The Foundations of Mindfulness, Complete

This opens marking and explaining all of it (標釋一切), the second of two matters, beginning with the general summary verse (總嗢柁南) — nine great topics unfold across eleven and a half particular verses: the four foundations of mindfulness (四念住), given four particular verses of its own (the first three within this fascicle, concerned chiefly with the individual practitioner, the dharma, and the two kinds of defilement); the four right efforts (四正斷) and four bases of supernormal power (四神足), sharing a single half-verse between them; and the five faculties (五根), five powers (五力), seven factors of enlightenment (七覺支), eightfold path (八聖道支), mindfulness of breathing (持息念), the trainee and adept beyond training (學無學), and the four confirmed purities (四證淨), each given one full verse — all of the latter falling within fascicle 98.

This opens the particular summary verses (別嗢柁南), a ninefold structure matching the general verse's nine topics, beginning with the foundations of mindfulness's embrace (念住攝), the first, itself unfolding across four particular verses, beginning with the first summary verse (初嗢柁南), the first, beginning with the verse marking and listing (頌標列) — eight matters to explain in the long-form section that follows: the renunciant, the renunciant's true meaning, delight, every dharma, the holy life, the one who repeatedly takes rebirth, transcending, and the two kinds of defilement.

This opens the long-form explanation (長行釋), an eightfold structure, beginning with the renunciant (沙門), the first, explaining the true renunciant sustained by right practice, beginning with generally marking the distinction (總標簡) — sustained cultivation of the four foundations of mindfulness is what distinguishes the inner dharma's genuine path of renunciation and its genuine finality from outside paths, which possess neither, however elaborate their teachings may appear.

This opens explaining each mark individually (別釋相), the second of the renunciant's matters, beginning with briefly explaining all of it (略釋一切), a fourfold structure, beginning with the four causes and conditions (四種因緣) — first, the four confirmed wisdoms arise relying on four places: the place of respite where the three fetters are permanently severed, the place of power where one never falls back, the place fixed toward the enlightenment-destined class, and the place of at most seven more rebirths; second, freedom from four kinds of external affliction — in this life, in future lives, from mutual contradiction, and from being unable to teach or awaken others to the noble truths; third, unlike outside-path disciples, who fall through hearing into mere attachment, through thinking into defiled clinging, and through cultivation into further clinging, settling into either the extreme of eternalism or the extreme of nihilism, hoarded and guarded over a long night of habituation, the inner dharma's disciples walk the middle way, free of both extremes; fourth, outside-path teachers, though claiming to teach the severance and full knowledge of every clinging, are unable to actually establish the true severing and full knowledge of clinging — only the inner dharma possesses both the path of the renunciant and its finality. Each of these four causes will be unfolded in fuller detail in what follows.

This opens the inner dharma's renunciant (內法沙門), the second of briefly explaining all of it's four matters, explaining the kinds and marks of true Buddhist renunciants, beginning with questioning (徵).

This opens marking (標), the second — setting up the fourfold classification that follows.

This opens listing (列), the third — the renunciant of the supreme path has realized the ultimate truth itself; the renunciant of the expounded path teaches and expounds the noble path without necessarily having fully realized it; the renunciant who lives by the path has devoted their entire life to the eightfold path's cultivation, whether or not they teach it to others; and the renunciant who defiles the path, though present within the Buddhist community, cultivates precepts, concentration, and wisdom in a corrupted, mistaken way.

This opens the inner dharma's path (內法道), the third of briefly explaining all of it's four matters, explaining the content of the noble path within the Buddhadharma, beginning with questioning (徵).

This opens explaining (釋), the second, beginning with bringing forth its essential nature (出體性) — right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right mindfulness, right effort, and right concentration, the eightfold path briefly embraced within the three trainings of precepts, concentration, and wisdom, is called the inner dharma's path.

This opens clarifying its establishment (明施設), the second, beginning with existing only within the inner dharma (唯內法有) — even the renunciant who defiles the path is defined only relative to the eightfold path's own prior establishment; without the path first being taught, there is no path to defile in the first place.

This opens broadly explaining the causes and conditions (廣釋因緣), a fourfold structure unpacking each of the four causes in full, beginning with the first cause and condition's embrace (第一因緣攝), the first, beginning with questioning (徵) — this is precisely where the Buddhadharma diverges from outside paths: four supporting places from which four confirmed wisdoms are attained.

This opens explaining (釋), the second, beginning with the four supporting places (四依處) — the stream-enterer who, at the fifteenth moment of the path of seeing, permanently severs the view of a real body, clinging to rites and vows, and doubt, reaches respite (per the 瑜伽論記, this corresponds to the truth of cessation); their noble path now has power enough never to regress back into an ordinary being; they are fixed, never falling to the evil destinies, toward the fruit of exhaustion and non-arising wisdom; and their remaining rebirths are capped at seven, cycling between the human and heavenly realms before arhatship is reached — four marks of merit belonging to the stream-enterer's own severance of affliction.

This opens the second cause and condition's embrace (辰二第二因緣攝), the second of the four causes, beginning with questioning (徵) — "external" here names afflictions belonging to those outside the inner dharma, from which the noble disciple is freed.

This opens listing (列), the second — the noble disciple, through sustained cultivation of the four foundations of mindfulness, is freed from four kinds of affliction that plague the outside paths in this life, in future lives, in their endless internal disputes, and in their fundamental inability to articulate or awaken to the four truths at all.

This opens explaining (釋), the third, beginning with distinguishing the afflictions (辨煩惱), a fourfold structure, beginning with the first external secondary affliction, present-dharma (第一現法外隨煩惱) — without the foundations of mindfulness (contemplating the body's impurity, feeling's suffering, mind's impermanence, and dharmas' selflessness), mindfulness lapses and every feeling provokes craving, aversion, or delusion in turn.

This opens the second external secondary affliction, later-dharma (第二後法外隨煩惱), the second — feeling's affliction, left unresolved, drives the entire causal chain of dependent origination onward through craving, clinging, and existence, into future birth, aging, and death's whole mass of suffering.

This opens the third external secondary affliction (第三外隨煩惱), the third — every outside doctrine, rooted in the same view of a real self, still generates the sixty-two speculative views and endless mutual disputation, since these views were never pursued for truth's own sake but only to defeat a rival.

This opens the third cause and condition's embrace (辰三第三因緣攝), the third of the four causes, beginning with questioning (徵).

This opens explaining (釋), the second, beginning with the outside paths' disciples (外道弟子), the first — settling permanently into either eternalism or nihilism, an outside-path disciple habituates this view first through hearing it from a teacher, then through dwelling on it, then through cultivating it in practice, each stage deepening the defilement. Per the Compendium of Different Gateways, cited via the 披尋記, "hoarding" names self-craving toward the six internal bases taken as self, while "guarding" names craving extended toward others, taken as belonging to self — together, briefly, self-love and self-possessiveness.

This opens the fourth cause and condition's embrace (辰四第四因緣攝), the fourth and final of the four causes, beginning with questioning (徵) — this asks what distinguishes the Buddha's own teaching authority from that of any outside-path founder.

This opens explaining (釋), the second, beginning with outside-path teachers (外道師), a threefold structure, beginning with marking (標) — outside teachers may speak of severing clinging in general terms, but of the four kinds of clinging (to sense-desire, views, rites and vows, and the doctrine of self), they can only ever sever a portion, never establishing a truly complete severance and full knowledge.

This opens explaining (釋), the second, beginning with by not yet fully severing (由未全斷), a fourfold structure, beginning with able to establish severance and full knowledge of clinging to sense-desire (能於欲取立斷遍知) — an outside teacher who left home life specifically to give up sense-desire may genuinely sever that one kind of clinging, while their own doctrinal views, ascetic vows, and self-view remain entirely untouched.

This opens establishing severance and full knowledge of a portion of clinging to views (於分見取立斷遍知), the second — distinguishing one's own doctrinal views from those of rival schools allows partial severance of view-clinging, though never a complete one, and rites-and-vows clinging and self-view remain untouched.

This opens establishing severance and full knowledge of a portion of clinging to rites and vows (於分戒禁立斷遍知), the third — an outside teacher whose ascetic practices also differ from rival schools' can, on top of the previous two, achieve partial severance of this third kind of clinging as well.

This opens by not yet permanently severing (由未永斷), the second — even the portions of clinging an outside teacher does manage to suppress through meditative discipline remain only temporarily subdued, their seeds unsevered, ready to manifest again the moment conditions permit.

This opens the inner dharma's great teacher (內法大師), the second, in contrast to outside-path teachers — the Buddha establishes the severance and full knowledge of every clinging on the basis of pure dependent origination itself, teaching disciples to ultimately part from clinging to sense-desire, from both the eternalist and nihilist views, from clinging to rites and vows, and from clinging to the doctrine of self, bringing the inner dharma's practitioners to ultimate liberation from the three realms — utterly unlike the outside paths.

