Six of Nine Matters of Discipline Close

This opens discipline matters' own foundational treatise (毗奈耶事摩怛理迦4), the second of four sections explaining discipline matters, beginning with concluding what came before and giving rise to what follows (戊一結前生後) — as fascicles 85 through 98 have already explained sūtra matters by way of treatise-discourse, this now asks what it means to discuss the matters belonging to discipline in the same way.

This opens explaining how this name is obtained (戊二釋其得名) — beyond the four āgamas already discussed as sūtra matters (the mixed, middle, long, and increasing-by-one āgamas), the individual-liberation sūtras further expound the principle of discipline, and this, together with all the treatise-discourse found throughout the broad vinaya concerning the precepts, transmitted onward, spoken and manifested and praised by the Buddha himself, is called discipline's foundational treatise.

This opens briefly explaining the general marks (戊三略說總相2), the third of discipline matters' foundational treatise's four sections, beginning with the summary verse's own marking and listing (己一嗢柁南標) — nine matters unfold in the long-form explanation to come: (1) benefit, the ten benefits of the precepts; (2) classes, the five classes of offense, commonly called the five categories; (3) embrace, the fivefold embrace of discipline through its own nature, prohibition, restriction, allowance, and conduct; (4) conduct in accordance, how one conducts oneself day to day in accordance with the precepts — inward intention, dwelling place, requisites relied upon, and how monastic business is formally conducted; (5) contrary and accordant, practice that accords with or runs contrary to the noble path's own cultivation, explaining in particular what counts as a semblance of the true dharma; (6) able to still, how the great assembly stills its afflictions and dwells in harmony without dispute, and how disputes, once arisen, are extinguished; (7) thorough knowledge, thoroughly knowing offense and non-offense, and, where there is offense, its gravity, the means of repentance, and the raising and troubling of charges; (8) faith and its absence, how a monastic's own conduct can give rise to faith in those without it, or to its opposite; (9) the powers and the rest, the five powers of one cultivating the noble path — the power of preparatory practice, of resolve, of clear exposition, of right wisdom, and of uprightness — together with two further points, the five kinds of persons and the wayward practice of the threefold training in precepts, samādhi, and wisdom. The Notes on the Yogācārabhūmi divide this into eleven gates, but the layman Hán Qīngjìng divides it into nine, folding "the powers and the rest" three-fold into a single gate — the nine-gate division this fascicle follows.

This opens the long-form explanation (己二長行釋9), a ninefold structure matching the verse's nine matters, beginning with benefit (庚一利2), named by the verse's own first word, itself divided in two, beginning with pointing to the prior mark (辛一指前相) — the ten supreme benefits the Buddha saw in establishing the training-grounds are: gathering in the saṅgha; causing the saṅgha to be diligent and earnest, free of attachment to pleasure; causing the saṅgha to dwell at ease, free of extreme asceticism; causing those without pure faith to give rise to it; causing those with pure faith to increase it; taming those hard to tame; causing those with a sense of shame to dwell at ease; guarding against outflows in the present life; destroying outflows in future lives; and causing the true dharma to abide long in the world — all previously set out in full in the embrace of the exegesis, fascicle 82.

This opens explaining the distinctions (辛二釋差別2), the second of benefit's two sections, beginning with briefly embracing in phrases (壬一略攝句4) — the ten benefits are here gathered into four: gathering in the saṅgha, causing the saṅgha to be diligent and earnest, causing the saṅgha to dwell at ease, and causing the true dharma to abide long — beginning with gathering in the saṅgha (癸一) — the precepts allow anyone of pure faith, of any of the four great lineages (the ruling warrior class, the priestly brāhmaṇa class, the merchant class, and the servant class) or any other kind of being, to go forth equally, without discrimination by caste.

This opens causing the saṅgha to be diligent and earnest (癸二令僧精懇2), beginning with marking what is said (子一標說) — five deep teachings are marked: cause and condition, for the Buddha establishes the precepts only when occasion truly calls for it; renunciation, meaning either never having transgressed since ordination, or having transgressed and then repented to purity; what is relied upon, the robes, food, bedding, and medicine on which monastic life depends, to be used with contentment regardless of quality; valor, the courage to press forward toward the path without retreating; and miraculous transformations, the three kinds of wonder-working (of mind-reading, of psychic power, and of instruction) by which the Buddha and the arhats teach most fittingly.

With this, pointing to the explanation (子二指釋) closes entirely, closing **causing the saṅgha to be diligent and earnest (癸二令僧精懇2: 標說/指釋) entirely** — the bodhisattva grounds explain each of the five terms in turn: a teaching is said to have cause and condition when it is established as a training-ground in response to genuine occasion; it is said to have renunciation when, for one who has transgressed what was undertaken, a means of return to purity is provided; it is said to have what is relied upon when it establishes undistorted dharma-and-discipline conduct embraced by the four reliances; it is said to have valor (勇決 — "valiant resolve," glossing 勇猛) when it rightly shows the path of never turning back from all suffering; and it is said to have miraculous transformation when, accompanied by the three wonders, nothing it teaches is ever spoken in vain. Master Cháng Bǎi surveys several traditional glosses of "the four reliances" here — as the four requisites of monastic life (per the 披尋記); as the four noble lineages of contentment (per the Notes on the Yogācārabhūmi and Master Kuījī — begging for food, wearing discarded-cloth robes, sitting beneath trees, delighting in cutting off affliction and in cultivation); and, differently again, per Master Shéntài, as relying on the dharma rather than the person, on the meaning rather than the words, on wisdom rather than consciousness, and on the definitive teaching rather than the provisional.

This opens causing the saṅgha to dwell at ease (癸三令僧安樂2), beginning with marking and listing (子一標列) — of the ten original benefits, the third itself absorbs the sixth through ninth (taming those hard to tame; causing those with shame to dwell at ease; guarding against present outflows; destroying future outflows), so five marks together constitute causing the saṅgha to dwell at ease.

This opens correlating and explaining (子二配釋5), the second of causing the saṅgha to dwell at ease's two sections, matching each of the five marks back to the original ten benefits, beginning with departing from the extreme of self-affliction (丑一離自苦邊) — the first ease, requisites without lack, embraces two of the original benefits at once: causing faithless newcomers to find faith and enter the teaching, and causing the already-faithful to deepen their practice and advance toward realization.

This opens taming what is hard to tame (丑二調伏難伏) — the second ease, expelling one of a divergent teaching, corresponds to appropriate remedy for the offending, gauged by the gravity of the transgression: a mild fault reproved gently, a middling fault more sharply, a grave fault with severe rebuke, and, where warranted, temporary or final expulsion — the vinaya's own graduated response to disciples unwilling to honor their teachers or wary companions.

This opens shame and freedom from regret (丑三慚愧無悔) — the third ease corresponds to removing what wrongdoing has arisen: one who feels shame delights in keeping the precepts purely, and on any lapse repents at once, thereby dwelling at ease without lingering regret.

This opens guarding against outflows in the present dharma (丑四防現法漏) — the fourth ease corresponds to subduing every entangling affliction: purity of precepts brings an ease of mind capable of subduing affliction's own present activity, guarding one against attachment and aversion arising from form, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness here and now.

