Five Great Topics Close; the Eightfold Path Begins

This opens **the fourth and final particular summary verse of the foundations of mindfulness's embrace (癸四第四嗢柁南2)**, beginning with the verse marking and listing (子一頌標列) — eight matters to unpack in the long-form explanation that follows: the false teacher's dwelling, the snow mountain, exhortation, being bound to purity, the gradual sequence, the precepts' fullness, the ear of grain, and accomplishment.

This opens the long-form explanation (子二長行釋8), an eightfold structure matching the verse's eight matters, beginning with the false teacher's dwelling (丑一邪師住2), named by the verse's first phrase "the false teacher's dwelling, the snow mountain" (邪師住雪山), beginning with manifesting exclusive self-interest (寅一明專自利2), beginning with marking (卯一標) — an outside-path teacher who sets himself up as a guide to disciples while exclusively chasing gain, veneration, and self-benefit is, at root, a false teacher regardless of outward appearance.

This opens explaining (卯二釋2), the second of manifesting exclusive self-interest's two matters, beginning with raising the two speeches (辰一舉二言2), beginning with the outside-path teacher (巳一外道師) — a newly-ordained disciple is instructed to trade mutual flattery for worldly gain: each praising the other's virtues and concealing the other's faults before patrons, so that both profit from the arrangement.

This opens manifesting the fault of failing to protect (寅二明不護失2), the second of the false teacher's dwelling's two matters, beginning with marking the fault (卯一標失) — a mind still defiled by affliction, when it disturbs another, has failed to protect itself, and disturbing another can never be mistaken for genuinely protecting them.

This opens explaining the meaning (卯二釋義2), the second of manifesting the fault of failing to protect's two matters, beginning with one should protect oneself (辰一當自護) — genuine self-protection, as established throughout this treatise, comes through drawing near a good spiritual friend, hearing the true dharma, giving principled attention, and practicing in accordance with the dharma, severing affliction at its root; the 披尋記 confirms this same fourfold sequence as the very cause of guarding against an unfortunate destiny's fault.

This opens one should protect others (辰二當護他2), the second of explaining the meaning's two matters, beginning with marking the name (巳一標名) — protecting oneself through severing affliction naturally flows outward into protecting others as well, since a mind no longer disturbed by its own defilement no longer disturbs those around it.

This opens explaining the meaning (巳二釋義2), the second of one should protect others' two matters, beginning with through being without aversion and without harmfulness (午一由無瞋無害) — a mind free of aversion and free of the wish to harm is, by that very freedom, incapable of disturbing another.

This opens through sympathetic concern for all (午二由一切哀愍2), the second of explaining the meaning's two matters, beginning with directly manifesting this meaning (未一正顯此義) — toward hostile, neutral, and dear beings alike, without regard to any personal cause, one gives rise to the wish for their benefit and ease, and to loving-kindness and compassion — the very meaning of sympathetic concern, which by its nature cannot disturb another. Master Cháng Bǎi distinguishes three levels of loving-kindness: sentient-being-conditioned kindness (an ordinary being's initial practice, regarding every being as a former parent across beginningless rebirths); dharma-conditioned kindness (a śrāvaka's realization that beings are merely the five aggregates, with no real striker or struck, beater or beaten); and unconditioned great kindness (a bodhisattva's embrace of every being as not separate from one's own mind — the same-essence great compassion).

This opens the snow mountain (丑二雪山2), the second of the fourth particular verse's eight sections, named by the verse's first phrase's second half "the snow mountain" (邪師住雪山), beginning with comparing to skillful liberation (寅一喻善解脫2), beginning with marking and listing the three grounds (卯一標列三地) — the Buddha's own well-taught dharma is likened to a great snow mountain, its three elevations corresponding to the arhat's ground beyond training (the summit, where neither monkey nor hunter can reach), the trainee's ground (the middle slopes, where the monkey but not the hunter can still be found), and the ordinary being's ground (the foothills, where both freely roam).

This opens correlating and explaining their marks (卯二配釋其相3), the second of comparing to skillful liberation's two matters, a threefold structure, beginning with within the ground of the one beyond training (辰一於無學地) — the monkey's restless leaping stands for unprincipled attention's every conjoined mind; the hunter stalking it stands for Māra, disturbing body and mind, obstructing wholesome dharmas, and ruining flourishing states. The arhat, having attained the wisdom of exhaustion and the wisdom of no-further-arising, is reached by neither.

This opens within the ground of the trainee (辰二於有學地), the second — the trainee, from stream-entry through non-return, has already directly realized the noble truths and attained non-discriminating wisdom, severing every discursively-arisen affliction, but the innate afflictions still remain, like a lone monkey able to roam the mountain's deep middle slopes where no hunter ever ventures.

This opens within the ground of the ordinary being (辰三於異生地) — an ordinary being, unable to give principled attention when facing objects and still subject to Māra's manifest activity, dwells at the mountain's very foothills, where both monkey and hunter freely appear, mind not yet purified. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows — comparing to skillful liberation's own further matter (寅二, presumably setting out the absence of liberation) — before further closure is claimed.

This opens exhortation (丑三勸勉2), the third of the fourth particular verse's eight sections, named by the verse's second phrase "exhortation, and being bound to purity" (勸勉繫屬淨), beginning with setting out the four meanings (寅一出四義) — four terms correlate exactly to the fourfold sequence of hearing, upholding, observing meaning, and practicing accordingly: exhortation (urging a being to hear the true dharma), transformation (taming affliction as the dharma is upheld in mind), settling (placing the mind within the object of observed meaning), and establishing (founding the pure cause and effect of practicing in accordance with the dharma, accomplishing nirvāṇa's own merit) — the same fourfold structure the Foundation Section, fascicle 43, identifies as a bodhisattva's own natural conduct of benefiting others.

This opens elaborating the three powers (寅二廣三力3), the second of exhortation's two matters, beginning with marking and listing (卯一標列) — three powers, if genuinely accomplished, are strong enough to sever even the most refined bond of sexual craving, let alone lesser sense-desires: the power of diligence, the power of freedom from heedlessness, and the power of the remedy.

This opens correlating and explaining (卯二配釋), the second of elaborating the three powers' three matters — diligence uproots evil already present before it can take firm hold, while freedom from heedlessness and the remedy together forestall evil not yet arisen and sustain wholesome dharmas already present or newly arising — the same fourfold task the four right efforts name.

This opens being bound to purity (丑四繫屬2), the fourth of the fourth particular verse's eight sections, named by the verse's second phrase's second half "being bound to purity" (勸勉繫屬淨), beginning with pointing to the mark of cultivation (寅一指修相) — cultivating the four foundations with earnest gravity is, once again, pointed to the Śrāvaka Ground's own fuller treatment.

This opens manifesting being bound (寅二明繫屬2), the second of being bound to purity's two matters, beginning with distinguishing by the three realms (卯一約三界辨2), beginning with being bound to Māra (辰一繫屬魔) — craving, Māra's own domain, binds beings within the desire realm; the non-returner (the third fruit) has already transcended this particular bondage.

This opens distinguishing by way of persons (卯二約有情辨2), the second of manifesting being bound's two matters, beginning with setting out the distinctions (辰一出差別3), a threefold structure, beginning with the impure (巳一不清淨) — ordinary beings, still carrying every affliction of view and craving throughout the three realms, are called impure.