This opens the meaning of "renunciant" (丑二沙門義2), the second of the first particular verse's eight items — the term "sacred renunciant's meaning" (沙門沙門義) in the opening verse's first line names this second item, explained by way of three places (object-realm, wisdom, realization), three grounds (ordinary being, trainee, one beyond training), and three kinds of persons, beginning with marking (標).

This opens explaining (釋), the second, beginning with listing the kinds (列種類), a threefold structure, beginning with the three places (三處) — the object-realm is what the four foundations of mindfulness observe (the elements for the body, the six sense-contacts for dharmas, the eighteen mental conducts of feeling for feeling, and the defiled mind itself for mind); wisdom is the mind's own capacity, resting on samādhi, to know and see truly; realization is the fruit reached when the four supporting places bring subject and object into non-dual equality, attaining unconditioned, ultimate nirvāṇa.

This opens the three grounds (三地), the second — the ground of the ordinary being names one who has already begun to rightly practice; the ground of the trainee spans stream-enterer through the path toward arhatship; the ground of the one beyond training names the arhat.

This opens explaining their marks (卯二釋彼相2), the second of the two matters distinguishing the renunciant's meaning, beginning with the three places' embrace (辰一三處攝2), which opens with explaining the naming (巳一釋得名3), a threefold structure, beginning with the object-realm (境) — the six elements of earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness form the living body: the four elements and space support the body's foundation of mindfulness, the six sense-bases' contact supports the dharma foundation, the resulting pleasant, painful, and neutral feelings support the feeling foundation, and the eighteen mental conducts arising from these support the mind foundation, since they defile the mind that co-arises with them. The 披尋記 clarifies that the eighteen mental conducts are simply the six sense-contacts, each carrying joy, distress, or equanimity — six times three, eighteen in all — naming the practitioner's inwardly-observed field of feeling.

This opens wisdom (智), the second — once the mind attains samādhi, cultivating insight (vipaśyanā) within that stillness yields true knowing and true seeing of every dharma's real mark, up to the realization of unconditioned, ultimate nirvāṇa; hence the mind's own purity is called the place relied upon for wisdom's increase.

This opens accomplishing the supporting places (巳二成依處4), the second of the three places' embrace's two matters, beginning with distinguishing each mark (午一別辨相4), a fourfold structure, beginning with the place relied upon for wisdom (未一慧依處) — the 披尋記 summarizes this as three grades of wisdom: the ordinary being's right-practice wisdom, the trainee's stainless right wisdom, and the subsequently-attained wisdom shared by trainee and arhat alike, this last being what "worldly wisdom after supramundane wisdom" names — a trainee or arhat's post-realization wisdom that still operates through ordinary language and concepts.

This opens the place relied upon for truth (諦依處), the second — having attained the eightfold noble path and reached arhatship, one attains the wisdom of no-further-arising (無生智), so that future suffering never again arises and true meaning is never again forgotten.

This opens the place relied upon for relinquishment (捨依處), the third — per the 披尋記, this names one who has already grown fully detached from the objects of the five sense-desires belonging to household life, so that even the latent tendency of craving toward them is permanently destroyed, allowing dwelling at ease in the present dharma.

This opens embracing the essential meaning (午二攝要義), the second of accomplishing the supporting places' three matters — a practitioner who attains the noble path and its fruit through wisdom is properly called a renunciant of the noble path; Master Cháng Bǎi here reviews all three places (object-realm, wisdom, realization, the last unpacked into its four supporting places) together with the three grounds and three kinds of persons as together constituting the full meaning of "renunciant."

This opens clarifying the establishment (午三明施設2), the third of accomplishing the supporting places' three matters, beginning with setting out what should be done (未一出應作) — each of the four supporting places accomplishes a distinct function: the wisdom-place realizes what was previously unrealized, the truth-place relinquishes future suffering, the relinquishment-place secures dwelling at ease in the present, and the stillness-place completes what severance remained unfinished; together, a yoga practitioner who has traversed all four reaches the completion of the entire task. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before any closure of clarifying the establishment, accomplishing the supporting places, or the three places' embrace is claimed.

This opens the three grounds and three kinds of persons' embrace (辰二三地及三補特伽羅攝2), the second of explaining their marks' two matters, which opens with clarifying wisdom's observation (巳一明智觀察2), beginning with questioning (徵) — this asks how each of the three kinds of persons, at their own level, observes through wisdom and realizes what corresponds to their own stage.

This opens explaining (午二釋3), a threefold structure, beginning with the ordinary being's stage (未一異生位3), which opens with abiding in the contemplation that follows the body (申一住循身觀3), a threefold structure, beginning with setting out its contemplative mark (酉一出其觀相) — the ordinary being at the stage of right practice observes the inner body (one's own), the outer body (insentient things such as mountains and rivers), and the body shared with others, all as composed of the five elements (earth, water, fire, wind, space), sweeping attention from feet to crown and back; relying on the increase of both calm-abiding's mental liberation and insight's wisdom-liberation, one comes to see nothing but the elements themselves, with no abiding self to be found anywhere within them. The 披尋記 confirms the five elements named here are simply earth, water, fire, wind, and space.

This opens clarifying what is severed and not yet severed (酉二明斷未斷2), the second of abiding in the contemplation that follows the body's three matters, beginning with marking (標) — through discernment's power, observing the body's impurity, the ordinary being of the inner stage suppresses craving toward the five elements' manifest activity, though the seed of that craving remains unsevered and can still arise when a sufficiently strong object appears. The Śrāvaka Ground, fascicle 23, is cited for the same point regarding the restraint of the faculties by discernment's power: seeing deeply into an object's faults without yet being able to eradicate those faults.

This opens abiding in the contemplation that follows feeling (申二住循受觀2), the second of the ordinary being's stage's three matters, which opens with clarifying what is severed and not yet severed (酉一明斷未斷2), beginning with general marking and distinguishing (戌一總標簡) — after the body, the practitioner turns to the six sense-contacts' resulting feelings (seeing, hearing, and the rest), observing pleasant, painful, and neutral feeling in turn, becoming free of craving toward them by the very same power of discernment described above, relying once again on mind's liberation and wisdom's liberation.

General marking and distinguishing continues here — observing every feeling as conditioned, arisen, and impermanent, the practitioner suppresses feeling's craving through calm-abiding and insight's combined power, yet, exactly as with the body before, the seed of craving remains unsevered and can still surface when a sufficiently strong feeling arises.

This opens abiding in the contemplation that follows mind and dharmas (申三住循心法觀3), the third of the ordinary being's stage's three matters, beginning with general marking (酉一總標) — after body and feeling, the practitioner turns to the eighteen mental conducts (the six sense-contacts, each carrying joy, distress, or equanimity), observing the mind that knows as impermanent and the dharmas that are known as selfless, at once.

This opens separately explaining (酉二別釋2), beginning with abiding in mind, the contemplation that follows mind (戌一於心住循心觀2), which opens with explaining the mark (亥一釋相2), beginning with reflecting on the sublime equanimity (天一思惟妙捨) — among the eighteen mental conducts, the practitioner recognizes the formless absorptions' equanimity, surpassing every form-realm state, as foremost, and observes how mental activity still arises even in accordance with this most refined equanimity.

This opens the trainee's stage (未二有學位), the second of explaining's three matters — having purified the mind at the ordinary being's stage, the practitioner now observes body, feeling, mind, and dharmas as nothing but dharmas, utterly without self, growing so weary of every kind of existence that even the speculative thought "I shall exist" or "I shall not exist" no longer arises — a trainee noble one who has directly realized selflessness and severed the seed of the discursively-arisen view of self, eternalism, and nihilism.

This opens the stage beyond training (未三無學位), the third of explaining's three matters — through this true knowing, the trainee gradually severs the three outflows (of sense-desire, of form-and-formless existence, and of ignorance) belonging to both the path of seeing and the path of cultivation, attaining the arhat's complete liberation of mind. The 披尋記, citing 處擇攝, defines the three precisely: the outflow of sense-desire is every affliction bound to the desire realm apart from ignorance; the outflow of existence is every affliction bound to the form and formless realms apart from ignorance; the outflow of ignorance gathers together every kind of not-knowing across all three realms, whether or not desire has yet been abandoned, that underlies every wrong view's delusion.

This opens distinguishing the supporting places (巳二料簡依處2), the second of the three grounds and three kinds of persons' embrace's two matters, which opens with attaining the foremost (午一成就第一4), a fourfold structure explaining how the arhat's own four supporting places surpass those of the trainee and ordinary being, beginning with the place relied upon for wisdom (未一慧依處) — the arhat has perfected the six ever-abiding states, dwelling always in supreme equanimity, so that not even a momentary lapse of mindfulness can disturb the stillness of a mind wholly free of affliction, unlike the stream-enterer, once-returner, or non-returner, who may still lapse from time to time.

