Liberation by Wisdom and Liberation Both-Ways Distinguished

Why Two Kinds of Arhat Are Alike the Mastery of Exhaustion

中文主題：慧解脫與俱解脫之別——二類阿羅漢何以同是漏盡之自在

I. The Live Question

Readers of the Āgamas often meet a puzzle: if both are "arhats," why does scripture further divide them into "liberated by wisdom" and "liberated both-ways"? If both have realized the exhaustion of taints, what is the division for? More thorny still: the name "liberated both-ways" sounds like "liberated more fully" — does that not make "liberated by wisdom" sound like "liberated incompletely"? Is there a "higher grade of arhat" and a "lower grade"?

This puzzle touches the axis's frame directly. The prior paper P01 established that the arhat's mastery is the signature of the exhaustion of taints; P02 established that the through-to-the-bottom of liberation of mind is the unshakable. If "liberation both-ways" truly exhausted taints more thoroughly and were higher in mastery than "liberation by wisdom," then the equality of "the exhaustion of taints is mastery" would break — mastery would become a thing with grades, the signature would have a higher and a lower. This paper must answer: where exactly does the distinction of the two kinds lie? In the depth of exhaustion (mastery having grades), or elsewhere (mastery still equal)?

This paper argues the latter: the distinction lies in whether concentration is gained (whether cessation-attainment and the bodily realization of the eight liberations), not in the presence or degree of exhaustion. Both kinds are alike in the exhaustion of taints, alike sever the hindrance of defilement, alike are the final adept — and so are alike the mastery of exhaustion, the signature one and the same. What the both-ways "both" adds is, beyond severing the hindrance of defilement, the further removal of the "hindrance to liberation" (the hindrance of concentration), namely the bodily realization of the eight liberations and cessation-attainment — one further measure of concentrative mastery (autonomy in the deep concentrations), a further face of mastery, not a greater quantity of exhaustion. One liberated by wisdom is not "incompletely liberated" but "complete in severing defilement by wisdom, having only not also cultivated the bodily realization of the deep concentrations"; one liberated both-ways is not "more deeply exhausted" but "having, beyond the exhaustion of taints, also gained concentrative mastery." The signature (exhaustion) is one and the same; liberation both-ways merely countersigns one further stroke (concentrative mastery).

This paper continues from P02 into the other discrimination of Part 2. P02 treated liberation of mind through-to-the-bottom vertically (the unshakable); this paper discriminates the twofold liberation's branching horizontally (by wisdom / both-ways), composing the full breadth of Part 2. The argument: §II presents canon and śāstra (the definitions of the two kinds; the listing of the eight liberations; the canonical witness of their coexistence; the division by keen and dull faculties); §III argues in three layers (the distinction is whether-concentration-is-gained, not depth-of-exhaustion; coexistence is by faculties and concentration, not by grade of exhaustion; the criterion of mastery — the two kinds equal); §IV is cut; §V corrects (breaking "both-ways high, by-wisdom low"); §VI concludes.

II. Canonical Basis

2.1 The Canonical Definitions: Liberation Both-Ways with Cessation-Attainment, Liberation by Wisdom with Wisdom Alone

The formal definition of the two kinds the Abhidharmakośa, fascicle 25 (Chapter on the Noble Persons), sets by "whether cessation-attainment is gained":

[Verse:] Both-ways by gaining cessation; the rest, liberation by wisdom. [Commentary:] Those arhats who have gained cessation-attainment are named liberated both-ways, because by the power of wisdom and concentration they are liberated from the hindrance of defilement and the hindrance to liberation. The rest, who have not gained cessation-attainment, are named liberated by wisdom, because by the power of wisdom alone they are liberated from the hindrance of defilement.¹

The definition is plain: those who have gained cessation-attainment are named "liberated both-ways" — by the twin powers of wisdom and concentration, liberated from both the "hindrance of defilement" and the "hindrance to liberation"; those who have not gained cessation-attainment are named "liberated by wisdom" — by the power of wisdom alone, liberated from the "hindrance of defilement." See it clearly: the two kinds alike sever the hindrance of defilement (alike exhaust taints, alike sever defilement), differing only in whether the "hindrance to liberation" is removed, and the removal of that hindrance hangs on "gaining cessation-attainment." The śāstra further clarifies the differing bases of the two names. Kośa, fascicle 25:

By gaining cessation-attainment the name "realized with the body" is set up, because cessation-attainment is realized with the body … by the difference in liberation the latter two are set up: by the removal of the hindrance of defilement through wisdom alone, "liberated by wisdom" is set up; by the removal of the hindrance to liberation through also gaining concentration, "liberated both-ways" is set up.²

The phrase "by the difference in liberation the latter two are set up" is the pivot: the two kinds are set up by the difference in the liberation (from hindrance) — one removing the hindrance of defilement through wisdom alone is liberation by wisdom, one also gaining concentration and removing the hindrance to liberation is liberation both-ways. So the distinction is whether, beyond "removing the hindrance of defilement," one also removes the hindrance to liberation (the hindrance of concentration) — not a difference of depth in "removing the hindrance of defilement" itself. The removal of the hindrance of defilement (taints) is equal in both kinds.

2.2 The Āgama Definition of Liberation by Wisdom: Accomplished in Wisdom, Not Awaiting the Eight Liberations

The Āgama's definition of "the arhat liberated by wisdom" plainly establishes it as accomplished in wisdom, not awaiting the eight liberations. Madhyama-āgama, fascicle 24 (the Mahānidāna):

If a monk, knowing as they really are the seven stations of consciousness and the two bases, with the mind undefiled, is liberated — this monk is called an arhat, named liberated by wisdom. Furthermore, Ānanda! there are the eight liberations …³

One who, by wisdom, knows as they really are the seven stations of consciousness and the two bases, and with the mind undefiled is liberated, is named "the arhat liberated by wisdom" — the establishment of his liberation lies wholly in "knowing as it really is, the mind undefiled" (wisdom), not awaiting the eight liberations; the eight liberations are separately listed below ("furthermore"). The textual order itself shows it: first the name liberated-by-wisdom is set by wisdom, then "furthermore" the eight liberations are listed. So the liberated-by-wisdom is, in the matter of severing defilement by wisdom, already complete, not "an incomplete arhat lacking the eight liberations." The eight liberations the Madhyama-āgama, fascicle 24, lists next:

There are eight liberations. What are the eight? Having form, one contemplates form — this is the first liberation. Further, inwardly without form-perception, one contemplates form externally — this is the second liberation. Further, the pure liberation, realized with the body and dwelt in fully — this is the third liberation …⁴

The eight liberations are listed one by one (having-form contemplating form; inwardly formless contemplating form externally; the pure liberation realized with the body …), among which "realized with the body and dwelt in fully" is precisely the content of the concentrative bodily realization that the liberated-both-ways separately possesses. The presence or absence of these eight liberations is the watershed of the two kinds.

2.3 The Āgama Witness of Liberation Both-Ways: The Eight Liberations Realized with the Body

The Āgama's definition of liberation both-ways the Saṃyukta-āgama, fascicle 33 (sūtra 654, Mahānāma's question), sets by "the eight liberations realized with the body":

A noble disciple of one-pointed pure faith in the Buddha … the eight liberations fully realized with the body, and by wisdom-vision the taints severed and known — such a noble disciple … is called an arhat liberated both-ways.⁵

"The eight liberations fully realized with the body" (the bodily realization of concentration) together with "by wisdom-vision the taints severed and known" (wisdom's severing of taints), the two being complete, is named "arhat liberated both-ways." Read against 2.2: the liberated-by-wisdom has only the one measure of "severing taints by wisdom" (the taints severed and known); the liberated-both-ways has both "the eight liberations realized with the body" and "the taints severed and known." Both kinds alike have "the taints severed and known" (exhaustion equal); the both-ways has additionally "the eight liberations realized with the body" (the bodily realization of concentration).

2.4 The Witness of Coexistence: The Buddha's Record of Five Hundred Monks · the Nine Adepts · Keen and Dull Faculties

The two kinds are not a distinction of theory but a coexistence recorded in scripture. Madhyama-āgama, fascicle 29 (Śāriputra's question on the five hundred monks):

[Śāriputra asked:] Of these five hundred monks, how many have gained liberation both-ways? how many liberation by wisdom? The World-Honored One said: "Śāriputra! Of these five hundred monks, ninety have gained the threefold-knowledge penetration, ninety have gained liberation both-ways, the rest have gained liberation by wisdom."⁶