This opens the pure (巳二清淨), the second — trainees, from stream-entry onward, have already severed every discursively-arisen affliction; though innate afflictions of varying subtlety still remain depending on their stage, they are, relative to the ordinary being, called pure.

This opens elaborating on purity (辰二廣清淨2), the second of distinguishing by way of persons' two matters, beginning with setting out the four confirmed purities (巳一出四證淨) — the four confirmed purities toward the Buddha, dharma, saṅgha, and precepts, cultivated through the four foundations of mindfulness, bring the impure to purity and carry the already pure onward to the arhat's own bright, thoroughgoing purity.

This opens purity's gradual sequence (丑五淨漸次2), the fifth of the fourth particular verse's eight sections, named by the verse's second phrase's third word and the third phrase's first word "purity...the gradual sequence" (勸勉繫屬淨...漸次戒圓滿), beginning with marking and listing the five kinds (寅一標列五種) — five stages unfold in order: faith's increasing power leading to a pure going-forth (never fleeing debts or taxes, but genuinely aspiring to seek and to save); precepts received, studied, and upheld (monks devoting their first five years, nuns their first six, chiefly to the monastic code, purifying body, speech, and mind); restraint of the six sense-faculties (guarding the mind, the source from which every dharma arises or ceases, through sustained right knowledge in every activity); delight in seclusion (bodily, mental, and physical seclusion — dwelling apart from crowds, free of scattered thought, cultivating only wholesome, beneficial attention); and purity from the five hindrances (craving, ill will, torpor-and-sleep, restlessness-and-worry, doubt — severed, then progressively purified, enabling calm-abiding and, within it, insight into ultimate truth).

This opens the precepts' fullness (丑六戒圓滿4), the sixth of the fourth particular verse's eight sections, named by the verse's third phrase's second half "the precepts' fullness" (漸次戒圓滿), beginning with marking (寅一標) — three causes and conditions bring a precept-endowed monk's restrained conduct and pure livelihood (all requisites obtained through blameless means) to full completion.

This opens questioning (寅二徵), the second of the precepts' fullness's four matters.

This opens listing (寅三列), the third of the precepts' fullness's four matters — a precept-endowed monk examines his own purity through three lenses: whether his own conduct is blameless, whether what he takes up is pure, and whether what he actually uses is pure.

This opens explaining (寅四釋3), the fourth and final of the precepts' fullness's matters, beginning with fullness of conduct (卯一所行圓滿) — a monk's conduct is full when free of commerce and of every violent or improper act toward others' bodies. The Śrāvaka Ground, fascicle 22, frames this instead as avoiding five improper places (a herald's house, a courtesan's house, a wine-seller's house, a king's palace, and an outcaste's or executioner's house) while otherwise moving about blamelessly at the right time — Master Cháng Bǎi notes this passage's own "fullness of conduct" corresponds instead to that other passage's "moving about blamelessly at the right time," while the Śrāvaka Ground's own "fullness of conduct" corresponds to avoiding the five improper places named there.

This opens fullness of what is taken up (卯二攝取圓滿), the second — keeping livestock (elephants, horses, cattle, sheep, chickens, pigs, dogs, cats) easily breeds attachment and is therefore forbidden to monastics; taking up unhusked grain, requiring hours of hulling before it can be eaten, likewise wastes practice time. Neither adorns the path of precepts, concentration, and wisdom, and both are therefore impure to take up — detailed further, per Master Cháng Bǎi, in the Ground of Investigation and Analysis's own treatment of the Śrāvaka and Solitary-Realizer Grounds, fascicle 68, under "unadorned."

This opens the ear of grain (丑七穗2), the seventh of the fourth particular verse's eight sections, named by the verse's fourth phrase's first word "the ear of grain" (穗成就為後), beginning with marking the distinction (寅一標差別) — body, feeling, mind, and dharmas are the shared ground everyone stands on, like four great roads; misperceiving them (taking the impure body for pure, the selfless for possessing self) is like praying wrongly for a harvest — even with seed in the ground, without sun, air, water, and fertilizer, no ripened ear of grain will ever appear. 攝異門分, fascicle 84, is cited on affliction itself as a stump or stubble left in the field, causing ever-deepening, self-perpetuating growth and rendering body and mind incapable, like salt-poisoned soil unfit for any planting at all. Conversely, principled attention toward these same four is like praying rightly: the causes for purity are properly gathered, and a pure fruit is certain to follow — a practitioner who instead clings to unprincipled thought only continues circling further into saṃsāra.

This opens accomplishment (丑八成就3), the eighth and final of the fourth particular verse's eight sections, named by the verse's fourth phrase's second half "accomplishment, coming last" (穗成就為後), beginning with generally marking and distinguishing (寅一總標簡) — merely possessing craving and the other unwholesome dharmas in some general sense does not by itself prevent cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness; only possessing them through two specific causes and conditions, unpacked in what follows, does. Per the 披尋記, this phrasing signals that possessing these unwholesome dharmas through any other cause and condition still leaves room for cultivating the four foundations. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before further closure is claimed.

This opens separately listing the marks (寅二別列相), the second of accomplishment's three matters — two causes prevent cultivating the four foundations: affliction actively, forcefully present in the mind, unable to be first subdued; and, more insidiously, never recognizing that this affliction is a fault at all, so it goes untreated and, through repetition, hardens into settled habit.

This opens explaining the reason (寅三釋所以2), the third of accomplishment's three matters, beginning with through the defiled mind (卯一由雜染心) — a mind actively agitated by present affliction cannot settle enough to cultivate. Per fascicle 8, a "bond" is so called because it repeatedly manifests; 攝異門分, fascicle 84, adds that its continuous, unbroken manifestation is precisely what earns the name, naming eight such bonds (shamelessness, lack of conscience, torpor, sleepiness, restlessness, remorse, envy, and stinginess) mapped onto four kinds of obstruction — shamelessness and lack of conscience obstructing the heightened precepts, torpor and sleepiness obstructing the heightened mind, restlessness and remorse obstructing the heightened wisdom's discernment, and envy and stinginess obstructing the mutual sharing of wealth and dharma among fellow practitioners.

This opens through an attached nature (卯二由性染著2), the second of explaining the reason's two matters, beginning with distinguishing the mark (辰一辨相) — even someone temporarily free of an affliction's manifest activity, if the underlying attachment remains unaddressed, still carries a longing that keeps the mind scattered and chasing after alluring objects, disturbed by discursive thought regardless of the temporary respite; left unremedied long enough, this hardens into settled habit.

This opens **the embrace of right effort and the bases of supernormal power (壬二正斷神足攝2), the second of the factors of enlightenment's nine great topics** — named by the general summary verse's own first line "the foundations of mindfulness and right effort; supernormal bases" (念住與正斷　神足及根力), combining the four right efforts (正斷) and the four bases of supernormal power (神足) into a single treatment, since the two topics share a single half-verse in the overall structure — beginning with the verse marking and listing (癸一頌標列) — five matters unfold in the long-form explanation that follows: valor, strength, cultivation, equipoise, the alternate approach, and supernormal power (six terms across five sections, since the last two are treated together).

