Detachment Opens, and Moral Discipline Complete
Fascicle 22 opens exactly where fascicle 21 left off: the Ground of Entry (趣入地) formally closes, and the third and largest of the three grounds comprising the hearer-disciple's first yogic process — the Ground of Setting Out Toward Liberation (出離地) — begins, tracing mundane and supramundane detachment. The fascicle then devotes nearly its entire length to the fourth of fourteen path-provisions, moral discipline, carrying it from its sixfold structure through ten impairments, ten virtues, and more, to a genuinely complete close.
1. Section: The Ground of Setting Out Toward Liberation Opens
The treatise marks the transition plainly: the Ground of Entry has now been fully explained, and the third ground of the first yogic process begins. It opens with its own summary verse, naming the two paths of detachment — mundane and supramundane — together with the provisions both require.
本地分中聲聞地初瑜伽處出離地品第三之一……如是已說趣入地。云何出離地？……嗢柁南曰：若世間離欲 如是出世間 及此二資糧 是名出離地……謂若由世間道而趣離欲，若由出世道而趣離欲，若此二道所有資糧，總略為一，名出離地。
Within the Basic Section, the Ground of the Hearer-Disciples, the first yogic process, the third chapter, the Ground of Setting Out Toward Liberation, part one. …Thus the Ground of Entry has already been explained. What is the Ground of Setting Out Toward Liberation? …The summary verse says: mundane detachment, and likewise supramundane detachment, together with the provisions for both — this is called the Ground of Setting Out Toward Liberation. …Whether one sets out toward detachment by the mundane path, or sets out toward detachment by the supramundane path, or whether it is the provisions belonging to both paths — all of this together, in brief, is called the Ground of Setting Out Toward Liberation.
Master Cháng Bǎi orients the reader to this ground's scope before the root text unpacks it. Of the four "yogic processes" structuring the entire Ground of the Hearer-Disciples, this is still the first — spanning fascicles 21 through 25 — and having covered spiritual lineage and entry in fascicle 21, this third ground, setting out toward liberation, is by far the largest of the three, running from here through fascicle 25. It divides into four parts: the provisions for detachment (this fascicle's focus, continuing through fascicle 25), a classification of practitioner types, the actual sequence a teacher uses to guide a student's practice, and the detailed marks of practice itself. This particular fascicle picks up the fourth of fourteen kinds of provisions already being tracked since fascicle 21 — moral discipline, the root of the three trainings — while the remaining ten will follow in fascicles 23 through 25. The ground's own opening verse names its overall shape: detachment achieved by mundane means (through concentration alone, suppressing affliction without uprooting it — "like a stone pressing down grass," in the treatise's own image, since the affliction returns the moment the stone is lifted) and detachment achieved by supramundane means (through concentration paired with insight into the four noble truths, severing affliction at the root), together with everything both paths require to be walked at all.
2. Mundane Detachment: Coarse Below, Peaceful Above, Level by Level
The treatise details mundane detachment first: a practitioner ascends through the nine levels of the threefold world by repeatedly contrasting each level's faults against the relative peace of the one above it, using six specific contemplations to loosen attachment to wherever one currently stands.
云何名為由世間道而趣離欲？謂如有一，於下欲界觀為麤相，於初靜慮離生喜樂若定、若生觀為靜相。彼由多住如是觀時，便於欲界而得離欲，亦能證入最初靜慮。如是復於初靜慮上，漸次如應，一切下地觀為麤相，一切上地觀為靜相。彼由多住如是觀時，便於乃至無所有處而得離欲，亦能證入乃至非想非非想處。如是名為由世間道而趣離欲。除此更無若過若增。
What is called setting out toward detachment by the mundane path? It is like one who observes the lower desire realm as coarse, and observes the joy and ease born of seclusion in the first absorption — whether attained through concentration or through rebirth there — as peaceful. Through repeatedly dwelling in this contemplation, one thereby attains detachment from the desire realm, and is able to enter the first absorption. In just this way, ascending progressively from the first absorption onward, one observes every lower level as coarse, and every higher level as peaceful. Through repeatedly dwelling in this contemplation, one thereby attains detachment all the way up to the sphere of nothingness, and is able to enter even the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. This is called setting out toward detachment by the mundane path. Beyond this there are no more, and none is superfluous.
Master Cháng Bǎi explains "coarse" and "peaceful" as fundamentally relative terms: whichever level has more faults is called coarse, whichever has fewer is called peaceful, and every level in the threefold world's nine stages (the desire realm as one, the four form-realm absorptions, and the four formless spheres) is coarse relative to the one above it and peaceful relative to the one below — the desire realm coarse against the first absorption, the first absorption in turn coarse against the second, and so on all the way up to the very peak of existence. Master Cháng Bǎi draws on the *Śamatha-vipaśyanā* meditation manual tradition to spell out the six specific contemplations a practitioner cycles through at each transition, using the move from the desire realm to the first absorption as the model: contemplating the desire realm's causal coarseness (the five sense-objects breed every kind of evil) and its resultant coarseness (the body itself, made of thirty-six kinds of impure substance); its causal and resultant suffering (mental states bound to craving that cannot escape themselves, and a body subject to hunger, cold, sickness, and violence); its causal and resultant obstruction (affliction obscuring one's true nature, and a body's physical constraints preventing freedom); and then, in the opposite direction, delighting in the first absorption's causal and resultant excellence (concentration's superior joy, surpassing desire's inferior pleasure), its causal and resultant subtlety (a still, undistracted mind, and a luminous, unobstructed absorption-body, like a reflection in a mirror), and its causal and resultant liberation (freedom from the hindrances, and a body endowed with the five mundane superknowledges, moving without obstruction). Repeating this six-part contemplation — three reasons to feel revulsion toward what lies below, three reasons to feel joy toward what lies above — carries a practitioner level by level all the way from the coarsest desire realm to the most rarefied peak of existence, though, Master Cháng Bǎi is careful to note, this entire ascent only ever suppresses affliction through concentration's own force; it can never uproot it, since only supramundane insight into the four noble truths, covered next, can do that.
3. Supramundane Detachment: Seeds Stored Away Versus Seeds Burnt by Fire
Where mundane detachment only ever suppresses affliction, the supramundane path — direct realization of the four noble truths, carried from stream-entry through arhatship — genuinely uproots it. The treatise closes this contrast with one of its most memorable images: a suppressed affliction is a seed merely kept in dry storage, still capable of sprouting the moment conditions allow; a truly severed affliction is a seed already burnt to ash.
謂如有一，親近善士，於聖法中已成聰慧，於聖法中已得調順。於苦聖諦如實知苦，於集聖諦如實知集，於滅聖諦如實知滅，於道聖諦如實知道。……既得成就有學智見，從此已後漸修聖道，遍於三界見修所斷一切法中，自能離繫、自得解脫。如是便能超過三界。如是名為由出世道而趣離欲。
It is like one who, drawing near a good teacher, becomes wise within the noble Dharma, and becomes well-tamed within the noble Dharma — knowing suffering, as it truly is, as the noble truth of suffering; knowing its origin, as it truly is, as the noble truth of origin; knowing its cessation, as it truly is, as the noble truth of cessation; and knowing the path, as it truly is, as the noble truth of the path. …Having thus attained a trainee's knowledge and vision, one thereafter gradually cultivates the noble path, and, throughout the three realms, with regard to everything to be abandoned by seeing and by cultivation, one is oneself able to become free of its bonds, oneself attaining liberation. In this way, one is able to transcend the three realms entirely. This is called setting out toward detachment by the supramundane path.
Master Cháng Bǎi traces this path from its starting point — genuine direct realization of the four noble truths, marking stream-entry, "a trainee's knowledge and vision" — through continued cultivation of the noble eightfold path across every remaining affliction, whether cut by the initial seeing of truth or by the ongoing work of cultivation, until every one is severed and the entire threefold world is transcended: arhatship. The decisive contrast with mundane detachment, he stresses, is permanence. A practitioner who has only suppressed affliction through concentration alone can, at best, reach the peak of existence — but never beyond it — and even that suppression is temporary, since the underlying seeds remain fully intact, exactly like grain stored in a dry container: dormant for now, but still capable of sprouting the moment moisture returns. He cites the *Viniścayasaṃgrahaṇī*'s own explanation: a noble one who has genuinely severed desire-realm and eventually all threefold-world craving through the supramundane path can never again regress into the coarser afflictions of a lower level, nor, having been reborn in the form realm through that path, ever fall back into the desire realm — precisely because the affliction-seeds themselves have been destroyed, not merely left dormant. The image the treatise reaches for is exact: mundane suppression is grain kept safely in storage, its capacity to sprout undiminished; supramundane severance is grain already consumed by fire, its capacity to sprout gone for good. This is why, Master Cháng Bǎi concludes, only the supramundane path can be called genuine, final liberation.
