The Truths and the Basis
Three more of the nine topics. First the truths — six of them rather than the familiar four, since Asaṅga puts the conventional and the ultimate at the head of the list and then runs the four noble truths through both. Then the basis: the eight meditative attainments on which all practice rests, each glossed phrase by phrase from its scriptural formula, with an account of where each one leads if one is reborn from it. And finally the factors of enlightenment begin — the thirty-seven, then the ten knowledges, the three doors of liberation, calm abiding and insight, and the moment a bodhisattva first generates the aspiration for enlightenment.
Where This Fascicle Picks Up
Fascicle 1 covered the first three of the nine topics of the chapter on Gathering the Topics: everything, sorted into five categories; the realms; and defilement. This fascicle takes up topics four, five, and the beginning of six — the truths, the basis, and the factors of enlightenment. The last of these is by far the largest of the nine and will run on into fascicle 3.
Classical text is set in the left-hand column below, our English in the right. See also this site's note on translation method, and the note on this treatise's method in fascicle 1.
1. Topic Four: The Six Truths
Four noble truths are standard. Asaṅga counts six, prefixing the conventional and the ultimate — and then, having done so, runs each of the four noble truths through that distinction, so that suffering, origin, cessation, and path each turn out to have a conventional and an ultimate reading.
如是已說雜染，諦今當說。頌曰：
諸諦有六種。
Defilement has now been expounded; the truths shall now be expounded.
The truths are of six kinds.
論曰：諦有六種，一世俗諦，二勝義諦，三苦諦，四集諦，五滅諦，六道諦。世俗諦者，謂名句文身，及依彼義一切言說，及依言說所解了義。又曾得世間心及心法，及彼所行境義。
勝義諦者，謂聖智，及彼所行境義，及彼相應心心法等。
苦諦者，此有二種：一世俗諦所攝、二勝義諦所攝。世俗諦所攝者，如經中說：生苦、老苦、病苦、死苦、怨憎會苦、愛別離苦、求不得苦。勝義諦所攝者，如經中說：略攝一切五取蘊苦。
The exposition: the truths are of six kinds — conventional truth, ultimate truth, the truth of suffering, the truth of its origin, the truth of its cessation, and the truth of the path.
Conventional truth is word-groups, phrase-groups, and syllable-groups; all the speech that rests on the meaning of these; and the meaning understood by way of that speech. It is also the worldly mind and mental factors as they have hitherto been acquired, together with the objects over which they range.
Ultimate truth is the wisdom of the noble ones, the objects over which it ranges, and the mind and mental factors associated with it.
The truth of suffering is of two kinds: that comprised in conventional truth, and that comprised in ultimate truth. Comprised in conventional truth is what the scripture states as the suffering of birth, of aging, of sickness, of death, of meeting what one hates, of parting from what one loves, and of not getting what one seeks. Comprised in ultimate truth is what the scripture states as: "In brief, the five grasped aggregates are suffering."
集諦者、此有四種：一全攝、二勝攝、三世俗諦攝、四勝義諦攝。全攝者，謂一切三界煩惱及業，皆名集諦。勝攝者，謂緣已得未得自體及境所起愛、後有愛、喜俱行愛，處處喜愛，皆名集諦。世俗諦攝者，若因能感世俗諦所攝苦諦。勝義諦攝者，若因能感勝義諦所攝苦諦。
滅諦者，亦有四種，如前所說。全攝者，謂全攝集諦無餘斷棄，吐盡、離欲、滅沒、寂靜。勝攝者，謂勝攝集諦，無餘斷棄，如是廣說。世俗諦攝者，謂於世俗諦所攝集諦無餘斷棄，如是廣說。勝義諦攝者，謂於勝義諦所攝集諦無餘斷棄，如是廣說。
道諦者，亦有四種，如前所說。全攝者，謂一切覺分。勝攝者，謂八聖道支。世俗諦攝者，謂於世俗諦所攝苦諦集諦滅諦，為遍知故、為永斷故、為作證故。一切聖道勝義諦攝者，謂於勝義諦所攝苦諦集諦滅諦，為遍知故，如是廣說。
The truth of origin is of four kinds: taken in full, taken at its highest, comprised in conventional truth, and comprised in ultimate truth. Taken in full: all the afflictions and karma of the three realms are called the truth of origin. Taken at its highest: the craving that arises with respect to a bodily existence and its objects, whether already acquired or not yet; the craving for further existence; the craving that operates together with delight; and delighted craving directed here and there — all these are called the truth of origin. Comprised in conventional truth: whatever cause brings about the suffering comprised in conventional truth. Comprised in ultimate truth: whatever cause brings about the suffering comprised in ultimate truth.
The truth of cessation likewise has four kinds, as stated above. Taken in full: the complete abandoning of the truth of origin taken in full, without remainder — vomited out, freed of craving, extinguished, at peace. Taken at its highest: the complete abandoning, without remainder, of the truth of origin taken at its highest, and so on at length. Comprised in conventional truth: the complete abandoning, without remainder, of the truth of origin comprised in conventional truth, and so on at length. Comprised in ultimate truth: the same with respect to what is comprised in ultimate truth, and so on at length.
The truth of the path likewise has four kinds, as stated above. Taken in full: all the factors of enlightenment. Taken at its highest: the eight limbs of the noble path. Comprised in conventional truth: the whole noble path, undertaken with respect to the truths of suffering, origin, and cessation as comprised in conventional truth — in order to know them fully, in order to abandon them permanently, in order to realize them. Comprised in ultimate truth: the same with respect to what is comprised in ultimate truth, in order to know it fully, and so on at length.
Putting the two truths at the head of the list, rather than treating them as a separate topic, changes what the four noble truths are. They stop being four facts and become four topics that can each be stated at two depths. Suffering conventionally is the familiar list — birth, aging, sickness, death, and the three disappointments. Suffering ultimately is one sentence: the five grasped aggregates. Not that the first list is false; it is what suffering looks like when described in the vocabulary the world already has. The second is what it is when described by the wisdom of the noble ones.
The four-way analysis applied to origin, cessation, and path adds two further cuts — 全攝 taken in full and 勝攝 taken at its highest. The distinction is between the widest possible extension of a truth and its most concentrated form. All the afflictions and karma of the three realms are the origin taken in full; craving alone is the origin taken at its highest. Every factor of enlightenment is the path in full; the eightfold path is the path at its highest. The scheme lets Asaṅga say both things at once without contradiction, which is exactly the difficulty that arises whenever a tradition has several canonical lists for the same truth.
2. Why They Are Called Noble Truths
苦集滅道聖諦義者，若於此處聖智所行，此處苦集滅道是諦，由諸聖者咸謂此是諦，是故說名聖諦。
As for the meaning of "noble truths" in suffering, origin, cessation, and path: wherever the wisdom of the noble ones ranges, there suffering, origin, cessation, and path are truths — and because the noble ones all say that these are truths, they are for that reason called noble truths.
The definition is deliberately modest, and worth noticing for that. It does not say these are called noble truths because they are noble, or because they ennoble whoever holds them. It says they are so called because the noble ones — those whose wisdom actually ranges over them — all say that they are true. "Noble" attaches to the knower, not to the proposition. This is the standard Indian reading of āryasatya, and it is why the four are sometimes rendered "the truths of the noble ones" rather than "the noble truths."
3. Topic Five: The Basis — Eight Attainments, Worldly and Transcendent
The fifth topic is what practice stands on: the four meditative absorptions and the four formless attainments. The verse adds "and two," and the two turn out to be a distinction running through nearly all eight — each can be practiced as a worldly attainment or as a transcendent one, and only the difference between them decides whether the afflictions are actually uprooted.
如是已說諦，依止今當說。頌曰：
依止八與二。
The truths have now been expounded; the basis shall now be expounded.
The basis is eight, and two.
論曰：依止有八種。何等為八？謂四靜慮及四無色。復有二種。何等為二？謂初靜慮有二種，世及出世，乃至無所有處有二種，世及出世；非想非非想處唯是世間。
世間初靜慮者，謂或緣離欲界欲增上教法、或緣離彼增上教授為境界已，由世間道作意觀察熾然修習等故而得轉依，然不深入所知義故，不能永害隨眠、自地煩惱之所依處，是退還法。自地三摩地心及心法之所依止，如世間初靜慮，如是乃至世間非想非非想處，各緣離下地欲增上教法，廣說如前。
The exposition: the basis is of eight kinds. What eight? The four meditative absorptions and the four formless attainments. And there are two further kinds. What two? The first absorption is of two kinds, worldly and transcendent; and so on up to the sphere of nothingness, which is likewise of two kinds, worldly and transcendent. The sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception is worldly only.
The worldly first absorption: taking as one's object either the authoritative teaching on freedom from craving for the realm of desire, or the authoritative instruction in that freedom, one attains a transformation of the basis through attention on the worldly path, through observation, through ardent cultivation, and the like. But because one does not penetrate deeply into the meaning of what is to be known, one cannot permanently destroy the latent tendencies, which are the very support of the afflictions of one's own level; and so it is subject to falling back. It is what the concentrated mind and mental factors of that level rest upon. As with the worldly first absorption, so on up to the worldly sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, each taking as its object the authoritative teaching on freedom from craving for the level below it, expounded at length as above.
出世間初靜慮者，謂先以如是行、如是狀、如是相作意入初靜慮，今不以如是行、如是狀、如是相作意，然或於色受想行識所攝諸法，思惟如病如癰如箭障礙無常苦空無我，或復思惟苦是苦、集是集、滅是滅、道是道，或復思惟真如、法性、實際。如是於諸法中思惟如病乃至實際已，於如是法心生厭怖。生厭怖已，於不死界攝心而住，或於真如法性實際攝心而住。此處無分別智及彼相應心及心法，及彼所依止轉依，由深入所知義故，則能永害隨眠，非一切煩惱之所依處，不退轉法。如是名為出世間初靜慮乃至無所有處。
The transcendent first absorption: formerly one entered the first absorption by attending in such a mode, such a manner, such an aspect; now one does not attend in that mode, manner, or aspect. Instead, with respect to the things comprised in form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness, one contemplates them as a disease, an abscess, an arrow, an obstruction — as impermanent, suffering, empty, and without self. Or one contemplates that suffering is suffering, origin is origin, cessation is cessation, the path is the path. Or one contemplates suchness, the nature of things, the true limit.
Having thus contemplated things as a disease, and so on down to the true limit, the mind gives rise to revulsion and dread toward such things. Having given rise to revulsion and dread, one gathers the mind and abides in the deathless realm, or gathers the mind and abides in suchness, the nature of things, the true limit. Here the non-discriminating wisdom, the mind and mental factors associated with it, and the transformation of the basis on which they rest — because they penetrate deeply into the meaning of what is to be known — can permanently destroy the latent tendencies. This is not the support of any affliction, and it is not subject to falling back. Such is the transcendent first absorption, and so on up to the sphere of nothingness.
This is one of the most practically useful passages in the treatise, because it distinguishes two states that from the inside may feel much the same. The worldly and the transcendent first absorption are the same absorption. What differs is what one is attending to while in it — and the consequence is total. The worldly version suppresses the afflictions of the level below by making a higher level more attractive, and it works; one really is free of craving for the realm of desire while it lasts. But 隨眠, the latent tendencies, are untouched, and the text says flatly: 是退還法, it is subject to falling back. The transcendent version attends instead to the aggregates as diseased, or to the four truths as truths, or to suchness — and destroys the latent tendencies permanently.
