Eliminating Affliction I

Sixth, on the boundaries of eliminating affliction: some say that, whether one takes the Hīnayāna or the three vehicles, there are two approaches. First, cutting the mark of affliction with reference to position; second, using affliction to reveal position.

As for the first approach: taken according to the Initial Teaching, the distinctions in how the three vehicles cut affliction are given in full, since this is precisely a teaching of the three vehicles. The hindrances are of two kinds — the afflictive and the cognitive. We first discuss how the two vehicles cut the afflictive hindrance. Within this there are two topics: first, the hindrance's name and number; second, cutting affliction and attaining the fruit.

As for the first: affliction is of two kinds, the discriminated and the innate. There are ten in all: first, greed; second, hatred; third, ignorance; fourth, conceit; fifth, doubt; sixth, the view of a self; seventh, extreme views; eighth, wrong views; ninth, view-grasping; tenth, attachment to precepts and observances. Among these, four arise only as discriminated afflictions — doubt, wrong views, view-grasping, and attachment to precepts and observances. The remaining six run through both kinds. The five sense-consciousnesses can give rise to the first three of these [greed, hatred, and ignorance], and these too run through both the discriminated and the innate, since a discriminated arising becomes possible even there, by drawing on three causes belonging to the mental consciousness — a false teacher and the rest.

The mental consciousness possesses all ten of these — four exclusively discriminated, and six running through both kinds. Manas has only four, and these are exclusively innate; of the six that elsewhere run through both kinds, it lacks hatred and extreme views. This is because hatred is exclusively unwholesome, whereas manas is of an obscured yet indeterminate nature. And because it is a single continuous stream that clings, moment after moment, to the eighth consciousness as a self, it has no extreme views. Further, the latter three views together with doubt are generated only by drawing on three further causes, and since manas has none of those causes, they do not arise in it. And because it takes its object through an ever-continuing, uninterrupted stream, rather than being induced by the sixth consciousness as the five sense-consciousnesses are, it therefore has only these four. The eighth consciousness gives rise to none of the ten at all, being solely of the nature of ripening — of an unobscured, indeterminate nature.

Both the discriminated and the innate afflictions run through all three realms; hatred alone belongs only to the desire realm, since the afflictions of the two higher realms are entirely of an obscured, indeterminate nature. As for those that arise as discriminated: in the desire realm, each of the Four Noble Truths has all ten root afflictions attached to it, giving forty. In the two higher realms, hatred being excluded, each truth has nine, giving seventy-two; combined with the desire realm's forty, this makes one hundred and twelve in all. As for the innate afflictions: the desire realm has the full six, while the two higher realms, hatred again excluded, have only five each — sixteen in all. Combined with the hundred and twelve discriminated afflictions above, there are one hundred and twenty-eight in all.

Question: Why is it that, in the naive Hīnayāna spoken of earlier, the ten root afflictions do not each obscure all Four Noble Truths, while here they do? Answer: There are two reasons. First, because within the three vehicles the power of affliction grows broader by degrees, so that it obstructs everything at once. Second, because the very meaning of confusion runs equally through every object.

Second, on cutting affliction and attaining the fruit: cutting the discriminated afflictions belongs to three kinds of persons. First, one who, still fully bound, enters the true path of seeing: in a single instant he cuts off, all at once, the discriminated afflictions attached to the Four Noble Truths across the three realms, and attains the fruit of stream-entry. Second, one who has already halved his desire: entering the true path of seeing, he also cuts off the desire he had halved, and attains the fruit of once-returning. "Halved his desire" means someone who, while still an ordinary person, has among the desire realm's nine grades of cultivation-affliction already suppressed and cut off the first six — hence "halved" — and who, upon entering the path of seeing, permanently cuts off what he had earlier only suppressed, and so attains that fruit. Third, one who has already left desire behind entirely: entering the true path of seeing, he also cuts off all nine grades, and attains the fruit of non-returning. As the Yogācārabhūmi says, those who enter the path of seeing and its fruit are of three kinds, each attaining, as is fitting, one of the three fruits.

