Everything, the Realms, and Defilement
This page opens Ru-Yi's translation of the Xianyang shengjiao lun (顯揚聖教論), Asaṅga's own condensation of the vast Treatise on the Stages of Yogic Practice. He begins by bowing to the Buddha and to Maitreya, states plainly what he is doing and why, and lays out the plan of the entire work — eleven chapters, and within the first of them, nine topics. Then the first three topics follow in turn: everything that exists, sorted into five categories; the realms in which it exists, from the three realms of desire, form, and formlessness out to the thousand-fold world systems and the aeons that destroy them; and the defilement that runs through it all, in its three forms of affliction, karma, and birth.
Translation Method
The Chinese source is Xuánzàng's seventh-century translation of Asaṅga's Xianyang shengjiao lun (顯揚聖教論, T1602), preserved in the Taishō canon in twenty fascicles. Unlike most treatises on this site, this one has no independent commentary by a second master — the root verses and the prose that expounds them are both Asaṅga's own. We therefore make no appeal to a commentator's authority. Where our reading notes reach outside the text, they say where they are reaching: most often to the Treatise on the Stages of Yogic Practice (瑜伽師地論), which Asaṅga states in his opening verses that he is condensing here.
One collation is worth naming, because it removes a real ambiguity. A separate Taishō text, T1603 (顯揚聖教論頌), preserves this treatise's verses alone, stripped of all prose. Comparing the two confirms line by line which words are Asaṅga's root verse and which are his own exposition of it — so on these pages, every passage set as verse is verse in the original, not a formatting choice of ours.
Classical text is set in the left-hand column below, our English in the right. See also this site's note on translation method.
1. Homage, and Why This Treatise Was Written
Three verses of homage — to the Buddha, to Maitreya, and then a plain statement of what the author is doing. The third is unusually direct for a Buddhist treatise: Asaṅga names himself, names his teacher, and states his editorial principle in a single line.
善逝善說妙三身， 無畏無流證教法，
上乘真實牟尼子， 我今至誠先讚禮。
稽首次敬大慈尊， 將紹種智法王位，
無依世間所歸趣， 宣說瑜伽師地者。
昔我無著從彼聞， 今當錯綜地中要，
顯揚聖教慈悲故， 文約義周而易曉。
To the Well-Gone One, who well proclaimed the marvelous three bodies;
to the Dharma, both realized and taught, fearless and without outflow;
to the true sons of the Sage who ride the highest vehicle —
to these I now, with full sincerity, first offer praise and homage.
Bowing next in reverence to the great compassionate lord,
who is to inherit the Dharma King's throne of omniscient wisdom,
the refuge to which a world with no support turns —
he who proclaimed the Stages of Yogic Practice.
Long ago I, Asaṅga, heard it from him;
now I shall interweave the essentials of those Stages,
illuminating the sacred teaching out of compassion,
with words made brief, the meaning kept whole, and easy to understand.
The third verse is the treatise's charter, and every word of it is doing work. 錯綜 — "interweave" — is not a modest word for excerpting; it describes deliberately re-crossing threads that lay in a different order before. Asaṅga is not abridging the Stages of Yogic Practice by cutting it down but by re-plaiting it, and the eleven-chapter plan announced in the next verse looks nothing like that work's own seventeen stages. The last line then sets the editorial standard he will be judged by: 文約 the words brief, 義周 the meaning complete, 易曉 easy to grasp. Anyone who has read the hundred fascicles of the original will recognize the ambition in the third of those.
The title of the treatise is hidden in the third verse's third line — 顯揚聖教, "illuminating the sacred teaching" — given there as the purpose of the work rather than as a label attached to it. This is how many Indian treatises acquire their names.
2. The Plan: Eleven Chapters, and Nine Topics Within the First
Two more verses give the whole table of contents. The first names all eleven chapters of the treatise; the second names the nine topics that will organize the first chapter alone — which turns out to occupy four fascicles.
攝事淨義成善巧， 無常苦空與無性，
現觀瑜伽不思議， 攝勝決擇十一品。
一切界雜染， 諦依止覺分，
補特伽羅果， 諸功德九事。
Gathering the topics; the pure meaning; establishing skill;
impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and naturelessness;
direct realization, yoga, and the inconceivable;
gathering the superior determinations — eleven chapters in all.
Everything, the realms, defilement,
the truths, the basis, the factors of enlightenment,
persons, the fruits,
and the qualities — nine topics.
These twelve lines are the map for all twenty fascicles, so it is worth reading them as a shape rather than a list. The eleven chapters fall into three unequal movements: a long descriptive survey of what there is (chapters one and two, which together take thirteen of the twenty fascicles); then a run of short, sharp argumentative chapters, each proving one thesis — that conditioned things are impermanent, that they are suffering, that they are empty, that they are without nature (chapters four through seven); and finally the chapters on realization, practice, and what cannot be thought (eight through ten), before a long closing chapter of determinations.
The word 事 in "nine topics" is worth flagging for readers who know it from other contexts. Here it does not mean "thing" or "affair" in any concrete sense; it means a topic of exposition — a heading under which material is gathered. That is also what 攝事 in the chapter title means: gathering the topics. We render it "topic" consistently throughout these pages.
3. Topic One: Everything, in Five Categories
The first topic is the largest thing a treatise can attempt — an exhaustive inventory of what exists. Asaṅga's answer is the Yogācāra five-category scheme, given in a single line of verse, then unpacked for the rest of the fascicle.
論曰：一切者，有五法，總攝菩薩藏。何等為五？頌曰：
心、心所有、色、 不相應、無為。
論曰：心者，謂心意識差別名也。問：何等為識？答：識有八種，謂阿賴耶識，眼耳鼻舌身識，意及意識。
The exposition: "everything" means that there are five categories of things, and that these five, taken together, subsume the whole bodhisattva canon. What are the five?
Mind, mental factors, form,
the dissociated, and the unconditioned.
The exposition: "mind" here covers mind, mentation, and consciousness — three names for what differs only by aspect. Question: how many consciousnesses are there? Answer: consciousness is of eight kinds — the ālayavijñāna; the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body consciousnesses; mentation; and mental consciousness.
The claim in the first sentence is stronger than it looks: these five categories do not merely list what exists, they "subsume the whole bodhisattva canon" (總攝菩薩藏) — every doctrine in every Mahāyāna scripture can be located somewhere within them. That is the promise a comprehensive treatise has to make, and the rest of this fascicle is Asaṅga beginning to make good on it.
Notice too the order, which is not accidental and is not the Abhidharma order. Older Abhidharma inventories begin with form, the physical, and reach mind partway through. Here mind comes first and form third, after the mental factors — the ordering itself already states the Yogācāra thesis before a single argument for it has been given.
4. The Ālayavijñāna
The first of the eight consciousnesses gets the longest treatment, because it is the one the reader is least likely to grant. Asaṅga defines it, describes what it does, and then — anticipating the obvious objection — asks how anyone could know such a thing exists, answering with three scriptural citations.
阿賴耶識者，謂先世所作增長業煩惱為緣，無始時來戲論熏習為因，所生一切種子異熟識為體。此識能執受了別色根、根所依處及戲論熏習，於一切時一類生滅不可了知。又能執持了別外器世界，與不苦不樂受等相應，一向無覆無記，與轉識等作所依因，與染淨轉識受等俱轉，能增長有染轉識等為業，及能損減清淨轉識等為業。
As for the ālayavijñāna: its condition is the karma and afflictions performed and reinforced in former lives; its cause is the perfuming laid down by conceptual proliferation from beginningless time; and what is thus produced — the ripening consciousness bearing all seeds — is its essential nature.
This consciousness appropriates and discriminates the material faculties, the places on which those faculties depend, and the perfuming of conceptual proliferation; at every moment it arises and ceases as a single unvarying kind, in a manner that cannot be made out. It also holds and discriminates the outer receptacle world. It is associated with feeling that is neither painful nor pleasant. It is invariably unobstructed and morally neutral. It serves as the cause on which the evolving consciousnesses depend, and it turns together with the defiled or purified evolving consciousnesses and their feelings. Its function is to reinforce the defiled evolving consciousnesses, and equally to diminish the purified ones.
云何知有此識？如薄伽梵說：無明所覆、愛結所繫，愚夫感得有識之身。此言顯有異熟阿賴耶識。又說：如五種子，此則名為有取之識。此言顯有一切種子阿賴耶識。又說阿陀那識甚深細，一切種子如暴流，我於凡愚不開演，恐彼分別執為我。
How is it known that this consciousness exists? As the Blessed One said: "Shrouded in ignorance and bound by the fetter of craving, the foolish worldling brings about for himself a body possessed of consciousness." This statement displays the existence of the ālayavijñāna as ripened result. He also said: "Like the five kinds of seed — this is what is called the consciousness that has grasping." This statement displays the existence of the ālayavijñāna as bearer of all seeds. And he said: "The ādāna-consciousness is deep and subtle indeed; all its seeds are like a torrent of water. I do not disclose it to the foolish and immature, lest they discriminate it and seize it as a self."
The definition is built out of the standard triad cause / condition / essential nature, and the assignment is precise. Past karma and affliction are only the condition; the cause is the perfuming left by conceptual proliferation (戲論熏習) — that is, the residue of having carved experience into named, discriminated objects. Karma explains which life you get; conceptual proliferation explains why there is a seed-bearing consciousness at all.
Two phrases repay slowing down. 一類 — "as a single unvarying kind" — is what distinguishes this consciousness from the seven others, whose contents shift moment to moment; the ālaya changes constantly yet never varies in kind, which is precisely why it can be mistaken for a permanent self. And 不可了知, "in a manner that cannot be made out," concedes the difficulty rather than hiding it: this consciousness is not available to introspection. That concession is exactly what the third citation is about — the Buddha's stated reason for withholding the teaching was not that it is false but that it is dangerous, because a subtle continuous consciousness is the best candidate for a self that anyone has ever proposed. The verse quoted here is from the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, and readers will find it there in its own setting.
5. The Five Sense Consciousnesses
眼識者，謂從阿賴耶識種子所生，依於眼根，與彼俱轉，緣色境界，了別為性。如薄伽梵說：內眼處不壞、外色處現前，及彼所生作意正起，如是所生眼識得生。又說緣眼及色眼識得生。如是應知，乃至身識。此中差別者，謂各依自根、各緣自境、各別了別。一切應引如前二經。
As for eye consciousness: it is produced from a seed in the ālayavijñāna; it depends on the eye faculty and turns together with it; it takes visible form as its object; and its nature is to discriminate. As the Blessed One said: "When the inner eye sense field is undamaged, the outer form sense field is present, and the attention produced from these arises properly, then the eye consciousness so produced comes to be." He also said: "In dependence on eye and on form, eye consciousness comes to be."
So it should be understood for the rest, down to body consciousness. The differences among them are these: each depends on its own faculty, each takes its own object, and each discriminates separately. For all of them, the same two scriptural passages quoted above should be adduced.
6. Mentation and Mental Consciousness
The seventh consciousness is defined by what it takes as its object — and it is the only one that takes another consciousness as its object.