4. Section: The Fourteen Provisions Open — Moral Discipline, and Its Own Rich Sixfold Structure
With both paths of detachment named, the treatise turns to what both actually require: fourteen kinds of provisions, the first three of which (self-perfection, perfection by others, and a genuine wish for the good) were already covered in fascicle 21. This fascicle opens with the fourth — moral discipline — which the treatise unpacks through its own elaborate five-part outline before beginning with the first of six components: abiding in complete discipline.
云何名為二道資糧？嗢柁南曰：自他圓滿善法欲 戒根律儀食知量 悎寤正知住善友 聞思無障捨莊嚴……當知此中，若自圓滿、若他圓滿、若善法欲，此三如前修集種子諸劣緣中，已辯其相。……云何戒律儀？嗢柁南曰：戒律儀當知 辯三虧滿十 六異門三淨 勝功德十種……戒律儀者，謂如有一，安住具戒，廣說乃至受學學處。云何名為安住具戒？謂於所受學所有學處，不虧身業，不虧語業，無闕，無穿。如是名為安住具戒。
What are the provisions for both paths? The summary verse says: self-perfection, perfection by others, a wish for the good; moral discipline, restraint of the faculties, moderation in eating; wakefulness, clear awareness, abiding with good companions; hearing and reflecting on the Dharma, freedom from obstruction, and the adornments of renunciation. …It should be understood that, among these, self-perfection, perfection by others, and a wish for the good have already had their marks explained above, among the lesser conditions for cultivating the seed [of lineage]. …What is moral discipline in its proper restraint? The summary verse says: moral discipline should be understood through distinguishing three, ten marks of impairment and ten of fulfillment, six alternate names, three purities, and ten excellent virtues. …Moral discipline in its proper restraint is that one abides in complete discipline — and so on at length, down to training in every point of training. What is called abiding in complete discipline? It is that, regarding all the points of training one has undertaken, one's bodily conduct is not impaired, one's verbal conduct is not impaired, nothing is lacking, and nothing is breached. This is called abiding in complete discipline.
Master Cháng Bǎi confirms the fourteen provisions named here match exactly the twelve "lesser conditions" already covered in fascicle 21 under lineage's establishment, plus the two named "superior conditions" folded in as their own separate entries — the same territory, reorganized slightly for this ground's own purposes. Since self-perfection, perfection by others, and the wish for the good were already detailed at length in fascicle 21, the treatise moves straight to the fourth provision, moral discipline, which turns out to have a rich structure of its own: distinguishing three (bodily, verbal, and mental conduct, alongside three further three-part breakdowns of what discipline actually consists in); ten marks each of impairment and of fulfillment; six alternate names discipline goes by depending on which of its qualities is being emphasized; three purities (examining bodily, verbal, and mental conduct across past, present, and future); and ten excellent virtues that flow from discipline genuinely kept pure — a cascade Master Cháng Bǎi previews running from freedom-from-regret through joy, ease, concentration, genuine insight, revulsion, dispassion, and finally liberation itself, each condition giving rise to the next.
The first of discipline's six components, abiding in complete discipline, means sustained, unbroken conformity in both bodily and verbal conduct to every precept received — "nothing lacking" referring, in one reading, to never violating a root precept, and "nothing breached" to never lapsing into habitual small infractions (or, if a lapse does occur, confessing and restoring purity promptly rather than letting it fester). Master Cháng Bǎi ties this concretely to the ten unwholesome courses of action: bodily conduct free of killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct; verbal conduct free of lying, divisive speech, harsh speech, and idle chatter — the basic, minimum standard beneath every one of the six components still to come.
5. Guarding Each Precept Individually, and the Fivefold Map of Monastic Law
Where the first component covered discipline as a whole, the second narrows to guarding each individual vow of the prātimokṣa — the specific precepts belonging to one's own station among the sevenfold assembly. The third component, perfected protocol, then opens with its own foundational distinction: conforming to ordinary social propriety, and conforming to the Vinaya itself, mapped through a fivefold classification of monastic law.
云何名為善能守護別解律儀？謂能守護七眾所受別解律儀。即此律儀，眾差別故，成多律儀。今此義中，唯依苾芻律儀處說善能守護別解律儀。云何名為軌則圓滿？謂如有一，或於威儀路，或於所作事，或於善品加行處所，成就軌則。隨順世間，不越世間；隨順毗奈耶，不越毗奈耶。
What is called skillfully guarding the prātimokṣa restraint? It is being able to guard the prātimokṣa restraint belonging to the sevenfold assembly. Because this very restraint differs according to each assembly, it becomes many restraints. In the present sense, it is only with regard to the monk's and nun's restraint that this skillful guarding is spoken of. What is called perfected protocol? It is that, whether in the pathways of deportment, or in the tasks one performs, or in the settings for applying oneself to wholesome practice, one accomplishes proper protocol — conforming to worldly convention, not exceeding worldly convention; conforming to the Vinaya, not exceeding the Vinaya.
Master Cháng Bǎi explains that the "prātimokṣa restraint" differs by station within the sevenfold assembly — monks, nuns, probationary nuns, novice monks and nuns, laymen, and laywomen each hold a different set of vows, collapsing into three broad categories of restraint (monk, nun, and lay), though this passage focuses specifically on the monastic restraint, since novice and probationary vows are themselves subsumed under it. The point of naming it as its own component, distinct from "abiding in complete discipline," is granularity: not simply keeping the overall standard of conduct intact, but actively guarding each individual precept, one by one, as its own discrete commitment.
Perfected protocol opens a genuinely rich sub-topic: proper conduct within postures, activities, and practice settings, judged against two standards at once — ordinary social propriety and the Vinaya's own requirements. Master Cháng Bǎi introduces the treatise's fivefold map of monastic law here: "inherent faults" (acts wrong in themselves regardless of any Buddhist precept — killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying — carrying karmic consequence with or without ordination); "prohibited faults" (acts the Buddha specifically restricted because they tend to provoke criticism or undermine practice, even though not inherently evil — drinking alcohol being the classic example, permissible by ordinary secular standards but forbidden under the precepts because of what it tends to lead to); "prescription" (the actual precept the Buddha formulated in response to either category); "exception" (circumstances under which a precept may be set aside without harm — a sick monk permitted a special drink outside the normal eating schedule, for instance); and "practice" itself, which comes in only two forms, correct (never transgressing, or transgressing and then genuinely restoring purity through confession) and wrong (transgressing without restoration). Together, conforming to worldly convention and conforming to the Vinaya's own fivefold structure define what "perfected protocol" actually requires.
6. Perfected Protocol in Practice: Posture, and the Texture of Ordinary Monastic Life
The treatise now works through perfected protocol's concrete content: correct deportment across the four basic postures, and correct conduct across the countless small tasks of daily monastic life — dressing, hygiene, almsround, handling the bowl, washing the feet, and making one's bed — each governed by the same twin standard of matching both the occasion and the Vinaya's own requirements.
謂如有一，於所應行、於如所行，即於此中如是而行。由是行故，不為世間之所譏毀；不為賢良、正至、善士、諸同法者、諸持律者、諸學律者之所呵責。如於所行，於其所住、所坐、所臥，當知亦爾。……謂如有一，於其所作，若衣服事、若便利事、若用水事、若楊枝事、若入聚落行乞食事、若受用事、若盪鉢事、若安置事、若洗足事、若為敷設臥具等事。即此略說衣事、鉢事，復有所餘如是等類諸所應作，名所作事。
It is that one, regarding what should be done and how it should be done, acts accordingly in every case. Because of acting in this way, one is not disparaged by the world, and is not reproached by the virtuous, by those who have arrived at the truth, by good persons, by fellow practitioners, by those who uphold the Vinaya, or by those who study the Vinaya. Just as with walking, so too it should be understood regarding standing, sitting, and lying down. …It is that one, in what one does, attends to matters of clothing, of relieving oneself, of using water, of tooth-cleaning, of entering a village to beg for alms, of making use of things, of rinsing the bowl, of storing it, of washing the feet, and of arranging one's bedding and the like. This is a brief account of matters of robes and of the bowl; there are, further, other such matters that should likewise be attended to — these are called "the tasks one performs."
