the emancipation of cessation have already been explained in the second area.[346] The rest, the remaining twenty-five, are gained merely through detachment if familiar—that is, if they have ever arisen before—or if unfamiliar, by training and effort, because they arise from the power of habituation or nonhabituation.

3. Distinctions of support. This has two points.

i. Actual

37cd

e Formless are supported by

ree realms. e rest arise in humans.

The four emancipations called Formless and two of the all-encompassing are supported by three realms. The rest, the other nineteen, arise in humans, so they are only on the support of humans. This is because they must be produced by the power of scripture, and the gods and other wanderers do not have the scriptures.

ii. Elaboration

38ab

In two realms, the power of cause and karma

Produces Formless equipoise.

Well then, since there are no scriptures there, how do the absorptions of dhyana and the Formless of higher levels arise in the higher two realms? you ask. The absorptions of dhyana and the Formless are produced by the power of four things: scripture, cause, karma, and dharma nature. In the higher two realms, there is no scripture, but the power of both cause and karma produces

Formless equipoise. Production by power of cause is when previously on a human support one has meditated on the samadhi of the Peak of Existence and regressed from that. After being born either on one of the lower Formless levels or in the Form realm, through the cause of same status of previous meditation, the samadhi of the Peak arises. Production by force of karma is also when in a previous human life one performs karma that will definitely ripen as birth in the Peak in a future life. After regressing, one is born in one of the previously mentioned lower levels, and since one must definitely be reborn on the Peak, at that point the absorption of the Peak will be attained. This also has a causal aspect, but since karma is primary it is explained to be called produced by the power of karma.

4. How samadhi arises

38cd

ose two and also dharma nature

Produce the dhyanas in Form realm.

Those two powers of cause and karma, and also the power of the dharma nature produce the dhyanas in the Form realm.

Second, an explanation of the branch that completes the composition, the actual summary of the treatise. This has three topics: A. How long the teachings will remain, B. The summary of the treatise itself, and C. The manner of completing the explanation.

A. How long the teachings will remain. This has two points.

1. The teachings

39ab

e Teacher’s True Dharma is twofold:

In essence, scripture and realization.

How long will this true abhidharma that explains the aspects of dharmas—defiled, undefiled, level, focus, aspects, and so forth—remain? you ask. The Teacher’s True Dharma is twofold: in essence, it is the Three Baskets of scripture and realization, the factors of enlightenment.

2. How long they will remain

39cd

ese are upheld only by those

Who teach them and accomplish them.

What is it to uphold the Dharma of scripture? you ask. According to the scriptures, these, the scriptures, are upheld only by those who, after coming to know them, teach them to others with an unafflicted intention. This is also called upholding the baskets, upholding the scriptural Dharma, and upholding the teachings. And those who uphold realization accomplish them, the dharmas of the factors of enlightenment, within their being and practice them. As there are no upholders of the teachings or True Dharma other than these two, the word only is said.

The upholders of the scriptures are the supports for those who speak and accomplish. The unerring supports for the scriptures are those with accomplishment. Only those who have accomplishment are the upholders of realization because without accomplishing it, one cannot teach the meaning one has realized.

Therefore the True Dharma will remain as long as there are beings who speak and accomplish the Dharma. In particular, as far as the teachings of the Teacher Shakyamuni, the autocommentary explains, “They will remain for a thousand years.” Some say that this is in terms of realization, but that the scriptures will remain a thousand years longer than that. This latter is also the explanation of the authors of the ṭīkas. The Prince explains:

“The scriptures will remain for a long time” means that they will remain another thousand years. I view this position only as logical.

From The Good Aeon:[347]

The True Dharma of the Thus-Gone Shakyamuni will remain for a thousand years. For another five hundred years, a pseudo True Dharma.

The Minor Topics also say Dharma will remain for a thousand years. The Sutra Requested by Candragarbha[348] explains that it will remain for two thousand years and be destroyed by the strife of Kaushambir. Master Kamalaśīla says in his commentary on the Vajra Cutter Sutra, “It is renowned among the learned that the teachings will last five times five hundred years.”

In the Commentary on the Hundred Thousand,[349] it is said that by dividing five thousand into sections, there are ten periods of five hundred years. In the first, many arhats will appear; in the second, many nonreturners, and in the third, many stream-enterers, so these are the three chapters of the period of results. In the fourth period, there will be many who abide by the trainings of full knowing. In the fifth, by the trainings of mind, and in the sixth, by the trainings of discipline, so these are the three chapters of the period of accomplishment. In the seventh, there will be many who uphold the abhidharma; in the eighth, who uphold the basket of sutras, and in the ninth, who uphold the vinaya, so these are the three chapters of the period of scripture. The tenth is called the chapter of those who hold merely the signs, and it is also labeled the last five hundred. After that the True Dharma will disappear. At that time, the lifespan of humans in the Rose-Apple Land will be fifty years. Now the lifespan is sixty years and it is the period of the abhidharma, it says.

According to the calculations in the Glorious Rangjung Dorje’s A Clarification of the Four Times of the Omniscient Lord,[350] the duration the teachings will remain is set at strictly five thousand years. Calculating from this Fire Rat year (1576), in the completed year of the Female Wood Pig (1575), 952 years had passed since the completion of the three five-hundred-year periods of results. Another 2548 years are thought to remain.

B. The actual summary of the treatise itself. This has three topics: 1. How the treatise was composed, 2. Confessing mistakes, and 3. Advice to be careful.

1. How the treatise was composed

40ab

I mostly have explained this abhidharma

According to the Kashmiri Exposition.

Is the abhidharma explained in this treatise the abhidharma that the Teacher explained? you ask. I, Vasubandhu, have explained this Dharma of the Treasury of Abhidharma partially according to the tradition of the Sutra school and the Aparāntaka Great Exposition. However, I mostly have explained this abhidharma according to the school of the Kashmiri Great Exposition, because I explained it in Kashmir strictly according to the Exposition.

2. Confessing mistakes

40cd

Any mistakes herein are solely ours;

e Sages are the authority in Dharma.

Any mistakes in words or meaning herein, in this treatise, are solely my,[351] the author’s, own errors and mistakes. However, it is not a great wonder that someone like me would confuse the words and meaning in explaining the meaning of the scriptures: the Bhagavan Sages and their children, arhats who have the eye of the Dharma, are the authority in the words and meaning of the True Dharma.

is completes the eighth area called “Teachings on the Absorptions” from the Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma.

This completes the explanation of the eighth area called “Teachings on the Absorptions” from The Explanation of the “Verses of the Treasury of Abhidharma” called The Essence of the Ocean of Abhidharma, The Words of Those who Know and Love, Explaining the Youthful Play, Opening the Eyes of Dharma, the Chariot of Easy Practice.

3. Advice to be careful. This has two points.

a. Teaching the dangers of carelessness

41.

e Teacher, the eye of the world, has been closed;

e beings who were witness have mostly perished.

ose who haven’t seen thatness, those who are bad logicians

And headstrong have confounded the teachings.

42.

e one self-born, those who cherish his teachings,

Have passed into the supreme peace. ere’s no refuge

Or counsel for beings, and the stains that slay qualities

Run rampant in this at their pleasure.

43a–c

And so, as we know that for the Sage’s teachings,

It’s as if the last breaths now rasp in the throat,

at this is a time when the stains have great strength:

As he taught his disciples the distinction between what is the path that leads to liberation and what is not, the Teacher, the Bhagavan, is like the eye of the world. That eye has been closed—he has passed into nirvana—and it is as if worldly folk have been left sightless. The beings other than the Buddha who were witness to the dharma, the noble beings such as Kaśyapa, have mostly passed into nirvana and perished. Blinded by ignorance, those ordinary individuals who have not seen the thatness of Dharma and who are bad logicians and headstrong, following pseudo reasoning without relying on the Teacher’s scriptures, have confounded the teachings of the Teacher through exaggeration and denigration.

The one Bhagavan, who is self-born, having found wisdom in his last existence without anyone to explain the scriptures, and those who cherish his, the self-born’s, teachings have passed without any remainder of the aggregates into the supreme peace that is superior to samsara. Without the Buddha or his children, there is no refuge or counsel who can give correct instruction for beings, and the stains of bad views and so forth that are the cause that slays the previously explained qualities and makes the teachings disappear run rampant in this world at their pleasure, or indiscriminately.

And so, as we who are intelligent know that for the Sage’s teachings, the teachings of the Buddha, it is as if, for example, the last breaths at the approach of the time of death now rasp in the throat and will not remain long, and as we know that this is a time when the stains of bad views have great strength, follow the forthcoming advice.

b. Advice to rely on carefulness.

43d

All those who want freedom, be careful!

In this manner, all those who fervently want the freedom of nirvana, be careful in everything! is the heartfelt advice. That is the root of all virtuous dharmas. In the words of the Bhagavan:

Carefulness is a place of deathlessness;

Carelessness is a place of death.

Those who are careful will not die;

The careless always die.[352]

The meaning of these is explained in Letter to a Friend:[353]

A place of nectar, carefulness; but a place

Of death is carelessness, the Sage declared.

Thus to develop virtuous qualities,

You always should act with respect and care.

Also from Individual Liberation:[354]

Venerable ones, aging and death will truly come, and the teachings of the Teacher will be destroyed, so the venerable should practice the yogas of carefulness. The enlightenment of the Bhagavan Arhat Complete Perfect Buddha and the virtuous dharmas that are compatible with it, the factors of enlightenment, all attained through carefulness.

Thus it is said.

C. The manner of completing the explanation. This has two points.

1. Teaching the completing words

This completes the Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma composed by Master Vasubandhu.

2. The translator’s colophon

Translated into Tibetan by the Indian Abbot Jinamitra and the Tibetan translator Bande Kawa Paltsek and then corrected and finalized.

And now to say a few words about the reason for completing this work:

On Vindhya’s lofty slopes of two accumulations,

The kushu stalks of powers and other qualities

Flourish with utter brilliance of youthfulness—

Great sage and master of the spring, please grant me refuge.

Sagara’s sons, the beings of degenerate times,

Are stained and sullied by their various views.

At once you cleanse them with the natural Ganges:

Master Bhagīratha, grant me protection.[355]

Upon the Snow Land’s eastern mountain face of merit,

The fully waxing light of good and virtue

From Konchok Lama, Shakyamuni’s true disciple,

Conquers at once all darkness on three levels.

What need have we of tales of how in Magadha

The Shakyan prince bestowed three Dharma Wheels

On the three families? The perfect Buddha is here

And truly present as the wish-fulfilling jewel!

Additionally, my master, the great scholar

Renowned as the victorious over all,[356]

Is the most venerable in the Snow Land,

As rich in peace and tameness as Upāli.

If with his acumen in proofs and rebuttals

He destroys the logic of the six extremist teachers,

What need is there to talk of lesser opponents?

Thus in debate he is truly Dharmakirti!

From both my masters’ kindness, I have not

Been stricken by the poison of the objects

Nor distracted by desire’s illusory dance.

I take the burden on to free my mothers

And have faith in the ways of the Buddha’s teachings.

The friend of day,[357] the master of the Shakyas,

Knowing the basket of the Abhidharma

To be discernment that will stop afflictions,

Thus taught it to his gatherings of students.

These teachings were in bits and pieces which

Shariputra and the rest compiled in Seven Treatises.

Afterwards seven hundred arhats at

Mount Vindhya wrote great treatises explaining

The meaning of the Seven Treatises.