Next, cutting the innate afflictions: those belonging to the sixth consciousness extend through nine grades in each of the nine stages of the three realms. Those advancing along the path of cultivation are of two kinds. First, those liberated gradually: cutting off the first six of the nine grades of the desire realm exhausts them into the fruit of once-returning; cutting off all nine grades exhausts them into the fruit of non-returning; and cutting off both higher realms exhausts them into the fruit of arhatship. Second, those liberated suddenly: once they have attained the first fruit, they at once cut off, all together, [the first grade of each of the three realms,] then gradually remove the remaining grades until they attain the fruit of arhatship, with no further fruit in between. Why is this? Because, of the desire realm's nine grades of cultivation-affliction and the corresponding nine grades in each of the two higher realms — three sets of nine in all — the very first grade of each set is cut off all at once, in a single moment; hence "suddenly cutting off the three realms." Yet reckoned vertically, the nine grades within each realm are still cut off one by one, individually — hence "gradual removal." If this is so, why does gradual cutting exist at all? Because one is unable to take the dharmas of all three realms as a single object all at once beyond that shared first grade.

The Abhidharmasamuccaya says: "Sudden liberation means that, having entered the direct realization of the truths, one relies on the 'not-yet-arrived' concentration to generate the path transcending the world, and thereby suddenly cuts off every affliction of the three realms all at once — yet grade by grade they are still cut off individually, and only two fruits are established, the fruit of stream-entry and the fruit of arhatship" — going on to cite at length the Fingertip Sūtra and the rest. It is as that text says. The afflictions belonging to manas are subtle in their mode of activity; both the gradual and the sudden practitioner alike cut them off all at once, together with the afflictions of the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. The Yogācārabhūmi says: "The spontaneously arisen afflictions associated with manas are cut off only together with those of the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception" — all at once, in a single moment, unlike the other afflictions, which are cut off gradually, grade by grade.

Question: Why does the naive Hīnayāna spoken of earlier have no sudden liberation, while it exists here? Answer: This is precisely in order to show that what came before is inferior, by surpassing it. The naive two vehicles lack this superior wisdom, which shows that teaching to be inferior; and it is taught here as a skillful means of gradually drawing them on, arousing in them a superior aspiration, so that they will discard the Lesser and turn to the Greater. As for the treatise's statement that the affliction of manas is extinguished, and that the Hīnayāna lacks this — this too should be understood by the same reasoning.

This concerns how the two vehicles cut the afflictive hindrance. As for the cognitive hindrance: for those bent solely on quiescence, it is all cut off at once, entirely, upon entering nirvāṇa without remainder — and this alone is a cessation without deliberate discernment. As for everything else, some cut it and some do not: those liberated through wisdom alone do not cut it; those liberated in both ways cut a portion of it — namely, the undefiled ignorance obstructing the eight liberations, which the cultivation of the eight bases of mastery counteracts. So the Yogācārabhūmi says. Moreover, these liberations are made manifest through liberation from the cognitive hindrance, since śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas too attain, in mind, a liberation with respect to it. One should understand that the Initial Teaching, in order to draw the naive gradually toward the Greater Vehicle, establishes this teaching as deeper and superior to what came before, and so allows that a portion of the cognitive hindrance too is cut off. Yet what is cut here differs from the naive Hīnayāna, since that teaching only cuts affliction's manifest activity, whereas here the very seeds are cut. As for bodhisattvas advancing directly, once they cut affliction, both hindrances are cut together.

Further, within the afflictive hindrance, the bodhisattva's cutting does not, as with the two vehicles, divide into grades by realm. Rather, as for the discriminated afflictions within the two hindrances, before the first ground their manifest activity is suppressed, and upon entering the true path of seeing at the first ground, their seeds are cut off all at once, in a single instant. As for the afflictive hindrance among the innate afflictions, from the first ground onward the bodhisattva is fully capable of cutting it — but deliberately retains it, and does not cut it. Why is this? In order to sustain rebirth and gather beings in for their transformation; in order not to fall into the stage of the two vehicles; in order to cut the cognitive hindrance; and in order to attain great bodhi.