The Buddha himself records, within one pure community ("without branch or leaf, pure and true"), the coexistence of the two kinds, liberated-both-ways and liberated-by-wisdom. The two kinds are within one "pure and true" assembly — showing the two alike pure and final, with no suspicion of higher and lower. This coexistence appears again in the standard classification of "the nine adepts." Madhyama-āgama, fascicle 30 (the Field-of-Merit):

What are the nine adepts? The reflective, the advancing, the unshakable, the regressible, the non-regressible, the guarding … the liberated by wisdom, the liberated both-ways — these are the nine adepts.⁷

The standard classification of the nine adepts gathers liberation-by-wisdom and liberation-both-ways in apposition — the two alike belong to "the adept" (final, with nothing further to learn), two coordinate kinds, not two graded ranks. As to why the two divide, the Saṃyukta-āgama, fascicle 26 (sūtra 653), shows it by the keenness or dullness of the five faculties:

If a monk has the five faculties superior, keen, and fulfilled, he gains the arhat liberated-in-both-parts. If soft or weak, he gains the body-witness. If softer or weaker still, the view-attained. If softer or weaker still, the faith-liberated …⁸

By the keenness or dullness of the five faculties (faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom), the noble stations divide in sequence — liberated-in-both-parts (liberation both-ways), body-witness, view-attained, faith-liberated, and so on. The division of the two kinds hangs on the keenness or dullness of the faculties (and the depth of the concentration thereby gained) — the keen-and-fulfilled also gaining the deep concentrations and so liberated both-ways, the soft-or-weak liberated by wisdom only. The ground of the division is in the faculties, in concentration — not in the depth of exhaustion.

✅ Doctrinally sound: 2.2 (liberation by wisdom accomplished in wisdom, not awaiting the eight liberations), 2.3 (liberation both-ways, the eight liberations realized with the body), 2.4 (the Buddha's record of the five hundred monks; the nine adepts; the keen-dull faculties) are explicit canon; 2.1 (the Kośa's definition of the two kinds; "by the difference in liberation the latter two are set up") is Kośa śāstric precision (Noble Persons). The distinction of the two kinds lies in "whether cessation-attainment and the bodily realization of the eight liberations are gained" (whether the hindrance to liberation is removed); both alike sever the hindrance of defilement (exhaustion equal) — canon and śāstra are consistent.

III. Core Argument

3.1 The Distinction Lies in "Whether Concentration Is Gained," Not in "the Depth of Severing Taints"

The distinction of the two kinds of arhat hangs on one point alone: whether cessation-attainment and the bodily realization of the eight liberations are gained (2.1–2.3). The liberated-both-ways has gained them, the liberated-by-wisdom has not. Apart from this one point, the two are wholly the same in the exhaustion of taints (severing the hindrance of defilement).

This must be clarified through the distinction of the "two hindrances." The śāstra posits two: the hindrance of defilement (the taints, the defilements, the root that binds to saṃsāra) and the hindrance to liberation (also called the hindrance of concentration, what obstructs the manifesting of the deep concentrations and cessation-attainment). The liberated-by-wisdom is "liberated from the hindrance of defilement by the power of wisdom alone" (2.1) — the hindrance of defilement exhausted, hence taints exhausted, hence an arhat, hence no more becoming. The liberated-both-ways is "liberated from the hindrance of defilement and the hindrance to liberation by the power of wisdom and concentration" (2.1) — the hindrance of defilement also exhausted (same as the by-wisdom), and additionally the hindrance to liberation removed (cessation-attainment realized with the body).

Here is the crux: the two alike remove the hindrance of defilement (exhaustion equal), differing only in whether the hindrance to liberation is removed; and the removal of the hindrance to liberation hangs on "gaining cessation-attainment," a matter of concentration, not a matter of severing taints. So the distinction of the two is the presence or absence of "concentrative bodily realization" (the both-ways also gaining the bodily realization of the deep concentrations), not a difference of depth in "severing taints" (in severing taints the two are equal). The liberated-by-wisdom is in no way deficient in severing taints — the name "liberated by wisdom" means precisely "liberated by severing taints through wisdom, complete," not "incompletely liberated."

A simile: two people have alike paid off their debts in full (exhaustion / severing the hindrance of defilement, equal), both debt-free and light (mastery equal); one of them is additionally expert in a craft (gaining cessation-attainment / the eight liberations realized with the body), the other has not learned that craft. "Being expert in the craft" is a further competence beyond paying off the debt, unrelated to "whether the debt is paid off" — one does not, by being expert in the craft, pay the debt "more fully." The both-ways' "also-concentration" is just like that craft: a further face beyond exhaustion (concentrative mastery), not a deeper exhaustion.

