Listening, Praising the Buddha, and a Worked Example

Listening: when a teacher of the Dharma states the essentials of the true Dharma, he settles his listeners so that they abide in reverence and hear without distortion. Question: why settle them? Answer: by one reason, or by as many as ten.

By one reason: because reverently hearing the true Dharma presently realizes benefit and ease. Here there may be benefit without ease, or ease without benefit — four alternatives in all, as stated under the receiving of the Dharma in the Bodhisattva Grounds.

By two: because all things are well established. Well established means free of fault and possessed of great meaning. And because the listener, for the speaker's sake, swiftly obtains the fruits of the renunciant. Were it otherwise, those who teach the Dharma would waste their own work and set out words in vain, and those who hear would tire themselves for nothing and realize nothing.

By three: because the true Dharma can make one abandon the evil destinies, obtain the good destinies, and swiftly draw in the cause of nirvāṇa. These three are realized only by hearing with reverence.

By four: first, hearing with reverence one understands well the discourses and the rest; second, the true Dharma causes beings to abandon the unwholesome and take up the wholesome, and one who listens well can then diligently abandon and take up; third, by abandoning and taking up, one leaves behind the future suffering brought on by evil causes; fourth, by thus taking up and abandoning the causes of good and evil, one swiftly realizes quiescence.

By five: the true Dharma spoken by the Blessed One has its preface, its deliverance, its resort, its vigor, and its wonders. These five, distinguished at length, are as in the section on gathering the synonyms.

And there are five further reasons for hearing the true Dharma: I shall hear what I have not heard; I shall investigate what I have heard; I shall cut off doubt; I shall tame my views; I shall penetrate with wisdom the phrases of profound meaning. The Buddha said that these five display the ultimate means to the three marvelous kinds of wisdom — those born of hearing, of reflection, and of cultivation. The first two display the wisdom born of hearing; the middle two, that born of reflection; the last, that born of cultivation.

By six: first, wishing to repay with reverence the kindness of the great teacher — for the Buddha, the Blessed One, for our sake practiced measureless hard and painful practices to seek out this teaching; how then should one now not listen? Second, considering one's own benefit, since the Buddha's true Dharma has present benefit. Third, it is finally free of all feverish distress. Fourth, it accords well with right principle. Fifth, it is easily seen. Sixth, it is what the wise know by inward realization.

By seven: the seven true teachings, as the scripture says: I shall cultivate the seven true teachings — knowing the teaching, knowing the meaning, and so on down to knowing whether a person is senior or junior.

By eight: first, the Buddha's teaching is easy to obtain, being disclosed even to outcastes and the rest; second, it is easy to train in, since it can be practiced walking, standing, sitting, and lying down; third, it draws forth benefit, since it can draw forth worldly and transcendent fruits; fourth, it is good in the beginning; fifth, good in the middle; sixth, good in the end; seventh, it brings about a pleasant result in the present; eighth, it draws on a pleasant result hereafter.

By nine: because it can free one from nine oppressive things. First, it can bring one out of the great prison of birth and death. Second, it permanently cuts the firm bonds of craving and the rest. Third, it destroys the seven roots of great poverty and establishes the seven great riches. Fourth, it passes beyond the famines of good conduct and of hearing the true Dharma, and establishes abundance in them. Fifth, it extinguishes the darkness of ignorance and raises the light of wisdom. Sixth, it crosses the four torrents and climbs the shore of nirvāṇa. Seventh, it counteracts the inner diseases of the afflictions. Eighth, it liberates from all the nets of craving. Ninth, it can cross the wilderness and dense thicket of defiled conduct flowing on from beginningless time. Among all prisons, the prison of birth and death is foremost, and so it is stated first.