This opens **classes (庚二聚2), the second of the nine matters**, named by the verse's second word, beginning with setting forth the classes of offense (辛一出罪聚3), beginning with briefly marking and listing (壬一略標列) — the class of defeat (parājika, the root offenses of killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and false speech, four for monks and eight for nuns) is the gravest, admitting no repentance and severing one from monastic status, likened by the Sarvāstivāda Treatise to a scorched seed that, however well tended, can never sprout; the class of the remainder (saṅghāvaśeṣa) is grave but curable, like a beheading that has not quite severed the throat; the class of downfall (duṣkṛta leading to the lower realms through unrepented lapse) and the class of individual confession are lighter, resolved through confession to a fellow practitioner; and the class of wrongdoing embraces the training rules and idle speech, resolved through confession before another or self-reproach alone.

This opens clarifying accordant placement (壬二明隨應) — a "gathering-coarse" offense is a preparatory offense, committed in the course of moving toward a graver root offense (such as attempted killing) without completing it; its own gravity is not fixed but varies according to which class of root offense it approaches, falling as a downfall-class or wrongdoing-class offense depending on the case — a distinct usage from the "indeterminate" offenses named elsewhere in the monastic code.

This opens revealing the faults (辛二顯過失5), the second of setting forth the classes of offense's two sections, beginning with marking (壬一標) — fifteen underlying faults pervade every class of offense; every training-ground the Buddha established rests on one, several, or all of these fifteen causes.

This opens inquiring (壬二徵), the second of revealing the faults' five sections, posing the question the next section answers in full.

This opens listing (壬三列), the third of revealing the faults' five sections, giving the full roster of fifteen faults the Buddha's precepts were established to forestall.

This opens explaining (壬四釋14), the fourth of revealing the faults' five sections, a fourteen-part structure, beginning with the fault of a grave deed and the fault of a fierce entanglement taken together (癸一2), beginning with only the first fault (子一唯初過失2), beginning with generally marking and distinguishing (丑一總標簡) — this refers to certain early disciples who, prior to the Buddha's formal promulgation of a training-ground, transgressed one of the four root offenses without the fierce, malicious intent that ordinarily accompanies such a breach.

This opens explaining that mark (丑二釋彼相2), beginning with clarifying non-offense (寅一明無犯) — whether an act constitutes an offense is never decided by the deed's outward form alone but requires every condition to be complete; taking the precept against killing as an example, five conditions must all be present — a human victim, the perception of a human, the intent to kill, the effort to kill, and the actual severing of life — and offense is established chiefly through the strength of an underlying malicious intention.

This opens **the fault of obstructing passage to a good destiny and to renunciant status (癸九2), the ninth of fourteen faults**, beginning with obstructing a good destiny (子一障善趣) — deliberately, forcefully engineering a schism within the harmonious saṅgha is itself grave enough to obstruct rebirth in a good destiny.

This opens **embrace (庚三攝2), the third of the nine matters**, named by the verse's third word, beginning with marking and listing the five factors (辛一標列五法) — the offense by nature, the four grave wrongs of killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and false speech, wrong by their own inherent nature whether or not the Buddha ever prohibited them; the prohibited offense, established by the Buddha specifically for renunciants (such as the precept against alcohol, which by clouding the mind makes every other offense easier to commit); restriction, the Buddha's own five reasons for establishing precepts, embracing both the offense by nature and the prohibited offense; allowance, circumstances of legitimate exception; and conduct, the threefold pattern of offense, non-offense, and restoration to purity.

This opens separately explaining each mark (辛二別釋其相5), beginning with the offense by nature (壬一性罪) — the four root offenses of killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and false speech are themselves unwholesome in their very substance, arising from craving, aversion, or delusion; whether or not any buddha ever prohibits them, anyone who commits them, believer or not, falls to a lower destiny and forfeits any hope of the renunciant fruit — the 披尋記 identifies the offense by nature more broadly with the full ten courses of unwholesome action.

This opens the prohibited offense (壬二遮罪) — unlike the offense by nature, this class of offense exists only because the Buddha specifically prohibited it, for any of seven reasons: unbecoming outward conduct; deepening reverence for the true dharma; a lesser act that tends toward a graver offense by nature; guarding the feelings of others so as to avoid their reproach; obstructing a good future destiny; shortening the lifespan (such as failing to avoid known dangers or plague-ridden lands); and obstructing renunciant status outright.

This opens restriction (壬三制) — the Buddha established both offenses by nature and prohibited offenses for five underlying reasons taken together: deeds that lead to a future lower rebirth, that obstruct rebirth in a good destiny, that obstruct lawfully received support (as jealousy toward a fellow practitioner's own lawful gain does), that shorten the lifespan (as an intemperate or vengeful mind does), or that directly obstruct realization of the renunciant fruit.

This opens allowance (壬四開) — beyond the general prohibition, the Buddha also set out specific circumstances of legitimate exception: wherever a deed does not, in fact, obstruct a good destiny, renunciant status, the lifespan, or lawful gain, allowance may be given even where the general rule would otherwise forbid it.

This opens by nature (午一由自性2), the first of five causes for grading an offense's severity, beginning with distinguishing (未一辨2), beginning with the first meaning (申一第一義) — graded strictly by which class an offense belongs to, defeat alone is upper-grade, the remainder-class is middle-grade, and everything below is lower-grade.

With this, the second meaning (申二第二義) closes, closing **distinguishing (未一辨2: 第一義/第二義) entirely** — an alternate grouping, folding the first two classes together as grave, the middle two together as moderate, leaving only wrongdoing as light.

With this, concluding (未二結) closes, closing **by nature (午一由自性2: 辨/結), the first of five causes for grading an offense's severity, entirely** — this whole discussion belongs within revealing the faults' fourth section (壬四釋), itself nested deep within explaining that mark's distinguishing offense, which continues to unfold the fifteen faults' own further ramifications through five distinct grading criteria.

This opens **by the transgression (午二由毀犯), the second of five grading causes** — mapping directly onto the four causes of transgression named earlier (ignorance, heedlessness, fierce affliction, contempt): the first two, being unaccompanied by defiled intent, yield only lower-grade offenses; fierce affliction yields middle-grade; and contempt toward the three treasures, the gravest underlying attitude, yields upper-grade.

This opens **by intention (午三由意樂), the third of five grading causes** — the grade tracks directly to the intensity of the underlying affliction active at the moment of transgression, from a faint stirring up through a coarse, forceful one.

This opens **by the object (午四由事故3), the fourth of five grading causes**, beginning with marking the meaning (未一標義) — two people may act from what looks like the same underlying affliction, yet because the object of the deed differs, the resulting offense's own gravity differs — the treatise's own careful, case-by-case method of judgment rather than a single blanket rule.

This opens explaining the mark (未二釋相) — the very same aversion, acted on identically, yields a merely downfall-class offense against an animal, a grave defeat-class offense against a human being (or against what the Five-Part Vinaya calls "human in form" — a fetus past forty-nine days in the womb, once the six sense faculties have formed), and both a defeat offense and the gravest offense of immediate retribution against one's own father or mother, or, as noted further, against a teacher or preceptor — the object's own weight as a field of kindness or of reverence directly determines the offense's own gravity.

This opens **by accumulation (午五由積集3), the fifth of five grading causes**, beginning with becoming a lower-grade offense (未一成下品罪) — up to five unrepented offenses left accumulating still counts as only lower-grade.