This opens the long-form explanation (癸二長行釋5), a fivefold structure, beginning with valor (子一勇2), named by the verse's first phrase "valor and strength" (勇力修等持), beginning with pointing to right effort (丑一指正斷) — the four right efforts (severing evil already arisen, preventing evil not yet arisen, cultivating good already arisen, and giving rise to good not yet arisen) are pointed to the Śrāvaka Ground, fascicle 29, for their fuller treatment.

This opens explaining diligence (丑二釋精進2), the second of valor's two matters, beginning with setting out the fifth phrase (寅一出第五句) — diligence, per 攝事分, fascicle 85, has five aspects: possessing vigor (resolving at the outset, like donning armor before battle, to cultivate the four foundations without fear); possessing exertion (sustaining the actual, uninterrupted practice of precepts, concentration, and wisdom); possessing valor (advancing courageously toward liberation, or even the Great Vehicle's own teaching, undeterred by failure); firmness and fierceness (undisturbed by cold, heat, insects, or any other bodily hardship); and not relinquishing the yoke toward every wholesome dharma (never settling for a small success, but continuing to press upward). This section treats specifically the fifth of these five, "valor" in its narrower sense.

This opens strength (子二力2), the second of the embrace of right effort and the bases of supernormal power's five sections, named by the verse's first phrase's second half "strength" (勇力修等持), beginning with pointing to the bases of supernormal power (丑一指神足) — the four bases of supernormal power (accomplishment through aspiration's samādhi and the conduct of severance, through diligence's samādhi, through mind's samādhi, and through investigation's samādhi) are, once more, pointed to the Śrāvaka Ground, fascicle 29, for their fuller treatment.

This opens briefly explaining strength (丑二略說力5), the second of strength's two matters, beginning with marking (寅一標) — briefly summarized, four powers sustain and bring the mind to concentration, and it is on this basis that the four bases of supernormal power are established.

This opens questioning (寅二徵), the second of briefly explaining strength's five matters.

This opens listing (寅三列), the third of briefly explaining strength's five matters — pure aspiration toward concentration, diligent application in pursuing it, the mind's own delight once settled within it, and the right wisdom that discerns what remains to be remedied together constitute the four powers that establish the bases of supernormal power.

This opens explaining (寅四釋4), the fourth of briefly explaining strength's five matters, beginning with through the first power (卯一由第一力) — hearing the true dharma among wise fellow practitioners, a delighted, confident wish toward samādhi first arises, and, carefully attending to every requisite condition for its cultivation, one settles the mind diligently upon its object.

This opens through the second power (卯二由第二力), the second — diligent, sustained application of samādhi stabilizes the mind that has just begun to settle upon its object.

This opens through the third power (卯三由第三力), the third — a mind already settled, such as within the preparatory stage of concentration, delights so fully in that stillness that it no longer drifts back outward toward the objects of the senses.

This opens through the fourth power (卯四由第四力), the fourth and final of explaining's matters — right wisdom discerns exactly which affliction within equipoise has, or has not, been severed, skillfully distinguishes the marks of entering, abiding in, and emerging from that equipoise, and truly knows every mark belonging to calm-abiding and insight alike, together with whatever secondary afflictions and remedies pertain to each. The Śrāvaka Ground identifies two such marks for each of calm-abiding and insight: an object-mark (the counterpart image of the known matter that each takes as its object) and a causal mark (calm-abiding serving as insight's own causal condition, and insight's preparatory practice serving as calm-abiding's own causal condition for future purity) — detailed further, per Master Cháng Bǎi, in the Śrāvaka Ground, fascicle 31. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows — briefly explaining strength's own concluding matter (寅五結) — before further closure is claimed.

This opens cultivation (子三修4), the third of the embrace of right effort and the bases of supernormal power's five sections, named by the verse's first phrase's third word "cultivation" (勇力修等持), beginning with briefly marking and listing (丑一略標列) — the first two of these five causes remedy the secondary afflictions specific to calm-abiding and to insight; the latter three establish the meditative perceptions proper to each and to both together.

This opens separately explaining the marks (丑二別釋相2), the second of cultivation's four matters, beginning with the first two marks (寅一初二相2), beginning with setting out the nature (卯一出體2), beginning with calm-abiding's own secondary affliction (辰一奢摩他品隨煩惱) — laziness (defined by the Compendium of Consciousness-Only as idleness in the cultivation and severance proper to wholesome and unwholesome dharmas, obstructing diligence and increasing defilement) is itself the underlying support for the still deeper affliction of torpor and sleepiness: a practitioner too lazy to diligently cultivate the four aspiration-diligence-mind-investigation samādhis will, even while formally seated, lose the object to torpor, and, if severe enough, to outright sleep. The 披尋記 confirms "aspiration and the rest" here abbreviates the same four samādhis named throughout, each of which can fall into this slack, unhurried laziness.

This opens distinguishing the differences (卯二料簡2), the second of the first two marks' two matters, beginning with toward calm-abiding (辰一於奢摩他) — laziness merely defiles calm-abiding, leaving the practitioner unable to progress diligently but not destroying the attainment outright; torpor and sleepiness, by contrast, blur and eventually erase the object of meditation entirely, extinguishing calm-abiding altogether rather than merely defiling it.

This opens the latter three marks (寅二後三相3), the second of separately explaining the marks' two matters, beginning with insight's own class of object (卯一毗鉢舍那品所緣境) — the perception of before and after observes past or future conditioned formations from the vantage of present attention: "dwelling observes sitting" (present attention already arisen observing what is about to arise), "sitting observes lying down" (present attention observing what has already passed), and observing the immediately preceding moment of mind without any gap — detailed further, per Master Cháng Bǎi, in the Śrāvaka Ground, fascicle 28.

This opens calm-abiding's own class of object (卯二奢摩他品所緣境), the second — the perception of above and below observes the body, from crown to sole, as filled throughout with every kind of impure substance (hair, body hair, nails, teeth, and the rest), the very contemplation of the body's own impurity that calm-abiding rests upon.

This opens explaining the difficult point (丑三隨難釋), the third of cultivation's four matters — even genuine diligence, if it slackens from its own former pace (practicing eight hours a day, say, and later only six), still counts as being "conjoined with laziness" in this more subtle sense. The 披尋記 clarifies that the "further" laziness named among the eight secondary afflictions (torpor, restlessness, faithlessness, laziness, heedlessness, forgetfulness, distraction, and incorrect knowledge) is being distinguished here from this different, relative sense of laziness — diligence merely slowed, not diligence entirely absent.

This opens equipoise and the alternate approach (子四等持異門2), the fourth of the embrace of right effort and the bases of supernormal power's five sections, named by the verse's first phrase's fourth word and second phrase's first word "equipoise...the alternate approach" (勇力修等持　異門神通後), explaining the four samādhis through a different lens, beginning with setting out the distinctions (丑一出差別2), beginning with general marking (寅一總標) — five places yield liberation: hearing the true dharma with earnest reverence; expounding it to others; reciting it with sublime intonation; skillfully grasping and reflecting on an excellent samādhi-sign; and, having heard the dharma, dwelling alone in seclusion to reflect, weigh, and carefully observe it — the first three corresponding to hearing-wisdom, the fourth to thinking-wisdom, and the fifth to cultivation-wisdom, detailed further, per Master Cháng Bǎi, in the Compendium of Categories, fascicle 13. Each of the five follows the same pattern: right understanding of the dharma and its meaning gives rise to delight, delight to joy, joy to bodily ease, ease to bliss, bliss to concentration, concentration to true knowing and seeing, true knowing and seeing to weariness, weariness to detachment, and detachment to liberation.