By ten: First, having reverently heard the Tathāgata's teaching one obtains the power of discernment, and thereby can receive the benefit of the Dharma heard — seeking wealth lawfully and not unlawfully, and, though enjoying it, seeing its faults deeply. Second, one knows deliverance well: losing wealth and treasure, one has no grief, no sorrow, and no complaint; and, expounded at length, when kin are lost one does not deeply lament, and meeting with grave illness one is not distressed. Third, one sees deeply that the objects of desire have many faults, and seeing the surpassing merit of deliverance one leaves home and enters the path, free of attachment to bedding and the rest, down to attaining the marvelous absorptions. Fourth, hearing the true Dharma reverently and without distortion, one can accordingly realize and understand the vast, profound, and seemingly profound teachings of dependent arising, and can draw forth vast wholesome roots and the joy of deliverance. As the Blessed One said: my noble disciples, listening to the true Dharma with the mind wholly given and the ear attentive, can cut off five things and cultivate seven, swiftly bringing them to fullness. Fifth, when noble disciples listen reverently, all that has arisen turns to cessation. Sixth, having understood the true Dharma one is far from dust and stain, and the eye of the true Dharma arises with respect to things. Seventh, one can well draw in the supreme provisions for realizing the fruit of stream-entry, down to the fruit of arhatship, and the supreme provisions for that fruit. Eighth, one can well draw in the provisions of the pratyekabuddha. Ninth, one can well draw in the provisions of unsurpassed perfect enlightenment. Tenth, one draws forth all the worldly and transcendent absorptions, concentrations, attainments, and equipoises.

Praising the Buddha, briefly and at length: when teachers of the Dharma state the true Dharma, they should first praise the Buddha. Praise is of two kinds, brief and extensive.

Briefly, five: marvelous form; stillness; surpassing knowledge; right conduct; and majesty. Marvelous form: the thirty-two marks of a great man and the eighty minor signs. Stillness: he can guard the doors of the faculties well, and can permanently uproot the habitual traces of the afflictions. Surpassing knowledge: he is unobstructed with respect to past, future, and present things, and things outside of time. Right conduct: his right conduct benefiting and easing himself and others is complete. Majesty: the Tathāgata's play of supernormal power.

There are also six brief praises of the Tathāgata: because his qualities are complete; because he is free of stain and defilement; because he is without turbidity; because he has no equal; because his sole work is benefiting beings; and because he has mastery in that work. Distinguished at length, as in the section on gathering the determinations.

At length: praising the Tathāgata's boundless qualities at length. Thus it is said: this Blessed One is of boundless renown, because his qualities are measureless; he can bestow light, because he sends forth the light of knowledge; he can remove darkness, because he permanently extinguishes all the darkness of unknowing; he has accomplished the clear eye, being possessed of the three eyes; he sees ultimate truth, having penetrated the unequalled noble truths; he has accomplished the precepts, being complete in the higher pure moral discipline.

Again it is said: this Blessed One is the most honored among two-footed beings, supreme among tamers, most excellent among the community of renunciants, a treasure hard to obtain in all the worlds. Again: this Blessed One is one who pities creatures, is compassionate toward beings, delights in what is of value, seeks what benefits creatures, and whose compassion is present before one. Again: this Blessed One is an eye and a knowledge, penetrating the true principle, definitively making plain what is profound, and all that he does proceeds in dependence on the meaning. Again: this Blessed One can realize every meaning not yet realized, because he first realized the noble eightfold path, because he realized it of himself, and because he established the noble holy life that had never been established. Again: this Blessed One is one who knows the noble path, displays it, teaches it, and leads along it.

Again it is said: this Blessed One is a lion among men, because he is free of fear; a bull among men, because he leads the great assembly; a driver among men, because he is at the head of the assembly; a dragon king among men, because he makes no mistake; a fine horse among men, because his mind is tamed and gentle; supreme among men, because his family, form, and the rest surpass all; highest among men, because his moral conduct, wisdom, and surpassing majesty exceed all; a lotus among men, because he is unstained by the eight worldly conditions and has no equal or peer; equal to the unequalled, because in past, future, and present there is no Well-Gone One equal to him; foremost, because among all beings he is highest; a great sage, because of his higher moral discipline, because he accumulated the holy life over a long time, and because he realized what the great sages of old realized. Most excellent: because he tames all the māras, outsiders, and afflictions; a sage, because he has no agitation or conceit; because he is joined with the three stillnesses; because he cannot be dragged away by any birth and cannot be overcome by rival doctrines; bathed, because he is free of all evils; gone to the far shore, because he has crossed beyond all identity-view.