Master Cháng Bǎi treats "the pathways of deportment" as covering the four classic postures — walking like the wind, sitting like a bell, lying like a bow, standing like a pine, in the traditional formula — matched to whatever the occasion, place, and time actually call for, neither excessive nor deficient, applied consistently whether one is attending a teaching, going on almsround, or simply moving through the monastery. "The tasks one performs" then works through the concrete texture of daily monastic life: dressing properly, so the robes hang evenly rather than bunching or sagging; basic hygiene; correct use of water and, in the Buddha's own era, chewing a twig in place of a toothbrush; conduct while begging for alms and receiving offerings; and, notably, "using things" — which the treatise elsewhere details as five kinds of impure and five kinds of pure use, covering items belonging to the Buddha specifically (never to be used personally, even by a monastic gravely ill), items belonging to the communal assembly (never to be taken without formal distribution), another's private property (never without explicit permission), items entrusted informally by a close companion (usable only where genuine mutual understanding exists), and items too soiled or otherwise unsuitable to touch at all. Rinsing and storing the bowl means never leaving it somewhere it might be soiled, lost, or damaged — not under a tree without checking for falling debris or insects, not near a cliff edge or ravine — washing the feet (barefoot practice being standard in the Buddha's own time) means attending properly to hygiene before entering the hall, including washing a senior's feet as an act of respect, and arranging bedding means keeping one's sleeping space orderly, folding blankets after rising, and, if using a borrowed space, leaving it as clean as it was found. Master Cháng Bǎi treats this entire catalogue not as an arbitrary list of rules but as training in mindful attention applied to literally everything — nothing in ordinary monastic life falls outside the scope of practice.
7. Protocol Completes: Wholesome Endeavors, Places to Avoid, and Real Fear of Even Small Faults
Perfected protocol's third and final domain covers conduct within wholesome endeavors themselves — study, service to elders, care for the sick, communal procedure, questioning teachers, mutual encouragement, teaching others, and formal meditation — closing out this third component of moral discipline. The treatise then moves to the fourth and fifth components: avoiding five specific places entirely unsuited to practice, and cultivating genuine dread even at the smallest fault.
謂於種種善品加行，若於正法受持讀誦；若於尊長修和敬業，參覲承事；若於病者起慈悲心，殷重供侍；若於如法宣白加行，住慈悲心，展轉與欲；若於正法請問聽受，翹勤無惰；於諸有智同梵行者，盡其身力而修敬事；於他善品常勤讚勵；常樂為他宣說正法；入於靜室，結加趺坐，繫念思惟。……云何名為所行圓滿？謂諸苾芻，略有五種非所行處……一、唱令家，二、婬女家，三、酤酒家，四、國王家，五、旃荼羅、羯恥那家。……云何名為於微小罪見大怖畏？謂於諸小、隨小學處，若有所犯，可令還淨，名微小罪。
Regarding various wholesome endeavors: upholding, reciting the true Dharma; attending on and serving elders through the practice of communal harmony; showing compassion and earnest care toward the sick; properly announcing matters in formal assembly, resting in compassion, and conveying consent when unable to attend; questioning and receiving the true Dharma with diligence, never idle; serving fellow practitioners of wisdom with the full strength of one's body; constantly praising and encouraging others' wholesome endeavors; delighting in teaching the true Dharma to others; and entering a quiet chamber, sitting cross-legged, and fixing the mind in contemplation. …What is called perfected conduct? It is that monks, in brief, have five kinds of place unsuited to their conduct … the household of one who proclaims [the slaughter of livestock]; the household of a prostitute; the household of a wine-seller; the household of a king; the household of an outcaste or an executioner. …What is called seeing great danger in even the slightest fault? It is that, regarding minor and subsidiary-minor points of training, should any transgression occur, it can be restored to purity — this is called a slight fault.
Master Cháng Bǎi lists the nine wholesome endeavors this third domain covers: studying and reciting the Dharma; serving elders through the six practices of communal harmony; caring compassionately for sick fellow-practitioners; properly conveying formal consent when unable to attend a communal proceeding (traditionally requiring a designated proxy and, when raising a charge or expelling a member, the "five virtues" of right timing, truthfulness, benefit, gentle speech, and a genuinely compassionate motive); questioning teachers diligently; serving wise companions in practice; encouraging others' good conduct; teaching the Dharma freely; and formal seated meditation — this list, he notes, is illustrative rather than exhaustive, since literally any wholesome activity undertaken within the monastic community counts. With deportment, daily tasks, and wholesome endeavors all covered, "perfected protocol" — the third of discipline's six components — closes.
Perfected conduct, the fourth component, names five places a monastic should never enter: a household associated with public livestock slaughter, a brothel, a tavern, a royal court, or the household of an outcaste or executioner — largely the same five places already named in fascicle 21's own treatment of this component, here restated as this fascicle's own dedicated fourth section. Seeing great danger in even the slightest fault, the fifth component, defines its key term precisely: a "slight fault" is any transgression of the minor or subsidiary-minor points of training — the lowest tier of the traditional five-part offense classification for monastics, restorable through confession rather than permanently disqualifying, unlike the gravest first-tier offenses that end one's monastic standing outright. Master Cháng Bǎi notes these subsidiary-minor points number roughly a hundred, covering the countless small points of everyday deportment already surveyed under protocol — precisely the kind of fault easiest to dismiss as trivial, and precisely the kind this component insists must never be treated that way, since habitual carelessness with the small is exactly what erodes the capacity to keep the great.
8. Three Fears That Guard Against Complacency, and a Lifetime of Continued Study
The treatise names three specific fears that make "seeing great danger in even the slightest fault" more than an abstract ideal: fear of losing the very capacity for attainment, fear of disgraceful rebirth or open reproach, and fear of one's own bad name spreading. It then closes moral discipline's sixth and final component, training in every point, with a striking claim: the restraint one receives is never complete at the moment of ordination alone — it is earned only through a lifetime of continued learning.
謂作是觀：勿我由此毀犯因緣，無復堪能得所未得、觸所未觸、證所未證。……勿我由此近諸惡趣，往諸惡趣。或當自責，或為大師、諸天、有智同梵行者以法呵責。……勿我由此遍諸方維惡名、惡稱、惡聲、惡頌遐邇流布。……云何名為受學學處？謂於先受別解脫戒……皆自誓言：一切當學。……以於一切所應學處皆受學故，說名獲得別解律儀。從此以後，於諸學處，若已善巧，便能無犯。設有所犯，尋如法悔。
One reflects thus: may I not, through the cause of this transgression, lose the capacity ever to attain what has not yet been attained, to touch what has not yet been touched, to realize what has not yet been realized. …May I not, through this, draw near to or go toward the unfortunate rebirths; may I not bring reproach upon myself, or be reproached in accordance with the Dharma by the Teacher, by the gods, or by wise fellow practitioners. …May I not, through this, have an evil name, an evil report, an evil reputation, or evil verses about me spread far and near in every direction. …What is called training in every point of training? It is that, having first received the prātimokṣa precepts … one vows: "I shall train in all of them." …Because one trains in every point one should train in, this is called attaining the prātimokṣa restraint. From this point onward, having become skilled in these points of training, one is thereby able to be free of transgression; should any transgression occur, one promptly confesses it in accordance with the Dharma.
Master Cháng Bǎi names the three fears in turn: fear of forfeiting the capacity for genuine attainment altogether — stream-entry not yet reached, the higher fruits not yet touched, arhatship not yet realized, all placed at risk by careless accumulation of small faults; fear of disgraceful consequence — rebirth in the lower realms, or open reproach from the Teacher, from unseen beings, or from wise companions in practice; and fear of infamy — a bad reputation, or even mocking verses, spreading in every direction, the opposite of the good name a genuinely careful practitioner earns. Together these three fears are what actually make "seeing great danger in even the slightest fault" operative rather than merely notional: a practitioner who takes even minor transgressions this seriously will never deliberately break a precept, even at the cost of life itself, and will confess and restore purity immediately should a lapse occur through simple forgetfulness.
Training in every point, the sixth and final component, makes an important claim: the restraint received at ordination is only a beginning, since a newly ordained monastic hears just a fraction of the full code from the preceptor in that single ceremony. Genuine mastery comes only through sustained further study — from the preceptor and instructing teacher afterward, from fellow reciters of the precepts, from the fortnightly recitation of the full monastic code (traditionally held every two weeks, since the Buddha observed that most people forget what they've learned within roughly that span), and from ongoing discussion with experienced companions — the whole process vowed to at ordination ("I shall train in all of them") but only actually fulfilled across a lifetime of continued practice. Master Cháng Bǎi stresses that this is why "attaining the prātimokṣa restraint" is not a single completed event but an ongoing achievement: a practitioner who has genuinely grown skilled through this sustained study naturally avoids transgression, and swiftly restores purity through confession on the rare occasion a lapse does occur.