Note the sequence in the transcendent version, which is not what a modern reader expects from meditation instruction: contemplation produces 厭怖, revulsion and dread, and only then does one gather the mind and abide in suchness. Dread is not a malfunction here; it is a stage. And note the one exception in the whole scheme — the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception is worldly only. The subtlest attainment available is the one place where the transcendent version cannot be had, because at that level perception is too faint to sustain the discernment the transcendent path requires. The highest state is not the most liberating one.
4. Four Ways to Examine an Absorption: Defiled and Pure
Every absorption can be examined under four headings. The first two are the moral ones: how an absorption goes wrong, and what it is when it goes right.
應當廣說，於諸靜慮及與無色，復有四種應知：一雜染、二潔白、三建立、四清淨。
雜染者，謂於上靜慮起深愛味、見慢及疑。愛味者，謂有十種：一俱生作意愛味、二分別所起作意愛味、三自地作意愛味、四異地作意愛味、五過去愛味、六未來愛味、七現在愛味、八下愛味、九中愛味、十上愛味。
潔白者，謂淨及無漏。淨者復有三種：一引發故、二上練故、三除垢所攝堪任故。無漏者，此亦三種：一出世間無漏、二此等流無漏、三離繫無漏。
建立者，此復四種：一建立近分、二建立根本、三建立定、四建立生。
This should be expounded at length. With respect to the absorptions and the formless attainments, four further headings should be understood: the defiled, the pure, the establishing, and the purified.
The defiled: with respect to a higher absorption, one gives rise to a deep relish for its taste, to views, to conceit, and to doubt. Relish for the taste is of ten kinds: relish in attention arisen together with one; relish in attention produced by discrimination; relish in attention to one's own level; relish in attention to another level; relish for the past; relish for the future; relish for the present; lesser relish; middling relish; greater relish.
The pure is the clean and the uncontaminated. The clean is of three kinds: by way of drawing forth; by way of refining upward; and by way of the workability comprised in the removal of stains. The uncontaminated is likewise of three kinds: transcendent uncontaminated; the uncontaminated that flows out from it; and the uncontaminated that is release from bondage.
The establishing is of four kinds: establishing the threshold, establishing the core, establishing the absorption, and establishing rebirth.
Ten kinds of relish for the taste of an absorption is a remarkably fine-grained account of a single failure mode, and the fineness is the point: this is the characteristic way meditation goes wrong for people who are good at it. The listing covers relish that arises spontaneously and relish one talks oneself into; relish for the level one is on and for a level one is not; relish remembered, anticipated, and current. Craving does not stop being craving because its object is a meditative state, and the treatise gives it more analytic attention than it gives most afflictions.
The three companions listed alongside relish — views, conceit, and doubt — complete the picture of how attainment corrupts. One relishes the state, forms views about what it proves, grows conceited at having reached it, and then doubts. All four are named with respect to higher absorptions specifically. The trouble described here is not available to beginners.
5. Establishing the Threshold and the Core
Each attainment has a threshold — the approach to it — and a core. Asaṅga distinguishes them by a single feature of the canonical formula: whether the pleasure is described as spreading through the body, or as leaving no part of the body unpervaded.
建立近分及根本者，如經中說：所謂此身離生喜樂之所滋潤、遍滋潤、遍適悅、遍流布者，是謂初靜慮近分。如經又說：即此身中一切處，無有少分離生喜樂所不遍滿者，是謂初靜慮根本。
如經中說：即於此身等持所生喜樂之所滋潤、遍滋潤、遍適悅、遍流布者，是謂第二靜慮近分。如經又說：即此身中一切處，無有少分等持所生喜樂所不遍滿者，是謂第二靜慮根本。
如經中說：即於此身離喜之樂之所滋潤、遍滋潤、遍適悅、遍流布者，是謂第三靜慮近分。如經又說：即此身中一切處，無有少分離喜之樂所不遍滿者，是謂第三靜慮根本。
如經中說：即於此身，清淨心及潔白心意解遍滿具足住者，是謂第四靜慮近分。如經又說：即此身中一切處，無有少分清淨心及潔白心所不遍滿者，是謂第四靜慮根本。
Establishing the threshold and the core. As the scripture says: "This body is moistened, moistened throughout, gladdened throughout, and suffused throughout by the joy and pleasure born of seclusion" — this is the threshold of the first absorption. And as the scripture further says: "In this body there is no smallest part anywhere that is not entirely filled with the joy and pleasure born of seclusion" — this is the core of the first absorption.
As the scripture says: "This very body is moistened, moistened throughout, gladdened throughout, and suffused throughout by the joy and pleasure born of concentration" — this is the threshold of the second absorption. And further: "In this body there is no smallest part anywhere that is not entirely filled with the joy and pleasure born of concentration" — this is the core of the second absorption.
As the scripture says: "This very body is moistened, moistened throughout, gladdened throughout, and suffused throughout by the pleasure that is free of joy" — this is the threshold of the third absorption. And further: "In this body there is no smallest part anywhere that is not entirely filled with the pleasure free of joy" — this is the core of the third absorption.
As the scripture says: "In this very body one dwells having fully attained the pervading resolve of a pure and clean mind" — this is the threshold of the fourth absorption. And further: "In this body there is no smallest part anywhere that is not entirely filled with the pure and clean mind" — this is the core of the fourth absorption.
如經中說：一切色想出過故、一切有對想滅沒故、一切種想不作意故，入無邊虛空虛空無邊處者，是謂虛空無邊處近分。如經又說：具足住者，是謂虛空無邊處根本。
如經中說：出過一切虛空無邊處，入無邊識識無邊處者，是謂識無邊處近分。如經又說：具足住者，是謂識無邊處根本。
如經中說：超過一切識無邊處，入無少所有無所有處者，是謂無所有處近分。如經又說：具足住者，是謂無所有處根本。
如經中說：超過一切無所有處，入非有想非無想非想非非想處者，是謂非想非非想處近分。如經又說：具足住者，是謂非想非非想處根本。
As the scripture says: "Through passing beyond all perceptions of form, through the vanishing of all perceptions of resistance, through not attending to any perception of variety, one enters boundless space, the sphere of the infinity of space" — this is the threshold of the sphere of the infinity of space. And as the scripture further says: "one dwells having fully attained it" — this is the core of the sphere of the infinity of space.
As the scripture says: "Passing beyond the whole sphere of the infinity of space, one enters boundless consciousness, the sphere of the infinity of consciousness" — this is its threshold. And further: "one dwells having fully attained it" — this is its core.
As the scripture says: "Surpassing the whole sphere of the infinity of consciousness, one enters where there is not the least thing, the sphere of nothingness" — this is its threshold. And further: "one dwells having fully attained it" — this is its core.
As the scripture says: "Surpassing the whole sphere of nothingness, one enters where there is neither perception nor non-perception, the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception" — this is its threshold. And further: "one dwells having fully attained it" — this is its core.
The whole distinction is extracted from one phrase of the canonical formula, and this is a fine example of how Abhidharma exegesis works. The scriptural description of an absorption contains two clauses that look like rhetorical repetition — the pleasure suffuses the body, and there is no part of the body it does not fill. Asaṅga reads the redundancy as information: the first clause describes the process of approach, the second the completed state. Threshold and core.
For the formless attainments the same method yields a much terser result, since their scriptural formulas have no body-pervasion imagery to work with. There, the entering clause is the threshold and the three words 具足住, "one dwells having fully attained it," are the core. It is worth noticing what this implies about the fourth absorption, whose formula speaks not of joy or pleasure but of a mind pure and clean — by the fourth absorption, what pervades the body is no longer a feeling at all.
6. Establishing the Absorption: The First Dhyāna, Word by Word
Now the canonical formula for the first absorption is taken apart and every term defined — including "joy" and "pleasure," which are distinguished by which consciousness each rests on.
建立定者，如經中說：離欲惡不善法故，有尋有伺離生喜樂，初靜慮具足住。
離欲者，謂或緣離欲界欲增上教法、或緣彼教授為境界已，斷欲界煩惱雜染。離惡不善法者，謂斷欲界業，雜染法能墮惡趣，故名為惡。能障於善，故名不善。尋者，謂能對治二種雜染，出離尋、無恚尋、無害尋。伺者，謂能對治二種雜染，出離伺、無恚伺、無害伺。離者，謂由修習對治，斷所治障所得轉依。生者，謂從此所生。喜者，謂已轉依者依於轉識，心悅心勇心適心調安適受受所攝。樂者，謂已轉依者依阿賴耶識，能攝所依，令身怡悅安適受受所攝。初者，謂次第定中此數最先故。靜慮者，謂已斷欲界雜染之法，尋伺喜樂所依，依於轉依，心住一境性。具足者，謂修習。圓滿住者，謂於入住出隨意自在。
Establishing the absorption. As the scripture says: "Secluded from desire and from evil and unwholesome states, with coarse and subtle discursive thought, with the joy and pleasure born of seclusion, one dwells having fully attained the first absorption."
Secluded from desire: taking as one's object either the authoritative teaching on freedom from craving for the realm of desire, or the instruction in it, one cuts off the defilement of affliction belonging to the realm of desire. Secluded from evil and unwholesome states: one cuts off the karma of the realm of desire. Defiled states are called evil because they can cast one into the evil destinies; they are called unwholesome because they obstruct the wholesome. Coarse discursive thought: what counteracts those two defilements — the coarse thought of renunciation, of non-anger, of non-harming. Subtle discursive thought: likewise what counteracts those two — the subtle thought of renunciation, of non-anger, of non-harming. Seclusion: the transformation of the basis obtained by cultivating the counteragent and cutting off the obstacle counteracted. Born: what is produced from that. Joy: in one whose basis has been transformed, resting on the evolving consciousnesses — the mind delighted, brave, at ease, and well-tempered; it is comprised in agreeable feeling. Pleasure: in one whose basis has been transformed, resting on the ālayavijñāna — what takes up the support and makes the body glad; it too is comprised in agreeable feeling. First: because in the sequence of concentrations this one is counted foremost. Absorption: having cut off the defiled states of the realm of desire, it is what coarse thought, subtle thought, joy, and pleasure rest upon — resting on the transformation of the basis, the mind dwelling on a single object. Fully: cultivation. Dwells, complete: that one is free to enter, remain, and emerge at will.
The definitions of joy and pleasure are the reason this passage belongs to a Yogācāra treatise rather than to any Abhidharma school. Both are agreeable feeling; they are distinguished by which consciousness carries them. Joy (喜) rests on the evolving consciousnesses — it is mental, articulate, describable as delight and vigor. Pleasure (樂) rests on the ālayavijñāna and makes the body glad. This is why the third absorption can drop joy and keep pleasure: what falls away is the surface delight, while the deeper bodily ease that is carried by the storehouse consciousness remains. No śrāvaka Abhidharma account can say this, because it has no eighth consciousness to say it with.
Two smaller points repay attention. Coarse and subtle discursive thought were listed among the indeterminate factors in fascicle 1 as obstacles to inner stillness — yet here they are present in the first absorption and are given as counteragents, in their three wholesome forms: renunciation, non-anger, non-harming. The same factor obstructs or assists depending on its content, which is what "indeterminate" meant. And the gloss on the final phrase is the practitioner's test: the mark of having fully attained an absorption is not the intensity of the state but 隨意自在 — that one can enter, remain, and leave at will.
