The Grounds, Persons, and the Fruits
The sixth topic finishes here — the seven penetrations, the ten bodhisattva grounds, the ten perfections, the doors of dhāraṇī and concentration, the five measureless attentions, and the seven kinds of reality contemplated as suchness. Then the seventh topic runs its whole course in a single sweep: persons, sorted and re-sorted five times over — by how they approach the truths, by which fruit they have reached, by how many rebirths remain, by temperament, and by the realm they inhabit. And the eighth topic opens on the fruits, which turn out to be defined almost entirely by what has been abandoned.
Where This Fascicle Picks Up
Fascicle 2 ended in the middle of the sixth of the nine topics, the factors of enlightenment, having reached the ten Dharma practices. The verse that governed that stretch named three further items — penetration, the grounds, and the perfections — and this fascicle takes them up at once. It then completes the sixth topic, runs through the whole of the seventh (persons), and carries the eighth (the fruits) nearly to its end.
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. The Seven Penetrations
Seven things one sees through — beginning, unexpectedly, with letters of the alphabet, and ending with the nature of things itself.
通達者，謂七種通達，廣說如經。一、字通達，謂於三十二字無分別故，所行相義如實覺了，先已於心增上法行善修治故。二、字相通達，謂於師子之形諸字相等有分別故，所行相義如實覺了，餘如前說。三、能取通達，謂於所緣相應心法唯了別相如實覺了，餘如前說。四、所取通達，謂於一切諸識境界唯識影相如實覺了，餘如前說。五、繫縛通達，謂於相縛及麁重縛如實覺了，餘如前說。六、解脫通達，謂於相縛解脫及麁重縛解脫如實覺了，餘如前說。七、法性通達，謂於繫縛解脫，無始世來諸行緣起及彼寂滅真如法性如實覺了，先已於心增上法行善修治故。
Penetration is of seven kinds, expounded at length in the scriptures.
First, penetration of letters: because there is no discrimination among the thirty-two letters, one awakens as it really is to the meaning of the aspects that occur — having previously cultivated well the practices that give the mind dominance. Second, penetration of the marks of letters: because there is discrimination among the marks of letters, such as the shape of the letter si, one awakens as it really is to the meaning of the aspects that occur; the rest as above. Third, penetration of the grasper: one awakens as it really is to the fact that the mental factors associated with an object are nothing but the aspect of discriminating; the rest as above. Fourth, penetration of the grasped: one awakens as it really is to the fact that the objective domains of all the consciousnesses are nothing but reflected images of consciousness; the rest as above. Fifth, penetration of bondage: one awakens as it really is to the bondage of signs and the bondage of coarse heaviness; the rest as above. Sixth, penetration of liberation: one awakens as it really is to liberation from the bondage of signs and from the bondage of coarse heaviness; the rest as above. Seventh, penetration of the nature of things: with respect to bondage and liberation, one awakens as it really is to the dependent arising of formations from beginningless time and to the suchness, the nature of things, in which they are stilled — having previously cultivated well the practices that give the mind dominance.
Beginning a list of penetrations with the alphabet is not a curiosity. The first pair works out a real distinction: taken purely as sounds, letters carry no discrimination — nothing in the sound distinguishes one meaning from another — while taken as written marks they do, since a letter has a shape one can tell from other shapes. Seeing through both is seeing that meaning is not resident in the vehicle. This is the ground floor of the argument that the third and fourth penetrations state directly: the grasping side is nothing but the aspect of discriminating, and the grasped side is nothing but reflected images of consciousness.
The two bondages named in the fifth are the pair that Yogācāra treatises keep returning to. 相縛, the bondage of signs, is being tied by how things appear as distinct objects; 麁重縛, the bondage of coarse heaviness, is being tied by the sheer unworkability of body and mind. One is cognitive, the other something closer to inertia — and, as fascicle 1 noted when it listed "the suffering that grows up together with the operations of coarse heaviness," the second is not removed by seeing through the first.
2. The Ten Bodhisattva Grounds
Each ground is given by the same formula: what was cultivated before, what is surpassed, what is attained, and why the name fits. Read in sequence, the middle terms trace the five aggregates of the Dharma body — discipline, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation — being purified one after another.
地者，謂菩薩十地，廣說如經。一、極喜地，謂諸菩薩住此地中，先已於心增上法行善修治故，超過一切聲聞獨覺現觀，得諸菩薩現觀，由正證得無上現觀故，諸大菩薩於此地中住增上喜，是故此地名為極喜。二、離垢地，謂諸菩薩住此地中，先善修治初地行故，超過一切聲聞獨覺地，證得極淨妙尸羅蘊，對治一切微犯戒垢，是故此地名為離垢。三、發光地，謂諸菩薩住此地中，先善修治第二地故，超過一切聲聞獨覺地，證得極淨三摩地蘊，大智光明之所依止，是故此地名為發光。四、焰慧地，謂諸菩薩住此地中，先善修治第三地故，超過一切聲聞獨覺地，證得極淨緣諸覺分，能取法境微妙慧蘊，能現前燒一切煩惱，是故此地名為焰慧。五、極難勝地，謂諸菩薩住此地中，先善修治第四地故，超過一切聲聞獨覺地，證得極淨緣諦所知諸法微妙慧蘊，成極難成不住流轉寂滅聖道，是故此地名極難勝。
The grounds are the ten bodhisattva grounds, expounded at length in the scriptures.
First, the Joyous ground: bodhisattvas abiding on this ground, because they have previously cultivated well the practices that give the mind dominance, surpass the direct realization of all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas and obtain the direct realization of bodhisattvas. Because they rightly realize this unsurpassed direct realization, the great bodhisattvas abide on this ground in surpassing joy; therefore this ground is named Joyous.
Second, the Stainless ground: bodhisattvas abiding here, because they have well cultivated the practice of the first ground, surpass all the levels of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas and realize the utterly pure and excellent aggregate of moral discipline, which counteracts every stain of minor transgression; therefore this ground is named Stainless.
Third, the Luminous ground: because they have well cultivated the second ground, they surpass all the levels of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas and realize the utterly pure aggregate of concentration, which is the support of the light of great wisdom; therefore this ground is named Luminous.
Fourth, the Radiant ground: because they have well cultivated the third ground, they surpass all the levels of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas and realize the utterly pure and subtle aggregate of wisdom that takes the factors of enlightenment as its object and can grasp the domain of things — able to burn away all the afflictions before one's very eyes; therefore this ground is named Radiant.
Fifth, the ground Difficult to Conquer: because they have well cultivated the fourth ground, they surpass all the levels of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas and realize the utterly pure and subtle aggregate of wisdom that takes as its object the truths and the things to be known — accomplishing the extremely difficult noble path that abides neither in the round nor in quiescence; therefore this ground is named Difficult to Conquer.
六、現前地，謂諸菩薩住此地中，先善修治第五地故，超過一切聲聞獨覺地，證得極淨緣智非智二種所作諸行流轉止息法境微妙慧蘊，多分有相任運相續妙智現前，是故此地名為現前。七、遠行地，謂諸菩薩住此地中，先善修治第六地故，超過一切聲聞獨覺地，證得極淨微妙解脫解脫智見蘊，由已遠入一切現行諸相解脫，是故此地名為遠行。八、不動地，謂諸菩薩住此地中，先善修治第七地故，超過一切聲聞獨覺地，證得極淨微妙解脫解脫智見蘊，解脫一切相自在障故，得無功用任運相續道之所依止，是故此地名為不動。九、善慧地，謂諸菩薩住此地中，先善修治第八地故，超過一切聲聞獨覺地，證得極淨微妙解脫解脫智見蘊，解脫一切無礙辯障無過廣慧之所依止，是故此地名為善慧。十、法雲地，謂諸菩薩住此地中，先善修治第九地故，超過一切聲聞獨覺地，證得極淨微妙解脫解脫智見蘊，解脫發起大神通智障，如雲法身圓滿所依，是故此地名為法雲。
Sixth, the Manifest ground: because they have well cultivated the fifth ground, they surpass all the levels of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas and realize the utterly pure and subtle aggregate of wisdom whose domain is the stilling of the flow of formations produced by both knowledge and non-knowledge; and for the most part a marvelous wisdom, still bearing signs, becomes manifest and continues effortlessly; therefore this ground is named Manifest.
Seventh, the Far-Reaching ground: because they have well cultivated the sixth ground, they surpass all the levels of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas and realize the utterly pure and subtle aggregates of liberation and of the knowledge and vision of liberation; because they have entered far into liberation from all the signs that operate; therefore this ground is named Far-Reaching.
Eighth, the Immovable ground: because they have well cultivated the seventh ground, they surpass all those levels and realize the utterly pure and subtle aggregates of liberation and of the knowledge and vision of liberation; because they are liberated from every obstacle to mastery over signs, they obtain the support of a path that is effortless and continues of itself; therefore this ground is named Immovable.
Ninth, the ground of Excellent Wisdom: because they have well cultivated the eighth ground, they surpass all those levels and realize the utterly pure and subtle aggregates of liberation and of the knowledge and vision of liberation; because they are liberated from every obstacle to unobstructed eloquence, they become the support of a faultless and vast wisdom; therefore this ground is named Excellent Wisdom.
Tenth, the Cloud of Dharma ground: because they have well cultivated the ninth ground, they surpass all those levels and realize the utterly pure and subtle aggregates of liberation and of the knowledge and vision of liberation; because they are liberated from the obstacle to arousing the knowledge of the great supernormal powers, they become, like a cloud, the support of the perfected Dharma body; therefore this ground is named Cloud of Dharma.
The repeated middle term is what makes the sequence legible. The second ground attains the aggregate of moral discipline; the third, concentration; the fourth, fifth, and sixth, three successively deeper aggregates of wisdom; and the seventh through tenth all attain the aggregates of liberation and of the knowledge and vision of liberation. The ten grounds are therefore the five aggregates of the Dharma body being purified in order, with wisdom taking three grounds and the last two aggregates taking four. The first ground stands outside this pattern because it is where direct realization first occurs at all.
The eighth ground is the hinge, and its description says why: liberated from every obstacle to mastery over signs, the bodhisattva obtains a path that is 無功用任運相續 — effortless, self-sustaining, continuous. Up to the seventh ground there is still someone doing something. From the eighth there is not. The sixth ground's description already anticipates this by calling its wisdom effortless yet 有相, still bearing signs; the eighth removes what remains. It is worth noting how each ground is defined by an obstacle removed rather than a power gained — even the tenth, whose great supernormal knowledge is described as what an obstacle had been blocking.
3. The Ten Perfections
Giving is defined at length and the remaining nine by difference. The last four — skillful means, vow, power, and knowledge — are the Mahāyāna additions to the familiar six, and Asaṅga's account of the vow is unusually candid about what motivates it.
波羅蜜多者，謂十波羅蜜多，廣說如經。一、施波羅蜜多，謂依菩提心，悲為導首，十種法行助善修治，七種通達為堅固根，或因資財、或因正法、或因無畏，五種功德大我所攝性，一無著故捨、二不觀故捨、三無失故捨、四無分別故捨、五迴向故捨。由此行故，而諸菩薩以資生具攝諸有情，及由親近多修習故，令彼資糧圓滿，當成無上正遍知果。如施波羅蜜多，如是戒乃至慧應知。
The perfections are the ten perfections, expounded at length in the scriptures.