Again it is said: Tathāgata; Worthy One; Perfectly Enlightened One; Complete in Knowledge and Conduct; Well-Gone; Knower of the World; Unsurpassed Man; Excellent Tamer; Teacher of Gods and Humans; Buddha; Blessed One. Again: complete in the bright teachings; the omniscient one, lord of the true Dharma; whose Dharma is never forgotten; firm and excellent among beings; whose mind is not entangled by any pain or pleasure.

Again it is said: well tamed, because his close guarding of the doors of the faculties is well perfected; still, because his undertaking of pure moral discipline is well perfected; secure, because he has entered the ground of certainty; fully quenched, because he has realized enlightenment; drawer-out of the poisoned arrow, because he has permanently drawn out every arrow of craving for existence. Again: he tames all the untamed; he stills all the unstilled; and he makes secure all the insecure, since he can well establish ordinary beings so that they realize the fruits of stream-entry and once-returning. Again: he who is without fetters; who has come out of the fire pit; who has crossed the deep moat; who has restrained the seeker of desires; who does not waver; who has broken the banner of conceit; who abides greatly.

Again it is said: a great arhat whose contaminants are permanently exhausted, down to having exhausted the fetters of existence. Again: he has permanently cut off five factors and accomplished six, down to being an unsurpassed man in whom pure good is accumulated. Again: one who knows the teaching well, down to one who knows well whether a person is senior or junior. Again: great ascetic; great brahmin; free of stain; stainless; good physician; caravan leader; supreme observer; refuge of the world; honored one among beings. Here, free of stain means the obstruction of the afflictions is cut off; stainless means the obstruction to what is to be known is cut off, and also that the habitual traces are permanently uprooted; and because he observes the world six times day and night, he is called the supreme observer.

Again it is said: he is purified and good in every aspect — the marks of a great man and the minor signs; his body adorned — possessed of the ten powers; of great strength — possessed of the four fearlessnesses; without fear — accomplished in great compassion within the three establishments of mindfulness; abiding in mindfulness — accomplished in the three things needing no guarding and in the Dharma never forgotten, having permanently destroyed all the habitual traces of the afflictions, possessed of the marvelous knowledge of all aspects. Here great compassion is so called because it was accumulated over a long time, being realized only after three incalculable great aeons; because it depends on and takes as object all beings; because it takes suffering in every aspect as its domain; because it cannot be turned by any harm, injury, or change wrought by beings; and because it acts equally toward all beings.

The benefits of training: a teacher of the Dharma should, relying on the marks of interpreting scripture thus established, first seek out the letter and the meaning; next understand the fivefold principle of exposition stated above for teaching the true Dharma to others; next establish himself in the marks of a teacher stated above, namely the ten perfections beginning with being good at the teaching and its meaning. Having thus established himself, he should then speak in accordance with the distinctions stated above — dwelling in the midst of the five great assemblies and teaching them with the eight kinds of speech beginning with speech one is glad to hear, and settling them so that they hear with reverence and without distortion. And he should first praise the qualities of the great teacher. One who states the true Dharma complete in these five parts should be known to be like music of five parts, able to give rise to great joy in himself and others, and to draw forth benefit for both.

And one who trains well in this way should be known to have five benefits: understanding the meaning of the Buddha's words is not difficult for him; he can state the marks of things fully and well; he can well arouse vast joy in his own continuum and others'; he draws forth wholesome deliverance and great renown among gods and humans; and he gives rise to measureless supreme qualities.

Now take the Sūtra on Abiding in the Benefits of Training, as spoken by the Buddha. The substance of this scripture is its letter and its meaning.