9. Reorganizing Six Into Three: Integrity, Essence, and Two Directions of Benefit
Correctly receiving both a teacher's instruction and its underlying meaning closes the sixth component, and with it, the detailed six-part explanation of moral discipline. The treatise now reorganizes this same material into three broader "marks," showing how each pair of components serves a distinct purpose — and, within the third mark, distinguishes benefit directed toward others from benefit directed toward oneself.
謂於是中，世尊顯示戒蘊略義，有三種相：一者、無失壞相，二者、自性相，三者、自性功德相。……謂若說言：安住具戒。由此顯示尸羅律儀無失壞相。若復說言：能善守護別解律儀。由此顯示尸羅律儀自性相。若復說言：軌則、所行皆悉圓滿。由此顯示別解律儀，如其所受，觀他增上自性功德相。……若復說言：於微小罪見大怖畏、受學學處。由此顯示別解律儀，如其所受，觀自增上自性功德相。
Among these, the Bhagavat reveals the essential meaning of the aggregate of discipline through three marks: the mark of being free of loss or impairment; the mark of intrinsic nature; and the mark of intrinsic virtue. …When it is said "abiding in complete discipline," this reveals the mark of moral restraint being free of loss or impairment. When it is said "skillfully guarding the prātimokṣa restraint," this reveals the mark of moral restraint's intrinsic nature. When it is said "protocol and conduct are both entirely perfected," this reveals the mark of intrinsic virtue directed toward benefiting others, belonging to the prātimokṣa restraint as received. …When it is said "seeing great danger in even the slightest fault, and training in every point of training," this reveals the mark of intrinsic virtue directed toward benefiting oneself, belonging to the prātimokṣa restraint as received.
Master Cháng Bǎi maps the six components already covered onto three broader marks. "Abiding in complete discipline" alone reveals discipline "free of loss or impairment" — the basic fact of unbroken conformity to what was received. "Skillfully guarding the prātimokṣa restraint" reveals discipline's own intrinsic nature — the precepts themselves, taken one by one. The remaining four components pair off to reveal "intrinsic virtue," split into two directions: perfected protocol and perfected conduct together reveal virtue directed outward, toward benefiting others — since a monastic's visibly impeccable deportment and choice of where to go is precisely what inspires confidence in observers, whether that confidence was already present or entirely new; Master Cháng Bǎi is careful to note this outward-facing virtue only accrues when protocol and conduct are genuinely, not merely superficially, complete, and warns against the opposite failure mode — a practitioner so preoccupied with policing others' conduct that everyone comes to avoid them. Seeing great danger in the smallest fault and training in every point, meanwhile, together reveal virtue directed inward, toward benefiting oneself — the practitioner's own capacity for genuine attainment, and their own favorable rebirth, both protected precisely by taking these two components seriously. Both directions of virtue matter, Master Cháng Bǎi stresses: protocol and conduct without genuine inward discipline leaves a hollow performance that collapses the moment a real test arises, while inward discipline without outward care for how one's conduct affects others' faith falls short of discipline's fuller purpose.
10. A Second Threefold Lens: Receiving, Liberating, and Cultivating Discipline — and Ten Ways It Can Falter
The same six components can be viewed through a second threefold lens entirely: discipline as something received, discipline as the very foundation of liberation itself (tied explicitly to the classic three trainings of discipline, concentration, and wisdom), and discipline as something requiring ongoing cultivation. The treatise then turns practical, naming ten specific ways discipline can become impaired — the mirror image of ten ways it can be genuinely fulfilled.
謂佛世尊此中略顯三種戒性：一、受持戒性，二、出離戒性，三、修習戒性。……別解律儀所攝淨戒，當知說名增上戒學。即依如是增上戒學，修增上心、增上慧學；由此能得一切苦盡，究竟出離。如是出離，用增上戒以為前行所依止處，是故說此別解律儀名出離戒性。……如是一種尸羅律儀現前宣說，當知六種。又即如是尸羅律儀，由十因緣，當知虧損；即此相違十因緣故，當知圓滿。云何十種虧損因緣？一者、最初惡受尸羅律儀，二者、太極沈下，三者、太極浮散，四者、放逸懈怠所攝，五者、發起邪願，六者、軌則虧損所攝，七者、淨命虧損所攝，八者、墮在二邊，九者、不能出離，十者、所受失壞。
The Bhagavat, in brief, reveals three natures of discipline here: the nature of receiving and upholding; the nature of leading to liberation; and the nature of ongoing cultivation. …The pure discipline comprised within the prātimokṣa restraint should be known as the higher training in discipline. Resting on this higher training in discipline, one cultivates the higher training in concentration and the higher training in wisdom; by this, one is able to exhaust all suffering and attain final liberation. Such liberation takes the higher training in discipline as its preliminary foundation — this is why the prātimokṣa restraint is called "the nature of leading to liberation." …Thus this single moral restraint, when set forth directly, should be understood as sixfold. Again, this same moral restraint, through ten causes and conditions, should be known to become impaired; and through the reverse of these same ten, should be known to become fulfilled. What are the ten causes of impairment? Wrongly receiving the moral restraint from the very start; being excessively lax; being excessively agitated; falling under heedlessness and laziness; giving rise to a misguided aspiration; impairment in protocol; impairment in one's pure livelihood; falling into one of two extremes; being unable to attain liberation; and letting what was received degrade entirely.
Master Cháng Bǎi maps this second threefold lens onto the same six components differently: "receiving and upholding" corresponds to abiding in complete discipline alone; "leading to liberation" corresponds to skillfully guarding the prātimokṣa restraint, since keeping each precept individually is what actually functions as discipline, the foundational first of the three higher trainings — discipline supporting concentration, concentration supporting wisdom, wisdom finally exhausting all suffering; and "ongoing cultivation" corresponds to the remaining four components together (protocol, conduct, fear of small faults, and training in every point), since genuine cultivation requires all four working in concert. Whether described as one restraint, three marks, three natures, or six components, Master Cháng Bǎi stresses it is all the same underlying reality, simply viewed from different angles.
The treatise then turns to something more diagnostic: ten specific ways discipline actually falters in practice, each with an exact mirror-image way it can instead be fulfilled. The ten: taking up the precepts from the very start with a corrupted motive (coercion, escape, ulterior gain, rather than genuine aspiration); excessive laxity — a practitioner too shameless and sluggish to take practice seriously; excessive agitation — needless regret over things that don't call for it, or contempt toward others where none is warranted, repeated and never released; heedlessness and laziness — forgetting mindfulness, breaking precepts across past, present, and future, clinging to sleep and rest as pleasurable, avoiding communal duties, neglecting wise companions; a misguided aspiration — keeping precepts purely to be reborn in a heaven or to gain worldly support and veneration, rather than for liberation itself; impaired protocol — violating either worldly convention or the Vinaya's own requirements in deportment, tasks, or wholesome endeavors; impaired livelihood — obtaining robes, food, lodging, or medicine through improper means; falling into one of two extremes — either harsh austerity or comfortable indulgence in the name of discipline; an inability to attain liberation — mistakenly believing discipline alone, without concentration and wisdom, is sufficient for freedom; and, finally, letting what was received simply degrade — violating the precepts shamelessly and without any restraint at all. Master Cháng Bǎi will unpack each of these ten in turn, since recognizing exactly how discipline can quietly fail is precisely what makes its genuine fulfillment possible.
11. The First Four Ways Discipline Falters: Wrong Motive, Laxity, Agitation, and Unrepented Lapses
The treatise now details the first four of the ten impairments in turn. Wrongly-motivated ordination covers both outright coercion and a quieter failure of genuine aspiration; excessive laxity and excessive agitation describe two opposite ways a practitioner's basic disposition undermines discipline; and heedlessness names the simple failure to confess and restore purity after a lapse, across past, present, and future alike.
