Distinguishing the Stages of Cultivation — Eighteen Stages, Folded into Three
This page carries Ru-Yi's translation of Part Five of the Madhyāntavibhāga — the treatise's shortest chapter, and its most compressed map of the entire path. Where Part Four described the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment as a single continuous cultivation, this chapter names the eighteen distinct stages that cultivation actually passes through, from a being who merely possesses the spiritual lineage, through the six bodhisattva grounds this site's other Yogācāra texts have already introduced, to a buddha's three bodies — before folding all eighteen back into a single three-stage rhythm: impure, partly pure, and fully pure.
Translation Method
As in Parts 1 through 4, the Chinese source is Xuánzàng's translation of Maitreya's root verses with Vasubandhu's prose commentary beneath each, read with Kuījī's 辯中邊論述記 (T1835). This is by far the shortest chapter in the treatise — three verses covering the entire path — so this page, unlike the others in this series, needs only a few sections to translate it in full. See also this site's note on translation method.
1. Eighteen Stages, from the Spiritual Lineage to a Buddha's Three Bodies
A single, densely packed verse names all eighteen stages the cultivation of Part Four's remedies actually passes through — the first nine shared, in principle, across all three vehicles, the last nine belonging specifically to the bodhisattva path.
所說修對治， 分位有十八，
謂因、入、行、果、 作、無作、殊勝、
上、無上、解行、 入、出離、記、說、
灌頂及證得、 勝利、成所作。
The cultivation of the remedies just described
has eighteen stages:
the cause, entry, effort, and the fruit;
with-task, without-task, and excellence;
higher, and unsurpassed; resolute practice;
entry, and departure; being assured, and eloquence;
consecration and realization;
the excellent benefit, and accomplished activity.
論曰：如前所說修諸對治，差別分位有十八種。一因位，謂住種性補特伽羅。二入位，謂已發心。三加行位，謂發心已，未得果證。四果位，謂已得果。五有所作位，謂住有學。六無所作位，謂住無學。七殊勝位，謂已成就諸神通等殊勝功德。八有上位，謂超聲聞等已入菩薩地。九無上位，謂已成佛，從此以上無勝位故。十勝解行位，謂勝解行地一切菩薩。十一證入位，謂極喜地。十二出離位，謂次六地。十三受記位，謂第八地。十四辯說位，謂第九地。十五灌頂位，謂第十地。十六證得位，謂佛法身。十七勝利位，謂受用身。十八成所作位，謂變化身。
What does this mean? As described above, the cultivation of the remedies has eighteen distinct stages. First, the stage of the cause — a person abiding in the spiritual lineage. Second, the stage of entry — one who has already aroused the mind of bodhi. Third, the stage of effort — one who, having aroused this mind, has not yet attained realization of the fruit. Fourth, the stage of the fruit — one who has already attained it. Fifth, the stage with a task — one abiding as a trainee. Sixth, the stage without a task — one abiding beyond training. Seventh, the stage of excellence — one who has already accomplished the excellent virtues such as the superknowledges. Eighth, the higher stage — one who has surpassed the śrāvakas and the rest and already entered the bodhisattva grounds. Ninth, the unsurpassed stage — one who has already become a buddha, since beyond this there is no higher stage. Tenth, the stage of resolute practice — every bodhisattva in the ground of resolute practice [prior to the first ground]. Eleventh, the stage of realized entry — the ground of Utter Joy [the first ground]. Twelfth, the stage of departure — the next six grounds. Thirteenth, the stage of being assured [of future buddhahood] — the eighth ground. Fourteenth, the stage of eloquence — the ninth ground. Fifteenth, the stage of consecration — the tenth ground. Sixteenth, the stage of realization — the buddha's dharma body. Seventeenth, the stage of excellent benefit — the enjoyment body. Eighteenth, the stage of accomplished activity — the transformation body.
Kuījī reads the first nine stages and the last nine as two different lenses on the same path rather than two separate sequences. The first nine describe the path in terms shared, in principle, across all three vehicles — cause, entry, effort, fruit, and so on — while stages ten through eighteen re-describe specifically the bodhisattva's portion of that same path, ground by ground, matching the ten-ground structure this site's Mahāyānasaṃgraha also follows: the ground of resolute practice before the path of seeing, the first ground itself as "realized entry," the next six grounds together as "departure" from the two vehicles' own more limited aims, and the eighth through tenth grounds as being assured of buddhahood, gaining full eloquence, and finally receiving consecration — with the last three stages naming, in order, a buddha's three bodies.
2. Three Stages Within the Dharma-Realm
All eighteen stages are now folded into a single threefold rhythm — impure, partly pure, and fully pure — measured against the one dharma-realm they all, in the end, converge on.
應知法界中， 略有三分位，
不淨、淨不淨、 清淨隨所應。
Within the dharma-realm,
there are, in brief, three stages, it should be known:
impure, partly pure and partly not,
and fully pure, as each corresponds.
論曰：於真法界位略有三，隨其所應攝前諸位。一不淨位，謂從因位乃至加行；二淨不淨位，謂有學位；三清淨位，謂無學位。
What does this mean? Within the true dharma-realm, there are, in brief, three stages, each subsuming the previous eighteen as appropriate. First, the impure stage — from the stage of the cause up through the stage of effort. Second, the partly pure stage — the stage of the trainee. Third, the fully pure stage — the stage beyond training.
3. Naming the Practitioner at Each Stage
A brief closing verse notes that a "person" — the conventional label given to whoever occupies a given stage — is established purely in dependence on these stages, not as some further, separately real thing.
依前諸位中， 所有差別相，
隨所應建立， 諸補特伽羅。
In dependence on the distinct characteristics
present within the stages already given,
the person is established,
each as corresponds.
論曰：應知依前諸位別相，如應建立補特伽羅，謂此住種性、此已發心等。
It should be known that, in dependence on the distinct characteristics of the stages already given, the person is established, as appropriate — this one abiding in the spiritual lineage, this one who has already aroused the mind of bodhi, and so on.
A Summary of the Whole Chapter
Vasubandhu closes with a short summary reframing the eighteen and the three stages under a handful of further names — the capacity, the setting out, and the pervading of all ten grounds.
論曰：修分位總義者，謂堪能位即種性位，發趣位即入加行位，不淨位、淨不淨位、清淨位、有莊嚴位、遍滿位謂遍滿十地故無上位。
What does this mean? The general meaning of the stages of cultivation: the stage of capacity is precisely the stage of the spiritual lineage; the stage of setting out is precisely the stage of entry and effort; the impure stage, the partly pure stage, and the fully pure stage are as already given; the stage of adornment [names the stage of excellence, for its excellent virtues]; and the pervading stage — meaning the stage that pervades all ten grounds — leads to the unsurpassed stage.
Part Five Complete
This closes Part Five of Ru-Yi's translation: the entire path compressed into eighteen named stages, from the spiritual lineage through the ten bodhisattva grounds to a buddha's three bodies, then folded once more into a single threefold rhythm of impure, partly pure, and fully pure. Part Six, also brief, turns to the treatise's sixth topic: the fruit this cultivation actually yields.
Continue to Part 6 — Distinguishing the Fruit Attained →