Freedom from Desire, Same Portion, and Mere Action — Complete

This opens Freedom from Desire and the Rest (離欲等攝), the fourth of 處擇攝's four particular verses under its first overall summary verse. Fascicle 89 covered the first, Establishing (安立攝); fascicle 90 covered the second and third, Wisdom (智攝) and Sameness and Equality (同等攝), both now closed entirely. This fascicle opens the fourth and final one, naming six topics to be explained in turn: freedom from desire and its absence, questioning, causes and conditions, the path of defilement, preserving life, and attachment to place.

Whatever object is met, across all three times, both kinds of practitioner still lacking full purification think and act from a center of self, self's possession, and conceit — this is called grasping-consciousness, and its root latent tendencies, unbroken, follow the practitioner constantly through the five-aggregate continuum. With this, matching the explanation (配釋) closes entirely, closing bringing forth the defiled case (舉有雜染) entirely.

Once self-grasping, self-possession, and conceit are cut off, no attachment, no contact, no grasping remains, and one is fully capable of attesting to ultimate nirvāṇa in this very life. The companion sūtras have the householder Ugra ask the Buddha why some monks see reality and attain nirvāṇa while others do not: those whose consciousness, at contact with any of the six sense-objects, still gives rise to craving, recollection, and attachment remain bound and cannot see the Dharma and attain nirvāṇa in this life, whether or not they have attained concentration; those free of such craving, recollection, and attachment, well guarding the sense-doors, are able to see reality and may attain nirvāṇa even in this very life — the same teaching repeats for Ānanda's own question and for the Buddha's self-posed question to the monks. With this, the undefiled case (例無雜染) closes entirely, closing freedom from desire and its absence (離欲未離欲), the first of the six topics under freedom from desire and the rest, entirely.

A doubt left unspoken becomes a loss for the one who fails to ask; and unless the deeper meaning is drawn out through question and answer, later generations — of duller faculties than those who heard the Buddha directly — will struggle to receive the true teaching purely, so the Buddha's own questioning serves to keep it alive for them. The companion sūtras have the householder Ugra, then Ānanda, then the Buddha himself ask the identical question of why some monks attain nirvāṇa and others do not, each answered with the same teaching on craving, recollection, and attachment at contact with the six sense-objects. With this, explaining the purpose (釋其所為) closes entirely, closing explaining the last of the four in turn (隨釋後一) entirely, and closing Questioning (問), the second of the six topics, entirely.

Form, sound, and the rest of the six external objects, unlike the faculties, are constantly changing and hold no afflictive seeds of their own, nor persist as one unchanging kind — hence they serve only as condition, not cause. The companion sūtra has a monk ask the Buddha directly what gives rise to each of the six consciousnesses, and the Buddha answer with the identical formula six times over: eye-consciousness arises in dependence on the eye faculty and its condition, form; and so likewise for ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. With this, the external six bases as condition (外六處為緣) closes entirely, closing Causes and Conditions (因緣), the third of the six topics under Freedom from Desire and the Rest, entirely.

What grasps is the five internal pure form faculties together with mind, mentation, consciousness, and every mental factor — the eight consciousness-kings and their companions in Mahāyāna terms; what is grasped is the six external objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas — the internal and external bases are where affliction most readily takes hold. The companion sūtras have the Buddha teach unprompted that the "dharmas bound by fetters" are the six internal and six external bases, while the "fettering dharma" itself is craving for desire — and, in a second sūtra, that the "dharmas grasped" are these same twelve bases, while the "grasping" itself is again craving for desire. With this, the path of activity (行路) closes entirely, closing the Path of Defilement (染路), the fourth of the six topics, entirely.

Unlike the melancholy an ordinary poet feels before impermanence, this contemplation is joined with genuine joy, seeing impermanence exactly as it is — since no one knows whether the next breath or the next life will come first, the moment any unwholesome thought is noticed calls for immediate, earnest effort to counter it, ceaselessly reinforcing the mindfulness of impermanence. With this, proper attention as one's support (如理作意為所依止) closes entirely.

The eight kinds of unwholesome discursive thought — of desire, ill will, harm, homeland, kinfolk, immortality, family status, and contempt — should likewise be released the moment they arise, denied any continuity, since defilement without continuity has no power to disturb. With this, distinguishing severally (別辨) — the times of walking and of abiding — closes entirely.

Grasping at marks and particulars while walking is a resembling cause; the same kind of unwholesome discursive thought recurring while seated afterward is its resembling fruit — not identical, but continuous with it, the way a quarrel's agitation replays itself the moment one sits to meditate. Because the mind's formations are always continuous, cause and effect can be distinguished even within a single continuing kind. With this, weighing further (料簡) closes entirely, closing discerning the times (辨時位) entirely.

A single moment's clear-eyed shame at affliction's danger is already a great good; sustaining that vigilance is better still — one's own store of merit and wisdom, built through proper attention, is the truest refuge against an unwholesome death. The companion sūtras open with the Buddha's own vivid vow: better to sear the eyes with a burning copper plate, pierce the ears with a red-hot awl, sever the nose or tongue with a blade, or pierce the body with a spear, than to grasp at any sense-object's mark or particulars and sink like an iron ball into the evil destinies — better even to sleep one's life away in dull ignorance than to let feeling toward any such object take root and breed quarrels and disputes; the noble disciple instead resolves to see all six faculties, objects, and their feelings as impermanent, illusion-like, dependently arisen, thereby growing weary, unattached, and liberated. A long cycle of companion sūtras follows — twenty-four sūtras on not knowing, not recognizing, not cutting off, and not being free of desire toward each of the six faculties preventing the end of suffering; seven sūtras on Māra's "hook" — craving, delight, praise, attachment, steadfastness, joy, and resentment toward each faculty binding one like a fish hooked through the throat; and a "four-part dharma discourse" distinguishing the monk who reacts with craving or aversion to delightful and undelightful objects (still bound by Māra) from the monk who neither clings nor recoils (free of Māra's hold). With this, concluding that one should be freed (結應脫) closes entirely, closing freeing the mind from two defilements (於二雜染應解脫其心) entirely, and closing Preserving Life (保命), the fifth of the six topics under Freedom from Desire and the Rest, entirely.

Not knowing the eye (and the other five faculties) as dependently arisen, impermanent, suffering, and without self prevents cutting off the craving that arises from it and so prevents the true ending of suffering — a teaching repeated across twenty-four companion sūtras, four for each of the six faculties, on not knowing, not recognizing, not cutting off, and not being free of desire. A further cycle likens craving for any of the six faculties to Māra's own fishhook, catching whichever ascetic or brahmin is caught by the throat and unable to win free — delight, praise, attachment, steadfastness, joy, and resentment toward a faculty are named seven such hooks in turn, first for the internal six bases, then again for the external six. A closing "four-part dharma discourse" teaches that a monk who reacts with craving or aversion to delightful and undelightful objects remains bound to Māra, while one who neither clings nor recoils toward either is freed from Māra's hold entirely. With this, suffering, affliction, and the rest close entirely, closing the painful phrases (釋順苦句) entirely, closing explaining what is difficult (隨難釋) entirely, and closing the distinctions among defilement's resting-places (雜染著安足處差別), the first of three matters under Attachment to Place and the Rest, entirely.