7. The Second, Third, and Fourth Absorptions
又如經說：尋伺寂靜故、內等淨故、心定一趣故，無尋無伺三摩地生喜樂，第二靜慮具足住。尋伺寂靜者，謂或緣離初靜慮欲增上教法、或緣彼教授為境界已，初靜慮地尋伺寂靜不復現行。內等淨者，謂為對治尋伺故攝念正知，於自內體其心捨住，遠離尋伺塵濁法故，名內等淨。心定一趣者，謂如是入時多相續住，諸尋伺法恒不現行。無尋無伺者，謂證得尋伺斷法。三摩地者，謂已轉依者心住一境性。生者，謂從三摩地所生喜及樂，已如前說。第二靜慮者，謂尋伺寂靜，內體遍淨，三摩地所生喜樂所依，依於轉依，心住一境性。餘如前說。
And as the scripture says: "Through the stilling of coarse and subtle discursive thought, through inner clarity, through the mind's becoming settled and single in direction, without coarse or subtle discursive thought, with the joy and pleasure born of concentration, one dwells having fully attained the second absorption."
The stilling of coarse and subtle discursive thought: taking as one's object either the authoritative teaching on freedom from craving for the first absorption, or the instruction in it, the coarse and subtle thought belonging to the first absorption is stilled and no longer operates. Inner clarity: in order to counteract coarse and subtle thought, one gathers mindfulness and correct knowing, and with respect to one's own inner being the mind abides in equanimity; because it is far removed from the muddying dust of coarse and subtle thought, it is called inner clarity. The mind settled and single in direction: on entering thus, one abides in continuity for a long while, and coarse and subtle thought never operate. Without coarse or subtle discursive thought: one has realized the state in which they are cut off. Concentration: in one whose basis has been transformed, the mind's dwelling on a single object. Born: the joy and pleasure produced from that concentration, as explained above. The second absorption: coarse and subtle thought stilled, the inner being wholly clear, it is what the joy and pleasure born of concentration rest upon — resting on the transformation of the basis, the mind dwelling on a single object. The rest is as stated above.
又如經說：由離喜故，住捨念正知及樂身正受，聖者宣說成就捨念樂住，第三靜慮具足住。離喜者，謂或緣離第二靜慮欲增上教法、或緣彼教授為境界已，見第二靜慮喜相過失。住捨者，謂於已生喜想及作意，不忍可故、有厭離故，不染污住心平等、心正直、心無轉動而安住性。念者，謂於已觀察喜不行相中不忘明了，令喜決定不復現行。正知者，謂或時失念喜復現行，於現行喜相分別正知。樂者，謂已轉依者，離喜離勇安適受受所攝。身者，謂已轉依者，若轉識、若阿賴耶識，心性無別，總名為身。正受者，謂已轉依者，能攝受身令身怡悅，總集說為樂身正受。此處樂受深極寂靜、最勝微妙，上下所無。聖者者，謂佛及佛弟子。宣說者，謂顯示施設。成就捨念樂住者，謂此地已上無妙樂故，下地亦無如是勝樂及無捨念以為對治。第三靜慮者，謂離喜已，捨念正知樂所依止，依於轉依，心住一境性。餘如前說。
And as the scripture says: "Through becoming free of joy, one abides in equanimity, mindfulness, and correct knowing, with the right experience of bodily pleasure; the noble ones declare that one accomplishes the abiding in equanimity, mindfulness, and pleasure — one dwells having fully attained the third absorption."
Free of joy: taking as one's object either the authoritative teaching on freedom from craving for the second absorption, or the instruction in it, one sees the fault in the character of the second absorption's joy. Abides in equanimity: with respect to the perception of and attention to joy already arisen, because one does not consent to it and is weary of it, one abides undefiled in evenness of mind, uprightness of mind, and the settledness of a mind without agitation. Mindfulness: with respect to the aspect in which joy has been observed not to operate, one does not forget but keeps it clear, so that joy is definitively kept from operating again. Correct knowing: if at some time mindfulness lapses and joy operates again, one discerns and correctly knows the character of the joy now operating. Pleasure: in one whose basis has been transformed, it is free of joy and free of vigor, and is comprised in agreeable feeling. Body: in one whose basis has been transformed, the evolving consciousnesses and the ālayavijñāna are, in the nature of mind, not distinct, and are together termed the body. Right experience: in one whose basis has been transformed, what takes up the body and makes it glad; taken together, this is called the right experience of bodily pleasure. The pleasant feeling in this place is profoundly still, supreme and subtle, unmatched above or below. The noble ones: the Buddha and the Buddha's disciples. Declare: display and set forth. Accomplishes the abiding in equanimity, mindfulness, and pleasure: because above this level there is no such marvelous pleasure, while the levels below have neither such surpassing pleasure nor equanimity and mindfulness as its counteragent. The third absorption: having become free of joy, it is what equanimity, mindfulness, correct knowing, and pleasure rest upon — resting on the transformation of the basis, the mind dwelling on a single object. The rest is as stated above.
又如經說：由斷樂故，及先已斷苦喜憂故，不苦不樂捨念清淨，第四靜慮具足住。斷樂者，謂入第四靜慮時。先已斷苦者，謂入第二靜慮時。先已斷喜者，謂入第三靜慮時。先已斷憂者，謂入初靜慮時。不苦不樂者，謂已轉依者，非安適非不安適，受受所攝色界最極增上寂靜，最勝攝受無有動搖。捨清淨者，謂超過尋伺喜樂三地一切動故，心平等性、心正直性、心無轉動而安住性。念清淨者，謂超過尋伺喜樂三地一切動故，心不忘失而明了性。第四者，由次第定中第四數故。靜慮者，謂樂斷故，不苦不樂捨念清淨之所依止，依於轉依，心住一境性。餘如前說。
And as the scripture says: "Through the cutting off of pleasure, and because pain, joy, and distress were already cut off before, with neither pain nor pleasure, with equanimity and mindfulness purified, one dwells having fully attained the fourth absorption."
The cutting off of pleasure: at the time of entering the fourth absorption. Pain already cut off before: at the time of entering the second absorption. Joy already cut off before: at the time of entering the third. Distress already cut off before: at the time of entering the first. Neither pain nor pleasure: in one whose basis has been transformed, it is neither agreeable nor disagreeable; comprised in feeling, it is the utmost surpassing stillness of the realm of form, a supreme taking-up in which there is no wavering. Equanimity purified: because one has passed beyond every agitation of the three levels of coarse thought, subtle thought, and joy-and-pleasure, there is evenness of mind, uprightness of mind, and the settledness of a mind without agitation. Mindfulness purified: because one has passed beyond every such agitation, the mind does not forget and is clear. Fourth: because in the sequence of concentrations it is counted fourth. Absorption: because pleasure has been cut off, it is what the neither-pain-nor-pleasure, the purified equanimity and mindfulness rest upon — resting on the transformation of the basis, the mind dwelling on a single object. The rest is as stated above.
The gloss on "body" in the third absorption is a striking sentence that would be easy to read past: in one whose basis has been transformed, the evolving consciousnesses and the ālayavijñāna are, in the nature of mind, not distinct, and are together called the body. The "body" that experiences the third absorption's pleasure is therefore not the physical frame but the whole consciousness-complex taken as one. This is what allows the treatise to call the third absorption's pleasure bodily while placing its cause in the storehouse consciousness.
The ordering of what gets cut off in the fourth absorption is not the order one would guess, and Asaṅga sets it out flatly: distress goes first, at the entry to the first absorption; then pain, at the second; then joy, at the third; and pleasure last, at the fourth. The two unpleasant feelings are dispatched early. The two pleasant ones are much harder to leave — and pleasure, the deeper of the two because it rests on the storehouse consciousness, is the very last thing to go. It is worth setting this beside the third absorption's description of its own pleasure as "supreme and subtle, unmatched above or below." The treatise praises that pleasure as highly as it praises anything, and then requires that it be cut off.
8. The Four Formless Attainments
又如經說：一切色想出過故、有對想滅沒故、種種想不作意故，入無邊虛空，虛空無邊處具足住。一切者，謂諸行相。色想者，謂顯色想。出過者，謂離彼欲故。如出過義，有對想滅沒、種種想不作意，如是應知。有對想者，謂彼所依四大想及餘所造色想。種種想者，謂即於四大及造色中，長短麁細方圓高下正及不正光影明闇，如是等類假色所攝種種想。若正入無邊虛空處時，有對之想不現前故滅，及種種想不起作意，由如是故超彼能依一切色想。無邊者，謂十方諸相不可分別。虛空者，謂色對治所緣境界。虛空無邊處者，謂此處轉依及能依定。餘如前說。
And as the scripture says: "Through passing beyond all perceptions of form, through the vanishing of perceptions of resistance, through not attending to perceptions of variety, one enters boundless space and dwells having fully attained the sphere of the infinity of space."
All: every mode of them. Perceptions of form: perceptions of color. Passing beyond: becoming free of craving for them. As with the sense of "passing beyond," so should "the vanishing of perceptions of resistance" and "not attending to perceptions of variety" be understood. Perceptions of resistance: perception of the four great elements on which form depends, and of the remaining derived form. Perceptions of variety: within the four great elements and derived form, the various perceptions comprised in nominal form — long and short, coarse and fine, square and round, high and low, even and uneven, light and shadow, bright and dark, and the like. When one is properly entering the sphere of boundless space, perceptions of resistance cease because they no longer appear before one, and perceptions of variety are not attended to; and thereby one surpasses all the perceptions of form that rest upon them. Boundless: the characteristics of the ten directions cannot be distinguished. Space: the objective domain that counteracts form. The sphere of the infinity of space: the transformation of the basis at this place, together with the concentration that rests upon it. The rest is as stated above.
又如經說：超過一切虛空無邊處，入無邊識，識無邊處具足住。超過一切虛空無邊處者，謂超過近分及與根本。無邊識者，謂緣無邊虛空之識，今緣此為境界。識無邊處者，謂此處轉依及能依定。餘如前說。
又如經說：超過一切識無邊處，入無少所有，無所有處具足住。超過一切識無邊處者，謂超過近分及與根本。無少所有者，謂於識處上境界推求之時無少所得，除無所有無別境界，由唯見此境極寂靜故。無所有處者，謂此處轉依及能依定。餘如前說。
又如經說：超過一切無所有處，入非有想非無想，非想非非想處具足住。超過一切無所有處者，謂超過近分及與根本。非有想者，謂超過無所有想。非無想者，謂於無所有處上境界推求之時，唯得緣無所有極細心及心法，由唯見此境極寂靜故。非想非非想處者，謂此處轉依及能依定。餘如前說。
And as the scripture says: "Surpassing the whole sphere of the infinity of space, one enters boundless consciousness and dwells having fully attained the sphere of the infinity of consciousness." Surpassing the whole sphere of the infinity of space: surpassing both its threshold and its core. Boundless consciousness: the consciousness that took boundless space as its object is now itself taken as the object. The sphere of the infinity of consciousness: the transformation of the basis at this place, together with the concentration that rests upon it. The rest is as stated above.
And as the scripture says: "Surpassing the whole sphere of the infinity of consciousness, one enters where there is not the least thing and dwells having fully attained the sphere of nothingness." Surpassing the whole sphere of the infinity of consciousness: surpassing both its threshold and its core. Not the least thing: when one searches for an object beyond the sphere of consciousness, not the least thing is found; apart from nothingness there is no other object — because one sees only this object as utterly still. The sphere of nothingness: the transformation of the basis at this place, together with the concentration that rests upon it. The rest is as stated above.
And as the scripture says: "Surpassing the whole sphere of nothingness, one enters where there is neither perception nor non-perception, and dwells having fully attained the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception." Surpassing the whole sphere of nothingness: surpassing both its threshold and its core. Neither perception: one has surpassed the perception of nothingness. Nor non-perception: when one searches for an object beyond the sphere of nothingness, all that is obtained is an extremely subtle mind and mental factors taking nothingness as their object — because one sees only this object as utterly still. The sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception: the transformation of the basis at this place, together with the concentration that rests upon it. The rest is as stated above.