This opens the place relied upon for truth (未二諦依處), the second — because the ordinary being and even the trainee can still momentarily forget right mindfulness, their grasp of true reality remains incomplete, whereas the arhat, never forgetting at any of the twelve hours of day or night, holds true reality completely, and so this supporting place reaches its foremost, most perfect expression only in the stage beyond training.

This opens the place relied upon for relinquishment (未三捨依處), the third — entering nirvāṇa without remainder, the arhat relinquishes every object of reliance entirely, the five aggregates included, the highest expression of relinquishment possible.

This opens the cause and condition asked and answered (午二問答因緣2), the second of distinguishing the supporting places' two matters, beginning with questioning (未一問).

This opens answering (未二答2), beginning with every stage's mark (申一一切位相2), beginning with distinguishing the difference (酉一料簡差別) — the arhat's stage lacks even the subtlest trace of a lingering, trickling affliction, whereas the ordinary being's stage overflows with such trickles and the trainee's stage still retains a small, knowable portion.

This opens the stage beyond training's mark (申二無學位相3), a threefold structure, beginning with permanently severing the trickle (酉一永斷淋漏) — the arhat has permanently severed every trickling affliction without exception, never again lapsing from mindfulness, reaching the complete stillness that the term "sage" (牟尼) itself names.

This opens exhausting the bounds of suffering (酉二盡苦邊際), the second — having permanently destroyed the very cause of future rebirth, the arhat brings every kind of suffering, from birth's first pain through separation, aversion, sickness, and old age, to death's final pain, permanently to rest; where the previous section's permanent severance of trickling belongs to the wisdom of exhaustion, this exhausting of suffering's bounds belongs to the wisdom of no-further-arising, since it concerns the non-continuation of future fruit.

This opens explaining the latter five dharmas, following the text (寅二隨釋後五2), beginning with pointing to the explanation of the first two (卯一指釋初二) — of the seven dharmas' last five (counted from the third onward), the third (knowing the right time) and fourth (knowing the right measure) are here simply pointed to elsewhere rather than re-explained. Per the Śrāvaka Ground, one cultivates the marks of calming, uplifting, and equanimity each in their own proper time, truly knowing each mark's nature, object, and occasion; the Ground of Concentrated Cultivation likewise teaches attending to calm-abiding's distinct marks from time to time, never fixed exclusively on just one — a point echoed in Saṃyukta Āgama discourse 1247: exclusive reliance on calming alone makes the mind sink low; exclusive reliance on uplifting alone makes the mind scatter in agitation; exclusive reliance on equanimity alone prevents right concentration and the exhaustion of every outflow.

This opens separately explaining the latter three dharmas (卯二別釋後三3), the second of explaining the latter five's two matters, beginning with receiving wealth and its dharma and the rest (辰一受用財法等6), corresponding to the fifth of the seven dharmas (receiving wealth's dharma, obtained from others from time to time) — this "and the rest" also embraces the conduct, standing, sitting, and even speech and silence proper to alms-begging — beginning with receiving wealth (巳一受用財) — a renunciant's own requisites are properly begged from lay donors: the ruling kṣatriya class, the priestly brāhmaṇa class, householders, and the wider assembly. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before further closure is claimed.

This opens receiving dharma (巳二受用法), the second of receiving wealth and its dharma and the rest's six matters — just as material requisites are received from lay donors, the dharma itself is received from fellow renunciants, through drawing near a good spiritual friend and listening.

This opens how one should conduct oneself (巳三應如是行), the third — when out begging or on other errands, a renunciant should keep the body from danger (avoiding routes where fierce animals roam), keep the six sense-faculties from chasing after alluring sights and sounds along the way (a discipline just as necessary, Master Cháng Bǎi notes, in an age of constant digital distraction), and keep the mind continually anchored in right mindfulness, never forgetting why one went forth in the first place.

This opens how one should abide (巳四應如是住), the fourth — whether visiting a teacher's quarters or a layperson's home, one should knock gently rather than urgently, wait for permission before entering, and, once inside, wait to be offered a seat rather than sitting down uninvited, since an unoffered seat may not be the host's to give.

This opens how one should sit (巳五應如是坐), the fifth — sitting should be neither slack nor sprawling, legs neither crossed nor splayed too wide nor pressed too tightly together, the body upright and dignified, exactly as detailed further in the Śrāvaka Ground; dignified deportment in every posture inspires respect and faith in onlookers, while its absence invites only criticism.

This opens how one should speak and keep silence (巳六應如是語默2), the sixth and final of receiving wealth and its dharma and the rest's six matters, beginning with marking and listing the two marks (午一標列二相) — five kinds of right speech, and five occasions calling for silence instead: amid noisy disorder, when further speech would breed mutual slander, when dwelling amid an ongoing dispute, when a donor extends an invitation (silence itself serving as tacit acceptance, just as a saṅgha's silence during a formal proceeding signals consent), and when a rival debater is speaking and should be heard out before any reply.

This opens separately explaining the five kinds of speech (午二別釋五語5), the second of how one should speak and keep silence's two matters, beginning with timely speech (未一應時語3), beginning with questioning (申一徵).

This opens explaining (申二釋2), beginning with refuting what is wrong (酉一遮非) — one should not speak or teach amid noisy disturbance, nor blurt out unconsidered words in haste, nor address listeners who are hungry, thirsty, exhausted, or ill, nor address listeners whose posture or bearing signals disrespect for the teaching (the Prātimokṣa Sūtra details such improper postures — teaching one whose head is covered, or wrapped, or who remains mounted, among others). The Śrāvaka Ground's decisive discussion frames these as three right times: when the listener is willing to hear, when the listener's decorum is proper, and when the listener's mind is free of agitation or defilement — such as one rushing to finish some other task, one serving another, or one engaged in killing or enmity.

With this, manifesting what is right (酉二顯正) closes entirely, closing explaining (申二釋2: 遮非/顯正) entirely — a proper discourse opens with a fitting preamble and words of encouragement before its main content begins, and, in conversation, one waits for another's words to conclude before speaking oneself.

This opens reasoned speech (未二應理語), the second of separately explaining the five kinds of speech — speaking by way of the four principles (empirical observation, function, proof, and the nature of things as they are) brings genuine worldly and supramundane benefit to the listener, since it accords with how things truly are.

This opens measured speech (未三應量語), the third — well-rounded phrasing that says exactly what the point requires, neither too much (exhausting the listener) nor too little (leaving the point unclear), and free of irrelevant, disordered digression.

This opens still speech (未四寂靜語), the fourth — a voice neither too loud nor too indistinct, free of clamor, joined to a calm body and a mouth free of shouted complaint.

This opens being inwardly free of excessive pride at the time of finality (辰二於究竟時內離上慢2), the sixth of delight's seven dharmas, beginning with named self-knowledge (巳一名自知) — one neither claims wholesome qualities (faith, precepts, learning, generosity, wisdom, and the rest) one does not possess, nor inflates a small attainment into a great one, but honestly acknowledges exactly what has, and has not, actually been achieved. The 瑜伽論記 numbers this the sixth of the seven dharmas to be known (knowing the dharma, its meaning, the time, the measure, the assembly, oneself, and high from low); the 披尋記 explains that self-knowledge is verified through three marks — by way of its basis, by way of its own nature, and by way of its season — detailed further in the Śrāvaka Ground's decisive discussion. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before further closure is claimed.

This opens manifesting the gradual sequence (巳二顯漸次2), the second of self-knowledge's two matters, beginning with setting out the five dharmas (午一出五法) — faith, precepts, learning, relinquishment, and wisdom unfold in strict gradual order: faith in the Three Jewels (as the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says, "faith is the source of the path, the mother of every merit") leads to receiving pure precepts; upholding precepts leads to seeking extensive learning of the dharma from a good spiritual friend; that learning leads to relinquishing every fault of body, speech, and mind, no longer clinging even to one's own wealth or life; that relinquishment leads the mind to attain the stillness of concentration; and that concentration leads, through cultivating insight free of the five hindrances, to realizing wisdom that truly accords with reality — the stream-enterer's fruit and beyond.

This opens being free of excessive pride toward others as well (辰三亦於他所離增上慢2), the seventh and final of delight's seven dharmas, corresponding to knowing high from low, beginning with distinguishing by way of persons (巳一約補特伽羅辨2), beginning with doubly marking the two kinds (午一雙標二種) — the two kinds distinguished are those worthy of support and those not, per the 披尋記.

