Unwholesome and Morally Neutral Dharmas
The same thirteen-sense framework just applied to wholesome dharmas now runs, almost term for term, across the unwholesome and the morally neutral — with two deliberate departures where the categories genuinely diverge, and a closing puzzle about what it means for an already-liberated buddha or bodhisattva to display unwholesome conduct at all.
1. Thirteen Senses of "Unwholesome"
云何不善？幾是不善？為何義故觀不善耶？謂自性故、相屬故、隨逐故、發起故、勝義故、生得故、加行故、現前供養故、損害故、引攝故、所治故、障礙故，是不善義。五蘊十界四處一分，是不善。為捨執著非法合我故，觀察不善。
What is unwholesome? How much of everything is unwholesome? For what purpose is this examined? Twelve senses make up what "unwholesome" means: intrinsic nature, association, habitual trace, initiation, the ultimate, karmic acquisition, preparatory practice, present veneration, harm, karmic attraction, being what an antidote counters, and obstruction. A portion of the five aggregates, ten elements, and four sense fields is unwholesome. This is examined in order to abandon clinging to a self conceived as fused with what is not the Dharma.
何等自性不善？謂除染污意相應及色無色界煩惱等，所餘能發惡行煩惱隨煩惱。何等相屬不善？謂即此煩惱隨煩惱相應法。何等隨逐不善？謂即彼習氣。何等發起不善？謂彼所起身業語業。何等勝義不善？謂一切流轉。何等生得不善？謂由串習不善故，感得如是異熟，由此自性即於不善任運樂住。
What is unwholesome by intrinsic nature? Every affliction and secondary affliction capable of giving rise to wrongdoing, apart from the defiled manas that is constantly present and apart from the afflictions bound to the form and formless realms. What is unwholesome by association? Whatever is associated with these afflictions and secondary afflictions. What is unwholesome as habitual trace? Their own habitual imprint. What is unwholesome by initiation? The bodily and verbal karma they give rise to. What is unwholesome as the ultimate? All conditioned flux itself. What is unwholesome by karmic acquisition? A disposition brought about as the ripened karmic result of prior habituation in what is unwholesome — an unwholesome disposition one abides in effortlessly, precisely because it is one's own acquired nature.
何等加行不善？謂依止親近不善丈夫故，聽聞不正法，不如理作意行身語意惡行。何等現前供養不善？謂想對歸依隨一天眾已，或殺害意為先、或邪惡意為先，建立祠廟廣興供養業，令無量眾廣樹非福。何等損害不善？謂於一切處起身語意種種邪行。何等引攝不善？謂行身語意諸惡行已，於惡趣善趣引攝不愛果異熟或引或滿。何等所治不善？謂諸對治所對治法。何等障礙不善？謂能障礙諸善品法。
What is unwholesome through preparatory practice? Drawing near to and relying on an unwholesome person, hearing wrongful teachings, applying incorrect attention, and carrying out wrongful bodily, verbal, and mental conduct. What is unwholesome through present veneration? Erecting a shrine and making a lavish offering in devotion toward some god one has taken refuge in, preceded by an intent to kill or by wrongful views, thereby causing countless beings to accumulate a great deal of demerit. What is unwholesome through harm? Giving rise to every kind of wrongful bodily, verbal, and mental conduct everywhere. What is unwholesome through karmic attraction? Having already carried out wrongful bodily, verbal, and mental conduct, drawing forth or fulfilling an unwanted ripened result in an unfortunate or even a fortunate rebirth. What is unwholesome as what an antidote counters? Whatever dharma is actually countered by an antidote. What is unwholesome as obstruction? Whatever is capable of obstructing wholesome dharmas.
Two deliberate asymmetries with the wholesome list are worth noting. First, unwholesome has only twelve senses rather than wholesome's thirteen — there is no unwholesome counterpart to "natural outflow," since natural outflow named the excellent qualities that arise once stillness has already been attained, and stillness by definition has no unwholesome analogue to flow from. Second, where wholesome's ninth sense was "benefit" (helping sentient beings through the four means of attraction), unwholesome's corresponding sense is instead "harm" — a direct moral inversion rather than a structural absence, since harming beings is every bit as active an unwholesome undertaking as benefiting them is a wholesome one. T1606 also glosses "unwholesome by intrinsic nature" carefully: it deliberately excludes the ever-present, self-grasping manas and the afflictions bound to the form and formless realms — not because these are somehow acceptable, but because, as established already in Part 16, both count technically as "obstructive-but-neutral" rather than strictly unwholesome, a finer distinction this treatise consistently maintains rather than collapsing into a simple good/bad binary.
2. Fourteen Senses of "Morally Neutral"
云何無記？幾是無記？為何義故觀無記耶？謂自性故、相屬故、隨逐故、發起故、勝義故、生得故、加行故、現前供養故、饒益故、受用故、引攝故、對治故、寂靜故、等流故，是無記義。八界八處全，及餘蘊界處一分，是無記。為捨執著離法非法我故，觀察無記。
What is morally neutral? How much of everything is morally neutral? For what purpose is this examined? Fourteen senses make up what "morally neutral" means: intrinsic nature, association, habitual trace, initiation, the ultimate, karmic acquisition, preparatory practice, present veneration, benefit, use, karmic attraction, antidote, stillness, and natural outflow. Eight elements and eight sense fields entire, together with a portion of the remaining aggregates, elements, and sense fields, are morally neutral. This is examined in order to abandon clinging to a self conceived as free of both the Dharma and its opposite.