This opens becoming a middle-grade offense (未二成中品罪) — a root offense's derivative offenses, and the further offense of concealment (a fresh offense accruing for each day concealed), remain middle-grade so long as their number is still countable; only once concealment has continued so long the offender can no longer even recall how long or how much has been committed does it escalate further.

This opens what should and should not be done (卯二應作不應作2), the second of the deviant conduct's own explanatory pair, beginning with raising what should be done (辰一舉應作2), beginning with inquiring (巳一徵) — this whole discussion belongs within deviant conduct's explaining the distinction, continuing on from offense in the offense committed to what completes an offense simply by neglecting a positive duty.

This opens explaining (巳二釋2), beginning with explaining what completes an offense (午一釋成犯) — neglecting a duty one should perform, such as cultivating calm-abiding and clear-seeing, without ever making the effort, itself completes an offense of omission, just as wrongly performing what should not be done completes an offense of commission.

This opens distinguishing what should be done (午二辨應作3), beginning with marking and listing (未一標列) — though the root text names only three, the third (wholesome factors) unpacks into two further sub-kinds below, together completing the five: proper conduct while in the village (avoiding, among other places, a royal court, a proclamation-crier's house, a wine-shop, a brothel, an outcaste's dwelling, or a leather-worker's shop); the practice-hall's own morning and evening observances; and wholesome cultivation itself.

This opens pointing to the explanation (未二指釋) — the Śrāvaka Grounds names thirteen requisites for approaching either the mundane or supramundane path (one's own completeness; others' completeness; wholesome aspiration; the discipline of the precepts; restraint of the senses; moderation in food; wakeful yoga through the first and last watches of the night; abiding with right knowledge; good spiritual friendship; hearing and reflecting on the true dharma, counted as one; freedom from obstruction; generosity; and a renunciant's own true adornments of character) and four mental applications cultivated for purity of mind (tempering the mind through contemplating the three realms' impermanence; moistening the mind through delight in the dharma; giving rise to pliancy once the mind has settled; and, finally, purifying wisdom and vision, culminating in direct realization).

This opens right conduct (丑二正行攝2), the second of correlating and explaining conduct's two matters, beginning with non-offense (寅一無犯2), beginning with inquiring (卯一徵).

This opens explaining (卯二釋3), beginning with marking the causes and conditions (辰一標因緣).

This opens distinguishing the five marks (辰二辨五相2), beginning with inquiring (巳一徵).

This opens distinguishing (巳二辨5), beginning with the first cause (午一第一因緣) — guarding the six sense-doors closely prevents craving, aversion, and delusion from arising at each moment of contact; knowing moderation in food matters especially because, unlike robes or bedding used only occasionally, food is taken several times daily, so that repeated small indulgences of craving, aversion, or delusion toward superior, inferior, or middling fare — the Notes on Formal Proceedings observes — quietly accumulate into rebirth in the lower realms even without any of the five heinous deeds; wakeful cultivation through the first watch (6–9pm) and the last watch (3–6am) of the night, and abiding constantly with right knowledge across body, speech, and mind, complete the first cause.

This opens the second cause (午二第二因緣) — an ardent regard for the path itself as one's foremost concern, deep reverence for the Buddha and wise companions, and a powerful sense of shame at one's own faults together drive one away from transgression.

This opens the third cause (午三第三因緣) — contentment with little wealth naturally reduces worldly concern, which reduces worldly enterprise, which leaves one unhurried and free from the scramble for material support that so often invites improper conduct.

This opens the fourth cause (午四第四因緣) — contentment with the four requisites already received, wisdom to distinguish offense from non-offense, avoidance of idle, unrestrained socializing with monastics and laypeople alike, and unbroken diligence in reciting, venerating, and cultivating calm-abiding and clear-seeing together guard against transgression.

This opens restoration to purity (寅二還淨3), the second of right conduct's two matters — of the two kinds of persons the Buddha names, those who never transgress at all from the outset, and those who transgress and then restore purity, the latter describes the great majority; whoever does transgress must without fail repent to purity.

This opens explaining (卯二釋2), beginning with generally marking (辰一總標) — restoration to purity unfolds in three movements: wrongdoing-remorse first arises upon transgression, five-factor non-heedlessness supports genuine repentance, and the wrongdoing-remorse itself is then dispelled by five further marks, so that lingering regret does not itself become a hindrance.

This opens separately distinguishing (辰二別辨3), beginning with giving rise to the five kinds of wrongdoing-remorse (巳一生五惡作2), beginning with inquiring (午一徵) — wrongdoing-remorse (惡作) here means regret specifically over one's own unwholesome deed already done, one of four possible kinds of retrospective regret the term can carry.

This opens the five factors of non-heedlessness (巳二五不放逸) — past transgressions lawfully repented (accompanying the prior time); future transgressions, should they occur, likewise repented (accompanying the later time); present transgressions likewise repented (accompanying the middle time); the initial vow made at ordination never to transgress (done from the very first); and constant mindfulness sustaining that vow moment to moment (accompanying at every moment together) — together forming the sustained diligence that underlies genuine restoration to purity.

This opens removing the five kinds of wrongdoing-remorse (巳三除五惡作2), beginning with inquiring (午一徵).

This opens listing (午二列5), beginning with the first mark (未一由第一相) — since every training-ground was established only in response to a genuine occasion, and the Buddha himself provided the lawful means of repentance (whether through formal proceedings before the assembly, through visionary confession before the Buddha, or through the confession of non-arising realized through emptiness itself), knowing this removes the first ground of lingering remorse.

This opens the second mark (未二由第二相) — having reversed each of the four original causes of transgression into their positive counterpart (right knowledge, diligence, calm, and reverence), one may rightly let the remorse go.

This opens the third mark (未三由第三相) — a settled resolve never to repeat the offense removes the third ground of remorse.

This opens the fourth mark (未四由第四相) — the actual, completed act of disclosure and repentance before wise companions removes the fourth ground of remorse.

This opens **conduct in accordance (庚四隨行2), the fourth of the nine matters**, named by the verse's fourth word, beginning with marking and listing (辛一標列) — abiding, whether one's thinking rests correctly; dwelling-place, whether one's chosen residence itself supports or undermines the precepts; what is relied upon, whether the teacher one depends on genuinely helps one keep the precepts pure; use, whether one's reception of the four requisites accords with the path; and formal proceedings, the saṅgha's own gatherings to conduct business — over property (robes, food, bedding) or over persons (addressing an offense) — lawfully carried out, extinguishing what is unwholesome and generating what is wholesome. Together these five points anchor a purely kept precept-life.

This opens elaborating (辛二隨釋5), a fivefold structure matching the five practices just listed, beginning with abiding (壬一安住2), beginning with inquiring (癸一徵).

This opens explaining (癸二釋4), beginning with marking (子一標) — abiding, for one training in discipline, means sustaining five specific contemplative perspectives, to be enumerated in what follows.

This opens inquiring (子二徵), the second of explaining's four sections.

This opens listing (子三列5), beginning with contemplating a prison (丑一住牢獄想) — a settlement teems with occasions for craving, aversion, and delusion; regarding it as a prison one enters only when unavoidable business demands it keeps a practitioner from lingering there without real need.

This opens contemplating renunciant status (丑二住沙門想2), beginning with marking (寅一標) — a renunciant's own mindset should differ entirely from a layperson's preoccupation with wealth and comfort; what follows explains this contemplation's content.