Nirvāṇa lies entirely beyond the reach of both external and internal defilement, and so beyond Māra's reach as well. The companion sūtra tells of Māra disguising himself as a herdsman to accost the Buddha on his alms round, then, recognized, boasting that the six contact-bases are "his own cattle" — the very internal-feeling defilement just explained — and that since all things belong to him, the Buddha can go nowhere beyond his domain. The Buddha replies that the five aggregates hold no self at all, so Māra's claim of ownership fails at the root; Māra presses further, asking why the Buddha, if free, still teaches others the same path, and the Buddha answers that he teaches precisely so that others too may cross to nirvāṇa's far shore and win lasting freedom from Māra's hold. Māra, comparing himself to a crow pecking hopefully at a stone shaped like meat, only to break its beak and fly off in shame, departs defeated and dejected. With this, weighing further (料簡) closes entirely, closing external-object and internal-feeling defilement (外境內受雜染差別), the second of three matters under Attachment to Place and the Rest, entirely.

Fifteen companion sūtras map one-to-one onto the fifteen marks — habituation, binding, attachment, savoring, closeness, accumulation, subjection, upholding, attachment, self's-possession, longing, craving, heaviness, sweetness, and an inability to relinquish — each describing how a practitioner who habituates any of the six faculties toward its objects remains controlled by Māra and unable to escape his bondage, while one free of such habituation escapes Māra's hold entirely.

With this citation, the distinct marks of craving-and-view defilement (愛見雜染諸相差別), the third of three matters, closes entirely, closing Attachment to Place and the Rest (著處等), the sixth and final topic under Freedom from Desire and the Rest, entirely. With all six topics of its own summary verse now complete — freedom from desire and its absence, questioning, causes and conditions, the path of defilement, preserving life, and attachment to place — Freedom from Desire and the Rest (離欲等攝) closes entirely. This is the fourth and last of the four particular verses named under 處擇攝's FIRST overall summary verse (安立攝, 智攝, 同等攝, and now 離欲等攝) — so this first overall verse, in its entirety, closes here. As established back in fascicle 89, 處擇攝 (the sense-bases section) itself rests on TWO overall summary verses, not one; its second overall verse, naming four further particular verses, opens next within this very fascicle — 處擇攝 as a whole does not yet close.

This opens the second overall summary verse (第二總別) of the sense-bases section (處擇攝), naming four further particular verses to come: the cause of the same portion and the rest (因同分等攝, opening now), mere action and the rest (唯作緣等攝), superior-grade craving and the rest (上品貪等攝), and abiding mostly afterward and the rest (後多住等攝) — the last two continuing into fascicle 92.

Consciousness arises and perishes moment by moment, never pausing even for an instant — a third confirmation, alongside self-view's rootlessness and the countless variety of basis and object, that nothing self-like could ever be found within it. By these three marks, affliction is cut off and non-self entered at any time and place. The companion sūtra has Ānanda question Venerable Mahāpuṇḍa step by step: the eye and its object are impermanent, hence eye-consciousness born from them cannot abide unchanging even a moment, and no noble disciple, seeing this arising-and-perishing, would take it as self, as different from self, as self's possession, or as mutually contained with self — the same for each remaining faculty. Ānanda then likens this to a man felling a banana tree in search of solid timber, stripping it layer by layer only to find the trunk entirely hollow at the core — just as consciousness, examined this way, yields nothing graspable, and, grasping nothing, clings to nothing, and, clinging to nothing, awakens of itself to nirvāṇa. With this citation, the third mark closes entirely, closing rightly observing the various consciousnesses by three marks (由三種相正觀諸識) entirely, closing distinct explanation (別釋) entirely, and closing the Cause of the Same Portion (因同分), the first of the nine topics under the Cause of the Same Portion and the Rest, entirely.

Whether provisional cessation in the remainder-bound nirvāṇa (no longer grasping at marks, though objects can still be perceived) or the ultimate cessation of the remainderless nirvāṇa (the six bases never arising again), the state of constant quiescence admits none of the four modes — existence, non-existence, difference, non-difference — since every trace of discriminating proliferation has ceased there entirely. With this, the six bases' cessation (六處滅無) closes entirely, closing the four modes (四行相) entirely.

Elsewhere the treatise defines proliferating discourse as every affliction together with the aggregates it infects — three-realm mind and mental factors carrying affliction's defilement at their root, from which every fruitless utterance springs. The companion sūtra has Ānanda press Śāriputra four times over — after the six contact-bases' cessation, is there a remainder? is there no remainder? both? neither? — and Śāriputra rejects each formulation in turn as itself proliferating discourse, since asserting any of the four about what lies beyond all such categories is to import discriminating language into a state where it no longer applies. With this citation, the reason (釋) closes entirely, closing naming proliferating discourse (名戲論) entirely, and closing Volition (思), the second of the nine topics under the Cause of the Same Portion and the Rest, entirely.

Bondage and liberation both turn entirely on the presence or absence of craving for desire in the mind, not on the object itself. The companion sūtra has Mahākoṭṭhita ask Śāriputra whether the eye binds form or form binds the eye, and so for each remaining faculty — Śāriputra answers that neither binds the other, illustrating with two oxen, one black and one white, yoked together by a single crossbar: it is neither ox that binds the other, but the yoke and harness between them. Just so, it is neither the faculty nor the object that binds, but the craving for desire between them — were it otherwise, the Buddha could never have taught the holy life leading to the very end of suffering. Whether the Buddha himself, seeing any form, good or bad, never gives rise to craving, while other beings do, shows plainly that the deciding factor is never the object encountered but always the mind that meets it — like passing through a field of flowers untouched by a single petal. With this citation, liberation (解脫) closes entirely, closing Bondage and Liberation (縛解脫), the third of the nine topics under the Cause of the Same Portion and the Rest, entirely.

Only the Buddha's wisdom and severance of affliction are wholly perfect and unsurpassed — the Great Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra itself has the Buddha tell Śāriputra that a bodhisattva's single day of practice outweighs a śrāvaka's entire lifetime, since the bodhisattva vows to benefit beings across all future time, which the śrāvaka does not; still, the śrāvaka's own attainment — regarding the body as grass and the mind as a mere reflection, meeting any object without change of face or heart — remains genuinely remarkable. The first companion sūtra has Mahākoṭṭhita ask Śāriputra what ignorance is, and Śāriputra answer: not truly knowing the eye (and the other faculties) as impermanent and as a phenomenon of arising and perishing is ignorance, a great darkness covering the mind; truly knowing this, by contrast, is knowledge. The second, far longer sūtra tells of Venerable Upasena, bitten by a small venomous snake while meditating in a cave; feeling his body about to crumble like chaff, he calls Śāriputra, who finds his face and faculties utterly unchanged and asks why — Upasena explains that having permanently cut off every notion of self and self's possession regarding the six faculties, the elements, and the five aggregates, his face could show no change at all, "like a palm tree severed at the root, never to sprout again." Carried outside, his body does crumble at the first touch of ground, and Śāriputra, without a trace of grief, offers four verses on the four joys just explained — the fourth comparing the world, seen with wisdom, to filthy weeds one will never again seek out or let continue. The Buddha, hearing of this, teaches Śāriputra the very verses and protective mantra of loving-kindness — toward every being with no legs, two legs, four legs, or many, on land or in water, without limit — that would have spared Upasena the snake's poison entirely, so that future disciples might be protected by it instead. With this citation, the Tathāgatas' own portion (諸如來攝) closes entirely, closing a further distinction (簡差別) entirely, closing explaining what is difficult (隨難釋, together with attaining the joy of liberation) entirely, and closing Marks (相), the fourth of the nine topics under the Cause of the Same Portion and the Rest, entirely.