3.2 Coexistence Is by "Faculties and Concentration," Not by "a Grade of Exhaustion"

Why do the two kinds coexist? Scripture's answer is the keenness or dullness of the faculties and whether concentration is gained (2.4), not that exhaustion has grades.

The Saṃyukta-āgama divides the noble stations by the keenness or dullness of the five faculties (2.4): the faculties fulfilled also gaining the deep concentrations and so liberated both-ways, the soft-or-weak liberated by wisdom only. The variable of this division is "the keenness or dullness of the five faculties (especially the faculty of concentration)" and the consequent "depth of concentration gained" — the keen able to enter cessation-attainment and so both-ways, the somewhat weaker not entering cessation-attainment and so by-wisdom only. The variable is in "the faculty of concentration, the level of concentration," not in "the degree to which wisdom severs taints." The Buddha records the five hundred monks dividing into two kinds within one assembly "pure and true, without branch or leaf" (2.4), showing the more clearly that the two are alike pure and final — for if liberation both-ways were truly a grade higher than liberation by wisdom, the assembly would have a higher-and-lower "branch and leaf," against "without branch or leaf." The apposition of the nine adepts (2.4) likewise takes the two as "coordinate adepts," not "two graded ranks."

So the coexistence of the two kinds is "one exhaustion, manifesting two aspects by the difference of faculties and concentration," not "exhaustion having two graded levels." As on one mountain summit (exhaustion, the final), one person can additionally survey the four directions (the wide vista of gained concentration, both-ways), another merely stands at the summit (standing at the summit only, by-wisdom) — the one standing at the summit has already reached the summit (exhaustion in no way deficient), and has not "failed to reach the summit" by "not surveying the four directions." Reaching the summit is equal (exhaustion equal); whether one surveys is a further view at the summit (the presence or absence of concentrative mastery), not a difference of height (a difference in the depth of exhaustion).

✅ Doctrinally sound: the ground of the two kinds' coexistence scripture plainly hangs on the keen-dull faculties and whether concentration is gained (2.4), not on a grade of exhaustion. The Buddha records the two within one assembly "pure and true, without branch or leaf"; the nine adepts gather them in apposition — the two alike pure and final adepts, coordinate and not graded.

3.3 The Criterion of Mastery: The Mastery of Exhaustion Is Equal in Both Kinds; the Both-Ways' "Also-Concentration" Is an Added Face of Concentrative Mastery

Finally, judge the two kinds by this axis's frame. The prior paper P01 established: mastery is the signature of the exhaustion of taints. Judge the two kinds' mastery accordingly —

First, the mastery of exhaustion is equal in both kinds. The two alike sever the hindrance of defilement, alike exhaust taints, alike have no more becoming (3.1). Since exhaustion is what mastery signs (P01), the two kinds' exhaustion-signature is one and the same: the mastery of the liberated-by-wisdom, in the unobstructedness of exhaustion (burdens laid down, fetters ended, undefiled), differs not a hair's breadth from that of the liberated-both-ways. The equality of "the exhaustion of taints is mastery" does not break between the two kinds.

Second, the both-ways' "also-concentration" is a further face of mastery (concentrative mastery), not an added quantity of the mastery of exhaustion. The liberated-both-ways additionally removes a "hindrance to liberation," additionally gains "the eight liberations and cessation-attainment realized with the body" — this is autonomy in the deep concentrations (entering the deep concentrations at will, realizing the eight liberations with the body), one measure of "concentrative mastery." Yet this concentrative mastery is a distinct face of mastery (autonomy in concentration), not more or deeper in "the mastery of exhaustion." As P01 §3.3 established: mastery's substance is the unobstructedness of exhaustion (negative freedom, nothing left to bind), not the accumulation of supernormal or concentrative power (a positive multi-competence). The both-ways' also-concentration belongs precisely to a measure of augmented capacity, "able to enter the deep concentrations" — it enriches the facets of the arhat's mastery (manifesting, beyond the mastery of exhaustion, also concentrative mastery), yet does not augment "the mastery of exhaustion" itself.

