俱舍論 根義·諸門分別Abhidharmakośabhāṣya · Meaning of a Faculty and Distinctions through the Several Gates

The Chapter on the Elements sets out the entities; the Chapter on the Faculties sets out their functions. This fascicle begins from the question “what is the meaning of ‘faculty’?”, first establishes the twenty-two faculties, then opens three feelings into five, then establishes the three faculties without outflows upon nine faculties, and finally sifts the twenty-two faculties from beginning to end through six doctrinal gates and six miscellaneous analyses—the Abhidharma’s ‘book of function’ opens here.

In one sentence: a faculty is not one of twenty-two organs or ingredients but one of twenty-two positions from which mastery is exercised in some matter—“dominant function means being supreme and sovereign”—and this one thing is all that the whole fascicle measures.

Three Points to Watch

1. ‘Dominance’ is a measuring rod, not an adjective. Form-objects also help bring consciousness about; why are they not established as faculties? The author of the treatise answers, “an object exercises no dominance over consciousness”—one eye serves as the common cause for the many consciousnesses of many forms, and consciousness is sharp or dull according to the eye; the form-object is the reverse on both points. The question is not who was present but who has the say. This rod will serve later in measuring the six causes and four conditions, and the projecting and completing of karma.

2. The same twenty-two admit of three arrangements. The Sarvāstivādins state dominance in terms of four matters and two matters; the alternative masters restate it in terms of discerning one’s own object, setting up two out of the body, and abiding together with defilement and purification; still other masters distribute fourteen and eight by the four senses of cyclic existence and return to cessation. The author of the treatise pronounces no verdict; in the fifth stanza he supplies six measures as the definitional gate—the support of mind, its distinction, its abiding, its defilement, its provision, its purification—and then says, “by this the matter of establishing faculties is fully accounted for.” The same parts; change the question and the diagram changes—and this is the most necessary move in reading Abhidharma.

3. Whether a thing is divided depends on whether discrimination has entered in. Pain and pleasure are established as four faculties across body and mind, while equanimous feeling is combined into a single faculty for body and mind alike—and the reason is a single sentence, “this feeling is without discrimination alike in body and mind,” with a piece of experience appended: pain and pleasure in the mind arise mostly from discrimination, while in the body they follow the force of the object, and it is so in the body of an arhat as well. The criterion lies not in the term but in the way the thing itself arises.

One Further Point (Appended): The Incidental Discussion on Prolonging and Relinquishing the Lifespan

The life faculty is the only one among the twenty-two that is “definitely maturation.” Yet an arhat can prolong the life-formations—of whose karma is the life thus extended the maturation? The author of the treatise records the root treatise’s procedure (giving, vowing, entering the fourth limit-stage meditative absorption), records Ghoṣa’s explanation (drawing in great elements of the form realm that accord with or run counter to the life-formations), and finally offers a solution of his own: the portion of duration belonging to the great elements of the faculties produced by past karma is exchanged, and a portion of duration produced by the power of concentration is drawn in instead.

What matters is what he alters: he alters the portion of duration, not the karma. The power of concentration can exchange a measure of sustained duration, and yet has not cancelled the principle of karmic result. And those able to do this fall within a very narrow range—arhats among the humans of the three continents, faculties not deficient, liberated not dependent on circumstance, and possessed of the limit-stage concentration. At the close of the incidental discussion an old stanza is quoted, saying that when the lifespan is exhausted one rejoices as though laying down a whole body of illness; nowhere else in the fascicle is there a second sentence like it.

Bearing on the Treatise as a Whole

The sense of ‘dominance’ is established here, and the enabling cause among the six causes and four conditions descends from it. That the twenty-two faculties are distributed among form, mind, mental factors, and formations not associated with mind is precisely a summary table of the seventy-five dharmas on the side of function; and later, when the five positions of the hundred dharmas are opened and closed and the formations not associated with mind still place the life faculty first, one must come back to this fascicle to see the exact measure of what was added and dropped. The three faculties without outflows are “established as three upon nine”—no new entity is added, only the position shifts three times—and this is the joint that the fascicle leaves for the theory of the path: the fifteen minds of the path of seeing, the nine grades of the path of cultivation, and the knowledge of exhaustion and of non-arising beyond training all use faculties that have first been sifted here.