謂如有一，王所逼迫而求出家，或為狂賊之所逼迫、或為債主之所逼迫、或為怖畏之所逼迫、或不活畏之所逼迫而求出家。不為沙門性、不為婆羅門性、不為自調伏、不為自寂靜、不為自涅槃而求出家。如是名為最初惡受尸羅律儀。……謂如有一，性無羞恥，惡作羸劣，為性慢緩，於諸學處所作慢緩。如是名為太極沈下。……謂如有一，堅執惡取，非處惡作，於不應作諸惡作中浪作惡作；非處於他起輕懱心、或惱害心，於其非處彊生曉悟。如是名為太極浮散。……謂如有一，由過去世毀犯所犯；於此毀犯，由失念故，一類不能如法還淨。如由過去，由未來世、由現在世當知亦爾。
It is like one who seeks ordination coerced by a king, or by fierce bandits, or by a creditor, or by fear, or by fear of destitution — seeking ordination not for the sake of the recluse's nature, not for the sake of the brahmin's nature, not to subdue oneself, not to quiet oneself, not to attain nirvāṇa. This is called wrongly receiving the moral restraint from the very start. …It is like one who is, by nature, without shame, whose remorse is feeble and weak, who is by nature sluggish, sluggish in every point of training. This is called being excessively lax. …It is like one who firmly clings to wrong views, feels regret where none is warranted, needlessly regrets what should not be regretted, and, out of place, feels contempt or ill will toward others, forcibly insisting one understands where one does not. This is called being excessively agitated. …It is like one who, having transgressed in some past time, fails, through loss of mindfulness, to restore purity in accordance with the Dharma regarding that transgression. As with the past, so too should it be understood regarding the future and the present.
Master Cháng Bǎi lists the five coercive circumstances behind wrongly-received precepts — royal decree, fleeing bandits, fleeing debt, superstitious fear, and fleeing poverty — the same five obstacles already covered in fascicle 21, here restated as this fascicle's own dedicated impairment cause, followed by five failures of genuine aspiration: not seeking the "recluse's nature" or "brahmin's nature" (both terms, he explains, ultimately meaning the same thing — a genuine aspiration toward liberation, since "brahmin" in this Buddhist usage means one who has reached nirvāṇa's far shore, exactly as "recluse" means one walking the path there), and not seeking to subdue, quiet, or ultimately liberate one's own mind. He notes the treatise's own fourfold gloss on "recluse" elsewhere: the term covers anyone renouncing ordinary life for a spiritual path (Buddhist or not), the intrinsic aspiration toward liberation itself, the noble eightfold path as the recluse's actual domain, and finally the fruit that path yields, whether described as the four traditional fruits or, more technically, the knowledge that no further rebirth follows.
Excessive laxity describes a temperament too shameless and sluggish to take discipline seriously — barely troubled by wrongdoing, slow to act even when action is called for, exactly the opposite of the urgency Master Cháng Bǎi notes ordinary people bring to worldly pursuits like earning money, which should if anything be exceeded when pursuing liberation. Excessive agitation describes the opposite failure: a mind cluttered with wrong view, prone to needless regret over things that were never actually wrong, and quick to judge others' conduct without genuinely understanding the precepts' own underlying spirit — restless and overconfident rather than sluggish, but equally corrosive to genuine practice. Heedlessness, the fourth impairment, names something simpler: a transgression, in the past, present, or future, that is never properly confessed and restored — Master Cháng Bǎi notes the treatise elsewhere classifies all monastic offenses into five tiers and prescribes a specific confession procedure (declaring the offense by name before a qualified elder or fellow practitioner capable of receiving it) for restoring purity, and stresses that a vow never actually renewed to avoid repeating a fault is precisely what lets heedlessness persist across all three times at once. He notes the extended discussion of "clear awareness in every activity" that follows in the source here simply restates, in the same words, material already covered in fascicle 21's own treatment of this quality — walking, glancing, bending a limb, wearing the robes, eating, the four postures, speaking or silent, even resting — and does not repeat it a second time.
12. Impairments Five and Six: Aspiring to the Wrong Reward, and Neglecting Protocol
Heedlessness closes with laziness's own signature — a love of sleep and reluctance to serve fellow practitioners. Two further impairments follow: keeping precepts purely to be reborn in a heaven or to attract worldly veneration rather than for liberation itself, and simply neglecting the protocol already covered at length.
又自執取睡眠為樂、偃臥為樂、脅臥為樂；性不翹勤；為性懶惰；不具起發；於諸有智同梵行者，不能時時覲問供事。是名放逸懈怠所攝。云何名為發起邪願？謂如有一，依止邪願修行梵行。言我所有若戒、若禁，若常精勤、若修梵行，當得生天，或餘天處。或復愛樂利養恭敬，而修梵行。……如是名為發起邪願。云何軌則虧損所攝？謂如有一，於威儀路、或所作事、或諸善品加行處所所有軌則，不順世間，違越世間；不順毗奈耶，違越毗奈耶。準前廣說。
Further, such a person clings to sleep as pleasurable, to lying supine as pleasurable, to lying on the side as pleasurable; is by nature reluctant, by nature lazy, never fully rousing effort; and is unable to attend on and serve wise fellow practitioners from time to time. This is called being subsumed under heedlessness and laziness. What is called giving rise to a misguided aspiration? It is like one who cultivates pure conduct resting on a misguided aspiration, saying: "Through all my discipline and restraint, through constant diligence, through cultivating pure conduct, may I be reborn in a heaven, or some other heavenly realm." Or one who cultivates pure conduct out of delight in support and veneration. …This is called giving rise to a misguided aspiration. What is called being subsumed under impairment of protocol? It is like one whose protocol, in the pathways of deportment, in the tasks performed, or in the settings for wholesome endeavor, does not conform to worldly convention and exceeds it, does not conform to the Vinaya and exceeds it — to be understood at length as stated before.
Master Cháng Bǎi closes laziness's portrait with its most ordinary form: genuine attachment to sleep in any position, a reluctance to exert effort even when called for, and neglect of fellow practitioners who deserve attention and service. The fifth impairment, misguided aspiration, covers two related failures already anticipated earlier in this project: practicing purely to secure a favorable rebirth in some heaven rather than genuine liberation, and practicing in order to attract material support and public esteem — both technically "successful" by their own narrow measure, yet both, Master Cháng Bǎi notes, secretly bound up with craving rather than freed from it, which is exactly why they impair discipline even when the outward conduct looks impeccable. The sixth impairment, impaired protocol, simply names neglect of the deportment, daily tasks, and wholesome-endeavor protocol already detailed at length earlier in this same fascicle — violating either worldly convention or the Vinaya's own requirements, with nothing new to add beyond what was already covered.
13. Impairment Seven: Wrong Livelihood, and the Art of Faking Sanctity for Alms
The seventh impairment, impaired livelihood, opens one of the treatise's most vivid passages: a portrait of insatiable want, followed by a catalogue of specific deceptive tactics — feigned stillness, false claims of attainment, deliberately ragged robes — a monastic might use to extract material support under false pretenses.
謂如有一，為性大欲，不知喜足，難養難滿。常以非法追求衣服、飲食、臥具、病緣醫藥及諸資具，不以正法。……又為貪求種種衣服、飲食、臥具、病緣醫藥資具因緣，方便顯己有勝功德，矯詐構集非常威儀。為誑他故，恆常詐現諸根無掉、諸根無動、諸根寂靜，由是令他謂其有德，當有所施、當有所作。……又多凶悖、彊口、矯傲、修飾其名、執恃種姓。……或求多聞，或任持法，為利養故，亦復為他宣說正法。……或於他前方便現相，為求衣服，或求隨一沙門資具。……雖無匱乏，而現被服故弊衣裳，為令淨信長者、居士、婆羅門等知其衣服有所匱乏，殷重承事，給施眾多上妙衣服。
It is like one who is, by nature, of great desire, never knowing contentment, hard to nourish, hard to satisfy — constantly seeking robes, food, bedding, medicine for illness, and other requisites through improper means, not through proper means. …Further, for the sake of robes, food, bedding, medicine, and other requisites, one contrives, by skillful means, to display an appearance of excellent virtue, fraudulently assembling an unusual deportment. To deceive others, one constantly, falsely displays faculties free of agitation, free of movement, utterly still — leading others to believe one possesses genuine virtue and ought to be given offerings and service. …Further, one is often fierce, obstinate, forcing one's words, feigning pride, embellishing one's reputation, relying on claims of noble lineage. …One seeks extensive learning, or retains the Dharma in memory, for the sake of material gain, and, on that basis, teaches the true Dharma to others. …Or, in front of others, one contrives to display a certain appearance in order to obtain robes, or some other monastic requisite. …Though not actually lacking, one displays worn, tattered robes, so that faithful elders, householders, and brahmins, believing one's robes to be genuinely lacking, will earnestly attend and provide an abundance of fine, excellent robes.