意者，謂從阿賴耶識種子所生，還緣彼識，我癡我愛我我所執我慢相應或翻彼相應，於一切時恃舉為行或平等行，與彼俱轉，了別為性。如薄伽梵說：內意處不壞、外法處現前，及彼所生作意正起，如是所生意識得生。意識者，謂從阿賴耶識種子所生，依於意根與彼俱轉，緣一切共不共法為境，了別為性。
As for mentation: it is produced from a seed in the ālayavijñāna, and it turns back to take that very consciousness as its object. It is associated with self-delusion, self-love, the grasping at "I" and "mine," and self-conceit — or else with the reverse of these. At all times its mode of activity is self-assertion, or else evenness. It turns together with that consciousness, and its nature is to discriminate. As the Blessed One said: "When the inner mind sense field is undamaged, the outer dharma sense field is present, and the attention produced from these arises properly, then the mental consciousness so produced comes to be."
As for mental consciousness: it is produced from a seed in the ālayavijñāna; it depends on the faculty of mentation and turns together with it; it takes as its object all things, both those held in common with the other consciousnesses and those not; and its nature is to discriminate.
"Or else with the reverse of these" (或翻彼相應) and "or else evenness" (或平等行) are doing quiet but important work. Left unqualified, the description of mentation would make the sense of self structurally permanent, since this consciousness never stops. The two alternatives are the escape hatch: for a practitioner on the path, this same consciousness can turn with the opposites of self-delusion and self-conceit, and its mode can be evenness rather than self-assertion. The seventh consciousness is not the problem; its ordinary content is.
Note also how mentation is defined circularly on purpose — it arises from a seed in the ālayavijñāna and then takes the ālayavijñāna as its object. The self it grasps at is not invented out of nothing. It is a real continuous consciousness, misread.
7. The Fifty-One Mental Factors: The Full Roster
Before defining a single one, Asaṅga gives the complete list in six groups. Readers of the Cheng Weishi Lun will recognize the roster exactly.
心所有法者，謂若法從阿賴耶識種子所生，依心所起與心俱轉相應。彼復云何？謂遍行有五：一作意、二觸、三受、四想、五思。別境有五：一欲、二勝解、三念、四等持、五慧。善有十一：一信、二慚、三愧、四無貪、五無瞋、六無癡、七精進、八輕安、九不放逸、十捨、十一不害。煩惱有六：一貪、二瞋、三慢、四無明、五見、六疑。隨煩惱有二十：一忿、二恨、三覆、四惱、五嫉、六慳、七誑、八諂、九憍、十害、十一無慚、十二無愧、十三惛沈、十四掉舉、十五不信、十六懈怠、十七放逸、十八失念、十九心亂、二十不正知。不定有四：一惡作、二睡眠、三尋、四伺。
As for mental factors: these are the things produced from seeds in the ālayavijñāna which arise in dependence on mind, turning together with mind and associated with it. And what are they?
The universal factors are five: attention, contact, feeling, perception, volition.
The particular factors are five: aspiration, resolve, recollection, concentration, wisdom.
The wholesome factors are eleven: faith, a sense of shame, a sense of embarrassment, non-greed, non-hatred, non-delusion, diligence, pliancy, heedfulness, equanimity, non-harming.
The root afflictions are six: craving, hatred, conceit, delusion, wrong view, doubt.
The secondary afflictions are twenty: wrath, resentment, concealment, vexation, envy, stinginess, deceit, flattery, arrogance, harmfulness, lack of shame, lack of embarrassment, torpor, restlessness, lack of faith, laziness, heedlessness, forgetfulness, distraction, incorrect knowledge.
The indeterminate factors are four: regret, sleep, coarse discursive thought, subtle discursive thought.
Two of the definitions that follow — attention and subtle discursive thought — are given in full, with scriptural support and the argument that mind and its factors are inseparable. The rest are given in a compressed standard form: what the factor's essential nature is (為體), what it does (為業), and a scriptural line that attests to it. Asaṅga says so himself at the end of the roster: what is abbreviated here should be filled out on the same pattern.
Readers coming from the Abhidharmasamuccaya will notice two harmless variations in wording. This treatise writes 等持 where that one writes 三摩地, and 心亂 where it writes 散亂; the factors are identical, and we render both pairs the same way — "concentration" and "distraction." This treatise also writes plain 見 for what the Abhidharmasamuccaya calls 惡見, and counts six root afflictions rather than ten, keeping the five views bundled under that single heading.
8. The Five Universal Factors
Universal, because these five accompany every moment of mind without exception. The first of them, attention, receives the fullest treatment in the whole roster — and the reason is an argument about the inseparability of mind and its factors.
作意者，謂從阿賴耶識種子所生，依心所起，與心俱轉相應，動心為體。引心為業。由此與心同緣一境，故說和合非不和合。如經中說：若於此作意即於此了別，若於此了別即於此作意。是故此二恒和合非不和合，此二法不可施設離別殊異。復如是說：心心法行不可思議。又說：由彼所生作意正起，如是所生眼等識生。
As for attention: it is produced from a seed in the ālayavijñāna, arises in dependence on mind, and turns together with mind, associated with it. Its essential nature is to stir the mind; its function is to draw the mind along. Because it takes one and the same object as the mind does, it is said to be conjoined with mind and not disjoined from it. As the scripture says: "Where there is attention to this, there is discrimination of this; where there is discrimination of this, there is attention to this." Therefore these two are perpetually conjoined and never disjoined, and it is not possible to designate them as separate or distinct. And again it says: "The workings of mind and mental factors are inconceivable." And again: "When the attention produced from those arises properly, then the eye consciousness and the rest so produced come to be."
觸者，謂三事和合，分別為體。受依為業。如經說：有六觸身。又說：眼色為緣能起眼識。如是三法聚集合故能有所觸。又說：觸為受緣。
受者，謂領納為體。愛緣為業。如經說：有六受身。又說：受為愛緣。
想者，謂名句文身，熏習為緣。從阿賴耶識種子所生，依心所起，與心俱轉，相應取相為體。發言議為業。如經說：有六想身。又說：如其所想而起言議。
思者，謂令心造作得失俱非，意業為體。或為和合、或為別離、或為隨與、或為貪愛、或為瞋恚、或為棄捨、或起尋伺、或復為起身語二業、或為染污、或為清淨行，善不善非二為業。如經說：有六思身。又說：當知我說今六觸處，即前世思所造故業。
As for contact: its essential nature is the differentiation that occurs when three things come together. Its function is to serve as the support of feeling. As the scripture says: "There are six bodies of contact." And again: "With eye and form as conditions, eye consciousness can arise" — it is because these three things gather and combine that contact can occur. And again: "Contact is the condition for feeling."
As for feeling: its essential nature is to register. Its function is to serve as the condition for craving. As the scripture says: "There are six bodies of feeling." And again: "Feeling is the condition for craving."
As for perception: its condition is the perfuming laid down by word-groups, phrase-groups, and syllable-groups; it is produced from a seed in the ālayavijñāna, arises in dependence on mind, and turns together with mind; and its essential nature, as an associated factor, is to take up an image. Its function is to give rise to speech and discussion. As the scripture says: "There are six bodies of perception." And again: "One speaks and discusses in accordance with what one has perceived."
As for volition: its essential nature is mental action, causing the mind to act toward gain, toward loss, or toward neither. It may work toward joining or toward separating, toward acquiescence, toward craving, toward anger, or toward abandonment; it may give rise to coarse or subtle discursive thought; it may give rise to the two further actions of body and speech; and it may work toward what is defiled or toward pure conduct. Its function is the wholesome, the unwholesome, and what is neither. As the scripture says: "There are six bodies of volition." And again: "Know that what I now call the six fields of contact is old karma, fashioned by volition in a former life."
The scriptural line quoted for attention is the whole argument in miniature, and it is worth reading twice: where there is attention to this, there is discrimination of this; where there is discrimination of this, there is attention to this. The claim is a strict two-way entailment, and what it rules out is any picture in which a bare consciousness first meets an object and a mental factor is then added on top. There is no such moment. Asaṅga's conclusion — "it is not possible to designate them as separate or distinct" — states that mind and mental factor are not two items in a sequence but two aspects of one occurrence.
Notice also that these five are chained: contact supports feeling, feeling conditions craving, perception issues in speech, volition issues in karma. Sorting mind into universal factors is not filing for its own sake — it is laying out the mechanism by which a moment of experience becomes a deed with consequences, which is the machinery the whole treatise will later work to dismantle.
9. The Five Particular Factors
Particular, because unlike the universal five these arise only toward particular objects — and only when their specific occasion is present.
欲者，謂於所樂境希望為體。勤依為業。如經說：欲為一切諸法根本。
勝解者，謂於決定境如其所應印解為體。不可引轉為業。如經說：我等今者心生勝解，是內六處必定無我。
念者，謂於串習境令心明記不忘為體。等持所依為業。如經說：諸念與隨念，別念念及憶，不忘不失法，心明記為性。
等持者，謂於所觀境專住一緣為體。令心不散智依為業。如經說：諸令心住與等住、安住、近住及定住不亂不散攝寂止等持。心住一緣性。
慧者，謂即於所觀境簡擇為體。如理、不如理、非如理非不如理，悟入所知為業。如經說：簡擇諸法、最極簡擇、極簡擇法、遍了、近了、黠了、通達、審察、聰叡、覺明、慧行、毘鉢舍那。
As for aspiration: its essential nature is to hope for an object one delights in. Its function is to serve as the support of diligence. As the scripture says: "Aspiration is the root of all things."
As for resolve: its essential nature is to seal one's understanding of an object already settled, as that object warrants. Its function is to be immovable. As the scripture says: "We now generate in our minds the settled resolve that these six inner sense fields are definitely without a self."
As for recollection: its essential nature is to make the mind hold clearly and not forget an object it has grown familiar with. Its function is to serve as the support of concentration. As the scripture says: "Mindfulness, subsequent mindfulness, particular mindfulness, calling to mind, remembrance, the state of not forgetting and not losing — the mind's clear holding is its nature."
As for concentration: its essential nature is to dwell single-pointedly on one object among those observed. Its function is to keep the mind from scattering and to serve as the support of knowledge. As the scripture says: "Making the mind abide, abide evenly, abide securely, abide closely, abide in stillness; undisturbed, unscattered, collected, quieted, concentrated — the mind's dwelling on a single object."
As for wisdom: its essential nature is discernment with respect to an object observed — whether in accordance with principle, contrary to principle, or neither in accordance with nor contrary to it. Its function is to penetrate what is to be known. As the scripture says: "Discerning things, discerning them utterly, discerning them to the utmost; full understanding, close understanding, keen understanding, penetration, examination, acuity, clarity of awareness, the working of wisdom — insight."
These five are the meditator's toolkit, and they are chained the same way the universal five were: aspiration supports diligence, recollection supports concentration, concentration supports knowledge, and knowledge issues in wisdom. Read in order, the list is a compressed account of how a practice actually gets built, from first wanting to do it through to seeing.
The long strings of near-synonyms in the last three definitions are not padding, and they are not the translator's expansion — they are in the Chinese, quoted from scripture. Classical Indian definitions often work by piling up cognate terms so that the boundaries of the concept emerge from the overlap rather than from a single word. The final term in the wisdom list, 毘鉢舍那 (vipaśyanā, insight), is the payoff: this whole heap of words for careful discernment names the same thing that the meditation literature calls insight, paired with the calm abiding that the concentration definition just described.
