The Embrace of the Truths, Complete

This opens the embrace of the truths (諦攝), the sixth of sūtra matters' seven gates — after the aggregates section, the sense-bases section, and dependent origination's and food's embraces are all now complete, this decisively explains the Saṃyukta Āgama's teaching on the four noble truths — marking and listing (標列) twelve topics to be explained in the long-form section that follows: wisdom in accordance with truth, embracing, the truth of origin, attainment, marks, place, karma, obstruction, faults, dark ripening and the rest, the great meaning, and what is hard to attain.

With this, reversing into the name "in accordance with truth" (翻名如理) closes entirely, closing explaining the names of the wisdoms (釋智名2: 名不如理/翻名如理) entirely — drawing near to the wise, hearing the true Dharma, applying proper attention, and practicing dharma-in-accord-with-dharma is what makes wisdom genuinely "in accordance with truth."

With this, explaining why this is improper (釋非理) closes entirely, closing briefly stated (略2: 辨差別/釋非理) entirely.

With this, forming annihilationism (成斷見) closes entirely, closing conditioning the object grasped (緣所取事2: 成常見/成斷見) entirely. Per the 披尋記: this view holds the self real and constant only within the present life, believing it utterly extinguished at death — self-view still underlies this position, since annihilationism is simply eternalism's mirror image, not its absence; one who holds it may reason there is no karmic retribution to fear, and act accordingly.

With this, conceiving the view of no self (計無我見) closes entirely, closing conditioning the grasping subject (緣能取事2: 計有我見/計無我見) entirely, closing distinguishing (辨2: 緣所取事/緣能取事) entirely — some today similarly imagine a "pure," self-less childhood mind as one's "true self," as against the supposedly inauthentic, socially conditioned mind of adulthood, not recognizing that even an infant's mind already carries innate afflictive seeds.

With this, the concluding statement (結) closes entirely, closing conceiving a self within the formations (即行分別有我2: 辨/結) entirely — five view-bases in all: eternalism and annihilationism toward the object grasped, and three further variants (self observing self, self observing self's absence, and no-self observing a past self) toward the grasping subject.

With this, the second meaning (第二義) closes entirely, closing the speaker (能說者2: 第一義/第二義) entirely — the self conceived also as the one who governs a household, issuing rules others are made to follow.

With this, the sixth named form closes, closing bringing forth its various names (出異名6: 能作者等作者/能起者等起者/能生者等生者/能說者/能受者等受者/領受者及能捨續餘蘊) entirely — the same imagined self simply discards one worn-out aggregate-set for a fresh one at death, exactly as one might discard a worn-out garment.

With this, concluding the wrong conception (結邪執) closes entirely, closing clarifying what is conceived (明所計2: 出異名/結邪執) entirely, closing conceiving a self apart from the formations (離行分別有我2: 標非理/明所計) entirely, closing distinguishing each individually (別辨2: 即行分別有我/離行分別有我) entirely, closing distinguishing the mark (辨相2: 總標/別辨) entirely. Per the 披尋記: the five view-bases already given describe self conceived within the formations; this sixth, self conceived apart from them, completes the full account — since without a real self, the outside reasoning goes, none of these six kinds of activity (acting, initiating, generating, speaking, receiving, and carrying over into a new life) would even be conceivable.

With this, the seventh and final name, a fetter of views (見結), closes entirely, closing explaining the names (釋名7: 名見處/名見稠林/名見曠野/名見厭背/名見行歷/名見動搖/名見結) entirely, closing explaining its view-bases (釋其見處2: 辨相/釋名) entirely, closing broadly (廣2: 出計實我/釋其見處) entirely, closing by improper mental attention (由邪作意2: 略/廣) entirely, closing bringing forth wrong conduct (出邪行3: 由住惡法/由起邪解/由邪作意) entirely — mere dharma drawing forth mere dharma, this fetter of wrong view knots together suffering just as surely as any other link in dependent origination's chain.

With this, clarifying the arising of suffering (明生苦) closes entirely, closing distinguishing (辨2: 出邪行/明生苦) entirely — left unchecked, wrong view's affliction only ever intensifies, never remains static.

With this, the concluding statement (結) closes entirely, closing unable to exhaust the contaminants (不能盡漏2: 辨/結) entirely — the entire chain, from dwelling in bad company through wrong understanding and improper attention to the eleven self-view-bases and their seven names, all traces back to one root: failing to truly know what accords with truth.

With this, the concluding statement (結) closes entirely, closing well abiding in mindfulness (善住念3: 標/列/結) entirely.

With this, well cultivating (善修習) closes entirely, closing explaining each distinction in turn (隨釋差別4: 善護身/善守根/善住念/善修習) entirely, closing regarding severance through cultivation (於修斷2: 標列因緣/隨釋差別) entirely, closing clarifying the severance of contaminants (明斷漏2: 於見斷/於修斷) entirely, closing able to exhaust every contaminant (能盡諸漏2: 出因緣/明斷漏) entirely, closing distinguishing these kinds (辨彼類2: 不能盡漏/能盡諸漏) entirely, closing wisdom in accordance with truth (如理3: 標智別/釋智名/辨彼類), the first of the embrace of the truths' twelve topics, entirely — arhatship itself, the most utter ultimacy, is reached simply by carrying these same four supports all the way through.

An extensive companion sūtra has the Buddha teach that right and wrong thinking make all the difference in whether contaminants of desire, existence, and ignorance arise or subside — wrong thinking causes what has not yet arisen to arise and what has already arisen to grow; right thinking prevents the one and swiftly extinguishes the other. He lists seven methods for severing affliction: through view, through guarding the sense-faculties, through bodily and mental seclusion, through proper reflection when using life's requisites, through patient endurance, through severing discursive thought, and through cultivating the seven factors of awakening. Elaborating the first method, severance through view, the sūtra has the unlearned ordinary being, lacking a true teacher, wonder whether they had a past existence, what it was like, whether they will have a future one, and what it will be like — precisely the "three kinds of verbal matter" the root text names as the source of self-conception — and from this arise six specific wrong views matching this section's own eleven-view analysis point for point: that a self truly exists (matching eternalism toward the object grasped); that a self truly does not exist (matching annihilationism); that self sees self (matching the first grasping-subject view); that self sees non-self (matching the second); that non-self sees self (matching the third); and, the sūtra adds, that this very self is what speaks, feels, and experiences the fruit of good and bad karma here and now — a view matching the treatise's own account of the self as agent, speaker, and experiencer, apart from the aggregates. Recognizing and severing this fetter of view, the sūtra continues, is the first and foundational step toward the contaminants' complete exhaustion.

This opens the second topic, embracing (攝), beginning with refuting an alternative claim (遮異說) — the four truths are not merely a passive object some separate self happens to contemplate; this itself already smuggles in a self the truths are meant to dispel.

With this, the concluding statement (結) closes entirely, closing bringing forth what the truths embrace (出諦攝3: 標/辨/結) entirely — since the very wisdom that contemplates the truths can itself become an object of further contemplation, nothing escapes the four truths' embrace, and suffering's real source is never the object but always the mind's own discrimination.

With this, abiding at the stage where the work is accomplished (住已辦地) closes entirely, closing clarifying what is embraced (明所攝2: 住始業地/住已辦地) entirely — the arhat's mindfulness, unlike the beginner's, operates spontaneously, without effort, yet toward exactly the same objects.