This opens contemplating healing illness (丑三住療病想) — before eating, one dedicates the meal to the three treasures and all beings and vows to sever every unwholesome thing, cultivate every wholesome thing, and deliver every being, taking each bite mindfully — with fine food, pausing before indulging; with poor food, settling any resentment before eating; with ordinary food, calling to mind its empty, illusion-like nature. Eating is itself medicine for the old sickness of hunger and thirst, a debt inherited from past karma that must be paid to sustain life, while care is taken not to create a new sickness through eating too much, too little, or unsuitable food.

This opens contemplating as though blind and deaf (丑四住盲聾等想) — a practitioner in solitary retreat lets sense-objects pass unattended, appearing withdrawn to onlookers while the mind remains wholly fixed on the path — Master Cháng Bǎi recalls a practitioner who sat in retreat for three years without learning his neighbor's name, and cites Padmasambhava's own teaching that the true practitioner's body is still as though crippled, speech silent as a lute with its strings cut, and mind open and unobstructed as a cloudless sky.

This opens dwelling-place (壬二居處2), the second of conduct in accordance's five practices, beginning with inquiring (癸一徵).

This opens explaining (癸二釋2), beginning with marking and listing (子一標列) — a mixed dwelling-place, as the following passages make clear, is one where monks and nuns dwell together, precluding a formally bounded monastic zone or formal proceedings.

This opens elaborating (子二隨釋2), beginning with explaining the distinctions (丑一釋差別2), beginning with the first three dwelling-places (寅一前三居處) — monastic seniority follows years since ordination (below ten years is junior, ten to nineteen middling, twenty to forty-nine senior, fifty and beyond an elder); among the outsiders named, the unbound ascetics (Nirgrantha, "free of bonds") practice naked austerity, and the Pāśupata ascetics smear themselves with ashes, shave irregularly, wear only enough to cover the body, and worship Śiva, taking on the vows of cattle, dogs, fowl, and pheasants and sacrificing goats, holding this the very cause of liberation.

This opens the latter two dwelling-places (寅二後二居處2), beginning with setting forth the two kinds (卯一出二種) — because men and women dwell together there, a mixed dwelling-place cannot establish a formally bounded monastic zone and so cannot hold full formal proceedings, at most a minimal one; an unmixed dwelling-place holds every proceeding in full, from bounding the zone to the recitation of the precepts to appointing a nuns' instructor.

This opens distinguishing and deliberating (丑二簡思擇4), beginning with regarding a mixed dwelling-place (寅一於雜染居處) — even excellent material support is worth giving up rather than lingering somewhere that offers sustenance without dharma; only genuine danger, a brief overnight stop while traveling, or a deliberate mission to reform the place justify a temporary stay.

This opens regarding a nuns' dwelling-place (寅二於苾芻尼居處) — the same three exceptions carry over unchanged from the mixed dwelling-place just discussed.

This opens regarding an outsider's dwelling-place (寅三於外道居處) — the same restrictions and the same three exceptions apply equally here; the 披尋記 clarifies that the nuns' dwelling-place alone admits no exception at all, requiring the qualifying clause "as stated before" to distinguish it from the mixed and outsider cases.

This opens regarding an unmixed dwelling-place (寅四於無雜染居處2), beginning with holding the contemplation of a traveler (卯一懷羈旅想) — even a lifelong resident of the finest monastery should regard themselves as merely a guest passing through, since the monastery belongs to the saṅgha of the ten directions and no one is its permanent owner; gratitude for its shelter should never harden into possessive attachment.

This opens what is relied upon (壬三所依2), the third of conduct in accordance's five practices, beginning with inquiring (癸一徵).

This opens explaining (癸二釋5), beginning with marking (子一標).

This opens inquiring (子二徵), the second of explaining's five sections.

This opens listing (子三列), the third of explaining's five sections, naming the five supports every practitioner's cultivation of the precepts, samādhi, and wisdom ultimately depends on.

This opens explaining (子四釋5), beginning with reliance on the village-field (丑一村田所依) — the surrounding locality itself, free of flood, storm, or mortal danger, should be weighed as a genuine support for practice before settling anywhere.

This opens reliance on the dwelling (丑二居處所依) — a monastery itself, best suited to diligent practice, is the ideal support here.

This opens reliance on a person (丑三補特伽羅所依) — a generous benefactor sustains the body; a preceptor of conduct (ācārya) instructs daily comportment; a preceptor of ordination (upādhyāya) instructs the cultivation of samādhi and wisdom; and companions who admonish, remind one of forgotten lapses, instruct, correct, and expound the dharma together provide the human support without which precepts, samādhi, and wisdom cannot flourish.

This opens reliance on requisites (丑四資具所依) — contentment with whatever life's necessities happen to come, fine or coarse alike, so long as they support rather than obstruct the path.

With this, reliance on deportment (丑五威儀所依) closes, closing **explaining (子四釋5: 村田/居處/補特伽羅/資具/威儀) entirely** — freedom to walk, stand, sit, and lie down in bodily and mental ease, undisturbed by noise or interruption, is itself a genuine support for practice, not a minor concern.

This opens use (壬四受用2), the fourth of conduct in accordance's five practices, beginning with inquiring (癸一徵) — this concerns how a monastic properly receives and uses the four requisites of monastic life.

This opens explaining (癸二釋3), beginning with generally marking (子一總標).

This opens separately distinguishing (子二別辨2), beginning with raising the impure (丑一舉不淨2), beginning with setting forth the five kinds (寅一出五種) — objects belonging to a stūpa (a reliquary holding the Buddha's own relics) are reserved for the Buddha and never for a monastic's own use, save perhaps in the direst illness with no other recourse; communal saṅgha property likewise may not be taken before the saṅgha itself has formally distributed it or it has actually fallen into one's own bowl — the 披尋記 clarifies that an item already placed in one's bowl, or clearly about to be placed there, both count as properly one's own share.

Using another's belongings without their actual consent carries the taint of theft, though genuine urgent need among close companions who would certainly consent is treated as an exception; property from someone whose relationship or intentions are not trusted invites suspicion regardless; and requisites that are excessive, filthy, or that visibly increase greed, aversion, and delusion draw the same worldly reproach and loss of lay confidence already discussed under the fourteen faults.

This opens formal proceedings (壬五羯磨6), the fifth of conduct in accordance's five practices, beginning with inquiring (癸一徵) — karman (羯磨) means an act, here the saṅgha's own formal business, akin to a modern meeting called to resolve some communal matter, requiring harmony of body (all physically assembled, gestures aligned), speech (each proposal read aloud, with silence signaling assent), and mind (genuine inward agreement, voiced beforehand if not present) before any matter is settled.

This opens marking (癸二標).

This opens listing (癸三列) — a single-motion proceeding merely announces a matter once (such as the day's precept recitation) and it is settled; a motion-and-one-announcement proceeding requires a further reading for the assembly's silent assent; a motion-and-three-announcement proceeding, reserved for the gravest matters such as bounding the monastic zone or full ordination, requires three further readings; a three-statement proceeding, per the Four-Part Vinaya, describes the earliest eight years of the Buddha's ministry, when full ordination was conferred through a threefold recitation of the three refuges alone, before the motion-and-three-announcement form was later established — it also carries the broader sense of a face-to-face proceeding between two people, a statement repeated three times.