Vasubandhu collected all the precious

Jewels of their meaning in this Treasury.

Then he himself wrote his own commentary,

And the son of a lord, Prince Yaśomitra,

The scholar Purṇavardhana, and other

Great Indian scholars wrote their explanations.

There is the chariot of the Practice Lineage,

The treatise that is called The Springtime Cow.

Upon the repeated requests of my true master

Great Namgyal Drakpa and from students Dogyü Gyatso

And others, for the benefit of future followers,

I have combined all aspects of these explications

And then explained this Youthful Play without

Any vagrant hearsay or my own fabrications.

When I was eighteen I received the full

And complete explanation and transmission

For Mikyö’s commentary as well as

The Treasury of Abhidharma from

The omniscient glorious lama, Konchok Yenlak.

Then the great master trained me thoroughly in

The difficult points and dispelled my doubts

About the root, the commentary, and

The explanation, so that I have attained

Full mastery of the meaning of the words.

But if there may be any contradictions,

Mistakes, or faults herein, I ask all those

Who have the eyes of Dharma for their patience.

If any of my followers should wish

To gain the wish-fulfilling jewel of freedom

From the vast oceans of the abhidharma,

Embark upon this ship of Youthful Play.

May the rich nectar from the stamens of

The blossoming white lotus of this virtue

Nourish with deathless sustenance the bees

Who long for the teachings of the glorious Dakpo.

From now until I reach enlightenment’s essence,

I ask the great master, the perfect buddha,

To dwell inseparably in my heart’s drop.

May the nectar of my speech spread to all beings!

May they master unmistakenly and entirely

The meaning of the Baskets and the Tantras,

Have the intelligence to teach, write, and debate,

And strive to listen, contemplate, and meditate all day and night.

May this essence of the ocean of abhidharma

That opens our eyes to the Dharma,

The place for clear-minded youths to play,

Spread over all the world and blaze!

When during his second uncountable aeon on the path of learning our Teacher, the unequalled king of the Shakyas himself, was the merchant Prajñābhadra, he formed his resolve in front of the tathagata Konchok Yenlak himself, who had arisen as the essence of all aspects of the body, speech, and mind of all the victors and was the sole refuge, support, land, and friend for all wanderers who fill space. I received this from the full moon of the face of the guru, omniscient glorious Konchok Shakya Choggi Tsowoy Bang, as well as from him, whose moon of wisdom that knows all there is to know is full and shines the light renowned as victorious in all directions that fills all the realms of the world. The crown jewel of vows, diligence, and scholarship in this Land of Snow, the one who is without peer in teaching, writing, and debating is Vijayakīrti’s. I place the stainless dust from these two masters’ feet on the crown of my head.

The monk of the Shakyas, Palden Mipham Chökyi Wangchuk Dorje Garwang Chokle Nampar Gyalway Nyingpo Khyabdak Tenpay Nyima, or by another name bestowed by the Khenpo of Uḍḍiyāna Padmasambhava, Vajreśvara, began this at the age of twenty in the great place of practice Sha Uk Tiger Gate. I completed it when called a twenty-one-year-old in the second half of the month of the Pleiades on the sixth day of the waning phase, of the Male Fire Rat year (1576) in the solitary place of White Mountain Cave near the great Dharma Wheel of Thupten Karma Sungrab Gyatso Ling. The scribe was Bhikshu Ānandarāja.

Virtue! Virtue! Virtue!

325. III.2cd.

326. See III.3.

327. gang yang bsus po che mdo.

328. rnam par bsgyur ba’i mdo.

329. bsam tan gyi yan lag bstan pa’i mdo.

330. The sense consciousnesses excluding scent and taste, which are not present in the dhyanas. See I.30b–d.

331. One of the classifications of the pure absorption. See VIII.17–18.

332. The Tibetan and Sanskrit verses literally read “up to three levels,” but this is counting the level that one is on inclusively as the first of the three levels. In common English parlance, this would generally not be counted, and so here it is translated as two levels. The meaning is the same: from an undefiled third dhyana, for example, one can skip up two levels to Infinite Space, but not higher to Infinite Consciousness, etc.

333. Skt.: Abhisamayālaṅkāra. Tib.: mngon rtogs rgyan.

334. See VI.47cd.

335. In the first of these, attention on thorough knowledge of the characteristics, one considers the lower realm coarse and the upper realm peaceful. In the second, attention produced by interest, one discards the hindrances to generating the third. In the third, attention on complete withdrawal, one discards the three greater sets of meditative discards. In the fourth, attention on taking delight, one feels joy and pleasure at having abandoned the greater discards and discards the three medium sets of discards. In the fifth, attention on examination, one examines oneself to see which discards remain. In the sixth, attention on the end of training, one abandons the three lesser meditative discards. (Mi bskyod rdo rje 2003, vol. 1, 286–7)

336. The preparations for the second dhyana and higher.

337. The first emancipation, viewing external form while conceiving of internal form, is viewing external forms and meditating on them as repulsive while conceiving of one’s own form as existing. The second is the same, except the conception of one’s own form has been demolished. (Yaśomitra, Tengyur ngu pa, 306B). For more on the repulsiveness meditation see VI.9d ff.

338. See II.43.

339. Asanga, according to Mikyö Dorje. (Mi bskyod rdo rje 2005, vol. 4, 438)

340. Cassia fistula.

341. Yaśomitra quotes the passage from the sutras as follows: “While conceiving that there is no internal form, view a blue external form, blue-colored, that is seen as blue, that radiates blue, for example, a flax flower or an excellent fabric from the land of Varanasi that is blue, blue-colored, that is seen as blue, that radiates blue, and know that those forms have been overpowered, see that they have been overpowered. That sort of conception is the fifth overpowering sense base...” It continues similarly for yellow, red, and white. (Tengyur ngu pa, 308).

342. See I.13cd.

343. See I.13cd.

344. Yogacāryābhūmi by Asanga.

345. Bsdu ba chen mo.

346. II.43ff.

347. bskal bzang las.

348. zla ba snying pos zhus pa’i mdo.

349. ’bum ṭīk.

350. dus bzhi gsal byed.

351. The Tibetan root text is ambiguous about whether this is singular or plural, and Wangchuk Dorje comments on it as if it were singular. The Sanskrit, however, is specifically in the plural, and so in the root text, it is translated in the plural.

352. Udānavarga, chapt. 4, verse 1.

353. Nagarjuna’s Suhṛllekha (Tib. bshes pa’i spring yig).

354. so so thar pa.

355. This compares Namgyal Drakpa to King Bhagīratha, who is said to have brought the Ganges down to earth to purify the ashes of his ancestors, the sixty thousand sons of Sagara.

356. This is a play on the name of Wangchuk Dorje’s master Namgyal Drakpa, whose name means “Renowned as victorious.”

357. A synonym for the sun common in Sanskrit and Tibetan poetry; here it is a metaphor for the Buddha.

APPENDIX A

English Equivalents of Tibetan Terms

Terms are alphabetized according to Tibetan alphabetical order.

kun ’gro. universals.

kun tu ’gro ba’i rgyu. universal cause.

kun nas dkris pa. entangler.

kun nas nyon mongs pa. all-afflicted.

kun ’byung gyi bden pa. truth of origin.

kun sbyor. fetter.

kun rdzob. relative.

kun shes ldan pa’i dbang po. faculty of having all-knowing.

kun shes pa’i dbang po. faculty of allknowing.

kun shes byed pa’i dbang po. faculty of producing all-knowing.

rkyen. condition.

skad cig ma. instant.

skal mnyam gyi rgyu. cause of same status.

skyabs. refuge.

skye mched. sense bases.

skye ba’i srid pa. birth state.

skyes nas thob pa. attained upon birth.

skyes nas mya ngan las ’da’ ba. nirvana upon birth.

skyes nas myong ’gyur gyi las. karma experienced on birth.

skyes bu dam pa’i ’gro ba. holy wanderers.

skyes bu byed ’bras bu. personal result.

bskal pa grangs med. uncountable aeons.

bskal pa chen po. great aeon.

kha na ma tho ba. unwholesome.

khams. element.

khong khro. anger.

khyad par gyi lam. distinctive path.

khyab pa ’du byed kyi sdug bsngal. pervasive suffering of formation.

khro ba. aggression.

khrel med. immodesty.

khrel yod. modesty.

’khon ’dzin. grudge.

’khor lo’i dbyen. schism of the Wheel.

gong du ’pho ba. bound for higher.

gong ma cha mthun. those that lead to the higher.

gya nom snang ba. Excellent Appearance.

grang dmyal. cold hells.

dga’ ldan. Joyous Land.

dge rgyas. Full Virtue.

dge chung. Lesser Virtue.

dge bsnyen. pursuer of virtue.

dge ’dun. sangha.

dge ba. virtue.

dge ba’i rtsa ba chad pa. severing the roots of virtue.

dge sbyong gi ’tshul. spiritual way.

dge sbyong gi ’tshul ’bras. results of the spiritual way.

dge tshul. novice.

dgra bcom pa. arhat.

’gog pa’i snyoms ’jug. absorption of cessation.

’gog pa’i bden pa. truth of cessation.

’gog pa’i rnam thar. emancipation of cessation.

’gyod pa. regret.

’gyur ba’i sdug bsngal. suffering of change.

’gro ba. wanderer.

rgod pa. agitation.

rgyas byung. produced by development.

rgyags pa. arrogance.

rgyu. cause.

rgyu mthun gyi ’bras bu. causally compatible result.

rgyu mthun pa. causally compatible.

rgyun zhugs pa. stream-enterer.

rgyu’i rkyen. causal condition.

sgom. meditation.

sgom spang. discards of meditation.

sgom lam. path of meditation.

sgyu. pretense.

sgra mi snyan. Unpleasant Sound.

bsgribs la lung ma bstan. obscured neutral.

nga rgyal. pride.

ngo bo nyid kyi rtog pa. essential thought.

ngo tsha. shame.

ngo tsha med pa. shamelessness.

nges pa’i las. definite karma.

nges par rtog pa’i rtog pa. thought that recognizes.

nges ’byed cha mthun. precursor to clear realization.

dngos po. thing.

dngos su log par zhugs pa. direct mistaken engagement.

mngon rtogs. clear realization.

mngon par ’du byed pa med pa mya ngan las ’da ba. nirvana without effort.

mngon par ’du byed pa mya ngan las ’da ba.

nirvana with effort.

mngon shes. clairvoyance.

mngon sum. direct perception.

sngun dus. previous state.

ci yang med. Nothingness.

bcas pa’i kha na ma tho ba. prohibited unwholesome.

chags bcas. desirous.

chags pa. greed.

chags pa med pa. nongreed.

chags bral. detached.

cho ’phrul. miracle.

chos. Dharma, phenomena

chos kyi ’khor lo. Wheel of Dharma.

chos kyi rjes ’brang. follower of dharma.

chos kyi phung po. aggregates of Dharma.

chos mngon pa. abhidharma.

chos can. dharma base.

chos mchog. supreme dharma.

chos bzang. Good Dharma.

chos bzod. dharma forbearance.

chos shes. dharma knowing.

chu bo. floods.

’chab pa. concealment.

’chab pa. hypocrisy.

’chi ba’i srid pa. death state.

’chi bar sems pa’i chos can. one with volition for death.

’ching ba. bonds.

’jig rten. world.

’jig rten pa’i yang dag pa’i lta ba. correct worldly view.

’jig lta. personality view.

’jig tshogs la lta ba. view of personality.