The letter: the scripture says, "You monks should abide in cultivating the benefits of training." Here there are twelve syllables, four names, and one phrase — thus it comprises word-groups, phrase-groups, and syllable-groups. Since what is said here is the mark of a training rule, it comprises topic. Since the Tathāgata's statement was originally in answer to a monk's question, it comprises the questioner's request. And the Tathāgata's spoken sound comprises speech. Therefore this scripture's single phrase fully comprises all six components of the letter. And so it should be understood, according to their marks, in the phrases "with wisdom foremost" and the rest.

The meaning. Under the meaning of ground: here only the meaning of the śrāvaka ground is stated, or else all five grounds. "The benefits of training" is the ground of the provisions. "With wisdom foremost" is the ground of means. "Liberation firm, mindfulness dominant" is the grounds of seeing and cultivation and the rest.

Under the meaning of mark: "the benefits of training" is the particular mark of moral discipline. "With wisdom foremost" has two marks — among wisdom's support and companions and the rest, only wisdom's own substance is its particular mark, while wisdom's retinue and objects are called its general mark. "Liberation firm" — being permanently free of all the coarse heaviness of the afflictions — is the particular mark of liberation. "Mindfulness dominant" is the particular mark of mindfulness.

Under the meaning of attention: "the benefits of training" is not the substance of attention, but only displays the place where attention is established. "With wisdom foremost" displays two attentions, that which understands the mark and that of resolve. "Liberation firm" displays four attentions: seclusion, gathering up delight, the culmination of the means, and the fruit of that culmination. "Mindfulness dominant" displays the attention that observes. By this same principle, one should distinguish according to their marks under knowledge and the rest.

Under the meaning of support: taking up the training rules in dependence on nirvāṇa, relying on pure conduct, one gives rise to instruction and the rest as is fitting — namely instructing, down to gladdening. Wholesome conduct and the rest also apply here, but according to what is most excellent only pure conduct is stated, and only with reference to persons who have gone forth. And among all beings, including those of dull faculties, gladdening and the rest should be set going: gladdening with reference to past and present time, because it has been realized and is being realized; displaying with reference to the present; and instructing and encouraging with reference to the future.

Under the meaning of fault: one who has gone forth should not practice other kinds of conduct, and should not hoard surplus property. Under the meaning of benefit: cultivating the three trainings to fullness is praiseworthy. Under the meaning of what is to be counteracted: transgressing moral discipline, unknowing, the afflictions, and lapses of mindfulness — and guarding moral discipline and the rest is the meaning of what counteracts. And all defiled conduct is what is to be counteracted, while the conduct of the three trainings and the rest is what counteracts.

Under the brief meaning: "abiding in the benefits of training," down to "mindfulness dominant" — this briefly sets out the thesis, and is called the brief meaning. Under the extensive meaning: distinguishing this at length, and there is nothing beyond it.

Now within the interpretation: as to the teaching, this belongs among the twelvefold teaching to discourse and to prediction, since it states an explicit meaning.

The occasion of its arising: this scripture was set going in order to disclose the substance of the power of knowledge concerning all courses of conduct. And in order to display those who diligently cultivate pure conduct, and to show those who cherish worldly wealth and gain so that they may come to understand it with confidence — so that the beings to be trained, relying on abiding in the benefits of training and the rest, may cultivate diligently and swiftly perfect the benefits of the three trainings.

And in order to display four kinds of monk. The scripture's "the benefits of training" is meant to make one keep away from the monk who is a monk by lineage and appearance, and from the monk who feigns close guarding of deportment. "With wisdom foremost" is meant to make one keep away from the monk who clings to an empty reputation. "Liberation firm, mindfulness dominant" exhorts one to cultivate the monk of genuine practice. Why? Because one who loves reputation and the like drives himself to hear the true Dharma only for the sake of a name and the rest, and not in order to increase wisdom. One who keeps away from the faults just named is comprised among those of genuine practice, and delights in realizing right liberation.

And in order to exhort those who are content with inferior teachings to train in higher ones. That is: to those who delight in seeking worldly literature and spells and are slack about the precepts, the benefits of training are stated as merely guarding moral discipline. To those who neglect wide learning, wisdom is stated as foremost. To those content with hearing and reflection alone, liberation is stated as firm. To those who overestimate themselves regarding discipline, wisdom, and liberation, mindfulness is stated as dominant.