10. The Eleven Wholesome Factors
From here the definitions settle into a fixed four-part pattern: essential nature, the obstacle removed, the general benefits, and a scriptural line. Asaṅga abbreviates the middle section after the first entry with "as above" — we render the abbreviation as he wrote it.
信者，謂於有體有德有能心淨忍可為體。斷不信障為業、能得菩提資糧圓滿為業、利益自他為業、能趣善道為業、增長淨信為業。如經說：於如來所起堅固信。
慚者，謂依自增上及法增上，羞恥過惡為體。斷無慚障為業，如前乃至增長慚為業。如經說：慚於所慚，乃至廣說。
愧者，謂依世增上，羞恥過惡為體。斷無愧障為業，如前乃至增長愧為業。如經說：愧於所愧，乃至廣說。
As for faith: its essential nature is a clarity of mind that assents to what has real existence, real excellence, and real capacity. Its functions are to cut off the obstacle of faithlessness, to enable the perfecting of the provisions for enlightenment, to benefit oneself and others, to lead toward the good destinies, and to increase pure faith. As the scripture says: "One generates firm faith in the Tathāgata."
As for a sense of shame: its essential nature is to feel disgrace at wrongdoing, taking oneself and the Dharma as one's standard. Its function is to cut off the obstacle of shamelessness — and so on as above, down to: to increase a sense of shame. As the scripture says: "Ashamed of what should shame one," and so on at length.
As for a sense of embarrassment: its essential nature is to feel disgrace at wrongdoing, taking the world as one's standard. Its function is to cut off the obstacle of shamelessness before others — and so on as above, down to: to increase a sense of embarrassment. As the scripture says: "Embarrassed at what should embarrass one," and so on at length.
無貪者，謂於有有具厭離、無執、不藏、不愛、無著為體。能斷貪障為業，如前乃至增長無貪為業。如經說：無貪善根。
無瞋者，謂於諸有情心無損害慈愍為體。能斷瞋障為業，如前乃至增長無瞋為業。如經說：無瞋善根。
無癡者，謂正了真實為體。能斷癡障為業，如前乃至增長無癡為業。如經說：無癡善根。
精進者：謂心勇無惰、不自輕賤為體。斷懈怠障為業，如前乃至增長精進為業。如經說：起精進住有勢有勤有勇堅猛不捨善軛。
輕安者，謂遠離麁重、身心調暢為體。斷麁重障為業，如前乃至能增長輕安為業。如經說：適悅於意，身及心安。
As for non-greed: its essential nature is to be weary of and detached from existence and the equipment of existence — not grasping, not hoarding, not craving, not clinging. Its function is to cut off the obstacle of craving — and so on as above, down to: to increase non-greed. As the scripture says: "The wholesome root of non-greed."
As for non-hatred: its essential nature is a loving-kindness toward beings in which the mind holds no wish to injure. Its function is to cut off the obstacle of hatred — and so on as above, down to: to increase non-hatred. As the scripture says: "The wholesome root of non-hatred."
As for non-delusion: its essential nature is to understand what is real, correctly. Its function is to cut off the obstacle of delusion — and so on as above, down to: to increase non-delusion. As the scripture says: "The wholesome root of non-delusion."
As for diligence: its essential nature is a mind that is brave and unslothful, and that does not hold itself cheap. Its function is to cut off the obstacle of laziness — and so on as above, down to: to increase diligence. As the scripture says: "One rouses diligence and abides in it — with force, with exertion, with courage, firm and fierce, not casting off the good yoke."
As for pliancy: its essential nature is to be free of coarse heaviness, with body and mind supple and flowing. Its function is to cut off the obstacle of coarse heaviness — and so on as above, down to: to increase pliancy. As the scripture says: "Delighted in mind, with body and mind at ease."
不放逸者，謂總攝無貪無瞋無癡精進為體。依此能斷惡不善法，及能修彼對治善法，斷放逸障為業，如前乃至增長不放逸為業。如經說：所有無量善法生起，一切皆依不放逸根。
捨者，謂總攝無貪、無瞋、無癡、精進為體。依此捨故得心平等、得心正直，心無發動，斷發動障為業，如前乃至增長捨為業。由不放逸除遣染法，由彼捨故於已除遣不染污住。如經說：為除貪憂，心依止捨。
不害者，謂由不惱害諸有情故，悲哀惻愴愍物為體。能斷害障為業，如前乃至增長不害為業。如經說：由不害故知彼聰叡，乃至廣說。
As for heedfulness: its essential nature is to gather up non-greed, non-hatred, non-delusion, and diligence together. In dependence on it one can cut off evil and unwholesome states and cultivate the wholesome states that counteract them. Its function is to cut off the obstacle of heedlessness — and so on as above, down to: to increase heedfulness. As the scripture says: "However many measureless wholesome states arise, all of them rest on the root of heedfulness."
As for equanimity: its essential nature, likewise, is to gather up non-greed, non-hatred, non-delusion, and diligence together. In dependence on this equanimity the mind attains evenness, attains uprightness, and is without agitation. Its function is to cut off the obstacle of agitation — and so on as above, down to: to increase equanimity. By heedfulness the defiled states are expelled; by equanimity one abides undefiled among what has already been expelled. As the scripture says: "In order to remove craving and grief, the mind rests upon equanimity."
As for non-harming: because one does not trouble or injure beings, its essential nature is compassion, grief at another's pain, and pity for creatures. Its function is to cut off the obstacle of harmfulness — and so on as above, down to: to increase non-harming. As the scripture says: "By his non-harming one knows him to be wise," and so on at length.
The pair shame and embarrassment is often blurred in English, and Asaṅga's distinction is precise: both are disgrace felt at the same wrongdoing, and they differ only in the standard invoked. A sense of shame measures the act against oneself and against the Dharma — I am not the sort of person who does this; this is not what the teaching is. A sense of embarrassment measures it against the world — this would not bear being seen. Neither is treated as the higher one. Both are listed among the wholesome.
The most structurally interesting entry is equanimity, because it is defined out of exactly the same four ingredients as heedfulness — non-greed, non-hatred, non-delusion, diligence — and the treatise clearly knows this looks like a duplication. Its answer is in the sentence about expelling: heedfulness is the active work of clearing defilement out, and equanimity is the settled non-reactivity that lets one stay in the cleared ground without stirring it up again. Same ingredients, two phases of one movement. This is also why "equanimity" here must not be read as indifference — its stated marks are evenness and uprightness of mind, not the absence of care, which the very next factor, compassion-rooted non-harming, would rule out anyway.
11. The Six Root Afflictions
The afflictions take the same fixed form as the wholesome factors, with one addition: each is classified as innate (arising with birth) or constructed (acquired through reasoning and doctrine) — a distinction that determines how each is eventually removed. The fifth, wrong view, is a heading covering five distinct views, so the six root afflictions expand to ten when counted out.
貪者，謂於五取蘊愛樂覆藏保著為體。或是俱生或分別起，能障無貪為業、障得菩提資糧圓滿為業、損害自他為業、能趣惡道為業、增長貪欲為業。如經說：諸有貪愛者，為貪所伏蔽。
瞋者。謂於有情欲興損害為體。或是俱生或分別起，能障無瞋為業，如前乃至增長瞋恚為業。如經說：諸有瞋恚者，為瞋所伏蔽。
慢者，謂以他方己，計我為勝、我等、我劣，令心恃舉為體。或是俱生或分別起，能障無慢為業，如前乃至增長慢為業。如經說：三種慢類，我勝慢類、我等慢類、我劣慢類。
無明者，謂不正了真實為體。或是俱生或分別起，能障正了為業，如前乃至增長無明為業。如經說：諸有愚癡者，無明所伏蔽。
As for craving: its essential nature is to delight in, cover over, and hold fast to the five grasped aggregates. It may be innate or constructed. Its functions are to obstruct non-greed, to obstruct the perfecting of the provisions for enlightenment, to injure oneself and others, to lead toward the evil destinies, and to increase craving. As the scripture says: "Those who have craving are overpowered and blinded by craving."
As for hatred: its essential nature is the wish to do injury to beings. It may be innate or constructed. Its function is to obstruct non-hatred — and so on as above, down to: to increase hatred. As the scripture says: "Those who have hatred are overpowered and blinded by hatred."
As for conceit: its essential nature is to measure oneself against another and reckon "I am better," "I am equal," "I am worse," causing the mind to assert itself. It may be innate or constructed. Its function is to obstruct the absence of conceit — and so on as above, down to: to increase conceit. As the scripture says: "There are three classes of conceit: the class of 'I am better,' the class of 'I am equal,' the class of 'I am worse.'"
As for delusion: its essential nature is to fail to understand what is real, correctly. It may be innate or constructed. Its function is to obstruct correct understanding — and so on as above, down to: to increase delusion. As the scripture says: "Those who have folly are overpowered and blinded by ignorance."
見者，謂五見為體：一薩迦耶見，謂於五取蘊計我我所，染污慧為體。或是俱生或分別起，能障無我無顛倒解為業，如前乃至增長薩迦耶見為業。如經說：如是知見永斷三結，謂身見、戒禁取、疑。
二邊執見，謂於五取蘊執計斷常，染污慧為體。或是俱生或分別起，能障無常無顛倒解為業，如前乃至增長邊執見為業。如經說：迦多衍那一切世間依止二種，或有或無。
三邪見，謂謗因謗果、或謗功用、或壞實事，染污慧為體。唯分別起，能障正見為業，如前乃至增長邪見為業。如經說：有邪見者所執皆倒，乃至廣說。
As for wrong view: its essential nature is the five views. First, the view of a substantial body: reckoning an "I" and a "mine" with respect to the five grasped aggregates, its essential nature is defiled wisdom. It may be innate or constructed. Its function is to obstruct the undistorted understanding of no-self — and so on as above, down to: to increase the view of a substantial body. As the scripture says: "Knowing and seeing thus, one permanently severs the three fetters: the view of a body, clinging to rules and rituals, and doubt."
Second, the extremist view: reckoning annihilation or permanence with respect to the five grasped aggregates, its essential nature is defiled wisdom. It may be innate or constructed. Its function is to obstruct the undistorted understanding of impermanence — and so on as above, down to: to increase the extremist view. As the scripture says: "Kātyāyana, the whole world rests upon two things — existence, or non-existence."
Third, wrong view proper: denying causes, denying effects, denying efficacy, or destroying what is actually the case; its essential nature is defiled wisdom. It arises only as constructed. Its function is to obstruct right view — and so on as above, down to: to increase wrong view. As the scripture says: "One who holds wrong view has every one of his positions inverted," and so on at length.
四見取，謂於前三見及見所依蘊，計最勝上及與第一，染污慧為體。唯分別起，能障苦及不淨無顛倒解為業，如前乃至增長見取為業。如經說：於自所見取執堅住，乃至廣說。
五戒禁取，謂於前諸見及見所依蘊，計為清淨、解脫、出離，染污慧為體。唯分別起，能障如前無顛倒解為業，如前乃至增長戒禁取為業。如經說：取結所繫。
疑者，謂於諸諦猶豫不決為體。唯分別起，能障無疑為業，如前乃至增長疑為業。如經說：猶豫者疑。
Fourth, clinging to views: reckoning the three views above, and the aggregates on which those views rest, to be supreme, highest, and foremost; its essential nature is defiled wisdom. It arises only as constructed. Its function is to obstruct the undistorted understanding of suffering and of impurity — and so on as above, down to: to increase clinging to views. As the scripture says: "He seizes and holds fast to his own view," and so on at length.