Master Cháng Bǎi opens with the underlying temperament: a person genuinely never satisfied by whatever robes, food, or lodging circumstance provides, always wanting more, always wanting finer — the root condition that then drives five specific deceptive tactics the treatise catalogues in turn. The first, feigned deportment, means deliberately cultivating an outward stillness — unhurried movement, faculties apparently unmoved by anything, sitting for long stretches without apparent restlessness — precisely to project an image of deep meditative attainment that isn't actually there, since donors naturally want to support someone who looks genuinely accomplished. The second, false speech, covers both embellishing one's own reputation (letting others believe, or outright claiming, attainments never actually reached — the gravest form of lying in the entire monastic code) and relying on claims of prestigious birth to command undue respect; Master Cháng Bǎi adds a caution specifically for teachers here, that fluent, well-informed Dharma teaching can easily lead an audience to imagine a level of personal attainment behind it that the teacher never actually claimed but also never bothered to correct — itself a subtle form of the same deception. The third, staged appearances, covers the specific trick of wearing deliberately shabby robes despite owning perfectly good ones, precisely so that faithful donors, believing genuine need, respond with generous new gifts — Master Cháng Bǎi notes robes are used as the illustrative example here simply because they were, in the treatise's own era, an especially costly and hard-to-obtain requisite.
14. Section: The Ten Impairments Complete — Two Extremes, False Austerity, and Outright Degradation
The treatise closes wrong livelihood with two further deceptive tactics — pressuring donors outright, and shaming them by comparison — then moves through the final three impairments: falling into either extreme of indulgence or harsh asceticism, mistaking non-Buddhist austerities for genuine liberation, and simply letting the precepts degrade through shameless, open transgression. With all ten now named, the treatise closes the entire catalogue.
或於淨信長者、居士、婆羅門所，如其所欲不得稱遂……即便彊逼、研磨麤語，而苦求索。……或彼財物無所闕乏，得下劣時，便對施主現前毀棄所得財物……何為但施如是少劣非悅意物？……謂如有一，耽著受用極樂行邊……不觀過患、不知出離。是名一邊。復有一類，好求受用自苦行邊，以無量門而自煎迫，受極苦楚。謂依棘刺、或依灰坌、或依木杵、或依木板、或狐蹲住、或狐蹲坐修斷瑜伽。或復事火……或復升水……或一足住，隨日而轉。……如是名為墮在二邊。……謂如有一，或戒或禁由見執取。謂我因此若戒若禁，當得清淨、解脫、出離。……一切外道所有禁戒，雖善防護、雖善清淨，如其清淨，不名出離。如是名為不能出離。……謂如有一，都無羞恥，不顧沙門，毀犯淨戒，習諸惡法。……內懷腐敗，外現貞實，猶如淨水所生蝸牛、螺音狗行。實非沙門，自稱沙門；實非梵行，自稱梵行。如是名為所受失壞。略由如是十種因緣，名戒虧損。
Or, before a faithful elder, householder, or brahmin, when what one desires is not granted … one then forcibly presses and grinds down with harsh speech, bitterly demanding it. …Or, when one's wealth is in no way lacking, upon receiving something inferior, one openly disparages the gift before the donor … "why give only something so paltry and displeasing?" …It is like one who indulges in the extreme of pleasure … perceiving no fault, knowing no renunciation. This is one extreme. There is, further, a kind that delights in seeking the extreme of self-affliction, tormenting oneself through countless methods, enduring extreme suffering — standing on thorns, covering oneself in ashes, standing on a wooden post or plank, crouching like a fox, worshipping fire three times daily, immersing oneself in water three times, standing on one leg and turning to follow the sun. …This is called falling into the two extremes. …It is like one who, through a mistaken view, clings to some [non-Buddhist] discipline or vow, saying: "Through this discipline, this vow, I shall attain purity, liberation, deliverance." …Whatever discipline non-Buddhist practitioners hold, however well-guarded, however outwardly pure, purity of that kind is not called deliverance. This is called being unable to attain liberation. …It is like one who, entirely without shame, giving no thought to being a renunciant, violates the pure precepts and habitually practices evil things. …Inwardly rotten, outwardly appearing genuine — like a filthy snail formed in clean water — a voice like a conch, conduct like a dog: not truly a renunciant, yet calling oneself one; not truly practicing pure conduct, yet calling it so. This is called letting what was received degrade. In brief, through these ten causes and conditions, discipline is said to be impaired.
Master Cháng Bǎi closes wrong livelihood's catalogue with two final tactics — verbally badgering a reluctant donor until they relent, and openly comparing a gift unfavorably to what wealthier donors give elsewhere, shaming the giver into offering more. The eighth impairment, falling into two extremes, names both directions discipline can go wrong: indulging fully in whatever is received, whether obtained properly or not, with no thought of its cost or any wish to be free of that craving; and, at the opposite pole, a catalogue of non-Buddhist austerities practiced in the belief that physical suffering itself purifies — standing on thorns, covering the body in ash, balancing on wooden posts or planks, crouching like a fox or dog, thrice-daily fire worship, standing immersed in water three times a day, balancing on one leg while turning to track the sun's path, and various forms of ascetic nudity. Master Cháng Bǎi is direct about why this fails: suffering itself does not end suffering — only cutting off affliction does — so mistaking the cause (affliction) for something else (physical hardship) is simply confused causal reasoning, however sincere the practitioner. The ninth impairment, an inability to attain liberation, names the specific error of believing rigorous adherence to non-Buddhist precepts and vows can itself produce purity, liberation, or deliverance — however scrupulously kept, such discipline never actually severs affliction, and so can never be called genuine liberation. The tenth and final impairment, letting what was received degrade, describes the starkest failure of all: open, shameless transgression paired with outward pretense — the same "voice like a conch, conduct like a dog" image already used in fascicle 21 for counterfeit ordination, now applied to a fully ordained monastic who has simply abandoned any real practice while still claiming the title. With all ten impairments named, Master Cháng Bǎi notes the treatise distinguishes two tiers of severity: eight of the ten are simply called "impairment of discipline," while the ninth and tenth — an inability ever to attain liberation, and outright degradation of what was received — are additionally called "discipline's genuine difficulty," since these two, unlike the other eight, describe failures serious enough to foreclose the entire purpose discipline exists to serve.
15. Ten Ways Discipline Is Fulfilled, and Six Names That Praise It — Root, Adornment, Perfumed, Fragrant
The mirror image of the ten impairments — ten ways discipline is genuinely fulfilled — is stated in a single line: simply the opposite of everything just catalogued. The treatise then turns celebratory, offering six poetic alternate names for discipline, each supported by its own scriptural verse, beginning with "root," "adornment," "perfumed ointment," and "fragrance that carries against the wind."
與此安立黑品因緣相違白品所有因緣，當知說名尸羅圓滿、尸羅清淨。……有處世尊宣說尸羅名為根本。如伽他說：若善住根本 其心便寂靜 因聖見惡見 相應不相應……有處世尊宣說尸羅名莊嚴具。如伽他說：苾芻苾芻尼 戒莊嚴圓滿 於不善能捨 於善能修習……有處世尊宣說尸羅名為塗香。……有處世尊宣說尸羅名為熏香。如伽他說：阿難有香類 順風善能熏 逆風亦能熏 順逆熏亦爾……有處世尊宣說尸羅名為妙行。如伽他說：身妙行能感 可愛諸異熟 於現法當來 語妙行亦爾……有處世尊宣說尸羅名為律儀。如伽他說：諸有惠施主 具戒住律儀 有阿笈摩見 及有果正見
Whatever causes and conditions belong to the "bright" category, opposed to this "dark" category just established, should be understood as called the fulfillment of discipline, the purity of discipline. …In certain places the Bhagavat teaches that discipline is called the root. As a verse says: "If one dwells well in the root, the mind thereby becomes tranquil — through noble view, wrong view is not conjoined." …In certain places the Bhagavat teaches that discipline is called an adornment. As a verse says: "Monks and nuns, discipline as adornment perfected, are able to relinquish the unwholesome and cultivate the wholesome." …In certain places the Bhagavat teaches that discipline is called perfumed ointment. …In certain places the Bhagavat teaches that discipline is called fragrance. As a verse says: "Ānanda, there is a kind of fragrance that carries well with the wind, and carries too against the wind — carrying both with and against alike." …In certain places the Bhagavat teaches that discipline is called excellent conduct. As a verse says: "Excellent bodily conduct is able to bring about agreeable ripened results, in this very life and in times to come; so too is excellent verbal conduct." …In certain places the Bhagavat teaches that discipline is called restraint. As a verse says: "Whatever generous benefactors possess discipline and abide in restraint, they possess the view that comes from the transmitted teaching, and the correct view that comes from its fruit."