First, the perfection of giving: resting on the mind of enlightenment, with compassion as its guide, assisted and well cultivated by the ten Dharma practices, with the seven penetrations as its firm root; whether by way of material goods, or of the true Dharma, or of fearlessness; it is of the nature of five qualities comprised in the great self — giving without attachment, giving without regard, giving without loss, giving without discrimination, and giving with dedication. By this practice bodhisattvas gather beings in by means of the requisites of life; and because they draw near to it and cultivate it much, they cause the provisions of those beings to be perfected, so that they will accomplish the fruit of unsurpassed perfect omniscience. As with the perfection of giving, so it should be understood of moral discipline and the rest, down to wisdom.
此中差別者，第二戒波羅蜜多，謂或因息離不善、或因攝受善法、或因利益有情，律儀戒所攝身語意業性。由此行故，諸菩薩以不恚不惱攝諸有情。第三忍波羅蜜多，謂或因忍受他不饒益不恚性、或因安受諸苦不亂性、或因審察諸法正慧性。由此行故，諸菩薩以忍受一切不饒益事及損害事攝諸有情。第四勤波羅蜜多，謂或因被發心鎧、或因方便加行、或因利益有情，相續純熟心勇猛性，為欲引生一切善根。由此行故，而諸菩薩雖未伏惑，而能一向專修諸善。第五靜慮波羅蜜多，謂或因對治煩惱、或因發起功德、或因利益有情，心住一緣性。由此行故，而諸菩薩伏諸煩惱令住不現行法。第六慧波羅蜜多，謂或因對治煩惱、或因發起功德、或因利益有情，簡擇諸法性。由此行故，而諸菩薩永斷一切煩惱障、所知障種子。
The differences among them are these. Second, the perfection of moral discipline: whether by way of ceasing from the unwholesome, or of taking up wholesome states, or of benefiting beings — it is of the nature of the actions of body, speech, and mind comprised in the discipline of restraint. By this practice bodhisattvas gather beings in through freedom from anger and vexation.
Third, the perfection of patience: whether by way of the freedom from anger in bearing another's unkindness, or the freedom from disturbance in calmly enduring sufferings, or the right wisdom that examines things closely. By this practice bodhisattvas gather beings in by bearing every unkindness and every injury.
Fourth, the perfection of diligence: whether by way of donning the armor of the aspiration, or of applied practice in the means, or of benefiting beings — it is of the nature of a continuous, matured, and courageous mind, in order to bring forth all the wholesome roots. By this practice bodhisattvas, though they have not yet subdued the afflictions, can single-mindedly cultivate the wholesome.
Fifth, the perfection of meditative absorption: whether by way of counteracting the afflictions, or of arousing good qualities, or of benefiting beings — it is of the nature of the mind's dwelling on a single object. By this practice bodhisattvas subdue the afflictions and make them abide in a state of not operating.
Sixth, the perfection of wisdom: whether by way of counteracting the afflictions, or of arousing good qualities, or of benefiting beings — it is of the nature of discerning things. By this practice bodhisattvas permanently cut off the seeds of both the obstruction of the afflictions and the obstruction to what is to be known.
第七善巧方便波羅蜜多，謂諸菩薩以此方便，或由隨順、或由違逆、或由不同意樂、或由作恩報恩、或由威逼、或由清淨，以三種利益攝諸有情，於種種善處令受、令調、令安住、令成立。第八願波羅蜜多，謂諸菩薩中隨有其一為性。懈怠煩惱多故，遂發正願而修諸善，令我未來獲得自性勇猛正勤，煩惱微薄。由此因故，於餘生中如所發求咸果其願，於修善法得強盛力。第九力波羅蜜多，謂諸菩薩由於所修善法得強盛力，依此力故速疾發起靜慮波羅蜜多。第十智波羅蜜多，謂諸菩薩於菩薩藏靜慮波羅蜜多所攝法則智所引世間慧。依此慧故，而諸菩薩速能發起出世無分別不住流轉寂滅道所攝慧波羅蜜多。
如是十波羅蜜多，於一切地中皆具修習。若增上者，施波羅蜜多唯在初地，如其次第乃至智波羅蜜多在第十地應知。
Seventh, the perfection of skillful means: by these means bodhisattvas — whether by going along with beings, or by going against them, or by not sharing their inclinations, or by conferring kindness and repaying kindness, or by pressing them with authority, or by purity — gather beings in with the three kinds of benefit, causing them to accept, to be tamed, to abide securely, and to be established in the various places of the wholesome.
Eighth, the perfection of the vow: suppose one among the bodhisattvas is by nature such that laziness and affliction are abundant in him. He therefore makes a right vow and cultivates the wholesome, saying: may I in the future obtain a nature that is courageous and rightly diligent, with the afflictions grown slight. By that cause, in his other lives all that he vowed and sought bears its fruit, and he obtains a robust power in cultivating wholesome states.
Ninth, the perfection of power: because bodhisattvas obtain a robust power in the wholesome states they cultivate, in dependence on that power they swiftly arouse the perfection of meditative absorption.
Tenth, the perfection of knowledge: it is the worldly wisdom that bodhisattvas draw forth by means of the knowledge of the principles comprised in the perfection of meditative absorption within the bodhisattva canon. In dependence on this wisdom, bodhisattvas can swiftly arouse the perfection of wisdom, which is comprised in the transcendent, non-discriminating path that abides neither in the round nor in quiescence.
These ten perfections are all fully cultivated on every ground. As to which is dominant: the perfection of giving belongs to the first ground alone, and so in sequence, down to the perfection of knowledge on the tenth ground.
The account of the eighth perfection is the most humanly frank passage in the fascicle. The perfection of the vow is introduced not as the crown of aspiration but as the remedy of a bodhisattva who happens to be lazy and heavily afflicted. Lacking the temperament for diligence, he vows for a better one — and gets it, in later lives. The perfection of the vow is what one has when one does not yet have the qualities one needs, and it is listed among the perfections rather than beneath them. The ninth then follows directly: the power that the answered vow produces.
Two structural notes. The fourth perfection's clause is easy to miss and quietly important: bodhisattvas cultivate the wholesome single-mindedly 雖未伏惑, though they have not yet subdued the afflictions. Diligence does not wait for purification. And the closing rule prevents the whole ten-and-ten correspondence from being misread — every perfection is cultivated on every ground, and the one-to-one mapping concerns only which is dominant. The bodhisattva on the first ground is not practicing giving alone.
The seventh perfection deserves a word for its realism about how people are actually helped. Skillful means includes going along with someone, going against them, declining to share their inclinations, conferring or repaying kindness, and pressing them with authority. Only the last item on the list is 清淨, purity. This is a description of teaching as it is done, not as it is idealized.
4. The Four Bodhisattva Practices and the Four Means of Attraction
復次頌曰：
菩薩行、攝事， 及彼陀羅尼、
三摩地等門， 諸無量作意。
Furthermore:
The bodhisattva's practices, the means of attraction,
and the doors of dhāraṇī,
of concentration and the rest,
and the measureless attentions.
論曰：菩薩行者，謂四種菩薩行，廣說如經。一、到彼岸行，謂十波羅蜜多，總攝說為到彼岸行，皆是大乘出離義故。二、遍覺分行，謂三十七菩提分法，總攝說為遍覺分行，如實覺了一切所知義故。三、神通行，謂六神通，總攝說為神通行，皆為引攝所化有情界，令生恭敬入聖教義故。四、成熟有情行，謂四攝事，總攝說為成熟有情行。若已入聖教所化有情界，以財法二種攝受義故。此中財攝者，謂助攝受方便令成熟故。法攝者，謂正攝受，轉及隨轉方便令成熟故。如是四攝事，依五種攝行說為攝事。五攝行者，一令附已攝、二令受善攝、三令起善正勤攝、四令善成熟攝、五令善解脫攝。攝事者，謂四攝事，廣說如經。若安立彼，如安立成熟有情行應知。
The exposition: the bodhisattva's practices are of four kinds, expounded at length in the scriptures. First, the practice of going to the far shore: the ten perfections, collectively called the practice of going to the far shore, because they all have the sense of the Great Vehicle's deliverance. Second, the practice of the factors of awakening: the thirty-seven factors conducing to enlightenment, collectively so called, because by them one awakens as it really is to the meaning of all that is to be known. Third, the practice of supernormal powers: the six supernormal powers, collectively so called, because they all serve to draw in the realm of beings to be trained, causing reverence to arise and bringing them into the sacred teaching. Fourth, the practice of ripening beings: the four means of attraction, collectively so called, because for those beings already brought into the sacred teaching it has the sense of gathering them in by the two means of material goods and Dharma.
Here, gathering in by material goods means the auxiliary means of gathering in, so as to ripen them. Gathering in by Dharma means the principal gathering in — the means of turning and of turning in accordance, so as to ripen them. These four means of attraction are called means of attraction with reference to five gathering practices: gathering so that they attach themselves; gathering so that they accept the wholesome; gathering so that they arouse right diligence in the wholesome; gathering so that they are well ripened; and gathering so that they are well liberated. The means of attraction are the four means of attraction, expounded at length in the scriptures; their establishment should be understood as with the establishment of the practice of ripening beings.
The four practices divide the bodhisattva's work by whom it is for. The perfections and the thirty-seven are what one does with one's own mind; the supernormal powers and the means of attraction are what one does with other people — and the division between those two is precise. Supernormal powers serve those not yet in the teaching, and the reason given is disarmingly practical: they draw people in and cause reverence to arise. The means of attraction serve those already in it. Miracles are for the door; ripening is for indoors.
The distinction between the two ways of gathering people in is worth keeping. Material goods are 助, auxiliary, and Dharma is 正, principal — but the auxiliary is not dispensable, and it is listed first in the pair every time it appears. The five gathering practices then give the actual sequence: get them to attach themselves, get them to accept what is wholesome, get them working at it, ripen them, liberate them. Only the last two are about attainment. The first three are about relationship.
5. The Doors of Dhāraṇī and of Concentration
陀羅尼門者，謂諸菩薩無量陀羅尼門，廣說如經。若欲略說陀羅尼相者，謂諸菩薩成就字類，通達於名句文身如意自在，得如是種類念持之力。由念力故，隨一字中而能顯示分別開演一切種染淨之義，是故說名陀羅尼門。
三摩地門者，謂諸菩薩無量三摩地門，廣說如經。若欲略說復有八種，謂初靜慮乃至非想非非想處。諸菩薩摩訶薩依此一一三摩地門，出生無量三摩地，諸聲聞獨覺不達其名。此諸三摩地悉能建立十方世界一切三摩地所作之事，是故說名三摩地門。
The doors of dhāraṇī are the bodhisattvas' measureless doors of dhāraṇī, expounded at length in the scriptures. To state the mark of dhāraṇī in brief: bodhisattvas accomplish the classes of letters, penetrate word-groups, phrase-groups, and syllable-groups with mastery at will, and obtain a power of mindful retention of that kind. By the power of that mindfulness, within any single letter they can display, distinguish, and expound the meaning of every kind of defilement and purity; therefore these are called the doors of dhāraṇī.
The doors of concentration are the bodhisattvas' measureless doors of concentration, expounded at length in the scriptures. To state them in brief, there are eight: the first absorption, and so on up to the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. The bodhisattva mahāsattvas, relying on each one of these doors of concentration, bring forth measureless concentrations whose very names śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas do not know. These concentrations can establish all the works accomplished by concentration throughout the worlds of the ten directions; therefore these are called the doors of concentration.
