Gathering the Pure Meaning
The second and longest chapter of the treatise opens by doing something the first never did: arguing for itself. Asaṅga sets this work against the other kinds of treatise in the world, claims four purities for it, and shows that it subsumes every meaning under nine headings, or ten, or five, or four, or three. Then the chapter's real work begins — the two truths, what the conventional truth actually asserts, and a complete rebuilding of the five aggregates: form analyzed down to the finest particle and out into twenty-six kinds, feeling laid out in six ways including the thirty-six standpoints, and the aggregates shown to come in their order for six separate reasons.
Where This Fascicle Picks Up
Fascicle 4 completed the first chapter, on Gathering the Topics, which ran across four fascicles and covered the nine topics from "everything" through "the qualities." This fascicle opens the second chapter, on Gathering the Pure Meaning, which is the longest in the treatise — it will run for nine fascicles, from here to fascicle 13.
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. Why This Treatise Surpasses the Others
Four kinds of treatise circulate in the world, and Asaṅga names them without diplomacy before saying what this one does that they do not.
如是已說九事，淨義今當說。頌曰：
諸論中勝論， 亦善入瑜伽，
清淨義應知， 由具四淨德。
The nine topics having been expounded, the pure meaning shall now be expounded.
Supreme among treatises,
and entering well into yoga —
the pure meaning is to be known,
since it possesses the four pure virtues.
論曰：此顯揚聖教論，於諸論中最為殊勝。何者？諸論略有四種：一像正法論，謂依聖教倒顯法相；二外醫治論，謂外醫方；三詰諍論，謂諸外道虛妄推度；四矯誑論，謂婆羅門諸惡呪術。云何此論能勝諸論？由此論中能顯無倒諸法相故、究竟能治內心病故、對治詰諍惡呪術故。又此論中四論可得，非於餘論，是故最勝。何者四論？一非二邊論、二非一向論、三一切取斷遍知論、四立正相論。
非二邊論者，謂非有非無、非異非不異、非我非無我、非常非斷，如是等論。非一向論者，非一切樂悉應習近，謂能引無義利者。非一切樂悉不習近，謂能引有義利者。如樂苦亦爾。如是等論。一切取斷遍知論者，謂欲取、見取、戒禁取、我語取斷遍知論。立正相論者，謂無倒施設一切諸法自相共相、因相果相，如是等論。
The exposition: this Illuminating the Sacred Teaching is the most excellent among treatises. Why? Treatises are, in brief, of four kinds. First, the treatise that counterfeits the true Dharma: relying on the sacred teaching, it displays the marks of things upside down. Second, the treatise of external medicine: the medical prescriptions of the world. Third, the treatise of disputation: the false conjectures of the outsiders. Fourth, the treatise of deception: the evil spells and incantations of the brahmins.
How does this treatise surpass those treatises? Because it can display the marks of things without inversion; because it can ultimately cure the illness of the inner mind; and because it counteracts disputation and evil incantation. Moreover, four kinds of doctrine are found in this treatise and not in the others, and therefore it is the most excellent. What four? The doctrine that is not of the two extremes; the doctrine that is not one-sided; the doctrine of fully knowing the cutting off of every grasping; and the doctrine that establishes the marks correctly.
The doctrine that is not of the two extremes: neither existent nor non-existent, neither different nor not different, neither self nor non-self, neither permanent nor annihilated, and doctrines of that kind. The doctrine that is not one-sided: not that every pleasure is to be pursued — namely those that lead to no benefit; and not that every pleasure is to be avoided — namely those that lead to benefit; and as with pleasure, so with pain; and doctrines of that kind. The doctrine of fully knowing the cutting off of every grasping: fully knowing the cutting off of grasping at desire, at views, at rules and rituals, and at doctrines of a self. The doctrine that establishes the marks correctly: setting forth without inversion the particular and general marks of all things, and their causal and resultant marks, and doctrines of that kind.
The four rival treatises are chosen to cover the actual competition for authority in Asaṅga's world, and the first is the most interesting because it is the closest to home: a treatise that relies on the sacred teaching and yet displays the marks of things upside down. The danger listed first is not the outsider but the Buddhist who has got it wrong. The other three are the physician, the debater, and the ritualist — and note that the counter-claims are framed against them respectively: this treatise cures the illness of the inner mind, and counteracts both disputation and incantation. It is offering itself as the better medicine and the better spell.
The "doctrine that is not one-sided" is a small piece of moral realism worth pausing on. It refuses both the ascetic rule that all pleasure is to be shunned and the worldly rule that all pleasure is to be pursued, and it locates the criterion entirely in consequence — whether a given pleasure leads to benefit. The same test is then applied to pain, which is the harder half: not all pain is to be avoided either.
2. Entering Well into Yoga, and the Four Pure Virtues
亦善入瑜伽者，有四種瑜伽：一信、二欲、三正勤、四方便。此論善順彼故，名善入瑜伽。
清淨義應知者，應知建立能顯不共德第二名。
由具四淨德者，欲顯此名如義建立。云何此論具四淨德？頌曰：
攝一切義故； 彼外不壞故；
易入故；入已， 行不失壞故。
And entering well into yoga: there are four kinds of yoga — faith, aspiration, right diligence, and the means. Because this treatise accords well with them, it is said to enter well into yoga.
The pure meaning is to be known: this establishes a second name, one that displays a quality held in common with no other treatise.
Since it possesses the four pure virtues: this is to show that the name is established in accordance with its sense. How does this treatise possess the four pure virtues?
Because it subsumes every meaning;
because outsiders cannot break it;
because it is easy to enter;
and because, having entered,
one's practice is not lost.
The four yogas — faith, aspiration, right diligence, and the means — are the same four that fascicle 4 gave under the catchword "yoga" in its summary verses. Their appearance here defines what it means for a treatise to accord with yoga: not that it discusses meditation, but that reading it produces faith, then aspiration, then effort, then a method. A book is judged by whether it moves a reader along that sequence.
3. Subsuming Every Meaning: Ten, Five, Four, and Three
The first pure virtue is that every meaning whatever falls under this treatise's headings. Asaṅga proves it by giving five different sets of headings, each said to subsume all meaning — the nine of chapter one, then ten, five, four, and three.
論曰：攝一切義故者，由此論中攝一切義，謂九種義、或十種義、或五種義、或四種義、或三種義。九種義者，已如攝事品中說。
十種義者，一盡所知義、二如所知義、三能取義、四所取義、五所依住義、六所受用義、七顛倒義、八不顛倒義、九雜染義、十清淨義。此中盡所知義者，謂於雜染清淨法中窮一切種差別邊際，是名盡所知義，如五數蘊、六數內處如是等。如所知義者，即於雜染清淨法中真如實性，是名如所知義。此復七種，謂流轉真如乃至正行真如。能取義者，謂五內色處、心意識及諸心法。所取義者，謂外六處。又能取義亦是所取。所依住義者，謂外世界，依此所住有情界可得。所謂村田、百村田、千村田、百千村田，如是廣說乃至三千大千世界，乃至無數百千世界極微塵等十方無量無數世界。所受用義者，謂所攝受眾具。顛倒義者，謂即於能取等義中，於無常常想顛倒，心顛倒、見顛倒，如是乃至於無我我想顛倒，心顛倒、見顛倒。不顛倒義者，謂對治如前所說顛倒應知。雜染義者，有三種，於三界中煩惱雜染、業雜染、生雜染。清淨義者，謂為證三種雜染離繫故，所修一切菩提分法。此十種義攝一切義應知。
The exposition: because it subsumes every meaning — this treatise subsumes every meaning under nine meanings, or ten, or five, or four, or three. The nine have already been stated in the chapter on Gathering the Topics.
The ten meanings are: the meaning of all that is knowable; the meaning of the knowable as it is; the meaning of the grasper; of the grasped; of that in which one dwells; of what is enjoyed; of distortion; of non-distortion; of defilement; and of purity.
All that is knowable: exhausting, among defiled and pure things, the furthest limit of every kind of difference — as with the five aggregates, the six inner sense fields, and so on. The knowable as it is: the true nature, suchness, within defiled and pure things; this is of seven kinds, from the suchness of flowing on down to the suchness of right conduct. The grasper: the five inner material sense fields, mind, mentation, consciousness, and all the mental factors. The grasped: the six outer sense fields — and what grasps is also grasped. That in which one dwells: the outer world, in dependence on which the realm of beings that dwells there is found — a village and its fields, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, and so on at length out to the great thousand-fold world system, and out to the measureless, countless worlds of the ten directions, as many as the finest particles of countless hundreds of thousands of worlds. What is enjoyed: the requisites one takes up. Distortion: within the meanings of the grasper and the rest — the distortion of perceiving the impermanent as permanent, and the distortions of mind and of view that go with it, and so on down to perceiving the selfless as a self, with the same distortions of mind and view. Non-distortion: the counteragents to the distortions just named. Defilement: of three kinds, within the three realms — the defilement of affliction, of karma, and of birth. Purity: all the factors conducing to enlightenment that are cultivated in order to realize release from those three defilements. These ten meanings subsume every meaning, as should be understood.