This opens distinguishing by way of the dharma's excellent benefit (巳二約法勝利辨2), the second of being free of excessive pride toward others as well's two matters, beginning with marking the two kinds (午一標二種) — having discerned worthy from unworthy persons, the text now turns to what benefit the renunciant who cultivates all seven dharmas gains.

This opens every dharma (丑四一切法2), the fourth of the first particular verse's eight items, named by the verse's second phrase's second half "every dharma" (喜樂一切法), beginning with the trainings and their fruits embracing every dharma (寅一諸學學果攝一切法3), the first of two matters, beginning with general marking (卯一總標) — briefly, every dharma from wholesome aspiration through nirvāṇa itself is embraced entirely by the three trainings and the fruits attained through them.

This opens separately explaining (卯二別釋2), beginning with bringing forth its essential nature (辰一出體性3), a threefold structure, beginning with the trainings (巳一諸學) — per the Śrāvaka Ground, "heightened" carries two senses: as approach, since pure precepts heighten the attainment of concentration, and concentration heightens the attainment of wisdom, wisdom in turn heightening the attainment of liberation; and as supremacy, since the Buddha's own teaching of precepts, concentration, and wisdom surpasses every outside path, extinguishing every kind of suffering entirely and bringing final release from the three realms.

This opens the fruit of the trainings (巳二學果), the second of bringing forth its essential nature's three matters — perfecting the three trainings, one attains arhatship, nirvāṇa with remainder while the body still lives, and, at life's end, nirvāṇa without remainder.

This opens every dharma (巳三一切法9), the third of bringing forth its essential nature's three matters, a ninefold structure, beginning with wholesome aspiration (午一善法欲) — the śrāvaka's own aspiration takes nirvāṇa as its object, the bodhisattva's supreme enlightenment; this pure aspiration to go forth, followed by receiving precepts, is the very root from which every subsequent dharma, up through ultimate nirvāṇa, unfolds by stages. The 披尋記 confirms this staged unfolding as precepts first, then stillness of mind, then, taking that stillness as basis, realizing wisdom that accords with reality.

This opens contact (午二觸), the second — "designative contact" names the sixth consciousness's contact with its object by way of language and concept, unlike the five sense-consciousnesses' direct contact with their objects' own nature; pure precepts lead to seeking the dharma and extensive learning, and hearing the true dharma's power swiftly gathers this contact of clarity, wherein principled attention, though not yet severing affliction's very seed, already has the capacity to suppress its manifest activity and keep ignorance from arising.

This opens feeling (午三受), the third — every dharma embraced within the three trainings flows toward the feeling born of the contact of clarity, culminating in nirvāṇa with remainder; the practitioner undertakes this whole path in pursuit of a faultless ease, the ease of liberation, entirely free of any admixture with unwholesome dharmas.

This opens attention (午四作意), the fourth — the contact of clarity and the feeling it produces both depend on giving rise to principled attention accomplished through hearing the dharma, thinking it over, and cultivating it in practice.

This opens mindfulness (午五念), the fifth — within the four foundations of mindfulness, mindfulness itself (joined with wisdom, its true nature) observes body, feeling, mind, and dharmas, and this "mindfulness of the observing class" becomes the very support that increases inward calm-abiding, since insight's own contribution to concentration is foremost among all supporting factors. Reading continues past this point, since every dharma's ninefold structure (一切法9) has so far reached only its fifth of nine matters, so no closure of that or any higher-level structure is claimed here.

This opens concentration (午六定), the sixth of every dharma's nine matters — mindfulness's increasing power gives rise to calm-abiding, and calm-abiding, in turn, becomes the essential forerunner for the sublime, non-discriminating wisdom of directly realizing the four noble truths through their sixteen aspects.

This opens wisdom (午七慧), the seventh — among every mental factor conjoined with the direct realization of the noble truths, wisdom alone is able to exhaust every affliction permanently and without remainder, relying on the good mind's samādhi to cultivate supramundane insight and attain the non-discriminating wisdom of right supramundane view.

This opens liberation (午八解脫), the eighth — with every affliction permanently exhausted, the arhat attains the ultimate contact of clarity, free of language and concept altogether, conjoined with feeling that is nothing but supreme equanimity; the practitioner is thereby liberated both from affliction's bondage and from feeling's own bondage. The 披尋記 identifies this as the wisdom-liberated arhat's own skillful, complete liberation.

This opens separately correlating (辰二別配屬2), the second of separately explaining's two matters, which correlates the nine dharmas back to the three trainings and their fruits, beginning with correlating the trainings (巳一配諸學2), which opens with separately correlating (午一別配3), a threefold structure, beginning with the heightened training in precepts (未一增上戒學) — wholesome aspiration, taken as the increase that leads to receiving and upholding pure precepts, belongs to the heightened training in precepts.

This opens the heightened training in mind (未二增上心學), the second — contact, feeling, attention, mindfulness, and concentration (the second through sixth dharmas) all belong here, since insight's genuine power to sever affliction depends on concentration cultivated upon the very contact and feeling that arise; though these dharmas equally support wisdom, since the cultivation sequence begins with concentration before wisdom, they are grouped under the heightened training in mind.

This opens the provisions able to realize the trainings and their fruits (寅二諸學學果能證資糧2), the second of every dharma's two matters, beginning with general marking (卯一總標) — eight faults stand as what is to be remedied, and nine perceptions as the remedy that overcomes them.

This opens separately explaining (卯二別釋2), beginning with explaining the eight faults (辰一釋八過患) — indulgent attachment to gain and offerings keeps an ordinary being circling in saṃsāra through endless craving; craving and hoarding future existence clings to the five aggregates of every future life out of self-love and love of one's own domain; sloth (unable to increase wholesome dharmas already arisen) and laziness (unable to give rise to wholesome dharmas not yet arisen) are defined, per the Ground of Concentrated Cultivation, as clinging to sleep and reclining as pleasurable, squandering day and night, abandoning every wholesome quality; the view of a real body is, per the Ground with Both Investigation and Analysis, grasping increase toward the five clinging-aggregates as self and what belongs to self; craving fine flavors clings to food; delight toward worldly excellence craves high office, wealth, and fame; relying on heedlessness fails to diligently sever evil and cultivate good, and further fabricates evil means; and relying on a wrong aspiration, lacking any right view of renunciation, cultivates the holy life through views bound up with wrong knowledge, never attaining liberation.

This opens explaining the cultivation of the nine perceptions (辰二釋修九想2), the second of separately explaining's two matters, beginning with setting out their kinds (巳一出種類) — each perception remedies one of the eight faults in turn: going forth's shaved head and dyed robes remedy attachment to gain and veneration; impermanence (no future body escapes birth, aging, sickness, and death) remedies craving future existence; impermanence-as-suffering (practice now, before illness arrives) remedies laziness; suffering-as-selfless (seeking to escape suffering itself proves one lacks mastery, hence no self) remedies the view of a real body; food's repulsiveness remedies craving fine flavors; the world's utter unloveliness and death itself (Great Master Yìnguāng: "paste the single word 'death' upon your forehead, hang it upon your eyebrows — with a mind that dreads suffering, recite the Buddha's name; this alone is the foremost method for escaping suffering") both remedy craving worldly excellence; the world's equality and inequality remedies reliance on heedless, unwholesome means; and existence, non-existence, arising, submerging, faults, and release remedies cultivating the holy life through a wrong aspiration. The 瑜伽論記 records an alternate correlation from Master Dáshī, pairing the fifth and sixth perceptions jointly against the fifth fault (craving fine flavors), with the remaining seven perceptions each remedying one fault in sequence from the first.

This opens explaining the difficult points (巳二隨難釋2), beginning with explaining the names "equality" and "inequality" (午一釋名平等不平等) — the eighth perception's own "equality" and "inequality" name, simply, wholesome and unwholesome deeds of body, speech, and mind, leading respectively to fortunate and unfortunate rebirths.

This opens the holy life (丑五梵行2), the fifth of the first particular verse's eight items, named by the particular verse's third phrase "the holy life, the one who repeatedly takes rebirth" (梵行數取趣), contrasting how outside paths and the inner dharma each cultivate the holy life, beginning with raising the outside paths (寅一舉外道2), which opens with setting out their failure to truly know (卯一出不實知2), beginning with the truths of origination and suffering (辰一於集苦諦2), beginning with distinguishing each mark (巳一別辨相2), beginning with the first three places (午一初三處) — hearing false teachings produces an unprincipled perception, which in turn produces feeling born of ignorance and, from that, every outflow; yet outside paths fail to truly know any of these three: the outflows themselves, the feeling born of ignorance's own contact, and the very wrong perception produced by hearing false teachings in the first place.

