Already Arisen, Grasping, and the Two Gates
Four more paired categories: what has already arisen, broken down into a striking twenty-four distinct kinds; what actively grasps an object versus what is merely grasped; and the outward-facing gate of desire-realm experience versus the inward-facing gate of meditative absorption.
1. What Has Already Arisen, in Twenty-Four Kinds
云何已生？幾是已生？為何義故觀已生耶？謂過去、現在，是已生義。一切一分是已生。為捨執著非常我故，觀察已生。又有二十四種已生，謂最初已生、相續已生、長養已生、依止已生、轉變已生、成熟已生、退墮已生、勝進已生、清淨已生、不清淨已生、運轉已生、有種已生、無種已生、影像自在示現已生、展轉已生、剎那壞已生、離會已生、異位已生、生死已生、成壞已生、先時已生、死時已生、中時已生、續時已生。
What has already arisen? How much of everything has already arisen? For what purpose is this examined? The past and the present are what "already arisen" means. A portion of everything has already arisen, in this sense. This is examined in order to abandon clinging to a self conceived as impermanent — that is, as something that ceases to exist.
There are, further, twenty-four kinds of already-arisen existence: initial arising, continued arising, nourished arising, supported arising, transforming arising, maturing arising, declining arising, advancing arising, pure arising, impure arising, active arising, seeded arising, seedless arising, freely-manifested-image arising, sequential arising, momentary-perishing arising, arising through separation, arising at a distinct stage, the arising of the world of the living and dying, the arising of the world's own formation and destruction, arising at the earlier time, arising at the time of death, arising in the interval, and arising at the moment of rebirth-linking.
T1606 glosses all twenty-four briefly. Initial arising is the very moment rebirth-linking first occurs; continued arising is everything that follows it. Nourished arising is growth through the four classical nutriments (sleep, food, chaste conduct, and concentration). Supported arising is the physical faculties themselves; transforming arising is how those faculties alter to produce pleasant and other feelings. Maturing arising is old age; declining arising is falling from a fortunate rebirth into an unfortunate one, with advancing arising its reverse. Pure arising describes the heedless, pleasure-absorbed higher gods, freely indulging their objects and attainments; impure arising is everyone else. Active arising is the coming and going of ordinary movement. Seeded arising is any aggregate-set apart from an arhat's very last one, which alone counts as seedless — no longer capable of producing a further rebirth. Freely-manifested-image arising covers three cases in turn: an ordinary shared-image form, form produced through meditative liberation, and a buddha's own manifested form. Sequential arising is the ordinary succession of one life after another; momentary-perishing arising is each single instant's own arising and ceasing. Arising through separation is the parting of what is loved or disliked, and the corresponding shift of a craving or non-craving mind; arising at a distinct stage names the sequence of embryonic stages. The arising of the world of the living and dying is the sentient world; the arising of the world's own formation and destruction is the container world. And the final four map onto the classical fourfold division of a single lifespan: arising at the earlier time is simply prior existence, arising at the time of death is the moment of dying, arising in the interval is the intermediate-existence being between death and rebirth, and arising at the moment of rebirth-linking is birth itself.
2. What Has Not Yet Arisen
云何非已生？幾是非已生？為何義故觀非已生耶？謂未來及無為法，是非已生義。一切一分是非已生。為捨執著常住我故，觀察非已生。又已生相違，是非已生義。
What has not yet arisen? How much of everything has not? For what purpose is this examined? The future, together with the unconditioned dharmas, is what "not yet arisen" means. A portion of everything has not yet arisen, in this sense. This is examined in order to abandon clinging to a self conceived as permanently abiding. Further, the reverse of already-arisen is what "not yet arisen" means.
3. What Grasps, Versus What Is Grasped
云何能取？幾是能取？為何義故觀能取耶？謂諸色根及心心所，是能取義。三蘊全，色行蘊一分，十二界六處全，及法界法處一分，是能取。為捨執著能受用我故，觀察能取。又能取有四種，謂不至能取、至能取、自相現在各別境界能取、自相共相一切時一切境界能取。又由和合識等生故，假立能取。
What grasps an object? How much of everything grasps? For what purpose is this examined? The physical faculties, together with mind and mental factors, are what "grasping" means. Three aggregates entire, a portion of the form and formations aggregates, twelve elements and six sense fields entire, and a portion of the dharma element and dharma sense field, grasp an object. This is examined in order to abandon clinging to a self conceived as the very thing that enjoys experience.