Fifth, clinging to rules and rituals: reckoning the views above, and the aggregates on which those views rest, to be purity, liberation, and deliverance; its essential nature is defiled wisdom. It arises only as constructed. Its function is to obstruct undistorted understanding as before — and so on as above, down to: to increase clinging to rules and rituals. As the scripture says: "Bound by the fetter of grasping."
As for doubt: its essential nature is to waver and remain unsettled with respect to the truths. It arises only as constructed. Its function is to obstruct the absence of doubt — and so on as above, down to: to increase doubt. As the scripture says: "One who wavers, doubts."
The innate-or-constructed classification is not a decoration; it is the whole practical point of the list. Three of the five views — wrong view proper, clinging to views, clinging to rules and rituals — together with doubt, are marked "constructed only." These are acquired: one has to be taught a doctrine, or reason one's way into a position, to hold them at all. That is why the path of seeing can cut them off at a stroke, as the cited scripture says of the three fetters. Craving, hatred, conceit, delusion, the view of a substantial body, and the extremist view are marked as also innate — they come with birth, they are in an infant before any doctrine reaches it, and no amount of seeing the truth removes them all at once. They require the long path of cultivation. The two lists are the reason Buddhist soteriology needs two paths rather than one.
One detail is easy to read past: the essential nature of all five views is given as 染污慧, defiled wisdom. A view is not a failure of intelligence but intelligence itself, running well and running wrong — the same discerning function listed among the wholesome particular factors, turned to the service of a false object. That is precisely why views are harder to dislodge than mere ignorance, and why a clever person can be more thoroughly captured by them than a simple one.
12. The Twenty Secondary Afflictions
Secondary, because each is an outgrowth or specialized form of the root afflictions rather than an independent stem. The definitions are terse, and several turn on a distinction of time — whether the trigger lies in the past, the present, or one's own record.
忿者，謂於現在違緣令心憤發為體。能障無瞋為業，乃至增長忿為業。
恨者，謂於過去違緣結怨不捨為體。能障無瞋為業，乃至增長恨為業。
覆者，謂於過犯，若他諫誨若不諫誨，祕所作惡為體。能障發露悔過為業，乃至增長覆為業。
惱者，謂於過犯，若他諫誨便發麁言，心暴不忍為體，能障善友為業，乃至增長惱為業。
嫉者，謂於他所有功德名譽、恭敬利養，心妬不悅為體。能障慈仁為業，乃至增長嫉為業。
慳者，謂積聚悋著為體。能障無貪為業，乃至增長慳為業。
As for wrath: its essential nature is that a present adverse circumstance makes the mind flare up. Its function is to obstruct non-hatred — down to: to increase wrath.
As for resentment: its essential nature is that with respect to a past adverse circumstance one binds up a grudge and will not let it go. Its function is to obstruct non-hatred — down to: to increase resentment.
As for concealment: its essential nature is that with respect to a transgression, whether or not another admonishes one about it, one keeps the evil one has done secret. Its function is to obstruct disclosure and repentance — down to: to increase concealment.
As for vexation: its essential nature is that with respect to a transgression, when another admonishes one about it, one lets out harsh words, the mind violent and unable to bear it. Its function is to obstruct having good friends — down to: to increase vexation.
As for envy: its essential nature is that with respect to another's merits and good name, the respect and support they receive, the mind is jealous and displeased. Its function is to obstruct loving-kindness — down to: to increase envy.
As for stinginess: its essential nature is hoarding and grudging attachment. Its function is to obstruct non-greed — down to: to increase stinginess.
誑者，謂為惑亂他，現不實事，心詭為體。能障愛敬為業，乃至增長誑為業。
諂者，謂為欺彼故，詐現恭順，心曲為體。能障愛敬為業，乃至增長諂為業。如經說：忿恨覆惱嫉慳誑諂。
憍者，謂暫獲世間興盛等事，心恃高舉無所忌憚為體。能障厭離為業，乃至增長憍為業。如經說：無正聞愚夫，見少年無病壽命等暫住而廣生憍逸，乃至廣說。
害者，謂逼惱有情，無悲無愍無哀無憐無惻為體。能障不害為業，乃至增長害為業。如經說：諸有害者必損惱他。
As for deceit: its essential nature is a crookedness of mind that displays what is not the case in order to mislead another. Its function is to obstruct affection and respect — down to: to increase deceit.
As for flattery: its essential nature is a bent mind that feigns deference in order to dupe another. Its function is to obstruct affection and respect — down to: to increase flattery. As the scripture says: "Wrath, resentment, concealment, vexation, envy, stinginess, deceit, flattery."
As for arrogance: its essential nature is that on briefly acquiring worldly prosperity and the like, the mind puffs itself up and holds nothing in awe. Its function is to obstruct disenchantment — down to: to increase arrogance. As the scripture says: "The foolish worldling who has not heard the true teaching sees youth, health, and long life abiding for a moment, and on that grows widely arrogant and heedless," and so on at length.
As for harmfulness: its essential nature is to press upon and trouble beings, without compassion, without pity, without grief, without tenderness, without any wincing at their pain. Its function is to obstruct non-harming — down to: to increase harmfulness. As the scripture says: "Whoever is harmful is bound to injure and trouble others."
無慚者，謂於自及法二種增上，不恥過惡為體。能障慚為業，乃至增長無慚為業。如經說：不慚所慚，無慚生起惡不善法，乃至廣說。
無愧者，謂於世增上，不恥過惡為體。能障愧為業，乃至增長無愧為業。如經說：不愧所愧，無愧生起惡不善法，乃至廣說。
惛沈者，謂依身麁重，甘執不進以為樂故，令心沈沒為體。能障毘鉢舍那為業，乃至增長惛沈為業。如經說：此人生起身意惛沈。
掉舉者，謂依不正尋求，或復追念曾所經見戲樂等事，心不靜息為體。能障奢摩他為業，乃至增長掉舉為業。如經說：汝為掉動亦復高舉，乃至廣說。
不信者，謂於有體有德有能，心不淨信為體。障信為業，乃至增長不信為業。如經說：若人不住不淨信心，終無退失所有善法，乃至廣說。
As for lack of shame: its essential nature is to feel no disgrace at wrongdoing when measured by the twofold standard of oneself and the Dharma. Its function is to obstruct a sense of shame — down to: to increase shamelessness. As the scripture says: "Unashamed of what should shame one, shamelessness gives rise to evil and unwholesome states," and so on at length.
As for lack of embarrassment: its essential nature is to feel no disgrace at wrongdoing when measured by the standard of the world. Its function is to obstruct a sense of embarrassment — down to: to increase it. As the scripture says: "Unembarrassed at what should embarrass one, lack of embarrassment gives rise to evil and unwholesome states," and so on at length.
As for torpor: its essential nature is that, resting on the body's coarse heaviness, one willingly holds to not advancing because one takes that for comfort, and the mind sinks under. Its function is to obstruct insight — down to: to increase torpor. As the scripture says: "In this person, torpor of body and mind arises."
As for restlessness: its essential nature is that, resting on improper seeking, or else on recalling amusements and entertainments one has formerly experienced, the mind will not come to rest. Its function is to obstruct calm abiding — down to: to increase restlessness. As the scripture says: "You are agitated, and moreover puffed up," and so on at length.
As for lack of faith: its essential nature is a mind without clear confidence in what has real existence, real excellence, and real capacity. Its function is to obstruct faith — down to: to increase faithlessness. As the scripture says: "If a person does not abide in a mind of clear faith, he will in the end lose whatever wholesome states he has," and so on at length.
懈怠者，謂耽著睡眠倚臥樂故、怖畏升進自輕蔑故，心不勉勵為體。能障發起正勤為業，乃至增長懈怠為業。如經說：若有懈怠必退正勤，乃至廣說。
放逸者，謂總貪、瞋、癡、懈怠為體。由依此故，心不制止惡不善法，及不修習彼對治法，障不放逸為業，乃至增長放逸為業。如經說：夫放逸者是生死迹，乃至廣說。
失念者，謂於久所作所說所思，若法若義，染污不記為體。障不忘念為業，乃至增長失念為業。如經說：謂失念者無所能為，乃至廣說。
心亂者，謂於所修善，心不喜樂為依止故，馳散外緣為體。能障等持為業，乃至增長心亂為業。如經說：若於五欲其心散亂流轉不息，乃至廣說。
不正知者，謂於身語意行不正了住，染污慧為體。能障正知為業，乃至增長不正知為業。如經說：有失念者住不正知，乃至廣說。
As for laziness: its essential nature is a mind that will not exert itself, because it is addicted to the pleasure of sleeping and lying down, and because it is afraid of advancing and holds itself in contempt. Its function is to obstruct the arousing of right diligence — down to: to increase laziness. As the scripture says: "Whoever is lazy is bound to fall away from right diligence," and so on at length.
As for heedlessness: its essential nature is craving, hatred, delusion, and laziness taken together. In dependence on it, the mind neither restrains evil and unwholesome states nor cultivates the states that counteract them. Its function is to obstruct heedfulness — down to: to increase heedlessness. As the scripture says: "Heedlessness is the track of birth and death," and so on at length.
As for forgetfulness: its essential nature is a defiled failure to retain what was long ago done, said, or thought, whether as teaching or as meaning. Its function is to obstruct unforgetting mindfulness — down to: to increase forgetfulness. As the scripture says: "One who has lost mindfulness can accomplish nothing," and so on at length.
As for distraction: its essential nature is a running out and scattering toward outer conditions, resting on the mind's taking no delight in the good one is cultivating. Its function is to obstruct concentration — down to: to increase distraction. As the scripture says: "If toward the five desires his mind is scattered and flows on without ceasing," and so on at length.
As for incorrect knowledge: its essential nature is defiled wisdom that does not rightly understand how one is standing in the conduct of body, speech, and mind. Its function is to obstruct correct knowing — down to: to increase incorrect knowledge. As the scripture says: "One who has lost mindfulness abides in incorrect knowledge," and so on at length.
Read the first four in order and a small drama emerges, staged entirely around a single wrongdoing. Wrath is the flare at a present provocation; resentment is the same heat kept banked from the past; concealment is what one does with one's own transgression when it might come to light; vexation is what one does when someone actually names it. The four are not four unrelated faults but four positions a mind can take toward one uncomfortable fact, sorted by whether the trigger is present or past and whether the fault is another's or one's own. The stated antidote is telling: concealment's opposite is not honesty in the abstract but 發露悔過 — open disclosure and repentance, the specific monastic act.
Torpor and restlessness are given precisely opposite functions — torpor obstructs insight, restlessness obstructs calm abiding — and this is the standard meditation pairing rather than a coincidence of vocabulary. A sunk mind cannot see clearly; an agitated mind cannot settle. Torpor's definition also contains the sharpest psychological observation in the list: one holds to not advancing 以為樂, because one takes that for comfort. Torpor is not merely fatigue. It is fatigue that has been reinterpreted as rest, which is what makes it something to be cut off rather than slept off.
13. The Four Indeterminate Factors
Indeterminate, because these four are not wholesome or unwholesome in themselves — they take their moral character from the company they keep. The last of them, subtle discursive thought, closes the roster with the same argument for the inseparability of mind and factors that opened it.