So, holding to P01's frame: the two kinds' exhaustion-signature is one and the same; the liberated-both-ways merely countersigns, beside this one-and-the-same signature, one further stroke of "concentrative mastery," not a "higher exhaustion." The signature (exhaustion, where mastery lies) has no higher and lower; the countersignature (concentrative mastery) has presence and absence. To judge the height of the signature by the presence or absence of the countersignature is to fall into the very error P01 broke — "judging mastery by supernormal or concentrative power."

⚠️ A note on level: this section's judgment that "the both-ways' also-concentration is an added face of concentrative mastery, not an added quantity of the mastery of exhaustion" argues from this axis's frame ("mastery = the signature of exhaustion," continuing P01 §3.3). It does not claim the eight liberations and cessation-attainment are of no value — their use in pleasant abiding here-and-now, in capability, and in benefiting others is recorded in scripture and has its own excellence (belonging to the faces of concentrative mastery and capability; treated in full by the later P06 on cessation-attainment). This paper, on the single sense of "the mastery of exhaustion," shows the two kinds equal and the both-ways' addition to be in the face of concentration, not in the face of taints.

IV. Interdisciplinary Convergence

(This paper deliberately omits the interdisciplinary section; the reason is given in §VI. The structure of "one qualification, two combinations of competence" does resemble the modern "same degree, different specializations" or "the distinction of core competence from added skills"; yet both are worldly, conditioned classifications of competence, only superficially like the discrimination of "the exhaustion of taints" (unconditioned, the consummation of liberation) from "concentrative mastery." The presence or absence of a worldly skill does not bear on liberation; to force "core / added skill" onto "exhaustion / concentrative mastery" would easily lead the reader to mistake the exhaustion of taints for a kind of "worldly, comparable competence," losing the unconditioned sense of exhaustion. Better to leave it out.)

V. Madhyamaka Corrections

❌ Misreading one: "the liberated-both-ways is a higher grade of arhat, the liberated-by-wisdom a lower, incomplete arhat." This the paper breaks in full. The two alike sever the hindrance of defilement, alike exhaust taints, alike have no more becoming (3.1); they differ only in "whether cessation-attainment and the eight liberations realized with the body are gained" (whether the hindrance to liberation is removed), and this is a matter of concentration, not a matter of severing taints. The liberated-by-wisdom is in no way deficient in severing taints — "liberated by wisdom" means "complete in severing taints by wisdom," not "incompletely liberated." The Buddha records the two within one assembly "pure and true, without branch or leaf," the nine adepts in apposition (2.4) — precisely breaking the view of higher and lower. To take "both-ways / by-wisdom" as "high / low" falls into the error of "judging exhaustion by concentrative attainment."

❌ Misreading two: "the liberated-both-ways exhausts taints more deeply, more thoroughly, than the liberated-by-wisdom." The two are equal in "severing the hindrance of defilement (taints)" (3.1, 3.3); what the both-ways has more is the removal of the "hindrance to liberation" (the hindrance of concentration), the bodily realization of cessation-attainment — a matter of concentration, not of taints. Exhaustion has no distinction of "deeper" (the exhaustion of taints just is the forever-ending of all taints, with no two graded levels at all); what the both-ways has more is in the face of concentrative mastery, not in the quantity of exhaustion. To read "also gaining cessation-attainment" as "exhausting taints more thoroughly" confuses "the removal of the hindrance of concentration" with "the removal of the hindrance of defilement" — the two hindrances being plainly distinct (2.1).

⚠️ Correction three: this paper's judgment that "the both-ways' addition is in the face of concentration, not of taints" does not disparage the value of the eight liberations and cessation-attainment. This paper, on this axis's frame ("mastery = the signature of exhaustion"), shows the two kinds equal in exhaustion and the both-ways' addition to belong to concentrative mastery (3.3); it does not claim cessation-attainment and the eight liberations have no excellence. Their excellence in pleasant abiding here-and-now, in the mind's capability, in the marvel of bodily realization is recorded in scripture and has its own distinction, belonging to the face of "concentrative mastery" (treated in full by the axis's P06 on cessation-attainment). The reader should not take this paper as disparaging concentration — it merely distinguishes the categories of "concentrative mastery" and "the mastery of exhaustion," disparaging neither.

