Trainee, Non-Trainee, and What Gets Abandoned How
Two closely related sets of categories: a being's own standing on the path — trainee, one beyond further training, or neither — and the parallel question of exactly how each affliction is actually eliminated, whether through the sudden breakthrough of seeing, the gradual work of cultivation, or through no elimination at all, since some dharmas were never anything to abandon in the first place.
1. Trainee, Non-Trainee, and Neither
云何有學？幾是有學？為何義故觀有學耶？謂求解脫者所有善法，是有學義。十界四處諸蘊一分，是有學。為捨執著求解脫我故，觀察有學。
What is a trainee? How much of everything belongs to a trainee? For what purpose is this examined? Whatever wholesome dharma belongs to one still seeking liberation is what "trainee" means. A portion of the ten elements, four sense fields, and aggregates belongs to a trainee. This is examined in order to abandon clinging to a self conceived as one who seeks liberation.
云何無學？幾是無學？為何義故觀無學耶？謂於諸學處已得究竟者所有善法，是無學義。為捨執著已脫我故，觀察無學。
What is one beyond further training? How much of everything belongs to such a one? For what purpose is this examined? Whatever wholesome dharma belongs to one who has already reached the culmination of every stage of training is what "beyond further training" means. This is examined in order to abandon clinging to a self conceived as already liberated.
云何非學非無學？幾是非學非無學？為何義故觀非學非無學耶？謂諸異生所有善不善無記法，及諸學者染污無記法，諸無學者無記法并無為法，是非學非無學義。八界八處全，及餘蘊界處一分，是非學非無學。為捨執著不解脫我故，觀察非學非無學。
What is neither trainee nor beyond further training? How much of everything is neither? For what purpose is this examined? Whatever wholesome, unwholesome, or morally neutral dharma belongs to an ordinary being, together with a trainee's own defiled and neutral dharmas, a non-trainee's own neutral dharmas, and every unconditioned dharma, is what "neither" means. Eight elements and eight sense fields entire, together with a portion of the remaining aggregates, elements, and sense fields, are neither. This is examined in order to abandon clinging to a self conceived as unliberated.
T1606 marks the precise starting point of "trainee" status: from the stage of accumulating the provisions for the path onward — that is, from the very first deliberate step toward liberation, well before the breakthrough of the path of seeing. This means the category "neither trainee nor non-trainee" is genuinely broad, spanning three quite different populations at once: an ordinary being who has not yet even begun seeking liberation, a trainee's own remaining defiled or neutral states (since being a trainee describes only their wholesome dharmas specifically, not every dharma present in their continuum), and an arhat's own morally neutral states, plus every unconditioned dharma across the board. The three categories are not, in other words, a simple partition of persons into three kinds — they sort specific dharmas by a specific criterion, and a single being's continuum, at a single moment, can contain dharmas falling under more than one of the three.
2. Abandoned Through Seeing, Through Cultivation, or Neither
云何見所斷？幾是見所斷？為何義故觀見所斷耶？謂分別所起染污見疑、見處、疑處，及於見等所起邪行煩惱隨煩惱，及由見等所發身語意業，并一切惡趣等蘊界處，是見所斷義。一切一分是見所斷。為捨執著見圓滿我故，觀察見所斷。
What is abandoned through seeing? How much of everything is so abandoned? For what purpose is this examined? Defiled views and doubt that arise through deliberate discrimination, together with the basis for those views and that doubt; the afflictions and secondary afflictions of wrongful conduct that arise dependent on such views; the bodily, verbal, and mental karma such views give rise to; and every aggregate, element, and sense field belonging to an unfortunate rebirth — all of this is what "abandoned through seeing" means. A portion of everything is so abandoned. This is examined in order to abandon clinging to a self conceived as having already perfected right view.
云何修所斷？幾是修所斷？為何義故觀修所斷耶？謂得見道後見所斷相違諸有漏法，是修所斷義。一切一分是修所斷。為捨執著修圓滿我故，觀察修所斷。
What is abandoned through cultivation? How much of everything is so abandoned? For what purpose is this examined? Whatever contaminated dharma remains, once the path of seeing has already been attained, apart from what is abandoned through seeing itself, is what "abandoned through cultivation" means. A portion of everything is so abandoned. This is examined in order to abandon clinging to a self conceived as having already perfected the path of cultivation.
云何非所斷？幾是非所斷？為何義故觀非所斷耶？謂諸無漏法，除順決擇分，是非所斷。十界四處諸蘊一分，是非所斷。為捨執著成滿我故，觀察非所斷。
What is abandoned through neither? How much of everything is so? For what purpose is this examined? Every uncontaminated dharma, apart from the aids to penetration, is what "abandoned through neither" means. A portion of the ten elements, four sense fields, and aggregates falls under neither. This is examined in order to abandon clinging to a self conceived as already fully accomplished.
T1606 draws a sharp line between "abandoned through seeing" and "abandoned through cultivation" that runs, at bottom, on a single criterion: views and doubt that arise only through deliberate, learned discrimination — requiring exposure to a bad teacher or wrong doctrine before they can even arise — collapse in a single stroke the very instant the path of seeing occurs, since that direct breakthrough directly contradicts the intellectual error they depend on. Every other contaminated affliction, by contrast — the innate, unlearned kind that even animals display, such as ordinary craving or aversion — survives that first breakthrough and must instead be worn down gradually, through the sustained work of cultivation that follows. T1606 also explicitly excludes the aids to penetration (順決擇分, the preparatory stage immediately preceding the path of seeing) from "abandoned through neither," despite technically being uncontaminated-adjacent: this stage, though already oriented toward liberation, still carries some remaining trace of affliction's underlying heaviness and so does not yet qualify for the same status as a fully uncontaminated dharma.
Part 20 Complete
A being's own standing on the path, and the precise means by which affliction is actually eliminated, are now examined — closing this long run of paired and tripled categories. Part 21 turns to the treatise's single longest topic within the hundred-gate analysis: the twelve links of dependent origination, examined through ten distinct angles of its own.
Continue to Part 21 — Dependent Origination →