五種義者，一所遍知事、二所遍知義、三應知遍知、四得遍知果、五受用遍知果。所遍知事者，謂一切所知事，若諸蘊事、若內處事、若外處事，如是等。所遍知義者，謂盡一切種如所應知，若世俗諦若勝義諦、若功德若過失、若諸緣若三世、若起住壞相、若如病等、若苦集、若真如實際法性、若廣若略、若一向記若分別記若反問記若置記，若隱若顯，如是等所遍知義應知。遍知者，謂能取前二境菩提分法。得遍知果者，謂永滅貪欲瞋恚愚癡及無遺餘貪瞋癡斷四沙門果，及諸聲聞、獨覺、如來共不共世出世功德具足作證。受用遍知果者，謂即於所證法中解脫智，及廣為他開示演說分別。此五種義亦攝一切義應知。
四種義者，一心所執義、二領納義、三了別義、四雜染清淨義。此四種義亦攝一切義應知。
The five meanings are: the matter to be fully known; the meaning to be fully known; the full knowing itself; obtaining the fruit of full knowing; and enjoying the fruit of full knowing.
The matter to be fully known: all knowable matters — the matter of the aggregates, of the inner sense fields, of the outer sense fields, and so on. The meaning to be fully known: all that is to be known in every kind, as is fitting — whether conventional truth or ultimate truth; whether merit or fault; whether the conditions or the three times; whether the marks of arising, abiding, and perishing; whether "as a disease" and the rest; whether suffering and its origin; whether suchness, the true limit, the nature of things; whether at length or in brief; whether answered categorically, answered with a distinction, answered by counter-question, or set aside; whether hidden or displayed. Full knowing: the factors conducing to enlightenment, which take the two foregoing as their domain. Obtaining the fruit of full knowing: the permanent extinction of craving, hatred, and delusion; the four fruits of the renunciant, in which craving, hatred, and delusion are cut off without residue; and the full realization of the worldly and transcendent qualities, shared and unshared, of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and Tathāgatas. Enjoying the fruit of full knowing: the knowledge of liberation within the states realized, and the broad disclosing, expounding, and distinguishing of them for others. These five meanings likewise subsume every meaning.
The four meanings are: what mind grasps; what is registered; what is discriminated; and defilement and purity. These four likewise subsume every meaning.
三種義者，一文義、二義義、三界義。文義者，謂名身等。義義者，謂十種義應知。一真實相、二遍知相、三永斷相、四作證相、五修習相、六即於真實等相種種差別相、七所依能依相屬相、八能障礙遍知等法相、九能隨順遍知等法相、十於不遍知等及遍知等過失功德相。界義者，謂五種界：一器世界、二有情世界、三法界、四所調伏界、五所調伏方便界。此三種義亦攝一切義應知。
The three meanings are: the meaning of the letter; the meaning of the meaning; and the meaning of the realms. The meaning of the letter: word-groups and the rest. The meaning of the meaning: ten meanings, as should be understood — the mark of the truly real; the mark of full knowing; the mark of permanent abandoning; the mark of realizing; the mark of cultivating; the mark of the various differences within the truly real and the rest; the mark of the connection between what supports and what is supported; the mark of things that obstruct full knowing and the rest; the mark of things that assist full knowing and the rest; and the mark of the faults and merits attaching respectively to not fully knowing and to fully knowing. The meaning of the realms: five realms — the receptacle world, the world of beings, the realm of things, the realm of those to be trained, and the realm of the means of training them. These three meanings likewise subsume every meaning.
Giving five different exhaustive schemes for the same totality is not indecision. Each set is a different cut, and each is complete in its own terms. The ten are ontological, running from what is knowable through the grasper and grasped to defilement and purity. The five are procedural — matter, meaning, knowing, fruit, and the enjoyment of the fruit that consists in teaching others. The four are psychological, and are exactly the four aspects that fascicle 2 gave as the reason there are four establishments of mindfulness. The three are hermeneutical: letter, meaning, and the realms in which meaning applies.
Tucked into the second of the five meanings is the Buddha's fourfold way of handling questions — answered categorically, answered with a distinction, answered by counter-question, or set aside. That a question may properly be met by declining to answer it is here filed as part of what is to be fully known, not as an evasion. The same passage's list also quietly includes 若隱若顯, whether hidden or displayed, which is the provisional-and-definitive distinction under another name.
4. The Other Three Pure Virtues
彼外不壞故者，彼上諸義一切外道所不能壞，正道理論不可制伏故。一切外道，略有五種：一說我外道、二說常外道、三說斷外道、四說現法涅槃外道、五說無因外道。
易入故者，由此論中文圓顯故，其義易入。非如婆羅門諸惡呪論，文闕隱故義難可入。
入已行不失壞故者，由此論中義圓正故，若已入者如說修行，自義不失。非如外道邪論，彼自入已雖如說行，空無自義。
如是此論攝義淨故、不可壞淨故、易入淨故、行清淨故，名清淨義應知。
Because outsiders cannot break it: the meanings stated above cannot be broken by any outsider, since a doctrine of correct reasoning cannot be overpowered. Outsiders are, in brief, of five kinds: those who assert a self; those who assert permanence; those who assert annihilation; those who assert nirvāṇa in the present life; and those who assert no cause at all.
Because it is easy to enter: since the wording in this treatise is complete and plain, its meaning is easy to enter — unlike the evil incantation-treatises of the brahmins, whose wording is defective and obscure, so that their meaning is hard to enter.
Because, having entered, one's practice is not lost: since the meaning in this treatise is complete and correct, one who has entered it and practices as it says does not lose his own purpose — unlike the false treatises of the outsiders, where one who has entered them, though he practices as they say, comes away empty, with no purpose of his own.
Thus, because this treatise is pure in subsuming meaning, pure in being unbreakable, pure in being easy to enter, and pure in practice, it is called the pure meaning, as should be understood.
The second and third virtues are both claims about writing, and they are unusual things for a doctrinal treatise to boast of. Ease of entry is credited to 文圓顯, wording that is complete and plain, and the contrast is drawn with texts whose wording is defective and obscure. This is the same standard Asaṅga set for himself in the opening verse of fascicle 1 — 文約義周而易曉, the words brief, the meaning whole, and easy to understand. Obscurity is treated not as depth but as a defect.
The fourth virtue makes the sharpest claim of the four: that a false treatise may be entered, and faithfully practiced, and still leave one 空無自義 — empty, with no purpose of one's own. The charge is not that rival systems fail to be followed but that following them faithfully produces nothing. And the list of five outsiders is worth noting for its last member: those who assert no cause at all. Of the five errors, the denial of causation is the one the treatise has returned to since its very first suchness, the suchness of flowing on, whose whole function was to free one of "the view that there is no cause."
5. The Two Truths, and What the Conventional Asserts
Having established the treatise's standing, the chapter states what the Buddha actually teaches — and then specifies exactly what a conventional statement is asserting, and why it is made at all.
今此論中顯薄伽梵所說何法？頌曰：
諸佛說妙法， 正依於二諦：
一者名世俗、 二者名勝義。
論曰：世俗及勝義二諦之相，如前已說。復次頌曰：
初說我、法、用， 為隨餘故說；
七種及四種， 真如名勝義。
What teaching of the Blessed One does this treatise display?
The buddhas proclaim the marvelous Dharma
resting rightly on two truths:
the first is called conventional,
the second is called ultimate.
The exposition: the marks of the two truths, conventional and ultimate, have already been stated above. Furthermore:
The first asserts self, things, and function,
and is spoken for the sake of the other;
the seven kinds and the four —
suchness is called the ultimate.
論曰：初世俗諦說我、說法及說作用。說我者，謂說有情、命者、生者、補特伽羅、人、天、男女、佛友法友，如是等。說法者，謂說色、受，如是等。說作用者，謂說能見能聞、能生能滅，如是等。是謂世俗諦應知。此雖非實有、然依世俗故說有。問：若世俗諦非勝義故有，為何義故說？答：為隨餘故說。謂為欲隨順勝義諦故說世俗諦。問：何等為勝義諦？答：七種及四種真如名勝義，如攝事品中說。
The exposition: the first, conventional truth, asserts a self, asserts things, and asserts function. Asserting a self: speaking of a being, a living one, one who is born, a person, a human, a god, a man, a woman, a friend in the Buddha, a friend in the Dharma, and so on. Asserting things: speaking of form, of feeling, and so on. Asserting function: speaking of what can see, what can hear, what can arise, what can cease, and so on. This is conventional truth, as should be understood. Although these do not really exist, they are said to exist in dependence on convention.
Question: if conventional truth does not exist in the ultimate sense, for what purpose is it spoken? Answer: it is spoken for the sake of the other — that is, conventional truth is spoken in order to lead one along toward the ultimate truth. Question: what is the ultimate truth? Answer: the seven kinds and the four kinds of suchness are called the ultimate, as stated in the chapter on Gathering the Topics.
The three-way analysis of what conventional truth asserts is more precise than the usual formulation. It is not only that we falsely speak of selves; we falsely speak of things — form, feeling — and of functions, of something that sees, hears, arises, ceases. The second item is the Mahāyāna addition. A śrāvaka Abhidharma would place "self" on the conventional side and "form" and "feeling" on the ultimate; here both are conventional, along with the verbs.