惡作者，謂於已作未作善不善事，若染不染，悵怏追變為體。能障奢摩他為業，乃至增長惡作為業。如經說：若懷追悔則不安隱，乃至廣說。
睡眠者，謂略攝於心不自在轉為體。能障毘鉢舍那為業，乃至增長睡眠為業。如經說：貪著睡眠味，如大魚所吞。
尋者，謂或時由思於法造作、或時由慧於法推求，散行外境令心麁轉為體。障心內淨為業，乃至增長尋為業。
As for regret: its essential nature is a rueful turning-back-over of what one has done or left undone, wholesome or unwholesome, whether defiled or undefiled. Its function is to obstruct calm abiding — down to: to increase regret. As the scripture says: "If one harbors remorse, one is not at ease," and so on at length.
As for sleep: its essential nature is a gathering-in and contraction of the mind, which then turns without self-mastery. Its function is to obstruct insight — down to: to increase sleep. As the scripture says: "Craving the taste of sleep, like one swallowed by a great fish."
As for coarse discursive thought: its essential nature is that at times, through volition, one fashions something with respect to a matter, and at times, through wisdom, one searches into a matter — running loose among outer objects, making the mind turn coarsely. Its function is to obstruct inner purity of mind — down to: to increase coarse discursive thought.
伺者，謂從阿賴耶識種子所生，依心所起與心俱轉相應，於所尋法略行外境，令心細轉為體。餘如尋說。乃至增長伺為業，由此與心同緣一境故，說和合非不和合。如薄伽梵說：若於此伺察即於此了別，若於此了別即於此伺察，是故此二恒和合非不和合，此之二法不可施設離別殊異。復如是說：心心法行不可思議。
證有此二，阿笈摩者，如薄伽梵說：由依尋伺故發起言說，非無尋伺。
諸心法中略不說者，如其所應，廣說應知。如識與心法不可思議，是諸心法展轉相望應知亦爾。
As for subtle discursive thought: it is produced from a seed in the ālayavijñāna, arises in dependence on mind, and turns together with mind, associated with it; its essential nature is to move lightly among outer objects with respect to what coarse thought has been searching into, making the mind turn finely. The rest is as stated for coarse discursive thought, down to: to increase subtle discursive thought. Because it takes one and the same object as the mind does, it is said to be conjoined with mind and not disjoined from it. As the Blessed One said: "Where there is subtle examination of this, there is discrimination of this; where there is discrimination of this, there is subtle examination of this." Therefore these two are perpetually conjoined and never disjoined, and it is not possible to designate them as separate or distinct. And again it says: "The workings of mind and mental factors are inconceivable."
The scriptural authority establishing that these two exist is as the Blessed One said: "It is in dependence on coarse and subtle discursive thought that speech is set going; it does not occur without them."
As for those mental factors here treated only in brief, they should be understood as expounded at length, each as is fitting. And just as consciousness together with its mental factors is inconceivable, so too, it should be understood, is the relation of these mental factors to one another.
Coarse and subtle discursive thought are distinguished by grain rather than by subject matter: the first casts about for a matter, the second goes over the matter that casting-about has found. The definitions are careful about where each comes from — coarse thought works "through volition" when it fashions and "through wisdom" when it searches, which is to say it is not an extra faculty but those two factors operating at a certain roughness. This is why the pair are indeterminate. Discursive thought obstructs inner stillness, and it is also the thing without which no one could say a sentence, as the scriptural line about speech points out.
Asaṅga closes the whole roster of fifty-one by extending the inseparability argument twice over. Not only can mind and any mental factor not be prised apart; neither can the factors be prised apart from each other. The list of fifty-one is therefore an analytical convenience — six categories, fifty-one names, all of them describing aspects of single indivisible moments of experience, none of them a separately existing part. Keeping this in view is what stops Yogācāra's enormous inventories from becoming a catalogue of little things inside the mind.
14. Form: The Four Great Elements, Inner and Outer
The third of the five categories. Fifteen kinds of form are named, and the first four — earth, water, fire, wind — are each given twice over, once as they occur inside a living body and once as they occur in the world outside it.
色者有十五種，謂地、水、火、風、眼、耳、鼻、舌、身、色、聲、香、味、觸一分及法處所攝色。
地有二種：一內、二外。內謂各別身內眼等五根及彼居處之所依止，堅鞕所攝有執受性。復有增上積集，所謂髮毛爪齒、塵垢皮肉、筋骨脈等諸不淨物，是內地體形段。受用為業。外謂各別身外色等五境之所依止，堅鞕所攝非執受性。復有增上積集，所謂礫石丘山樹林甎等。水等災起彼尋壞滅，是外地體形段。受用為業、依持受用為業、破壞受用為業、對治資養為業。
Form is of fifteen kinds: earth, water, fire, wind; eye, ear, nose, tongue, body; visible form, sound, smell, taste, a portion of the tangible; and form included in the dharma sense field.
Earth is of two kinds, inner and outer. The inner is what serves as support for the five faculties — eye and the rest — within each individual body, and for the places where those faculties are lodged; it belongs to what is hard and solid, and is of the appropriated kind. It also occurs as dominant accumulations, namely hair, body hair, nails, teeth, grime, skin, flesh, sinew, bone, and the vessels — impure substances of that sort. This is the inner substance of earth, in its bodily portions. Its function is to be made use of. The outer is what serves as support for the five objects — visible form and the rest — outside each individual body; it belongs to what is hard and solid, and is not appropriated. It too occurs as dominant accumulations, namely gravel, stone, hills and mountains, groves and forests, brick, and the like. When the disaster of water and the rest arises, these are straightaway destroyed. This is the outer substance of earth, in its portions. Its functions are to be made use of, to support and sustain what is made use of, to wreck what is made use of, and to counteract and nourish.
水亦二種：一內、二外。內謂各別身內眼等五根及彼居處之所依止，濕潤所攝有執受性。復有增上積集，所謂洟淚涎汗、膏髓痰等諸不淨物，是內水體。潤澤聚集受用為業。外謂各別身外色等五境之所依止，濕潤所攝非執受性。復有增上積集，所謂泉源溪沼巨壑洪流等，火等災起彼尋消竭。是外水體。依持受用為業、變壞受用為業、對治資養為業。
火亦二種：一內、二外。內謂各別身內眼等五根及彼居處之所依止，煖熱所攝有執受性。復有增上積集，所謂能令有情遍溫增熱，又能消化凡所飲噉。諸如是等是內火體。成熟和合受用為業。外謂各別身外色等五境之所依止，煖熱所攝非執受性。復有增上積集，所謂炎燎村城蔓延洲渚，乃至空逈無依故滅，或鑽木擊石種種求火，此火生已不久灰燼，是外火體。變壞受用為業、對治資養為業。
Water is likewise of two kinds, inner and outer. The inner is what serves as support for the five faculties within each individual body and for the places where they are lodged; it belongs to what is moist, and is of the appropriated kind. It occurs as dominant accumulations, namely mucus, tears, saliva, sweat, fat, marrow, phlegm, and impure substances of that sort. This is the inner substance of water. Its function is to moisten, to draw together, and to be made use of. The outer is what serves as support for the five objects outside each individual body; it belongs to what is moist, and is not appropriated. It occurs as dominant accumulations, namely springs and sources, streams and pools, great ravines and floods, and the like; when the disaster of fire and the rest arises, these are straightaway dried up. This is the outer substance of water. Its functions are to support and sustain what is made use of, to alter and ruin what is made use of, and to counteract and nourish.
Fire is likewise of two kinds, inner and outer. The inner is what serves as support for the five faculties within each individual body and for the places where they are lodged; it belongs to what is warm and hot, and is of the appropriated kind. It occurs as dominant accumulations, namely what warms a being throughout and raises its heat, and what digests whatever is drunk or eaten. Such things are the inner substance of fire. Its function is to ripen, to blend, and to be made use of. The outer is what serves as support for the five objects outside each individual body; it belongs to what is warm and hot, and is not appropriated. It occurs as dominant accumulations, namely blazes that burn villages and cities and spread across islands and shoals — until, in the open emptiness, having nothing to rest on, they go out; or the fire sought by drilling wood and striking stone, which once produced is soon reduced to ash. This is the outer substance of fire. Its functions are to alter and ruin what is made use of, and to counteract and nourish.
風亦二種：一內、二外。內謂各別身內眼等五根及彼居處之所依止，輕動所攝有執受性。復有增上積集，所謂上下橫行入出氣息，諸如是等是內風體。發動作事受用為業。外謂各別身外色等五境之所依止，輕動所攝非執受性。復有增上積集，所謂摧破山崖偃伏林木等，彼既散壞無依故靜。若求風者動衣搖扇，其不動搖無緣故息。諸如是等是外風體。依持受用為業、變壞受用為業、對治資養為業。
Wind is likewise of two kinds, inner and outer. The inner is what serves as support for the five faculties within each individual body and for the places where they are lodged; it belongs to what is light and moving, and is of the appropriated kind. It occurs as dominant accumulations, namely the breath that travels upward, downward, and across, and that goes out and comes in — such things are the inner substance of wind. Its function is to set activity in motion and to be made use of. The outer is what serves as support for the five objects outside each individual body; it belongs to what is light and moving, and is not appropriated. It occurs as dominant accumulations, namely what shatters cliffs and lays forests flat; and once these have been scattered and broken, having nothing left to rest on, it grows still. Or, if one wants wind, one flaps a robe or waves a fan — and when there is no flapping, having no condition, it stops. Such things are the outer substance of wind. Its functions are to support and sustain what is made use of, to alter and ruin what is made use of, and to counteract and nourish.
The organizing distinction here is 執受, appropriated — whether a piece of matter has been taken up by consciousness as its own. This is what separates inner earth from outer earth, and it is not a distinction between kinds of stuff: bone and gravel are both hard and solid. What differs is that bone has been appropriated, so that damage to it is felt, and gravel has not. This is the technical sense in which a body is one's own, and it is worth noting that the criterion is entirely a matter of consciousness's relation to the matter rather than of the matter itself.
The strangest feature of these four definitions, to a modern reader, is that the functions listed for each element include wrecking as well as sustaining — outer earth 破壞受用, outer water 變壞受用. Elements are not neutral building blocks here; each is simultaneously what holds a world together and what will eventually take it apart, which is why the passages keep glancing at the disasters that end an aeon. The next topic picks that thread up directly.
15. The Faculties and Their Objects
Nine more of the fifteen kinds of form: the five sense faculties, then visible form, sound, smell, taste, and that portion of the tangible which counts as derived form.
眼謂一切種子阿賴耶識之所執受，四大所造色為境界，緣色境識之所依止。淨色為體。色蘊所攝，無見有對性。如眼，如是耳鼻舌身亦爾。此中差別者，謂各行自境、緣自境識之所依止。
色謂眼所行境，眼識所緣，四大所造若顯色、若形色、若表色為體。色蘊所攝，有見有對。此復三種，謂妙、不妙及俱相違。彼復云何？謂青、黃、赤、白如是等顯色，長、短、方、圓、麁、細、高、下、正及不正，煙、雲、塵、霧、光、影、明、闇，若空一顯色，若彼影像之色，是名為色。
The eye is what is appropriated by the ālayavijñāna that bears all seeds; its domain is form derived from the four great elements; and it serves as the support of the consciousness that takes form as its object. Its essential nature is subtle matter. It is included in the aggregate of form, and it is invisible yet resistant. As with the eye, so too with the ear, nose, tongue, and body. The differences among them are these: each ranges over its own object, and each serves as the support of the consciousness that takes that object.