Hence the Mahāyānasaṃgraha says: "By retaining affliction, one arrives at the exhaustion of affliction and realizes the buddha's omniscience." Explanation: "the exhaustion of affliction" means the exhaustion of the cognitive hindrance — for it is precisely by retaining the afflictive hindrance that superior practice is aroused, and so one is able to arrive at this stage and realize buddhahood. Moreover, since the Liang translation of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha speaks of "retaining the seed," one should understand that the seed of the afflictive hindrance persists all the way to the vajra ground. As for the cognitive hindrance, its mode of activity is subtle, and it directly obstructs the bodhisattva path; hence it is cut off ground by ground, and only at the ground of buddhahood is it exhausted altogether. This is the basis for saying that the cultivation-afflictions of both hindrances alike persist all the way to the ground of buddhahood. The Abhidharmasamuccaya says: "Moreover, bodhisattvas, throughout the path of cultivation across the ten grounds, cultivate only the path that counteracts the cognitive hindrance, and do not cut the afflictive hindrance; only upon attaining bodhi do they suddenly cut off both the afflictive hindrance and the cognitive hindrance together, thereby suddenly becoming both arhat and tathāgata at once." As for the innate afflictions of manas, their mode of activity being subtle, they too, just as before, are exhausted only upon reaching the ground of buddhahood.

Question: Among the cultivation-afflictions of the two hindrances, associated with the various consciousnesses, what similarities and differences are there in their manifest activity once a bodhisattva has reached the grounds? Answer: Within the afflictive hindrance, the affliction belonging to the sixth consciousness has already been exhausted — and it is precisely because it has been exhausted that it can be retained. Hence both its manifest activity and its seed are entirely governed by wisdom in their function, so that they accomplish superior practice without giving rise to any fault — just as a venomous snake, governed by the power of a spell, is kept from killing, and, without giving rise to any harm, is put instead to some other use. The bodhisattva's skillful retention of affliction is exactly the same. Hence the Mahāyānasaṃgraha says, "like one harmed by a poison rendered harmless through a spell," and the rest. One should therefore understand that with respect to that affliction — whether as manifest activity or as seed — the bodhisattva has attained complete mastery. As for the affliction-nature belonging to the seventh consciousness, since it is not what sustains rebirth, it is not something to be retained. Because its mode of activity is subtle, up through the seventh ground it still sometimes manifests briefly, since the contemplative wisdom that would otherwise suppress it is at times interrupted. As for the cognitive hindrance, the affliction proper to each later ground arises already within the ground before it, whether as manifest activity or as seed, since it is cut off ground by ground.

Question: If this is so, why do certain passages say that, up through the seventh ground, a defiled mind still arises? Answer: If one speaks of the afflictive hindrance within the sixth consciousness as "defiled," then, since the bodhisattva has deliberately retained this affliction, it only resembles being defiled. If one speaks of the cognitive hindrance as "defiled," then it is genuinely defiled — and this holds true across all ten grounds. If one speaks of the affliction of manas, it is likewise genuinely defiled, though whether it is present or absent at the seventh ground is not fixed, since a defiled mind sometimes arises there only briefly. The remaining points should be understood by the same reasoning.

Furthermore, as to the precise boundary, within this teaching, between an affliction's ceasing and wisdom's arising: at the very moment the seed of affliction is in its mark of ceasing, wisdom is, at that same moment, in its mark of arising — the two turning against each other, as when the rising of one end of a scale is precisely the falling of the other. This is set out at length in the Abhidharmasamuccaya.

Further, as for the dharma of this hindrance: because it depends upon consciousness and has no nature of its own, it is empty and beyond discrimination — and this very emptiness is what is meant by "hindrance." As the Vimalakīrti Sūtra says: "To penetrate the five clinging-aggregates through and through as empty, as having nothing whatsoever that arises — this is what 'suffering' means." The meaning of "hindrance" spoken of here should be understood in just the same way.