The answer to why conventional truth is spoken at all is one line and worth memorizing: 為隨順勝義諦故說世俗諦, conventional truth is spoken in order to lead one along toward the ultimate. The conventional is not a concession to weakness or a second-best description. It is the vehicle, and its whole justification is directional. Notice also the small human detail in the list of conventional selves — alongside being, person, human, god, man, woman, Asaṅga includes 佛友法友, a friend in the Buddha and a friend in the Dharma. Even the vocabulary of religious fellowship is conventional designation.
6. Rebuilding the Aggregates: Nature, Sense, and Establishment
A new verse opens the chapter's long central work — the aggregates gone over again, this time under seven headings. The first two are dispatched in a line each; the third, "establishment," occupies most of the fascicle.
如是已略說二諦。此中如來復有廣說。頌曰：
自性、義、建立， 數、次第善巧，
想差別應知， 顯蘊世俗義。
The two truths having thus been stated in brief, the Tathāgata has further expounded them at length.
Own-nature, sense, establishment,
number, sequence, skill,
and the differences of concept —
these display the conventional sense of the aggregates.
論曰：自性者，謂變壞、領納、了置、造作、了別，是諸蘊自性。
義者，謂聚積義，是蘊義。此聚積義有四種，如成善巧品當說。
建立者，謂於色蘊有四種建立：一相建立、二生建立、三損減建立、四差別建立。
相建立者，色蘊相略有五種：一自相、二共相、三所依能依相屬相、四受用相、五業相。自相者，謂堅等是地等相，各別清淨是眼等相。共相者，謂一切色變壞相。所依能依相屬相者，謂大種是所依、造色是能依。受用相者，謂內處受用增上力故，各別外色境界得生。或有色聚，唯有堅生、或唯有濕、或唯有煖、或唯有動、或復雜生，由隨順內處受用故。業相者，如地等大種有依持、攝受、成熟、增長相，如是等。
The exposition: own-nature — altering, registering, construing, acting, and discriminating: these are the own-natures of the aggregates.
Sense — the sense of heaping together is the sense of "aggregate." This sense of heaping together is of four kinds, as will be stated in the chapter on Establishing Skill.
Establishment — for the aggregate of form there are four establishments: establishment by mark, by arising, by reduction, and by difference.
Establishment by mark: the marks of the aggregate of form are, in brief, of five kinds — its particular mark, its general mark, the mark of the connection between what supports and what is supported, its mark as enjoyed, and its mark as function. Particular mark: hardness and the rest are the marks of earth and the rest; and being individually clear is the mark of the eye and the rest. General mark: all form has the mark of altering. The connection between what supports and what is supported: the great elements are what supports, and derived form is what is supported. Mark as enjoyed: because of the dominant power of the inner sense fields' enjoyment, the several outer domains of form come to arise. In some aggregations of form only hardness arises, or only wetness, or only warmth, or only motion, or they arise mixed — according as they accord with the enjoyment of the inner sense fields. Mark as function: as the great elements, earth and the rest, have the marks of supporting, taking up, ripening, and increasing, and so on.
The five own-natures given in the first line are the same five defining marks that opened fascicle 1's account of the aggregates — altering, registering, construing, acting, discriminating — restated here in five words. This is the chapter's method: chapter one gave the material, and chapter two goes over it again at a different depth. Readers who found fascicle 1 terse will find much of it unpacked here.
The "mark as enjoyed" contains a striking claim that is easy to read past. The outer domains of form arise 由內處受用增上力故 — through the dominant power of the inner sense fields' enjoyment. Some aggregations of matter present only hardness, or only warmth, and the reason given is that they accord with what the inner faculties are enjoying. The physical world's presentation is being made dependent on the perceiving side, in a passage that otherwise looks like straightforward Abhidharma.
7. Five Ways Form Arises
生建立者，有五種生：一依止生、二種子生、三勢引生、四順益生、五違損生。
依止生者，謂依止大種，即於大種處所有餘所造色生。由是因故，說四大種造。所造色攝在一處是造義。
種子生者，謂從自種子生，如堅鞕聚或時遇緣變生流濕、或流濕聚變生堅鞕、或不煖聚變生煖熱、或有煖聚變生於冷、或從不動變生於動、或復從動變生不動，如是好色惡色等展轉相生差別應知。如是若就自相則互無，若就其種則互有，是故從彼彼聚如是如是差別色法生。如是等類名種子生應知。
勢引生者，謂內色根增上力故，現常相續外物得生，如器世間。又先業勢引故，諸內處生若樂欲現前，諸天及北洲人所有眾具多分，由勢引生故流轉應知。若人中器世間，唯常相續如是等類勢引生應知。
順益生者，謂得自順益緣，彼彼色法展轉滋長、展轉增勝而生，猶如水等潤洽芽等。如是等類名順益生。翻此故名違損生應知。
Establishment by arising: there are five kinds of arising — arising from a support, arising from a seed, arising by impetus, arising by nourishment, and arising by damage.
Arising from a support: in dependence on the great elements, the remaining derived form arises in the very place where the great elements are. For this reason it is said to be "derived from the four great elements"; and that derived form is comprised in a single place is the sense of "derived."
Arising from a seed: arising from its own seed. Thus an aggregation that is hard may, on meeting the conditions, alter and produce wetness; or an aggregation that is wet may alter and produce hardness; or an unwarm aggregation may alter and produce heat; or a warm one may alter and produce cold; or the motionless may produce motion, or the moving produce stillness. So too should the mutual production of differences among fine and foul forms be understood. Thus, taken by their particular marks they are absent in one another, but taken by their seeds they are present in one another — and therefore from this or that aggregation such and such differing forms arise. This and the like is what is called arising from a seed.
Arising by impetus: through the dominant power of the inner material faculties, outer things arise in continuous succession, as with the receptacle world. Again, through the impetus of former karma, when the inner sense fields arise, whatever is desired appears — most of the requisites possessed by the gods and by the people of the northern continent flow on by arising through impetus. As for the receptacle world among human beings, it is only continuously successive; such things are what is meant by arising through impetus.
Arising by nourishment: obtaining the conditions that nourish them, the several forms grow and flourish and arise ever more excellently, as water and the rest moisten a sprout. This and the like is called arising by nourishment; and the reverse of it is called arising by damage.
The account of arising from a seed is a genuine piece of physical theory and repays attention. Hard things can become wet, cold things hot, still things moving — and the explanation is that although the elements are mutually absent by their particular marks, they are mutually present by their seeds. Every aggregation of matter carries the seeds of all four elements; which one manifests depends on conditions. This is how the system explains change of state without either allowing something to come from nothing or making the elements interchangeable.
The passage on arising by impetus draws a distinction that is worth noticing for its restraint. Among the gods and in the northern continent, what one desires simply appears, through the impetus of past karma. Among human beings, the receptacle world is 唯常相續, only continuously successive — it just keeps going, and does not reconfigure itself to one's wishes. In a treatise willing to make the outer world depend on the inner, this is a careful limit: it does not follow that a human being's world is responsive to their wanting.
8. Establishment by Reduction: The Finest Particle
The Buddhist atom, and a set of claims about it that cut against what "atom" usually suggests. Asaṅga's finest particle is reached by analysis, does not arise or perish, and coarse matter is not built out of it.
損減建立者，謂建立極微。復由五種極微建立應知：一由分析故、二由差別故、三由獨一故、四由助伴故、五由無分性故。
由分析故者，謂由慧分析諸麁色法，漸漸轉減至最細邊建立極微，非由體故。由如是因，故說極微無起無滅，又亦非謂集諸極微以成麁色。
由差別故者，略有十五種極微，謂眼等根極微有五種、色等境極微有五種、地等界極微有四種、法處所攝實有色極微有一種。
由獨一故者，謂建立實極微自相。由助伴故者，謂建立聚極微，由於地等一極微處，有餘色法同處不相離故，建立聚極微。由無分性故者，非一極微復有餘細分，由非聚故。若聚極微可有眾分。若一極微所住之處，此處不可分析更立餘分，是故極微無有細分。
Establishment by reduction: the establishing of the finest particle. It should be understood as established in five ways — by analysis, by difference, as single, as accompanied, and as partless.
By analysis: by analyzing coarse forms with wisdom, reducing them step by step to the very edge of the finest, one establishes the finest particle — not by its own substance. For this reason it is said that the finest particle neither arises nor perishes; and it is likewise not the case that coarse form is made by assembling finest particles.
By difference: there are, in brief, fifteen kinds of finest particle — five kinds for the eye and the other faculties; five for visible form and the other objects; four for earth and the other elements; and one for the really existent form included in the dharma sense field.
As single: this establishes the particular mark of the finest particle as it really is. As accompanied: this establishes the aggregated finest particle — since in the place of a single finest particle of earth or the rest, other forms are present in the same place and inseparable from it, an aggregated finest particle is established. As partless: a single finest particle does not have further fine parts, since it is not an aggregation. An aggregated finest particle may have many parts. But where a single finest particle abides, that place cannot be analyzed so as to establish further parts within it; and therefore the finest particle has no fine parts.
Two denials in the first paragraph do almost all the doctrinal work, and both cut against the atomism the term "finest particle" would suggest. First, the particle is established 非由體故 — not by its own substance, but by the act of analysis that reaches it. Second, and stated flatly: it is not the case that coarse form is made by assembling finest particles. The finest particle is therefore not a building block out of which the world is constructed. It is the limit of a procedure. And because it is the limit of a procedure rather than a thing, it is said neither to arise nor to perish.