’jig sred. craving destruction.

rjes shes. subsequent knowing.

rjes su dran pa’i rtog pa. thought that remembers.

rjes su srung ba’i chos can. protected one.

nyon mongs. affliction.

nyon mongs dri ma. afflicted filths.

nyon mongs pa’i sgrib pa. afflictive obscurations.

nyon mongs med pa. unprovocative.

nyi ’og pa. Aparāntaka.

nying mtshams sbyor ba. rebirth-linking.

nye ’khor dmyal ba. neighboring hell.

nye ba’i nyon mongs. near afflictions.

nye bar len pa. grasping.

nye bar len pa’i phung po lnga. aggregates of grasping, five.

nyer len gyi rgyu. grasping cause.

gnyid. sleep.

mnyam bzhag. equipoise.

snyoms ’jug. absorption.

snyoms ’jug gi sgrib pa. obscurations to absorption.

snyoms ’jug dag pa pa. pure absorption.

snyoms ’jug ro myang ldan. absorption concurrent with enjoyment.

bsnyen gnas. fasting vows.

ting nge ’dzin. samadhi.

gti mug. delusion.

gti mug med pa. nondelusion.

btang snyoms. equanimity, neutral feeling.

btags yod. nominally existent.

rtog pa. considering.

rtogs pa’i skal pa can. capable to realize.

lta na sdug pa. Lovely to Behold.

lta ba. view.

lta ba mchog ’dzin. overesteeming views.

stong pa. empty.

stong spyi phud. general prime thousand.

stobs. power.

brten bcas. active.

bstan bcos. treatise.

tha ma cha mthun. those that lead to the lowest.

thang cig. minute.

thams cad yod par smra ba. Sarvastivada.

thar pa cha mthun. precursor to freedom.

thod rgal gyi snyoms ’jug. skipping absorption.

thod rgal gyi ting nge ’dzin. skipping samadhi.

thogs bcas. obstructive.

thogs med. unobstructive.

the tshom. doubt.

theg pa dman pa. Foundation Vehicle.

thub pa. sage.

mthar lta. extreme view.

mthar ’dzin lta ba. view of holding extremes.

mthong chos myong ’gyur gyi las. visibly experienced karma.

mthong spang. discards of seeing.

mthong bas thob pa. attained through seeing.

mthong lam. path of seeing.

’thab bral. Conflict Free.

dad pa’i rjes ’brang. follower of faith.

dad pas mos. convinced through faith.

don dam. ultimate.

de ma thag rkyen. immediate condition.

de mtshungs. inactive.

de yi skad cig. instant of that.

dud ’gro. animal.

dus dang sbyor. occasional.

dus dang mi sbyor. nonoccasional.

drang srong. sage.

dran pa. mindfulness.

dran pa nye bar bzhag pa bzhi. foundations of mindfulness, four.

drod. warmth.

bdag rkyen. dominant condition.

bdag po’i ’bras bu. dominant result.

mdo. sutra.

’dod khams. Desire realm.

’dod chags. desire.

’dod pa la ’dun pa. pleasure-seeking.

’dod pa’i sred pa. craving for desire.

’du byed. formation.

’du byed kyi phung po. aggregate of formation.

’du shes. conception.

’du shes kyi phung po. aggregate of conception.

’du shes med ’du shes med min. Neither Conception nor Non-Conception.

’dun pa. intention.

’dus byas. composite, compound.

’dus ma byas. noncomposite, noncompound.

rdo rje lta bu ting nge ’dzin. vajra-like samadhi.

rdul phra rab. atoms.

rdul phran. molecules.

ldan min ’du byed. nonconcurrent formation.

sdom pa. vow.

sdom min. wrong vow.

sdig pa. misdeed.

sdug bsngal. suffering.

sdug bsngal gyi bden pa. truth of suffering.

sdug bsngal gyi sdug bsngal. suffering of suffering.

sdug pa’i rnam thar. emancipation of loveliness.

nam mkha’. space.

nam mkha’ mtha’ yas. Infinite Space.

gnas thams cad du ’chi ’pho ba. one who dies in all realms.

gnas pa las mi bskyod pa. unshaken from abiding.

gnod sems. malice.

mnar med pa. Incessant Hell.

rnam grol lam. path of liberation.

rnam thar pa. emancipation.

rnam par rgyal byed. Fully Conquering.

rnam par nyams pa. forfeit.

rnam par mi ’tshe ba. nonhostility.

rnam par ’tshe ba. hostility.

rnam par rig byed ma yin pa’i gzugs. imperceptible form.

rnam par shes pa’i phung po. aggregate of consciousness.

rnam byang. utterly pure.

rnam smin gyi rgyu. cause of full ripening.

rnam smin gyi sgrib pa. ripened obscurations.

rnam smin gyi ’bras bu. fully ripened result.

rnam g.yeng. distraction.

rnam shes. consciousness.

rnam shes mtha’ yas. Infinite Consciousness.

brnab sems. covetousness.

dpyod pa. examining.

spang bya. discard.

spong ba’i lam. paths that abandon, paths that discard.

spel sgom. alternating meditation.

spyod lam. path of activities.

phal chen sde pa. Majority school.

phung po. aggregate.

phyin ci logs pa bzhi. errors, four.

phyir mi ’ong ba. nonreturner.

phyed du ’phar ba. half leapers.

phra rgyas. kernel.

phrag dog. envy.

’phar ba. leapers.

’phags lam yan lag brgyad. noble eightfold path.

’phen byed kyi las. propelling karma.

’phrul dga’. Joy of Emanations.

ba lang spyod. Bountiful Cow.

bag chags. imprint.

bag med. carelessness.

bag yod. carefulness.

bar gyi bskal pa. intermediate aeon.

bar chad med lam. path of no obstacles.

bar do’i srid pa. between state.

bar dor mya ngan las ’da ba. nirvana in the intermediate.

bar sdom. mid-vow.

byang chub. enlightenment.

byang chub phyogs kyi chos. factors of enlightenment.

byang chub yan lag bdun. branches of enlightenment, seven.

byang chub sems dpa’. bodhisattva.

bying ba. torpor.

bye brag smra ba. Great Exposition school.

byed rgyu. enabling cause.

blo. mind.

dbang po. faculty.

dbang po lnga. faculties, five.

dbang po ’pho ba. refine faculties.

’byung gyur. source-derived.

’byung ba. sources.

’byung ba chen po bzhi. great sources, four.

bral ba. removal.

bral ’bras. result of removal.

’bras gnas. abider in result.

’bras bu. result.

’bras bu che ba. Great Result.

’bras bu thos rgal ba. skipping results.

’bras bu mthar gyis pa. successive results.

sbyor ba. yoke.

sbyor ’byung. attained by training.

sbyor lam. path of joining.

sbyin pa. generosity.

ma bsgribs lung ma bstan. unobscured neutral.

ma nges pa’i las. not definite karma.

ma dad pa. nonfaith.

ma dros pa’i mtsho. Unheated Lake.

ma ’dres pa’i chos. unshared qualities.

ma byin par len pa. stealing, taking what has not been given.

ma mo. matrix.

ma yin dgag. not-negation.

ma rig pa. ignorance.

mar me mdzad. Dipamkara.

mos pa. interest.

mos pa las byung ba’i yid la byed pa. attention produced by interest.

mi. human.

mi skye ba shes pa. knowing nonarising.

mi skye ba’i chos can. nonarising dharma base.

mi dge ba. nonvirtue, unvirtuous.

mi lcogs med pa. Not Unable.

mi che ba. Not Great.

mi mjed ’jig rten gyi khams. Unbearable World Realm.

mi rtag pa. impermanent.

mi gdung ba. Without Pain.

mi g.yo ba’i chos can. unshakable one.

me mar mur pa. Burning Ground.

med dgag. no-negation.

me’i khams. fire element.

dmigs rkyen. objective condition.

dmyal ba. hell.

rmongs pa. delusion.

smon nas shes pa. knowing from aspiration.

rtsa ba’i nyon mongs. root afflictions.

rtse gcig pa. one-pointedness.

rtse mo. peak.

brtson ’grus. diligence.

tshad med dge. Immeasurable Virtue.

tshad med ’od. Immeasurable Light.

tshangs chen. Great Brahma.

tshangs pa mdun na ’don. Brahma’s Ministers.

tshangs par spyod pa. Brahmic conduct.

tshangs ris. Brahma’s Abode.

tshor ba. feeling.

tshor ba’i phung po. aggregate of feeling.

tshogs na spyod pa’i rang sang rgyas.

congregating self-buddha.

tshogs lam. path of accumulation.

tshe cig bar chad cig pa. one lifetime, one obstacle.

tshul khrims. discipline.

tshul khrims brtul zhugs mchog ’dzin. overesteeming discipline and austerity.

mtshan nyid. characteristic.

mtshan gzhi. character base.

mtshams med kyi las. heinous karma, heinous deeds.

mtshungs ldan. concurrent.

mtshungs ldan rgyu. concurrent cause.

mtshungs pa de ma thag rkyen. concurrent immediate condition.

’tshig pa. contentiousness.

’dzam bu gling. Rose-Apple Land.

rdzas yod. substantially existent.

rdzogs byed kyi las. completing karma.

rdzu ’phrul gyi rkang pa bzhi. feet of miracles, four.

zhag mi thub. impossible day.

zhe sdang. hatred.

zhe sdang med pa. nonhatred.

gzhan ’phrul dbang byed. Mastery over Others’ Emanations.

zag bcas. defiled.

zag pa. defilement.

zag med. undefiled.

zad pa shes pa. knowing extinction.

zad par gyi skye mched. all-encompassing sense bases.

zad par gyi skye mched bcu. ten allencompassing sense bases.

zad mi skye shes pa. knowing extinction and nonarising.

zil gyis gnon pa’i skye mched. overpowering sense bases.

gzugs. form.

gzugs kyi phung po. aggregate of form.

gzugs khams. Form realm.

gzugs can gzugs la lta ba’i rnam thar. emancipation of viewing external form while conceiving of internal form.

gzugs med kyi rnam thar. formless emancipations.

gzugs med khams. Formless realm.

gzugs med nyer ’gro. bound for Formless.

gzugs su nyer ’gro. bound for Form.

bzod pa. forbearance.

’og min. Below None.

’od chen. Great Light.

’od chung. Lesser Light.