Dhāraṇī is presented here as a capacity of memory and exposition rather than as a formula to be chanted, and the definition connects directly to the first two penetrations at the head of this fascicle. Having seen through letters and their marks, the bodhisattva can hold the whole of what a letter might mean — and so within one letter display the entire range of defilement and purity. The power is called 念持之力, the power of mindful retention. It is what the alphabet becomes once one no longer takes meaning to reside in it.
The doors of concentration are the eight attainments that fascicle 2 set out in detail — the same eight, called doors because measureless further concentrations issue from each. Note the phrase 諸聲聞獨覺不達其名: the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha do not know even the names of these. The eight are shared ground; what a bodhisattva can generate from them is not.
6. The Five Measureless Attentions
Five things a bodhisattva takes as the object of an attention that has no bound: beings, world systems, phenomena, those to be trained, and the means of training them. The last two amount to a long inventory of how differently people need to be approached.
無量作意者，謂五無量作意，廣說如經。一、有情無量作意，謂諸菩薩以增上法行所善修治微妙作意，思惟十方無量世界所攝一切有情世間不可言說種種業報差別之相，或一足、二足、四足、多足，或有色、無色，或有想、無想、非有想非無想，或欲界、色界、無色界，或那洛迦、傍生、鬼趣、人、天，或卵生、濕生、胎生、化生。既思惟已如實了知，如是有情轉、如是有情還，如是染污、如是清淨，如是邪行、如是正行，如是如是行差別故，如是如是諸異熟生。
二、世界無量作意，謂諸菩薩乃至思惟十方無量世界器世間相，既思惟已如實了知，此世界染、此世界淨，如實了知皆如幻化，唯是虛妄分別影像虛偽不實，隨相流轉或成或壞，種種形貌差別建立，或勝或劣、或麁或細、或遠或近，或復分析至於極微，或於廣略、或於現化、或於變異、或於遠近、或於隱顯，如是等事而得自在如實了知。
The measureless attentions are five, expounded at length in the scriptures.
First, the measureless attention to beings: bodhisattvas, with the subtle attention well cultivated by the practices that give the mind dominance, contemplate the inexpressibly various marks of karmic recompense among all the worlds of beings comprised in the measureless worlds of the ten directions — one-footed, two-footed, four-footed, many-footed; with form or formless; with perception, without perception, or with neither perception nor non-perception; of the realm of desire, of form, or of formlessness; hell beings, animals, hungry ghosts, humans, gods; born from egg, from moisture, from womb, or by transformation. Having so contemplated, they know as it really is: thus do beings go forth, thus do beings return; thus are they defiled, thus are they purified; thus do they act wrongly, thus rightly; and because their conduct differs in just such ways, just such ripened results are produced.
Second, the measureless attention to world systems: bodhisattvas contemplate the marks of the receptacle worlds throughout the measureless worlds of the ten directions. Having so contemplated, they know as it really is that this world is defiled and that world pure; and they know as it really is that all of them are like an illusion or a conjuring — nothing but the reflected images of false discrimination, deceptive and unreal — flowing on according to their marks, now forming, now being destroyed, established in all the differences of shape and appearance, superior or inferior, coarse or fine, far or near; and they analyze them down to the finest particles. Whether as to the vast or the brief, as to manifesting and conjuring, as to alteration, as to far and near, or as to the hidden and the revealed, in all such matters they attain mastery and know as it really is.
三、法界無量作意，謂諸菩薩乃至思惟十方無量世界一切諸法自相共相，既思惟已如實了知，此法是色、此法非色，如色非色，如是有見、無見，有對、無對，有漏、無漏，有為、無為，善、不善、無記，有過失、無過失，欲繫、色繫、無色繫，學、無學、非學非無學，見斷、修斷、無斷，轉法、還法，染法、淨法，流轉法、寂滅法，異生法、賢聖法，聲聞法、獨覺法、如來法，如是等法如實了知。
四、所調伏無量作意，謂諸菩薩乃至思惟十方無量世界所化有情種種行種種性，或聲聞種性、或獨覺種性、或如來種性，諸如是等所調種性。既思惟已，如實了知所調伏者，此軟根、此中根、此利根，此下劣勝解、此廣大勝解，此貪行貪阿世耶、此瞋行瞋阿世耶、此癡行癡阿世耶、此等分行等分阿世耶、此升進阿世耶、此不升進阿世耶、此微薄塵垢賢善阿世耶，此增盛隨眠、此微薄隨眠、此極細隨眠，此羸損隨眠、此不羸損隨眠，此全隨眠、此不全隨眠，此廣說方解、此略聞即解，此擯遣所調伏、此攝受所調伏，此軟所調伏、此麁所調伏、此麁軟俱調伏、此應捨置方乃調伏，如是等處如實了知。
Third, the measureless attention to the realm of things: bodhisattvas contemplate the particular and general characteristics of all things throughout the measureless worlds of the ten directions. Having so contemplated, they know as it really is: this thing is form, that thing is not form; and as with form and non-form, so with visible and invisible, resistant and unresistant, contaminated and uncontaminated, conditioned and unconditioned, wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral, faulty and faultless, bound to the realm of desire, of form, of formlessness, of the learner, of the adept, and of neither; abandoned by seeing, abandoned by cultivation, and not to be abandoned; things that go forth and things that return, defiled things and pure things, things of the round and things of quiescence, things of ordinary beings and things of the noble ones, things of the śrāvaka, of the pratyekabuddha, and of the Tathāgata — all such things they know as they really are.
Fourth, the measureless attention to those to be trained: bodhisattvas contemplate the various conduct and various natures of the beings to be trained throughout the measureless worlds of the ten directions — the śrāvaka nature, the pratyekabuddha nature, the Tathāgata nature, and such natures as are to be trained. Having so contemplated, they know as it really is, of those to be trained: this one has dull faculties, this one middling, this one keen; this one's resolve is inferior, this one's is vast; this one's conduct and disposition are of craving, this one's of hatred, this one's of delusion, this one's are of the balanced sort; this one's disposition is advancing, this one's is not advancing, this one's disposition is worthy and good with only slight dust and stain; this one's latent tendencies are flourishing, this one's slight, this one's exceedingly fine; this one's are weakened, this one's are not weakened; this one's are entire, this one's are not entire; this one understands only when it is expounded at length, this one understands on hearing it briefly; this one is trained by being sent away, this one by being taken in; this one is trained gently, this one roughly, this one by both roughness and gentleness, this one is trained only by being left alone. In such matters they know as it really is.
五、調伏方便無量作意，謂諸菩薩乃至思惟十方無量世界所化有情調伏方便，既思惟已如實了知，此因說祕密之法方能調伏、此因說顯了之法方能調伏，此因攝受方便、此因折伏方便，此轉方便、此隨轉方便，此應隨順、此應違逆，此因不同分阿世耶，此應作恩報恩、此應示威奮威，此因清淨，此因示現奇特神變、此因示現奇特記別、此因示現奇特教誡、此因示現種種威勢、此因善誘種種教授，此因麁相、此因軟相、此因麁軟俱相，此因捨置、此因略說法要能令調伏、此因廣演法要方令調伏，如是等方便如實了知。
Fifth, the measureless attention to the means of training: bodhisattvas contemplate the means of training the beings to be trained throughout the measureless worlds of the ten directions. Having so contemplated, they know as it really is: this one can be trained only by expounding a hidden teaching, this one only by expounding a plain one; this one by the means of taking in, this one by the means of subduing; this one by the means of turning, this one by the means of turning in accordance; this one should be gone along with, this one should be gone against; this one by not sharing his disposition; for this one, kindness should be conferred and kindness repaid; to this one authority should be shown and authority exerted; this one by purity; this one by displaying extraordinary transformations, this one by displaying extraordinary predictions, this one by displaying extraordinary admonitions, this one by displaying various kinds of power, this one by skillfully drawing him on with various instructions; this one by a rough manner, this one by a gentle manner, this one by both rough and gentle; this one by being left alone; this one can be trained by stating the essentials of the Dharma briefly, this one only by expounding them at length. Such means they know as they really are.
The fourth and fifth attentions are, between them, one of the most detailed accounts of pedagogical discernment in Buddhist literature, and it is worth reading them as a matched pair: the fourth is diagnosis, the fifth is treatment. The diagnostic categories are not moral rankings but working distinctions — how quick the faculties are, which affliction dominates the temperament, how deep the latent tendencies run, and, most practically, whether the person understands a thing said briefly or needs it laid out at length.
Two items in the list of means are worth pausing over because they cut against a sentimental reading of compassion. One person is trained 擯遣, by being sent away; another 應捨置方乃調伏, is trained only by being left alone. Doing nothing, and refusing someone, are both listed as means of training — not as failures of it. The list also repeats the seventh perfection's uncomfortable inclusion of pressing someone with authority. What holds the whole thing together is the qualifier attached to every item: 如實了知, knowing as it really is. The rough manner is not licensed in general; it is licensed for the person of whom one truly knows that it is what will work.
7. The Seven Kinds of Suchness, and What Closes the Sixth Topic
A final verse brings the sixth topic to an end. The seven suchnesses are seven ways the bodhisattva who has seen the truths attends to reality — and the last four of them are simply the four noble truths, contemplated as suchness rather than as doctrine.
復次頌曰：
真如作意相， 信解不思議，
廣大阿世耶， 應知諸自數。
Furthermore:
The marks of attention to suchness,
confident understanding of the inconceivable,
the vast disposition —
and one should know each by its own count.
論曰：真如作意相者，謂緣七種遍滿真如作意，廣說如經。一、流轉真如作意，謂已見諦諸菩薩，以增上法行善修治作意於染淨法時，思惟諸行無始世來流轉實性。既思惟已，離無因見及不平等因見。二、實相真如作意，謂如前說，乃至於染淨法因思惟諸法、眾生無我性及法無我性。既思惟已，一切身見及思惟分別眾相作意不復現行。三、唯識真如作意，謂如前說，乃至於染淨法所依思惟諸法唯識之性。既思惟已如實了知，唯心染故眾生染、唯心淨故眾生淨。四、安立真如作意，謂如前說，乃至於染污法體思惟苦諦。既思惟已，欲令知故為有情說。五、邪行真如作意，謂如前說，乃至於染污法因思惟集諦。既思惟已，欲令斷故為有情說。六、清淨真如作意，謂如前說，乃至於清淨法體思惟滅諦。既思惟已，欲令證故為有情說。七、正行真如作意，謂如前說，乃至於清淨行思惟道諦。既思惟已，欲令修故為有情說。
The exposition: the marks of attention to suchness means attention taking as its object the seven all-pervading suchnesses, expounded at length in the scriptures.
First, attention to the suchness of flowing on: bodhisattvas who have seen the truths, with attention well cultivated by the practices that give the mind dominance, contemplate — with respect to defiled and pure things — the real nature in which formations have flowed on from beginningless time. Having so contemplated, they are free of the view that there is no cause and of the view of an unequal cause.
Second, attention to the suchness of the real mark: as above, down to contemplating, with respect to the cause of defiled and pure things, the selflessness of persons and the selflessness of phenomena. Having so contemplated, all views of a body, and all attention that contemplates and discriminates the manifold signs, no longer operate.
Third, attention to the suchness of consciousness-only: as above, down to contemplating, with respect to that on which defiled and pure things depend, the nature of all things as consciousness only. Having so contemplated, they know as it really is: because mind alone is defiled, beings are defiled; because mind alone is pure, beings are pure.