This is the Yogācāra position on atoms in compressed form, and readers of the Viṃśatikā will recognize what it is doing. There Vasubandhu demolishes the atom by showing that a partless atom cannot combine — if it touches six neighbors it has six sides and is not partless, and if it does not, no aggregate can form. Asaṅga's account is built to be immune to that argument in advance, because he never claims that aggregates are formed from atoms in the first place. The finest particle is retained as an analytical terminus and denied any constructive role.
9. Twenty-Six Kinds of Form
差別建立者，有二十六種色。一欲界繫色，謂具諸色。二色界繫色，謂除香味。三無色界繫色，謂等持自在色，非業異熟色。四清淨界色，謂出世法增上所生，如靜慮解脫色及佛菩薩色。五內色，謂根及根所居處色。六外色，謂除根及根所居處，餘色聲香味觸。七所依色，謂眼等五根。八所緣色，謂五境界及法處所攝色。九能取色，謂即所依色。十所取色，謂即所緣色。十一執受色，謂受起所依，如諸色根及根所居處，色、心及心法所居處故。同一損益是執受義。十二無執受色，謂此外餘色。十三同分色，謂自識不共根色，由與識同境轉故。十四彼同分色，謂自識共根色，唯自類相續相似轉故。
Establishment by difference: there are twenty-six kinds of form.
First, form bound to the realm of desire: it has all the forms. Second, form bound to the realm of form: excluding smell and taste. Third, form bound to the formless realm: form that is the mastery of concentration, not form that is the ripened result of karma. Fourth, form of the pure realm: produced through the dominance of transcendent states — such as the form of the absorptions and liberations, and the form of buddhas and bodhisattvas. Fifth, inner form: the faculties and the places where the faculties are lodged. Sixth, outer form: apart from the faculties and their lodging places, the remaining visible form, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Seventh, form as support: the five faculties, the eye and the rest. Eighth, form as object: the five domains and the form included in the dharma sense field. Ninth, form that grasps: namely form as support. Tenth, form that is grasped: namely form as object. Eleventh, appropriated form: that on which the arising of feeling depends — the material faculties and their lodging places, since they are where form, mind, and mental factors are lodged; sharing one and the same benefit and harm is the sense of "appropriated." Twelfth, unappropriated form: the remaining form outside of that. Thirteenth, form of the same class: the faculty-form not shared with one's own consciousness, since it turns with consciousness on the same object. Fourteenth, form of a corresponding class: the faculty-form shared with one's own consciousness, since it turns only in a continuum similar to its own kind.
十五有見有對色，謂色處色。十六無見有對色，謂餘九處色。十七無見無對色，謂法處所攝色。十八清淨色，謂五內處。十九清淨所取色，謂五外處。二十意所取色，謂法處所攝色。二十一所依住色，謂風輪乃至大地。二十二覆護色，謂宅舍等。二十三資具色，謂十種資具：一飲食、二衣及莊嚴具、三眾具、四戲笑、五鼓舞、六歌詠、七音樂、八香鬘塗飾、九眾明、十男女承事。二十四根所居色，謂五種色根之所居處。二十五根色，謂五種色根。二十六等持境界色，已如攝事品中說。
Fifteenth, form that is visible and resistant: the form of the visible-form sense field. Sixteenth, form that is invisible and resistant: the form of the remaining nine sense fields. Seventeenth, form that is invisible and unresistant: the form included in the dharma sense field. Eighteenth, subtle form: the five inner sense fields. Nineteenth, what subtle form grasps: the five outer sense fields. Twentieth, form grasped by mentation: the form included in the dharma sense field. Twenty-first, form as that in which one dwells: from the wind-circle up to the great earth. Twenty-second, form as shelter: houses and dwellings and the like. Twenty-third, form as requisites: the ten requisites — food and drink; clothing and ornaments; household goods; games and laughter; drums and dancing; song; music; incense, garlands, and cosmetics; the various lamps; and the service of men and women. Twenty-fourth, form as the lodging of the faculties: the lodging places of the five material faculties. Twenty-fifth, form as the faculties: the five material faculties. Twenty-sixth, form as the domain of concentration: as already stated in the chapter on Gathering the Topics.
The definition of "appropriated" given here is more precise than the one in fascicle 1 and worth carrying forward: 同一損益是執受義 — sharing one and the same benefit and harm is the sense of appropriated. What makes a piece of matter one's own is that what harms it harms you and what benefits it benefits you. This is a functional criterion rather than a metaphysical one, and it is the reason a tooth is appropriated and a stone is not.
The list of ten requisites is the most vivid thing in the fascicle and the one place where ordinary life shows through the technical vocabulary. Food, clothes, household goods, games and laughter, drums and dancing, song, music, perfume and garlands, lamps, and the attentions of others: this is a complete inventory of what people actually furnish their lives with, filed as a subdivision of the aggregate of form. Note that entertainment and companionship are classified as form — they are among the material requisites, not something else.
10. Feeling, Established Six Ways
The aggregate of feeling gets six establishments. The first alone gives ten different counts of how many feelings there are, from one to a hundred and eight.
受蘊建立有六種：一差別建立、二出離建立、三觀察建立、四生建立、五相建立、六師句建立。
差別建立者，或立一受，如說諸所有受悉皆是苦。或立二受，謂身受及心受。或立三受，謂樂受、苦受、不苦不樂受。或立四受，謂欲繫、色繫、無色繫及不繫受。或立五受，謂樂根、苦根、喜根、憂根、捨根。或立六受，謂眼觸所生受乃至意觸所生受。或立十八受，謂十八意近行：六喜近行、六憂近行、六捨近行。或立三十六受，謂六依耽嗜喜、六依出離喜；如喜，憂、捨亦爾。或立一百八受，謂三十六受，各依三世。或開無量受，如其所受起無數受。
出離建立者，謂初靜慮出離憂根、第二靜慮出離苦根、第三靜慮出離喜根、第四靜慮出離樂根、無相心法三摩地出離捨根。
觀察建立者，謂八種觀察於受：何者是受？何者是受集？何者是受滅？何者是趣受集行？何者是趣受滅行？何者是受味？何者是受過？何者是受出離？
The aggregate of feeling has six establishments: by difference, by deliverance, by examination, by arising, by mark, and by the standpoints.
Establishment by difference: one may posit a single feeling, as when it is said that whatever is felt is all suffering. Or two: bodily feeling and mental feeling. Or three: pleasant, painful, and neither painful nor pleasant. Or four: feeling bound to the realm of desire, to form, to formlessness, and unbound. Or five: the faculties of pleasure, of pain, of joy, of distress, and of equanimity. Or six: feeling born of eye-contact, down to feeling born of mind-contact. Or eighteen: the eighteen mental approaches — six approaches of joy, six of distress, six of equanimity. Or thirty-six: six joys grounded in indulgence and six grounded in renunciation, and likewise for distress and for equanimity. Or a hundred and eight: those thirty-six, each in the three times. Or one may open it out into measureless feelings, since countless feelings arise according to what is felt.
Establishment by deliverance: the first absorption delivers one from the faculty of distress; the second, from the faculty of pain; the third, from the faculty of joy; the fourth, from the faculty of pleasure; and the signless concentration of mental states delivers one from the faculty of equanimity.
Establishment by examination: eight examinations of feeling — What is feeling? What is the origin of feeling? What is the cessation of feeling? What is the way leading to the origin of feeling? What is the way leading to the cessation of feeling? What is the gratification in feeling? What is the danger in feeling? What is the deliverance from feeling?
生建立者，謂從十六觸諸受生。何等十六？一眼觸、二耳觸、三鼻觸、四舌觸、五身觸、六意觸、七有對觸、八增語觸、九順樂受觸、十順苦受觸、十一順不苦不樂受觸、十二愛觸、十三恚觸、十四明觸、十五無明觸、十六非明非無明觸。
相建立者，謂八種相：一異熟相、二非異熟相、三有味著相、四無味著相、五依耽嗜相、六依出離相、七動相、八住相。異熟相者，謂阿賴耶識相應受。非異熟相者，謂轉識相應受。有味著相者，謂欲繫受。無味著相者，謂色無色繫及不繫受。依耽嗜相者，謂欲貪相應受。依出離相者，謂出家所引不定地善法相應受。動相者，謂經中風喻所顯受，不久相續住義故。住相者，謂經中客舍喻所顯受，暫相續住義故。
Establishment by arising: feelings arise from sixteen contacts. Which sixteen? Eye-contact, ear-contact, nose-contact, tongue-contact, body-contact, mind-contact; contact by resistance; contact by designation; contact conducive to pleasant feeling; contact conducive to painful feeling; contact conducive to neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling; contact of craving; contact of hatred; contact with knowledge; contact with ignorance; and contact with neither knowledge nor ignorance.
Establishment by mark: eight marks — the mark of ripened result; of not being ripened result; of having relish; of being without relish; of being grounded in indulgence; of being grounded in renunciation; the mark of movement; and the mark of staying. Ripened result: the feeling associated with the ālayavijñāna. Not ripened result: the feeling associated with the evolving consciousnesses. Having relish: feeling bound to the realm of desire. Without relish: feeling bound to form and formlessness, and unbound feeling. Grounded in indulgence: feeling associated with craving and desire. Grounded in renunciation: feeling associated with the wholesome states of the unconcentrated levels drawn forth by going forth. The mark of movement: the feeling displayed by the simile of the wind in the scriptures, since it does not continue for long. The mark of staying: the feeling displayed by the simile of the guest house in the scriptures, since it continues only for a while.