Neither "self" nor "other" is ever truly found apart from this threefold coming-together — both are only provisional labels for it. The lengthy companion sūtra tells of Venerable Udāyī, staying near the brāhmaṇī Verañjā's hermitage, whose young pupils bring word of his excellent teaching; invited to a meal, she first receives him with visible disrespect — shod, head covered, seated above him — and he, honoring the Dharma too much to teach under such conditions, declines to answer her question each time, simply saying "now is not the time." Only when her pupils explain why does she correct her manner — unshod, properly dressed, seated below him — and he agrees to answer her question on the four wrong theories of pleasure and pain (self-made, other-made, both, neither), replying that the arhat instead teaches a fifth: that pleasure and pain arise dependent on contact at the six bases, walking her through each faculty in turn to confirm this, and further that when the six faculties cease entirely without remainder, the feelings dependent on their contact cease as well. Hearing this, Verañjā attains the pure Dharma-eye, sees, obtains, knows, and enters the Dharma, crosses beyond doubt, and takes refuge in the Three Jewels for the rest of her life. With this citation, displaying what is right (顯正) closes entirely, closing Pervasive Contact (觸遍), the fifth of the nine topics under the Cause of the Same Portion and the Rest, entirely.

All four marks together — equal diligence, freedom from conceit, freedom from craving for concentration's fruit, and skillful, lasting upholding — culminate in the arhat's fruit itself. With this, the conclusion (結) closes entirely, closing being able to permanently exhaust the contaminants (能永盡漏), the first of two matters under Resolute Understanding, entirely.

The third ordinary being attains concentration through contentment and few desires; the fourth, a stream-entrant through non-returner, has seen the four truths directly though not yet perfected the six-base resolute understanding; the fifth, the arhat, has perfected it fully. With this, the five kinds of persons close entirely. Combined with the six-base resolute understanding and the three trainings already explained, explaining the distinctions (釋其差別) — the first of its own four matters — closes entirely; a further matter, the trainings' support, follows.

Craving's exhaustion cuts off what would bring a future rebirth; grasping's exhaustion cuts off attachment to what is already present. With this, explaining the last three names (釋後三名) closes entirely, closing the trainings' support (三學所依) entirely, and closing explaining the distinctions (釋其差別), the second of two matters under being able to record what is understood (能記所解), entirely.

The learner's mind-liberation and wisdom-liberation, though genuinely secure against future abandonment, still fall short of the unlearner's full capacity — diminished relative to that ultimate attainment, though already well beyond the first three ordinary persons. With this, the fourth person (第四補特伽羅) closes entirely.

Having genuinely completed the task, the arhat's own record of attainment is neither boastful self-elevation nor a comparison meant to belittle others, but a plain statement of fact. With this, concluding the right record (結正記) closes entirely, closing displaying accomplishment (明成就) entirely.

All craving for the sense-realm's fine objects having ceased, the arhat's mind holds only wholesome and indeterminate dharmas, nothing unwholesome ever arising again — internally abiding, not narrow, well liberated, well cultivated, and uniformly wholesome and faultless together describe the arhat's full attainment. The companion sūtra tells of Śroṇa Koṭikarṇa, a former wealthy layman turned monk, sitting in discouragement on Vulture Peak, thinking himself among the most diligent of the Buddha's disciples yet still unliberated, and considering a return to lay life where he could at least practice generosity with his wealth. The Buddha, reading his mind, summons him and asks whether he was skilled at the lute (vīṇā) as a layman — yes — and whether a string pulled too tight, or too loose, produces a fine tone — no, in both cases — only a string tuned neither too tight nor too loose. Just so, the Buddha teaches, diligence too intense breeds agitation and regret, too slack breeds laziness — one should cultivate diligence in balance, without craving, without negligence, without grasping at signs. Remembering this lute simile, Śroṇa Koṭikarṇa soon exhausts every contaminant and attains arhatship, then returns to the Buddha to declare his attainment: liberation from desire, from ill will, through seclusion, through craving's exhaustion, through grasping's exhaustion, and through the mind's never forgetting — the six liberations matching exactly the six resolute understandings explained above — insisting that each is genuine only once craving, aversion, and delusion are truly exhausted, not merely claimed on the strength of a little faith, a little precept-keeping, or a little concentration. He compares the learner to an infant only gradually maturing into an adult's full faculties, and the arhat's unshakable mind to a great rock unmoved by the four winds, whatever object the six faculties meet. His closing verses affirm liberation in all six respects, a mind at rest with nothing further to do, and steadfastness before any of the six objects, pleasant or unpleasant alike. The Buddha, hearing this, praises it to the other monks as the model for how an arhat should rightly record his own attainment — neither through the conceit of one who has not truly attained boasting that he has, a grave and fault-ridden lie, nor through false modesty, but through plain, accurate self-knowledge. With this citation, uniformly wholesome and faultless (一向善而無罪) closes entirely, closing bringing forth different names (出異名) entirely, closing the fifth person (第五補特伽羅) entirely, closing weighing superior and inferior (料簡勝劣) entirely, and closing Resolute Understanding (勝解), the sixth of the nine topics under the Cause of the Same Portion and the Rest, entirely.

The Compendium defines the power of discernment as deeply seeing the danger in every evil conduct, present and future, and thereby rightly discerning how to still evil conduct and cultivate wholesome conduct; resting on this, cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness and the rest of the factors of awakening is called the power of cultivation. Lacking both, the mind simply follows wherever objects lead it, breeding affliction. With this, unskillful cultivation closes entirely, closing distinguishing the difference (辨差別) entirely.

With this summary, one unable to closely guard the sense-doors (不能密護根門) closes entirely.