Fourth, attention to the suchness of what is established: as above, down to contemplating, with respect to the substance of defiled things, the truth of suffering. Having so contemplated, wishing that others should know it, they expound it to beings.
Fifth, attention to the suchness of wrong conduct: as above, down to contemplating, with respect to the cause of defiled things, the truth of origin. Having so contemplated, wishing that others should abandon it, they expound it to beings.
Sixth, attention to the suchness of purity: as above, down to contemplating, with respect to the substance of pure things, the truth of cessation. Having so contemplated, wishing that others should realize it, they expound it to beings.
Seventh, attention to the suchness of right conduct: as above, down to contemplating, with respect to pure conduct, the truth of the path. Having so contemplated, wishing that others should cultivate it, they expound it to beings.
信解不思議者，謂諸菩薩於難思處已得信解，廣說如經。若欲略說此信解相，謂於最極甚深所知之義、已入地諸菩薩及諸如來所行境界，及於諸佛菩薩最極廣大威德，起淳直信，此難思議非擬度境界，既了達已而生信解。
廣大阿世耶者，謂大我阿世耶及廣普阿世耶。大我阿世耶者，謂諸菩薩由得自他平等解故，為諸有情皆得解脫清淨信欲。廣普阿世耶者，謂諸菩薩於流轉寂滅得無分別平等解故，為利有情二俱不住清淨信欲。
應知諸自數者，謂應知種種覺分自數。如是已說覺分，補特伽羅今當說。
Confident understanding of the inconceivable: bodhisattvas have obtained confident understanding with respect to what is hard to conceive, expounded at length in the scriptures. To state the mark of this confident understanding in brief: with respect to the utterly profound meaning of what is to be known, the domain in which bodhisattvas who have entered the grounds and the Tathāgatas move, and the utterly vast majesty of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, they generate a plain and upright faith — that this is inconceivable and is not a domain to be measured by conjecture; and having fully grasped that, they give rise to confident understanding.
The vast disposition is the disposition of the great self and the all-embracing disposition. The disposition of the great self: because bodhisattvas have obtained the understanding that self and other are equal, they have a pure faith and aspiration that all beings should attain liberation. The all-embracing disposition: because bodhisattvas have obtained the non-discriminating understanding that the round and quiescence are equal, they have a pure faith and aspiration to benefit beings while abiding in neither of the two.
One should know each by its own count: one should know the various factors of enlightenment each by its own count. The factors of enlightenment having thus been expounded, persons shall now be expounded.
The seven suchnesses divide three-and-four. The first three are contemplations of how things are — that they have flowed on causally from beginningless time, that neither persons nor phenomena have a self, and that everything rests on consciousness alone. The last four are the four noble truths, but attended to as suchness rather than as doctrines to be believed; and each of the four ends with the same clause: having contemplated it, the bodhisattva expounds it to beings. The four truths, on the bodhisattva path, are not four things to realize and be done with. They are four things to realize and then teach — to be known, to be abandoned, to be realized, to be cultivated, exactly the fourfold injunction of the first sermon, now redirected outward.
The third suchness contains the treatise's most compressed statement of the Yogācāra thesis in its soteriological form: 唯心染故眾生染，唯心淨故眾生淨 — because mind alone is defiled, beings are defiled; because mind alone is pure, beings are pure. This is why the doctrine matters rather than merely being true. If defilement were in the world, purification would be a matter of rearranging the world.
The definition of confident understanding is careful in a way worth noticing. What the bodhisattva has faith in is not a set of propositions about the inconceivable; it is that the inconceivable 非擬度境界, is not a domain to be measured by conjecture. The faith is in the limit itself. And the phrase 既了達已而生信解 puts understanding before faith, not after: one grasps that this is beyond measuring, and confident understanding follows from that grasp.
8. Topic Seven: Persons — The Seven Noble Types
The seventh topic sorts persons, and it will do so five times over on five different principles. The first sorting turns on whether one approaches the truths by faith or by discernment, and then on whether liberation has been reached through wisdom, through the body, or through both.
頌曰：
隨信行等七， 復八種應知，
及極七返等， 退法等有六。
Verse:
The seven, beginning with the follower by faith;
then eight more should be known;
and those with seven returns at most, and the rest;
and the six, beginning with the one liable to fall back.
論曰：補特伽羅當知多種。今最初釋七種賢聖，謂隨信行等七，廣說如經。一、隨信行，謂如有一，性是軟根，純熟相續，自昔已來恒信解行，由此因緣，今於諸諦隨信解行趣向諦觀。二、隨法行，謂如有一，性是利根，純熟相續，自昔已來恒擇法行，由此因緣，今於諸諦隨擇法行趣向諦觀。三、信解，即隨信行，已見聖諦。四、見至，即隨法行，已見聖諦。五、身證，謂於八解脫身證具足住，未得諸漏無餘盡滅。六、慧解脫，謂已得諸漏無餘盡滅，未得八解脫身證具足住。七、俱解脫，謂已得諸漏無餘盡滅，及於八解脫身證具足住。
The exposition: persons should be known to be of many kinds. Here we first explain the seven types of the wise and noble, namely the follower by faith and the rest, expounded at length in the scriptures.
First, the follower by faith: suppose someone is by nature of dull faculties, with a matured continuum, who from long ago has constantly practiced by faith and understanding; for that reason he now, with respect to the truths, proceeds toward the contemplation of the truths by following faith and understanding. Second, the follower by Dharma: suppose someone is by nature of keen faculties, with a matured continuum, who from long ago has constantly practiced by discerning things; for that reason he now proceeds toward the contemplation of the truths by following the discernment of things.
Third, the one settled in faith: the follower by faith, having now seen the noble truths. Fourth, the one who has attained vision: the follower by Dharma, having now seen the noble truths. Fifth, the body-witness: one who dwells having fully attained the eight liberations witnessed with the body, but has not yet attained the exhaustion of the contaminants without remainder. Sixth, the one liberated by wisdom: one who has attained the exhaustion of the contaminants without remainder, but has not attained the eight liberations witnessed with the body. Seventh, the one liberated in both ways: one who has attained the exhaustion of the contaminants without remainder, and dwells having fully attained the eight liberations witnessed with the body.
The first four make a two-by-two, and it is a generous one. Faith and discernment are two roads, correlated with dull and keen faculties, and the treatise does not say the faith road arrives anywhere less. The follower by faith becomes one settled in faith; the follower by Dharma becomes one who has attained vision. Both have seen the noble truths. Dull faculties are a fact about how one gets there, not about where one gets.
The last three re-sort by a different axis and produce an asymmetry worth noticing: the one liberated by wisdom has exhausted the contaminants without attaining the eight liberations, while the body-witness has attained the eight liberations without exhausting the contaminants. One is liberated but lacks the meditative attainments; the other has the attainments but is not liberated. This is the treatise's own version of a point fascicle 2 made about the worldly absorptions — depth of meditative attainment and actual liberation are two variables, not one.
9. The Eight: The Four Fruits and Their Approaches
八種者，謂預流果、向等八，廣說如經。一、預流向，謂如有一，純熟相續，超過一切外異生地入正性離生，若未證得初預流果，終無中夭。二、預流果，若隨勝攝永斷三結，若全攝者永斷一切見所斷惑，由此聖者已見諦故，最初證得逆流行果。三、一來向，謂如有一，或世間道倍離欲界貪已趣入正性離生，或預流果為斷欲界上中品惑修對治行。四、一來果，或倍離欲已入正性離生然後證得，或預流果進斷欲界上中品惑故得。即依此斷，說名微薄欲貪瞋癡。此云何知？謂以籌慮作意觀察境時，心生於捨，無習向心、無習趣心、無習著心，應知是人三毒微薄。
五、不還向，謂如有一，或世間道先離欲界貪已趣入正性離生，或一來果進斷欲界餘煩惱故修對治行。六、不還果，或先離欲入正性離生然後證得，或一來果盡斷欲界餘煩惱故得。七、阿羅漢向，謂如有一，學已見迹，為斷非想非非想地煩惱故，修對治行。八、阿羅漢果，謂永斷一切非想非非想地煩惱故得。
The eight are the fruit of stream-entry, its approach, and so on — eight in all, expounded at length in the scriptures.
First, the approach to stream-entry: suppose someone with a matured continuum surpasses all the levels of the outsider ordinary being and enters the certainty of rightness; until he realizes the first fruit, that of stream-entry, he will never die prematurely. Second, the fruit of stream-entry: taken at its highest, the permanent abandoning of the three fetters; taken in full, the permanent abandoning of all the delusions abandoned by seeing. Because this noble one has now seen the truths, he realizes for the first time the fruit of going against the stream.
Third, the approach to once-returning: suppose someone has by the worldly path become doubly free of craving for the realm of desire and has then entered the certainty of rightness; or else, having the fruit of stream-entry, he cultivates the counteracting practice in order to abandon the greater and middling delusions of the realm of desire. Fourth, the fruit of once-returning: either realized after entering the certainty of rightness having already become doubly free of craving, or obtained from the fruit of stream-entry by going on to abandon the greater and middling delusions of the realm of desire. With reference to just this abandonment one is said to have craving, hatred, and delusion grown slight. How is this known? When, attending with deliberation, he observes an object, the mind gives rise to equanimity — there is no mind habitually inclining toward it, no mind habitually pursuing it, no mind habitually clinging to it. Such a person should be known to have the three poisons grown slight.
Fifth, the approach to non-returning: suppose someone has by the worldly path first become free of craving for the realm of desire and then entered the certainty of rightness; or else, having the fruit of once-returning, he cultivates the counteracting practice in order to abandon the remaining afflictions of the realm of desire. Sixth, the fruit of non-returning: either realized after entering the certainty of rightness having already become free of craving, or obtained from the fruit of once-returning by completely abandoning the remaining afflictions of the realm of desire. Seventh, the approach to arhatship: suppose a learner who has seen the track cultivates the counteracting practice in order to abandon the afflictions of the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. Eighth, the fruit of arhatship: obtained through the permanent abandoning of all the afflictions of that sphere.
Tucked into the fourth entry is one of the few passages in this treatise that tells a practitioner how to check something for themselves. The once-returner is defined by having the three poisons "grown slight," which sounds unverifiable — so the text asks directly, 此云何知, how is this known? The answer is behavioral and quite precise: when the person deliberately attends to an object, the mind produces equanimity, and there is no habitual inclining, no habitual pursuing, no habitual clinging. The test is not the absence of any stirring but the absence of the habit of stirring.
Note the two routes into each of the middle fruits. One can arrive at once-returning by first suppressing craving through the worldly path and then seeing the truths, or by seeing the truths first and then working through the remaining afflictions. The destination is the same; the order of operations differs. This flexibility is why the eight are given as four fruits each with an approach, rather than as a single ladder — the approach to once-returning contains two quite different people.
10. Eight More, Sorted by Rebirths Remaining
極七返等者，謂極七返等八，依生建立，廣說如經。一、極七返，謂即預流果。由善修聖道故，或於天上、或於人間、或天上人間，受七有生已得盡苦際。二、家家，謂即預流果。由善修聖道故，或生天上或生人間，從家至家得盡苦際。三、一間，謂即一來果。由善修聖道故，或生天上，即於彼處定證寂滅；或生人間，即於此處定證寂滅。四、中間證寂滅，謂即不還果。已斷根本生結、未斷趣向生結，上品修習聖道力故，生中有中即證寂滅、或有不進向生處而證寂滅、或有進向生處未至本生而證寂滅。
五、生證寂滅，謂即不還果。中品修習聖道故，未斷二種生結，隨生一處意生天中，初生之時即證寂滅。六、無行證寂滅，即此聖者行少行已，及少精進而證寂滅，餘悉如前。七、有行證寂滅，謂即不還果。下品修習聖道故，未斷二結，隨生一處意生天中，行多行已，及多精進而證寂滅。八、上流，謂即不還果。隨生一處意生天中，於彼不能得諸漏盡，復進生上，於餘身中方證寂滅。
Those with seven returns at most and the rest: eight kinds established with reference to rebirth, expounded at length in the scriptures.