This opens separately distinguishing (寅二別辨2), beginning with the first meaning (卯一第一義4), a fourfold structure correlating each samādhi to the corresponding place of liberation, beginning with the heightened samādhi of aspiration (辰一欲增上三摩地) — earnestly hearing the true dharma from a buddha or noble disciple, sustained by pure aspiration and fierce longing for supreme wisdom, gradually, without interruption, realizes supreme samādhi — matching the first place of liberation.

This opens the heightened samādhi of diligence (辰二精進增上三摩地), the second — expounding what has been heard to others, or reciting it aloud with sublime intonation, sustains without interruption and yields supreme samādhi in turn, matching the second and third places of liberation. Master Cháng Bǎi cites two later masters exemplifying just this: Great Master Zhìzhě, who, while reciting the Lotus Sūtra's chapter on the former deeds of Medicine King Bodhisattva, entered a still absorption and directly beheld the still-unbroken assembly of Vulture Peak, attaining the initial dhāraṇī and unobstructed eloquence in teaching ever after; and Great Master Tàixū, who, while reading the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra, was suddenly overcome with bodily and mental clarity resembling samādhi, its focus persisting three full days, after which he thoroughly penetrated the doctrines of both emptiness and the true, permanent mind (as well as the illusory-yet-consciousness-only view), going on to champion a broad reform of Chinese Buddhism.

This opens the heightened samādhi of mind (辰三心增上三摩地), the third — skillfully grasping the sign of impurity-contemplation, from a corpse's bluish discoloration through its bloating, decay, and final reduction to a bare skeleton, sustained reflection on this object yields supreme samādhi, matching the fourth place of liberation.

This opens the second meaning (卯二第二義2), the second of separately distinguishing's two matters, beginning with generally marking and listing (辰一總標列) — a second, complementary lens views the same four samādhis through four gateways: the gateway of hearing (matching aspiration's own samādhi as before), the gateway of right instruction (receiving unmistaken guidance and applying diligent preparatory practice before entering fundamental samādhi, matching diligence's samādhi), the gateway of the mind's delight (advancing from a fundamental samādhi already attained toward a still higher one, matching mind's samādhi), and the gateway of equal observation (a dharma-practitioner's own extensive learning turned toward equal, principled observation of dependent origination, matching investigation's samādhi). Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows — separately correlating this second lens's own four gateways (辰二別配屬) — before further closure is claimed.

This opens supernormal power (子五神通2), the fifth and final of the embrace of right effort and the bases of supernormal power's five sections, named by the verse's second phrase's second half "supernormal power, coming last" (異門神通後), beginning with generally marking and distinguishing (丑一總標簡) — the Buddhadharma's own noble supernormal powers, built on the four bases of supernormal power, surpass whatever powers outside paths may possess, since only the noble ones' own attainment counts as genuinely "noble" supernormal power.

This opens separately explaining the marks (丑二別釋相2), beginning with raising the most supreme (寅一舉最勝) — a noble one who has mastered the four bases of supernormal power can, as desired, extend their own lifespan by a full eon or more; the 瑜伽論記 identifies four kinds of supernormal power at play here: transformation, transformation of nature, sustaining across time, and transformation of time. This life-extension applies specifically to the śrāvaka of indeterminate lineage — one who will, in time, turn from the lesser vehicle toward supreme enlightenment — rather than to a śrāvaka of fixed lineage bound only for final nirvāṇa without remainder; the decisive section on the Bodhisattva Ground, fascicle 80, per the 披尋記, confirms the Buddha spoke of this "class" (物類) with such śrāvaka-turning-bodhisattva practitioners specifically in mind.

This opens distinguishing the powerless (寅二簡無能3), the second of separately explaining the marks' two matters, a threefold structure, beginning with toward four matters (卯一於四事) — however extraordinary a noble one's supernormal power may be, it cannot alter a being's own faculties, cannot conjure a mind or its mental factors out of nothing, and cannot transform karma or its ripening — four boundaries even the greatest supernormal power never crosses.

This opens toward transformation of nature (卯二於變性2), the second of distinguishing the powerless's three matters, beginning with transforming the feeling received (辰一轉令改受2), beginning with raising pleasant feeling set against painful feeling (巳一舉樂受望苦受) — karma already conducive to a pleasant ripening cannot be transformed, even by supernormal power, into karma conducive to a painful one; wholesome karma already accumulated can never be forced to ripen as if it were unwholesome.

This opens transforming toward no feeling at all (辰二轉令無受2), the second of toward transformation of nature's two matters, beginning with raising feeling conducive to neither pain nor pleasure (巳一舉順非苦樂受) — karma already fixed toward neutral feeling remains fixed toward neutral feeling; supernormal power cannot even suppress karma's ripening into producing no feeling whatsoever — karma, once set, will always produce some feeling.

This opens **the embrace of the faculties (壬三根攝2), the third of the factors of enlightenment's nine great topics**, named by the general summary verse's second line's second half "the faculties" (神足及根力) — treating the five faculties (信根/進根/念根/定根/慧根) together with the seventeen further faculties that, with them, make up the traditional twenty-two — beginning with the verse marking and listing (癸一頌標列) — four matters unfold in the long-form explanation: establishing the twenty-two faculties, the sphere in which they properly operate, the faculty of wisdom's own supremacy among them, and, afterward, the abidings distinguishing the outsider, the ordinary being's own class within the inner dharma, and the remaining classes of practitioner.

This opens the long-form explanation (癸二長行釋4), a fourfold structure matching the verse's four matters, beginning with establishing them (子一安立3), named by the verse's first phrase's first half "establishing them" (安立所行境), beginning with marking and listing (丑一標列) — six increasing meanings ground the establishment of the twenty-two faculties: grasping an object, continuing the family lineage, sustaining life and its undertakings, experiencing karma's fruit while creating new karma, tending toward mundane freedom from desire, and tending toward supramundane freedom from desire.

This opens correlating and explaining (丑二配釋6), a sixfold structure matching the six increasing meanings, beginning with the eye and the other five faculties (寅一眼等六根) — the six sense-faculties, eye through mind, together fulfill the first increasing meaning: grasping the six kinds of objects (form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas).

This opens the male and female faculties (寅二男女二根), the second — these two faculties fulfill the second increasing meaning, sustaining human procreation and family continuity.

This opens the life faculty (寅三命根), the third — the single life faculty fulfills the third increasing meaning, sustaining the very continuity of life that makes any undertaking, worldly or spiritual, possible at all.

This opens pleasure and the other four feeling-faculties (寅四樂等五根), the fourth — the five feeling-faculties (pleasure, pain, sorrow, joy, equanimity) fulfill the fourth increasing meaning: experiencing the desirable or undesirable fruit of former karma (pleasant feeling breeding attachment, painful feeling breeding aversion) while, in turn, driving the creation of yet more karma — feeling's own power to perpetuate the endless cycle of rebirth. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows — the fifth and sixth increasing meanings' own correlation (寅五信等五根, presumably the five faith-through-wisdom faculties, and beyond) — before further closure is claimed.

This opens faith and the other four path-faculties (寅五信等五根), the fifth — the five faculties of faith, diligence, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom fulfill the fifth increasing meaning, helping the practitioner accomplish mundane meditative freedom from desire.