’od gsal. Radiant Light.

yang dag pa’i ngag. right speech.

yang dag pa’i ting nge ’dzin. right samadhi.

yang dag pa’i rtog pa. right consideration.

yang dag pa’i lta ba. right view.

yang dag pa’i dran pa. right mindfulness.

yang dag pa’i rtsol ba. right effort.

yang dag pa’i ’tsho ba. right livelihood.

yang dag pa’i las kyi mtha’. right action.

yang dag par spong ba bzhi. complete abandonments, four.

yong su nyams pa’i chos can. regressed one.

yongs su nyams pa. regress.

yi dwags. hungry ghost.

yid. mind.

yid la byed pa. attention.

yud tsam. hour.

yul can. subject.

f.yo. deceit.

rang bzhin kha na ma tho ba. inherently unwholesome.

rang sang rgyas. self-buddha.

ris mthun pa. likeness.

rigs. family.

rigs nas rigs. from family to family.

reg pa. contact.

reg pa. touch.

rlung gi khams. air element.

srog gi dbang po. faculty of life force.

srog bcod pa. taking life.

srid pa lan bdun pa. seven timer.

srid pa’i rtse mo. Peak of Existence.

srid pa’i sred pa. craving for existence.

sred pa. craving.

lan grangs gzhan myong ’gyur gyi las. karma experienced in other lifetimes.

lan cig phyir ’ong ba. once-returner.

lam. path.

lam gyi bden pa. truth of path.

las. karma.

las kyi sgrib pa. karmic obscurations.

las kyi dbyen. ritual schism.

las kyi lam. karmic path, path of karma.

log par g.yem pa. sexual misconduct.

logs zhugs. mistaken engagement.

le lo. laziness.

legs spyad. fine conduct.

lung ma bstan. neutral.

lus kyis mngon sum byed. made manifest by body.

lus ’phags po. Superior Body.

shin tu mthong ba. Great Vision.

shin tu sbyangs. pliancy.

shes nas dad pa. faith from knowing.

shes pa. cognition.

shes bya’i sgrib pa. cognitive obscuration.

shes bya’i gzhi lnga. bases of the knowable, five.

shes bzhin min pa. nonawareness.

shes rab. full knowing.

shes rab kyang grol. freed just by full knowing.

shes rab kyi cha las rnam grol. liberated through the aspect of full knowing.

sa ’pho ba. shift level.

sangs rgyas. buddha.

sa’i khams. earth element.

so so skye bo. ordinary individual.

so sor yang dag par rig pa. unhindered knowledge.

so sor brtags pa’i ’gog pa. analytic cessation.

so sor brtags min ’gog pa. nonanalytic cessation.

so sor thar pa. individual liberation

sems. cognition or mind.

sems pa. volition.

sems pa’i las. volitional karma.

sems ’byung. mental factor.

ser sna. stinginess.

sum cu rtsa gsum. Heaven of the ThirtyThree.

slob lam. path of learning.

bsam gtan khyad par can. special dhyana.

bsam gtan gyi nyer bsdogs. preparations for dhyana.

bsam gtan rab kyi mtha’. highest end of concentration.

bsam pa’i las. intended karma.

bsod nams skyes. Merit Born.

bsod nams cha mthun. precursor to merit.

bsod nams bya ba’i gzhi. bases of meritorious action.

bse ru lta bu rang sang rgyas. rhinolike selfbuddha.

lha. god.

lha ma yin. demigod.

lhag pa tshul khrims kyi bslab pa. superior training in discipline.

lhag pa shes rab kyi bslab pa. superior training in full knowing.

lhag pa sems kyi bslab pa. superior training in mind.

lhag med myan ngan las ’das pa. nirvana without remainder.

lhan skyes. coemergent.

lhan cig ’byung rgyu. coemergent cause.

APPENDIX B

English Equivalents of Sanskrit Terms

The Sanskrit terms listed below come primarily from the edition of the root text prepared by V.V. Gokhale and the Tibetan Sanskrit concordances compiled by Hirakawa. Terms are alphabetized according to the Devanagari alphabet.

akaniṣṭha. Below None.

akiṃcanya. Nothingness.

akuśala. nonvirtue, unvirtuous.

akopyadharman. unshakable one.

agradharma. supreme dharma.

aṇu. molecules.

atapas. Without Pain.

adattādāna. stealing, taking what has not been given.

adveṣa. nonhatred.

adhicittaṃśikṣā. superior training in mind.

adhipatipratyaya. dominant condition.

adhipatiphala. dominant result.

adhiprajñaṃśikṣā. superior training in full knowing.

adhimuktimanaskāra. attention produced by interest.

adhimokṣa. interest.

adhiśīlaṃśikṣā. superior training in discipline.

anapatrāpya. immodesty.

anabhisaṃskāraparinirvāyin. nirvana without effort.

anavatapta. Unheated Lake.

anāgāmi. nonreturner.

anāgāmya. Not Unable.

anāsrava. undefiled.

anitya. impermanent.

anivṛtāvyākṛta. unobscured neutral.

anutpattidharmin. nonarising dharma base.

anutpādajñāna. knowing nonarising.

anurakṣaṇādharman. protected one.

anuśaya. kernel.

anusmaraṇavikalpa. thought that remembers.

anekāsaṃkhyeyaṃ kalpam. uncountable aeons.

antaḥkalpa. intermediate aeon.

antagrahaṇa. view of holding extremes.

antagrāhadṛṣṭi. extreme view.

antarāparinirvāyin. nirvana in the intermediate.

antarābhava. between state.

anvayajñāna. subsequent knowing.

apatrāpya. modesty.

aparaparyāyavedanīya. karma experienced in other lifetimes.

aparāntaka. Aparāntaka.

apratigha. unobstructive.

apratisaṃkhyānirodha. nonanalytic cessation.

apramāṇaśubha. Immeasurable Virtue.

apramāṇābhā. Immeasurable Light.

apramāda. carefulness.

abhijña. clairvoyance.

abhidharma. abhidharma.

abhidhyā. covetousness.

abhibhvāyatana. overpowering sense bases.

abhisamaya. clear realization.

araṇā. unprovocative.

ardhapluta. half leapers.

arhat. arhat.

alobha. nongreed.

avadya. unwholesome.

avamagna, nimagna. torpor.

avara bhāgīya. those that lead to the lowest.

avijñapti. imperceptible form.

avidyā. ignorance.

avihiṃsā. nonhostility.

avīci. Incessant Hell.

avṛhā. Not Great.

aveṇikadharma. unshared qualities.

avetyaprasāda. faith from knowing.

avyākṛta. neutral.

aśraddhya. nonfaith.

asaṃvara. wrong vow.

asaṃskāra. noncomposite, noncompound.

asamayika. nonoccasional.

asura. demigod.

ākāśa. space.

ākāśānantya. Infinite Space.

ākṣepikakarma. propelling karma.

ājñatāvindriya. faculty of having all-knowing.

ājñasyāmindriya. faculty of producing allknowing.

ājñātendriya. faculty of all-knowing.

ānantaryamārga. path of no obstacles.

ānantaryāṇikarmāṇi. heinous karma, heinous deeds.

āyatana. sense bases.

ārūpyaga. bound for Formless.

ārūpyadhātu. Formless realm.

āryaaṣṭānggikamarga. noble eightfold path.

ālambanapratyaya. objective condition.

āsrava. defilement.

āsvādanāsaṃprayukta. absorption concurrent with enjoyment.

āhrīkya. shamelessness.

indriya. faculty.

indriyasaṃcāra. refine faculties.

īryāpatha. path of activities.

īrṣyā. envy.

uttarakuru. Unpleasant Sound.

utpattilābhin. attained upon birth.

utsada. neighboring hell.

uddhata. agitation.

upakleśa. near afflictions.

upanāha. grudge.

upapattibhava. birth state.

upapadyaparinirvāyin. nirvana upon birth.

upavāsastha. fasting vows.

upādāna. grasping.

upādānakāraṇa. grasping cause.

upāsaka. pursuer of virtue.

upekṣā. equanimity.

upekṣā. neutral feeling.

ūnarātra. impossible day.

ūrdhvabhāgīya. those that lead to the higher.

ūrdhvasrotas. bound for higher.

ūṣman. warmth.

ṛṣi. sage.

ekavīcika. one lifetime, one obstacle.

ekāgra. one-pointedness.

ogha. floods.

aupacayika. produced by development.

karma. karma.

karmapatha. karmic path, path of karma.

karmabheda. ritual schism.

karmāvaraṇa. karmic obscurations.

kāmacchanda. pleasure-seeking.

kāmatṛṣṇā. craving for desire.

kāmadhātu. Desire realm.

kāyasākṣin. made manifest by body.

kāraṇahetu. enabling cause.

kukūla. Burning Ground.

kulaṃkula. from family to family.

kuśala. virtue.

kuśalamūlasamuccheda. severing the roots of virtue.

kṛtsnāyatana. all-encompassing sense bases.

kaukṛtya. regret.

kauṣīdya. laziness.

krodha. aggression.

kleśa. affliction.

kleśamala. afflicted filths.

kleśāvaraṇa. afflictive obscurations.

kṣaṇa. instant.

kṣanti. forbearance.

kṣayajñāna. knowing extinction.

kṣayānutpādijñāna. knowing extinction and nonarising.

khaḍgamviṣāṇakalpa. rhinolike selfbuddha.

gati. wanderer.

gotra. family.

godānīya. Bountiful Cow.

cakrabheda. schism of the Wheel.

caturṛddhipāda. feet of miracles, four.

catvāri samyakprahāṇāni. complete

abandonments, four.

catvāro viparītāsāḥ. errors, four.

citta. cognition or mind.

cetana. volition.

cetanākarma. volitional karma.

cetayitvākarma. intended karma.

caitasika. mental factor.

chanda. intention.

jambudvīpa. Rose-Apple Land.

jīvitendriya. faculty of life force.

jñeyāvaraṇa. cognitive obscuration.

tatkṣaṇa. instant of that.

tatsabhāga. inactive.

tiryaka. animal.

tuśita. Joyous Land.

tṛṣṇa. craving.

tejodhātu. fire element.

trayastrimsa. Heaven of the irty-ree.

darṣanaheya. discards of seeing.

darśanamārga. path of seeing.

daśakṛtsnāyatana. ten all-encompassing sense bases.

dāna. generosity.

dīpaṃkara. Dipamkara.

duḥkha. suffering.

duḥkhaduḥkhatā. suffering of suffering.

duḥkhasatya. truth of suffering.

duścarita. harmful conduct.

dṛṣṭadharmaphalakarma. visibly experienced karma.

dṛṣṭi. view.

dṛṣṭiparāmarśa. overesteeming views.

dṛṣṭiprāpta. attained through seeing.

deva. god.

dravyatamanta, dravyasat. substantially existent.

dveṣa. hatred.

dharma. dharma, phenomenon.

dharmakṣānti. dharma forbearance.

dharmacakra. Wheel of Dharma.

dharmajñāna. dharma knowing.

dharmaskandha. aggregates of Dharma.

dharmānusārin. follower of dharma.

dharmin. dharma base.

dhātu. element.

dhī. mind.

dhyānāntara. special dhyana.

nāraka. hell.

nikāyasabhāga. likeness.

nirupadhiśeṣanirvāṇa. nirvana without remainder.

nirūpaāṇvikalpa. thought that recognizes.

nirodha satya. truth of cessation.

nirodhasamāpatti. absorption of cessation.

nirmāṇarati. Joy of Emanations.

nirvedhabhāgīya. precursor to clear realization.

nivṛtāvyākṛta. obscured neutral.

niṣyanda. causally compatible.

niṣyandaphala. causally compatible result.

naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñā. Neither Conception nor Non-Conception.

pañcānām ānantaryāṇām. heinous deeds, five.

pañcendriyatva. faculties, five.

pañcopādānaskandha. aggregates of grasping, five.

Paranirmitavaśavartin. Mastery over Others’ Emanations.

paramāṇu. atoms.

paramārtha. ultimate.

pariṇamaduḥkhatā. suffering of change.

parihāṇadharman. regressed one.

parihīṇa. regress.

Parīttaśubha. Lesser Virtue.

Parīttābhā. Lesser Light.

paryavasthāna. entangler.

paryudāsapratiṣedha. not-negation.

pāpa. misdeed.

puṇyakriyāvastu. bases of meritorious action.