First, seven returns at most: this is the fruit of stream-entry. Because he has well cultivated the noble path, whether among the gods, among humans, or among both, after undergoing seven existences he reaches the end of suffering. Second, family to family: also the fruit of stream-entry. Because he has well cultivated the noble path, being born among the gods or among humans, he reaches the end of suffering passing from family to family. Third, one interval: this is the fruit of once-returning. Because he has well cultivated the noble path, if born among the gods he assuredly realizes quiescence there; if born among humans, he assuredly realizes it here.
Fourth, realizing quiescence in the interval: this is the fruit of non-returning. Having cut off the fetter of the fundamental birth but not the fetter that tends toward birth, by the power of having cultivated the noble path to the greater degree, he realizes quiescence while in the intermediate existence — or realizes it without advancing toward the place of birth, or realizes it after advancing toward the place of birth but before reaching the birth proper.
Fifth, realizing quiescence on being born: the fruit of non-returning. Because he cultivated the noble path to the middling degree and has not cut off the two fetters of birth, being born in one of the mind-made heavens, he realizes quiescence at the very moment of birth. Sixth, realizing quiescence without exertion: this same noble one, having practiced only a little and with only a little vigor, realizes quiescence; the rest as above. Seventh, realizing quiescence with exertion: the fruit of non-returning. Because he cultivated the noble path to the lesser degree and has not cut off the two fetters, being born in one of the mind-made heavens, he realizes quiescence after much practice and much vigor. Eighth, going upstream: the fruit of non-returning. Being born in one of the mind-made heavens, he cannot there attain the exhaustion of the contaminants; he advances and is born higher, and only in some further body does he realize quiescence.
This third sorting takes the same people the previous section listed and re-counts them by how many rebirths they have left. The stream-enterer appears twice, the once-returner once, and the non-returner five times — because it is precisely at non-returning that the question of where and when one finishes becomes interesting. Having never to return to the realm of desire, the non-returner must complete the work somewhere, and the five entries lay out the possibilities: in the intermediate state between death and birth; at the instant of being born; after little effort; after much effort; or not at all in that life, so that one climbs further and finishes elsewhere.
The fourth entry is of particular interest to readers of Buddhist eschatology, because it locates a full liberation in the intermediate existence itself, with three sub-cases distinguished by how far along that passage it occurs. The intermediate state is not treated as a mere corridor between lives. It is a place where the work can be finished.
11. The Six Kinds of Adept
Six arhats, graded by how securely they hold what they have attained — five of them of dull faculties, and only the last of keen.
退法等有六者，謂退法等六無學果，廣說如經。一、退法，謂成就如是軟根，若思自害、不思自害，若放逸、若不放逸，俱可退失現法樂住及世間功德，不能練根、不能發起勝品功德。二、思法，謂成就如是軟根，若思自害即能不退，不思害時即可退失。此人作是思惟：寧使我勝諸魔，不令諸魔勝我。如是思已而思自害。此亦不能練根、不能發起勝品功德。三、護法，謂成就如是軟根，雖不思自害，不放逸故能不退失；若心放逸即可退失，不能練根、不能發起勝品功德。四、住不動，謂成就如是軟根，雖不思自害及行放逸，然皆不退，不能練根、不能發起勝品功德。五、堪能通達，謂成就如是軟根堪能不退，能練諸根及能發起勝品功德。六、不動法，謂從先來自性成就利根，此人於諸善根，不為已得退法之所搖動，亦不為發勝功德及上練根之所動搖，是故說名為不動法。
The six beginning with the one liable to fall back: six kinds of the adept's fruit, expounded at length in the scriptures.
First, liable to fall back: one who has such dull faculties that whether or not he contemplates self-injury, and whether he is heedless or heedful, he may in either case fall away from the pleasant abiding in the present life and from worldly qualities. He cannot refine his faculties, nor arouse the qualities of the superior grade.
Second, given to contemplation: one of such dull faculties that if he contemplates self-injury he does not fall back, but when he does not so contemplate he may fall away. This person thinks: better that I should conquer the demons than that the demons should conquer me. Having thought thus, he contemplates self-injury. He too cannot refine his faculties, nor arouse the qualities of the superior grade.
Third, a guardian of what he has: one of such dull faculties that although he does not contemplate self-injury, by being heedful he does not fall away; but if his mind grows heedless he may fall away. He cannot refine his faculties, nor arouse the qualities of the superior grade.
Fourth, abiding unmoved: one of such dull faculties that although he neither contemplates self-injury nor practices heedfulness, he does not fall back at all. He cannot refine his faculties, nor arouse the qualities of the superior grade.
Fifth, capable of penetration: one of such dull faculties that he is capable of not falling back, and moreover can refine his faculties and arouse the qualities of the superior grade.
Sixth, of the unshakable nature: one who from the outset has by nature accomplished keen faculties. With respect to the wholesome roots, this person is neither shaken by any falling-back already incurred, nor shaken by the arousing of superior qualities and the refining of his faculties upward. He is therefore called one of the unshakable nature.
The second entry is startling and should not be softened. 思自害 means contemplating self-injury, and the arhat's stated reasoning is 寧使我勝諸魔，不令諸魔勝我 — better that I should conquer the demons than that the demons conquer me. The passage records, without endorsement or elaboration, that some adepts of dull faculties hold their attainment only by holding this thought. This is a description within a taxonomy, not an instruction; and it is worth noting that the treatise ranks this type second lowest of the six. Everything above it holds its ground by other means — heedfulness, then nothing at all, then the capacity to improve.
Two variables generate the list: whether one can fall back, and whether one can improve. The first four are all vulnerable in some degree and none of them can refine their faculties; the fifth is the turning point, dull-faculty yet capable of both security and advance; and the sixth was never dull to begin with. That the fourth type — utterly secure, entirely unable to develop — ranks below the fifth is the most interesting judgment in the section. Stability alone is not the highest thing; the capacity to grow outranks it.
12. Seven Temperaments, Householder and Renunciant, the Three Vehicles
A fourth sorting, this time by disposition rather than attainment — and it closes with the treatise's starkest distinction, between those who can be rescued and those who cannot.
復次頌曰：
軟根等七種， 在俗及出家，
聲聞乘等三， 可救、不可救。
Furthermore:
The seven, beginning with dull faculties;
the householder and the renunciant;
the three, beginning with the śrāvaka vehicle;
those who can be rescued, and those who cannot.
軟根等七種者，一、軟根，謂成就信等五根，或自性軟或未增長，求勝進時加行遲鈍。第二、利根，應知反此。三、貪行，謂於前世久習貪欲，及不修習貪欲對治。是因緣故，於此生中雖逢下劣可愛境界，亦起猛利相續貪愛，難離難厭，於修善法加行遲鈍。如貪行，第四瞋行、第五癡行亦爾。此中差別者，雖逢微小可瞋境界，亦起猛利相續瞋恚；雖逢麁淺可癡境界，亦起猛利相續愚癡。
六、等分行，謂於前世不習上品貪欲瞋癡，設有習者復已修習彼對治法。是因緣故，於此生中逢可愛等三種境界，隨境品類起貪瞋癡三種纏惑，非難離非易離、非難厭非易厭，於修善法不遲不速。七、薄塵行，謂如有一，於過去生不久數習貪欲瞋癡，然已修習彼對治法。是因緣故，於此世中雖逢勝上可愛等境，而能不起猛利相續貪恚癡纏，雖或時起下品中品，然易離易厭，於修善法加行速疾。
The seven beginning with dull faculties. First, dull faculties: one who has accomplished the five faculties of faith and the rest, but either dull by nature or not yet developed, so that when seeking to advance his applied practice is slow. Second, keen faculties: understood as the reverse.
Third, conduct of craving: one who in former lives long practiced craving and did not cultivate its counteragent. For that reason, in this life, even when he meets with a poor and slight object of attraction, he gives rise to fierce and continuous craving, hard to leave and hard to weary of, and his applied practice in cultivating wholesome states is slow. As with the conduct of craving, so with the fourth, conduct of hatred, and the fifth, conduct of delusion; the differences being that even on meeting some petty object of provocation he gives rise to fierce and continuous hatred, and even on meeting some coarse and shallow occasion for confusion he gives rise to fierce and continuous delusion.
Sixth, balanced conduct: one who in former lives did not practice craving, hatred, and delusion to a great degree, or, if he did, has since cultivated their counteragents. For that reason, in this life, meeting the three kinds of object — attractive and the rest — he gives rise to the three entanglements of craving, hatred, and delusion according to the class of object; these are neither hard nor easy to leave, neither hard nor easy to weary of, and his cultivation of wholesome states is neither slow nor swift.
Seventh, conduct with little dust: suppose someone in past lives did not long or repeatedly practice craving, hatred, and delusion, and has moreover cultivated their counteragents. For that reason, in this life, even meeting the finest and most attractive objects he does not give rise to fierce and continuous entanglements of craving, hatred, or delusion; and although at times he gives rise to them in lesser or middling degree, they are easy to leave and easy to weary of, and his applied practice in cultivating wholesome states is swift.
在俗者，謂處家白衣，受用五欲，營搆俗業以自活命。
出家者，謂持出家威儀相貌，棄捨俗境受持禁戒，如法乞求清淨自活。
聲聞乘等三者，一、聲聞乘，謂住聲聞法性，為令自身證寂滅故，發正願已修方便行。二、獨覺乘，謂住獨覺法性，為令自身證寂滅故，不由師教，發正願已修方便行。三、大乘，謂住大乘法性，為令自他證寂滅故，不由師教，發正願已修方便行。
可救者，謂有三乘寂滅法性。不可救者，謂無三乘寂滅法性。
The householder: one who dwells at home in white clothing, enjoying the five desires, and who manages worldly occupations to support his own life.
The renunciant: one who maintains the deportment and appearance of one gone forth, who has cast off worldly objects and undertaken the precepts, and who begs in accordance with the Dharma and supports himself purely.
The three beginning with the śrāvaka vehicle. First, the śrāvaka vehicle: abiding in the nature of the śrāvaka Dharma, in order that he himself may realize quiescence, he makes a right vow and cultivates the practice of the means. Second, the pratyekabuddha vehicle: abiding in the nature of the pratyekabuddha Dharma, in order that he himself may realize quiescence, without instruction from a teacher, he makes a right vow and cultivates the practice of the means. Third, the Great Vehicle: abiding in the nature of the Great Vehicle Dharma, in order that both himself and others may realize quiescence, without instruction from a teacher, he makes a right vow and cultivates the practice of the means.
Those who can be rescued: those who have the nature for the quiescence of one of the three vehicles. Those who cannot be rescued: those who have no such nature for the quiescence of any of the three vehicles.