⚠️ Correction four: this paper is confined to the criterion of the two kinds' "mastery of exhaustion" and does not exhaust their full import. This paper, on the single sense of "the mastery of exhaustion," judges the two kinds equal; as to the two kinds' actual differences in benefiting others, in capability, in the enjoyment of concentration-entry (the both-ways being able to enter cessation-attainment, the pleasant abiding here-and-now, and so on), which belong to the faces of concentrative mastery and capability, this paper does not unfold (awaiting P06 and the like). Do not take this paper as having exhausted all the similarities and differences of the two kinds — it says only "with respect to the mastery of exhaustion, the two kinds are equal; the both-ways' distinction is in the face of concentration."

VI. Conclusion

Restatement. The distinction of liberation by wisdom and liberation both-ways lies in whether concentration is gained (whether cessation-attainment and the eight liberations realized with the body), not in the depth of severing taints. The two hindrances are plainly distinct: the two kinds alike remove the hindrance of defilement (exhaustion equal), differing only in whether the hindrance to liberation (the hindrance of concentration) is removed (3.1). The ground of their coexistence is the keen-dull faculties and whether concentration is gained, not a grade of exhaustion — the Buddha records the two within one assembly "pure and true, without branch or leaf," the nine adepts in apposition (3.2). Judged by this axis's frame: the mastery of exhaustion is equal in both kinds (the signature one and the same), and the both-ways' "also-concentration" is an added face of concentrative mastery, not an added quantity of the mastery of exhaustion (3.3).

Practice guidance. What the practitioner should understand about the two kinds is not the demand "I must become liberated both-ways, or else I am only a lower-grade liberated-by-wisdom" (which reads exhaustion as having grades and mistakes concentrative attainment for the depth of exhaustion — the very error this paper breaks), but the recognition that "the exhaustion of taints is mastery, the two kinds equal; the both-ways' also-concentration is a distinct face of concentrative mastery, not a deeper exhaustion." The essential in tending toward liberation is severing taints by wisdom (severing the hindrance of defilement, severing the root of ignorance) — what the two kinds share and must have. As for the bodily realization of cessation-attainment and the eight liberations (the both-ways' added measure), it is a face of augmented concentrative mastery that comes with the faculties and the power of concentration, to be cultivated as conditions allow, yet not necessary to the exhaustion of taints, not a criterion of higher and lower in mastery. Do not, by "not having gained the deep concentrations," doubt that "the taints are not exhausted, the mastery incomplete" — the mastery of exhaustion hangs not on the depth of concentration but on whether the hindrance of defilement is exhausted.

Carrying the axis forward. This paper and P02 compose the full breadth of Part 2, "Liberation of Mind and Liberation by Wisdom": P02 treats liberation of mind through-to-the-bottom vertically (the unshakable — the highest aspect of liberation of mind), this paper discriminates the twofold liberation's branching horizontally (by-wisdom / both-ways — two kinds by whether concentration is gained). Together they show: the aspect of mastery, along both "the unshakable" (vertical, through-to-the-bottom) and "the two kinds equal" (horizontal, branching), holds to P01's frame (mastery = the signature of exhaustion, not the accumulation of concentrative or supernormal power). This opens onto Part 3 (the three knowledges and six powers), which will treat head-on "how the positive functioning beyond exhaustion (the three knowledges and six powers) pivots on exhaustion without becoming the error 'mastery = supernormal powers'" — this paper's 3.3 has laid the ground in advance (the both-ways' concentrative mastery being a distinct face, not the face of taints; just so the positive powers of the three knowledges and six powers are a distinct face, not the face of taints).

Open questions. First, this paper judges "concentrative mastery" a distinct face of mastery (not the face of taints); yet the positive standing of "concentrative mastery" (the bodily realization of the eight liberations and cessation-attainment) within the arhat's mastery — how it coexists in one person with the mastery of exhaustion without either usurping the other — this paper only sets the keynote, its detail awaiting P06 on cessation-attainment. Second, this paper cuts §IV (the discrimination of exhaustion / concentrative mastery is only superficially like the worldly core / added skill); whether "unconditioned exhaustion," distinct in root from all "worldly comparable competence," admits a positively constructible deep structure, is left to a later paper. Third, how the "both" of liberation both-ways relates to P02's "liberation of mind" of the unshakable (whether the liberated-both-ways' liberation of mind is necessarily unshakable; what the unshakable of the liberated-by-wisdom looks like) this paper does not reach, to be viewed together in the papers on the three knowledges and concentrative mastery.