This opens the sphere of their operation (子二所行境3), the second of the embrace of the faculties' four sections, named by the verse's first phrase's second half "the sphere of their operation" (安立所行境), beginning with setting out the wrong discrimination (丑一出邪分別) — noticing that each of the six sense-faculties operates within its own separate object, someone unfamiliar with dependent origination wrongly concludes that a unifying self must exist to receive what all six faculties, taken together, experience — a wrong discrimination born of not understanding how conditioned phenomena actually cohere without any such self.

This opens manifesting the principle of dependent origination (丑二明緣起理2), the second of the sphere of their operation's three matters, beginning with distinguishing what should be cultivated (寅一辨應修3), a threefold structure, beginning with cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness (卯一修四念住) — no unifying self is needed: when the practitioner brings principled attention to the six faculties through diligently cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness, it is precisely the four foundations themselves that come to receive what the six faculties, together, operate within — and this very purification is what "transcendence" means.

This opens attaining the seven factors of enlightenment (卯二得七覺支), the second — diligent cultivation of the four foundations first penetrates the noble truths and yields the seven factors of enlightenment (mindfulness, investigation of dharmas, diligence, joy, pliancy, concentration, and equanimity); these factors, now conjoined with true reality, in turn receive what the four foundations themselves operate within, the sphere of receiving continuing to purify and deepen at every stage.

This opens distinguishing the right designation (丑三辨正施設3), the third of the sphere of their operation's three matters, beginning with distinguishing what is not nirvāṇa (寅一簡非涅槃) — the very subject-object structure this whole section has traced (faculties received by foundations, foundations by factors, factors by liberation) belongs entirely to the conditioned realm; nirvāṇa itself, with every conceptual elaboration extinguished, admits no such designation of a grasping subject or grasped object at all.

This opens explaining the distinction (寅二釋其差別), the second — conditioned dharmas alone admit the back-and-forth of conventional discourse about subject and object; the unconditioned, ultimate nirvāṇa admits no such discourse whatsoever, every question and answer about it being, strictly speaking, beside the point.

This opens wisdom-faculty's supremacy (子三慧根最勝2), the third of the embrace of the faculties' four sections, named by the verse's second phrase "the faculty of wisdom is supreme" (慧根為最勝), beginning with distinguishing (丑一辨2), beginning with what is accomplished at the very beginning (寅一最初所作) — a sharp-witted practitioner's discernment, applied through principled attention to the dharma, is what first produces genuine faith and understanding toward nirvāṇa — wisdom already at work from the very outset of practice.

This opens the abidings (子四安住品類3), the fourth and final of the embrace of the faculties' four sections, named by the verse's third phrase's second half and fourth phrase "the abidings — the outsider, the ordinary being's own class, and the rest" (當知後安住　外異生品等), beginning with the outsider ordinary being's own class (丑一外異生品) — a being who has not attained even the mundane five faculties (faith through wisdom) taught through the buddhas' own unsurpassed enlightenment abides entirely outside the inner dharma, in the class of the outsider ordinary being.

This opens the inner ordinary being's own class (丑二內異生品), the second — a being who has attained the mundane five faculties within the inner dharma, but not yet any supramundane attainment, abides within the inner dharma's own preparatory stage — no longer an outsider, though not yet a noble one.

This opens **the embrace of the powers (壬四力攝2), the fourth of the factors of enlightenment's nine great topics**, named by the general summary verse's second line's third word "the powers" (神足及根力) — treating the five powers (信力/進力/念力/定力/慧力, sharing the same names as the five faculties but denoting their strengthened, unshakeable form) alongside a wider array of powers explored in this section — beginning with the verse marking and listing (癸一頌標列) — six matters unfold in the long-form explanation: discernment, awakened wisdom and the rest (four further powers), the nation and the various kings (a tenfold royal analogy), the arhat's own eight powers, the trainee's five powers (contrasted with the Tathāgata's own ten), and, finally, the upright practitioner's fourfold mark.

This opens the long-form explanation (癸二長行釋6), a sixfold structure matching the verse's six matters, beginning with discernment (子一思擇2), named by the verse's first phrase's first half "discernment" (思擇覺慧等), beginning with marking how the name is attained (丑一標得名) — deeply seeing the fault in every unwholesome deed, present or future, and thereby bringing evil to rest while cultivating good, is what earns the name "power of discernment."

This opens distinguishing its function (丑二辨業用3), the second of discernment's two matters, beginning with able to accomplish two matters (寅一能成二事) — the power of discernment, understanding evil's own fault, leads either to a fortunate rebirth among gods and humans through cultivating the five precepts and ten wholesome deeds, or, through deeper reflection on selflessness, directly to nirvāṇa within this very life.

This opens able to rightly cultivate (寅二能正修習), the second — discernment serves as the very foundation for the power of cultivation, which, relying on it, rightly cultivates the four foundations of mindfulness and every other factor of enlightenment in turn. The Ground of Cultivation-Accomplished Wisdom describes this cultivation as resting on the preparatory stage of concentration, applying insight to the four noble truths, the contemplation of selflessness, and the three concentrations, or any observation conjoined with the noble path.

This opens able to accompany shame (寅三能伴羞恥3), the third of distinguishing its function's three matters, beginning with marking (卯一標) — shame is the very first ornament of conduct; a practitioner with genuine shame is spurred to actively sever evil and cultivate good, and the power of discernment accompanies this shame in three distinct places.

This opens questioning (卯二徵), the second of able to accompany shame's three matters.

This opens explaining (卯三釋2), the third of able to accompany shame's three matters, beginning with distinguishing each mark (辰一別辨相3), a threefold structure, beginning with shame with regard to others (巳一他處羞恥) — reflecting that any evil deed would be censured by every buddha, noble disciple, and faithful god who knows one's own mind gives rise to this first kind of shame; the wise, Master Cháng Bǎi notes, confess and repent the moment an evil thought is caught, never letting it take root and continue.

This opens shame with regard to oneself (巳二自處羞恥), the second — sustained self-reflection and self-respect, even before the noble path is attained, holds oneself accountable to one's own aspiration, censuring oneself whenever conduct falls short of it.

This opens awakened wisdom and the rest (子二覺慧等2), the second of the embrace of the powers' six sections, named by the verse's first phrase's second half "awakened wisdom and the rest" (思擇覺慧等), beginning with marking and listing (丑一標列) — four powers together strengthen both self-benefiting and other-benefiting conduct: the power of awakened wisdom (discerning, across six pairs, what is blameworthy or blameless, what should be cultivated or avoided, base or noble, dark or bright, discriminated or non-discriminated, and dependently-originated or not), the power of diligence (the same four right efforts underlying every other power), the power of blamelessness (sustained inward examination of body, speech, and mind, confessing and resolving never to repeat any fault found), and the power of embracing others (the four means of embrace — giving, kind speech, beneficial conduct, and cooperation — detailed further, per Master Cháng Bǎi, in the Bodhisattva Ground, fascicle 43, where these four are further unfolded into nine practices). Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before further closure is claimed.

This opens correlating and explaining (丑二配釋2), the second of awakened wisdom and the rest's two matters, beginning with toward one's own benefit (寅一於自義2), beginning with marking the distinction (卯一標差別) — the first three of the four powers (awakened wisdom, diligence, blamelessness) all serve one's own benefit, which itself divides into two: present-life nirvāṇa (decisive excellence) and a fortunate rebirth among humans and gods (heightened existence).