Puṇyaprasava. Merit Born.

puṇyabhagīya. precursor to merit.

puruṣakāraphala. personal result.

pūrvakālabhava. previous state.

pūrvavideha. Superior Body.

pṛthagjanatva. ordinary individual.

pṛthivī. earth element.

prakṛtisāvadya. inherently unwholesome.

prajñaptita, prajñaptisat. nominally existent.

prajñā. full knowing.

prajñāvimukti. liberated through the aspect of full knowing.

praṇidhijñāna. knowing from aspiration.

pratikṣepaṇasāvadya. prohibited unwholesome.

pratigha. anger.

pratimokṣa. individual liberation.

prativedhanādharman. capable to realize.

pratisaṃkhyānirodha. analytic cessation.

pratisaṃvid. unhindered knowledge.

pratisandhi. rebirth-linking.

pratyakṣa. direct perception.

pratyaya. condition.

pratyekabuddha. self-buddha.

pradāsa. contentiousness.

Prabhāsvara. Radiant Light.

pramādita. carelessness.

prayoga. yoke.

prayogaja. attained by training.

prayogamārga. path of joining.

praṣabdhi. pliancy.

prasajyapratiṣedha. no-negation.

prahāṇamārga. paths that abandon, paths that discard.

prāṇātipāta. taking life.

prātihārya. miracle.

prāntakoṭika. highest end of

concentration. preta. hungry ghost.

pluta. leapers.

phala. result.

phalasthita. abider in result.

bandhana. bonds.

bala. power.

buddha. buddha.

bṛhatphala. Great Result.

bodhi. enlightenment.

bodhipakṣya. factors of enlightenment.

bodhisattva. bodhisattva.

brahmakāyika. Brahma’s Abode.

brahmacarya. Brahmic conduct.

brahmapurohita. Brahma’s Ministers.

bhavarāga. craving for existence.

bhavāgra. Peak of Existence.

bhāva. thing.

bhāvanā. meditation.

bhāvanāmārga. path of meditation.

bhāvanāheya. discards of meditation.

bhūta. sources.

bhūmisaṃcāra. shift level.

bhautika. source-derived.

mada. arrogance.

madhyastha. mid-vow.

manas. mind.

manaskāra. attention.

manuṣya. human.

maraṇabhava. death state.

mahākalpa. great aeon.

mahābrahmāṇa. Great Brahma.

mahābhūta. great sources, four.

mahāsaṃghika. Majority school.

mātṛkā. matrix.

mātsarya. stinginess.

māna. pride.

māyā. pretense.

mārga. path.

mārgasatya. truth of path.

mithyācāra. sexual misconduct.

middha. sleep.

muni. sage. muhūrta. hour.

mūrdhatva. peak.

mūlakleśa. root afflictions.

mokṣabhāgīya. precursor to freedom.

moha. delusion.

mrakṣa. concealment.

mrakṣa. hypocrisy.

yāma. Conflict Free.

rāga. desire.

rūpa. form.

rūpadhātu. Form realm.

rūpaskandha. aggregate of form.

ūpopaga. bound for Form.

lakṣaṇa. characteristic.

lakṣya. character base.

lava. minute.

loka. world.

lobha. greed.

laukikī samyagdṛṣṭi. correct worldly view.

vajropamasamādhi. vajra-like samadhi.

vāsana. imprint.

vāyudhātu. air element.

vicara. examining.

vicikitsā. doubt.

vijñāna. consciousness.

vijñānaskandha. aggregate of consciousness.

vijñānānta. Infinite Consciousness.

vitarka. considering.

vipākaphala. fully ripened result.

vipākahetu. cause of full ripening.

vipākāvaraṇa. ripened obscurations.

vipratipanna. mistaken engagement.

viprayuktasaṃskāra. nonconcurrent formation.

vibhavecchā. craving destruction.

vimuktimārga. path of liberation.

vimokṣa. emancipation.

viṣayin. subject.

viśeṣamārga. distinctive path.

visaṃyoga. removal.

visaṃyogaphala. result of removal.

vihiṃsā. hostility.

vihīna. forfeit.

vīrya. diligence.

vedanā. feeling.

vedanāskandha. aggregate of feeling.

vaijayanta. Fully Conquering.

vaibhāṣika. Great Exposition school.

vyavakīrṇabhāvita. alternating meditation.

vyavadāna. utterly pure.

vyāpannacitta. malice.

vyutkrāntakasamāpatti. skipping absorption.

vyutkrāntakasamāpatti. skipping samadhi.

śaraṇa. refuge.

śāṭhya. deceit.

śāstra. treatise.

śītanāraka. cold hells.

śīla. discipline.

śīlavrataparāmarśa. overesteeming discipline and austerity.

śuddhaka. pure absorption.

śubhakṛtsna. Full Virtue.

śūnya. empty.

śaikṣa mārga. path of learning.

śraddhādhimukta. convinced through faith.

śraddhānusārin. follower of faith.

śrāmaṇera. novice.

śrāmaṇya. spiritual way.

śrāmaṇyaphala. results of the spiritual way.

saṃkleśa. all-afflicted.

saṃgha. sangha.

saṃjñā. conception.

saṃjṇāskandha. aggregate of conception.

saṃpradhṛ. fine conduct.

saṃprayukta. concurrent.

saṃprayuktakahetu. concurrent cause.

saṃbhāramārga. path of accumulation.

saṃyojana. fetter.

saṃvara. vow.

saṃskaraduḥkhatā. pervasive suffering of formation.

saṃskāra. composite, compound, formation.

saṃskāraskandha. aggregate of formation.

sakṛdāgāmin. once-returner.

satkāyadṛṣṭi. personality view.

satpuruṣagati. holy wanderers.

saptakṛtvaḥparamaḥ. seven timer.

saptabodhyanggāni. branches of

enlightenment, seven.

sapratigha. obstructive.

sabhāga. active.

sabhāgahetu. cause of same status.

samanantarapratyaya. concurrent immediate condition.

samādhi. samadhi.

samāpatti. absorption.

samāhita. equipoise.

samudayasatya. truth of origin.

samyakkarmānta. right action.

samyaksaṃkalpa. right consideration.

samyaksamādhi. right samadhi.

samyaksmṛti. right mindfulness.

samyagājīva. right livelihood.

samyagdṛṣṭi. right view.

samyagvāka. right speech.

samyagvyāyāma. right effort.

samvṛti. relative.

sarāga. desirous.

sarvacyuta. one who dies in all realms.

sarvatraga. universals.

sarvatragahetu. universal cause.

Sarvāstivāda. Sarvastivada.

sahaja. coemergent.

sahabhūhetu. coemergent cause.

sahalokadhātu. Unbearable World Realm.

sābhisaṃskāraparinirvāyin. nirvana with effort.

sāmayika. occasional.

sāsrava. defiled.

sāhasraścūḍikaḥ. general prime thousand.

sudṛśa. Excellent Appearance.

sudharma. Good Dharma.

sūtra. sutra.

skandha. aggregate.

sthitākampyas. unshaken from abiding.

sparśa. contact, touch.

smṛti. mindfulness.

smṛtyupasthāna. foundations of mindfulness, four.

srotaāpattiphalapratipannaka. entering stream-enterer.

srotaāpanna. stream-enterer.

svabhāvavikalpa. essential thought.

hīnayāna. Foundation Vehicle.

hetu. cause.

hetupratyaya. causal condition.

hrī. shame.

APPENDIX C

Tibetan and Sanskrit Equivalents of English Terms

abhidharma Tib. chos mngon pa Skt. abhidharma

abider in result Tib. ’bras gnas Skt. phalasthita

absorption Tib. snyoms ’jug Skt. samāpatti

absorption of cessation Tib. ’gog pa’i snyoms ’jug Skt. nirodhasamāpatti

active Tib. brten bcas Skt. sabhāga

aeon Tib. skal pa Skt. kalpa

afflictions Tib. nyon mongs Skt. kleśa

afflictive obscurations Tib. nyon mongs pa’i sgrib pa Skt. kleśāvaraṇa

aggregate of Tib. ’du shes kyi phung po Skt. saṃjṇāskandha

aggregates Tib. phung po Skt. skandha

aggression Tib. khro ba Skt. krodha

agitation Tib. rgod pa Skt. uddhata

air, element of Tib. rlung gi khams Skt. vāyudhātu

Ajātaśatru King Tib. ma skyes dgra

all-afflicted Tib. kun nas nyon mongs pa Skt. saṃkleśa

all-encompassing sense bases, ten Tib. zad par gyi skye mched bcu Skt. daśakṛtsnāyatana

alternating meditation Tib. spel sgom Skt. vyavakīrṇabhāvita

analytic cessation Tib. so sor brtags pa’i ’gog pa Skt. pratisaṃkhyānirodha

anger Tib. khong khro Skt. pratigha

animal Tib. dud ’gro Skt. tiryaka

Aniruddha Tib. ma ’gags pa

Aparāntaka Tib. nyi ’og pa Skt. aparāntaka

Ārāḍa Tib. ring ’phur

arhat Tib. dgra bcom pa Skt. arhat

arrogance Tib. rgyags pa Skt. mada

Asanga Tib. thogs med

aspects Tib. rnam pa

Aśvajit Tib. rta thul

Āśvalāyana Sutra Tib. rta len gyi bu’i mdo

atoms Tib. rdul phra rab Skt. paramāṇu

attainment Tib. thob pa

attention Tib. yid la byed pa Skt. manaskāra

awareness Tib. shes bzhin

bases of meritorious action Tib. bsod nams bya ba’i gzhi Skt. puṇyakriyāvastu

bases of the knowable, five Tib. shes bya’i gzhi lnga

becoming Tib. srid pa Skt. bhava

Below None Tib. ’og min Skt. akaniṣṭha

between state Tib. bar do’i srid pa Skt. antarābhava

birth state Tib. skye ba’i srid pa Skt. upapattibhava

bodhisattva Tib. byang chub sems dpa’ Skt. bodhisattva

bonds Tib. ’ching ba Skt. bandhana

bound for Form Tib. gzugs su nyer ’gro Skt. rūpopaga

bound for Formless Tib. gzugs med nyer ’gro Skt. ārūpyaga

bound for higher Tib. gong du ’pho ba Skt. ūrdhvasrotas

Bountiful Cow Tib. ba lang spyod Skt. godānīya

Brahma’s Abode Tib. tshangs ris Skt. brahmakāyika

Brahma’s Ministers Tib. tshangs pa mdun na ’don Skt. brahmapurohita

branches of enlightenment, seven Tib. byang chub yan lag bdun Skt. saptabodhyanggāni

buddha Tib. sangs rgyas Skt. buddha

capable to realize Tib. rtogs pa’i skal pa can Skt. prativedhanādharman

carefulness Tib. bag yod Skt. apramāda

carelessness Tib. bag med Skt. pramādita

causal condition Tib. rgyu’i rkyen Skt. hetupratyaya

causally compatible result Tib. rgyu mthun gyi ’bras bu Skt. niṣyandaphala

cause Tib. coemergent Skt. lhan cig ’byung rgyu Skt. sahabhūhetu

cause Tib. rgyu Skt. hetu

cause of full ripening Tib. rnam smin gyi rgyu Skt. vipākahetu

cause of same status Tib. skal mnyam gyi rgyu Skt. sabhāgahetu

cessation Tib. ’gog pa Skt. nirodha

character base Tib. mtshan gzhi Skt. lakṣya

characteristics Tib. mtshan nyid Skt. lakṣaṇa

childish Tib. byis pa Skt. bāla

clairvoyance Tib. mngon shes Skt. abhijña

clear realization Tib. mngon rtogs Skt. abhisamaya

Cloudless Tib. sprin med Skt. anabhraka

cognition Tib. shes pa Skt. citta

cognitive obscuration Tib. shes bya’i sgrib pa Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa

complete abandonments, four Tib. yang dag par spong ba bzhi Skt. catvāri samyakprahāṇāni

composites Tib. ’dus byas Skt. saṃskāra

compound Tib. ’dus byas Skt. saṃskāra

concealment Tib. ’chab pa Skt. mrakṣa

Conceived for That Purpose Sutra Tib. ched du bsam par bya ba’i mdo Skt. Saṃcetanīyasūtra

conception Tib. ’du shes Skt. saṃjñā

concurrence Tib. mtshungs ldan Skt. saṃprayukta

concurrent cause Tib. mtshungs ldan rgyu Skt. saṃprayuktakahetu

concurrent immediate condition Tib. mtshungs pa de ma thag rkyen Skt. samanantarapratyaya

concurrent with enjoyment Tib. snyoms ’jug ro myang ldan Skt. āsvādanāsaṃprayukta

condition, dominant Tib. bdag rkyen Skt. adhipatipratyaya

condition, objective Tib. dmigs rkyen Skt. ālambanapratyaya

condition Tib. rkyen Skt. pratyaya

Conflict Free Tib. ’thab bral Skt. yāma

congregating Tib. tshogs na spyod pa’i rang sang rgyas

consciousness Tib. rnam shes Skt. vijñāna

considering Tib. rtog pa Skt. vitarka

contact Tib. reg pa Skt. sparśa

contemplating Tib. bsam pa Skt. cinta

contentiousness Tib. ’tshig pa Skt. pradāsa

convinced through faith Tib. dad pas mos Skt. śraddhādhimukta

convinced through faith Tib. dad pas mos Skt. śraddhādhimukta

correct worldly view Tib. ’jig rten pa’i yang dag pa’i lta ba Skt. laukikī samyagdṛṣṭi

covetousness Tib. brnab sems Skt. abhidhyā

craving Tib. sred pa Skt. tṛṣṇa

craving desire Tib. ‘dod pa’i sred pa

craving destruction Tib. ’jig sred Skt. vibhavecchā

craving existence Tib. srid pa’i sred pa

death state Tib. ’chi ba’i srid pa Skt. maraṇabhava

deceit Tib. gyo Skt. śāṭhya

defiled dharmas Tib. zag bcas Skt. sāsrava

defilement Tib. zag pa Skt. āsrava

definite Tib. nges pa’i las

delusion Tib. gti mug or rmongs pa Skt. moha

demigod Tib. lha ma yin Skt. asura

desire Tib. ’dod chags Skt. rāga

Desire realm Tib. ’dod khams Skt. kāmadhātu

dharma forbearance Tib. chos bzod Skt. dharmakṣānti

dharma knowing Tib. chos shes Skt. dharmajñāna

dharma nature Tib. chos nyid Skt. dharmatā

dhyana Tib. bsam gtan Skt. dhyāna

diligence Tib. brtson ’grus Skt. vīrya

discards of meditation Tib. sgom spang Skt. bhāvanāheya

discards of seeing Tib. mthong spang Skt. darṣanaheya

discipline Tib. tshul khrims Skt. śīla

Discipline Sutra Tib. sh’i la’i mdo Skt. Śīlaskandhikā

distinctive path Tib. khyad par gyi lam Skt. viśeṣamārga

distraction Tib. rnam g.yeng

divisive speech Tib. phra ma Skt. paiśunyam

dominant result Tib. bdag po’i ’bras bu Skt. adhipatiphala

doubt Tib. the tshom Skt. vicikitsā

element Tib. khams Skt. dhātu

emancipations, eight Tib. rnam par thar pa Skt. vimokṣa

enabling cause Tib. byed rgyu Skt. kāraṇahetu

enlightenment Tib. byang chub Skt. bodhi

entanglers Tib. kun nas dkris pa Skt. paryavasthāna

entering Tib. brgyun zhugs zhugs pa Skt. srotaāpattiphalapratipannaka

envy Tib. phrag dog Skt. īrṣyā

equanimity Tib. btang snyoms Skt. upekṣā

errors, four Tib. phyin ci logs pa bzhi Skt. catvāro viparītāsāḥ

examining Tib. dpyod pa Skt. vicara

Excellent Appearance Tib. gya nom snang ba Skt. sudṛśa

extreme view Tib. mthar ’dzin lta ba Skt. antagrahaṇa

factors of enlightenment Tib. byang chub phyogs kyi chos Skt. bodhipakṣya

faculties Tib. dbang po Skt. indriya

faculties, refining Tib. dbang po ’pho ba Skt. indriyasaṃcāra

faculty of life force Tib. srog gi dbang po Skt. jīvitendriya

faith Tib. dad pa Skt. adhimukti

faith from knowing Tib. shes nas dad pa Skt. avetyaprasāda

family Tib. rigs Skt. gotra

fasting vows Tib. bsnyen gnas Skt. upavāsastha

feeling, aggregate of Tib. tshor ba’i phung po Skt. vedanāskandha

feeling Tib. tshor ba Skt. vedanā

feet of miracles, four Tib. rdzu ’phrul gyi rkang pa bzhi Skt. caturṛddhipāda

fetters Tib. kun sbyor Skt. saṃyojana

fire, element of Tib. me’i khams Skt. tejodhātu

five aggregates of grasping Tib. nye bar len pa’i phung po lnga Skt. pañcopādānaskandha

floods Tib. chu bo Skt. ogha

follower of dharma Tib. chos kyi rjes ’brang Skt. dharmānusārin

follower of faith Tib. dad pa’i rjes ’brang Skt. śraddhānusārin

forbearance Tib. bzod pa Skt. kṣanti

forfeiture Tib. rnam par nyams pa Skt. vihīna

form, aggregate of Tib. gzugs kyi phung po Skt. rūpaskandha

form Tib. gzugs Skt. rūpa

Form realm Tib. gzugs khams Skt. rūpadhātu

formation Tib. ’du byed Skt. saṃskāra

Formless Tib. gzugs med Skt. ārūpya

foundations of mindfulness, four Tib. dran pa nye bar bzhag pa bzhi Skt. smṛtyupasthāna

from family to family Tib. rigs nas rigs Skt. kulaṃkula

full knowing Tib. shes rab Skt. prajñā

Full Virtue Tib. dge rgyas Skt. śubhakṛtsna

fully ripened result Tib. rnam smin gyi ’bras bu Skt. vipākaphala

General Prime Thousand Tib. stong spyi phud Skt. sāhasraścūḍikaḥ

generosity Tib. sbyin pa Skt. dāna

gods Tib. lha Skt. deva

Good Aeon Tib. bskal bzang

Good Dharma Tib. chos bzang Skt. sudharma

grasping Tib. nye bar len pa Skt. upādāna

great aeon Tib. bskal pa chen po Skt. mahākalpa

Great Brahma Tib. tshangs chen Skt. mahābrahmāṇa

Great Compendium Tib. bsdu ba chen mo

Great Exposition school Tib. bye brag smra ba Skt. vaibhāṣika

Great Result Tib. ’bras bu che ba Skt. bṛhatphala

great sources, four Tib. ’byung ba chen po bzhi Skt. mahābhūta

Great Vision Tib. shin tu mthong ba Skt. sudarśana

greed Tib. chags pa Skt. lobha

grudge Tib. ’khon ’dzin Skt. upanāha

half leapers Tib. phyed du ’phar ba Skt. ardhapluta

harmful conduct Tib. nyes spyad Skt. duścarita

harsh speech Tib. tshig rtsub Skt. pāruṣyam

hatred Tib. zhe sdang Skt. dveṣa

Heaven of the Thirty-Three Tib. sum cu rtsa gsum Skt. trayastrimsa

heinous deeds Tib. mtshams med kyi las Skt. ānantaryāṇikarmāṇi

hell Tib. dmyal ba Skt. nāraka

highest end Tib. bsam gtan rab kyi mtha’ Skt. prāntakoṭika

holy wanderers Tib. skyes bu dam pa’i ’gro ba Skt. satpuruṣagati

hostility Tib. rnam par ’tshe ba Skt. vihiṃsā

hour Tib. yud tsam Skt. muhūrta

human Tib. mi Skt. manuṣya

hungry ghost Tib. yi dwags Skt. preta

hypocrisy Tib. ’chab pa Skt. mrakṣa

ignorance Tib. ma rig pa Skt. avidyā

Immeasurable Light Tib. tshad med ’od Skt. apramāṇābhā

Immeasurable Virtue Tib. tshad med dge Skt. apramāṇaśubha

immodesty Tib. khrel med Skt. anapatrāpya

imperceptible form Tib. rnam par rig byed ma yin pa’i gzugs Skt. avijñapti

impermanence Tib. mi rtag pa Skt. anitya

impossible day Tib. zhag mi thub Skt. ūnarātra

imprint Tib. bag chags Skt. vāsana

inactive Tib. de mtshungs Skt. tatsabhāga

indefinitely experienced Tib. ma nges pa’i las

Individual Liberation Sutra Tib. so sor thar pa’i mdo Skt. Pratimokṣasūtra

Infinite Consciousness Tib. rnam shes mtha’ yas Skt. vijñānānta

Infinite Space Tib. nam mkha’ mtha’ yas Skt. ākāśānantya

inherently Tib. rang bzhin kha na ma tho ba Skt. prakṛtisāvadya

instant Tib. skad cig ma Skt. kṣaṇa

intended karma Tib. bsam pa’i las Skt. cetayitvākarma

intention Tib. ’dun pa Skt. chanda

interest Tib. mos pa Skt. adhimokṣa

intermediate aeon Tib. bar gyi bskal pa Skt. antaḥkalpa

Ishvara Tib. dbang phyug Skt. Īśvara

Joy of Emanations Tib. ’phrul dga’ Skt. nirmāṇarati

karma Tib. completing Skt. rdzogs byed kyi las

karma Tib. las Skt. karma

karma, volitional Tib. sems pa’i las Skt. cetanākarma

karma experienced in other lifetimes Tib. lan grangs gzhan myong ’gyur gyi las Skt. aparaparyāyavedanīya

karma experienced on birth Tib. skyes nas myong ’gyur gyi las

karma, propelling Tib. ’phen byed kyi las Skt. ākṣepikakarma

karma, visibly experienced Tib. mthong chos myong ’gyur gyi las Skt. dṛṣṭadharmaphalakarma

karmic paths Tib. las kyi lam Skt. karmapatha

kernels Tib. phra rgyas Skt. anuśaya

knowing Tib. shes pa Skt. jñāna

knowing extinction Tib. zad pa shes pa Skt. kṣayajñāna

knowing extinction and nonarising Tib. zad mi skye shes pa Skt. kṣayānutpādijñāna

knowing nonarising Tib. mi skye ba shes pa Skt. anutpādajñāna

lay precepts Tib. dge bsnyen Skt. upāsaka

laziness Tib. le lo Skt. kauṣīdya

league Tib. dpag tshad Skt. yojana

leapers Tib. ’phar ba Skt. pluta

Lesser Light Tib. ’od chung Skt. Parīttābhā

Lesser Virtue Tib. dge chung Skt. Parīttaśubha

Letter to a Friend Tib. bshes pa’i spring yig Skt. Suhṛllekha

liberated by full knowing Tib. shes rab kyi cha las rnam grol Skt. prajñāvimukti

life Tib. srog

likeness Tib. ris mthun pa Skt. nikāyasabhāga

Long Discourses, The Tib. lung ring po Skt. Dīrghāma

made manifest by body Tib. lus kyis mngon sum byed Skt. kāyasākṣin

magic Tib. rdzu ’phrul Skt. ṛddhi

Majority school Tib. phal chen sde pa Skt. mahāsaṃghika

malice Tib. gnod sems Skt. vyāpannacitta

Mastery over Others’ Emanations Tib. gzhan ’phrul dbang byed Skt. Paranirmitavaśavartin