With this, concluding with its name (結得名) closes entirely, closing explaining (釋2: 明所攝/結得名) entirely, closing briefly gathering the cultivation of mindfulness (略攝修念2: 徵/釋) entirely — "body" here spans both the physical body of form and the mental body of the aggregates of feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness.

With this, cultivating the perception of suffering and no-self (修苦無我想) closes entirely, closing cultivating impurity and the rest toward the internal great elements (於內大種修不淨等想3: 修不淨想/修無常想及與苦想/修苦無我想) entirely — where outside paths cling to the body as self, the learned disciple sees it exactly as it is, and thereby holds nothing at all.

This closes cultivating the perception of no-self by way of only the elements (於受等法修無常想離貪瞋癡, the third of three), closing distinguishing each mark individually (別辨相3: 於外大種修無常想/於內大種修不淨等想/於受等法修無常想離貪瞋癡) entirely — the body reduces only to earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness, no single unified thing to grasp. Per the 披尋記, citing 聲聞地: for one whose self-conceit runs strong, contemplating the elements' differences dissolves the sense of the body as one solid mass, weakening pride at its root. When another strikes or insults, since there is no self to be struck, the feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness that arise are seen as impermanent, and craving and aversion alike fall away — this is another name for freedom from delusion.

With this, concluding the brief meaning (結略義) closes entirely, closing explaining the cultivation of perception (釋修想2: 別辨相/結略義) entirely — a compact summary of every angle from which mindfulness of the body may be cultivated, external and internal alike.

With this, concluding that wholesome dharmas arise (結生善) closes entirely, closing explaining each in turn (隨釋3: 出觀名/釋修想/結生善) entirely, closing giving rise to the wholesome dharmas of the contemplative kind (生起觀品善法2: 別徵/隨釋) entirely — the first of two matters under 明所攝2's structure now complete, having traced mindfulness of the body from its bare definition through every mark it perceives.

With this, bringing it to full purity (令善清淨) closes entirely, closing cultivating the four-limbed non-negligence practice (修四支攝不放逸行2: 未善清淨/令善清淨) entirely. Per the 披尋記, citing fascicle 85, the four limbs are: dwelling without a second (not clinging to company even amid a crowd), a dwelling-place at the furthest edge (the barest, simplest bedding), bodily solitude, and mental solitude (guarding the mind against the eight wrong deliberations of desire, ill will, and harm). A further teaching on five marks of diligence is also cited — armor-like diligence, application-diligence, valor amid vast teachings, steadfastness undisturbed by cold, heat, or insects, and never resting content with a lesser attainment before pressing on to the next.

With this, abiding in the contemplation of stillness (住觀寂靜) closes entirely, closing drawing forth sublime equanimity and the rest (引妙捨等2: 念生厭恥/住觀寂靜) entirely, closing raising various kinds (舉種種5: 正修忍慈/尸羅清淨/無悔歡喜乃至得三摩地/修四支攝不放逸行/引妙捨等) entirely — shame at subtle attachment is itself what softens the mind enough to finally let go and see nirvāṇa's stillness directly.

With this, gathering the brief meaning (攝略義) closes entirely, closing distinguishing the wholesome dharmas (辨善法2: 舉種種/攝略義) entirely.

This closes clarifying what is accomplished (明所作), closing explaining each in turn (隨釋4: 出所依/釋止名/辨善法/明所作) entirely, closing giving rise to the wholesome dharmas of the calming kind (生起止品善法2: 別徵/隨釋) entirely — the twin fruits of calming's cultivation: purified absorption, and the letting-go of the deep-seated view of a real, embodied self.

With this, the concluding statement (結) closes entirely, closing embraced within the stage of beginning the practice (始業地攝2: 釋/結) entirely — the practitioner at the resources stage of the path toward liberation has now perfected both the contemplative and calming aspects of mindfulness of the body: seeing every aggregate as impermanent, suffering, empty, and without self, and settling the mind through patience, loving-kindness, pure precepts, and equanimity, culminating in the fourth absorption free of even the subtlest relish, and in the letting-go of the view of a real body.

With this, giving rise to weariness and the rest (起厭患等) closes entirely, closing distinguishing the mark (別辨相2: 觀色無色/起厭患等) entirely. Per the 披尋記, citing fascicle 85: weariness (厭) means the antidote is present, giving rise to a sense of aversion so afflictions no longer manifest; freedom from craving (離欲) means, through habituation to weariness, desire toward every defiled object stops arising by the power of suppression; liberation (解脫) means, through repeated cultivation of this suppressing antidote, the latent tendencies are permanently uprooted — a graduated fruit of wisdom.

With this, gathering the brief meaning (攝略義) closes entirely, closing raising the wholesome dharmas (舉善法2: 別辨相/攝略義) entirely.

With this, distinguishing regression (簡退失) closes entirely, closing named "accomplished" (名已辦2: 顯究竟/簡退失) entirely, closing the accomplished-ground embrace (已辦地攝2: 舉善法/名已辦) entirely — worldly meditative attainment, such as the ordinary being's first absorption, may temporarily set aside desire and ill will, but without uprooting the seeds of affliction, it regresses under strong enough conditions; only transcendent wisdom of no-self permanently severs the roots.

With this, clarifying the embrace (明攝) closes entirely, closing distinguishing the mark (辨相2: 略攝修念/廣釋差別) entirely, closing broadly explaining the foundation of mindfulness (廣念住3: 標義/辨相/明攝) entirely, closing displaying the correct meaning (顯正義2: 出諦攝/廣念住) entirely, closing topic two, embracing (子二攝2: 遮異說/顯正義), entirely — every wholesome dharma, from a beginner's first contaminated effort through an arhat's uncontaminated attainment, falls within the four truths' embrace.

Master Cháng Bǎi cites at length the companion sūtra behind this teaching: Venerable Śāriputra, dwelling at Sāvatthī's Jeta Grove, tells the monks that just as an elephant's footprint is the largest among all animal tracks, so the four noble truths embrace every immeasurable wholesome dharma — for the truth of suffering alone comprises birth, aging, sickness, death, meeting the disliked, parting from the loved, not obtaining what is sought, and, in brief, the five clung-to aggregates. He then unfolds each of the four great elements (earth, water, fire, wind) in turn, internal and external: internal earth is hair, nails, teeth, flesh, bone, and the organs; external earth, however vast and however seemingly permanent, is itself subject to arising, ceasing, and eventual destruction by flood, fire, or storm — and if even the vast external elements are impermanent, how much more so this small, craving-born body. The unlearned ordinary being clings to the body as self or as belonging to self; the learned noble disciple does not. When struck, insulted, or praised, the disciple examines contact, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness as impermanent and dependently arisen, remaining unmoved by pain or pleasure alike. The Buddha's saw-simile teaching is invoked for each element in turn: even should bandits saw the body apart limb by limb, the mind must not waver nor the mouth utter an unkind word, but should instead radiate loving-kindness toward the assailant and outward to all directions without limit. Should the practitioner still find the mind clinging to the relish of concentration, unable to rest in equanimity, Śāriputra likens the shame that should follow to a new bride's shame before her parents-in-law — self-rebuke that in turn awakens the equanimity leading to nirvāṇa's stillness, dispassion, and the extinguishing of self-grasping. The sūtra closes with the simile of a house as a composite of wood, mud, and empty space, just as the body is a composite of the four elements enclosing a space filled by consciousness; and with the teaching, repeated by the Buddha, that "to see dependent origination is to see the Dharma; to see the Dharma is to see dependent origination" — seeing all five aggregates as dependently arisen, one grows weary, then dispassionate, then liberated, and knows liberation as it truly is, this being called a monk's great work in the holy teaching, fully accomplished. The assembled monks, hearing Venerable Śāriputra's teaching, rejoiced and put it into practice.