This opens correlating their establishment (卯二配建立2), the second of toward one's own benefit's two matters, beginning with able to give rise to skillful means (辰一能起方便) — awakened wisdom (discerning dependent origination and wholesome from unwholesome dharmas) and diligence together establish, through skillful means, the right efforts that carry a practitioner toward present-life nirvāṇa, each reinforcing the other in a virtuous cycle of awakening and renewed effort.

This opens toward the benefit of others (寅二於他義2), the second of correlating and explaining's two matters, beginning with manifesting its establishment (卯一明建立) — a bodhisattva who delights in benefiting others, since the first three powers alone address only one's own benefit, requires this fourth, remaining power — the power of embracing others through the four means of embrace — to genuinely accomplish others' welfare.

This opens the nation and the various kings (子三國及王等2), the third of the embrace of the powers' six sections, named by the verse's second phrase "the nation and the rest, and the various kings" (國等及諸王), beginning with marking their establishment (丑一標建立) — ten powers are established by drawing an analogy across ten kinds of worldly figures and stations, from the ruling king down to the renunciant.

This opens the arhat (子四阿羅漢2), the fourth of the embrace of the powers' six sections, named by the verse's third phrase's first half "the arhat" (阿羅漢有學), beginning with general marking (丑一總標) — the arhat's eight powers (weariness toward future existence, weariness toward the desires, the foundations of mindfulness, right effort, the bases of supernormal power, the faculties and powers, the factors of enlightenment, and the path-factors) together confirm that every affliction has been permanently exhausted, manifesting in the complete absence of evil conduct and the sustained cultivation of good.

This opens separately explaining (丑二別釋2), beginning with not committing any evil (寅一不造諸惡2), beginning with through weariness toward future existence (卯一由厭後有) — per the 披尋記, tending toward seclusion means tending away from desire and the various unwholesome dharmas; tending toward renunciation means tending away from the household life's own cramped, oppressive suffering; and tending toward parinirvāṇa means tending toward the sublime realm of nirvāṇa without remainder — this threefold tendency wearies the arhat of future existence entirely, and this very weariness is what forestalls any further evil karma.

This opens through weariness toward the various desires (卯二由厭諸欲), the second — seeing the desires themselves as a live coal, dangerous to grasp no matter how enticing its glow, the arhat wearies of and turns entirely away from them, and this weariness likewise forestalls further evil karma. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before further closure is claimed.

This opens cultivating every good (寅二修習諸善2), the second of separately explaining's two matters, beginning with marking (卯一標) — freed of evil conduct through the two powers of weariness (toward future existence and toward the desires), the arhat's remaining six powers actively cultivate every wholesome dharma through six further gateways.

This opens the trainee (子五有學2), the fifth of the embrace of the powers' six sections, named by the verse's third phrase's second half "the trainee" (阿羅漢有學), beginning with setting out what the Buddha taught (丑一出佛說) — the Tathāgata himself draws this distinction, to manifest his own supremacy: trainees accomplish only five powers (faith, diligence, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom), while only the Tathāgata accomplishes the full ten (knowledge of what is possible and impossible, of karmic ripening, of every meditative attainment, of faculties' relative strength, of every kind of resolve, of every kind of disposition, of every path's destination, of past lives, of death and rebirth, and of the exhaustion of every outflow). Per the 披尋記, these five powers, possessing great, overwhelming force, subdue every army of Māra and are able to realize the permanent exhaustion of every outflow — hence the name "power."

This opens manifesting their meaning (丑二顯彼義2), the second of the trainee's two matters, beginning with toward the various trainees (寅一於諸有學) — the trainee's own five powers, cultivated through self-benefiting conduct, lead without interruption to arhatship's own supreme fruit, at which point every kind of self-benefit reaches its complete finality.

This opens toward the various tathāgatas (寅二於諸如來2), the second of manifesting their meaning's two matters, beginning with briefly distinguishing the marks (卯一略辨相2), beginning with accomplishing two kinds of conduct (辰一成就二行) — the Tathāgata, already having attained arhatship's own self-benefit, takes benefiting others as his very own benefit instead, his task only reaching complete fulfillment once every being he can transform has been transformed and he enters nirvāṇa without remainder.

This opens uprightness (子六質直3), the sixth and final of the embrace of the powers' six sections, named by the verse's fourth phrase's first half "uprightness, coming last" (質直最為後), beginning with marking and distinguishing what it relies upon (丑一標簡所依) — a person who genuinely cherishes themselves, free of flattery and deceit, of upright nature, achieves their own benefit (either a fortunate rebirth or present-life nirvāṇa) through four marks, but only within a well-taught dharma and discipline; an outside path's own rules, however elaborate (even something as arbitrary as vowing to imitate a cow's or a dog's conduct), only ever delay and obstruct. Per 攝事分, fascicle 89, flattery is a crooked, unclear, undisclosed, deceptively-practiced mind — outwardly compliant while inwardly biased, never honestly revealing one's true thought — and deceit is deliberately misleading another, harboring one intention while displaying another, closely bound up with wrong livelihood; a genuinely self-cherishing person, needing neither to flatter a teacher nor practice wrong livelihood, delights in practice for its own sake, showing the same face outwardly as they hold inwardly.

This opens separately explaining the four marks (丑二別釋四相3), beginning with questioning (寅一徵).

This opens listing (寅二列), the second of separately explaining the four marks' three matters — hearing the true dharma's right teaching (freeing one from doctrines of no cause or false cause), receiving unmistaken instruction and exhortation in concentration and wisdom together with precepts, applying principled attention and thereby penetrating the dharma through hearing- and thinking-wisdom, and finally, truly realizing the ultimate truth through uncontaminated cultivation-wisdom — these four marks together constitute genuine accomplishment of one's own benefit.

This opens explaining (寅三釋3), the third of separately explaining the four marks' three matters, beginning with expounding the teaching of the true dharma (卯一說正法教) — the true dharma, once heard, becomes the very ground upon which every subsequent confident understanding rests, precisely because it teaches genuine causality, free of both the denial of cause and the misattribution of a false one. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before further closure is claimed.

This opens instruction and exhortation (卯二教授教誡), the second of separately explaining the four marks' three matters — the upright practitioner draws near a good teacher and receives unmistaken instruction in concentration and wisdom together with exhortation in precepts, the teaching's own letter and meaning both free of the self-clinging and the four inverted views, this purifying teaching bringing the practitioner to the very confident understanding named in the first mark.

This opens penetrating in accordance with principle and the rest (卯三如理通達等2), the third of separately explaining the four marks' three matters, beginning with general marking (辰一總標) — a self-cherishing practitioner whose continuum is already tamed and capable, entering the inner dharma's own discipline and receiving right proclamation and right awakening, swiftly advances, genuinely penetrating and genuinely realizing what should be — combining the third and fourth marks together.