The account of the three afflicted temperaments is exact about what makes each one hard, and the exactness is diagnostic rather than condemnatory. The person of craving reacts fiercely to a poor and slight attraction; the person of hatred to a petty provocation; the person of delusion to a coarse and shallow occasion for confusion. In each case the disproportion between stimulus and response is the mark of the temperament, and in each case the cause given is the same two-part history: having practiced it long, and never having cultivated its counteragent. The remedy is therefore in the second clause. Balanced conduct and conduct with little dust are both explained as the result of counteragents cultivated in the past.
The last pair is where this treatise commits to a doctrine many Buddhists find hard: that some beings simply lack the nature for the quiescence of any vehicle and cannot be rescued. This is the agotra position, and it follows from the five-natures teaching that Xuánzàng's Yogācāra transmission maintained and that much of East Asian Buddhism later resisted. Asaṅga states it here in eight characters, without argument or softening. Readers should know that it is a real position of this school, and that the tradition that received this text — Tiantai and Huayan especially — largely declined to follow it.
13. Nine More, Two by Destiny, and Thirteen by Realm
The fifth and final sorting of persons, ending with a thirteen-item list that runs from an ordinary being in the realm of desire all the way to the buddhas.
復次頌曰：
入方便等九， 生差別故二，
復由諸界別， 應知十三種。
Furthermore:
The nine, beginning with having entered the means;
two, by difference of birth;
and further, by difference of realm,
thirteen should be known.
論曰：入方便等九者，一、已入方便，謂於如來自覺自說法毘奈耶得堅淨信，已受尸羅、已聞正法，已增長捨、已具正見。第二、未入方便，應知反此。三、有障，謂有三障：一煩惱障、二業障、三報障，由能障礙修習善法。第四、無障，應知反此。五、未成熟，謂未得善根資心相續，不能現法證見諦理，不得現法下中上乘所證寂滅。第六、已成熟，應知反此。七、具縛，所謂異生。八、不具縛，謂彼六種有學聖者，從預流果乃至第六阿羅漢向。九、無縛，謂彼無學阿羅漢果。
生差別故二者，一、人趣，謂生人趣，得人種類。二、非人趣，謂生餘趣那洛迦、傍生及與鬼趣、天龍、藥叉、阿素洛、揭路荼、緊捺洛、牟呼洛伽等生類差別。
The exposition: the nine beginning with having entered the means. First, having entered the means: one who has obtained firm and pure faith in the Dharma and Vinaya that the Tathāgata awakened to and proclaimed himself; who has undertaken the moral discipline, has heard the true Dharma, has increased in relinquishment, and is furnished with right view. Second, not having entered the means: understood as the reverse. Third, having obstructions: there are three obstructions — the obstruction of affliction, the obstruction of karma, and the obstruction of recompense — since these can obstruct the cultivation of wholesome states. Fourth, without obstructions: understood as the reverse. Fifth, not yet ripened: one who has not obtained wholesome roots to nourish the mental continuum, who cannot in this present life realize and see the principle of the truths, and does not in this present life obtain the quiescence realized by the lesser, middling, or greater vehicle. Sixth, already ripened: understood as the reverse. Seventh, fully bound: namely the ordinary being. Eighth, not fully bound: the six kinds of noble learner, from the fruit of stream-entry down to the sixth, the approach to arhatship. Ninth, unbound: the adept, in the fruit of arhatship.
Two by difference of birth. First, the human destiny: born in the human destiny, obtaining the human kind. Second, the non-human destiny: born in the other destinies — the differences of kind among hell beings, animals, and hungry ghosts, and among gods, nāgas, yakṣas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, and the rest.
復由諸界別應知十三種者，一、欲界異生，謂生欲界未見諦者。二、欲界有學，謂生欲界已見聖諦六種有學，謂從預流果乃至第六阿羅漢向。三、欲界無學，謂生欲界阿羅漢果。四、色界異生，謂生色界未見諦者。五、色界有學，謂生色界已見聖諦二種有學，一不還果、二阿羅漢向。六、色界無學，謂生色界阿羅漢果。七、無色異生，謂生無色未見諦者。八、無色有學，謂生無色已見聖諦二種有學，一不還果、二阿羅漢向。九、無色無學，謂生無色阿羅漢果。
十、欲界獨覺，謂住獨覺法性，於前生中或未見諦或已見諦，今生欲界，不由師教，依先因力修覺分法，證得一切諸結永盡。此復二種，一如朅伽獨一而行、二獨勝部眾而行。十一、欲界菩薩，謂生欲界住菩薩法性，為令自他證寂滅故，已發正願，修習一切無上菩提諸方便行。十二、色界菩薩，謂生色界中住菩薩法性，遠離無色修諸靜慮，為令自他證寂滅故，已發正願，修習一切無上菩提諸方便行。十三、不可思議諸佛如來，謂依修習不住流轉及與寂滅無分別道，證得諸佛共有解脫法身所攝無上轉依遍行，十方一切世界作一切有情一切利益事無有斷盡。
Thirteen by difference of realm. First, the ordinary being of the realm of desire: born in the realm of desire, not having seen the truths. Second, the learner of the realm of desire: born there, having seen the noble truths — the six kinds of learner, from the fruit of stream-entry down to the sixth, the approach to arhatship. Third, the adept of the realm of desire: born there, in the fruit of arhatship. Fourth, fifth, and sixth: the ordinary being, learner, and adept of the realm of form — in that realm the learners are only two, the fruit of non-returning and the approach to arhatship. Seventh, eighth, and ninth: the ordinary being, learner, and adept of the formless realm, the learners there likewise being those same two.
Tenth, the pratyekabuddha of the realm of desire: one abiding in the nature of the pratyekabuddha Dharma who, in a former life, had either not yet seen the truths or had already seen them, and who now, born in the realm of desire, without instruction from a teacher, relying on the power of prior causes, cultivates the factors of enlightenment and realizes the permanent exhaustion of all the fetters. He is of two kinds: one who fares alone like the rhinoceros, and one who fares in a company of the solitarily victorious.
Eleventh, the bodhisattva of the realm of desire: born in the realm of desire, abiding in the nature of the bodhisattva Dharma, in order that both himself and others may realize quiescence, having made the right vow, he cultivates all the practices of the means to unsurpassed enlightenment. Twelfth, the bodhisattva of the realm of form: born in the realm of form, abiding in that same nature, keeping apart from the formless and cultivating the absorptions, he likewise cultivates all the practices of the means. Thirteenth, the inconceivable buddhas, the Tathāgatas: relying on the cultivation of the non-discriminating path that abides neither in the round nor in quiescence, they realize the unsurpassed transformation of the basis, all-pervading and comprised in the liberated Dharma body held in common by all buddhas; and throughout all the worlds of the ten directions they perform every act of benefit for every being, without ever ceasing.
The thirteen-item list is built on a simple grid — ordinary being, learner, adept, crossed with the three realms — and then breaks out of the grid four times. The grid itself yields a quiet doctrinal point: in the realms of form and formlessness there are only two kinds of learner, the non-returner and the one approaching arhatship. Stream-enterers and once-returners are not found there, because both by definition still have business in the realm of desire.
The four items outside the grid are where the Mahāyāna asserts itself. The pratyekabuddha appears only in the realm of desire, and is subdivided by a lovely old distinction — one who fares alone 如朅伽, like the rhinoceros, and one who fares in a company of the solitarily victorious, which is to say a solitary who nonetheless has companions. The bodhisattva appears in the realms of desire and form but not the formless, since the formless would take him away from beings. And the thirteenth item is not a kind of person at the top of a scale at all. The buddhas are placed on this list of persons and then described entirely in terms of what they do for everyone else.
14. Topic Eight: The Fruits, and the Five Abandonments
The eighth topic. Almost everything in it is defined by subtraction — what has been cut off, and by what means.
如是已說補特伽羅，果今當說。頌曰：
果斷有五種， 遍知及清淨，
淨、果、界、菩提， 無學由自數。
Persons having thus been expounded, the fruits shall now be expounded.
Abandonment among the fruits is of five kinds;
full knowledge, and purity,
confirmed faith, fruit, realm, enlightenment,
and the adept — each by its own count.
論曰：果斷有五種者，謂諸果中斷有五種。一、諸纏斷，謂由四種對治故，遠離現行諸煩惱纏。四對治者，一散亂對治、二顯了對治、三羸劣對治、四摧伏對治。散亂對治者，謂於前八妙法行中方便修習，或復於餘定地善法方便修習。顯了對治者，謂於第九法行方便修習。羸劣對治者，謂由先善根資助心故煩惱羸弱。摧伏對治者，謂由世間道隨力制伏煩惱種子。二、隨眠斷，謂由出世間道，隨力永斷煩惱種子。三、永盡貪斷，謂由永斷隨眠惑故，貪煩惱斷。如永盡貪斷，如是第四永盡瞋斷、第五永盡癡斷，應知由極淨善通達見力，諸事煩惱畢竟斷故，名永盡斷。
The exposition: abandonment among the fruits is of five kinds.
First, the abandonment of the entanglements: by four counteragents one becomes free of the operating entanglements of affliction. The four counteragents are: the counteragent against distraction, the counteragent of clarification, the counteragent of weakening, and the counteragent of suppression. The counteragent against distraction is the skillful cultivation of the first eight of the excellent Dharma practices, or else the skillful cultivation of the wholesome states of the other concentrated levels. The counteragent of clarification is the skillful cultivation of the ninth Dharma practice. The counteragent of weakening is the weakening of the afflictions through the mind's being nourished by wholesome roots previously laid down. The counteragent of suppression is the suppression, according to one's strength, of the seeds of the afflictions by the worldly path.
Second, the abandonment of the latent tendencies: the permanent cutting off, according to one's strength, of the seeds of the afflictions by the transcendent path. Third, the abandonment that is the utter exhaustion of craving: because the latent delusions have been permanently cut off, the affliction of craving is abandoned. As with the utter exhaustion of craving, so with the fourth, the utter exhaustion of hatred, and the fifth, the utter exhaustion of delusion. It should be understood that because, by the power of an utterly pure and wholesome penetrating vision, the afflictions attaching to particular things are finally cut off, this is called abandonment by utter exhaustion.
The four counteragents against the entanglements are worth mapping onto the ten Dharma practices from fascicle 2, since the text assumes the reader has them in hand. The first eight practices — copying, offering, giving, listening, reading, reciting, rehearsing, expounding — counteract distraction. The ninth, reflecting alone in quiet, is the counteragent of clarification. It is a compact answer to a question practitioners actually have: what is all that copying and reciting for? It is what keeps the mind from scattering, and it is listed here as genuine counteragent work, not as devotional preliminary.
The five abandonments are graded by permanence, and the grading matters. Entanglements are what is currently active, and the four counteragents against them include suppression by the worldly path — which, as fascicle 2 established, does not touch the seeds. Only the second kind, worked by the transcendent path, cuts the seeds. And the last three are named for the three poisons individually, because that is the form in which the exhaustion is actually described in the scriptures.
15. The Nine Full Knowledges, and the Nine Purities
遍知者，謂九遍知，諸果所攝，依斷遍知說。一、欲繫見苦集所斷煩惱斷遍知，由此二諦有漏攝故。二、色無色繫見苦及集所斷煩惱斷遍知，由此二界定地攝故。三、欲繫見滅所斷煩惱斷遍知，由此無漏無為攝故。四、色無色繫見滅所斷煩惱斷遍知，由此定地增上攝故。五、欲繫見道所斷煩惱斷遍知，由此無漏有為攝故。六、色無色繫見道所斷煩惱斷遍知，由此定地增上攝故。七、五順下分結斷遍知，由出過下界故。八、色貪盡遍知，由出過中界故。九、無色貪盡遍知，由出過妙界故。
Full knowledge means the nine full knowledges, comprised among the fruits and stated with reference to the full knowledge that is abandonment.