The four formless attainments are generated by one repeated move: whatever was the object at the previous level becomes the thing surpassed, and what remains becomes the new object. Space is what is left when form is surpassed; the consciousness that took space as its object is then itself taken as object; when that is surpassed, nothing at all is found, and nothingness becomes the object; and when the perception of nothingness is surpassed, what remains is an extremely subtle mind still faintly holding nothingness — neither perception nor non-perception.
The last definition explains the restriction stated at the opening of this topic. The sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception is worldly only, and here one can see why: what is present there is only "an extremely subtle mind and mental factors," too faint to carry the discernment that the transcendent path requires. The formless series is a ladder that runs out one rung short of anywhere worth arriving. Note also the recurring reason given at each stage — 由唯見此境極寂靜故, because one sees only this object as utterly still. What drives the ascent is the perception of stillness, which is exactly the relish for the taste of an absorption that this fascicle earlier listed as defilement.
9. Establishing Rebirth: Where Each Absorption Leads
Cultivating an absorption to a lesser, middling, or greater degree produces rebirth in a corresponding heaven. Asaṅga lists them, and then notes two ways the scheme is not tidy.
建立生者，謂先於此間修下中上初靜慮者，後生彼處受三天果，謂梵身天、梵輔天、大梵天。若善修習無尋有伺初靜慮者，生大梵天果，更無異所勝彼處故。若先於此間修下中上第二靜慮者，後生彼處受三天果，謂少光天、無量光天、極淨光天。若先於此間修下中上第三靜慮者，後生彼處受三天果，謂少淨天、無量淨天、遍淨天。若先於此間修下中上第四靜慮者，後生彼處受三天果，謂無雲天、福生天、廣果天。
從是已上離色貪故，無方處差別，雖有修習下中上因，然不建立生果差別。若下中上修虛空無邊處者，受虛空無邊處天生果。若下中上修識無邊處者，受識無邊處天生果。若下中上修無所有處者，受無所有處天生果。若下中上修非想非非想處者，受非想非非想處天生果。由定寂靜有差別故，及由住時滿不滿故，彼有差別。又由多住愛味初靜慮乃至非想非非想處故，不盡壽命而有中夭。
Establishing rebirth. One who has cultivated the first absorption here to a lesser, middling, or greater degree is afterward born there and receives the fruit of one of three heavens: the Brahmakāyika, the Brahmapurohita, and the Mahābrahmā heavens. One who has well cultivated the first absorption in the form that is without coarse but with subtle discursive thought is born with the fruit of the Mahābrahmā heaven, since there is nothing else that surpasses that place. One who has cultivated the second absorption to a lesser, middling, or greater degree receives the fruit of three heavens: Parīttābha, Apramāṇābha, and Ābhāsvara. One who has cultivated the third receives the fruit of three heavens: Parīttaśubha, Apramāṇaśubha, and Śubhakṛtsna. One who has cultivated the fourth receives the fruit of three heavens: Anabhraka, Puṇyaprasava, and Bṛhatphala.
Above this, because one is free of craving for form, there is no differentiation by location; and although there are lesser, middling, and greater degrees of cultivation as cause, no corresponding difference of rebirth-fruit is established. One who cultivates the sphere of the infinity of space to a lesser, middling, or greater degree receives the rebirth-fruit of the heaven of the infinity of space; and likewise for the spheres of the infinity of consciousness, of nothingness, and of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. They differ instead by the degree of stillness of the concentration, and by whether the duration of abiding is complete or not. Moreover, because one has dwelt much in relish for the taste of the first absorption, and so on up to the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, one may fail to live out one's full lifespan and die prematurely there.
若雜修下品世間及無漏第四靜慮者，受無煩淨宮天生果。若雜修中品者，受無熱淨宮天生果。若雜修上品者，受妙現淨宮天生果。若雜修上勝品者，受妙見淨宮天生果。若雜修上極品者，受無礙究竟淨宮天生果。若善修習菩薩無量不思議三摩地所引第十地中第四靜慮者，受出過淨宮大自在天生果。
清淨者，謂邊際初靜慮，依此引生一切勝德及速疾神通。如初靜慮清淨之相，餘靜慮及諸無色應如是知。此中無色差別者，謂發彼地解脫等功德。如是彼諸靜慮及無色定，雜染潔白建立清淨差別，應知如是。
One who practices the lesser grade of the intermixed cultivation of the worldly and the uncontaminated fourth absorption receives the rebirth-fruit of the Avṛha heaven of the Pure Abodes; the middling grade, the Atapa heaven; the greater grade, the Sudṛśa heaven; the superior grade, the Sudarśana heaven; and the utmost grade, the Akaniṣṭha heaven of the Pure Abodes. One who has well cultivated the fourth absorption of the tenth ground, drawn on by the bodhisattva's measureless and inconceivable concentration, receives the rebirth-fruit of the Maheśvara heaven that surpasses the Pure Abodes.
The purified: the first absorption carried to its limit, in dependence on which all surpassing qualities and swift supernormal powers are brought forth. As with the character of the purified first absorption, so should it be understood for the remaining absorptions and for all the formless attainments. What is distinctive of the formless here is that they bring forth the qualities of liberation and the rest belonging to those levels. Thus should the distinctions of the defiled, the pure, the establishing, and the purified be understood with respect to those absorptions and formless concentrations.
The sentence about dying prematurely is the most humanly interesting thing in this passage, and it is delivered without emphasis. Having spent a lifetime cultivating an absorption and been reborn in the heaven it earns, one may fail to live out the lifespan of that heaven — because one dwelt too much in relish for the taste of the state. The defilement identified at the start of this topic does not merely spoil the meditation; it shortens the very rebirth the meditation bought. Nothing in the scheme is safe from it.
Two structural details are worth noting. First, above the realm of form the tidy three-grade correspondence breaks down, because with no location there is nowhere for degrees of cultivation to be laid out; the formless heavens differ by stillness and duration instead. Second, the Pure Abodes are reached not by cultivating the fourth absorption harder but by 雜修 — intermixed cultivation, alternating worldly and uncontaminated absorption. They are not further up the same ladder. And the treatise's last word on the whole cosmological scheme quietly steps outside it: the bodhisattva of the tenth ground is reborn above all of it.
10. Topic Six: The Factors of Enlightenment — The Four Establishments of Mindfulness
The sixth topic is the largest of the nine, and it opens with the standard thirty-seven. Asaṅga's treatment of mindfulness is compressed but adds a fourfold analysis of what the four are actually observing.
已說依止，覺分今當說。頌曰：
覺分有眾多， 最初三十七。
The basis has now been expounded; the factors of enlightenment shall now be expounded.
The factors of enlightenment are many;
foremost among them are the thirty-seven.
論曰：菩提分法品類多種，最初勝者有三十七，謂四念住等，廣說如經。
四念住者，一身念住，謂或緣於身、或復緣身增上教法、或緣彼教授為境界已，由聞思修之所生慧，或唯影像或事成就，於身境處善安住念，為令於身得離繫故。如於身念住，如是於受、心、法念住應知亦爾。此中差別者，謂各於自境如其所應，乃至為令於法得離繫故。又一切處應說與念相應心及心法。如是發起觀察心時，所緣之境有四種事，一心所執事、二心領納事、三心了別事、四心染淨事。
The exposition: the factors conducing to enlightenment are of many classes; foremost and most excellent among them are the thirty-seven, namely the four establishments of mindfulness and the rest, expounded at length in the scriptures.
The four establishments of mindfulness. First, the establishment of mindfulness on the body: taking as one's object the body itself, or the authoritative teaching concerning the body, or the instruction in it, then by the wisdom born of hearing, reflection, and cultivation — whether merely as an image or as the thing itself accomplished — one establishes mindfulness well upon the domain of the body, in order to become released from bondage with respect to the body. As with the establishment of mindfulness on the body, so it should be understood for the establishments on feelings, on mind, and on things. The differences among them are that each takes its own domain, as is fitting in each case, down to: in order to become released from bondage with respect to things. And in every case one should speak of the mind and mental factors associated with mindfulness.
When the observing mind is thus set going, the object it takes has four aspects: what mind grasps; what mind registers; what mind discriminates; and mind's own defilement or purity.
The four aspects at the end are the treatise's own justification for why there are exactly four establishments and not some other number, and they map one to one: body is what mind grasps, feelings are what mind registers, mind is what discriminates, and things are the domain in which mind is defiled or purified. This is the same style of argument used in the Abhidharmasamuccaya to explain why there are exactly five aggregates — the number is not a list one inherits but a count that follows from the analysis.
The phrase "whether merely as an image or as the thing itself accomplished" (或唯影像或事成就) marks a distinction that matters in practice. Mindfulness may take as its object a mental image of the body, or the body as actually accomplished in direct perception. Both count. This connects back to the third kind of form included in the dharma sense field in fascicle 1, where the object of concentration and what the concentration accomplishes were listed as two distinct items.
11. The Four Right Exertions
The canonical formula for the four right exertions is a long chain of verbs, and Asaṅga glosses every one of them — including the two that turn out to name the standard remedies for a sunken and an agitated mind.
四正斷者，廣說如經。一、已生惡不善法，為令斷故，生欲策勵發起正勤策心持心。已生者，謂麁纏所攝。惡不善法者，謂能起惡行欲界煩惱及隨煩惱。惡不善義，已如前說。為令斷故者，謂修彼對治，令微薄故。生欲者，謂起證斷樂。欲策勵者，謂不忍受惡，及歸趣斷故。發起正勤者，謂多種堅固修彼對治。此上三句，顯不定地中聞思兩慧下品對治。策心者，謂修彼對治修慧現行，若心沈沒煩惱染污，策心令舉故。持心者，謂即此對治現行之時，若心浮舉煩惱染污，持心令下故。
The four right exertions, expounded at length in the scriptures. First: with respect to evil and unwholesome states already arisen, in order to abandon them, one generates aspiration, spurs oneself on, arouses right diligence, rouses the mind, and steadies the mind.
Already arisen: what is comprised in gross entanglement. Evil and unwholesome states: the afflictions and secondary afflictions of the realm of desire that can set evil conduct going; the sense of "evil and unwholesome" is as explained above. In order to abandon them: one cultivates their counteragent so as to make them slight. Generates aspiration: one gives rise to a delight in realizing their abandonment. Spurs oneself on: one refuses to put up with evil, and turns toward its abandonment. Arouses right diligence: one cultivates their counteragent in many ways and firmly. These three phrases display the lesser counteragent — the wisdom of hearing and of reflection — within the unconcentrated levels. Rouses the mind: while the counteragent is being cultivated and the wisdom of cultivation is operating, if the mind sinks down and is defiled by affliction, one rouses the mind and lifts it. Steadies the mind: at that same time, if the mind floats up and is defiled by affliction, one steadies the mind and brings it down.