matrix Tib. ma mo Skt. mātṛkā

meditation Tib. sgom Skt. bhāvanā

mental factors Tib. sems ’byung Skt. caitasika

Merit Born Tib. bsod nams skyes Skt. Puṇyaprasava

mid-vows Tib. bar sdom Skt. madhyastha

mind Tib. blo or yid Skt. dhī or manas

mindfulness Tib. dran pa Skt. smṛti

Minor Grounds Tib. gzhi phran tshegs Skt. Kṣudravastaka

minute Tib. thang cig Skt. lava

miracle Tib. cho ’phrul Skt. prātihārya

mistaken engagement Tib. logs zhugs Skt. vipratipanna

modesty Tib. khrel yod Skt. apatrāpya

molecules Tib. rdul phran Skt. aṇu

nagas Tib. klu Skt. nāga

name-and-form Tib. ming gzugs Skt. nāmarūpa

names Tib. ming Skt. nāma

Namgyal Drakpa Skt. Vijayakīrti

near afflictions Tib. nye ba’i nyon mongs Skt. upakleśa

neighboring Tib. nye ’khor dmyal ba Skt. utsada

Neither Conception nor Nonconception Tib. ’du shes med ’du shes med min Skt. naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñā

neuters Tib. ma ning Skt. paṇḍaka

neutral Tib. lung ma bstan Skt. avyākṛta

neutral feeling Tib. btang snyoms Skt. upekṣā

nirvana Tib. mya ngan las ’das pa Skt. nirvāṇa

nirvana in the intermediate Tib. bar dor mya ngan las ’da ba Skt. antarāparinirvāyin

nirvana upon birth Tib. skyes nas mya ngan las ’da’ ba Skt. upapadyaparinirvāyin

nirvana with effort Tib. mngon par ’du byed pa mya ngan las ’da ba Skt. sābhisaṃskāraparinirvāyin

nirvana without effort Tib. mngon par ’du byed pa med pa mya ngan las ’da ba Skt. anabhisaṃskāraparinirvāyin

no-negation Tib. med dgag Skt. prasajyapratiṣedha

noble eightfold path Tib. ’phags lam yan lag brgyad Skt. āryaaṣṭānggikamarga

noble individuals Tib. ’phags pa Skt. ārya

nominal existence Tib. btags yod Skt. prajñaptita, prajñaptisat

nonanalytic cessation Tib. so sor brtags min ’gog pa Skt. apratisaṃkhyānirodha

nonarising dharma bases Tib. mi skye ba’i chos can Skt. anutpattidharmin

nonawareness Tib. shes bzhin min pa

noncomposite Tib. ’dus ma byas Skt. asaṃskāra

nonconcurrent formation Tib. ldan min ’du byed Skt. viprayuktasaṃskāra

nondelusion Tib. gti mug med pa

nonfaith Tib. ma dad pa Skt. aśraddhya

nongreed Tib. chags pa med pa Skt. alobha

nonhatred Tib. zhe sdang med pa Skt. adveṣa

nonhostility Tib. rnam par mi ’tshe ba Skt. avihiṃsā

nonlearner Tib. mi slob pa Skt. aśaikṣa

nonmerit Tib. bsod nams min pa Skt. apuṇya

nonoccasional liberation Tib. dus dang mi sbyor Skt. asamayika

nonreturner Tib. phyir mi ’ong ba Skt. anāgāmi

nonvirtue Tib. mi dge ba Skt. akuśala

Not Great Tib. mi che ba Skt. avṛhā

Not Unable Tib. mi lcogs med pa Skt. anāgāmya

not-negation Tib. ma yin dgag Skt. paryudāsapratiṣedha

Nothingness Tib. ci yang med Skt. akiṃcanya

novice Tib. dge tshul Skt. śrāmaṇera

obscurations Tib. sgrib pa Skt. āvaraṇa

obscured neutral Tib. bsgribs lung ma bstan Skt. nivṛtāvyākṛta

obstructive form Tib. thogs bcas Skt. sapratigha

occasional liberation Tib. dus dang sbyor Skt. sāmayika

of individual liberation Tib. so sor thar pa Skt. pratimokṣa

of learning Tib. slob lam Skt. śaikṣa mārga

of the Wheel Tib. ’khor lo’i dbyen Skt. cakrabheda

once-returner Tib. lan cig phyir ’ong ba Skt. sakṛdāgāmin

one obstacle Tib. tshe cig bar chad cig pa Skt. ekavīcika

one who dies in all realms Tib. gnas thams cad du ’chi ’pho ba Skt. sarvacyuta

one with volition for death Tib. ’chi bar sems pa’i chos can

one-pointedness Tib. rtse gcig pa Skt. ekāgra

ordinary individual Tib. so so skye bo Skt. pṛthagjanatva

Ornament of Clear Realization Tib. mngon rtogs rgyan Skt. Abhisamayālaṅkāra

overpowering sense bases Tib. zil gyis gnon pa’i skye mched Skt. abhibhvāyatana

Particularist Tib. bye brag pa Skt. Vaiśeṣika

path Tib. lam Skt. mārga

path of accumulation Tib. tshogs lam Skt. saṃbhāramārga

path of activities Tib. spyod lam Skt. īryāpatha

path of joining Tib. sbyor lam Skt. prayogamārga

path of liberation Tib. rnam grol lam Skt. vimuktimārga

path of meditation Tib. sgom lam Skt. bhāvanāmārga

path of no learning Tib. mi slob pa’i lam Skt. aśaikṣa mārga

path of no obstacles Tib. bar chad med lam Skt. ānantaryamārga

path of seeing Tib. mthong lam Skt. darśanamārga

peak Tib. rtse mo Skt. mūrdhatva

Peak of Existence Tib. srid pa’i rtse mo Skt. bhavāgra

perfect knowings Tib. yongs shes Skt. parijñā

personal result Tib. skyes bu byed ’bras bu Skt. puruṣakāraphala

pleasure-seeking Tib. ’dod pa la ’dun pa Skt. kāmacchanda

pliancy Tib. shin tu sbyangs Skt. praṣabdhi

powers, ten Tib. stobs Skt. bala

Precious Garland Tib. rin chen phreng ba Skt. Ratnāvāli

precursor to freedom Tib. thar pa cha mthun Skt. mokṣabhāgīya

precursor to merit Tib. bsod nams cha mthun Skt. puṇyabhagīya

precursors to clear realization Tib. nges ’byed cha mthun Skt. nirvedhabhāgīya

preparations for dhyana Tib. bsam gtan gyi nyer bsdogs

pretense Tib. sgyu Skt. māyā

previous state Tib. sngun dus Skt. pūrvakālabhava

pride Tib. nga rgyal Skt. māna

production by development Tib. rgyas byung Skt. aupacayika

prohibited unwholesome Tib. bcas pa’i kha na ma tho ba Skt. pratikṣepaṇasāvadya

protected one Tib. rjes su srung ba’i chos can Skt. anurakṣaṇādharman

pure dhyana Tib. dag pa pa Skt. śuddhaka

pursuer of virtue Tib. dge bsnyen Skt. upāsaka

Radiant Light Tib. ’od gsal Skt. Prabhāsvara

rebirth-linking Tib. nying mtshams sbyor ba Skt. pratisandhi

refuge Tib. skyabs Skt. śaraṇa

regressed one Tib. yong su nyams pa’i chos can Skt. parihāṇadharman

regression Tib. yongs su nyams pa Skt. parihīṇa

regret Tib. ’gyod pa Skt. kaukṛtya

removal Tib. bral ba Skt. visaṃyoga

result Tib. ’bras bu Skt. phala

result of removal Tib. bral ’bras Skt. visaṃyogaphala

results of the spiritual way, four Tib. dge sbyong gi tshul gyi ’bras bu Skt. śrāmaṇyaphala

Retention of the Jewel Tala Tib. dkon mchog ta la’i gzungs

rhinolike Tib. bse ru lta bu rang sang rgyas Skt. khaḍgamviṣāṇakalpa

right action Tib. yang dag pa’i las kyi mtha’ Skt. samyakkarmānta

right consideration Tib. yang dag pa’i rtog pa Skt. samyaksaṃkalpa

right effort Tib. yang dag pa’i rtsol ba Skt. samyagvyāyāma

right livelihood Tib. yang dag pa’i ’tsho ba Skt. samyagājīva

right mindfulness Tib. yang dag pa’i dran pa Skt. samyaksmṛti

right samadhi Tib. yang dag pa’i ting nge ’dzin Skt. samyaksamādhi

right speech Tib. yang dag pa’i ngag Skt. samyagvāka

right view Tib. yang dag pa’i lta ba Skt. samyagdṛṣṭi

ripened obscurations Tib. rnam smin gyi sgrib pa Skt. vipākāvaraṇa

ritual schism Tib. las kyi dbyen Skt. karmabheda

root afflictions Tib. rtsa ba’i nyon mongs Skt. mūlakleśa

roots of virtue Tib. dge ba’i rtsa ba Skt. kuśalamūla

Rose Apple Land Tib. ’dzam bu gling Skt. jambudvīpa

sage Tib. thub pa Skt. muni

samadhi Tib. ting nge ’dzin Skt. samādhi

same status Tib. skal mnyam Skt. sabhāga

Sangha Tib. dge ’dun Skt. saṃgha

Sarvastivadin Tib. thams cad yod par smra ba Skt. Sarvāstivāda

scent Tib. dri Skt. gandha

scent-eater Tib. dri za Skt. gandharva

schism Tib. dbyen Skt. bheda

Scripture that Teaches the Ten Groups of Ten, The Tib. bcu tshan bcu ston pa’i lung

self-awareness Tib. rang rig

self-buddha Tib. rang sang rgyas Skt. pratyekabuddha

selflessness Tib. bdag med Skt. anātmata

sense bases Tib. skye mched Skt. āyatana

sentient being Tib. sems can Skt. sattva

seven-timer Tib. srid pa lan bdun pa Skt. saptakṛtvaḥparamaḥ

sexless Tib. za ma Skt. ṣaṇḍha

sexual misconduct Tib. log par g.yem pa Skt. mithyācāra

shame Tib. ngo tsha Skt. hrī

shamelessness Tib. ngo tsha med pa Skt. āhrīkya

shape Tib. dbyibs Skt. ākṛti

shifting level Tib. sa ’pho ba Skt. bhūmisaṃcāra

showable Tib. bstan yod Skt. sanidarśanam

skipping absorption Tib. thod rgal gyi snyoms ’jug Skt. vyutkrāntakasamāpatti

skipping results Tib. ’bras bu thos rgal ba

sleep Tib. gnyid Skt. middha

sound Tib. sgra Skt. śabda

source-derived Tib. ’byung gyur Skt. bhautika

sources Tib. ’byung ba Skt. bhūta

space Tib. nam mkha’ Skt. ākāśa

special Tib. bsam gtan khyad par can Skt. dhyānāntara

speech Tib. ngag Skt. vāk

spiritual way Tib. dge sbyong gi ’tshul Skt. śrāmaṇya

Springtime Cow of Easy Accomplishment Tib. Chos mngon pa mdzod kyi ‘grel pa rgyas par spros pa grub bde’i spyid ‘jo

staying Tib. characteristic of

stealing Tib. ma byin par len pa Skt. adattādāna

stinginess Tib. ser sna Skt. mātsarya

stream-enterer Tib. rgyun zhugs pa Skt. srotaāpanna

subsequent knowing Tib. rjes shes Skt. anvayajñāna

substance Tib. rdzas Skt. dravya

substance that is not wasted Tib. chud mi za ba’i rdzas

successive results Tib. ’bras bu mthar gyis pa

suffering Tib. sdug bsngal Skt. duḥkha

Superior Body Tib. lus ’phags po Skt. pūrvavideha

superior training in discipline Tib. lhag pa tshul khrims kyi bslab pa Skt. adhiśīlaṃśikṣā

superior training in full knowing Tib. lhag pa shes rab kyi bslab pa Skt. adhiprajñaṃśikṣā

superior training in mind Tib. lhag pa sems kyi bslab pa Skt. adhicittaṃśikṣā

supreme dharma Tib. chos mchog Skt. agradharma

Sutra like a Heap of Ashes Tib. sol ba’i phung po lta bu’i mdo

Sutra of Entering the Womb Tib. mgnal ’jug gi mdo

Sutra of Many Realms Tib. khams mang po’i mdo

Sutra of Seven States Tib. srid pa bdun pa’i mdo Skt. Saptabhavasūtra

Sutra of the Great Welcome Tib. gang yang bsus po che mdo

Sutra of the Seven Holy Wanderers Tib. skye bu dam pa’i ’gro ba bdun ston pa’i mdo