Visible form is the object over which the eye ranges and which eye consciousness takes as its object; its essential nature is color, shape, and expressive movement, derived from the four great elements. It is included in the aggregate of form, and it is both visible and resistant. It is of three kinds: attractive, unattractive, and neither. And what are these? Colors such as blue, yellow, red, and white; long, short, square, round, coarse, fine, high, low, even and uneven; smoke, cloud, dust, mist, light, shadow, brightness, and darkness; the single color of open sky; and the form of reflected images. This is what is called visible form.
聲謂耳所行境，耳識所緣，四大所造可聞音為體。色蘊所攝，無見有對。此復三種，謂可意、不可意及俱相違。或因手等相擊出聲、或由尋伺扣絃拊革，或依世俗、或為養命、或宣暢法義而起言說，或依託崖谷而發響聲。如是若自相、若分別、若響音，是名為聲。
香謂鼻所行境，鼻識所緣，四大所造可嗅物為體。色蘊所攝，無見有對性。此復三種，謂好香、惡香及俱非香。彼復云何？所謂根莖皮、葉花果、煙末等香，若俱生、若和合、若變異，是名為香。
味謂舌所行境，舌識所緣，四大所造可嘗物為體。色蘊所攝，無見有對性。此復三種，謂甘、不甘及俱相違。彼復云何？所謂酥油、沙糖、石蜜、熟果等味，若俱生、若和合、若變異，是名為味。
Sound is the object over which the ear ranges and which ear consciousness takes as its object; its essential nature is audible tone derived from the four great elements. It is included in the aggregate of form, and it is invisible yet resistant. It is of three kinds: agreeable, disagreeable, and neither. It may issue from hands and the like striking together; or from plucking a string or beating a drumhead under the guidance of discursive thought; or it may be speech set going according to worldly convention, for the sake of a livelihood, or to proclaim the meaning of the Dharma; or it may be an echo sent back by a cliff or a valley. Thus sound in its own character, sound as articulated, and reverberating sound — this is what is called sound.
Smell is the object over which the nose ranges and which nose consciousness takes as its object; its essential nature is what can be smelled, derived from the four great elements. It is included in the aggregate of form, and it is invisible yet resistant. It is of three kinds: pleasant, foul, and neither. And what are these? The smells of root, stalk, and bark, of leaf, flower, and fruit, of smoke and powder, and the like — whether arising together with the thing, or produced by combination, or produced by alteration. This is what is called smell.
Taste is the object over which the tongue ranges and which tongue consciousness takes as its object; its essential nature is what can be tasted, derived from the four great elements. It is included in the aggregate of form, and it is invisible yet resistant. It is of three kinds: sweet, not sweet, and neither. And what are these? The tastes of butter and oil, of raw sugar, rock candy, and ripe fruit, and the like — whether arising together with the thing, or produced by combination, or produced by alteration. This is what is called taste.
觸一分謂身所行境，身識所緣，四大所造可觸物為體。色蘊所攝，無見有對性。此復三種，謂妙、不妙及俱相違。彼復云何？所謂澁、滑、輕、重、緩、急、煖、冷、飢、渴、飽、悶、強、弱、癢、病、老、死、疲、息、粘、勇，或緣光澤或不光澤、或緣堅實或不堅實，或緣執縛、或緣增聚、或緣乖違、或緣和順，若俱生、若和合、若變異，是名觸一分。
A portion of the tangible is the object over which the body ranges and which body consciousness takes as its object; its essential nature is what can be touched, derived from the four great elements. It is included in the aggregate of form, and it is invisible yet resistant. It is of three kinds: attractive, unattractive, and neither. And what are these? Rough and smooth, light and heavy, slack and taut, warm and cold, hunger, thirst, satiety, oppression, strength and weakness, itching, sickness, aging, dying, weariness and rest, stickiness and vigor; conditions of glossiness or its absence, of firmness or its absence, of being bound tight, of being heaped up, of discord, of accord — whether arising together with the thing, or produced by combination, or produced by alteration. This is what is called a portion of the tangible.
"A portion of the tangible" (觸一分) is a deliberately careful phrase, and the qualifier is the point. Everything tangible divides into the four great elements themselves — hardness, wetness, warmth, motion — and what is derived from them. Since the four elements have already been listed as their own items, only the remainder is counted here, and it must be flagged as a portion so it is not double-counted. Note what falls into that remainder: hunger, thirst, sickness, aging, dying, weariness. In this scheme the felt weight of a mortal body is not a mood or an interpretation. It is classified as tangible form, on the same footing as rough and smooth.
The faculties are called 淨色, subtle matter — literally "clear form" — and are said to be invisible yet resistant. The eye that sees is therefore not the visible eyeball, which is merely where it is lodged; it is a form of matter that cannot itself be seen. The first clause of the definition then does something no Abhidharma account would: it makes the faculty something appropriated by the ālayavijñāna. Consciousness is not simply given a set of sense organs to work with. It has taken them up as its own, which is what makes them faculties at all.
16. Form Included in the Dharma Sense Field
The fifteenth and last kind of form is the odd one: form that no sense faculty can reach, which appears only to mental consciousness. Three sorts are named, and the third belongs squarely to meditation.
法處所攝色，謂一切時意所行境，色蘊所攝，無見無對。此復三種，謂律儀色、不律儀色及三摩地所行境色。律儀色云何？謂防護身語業者，由彼增上造作心心法故，依彼不現行法建立色性。不律儀色云何？謂不防護身語業者，由彼增上造作心心法故，依彼現行法建立色性。三摩地所行境色云何？謂由下中上三摩地俱轉，相應心心法故，起彼所緣影像色性，及彼所作成就色性，是名法處所攝。
Form included in the dharma sense field is the object over which mentation ranges at all times. It is included in the aggregate of form, and it is neither visible nor resistant. It is of three kinds: the form of restraint, the form of non-restraint, and form that is the object of concentration.
What is the form of restraint? In one who guards the actions of body and speech, because the mind and mental factors that do this work exercise a dominant influence, a formal nature is established on the basis of what he thereby does not enact.
What is the form of non-restraint? In one who does not guard the actions of body and speech, because the mind and mental factors that do this work exercise a dominant influence, a formal nature is established on the basis of what he does enact.
What is form that is the object of concentration? Because of the mind and mental factors associated with and turning together with concentration of lesser, middling, or greater degree, there arise the formal nature of the reflected image taken as that concentration's object, and the formal nature of what that concentration accomplishes. This is what is called form included in the dharma sense field.
The first two kinds are the Abhidharma solution to a real problem about vows. When a person takes a precept and then, for years, does not kill, what exactly is present in them? Something must be, or there would be no difference between a person under vows and a person who simply happens not to have killed today. The answer here is that a formal nature is established on the basis of the non-enacted act — restraint is a kind of form, invisible and unresisting, carried in the person. The parallel with non-restraint is exact and rather bleak: a person who has abandoned all guarding likewise carries a formal nature, established on what they do enact.
The third kind matters more for this site's readers. The image a meditator holds before the mind — the object of concentration — is classified here as genuine form, not as a mental picture of some absent thing. And the definition adds a second item that is easy to miss: 所作成就色, the formal nature of what the concentration accomplishes. Meditative attainment is not only a way of seeing; on this analysis it produces something. The Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra raises the obvious question about the first item — whether that image is different from the mind observing it — and answers that it is not. Asaṅga is not disagreeing; he is classifying, and within a survey of the fifteen kinds of form, the meditative image gets its place here.
17. The Twenty-Four Formations Dissociated from Mind
The fourth category collects everything that is neither form nor mental factor: not substances at all, but nominal designations imposed on states of other things. Asaṅga is explicit that they are provisional, and equally explicit that the list is not exhaustive.
色心不相應行者，謂諸行與心不相應，於心心法及色法分位假施設性不可施設，與心等法若一若異。彼復差別有二十四種，謂得、無想定、滅盡定、無想天、命根、眾同分、生、老、住、無常、名身、句身、文身、異生性、流轉、定異、相應、次第、勢速、時、方、數、和合、不和合。復有諸餘如是種類差別應知。
As for the formations dissociated from form and mind: these are formations not associated with mind — nominal designations imposed upon states of mind, mental factors, and form, which cannot be designated as either identical with or different from mind and the rest.
They are of twenty-four kinds: possession; the attainment of no-thought; the attainment of cessation; the heaven of no-thought; the life faculty; class-commonality; birth, aging, duration, impermanence; word-groups, phrase-groups, syllable-groups; the state of an ordinary being; flow; determinate difference; correspondence; sequence; velocity; time; place; number; combination; non-combination. And there are still others of this same kind, which should be understood accordingly.
得者，此復三種：一諸行種子所攝相續差別性、二自在生起相續差別性、三自相生起相續差別性。
無想定者，謂已離遍淨欲，未離上地欲，觀想如病如癰如箭，唯無想天寂靜微妙。由於無想天起出離想作意前方便故，不恒現行心心法滅性。
滅盡定者，謂已離無所有處欲，或入非想非非想處定、或復上進。或入無想定、或復上進，由起暫息想作意前方便故，止息所緣不恒現行諸心心法及恒行一分諸心心法滅性。
無想天者，謂先於此間得無想定，由此後生無想有情天處，不恒現行諸心心法滅性。
命根者，謂先業所引異熟，六處住時決定性。
眾同分者，謂諸有情互相似性。
異生性者，此有二種：一愚夫異生性、二無聞異生性。愚夫異生性者，謂無始世來有情身中愚夫之性。無聞異生性者，謂如來法外諸邪道性。
Possession is of three kinds: the distinctive continuity comprised in the seeds of formations; the distinctive continuity of what arises at will; and the distinctive continuity of what arises in its own character.
The attainment of no-thought: one who has become free of craving for the Universal Purity heaven but not yet free of craving for the levels above it contemplates perception as a disease, an abscess, an arrow, holding that only the heaven of no-thought is peaceful and subtle. Because of the preliminary expedient of an attention that turns toward the notion of deliverance in the heaven of no-thought, it is the cessation of those mind and mental factors that do not operate perpetually.
The attainment of cessation: one who has become free of craving for the sphere of nothingness, whether entering the concentration of the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception or advancing further, or entering the attainment of no-thought or advancing further — because of the preliminary expedient of an attention that gives rise to the notion of a temporary rest, it is the stilling of the object, and the cessation both of those mind and mental factors that do not operate perpetually and of a portion of those that do.
The heaven of no-thought: one who has first obtained the attainment of no-thought here is thereafter born in the heavenly abode of beings without thought; it is the cessation there of those mind and mental factors that do not operate perpetually.
The life faculty: it is the determinateness of the duration of the six sense fields, as the ripened result drawn on by former karma.
Class-commonality: it is the mutual resemblance of beings.
The state of an ordinary being is of two kinds: the state of a foolish ordinary being, and the state of an unlearned ordinary being. The first is the folly present in the bodies of beings from beginningless time. The second is the condition of those false paths that lie outside the Tathāgata's teaching.