This opens separately explaining (辰二別釋2), beginning with penetrating in accordance with principle (巳一如理通達) — resting on the four foundations of mindfulness, the practitioner rightly discerns conditioned dharmas as impermanent (what the wise commonly affirm exists or does not), and, toward the unconditioned, recognizes that everything up through the peak of existence still has something higher, while nirvāṇa alone has nothing higher at all. Per the 披尋記, the unconditioned discussed here is specifically the non-analytical cessation — a mere absence due to missing conditions, not the analytical cessation wisdom actively brings about — and even the form and formless realms' own "unmoved" states are only temporarily free of manifest affliction, not permanently severed of its seed, and are therefore still classed as having something higher; nirvāṇa, conjoined with non-discriminating wisdom, alone is truly unsurpassed.

This opens **the embrace of the factors of enlightenment (壬五覺支攝2), the fifth of the factors of enlightenment's nine great topics**, named by the general summary verse's third line's first word "the factors of enlightenment" (覺道支息念) — treating the seven factors of enlightenment (念/擇法/精進/喜/安/定/捨) — beginning with the verse marking and listing (癸一頌標列) — seven matters unfold in the long-form explanation: establishing them, their distinctions, their nourishing food, the gradual sequence in which they arise, the ease they bring about, the abiding proper to them at every stage, and their own cultivation.

This opens their food (子三食2), the third of the embrace of the factors of enlightenment's seven sections, named by the verse's second phrase's first half "their food" (食漸次), beginning with raising what serves as food (丑一舉為食3), beginning with marking (寅一標) — two kinds of unmistaken attention, briefly stated, serve as the very food that nourishes and strengthens the seven factors of enlightenment.

This opens questioning (寅二徵), the second of raising what serves as food's three matters. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before further closure is claimed.

This opens the gradual sequence (子四漸次2), the fourth of the embrace of the factors of enlightenment's seven sections, named by the verse's second phrase's second half "the gradual sequence" (食漸次), beginning with marking their establishment (丑一標安立) — missing even one of the seven factors, at any stage of practice, keeps true awakening from ever reaching completion; each factor supports the one that follows, and this supporting relationship is what "gradual sequence" describes.

This opens ease (子五安樂2), the fifth of the embrace of the factors of enlightenment's seven sections, named by the verse's third phrase's first half "ease" (安樂住), beginning with distinguishing abiding (丑一辨安住2), beginning with setting out the causes and conditions (寅一出因緣2), beginning with distinguishing the difference (卯一簡差別2), beginning with raising failure to abide (辰一舉不安住3), beginning with marking (巳一標) — even a monk diligently cultivating the seven factors of enlightenment through skillful means can still be kept from secure, easeful dwelling by four specific causes and conditions.

This opens questioning (巳二徵), the second of raising failure to abide's three matters.

This opens explaining the difficult point (寅二隨難釋2), the second of distinguishing abiding's two matters, beginning with raising the untamed path (卯一舉不調善) — attention applied too forcefully makes diligence excessive, and a sitting that starts balanced but later tips into restlessness or torpor makes the practice uneven from start to finish — both marks of a path not yet genuinely tamed.

This opens the simile of sovereignty (丑二喻自在2), the second of ease's two matters, beginning with general marking (寅一總標) — just as a wheel-turning king's sovereignty over the four continents comes with seven treasures that aid his rule, so too the mind that attains sovereignty over the four noble truths comes into possession of the seven factors of enlightenment as its own true, pure treasure.

This opens separately distinguishing (寅二別辨7), a sevenfold structure matching the seven treasures to the seven factors, beginning with the simile for the factor of mindfulness (卯一喻念覺支) — mindfulness, sustaining both calm-abiding and insight operating together upon the four noble truths, subdues affliction's every supreme enemy, just as the wheel treasure carries the wheel-turning king to all four continents, subduing every rival kingdom in turn.

This opens the simile for the factor of investigating dharmas (卯二喻擇法覺支), the second — investigation of dharmas' own wisdom, vast enough to match its boundless object, penetrating every dharma's own particular and shared characteristics alike, is likened to the six-tusked white elephant treasure, whose vast body carries the king across the entire world in a single day without fatigue, never even wetting its feet as it crosses the water.

This opens the simile for the factor of diligence (卯三喻精進覺支), the third — diligence swiftly carries the practitioner to ultimate truth's own supreme attainment, just as the horse treasure swiftly carries the king wherever he needs to go and back again by evening.

This opens the simile for the factor of joy (卯四喻喜覺支), the fourth — joy delights the mind entirely without fault, just as the woman treasure, virtuous, attentive, and graceful, attends the king with perfect care, sensing and meeting his every need before he must ask.

This opens the simile for the factor of pliancy (卯五喻輕安覺支), the fifth — pliancy renders body and mind luminously clear, capable of penetrating every dharma's own true mark, just as the divine pearl treasure, flawlessly transparent, faithfully reflects and illuminates whatever comes before it, even lighting an entire city through the night.

This opens the simile for the factor of concentration (卯六喻定覺支), the sixth — concentration accomplishes every matter a practitioner might seek, from insight's own cultivation through supernormal power and the exhaustion of every outflow, just as the treasurer-minister treasure, knowing where every hidden store of wealth lies, ensures the king's realm never lacks for resources.

This opens abiding (子六住2), the sixth of the embrace of the factors of enlightenment's seven sections, named by the verse's third phrase's second half "abiding" (安樂住), beginning with marking the simile (丑一標喻) — just as a king draws a different garment from his chest at each of the day's three divisions, a practitioner draws upon the seven factors of enlightenment across three corresponding divisions of practice.

This opens explaining the marks (丑二釋相3), a threefold structure, beginning with the three times (寅一三時) — the day divides into three four-hour portions (roughly six to ten, ten to two, and two to six), and the night likewise into three corresponding portions.

This opens the three divisions (寅二三分), the second — calm-abiding's own class holds pliancy, concentration, equanimity, and mindfulness; insight's own class holds investigation of dharmas, diligence, joy, and mindfulness; and the class shared by both, practiced together, holds all seven at once.

This opens abiding (寅三安住3), the third of explaining the marks' three matters, beginning with completeness or deficiency of the factors (卯一支具闕) — calm-abiding's own division holds four factors (concentration, pliancy, equanimity, mindfulness), insight's own division likewise holds four (investigation of dharmas, diligence, joy, mindfulness), and the shared division, where calm-abiding and insight operate together, holds all seven at once — per the 瑜伽論記, "both concentration and wisdom together, all seven factors complete." No practitioner ever abides in a single, isolated factor alone; the factors always operate in their proper groupings. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before further closure is claimed.

This opens without hatred and the rest (卯二無怨等), the second of abiding's three matters — a practitioner grounded in the seven factors of enlightenment holds no hatred toward outside paths (recognizing their error as mere temporary delusion), enters no rivalry with them, sustains a constant wish to benefit every being, and remains entirely free of affliction's own bondage — four qualities together named without hatred, without enmity, without harm, and without calamity.