Possessing both the power of discernment (seeing sense-desire's danger clearly enough that affliction never arises) and the power of cultivation (attaining, in samādhi, the wisdom that cuts affliction off), such a one closely guards every sense-door, never letting affliction take hold, until the path itself uproots it entirely. The companion sūtra tells of young brahmin pupils mocking Mahākātyāyana as an ignorant, shaved-head ascetic unworthy of their teacher Lohicca's reverence; Mahākātyāyana, after being ignored three times, teaches them a verse contrasting the ancient true brahmins — who kept the sense-doors closed, mastered speech, and dwelt in loving-kindness, attaining recollection of past lives through pure precepts — with the false ascetics of the present, who merely wear braided hair, hides, and ash while chasing gain, "guarding no sense-door, like treasure gained only in a dream." The offended pupils report this to Lohicca as slander; Lohicca, unconvinced at first, confronts Mahākātyāyana directly, hears the verse for himself, grows angry, then falls silent and asks what "a door" even means. Mahākātyāyana explains: the eye is a door, since it sees form, and so for each remaining faculty. Delighted, Lohicca asks what "not guarding the door" means — an unlearned ordinary being, seeing form, gives rise to craving or aversion without abiding in mindfulness of the body, fails to truly know mind- and wisdom-liberation, and so remains restless in body and mind. Asked what "well guarding the door" means, Mahākātyāyana explains: a learned noble disciple, seeing form, gives rise to neither craving nor aversion, constantly gathers the mind, and abides in mindfulness of the body, coming truly to know the immeasurable mind- and wisdom-liberation of the noble path; every unwholesome dharma in the six spheres is thereby extinguished without remainder, the arhat's fruit attained, mind- and wisdom-liberation fulfilled, bodily misconduct stilled, and right mindfulness secured — this is called the first door's skillful taming, guarding, and cultivation, and so equally for each remaining faculty. Lohicca, comparing the teaching to seeking poison and finding nectar instead, departs in joy rather than anger. With this citation, one well able to closely guard the sense-doors (善能密護根門) closes entirely, closing Guarding the Sense-Doors (護根門), the seventh of the nine topics under the Cause of the Same Portion and the Rest, entirely.

The Decisions on the Level of What Is Accomplished by Hearing name sixteen such underlying intents; different practitioners may enter the same teaching through entirely different doors, and the Buddha's own teaching, expounded countless ways for countless kinds of hearers, remains rightly recorded so long as it does not contradict the Dharma's true nature. The companion sūtra cycle has a group of monks debate the meaning of a verse from the Pārāyaṇa's Tissametteyya chapter on "the two edges," "the middle," and "the binding" — five monks propose five different readings in turn (the six internal versus six external bases; the past versus the future; pleasant versus painful feeling; existence versus its origin; the body versus the body's origin — each pairing "feeling" or "craving" as the middle and "craving" as the binding), unable to agree, and bring the dispute to the Buddha. The Buddha praises every one of their five readings as good and rightly entered into that same underlying intent, then offers a sixth of his own: contact as one edge, the origin of contact as the other, feeling as the middle, and craving as the binding that draws beings on to further rebirth — the same structure, one further variation among many equally valid ones. With this citation, the two marks close entirely, closing Teaching (教授), the eighth of the nine topics under the Cause of the Same Portion and the Rest, entirely.

Whatever robes, food, medicine, or bedding come one's way, good or meager, contentment and freedom from hoarding mark an unchanged mind, as does freedom from longing for family — the mind kept singly and purely on practice. With this, delighting in the noble teaching (愛樂聖教), the first of two matters under Marks, closes entirely.

Should craving still arise despite this, one rebukes it at once and turns away from its danger. With this, bringing forth different names (出異名) — well-protecting the body, well-guarding the faculties, and well-abiding in mindfulness — closes entirely, closing guarding the sense-doors (密護根門), the first of two matters under countering lustful craving, entirely.

Well-protecting, well-guarding, and well-abiding together secure the ground on which the first two antidotes — the perception of what should not be done and the perception of utter impurity — can actually take hold. The companion sūtra has King Udayana ask Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja why young monks, barely gone forth, are so radiantly content and steadfast in the holy life for life. The answer comes in three parts, matching the three antidotes: first, the Buddha's own teaching to regard an old woman as one's mother, a woman of middle years as one's sister, and a young girl as one's daughter; second — when the king presses that affection can still smolder into desire even toward family — the contemplation of the body's thirty-six impure substances, from hair to urine, skull to marrow; and third — when the king presses further that the mind changes swiftly and purity-perception can just as quickly fade — closely guarding the sense-doors, well restraining each faculty so that worldly craving and evil states cannot bind the mind. The king confirms this from his own experience: entering his palace without guarding his faculties, the three poisons blaze up even in solitude; entering with his faculties well guarded, they do not blaze even amid the palace's temptations. With this citation, reflecting on the two perceptions (思惟二想) closes entirely, closing countering lustful craving (對治婬貪), the second of two matters under Marks, entirely, closing Marks (相), the ninth and final topic under the Cause of the Same Portion and the Rest, entirely — and, with all nine topics now complete (the cause of the same portion, volition, bondage and liberation, marks, pervasive contact, resolute understanding, guarding the sense-doors, teaching, and marks once more), closing the Cause of the Same Portion and the Rest (因同分等攝), the FIRST particular verse under 處擇攝's SECOND overall summary verse, ENTIRELY.

This opens Mere Action and the Rest (唯作緣等攝), the second particular verse under 處擇攝's second overall summary verse, naming twelve topics across two verses: mere condition (唯緣), discursive thought (尋思), the vow (願), restraint of every kind (一切種律儀), entering the noble teaching without protection (入聖教不護), well-prepared supreme provisions (勝資糧善備), abandoning the training (捨所學), attachment to place (著處), unwholesome meaning (不善義), following the current (隨流), the bodhisattva surpassing other vehicles (菩薩勝餘乘), and positing the treatise (論施設) as the last. These correspond to Saṃyukta Āgama sūtras 206 through 218 in turn.

The hand does not decide, of itself, to grasp a cup — the mind decides, and the seed behind that decision is the true cause, the hand only the condition through which it is carried out; the six contact-bases stand in exactly the same relation to feeling. The companion sūtra has the Buddha teach that just as having hands enables grasping and releasing, having feet enables walking, having joints enables bending and stretching, and having a stomach enables hunger and thirst to be known, so having eyes gives rise to eye-contact and the feeling that follows, and likewise for each remaining faculty — while lacking any of these physical means, the corresponding activity or feeling cannot arise at all. Master Maitreya's own commentary draws this further toward Consciousness-Only teaching: bodily movement, hunger, and the six kinds of sense-cognition all trace back most fundamentally to the mind's own seeds, which, upon ripening, manifest as the corresponding faculty and object. With this citation, the analogy applied (喻合) closes entirely, closing Mere Condition (唯緣), the first of the twelve topics under Mere Action and the Rest, entirely.

Contentious speech breeds endless idle proliferation and, with it, ever more affliction. With this, displaying its decline (出其衰損) closes entirely, closing thoughts arising from desires (諸欲所起), the first of two matters under Discursive Thought, entirely.

Outsiders, taking self-view as their root, speculate endlessly — eternalist, annihilationist, finite or infinite, percipient or non-percipient — all born of the same delusive discursive thought a noble disciple has left behind. The companion sūtra likens a monk who guards the sense-doors to a tortoise withdrawing its head, tail, and limbs into its shell at a hungry jackal's approach, so that the jackal, unable to seize any opening, eventually gives up in frustration — just so, a monk who guards each faculty gives Māra no opening, and Māra, unable to control him, eventually withdraws in disgust. With this, thoughts arising from views (諸見所起) closes entirely, closing Discursive Thought (尋思), the second of the twelve topics under Mere Action and the Rest, entirely.