生者，謂諸行自相發起性。老者，謂諸行前後變異性。住者，謂諸行生時相續不斷性。無常者，謂諸行自相生後滅壞性。
名身者，謂詮諸行等法自體，想號假立性。句身者，謂聚集諸名，顯染淨義言說所依性。文身者，謂前二所依字性。
流轉者，謂諸行因果相續不斷性。定異者，謂諸行因果各異性。相應者，謂諸行因果相稱性。勢速者，謂諸行流轉迅疾性。次第者，謂諸行一一次第流轉性。時者，謂諸行展轉新新生滅性。方者，謂諸色行遍分齊性。數者，謂諸行等各別相續體相流轉性。和合者，謂諸行緣會性。不和合者，謂諸行緣乖性。
Birth: the setting-forth of formations in their own character. Aging: the alteration of formations between before and after. Duration: the unbroken continuity of formations at the time of their arising. Impermanence: the perishing of formations after they have arisen in their own character.
Word-groups: the nominal establishment of designating labels that express the essential natures of formations and other things. Phrase-groups: the gathering of words together, serving as the basis of speech that displays defiled or purified meaning. Syllable-groups: the letters on which the former two rest.
Flow: the unbroken continuity of cause and effect among formations. Determinate difference: the distinctness of each cause and effect among formations. Correspondence: the matching of cause to effect among formations. Velocity: the swiftness of formations in their flowing on. Sequence: the one-after-another flowing on of formations. Time: the ever-renewed arising and ceasing of formations, moment upon moment. Place: the pervasive demarcation of formations that are form. Number: the flowing on of formations as distinct continuities, each with its own substance and character. Combination: the meeting of the conditions of formations. Non-combination: the divergence of the conditions of formations.
The category's defining sentence is the important one, and it is worth reading closely: these twenty-four are 假施設, nominally imposed, upon states (分位) of mind, mental factors, and form — and they can be designated neither as identical with those things nor as different from them. Time is not a thing that flows alongside events; it is the name for events arising and ceasing anew. Number is not a thing added to what is counted. Neither is velocity, sequence, or place. This is a substantial metaphysical claim delivered in a subordinate clause, and it is the reason the whole category exists: the treatise needs somewhere to put the terms that any description of the world requires but that nothing in the world answers to.
The closing admission — "and there are still others of this same kind" — deserves note in a text this systematic. Asaṅga is not claiming the list of twenty-four is complete, and given what the category is, he could not: wherever language imposes a term on a state of things, another item of this kind appears. The five aggregates are a closed list; this one is explicitly open.
18. The Eight Unconditioned
The fifth and last category. Where most Abhidharma counts three unconditioned things, this treatise counts eight — and the extra five are what make it a Mahāyāna list.
無為者，此有八種，謂虛空、非擇滅、擇滅、不動、想受滅、善法真如、不善法真如、無記法真如。虛空者，謂諸心心法所緣外色對治境界性。非擇滅者，謂因緣不會，於其中間諸行不起，滅而非離繫性。擇滅者，謂由慧方便，有漏諸行畢竟不起，滅而是離繫性。不動者，謂離遍淨欲得第四靜慮，於其中間苦樂離繫性。想受滅者，謂離無所有處欲入滅盡定，於其中間不恒現行心心法及恒行一分心心法滅，而離繫性。善、不善、無記法真如者，謂於善、不善、無記法中清淨境界性。
The unconditioned is of eight kinds: space; cessation not through discrimination; cessation through discrimination; the immovable; the cessation of perception and feeling; the suchness of wholesome things; the suchness of unwholesome things; the suchness of morally neutral things.
Space is that objective domain which counteracts the outer form taken as object by mind and mental factors.
Cessation not through discrimination: when causes and conditions do not meet, formations do not arise in the interval — a cessation, but not a release from bondage.
Cessation through discrimination: through the expedient of wisdom, contaminated formations finally do not arise at all — a cessation, and this one is a release from bondage.
The immovable: having become free of craving for the Universal Purity heaven, one attains the fourth meditative absorption, and in that interval there is release from bondage to pain and pleasure.
The cessation of perception and feeling: having become free of craving for the sphere of nothingness, one enters the attainment of cessation, and in that interval those mind and mental factors that do not operate perpetually, together with a portion of those that do, cease — and this is release from bondage.
The suchness of wholesome, unwholesome, and morally neutral things: it is the pure objective domain within wholesome, unwholesome, and morally neutral things.
The two cessations are distinguished by a single clause, and everything hangs on it. Both are genuine non-arising. But cessation not through discrimination happens because the conditions simply failed to meet — the fire had nothing left to burn — and when the conditions do meet again, the formations will arise as before. It is 滅而非離繫: a cessation, but not a release from bondage. Cessation through discrimination is reached by wisdom and is final. The difference is not in how quiet things have become; it is in whether anything has actually been untied.
The last three are the Mahāyāna addition, and they say something worth pausing over. Suchness is listed not once but three times — as the suchness of wholesome things, of unwholesome things, and of neutral things. The unconditioned is not found by leaving the wholesome-unwholesome-neutral world behind and arriving somewhere else. It is the pure objective domain within each of the three, unwholesome things included. A treatise that has just spent many pages sorting the afflictions in exhaustive detail here quietly notes that suchness is no less present in them than in faith or non-hatred.
19. The Three Marks: How the Five Categories Meet the Three Natures
One short paragraph closes topic one, and it retroactively changes the status of everything that came before. All five categories, Asaṅga says, are to be read through three marks — which are the three natures under different names.
復次如是五法復有三相應知，一增益相、二增益所起相、三法性相。增益相者，謂諸法中遍計所執自性。增益所起相者，謂諸法中如其所應依他起自性。法性相者，謂諸法中圓成實自性。
Furthermore, it should be understood that these five categories have three marks: the mark of superimposition, the mark of what arises from superimposition, and the mark of the nature of things.
The mark of superimposition is the imagined nature within things. The mark of what arises from superimposition is the dependent nature within things, as is fitting in each case. The mark of the nature of things is the perfectly accomplished nature within things.
Four sentences, and the whole preceding inventory is reframed. Everything catalogued in this fascicle — eight consciousnesses, fifty-one mental factors, fifteen kinds of form, twenty-four dissociated formations, eight unconditioned things — is not a list of what exists in one flat sense. Each item carries all three marks. Read as superimposed, it is the imagined nature and does not exist as imagined. Read as arisen, it is the dependent nature and exists as a conditioned occurrence. Read as it truly is, it is the perfectly accomplished nature. The three natures are not a further topic to be reached later; they are the depth dimension of every item already listed.
Asaṅga's naming here is his own and repays attention. He does not simply write the three standard terms and move on — he gives each a mark-name first: 增益相, the mark of superimposition, and 增益所起相, the mark of what arises from superimposition. That second name is a compact piece of doctrine. The dependent nature is not a neutral middle term sitting between the imagined and the perfect; it is named as what superimposition throws up. This is the same claim the treatise made when it derived the ālayavijñāna from the perfuming of conceptual proliferation, and it is worth carrying forward: on this account the conditioned world is not merely there to be misread — it is in some measure the sediment of prior misreading.
20. Topic Two: The Realms
The second of the nine topics, and the shortest verse in the fascicle. The word 界 here does not mean the eighteen elements; it means where beings live — the three realms, and the world systems that contain them.
如是已說一切，界今當說。頌曰：
界謂欲色等， 及與三千界。
Everything has now been expounded; the realms shall now be expounded.
The realms are desire, form, and the rest,
together with the thousand-fold worlds.
論曰：界有二種，一欲等三界、二三千世界。欲等三界者，一欲界，謂未離欲地雜眾煩惱諸蘊差別。二色界，謂已離欲地雜眾煩惱諸蘊差別。三無色界，謂離色欲地雜眾煩惱諸蘊差別。
如是三界復有五種差別應知，一相差別、二麁重差別、三方處差別、四受用差別、五任持差別。相差別者，謂欲界中色多相、不鮮淨相、種種雜相；色界中色少相、鮮淨相、非種種雜相；無色界中雖無業所生色，而有定所生色無見無對。又欲界中有苦受相應相、瞋恚相應相、多隨煩惱相應相；色無色界中有苦受不相應相、瞋恚不相應相、少隨煩惱相應相。麁重差別者，謂欲界中麁重麁而損害，色無色界中麁重細而不損害。方處差別者，謂欲界居下方，色界居上方，無色界無方處。受用差別者，謂欲界受用外門境界，色無色界受用內門境界。任持差別者，謂欲廛諸蘊依四食住，色無色廛諸蘊依三食住。
The exposition: realms are of two kinds — the three realms of desire and the rest, and the thousand-fold world systems.
Of the three realms: the realm of desire is the aggregates in their distinctive forms, mixed with the various afflictions, at the levels not yet free of desire. The realm of form is the aggregates in their distinctive forms, mixed with the various afflictions, at the levels already free of desire. The formless realm is the aggregates in their distinctive forms, mixed with the various afflictions, at the levels free of craving for form.
These three realms should be understood to differ in five ways: in character, in coarse heaviness, in location, in what is enjoyed, and in what sustains them.
In character: in the realm of desire, form is abundant, unclear, and of many mixed sorts; in the realm of form, form is scant, clear, and not of many mixed sorts; in the formless realm, although there is no form produced by karma, there is form produced by concentration, invisible and unresisting. Again, in the realm of desire there is a character associated with painful feeling, associated with hatred, and associated with many secondary afflictions; in the realms of form and formlessness there is a character not associated with painful feeling, not associated with hatred, and associated with few secondary afflictions.
In coarse heaviness: in the realm of desire, the coarse heaviness is gross and injurious; in the realms of form and formlessness, it is subtle and does not injure.
In location: the realm of desire is situated below, the realm of form above, and the formless realm has no location.
In what is enjoyed: the realm of desire enjoys objects by the outer gate; the realms of form and formlessness enjoy objects by the inner gate.
In what sustains them: the aggregates belonging to the realm of desire subsist on four kinds of food; those belonging to the realms of form and formlessness subsist on three.
The three realms are defined by exactly one variable: how far a level has become free of craving. Not by geography, not by the kind of body a being has — the same formula is repeated three times over with only the freedom-clause changing. Cosmology here is a map of attachment, drawn to scale.
Two of the five differences quietly refuse to let the higher realms be mistaken for liberation. The coarse heaviness of the form and formless realms is called subtle and non-injurious, but it is still there; and even the formless realm still has "the aggregates mixed with the various afflictions" written into its definition. These are better places, not free ones. The item about location is the most striking: the formless realm 無方處, has no location at all. It is a mode of existence for which the question "where?" does not arise.
21. The Thousand-Fold Worlds, the Disasters, and the Aeons
The second sense of "realm": not levels of attachment but world systems, counted in thousands, and the cycles of destruction that run through them.