The meaning. Under the general meaning, this scripture proclaims right practice and the fruit of right practice; the three trainings, discipline and the rest, are the measure of "training." The scripture's "abide thus" displays the four yogas comprised in the practice of right means. And "abide thus in the three trainings" displays the fruit of right practice. Here, since faith and aspiration come first, one takes up moral discipline; and when hearing the Dharma, cultivating wisdom and the rest by the power of right diligence requires the means.

Under the particular meaning: "training" is diligence, practicing as taught; "practicing" and "cultivating" are differences of name. The pure operation of body, speech, and livelihood is training's particular mark. Because right practice is brought forth by discipline, patience, and the rest, it is called training. And because one advances in practice and removal in order to seek the fruit that is still and cool, it is called training. Such glosses of the term proceed as stated above — by mark, by own-substance, by activity, by property, and by cause and effect.

Among the distinctions of approach, first the distinction of own-substance: "training" displays the moral discipline of the seven classes, or the more than one hundred and fifty training rules. Distinction of realm: within the realm of desire there is only the prātimokṣa restraint; the restraint of absorption is only in the realms of form and formlessness; and uncontaminated restraint is unbound. Distinction of time: in the past one has trained, in the future one will train, in the present one is training. Distinction of stage: among persons who have entered the true Dharma, training not yet matured is the lesser stage, training now maturing the middling, training already matured the greater. One whose mind takes no delight and who forces himself to practice the holy life is in the painful stage; one whose mind delights and who does not force himself is in the pleasant stage; one who practices spontaneously is in the neither-painful-nor-pleasant stage. It is only a wholesome stage, not an unwholesome one. One who is hearing is in the stage of hearing; one who is examining, in the stage of reflection; one who has obtained concentration and cultivates, in the stage of cultivation. One who has not realized the higher mind and wisdom is in the stage of higher discipline; one who has, is in the stage of higher mind and wisdom. Such are the distinctions of stage.

Distinction of person: here persons who have gone forth are intended — whether of dull or keen faculties, whether of the conduct of craving and the rest, of balanced conduct, or of conduct with little dust — and only śrāvakas, not pratyekabuddhas and not bodhisattvas. Since pratyekabuddhas awaken each on his own, and bodhisattvas are firm in liberation, the Tathāgata does not teach them to train while dwelling together. And here only those bound for final nirvāṇa are meant: those with the nature for the Dharma, those who have entered the true Dharma, those without obstruction, those fully bound and those not fully bound but not those unbound, and humans only, not gods.

As "training" has been distinguished, so with "benefits," "wisdom foremost," "liberation firm," and "mindfulness dominant" — the five distinctions should each be distinguished at length as is fitting.

Benefits: a difference of name for the increase and perfecting of good qualities. As the scripture says, "observing the ten benefits" — that is its substance. Gloss of the name: because this teaching takes up benefit with respect to oneself and is worthy of praise, it is called a benefit; and because this teaching follows along after the beings in whom it arises, it is called a benefit; and because praise follows along with it, it is called a benefit. Distinctions of approach: ten — that it can gather the Saṅgha, make the Saṅgha earnest, and so on at length.

Monk: a difference of name for a renunciant, one who has left home for homelessness, and the like; and the class-commonality of one complete in the prātimokṣa restraint is the substance of a monk. Gloss of the name: because he diligently guards against form and appearance and the rest that draw near the evil destinies, and because he can draw in unbreakable qualities, he is called a monk. Distinctions of approach: differences of kṣatriya and the rest; of high family and low; of young, middle-aged, and old.

Abide: a difference of name for bending oneself to the time and cultivating diligently. The substance of this abiding is nothing other than the training already stated. Gloss of the name: because the various postures take up periods of time, it is called abiding. Distinctions of approach: differences of posture; of morning, midday, and evening; of day and night.