Two reasons together make this bond "the subtlest of the subtle": it forms in a single instant of thought, and its presence is recognized only through especially deep wisdom. The companion sūtra opens with an analogy of parched barley struck by six strong men and then a seventh — the ordinary being, already pounded by the six contact-bases' feelings and afflictions, is pounded finer still by a seventh blow: the wish for future existence. The Buddha then catalogues every kind of clinging that likewise shakes the mind — to the five aggregates as self or as self's possession, to future existence or its negation, to a future body with form or without, with perception, without it, or neither — each producing the same disease-like, boil-like, thorn-like agitation, all traced back to craving as their root, whether self-love, love of future existence, love of a particular rebirth-realm, or love of present enjoyment. The Buddha then recounts a battle between the gods and asuras: the asura king Vemacitrin, captured and bound with five bonds, enjoys heavenly pleasures all the same in the god's palace — but the instant he thinks proudly that only the asuras are truly wise and he will return home, he sees himself bound and the pleasures vanish; the instant he thinks instead that the gods too are wise and he may as well remain, his bonds loosen and the pleasures return. Even the asura king's bondage, the Buddha teaches, is this subtle — how much more so the bondage of Māra's own affliction, which forms and dissolves with a single change of mind. With this citation, explaining the name (釋其得名) closes entirely, closing applying the analogy (合法) entirely, closing explaining (釋) entirely, closing displaying the subtlest of bonds (顯縛極細) entirely, and closing the Vow (願), the third of the twelve topics under Mere Action and the Rest, entirely.

Just as an ox let loose ruins a farmer's whole field, an unguarded craving-mind, once it takes hold, tramples every wholesome root already cultivated. With this, displaying craving's entanglement (顯貪纏) closes entirely, closing explaining (釋) entirely.

This is a subtle standard — merely the unguarded rising of craving in the mind, whether or not it is ever acted upon, already counts as non-restraint for a monk. With this, the conclusion (結) closes entirely, closing Non-Restraint (非律儀) entirely.

The sixth consciousness's own discrimination is what breeds craving and its trailing dangers — attending properly, with these dangers held clearly in view, including the danger of clinging to concentration's own feeling as if permanent, is what secures freedom from desire. With this, concluding freedom from desire (結離欲) closes entirely, closing observing feelings (觀諸受), the first of two matters under explaining the contemplation of impermanence, entirely.

"Mode" names coarse versus calm activity, by which the lower is wearied of and the higher favored to attain concentration; "condition" names the shift of the four great elements as one crosses from a lower to a higher ground, producing new bodily sensations; "mark" names both the object-mark (as when impurity-contemplation makes an impure image appear to the mind) and the causal mark (the requisite conditions — sense-restraint, precept-restraint, moderation in food, and the rest — needed to enter concentration at all). Entry, abiding, and exit each vary further with each of these, so that, as with bodhisattvas able to enter a hundred or a thousand samādhis, the distinctions run into the hundreds. With this, the distinctions by timing (時分別) close entirely, closing observing the distinctions (觀差別), the second of three matters under explaining the contemplation of impermanence, entirely.

Feeling is not merely a sensation but also a fruit, and the future fruit's cause is precisely the vow for future existence explained earlier — where such longing persists, future feeling, and so future existence, inevitably follows, and all of it, being conditionally produced, is impermanent, from the first dhyāna up through the very peak of worldly existence. With this, through its cause (言因故) closes entirely, closing observing three marks (觀三相) entirely, and closing explaining the contemplation of impermanence (釋觀無常), the second of three matters under the superior grade of restraint, entirely.

Though grounded in concentration and genuine insight into impermanence, this contemplation has not yet reached the undefiled path, and so remains, still, a worldly restraint. With this, concluding "superior grade" (結名上品) closes entirely, closing the superior grade of restraint (上品律儀), the third of three matters under distinguishing the marks (辨相), entirely.

The inferior grade corresponds to hearing-produced wisdom and the middling to reflection-produced wisdom, both belonging to the power of discernment; the superior grade, grounded in genuine concentration, belongs to the power of cultivation. With this, displaying what subsumes them (明攝) closes entirely, closing the three grades of restraint (三品律儀), the third of five matters under explaining the marks, entirely.

Innate self-grasping and conceit, still present even after the learner's discriminated afflictions are cut off, are finally exhausted only at the arhat's own unlearner restraint — for the Śrāvaka vehicle, the highest restraint attainable, with nothing beyond it. The first companion sūtra returns to the farmer-and-ox parable in full: a negligent field-watcher lets the ox of craving, aversion, and delusion trample the wholesome sprouts, while a diligent one drives it off with a firm hand on its nose and a switch to its flanks until, remembering the beating, it never returns — just so should a noble disciple, feeling affliction stir at contact with any of the six sense-objects, generate deep aversion and fear, settling the mind resolutely on a single object. The second tells of an ancient king so enchanted by the sound of a lute that he demands the sound itself be brought to him; told this is impossible, since sound depends on the instrument's parts and a skilled player working together, and that the sound already heard has long since vanished beyond recall, the king has the lute smashed into a hundred pieces and scattered — form, feeling, perception, volition, and desire, the Buddha teaches, are exactly the same: conditioned, mind-dependent, and, once their conditions pass, utterly ungraspable, however much they are called "I" or "mine" in the moment. With this citation, the unlearner's restraint (無學律儀) closes entirely, closing explaining the marks (釋相), all five matters (restraint, non-restraint, the three grades, the learner's restraint, and the unlearner's restraint) complete, entirely, and closing Restraint of Every Kind (一切種律儀), the fourth of the twelve topics under Mere Action and the Rest, entirely.

With this, being censured (譏毀所作) closes entirely, closing distinguishing the four kinds of present-life suffering (辨), regret, resentment, avoidance, and censure together, entirely.

With this, the conclusion (結) closes entirely, closing creating present-life suffering (造現法苦) entirely, and closing explaining the distinctions (釋差別) — future-life and present-life suffering together — entirely.

With this, the general conclusion (總結名) closes entirely, closing bringing forth manifold suffering (出造眾苦), the first of two matters under Entering the Noble Teaching Without Protection, entirely.

With this, the conclusion (結) closes entirely, closing bringing forth non-restraint (出非律儀), the first of two matters under explaining protection and the rest, entirely.

Without truly seeing non-restraint's danger, the beast-like faculties remain untamed and reflection-wisdom's power remains incomplete. With this, what is faulty (有失) closes entirely, closing explaining this mark (釋彼相) entirely, closing through reflection-wisdom (由思慧), the second of three causes, entirely.