The ten counts of feeling — one, two, three, four, five, six, eighteen, thirty-six, a hundred and eight, and measureless — are not competing claims but a demonstration of what "establishment" means in this treatise. How many feelings there are depends on what the count is for. If the purpose is to see through feeling, there is one: all of it is suffering. If the purpose is meditative discrimination, there are a hundred and eight. Nothing about feeling changes; the analysis is fitted to the work.
The establishment by deliverance maps the four absorptions onto the five feeling-faculties in the same order fascicle 2 gave — distress first, then pain, then joy, then pleasure. Here a fifth item is added that fascicle 2 did not name: equanimity itself is left behind, and not by any absorption but by the signless concentration. The neutral feeling that survives the fourth absorption is not the end of the road.
The two scriptural similes at the close are worth keeping. Feeling is like the wind, because it does not stay; and it is like a guest house, because things stay in it only briefly. The second image is the more interesting of the two: it makes feeling the lodging rather than the traveler.
11. The Thirty-Six Standpoints
The sixth establishment of feeling, given at length: joy, distress, and equanimity, each in a version grounded in indulgence and a version grounded in renunciation, across all six senses. The distinction is drawn with unusual care, because the two versions can look alike from outside.
師句建立者，謂三十六師句：六依耽嗜喜、六依出離喜、六依耽嗜憂、六依出離憂、六依耽嗜捨、六依出離捨。
依耽嗜喜云何？謂於眼所識色，可喜可樂可意可愛，能引起欲深可染著，或由得現所得、或由隨念先時所得而生於喜，如是相喜名依耽嗜喜。
依出離喜云何？謂即於諸色了知無常、苦、變、離欲、滅、靜、沒已，又於先及今所有諸色了知無常苦變等法已而生於喜，如是相喜名依出離喜。
如是於耳所識聲、鼻所識香、舌所識味、身所識觸、意所識法，可喜可樂可意可愛，能引起欲深可染著，或由得現所得、或由隨念先時所得而生於喜，如是相喜名依耽嗜喜。如是即於耳所識聲乃至意所識法，了知無常苦變離欲滅靜沒已，又於先及今所有諸法了知無常苦變等法已而生於喜，如是相喜名依出離喜。
Establishment by the standpoints: the thirty-six standpoints — six joys grounded in indulgence, six grounded in renunciation; six distresses grounded in indulgence, six grounded in renunciation; six equanimities grounded in indulgence, six grounded in renunciation.
What is joy grounded in indulgence? With respect to visible form cognized by the eye — delightful, pleasing, agreeable, lovely, able to arouse desire and to be deeply clung to — joy arises either from obtaining what is now to be obtained, or from recollecting what was obtained before. Joy of that character is called joy grounded in indulgence.
What is joy grounded in renunciation? With respect to those same forms, having understood them as impermanent, painful, subject to change, as objects of dispassion, as ceasing, as stilled, as vanished; and having further understood of all forms past and present that they are impermanent, painful, subject to change, and so on — joy then arises. Joy of that character is called joy grounded in renunciation.
So too with sound cognized by the ear, smell by the nose, taste by the tongue, touch by the body, and things cognized by mentation: when they are delightful, pleasing, agreeable, lovely, able to arouse desire and to be deeply clung to, and joy arises from obtaining what is now to be obtained or from recollecting what was obtained before — joy of that character is joy grounded in indulgence. And when, with respect to sound cognized by the ear down to things cognized by mentation, one has understood them as impermanent, painful, subject to change, as objects of dispassion, ceasing, stilled, and vanished, and has further understood of all things past and present that they are impermanent, painful, and subject to change, and joy then arises — joy of that character is joy grounded in renunciation.
依耽嗜憂云何？謂於眼所識色，可喜可樂乃至可染，或由不得現所得、或由隨念先時所得，若已過去、若盡、若滅、若離、若變而生於憂，如是相憂名依耽嗜憂。
依出離憂云何？謂即於諸色了知無常乃至沒已，又於先及今所有諸色了知無常苦變等法已，於勝解脫起欲證願，謂我何時當具足住，如諸聖者所具足住處。如是於勝解脫欲證求願懼慮之憂，是名依出離憂。如是於耳所識聲乃至意所識法，可喜可樂乃至可染，或由不得現所得、或由隨念先時所得，若已過去乃至若變而生於憂，如是相憂名依耽嗜憂。
如是即於耳所識聲乃至意所識法了知無常乃至沒已，又於先及今所有諸法了知無常苦變等法已，於勝解脫起欲證願，謂我何時當具足住，如諸聖者所具足住處。如是於勝解脫欲證求願懼慮之憂，是名依出離憂。
What is distress grounded in indulgence? With respect to visible form cognized by the eye — delightful, pleasing, and so on down to able to be clung to — distress arises either from not obtaining what is now to be obtained, or from recollecting what was obtained before and is now past, exhausted, ceased, gone, or changed. Distress of that character is called distress grounded in indulgence.
What is distress grounded in renunciation? With respect to those same forms, having understood them as impermanent and so on down to vanished, and having further understood of all forms past and present that they are impermanent, painful, and subject to change — one gives rise to the aspiration and vow to realize the surpassing liberation, thinking: when shall I dwell having fully attained that place in which the noble ones fully dwell? Such distress — the anxious longing of one who wishes and seeks and vows to realize the surpassing liberation — is called distress grounded in renunciation. And so too with sound cognized by the ear down to things cognized by mentation: when they are delightful and pleasing and can be clung to, and distress arises from not obtaining what is now to be obtained, or from recollecting what was obtained before and is now past, and so on down to changed — distress of that character is grounded in indulgence.
And when, with respect to sound cognized by the ear down to things cognized by mentation, one has understood them as impermanent and so on down to vanished, and has understood of all things past and present that they are impermanent, painful, and subject to change, and gives rise to the aspiration and vow to realize the surpassing liberation, thinking: when shall I dwell having fully attained that place in which the noble ones fully dwell? — such anxious longing is called distress grounded in renunciation.
依耽嗜捨云何？謂愚癡無智無聞異生，於眼所識色顧戀於捨，執著諸業趣向，於色依止於色，不捨於色不超過色。於此中捨，是名依耽嗜捨。
依出離捨云何？謂即於諸色了知無常乃至沒已，又於先及今所有諸色了知無常苦變等法已，簡擇修捨，是名依出離捨。如是愚癡無智無聞異生，於耳所識聲乃至意所識法顧戀於捨，執著諸業趣向，於法乃至不超過法於此中捨，是名依耽嗜捨。如是即於耳所識聲乃至意所識法了知無常乃至沒已，又於先及今所有諸法了知無常苦變等法已，簡擇修捨，是名依出離捨。
是中六依耽嗜喜、六依出離喜、六依耽嗜憂、六依出離憂、六依耽嗜捨、六依出離捨，總攝為三十六師句。
What is equanimity grounded in indulgence? A foolish, unknowing, unlearned ordinary being, with respect to visible form cognized by the eye, is attached and clinging even in his equanimity; he grasps at the various actions and their tendencies, rests on form and depends on form, does not let go of form and does not pass beyond form. The equanimity found in this is called equanimity grounded in indulgence.
What is equanimity grounded in renunciation? With respect to those same forms, having understood them as impermanent and so on down to vanished, and having understood of all forms past and present that they are impermanent, painful, and subject to change, one discerningly cultivates equanimity. This is called equanimity grounded in renunciation. So too when a foolish, unknowing, unlearned ordinary being, with respect to sound cognized by the ear down to things cognized by mentation, is attached and clinging in his equanimity, grasping at the various actions and their tendencies, resting on things and not passing beyond them — the equanimity found in this is grounded in indulgence. And when, with respect to sound cognized by the ear down to things cognized by mentation, one has understood them as impermanent and so on down to vanished, and understood of all things past and present that they are impermanent, painful, and subject to change, and then discerningly cultivates equanimity — this is equanimity grounded in renunciation.
Herein the six joys grounded in indulgence, the six grounded in renunciation, the six distresses of each kind, and the six equanimities of each kind are together subsumed as the thirty-six standpoints.
Distress grounded in renunciation is the most valuable entry here, because it names an experience that practitioners have and often mistake for a fault. Having seen the impermanence of everything, one longs for the liberation one does not yet have and asks: when shall I dwell as the noble ones dwell? That longing is anxious — 懼慮之憂 — and the treatise classes it as genuine distress. But it is grounded in renunciation, not indulgence. The frustration of a practitioner who wants awakening and does not have it is a different thing from the frustration of not getting what one wants, even though both are distress.
The account of equanimity grounded in indulgence is the sharpest diagnosis in the fascicle. An unlearned ordinary being is 顧戀於捨, attached and clinging in his very equanimity — he has not let go of the object at all, he has merely stopped reacting to it while continuing to rest on it. This is the counterfeit of equanimity that looks identical from outside, and the mark that distinguishes the real one is given in three words: 簡擇修捨, one cultivates equanimity discerningly, after having understood impermanence. Equanimity without that prior understanding is a form of indulgence.