Grasping, further, is of four kinds: grasping that requires no physical contact with its object, grasping that requires contact, grasping restricted to its own particular characteristic and to a distinct present object, and grasping that ranges over both particular and shared characteristics, over every time, and over every object without restriction. Furthermore, since grasping arises only through the coming-together of consciousness and its conditions, it is only provisionally established as "grasping" — not as a genuine agent exercising some real power of its own.
云何所取？幾是所取？為何義故觀所取耶？謂諸能取亦是所取。或有所取非能取，謂唯是取所行義。一切皆是所取。為捨執著境界我故，觀察所取。
What is grasped? How much of everything is grasped? For what purpose is this examined? Whatever grasps is also, itself, grasped. And there is what is grasped without itself grasping: whatever is merely the range an act of grasping operates over. Everything whatsoever is grasped, in one sense or another. This is examined in order to abandon clinging to a self conceived as an object of experience.
T1606 sorts the four kinds of grasping by physical proximity and range: eye, ear, and mental faculty grasp without needing physical contact with their object (sight and sound reach across a distance, and mind can range over anything); the remaining faculties — nose, tongue, and body — require the object to actually touch them; the five physical senses each grasp only their own specific kind of object, present right now; and the mental faculty alone ranges over both particular and shared characteristics, across all three times, and over every possible object without restriction. The closing line — that grasping is "only provisionally established," arising merely from consciousness and its conditions coming together — is a quiet but important qualification: even this most basic-seeming cognitive act, grasping an object, is not evidence of some genuine agent doing the grasping, only a conventional label for a dependently-arisen process.
4. The Outward Gate and the Inward Gate
云何外門？幾是外門？為何義故觀外門耶？謂欲界所繫法是外門義。除依佛教所生聞思慧及彼隨法行所攝心心所等，四界二處全及餘一分欲界所攝，是外門。為捨執著不離欲我故，觀察外門。
What belongs to the outward gate? How much of everything so belongs? For what purpose is this examined? Whatever is bound to the desire realm is what "the outward gate" means — apart from the wisdom born of hearing and reflecting on the Buddha's own teaching, and the mind and mental factors of one who practices in accordance with that Dharma. Four elements and two sense fields entire, together with a portion of what else belongs to the desire realm, belong to the outward gate. This is examined in order to abandon clinging to a self conceived as not yet free of desire.
云何內門？幾是內門？為何義故觀內門耶？謂外門相違，是內門義。除四界二處全及餘一分，是內門。為捨執著離欲我故，觀察內門。
What belongs to the inward gate? How much of everything so belongs? For what purpose is this examined? The reverse of the outward gate is what "the inward gate" means. Apart from those same four elements and two sense fields entire, and a portion of what else, everything remaining belongs to the inward gate. This is examined in order to abandon clinging to a self conceived as already free of desire.
T1606 explains the one deliberate exception carved out of "the outward gate": wisdom born of hearing and reflecting on the Dharma, together with the mind of one who practices accordingly, technically arises while a being is still bound to the desire realm, yet is specifically excluded from "outward-facing" status — because such wisdom already shares the same essential outflow-lineage as a buddha's own direct realization, and, on the strength of that lineage, is already oriented toward nirvāṇa rather than toward further desire-realm entanglement, even though it has not yet transcended the desire realm outright.
Part 15 Complete
Already-arisen existence in its twenty-four forms, grasping and what is grasped, and the outward and inward gates of experience are now examined. Part 16 turns to defilement's own scope and its absence, followed by the treatise's treatment of the three times — past, present, and future — completing this run of categories before the treatise turns to the far larger territory of wholesome, unwholesome, and morally neutral dharmas.
Continue to Part 16 — Defilement, and the Three Times →