Reading guide
Three teachings, one structure
Liability to decline, freedom from it, and full mastery are each defined in turn, all three run identically across the six senses: eye given in full, ear through body compressed by ellipsis, mind given in full again.
Liable to decline: tolerating what arises
When bad, unskillful states — memories and thoughts that tighten fetters — arise on contact, a mendicant who tolerates them, not giving them up, getting rid of them, eliminating them, or obliterating them, should recognize skillful qualities are declining.
Not liable to decline: the same states, refused
The identical bad states may arise; the difference is entirely in the response. Not tolerating them, but giving them up at once, marks non-decline — the same four-verb formula (give up, get rid of, eliminate, obliterate) used for uprooting elsewhere in this book.
The six fields of mastery: a further case still
A third case is named besides the first two: bad states simply failing to arise at all on contact. This is called a field mastered — not merely handled well after arising, but no longer arising in the first place, the highest of the three cases this discourse distinguishes.
Key terms
The text
§1“Mendicants, I will teach you who is liable to decline, who is not liable to decline, and the six fields of mastery. Listen … And how is someone liable to decline? When a mendicant sees a sight with the eye, bad, unskillful phenomena arise: memories and thoughts that tighten fetters. Suppose that mendicant tolerates them and doesn’t give them up, get rid of them, eliminate them, and obliterate them. They should understand: ‘My skillful qualities are declining. For this is what the Buddha calls decline.’
§2Furthermore, when a mendicant hears a sound … smells an odor … tastes a flavor … feels a touch … knows an idea with the mind, bad, unskillful phenomena arise: memories and thoughts that tighten fetters. If that mendicant tolerates them and doesn’t give them up, get rid of them, eliminate them, and obliterate them, they should understand: ‘My skillful qualities are declining. For this is what the Buddha calls decline.’ That’s how someone is liable to decline.
§3And how is someone not liable to decline? When a mendicant sees a sight with the eye, bad, unskillful phenomena arise: memories and thoughts that tighten fetters. Suppose that mendicant doesn’t tolerate them but gives them up, gets rid of them, eliminates them, and obliterates them. They should understand: ‘My skillful qualities are not declining. For this is what the Buddha calls non-decline.’
§4Furthermore, when a mendicant hears a sound … smells an odor … tastes a flavor … feels a touch … knows an idea with the mind, bad, unskillful phenomena arise: memories and thoughts that tighten fetters. Suppose that mendicant doesn’t tolerate them but gives them up, gets rid of them, eliminates them, and obliterates them. They should understand: ‘My skillful qualities are not declining. For this is what the Buddha calls non-decline.’ That’s how someone is not liable to decline.
§5And what are the six fields of mastery? When a mendicant sees a sight with the eye, bad, unskillful phenomena don’t arise: memories and thoughts that tighten fetters. They should understand: ‘This sense field has been mastered. For this is what the Buddha calls a field of mastery.’ … Furthermore, when a mendicant knows an idea with the mind, bad, unskillful phenomena don’t arise: memories and thoughts that tighten fetters. They should understand: ‘This sense field has been mastered. For this is what the Buddha calls a field of mastery.’ These are the six fields of mastery.”
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