The term 師句 renders a canonical set of thirty-six "positions" or standpoints of beings, familiar from the early discourses as the six-times-six analysis of joy, distress, and equanimity. Asaṅga's treatment adds nothing to the count but sharpens the indulgence-renunciation criterion until it can be applied case by case.
12. Renouncing One Feeling by Means of Another
是中依止六依出離喜住故，捨除吐害六依耽嗜喜。如是依止六依出離憂住故，捨除吐害六依耽嗜憂。如是依止六依出離捨住故，捨除吐害六依耽嗜捨。又此中依止六依出離喜住故，捨除吐害六依出離憂。依止六依出離捨住故，捨除吐害六依出離喜。
復有二種捨：一依種種性、二依一種性。依種種性捨者，謂依於色乃至依於法。依一種性捨者，謂依虛空無邊處，乃至依非想非非想處。此中依止依一種性捨住故，捨除吐害依種種性捨。
Herein, by abiding in dependence on the six joys grounded in renunciation, one relinquishes, expels, and destroys the six joys grounded in indulgence. Likewise, by abiding in dependence on the six distresses grounded in renunciation, one relinquishes, expels, and destroys the six distresses grounded in indulgence. Likewise, by abiding in dependence on the six equanimities grounded in renunciation, one relinquishes, expels, and destroys the six equanimities grounded in indulgence. Moreover, by abiding in dependence on the six joys grounded in renunciation, one relinquishes, expels, and destroys the six distresses grounded in renunciation; and by abiding in dependence on the six equanimities grounded in renunciation, one relinquishes, expels, and destroys the six joys grounded in renunciation.
There are further two kinds of equanimity: that which depends on manifold natures, and that which depends on a single nature. Equanimity depending on manifold natures: depending on form, and so on down to things. Equanimity depending on a single nature: depending on the sphere of the infinity of space, and so on down to the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. Herein, by abiding in dependence on the equanimity that depends on a single nature, one relinquishes, expels, and destroys the equanimity that depends on manifold natures.
This short passage is the practical payoff of the thirty-six, and it lays out a ladder in which each rung is discarded by standing on the next. The renunciation-grounded feelings displace their indulgence-grounded counterparts, one by one. Then renunciation-grounded joy displaces renunciation-grounded distress — the longing for liberation is answered by delight in what has been understood. Then renunciation-grounded equanimity displaces even that joy. And finally equanimity resting on a single formless nature displaces equanimity resting on the manifold objects of the senses.
The repeated verb is worth noting: 捨除吐害, relinquish, expel, and destroy. This is not a gentle outgrowing. Each state is used to eliminate the one below it, including the wholesome ones — the joy grounded in renunciation is a genuine attainment and is nonetheless expelled. It is the same pattern the fourth absorption showed in fascicle 2, where the third absorption's pleasure was praised as unmatched and then required to be cut off.
13. Perception, Formations, and Consciousness
The remaining three aggregates, each established three ways — and the treatment of consciousness contains a rare admission about why the ālayavijñāna was not taught openly.
想蘊建立有三種：一依差別、二作意差別、三境界差別。
依差別者，謂六想，身眼觸所生想乃至意觸所生想。
作意差別者，有二種：一有相想、二無相想。有相想者，謂除欲界中未善言說者想、第一有想及出世間想，餘有相作意相應想。無相想者，謂前所除無相作意相應想。
境界差別者，有四種：一小想、二大想、三無量想、四無所有想。如其次第，緣欲界、緣色界、緣無色界、緣無所有處想應知。
The aggregate of perception has three establishments: by difference of support, by difference of attention, and by difference of domain.
By difference of support: the six perceptions — perception born of eye-contact, down to perception born of mind-contact.
By difference of attention: two kinds, perception with signs and perception without signs. With signs: setting aside the perception of one in the realm of desire who is not yet skilled in speech, the perception of the highest existence, and transcendent perception, the remaining perception associated with attention that has signs. Without signs: precisely those set aside above, the perception associated with attention that is without signs.
By difference of domain: four kinds — small perception, great perception, measureless perception, and perception of nothingness — taking as object, respectively, the realm of desire, the realm of form, the formless realm, and the sphere of nothingness.
行蘊建立有三種：一勝差別、二依差別、三諸行施設差別。
勝差別者，唯思最勝，行蘊所攝，由造作心令成雜染及清淨法轉故。依差別者，謂六思，身眼觸所生思乃至意觸所生思。諸行施設差別者，有三種：一雜染施設、二清淨施設、三分位施設。雜染施設者，謂煩惱及隨煩惱。清淨施設者，謂信等。分位施設者，謂生等心不相應行。即此三蘊、法處所攝色及與無為，總名法界，亦名法處。
The aggregate of formations has three establishments: by what is foremost, by difference of support, and by difference in how the formations are set forth.
By what is foremost: volition alone is foremost among what is comprised in the aggregate of formations, since by acting upon the mind it causes both defiled and pure states to proceed. By difference of support: the six volitions — volition born of eye-contact, down to volition born of mind-contact. By difference in how they are set forth: three kinds — set forth as defiled, as pure, and as stages. Set forth as defiled: the afflictions and secondary afflictions. Set forth as pure: faith and the rest. Set forth as stages: birth and the other formations dissociated from mind. These three aggregates, together with the form included in the dharma sense field and the unconditioned, are collectively called the realm of things, and also the dharma sense field.
識蘊建立有三種：一種類差別、二依差別、三雜染清淨差別。
種類差別者，有二種：一阿賴耶識、二轉識。依差別者，謂六識身。問：阿賴耶識於六識中何識所攝？答：通六識所攝，藏彼種故。由此識密記攝故，薄伽梵不為一切說，若善巧者即由此隨解。
雜染清淨差別者，如經中說：有貪心如實知有貪心，離貪心如實知離貪心。如是有瞋離瞋、有癡離癡，乃至廣說。
The aggregate of consciousness has three establishments: by difference of class, by difference of support, and by difference of defilement and purity.
By difference of class: two kinds — the ālayavijñāna and the evolving consciousnesses. By difference of support: the six bodies of consciousness. Question: among the six consciousnesses, which one includes the ālayavijñāna? Answer: it is included in all six alike, since it stores their seeds. Because this consciousness is comprised in a hidden reckoning, the Blessed One did not teach it to everyone; one who is skilled will understand it accordingly.
By difference of defilement and purity: as the scripture says, "a mind with craving one knows as it really is to be a mind with craving; a mind free of craving one knows as it really is to be a mind free of craving" — and likewise with hatred and freedom from hatred, delusion and freedom from delusion, and so on at length.
The exchange about the ālayavijñāna is doing careful work. The question is a fair objection: the canonical lists give six consciousnesses, so where in that list does an eighth belong? The answer refuses the premise — it is included in all six alike, because it holds their seeds. And then the concession: 由此識密記攝故，薄伽梵不為一切說, because this consciousness is comprised in a hidden reckoning, the Blessed One did not teach it to everyone. This is the same admission made in fascicle 1 through the citation about the ādāna-consciousness being withheld from the immature. The tradition does not claim the doctrine was taught openly and overlooked; it claims it was deliberately not taught, and gives the reason.
Note also the three establishments of formations, which quietly organize the whole enormous category of fascicle 1: set forth as defiled (the afflictions), as pure (faith and the rest), and as stages (the twenty-four formations dissociated from mind). The fifty-one mental factors and the twenty-four dissociated formations are thus three lists that answer to one aggregate, whose single foremost member is volition — the factor that makes mind act.
14. Three Grades of Mind
An account of the mind's condition before, during, and after the acquisition of concentration — and a rare description, in this treatise's technical prose, of what actually happens when someone sits down to meditate.
此中有三品心，一未發趣三摩地心、二已發趣而未得三摩地心、三已得三摩地心。此復二種：一不清淨心、二極清淨心。
第一品心者，謂或時起染污心，由貪等纏所纏故；或時起善無記心，遠離貪等纏故。
第二品心者，謂或時繫心內靜，或時失念馳散五欲，或時攝令靜故，復為惛沈睡眠之所纏覆。或時為斷彼故，復策心安置於勝淨境。或時復於彼境不正安故，其心掉動；或正安故，心不掉動。或時未斷沈掉蓋故，於二分中俱不寂靜；或斷彼故，其心寂靜。
能得根本靜慮作意故名定心，未得彼故名不定心。道究竟故名極修心，斷究竟故名極解脫心。翻彼二種，名不修心、不解脫心。始從定心乃至於此，是第三品心應知。
Herein there are three grades of mind: the mind that has not yet set out toward concentration; the mind that has set out but has not yet obtained concentration; and the mind that has obtained it. This last is of two kinds: the impure mind and the utterly pure mind.
The first grade: at some times a defiled mind arises, bound by the entanglements of craving and the rest; at other times a wholesome or neutral mind arises, being far from those entanglements.
The second grade: at some times one binds the mind to inner stillness; at other times mindfulness lapses and it runs scattering after the five desires; at other times one gathers it and makes it still, and then it is covered over and bound by torpor and sleep; at other times, in order to cut that off, one rouses the mind again and settles it on a surpassing pure object; at other times, not having settled rightly on that object, the mind is agitated — or, having settled rightly, it is not agitated; at other times, not having cut off the hindrances of sinking and agitation, one is unstilled in both respects — or, having cut them off, the mind is still.