This opens cultivation (子七修3), the seventh and final of the embrace of the factors of enlightenment's seven sections, named by the verse's fourth phrase's first half "cultivation" (修居後), beginning with marking and listing the causes and conditions (丑一標列因緣) — twenty-one perceptions, cultivated together with the seven factors of enlightenment, rest on two distinct relationships: conjoined co-occurrence (a noble one's own subsequently-attained wisdom holding all twenty-one perceptions simultaneously in mind, in general contemplation) and uninterrupted co-occurrence (an ordinary being's own preparatory-stage practice, moving through the perceptions one after another without gaps, in a particular, sequential contemplation). Per the 披尋記, the Śrāvaka Ground, fascicle 28, names ten perceptions countering the ten dharmas opposed to training (impurity, impermanence, impermanence-as-suffering, suffering-as-selfless, food's repulsiveness, the world's unloveliness, light, freedom from desire, cessation, and death); impurity's own perception is further divided, per fascicle 25, into nine sub-perceptions tracing a corpse's decay (discoloration, festering, rupture, bloating, being devoured, blood-smeared, scattered, reduced to bones, and finally empty); and of the remaining nine perceptions, seven (excluding light and death) are gathered under the three concentrations — the wishless conduct's perception (impermanence, impermanence-as-suffering, food's repulsiveness, the world's unloveliness), the empty conduct's perception (suffering-as-selfless), and the signless conduct's perception (freedom from desire and cessation) — yielding, with the ten and the nine-fold division of impurity and the three concentration-perceptions combined, twenty-one perceptions in total.

This opens correlating and explaining the distinctions (丑二配釋差別2), the second of cultivation's three matters, beginning with resting on the meaning of conjoined co-occurrence (寅一據相應義) — the eleven perceptions (impermanence, impermanence-as-suffering, suffering-as-selfless, observing food, the world's unloveliness, exhaustion, severance, freedom from desire, cessation, fault, and death) held together, generally and simultaneously, with the seven factors of enlightenment belong to this first relationship.

This opens resting on the meaning of uninterrupted co-occurrence (寅二據無間義2), the second of correlating and explaining the distinctions' two matters, beginning with raising impurity and the rest (卯一舉不淨等) — the ten perceptions tracing a corpse's own sequential decay (impurity, discoloration, festering, bloating, rupture, being devoured, blood-smeared, scattered, reduced to bones, and finally empty), each following the last without interruption, belong to this second relationship, its own particular, sequential contemplation.

This opens broadly clarifying the remedies (丑三廣明對治2), the third of cultivation's three matters, beginning with cultivating impermanence and the rest, and impurity and the rest (寅一修無常等及不淨等2), beginning with marking and listing what is remedied (卯一標列所治) — eleven distinct afflictions call for remedy: craving-defilement toward the three times' own formations, laziness, self-view's residual conceit (even once the view itself is severed at stream-entry, its habitual trace persists as innate conceit), craving for flavor, craving toward the world's excellent things, the remaining latent afflictions, craving for gain, craving for continued life, craving for the desires, craving for existence, and, rooted in false discrimination, four kinds of desirous craving toward beautiful color, physical form, fine touch, and being attended upon. The twenty-one perceptions, cultivated conjoined with the seven factors of enlightenment, remedy these eleven afflictions in turn, detailed further, per Master Cháng Bǎi, in the Ground of Cultivation-Accomplished Wisdom, fascicle 20, and the Śrāvaka Ground, fascicle 28's own treatment of the ten dharmas opposed to training and their ten remedying perceptions.

This opens correlating and explaining the cultivated perceptions (卯二配釋修想6), a sixfold structure, beginning with cultivating the wishless conduct's perception (辰一修無願行想) — four perceptions, gathered under the wishless conduct's own perception, remedy four obstructions in turn: impermanence remedies craving-defilement toward the three times' formations; impermanence-as-suffering remedies laziness; food's repulsiveness remedies craving for flavor; and the world's unloveliness remedies craving toward the world's excellent things — each named individually but together classed, per the 披尋記, as the wishless conduct's perception.

This opens cultivating the empty conduct's perception (辰二修空行想), the second — the single obstruction of self-view's residual conceit is remedied by the perception of suffering as selfless, reflecting that the five aggregates are utterly without mastery or self-rule, purely conditioned dharmas — this perception classed as the empty conduct's own.

This opens cultivating the signless conduct's perception (辰三修無相行想), the third — the remaining latent afflictions, beyond those already addressed, are remedied by observing the sublime, still merit of three realms (severance, the realm where the path of seeing's own afflictions are severed, corresponding to stream-entry; freedom from desire, the realm where the path of cultivation's own afflictions are severed, corresponding to the non-returner; and cessation, the realm of nirvāṇa with remainder, corresponding to the arhat) — cultivated through the perceptions of severance, freedom from desire, and cessation, classed together as the signless conduct's own perception, since only non-discriminating wisdom conjoined with the signless can sever affliction all the way through these three stages.

This opens cultivating the perception of fault among the various desires (辰四於諸欲中修過患想), the fourth — the wish to seek gain and craving toward the sense-desires, both belonging to craving for the objects one clings to, are remedied by contemplating the manifold faults inherent in gain, offerings, and the desires themselves.

This opens cultivating the perception of death (辰五修習死想), the fifth — the wish to prolong this life or a future one, and craving for existence across the three realms, both belonging to craving for oneself, are remedied by sustained contemplation of death.

This opens cultivating impurity and the rest (辰六修不淨等想2), the sixth and final of correlating and explaining the cultivated perceptions' matters, beginning with setting out the distinction (巳一出差別) — the fourfold craving born of false discrimination (for beautiful color, physical form, fine touch, and being attended upon) is remedied by the nine-part sequence of impurity's own perception, from a corpse's first discoloration through to its final reduction to emptiness. Reading continues past this point to confirm what follows before further closure is claimed.

This opens manifesting what is embraced (巳二明所攝2), the second of cultivating impurity and the rest's two matters, beginning with briefly marking (午一略標) — the nine sequential perceptions tracing a corpse's decay (discoloration, festering, rupture, bloating, being devoured, blood-smeared, scattered, reduced to bones, and finally empty) are all, together, embraced by the single perception of impurity.

This opens **the embrace of the path-factors (壬六道支攝2), the sixth of the factors of enlightenment's nine great topics**, named by the general summary verse's third line's second half "the path-factors" (覺道支息念) — treating the eightfold noble path — beginning with the verse marking and listing (癸一頌標列) — four matters unfold in the long-form explanation: the inward and outward powers that give rise to the path, purity's own distinctions among trainee, adept, and mundane or supramundane practice, the alternate approach naming the noble and the deviant path-factors' own distinct terms, and, finally, the true renunciant and true brāhmaṇa the eightfold path alone establishes.

This opens the long-form explanation (癸二長行釋4), a fourfold structure matching the verse's four matters, beginning with the inward and outward powers (子一內外力2), named by the verse's first phrase's second half "the inward and outward powers" (初內外力), beginning with marking and listing the most supreme (丑一標列最勝) — among every power, inward or outward, that could give rise to the eightfold noble path, two stand supreme above all the rest: a good spiritual friend, outwardly, and right reflection, inwardly.

This opens explaining the distinctions in sequence (丑二隨釋差別2), the second of the inward and outward powers' two matters, beginning with explaining the name "the remaining" (寅一釋名所餘) — beyond the good spiritual friend, the remaining outward power means freedom from the three obstructions (karmic, afflictive, and karmic-ripening), sustained by merit cultivated in former lives, ensuring adequate clothing, food, medicine, and other requisites, and freedom from illness-producing karma. Beyond right reflection, the remaining inward power means the other limbs of severance — precepts, sense-restraint, moderation in eating, wakeful yoga, right knowledge while abiding, delight in seclusion, purification of the hindrances, and reliance on samādhi — per the 披尋記, all such factors, while genuinely necessary, remain secondary to right reflection's own supreme place among the inward powers.