This opens topic three, the truth of origination (集諦), the third of 諦攝's twelve topics, explaining the hundred and eight kinds of craving embraced within it, beginning with having distinguishing marks (有差別相), the first, marking each individually (標別) — four is craving toward internal and external bases; two is craving rooted in conceit toward the six sense-faculties taken as self; three is the innate tendency toward union with the pleasant and separation from the unpleasant; four is craving distinguished by past, present, and future.

With this, bringing forth the reflection (出思惟) closes entirely, closing thinking "I am splendid" and "I am not splendid" (思我美妙及非美妙2: 辨成就/出思惟) entirely — the third and fourth kinds of self-conceit, both rooted in comparing one's present bodily condition against an implicit standard.

With this, thinking "I am changed" (思我變異) closes entirely, closing individually listing the five kinds (別列五種3: 思我如昔及不如昔/思我美妙及非美妙/思我變異) entirely, closing generally marking self-conceit (總標我慢2: 總標/別列, count2) entirely, closing explaining (釋3: 標/徵/釋) entirely, closing the distinction of what is depended upon (所依差別2: 徵/釋) entirely — this fifth kind of self-conceit, thinking "I have changed," is cited alongside the Buddha's teaching in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra: youthful splendor, once loved by all, becomes despised once age arrives, like sugarcane after its juice has been pressed out — the pulp left with none of the three flavors of renunciation, recitation, or seated meditation. Since the body was never truly a self to begin with, even this fifth conceit, thinking a real "I" has changed, remains a conceit rooted in the same uncut view of a real body.

With this, distinguishing that craving for non-existence has no such grades (簡無有愛) closes entirely, closing distinguishing the three grades (辨三品2: 明有愛別/簡無有愛) entirely — unlike craving for existence, which spontaneously reaches for splendor, aversion toward decline requires deliberate reflection to arise at all, and so admits no innate gradation.

With this, wishing for what differs from what one now has (願異今有) closes entirely, closing distinguishing the mark (辨相4: 願即如是/願異如是/願如今有/願異今有) entirely, closing soft craving for existence (軟有愛2: 出體/辨相) entirely — the first two of these four wishes are mere aspiration; the latter two escalate into active karma-making, seeking or fleeing a future condition through deeds performed now.

With this, concluding with its name (結名) closes entirely, closing medium craving for existence (中有愛3: 出體/辨相/結名) entirely.

With this, superior craving for existence (上有愛) closes entirely, closing explaining the marks of craving (釋愛相3: 軟有愛/中有愛/上有愛) entirely — soft craving merely wishes ("may I then have"), medium craving actively pursues ("may I get to have"), and superior craving fiercely insists ("may I definitely have"), the same fourfold pattern of same-kind, different-kind, as-now, and different-from-now intensifying at each grade. Per the 披尋記, this superior grade applies the same four marks established earlier (toward the future, toward the six bases, the same kind, a different kind) but now with the decisive certainty of "definitely."

With this, pointing to the rest as corresponding (指餘隨應) closes entirely, closing displaying the distinction (顯別2: 舉計我所/指餘隨應) entirely — the soft-medium-superior grading applies to grasping at "mine" exactly as it applied to grasping at "I."

With this, concluding together (合結) closes entirely, closing by the distinction of external bases (依外處別3: 例同/顯別/合結) entirely, closing broadly explaining the distinctions (廣差別2: 依內處別/依外處別) entirely, closing explaining (釋4: 出二愛/辨三品/釋愛相/廣差別) entirely, closing the distinction of intrinsic nature (自性差別2: 徵/釋) entirely — eighteen kinds of craving toward "I" (the internal bases) plus eighteen kinds of craving toward "mine" (the external bases) together total thirty-six; per the treatise's own arithmetic, tripled again across past, present, and future will yield the full hundred and eight.

With this, the distinction of time (時分差別) closes entirely, closing explaining each in turn (隨釋4: 內外差別/所依差別/自性差別/時分差別) entirely — thirty-six kinds of craving, tripled across the three times, yield the hundred and eight.

With this, the general conclusion (總結) closes entirely, closing having distinguishing marks (有差別相3: 標別/隨釋/總結) entirely — confirming the count of three matters under this heading, as the standing practice of reading ahead before claiming closure requires. Eighteen kinds of internal-base craving times two (internal and external) makes thirty-six; thirty-six times three (past, present, future) makes the hundred and eight.

With this, faint film (翳瞙) closes entirely, closing explaining each (釋說3: 冥闇/昏昧/翳瞙) entirely — even the formless realm's subtlest single thought remains a self-clinging, like a thin film clouding the eye's sight.

With this, matching the simile to the dharma (合法) closes entirely, closing named "darkness" and the rest (冥闇等3: 釋說/舉喻/合法) entirely, closing broadly explaining its various names (廣其異名11: 因/流潤/著境/癰根/流溢/纖繳/條斡/枯竭/礙名覆/上聳名發起/冥闇等) entirely, closing having no distinguishing marks (無差別相2: 總出愛相/廣其異名) entirely, closing **topic three, the truth of origination (子三集諦2: 有差別相/無差別相), entirely**.

Master Cháng Bǎi cites at length the companion sūtra in which the Buddha, at Sāvatthī's Jeta Grove, teaches the monks that craving is like a net, like glue, like a spring, like a lotus root — obstructing, sticking, guarding, covering, sealing, blocking, darkening, tangled like a dog's intestines or a snarl of grass or thread, driving beings back and forth between this life and the next without rest. He enumerates eighteen modes of self-craving rooted in the view of self — "I exist," "I am thus," "I am exactly thus," "I persist," "I dissolve," "I am other than this," "I will exist," "I will not exist," and so on through wished-for and spontaneous future modes — arising from grasping the five aggregates internally, then again externally (making thirty-six), then again across the three times (making the full hundred and eight), matching precisely the treatise's own arithmetic. A further companion teaching distinguishes love-from-love, hate-from-love, love-from-hate, and hate-from-hate (as when one person's fondness or dislike for a third party draws a matching fondness or dislike from an observer), resolved only by cultivating the four absorptions, which sever craving and hatred at the root, like felling a palm tree so it can never again put out leaf or fruit. An arhat who has severed the three states of being neither exalts (does not think "I am one free of desire") nor retaliates when reviled or struck, being free of the fourfold self-grasping across each aggregate (self as form, self possessing form, self within form, form within self) and its retaliatory counterpart.

With this, distinguishing the mark of wisdom (辨智相) closes entirely, closing the first turning (最初轉2: 出菩薩/辨智相) entirely — directly severing the afflictions cut by the path of seeing (the innate ten fetters such as craving, aversion, delusion, conceit, doubt, and the views) gives rise to the noble wisdom-eye; this eye, viewed toward the past, is called wisdom; toward the future, illumination; toward the present, awakening.

With this, citing the parallel mark of wisdom (例智相) closes entirely, closing the second turning (第二轉2: 出有學/例智相) entirely — the trainee's wisdom-eye, illumination, wisdom, and awakening operate exactly as in the first turning, only now directed at what remains to be done.