The third grade: because one can obtain the attention of the fundamental absorption, it is called a concentrated mind; not having obtained it, it is called an unconcentrated mind. Because the path is brought to completion it is called a mind of utmost cultivation; because abandonment is brought to completion it is called a mind of utmost liberation. The reverse of these two are called the uncultivated mind and the unliberated mind. From the concentrated mind down to this point, all of it should be understood as the third grade.
The description of the second grade is the most true-to-life passage in this fascicle, and it is worth reading slowly because it is a description of failure. One settles the mind; one loses it to the five desires; one gathers it back and immediately falls into drowsiness; one rouses oneself and finds a better object; one has not quite placed it and the mind is agitated; and sometimes one has neither cut sinking nor cut agitation and is unstill in both directions at once. Every clause begins 或時, "at other times." This is not a sequence of stages but a description of oscillation, and the treatise offers it as the normal condition of someone who has genuinely set out and not yet arrived.
Note that the two hindrances named here — 沈掉, sinking and agitation — are the same pair that fascicle 2 addressed with "rouses the mind" and "steadies the mind" in the four right exertions, and again with mindfulness and correct knowing among the eight formative practices. Three separate doctrinal frameworks return to the same two problems, because those are the two problems.
15. Number: Why There Are Five Aggregates
數者，由五種事總攝一切流轉事故。何等五事？一所受用事、二能受用事、三受用執取事、四受用雜染事、五彼所依遍行法事。
所受用者，謂色蘊，五種色根依執門故為所受用，諸色境界所緣門故為所受用。能受用者，謂受蘊。受用執取者，謂想蘊。受用雜染者，謂行蘊。彼所依遍行法者，謂識蘊。由計此識是受用者乃至是所雜染者故，即由是義，次第得成。
Number: because five items together subsume everything that flows on. What five? What is enjoyed; what enjoys; the grasping in enjoyment; the defilement in enjoyment; and the pervading factor on which these depend.
What is enjoyed: the aggregate of form — the five material faculties, by way of being the gate of dependence and appropriation, are what is enjoyed; and the domains of form, by way of being the gate of objects, are what is enjoyed. What enjoys: the aggregate of feeling. The grasping in enjoyment: the aggregate of perception. The defilement in enjoyment: the aggregate of formations. The pervading factor on which these depend: the aggregate of consciousness. Because one reckons this consciousness to be the one that enjoys, and so on down to the one that is defiled, the sequence is established by this very sense.
This is the same style of argument that the Abhidharmasamuccaya uses to justify the number five — the aggregates are exactly as many as the roles required to describe a life of enjoyment. Here the roles are: the thing enjoyed, the enjoying, the grasping that goes with it, the defilement that follows, and the underlying factor that carries all four. Nothing more is needed and nothing can be dropped.
The last sentence is the important one and easy to miss. Consciousness comes fifth, and the reason given is that one reckons this consciousness to be the enjoyer, the grasper, the defiled one. The fifth aggregate occupies its place precisely because it is the one mistaken for the self that does all the rest. The ordering of the aggregates encodes the error the analysis is meant to dissolve.
16. Sequence: Six Reasons for the Order
復由餘五因緣建立次第：一由生起故、二由對治故、三由流轉故、四由識住故、五由顯了故。
由生起故者，如經說：緣眼及色眼識得生，乃至緣意及法意識得生。此中初說色蘊，次說識蘊，此二種蘊是諸心法之所依止，依此故起受等心法故。次經言：三事合故觸，觸為緣故受等法生。由此生起因緣說諸蘊次第。
由對治故者，為對治四顛倒故，說四念住。四顛倒者，一於不淨計淨顛倒、二於苦計樂顛倒、三於無常計常顛倒、四於無我計我顛倒。此中先說色蘊，次後受蘊，次後識蘊，最後想行二蘊。如是由對治故，說諸蘊次第。
Further, the sequence is established by five other reasons: by arising, by counteraction, by flowing on, by the stations of consciousness, and by disclosure.
By arising: as the scripture says, "in dependence on eye and form, eye consciousness comes to be," down to "in dependence on mentation and things, mental consciousness comes to be." Here form is stated first and consciousness next, these two aggregates being the support of all mental factors, since feeling and the other mental factors arise in dependence on them. Then the scripture says: "because three things meet, there is contact; and with contact as condition, feeling and the rest arise." By this causal sequence of arising the order of the aggregates is stated.
By counteraction: in order to counteract the four distortions, the four establishments of mindfulness are taught. The four distortions are taking the impure to be pure, the painful to be pleasant, the impermanent to be permanent, and the selfless to be a self. Here form is stated first, then feeling, then consciousness, and last the two aggregates of perception and formations. Thus by counteraction the order of the aggregates is stated.
由流轉故者，諸根境界為所依故能起二蘊，謂領納境界及彩畫境界。由此因緣，能起受用現法境界諸惱亂法，及能造作善不善業。由此因故，能感後世生等苦惱。識蘊一種是所惱亂，故最後說。
由識住故者，謂四識住，由彼次第起能住識。
由顯了故者，謂見補特伽羅已，先記識其色是故先說色蘊，次由受蘊顯彼貴賤苦樂，次由想蘊顯彼如是名、如是姓、如是種類等，次由行蘊顯彼如是愚癡、如是聰慧，後由識蘊顯彼內我差別。謂於前諸蘊中，所記識者、有苦樂者、所言說者、愚癡聰慧者是名，由顯了故說諸蘊次第。
復由依止二種事故建立次第，一資助我事、二自內我事。謂初依止身於諸境界，次受苦樂，次隨說自他如是名如是姓如是種類等，次依此二集起一切法非法行，如是等名助我事。最後一蘊是內我事應知。
善巧者，成善巧品中當廣說。
By flowing on: because the faculties and their domains are the support, two aggregates can arise — that which registers the domain and that which paints a picture of it. By this cause there can arise the troubling states that enjoy the domain of the present life, and there can be the performing of wholesome and unwholesome karma. By that cause one brings about the suffering of birth and the rest in a future life. The aggregate of consciousness alone is what is troubled, and so is stated last.
By the stations of consciousness: the four stations of consciousness, in whose sequence the consciousness that abides in them arises.
By disclosure: on seeing a person, one first takes note of their form, and so the aggregate of form is stated first; next, by the aggregate of feeling, their high or low estate and their pain or pleasure is disclosed; next, by the aggregate of perception, that they are of such a name, such a family, such a class; next, by the aggregate of formations, that they are foolish or clever; and last, by the aggregate of consciousness, the difference of their inner self is disclosed. That is, among the foregoing aggregates, the one taken note of, the one who has pain and pleasure, the one who is spoken of, the one who is foolish or clever — that is the name; and thus by disclosure the order of the aggregates is stated.
Further, the sequence is established in dependence on two matters: what assists the self, and the inner self itself. First one depends on the body among the various domains; next one feels pain and pleasure; next one speaks of oneself and others as of such a name, such a family, such a class; next, in dependence on these two, one accumulates all the actions rightful and wrongful. Such things are called what assists the self. The last aggregate is the inner self itself, as should be understood.
Skill: this will be expounded at length in the chapter on Establishing Skill.
Six independent justifications for one ordering is more than any list needs, and the point of the excess is that the order is over-determined — it is not a convention that could have gone otherwise. Note that two of the six do not even yield the standard sequence. Under counteraction the order runs form, feeling, consciousness, then perception and formations, because that is the order of the four establishments of mindfulness. Under flowing on, consciousness comes last because it is what gets troubled. The treatise does not hide these divergences; different purposes genuinely reorder the list.
The account "by disclosure" is the most human of the six and reads almost as a piece of social observation. Meeting someone, you notice first their body; then their condition and how they are faring; then their name, family, and class; then whether they are foolish or clever; and only last do you form a sense of who they are inside. The five aggregates are here laid out as the order in which one actually comes to know a person — and the closing clause makes the sting explicit: everything up to the fifth is 助我事, what merely assists the self, and only the last is taken for the self itself.
17. Differences of Concept: Sorting the Aggregates
The last heading of the verse, and the fascicle closes with it. A long series of question-and-answer defining each classificatory term and stating how much of the aggregates falls under it.
想差別者，謂有色無色、有見無見、有對無對、有漏無漏、有為無為，如是等。
問：何義幾種是有色？答：即以有色自體義故，一蘊是有色。問：何義幾種是有見？答：眼所行義故，一少分是有見。問：何義幾種是有對？答：更相觸對，各據處所及麁義故，一少分是有對。言麁義者，離三種細。何者為三？一損減細、二種類細、三心自在轉細。
問：何義幾種是有漏？答：麁重隨逐故、與諸煩惱互依生義故，一切少分是有漏。復有餘有漏義，謂若處煩惱，於中能起四種過，是處名有漏。何等為四？一不寂靜過、二內外變異過、三發起惡行過、四因攝受過。此中初過，謂諸纏現行所作應知。第二過，謂煩惱所依緣事隨順煩惱所作應知。第三過，謂由煩惱所作應知。第四過，謂牽引後有應知。
問：何義幾種是有為？答：從因已生正生可生義故，一切是有為。問：何義幾種是有諍？答：瞋多分自在轉義故，一切少分是有諍。問：何義幾種是有味著？答：愛見多分自在轉義故，一切少分是有味著。問：何義幾種是依耽嗜？答：欲貪多分自在轉義故，一切少分是依耽嗜。問：何義幾種是世間？答：言論所依義故，一切少分是世間。問：何義幾種是界攝？答：三界中世間義故，一切少分是界攝。
Differences of concept: having form and formless, visible and invisible, resistant and unresistant, contaminated and uncontaminated, conditioned and unconditioned, and so on.