Notes

References

Primary Buddhist Sources

• Saṃyukta-āgama (雜阿含經). Trans. Guṇabhadra. T02, no. 0099《雜阿含經》Saṃyukta-āgamaT2, No. 99View on CBETA online reader ↗. (Fasc. 33, liberation both-ways, the eight liberations realized with the body; fasc. 26, the noble stations by keen-dull faculties.)
• Madhyama-āgama (中阿含經). Trans. Gautama Saṅghadeva. T01, no. 0026《中阿含經》MadhyamāgamaT1, No. 26View on CBETA online reader ↗. (Fasc. 24, the Mahānidāna, liberation by wisdom, the eight liberations; fasc. 29, the two kinds coexisting among five hundred monks; fasc. 30, the nine adepts.)
• Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya (阿毘達磨俱舍論). By Vasubandhu, trans. Xuanzang. T29, no. 1558《阿毘達磨俱舍論》Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣyaT29, No. 1558View on CBETA online reader ↗. (Chapter on the Noble Persons, fasc. 25, the definitions of liberation both-ways and by wisdom; "by the difference in liberation the latter two are set up.")

Modern Scholarship

(This paper cites no modern scholarship; its argument rests entirely on the Buddhist canon, in the open-source spirit of "returning to the source." The interdisciplinary section having been cut, there is no associated modern literature.)

Sūtra & Śāstra Index

Citation	Source	CBETA id
Śāstric definition of liberation both-ways and by wisdom (cessation / wisdom-only · hindrance of defilement and to liberation)	Kośa, fasc. 25	T29n1558《阿毘達磨俱舍論》Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣyaT29, No. 1558View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0131c10
By the difference in liberation the latter two are set up · the name realized-with-the-body · removal of the two hindrances	Kośa, fasc. 25	T29n1558《阿毘達磨俱舍論》Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣyaT29, No. 1558View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0131b27
Liberation by wisdom accomplished in wisdom · not awaiting the eight liberations (the Mahānidāna)	Madhyama-āgama, fasc. 24	T01n0026《中阿含經》MadhyamāgamaT1, No. 26View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0582a16
The listing of the eight liberations · the pure liberation realized with the body	Madhyama-āgama, fasc. 24	T01n0026《中阿含經》MadhyamāgamaT1, No. 26View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0582a17
Liberation both-ways · the eight liberations realized with the body and the taints severed and known (Mahānāma)	Saṃyukta-āgama, fasc. 33	T02n0099《雜阿含經》Saṃyukta-āgamaT2, No. 99View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0240a12
The Buddha records five hundred monks · ninety liberated both-ways · the rest by wisdom	Madhyama-āgama, fasc. 29	T01n0026《中阿含經》MadhyamāgamaT1, No. 26View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0610b23
The nine adepts · liberation by wisdom and both-ways in apposition	Madhyama-āgama, fasc. 30	T01n0026《中阿含經》MadhyamāgamaT1, No. 26View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0616a18
The noble stations by keen-dull faculties · liberated-in-both-parts · body-witness	Saṃyukta-āgama, fasc. 26	T02n0099《雜阿含經》Saṃyukta-āgamaT2, No. 99View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0183b06

Series Cross-Reference Index

• ARHAT-P01, "The Exhaustion of Taints Is Mastery" §2.3, §3.3: this paper holds to P01's frame (mastery = the signature of exhaustion) in judging the two kinds — the exhaustion-signature one and the same (3.3 directly continues P01); the both-ways' also-concentration belongs to concentrative mastery (a distinct face), on the same principle as P01 §3.3's "powers are not where mastery lies" (concentrative and supernormal power alike a distinct face, not the face of taints).
• ARHAT-P02, "The Unshakable Liberation of Mind" §3.1: this paper and P02 compose the full breadth of Part 2 — P02 treats liberation of mind through-to-the-bottom vertically (the unshakable), this paper discriminates the twofold liberation's branching horizontally (by-wisdom / both-ways). Both hold to the subtractive frame that "mastery's increase is not in the accumulation of competence."
• ARHAT-P06, "Cessation-Attainment" (forthcoming): this paper's 3.3 and §V suspend the positive standing of "concentrative mastery"; P06 treats in full cessation-attainment (the concentrative bodily realization the liberated-both-ways separately possesses) as a facet within the arhat's mastery.
• ARHAT-P04–05, "The Three Knowledges and Six Powers" (forthcoming): this paper's 3.3 judgment that "positive competence (concentrative mastery) is a distinct face, not the face of taints" lays the ground in advance for P04–05's "the three knowledges and six powers pivot on exhaustion, without becoming 'mastery = supernormal powers.'"