Master Cháng Bǎi walks through each of the six poetic names in turn. "Root" evokes discipline as the foundation everything else is built on — a settled mind arising because noble view, not wrong view, has taken hold, exactly the way a building needs its foundation laid before anything can rise from it. "Adornment" and "perfumed ointment" both evoke discipline as something that beautifies a practitioner from the inside out, the natural radiance of relinquishing what is unwholesome and cultivating what is wholesome. "Fragrance" carries a specific point: unlike ordinary scent, which only travels with the wind, discipline's fragrance — its reputation and effect — reaches people whether they are favorably disposed or not, exactly as Master Cháng Bǎi recalls the story of an unruly nāga that neither Maudgalyāyana nor Śāriputra could subdue, tamed instantly the moment the Buddha sent the monk most renowned for discipline to speak with it; genuine discipline commands respect even from those otherwise unmoved by the Dharma. "Excellent conduct" ties bodily and verbal discipline directly to karmic result, agreeable outcomes following both immediately and across future lives. "Restraint," the sixth name, pairs discipline with two kinds of understanding a generous benefactor might also possess: knowledge drawn from the transmitted teaching itself (correct but still mundane, prior to any direct realization) and the deeper, supramundane insight that follows genuine attainment. The treatise then turns to explaining precisely why each of these six names fits, beginning with "root": discipline earns this name through two functions at once — establishing what was not there before (the entire edifice of concentration and wisdom), and sustaining it once built, exactly as a monastery needs first to be founded and then to be maintained.
16. Section: The Six Names Explained in Full — Earth, Jewelry That Never Ages, and a Scent No Wind Can Stop
The treatise now explains, one by one, exactly why each of the remaining five names fits — closing the entire sixfold-names section with some of its most vivid imagery: discipline as earth itself nurturing every plant that grows from it, as jewelry that flatters every wearer at every age and circumstance where ordinary adornment cannot, and as a fragrance no wind, favorable or hostile, can ever block.
由此尸羅建立、任持一切世間及出世間，能引無罪最勝第一快樂功德，令生令證，是故尸羅說名根本。譬如大地，建立、任持一切藥草、卉木、叢林，令生令長。……諸餘世間耳環、指環……若有成就幼稚、黑髮、少年、盛壯、姝妙形色而服飾之，少增妙好。非有成就朽老、衰邁……而服飾之，當有妙好。……戒莊嚴具，於一切類、於一切時，若有服者皆為妙好。是故尸羅名莊嚴具。……由此所受清淨無罪妙善尸羅，能正除遣一切所受惡戒為因身心熱惱。譬如最極炎熾熱時，塗以栴檀龍腦香等，一切鬱蒸皆得除滅。是故尸羅說名塗香。……具戒士夫補特伽羅，遍諸方域，妙善稱譽聲頌普聞。譬如種種根莖香等，隨風飄颺遍諸方所，悅意芬馥，周流彌遠。是故尸羅名為熏香。……由此尸羅清淨善行，能趣妙樂，往妙天趣，向妙安隱，故名妙行。……由此尸羅清淨善法，是防護性，是息除相，是遠離體，故名律儀。
Because this discipline establishes and sustains everything mundane and supramundane, drawing forth and bringing about the blameless, most excellent, foremost happiness and virtue, discipline is therefore called the root. Just as the great earth establishes and sustains every herb, plant, and forest, causing them to arise and grow. …Other worldly adornments — earrings, rings … if worn by one who is young, dark-haired, in the prime of youth and vigor, of beautiful form — add somewhat to their beauty. But if worn by one who is aged, decrepit … they bring no beauty at all. …Discipline as adornment, however, is beautiful for every type of person, at every time, whoever wears it. This is why discipline is called an adornment. …Because this pure, blameless, excellent discipline that has been received rightly dispels the bodily and mental fever caused by any wrongly-held discipline. Just as, in the very height of scorching heat, applying sandalwood or camphor ointment dispels all oppressive heat entirely. This is why discipline is called perfumed ointment. …Because a person who possesses discipline gains, throughout every region, an excellent reputation and praise heard everywhere. Just as various fragrant roots and stems, carried on the wind, spread through every direction, pleasing and fragrant, flowing on ever further. This is why discipline is called fragrance. …Because this pure, wholesome discipline leads to excellent happiness, to excellent heavenly rebirth, toward excellent security — this is why it is called excellent conduct. …Because this pure, wholesome discipline has the nature of protection, the mark of quieting, the essence of distancing — this is why it is called restraint.
Master Cháng Bǎi closes "root" with the treatise's own image: discipline is the earth itself, and everything else a practitioner cultivates — concentration, wisdom, ultimately liberation — grows from it the way plants grow from soil, impossible without it. "Adornment" makes its case by contrast: ordinary jewelry flatters only the young, healthy, and fortunate — useless or even absurd on someone elderly, gravely ill, grieving, or destitute — while discipline's beauty suits absolutely everyone, at every stage of life, in every circumstance, without exception. "Perfumed ointment" returns to the cooling relief sandalwood or camphor provides against summer's scorching heat, discipline offering the same relief against affliction's own burning. "Fragrance" restates the earlier point concretely: a genuinely disciplined person's reputation spreads in every direction, exactly like fragrant wood carried on the wind, reaching people regardless of their own disposition toward the Dharma. "Excellent conduct" ties directly to favorable rebirth and lasting security, while "restraint," the sixth and final name, is defined through three functions at once: protecting the mind from affliction, quieting what has already arisen, and keeping genuine distance from what should be avoided in the first place. With all six names now fully explained, the sixfold-names section of moral discipline closes.
17. Section: The Three Purities Open — A Standing Method for Examining Body, Speech, and Mind
With the six names complete, the treatise opens its fourth major section: three purities, a single repeatable method applied to bodily, verbal, and mental conduct alike, across what is about to be done, what is being done now, and what was already done in the past — restrained or confessed if harmful, continued and rejoiced in if genuinely wholesome.
又戒律儀有三種觀清淨因相。何等為三？一、觀身業，二、觀語業，三、觀意業。……謂希當造及欲正造身作業時，如是觀察：我此身業為能自損，及以損他，是不善性，能生眾苦，招苦異熟？為不自損，亦不損他，是其善性，能生諸樂，招樂異熟？如是觀已。若自了知我此身業，自損損他……即於此業攝斂不作，亦不與便。若自了知我此身業，不損自他……即於此業而不攝斂、造作、與便。復於過去已造身業亦數觀察……便於有智同梵行所，如實發露，如法悔除。……便生歡喜，晝夜安住，多隨修學。……汝今囉怙羅 於身語意業 應數正觀察 念諸佛聖教 囉怙羅汝應 學是沙門業 若能於此學 唯勝善無惡
Moral restraint has three ways of observing the causal marks of its own purity. What are the three? Observing bodily conduct; observing verbal conduct; observing mental conduct. …When one is about to undertake, or is on the verge of actually undertaking, a bodily action, one observes thus: is this bodily action of mine one that harms myself and harms others, unwholesome by nature, giving rise to manifold suffering, bringing a painful ripened result? Or is it one that harms neither myself nor others, wholesome by nature, giving rise to manifold happiness, bringing a pleasant ripened result? Having observed in this way — if one recognizes that this bodily action harms both self and other … one restrains oneself from this action, and gives it no opportunity. If one recognizes that this bodily action harms neither self nor other … one does not restrain, but instead performs it, giving it every opportunity. One also repeatedly examines bodily actions already performed in the past … one then confesses truthfully before a wise fellow practitioner, and confesses it away in accordance with the Dharma. …one gives rise to joy, abides in it day and night, and cultivates it further, again and again. …"Rāhula, regarding your bodily, verbal, and mental conduct, you should repeatedly and correctly observe it, recollecting the sacred teaching of all buddhas. Rāhula, you should train in this recluse's task — if you are able to train in this, there will be only excellent good, and no evil."
Master Cháng Bǎi walks through the method's full application: for bodily conduct about to be done or being done now, ask plainly whether it harms self and other and ripens into suffering, or harms neither and ripens into happiness — restraining the former, freely performing the latter; for bodily conduct already done in the past, apply the same test retrospectively, confessing before a wise fellow practitioner whatever proves harmful, and rejoicing in and continuing to cultivate whatever proves genuinely wholesome. Verbal conduct follows the identical pattern. Mental conduct receives its own emphasis, since a wrong train of thought, once indulged, tends to pull the mind along with real force — the antidote being to catch it early, redirect attention toward the Three Jewels or some other wholesome object, and never let an unwholesome thought simply run its course; a wholesome train of thought, by contrast, deserves active encouragement and repetition. Master Cháng Bǎi cites the *Dhammapada*'s opening line — "mind precedes all things, mind is their master, mind creates them" — to explain why mental purity ultimately matters most, since bodily and verbal conduct both follow from it. He then cites the Buddha's own instruction to his son Rāhula as scriptural confirmation: repeatedly and correctly examining one's own threefold conduct, recollecting the teaching of the buddhas, is itself "the recluse's task" — precisely the method just described, endorsed directly by the Buddha to his own child.