Mindfulness of the body — one of the four foundations of mindfulness — brought to its fullest, cultivation-wisdom's own power, is what finally masters the six restless faculties completely, perfecting the superior grade of restraint explained earlier. The first companion sūtra returns to the leper-in-the-reeds image, contrasting non-restraint (craving toward the desirable, aversion toward the undesirable, feeding a chain of thoughts, blind to or unable to remove the danger) with restraint (neither craving nor aversion arising, the danger seen and released at once). The second, more elaborate sūtra tells of a man who captures six different creatures — a dog, a bird, a snake, a jackal, a crocodile, and a monkey — each pulling toward its own favored territory (village, sky, burrow, graveyard, marsh, forest), and binds them all to a single sturdy post; however hard each strains toward what it desires, none can escape the post itself. Just so, the Buddha explains, each of the six faculties pulls toward its own preferred object, and the "post" that holds them all is mindfulness of the body — well cultivated, it keeps the mind from either craving the desirable or recoiling from the undesirable, across all six senses at once, and the Buddha urges the monks to dwell constantly in this very mindfulness. With this citation, through cultivation-wisdom (由修慧), the third and final cause, closes entirely, closing explaining the three causes (釋) entirely, closing displaying perfection (明圓滿) entirely, closing broadly explaining the mark of restraint (廣律儀相) entirely, closing explaining protection and the rest (釋不護等) entirely, and closing Entering the Noble Teaching Without Protection (入聖教不護), the fifth of the twelve topics under Mere Action and the Rest, entirely.

Present-life joy and craving both bring old age and death in this life and set the cause for old age and death in the next — hence "spanning both." With this, danger spanning both the present and future life closes entirely, closing explaining the distinctions (釋差別) entirely.

Illness maps to present-life danger within a fortunate destiny; the evil destinies map to future-life danger; old age and death map to danger spanning both, present in fortunate destinies on both sides of the divide. With this, briefly gathering the sufferings (略攝苦) closes entirely, closing hearing of the dangers (聽聞過患), the first of two matters under Well-Prepared Supreme Provisions, entirely.

At the path of cultivation, the innate afflictions still present are gradually recognized and exhausted, first reaching the remainder-bound nirvāṇa's quiescence, then, at life's end, the remainderless nirvāṇa itself. With this, resting on the path of cultivation (依修道) closes entirely, closing displaying what it rests on (明所依), the first of two matters under diligent practice, entirely.

This closes the analogy at its culmination (喻究竟) — the raft carries one only as far as the remainder-bound nirvāṇa; the far shore itself is the remainderless nirvāṇa, ultimate release. The companion sūtra tells of a man fleeing, in turn: a box of four venomous vipers (the four great elements composing the body, capable of killing their own "owner" through imbalance); five enemies with drawn swords (the five aggregates); six thieves hiding in ambush (the six faculties' own craving for their objects); an empty, decaying village they finally flee into (the six faculties themselves, fragile and crumbling at a touch); and a final band of robbers even there — until, blocked by a deep, swift river (the four floods of desire, existence, views, and ignorance, and the three cravings for desire, form, and formlessness), he gathers grass and branches, binds them into a raft, and paddles across by hand and foot to the safety of the far shore. The Buddha explains each image in turn — self-view as the terror of this shore, the raft as the eightfold path, effort as the paddling itself, and the brahmin dwelling on the far side as the Tathāgata — closing with his own compassionate exhortation to the monks to strive just as diligently, in solitude, without laziness, lest regret come too late. With this citation, the analogy's culmination (喻究竟) closes entirely, closing the analogy of gradual progress (喻漸次) entirely, closing diligent practice (精進修行) entirely, and closing Well-Prepared Supreme Provisions (勝資糧善備), the sixth of the twelve topics under Mere Action and the Rest, entirely.

Xuánzàng distinguished "cutting off affliction" (the learner's ongoing task, still empowered by the path's wisdom) from "affliction cut off" (the arhat's completed one) — without genuine understanding of this fruit, nirvāṇa itself holds no attraction. With this, not turning toward nirvāṇa closes entirely, closing lacking broad, expansive resolute understanding (無有廣大勝解) — all three matters, renunciation, seclusion, and nirvāṇa — entirely, and closing explaining severally (隨釋) entirely.

Relative to the ordinary being, the learner's permanent severance of every discrimination-born affliction, and the third-fruit noble one's assurance of never again taking birth in the desire realm, do genuinely earn the names "cool" and "silently at rest." With this, the learner (有學) closes entirely.

Lacking the learner's genuine wisdom, an ordinary being's mind remains unsettled by every contaminant-conforming dharma, still bound for rebirth in the desire realm. With this, the ordinary being (異生) closes entirely, closing matching the explanation to the two categories (配釋差別) entirely, closing weighing further (料簡) entirely, closing inferior resolute understanding (由劣勝解), the seventh cause, entirely, and closing explaining the seven causes (釋), all seven now complete, entirely.

With this, the conclusion (結) closes entirely, closing the dark class (舉黑品), the first of two matters under Abandoning the Training, entirely — a contrasting matter remains before this topic itself closes.

The seven bright counterparts — right knowledge, diligent non-negligence, fearlessness, freedom from attachment to kin, freedom from affliction's entanglement, a mind not bound, and superior resolute understanding — together secure a monk against ever abandoning the training. The companion sūtra has the Buddha teach that a learned noble disciple who truly knows the five aggregates' five modes regards the five sense-desires as a deep pit of blazing coals — approached only by a fool, since anyone wise and fond of life would recognize it means certain death — and so is never covered over by worldly craving and sorrow; likened also to a man working carefully amid a thorny grove, eyes wide and limbs drawn in to avoid every thorn, such a disciple keeps right mindfulness in every activity, refusing to let a desirable form pierce the precepts. Even a dull-facultied disciple, momentarily forgetting mindfulness and letting desire flare hot as a glowing iron ball, extinguishes it swiftly with a drop of mindfulness the moment it is noticed. The Buddha then poses a striking question: would such a disciple, offered wealth, rank, and every sensual pleasure by a king or minister in exchange for returning to lay life, ever accept? The monks answer no, and the Buddha affirms it, comparing such a settled mind to the Ganges' own current — flowing east through the long night without fail, no crowd of laborers however great could ever force it to flow west instead, and just as futile would be any attempt to turn such a disciple's mind back toward worldly life. With this citation, the white class (翻白品) closes entirely, closing Abandoning the Training (捨所學), the seventh of the twelve topics under Mere Action and the Rest, entirely.

Craving for gain and veneration is the third attachment; even a learner, not yet free of innate conceit and a residue of craving, may grow complacent and negligent — the fourth. With this, the four places of attachment (四著處) close entirely.

"Conch-voice-and-dog-conduct" names a monk who, like a dog whose bark resembles a resonant conch shell, sounds impressively pious while behaving like an animal underneath — declaring seniority to claim the best robes and lodging, speaking emptiness while living entangled in worldly things. The companion sūtra has the Buddha point to a great log floating down the Ganges and ask a monk whether, staying clear of both banks, not sinking, not caught on a sandbar, not seized by anyone, and not rotting, it would eventually reach the sea — then likens a genuinely practicing monk to that very log: the near bank is the six internal bases, the far bank the six external; being "seized by a person" is delighting in mixed company (the first wrong conduct); being "seized by a non-human" is a wrong vow for heavenly rebirth (the second); being "caught in an eddy" is retreating and returning to lay life (the third); and "rotting" is openly violating the precepts while still sounding pious (the fourth) — a monk free of all these flows on, like the log, straight to nirvāṇa. The sūtra closes with the herdsman Nanda, so struck by this teaching that he asks to go forth at once; the Buddha, with characteristic care, has him first properly return the cattle and formally take leave of his employer, precisely so that no unfinished worldly attachment could later pull him back — Nanda does so, returns, and goes on to attain arhatship. With this citation, the fourth wrong conduct closes entirely, closing the four kinds of wrong conduct (四邪行) entirely, closing distinct explanation (別釋) entirely, and closing Attachment to Place (著處), the eighth of the twelve topics under Mere Action and the Rest, entirely.