二、未生惡不善法，為不生故，乃至廣說。未生者，謂增盛隨眠所攝，能起麁纏之因。為不生故者，謂令麁纏不現行故。生欲者，謂起為證不現行。欲策勵者，謂由不忘住為令不現行，善住念故。發起正勤、策心持心，皆如前說。
三、未生善法為令生故，乃至廣說。未生者，謂所未得。善法者，謂聞思修所生三慧，由無過義故名為善。為令生故者，謂令彼得故。生欲者，謂起證得欲。策勵者，謂求彼攝受正方便故。發起正勤者，謂長時殷重多堅修習。此上三句，顯得不定地對治惡不善法，聞思兩慧所攝善法。策心持心者，謂為得修慧故。餘如前說。
四、已生善法令住、令不忘、令修滿、令倍修、令增長、令廣大，生欲策勵，乃至廣說。已生者，謂已得故。令住者，謂聞慧。令不忘者，謂思慧。令修滿者，謂修慧。此上三句，顯唯守護已所得善。令倍修令增長令廣大者，如其次第，不唯於彼生知足故。生欲者，謂起證得欲。餘如前說。
Second: with respect to evil and unwholesome states not yet arisen, in order that they may not arise, and so on at length. Not yet arisen: what is comprised in the flourishing latent tendencies, which are the cause that can set gross entanglement going. In order that they may not arise: so that gross entanglement does not operate. Generates aspiration: one gives rise to the wish to realize their not operating. Spurs oneself on: through abiding unforgetting, in order that they may not operate, one establishes mindfulness well. Arouses right diligence, rouses the mind, steadies the mind: all as stated above.
Third: with respect to wholesome states not yet arisen, in order that they may arise, and so on at length. Not yet arisen: what has not yet been obtained. Wholesome states: the three kinds of wisdom born of hearing, reflection, and cultivation; they are called wholesome because they are free of fault. In order that they may arise: in order that they be obtained. Generates aspiration: one gives rise to the wish to realize and obtain them. Spurs oneself on: one seeks the right means of taking them up. Arouses right diligence: one cultivates over a long time, earnestly, abundantly, and firmly. These three phrases display the obtaining, within the unconcentrated levels, of the wholesome states comprised in the wisdom of hearing and reflection, which counteract evil and unwholesome states. Rouses the mind, steadies the mind: in order to obtain the wisdom of cultivation. The rest is as stated above.
Fourth: with respect to wholesome states already arisen, in order to make them abide, not be forgotten, be cultivated to fullness, be cultivated doubly, increase, and grow vast — one generates aspiration, spurs oneself on, and so on at length. Already arisen: because they have been obtained. Make them abide: the wisdom of hearing. Not be forgotten: the wisdom of reflection. Cultivated to fullness: the wisdom of cultivation. These three phrases display only the guarding of the wholesome one has already obtained. Cultivated doubly, increase, grow vast: respectively, because one does not rest content with what one has. Generates aspiration: one gives rise to the wish to realize and obtain. The rest is as stated above.
The glosses on "rouses the mind" and "steadies the mind" identify these two phrases of the canonical formula as the standard pair of meditative corrections: lift a sunken mind, bring down an agitated one. What is worth noticing is where Asaṅga places them. The first three verbs — aspiration, spurring, diligence — are assigned to the wisdom of hearing and reflection in the unconcentrated levels; the last two belong to the wisdom of cultivation, once one is actually sitting. The formula is being read as a sequence that crosses from study into meditation, not as five synonyms for trying hard.
The distinction between the first and second exertions is precise and practical: what is "already arisen" is 麁纏, gross entanglement — an affliction currently active — while what is "not yet arisen" is the latent tendency that will produce it. These call for different work. One weakens an entanglement that is presently gripping; one prevents a latent tendency from breaking out. The fourth exertion's gloss is the most quietly demanding: three phrases merely guard what one has, and then three more — doubled, increased, made vast — are explained with a single clause, 不唯於彼生知足, because one does not rest content with what one has.
12. The Four Bases of Supernatural Power, and the Eight Formative Practices
Four routes to concentration, distinguished by what is dominant in each: aspiration, diligence, mind, or investigation. Within all four run the same eight formative practices.
四神足者，廣說如經。一、欲增上故得三摩地。如有行者先世修習上品善根，於大師所或於有智同梵行處，生信生欲聽聞正法。如所信欲聞正法已，展轉證得心住一境性。由此欲故三摩地成就。已生未生惡不善法，令斷令不起故，生欲乃至持心；若未生彼對治善法，令其生故；若已生者，令住、令不忘、令修滿、令倍修、令增長、令廣大故，生欲乃至持心。如是行者復修欲、策勵、信、安、正念、正知、思、捨八種斷行。
The four bases of supernatural power, expounded at length in the scriptures. First: concentration obtained through the dominance of aspiration. Suppose a practitioner has cultivated superior wholesome roots in former lives, and in the presence of the great teacher, or among wise companions in the holy life, gives rise to faith and to the aspiration to hear the true teaching. Having heard the true teaching as he had faith and aspiration to do, he progressively realizes the mind's dwelling on a single object. Through that aspiration, concentration is accomplished. With respect to evil and unwholesome states arisen and not yet arisen, in order to abandon them and to prevent their arising, he generates aspiration, and so on down to steadying the mind; with respect to the wholesome states that counteract them, in order that those not yet arisen may arise, and that those already arisen may abide, not be forgotten, be cultivated to fullness, be cultivated doubly, increase, and grow vast, he generates aspiration, and so on down to steadying the mind. Such a practitioner further cultivates the eight formative practices: aspiration, spurring on, faith, ease, right mindfulness, correct knowing, volition, and equanimity.
由此欲故三摩地成就者，謂於此中而得自在。已生未生惡不善法者，謂彼下品諸纏所攝及彼微薄未損未害隨眠所攝。令斷令不起者，謂為離已生軟品纏故，及為損害微薄隨眠故。生欲乃至持心，如前廣說。若未生彼對治善法令其生故；若已生者，令住、令不忘、令修滿、令倍修、令增長、令廣大故，生欲乃至持心，如前廣說應知。如是行者者，謂如是修行多時住者。復修欲者，謂欲證彼不現行及損害故。策勵者，謂欲為因，於奢摩他、毘鉢舍那發起正勤故。信者，謂生欲之因，於彼損害及所得中決定信故。安者，謂因策勵除身心麁重，令身心堪任故。正念者，謂於防護沈下浮舉隨煩惱中，令心不忘故。正知者，謂或時失念隨煩惱現行之時，分別正知故。思者，謂於止舉中造作心故。捨者，謂於不染住心平等、心正直、心無轉動性。如是一切諸神足中，八種斷行應知。
Through that aspiration, concentration is accomplished: he attains mastery in it. Evil and unwholesome states arisen and not yet arisen: those comprised in the lesser grade of entanglements, and those comprised in slight latent tendencies not yet damaged or destroyed. In order to abandon them and prevent their arising: in order to be free of the soft grade of entanglements already arisen, and in order to damage the slight latent tendencies. Generates aspiration, down to steadying the mind: expounded at length as above. In order that the counteracting wholesome states not yet arisen may arise; and that those already arisen may abide, not be forgotten, be cultivated to fullness, be cultivated doubly, increase, and grow vast — he generates aspiration, down to steadying the mind: this too should be understood as expounded at length above. Such a practitioner: one who has practiced in this way and abided in it a long while. Further cultivates aspiration: he aspires to realize their not operating and their being damaged. Spurring on: with aspiration as cause, he arouses right diligence in calm abiding and insight. Faith: the cause of generating aspiration — settled confidence in their being damaged and in what is to be obtained. Ease: by reason of spurring on, the coarse heaviness of body and mind is removed, so that body and mind become workable. Right mindfulness: in guarding against the secondary afflictions of sinking down and floating up, the mind does not forget. Correct knowing: when mindfulness lapses at some time and a secondary affliction operates, he discerns and correctly knows it. Volition: it fashions the mind within the settling and the lifting. Equanimity: with respect to the undefiled, it is evenness of mind, uprightness of mind, and the mind's being without agitation. Thus should the eight formative practices be understood within all the bases of supernatural power.
此中差別者，第二、勤增上故得三摩地。如有行者依於教授及教誡法，或在空閑、或居林樹、或止靜室，於如是處長時勇猛純熟熾然正勤，證得心住一境性。由正勤故三摩地成就。餘如前說。第三、心增上故得三摩地。如有行者先已修習奢摩他行，由此因緣思惟內法，速疾證得心住一境性。由修心故三摩地成就。餘如前說。第四、觀增上故得三摩地。如有行者多聞聞持，其聞積集，獨處閑靜，即於彼法以慧簡擇、極細簡擇、遍覺觀察，因此證得心住一境性。由觀察故三摩地成就。餘如前說。
The differences among them are these. Second: concentration obtained through the dominance of diligence. Suppose a practitioner, relying on the teachings and admonitions he has received, dwells in an empty place, among forest trees, or in a quiet room, and in such a place, over a long time, with courage, maturity, and ardent right diligence, realizes the mind's dwelling on a single object. Through right diligence, concentration is accomplished. The rest is as stated above.
Third: concentration obtained through the dominance of mind. Suppose a practitioner has already cultivated the practice of calm abiding, and by that condition, contemplating inner phenomena, swiftly realizes the mind's dwelling on a single object. Through cultivating mind, concentration is accomplished. The rest is as stated above.
Fourth: concentration obtained through the dominance of investigation. Suppose a practitioner has heard much and retained what he heard, and his learning has accumulated; dwelling alone in quiet, he discerns those teachings with wisdom, discerns them most finely, and examines them with full awareness, and thereby realizes the mind's dwelling on a single object. Through examination, concentration is accomplished. The rest is as stated above.
The four bases of supernatural power are, read plainly, four temperaments — four different things that can carry a person into concentration. One arrives through wanting it, having heard the teaching from someone worth hearing it from. One arrives through sheer sustained effort in solitude. One arrives quickly because calm abiding is already familiar. One arrives through study: having heard much and retained it, one thinks the material over so finely that the mind settles. The fourth is the one most easily overlooked in accounts of meditation, and the treatise gives it equal standing — concentration reached by way of analysis is still concentration.
The eight formative practices are the operating instructions common to all four, and they are arranged as a working loop rather than a list: faith causes aspiration, aspiration causes spurring on, spurring on produces ease by removing coarse heaviness, mindfulness watches for sinking and floating, correct knowing catches what mindfulness misses, volition makes the correction, and equanimity is what one rests in when no correction is needed. Note that the pair being guarded against — sinking down and floating up — is the same pair the four right exertions addressed with "rouses the mind" and "steadies the mind." The treatise keeps returning to it because it is what actually happens when one sits.
13. The Five Faculties and the Five Powers
五根者，廣說如經。一、信根，由世間道，令心清淨鮮白無穢，離隨煩惱得住不動。從是已後求諦現觀修習方便，為永斷隨眠故。為得彼對治故，起增上信。二、正勤根，謂依信根增進勇猛，與信俱行。三、念根，謂依正勤明了不忘，與彼俱行。四、等持根，謂依念根心住一境，與彼俱行。五、慧根，謂依等持根簡擇諸法，與彼俱行。
五力者，廣說如經。即信根等，由善修習、多修習故，不復為彼不信等法之所雜亂，復能對治諸雜亂法。不可伏義，說名為力。
The five faculties, expounded at length in the scriptures. First, the faculty of faith: by way of the worldly path, the mind is made pure, clean, and unstained, and, freed of the secondary afflictions, comes to abide unmoved. Thereafter one seeks the direct realization of the truths and cultivates the means to it, in order permanently to cut off the latent tendencies; and in order to obtain their counteragent, one generates surpassing faith. Second, the faculty of right diligence: relying on the faculty of faith, one advances with courage, operating together with faith. Third, the faculty of mindfulness: relying on right diligence, one is clear and unforgetting, operating together with it. Fourth, the faculty of concentration: relying on the faculty of mindfulness, the mind dwells on a single object, operating together with it. Fifth, the faculty of wisdom: relying on the faculty of concentration, one discerns things, operating together with it.