With this, displaying the distinction (顯別) closes entirely, closing explaining the mark of wisdom (釋智相2: 例同/顯別) entirely, closing the third turning (第三轉2: 出無學/釋智相) entirely, closing explaining each individually (別釋3: 最初轉/第二轉/第三轉) entirely, closing the means of attainment (得方便2: 總標/別釋) entirely — the first turning sees the truths directly (comparable to a śrāvaka's first fruit), the second turning completes the trainee's remaining work (the second and third fruits), and the third turning belongs solely to the arhat beyond further training.

This closes establishing continuity in others, causing deep confidence in one's own realization (令他於自深生信解), the fourth mark — Kauṇḍinya, first among the five ascetics to grasp the four truths, confirmed his understanding when the Buddha questioned him directly, and all five in time attained arhatship. Per the 披尋記, this "ultimate aspect" refers to the same third-turning declaration — the wisdom of exhaustion and non-arising, all that should be done already done.

With this, explaining the names "wheel" and the rest (釋名輪等) closes entirely, closing causing deep confidence in others' realization (令他於他深生信解2: 轉隨轉法/釋名輪等) entirely, closing explaining each of the five marks (隨釋5: 所緣境/得方便/得所得/令他於自深生信解/令他於他深生信解) entirely, closing **the truth's realization (丑一諦證得2: 標列/隨釋), the first of topic four's three headings, entirely** — the dharma passes on precisely as a wheel turns onward from hand to hand; it is called the dharma wheel because right view and the path constitute it, and the Brahmā wheel as an honorific for the one who first set it turning.

Master Cháng Bǎi cites at length the Dharmacakrapravartana Sūtra: the World-Honored One, not long after his awakening, dwells at the Deer Park near Vārāṇasī and addresses the five ascetics — Kauṇḍinya, Aśvajit, Bhaddiya, Daśabala-Kāśyapa, and Mahānāma — declaring for the first time: this is the noble truth of suffering, this its origination, this its cessation, this the path to its cessation, each "a teaching never before heard," and with each declaration the eye, wisdom, illumination, and true awakening arise. This is repeated across three full turnings — first direct realization, second the trainee's remaining work still to be done, third the arhat's work already done — the twelve aspects in all. The Buddha declares that only upon perfecting all twelve aspects across gods, Māras, Brahmās, ascetics, and brahmins could he rightly claim unsurpassed, perfect enlightenment. Upon hearing this, Kauṇḍinya and eighty thousand deities become free of the dust of ignorance and attain the pure dharma-eye; questioned twice by the Buddha, Kauṇḍinya twice confirms his understanding, thereafter known as "Ājñāta Kauṇḍinya" — "Kauṇḍinya who has understood." The earth deities proclaim this news, and it relays upward through the six heavens of the desire realm and on into the Brahmā world, each level of gods rejoicing that the teaching increases the gods and diminishes the asuras. The assembled monks, hearing this teaching, revere and practice it with joy.

With this, named non-negligence (名不放逸) closes entirely, closing skillful means (方便2: 出彼二法/名不放逸) entirely, closing explaining each in turn (隨釋4: 淨信/厚欲/精進/方便) entirely, closing **the truth's yoga (丑二諦瑜伽2: 標列/隨釋), the second of topic four's three headings, entirely** — mindfulness and right knowledge together guard against defilement while sustaining wholesome cultivation, the twin engine of non-negligent practice.

Master Cháng Bǎi cites two brief companion sūtras spoken by the Buddha at Deer Park, both simply naming the four noble truths as the object toward which monks should apply exactly this fourfold yoga — pure faith that the truths lead to nirvāṇa, keen desire, vigorous diligence, and the twin skillful means of mindfulness and right knowledge, practiced without gap.

With this, clarifying the teaching (明宣說) closes entirely, closing explaining the limit (釋邊際2: 出因緣/明宣說) entirely, closing **the truth's establishment (丑三諦建立2: 喻諦相/釋邊際), the third of topic four's three headings, entirely**, closing **topic four, attainment (子四得3: 諦證得/諦瑜伽/諦建立), entirely** — the Buddha, as the unsurpassed physician, draws out craving's arrow and teaches only the four truths, since nothing beyond them is needed to cure the illness of birth-and-death.

Master Cháng Bǎi cites two extensive companion sūtras here. The first has the Buddha teach that a monk who truly knows the four truths, thereby extinguishing rebirth, establishing pure conduct, and completing all that should be done, is a true śramaṇa or brāhmaṇa in more than name — thereafter enumerated across a rich cluster of epithets: reaching the "limit of suffering" and the "limit free of stain," a "superior person" without the "hindering bolt" (the five lower fetters — the view of a real body, clinging to rites and vows, doubt, craving, and aversion), one who has "leveled the moat" (crossed the river of ignorance surrounding nirvāṇa's city), "crossed every peril" (transcended birth-and-death), "freed from every bond," and "raised the noble banner." The second sūtra teaches that a great physician king is known by four qualities — skillfully knowing the illness, skillfully knowing its source, skillfully knowing its cure, and, having cured it, skillfully ensuring it never recurs — and that the Tathāgata alone, knowing the four truths exactly so, is the true great physician king, since worldly physicians, however skilled, cannot know the deepest root of birth-old-age-sickness-death's suffering as the Buddha does. A further list of the arhat's completed qualities is given: severing the five higher fetters, perfecting the six constant abidings (equanimity toward every sense object), guarding against dangerous circumstances, moderation regarding the four requisites of robes, food, bedding, and medicine, discarding every view but the four truths, freedom from clinging to the four aggregates of form, feeling, perception, and formation, settled right reflection, bodily stillness through the fourth absorption, liberation of mind through freedom from craving, liberation of wisdom through severing ignorance, singularity (no further rebirth), purity (pure conduct fulfilled), and the honorific "superior person," one who has drawn near to the Buddha's own attainment.

This opens topic five, mark (相), the fifth of 諦攝's twelve topics, explaining the meritorious marks of cultivating the four truths and the faulty marks of failing to, beginning with raising the ten faults (舉十過患), the first of two matters, beginning with marking (標).

With this, listing (列) closes entirely, closing raising the ten faults (舉十過患2: 標/列) entirely — one who fails to realize the four truths is not truly reckoned a śramaṇa or brāhmaṇa by those who are, remains bound to future suffering and possible rebirth in the lower realms, risks abandoning the training altogether, cannot attain the transcendent path or its fruit, settles instead for seeking ordinary merit fields while still relishing favorable rebirth, cannot reach the non-returner's fruit, and, in this very life, can achieve neither ultimate understanding nor liberation from the residual suffering of embodiment. Per the 披尋記, this final incapacity has two aspects: inability to enter the stage of departing birth through right understanding, and inability to attain final nirvāṇa, freeing one from every suffering tied to a remaining basis.

With this, reversing into the ten virtues (翻十功德) closes entirely, closing **topic five, mark (子五相2: 舉十過患/翻十功德), entirely** — every one of the ten faults, simply inverted, becomes a corresponding virtue for the one who does realize the four truths directly.