This opens the latter three places (午二後三處), the second — failing to truly know the first three places, outside paths give rise to four kinds of wrong craving: craving for sense-desire (chasing after the desire realm's objects), craving for existence (seeking rebirth in the form or formless realms), a wrongly-aspiring craving for the holy life (mistaking the peak of existence for ultimate nirvāṇa), and craving for non-existence (the nihilist doctrine that death is annihilation) — corresponding to a further three places left truly unknown: sense-desire itself, the karma that produces future existence, and the manifold sufferings that result. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before further closure is claimed.

This opens the marks of defilement and purity (辰二於染淨相2), the second of setting out their failure to truly know's two matters, beginning with marking and listing (巳一標列) — outside paths fail to truly know the truths of origination and suffering by way of two further marks: defilement's own causal structure, and purity's own path.

This opens separately elaborating (巳二別廣2), beginning with defilement (午一雜染) — affliction and karma are the truth of origination's own nature, and future suffering the truth of suffering's own nature; origination is the cause of saṃsāra's cycle, suffering its fruit (the first five unknown places belonging to the cause, the sixth to the fruit); and cause and fruit, though related, remain distinct — origination gathers the fruit of suffering, and suffering is what that cause brings about.

This opens the one who repeatedly takes rebirth (丑六數取趣2), the sixth of the first particular verse's eight items, named by the particular verse's third phrase's second half "the one who repeatedly takes rebirth" (梵行數取趣) — a person (補特伽羅) so named because they repeatedly, insatiably, take up rebirth across the destinies — beginning with general marking (寅一總標) — the Tathāgata discerns six kinds of persons' defiled or pure dharmas by way of two of his own ten powers: the wisdom of faculties (大士根智, knowing whether a being's roots of faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom are superior, middling, or inferior) and the wisdom of future dharmas' arising (當來法生起智, knowing the seeds latent in a being's own consciousness) — per the 披尋記, citing the Foundation Section, fascicle 50, these are named, respectively, the power of knowing faculties' superiority and inferiority, and the power of knowing the various elements (seeds), by which the Buddha teaches each being exactly as suited to their own root, aspiration, and latent tendency.

This opens separately explaining (寅二別釋3), a threefold structure treating the persons' own marks, the defiled-and-pure dharmas, and the Tathāgata's own rare, supreme merit in turn, beginning with explaining the mark of a person (卯一釋補特伽羅相2), beginning with questioning (辰一徵) — per 攝異門分, a "person" (補特伽羅) is so called precisely because of this repeated, insatiable taking-up of the various destinies.

This opens explaining (辰二釋2), beginning with raising the first three kinds (巳一舉初三種2), beginning with distinguishing each mark (午一別辨相3), a threefold structure, beginning with the first person (未一第一補特伽羅2), beginning with distinguishing (申一辨2), beginning with prior lives' conduct (酉一先餘生行) — this first kind of person, in a former life, already came to the Buddhadharma, attained pure faith, went forth, upheld pure precepts, embraced extensive learning, grew in wisdom and generosity, tamed their views, and attained right view — cultivating wholesome roots within the Buddhadharma in a past life. The Śrāvaka Ground identifies this as the mark of one who has already entered (趣入): a being of settled lineage who, for the first time, attains what was never attained before — pure faith in a tathāgata's rightly and fully awakened teaching of dharma and discipline, upholding pure precepts, embracing extensive learning, growing in generosity, and taming every view.

This opens the present dharma's conduct (酉二今現法行2), the second of distinguishing's two matters, beginning with first practicing heedlessness (戌一先行放逸) — in this present life, this person is at first drawn instead to an outside path, forming defiled karma and wrong view through bad company and false teaching, so that at this stage they possess both their former life's wholesome roots and their present life's newly-formed unwholesome dharmas side by side.

This opens the second person (未二第二補特伽羅2), beginning with distinguishing (申一辨2), beginning with prior lives' conduct (酉一先餘生行) — the 披尋記 explains that this person, in a former life, habituated the causal conduct of both the well-taught and the badly-taught dharma and discipline together, so that the present dharma possesses the seeds of both wholesome and unwholesome dharmas side by side from the start.

This opens the third person (未三第三補特伽羅2), beginning with distinguishing (申一辨2), beginning with prior lives' conduct (酉一先餘生行) — this third kind of person, in a former life, habituated only the outside paths' unwholesome dharma and discipline, with no admixture of the true dharma at all.

This opens the present dharma's conduct (酉二今現法行), the second of distinguishing's two matters — habituated from a past life to going forth and to wrong view alike, this third person, in this present life, encounters the conjunction of conditions and goes forth within the true dharma and discipline; yet wrong view resurfaces, and clinging fixedly to it, such a one commits an act of immediate retribution (such as creating a schism in the saṅgha), severing the very roots of goodness — possessing only unwholesome dharmas and certain to fall to an evil destiny. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before further closure is claimed.

This opens illustrating the latter three kinds (巳二例後三種2), the second of explaining's two matters, beginning with marking their reversal (午一標相違) — the fourth through sixth persons mirror the first three, but with each pairing's timing precisely reversed.

This opens explaining the mark of defiled and pure dharmas (卯二釋染淨法相4), the second of separately explaining's three matters, beginning with the simile of causal distinction (辰一因緣差別喻2), beginning with distinguishing by way of the well-taught (巳一約善說辨) — a former life's wholesome and unwholesome habituation is like seed; the present life's true dharma acts as fertile soil for wholesome seed, letting it flourish, while for unwholesome seed it is barren, denying it the conditions to bear fruit, though its latent tendency still takes time to fully sever.

This opens the simile of the remedy and what is remedied (辰二能治所治喻), the second of explaining the mark of defiled and pure dharmas' four matters — encountering a good teacher, the present life's wholesome dharma, like light, remedies the darkness-like unwholesome dharmas habituated before, exactly as cultivating faith, precepts, learning, generosity, and wisdom within the Buddhadharma remedies a former life's unwholesome seeds.

This opens the simile of the burner and what is burned (辰三能燒所燒喻2), the third of explaining the mark of defiled and pure dharmas' four matters, beginning with distinguishing by way of unwholesome dharmas (巳一約不善法辨) — a former life's unwholesome habituation is a hot coal, capable of burning body and mind; encountering an outside path's teaching in this life is like a hut of dry reeds — the moment that coal touches it, the fire of saṃsāra swiftly catches and spreads.

This opens the simile of distinct supports (辰四依處差別喻2), the fourth of explaining the mark of defiled and pure dharmas' four matters, beginning with distinguishing by way of wholesome dharmas (巳一約善法辨) — a former life's wholesome roots, set within this life's outside-path companionship, diminish like a hot coal set upon cold ground or in a stone vessel, gradually losing all their heat, unable to continue growing.

This opens transcending (丑七超3), the seventh of the first particular verse's eight items, named by the particular verse's fourth phrase "transcending, and the two kinds of defilement, coming last" (超二染為後), beginning with general marking (寅一總標) — five gateways distinguish conduct toward unfortunate and fortunate destinies and the transcendence of both: the gateway of permanent injury (unwholesome conduct rooted in self-view, leading to unfortunate destinies); the gateway of resolving aspiration (aspiring to transcend the mundane path toward fortunate destinies); the gateway of capable advance (having aspired, seeing deeply into every fortunate rebirth's own faults and delighting in present-life nirvāṇa, one advances toward it); the gateway of later, higher conduct (gradually detaching through the path of cultivation up to the peak of existence's own concentration, yet still craving that highest equanimity, heedlessly failing to reach nirvāṇa in this very life); and the gateway of parinirvāṇa (seeing deeply into even that highest equanimity's own faults without craving it, realizing nirvāṇa with remainder in this very life) — only the buddhas and their disciples possess the wisdom to know both their own and others' transcendence through these five gateways.

This opens separately explaining (寅二別釋5), a fivefold structure matching the five gateways, beginning with the gateway of permanent injury (卯一永損害門2), beginning with setting out conduct leading to an unfortunate destiny (辰一出往惡趣行3), beginning with questioning (巳一徵).

This opens explaining (巳二釋) — rooted in self-view, the outside paths hold the sixty-two speculative views and, relying on unprincipled attention, give rise to killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, and every unwholesome deed of body, speech, and mind, extensively taught elsewhere, culminating in every unlawful, unequal conduct. Per the 披尋記, citing the Ground of Concentrated Cultivation's decisive discussion, such outside renunciants, relying on wrong practice, give rise to three kinds of secondary affliction: following seclusion (afflictions arising from the five hindrances left unremedied), following clamor (resentment, concealment, envy, and stinginess arising from clinging to views foreign to the Buddhadharma without any wish to sever affliction), and following the trainings (afflictions arising from transgressing the precincts of precepts, concentration, and wisdom) — together, briefly, called unlawful and unequal conduct: unlawful because it does not accord with wholesome mental factors but with afflicted ones, and unequal because its cause yields only an undesirable fruit.