The five powers, expounded at length in the scriptures. These are the faculty of faith and the rest: because they have been well cultivated and much cultivated, they are no longer thrown into disorder by faithlessness and the other such states, and they can moreover counteract those disordering states. It is in the sense of being unassailable that they are called powers.
The five faculties and the five powers have the same five members, and their difference is one of degree rather than content: a faculty becomes a power when it can no longer be disordered by its opposite, and can actively counteract that opposite. This is why the thirty-seven can list ten items where a bare inventory would list five. It is also a usable description of what maturity in practice looks like — not the acquisition of new capacities, but the point at which existing ones stop being liable to reversal.
Note that faith is described as established "by way of the worldly path," and only afterward turned toward the direct realization of the truths. The sequence matters: faith is not what one arrives at by seeing the truth, but what carries one to the point where seeing becomes possible. Each of the remaining four then rests on its predecessor and — the phrase is repeated four times — operates together with it. They are a chain, but not a relay; nothing is handed off and left behind.
14. The Seven Factors of Awakening
Unlike the faculties and powers, which can be cultivated on the worldly path, the seven factors of awakening belong to the path of seeing — they are what operates once the truths are actually in view.
七遍覺支者，廣說如經。一、念遍覺支，謂由世間道得備善力見道現前，由先修習世間念遍覺支，引得出世無功用無分別，於諦明了於諦不忘。二、擇法遍覺支，謂由先所引無功用無分別，依止於念與念俱行，於諦解了於諦覺悟。如是一切諸遍覺支，由先所引無功用無分別，後依止前與彼俱行，皆應了知。是中差別者，第三、正勤遍覺支，於諦心勇。第四、喜遍覺支，於諦心悅。第五、安遍覺支，於真諦中身心堪任。第六、三摩地遍覺支，於真諦中心住一境。第七、捨遍覺支，於真諦心平等、心正直、心無轉動性。
又如經說：即於是中復善修習寂靜依止，乃至廣說。寂靜依止者，謂欲界寂靜依故。離欲依止者，謂色無色界離欲依故。滅依止者，謂已得蘊界處無餘永斷依故。趣向棄捨者，謂未來蘊界處不相續故。
The seven factors of awakening, expounded at length in the scriptures. First, the factor of mindfulness: by the worldly path one has equipped oneself with the power of the wholesome, and the path of seeing appears before one; through having previously cultivated the worldly factor of mindfulness, one is led to a transcendent, effortless, non-discriminating state, clear about the truths and not forgetting them. Second, the factor of discerning things: by that previously induced effortless non-discrimination, resting on mindfulness and operating together with it, one understands the truths and awakens to them. So it should be understood of all the factors of awakening: each rests on the one before and operates together with it, by way of that previously induced effortless non-discrimination.
The differences among them are these. Third, the factor of right diligence: the mind is brave toward the truths. Fourth, the factor of joy: the mind is delighted in the truths. Fifth, the factor of ease: within the true truths, body and mind are workable. Sixth, the factor of concentration: within the true truths, the mind dwells on a single object. Seventh, the factor of equanimity: toward the true truths, there is evenness of mind, uprightness of mind, and the mind's being without agitation.
And as the scripture says: "Within this, one further cultivates well the reliance on stillness," and so on at length. Reliance on stillness: because it relies on the stilling of the realm of desire. Reliance on freedom from craving: because it relies on freedom from craving for the realms of form and formlessness. Reliance on cessation: because it relies on the complete and permanent abandonment, without remainder, of the aggregates, elements, and sense fields already obtained. Tending toward relinquishment: because the future aggregates, elements, and sense fields do not continue.
The repeated qualifier 無功用無分別 — effortless and non-discriminating — is what marks these seven off from everything before them in the thirty-seven. The four right exertions were strenuous by definition; the bases of supernatural power required eight formative practices of monitoring and correction. Here the work has stopped. Every one of the seven factors is said to arise from a previously induced effortlessness, and each rests on the one before. The list is not a set of things to do but a description of what a mind does on its own once the truths have come into view.
The four reliances quoted at the end give the trajectory of the whole path in four steps: stillness with respect to the realm of desire, freedom from craving for the higher realms, cessation of the aggregates already obtained, and — the last one — the non-continuation of future aggregates. Note that the fourth is stated as an absence rather than an achievement. Relinquishment is what it is called when nothing further follows.
15. The Eightfold Noble Path
The last of the thirty-seven, and here the eight limbs are located quite precisely: right view straddles the path of seeing and the path of cultivation, and everything after it belongs to cultivation.
八聖道支者，廣說如經。一、正見，謂於見道中得遍覺支時見清淨，及於修道中安立後得遍覺支見清淨，總合此二名為正見。二、正思惟，謂依正見與彼俱行離欲思惟、無恚思惟、無害思惟，於修道中相續作意思惟諸諦，與無漏作意相應，令心趣入極趣入、尋求極尋求，現前尋求覺了計算，觀察思惟思惟性。
三、正語，謂於修道中依正思惟，由相續無漏作意思惟諸諦故，得四種語業，聖愛戒所攝，不樂離樂除滅種種離，澄淨防護不作離作，不行不毀不犯，橋梁船筏遠離不違越，不種種違越性。四、正業，謂於修道中由相續無漏作意思惟諸諦故，得三種身業，聖愛戒所攝，不樂離樂除滅種種離，廣說如前。五、正命，謂於修道中乃至思惟諸諦故，遠離所作邪命惡法，聖愛戒所攝，廣說如前。
The eight limbs of the noble path, expounded at length in the scriptures. First, right view: the purity of seeing at the time of obtaining the factors of awakening on the path of seeing, together with the purity of seeing in the subsequently attained factors of awakening as established on the path of cultivation; these two together are called right view.
Second, right thought: relying on right view and operating together with it — the thought of renunciation, of non-anger, of non-harming; on the path of cultivation, continuously attending to and contemplating the truths, associated with uncontaminated attention, making the mind enter and fully enter, seek and fully seek, and in the present seek, awaken to, and reckon; the nature of observing, contemplating, and reflecting.
Third, right speech: on the path of cultivation, relying on right thought, and by continuous uncontaminated attention contemplating the truths, one obtains the four kinds of verbal action, comprised in the discipline beloved of the noble ones — not delighting in, being free of delight in, extinguishing, and being variously free of wrongdoing; clear, guarding, not committing and abstaining from committing; not practicing, not disparaging, not transgressing; a bridge, a boat, a raft — far removed, not violating, not violating in any manner. Fourth, right action: on the path of cultivation, by continuous uncontaminated attention contemplating the truths, one obtains the three kinds of bodily action, comprised in the discipline beloved of the noble ones — not delighting in, being free of delight in, extinguishing, and being variously free of wrongdoing, expounded at length as above. Fifth, right livelihood: on the path of cultivation, down to contemplating the truths, one keeps far from the evil practices of wrong livelihood, comprised in the discipline beloved of the noble ones, expounded at length as above.
六、正策勵，謂於修道中乃至思惟諸諦故，於所修習念住、正斷、神足、根、力之中，欲樂、正勤、策勵、勇猛、堪任、難制、心正奮發、相續精進性。
七、正念，謂於修道中乃至思惟諸諦故，或依奢摩他道、或依毘鉢舍那道、或依雙道，於所修習擇法、正勤、喜、安、等持、捨遍覺支中，念及正念、隨念、諸念不忘念心明了性，及不忘失、極不忘失、極不忘失諸法性。
八、正等持，謂於修道中乃至思惟諸諦故，又依三道於所修中正念攝故，心住、安住、近住、等住、不亂不散、正攝持奢摩他心住一境性。此諸道支，後依於前相應俱起應知。
Sixth, right exertion: on the path of cultivation, down to contemplating the truths, within the establishments of mindfulness, the right exertions, the bases of supernatural power, the faculties, and the powers that one cultivates — the nature of delight in aspiration, right diligence, spurring on, courage, workability, being hard to check, a mind rightly roused, and continuous vigor.
Seventh, right mindfulness: on the path of cultivation, down to contemplating the truths, whether relying on the way of calm abiding, or on the way of insight, or on both ways together — within the factors of awakening one cultivates, namely discerning things, right diligence, joy, ease, concentration, and equanimity: mindfulness, right mindfulness, subsequent mindfulness, all the kinds of mindfulness, the unforgetting clarity of mind, and the nature of not forgetting, utterly not forgetting, utterly not forgetting anything whatsoever.
Eighth, right concentration: on the path of cultivation, down to contemplating the truths, and because right mindfulness gathers up what one cultivates by way of those three ways — the mind's dwelling, abiding securely, abiding closely, abiding evenly, undisturbed and unscattered, rightly gathered and held, the calm abiding in which the mind dwells on a single object. It should be understood that among these limbs of the path, each rests on the one before and arises together with it in association.
The placement of right view is the doctrinally significant move. It is not assigned to the path of seeing alone, as one might expect from its name; it is the purity of seeing on the path of seeing plus the purity of seeing in what is subsequently attained on the path of cultivation, and "these two together are called right view." Right view therefore spans the moment of breakthrough and everything that follows from it. All seven remaining limbs are then located squarely on the path of cultivation.
The string of images in right speech — 橋梁船筏, a bridge, a boat, a raft — is unusual in a passage otherwise built from technical negations, and it is the one place in the section where Asaṅga's prose lifts. The discipline "beloved of the noble ones" is not described as a set of restrictions but as a means of crossing. It is also worth noting that right speech, action, and livelihood are all said to be obtained (得) through contemplating the truths under uncontaminated attention — not adopted as resolutions, but acquired as a consequence of seeing. On this account the ethics of the noble path are a result, not a prerequisite.
16. The Ten Knowledges
A new verse extends the topic past the thirty-seven. First the ten knowledges — a list that begins with two kinds of knowing distinguished by whether their objects are held in common and open to view.
復次頌曰：
智與解脫門， 行迹及止觀。
Furthermore:
Knowledge and the doors of liberation,
modes of progress, footings, calm abiding and insight.
論曰：智者，謂十種智，廣說如經。一、法智，謂於共了現見所知諸義境界無漏之智。二、種類智，謂於不共了、不現見所知義境無漏之智。三、他心智，謂修所生修果，能知他心及心法智，及諸如來知諸眾生隨其意解、隨其隨眠教授教誡轉起妙智。四、世俗智，謂世間慧，由依此故如來為諸眾生隨其意解、隨其隨眠宣說妙法。
五、苦智，謂於有漏諸行之中，無常、苦、空、離我思惟，若智若見明了覺悟慧觀察性。六、集智，謂於有漏諸行因中，因、集、生、緣思惟，若智若見，餘如前說。七、滅智，謂於有漏諸行滅中，滅、靜、妙、離思惟，若智若見，餘如前說。八、道智，謂於能斷有漏諸行無漏道中，道、如、行、出思惟，若智若見，餘如前說。
九、盡智，謂苦已知、集已斷、滅已證、道已修，或緣盡境或復為盡，若智若見，餘如前說。十、無生智，謂苦已知不復當知、集已斷不復當斷、滅已證不復當證、道已修不復當修，或緣無生境或為無生，若智若見，餘如前說。
The exposition: knowledge means the ten knowledges, expounded at length in the scriptures. First, knowledge of things: uncontaminated knowledge with respect to those objects of knowledge that are commonly understood and directly visible. Second, inferential knowledge: uncontaminated knowledge with respect to objects of knowledge that are not commonly understood and not directly visible. Third, knowledge of others' minds: born of cultivation and its fruit, the knowledge able to know others' minds and mental factors; and the marvelous knowledge that arises in the Tathāgatas, by which they know all beings according to their understanding and their latent tendencies, and teach and admonish them accordingly. Fourth, conventional knowledge: worldly wisdom, in dependence on which the Tathāgata proclaims the marvelous Dharma to beings according to their understanding and their latent tendencies.