First, full knowledge of the abandonment of the afflictions bound to the realm of desire and abandoned by seeing suffering and its origin — because these two truths are comprised in the contaminated. Second, full knowledge of the abandonment of the afflictions bound to the realms of form and formlessness and abandoned by seeing suffering and its origin — because these two realms are comprised in the concentrated levels. Third, full knowledge of the abandonment of the afflictions bound to the realm of desire and abandoned by seeing cessation — because this is comprised in the uncontaminated and unconditioned. Fourth, the same for the realms of form and formlessness — because it is comprised in the dominance of the concentrated levels. Fifth, full knowledge of the abandonment of the afflictions bound to the realm of desire and abandoned by seeing the path — because this is comprised in the uncontaminated and conditioned. Sixth, the same for the realms of form and formlessness — because it is comprised in the dominance of the concentrated levels. Seventh, full knowledge of the abandonment of the five lower fetters — because one has passed beyond the lower realm. Eighth, full knowledge of the exhaustion of craving for form — because one has passed beyond the middle realm. Ninth, full knowledge of the exhaustion of craving for the formless — because one has passed beyond the excellent realm.
清淨者，謂九種清淨，廣說如經。一、尸羅清淨，謂如有一，善住尸羅及善守護別解脫戒，如法威儀行處具足，於小罪中見大怖畏，受學學處。二、心清淨，謂如有一，依戒清淨遠離欲惡不善法，如前所說初靜慮第二第三第四靜慮具足住。三、見清淨，謂如有一，具心清淨鮮白無穢，離諸煩惱得住不動，為欲證得漏盡智故觀察諸諦，如實了知，此苦聖諦、此苦集聖諦、此苦滅聖諦、此趣苦滅行道聖諦。四、度疑清淨，謂如有一，依見清淨於佛法僧無惑無疑。五、道非道智見清淨，謂如有一，依度疑清淨得妙智見，唯佛所說僧所行道能得出離。此復云何？謂能盡苦及證苦邊。若諸外道所說之道，不能盡苦及證苦邊。
六、行智見清淨，謂如有一，依道非道智見清淨得妙智見，知出離道有下中上：下者，苦遲通行所攝；中者，苦速通行樂遲通行所攝；上者，樂速通行所攝。七、行斷智見清淨，謂如有一，依行智見清淨得妙智見，謂我應斷下中之行，及為發起上妙聖行。八、無緣寂滅清淨，謂如有一，依行斷智見清淨，證得無餘諸漏永盡。九、國土清淨，謂諸佛共有無上功能，果能示現不可思議國土莊嚴，極淨佛思及極淨菩薩思及思眷屬法。
Purity means the nine kinds of purity, expounded at length in the scriptures.
First, purity of moral discipline: one who abides well in moral discipline and guards well the prātimokṣa precepts, complete in deportment and in the sphere of his conduct as the Dharma requires, seeing great danger in the smallest fault, and undertaking the training rules. Second, purity of mind: relying on purity of discipline, he becomes secluded from desire and from evil and unwholesome states, and dwells having fully attained the first, second, third, and fourth absorptions as described above. Third, purity of view: possessed of a purity of mind that is clean and unstained, freed of the afflictions and abiding unmoved, in order to realize the knowledge of the exhaustion of the contaminants he observes the truths and knows as it really is: this is the noble truth of suffering; this is the noble truth of the origin of suffering; this is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering; this is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering.
Fourth, purity of having crossed beyond doubt: relying on purity of view, he has no perplexity or doubt concerning the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha. Fifth, purity of the knowledge and vision of what is and is not the path: relying on the purity of having crossed beyond doubt, he obtains the marvelous knowledge and vision that only the path proclaimed by the Buddha and practiced by the Saṅgha can bring deliverance. And how so? Because it can exhaust suffering and realize the end of suffering, whereas the paths proclaimed by outsiders cannot.
Sixth, purity of the knowledge and vision of practice: relying on the foregoing, he obtains the marvelous knowledge and vision that the path of deliverance has lesser, middling, and greater forms — the lesser comprised in painful and slow progress; the middling in painful and swift and in pleasant and slow progress; the greater in pleasant and swift progress. Seventh, purity of the knowledge and vision of abandoning practices: relying on the foregoing, he obtains the marvelous knowledge and vision that he should abandon the lesser and middling practices and arouse the superior and excellent noble practice. Eighth, purity of quiescence without object: relying on the foregoing, he realizes the permanent exhaustion of the contaminants without remainder. Ninth, purity of the land: the unsurpassed capacity held in common by all buddhas, whose fruit can display the inconceivable adornment of a buddha-land — the utterly pure thought of a buddha, the utterly pure thought of the bodhisattvas, and the things that attend upon such thought.
The nine purities are the old sevenfold purification of the śrāvaka path with two additions, and it is the additions that tell. The first eight run in strict dependence — discipline supports mind, mind supports view, view supports the crossing of doubt, and so on to the exhaustion of the contaminants — and that eighth item is where a śrāvaka account would stop. The ninth, purity of the land, belongs to no individual at all: it is a capacity 諸佛共有, held in common by all buddhas, and what it purifies is not a person but a world. Placing it as the culmination of a sequence that began with keeping precepts is a deliberate Mahāyāna move.
The sixth purity puts the four modes of progress from fascicle 2 to work, and the seventh then does something the earlier passage did not: it ranks them and tells the practitioner to abandon the lower ones. Fascicle 2 described the four neutrally, as four ways it is done. Here, knowing which one is yours is itself a purity, and so is deciding to leave it behind.
16. The Four Confirmed Faiths, the Four Fruits of the Renunciant
淨者，謂四證淨，廣說如經。一、佛證淨，謂已見諦者，於如來所善住出世間信，及後所得善住世間信。如佛證淨，如是第二法證淨、第三僧證淨應知。四、聖所愛戒證淨，謂已見諦者，於已得決定不作律儀聖所愛戒所善住出世間信，及後所得善住世間信。
Confirmed faith means the four confirmed faiths, expounded at length in the scriptures. First, confirmed faith in the Buddha: in one who has seen the truths, the transcendent faith well established with respect to the Tathāgata, together with the worldly faith well established that is subsequently attained. As with confirmed faith in the Buddha, so should the second, confirmed faith in the Dharma, and the third, confirmed faith in the Saṅgha, be understood. Fourth, confirmed faith in the discipline beloved of the noble ones: in one who has seen the truths, the transcendent faith well established with respect to the discipline beloved of the noble ones — the restraint, definitively obtained, from committing wrongdoing — together with the worldly faith subsequently attained.
果者，謂四沙門果，廣說如經。一、預流沙門果，若隨勝攝，三結永斷，謂身見、戒禁取及疑；若全分攝，一切見道所斷煩惱永斷。由彼斷故，得預流果不墮落法，或極七返、或復家家。二、一來沙門果，若隨勝攝，三結永斷，薄貪瞋癡；若全分攝，一切見道所斷煩惱永斷，及欲界繫修道所斷上品中品煩惱永斷。由彼斷故，得一來果，或復一間。
三、不還沙門果，若隨勝攝，五順下分結永斷，所謂身見、戒禁取、疑、貪欲、瞋恚；若全分攝，一切見道所斷煩惱永斷，及欲界繫修道所斷煩惱永斷，或色界繫煩惱永斷，或無色界一分煩惱永斷。由彼斷故，得不還果，或中間寂滅、或生寂滅、或無行寂滅、或有行寂滅、或復上流。四、阿羅漢沙門果，若隨勝攝，貪欲、瞋、癡無餘永斷；若全分攝，見修所斷一切煩惱永斷無餘。由彼斷故，得阿羅漢諸漏永盡，乃至廣說阿羅漢六恒住法。
Fruit means the four fruits of the renunciant, expounded at length in the scriptures.
First, the renunciant's fruit of stream-entry: taken at its highest, the permanent abandoning of the three fetters — the view of a body, clinging to rules and rituals, and doubt; taken in full, the permanent abandoning of all the afflictions abandoned by the path of seeing. By that abandoning one obtains the fruit of stream-entry and the state of not falling away, whether as one with seven returns at most or as one passing from family to family.
Second, the renunciant's fruit of once-returning: taken at its highest, the permanent abandoning of the three fetters, with craving, hatred, and delusion grown slight; taken in full, the permanent abandoning of all the afflictions abandoned by the path of seeing, together with the greater and middling afflictions bound to the realm of desire that are abandoned by the path of cultivation. By that abandoning one obtains the fruit of once-returning, or the state of one interval.
Third, the renunciant's fruit of non-returning: taken at its highest, the permanent abandoning of the five lower fetters — the view of a body, clinging to rules and rituals, doubt, craving, and hatred; taken in full, the permanent abandoning of all the afflictions abandoned by the path of seeing, together with those bound to the realm of desire abandoned by the path of cultivation, and those bound to the realm of form, and a portion of those bound to the formless realm. By that abandoning one obtains the fruit of non-returning — realizing quiescence in the interval, on being born, without exertion, with exertion, or as one going upstream.
Fourth, the renunciant's fruit of arhatship: taken at its highest, the permanent abandoning without remainder of craving, hatred, and delusion; taken in full, the permanent abandoning without remainder of all the afflictions abandoned by seeing and by cultivation. By that abandoning one obtains arhatship, with the contaminants permanently exhausted — down to the arhat's six abidings, expounded at length in the scriptures.
The fourth confirmed faith is the one that breaks the expected pattern. Three are faith in the Three Jewels; the fourth is faith in 聖所愛戒, the discipline beloved of the noble ones — not in a person or a teaching but in a way of conduct, and specifically in a restraint "definitively obtained." What the stream-enterer acquires is not a resolution to keep precepts but a confidence that certain acts are now simply not available to them. This matches the earlier account in fascicle 2, where right speech, action, and livelihood were said to be obtained through seeing rather than adopted as intentions.
Notice also that each confirmed faith comes in two parts: a transcendent faith and a worldly faith "subsequently attained." The distinction follows the standard pattern of realization and its aftermath — what one sees in the moment of direct realization, and the ordinary confidence one carries afterward. Both are named, and neither is dismissed.
The four fruits here restate the eight of section 9 and the eight of section 10, but organized by what is abandoned rather than by who the person is. Read together with those sections, the three passages describe the same four attainments three times over — by approach and attainment, by rebirths remaining, and by fetters cut. The repetition is not redundancy; it is the treatise's method, which is to hold a topic still and turn it.
17. The Three Realms, the Three Enlightenments, the Ten Adept Factors
界者，謂三種界，廣說如經。一、斷界，謂斷見道所斷諸行。二、離界，謂離修道所斷諸行。三、滅界，謂滅所依所攝諸行。
菩提者，謂三種菩提，如經廣說。一、聲聞菩提，謂聲聞乘轉依所得寂滅及趣寂滅道。二、獨覺菩提，謂獨覺乘轉依所得寂滅及趣寂滅道。三、無上正等菩提，所謂大乘轉依所得寂滅趣寂滅道，及作一切有情利益安樂道。
無學者，謂十無學法，廣說如經。一、無學正見，謂阿羅漢於苦思惟苦乃至於道思惟道，無漏作意相應擇法極簡擇等，如前廣說。如無學正見，如是乃至第八正三摩地，如前應知。九、無學正解脫，謂離一切煩惱麁重，無學心上離煩惱障調堪任法。十、無學正智，謂阿羅漢盡智及無生智。
由自數者，前所說果，各由自數差別應知。
Realm means three realms, expounded at length in the scriptures. First, the realm of severance: severing the formations abandoned by the path of seeing. Second, the realm of separation: separating from the formations abandoned by the path of cultivation. Third, the realm of cessation: the ceasing of the formations comprised in the support itself.