Sutra Requested by Candragarbha Tib. zla ba snying pos zhus pa’i mdo

Sutra which Teaches the Branches of Dhyana Tib. bsam tan gyi yan lag bstan pa’i mdo

taking life Tib. srog bcod pa Skt. prāṇātipāta

Teaching the Ten Areas Tib. gnas bcu bstan pa

thing Tib. dngos po Skt. bhāva

torpor Tib. bying ba Skt. avamagna or nimagna

touch Tib. reg pa Skt. sparśa

transcendences, six Tib. pha rol tu phyin pa drug Skt. ṣaṭpāramitā

Treatise on Designation, The Tib. mdo sde gdags pa

truth, relative Tib. kun rdzob bden pa Skt. samvṛtisat

truth, ultimate Tib. don dam bden pa Skt. paramārthasat

truth of cessation Tib. ’gog pa’i bden pa Skt. nirodha satya

truth of origin Tib. kun ’byung gyi bden pa Skt. samudayasatya

truth of path Tib. lam gyi bden pa Skt. mārgasatya

truth of suffering Tib. sdug bsngal gyi bden pa Skt. duḥkhasatya

truths, four noble Tib. ’phags pa’i bden pa bzhi Skt. caturāryasatya

Udraka Tib. lhag spyod

Unbearable World Realm Tib. mi mjed ’jig rten gyi khams Skt. sahalokadhātu

uncountable aeons Tib. bskal pa grangs med Skt. anekāsaṃkhyeyaṃ kalpam

undefiled dharmas Tib. zag med Skt. anāsrava

Unheated Lake Tib. ma dros pa’i mtsho Skt. anavatapta

unhindered knowledge Tib. so sor yang dag par rig pa Skt. pratisaṃvid

universal cause Tib. kun tu ’gro ba’i rgyu Skt. sarvatragahetu

universals Tib. kun ’gro Skt. sarvatraga

unobscured neutral Tib. ma bsgribs lung ma bstan Skt. anivṛtāvyākṛta

unobstructive Tib. thogs med Skt. apratigha

Unpleasant Sound Tib. sgra mi snyan Skt. uttarakuru

unprovocative samadhi Tib. nyon mongs med pa Skt. araṇā

unshakable one Tib. mi gyo ba’i chos can Skt. akopyadharman

unshaken from abiding Tib. gnas pa las mi bskyod pa Skt. sthitākampyas

unshared qualities Tib. ma ’dres pa’i chos Skt. aveṇikadharma

unwholesome Tib. kha na ma tho ba Skt. avadya

utterly pure Tib. rnam byang Skt. vyavadāna

vajra-like samadhi Tib. rdo rje lta bu ting nge ’dzin Skt. vajropamasamādhi

view Tib. lta ba Skt. dṛṣṭi

view, personality Tib. ’jig tshogs la lta ba Skt. satkāyadṛṣṭi

view of overesteeming discipline and austerity Tib. tshul khrims brtul zhugs mchog ’dzin Skt. śīlavrataparāmarśa

view of overesteeming views Tib. lta ba mchog ’dzin Skt. dṛṣṭiparāmarśa

virtue Tib. dge ba Skt. kuśala

visible peace Tib. mthong chos zhi

volition Tib. sems pa Skt. cetana

vows Tib. sdom pa Skt. saṃvara

wanderer Tib. ’gro ba Skt. gati

warmth Tib. drod Skt. ūṣman

Wheel of Dharma Tib. chos kyi ’khor lo Skt. dharmacakra

wheel-wielding emperor Tib. ’khor los bsgyur ba’i rgyal po Skt. rājā cakravartī

Without Pain Tib. mi gdung ba Skt. atapas

without remainder Tib. lhag med myan ngan las ’das pa Skt. nirupadhiśeṣanirvāṇa

world Tib. ’jig rten Skt. loka

wrong action Tib. log pa’i las kyi mtha’

wrong livelihood Tib. log ’tsho Skt. mithyājīva

wrong speech Tib. log pa’i ngag Skt. mithyāvac

wrong vow Tib. sdom min Skt. asaṃvara

Yogic Conduct school Tib. rnal ’byor spyod pa ba Skt. yogācāra

yoke Tib. sbyor ba Skt. prayoga

Works Cited

The works listed here are the editions consulted during the translation or referred to by the translator in the notes. This list does not include the many works cited by Vasubandhu or Wangchuk Dorje, many of which would be difficult to find, and some of which may have been lost.

Sources in the Tengyur

Vasubandhu. Abhidharmakoṣakārikā (chos mngon pa’i mdzod kyi tshig le’ur byas pa), Derge Tengyur (Vol. mgnon pa ku pa)

___. Abhidharmakoṣaṃbhāṣyaṃ (chos mngon pa’i mdzod kyi bshad pa).

Dergye Tengyur (Vols. mgnon pa ku pa and khu pa)

Yaśomitra. Sphuṭārthābhidharmakośavyākhyā (chos mngon pa’i mdzod kyi ’grel bshad don gsal). Dergye Tengyur (mngon pa gu pa and ngu pa).

Other Tibetan sources referred to in the text

Dge ’dun grub (2001). Legs par gsungs pa’i dam pa’i chos ’dul ba’i gleng gzhi dang rtogs brjod pa lung sde bzhi kun las btus pa rin po che’i mdzod ces bya ba bzhugs so. Varanasi: Geluk Students Welfare Committee of the Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies.

Mchims ’jam pa’i dbyangs (1989). Chos mngon pa mdzod kyi tshig le’ur byas pa’i ‘grel pa mngon pa’i rgyan. Krung go’i bod kyi shes rig dpe skrun khang. (Reprinted by Yasodhara Publications, Delhi, 2003)

___(2009). Chos mngon pa mdzod kyi tshig le’ur byas pa’i ’grel pa mngon pa’i rgyan. Institute of Tibetan Classics.

Dbang phyug rdor je (2002). Chos mngon pa mdzod kyi rnam par bshad pa chos mngon rgya mtsho’i snying po mkhyen rtse’i zhal lung gzhon nu rnam rol legs bshad chos mig rnam ’byed grub bde’i shing rta zhes bya ba bzhugs so. Baijnath: Dpal spungs gsung rab nyams gso khang.

___(2003). Chos mngon pa mdzod kyi rnam par bshad pa chos mngon rgya mtsho’i snying po mkhyen rtse’i zhal lung gzhon nu rnam rol legs bshad chos mig rnam ’byed grub bde’i shing rta zhes bya ba bzhugs so. Varanasi: Vajra Vidya Library.

Mi skyod rdor je (2003). Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i lung chos mtha’ dag gi bdud rtsi’i snying por gyur pa gang la ldan pa’i gzhi rje btsun mchog to dgyes par ngal gso ba’i yongs ’du sa brtol gyi ljon pa rgyas pa (Vols. 1–2). Seattle: Nitartha international Publications.

___(2005). Chos mngon pa mdzod kyi ’grel pa rgyas par spros pa grub bde’i spyid ’jo (Vols. 1–4). (e Springtime Cow of Easy Accomplishment: An Extensive Commentary on the Treasury of Abhidharma). Varanasi: Kagyu Refugee Protection Committee of the Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies.

Zhwa dmar chos kyi dbang phyug (2007). Mngon pa mdzod kyi spyi don dbyig gnyen bzhad pa. Varanasi: Vajra Vidya Institute Library.

Sanskrit source

Gokhale, V.V. e Text of the Abhidharmakośakārikā of Vasubandhu, Journal of the Bombay Branch, Royal Asiatic Society, n.s., vol. 22, 1946, pp. 73102.

Contents

1. Front Matter

1. Table of Contents

2. Foreword by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

3. Translator’s Introduction

4. A Note on the Translation of the Root Verses

5. Acknowledgments

2. Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma

1. First Area Teachings on the Elements

2. Second Area Teachings on the Faculties

3. Third Area Teachings on the World

4. Fourth Area Teachings on Karma

5. Fifth Area Teaching on the Kernels

6. Sixth Area Teachings on the Paths and Individuals

7. Seventh Area Teachings on Wisdom

8. Eighth Area Teachings on the Absorptions

3. The Commentary: Youthful Play. An Explanation of the Treasury of Abhidharma

1. First Area Teachings on the Elements

2. Second Area Teachings on the Faculties

3. Third Area Teachings on the World

4. Fourth Area Teachings on Karma

5. Fifth Area Teachings on the Kernels

6. Sixth Area Teachings on the Paths and Individuals

7. Seventh Area Teachings on Wisdom

8. Eighth Area Teachings on the Absorptions

4. Appendixes

1. Appendix A English Equivalents of Tibetan Terms

2. Appendix B English Equivalents of Sanskrit Terms

3. Appendix C Tibetan and Sanskrit Equivalents of English Terms

4. Works Cited

Landmarks

1. Cover

2. Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Front Matter

Table of Contents

Foreword by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

Translator’s Introduction

A Note on the Translation of the Root Verses

Acknowledgments

Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma

First Area Teachings on the Elements

Second Area Teachings on the Faculties

Third Area Teachings on the World

Fourth Area Teachings on Karma

Fifth Area Teaching on the Kernels

Sixth Area Teachings on the Paths and Individuals

Seventh Area Teachings on Wisdom

Eighth Area Teachings on the Absorptions

The Commentary: Youthful Play. An Explanation of the Treasury of Abhidharma

First Area Teachings on the Elements

Second Area Teachings on the Faculties

Third Area Teachings on the World

Fourth Area Teachings on Karma

Fifth Area Teachings on the Kernels

Sixth Area Teachings on the Paths and Individuals

Seventh Area Teachings on Wisdom

Eighth Area Teachings on the Absorptions

Appendixes

Appendix A English Equivalents of Tibetan Terms

Appendix B English Equivalents of Sanskrit Terms

Appendix C Tibetan and Sanskrit Equivalents of English Terms

Works Cited