Fifth, knowledge of suffering: with respect to contaminated formations, contemplating them as impermanent, suffering, empty, and devoid of self — the nature of knowing, seeing, clear awakening, and wise observation. Sixth, knowledge of origin: with respect to the causes of contaminated formations, contemplating them as cause, origin, production, and condition — knowing and seeing, the rest as stated above. Seventh, knowledge of cessation: with respect to the cessation of contaminated formations, contemplating it as cessation, stillness, excellence, and deliverance — knowing and seeing, the rest as stated above. Eighth, knowledge of the path: with respect to the uncontaminated path that can cut off contaminated formations, contemplating it as path, as suitable, as practice, and as leading out — knowing and seeing, the rest as stated above.
Ninth, knowledge of exhaustion: that suffering has been known, its origin abandoned, its cessation realized, and the path cultivated — whether taking exhaustion as its object or being itself for the sake of exhaustion — knowing and seeing, the rest as stated above. Tenth, knowledge of non-arising: that suffering has been known and need not be known again, its origin abandoned and need not be abandoned again, its cessation realized and need not be realized again, the path cultivated and need not be cultivated again — whether taking non-arising as its object or being itself for the sake of non-arising — knowing and seeing, the rest as stated above.
The first pair divides all uncontaminated knowledge by the accessibility of its object: what is commonly understood and directly visible, against what is neither. The second member, 種類智, is the knowledge that runs by kind — knowing that what holds here holds also in realms one cannot see, because they are of the same type. Between them these two cover everything knowable, and the remaining eight are cross-cuts rather than additions.
The last two are the most interesting, because they are the only knowledges defined by what no longer needs doing. Knowledge of exhaustion knows that the four tasks have been completed; knowledge of non-arising knows further that they will not need completing again. The difference is subtle and decisive: one can know a job is finished without yet knowing it cannot recur. It is worth setting this beside the earlier account of the worldly absorptions, which really do free one from craving for the level below and yet remain 退還法, subject to falling back. Knowledge of non-arising is the precise negation of that condition.
17. The Three Doors of Liberation
Each door is given twice over — as what is known, and as the knowing of it. The account of emptiness is the densest passage in the fascicle, and turns on an exact equivalence between the absence of the imagined nature and the presence of selflessness.
解脫門者，謂三解脫門：一空解脫門、二無相解脫門、三無願解脫門。空有二種：一所知、二智。所知者，謂於眾生遍計性所執法中，及法遍計性所執法中，此二遍計性俱離無性，及彼所餘無我有性。於諸法中遍計性無，即是無我性有；於諸法中無我性有，即是遍計性無，即於此中有及非有無二之性無分別境。智者，謂緣彼境如實了知。
無相亦有二種：一所知、二智。所知者，謂即所知空境，由此境相一切諸相之所不行。智者，謂如前說。無願亦有二種：一所知、二智。所知者，謂由無智故顛倒所起諸行相貌。智者，謂緣彼境厭惡了知。
The doors of liberation are three: the door of emptiness, the door of signlessness, and the door of wishlessness.
Emptiness is of two kinds: what is known, and the knowing. What is known: within the things grasped through the imagined nature with respect to beings, and within the things grasped through the imagined nature with respect to phenomena, both of these imagined natures are absent and without own-nature — and there remains besides them the existent nature of selflessness. Within things, the absence of the imagined nature just is the presence of selflessness; and within things, the presence of selflessness just is the absence of the imagined nature. And in this there is the non-discriminated domain of a nature in which existence and non-existence are not two. The knowing: taking that domain as object, one understands it as it really is.
Signlessness is likewise of two kinds. What is known: this very domain of emptiness that is known — because in this domain none of the signs operate. The knowing: as stated above. Wishlessness is likewise of two kinds. What is known: the appearances of the formations produced through distortion by reason of the absence of knowledge. The knowing: taking that domain as object, one understands it with revulsion.
空行者，謂於諸行我不可得，及諸相中世俗分別法不可得。無相行者，謂即於諸行中眾生無我性可得，及諸相中世俗分別法無我性可得，及於滅中滅、靜、妙、離行。無願行者，謂無常、苦、不淨，如病如癰如箭，因、集、生、緣行。緣智空道作道、如、行、出行，此亦是空行。緣智無相道作道、如、行、出行，此亦是無相行。緣智無願道作道、如、行、出行，此亦是無願行。
若無差別總名空無相無願者，此通聞思修所生之慧，世及出世應知。若名空、無相、無願三摩地者，唯是修所生慧，通世出世應知。若名空、無相、無願解脫門者，此唯出世應知。
The practice of emptiness: within formations a self cannot be found, and within the signs the conventionally discriminated things cannot be found. The practice of signlessness: within formations the selfless nature of beings can be found, and within the signs the selfless nature of conventionally discriminated things can be found; and within cessation, the practice of cessation, stillness, excellence, and deliverance. The practice of wishlessness: the practice of impermanence, suffering, and impurity — as a disease, an abscess, an arrow — and of cause, origin, production, and condition. Taking as object the knowledge of the path of emptiness and practicing it as path, as suitable, as practice, and as leading out — this too is the practice of emptiness. Taking as object the knowledge of the path of signlessness and practicing it in the same four ways — this too is the practice of signlessness. Taking as object the knowledge of the path of wishlessness and practicing it in the same four ways — this too is the practice of wishlessness.
When, without distinction, they are collectively called emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, this extends to the wisdom born of hearing, of reflection, and of cultivation, and should be understood as both worldly and transcendent. When they are called the concentrations of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, this is only the wisdom born of cultivation, and should be understood as both worldly and transcendent. When they are called the doors of liberation of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, this should be understood as transcendent only.
The core sentence is a two-way identity stated twice for emphasis: the absence of the imagined nature just is the presence of selflessness, and the presence of selflessness just is the absence of the imagined nature. This is the Yogācāra formulation of emptiness in its most compressed form, and it is deliberately not the claim that nothing exists. Something is absent — the imagined nature, with respect both to persons and to phenomena — and something is present, namely selflessness, which the text is careful to call 有性, an existent nature. What is then non-discriminated is the domain in which that existence and that non-existence are not two things.
The closing paragraph is a small masterpiece of terminological hygiene, and it answers a question readers of Buddhist texts often have: why the same three terms appear sometimes as practices, sometimes as concentrations, sometimes as doors of liberation. The answer is that they name the same three things at three depths. As bare practices they include the wisdom of hearing and reflection, and may be worldly. As concentrations they require the wisdom of cultivation, and may still be worldly. Only as doors of liberation are they exclusively transcendent. Nothing about the object changes; what changes is how deeply it has been taken in.
18. The Four Modes of Progress, and the Four Footings
行者，謂四種行，廣說如經。一、苦遲通，謂鈍根者，未得現法樂住，為盡諸漏若道若行。二、苦速通，謂利根者，餘如前說。三、樂遲通，謂鈍根者，已得現法樂住，為盡諸漏若道若行。四、樂速通，謂利根者，餘如前說。
迹者，謂四法迹，廣說如經。一、無貪迹，謂能持尸羅蘊法義故名迹，若未受者令進受，若已受者令守護令增長令廣大。如無貪，第二無瞋亦爾。三、正念迹，謂能持三摩地蘊法義故名迹，未生者令生，已生者令增廣。四、正等持迹，謂能持慧蘊解脫、解脫智見蘊法義故名迹，若未生未證者令生令證，若已生已證者令增令廣。
Modes of progress are of four kinds, expounded at length in the scriptures. First, painful and slow: one of dull faculties who has not obtained a pleasant abiding in the present life — whatever path or practice he undertakes to exhaust the contaminants. Second, painful and swift: one of keen faculties, the rest as above. Third, pleasant and slow: one of dull faculties who has obtained a pleasant abiding in the present life — whatever path or practice he undertakes to exhaust the contaminants. Fourth, pleasant and swift: one of keen faculties, the rest as above.
Footings are the four footings of Dharma, expounded at length in the scriptures. First, the footing of non-greed: it is called a footing because it can carry the meaning of the aggregate of moral discipline — causing one who has not undertaken it to go on and undertake it, and one who has undertaken it to guard it, increase it, and make it vast. As with non-greed, so with the second, the footing of non-hatred. Third, the footing of right mindfulness: it is called a footing because it can carry the meaning of the aggregate of concentration — causing what has not arisen to arise, and what has arisen to increase and grow broad. Fourth, the footing of right concentration: it is called a footing because it can carry the meaning of the aggregates of wisdom, of liberation, and of the knowledge and vision of liberation — causing what has not arisen or been realized to arise and be realized, and what has arisen and been realized to increase and grow broad.
The four modes of progress are produced by crossing two independent variables: whether one's faculties are dull or keen, which sets the speed, and whether one has obtained a pleasant abiding in the present life — that is, access to the absorptions — which sets whether the going is comfortable. Neither variable determines the destination. All four are ways of exhausting the contaminants, and the treatise does not rank them as paths, only describe them. This is a more generous scheme than it first appears: painful and slow is still listed as one of the four ways it is done.
The four footings map onto the five aggregates of the Dharma body — discipline, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation — with the last footing carrying three of them at once. The metaphor is worth keeping: a 迹 is a footprint or track, what bears weight and shows the way. Non-greed and non-hatred are what moral discipline actually rests on; without them, precepts are merely rules being followed.
19. Calm Abiding and Insight
止者，謂於如所聞思法中正修行時，由緣三摩地影像境作意故、得安三摩地故，住心於內。
觀者，謂於如所聞思法中正修行時，由緣三摩地影像境作意故、得安三摩地故，簡擇諸法。
Calm abiding: when one is rightly practicing with respect to the teachings as heard and reflected upon, then, through attending to the image that is the object of concentration and through obtaining a settled concentration, one makes the mind dwell within.
Insight: when one is rightly practicing with respect to the teachings as heard and reflected upon, then, through attending to the image that is the object of concentration and through obtaining a settled concentration, one discerns things.
The two definitions are word-for-word identical up to the final clause. Same starting material — the teachings as heard and reflected upon; same object — the image taken up in concentration; same requirement — a settled concentration already obtained. They diverge only at the last three characters: 住心於內, make the mind dwell within, against 簡擇諸法, discern things. This is as economical a statement of the relation between the two as the tradition produces. Calm abiding and insight are not two practices with different objects or different preparations; they are two things done with the same object once the same preparation is in place.
20. The Four Abodes and the Four Reliances
A third verse extends the topic further, and here the material turns explicitly to the bodhisattva path. The four reliances are among the most quoted formulas in East Asian Buddhism, and Asaṅga's gloss on them is unusually pointed.
復次頌曰：
居處及所依， 發心與悲愍，
諸行、通達性， 地、波羅蜜多。
Furthermore:
Abodes and reliances,
generating the aspiration, and compassion,
the practices, penetration,
the grounds, and the perfections.
論曰：居處者，謂四居處，廣說如經。一、慧居處，謂諦觀方便世間之慧，為安立證諦出世智義故。二、諦居處，謂已得諦觀出世慧，為安立有事顛倒斷義故。三、捨居處，謂有事顛倒斷，為安立無餘煩惱息滅義故。四、寂靜居處，謂無餘煩惱寂靜，為安立一切苦不生義故。
The exposition: abodes are the four abodes, expounded at length in the scriptures. First, the abode of wisdom: the worldly wisdom that is the means to contemplating the truths, in order to establish the transcendent knowledge that realizes them. Second, the abode of truth: the transcendent wisdom of contemplating the truths, once obtained, in order to establish the abandoning of distortion with respect to what has substance. Third, the abode of relinquishment: the abandoning of distortion with respect to what has substance, in order to establish the quieting of the afflictions without remainder. Fourth, the abode of stillness: the quieting of the afflictions without remainder, in order to establish the non-arising of all suffering.