Wisdom: a difference of name for knowledge, vision, clarity, direct realization, and the like. Its substance is the mental factor that discerns the marks of things. Gloss of the name: discernment is its substance; because it is the counteragent to non-knowledge, it is called wisdom; and because it can understand each thing in its difference, it is called wisdom; and because it can make plain what consciousness has discriminated, it is called wisdom. Distinctions of approach: as is fitting, distinguished as above.

Liberation: a difference of name for permanent abandoning, release from bondage, purity, exhaustion, freedom from craving, and the like. Its substance is the permanent removal of coarse heaviness and the cutting off of the afflictions. Gloss of the name: because it can free one from the various bonds of craving and the rest, it is called liberation; and because the Blessed One, speaking to the various sages, stated this to be the substance of a sage, it is called liberation. Distinctions of approach: liberation that awaits its time; unshakable liberation; liberation from the afflictions abandoned by seeing; from those abandoned by cultivation; liberation from bondage to the realm of desire, to form, and to the formless.

Mindfulness: a difference of name for not forgetting, the mind's clear remembering, and the like. Its substance is a mental factor. Gloss of the name: because it recalls things, it is called mindfulness; and because, with respect to matters one has passed through, it makes the mind hold them clearly according to the attention given, it is called mindfulness. Distinctions of approach: recollection of the Buddha, of the Dharma, and the six recollections at length; and the distinctions of the establishments of mindfulness, as is fitting.

Now within answering objections. Question: what does "the benefits of training" mean? Answer: it displays seeing the surpassing merit in the higher training in discipline and abiding in its diligent cultivation. Question: what does "with wisdom foremost" mean? Answer: it displays that among the faculties, the faculty of wisdom is first. Question: what does "liberation firm" mean? Answer: it displays the permanent cutting off of the afflictions abandoned by seeing and by cultivation. Question: what does "mindfulness dominant" mean? Answer: it displays not being content with the small and inferior qualities one has obtained.

Question: in other scriptures the Blessed One states the sequence of the three trainings differently. Why here, after the higher discipline, is the higher wisdom stated immediately? And why are the benefits of the higher training in mind not stated? Answer: this statement collectively comprises all the wisdoms produced by hearing, reflection, and cultivation, and is meant to display that concentration arises in sequence from the absence of remorse and the rest — which is precisely to display the higher training in mind. As the Blessed One said: among these five faculties, the one that best takes up what is taken up is the faculty of wisdom; because monks accomplish this excellent faculty of wisdom, they can go on to cultivate the faculty of concentration; and therefore by the power of the faculty of wisdom, down to the faculty of concentration, all are accomplished. Here in this scripture the Blessed One displays that wisdom is the drawing cause of concentration and can draw on the cutting off of the afflictions; and since the higher training in wisdom is stated, know that the higher training in mind, which accompanies wisdom, is stated along with it.

Question: if so, then since other scriptures state that the cultivation of the three trainings advances to fullness, why is the fullness of cultivating the higher training in mind not stated? Answer: by the principle already stated, this should be understood here.

Question: why does this only say "abiding in the benefits of training," and not "abiding in the benefits of wisdom" or "of liberation"? Answer: it exhorts only to taking up the inferior benefit — and know that it thereby also causes the beings to be trained to take up every higher benefit. Moreover, the ten benefits of gathering the Saṅgha and the rest are plain and easy to enter, and so only "abiding in the benefits of training" is stated.

Question: since liberation is foremost among all things, why does it say "abiding with wisdom foremost" and not "with liberation foremost"? Answer: since even among inferior things it causes the beings to be trained to take up what is higher, know that it also causes them to take the higher teachings as higher. Moreover, it displays a distinction with respect to liberation. What distinction? That compared with what is impermanent, the wisdom that is foremost and liberation are most permanently abiding and firm.

Question: what is called abiding in the benefits of training? Answer: because with respect to the many training rules established one observes the ten benefits, one constantly guards moral discipline, firmly guards it, always practices it and always returns to it — this is called abiding in the benefits of training.