Explaining continues here — clinging to self-view and its resulting unlawful, unequal conduct, one who dies is carried to a perilous place, whether the hells or another unfortunate destiny, experiencing the undesirable ripened fruit that such unwholesome karma brings about.

This opens explaining how the path permanently injures (辰二明能永害道2), the second of the gateway of permanent injury's two matters, beginning with through direct realization (巳一由現觀3), beginning with setting out the mark of observation (午一出觀相) — the extensively-learned noble disciple, whatever speculative view or clinging might arise from hearing false teaching or unprincipled attention, and whatever perilous conduct and its undesirable fruit might follow, observes all of it, continuously and truly, as neither self nor belonging to self. Per the 披尋記, "that object" names hearing false teachings, and "one's own support" names unprincipled attention itself.

This opens manifesting permanent severance (午二明永斷), the second — attaining the direct realization of the noble truths uproots the very root of every speculative view's latent tendency, so that no further discursively-arisen affliction ever continues again.

This opens through full knowledge (巳二由遍知2), the second of the gateway of permanent injury's two matters, beginning with distinguishing (午一辨2), beginning with the ordinary being (未一異生) — an ordinary being's own meditative attainment, however deep (even the formless absorptions' own stillness), can only ever suppress unfortunate conduct temporarily; without severing self-view's very root, that being will, in time, inevitably return to unwholesome deeds and unfortunate rebirth once the meditative merit is exhausted.

This opens the gateway of resolving the aspiring mind (卯二發心願門), the second of the five gateways — having severed the causes of an unfortunate destiny, the noble disciple, unsatisfied with that alone, resolves to press on toward the complete exhaustion of every outflow, carefully discerning that even the mundane path's own attainments cannot ultimately free one from suffering.

This opens the gateway of capable advance (卯三能進趣門), the third of the five gateways — every future fortunate rebirth's own savor is now seen as perilous as an unfortunate one, and, delighting instead in present-life nirvāṇa, the disciple presses forward with the same noble path already attained.

This opens the gateway of later, higher conduct (卯四後上行門), the fourth of the five gateways — a non-returner who gradually becomes free of desire through the path of cultivation, up to the peak of existence's own concentration, but still craves that highest equanimity, fails to attain nirvāṇa in this very life, becoming instead the "non-returner who ascends further." The Śrāvaka Ground describes such a one as rising, upon death, to the first dhyāna heaven without entering nirvāṇa, then rising in turn through each successive heaven — second, third, fourth dhyāna, the five pure-abode heavens (culminating in Akaniṣṭha), or, for a duller kind, continuing on through the formless bases up to the peak of existence itself — before finally attaining arhatship.

This opens the gateway of parinirvāṇa (卯五般涅槃門2), the fifth and last of the five gateways, beginning with marking the mark of observation (辰一標觀相) — the very same non-returner who instead observes even the peak of existence's highest equanimity as faulty, giving rise to no craving toward it at all, attains nirvāṇa with remainder in this very life, rather than ascending further.

This opens the two kinds of defilement (丑八二染2), the eighth and final of the first particular verse's eight items, named by the particular verse's fourth phrase's second half "the two kinds of defilement, coming last" (超二染為後), beginning with general marking (寅一總標) — the stream-enterer and once-returner, having already seen the truths but not yet fully free of desire, still carry two remaining kinds of defilement (craving toward present sense-objects, and craving toward future rebirth) that call for continued, diligent cultivation of the four foundations of mindfulness.

This opens separately explaining (寅二別釋2), beginning with distinguishing the defilements (卯一辨雜染2), beginning with setting out the two distinctions (辰一出二差別2), beginning with severing the defilement of desire (巳一斷欲雜染) — three kinds of conduct gradually free the noble disciple from desire-realm craving, the first being conduct tending toward the unmoved (趣無動行). Per the 披尋記, this term embraces every ground from the first dhyāna up through the base of infinite consciousness, all termed "unmoved" since each, in turn, is no longer stirred by the affliction proper to the ground below it: the first dhyāna leaves behind the outer five sense-desires' own distraction; the second leaves behind the first's investigation and analysis; the third leaves behind the second's surging joy; the fourth leaves behind the third's pleasure and every trace of investigation, analysis, and joy still active in the lower form-realm grounds; the base of infinite space leaves behind form-perception itself; and the base of infinite consciousness, no longer reaching outward toward space at all, leaves behind even that.

This opens severing the defilement of future existence (巳二斷有雜染2), the second of setting out the two distinctions' two matters, beginning with setting out its right cultivation (午一出正修習) — free of desire-realm craving but not yet form-realm craving, the practitioner contemplates four questions concerning self and what belongs to self, in both future and present tense, relinquishing every accumulated karma, past and present. Per 攝異門分, fascicle 83, this present-tense contemplation ("how might what belongs to me, right now, come to not exist") is impermanence's own contemplation, while the future-tense contemplation belongs to the discernment of cessation through wisdom — together severing both self-love (自體愛, craving future existence itself) and craving for the objects of that future existence, up to entering the concentration of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, the very peak of the three realms.

This opens distinguishing the differences (午二料簡差別2), the second of severing the defilement of future existence's two matters, beginning with the distinction between not attaining and attaining nirvāṇa (未一不般涅槃般涅槃別) — exactly as with the gateway of later, higher conduct versus the gateway of parinirvāṇa before, craving toward the peak of existence's own highest equanimity determines whether liberation from future existence's defilement remains merely partial or becomes entirely complete within this very life. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before further closure is claimed.

This opens naming the distinction between shared liberation and noble liberation (未二名共解脫聖解脫別2), the second of distinguishing the differences' two matters, beginning with shared liberation (申一共解脫) — remedying either defilement through meditative attainment up to the peak of existence is called "shared" liberation, since an ordinary being can suppress the lower grounds' craving just as a noble one can, even though only the noble one severs the ninth ground's own affliction-seed at its root.

This opens explaining the cultivation and remedy (卯二釋修治2), the second of separately explaining's two matters, beginning with the defilement of desire's embrace (辰一欲雜染攝3), a threefold structure matching the three kinds of conduct, beginning with conduct tending toward the unmoved (巳一趣無動行3), beginning with distinguishing freedom from desire (午一辨離欲2), beginning with wearying of and overcoming the various desires (未一厭壞諸欲2), beginning with setting out their faults (申一出過患) — every desire-object, met with pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling, becomes the seed of craving, aversion, or (through failing to recognize impermanence even in neutral feeling) ignorance's own agitation in turn.

This opens distinguishing what should be observed (申二辨應觀2), the second of wearying of and overcoming the various desires' two matters, beginning with marking and listing (酉一標列) — desire's own faults are best examined through three lenses: what desire itself fundamentally is, what object it clings to, and what condition accompanies and enables its arising.

This opens wearying of the higher desires (未二厭離上欲2), the second of distinguishing freedom from desire's two matters, beginning with cultivating the vast mind (申一修廣大心2), beginning with explaining the name (酉一釋名) — since each higher meditative ground surpasses the one below, craving toward one's own present attainment only grows more tempting the higher one climbs; hence the mind that renounces it is called "vast," matching the very vastness of what it renounces. Per the 披尋記, "higher desire" here specifically excludes desire-realm craving, naming only craving from the first dhyāna up through the base of nothingness.

This opens abiding in pure faith (申二住淨信心2), the second of wearying of the higher desires' two matters, beginning with able to enter the various concentrations (酉一能入諸定) — having settled fully into one ground, confident understanding of it gives rise, within continued preparatory practice, to pure faith toward the next; per 攝異門分, fascicle 83, pure faith arises precisely from hearing of that higher ground's merit, power, and surpassing wisdom and according with the principle it teaches. This faith's own increasing power then drives diligence, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom to realize each unmoved concentration by stages, up through the base of infinite consciousness, confirmed by the practitioner's own supreme understanding that the attainment has genuinely been reached.

This opens manifesting the establishment (午二明建立2), the second of conduct tending toward the unmoved's three matters, beginning with establishing the unmoved (未一建立無動4), a fourfold structure, beginning with marking the three conditions (申一標由三緣) — three distinct conditions, unpacked in what follows, together justify calling these meditative grounds "unmoved."

This opens separately distinguishing their marks (申二別辨其相), the second of establishing the unmoved's four matters — the first dhyāna severs external desire's own agitation (per the 披尋記, the ten marks of form and the rest, together with the eight kinds of evil discursive thought and the five hindrances); the fourth dhyāna severs investigation, analysis, joy, and pleasure's agitation, together with the three calamities and eight kinds of movement that could still disturb the lower form-realm grounds; the base of infinite space severs every perception tied to having form and resistance (per the 披尋記, form-perception seizes on blue and the rest; resistance-perception seizes on obstruction; and distinct perception seizes on conventional composites such as man, woman, house, or field) — breaking through form entirely to realize emptiness as its object.