Master Cháng Bǎi cites a companion sūtra in which the Buddha teaches that śramaṇas or brāhmaṇas who fail to truly know the four truths are not truly śramaṇas among śramaṇas nor brāhmaṇas among brāhmaṇas, and cannot declare, as one who has realized the goal: "birth for me is ended, the holy life established, what was to be done is done, I know there is no further becoming." Those who do truly know the four truths are truly śramaṇas among śramaṇas and brāhmaṇas among brāhmaṇas, and can rightly make that same declaration — therefore monks should apply intensified resolve and vigorous diligence, by every skillful means, toward realizing the four noble truths.

This opens topic six, basis (處), the sixth of 諦攝's twelve topics, explaining the power of studying the four truths from a further angle: the practitioner gains a basis to rely upon, and the merit and means of the three vehicles' enlightenment, beginning with general marking (總標) — the basis relied upon is going forth from home life, since sustained practice is far easier for one no longer entangled in household affairs; the attainment is the merit of the three vehicles' enlightenment; the means of attainment is wisdom, vision, and direct realization, the three positions by which that enlightenment is reached.

With this, the position of direct realization (現觀位) closes entirely, closing the first meaning (第一義3: 智位/見位/現觀位) entirely — corresponding to the third turning's completed arhat, all four truths' work finished.

With this, the position of direct realization (現觀位) closes entirely, closing the second meaning (第二義3: 智位/見位/現觀位) entirely, closing distinguishing the positions (辨位2: 第一義/第二義) entirely, closing the means of attainment (得方便2: 釋名/辨位) entirely, closing explaining each individually (別釋3: 得依處/得/得方便) entirely, closing **topic six, basis (子六處2: 總標/別釋), entirely** — under this second interpretation, all the wisdom spanning stream-entry through the threshold of arhatship is folded into a single position of direct realization, in contrast to the first interpretation's three-way division by turning.

Master Cháng Bǎi cites an extensive series of twenty-one brief companion sūtras from the Saṃyukta Āgama's truth-correspondence chapter, structured in a consistent triad — "should know," "should see," "should uninterruptedly penetrate" — repeated across seven attainments: first, going forth itself as the basis relied upon (the eldest son who shaves his head, dons robes, and studies the four truths); then, in turn, the merit of stream-entry (severing the view of a real body, clinging to rites and vows, and doubt), once-returning (these three further thinned by weakened craving, aversion, and delusion), non-returning (severing the five lower fetters entirely), arhatship (utterly severing every affliction, attaining both mental and wisdom liberation), pratyekabuddhahood, and buddhahood — each triad confirming that the given fruit's merit flows entirely from truly knowing, seeing, and uninterruptedly penetrating the four noble truths. Twenty-one sūtras across seven fruits, each in a fixed three-sūtra pattern, demonstrate concretely that whatever the practitioner's capacity or aspiration, the same four truths yield graduated results all the way from a novice's ordination to buddhahood itself.

This opens topic seven, function (業), the seventh of 諦攝's twelve topics, explaining the function and mark of the wisdom of the truths, beginning with general marking (總標). Per the 披尋記, six comes from two sets of three: three functions — extinguishing every suffering, breaking through great darkness, and realizing non-regression — and three marks — one's own good, decisive quality; being gathered together gradually; and arising together with joy and happiness.

With this, bringing about the limit of suffering (作苦邊際) closes entirely, closing extinguishing every suffering (能滅眾苦3: 滅苦前行/正盡眾苦/作苦邊際) entirely — the arhat has severed every suffering of the three realms' cycle, like a tree whose root is cut, never to sprout again.

With this, realizing non-regression (能證不退) closes entirely, closing distinguishing the three kinds (辨三種3: 能滅眾苦/能破大闇/能證不退) entirely — even a stream-enterer, who may still momentarily lapse into desire or aversion, progresses through cultivation toward non-return and never regresses to an ordinary being's level again, unlike an ordinary practitioner of worldly meditation, who may reach even the highest formless absorption yet still return to the desire realm, since meditation alone suppresses affliction's manifestation without severing its seed.

With this, generally named "ceasing dharmas" (總名滅法) closes entirely, closing explaining what is difficult (隨難釋2: 總名集法/總名滅法) entirely, closing the first three functions and marks (初三業相3: 辨三種/結廣大/隨難釋) entirely — with the wisdom of impermanence, the past is released without longing, the present tends toward cessation without further affliction, and the future is no longer wished for, ending the cycle of suffering entirely.

With this, not watching another's mouth (不觀他口) closes entirely, closing distinguishing each mark (別辨相3: 不為他轉/不視他面/不觀他口) entirely — one who has realized the truths does not simply believe whatever is said, but examines it with discernment already in hand; per the companion sūtra cited below, such a one may even turn the tables, showing rival teachers the flaws in their own doctrines.

With this, explaining what is difficult (隨難釋) closes entirely, closing one's own good, decisive quality (自善決定2: 別辨相/隨難釋) entirely. Per the 披尋記, this glosses the "other" in both not looking to another's face and not watching another's mouth as referring to these very outside-path teachers.

With this, the simile of completeness (喻圓滿) closes entirely, closing raising a simile (舉喻2: 喻受用/喻圓滿) entirely, closing gradual accumulation (漸次集成2: 標簡/舉喻) entirely. Per the 瑜伽論記, the śamī shrub's leaves grow irregularly — sometimes one leaf, sometimes two, sometimes six or seven — illustrating how incomplete the four truths' wisdom looks when even one is missing; sāla branches, by contrast, grow leaves evenly matched four by four, illustrating the four truths' wisdom completing together in balance. A companion sūtra elsewhere uses the small, brittle khadira leaf, unable to hold water, versus the large, sturdy lotus leaf, able to be gathered into a vessel for drawing the water of the noble path — the same point that all four truths, none omitted, are needed to hold the dharma's water.

With this, transcending two sufferings (超越二苦) closes entirely, closing distinguishing its mark individually (別顯其相2: 令極輕安/超越二苦) entirely — lacking the four truths, one may fall into the hells' burning and punishment; realizing them guarantees one never falls into the lower realms at all.

With this, praising and encouraging what should be attained (讚勵應得) closes entirely, closing arising together with joy and happiness (與喜樂俱2: 別顯其相/讚勵應得) entirely, closing the latter three functions and marks (後三業相3: 自善決定/漸次集成/與喜樂俱) entirely, closing distinguishing each (別辨2: 初三業相/後三業相) entirely, closing **topic seven, function (子七業2: 總標/別辨), entirely** — the wisdom of the truths is worth any price, even repeated bodily destruction, since it alone secures release from suffering beyond measure.

Master Cháng Bǎi cites a rich series of companion sūtras illustrating each function and mark in turn: the dawn-simile sūtras (matching "extinguishing suffering") teaching that the four truths are suffering's own herald, as the first light heralds sunrise; the sun-and-stars sūtra (matching "breaking great darkness") describing a world without sun or moon as one without seasons, days, or months — exactly as a world without a buddha's teaching remains in ceaseless dark night; a further sūtra (matching "non-regression") describing how the four truths' light, once kindled, ensures a stream-enterer's eventual arhatship despite up to fourteen further rebirths among gods and humans, never again regressing to an ordinary being's state. For "self-decisive quality," the Khadira Leaf Sūtra teaches that small, brittle khadira leaves cannot hold water, just as three truths without the fourth cannot yield the path, while sturdy lotus and creeper leaves can — supplemented by the Indra's Pillar Sūtra, contrasting a cotton tuft blown about by every wind (one who has not realized the truths, swayed by every rival doctrine) against Indra's bronze pillar, sunk deep and unmoved by wind from any direction (one who has), and the Debate-Ground Sūtra, describing a stone pillar sunk half its sixteen-cubit length into the earth, immovable in debate. For "arising with joy," the Burning-Head Sūtra has the Buddha teach that realizing the four truths matters more urgently than even extinguishing a fire burning one's own head and robes, since unliberated beings face the hells, animal realms, and hungry ghosts' far greater suffering; and the Hundred Spears Sūtra has a hundred-year-old man gladly accept three hundred spear-thrusts daily for the rest of his life in exchange for hearing the four truths taught, since this is nothing beside the suffering of beginningless saṃsāra.