The six contact-bases are the cause giving rise to feeling; the four kinds of nourishment (edible food, contact, volition, and consciousness) sustain the body and are the cause of sustenance; karma, which brings about the fruit, is the cause depended upon; and seven conditions together (birth, the life-faculty, food, mastery of mind, the coming-together of causes and conditions, shared and unshared karma, and freedom from obstruction) sustain every formation in abiding, though the four nourishments are foremost among them. The fourth gate observes the six faculties (basis) and six objects (condition) together with the six consciousnesses' own-nature and their accompanying mental factors (companion), according with the three contacts that produce pleasant, painful, and neutral feeling in turn — from this chain, affliction and karma arise, and with them the fruit of birth-and-death. With this, the four gates of contemplation (由四觀門) close entirely.

The four abodes of consciousness — in form, feeling, perception, and formations — are each cultivated through mindfulness of body, feeling, mind, and dharmas in turn, each passing through the same four stages toward the exhaustion of contaminants. The first companion sūtra has a puzzled monk receive three different, equally valid descriptions of how to purify one's view — through the six contact-bases, the six elements, or the five grasping aggregates — and, still troubled by the apparent disagreement, bring his confusion to the Buddha. The Buddha answers with the parable of the kiṃśuka tree: four men who each saw the tree at a different season describe it differently — black like a burnt post, red and blossoming like a piece of flesh, hanging with long tendrils like a śirīṣa fruit, or broad-leaved and smooth like a banyan — yet all describe the same tree truly, each from what he actually saw. Just so, different monks, each sincerely practicing, describe the same purified vision differently depending on their own path into it. The Buddha then offers a second parable: a king's well-fortified city, its walls sound, its central crossroads level, four gates each watched by a wise gatekeeper, with a lord seated at the center receiving messengers from every direction and sending them back the way they came. Form, feeling, perception, and formations are the four gates (the four abodes of consciousness); the four foundations of mindfulness are the four gatekeepers; the aggregate of consciousness is the city's lord; right contemplation is the messenger; the four noble truths are the lord's true message; and the eightfold path is the road the messenger takes home. With this citation, the remaining abodes of consciousness (例緣餘識住) close entirely, closing explaining each mark individually (別釋其相) entirely, closing bringing forth reliance on the four abodes of consciousness (出緣識住) entirely, closing following up in breadth (隨廣) entirely, closing by the means of explanation (由說方便) entirely, closing displaying its removal (明除滅) entirely, and closing Unwholesome Meaning (不善義), the ninth of the twelve topics under Mere Action and the Rest, entirely.

Feeble longing for nirvāṇa leaves the mind as dry and combustible as decaying thatch, needing only Māra's torch of desirable objects to burn away every wholesome root. With this, burning away wholesome roots (焚燎善根) closes entirely, closing being ridden by Māra (為魔所乘) entirely, closing bringing forth the two causes and conditions (出二因緣) entirely, and closing craving attachment to objects (貪著境界), the first of three marks under bringing forth those who follow the current, entirely.

Craving breeds wrong conduct, and wrong conduct breeds still more affliction, in a spiral that finally loses the noble path altogether and simply drifts downstream with birth-and-death's own current. With this, committing much wrong conduct (多行邪行) closes entirely, closing concluding, "follower of the current" (結名順流) entirely, and closing bringing forth those who follow the current (舉順流者), the first of two matters under Following the Current, entirely.

Genuine sense-restraint and antidote power together keep the mind from ever drifting into that same downstream current. The companion sūtra has the Buddha, resting from back pain after teaching the assembled Śākyans, ask Mahāmaudgalyāyana to continue teaching in his place. Mahāmaudgalyāyana distinguishes the "contaminated dharma" — an unlearned ordinary being who craves or resents whatever the six faculties meet, lacking mindfulness of the body and any trace of mind- or wisdom-liberating wisdom, thus unable to exhaust unwholesome states — from the "uncontaminated dharma": a learned noble disciple whose constant mindfulness neither craves the desirable nor resents the undesirable, permanently exhausting every unwholesome state as it arises. Māra, he teaches, searches for an opening at each of the six sense-doors precisely as fire seeks dry grass to burn — succeeding against the first kind of person, whose body and mind are as combustible as a hut of dried thatch, but failing utterly against the second, whose firm mindfulness is like a well-sealed upper chamber, its walls solid and its openings thickly plastered, immune to fire from any direction. The Buddha praises this teaching highly and instructs all the monks to receive, uphold, and widely teach it in turn, since it is complete in genuine meaning, complete in the true teaching, complete in the holy life, and opens the way directly toward nirvāṇa. With this citation, not following the current (翻非順流) closes entirely, closing Following the Current (隨流), the tenth of the twelve topics under Mere Action and the Rest, entirely.

Even the formless realm's own worldly wisdom, fully matured as it is, still falls short of the noble wisdom-eye that alone truly sees past all three realms. With this, listing the five (列) closes entirely.

With this, the conclusion (結) closes entirely, closing Compassion (由哀愍), the first of the bodhisattva's eight marks, entirely.

Just as Śākyamuni himself was born a royal prince, the bodhisattva's compassion, even before formally renouncing the world, already carries an unshakable inner resolve toward the holy life. With this, inner courage and valor (內勇悍), the second of the bodhisattva's eight marks, closes entirely.

"Dwelling in Jambudvīpa as if it were a mere reflection" likens the body supported on this southern continent to an illusion-like appearance. Recalling the young Śākyamuni's own contemplative absorption beneath the rose-apple tree, and his confrontation with old age, sickness, and death, this forbearance is the decisive wisdom that truly penetrates their reality. With this, the forbearance that truly examines dharmas (諦察法忍), the third of the bodhisattva's eight marks, closes entirely.

With no outsider teacher having established the true holy life before him, the bodhisattva-to-be spontaneously upheld pure precepts and progressively mastered every worldly concentration up to its very summit. With this, being able to receive precepts (能受戒) and being able to attest to concentration (能證定) close entirely, closing the Ability to Renounce (由能出離), the fourth of the bodhisattva's eight marks, entirely.

Contemplating old age and death through this same fourfold structure as the four noble truths (suffering, origin, cessation, path) across three incalculable eons of accumulated merit and wisdom, innate wisdom finally awakens, unaided, to the emptiness underlying all dharmas — dharma-nature, dharma-abiding, and dharma-realm all naming this same reality from different angles. With this, awakening to the nature of dharmas (覺悟法性) closes entirely, closing Personally Arousing, from Within, Contemplation of the Truths (由內觀諦), the fifth of the bodhisattva's eight marks, entirely.

With this, the conclusion (結) closes entirely, closing Right View Manifest Before One (由見現前), the sixth of the bodhisattva's eight marks, entirely.