Enlightenment means three enlightenments, expounded at length in the scriptures. First, śrāvaka enlightenment: the quiescence obtained through the śrāvaka vehicle's transformation of the basis, and the path leading to that quiescence. Second, pratyekabuddha enlightenment: the quiescence obtained through the pratyekabuddha vehicle's transformation of the basis, and the path leading to it. Third, unsurpassed perfect enlightenment: the quiescence obtained through the Great Vehicle's transformation of the basis, the path leading to it, and the path of performing what benefits and gives ease to all beings.
The adept means the ten factors of the adept, expounded at length in the scriptures. First, the adept's right view: the arhat's contemplating suffering as suffering, down to contemplating the path as the path — the discerning of things, discerning them to the utmost, and the rest, associated with uncontaminated attention, as expounded at length above. As with the adept's right view, so on down to the eighth, right concentration, understood as above. Ninth, the adept's right liberation: freedom from the coarse heaviness of all the afflictions — that state, in the adept's mind, of being tempered and workable through freedom from the obstruction of the afflictions. Tenth, the adept's right knowledge: the arhat's knowledge of exhaustion and knowledge of non-arising.
Each by its own count: the fruits stated above should each be understood by the differences of its own count.
The three enlightenments are given by a single formula with one addition, and the addition is the whole Mahāyāna claim, stated without polemic. All three are "the quiescence obtained through that vehicle's transformation of the basis, and the path leading to it." Unsurpassed enlightenment has one clause more: 及作一切有情利益安樂道, and the path of performing what benefits and gives ease to all beings. The difference between an arhat's awakening and a buddha's is not described here as a difference in depth of realization but as the presence or absence of that further path.
The ten factors of the adept are the eightfold path plus two, and the two additions are exactly what an arhat has that a practitioner on the path does not: right liberation and right knowledge. Note how right liberation is defined — freedom from the coarse heaviness of the afflictions, leaving the mind 調堪任, tempered and workable. The same term that named the bondage a bodhisattva sees through in the fifth penetration at the head of this fascicle, and that named what pliancy removes among the wholesome factors in fascicle 1, is here the last thing to go.
18. Why the Afflictions Are Abandoned, and in What Order
復次頌曰：
斷多因故斷， 建立斷所從，
由作意依修， 及得斷次第。
Furthermore:
Abandonment, because its causes are many;
establishing what abandonment proceeds from;
by attention, by support, by cultivation;
and the sequence in which abandonment is obtained.
論曰：斷多因故斷者，斷果多因故煩惱斷，謂四種因諸煩惱斷：一所依滅故、二所依轉故、三知所緣故、四樂所緣故。復有五因斷諸煩惱：一知彼體故、二知彼事故、三知彼過故、四避彼緣故、五修彼對治作意法故。復有四因煩惱已斷：一依無餘滅故、二依無餘轉故、三對治無餘修故、四心無餘解脫故。
建立斷所從者，謂從所緣境斷諸煩惱，於所緣境斷煩惱已無繫縛故，諸相應法亦復隨斷。未來現在煩惱可斷，永害麁重說煩惱斷。
由作意者，謂由總緣諦修作意故斷諸煩惱。由依者，謂由依止七依定故斷諸煩惱，謂初靜慮乃至第七無所有處。由修者，謂修四念住及四正斷，乃至修習八聖道支故斷煩惱。
及得斷次第者，有五種次第諸煩惱斷，一先斷見道所斷煩惱、二後斷修道所斷煩惱、三先漸調伏諸現煩惱、四然後永斷一切煩惱、五最後超過一切煩惱。
The exposition: abandonment, because its causes are many. Because the causes of the fruit of abandonment are many, the afflictions are abandoned. By four causes the afflictions are abandoned: because their support ceases; because their support is turned about; because their object is known; because their object becomes agreeable. By five further causes the afflictions are abandoned: because one knows their essence; because one knows the matters they attach to; because one knows their faults; because one avoids their conditions; because one cultivates the attention that counteracts them. And by four causes the afflictions have been abandoned: because their support has ceased without remainder; because their support has been turned about without remainder; because their counteragent has been cultivated without remainder; because the mind has been liberated without remainder.
Establishing what abandonment proceeds from: the afflictions are abandoned by way of the objects they take. Once the afflictions have been abandoned with respect to their object, there is no more binding, and so the associated factors are abandoned along with them. Future and present afflictions can be abandoned; and the permanent destruction of coarse heaviness is what is called the abandoning of affliction.
By attention: the afflictions are abandoned by cultivating the attention that takes the truths as its general object. By support: they are abandoned in dependence on the seven concentrations that serve as support — the first absorption down to the seventh, the sphere of nothingness. By cultivation: they are abandoned by cultivating the four establishments of mindfulness and the four right exertions, down to cultivating the eight limbs of the noble path.
The sequence in which abandonment is obtained: there are five stages in the abandoning of the afflictions — first, the afflictions abandoned by the path of seeing are abandoned; second, those abandoned by the path of cultivation are abandoned afterward; third, the afflictions currently operating are gradually subdued; fourth, all the afflictions are then permanently abandoned; fifth, at the last, one passes beyond all the afflictions.
The fourth of the first set of causes is the surprising one: 樂所緣故, because the object becomes agreeable. Three of the four causes are what one would expect — the support ceases, the support is transformed, the object is known. The fourth says that an affliction can be undone by the object it fastens on ceasing to be a problem. Read alongside the second set, where knowing an affliction's essence, its occasions, and its faults are listed separately from avoiding its conditions, the picture is of abandonment as something achieved from several directions at once rather than by a single frontal assault.
The clause about the seven supporting concentrations quietly restates a limit from fascicle 2. There are eight attainments, but only seven can serve as the support from which the afflictions are cut — the eighth, the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, is left out, exactly as it was left out of the transcendent path there. And the definition of what abandonment is should be noted: 永害麁重, the permanent destruction of coarse heaviness. Not the absence of afflicted thoughts, but the removal of the underlying unworkability.
19. Kinds of Abandonment, and What It Is Good For
The fascicle closes with what abandonment actually changes, given as a long list of things one is no longer capable of — ending with the arhat's six abidings.
復次頌曰：
斷差別應知， 及斷相利益，
如是如所說， 復應知多種。
Furthermore:
The differences of abandonment should be known,
and the marks and benefits of abandonment;
and thus, as has been stated,
they should further be known as many.
論曰：斷差別應知多種者，諸煩惱斷多種差別，謂有諸纏斷、有隨眠斷、有由世間道、有由出世間道、有由聲聞乘作意、有由獨覺乘作意、有由菩薩乘作意、有暫時斷、有畢竟斷，諸如是等煩惱斷滅差別應知。
斷相利益復應知多種者，諸煩惱斷有多種相利益應知，如經廣說。謂不墜墮法、定趣菩提、已至正法、臨至正法、證解正法、得證源底、得遍證源底、聖智見成就，不復能計苦樂等法自作、他作及自他作，及非自他二種共作。亦不復計諸苦及樂無因而生，不復故斷傍生等命，不復故越諸所學處，不復能起五無間業，不復求請諸外道師亦不以彼為真福田，不復瞻仰觀察餘沙門婆羅門等邪眾顏面，不復於彼三世法中生疑生惑，不復受彼第八有報。
The exposition: the differences of abandonment should be known as many. The abandoning of the afflictions differs in many ways: there is the abandoning of the entanglements and the abandoning of the latent tendencies; abandoning by the worldly path and by the transcendent path; abandoning by the attention of the śrāvaka vehicle, of the pratyekabuddha vehicle, and of the bodhisattva vehicle; abandoning that is temporary and abandoning that is final. Such are the differences in the abandonment and extinction of the afflictions.
The marks and benefits of abandonment should further be known as many, as expounded at length in the scriptures: the state of not falling away; being definitely bound for enlightenment; having arrived at the true Dharma; being on the point of arriving at it; realizing and understanding it; reaching its very source; reaching its source in every respect; the accomplishment of noble knowledge and vision.
He can no longer reckon that suffering and pleasure and the like are made by oneself, made by another, made by both, or produced by neither of the two together; nor can he reckon that sufferings and pleasures arise without a cause. He no longer deliberately takes the life of an animal or any being; no longer deliberately transgresses the training rules; is no longer capable of committing the five acts of immediate retribution; no longer seeks out the teachers of other paths nor takes them for a true field of merit; no longer looks up to and studies the faces of the false assemblies of other ascetics and brahmins; no longer gives rise to perplexity or doubt concerning things of the three times; and no longer undergoes an eighth existence.
如是證得阿羅漢果，永盡諸漏，已作所作。所作已辦得阿羅漢六恒住法，廣說如經，謂成就六種相續住法。若眼見色，心不憂喜，捨念正知。如是耳鼻舌身若意識法，心不憂喜，捨念正知。諸所行行，為自利益、為利益他、為利眾生、為樂眾生、為愍世間、為諸天人得義利樂。諸如是等煩惱永斷，有多種相利益應知。
Thus realizing the fruit of arhatship, with the contaminants permanently exhausted, what was to be done has been done. Having done what was to be done, he obtains the arhat's six abidings, expounded at length in the scriptures — that is, he accomplishes six states of continuous abiding: if the eye sees a form, the mind is neither distressed nor delighted, but abides in equanimity, mindfulness, and correct knowing; and so with the ear, nose, tongue, body, and with mental consciousness cognizing things — the mind is neither distressed nor delighted, but abides in equanimity, mindfulness, and correct knowing. Whatever he does, he does for his own benefit, for the benefit of others, for the welfare of beings, for the happiness of beings, out of pity for the world, and so that gods and humans may obtain what is meaningful, beneficial, and pleasant. Such are the many marks and benefits, to be known, of the permanent abandoning of the afflictions.
The benefits are stated almost entirely as incapacities, and the grammar is worth attending to: 不復能, he is no longer able. This is not a list of resolutions kept. The stream-enterer does not refrain from killing an animal; he has become someone for whom deliberately doing so is not available. The same construction covers the doctrinal items — he cannot any longer entertain the four positions on whether suffering is self-caused, other-caused, both, or neither, nor the fifth position that it is uncaused. Wrong views are described here not as beliefs abandoned but as moves no longer possible.
The image of no longer studying the faces of other teachers' assemblies is unusually vivid for this treatise, and it names something recognizable: the anxious scanning of other people for confirmation about what to believe. And the six abidings that close the fascicle are a fine description of the finished state — the same formula six times, once per sense: neither distressed nor delighted, in equanimity, mindfulness, and correct knowing. Then the final clause turns outward. What was to be done has been done, and everything the arhat now does is listed as being for the sake of others.
Fascicle 3 Complete
This closes the sixth topic and the seventh, and carries the eighth nearly to its end. Fascicle 4 finishes the fruits, takes up the ninth and last topic — the qualities — and then draws all nine topics together in a closing analysis, completing the chapter on Gathering the Topics.
Continue to Fascicle 4 — The Qualities, and the Nine Topics Drawn Together →