This opens topic eight, obstruction (障), the eighth of 諦攝's twelve topics, explaining the causes obstructing the path to realizing the four truths, beginning with clarifying what can be removed and severed (明能除斷), the first of two matters, beginning with marking and listing the obstructions (標列障礙) — disbelief lacks confidence in the truths, saṅgha, and Buddha's virtues; overestimation mistakes what is unattained for attained; waiting for a later time procrastinates rather than seizing the present; negligence indulges in wrong deliberation, investigation, and idle talk.

With this, explaining the unanswered (釋不記) closes entirely, closing clarifying the severing (明除斷2: 引佛說/釋不記) entirely, closing toward the third disbelief (於第三不信2: 出彼疑/明除斷) entirely, closing explaining the antidotes (釋能治3: 於初不信/於第二不信/於第三不信) entirely, closing regarding disbelief (於不信2: 廣三種/釋能治) entirely, the first of the four obstructions' individual explanations — the Buddha's silence toward the traditional fourteen unanswerable questions (whether the world is eternal or not, finite or not, whether the Tathāgata exists after death or not, and whether the life-principle is identical to or different from the body) reflects that these speculative questions, however they are answered, only entangle the mind further and offer no path to liberation, being neither true statements of a fixed self nor of pure annihilation, and having no bearing on cultivating the path.

With this, explaining why (釋所以) closes entirely, closing displaying how difficult it is to sever (顯難斷2: 舉譬喻/釋所以) entirely, closing regarding overestimation (於上慢2: 明依處/顯難斷) entirely, the second of the four obstructions' individual explanations — the mind must turn its grasping attention back upon itself until subject and object dissolve into equal, uncontaminated wisdom, a feat finer than any physical precision, which is exactly why overestimating one's own attainment is such an easy trap.

This closes regarding waiting for a later time (於待時), the third of the four obstructions' individual explanations, a single matter — the famous blind sea turtle, surfacing only once a century, whose head happens to pass through the single hole of a floating log adrift on the vast ocean: as rare as this is, gaining a human body is rarer still, so there is no excuse to postpone practice until "later," whether after retirement or any other deferred moment.

With this, explaining why it should not be deliberated upon (釋不應思惟) closes entirely, closing explaining its mark (釋其相2: 舉不應思處/釋不應思惟) entirely. Per the 披尋記, of the six unfit topics, all but self and sentient beings fall under "not a fit object for deliberation," while self and sentient beings themselves fall under "having no real existence" — between these two causes, every forbidden topic is accounted for; forcing thought upon either kind produces only confusion, never insight.

With this, bringing forth the fault (出過患) closes entirely, closing wrong thinking (邪思惟3: 標得名/釋其相/出過患) entirely, the first of three matters under explaining each in detail — Master Cháng Bǎi cites a companion sūtra in which a man meditating beside a lotus pond genuinely perceives, through a past-life connection, a vast army of elephants, horses, chariots, and infantry vanishing into a single lotus stem's hollow (in fact the defeated army of the asuras retreating from the gods), yet, forcing wrong deliberation upon this real vision, decides he has gone mad — illustrating how even a truthful glimpse, wrongly pondered, breeds only a false, disturbed notion rather than insight.

With this, wrong idle talk (邪戲論) closes entirely, closing explaining each in detail (隨別釋3: 邪思惟/邪尋思/邪戲論) entirely — distorted talk flows from grasping the aggregates as permanent, blissful self, and pure; wasted talk is speech with no purpose at all; contentious talk arises from disputes and rivalry; comparative talk ranks self against others; livelihood talk concerns trades and self-preservation; and talk indulging wealth and food dwells on money, property, and meals.

With this, the general concluding name (總結名) closes entirely, closing explaining its mark (釋彼相3: 略標舉/隨別釋/總結名) entirely — wrong thinking, wrong investigation, and wrong idle talk together constitute negligence in full.

With this, clarifying the severing (明斷除) closes entirely, closing regarding negligence (於放逸2: 釋彼相/明斷除) entirely, closing explaining each individually how to sever them (別釋斷除4: 於不信/於上慢/於待時/於放逸) entirely, closing clarifying what can be removed and severed (丑一明能除斷2: 標列障礙/別釋斷除), the first of topic eight's two matters, entirely — the Buddha's personal, direct instruction is what swiftly cuts through negligence for those genuinely receptive to it.

With this, explaining each individually, "noble truth" (別釋聖諦) closes entirely, closing by the wisdom of hearing and thinking (由聞思慧2: 別釋其相/料簡諦名) entirely — an ordinary being's suffering is no less real for want of understanding it, but it takes the noble one's decisive wisdom, joined to that same reality, to earn the name "noble truth."

With this, by the wisdom of cultivation (由修慧) closes entirely, closing explaining each in turn (隨釋2: 由聞思慧/由修慧) entirely, closing broadly explaining sustained retention (丑二廣由任持2: 標列/隨釋) entirely, closing **topic eight, obstruction (子八障2: 明能除斷/廣由任持), entirely** — the wisdom of cultivation and confirmed purity toward the Three Jewels arise together and cannot be separated; wherever a practitioner has genuinely realized the truths, unwavering confidence in the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha necessarily follows, and doubt in one always tracks doubt in the other.

Master Cháng Bǎi cites a long series of companion sūtras illustrating this entire topic of obstruction: the Buddha's own declaration that realizing the four truths equally and rightly is precisely what "tathāgata" means; a verse recalling that beginningless ignorance of the truths caused suffering's long night, ended only by their realization; the Siṃsapā-leaves teaching repeated (what is taught is a mere handful against the forest of what is realized, yet sufficient for liberation); a repetition of the lotus-pond vision and the arrow-and-hair-splitting dialogue, this time addressed to Ānanda, who confirms that splitting a hair a hundredfold and hitting a single strand is far easier than truly knowing the truth of suffering; the blind-turtle simile repeated to stress how rare a human birth is; a cluster of sūtras where the Buddha interrupts monks debating the fourteen unanswerable questions, the eight wrong investigations (desire, ill will, harm, homeland, relatives, deathlessness, contempt, family status), and the six kinds of wrong idle talk (kings' wealth and power, past trades and livelihoods, complaints about alms food) — redirecting each conversation back to the four truths as the only topic of real benefit; and finally a set of sūtras on retention through hearing, thinking, and cultivation, in which monks recite the four truths back to the Buddha with increasing depth — first merely repeating the words, then affirming they are true, unmistaken, and not otherwise, and finally confirming that no outside teacher could ever establish some alternate four truths to replace the Buddha's, and that doubt toward the Three Jewels and doubt toward the four truths always rise and fall together.

This opens topic nine, fault (過), the ninth of 諦攝's twelve topics, explaining the faults of failing to realize the four truths directly, beginning with marking (標).