This opens explaining all of it comprehensively (申三通釋一切), the third of establishing the unmoved's four matters — the second dhyāna severs the first's investigation and analysis, the third severs the second's joy, each in turn called unmoved relative to what precedes it; the base of infinite consciousness turns entirely inward, no longer reaching outward toward space at all, and so is likewise unmoved. In short, every concentration free of its own object's agitation earns the name.

This opens conduct tending toward the base of nothingness (巳二趣無所有處行2), the second of the defilement of desire's embrace's three matters, beginning with the first tending conduct (午一第一趣行) — wearying deeply of every lower ground, whether still bearing form-perception or already at the unmoved concentrations, one enters the base of nothingness through this same mundane wearying-and-overcoming method used throughout.

This opens the second tending conduct (午二第二趣行2), the second of conduct tending toward the base of nothingness's two matters, beginning with setting out its cultivation (未一出修習3), beginning with marking the uncontaminated (申一標無漏) — the base of nothingness marks the furthest boundary at which the uncontaminated noble path can still be cultivated, since the peak of existence beyond it is too subtle, its perception so faint as to seem almost absent, for insight to take hold of at all.

This opens elaborating the two kinds (申二廣二種2), the second of setting out its cultivation's three matters, beginning with marking and listing (酉一標列) — cultivating the uncontaminated path by way of the base of nothingness itself has two kinds: one still leaves something higher to attain, the other, resting on the wisdom of selflessness, reaches all the way to the very boundary of the three realms.

This opens manifesting the distinction (未二顯差別3), the second of the second tending conduct's two matters, beginning with marking and listing the two kinds (申一標列二種) — the wisdom of selflessness itself divides into a supporting wisdom (examining the self said to depend on things) and a supported wisdom (examining the things that self is said to depend on).

This opens separately explaining their marks (申二別釋其相2), beginning with the supporting wisdom of selflessness (酉一能依無我智) — self-clinging, whether toward another being (person-self) or toward one's own body (real-body self), can be traced to no genuine place, being, or relational matter (father, mother, companion, master) it truly belongs to; the 瑜伽論記 puts it concisely: "just as I do not belong to another, another does not belong to me."

This opens the defilement of future existence's embrace (辰二有雜染攝6), the second of explaining the cultivation and remedy's two matters, a sixfold structure unpacking, one clause at a time, the earlier six-part contemplation for severing future existence's defilement, beginning with "how might what belongs to me come to not exist" (巳一我所何當不有) — taking the five aggregates as what belongs to self (self apart from the aggregates), the practitioner reflects on how the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death, said to be possessed by that self, might someday cease to exist at all.

This opens "how might I come to not exist" (巳二我何當不有), the second — taking the five aggregates themselves as self (self identical to the aggregates), the practitioner reflects on how this very suffering-laden body might someday cease to exist, and, giving rise to the aspiration to sever future existence and seek nirvāṇa, diligently applies the four foundations of mindfulness.

This opens "I, right now, come to not exist" and "what belongs to me, right now, comes to not exist" (巳三我當不有我所當不有), the third — before diligent practice, innate self-clinging remained; having genuinely accomplished the practice, the practitioner attains the settled certainty, right now, that neither self nor what belongs to self exists at all, severing every seed of innate self-clinging.

This opens "whatever now exists" (巳四若今所有), the fourth — every karma newly created and reinforced in this present life, whether through repeated reflection or repeated action, still carries the potential to ripen into future fruit.

This opens "whatever formerly existed" (巳五若昔所有), the fifth — every karma accumulated across former lives likewise remains a potential source of future ripening.

This opens the long-form explanation (子二長行釋5), a fivefold structure matching the verse's seven matters, beginning with establishing the boundary and purity (丑一安立邊際純2), beginning with pointing to what should be known (寅一指應知) — the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment (the four foundations of mindfulness, four right efforts, four bases of supernormal power, five faculties, five powers, seven factors of enlightenment, and eightfold path) are here simply pointed to the Śrāvaka Ground, fascicle 28, for their fuller unpacking.

This opens manifesting the establishment (寅二明安立2), the second of establishing the boundary and purity's two matters, beginning with the boundary's distinction (卯一邊際差別) — per the 披尋記, body, feeling, mind, and dharmas are themselves the boundary of every object of knowledge (their full extent and their shared nature as conditioned, impermanent, suffering, and selfless), and the wisdom that severs the four inverted views (permanence, pleasure, self, purity) through observing them is the boundary of the wisdom that knows.

This opens purely without a second (卯二純無第二2), the second of manifesting the establishment's two matters, beginning with manifesting the capacity to advance and realize (辰一明能趣證2), beginning with setting out the preparatory practice (巳一出加行) — the four foundations of mindfulness only reach completion through aspiration (a heightened wish to cultivate them), followed by diligence that keeps the mind returning to its proper object whenever it strays.

This opens broadly explaining its causes and conditions (辰二廣其因緣3), the second of purely without a second's two matters, beginning with marking and listing (巳一標列) — two powers bring this single path to ultimate purity: discernment (sustained reflection on body's impurity, feeling's suffering, mind's impermanence, dharmas' selflessness, until firm enough to restrain evil and sustain good) and cultivation (calm-abiding and insight's actual practice, severing affliction's seed and realizing every dharma's mark of stillness).

This opens explaining in sequence (巳二隨釋2), the second of broadly explaining its causes and conditions' three matters, beginning with setting out the defiled dharmas (午一出染法) — sorrow is defiled distress arising when the four unfavorable worldly dharmas (decline, disgrace, censure, suffering) are encountered, while excess is restlessness joined to defiled joy arising when the four favorable worldly dharmas (gain, honor, praise, pleasure) are encountered — the eight worldly winds, per the 披尋記, mapped respectively onto sorrow and excess.

This opens distinguishing purity (午二辨清淨2), the second of explaining in sequence's two matters, beginning with through the power of discernment (未一由思擇力) — diligent cultivation of the four foundations of mindfulness, relying specifically on discernment's power, transcends both sorrow and excess, the desire-realm's characteristic disturbances.

This opens dependent origination in accordance with principle (丑二如理緣起2), the second of the second particular verse's five sections, beginning with distinguishing dependent origination (寅一辨緣起2), beginning with raising the contradiction (卯一舉相違) — unprincipled attention toward body, feeling, mind, and dharmas (giving rise to the inverted views of permanence, pleasure, self, and purity) contravenes the four foundations of mindfulness in a direct chain: contravening them contravenes principled attention itself, which contravenes the entire noble eightfold path, which contravenes the path's own fruit, ultimate nirvāṇa's ambrosia. Master Cháng Bǎi traces this chain to a Saṃyukta Āgama parallel: a monk who abandons the four foundations of mindfulness abandons the noble path and the deathless ambrosia, remaining unable to escape birth, aging, sickness, death, and every sorrow, while one who abides in them remains within the noble, true dharma, attaining nirvāṇa's ambrosia and escaping every suffering.

This opens rightly explaining the mark (卯二正釋相2), the second of distinguishing dependent origination's two matters, beginning with manifesting the gradual sequence (辰一明漸次2), beginning with awakening into impermanence (巳一悟入無常) — recognizing body, feeling, mind, and dharmas as conditioned and arisen, the yoga practitioner extends this contemplation of impermanence across all three times, past, present, and future.

This opens purely cultivating the mind (巳二淨治其心3), the second of manifesting the gradual sequence's two matters, a threefold structure, beginning with toward craving for future existence (午一於後有愛) — dwelling in impermanence's contemplation, the practitioner recognizes future existence's own suffering-laden nature and no longer craves it at all.

This opens toward the view that clings (午二於執取見), the second — impermanence's own mindfulness, finding no permanent, self-ruling core anywhere among the five aggregates, dissolves clinging to self and to what belongs to self, whether toward one's own body or external things, in this very life.

This opens gathering the essential statement (寅二攝要言2), the second of dependent origination in accordance with principle's matters, beginning with setting out the classes (卯一出品類) — every dharma whatsoever divides, in brief, into wholesome and unwholesome, and, by another cut, into the defiled class and the pure class. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before further closure is claimed.

This opens the time of cultivation and the obstruction's own nature (丑三修時障自性等3), the third of the second particular verse's five sections, beginning with the time of cultivation (寅一修時2), beginning with pointing to the mark of cultivation (卯一指修相) — the foundations of mindfulness' own cultivation is, once again, simply pointed to the Śrāvaka Ground for its fuller unpacking.

This opens the obstruction's own nature (寅二障自性2), the second of the third section's three matters, beginning with the obstructed dharma (卯一所障法) — the four foundations of mindfulness are the supporting ground for every mundane and supramundane wholesome dharma across all three times, and are therefore called the wholesome accumulation.