何等自性無記？謂八色界處意相應品，命根、眾同分、名句文身等。何等相屬無記？謂懷非穢非淨心者，所有由名句文身所攝受心心所法。何等隨逐無記？謂即彼戲論習氣。何等發起無記？謂彼所攝受諸心心所法所發身業語業。何等勝義無記？謂虛空、非擇滅。何等生得無記？謂諸不善有漏善法異熟。
What is morally neutral by intrinsic nature? The eight physical elements and sense fields, the mental factors associated with a neutral state of mind, the life-faculty, class-commonality, and the name-, phrase-, and syllable-body. What is morally neutral by association? Whatever mind and mental factors, held by an unstained, unpurified state of mind, are taken up through the name-, phrase-, and syllable-body. What is morally neutral as habitual trace? The habitual imprint of this same mere conceptual elaboration. What is morally neutral by initiation? The bodily and verbal karma given rise to by those same mind and mental factors. What is morally neutral as the ultimate? Space, and cessation not through discernment. What is morally neutral by karmic acquisition? The ripened result of unwholesome or contaminated-wholesome dharmas.
何等加行無記？謂非染非善心者所有威儀路、工巧處法。何等現前供養無記？謂如有一想對歸依隨一天眾，遠離殺害意邪惡見，建立祠廟興供養業，令無量眾於如是處不生長福非福。何等饒益無記？謂如有一於自僕使妻子等所，以非穢非淨心而行惠施。何等受用無記？謂如有一以無簡擇無染污心受用資具。何等引攝無記？謂如有一於工巧處串習故，於當來世復引攝如是相身，由此身故習工巧處速疾究竟。
What is morally neutral through preparatory practice? Bodily deportment and skilled crafts, arising from a mind that is neither defiled nor wholesome. What is morally neutral through present veneration? One who, in devotion toward some god taken as refuge, free of any intent to kill and free of wrongful views, erects a shrine and makes an offering, causing countless beings, on that occasion, to accumulate neither merit nor demerit. What is morally neutral through benefit? One who, toward their own servants, spouse, and the like, gives generously with a mind that is neither stained nor pure. What is morally neutral through use? One who makes use of life's requisites with a mind free of discrimination and free of defilement. What is morally neutral through karmic attraction? One who, through habituation in some skilled craft, draws forth a corresponding future rebirth, through which that same craft is then mastered all the more swiftly.
何等對治無記？謂如有一為治疾病得安樂故，以簡擇心好服醫藥。何等寂靜無記？謂色無色界諸煩惱等，由奢摩他所藏伏故。何等等流無記？謂變化心俱生品。
What is morally neutral as antidote? One who, in order to cure an illness and attain ease, carefully takes medicine with a discriminating mind. What is morally neutral as stillness? The afflictions of the form and formless realms, held in check through calm-abiding. What is morally neutral as natural outflow? The dharmas that co-arise with a transformation-mind.
復有示現善不善無記法。此復云何？謂佛及得第一究竟菩薩摩訶薩，為欲饒益諸有情故，有所示現。當知此中無有一法真實可得。
There is, further, wholesome, unwholesome, and morally neutral dharmas that are merely manifested for display. What are these? Whatever a buddha, or a bodhisattva mahāsattva who has attained the ultimate consummation, manifests for the benefit of sentient beings. It should be understood that, in every such case, not a single dharma involved is genuinely, substantially real.
"Morally neutral" gains two senses beyond even wholesome's thirteen — "use" and its fourteen total — precisely because a genuinely neutral mind covers ordinary, unreflective daily activity (simply making use of one's food, clothing, and belongings without either craving or aversion) that has no real counterpart among wholesome or unwholesome dharmas, which are both, by definition, more deliberately oriented one way or the other. T1606 also glosses "transformation-mind" (化心) — the source of neutral natural outflow — as a specific technical category: the mind exercised specifically in producing supernormally-created forms, already introduced with the same name on this site's Abhidharmakośa pages, here classed as neutral precisely because such creative display, in itself, is morally uncommitted either way.
The closing passage on a buddha's or advanced bodhisattva's "manifested" conduct resolves a puzzle this whole run of categories has quietly been building toward: an already-liberated being sometimes visibly performs what looks, on the surface, exactly like unwholesome action — the treatise elsewhere gives the example of manifesting as a bandit and staging a violent punishment, purely to frighten other beings into restraint. The treatise's answer is that no genuine unwholesome karma, and indeed no substantially real dharma of any kind, is actually present in such a display at all — it is compassionate skillful means wearing an unwholesome appearance for a specific pedagogical purpose, not a lapse into actual affliction. This closes out the treatise's threefold division of wholesome, unwholesome, and morally neutral dharmas.
Part 18 Complete
Wholesome, unwholesome, and morally neutral dharmas have now all been examined in full, closing the largest single grouping in the hundred-gate analysis. Part 19 turns to which of the three realms a dharma is bound to — desire, form, and formless — together with the treatise's own tenfold classification of freedom from desire.
Continue to Part 19 — The Three Realms, and Freedom from Desire →