This opens explaining (癸四釋2), beginning with setting forth what they rest upon (子一出依處2), beginning with marking and listing (丑一標列) — proceedings concerning a person are grounded in a sentient-being matter; proceedings concerning material things — bounding the zone, purifying ground — are grounded in an insentient matter.

This opens elaborating (丑二隨釋2), beginning with a sentient-being matter as what is rested upon (寅一有情數事為所依處2), beginning with raising examples (卯一舉事) — the proceeding of raising a charge covers cases where the accused denies wrongdoing, refuses to repent, or clings to a wrong view without relinquishing it; the proceeding of expulsion covers formal reproach, expulsion proper, compulsory dependence on a preceptor, or barring someone from visiting lay households — all detailed at length in the Compendium of Formal Proceedings.

This opens an insentient matter as what is rested upon (寅二無情數事為所依處2), beginning with raising examples (卯一舉事) — the kaṭhina merit-robe proceeding, undertaken at the rains-retreat's close, rewards diligent practice with several months' relaxation of certain robe-related precepts; bounding the monastic zone must precede any other formal proceeding held within it; and purifying a storage area allows food to be kept without violating the rule against a monastic sharing lodging with food.

This opens distinguishing what is done (子二辨所作2), beginning with setting forth the distinctions (丑一出差別) — the required quorum scales with the gravity of the matter at hand.

This opens explaining that mark (丑二釋彼相6), beginning with done by two (寅一二眾所作) — the lightest offenses, downfall-class and wrongdoing-class, are resolved through a simple confession between two practitioners.

This opens done by four (寅二四眾所作) — a graver, remainder-class offense requires confession before four.

This opens done by ten (寅三十眾所作) — full ordination for a monk requires ten monks present.

This opens done by twenty (寅四二十眾所作) — a monk's remainder-class offense requires twenty pure monks for restoration, and a nun's full ordination requires twenty (ten monks and ten nuns together).

This opens done by forty (寅五四十眾所作) — a nun's remainder-class offense requires the still larger quorum of twenty monks and twenty nuns together.

This opens pointing onward (癸五指) — the four basic forms, applied across every kind of sentient and insentient matter, yield a number of specific proceedings too great to enumerate here in full.

This opens separately distinguishing (辛二別辨2), beginning with raising the contrary (壬一舉違逆4), beginning with inquiring (癸一徵).

This opens listing (癸二列) — any one of these five is enough to prevent a practitioner from keeping the precepts purely or accomplishing samādhi and wisdom; the second, a semblance of the true dharma, is the very point flagged in the verse's own summary as needing special explanation, and will be unpacked in what follows.

This opens explaining the contrary (癸三釋5), a fivefold structure matching the five just listed, beginning with obstruction (子一障礙4), beginning with inquiring (丑一徵).

This opens marking (丑二標), the second of obstruction's four sections.

This opens listing (丑三列), the third of obstruction's four sections — these five obstructions map directly onto the threefold training of precepts, samādhi, and wisdom, plus rebirth in a good destiny and the material means of sustaining a renunciant life, each to be unpacked individually in what follows.

This opens explaining (丑四釋5), a fivefold structure matching the five obstructions just listed, beginning with the obstruction of the higher training in precepts (寅一增上戒障) — this concerns what obstructs ordination itself. The embrace of the alternate approach names four such obstructions: an unwilling mind (forced to ordain, as by royal command); an insufficient basis (physical impairment preventing service to elders or the community); a karmic obstruction (any of the five heinous deeds — killing father, mother, or an arhat, causing a schism, or drawing a buddha's blood); and lack of autonomy (a slave, a captive, or one still under a guardian's authority who may be reclaimed and forced back to lay life).

This opens the obstruction of the higher training in mind (寅二增上心障) — obstructions to cultivating samādhi. The Śrāvaka Grounds enumerates all eleven as "inner obstructions": frequent socializing; delight in busywork; delight in idle talk; excessive sleep; delight in noisy crowds; delight in mixed company that erodes one's own resolve; delight in idle speculation; self-satisfied pride in past accomplishment; restlessness of body, speech, and mind; heedlessness in every action; and dwelling in an unsuitable place — any one of these blocks the cultivation of calm-abiding and clear-seeing.

This opens the obstruction of the higher training in wisdom (寅三增上慧障) — disrespect toward the dharma and its teachers, self-deprecation that forecloses one's own progress, withholding the dharma from others out of stinginess, and actively obstructing or slandering the true teaching all block the cultivation of wisdom.

This opens the obstruction of passage to a good destiny (寅四往善趣障) — a mind given over to base craving, wrong views, and quick anger accumulates the very karma that draws one toward a lower rebirth rather than a higher one.

This opens the obstruction of the deeds done for support and for the lifespan (寅五利養壽命所作事障2), the fifth of the five obstructions, beginning with distinguishing three kinds (卯一辨三種3), beginning with the obstruction of support (辰一利養障) — a renunciant who neglects generosity in any of its forms, material, verbal, or through simple reverence, will struggle to draw the material support that sustains practice, and risks driving away the very faith that would otherwise provide it.

This opens the obstruction of the lifespan (辰二壽命障) — carelessly courting known dangers, whether a wild animal, a disaster-stricken region, or simple bodily neglect, needlessly shortens a lifespan otherwise meant to serve the path.

With this, the obstruction of the deeds done (辰三所作事障) closes, closing **distinguishing three kinds (卯一辨三種3: 利養/壽命/所作事) entirely** — the grounds attained through cultivation identifies excessive preoccupation with managing robes and bowl as itself an obstruction to both the practice-setting and the practice-time needed for calm-abiding and clear-seeing.

This opens **a semblance of the true dharma (子二像似正法3), the SECOND of the five contrary practices**, beginning with inquiring (丑一徵) — a teaching or practice that is not the true dharma yet closely resembles it is especially dangerous, since failing to distinguish it from the genuine article obstructs the threefold training just as surely as an outright wrong view.

This opens explaining (丑二釋2), beginning with briefly raising two kinds (寅一略舉二種2), beginning with marking and listing (卯一標列) — a semblance of the true teaching resembles the Buddha's own doctrine without truly being it, on the side of understanding; a semblance of true practice resembles genuine cultivation without truly being it, on the side of conduct.

This opens elaborating (卯二隨釋2), beginning with a semblance of the true teaching (辰一似教正法) — Master Cháng Bǎi's own example: claiming Buddhism and Confucianism teach essentially the same thing, then urging students toward the Analects as though it were equivalent to the dharma. Such teaching may be true within its own frame — the treatise distinguishes truth accepted by ordinary convention, truth accepted by systematic reasoning (as with any coherent philosophical school), and truth known only through wisdom free of the two obstructions — but a merely conventional or rational truth, however coherent, still falls short of the dharma proper when it lacks the Buddha's own discerning wisdom.

With this, a semblance of true practice (辰二似行正法) closes, closing **elaborating (卯二隨釋2: 似教正法/似行正法) entirely**, closing **briefly raising two kinds (寅一略舉二種2: 標列/隨釋) entirely** — an outsider's severe precept-attachment (戒禁取) may look outwardly disciplined and impressive, yet is itself an extreme rather than genuine practice, and one who proudly propagates such practice as though it were the true path exemplifies this second kind of semblance.