With this, freedom from blazing (名離熾然) and freedom from feverish affliction (名離熱惱) close entirely, closing explaining the fruit's benefit (釋其果利) entirely, closing Purity Attained Through the Uncontaminated Factors of Awakening (由見清淨), the seventh of the bodhisattva's eight marks, entirely.

The noble abiding is the three samādhis (emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness); the heavenly abiding is the four dhyānas; the brahmā abiding is the four immeasurables. The ten powers of wisdom, briefly: knowing what is and is not possible as cause and effect; knowing each being's own karma and its fruit; knowing every meditative attainment; knowing beings' superior and inferior faculties; knowing their varied resolute understanding; knowing the varied elements (the seeds of the three realms in every being's store-consciousness); knowing the path leading everywhere (which conduct leads out of suffering and which does not); recollecting past lives, one's own and others'; knowing death and rebirth through the heavenly eye; and knowing the exhaustion of every contaminant. With this, explaining what is difficult (隨難釋) — all five faculties — closes entirely, closing cultivation's perfection (修圓滿), the first of two matters under the Six Perfections, entirely.

None of what has just been explained belongs to the Śrāvaka or Pratyekabuddha vehicles — hence the Bodhisattva Surpassing Other Vehicles. The companion sūtra offers a single sustained parable mapping every mark and perfection just explained onto one continuous journey: a river of ash, its banks scorching hot and thick with thorns, its depths shrouded in darkness, where countless fools drift and drown — until one wise, clear-sighted person resolves to swim against the current using hands and feet (courage and valor); glimpses a faint light ahead (the forbearance that truly examines dharmas); reaches level ground (precepts); surveys the four directions (the four noble truths); climbs a great, unbroken rock (right view); bathes in cool, eightfold water (the eightfold path); passes seven fragrant flowers (the seven factors of awakening); reaches a four-tiered pavilion (the four bases of miraculous power); enters a canopy held by five pillars, wrapped in soft bedding (the five faculties); and finally, safe and at ease on the mountain's summit, calls down to those still drowning below — the "ash" itself named as the three unwholesome cogitations (desire, ill will, and harm), the "river" as the three cravings (for the desire, form, and formless realms), the banks' thorns as the five sense-pleasures mistaken for true benefit, and the surrounding darkness as ignorance obscuring the wisdom-eye — each detail of the parable answering point for point to the eight marks and six perfections just explained in full. With this citation, the conclusion (結) closes entirely, closing the fruit's perfection (果圓滿) entirely, closing the Six Perfections (由六圓滿), the eighth and final mark of the bodhisattva's supremacy, entirely, closing explaining the eight distinctions (隨釋差別), all eight now complete, entirely, and closing the Bodhisattva Surpassing Other Vehicles (菩薩勝餘乘), the eleventh of the twelve topics under Mere Action and the Rest, entirely.

This opens the question (徵) and then lists the four (列). Six kinds of "self" haunt these speculations, per the commentarial gloss: self and other-self (the self as an unchanging master, or all beings as born from Brahmā), internal and external self (a real self posited within or apart from the aggregates), and the noble one's self and the ordinary being's self — every combination of these gets searched for its nature, permanence, cause, and dwelling place in turn. With this, bringing forth wrong theories (出邪論) closes entirely.

Countless past causes and conditions keep the appearance of continuity flowing swiftly onward even through constant momentary perishing; and this present five-aggregate fruit, arriving from nowhere traceable and departing to nowhere findable, is rightly said to be originally nonexistent, now existing only provisionally, and bound to disperse once more. With this, originally nonexistent and the rest (說本無等) closes entirely, closing citing differing accounts (舉異說), the first of two matters under positing its cause, entirely.

With this, briefly gathering the meaning (略攝義) closes entirely, closing positing its cause (施設其因), the third of three matters under the self's own-nature, turning, and cause, entirely.

With this, the conclusion (結) closes entirely, closing the first three kinds that can be validly posited (於前三種可得施設), the first of two matters under explaining each mark individually, entirely. The fourth kind — the self's supposed dwelling place, which cannot be posited at all — remains to be explained.

Even at the level of conventional truth, the six senses, six consciousnesses, and their feelings, perceptions, and volitions are already empty and unattainable as any fixed thing — let alone at the level of ultimate truth, where neither a self nor the formations themselves are ever found. With this, clarifying thoroughgoing emptiness (明一向空) closes entirely, closing the second kind that cannot be posited (於後一種不可施設) entirely, which closes explaining each mark individually (別釋相), the second of two matters under clarifying the positing (明施設), entirely.

Proper attention brings three successive joys: hearing the teaching of no-self rightly understood yields the wisdom of hearing, and one should rejoice; understanding equal to reality yields the wisdom of thinking, and one should rejoice equally; realizing emptiness through cultivation yields the wisdom of cultivation, and one should rejoice pervasively.

The companion sūtra tells of a lone bhikkhu meditating in seclusion, wondering: what is called "self"? What does self do? What is self? Where does self dwell? — the very four seekings just explained. He brought this to the Buddha, who taught him the "two dharmas": eye and form, ear and sound, nose and smell, tongue and taste, body and touch, mind and mental object. The eye's flesh-form is the inner earth-element; its moisture, the inner water-element; its warmth, the inner fire-element; its motion, the inner wind-element. As two hands clapping produce a sound, so eye and form together produce eye-consciousness; the three combine as contact, and contact gives rise to feeling, perception, and volition — none of this is self, but an impermanent, unstable, ever-changing provisional self. This, the lecture explains, is exactly what the root text posits as self's own-nature. Because this provisional self is born, ages, and dies, arising through causes and conditions — this is positing its turning. Because the formations are illusory as a mirage, perishing moment by moment, coming from nowhere and going nowhere — this is positing its cause. And because one should know, delight in, and remember that the formations are empty, that no permanent, everlasting, unchanging entity exists, that there is no real self and nothing belonging to a self — like a keen-eyed man carrying a lamp into an empty room to see that it is empty — this is seeking self's dwelling place. Practicing the meditation on emptiness in just this way regarding all six sense-doors, the bhikkhu, upon reflection, confirmed that whatever is impermanent is suffering, and whatever is impermanent and suffering a learned disciple does not regard as self, other than self, or self-in-other. Growing thereby weary of the six senses, free of craving for them, he attained liberation and, knowing rebirth exhausted, the holy life established, what was to be done done, realized that this was his last body — he attained arhatship.

Major milestone. With this, concluding that one should rejoice (結應喜) closes entirely, closing clarifying the positing (明施設3: 總標簡/別釋相/結應喜) entirely, which closes briefly displaying the meaning (略顯義2: 辨尋求/明施設) entirely, which closes positing the treatise (論施設), the twelfth and final topic, entirely. This in turn closes Mere Action and the Rest (唯作緣等攝) — the second particular verse of the second overall verse of the sense-bases section (處擇攝) — in its entirety, all twelve of its topics now complete: mere condition, discursive thought, the vow, all-kinds restraint, entering the noble teaching without protection, well-prepared provisions, abandoning the training, attachment to place, unwholesome meaning, following the current, the bodhisattva's supremacy over other vehicles, and positing the treatise.