This opens explaining (寅三說3), the third and final of the third section's three matters, named by the fourth phrase's first word "explaining" (說斷起修後), beginning with manifesting the boundlessness (卯一明無邊) — body, feeling, mind, and dharmas admit boundless distinctions, and the Tathāgata's own wisdom, meeting them without any obstruction, is therefore itself boundless, so that his teaching of them is boundless as well.

This opens manifesting the immeasurability (卯二顯無量2), the second of explaining's three matters, beginning with setting out the two conditions (辰一出二緣2), beginning with marking and listing (酉一標列) — the teaching's boundlessness manifests through two conditions: the words that express it, and the meaning those words express.

This opens distinguishing cultivation (卯三辨修習2), the third of explaining's three matters, beginning with accomplishing the distinctions (辰一成就差別4), a fourfold structure, beginning with possessing purport (巳一有趣) — skillfully understanding the noble teaching's own overall aim and purport, whatever a being's particular causes and conditions, is called possessing purport.

This opens possessing intent (巳二有意), the second — the sublime wisdom accomplished through hearing the dharma and thinking it over, cultivated life after life, is called possessing intent.

This opens possessing mindfulness (巳三有念), the third — accomplishing concentration at or beyond the preparatory stage, able to cultivate the four foundations of mindfulness within it, is called possessing mindfulness.

This opens severance and arising (丑四斷起2), the fourth of the second particular verse's five sections — per Venerable Master Yìnshùn, cited by Master Cháng Bǎi, the term "斷起" (severance-arising) in the summary verse is likely a copyist's error for "發起" (bringing forth), though the passage that follows does still carry a sense of severing affliction as well — beginning with setting out their gradual sequence (寅一出其漸次) — a monk first settles into the hearing-and-thinking-based contemplation that there is only body, feeling, mind, and dharmas, no self; unsatisfied with this alone, aspiring to a concentrated mind's own liberation, one withdraws to a secluded place and, through the nine aspects of settling the mind (inward abiding, equal abiding, repeated settling, close abiding, taming, stilling, utmost stilling, one-pointed focus, and even placement), brings the mind to inward stillness as the basis for cultivation's own actual practice.

This opens cultivation (丑五修3), the fifth and final of the second particular verse's five sections, named by the fourth phrase's last word "cultivation" (說斷起修後), beginning with setting out the three remedies (寅一出三對治) — a monk who masters three remedial contemplations — impermanence, benevolent compassion, and the signless — attains them freely, without any difficulty or obstruction whatsoever.

This opens correlating and explaining the mark of cultivation (寅二配釋修相), the second of cultivation's three matters — toward a pleasing object, impermanence's contemplation gives rise to the perception of repugnance, forestalling craving; toward a displeasing object, benevolent compassion's contemplation gives rise to the perception of non-repugnance, forestalling aversion; and toward a neutral object, the signless concentration relinquishes both perceptions entirely, dwelling instead in equanimity joined with mindfulness and right knowledge. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before further closure is claimed.

This opens the long-form explanation (子二長行釋6), a sixfold structure matching the verse's six matters, beginning with the roots (丑一諸根2), named by the verse's first phrase "first, the roots, and the savor of craving" (先諸根愛味), beginning with setting out the kinds (寅一出種類2), beginning with briefly marking (卯一略標) — three roots obstruct the wholesome accumulation of the foundations of mindfulness, and are therefore themselves called the unwholesome accumulation.

This opens the savor of craving (丑二愛味2), the second of the third particular verse's six sections, named by the verse's first phrase's second half "the savor of craving" (先諸根愛味), beginning with distinguishing "not a great being" (寅一簡非大士3), beginning with marking (卯一標) — a monk who cultivates the four foundations of mindfulness by the mundane path alone, reaching even the peak of existence, but craves that attainment and settles for it rather than pressing on toward what remains unattained, does not earn the title "great being" within the noble teaching.

This opens questioning (卯二徵), the second of distinguishing "not a great being"'s three matters.

This opens the distinction between before and after (丑三前後差別2), the third of the third particular verse's six sections, named by the verse's second phrase "before and after, there is a distinction" (前後有差別), beginning with manifesting calm-abiding (寅一明奢摩他2), beginning with explaining the gradual sequence (卯一釋漸次2), beginning with the prior stage (辰一前位2), beginning with setting out the secondary affliction (巳一出隨煩惱) — a monk gathering the mind inward through the nine aspects of settling still finds, at first, that torpor and inferiority (unremedied) persist in body and mind alike. The Compendium of Dharma-Aggregates, fascicle 7, defines "inferior dharmas" as unwholesome dharmas together with the obscured-but-neutral.

This opens manifesting the attainment of liberation (巳二明得解脫2), the second of the prior stage's two matters, beginning with cultivating skillful means (午一修方便) — recognizing torpor's presence, the practitioner withdraws attention from the inward object and turns instead to an external, pure object: the six recollections (of the Buddha, dharma, saṅgha, generosity, precepts, and the heavens), per the 披尋記, contemplated to produce joy that dispels the darkness of torpor. This "gateway of sublime uplift" — reflecting on one's own generosity, precepts, or the rarity of having gone forth at all — likewise serves to rouse the mind; the 披尋記 clarifies that it is specifically a pure and sublime object, energetically applied, that is able to bring the mind to right concentration.

This opens the later stage (辰二後位2), the second of explaining the gradual sequence's two matters, beginning with liberation toward the external (巳一於外解脫) — per the 披尋記, "aspiring toward what is external" names settling the mind upon an external pure object in order to overcome the secondary affliction, and once that affliction ceases to arise, the practitioner returns to the original inward object without further disturbance — eventually confirming this liberation spontaneously, no longer needing to aspire toward the external remedy at all.

With this, concluding the distinction (卯二結差別) closes entirely, closing **manifesting calm-abiding (寅一明奢摩他2: 釋漸次/結差別), the first of the distinction between before and after's matters, entirely** — a practitioner who has traced this whole gradual sequence, from torpor's first arising through its remedy and eventual spontaneous, sovereign freedom, can rightly discern their own progress: how the mind's condition now differs from before. Reading continues past this point, since the distinction between before and after's own second matter (寅二, presumably manifesting insight, paralleling calm-abiding) has not yet been reached, so no closure of that or any higher-level structure is claimed here.

This opens grasping the sign (丑四取相3), the fourth of the third particular verse's six sections, named by the verse's third phrase "grasping the sign, and the various bonds" (取相及諸纏), beginning with setting out what should be done (寅一出所應) — the practitioner should continually examine, within calm-abiding, exactly what reflection keeps the mind free of torpor's disturbance, and what reflection keeps it free of every other disturbing dharma.

This opens distinguishing fault and merit (寅二辨失德2), the second of grasping the sign's three matters, beginning with raising the fault (卯一舉有失2), beginning with disturbed by the secondary affliction, failing to attain still concentration (辰一隨惑所惱不得靜定2), beginning with marking the meaning (巳一標義) — merely knowing torpor has arisen, without grasping the mind's own underlying sign, only masks the problem temporarily through an external remedy; the same disturbance returns the moment the mind is gathered inward again, since the root cause was never actually addressed.

This opens the various bonds (丑五諸纏2), the fifth of the third particular verse's six sections, named by the verse's third phrase's second half "and the various bonds" (取相及諸纏), beginning with the ordinary being (寅一異生2), beginning with setting out the bond of craving (卯一出貪纏) — even a diligent ordinary-being practitioner, meeting a sublime object or arising states while alone, can lose mindfulness and be suddenly overtaken by a fierce bond of craving.

This opens clarifying the remedy (卯二明對治2), the second of the ordinary being's two matters, beginning with through deep weariness and shame (辰一由深厭恥) — regarding the very craving that arose as though one had fallen into a filthy pit, the practitioner gives rise to a fierce wish to depart from it, and, through this, the mind is liberated from the bond and gives rise to joy.

This opens the trainee (寅二有學3), the second of the various bonds' two matters, beginning with setting out the bond of craving (卯一出貪纏) — even a trainee, who examines affliction through observing attention, can still see a bond of craving suddenly manifest toward a sublime object, since the innate seed of craving remains unsevered until arhatship.

This opens clarifying the remedy (卯二明對治), the second of the trainee's three matters — seeing the fault immediately, the trainee enters the signless concentration (recognizing the sublime sign as mere false discrimination, with neither the discriminated object nor the discriminating mind genuinely findable), severing what craving remained; the 披尋記 identifies the resulting "sublime joy and ease of liberation" as the supreme meaning's own bliss, attained within the uncontaminated realm, free of craving, aversion, and delusion alike — the joy of a mind resting in every dharma's own originally still mark, where neither the discriminated nor the discriminating can be found.