The three purities close with a two-step distillation: observation (asking, of any action, whether it harms or benefits self and other) and purification (restraining or confessing the harmful, freely performing and rejoicing in the beneficial) — the entire method compressed into these two moves, repeated across body, speech, and mind, and across past, present, and future.
18. Ten Excellent Virtues: From Freedom of Regret to the Fulfillment of Every Wish
The treatise now names ten excellent virtues that flow from genuinely pure discipline — beginning with a cascading sequence, each condition giving rise to the next, that carries a practitioner from simple freedom of regret all the way to self-knowing liberation, and closing with a peaceful, confident death.
如是清淨尸羅律儀，應知有十功德勝利。……謂諸所有具戒士夫補特伽羅，自觀戒淨，便得無悔；無悔故歡；歡故生喜；由心喜故，身得輕安；身輕安故，便受勝樂；樂故心定；心得定故，能如實知、能如實見；實知見故，便能起厭；能起厭故，便得離染；由離染故，證得解脫；得解脫故，便自知見我已解脫，乃至我能於無餘依般涅槃界當般涅槃。……復有所餘具戒士夫補特伽羅，於臨終時起如是念：我已善作身語意行，非我惡作身語意行……若有其趣，作福業者、作善業者、作能救濟諸怖畏者之所應往，我於斯趣必定當往。……如是獲得能往善趣第二無悔。由無悔恨所有士夫補特伽羅，名賢善死、賢善夭逝、賢善過往。
Such pure moral restraint should be known to have ten excellent virtues. …It is that any person possessing discipline, observing that discipline to be pure, thereby attains freedom from regret; from freedom of regret comes delight; from delight, joy arises; because the mind is joyful, the body attains ease; because the body is at ease, one then experiences excellent pleasure; because of that pleasure, the mind becomes concentrated; because the mind is concentrated, one is able to know and see things as they truly are; because of this true knowing and seeing, one is able to give rise to revulsion; because revulsion arises, one attains dispassion; because of dispassion, one realizes liberation; because of liberation, one knows and sees for oneself, "I am liberated" — even, in time, "I shall attain final nirvāṇa within the realm of nirvāṇa without residue." …There is, further, a person possessing discipline who, at the time of death, gives rise to this thought: "I have done only good through body, speech, and mind — I have done no evil through body, speech, or mind" … "wherever those who perform meritorious deeds, wholesome deeds, and deeds that rescue others from fear are destined to go, there I too shall certainly go." …This is called the second freedom from regret, the attainment of a favorable rebirth. Because of this freedom from regret, such a person is called one who dies well, passes away well, and departs well.
Master Cháng Bǎi traces the first virtue's full cascade: pure discipline first removes any basis for regret, and freedom from regret naturally blossoms into delight, then joy, then a bodily ease that follows directly from a joyful mind, then a genuine pleasure that arises from that ease, then a concentrated mind resting on that pleasure, then, once concentration is stable, direct knowledge and vision of things exactly as they are — impermanent, empty, selfless — which in turn gives rise to revulsion toward the aggregates, dispassion released from that revulsion, and finally liberation itself, self-known without need of outside confirmation, up to and including the final attainment of nirvāṇa without residue. Each link genuinely depends on the one before it, Master Cháng Bǎi stresses — there is no shortcut past freedom from regret to liberation directly.
The second virtue describes a specifically peaceful death: a disciplined person facing death reviews their own conduct, finds nothing to regret, and faces whatever comes next with the same confidence anyone bound for a good destination would have — Master Cháng Bǎi cites the *Mahāvibhāṣā*'s verse describing an arhat's own death this way, "pure conduct fully established, the noble path well cultivated, at life's end the mind rejoices, like casting aside a poisoned vessel" — the very aggregates themselves the "poison" being set down. A practitioner still short of arhatship experiences a milder version of the same confidence: no anxiety about where death leads, since a life free of wrongdoing naturally inclines toward a favorable rebirth, whether that death comes at the expected time or early — the point, Master Cháng Bǎi notes, is never really about lifespan, but about what fills whatever lifespan one is given.
19. Section: Virtues Three Through Ten, and Moral Discipline Closes at the Fascicle's True End
The remaining eight virtues follow in quick succession — a lasting good reputation, peaceful sleep and waking, protection from gods, fearlessness before violent people, unexpected protection even from enemies and spirits, easy material support, and, finally, every wish fulfilled, whether for a favorable rebirth in any of the three realms or for nirvāṇa itself. With the tenth virtue named, the treatise closes moral discipline — the fourth of the fourteen provisions — in its entirety, and the source text ends here, exactly at this closing exhortation.
復有所餘具戒士夫補特伽羅，遍諸方域，妙善稱譽聲頌普聞……寢安、悎安，遠離一切身心熱惱……若寢、若悎，諸天保護……於他凶暴不慮其惡，無諸怖畏，心離驚恐……諸喜殺者、怨讎惡友，雖得其隙，亦常保護……一切魍魎、藥叉、宅神、非人之類，雖得其便、雖得其隙，而常保護……法無艱難，從他獲得種種利養……一切所願皆得稱遂……若復願樂當證最極究竟涅槃，由戒淨故，便證一切究竟離欲。是名第十尸羅律儀功德勝利。……於此宣說明了開示一切種相，最極圓滿資糧所攝尸羅律儀。若有自愛樂沙門性、婆羅門性諸善男子，應勤修學。
There is, further, a person possessing discipline whose excellent reputation and praise spread and are heard throughout every region … who sleeps in peace and wakes in peace, free of all bodily and mental distress … who, whether sleeping or waking, is protected by the gods … who, before the violent, feels no concern for their malice, no fear at all, the mind free of alarm … whom even those who delight in killing, enemies and ill-wishers, though given the opportunity, nonetheless protect … whom even every kind of spirit, yakṣa, house-deity, and nonhuman being, though given the opportunity, nonetheless constantly protects … for whom the path is without hardship, readily receiving offerings of every kind from others … all of whose wishes are fulfilled … and who, wishing to realize the utmost, final nirvāṇa, thereby realizes complete and final freedom from desire, because of discipline's purity. This is the tenth excellent virtue of moral restraint. …Here it has been clearly taught and revealed, in every one of its aspects, the moral restraint comprised within the most perfectly complete provisions for the path. Whatever good sons genuinely delight in the recluse's nature, the brahmin's nature, should diligently train in this.
Master Cháng Bǎi moves quickly through the remaining virtues: a reputation for genuine discipline spreads widely and endures; sleep and waking alike are undisturbed by the mental turmoil that guilt or fear would otherwise bring; the gods themselves watch over a disciplined person day and night; even encountering violent people brings no fear, since a life free of harming others leaves nothing to be afraid of in return; remarkably, even those with active reason for hostility — rivals, would-be killers — tend to leave a genuinely disciplined person alone or even protect them, sensing they pose no threat; nonhuman beings, spirits, and local deities extend the same unexpected protection; society's ordinary economic support — from kings down to common householders — comes easily, since people are naturally inclined to support someone visibly trustworthy; and finally, every wish is fulfilled, whether for a favorable human or heavenly rebirth in the desire realm exactly where one wishes, entry into any of the form or formless absorptions, or, for those who wish it, complete and final liberation itself. Master Cháng Bǎi closes by summarizing everything this long section has covered — discipline's six components, the ten impairments and their ten mirror-fulfillments, the six poetic names, the three purities, and now these ten virtues — as together constituting the complete, most perfect provision moral discipline represents, urging every genuine seeker of the recluse's path to train diligently in exactly what has just been explained.
Fascicle 22's source text ends exactly here, at this closing exhortation — moral discipline, the fourth of the fourteen provisions for both paths of detachment, now complete in its entirety, after occupying nearly the whole of this fascicle. Fascicle 23 should open onto the fifth provision, restraint of the faculties, continuing the remaining ten provisions still to come.
Fascicle 22 Complete
Fascicle 22 opens the Ground of Setting Out Toward Liberation with mundane and supramundane detachment, then devotes almost its entire length to a single, extraordinarily rich provision: moral discipline. What began as a simple sixfold structure — abiding in complete discipline, guarding each precept, perfected protocol and conduct, fearing even minor faults, and training in every point — opened into ten ways discipline can falter, ten mirror-image ways it is fulfilled, six poetic names praising its function, a standing threefold method for examining one's own conduct, and ten excellent virtues culminating in liberation itself. Fascicle 23 will open onto new territory: restraint of the faculties, the fifth of the fourteen provisions still to be covered before the Ground of Setting Out Toward Liberation's account of detachment is complete.