This opens broadly explaining the distinctions (寅二廣說差別2), beginning with the summary verse marks (卯一嗢柁南標) — four parts unfold: (1) dharma and the rest, five specific corruptions of the teaching itself (falsely inserting look-alike scriptural passages; falsely inflating or diminishing the doctrine of impermanence and the like; wrongly positing a truly existent person; treating merely nominal existents as truly existent; wrongly speculating about the nature of final nirvāṇa); (2) the faculties and the rest, various wrong views (superimposed views born of misreading the sūtras — permanence, bliss, self, purity; wrongly grasping views — a single consciousness alone transmigrating, indulgence in desire posing no obstacle, the arhat having no awareness after death; and failure to truly know the two truths or the cultivation of calm-abiding and clear-seeing); (3) what is out of place — misplaced wrongdoing-remorse and the like, spanning mere recitation without reflection, excessive fondness for monastic business, overvaluing giving above all else, treating merely intellectual understanding as final, abandoning ascetic renunciant adornments, and worldly conformity; and (4) savage precepts and the rest.

This opens the long-form explanation (卯二長行釋4), beginning with dharma and the rest, five kinds (辰一法等五種5), beginning with falsely inserting look-alike passages (巳一由妄安置相似文句) — Master Cháng Bǎi's own example: a modern sectarian "Diamond Sūtra" that borrows the genuine text's phrasing to teach a fabricated doctrine under its name.

This opens by falsely inflating or diminishing the meaning of impermanence and the rest (巳二由妄增減無常等義) — taking what arises through causes and conditions to be truly existent superimposes reality onto emptiness; denying that illusion-like cause and effect operates at all diminishes what is genuinely real. Teaching impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and non-self while still smuggling in a self at the final conclusion exemplifies this same distortion — a mind still grasping, dressed in the dharma's own vocabulary.

This opens by wrongly distinguishing a person (巳三由邪分別補特伽羅) — the Buddha speaks of a "person" only provisionally, tailored to what a given listener's own faculties can grasp; taking this provisional teaching to mean an actually, ultimately existent self mistakes skillful means for metaphysics.

This opens by declaring provisional existents to be truly existent (巳四由說實有諸假有法) — the grounds attained through reflection names six kinds of merely conventional designation (possessive relation, exclusionary distinction, communal convention, aggregation of factors, non-pervasive designation, and impermanent designation); teaching any of what these six kinds of language merely designate as truly, independently existent is this same error.

This opens **the faculties and the rest, various views (辰二根等諸見3), the second of the summary verse's four parts**, beginning with superimposed views (巳一由增益見4), beginning with not looking at form and the rest (午一不視色等) — guarding the sense-faculties never meant refusing to see or hear at all; the eye may still see form, so long as it does not grasp at its overall appearance or its finer, alluring details, seeing without giving rise to attachment. Taking the instruction literally, as total sensory withdrawal, is a superimposed misreading.

This opens neither reproach nor praise at all (午二都無毀讚) — the Buddha's actual teaching is to withhold reproach born of resentment, while still actively helping others where one is able, praising genuine virtue and correcting genuine fault; collapsing this into a blanket refusal to ever judge anything at all is a misreading in the opposite extreme.

This opens no speech whatsoever (午三都無言說) — the Buddha taught both noble speech and noble silence, each in its proper place; taking a vow of total muteness, becoming what the vinaya calls a "mute-sheep monk," mistakes an extreme for the mean the teaching actually points to.

This opens habituating various austerities (午四習諸苦行2), beginning with fasting and nakedness (未一斷食露體) — moderation was never a license for self-destructive extremity; total fasting and nakedness push "moderate" so far past its intended mean that it becomes its own kind of excess.

This opens wrongly grasped attachments (巳二由惡取執3), beginning with grasping a single consciousness alone coursing through birth and death (午一執唯一識馳流生死) — misreading the mind's own primacy as meaning a single, undifferentiated consciousness alone transmigrates flattens the treatise's own careful account of consciousness's manifold workings into a crude oversimplification.

This opens grasping that indulging the desires is not enough to obstruct (午二執受諸欲不足為障) — the Buddha's allowance for a rare few of especially high faculty, who happen to be born into wealth and could not sustain practice without comfortable surroundings, was never a general license; generalizing this narrow exception into "desire never obstructs the path" is a wrongly grasped extension of a case-specific allowance.

This opens failing to truly know (巳三由不實知2), beginning with regarding the principle of the two truths (午一於二諦理) — conventional truth is what ordinary designation and worldly convention accept as real; ultimate truth is what the noble ones directly see, whether the established truths (the four noble truths) or the unestablished truth of suchness itself, marked by freedom from verbal designation, non-duality, transcendence of discursive thought, transcendence of sameness-and-difference, and a single flavor pervading all things. Objecting that non-self makes karma and its fruit impossible confuses the two truths, since ultimate emptiness of self and conventional cause-and-effect are not in fact one and not different — a distinction this kind of person cannot penetrate.

This opens **what is out of place, wrongdoing-remorse and the rest (辰三非處惡作等6), the third of the summary verse's four parts**, beginning with not reflecting at all (巳一都不思惟) — the levels of meditative attainment describe renunciants troubled by idle speculation about kin, homeland, or their own mortality, regretting having left family, or wondering why they did not wait until old age to ordain — misplaced regret over what cannot be undone, indulged without any real reflection on right and wrong, only unsettles the mind and obstructs the precepts and calm-abiding and clear-seeing alike.

This opens delighting in monastic business (巳二樂著僧事) — one genuinely capable of study and meditation who nonetheless drifts toward organizing merit-making activities, and even teaches others that this is the superior path, has let a lesser good eclipse the greater cultivation actually within reach.

This opens seeing giving as supreme (巳三見施為勝) — one genuinely capable of keeping the precepts and cultivating the mind, who nonetheless roams from place to place breaking their own vows in order to amass offerings, has let one virtue eclipse the whole threefold training it was meant to serve.

This opens taking hearing as the culmination (巳四聞為究竟) — hearing the teaching is only the first step; without the further steps of reflection, confident resolve, and the actual cultivation of calm-abiding and clear-seeing, hearing alone can never reach the culmination this kind of person mistakenly claims for it.

This opens discarding the adornments (巳五捨莊嚴法) — a renunciant's true adornments (already surveyed under reliance on a person, section 112) center on contentment and diligence; abandoning these to curry favor with well-endowed monastics, and drawing newcomers into the same currying, corrupts the newcomer's own formation from the very start.

This opens **savage precepts and the rest (辰四暴惡戒等5), the fourth of the summary verse's four parts**, beginning with acting without benefit (巳一作不饒益) — a formal proceeding against a transgressor, however lawfully executed, becomes this same corruption the moment it is driven by aversion toward the person rather than compassion aimed at their own reform.

This opens falsely displaying deportment (巳二詐現威儀) — staging an outward show of accomplished practice purely to win others' reverence and support is deception wearing the dharma's own appearance.

This opens obtaining support through improper means (巳三因獲利養) — writing for publication, chanting to calm the frightened, or telling fortunes for a fee are all forms of livelihood the Buddha never permitted; a renunciant's own worldly talents, once set aside at ordination, should not be revived to attract support.

This opens committing faulty merit-work (巳四作有罪福) — lending at usurious interest or profiting unlawfully in the community's name, even when the proceeds are claimed for the monastery's own upkeep, still injures others and taints whatever merit is claimed for it.