三千世界者，一小千世界、二中千世界、三大千世界。謂一日月之所照臨名一世界。如是千世界中，有千日月、千蘇迷盧山王、千南贍部洲、千東毘提訶洲、千西瞿陀尼洲、千北拘盧洲、千四大王眾天、千三十三天、千夜摩天、千覩史多天、千樂變化天、千他化自在天、千梵世天，合名第一小千世界。復千小千世界名為第二中千世界，復千中千世界名為第三大千世界。
問：何因緣故，小千世界名為卑小？答：猶如特牛斷去兩角，以缺減故名為卑小。如是梵世已下，其中所有千世界不如上地，故名卑小。
As for the thousand-fold worlds: there is the lesser thousand-world, the middling thousand-world, and the great thousand-world. What a single sun and moon shine upon is called one world. Within a thousand such worlds there are a thousand suns and moons, a thousand Sumeru mountain kings, a thousand Jambudvīpa continents of the south, a thousand Videha continents of the east, a thousand Godānīya continents of the west, a thousand Kuru continents of the north, a thousand heavens of the Four Great Kings, a thousand Trāyastriṃśa heavens, a thousand Yāma heavens, a thousand Tuṣita heavens, a thousand Nirmāṇarati heavens, a thousand Paranirmitavaśavartin heavens, and a thousand Brahmā heavens: together these are called the first, the lesser thousand-world. A thousand lesser thousand-worlds are called the second, the middling thousand-world. A thousand middling thousand-worlds are called the third, the great thousand-world.
Question: for what reason is the lesser thousand-world called lowly and small? Answer: it is like a bull whose two horns have been cut off — because of what is lacking, it is called lowly and small. Just so, from the Brahmā world downward, the thousand worlds it contains do not measure up to the levels above, and so are called lowly and small.
如是三千世界，三災所壞，謂火、水、風。災復有三種。三災之頂，謂第二第三第四靜慮。彼第四靜慮諸天，法爾與所居宮俱起俱滅。復有中三劫起，所謂飢饉、疫病、刀兵。二十中劫世間正壞，二十中劫壞已而住，二十中劫世間正成，二十中劫成已而住。如是合有八十中劫，名為大劫。
譬如天雨滴猶車軸，無有間斷從空而注，如是東方無邊世界無有間斷或成或壞，或有正壞、或壞已住、或有正成、或成已住，如是乃至十方世界。
These thousand-fold worlds are destroyed by three disasters: fire, water, and wind — three kinds of disaster in all. The ceilings of the three disasters are the second, third, and fourth meditative absorptions respectively. As for the gods of that fourth absorption, it is simply their nature that they arise and perish together with the palaces they inhabit.
There arise also three intermediate calamities, namely famine, plague, and the sword. For twenty intermediate aeons the world is being destroyed; for twenty it remains destroyed; for twenty it is being formed; and for twenty it remains formed. These together make eighty intermediate aeons, and are called a great aeon.
It is like rain falling from the sky in drops as thick as a chariot axle, pouring down from the void without interruption: so, in the eastern quarter, the boundless worlds are without interruption either forming or being destroyed — some being destroyed, some remaining destroyed, some being formed, some remaining formed — and so it is throughout the worlds of the ten directions.
The detail about the three disasters having ceilings is doctrinally the sharpest thing in this passage. Fire destroys up to the first absorption, water up to the second, wind up to the third — and the fourth absorption's heavens stand above all three. But the treatise immediately blocks the inference anyone would want to draw: the gods there are not immune, it is simply that they and their palaces arise and perish together. There is no floor of the cosmos that a disaster fails to reach; there is only a level at which destruction stops being an event that happens to you and becomes the shape of your existence. That is a bleaker safety than none.
The closing image is the best writing in the fascicle, and it is doing argumentative work. Rain as thick as a chariot axle, falling without a gap, in every direction at once — cosmic destruction is not staged as an approaching catastrophe but as the ordinary weather of existence, happening everywhere, always, in all four phases simultaneously across boundless worlds. A reader who has just been given a map of the heavens is being told, in the same breath, not to look for anywhere in it to stand.
22. Topic Three: Defilement, and the Afflictions
The third topic, in three parts: the defilement of affliction, of karma, and of birth. The first part re-sorts the afflictions already defined among the mental factors — this time not by what they are, but by how they are removed and what they do.
如是已說界，雜染今當說。頌曰：
煩惱、業、生性， 雜染相應知。
The realms have now been expounded; defilement shall now be expounded.
The natures of affliction, karma, and birth —
these are to be known as the marks of defilement.
論曰：雜染性有三種，一煩惱雜染、二業雜染、三生雜染。煩惱雜染者，謂一切煩惱及隨煩惱，合名煩惱雜染。煩惱者略有十種，一薩迦耶見、二邊執見、三邪見、四見取、五戒禁取、六貪、七瞋、八無明、九慢、十疑。或復二種，一見所斷、二修所斷。或復三種，一欲界繫、二色界繫、三無色界繫。
復有七種顛倒行，一邪解行、二不解行、三非解非不解行、四執邪解行、五彼因依處行、六彼怖生行、七任運起行。邪解行者，所謂薩迦耶見、邊執見、邪見，於所知事起邪執故。不解行者，所謂無明。非解非不解行者，所謂疑也。執邪解行者，所謂見取、戒禁取，及於諸見所起貪等。彼因依處行者，謂見苦集所斷。彼怖生行者，謂見滅道所斷。任運起行者，謂修所斷。
The exposition: the nature of defilement is of three kinds — the defilement of affliction, the defilement of karma, and the defilement of birth.
The defilement of affliction is all the root afflictions together with the secondary afflictions, jointly termed the defilement of affliction. The afflictions are, in brief, of ten kinds: the view of a substantial body, the extremist view, wrong view proper, clinging to views, clinging to rules and rituals, craving, hatred, delusion, conceit, and doubt. Or again they are of two kinds: those abandoned by the path of seeing, and those abandoned by the path of cultivation. Or again of three kinds: those bound to the realm of desire, to the realm of form, and to the formless realm.
There are also seven modes of distorted operation: operating by wrong understanding; operating by non-understanding; operating by neither understanding nor non-understanding; operating by grasping a wrong understanding; operating as the basis and support of a cause; operating out of dread of that; and operating spontaneously.
Operating by wrong understanding: the view of a substantial body, the extremist view, and wrong view proper, since these give rise to wrong grasping toward what is to be known. Operating by non-understanding: delusion. Operating by neither understanding nor non-understanding: doubt. Operating by grasping a wrong understanding: clinging to views and clinging to rules and rituals, together with the craving and the rest that arise with respect to those views. Operating as the basis and support of a cause: those abandoned by seeing suffering and its origin. Operating out of dread of that: those abandoned by seeing cessation and the path. Operating spontaneously: those abandoned by cultivation.
見所斷有百一十二煩惱，修所斷有十六煩惱，如是見修所斷合有一百二十八煩惱。
如是煩惱雜染，種種義差別故，立種種名，所謂結、縛、隨眠、隨煩惱、纏、暴流、軛、取、繫、蓋、株杌、垢、燒、害、箭、所有、惡行、漏、匱、熱惱、鬪諍、熾然、火、稠林、拘礙，如是等義名差別。
Those abandoned by the path of seeing number one hundred and twelve afflictions; those abandoned by the path of cultivation number sixteen; and thus the afflictions abandoned by seeing and by cultivation together number one hundred and twenty-eight.
Because the defilement of affliction differs in its various aspects, various names are established for it, namely: fetter, bond, latent tendency, secondary affliction, entanglement, torrent, yoke, grasping, tie, hindrance, stump, stain, burning, injury, arrow, possession, evil conduct, outflow, destitution, feverish distress, quarrel, blazing, fire, dense thicket, and obstruction. Such are the differences of name according to aspect.
The seven modes of distorted operation are the most original piece of analysis in this section, because they sort the afflictions by the shape of the mistake rather than by content. The first three are a complete partition of what a mind can do with something it should understand: understand it wrongly, fail to understand it, or hover unable to do either — wrong view, delusion, doubt. The fourth adds the compounding move of clinging to a wrong understanding one has already formed. Then the register shifts: the fifth and sixth are named by their relation to the four noble truths, distinguishing afflictions that attach to what one takes as the ground of things from those that arise out of dread when cessation and the path come into view. That second category is easily passed over and worth sitting with — the treatise is saying that some afflictions are specifically a fear reaction to liberation itself.
The list of twenty-five names for affliction is not a thesaurus entry. Each is a different account of what the trouble is: a fetter binds, a latent tendency lies dormant, a torrent sweeps away, a hindrance obscures, a stump remains after felling, an arrow is lodged in and must be drawn out, a dense thicket cannot be seen through. A reader for whom "affliction" has gone abstract can pick whichever of these still has teeth. Asaṅga's own framing says as much: the names differ because the aspects differ, not because the thing does.
23. The Defilement of Karma, and the Defilement of Birth
The fascicle closes with the two remaining defilements, and with a plain list of what birth actually amounts to.
業雜染者，謂或因煩惱所生、或因煩惱緣助善法所生，如其所應三界所攝身業、語業、意業。此復二種，一思、二思所起。此業差別復有多種，欲界所攝名福非福、色無色界所攝名為不動。復有引業，謂作及增長，能引種種有情世間及器世間果及異熟。復有生業，謂前所引助令生故。
生雜染者，謂因煩惱及業故生，因生故苦。苦復多種，謂胎藏所迫苦、老病死苦、怨憎會苦、愛別離苦、求不得苦、與麁重行俱生長苦、數死生苦、生諸難苦，是名為生。
The defilement of karma is action of body, speech, and mind, belonging to the three realms as is fitting in each case, whether produced from afflictions as its cause or produced from wholesome states which the afflictions serve as conditions to assist. It is of two kinds: volition, and what is set going by volition.
Karma differs further in many ways. What belongs to the realm of desire is called meritorious or non-meritorious; what belongs to the realms of form and formlessness is called immovable. There is also projecting karma — action performed and reinforced, which can project the various fruits and ripened results of the world of beings and the receptacle world. And there is completing karma, which assists what was projected before, causing it to be brought forth.
The defilement of birth: through afflictions and karma as cause there is birth, and through birth as cause there is suffering. Suffering, too, is of many kinds: the suffering of being confined in the womb; the suffering of aging, sickness, and death; the suffering of meeting what one hates; the suffering of parting from what one loves; the suffering of not getting what one seeks; the suffering that grows up together with the operations of coarse heaviness; the suffering of dying and being born over and over; and the suffering of being born into the difficult conditions. This is what is called birth.
The definition of karmic defilement contains a clause that is easy to read straight past, and it is the uncomfortable one: karma counts as defiled whether produced from afflictions or produced from wholesome states which the afflictions merely assist as conditions. Good actions performed within the reach of the afflictions are still defiled karma. They still project a birth. This is the structural reason why merit alone cannot end the round — not because merit is worthless, but because it is still karma, and karma's whole business is to project a next existence.
The list of sufferings is the familiar one with two additions worth noticing. "The suffering that grows up together with the operations of coarse heaviness" names something the standard list leaves out — not an event that befalls a person but the constant low friction of having a body and mind that do not move freely, the same coarse heaviness whose absence was defined as pliancy among the wholesome factors. And "the suffering of dying and being born over and over" counts the sheer repetition as its own kind of suffering, distinct from any particular death. Then Asaṅga ends with a flat identification: 是名為生, this is what is called birth. Having listed eight kinds of suffering, he does not say they follow from birth. He says they are what the word means.
Fascicle 1 Complete
This closes the first three of the nine topics: everything, sorted into five categories from mind through the unconditioned and then read through the three natures; the realms, from the three levels of attachment out to the boundless worlds forming and dissolving like rain; and defilement in its three forms of affliction, karma, and birth. Fascicle 2 finishes the defilement material and moves on to the fourth and fifth topics — the truths, and the basis on which practice rests.
Continue to Fascicle 2 — The Truths and the Basis →