Question: in what sense, and how many, have form? Answer: in the sense of having form as their own substance, one aggregate has form. Question: in what sense, and how many, are visible? Answer: in the sense of being the range of the eye, a part of one is visible. Question: in what sense, and how many, are resistant? Answer: in the sense of mutually touching and colliding, each occupying its own place, and in the sense of being coarse, a part of one is resistant. "Coarse" means apart from three kinds of fineness. What three? Fineness by reduction, fineness by class, and the fineness of what turns at the mind's mastery.
Question: in what sense, and how many, are contaminated? Answer: in the sense that coarse heaviness pursues them, and in the sense that they arise in mutual dependence with the afflictions, a part of all is contaminated. There is a further sense of "contaminated": wherever affliction can give rise to four faults, that place is called contaminated. What four? The fault of unstillness; the fault of inner and outer alteration; the fault of setting evil conduct going; and the fault of causal appropriation. The first fault is what the operating entanglements do; the second, what the objects that afflictions depend on do in according with affliction; the third, what is done by the afflictions themselves; the fourth, the drawing on of a future existence.
Question: in what sense, and how many, are conditioned? Answer: in the sense of having arisen from a cause, arising now, or able to arise, all are conditioned. Question: in what sense are they with contention? Answer: in the sense that hatred largely operates at will in them, a part of all is with contention. With relish? In the sense that craving and views largely operate at will, a part of all. Grounded in indulgence? In the sense that craving-desire largely operates at will, a part of all. Worldly? In the sense of being what discourse rests on, a part of all is worldly. Comprised in the realms? In the sense of being worldly within the three realms, a part of all.
問：何義幾種是過去？答：因果已受用盡義故，一切少分是過去。問：何義幾種是未來？答：因果未受用盡義故，一切少分是未來。問：何義幾種是現在？答：因已受用盡、果未受用盡義故，一切少分是現在。
問：何義幾種是內？答：內六處及彼不相離義故，四全一少分是內。問：何義幾種是外？答：翻內義故，一少分是外。問：何義幾種是麁？答：不細滑聚集充滿相義故，一切少分是麁。問：何義幾種是細？答：翻麁義故，一切少分是細。問：何義幾種是劣？答：無常、苦、不淨、染污義故，一切少分是劣。問：何義幾種是勝？答：翻劣義故，一切少分是勝。問：何義幾種是遠？答：處所及過去未來時遙義故，一切少分是遠。問：何義幾種是近？答：翻遠義故，一切少分是近。
Question: in what sense, and how many, are past? Answer: in the sense that cause and effect have been used up, a part of all is past. Future? In the sense that cause and effect have not been used up, a part of all. Present? In the sense that the cause has been used up but the effect has not, a part of all.
Question: in what sense, and how many, are inner? Answer: in the sense of the six inner sense fields and what is inseparable from them, four aggregates entirely and a part of one are inner. Outer? In the reverse sense, a part of one. Coarse? In the sense of the mark of being not smooth, of being an aggregation, and of being filled out, a part of all. Fine? In the reverse sense, a part of all. Inferior? In the sense of being impermanent, painful, impure, and defiled, a part of all. Superior? In the reverse sense, a part of all. Far? In the sense of remoteness in place and in past or future time, a part of all. Near? In the reverse sense, a part of all.
問：何義幾種是欲界繫？答：若生於此未得對治，或得已出三時現行義故，一切少分是欲界繫。問：何義幾種是色界繫？答：已得色界對治，若住彼定若生於彼，未得上地對治，或得已出三時現行義故，一切少分是色界繫。問：何義幾種是無色繫？答：已得無色對治，若住彼定若生於彼，未得上地對治，或得已出三時現行義故，一切少分是無色繫。復有餘義，謂安俱定不相應共有法及彼果法所攝義故。是欲界繫。依色煩惱及翻前所攝義故，是色界繫。已離色界所餘煩惱，及如前所攝義故，是無色繫應知。
問：何義幾種是善？答：感後樂果義、煩惱苦斷義及彼對治義故，一切少分是善。問：何義幾種是不善？答：感後苦果義及起惡行義故，一切少分是不善。問：何義幾種是無記？答：彼俱相違義故，一切少分是無記。復有餘義，謂無過失義、對治過失義、隨順功德義故是善，與此相違義故是不善，彼俱相違義故是無記。
問：何義幾種是學？答：方便修學善義故，一切少分是學。問：何義幾種是無學？答：修學究竟善義故，一切少分是無學。問：何義幾種是非學非無學？答：除前二種，餘善染污無記所攝義故，一切少分是非學非無學。問：何義幾種是見所斷？答：由現觀智現觀諦所斷義故，一切少分是見所斷。問：何義幾種是修所斷？答：由現觀智現觀諦後修道所斷義故，一切少分是修所斷。問：何義幾種是無斷？答：究竟對治一切染污義及一切染污永斷義故，一切少分是無斷。問：何義幾種是無色乃至廣說？答：翻前所說色等義故是無色等義應知。
Question: in what sense, and how many, are bound to the realm of desire? Answer: in the sense that, if one is born here and has not obtained the counteragent, or having obtained it has emerged from it, they operate in the three times — a part of all. Bound to the realm of form? In the sense that, having obtained the counteragent to the realm of form, whether abiding in that concentration or born there, and not having obtained the counteragent to the level above, or having obtained it has emerged from it, they operate in the three times — a part of all. Bound to the formless realm? Likewise, with respect to the formless. There is a further sense: what is comprised in the settled, non-associated, common factors of the settled concentrations and their resultant states is bound to the realm of desire; what is comprised in reliance on the afflictions concerning form, and the reverse of the foregoing, is bound to the realm of form; and what is comprised as before, having become free of the remaining afflictions of the realm of form, is bound to the formless realm.
Question: in what sense, and how many, are wholesome? Answer: in the sense of bringing about a pleasant fruit hereafter, of cutting off the suffering of affliction, and of counteracting it — a part of all. Unwholesome? In the sense of bringing about a painful fruit hereafter and setting evil conduct going — a part of all. Neutral? In the sense of being contrary to both — a part of all. There is a further sense: wholesome in the sense of being without fault, of counteracting fault, and of according with good qualities; unwholesome in the contrary sense; neutral in the sense of being contrary to both.
Question: in what sense, and how many, belong to the learner? Answer: in the sense of the wholesome that is trained in as means — a part of all. To the adept? In the sense of the wholesome in which training is completed — a part of all. To neither learner nor adept? Excluding those two, in the sense of being comprised in the remaining wholesome, defiled, and neutral — a part of all. Abandoned by seeing? In the sense of being abandoned by the direct realization of the truths through the knowledge of direct realization — a part of all. Abandoned by cultivation? In the sense of being abandoned by the path of cultivation after that direct realization — a part of all. Not to be abandoned? In the sense of ultimately counteracting all defilement, and of all defilement being permanently abandoned — a part of all. Question: in what sense are they formless, and so on at length? Answer: in the sense of being the reverse of "having form" and the rest as stated above, the senses of "formless" and the rest should be understood.
The recurring answer 一切少分 — "a part of all" — is the point of this whole exercise, and it is a claim about how classification actually works. Almost none of these predicates applies cleanly to a whole aggregate. Some form is contaminated and some is not; some feeling is coarse and some fine; some of everything is past. Only two questions get a clean answer: having form, which applies to exactly one aggregate entirely, and conditioned, which applies to all of them entirely. Everything else cuts across.
The three kinds of fineness given under "resistant" are worth extracting, because they name three quite different ways something can be too fine to collide: 損減細, fineness reached by analytic reduction — the finest particle of the earlier section; 種類細, fineness of kind — matter that is by nature subtle, like the sense faculties; and 心自在轉細, the fineness of what turns at the mind's mastery — the form produced in concentration. Three fine things, three different reasons, only the first of which is a matter of size.
The four faults under "contaminated" also deserve note, since they define contamination functionally rather than by listing what is contaminated. A thing is contaminated if affliction can there produce unstillness, alteration inner or outer, evil conduct, or the drawing on of a future existence. The fourth is the one that matters for liberation, and it is placed last: contamination's final signature is that it keeps existence going.
Fascicle 5 Complete
This opens the chapter on Gathering the Pure Meaning with the treatise's argument for its own standing, the five schemes under which it claims to subsume every meaning, the two truths and what conventional speech actually asserts, and then the whole apparatus of the five aggregates rebuilt — form by mark, arising, reduction, and difference; feeling by six establishments including the thirty-six standpoints; perception, formations, and consciousness each three ways; and the number and sequence of the five justified from six directions. Fascicle 6 continues this chapter, which will run to fascicle 13.
Continue to Fascicle 6 →