This opens **bad companionship (子三惡友2), the THIRD of the five contrary practices**, beginning with pointing to a broader explanation (丑一指廣說) — whoever falls short of the good spiritual friend's own marks, already detailed at length under both grounds, counts as bad companionship here.

This opens reversing to the accordant (壬二翻隨順2), the second half of separately distinguishing, beginning with by analogy, the opposite of the contrary (癸一例相違) — freedom from obstruction, from a semblance of the true dharma, and from bad companionship, together with sufficient wisdom, light affliction, and deep past-life cultivation, together let the threefold training genuinely take root.

This opens broadly accordant (癸二廣隨順3), beginning with marking (子一標).

This opens listing (子二列), the second of broadly accordant's three sections — these five conditions together carry a practitioner from purity of precepts through to genuine samādhi and wisdom.

This opens explaining (子三釋2), beginning with explaining the five factors (丑一釋五法5), beginning with going forth rightly (寅一正出家) — for a śrāvaka, right motivation centers on nirvāṇa itself; for a bodhisattva, it extends to the fourfold universal vow. The Śrāvaka Grounds catalogs the wrong motivations this excludes: fleeing a creditor, fleeing some fear, or fleeing starvation, none aimed at taming oneself, at stillness, at nirvāṇa, or at renunciant status itself — such a person may go forth in body within the well-spoken dharma and discipline, but not in mind, and this is not genuinely right going-forth.

This opens skillfully inquiring (寅二善請問) — actively seeking out a learned monk to resolve genuine uncertainty about offense, non-offense, and restoration keeps ignorance from ever becoming an excuse for transgression.

This opens closely examining (寅三審觀察) — a regular, thrice-daily self-check keeps small lapses from accumulating unnoticed and lets genuine progress become a source of real joy.

This opens cultivating the remedy (寅四修對治) — even a genuinely pure prātimokṣa precept is not the finish line; going further to actively cultivate mental applications that remedy craving and the other afflictions advances one toward samādhi-conjoined and path-conjoined precept, which subdue and finally sever affliction at its root.

This opens explaining the guarding (丑二釋防護2), beginning with setting forth non-offense (寅一出無犯) — each of the five accordant factors directly reverses one of the four causes of transgression already explained earlier (ignorance, heedlessness, fierce affliction, contempt), going forth rightly serving as the foundation the other four build upon.

This opens inquiring (辛二徵), the second of tranquility's four sections.

This opens listing (辛三列), the third of tranquility's four sections — gentleness rests on the six points of reverent concord (shared precepts, shared right view, shared and equal support, harmony of body in communal proceedings, harmony of speech through never disputing, and harmony of mind through shared assent) — a harmony of outward form any ordinary community of monastics can achieve, even before the deeper harmony of realization that only the noble ones, who share the same unconditioned realization beneath their differing degrees of attainment, can achieve in substance.

This opens explaining (辛四釋2), beginning with setting forth the kinds (壬一出種類5), beginning with gentleness that makes one easy to dwell together with (癸一柔和易可共住) — the six points of reverent concord named above are these six factors.

This opens cutting off (癸二斷) — the four wheels supporting cultivation are a suitable dwelling-place, sound instruction from a good teacher, right practice, and adequately cultivated provisions, all serving as the support for actually cutting off affliction.

This opens the factors of cutting off (癸三斷支) — the five factors that directly sever affliction, to be enumerated in what follows.

This opens reverent service (癸四敬事) — reverence for the Buddha extends through the dharma, the saṅgha, the training, and diligent, heedless cultivation itself.

This opens broadly explaining their marks (壬二廣彼相5), the second of tranquility's four sections, beginning with the six pleasing factors (癸一六可愛法2), beginning with raising the unpleasant (子一舉不可愛) — unequal support, discordant precept-standards, and discordant views, expanding across body, speech, and mind, together describe the unpleasant condition the six points of reverent concord exist to remedy.

This opens establishing the pleasing (子二建立可愛2), beginning with by analogy, the opposite (丑一例相違2), beginning with generally marking (寅一總標).

This opens separately explaining the marks (丑二別釋相2), beginning with explaining the six factors (寅一釋六法4), beginning with the deeds of body and the rest (卯一身等諸業) — genuine compassion made manifest in one's actual bodily, verbal, and mental conduct toward one's companions is itself the substance of the first three points of reverent concord.

This opens equal use (卯二平等受用2), beginning with explaining use (辰一明受用4), beginning with lawful support (巳一如法利養) — support whose source and manner of reception both permit a clean conscience qualifies as lawful.

This opens lawfully obtained (巳二如法所得) — four traditional forms of improper livelihood are excluded: farming or compounding medicine for a living ("mouth facing down"); fortune-telling by the stars for a living ("mouth facing up"); flattering the powerful for gain ("mouth facing sideways"); and divination or incantation for a living ("mouth facing the intermediate directions") — alongside deceit, false speech, feigned signs, harsh coercion, or profit-seeking through profit, all unlawful ways of pursuing robes, food, bedding, medicine, or any other requisite.

This opens called having fallen into the bowl (巳三名墮鉢中) — once formally distributed and placed in one's own bowl, an item is properly one's own to use.

This opens the dharma of shared precepts (卯三戒同分法) — the embrace of the alternate approach explains śīla (戒) as that which stills the burning distress of a broken precept's own offense, and as itself accordant with coolness — hence its name; it is also called restraint, meaning freedom from the very substance of every unwholesome deed, and carries many further names according to the angle from which it is examined.

This opens explaining what is pleasing (寅二釋可樂2), beginning with marking and listing the distinctions (卯一標列差別2), beginning with the mark of pleasingness (辰一可樂相) — the six points of reverent concord are pleasing both because they embody genuine virtue worth revering, and because upholding them brings the very comfort and benefit of a genuine kindness received.

This opens broadly explaining that mark (卯二廣釋其相3), beginning with reverence's own ascendancy (辰一尊重增上).

This opens comfort's own ascendancy (辰二慰意增上) — equal material support and the remaining five points of shared body, speech, mind, precepts, and view together provide both the material and the dharma-based comfort that dwelling in genuine harmony brings.

This opens the ascendancy of both (辰三彼二增上5), beginning with good harmony (巳一善和合) — where both reverence and comfort are present, material and dharma alike are shared equally, and the community dwells together in genuine, complete harmony.

This opens freedom from distress (巳二無擾惱) — a community out of harmony, whether through discord or unequal distribution, inevitably breeds inward distress; genuine harmony leaves the mind untroubled.

This opens freedom from conflict (巳三無違) — sharing material and dharma equally removes the underlying craving, aversion, and delusion that would otherwise breed conflict within the community.

This opens freedom from dispute (巳四無諍) — a community genuinely united toward the shared cultivation of precepts, samādhi, and wisdom naturally has no occasion for internal strife; where the six points of reverent concord lapse, disputes and factional infighting tend to follow.

This opens **the four wheels of humans and gods (癸二人天四輪3), the second of tranquility's five parts**, beginning with marking the establishment (子一標建立) — like the four wheels of a cart carrying it toward its destination, these four conditions together carry a practitioner toward nirvāṇa: a dwelling truly suited to taming affliction, a teacher whose instruction is sound, conduct that genuinely accords with the path, and sufficiently cultivated provisions of faith, diligence, mindfulness, samādhi, and wisdom.