所依者，謂四種依，廣說如經。一、依法不依眾生，謂若法是如來所說或弟子說十二分教隨學隨轉，不隨眾生所行行學亦不隨轉。二、依義不依文，謂若法非飾詞者所造綺文字句，唯能顯了獨滿清淨鮮白梵行，於此法中恭敬信解，非於能顯顛倒梵行及不顯了梵行但飾詞者所造綺文字句。三、依了義經不依不了義經，謂於如來所說相似甚深空性相應隨順諸緣緣起法中不妄執著，如言淺義亦不住自內見取心，唯勤尋究顯了義經。四、依智不依識，謂不唯聽聞而生知足便不進修法隨法行，然為盡諸漏，勤求自內證真諦智。
Reliances are the four reliances, expounded at length in the scriptures.
First, rely on the Dharma, not on the person: if a teaching belongs to the twelvefold scriptural corpus spoken by the Tathāgata or by his disciples, one follows and conforms to it in one's study; one does not study or conform to the conduct that persons happen to practice.
Second, rely on the meaning, not on the letter: if a teaching is not ornamental phrasing composed by someone who prettifies words, but can display the uniquely complete, pure, clean holy life, then toward that teaching one has reverence, faith, and understanding — and not toward the ornamental phrases composed by mere prettifiers of words, which display a distorted holy life or fail to display it at all.
Third, rely on scriptures of definitive meaning, not on those of provisional meaning: with respect to what the Tathāgata has spoken concerning the seeming, the profound, emptiness, and what accords with conditions and dependent arising, one does not falsely cling; one does not settle into the shallow sense of the words, nor into one's own inner clinging to views, but diligently investigates the scriptures that display the definitive meaning.
Fourth, rely on knowledge, not on consciousness: one does not merely listen, grow content with that, and then fail to go on and practice the Dharma in accordance with the Dharma; rather, in order to exhaust the contaminants, one diligently seeks the knowledge that inwardly realizes the true truth for oneself.
The four abodes form a chain in which each member exists for the sake of the next, and the phrasing makes this explicit four times over: each is undertaken 為安立 — in order to establish — the one that follows. Worldly wisdom exists to establish transcendent knowledge; transcendent knowledge to establish the abandoning of distortion; that abandoning to establish the quieting of the afflictions; and that quieting to establish the non-arising of suffering. Nothing in the series is an end in itself until the last term, which is stated as a negation.
Asaṅga's gloss on the four reliances is sharper than the formula's usual devotional handling. On the first: what one declines to follow is not a person's teaching but 眾生所行行, the conduct persons happen to practice — the reliance protects against imitating a teacher's behavior, not against learning from a teacher. On the second, the target is named twice with some heat: 飾詞者, those who prettify words, whose ornamental phrasing either displays a distorted holy life or displays nothing. And the fourth reliance is glossed as a warning against a specific and very recognizable failure — hearing teachings, feeling satisfied by having heard them, and never practicing. Consciousness here is not a faculty to be distrusted in the abstract; it is what one has when one has merely listened.
21. Generating the Aspiration for Enlightenment
The bodhisattva's founding act, given in two forms: the conventional vow, spoken aloud before a witness, and the realization of the nature of things that occurs only on the first ground.
發心者，謂諸菩薩發菩提心。若諸菩薩住菩薩法性，為欲利益十方世界所有有情，依彼行相強勝因緣，於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提發大誓願，受發心法，謂我必定當證阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，為度十方一切有情令離諸煩惱故，及離諸苦難故。此受發心復有二種：一世俗發心、二證法性發心。
世俗發心者，謂如有一，隨智者前恭敬而住，起增上意發誓願言：長老憶念。或言：聖者憶念。或言：鄔波拕耶！我如是名，從今日始發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，為欲饒益諸有情故。從今已往，凡我所修布施、持戒、忍辱、正勤、靜慮及慧，一切皆為證得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提故。我今與諸菩薩摩訶薩和合出家，願尊證知我是菩薩。第二第三亦復如是。
Generating the aspiration means the bodhisattvas' generating the mind of enlightenment. When bodhisattvas abide in the nature of the bodhisattva Dharma, then, wishing to benefit all beings in the worlds of the ten directions, and relying on the powerful causes and conditions of that mode of conduct, they make a great vow toward unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment and undertake the generating of the aspiration, saying: I shall assuredly realize unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment, in order to deliver all beings in the ten directions, causing them to be freed from the afflictions and freed from all sufferings and difficulties. This undertaking of the aspiration is of two kinds: the conventional generating of the aspiration, and the generating of the aspiration that realizes the nature of things.
The conventional generating of the aspiration: suppose someone stands reverently before a wise person, gives rise to a surpassing intention, and makes this vow, saying: "Venerable, be mindful of me" — or "Noble one, be mindful of me" — or "Upādhyāya! I, so-and-so by name, from this day forth generate the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment, in order to benefit all beings. From this time onward, whatever giving, moral discipline, patience, right diligence, meditative absorption, and wisdom I cultivate, all of it is for the sake of realizing unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. I now go forth in harmony with all the bodhisattva mahāsattvas. May you, venerable one, bear witness that I am a bodhisattva." A second and a third time likewise.
證法性發心者，謂如有一，已過第一劫阿僧企耶，已證菩薩初極喜地，已入菩薩定無生位，已如實知無上菩提及菩提方便，已悟自身將近等近大菩提果，證解自他悉平等故得大我意，已至不住流轉寂滅菩薩道故，得廣大意。由如是故，於大菩提願不退轉，是謂證法性發心。
悲愍者，謂如是已發心菩薩，於十方世界，或三種退墮苦有情、或五趣定苦有情、或四種極苦有情、或六種重苦苦有情、或三種相苦苦有情，諸如是所令離苦行，不害為性。
The generating of the aspiration that realizes the nature of things: suppose someone has already passed the first incalculable aeon, has already realized the bodhisattva's first ground, the Joyous; has already entered the bodhisattva's settled state of non-arising; already knows as it really is unsurpassed enlightenment and the means to it; has already awakened to the fact that he himself is drawing near and close to the great fruit of enlightenment; and, having realized and understood that self and other are wholly equal, has obtained the intention of the great self; and, having arrived at the bodhisattva path that abides neither in the round nor in quiescence, has obtained the vast intention. For these reasons he does not turn back from the vow of great enlightenment. This is the generating of the aspiration that realizes the nature of things.
Compassion: the bodhisattva who has thus generated the aspiration, with respect to beings in the worlds of the ten directions — whether the three kinds of beings suffering from falling back, or the beings of the five destinies suffering by fixed determination, or the four kinds of beings in extreme suffering, or the six kinds suffering grievously, or the three kinds suffering in their very character — his conduct that causes them to be freed from such suffering has non-harming as its nature.
The conventional vow is given as an actual script, down to the alternative forms of address and the instruction to repeat it three times — the same ritual structure as taking ordination. It is worth noticing what the vow does and does not claim. It does not claim any attainment; it redirects. Whatever the six perfections one cultivates, all of it is now for the sake of enlightenment. And it asks for a witness: bear witness that I am a bodhisattva. The conventional aspiration is a public act, and it can be undertaken by anyone standing in front of someone wise.
The second kind requires an incalculable aeon and the first ground, and its two results are named in a striking pair. 大我意, the intention of the great self, arises from realizing that self and other are wholly equal — the term is deliberately provocative in a tradition built on no-self, and the point is that what expands to include all beings is no longer the self that selflessness denies. 廣大意, the vast intention, comes from the path that abides neither in the round nor in quiescence: neither trapped in saṃsāra like ordinary beings nor withdrawn into nirvāṇa like the arhat. It is because of these, and not because of resolve, that this aspiration cannot turn back.
22. The Ten Dharma Practices
The fascicle closes with ten things a bodhisattva does with a text — a sequence that runs from copying it out to using it as the object of calm abiding and insight.
諸行者，謂十種法行，廣說如經。一、於菩薩藏法若多若少尊重恭敬書持法行。二、若劣若勝諸供養具供養法行。三、若自書已，由矜愍心施他法行。四、若他發意恭敬尊重，以微妙聲宣揚闡讀，由宗仰故諦聽法行。五、發淨信解恭敬重心披讀法行。六、為欲修習法隨法行，從師受已諷誦法行。七、既諷誦已，為堅持故以廣妙音溫習法行。八、悲愍他故傳授與彼，隨其廣略開演法行。九、獨處閑靜極善研尋，稱理觀察思惟法行。十、如所思惟修行奢摩他、毘鉢舍那，為欲趣入乃至為令諸所求義成就法行。
The practices are the ten Dharma practices, expounded at length in the scriptures.
First, the practice of copying and preserving: with respect to the teachings of the bodhisattva canon, whether much or little, doing so with reverence and respect. Second, the practice of making offerings: with offerings of every kind, whether poor or fine. Third, the practice of giving: having copied a text oneself, bestowing it on another out of a compassionate heart. Fourth, the practice of attentive listening: when another has formed the intention, with reverence and respect, to proclaim and read it aloud in a fine voice, listening closely out of veneration. Fifth, the practice of reading: with a mind of pure faith, understanding, reverence, and gravity, opening the text and reading it. Sixth, the practice of reciting: wishing to practice the Dharma in accordance with the Dharma, reciting it after receiving it from a teacher. Seventh, the practice of rehearsing: having recited it, going over it with a broad and beautiful voice in order to hold it firmly. Eighth, the practice of expounding: out of compassion for others, transmitting it to them and setting it forth, at length or in brief as suits them. Ninth, the practice of reflecting: dwelling alone in quiet, investigating most thoroughly, observing and reflecting in accordance with principle. Tenth, the practice of cultivating: practicing calm abiding and insight in accordance with what one has reflected upon, in order to enter in, and so on down to bringing to accomplishment every meaning one seeks.
The ten run in a deliberate order, from the most external to the most internal: one copies the text, honors it, gives it away, listens to it, reads it, recites it, rehearses it, teaches it, thinks it over alone, and finally makes it the object of calm abiding and insight. Nothing in the sequence is dismissed as merely preliminary — copying out a manuscript and attaining insight are both listed as Dharma practices, and the first is not a lesser substitute for the last. It is worth reading this list alongside the fourth reliance a few sections earlier, which warned against listening and then growing content. These ten are what not growing content actually looks like, laid out as steps.
Two of the ten involve other people in ways easy to overlook. The third is giving away a text one has copied oneself — the labor and the object both — and it is specified as arising from compassion rather than from generosity toward the Dharma. The eighth is teaching, and its measure is 隨其廣略, at length or in brief as suits them. The practice is not expounding what one knows; it is fitting what one says to who is listening.
Fascicle 2 Complete
This closes the truths and the basis, and carries the factors of enlightenment through the thirty-seven, the ten knowledges, the three doors of liberation, calm abiding and insight, the four abodes and reliances, the bodhisattva's aspiration and compassion, and the ten Dharma practices. The verse that opened the last of these sections named three further items — penetration, the grounds, and the perfections — and fascicle 3 takes them up in turn before completing the sixth topic and moving on to persons.
Continue to Fascicle 3 — Penetration, the Grounds, and the Perfections →