With this, displaying what should be known (顯應知) closes entirely, closing the fault of falsely seeing darkness (妄見黑闇過患2: 標墮界/顯應知) entirely, closing explaining each of the four (釋4: 惡趣過患/欲纏過患/色無色纏過患/妄見黑闇過患) entirely, closing **topic nine, fault (子九過3: 標/徵/釋), entirely** — clinging to false views under ignorance's cover prevents the arhat's severance of the five limbs (homelessness, non-accumulation, freedom from false hope, severed desire, and solitary conduct, per the 披尋記 citing the Wisdom-Born-of-Thought Ground); precisely this failure is why the Buddha displays the four truths so directly.

Master Cháng Bǎi cites a rich series of companion sūtras illustrating these four faults: a monk asks the Buddha, gazing into a deep, sheer ravine near Vulture Peak, whether anything is more fearsome still — the Buddha answers that failing to know the four truths and clinging instead to the round of birth, aging, sickness, and death is a far deeper precipice; parallel sūtras compare this same failure to a great hot hell, then to a great dark hell darker than the space between world-systems, then progressively to the darkness between small-thousand, medium-thousand, and great-thousand world-systems (where not even one's own body can be seen), each surpassed in turn by the darkness of not knowing the four truths; and a final cluster of sūtras urges monks to listen carefully, reflect skillfully, and cultivate meditative absorption and immeasurable states of concentrated mind, since only a settled, one-pointed mind allows the four truths to manifest clearly as they truly are.

This opens topic ten, dark ripening and the rest (黑異熟等), the tenth of 諦攝's twelve topics, explaining the varied karmic ripenings caused by beings' differing actions, beginning with distinguishing the kinds of karma created (辨造業), the first, dark-dark ripening karma (黑黑異熟業) — the thrown-staff simile illustrates the three lower destinies as effectively interchangeable landing places for unwholesome karma's dark fruit, whether understood as sequential (hell then animal then hungry-ghost) or as sorted by the dominant affliction (aversion to hell, delusion to the animal realm, craving to the hungry-ghost realm).

With this, bright-bright ripening karma (白白異熟業) closes entirely, closing distinguishing the kinds of karma created (辨造業3: 黑黑異熟業/黑白黑白異熟業/白白異熟業) entirely — even the purest worldly karma, the unmoving meditative karma yielding form- or formless-realm rebirth, still carries the seeds of birth-and-death, and when its power is spent, one falls back into the cycle, turning endlessly like a five-spoked wheel.

With this, teaching the noble truths' doctrine (說聖諦教) closes entirely, closing distinguishing the difference (辨差別2: 說世間道/說聖諦教) entirely — only the four truths' teaching leads to an ascent that never falls back, since it uproots the very seeds of birth-and-death rather than merely suppressing their manifestation.

With this, the ultimate meaning (是第一義) closes entirely, closing distinguishing the wise (簡聰慧2: 非第一義/是第一義) entirely, closing clarifying the teaching's explanation (明教說2: 辨差別/簡聰慧) entirely, closing **topic ten, dark ripening and the rest (子十黑異熟等2: 辨造業/明教說), entirely** — only the wisdom of the truths counts as wisdom in the final sense, since, per the 披尋記, this ascent alone is truly final.

Master Cháng Bǎi cites a matching series of companion sūtras: the Staff Sūtra, twice told, likening the three lower destinies and mixed rebirths to a staff thrown into the air, landing root, middle, or tip first, or landing clean or unclean; the Five-Spoke Wheel Sūtra, comparing the five destinies' unending cycle to a wheel spun by a strong man's force; the Supreme Teaching Sūtra, identifying the tathāgatas' "supreme teaching" as precisely the four noble truths, opened up through exposition, formulation, establishment, analysis, elaboration, and clarification; and the Wise Sūtra, in which monks themselves answer, when asked what wisdom means, that it is precisely and only true knowledge of the four noble truths — confirming that worldly cleverness, however far it reaches, never earns the name "wisdom" in the ultimate sense that only the four truths provide.

With this, like four rungs of a ladder (如四桄梯) closes entirely, closing the simile without distinctions (無差別喻2: 如四階隥/如四桄梯) entirely, closing the simile for the wisdom of the truths (喻諦智2: 有差別喻/無差別喻) entirely — whether pictured as a staircase or a ladder, all four truths together, none skipped, carry the practitioner up to liberation.

With this, not following his turning (不隨彼轉) closes entirely, closing bringing forth Māra's obstruction (出魔障2: 彼令隨轉/不隨彼轉) entirely — the stream-enterer's keen, direct realization already cuts through Māra's current; the remaining trainees stand firm in the middle; and the arhat, having perfected the path, swims entirely against Māra's stream, immune to every spear.

With this, extending to the remaining sufferings (例餘苦) closes entirely, closing distinguishing the remainder severed (辨餘斷2: 舉慢苦/例餘苦) entirely. Per the 披尋記, the trainee still has at most seven more human-and-heavenly rebirths' worth of suffering remaining, but has already transcended every suffering of the evil destinies; the arhat has only the suffering tied to this present life's remaining body, having transcended every other suffering.

With this, desire-realm craving (欲界愛) closes entirely, closing the simile for suffering from craving (喻愛苦3: 無色愛/色界愛/欲界愛) entirely — desire-realm craving already severed is vast as the ocean itself, dwarfing the mere two or three drops that remain.

With this, the simile for suffering from karma and the rest (喻業等苦) closes entirely, closing displaying the similes (顯譬喻3: 喻慢苦/喻愛苦/喻業等苦) entirely, closing clarifying the exhaustion of suffering (明盡苦2: 辨餘斷/顯譬喻) entirely. Per the 瑜伽論記: the great snow mountain matches suffering already severed from conceit; the gold mountains ringing Sumeru match formless- and form-realm craving already severed; Sumeru and the great earth match desire-realm craving already severed; six pebbles match the three karmas of body, speech, and mind together with the three poisons of craving, aversion, and delusion; and the mud-lump matches what little remains unsevered in a noble one's body, against the great earth's expanse of what has already been severed.

With this, the adept beyond training (無學) closes entirely, closing distinguishing (辨2: 有學/無學) entirely, closing concluding with the benefit (結義利2: 標/辨) entirely, closing distinguishing direct realization (丑二辨現觀3: 出魔障/明盡苦/結義利) entirely, closing **topic eleven, great meaning (子十一大義2: 喻諦智/辨現觀), entirely** — an arhat such as Mahāmaudgalyāyana, beaten by outside-path followers, or Śāriputra, still troubled by headaches, may retain bodily suffering tied to this one remaining life, yet the mind stands entirely liberated, transcending every other suffering.

Master Cháng Bǎi cites a series of some twenty companion sūtras illustrating this vast benefit. The householder Sudatta asks the Buddha whether the four truths are realized gradually or all at once; the Buddha confirms gradually, using the two-leaves-versus-lotus-leaf water-vessel simile once more, then, to another monk and separately to Ānanda, the simile of a four-step staircase that cannot be climbed out of order. A further sūtra asks whether a spear made from all the world's wood, hurled into the ocean, could pierce every sea-creature — impossible, given their countless different sizes, just as sentient beings' capacities are countless and each must be met according to its own pace. A long cluster of sūtras then compares a handful of earth or a small clod against the vast bulk of the Himalayas, or against the seven gold mountains ringing Sumeru, Vinataka, the Horse-Ear mountain, Sudarśana, Khadiraka, Īṣādhāra, Yugandhara, and Sumeru itself, or the whole great earth — each time affirming that those who truly know the four truths are as rare as the handful, while those who do not are as numerous as the mountain or the earth. A parallel cluster compares a few drops drawn by hair or fingertip against vast bodies of water — a great lake, and, by name, the Sarasvatī, the Ganges, the Yamunā, the Sarayū, the Airāvatī, the Mahī, and the four great oceans — with the same moral: how little suffering remains, set beside the suffering already severed, once a noble disciple has truly seen the truths and cut off future rebirth's root as decisively as felling a palm tree's crown.