Question: what do the phrases "gathering the Saṅgha" and the rest mean? Answer: "gathering the Saṅgha" is the general phrase and the rest are particular. Making the Saṅgha earnest: causing it to keep from the extreme of enjoying the pleasure of desire. Making the Saṅgha at ease: causing it to keep from the extreme of self-mortification. Bringing those without faith to faith: causing those who have not entered the true Dharma to enter it. Increasing the faith of those who have it: causing those who have entered to ripen. Taming those hard to tame: rightly expelling those who transgress moral discipline. Causing those with shame and embarrassment to abide at ease: causing those who purely keep the precepts to be free of remorse and distress. Guarding against the contaminants of the present life: subduing the entanglements of affliction. Damaging the contaminants of the life to come: stilling wrong vows and abiding in the holy life, and conducing to the permanent cutting off of the latent delusions. So that many people's holy life may long endure and spread, down to being rightly and well disclosed to gods and humans: so that the sacred teaching may continue unbroken.

These ten benefits are, stated briefly, three; and the three opened out are ten. The three are: causing the Saṅgha to abide undefiled; causing the Saṅgha to abide at ease; and causing the sacred teaching to continue for a long time. Here, seven kinds of protection display abiding undefiled and abiding at ease: protection with respect to reverence and support; to self-mortification; to scarcity of requisites; to the assembly in its dealings with one another; to the mind's remorseful changes; to the entanglements of affliction; and to wrong vows. The last phrase displays the sacred teaching's continuing for a long time.

What is constantly guarding moral discipline? Not abandoning the training rules. What is firmly guarding it? Not transgressing them. What is always practicing? Not wearing holes in the training rules. What is always returning? That when one has worn a hole in moral discipline, one turns back to it again. What is undertaking the training rules? Fully training in all of them.

Such a practitioner, constantly and firmly guarding moral discipline, having heard the true Dharma, alone in a quiet place binds his mindfulness, reflects, weighs, and observes, in order to arouse the higher mind and wisdom. And this practitioner, by the wisdom born of hearing, reflection, and cultivation, can realize liberation; and because this liberation is by nature a state that does not fall away, it is called firm — being the fruit of transcendent knowledge, it cannot turn back. And this practitioner, by the power of mindfulness, examines himself closely: is my aggregate of moral discipline complete or not? Have I penetrated things or not? Have I well realized liberation or not? Thus, in dependence on the power of recollection, he is complete in the benefits of training, arouses the wisdom that is foremost, and realizes firm liberation. And this mindfulness is, in brief, of three kinds: on account of a teaching given, in dependence on instruction received, or by observing what has and has not been done.

Question: the Blessed One taught measureless kinds of moral discipline — the discipline of a layman, of a monk, of the observance day, of absorption, of attainment, that beloved of the noble ones, and so on. Which discipline is meant here in "abiding in the benefits of training"? Answer: the discipline of a monk, because it is the most excellent.

Question: the Blessed One said that wisdom too is of many kinds — born of hearing, of reflection, of cultivation. Which is meant in "abiding with wisdom foremost"? Answer: all three are stated.

Question: the Buddha said that liberation too is of many kinds — worldly and transcendent, of the learner and of the adept, shakable and unshakable, and so on. Which is meant in "liberation firmly abiding"? Answer: the transcendent, unshakable liberation.

Question: the Tathāgata said that mindfulness too is of many kinds — mindfulness abiding on the body and other objects; recollection of what was long ago done and long ago said; recollection in reciting; in instruction; recollection of what should and should not be done; recollection of the Buddha and the rest. Which is meant in "mindfulness dominant"? Answer: taking the most excellent, recollection that observes what should and should not be done.

Now within sequence. First one abides in the discipline of a monk; next one hears the true Dharma; next one should attend in accordance with principle. Such a practitioner, because he purely keeps the precepts, has no distress or remorse; and from the absence of remorse and the rest, right concentration arises in sequence. That is, because wisdom comprised in the means reflects in accordance with principle, the higher training in mind is accomplished. This is called the sequence of completion, since each earlier item is the cause by which each later is completed. And again: abiding in the benefits of training is for the sake of obtaining wisdom foremost, and abiding with wisdom foremost is for the sake of realizing firm liberation. How does one obtain abiding in the benefits of training, down to firm liberation? By the power of mindfulness being dominant — and this is called the sequence of establishing. And the scripture says: if one abides thus, the cultivation of the three trainings swiftly reaches fullness; this too is called the sequence of establishing.