This opens distinguishing their completeness (子二辨圓滿4), beginning with the completeness of the place (丑一處所圓滿) — the Śrāvaka Grounds names a mountain valley, a cave, a straw-stack shelter, or a great forest as suitable secluded places, and details five qualifying marks: the place is naturally attractive, clean, and well-appointed with grove and pool, without hazard underfoot, gladdening the mind of anyone who sees it and disposing them to cultivate there; it is undisturbed by daytime bustle, has little noise at night, and is largely free of mosquitoes, wind, sun, and venomous creatures — with further marks continuing beyond what is cited here in full.

This opens the completeness of instruction (丑二教導圓滿) — a "true person," one whose afflictions have already been stilled, paired with a genuine good friend, gives instruction that is truly complete. Both grounds name the same eight qualities: upholding the precepts; broad learning; genuine attainment, not mere learning; a compassionate nature; freedom from weariness in teaching; forbearance; freedom from timidity in speaking; and complete, well-formed speech.

This opens the completeness of right practice (丑三正行圓滿3), beginning with marking (寅一標) — the completeness of right practice rests on a vow one gives rise to entirely from within, free of worldly cleverness or wrong view.

This opens inquiring (寅二徵), the second of the completeness of right practice's three sections.

This opens **the completeness of provisions (丑四資糧圓滿2), the fourth of the four wheels**, beginning with marking (寅一標) — deep past cultivation of faith, diligence, mindfulness, samādhi, and wisdom ripens into five distinct present-life benefits, unpacked in what follows.

This opens explaining (寅二釋5), beginning with the first benefit (卯一第一勝利3), beginning with marking and listing (辰一標列) — a pleasing inward result (the body and mind directly received) and a pleasing outward result (the surrounding circumstances one is born into) together comprise this first benefit.

This opens elaborating (辰二隨釋2), beginning with the pleasing inward result (巳一內可愛果報) — each mark traces to a specific past cause: longevity to not killing, fine form to bringing others joy, freedom from illness and affliction to a settled mind, freedom from servitude and impairment to past merit, sharp wisdom and authoritative speech to past honesty and diligence, and eminent lineage to a family of wisdom and merit — Master Cháng Bǎi notes that "not a woman" reflects the treatise's own convention that, in ultimate terms, one who has genuinely realized the ultimate truth is called a "great being" regardless of physical sex, while acknowledging that women's karmic circumstance is, statistically, harder in this schema.

With this, the pleasing outward result (巳二外可愛果報) closes, closing **elaborating (辰二隨釋2: 內可愛果報/外可愛果報) entirely** — wealth, capable supporters, and a well-staffed household round out the first benefit's outward circumstances.

This opens the second benefit (卯二第二勝利3), beginning with marking (辰一標) — hobgoblins are spirit-beings that inhabit mountains, rivers, trees, and stones; yakṣas are spirits of some power, dwelling on earth or in the air, capable of harming through their own force, some benevolent and some malevolent — deep past merit keeps such beings, along with lesser spirits, from obstructing one's cultivation, whether by possession or by threatening one's very life.

This opens explaining (辰二釋) — the same past merit that wards off spirit-obstruction also keeps wealth, standing, and lifespan itself from being cut short before their natural term.

This opens **the third benefit (卯三第三勝利), the third of five resulting benefits** — a natural inclination toward the dharma rather than worldly pleasure, sustained without slackening, is itself a fruit of past cultivation rather than a mere accident of temperament.

This opens **the fourth benefit (卯四第四勝利), the fourth of five resulting benefits** — a deep, natural capacity for shame and genuine remorse, itself a fruit of past merit, is what keeps an occasional lapse from calcifying into a settled pattern.

This opens **reverent service to the great teacher and the rest (癸四敬事大師等2), the FOURTH of tranquility's five parts**, beginning with distinguishing the seven matters (子一辨七事2) — though the treatise itself does not number them explicitly, the Notes on the Yogācārabhūmi identifies seven objects of reverent service: the Buddha, the dharma, the saṅgha, precepts, samādhi, wisdom, and nirvāṇa — beginning with reverent service to the great teacher (辰一敬事大師) — only the Buddha, having appeared in the world to teach the threefold higher training, makes the path to realization possible at all; gratitude for this is the first and most fundamental reverence.

This opens reverent service to the dharma spoken (辰二敬所說法) — actually putting the teaching into practice is itself the truest form of reverence for it.

This opens reverent service to the training-grounds (辰三敬事學處) — dharma-accordant conduct, the fourth of the four factors of stream-entry (drawing near a good friend, hearing the true dharma, right reflection, and dharma-accordant conduct itself), here means following the eightfold path, or more broadly the whole body of sūtra, vinaya, and treatise, toward nirvāṇa; reverently upholding the individual-liberation precepts and the full vinaya is itself this reverent service.

This opens offering (卯二供養2), beginning with marking (辰一標) — material offering (incense, water, and the like presented to the Buddha) and dharma offering (actually practicing the teaching, teaching others, or cultivating hearing, reflection, and cultivation itself) together complete reverent service through offering.

This opens **the seven methods for extinguishing disputes (癸五七滅諍法2), the FIFTH of tranquility's five parts** — though the root text itself never names the traditional seven vinaya methods explicitly, only explaining their substance, they are: present-witness resolution, recollection-based resolution, non-delusion resolution, seeking-the-fact resolution, majority-voice resolution, self-confession resolution, and grass-covering-the-ground resolution — beginning with separately distinguishing their marks (子一別辨相4), beginning with disputes embraced by another's charge (丑一他舉諍事攝2), beginning with removal through wishing to emerge from what was committed (寅一願出所犯除滅) — this is present-witness resolution (現前毗尼), traced to the monk Kālodāyī, who, after bathing, mistakenly wore another monk's robe; accused in his absence of theft and expelled without ever being heard, the Buddha rebuked the accusers and required that the accused always be present, face to face, before any charge could be settled — Kālodāyī, having had no intent to steal, was cleared once actually questioned.

This opens removal through granting purity (寅二施與清淨除滅2), beginning with through freedom from wrongdoing-remorse (卯一由離惡作) — this is recollection-based resolution (憶念毗尼): where genuine forgetting, not evasion, is at issue, the saṅgha may formally grant purity on trust, sparing the accused from either a false confession or endless lingering suspicion — the 披尋記 clarifies that freedom from wrongdoing-remorse still requires genuine disclosure and repentance where an offense is real; it is not that repentance is dispensable.

This opens **disputes embraced by mutual suspicion (丑二互疑諍事攝2), the second of four dispute-categories**, beginning with removal through seeking out the fact's own nature (寅一尋求自性除滅) — this is seeking-the-fact resolution: where accuser and accused sincerely disagree about whether an offense even occurred, the saṅgha must investigate the underlying fact itself before rendering any lawful judgment.

This opens **disputes embraced by self-charging (丑三自舉諍事攝), the third of four dispute-categories** — this is self-confession resolution: a monk troubled by his own conscience, anticipating being charged by another, comes forward first to request the saṅgha's judgment and repent lawfully, forestalling any dispute before it arises.

This opens briefly embracing the categories (子二略攝類2), the second of the seven methods' two sections, beginning with generally marking (丑一總標) — the treatise's own fourfold classification of disputes absorbs the vinaya's seven traditional methods, some methods overlapping across more than one category.

This opens separately distinguishing (丑二別辨2), beginning with disputed matters (寅一諍事) — restating, as a formal list, the four categories already unpacked in full above.