This opens topic twelve, difficult to attain (難得), the twelfth and final topic of 諦攝's twelve-topic verse, explaining four things difficult to attain — a body capable of direct realization, the eye that sees the noble truths, the sublime wisdom accomplished through hearing, thinking, and cultivation, and the good provisions supporting the path — beginning with a body able to enter direct realization is difficult to attain (入現觀身難得), the first of four. This human body, capable of realizing the truths directly, is exceedingly rare among all possible rebirths.

With this, explaining the distinction (釋差別) closes entirely, closing the threefold accomplished wisdom is difficult to attain (三所成慧難得3: 標三種/配行相/釋差別) entirely. Per the 披尋記, understanding corresponds to the wisdom of hearing, superior understanding to the wisdom of thinking, and decisive understanding to the wisdom of cultivation — of the three, cultivation's decisive wisdom, entering the dharma's direct realization, is the most difficult to attain of all.

With this, extending to every noble one (例通諸聖) closes entirely, closing right view and the rest (正見等法2: 舉初世間/例通諸聖) entirely, closing marking and listing the various kinds (標列種種3: 善資糧法/有暇圓滿/正見等法) entirely — from an ordinary being's first contaminated right view through the trainee's four fruits to the arhat's ten limbs beyond training, this entire progression, however rare each stage, is what these difficult-to-attain dharmas describe.

With this, skillfully creating benefit for self and others (善能造作自他義利) closes entirely, closing distinguishing (辨2: 善御家長/善能造作自他義利) entirely. Per the 披尋記, "not administering discipline in the wrong circumstance" means never rebuking or punishing unreasonably — good leadership, whether of a household or a community, flows from selfless generosity and even-handed restraint.

With this, the concluding statement (結) closes entirely, closing well guiding the household and the rest (善御家長等2: 辨/結) entirely, the third of the seven provisions — whether a household or a monastic community, its flourishing or its ruin traces back to precisely this quality of leadership.

With this, receiving fasting precepts and studying the precepts (受齋學戒) closes entirely, closing distinguishing (辨2: 惠施作福/受齋學戒) entirely — from a single day's eight precepts through a lifetime's full monastic precepts, each level cultivates the transcendent roots of goodness.

With this, the concluding statement (結) closes entirely, closing generosity, merit-making, and the rest (惠施作福等2: 辨/結) entirely.

With this, the wholesome courses of karma (諸善業道) closes entirely, closing embraced within good provisions (善資糧攝7: 善識父母恩養/善知沙門若婆羅門/善御家長等/於此世罪深見怖畏/於他世罪深見怖畏/惠施作福等/諸善業道) entirely, the seventh and final provision.

Master Cháng Bǎi explains this final provision's brief reference by citing fascicle 90's summary verse in full: five twofold classifications of karma (heavy/light by intention-effort-object; increasing/non-increasing; deliberate/non-deliberate; fixed/uncertain in its retribution; already-ripened/not-yet-ripened), ten threefold classifications (wholesome/unwholesome/neutral; pleasant/painful/neutral in feeling; ripening in this life/the next/a later life; belonging to trainees/adepts-beyond-training/neither; severed by seeing/by cultivation/not severed; the crooked, defiled, turbid, or pure karma of body-speech-mind by outside-path views, sharp craving-aversion, or delusion, and finally their pure and silent counterparts culminating in nirvāṇa), and one final fourfold classification (dark-dark ripening karma, the unwholesome karma bringing dark fruit; bright-bright ripening karma, the unmoving meditative karma of the form and formless realms; dark-and-bright ripening karma, the desire realm's mixed merit; and karma neither dark nor bright with no ripening at all, the noble ones' uncontaminated, transcendent karma that exhausts all three other kinds' seeds and yields no further worldly fruit at all).

With this, distinguishing the difference (簡差別) closes entirely, closing raising right view (舉正見2: 辨生起/簡差別) entirely — worldly right view needs ongoing protection through guarding the sense-doors; the trainee's right view is touched and realized progressively; the arhat's right view is fully borne witness to in realizing nirvāṇa.

With this, extending to the remaining dharmas (例餘法) closes entirely, closing right view and the rest (正見等法2: 舉正見/例餘法) entirely, closing explaining each in turn (隨釋其相3: 善資糧攝/有暇圓滿/正見等法) entirely, closing good provisions and the rest are difficult to attain (丑四善資糧等難得2: 標列種種/隨釋其相) entirely, closing **topic twelve, difficult to attain (子十二難得4: 入現觀身難得/見聖諦眼難得/三所成慧難得/善資糧等難得), entirely** — closing **the entire embrace of the truths (諦攝), all twelve topics (如理/攝/集諦/得/相/處/業/障/過/黑異熟等/大義/難得), entirely** — from right view through right thought, effort, speech, action, livelihood, mindfulness, concentration, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation, this same rarity applies to every limb of the noble path, whether cultivated once, repeatedly, or extensively.

Master Cháng Bǎi closes this topic — and the whole of the truths' embrace — by citing an extensive series of some forty companion sūtras, nearly all built on the same fingernail-dirt-versus-the-great-earth simile: beings visible in bodily form are as rare as the dirt beneath the Buddha's fingernail against the numberless formless beings, like the great earth; likewise land creatures against water creatures, humans against non-humans, those born where the Buddhadharma can be heard against those born where it cannot, those who attain direct realization against those who do not, those endowed with the threefold wisdom of hearing, thinking, and cultivation against those without it, those who understand the Dharma and Vinaya, who reach it through to the end, who form correct ideas about it, who awaken to it, who rightly resolve upon it, and who correspond to it through cultivation's wisdom — all vastly outnumbered by those who do not. The series continues through beings who recognize their parents' kindness, who revere renunciants and elders, who fear wrongdoing in this life and the next, who practice generosity and precepts, whose bodily, verbal, and mental karma is pure, who keep the five precepts or the eight-precept fast, or who cultivate the ten wholesome courses of action — each again vastly outnumbered by those who do not. A final cluster of sūtras tracks rebirth statistics directly: of beings who die in the hells, the animal realm, or as hungry ghosts, vanishingly few are reborn human or as gods, while the vast majority cycle straight back into the same lower destiny; of beings born human or as gods, only a few remain there in their next life, while the great majority fall to the three evil destinies. The Buddha closes this cycle by recalling that even before ever hearing the four truths taught, his own bodhisattva reflection had already rightly discerned suffering, its origination, its cessation, and the path — arising, as with all these dharmas, first as something already arisen, then as something now arising, then as something about to arise, then practiced, cultivated, extensively cultivated, touched, and finally realized as an adept beyond training. With this, the entire cycle of companion sūtras illustrating the truths' embrace, from wisdom in accordance with truth through what is most difficult to attain, comes to its own close.