As to the sequence of explanation, as the scripture says: Great teacher — because he can well instruct his śrāvaka disciples in what should and should not be done, he is called the great teacher; and because he can guide measureless beings to realize the stilling of suffering; and because he appeared in the world to crush the false and corrupt outsiders. Śrāvaka — because he hears from another the sound of the true Dharma, he is called a hearer; and because he can cause others to hear the sound of the true Dharma, he is called a hearer.

Question: for what reason is abiding in the benefits of training taught only to śrāvakas? Answer: because the śrāvaka community are the Blessed One's true disciples who train in accordance with him. Teaching: proclaiming word-groups, phrase-groups, and syllable-groups. Training rules: proclaiming the five classes of offence. Accomplished in pity: toward beings dwelling in the long night, he constantly abides in the four measureless minds, loving-kindness and the rest. Accomplished in compassion: because he can draw beings out of their many states of suffering. Delighting in what is of value: because he can bestow on beings measureless states of ease. Seeking benefit: because he wishes beings to take up the various excellent and wholesome states. Constantly pitying: because he can draw beings out of the various evil and unwholesome states.

And "so that many people's holy life may long endure" is stated with reference to the great clans, the kṣatriyas and the rest. "Spread" means that among these classes of beings, each successive assembly gradually grows larger. "Down to for gods and humans" means those of influence among such growing classes — displaying that the Blessed One's great compassion covers all and not merely a part. "Rightly and well disclosed" means all things, as they are and as far as they go.

"Teaching the true Dharma": the twelvefold teaching heard, investigated, upheld, recited, and reflected upon in a quiet place — such a domain is called the Dharma. "For benefit" is stated with reference to the higher discipline. "For ease" means not relying on painful and unfree conduct. "For benefit and ease" means the higher mind and higher wisdom of those free of craving — because this conduct is wholesome it is called benefit, and because it is agreeable it is called ease. And where the Blessed One praises the qualities of the ascetic practices, that is called benefit; where he permits food of a hundred flavors and clothing of a hundred thousand kinds, that is called ease; and where he establishes the three trainings, that is called benefit and ease.

"The Tathāgata well observes all things with manifold wisdom" means: whether for benefit, for ease, or for both, he speaks with reference to the higher trainings in discipline, in mind, and in wisdom. Two causes make this well observing: because he fully knows throughout the long night, and because his awareness is undistorted. "Those various liberations are well realized" is stated with reference to the higher mind and higher wisdom. Two causes make this well realizing: because the conduct is final, and because it is a state that does not turn back. "My aggregate of moral discipline is not complete" means either that one has cultivated only a part of moral discipline, or that one has not relied on such discipline in fully cultivating the disciplines of concentration. "I do not well observe things" — by the two kinds of observing, as above. "I have not well realized liberation" — by the two kinds of realizing, as above. "What I had to say I have now said" is the general conclusion, gathering the brief statement and the extended distinction above.

Further, by six aspects one should interpret every scripture of the Buddha: by fully knowing things; by abandoning evil conduct and the delusions great and small; by taking up good conduct; by the knowledge that fully knows and penetrates the conduct that is disease and the rest; by the fruit of that; and by oneself and others undergoing that fruit. By these six aspects, and by the aspects established above, one should well interpret every scripture of the Buddha. Here, things means the aggregates, elements, and sense fields, dependent arising, the establishments of mindfulness, the right exertions, and the rest. The fruit of that means weariness, dispassion, liberation, and final quenching. Oneself and others undergoing that fruit means "birth is exhausted" and the rest. All this together is called the section on gathering the interpretation.

Now this chapter has displayed that this treatise has four marks: the mark of supremacy; the mark of its own substance; the mark of purity; and the mark of setting out the teaching. Of these, the mark of supremacy is given by two verses, the mark of its own substance by five, the mark of purity by two, and the mark of setting out the teaching by one.