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Paper: ARHAT-P03 · 慧解脫與俱解脫之別 · The Mastery of the Arhat · Part 2 · The Two Liberations Author: 釋慧鏡 (Shi Huijing) · Project: 指月 / Pointing-at-the-Moon · Series: The Attainment Signatures（證 自在簽名） License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 CBETA collation: 全文引用均依 CBETA 電子佛典核校（《雜阿含經》T0099、《中阿含經》T0026、《阿毘達磨俱舍論》T1558）。Pāli 引文採 PTS reference 雙軌標示（vault 未收者俟後補）。 Repository: https://github.com/pointing-at-the-moon/attainment-signatures

Footnotes

1. Abhidharmakośa, fascicle 25 (Chapter on the Noble Persons, part 4), T29n1558《阿毘達磨俱舍論》Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣyaT29, No. 1558View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0131c10. Verse: "Both-ways by gaining cessation; the rest, liberation by wisdom." Commentary: "Those arhats who have gained cessation-attainment are named liberated both-ways, because by the power of wisdom and concentration they are liberated from the hindrance of defilement and the hindrance to liberation. The rest, who have not gained cessation-attainment, are named liberated by wisdom, because by the power of wisdom alone they are liberated from the hindrance of defilement." The śāstric formal definition of the two kinds. By Vasubandhu, trans. Xuanzang. ↩

2. Abhidharmakośa, fascicle 25, T29n1558《阿毘達磨俱舍論》Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣyaT29, No. 1558View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0131b27. "By gaining cessation-attainment the name 'realized with the body' is set up … by the difference in liberation the latter two are set up: by the removal of the hindrance of defilement through wisdom alone, 'liberated by wisdom'; by the removal of the hindrance to liberation through also gaining concentration, 'liberated both-ways.'" The two kinds set up by the "difference in liberation (from hindrance)." ↩

3. Madhyama-āgama, fascicle 24 (Causation chapter, the Mahānidāna), T01n0026《中阿含經》MadhyamāgamaT1, No. 26View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0582a16. "Knowing the seven stations of consciousness and the two bases as they really are, the mind undefiled, liberated — this monk is called an arhat, named liberated by wisdom. Furthermore … there are the eight liberations." Liberation by wisdom accomplished in wisdom, not awaiting the eight liberations (listed below). ↩

4. Madhyama-āgama, fascicle 24 (the Mahānidāna), T01n0026《中阿含經》MadhyamāgamaT1, No. 26View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0582a17. The listing of the eight liberations: "Having form, one contemplates form — the first … the pure liberation, realized with the body and dwelt in fully — the third …" The content of the concentrative bodily realization added by the liberated-both-ways. ↩

5. Saṃyukta-āgama, fascicle 33 (sūtra 654, Mahānāma's question), T02n0099《雜阿含經》Saṃyukta-āgamaT2, No. 99View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0240a12. "The eight liberations fully realized with the body, and by wisdom-vision the taints severed and known … called an arhat liberated both-ways." Liberation both-ways = the eight liberations realized with the body (concentration) together with the taints severed and known (wisdom). ↩

6. Madhyama-āgama, fascicle 29 (Śāriputra's question on the five hundred monks), T01n0026《中阿含經》MadhyamāgamaT1, No. 26View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0610b23. The Buddha records: "Of these five hundred monks, ninety have gained the threefold-knowledge penetration, ninety have gained liberation both-ways, the rest have gained liberation by wisdom." The two kinds coexisting within one assembly "pure and true, without branch or leaf." ↩

7. Madhyama-āgama, fascicle 30 (the Field-of-Merit), T01n0026《中阿含經》MadhyamāgamaT1, No. 26View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0616a18. The standard classification of the nine adepts, gathering liberation-by-wisdom and liberation-both-ways in apposition as adepts. ↩

8. Saṃyukta-āgama, fascicle 26 (sūtra 653), T02n0099《雜阿含經》Saṃyukta-āgamaT2, No. 99View on CBETA online reader ↗_p0183b06. "If a monk has the five faculties superior, keen, and fulfilled, he gains the arhat liberated-in-both-parts. If soft or weak, the body-witness …" The noble stations divided by the keen-dull faculties — the two kinds' division hanging on faculties and concentration, not the depth of exhaustion. ↩