〔Stanza 1〕What the Word “Faculty” Means—Who Exercises Dominance over What

Treatise (taking up the question from what precedes): Because the elements were analyzed earlier, the twenty-two faculties have already been enumerated one by one in the Chapter on the Elements; here, then, one question is put: what does “faculty” mean? Answer: supreme, sovereign, manifestly evident—this is what is called a “faculty”; these several senses taken together constitute the faculty’s sense of ‘dominance.’ (‘Dominance’ means a function that overrides everything else and can exercise mastery.) With respect to whom, then, and over what, is this dominant function asserted? The stanza says:

Stanza: It is transmitted that the five faculties beginning with the eye are each dominant with respect to four matters; the female, male, life, and mental faculties are each dominant with respect to two; and the five feelings beginning with pleasure together with the eight faculties beginning with confidence are dominant on the two sides of defilement and purification—each exercising dominance in its own way.

Treatise: The five faculties beginning with the eye are each able to exercise dominance with respect to four matters: first, adorning the body; second, guiding and sustaining the body; third, producing consciousness and the rest; fourth, exclusive activity.

Take first the eye faculty and the ear faculty. Adorning the body means that a person blind or deaf is unsightly in bodily form (with eyes and ears the bodily form is well composed). Guiding and sustaining the body means that only by seeing and hearing can one avoid dangers and calamities (and so the body is maintained and nourished). Producing consciousness and the rest means that the eye and ear give rise to the two consciousnesses, eye-consciousness and ear-consciousness, together with the mental factors associated with them. Exclusive activity means that the eye sees form and the ear hears sound, each having its own use, for which no other faculty can substitute.

Take next the nose, tongue, and body faculties. Adorning the body is as stated above for eye and ear. Guiding and sustaining the body means that only through these three can one make use of food taken in portions (nourishment eaten mouthful by mouthful). Producing consciousness and the rest means that they give rise to the three consciousnesses—nose-, tongue-, and body-consciousness—together with the associated mental factors. Exclusive activity means smelling odor, tasting flavor, and feeling the tangible, each with its own separate use.

The female, male, life, and mental faculties are each able to exercise dominance with respect to two matters.

Take first the two kinds of dominance of the female and male faculties: first, difference among sentient beings; second, difference in characteristics. Difference among sentient beings means that it is by these two faculties that sentient beings are divided into the two classes, female and male. Difference in characteristics means that it is by these two faculties that there come to be differences of bodily shape, of spoken sound, of breasts, and the rest. There is another account: these two faculties are dominant with respect to defilement and purification, and this is why the stanza says “with respect to two.” Why say so? Because those impaired in their very nature—one congenitally without a sexual faculty, one whose sexual faculty is incomplete, and a person of both sexes—will neither acquire non-restraint, nor commit deeds of immediate retribution, nor cut off their wholesome roots, nor incur the other defiled dharmas; and equally they will not acquire discipline, nor attain the fruits of the ascetic life, nor become free of the defilement of desire, nor gain the other purifying dharmas. (Having no share on either side, defiled or pure, they show that the female and male faculties are indeed dominant with respect to defilement and purification.)

The two kinds of dominance of the life faculty are that, with respect to the commonality of sentient beings (the continuum of one life-span belonging to a single class), it can continue it and can sustain it.

The two kinds of dominance of the mental faculty are that it can continue later existence and that it is sovereign in what follows it. As for continuing later existence, the sūtra says: at that time the intermediate existence—the gandharva—has present one of two minds, whichever it may be (and so takes rebirth and continues the next life)—either arising together with craving or arising together with hostility. As for sovereign following, the sūtra says:

Quoted stanza: Mind can lead the world; mind can gather in all things everywhere. Such is this single dharma, mind: all dharmas follow it under its sovereignty.

Treatise (continued): The five feelings beginning with pleasure (pleasure, pain, joy, sorrow, equanimity) and the eight faculties beginning with confidence (confidence, diligence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment, together with the three faculties without outflows: coming to know what is not yet known, what is known, and full knowledge) are dominant, respectively, with respect to defilement and to purification. The five feelings beginning with pleasure are dominant with respect to defilement, because greed and the other latent tendencies increase by attachment to these feelings. The eight faculties beginning with confidence are dominant with respect to purification, because the various purifying dharmas arise and grow in dependence on these eight.

Certain other masters say that the five feelings beginning with pleasure are dominant with respect to purification as well. As the sūtra says, ‘Because of pleasure the mind becomes concentrated,’ and ‘pain is the support of confidence,’ and again ‘what renunciation depends upon are joy, sorrow, and equanimity.’ (The sense is that the five feelings too can assist purification.)—So the Vaibhāṣikas transmit it.

Certain other masters again say that guiding and sustaining the body is in truth not the work of the eye and the other faculties but the dominance of consciousness: only when consciousness has discerned can one avoid dangers or make use of food taken in portions. Seeing form and the rest likewise do not occur apart from consciousness; hence “exclusive activity” cannot be set up as a separate kind of dominance belonging to the eye and the other faculties—and in that case the eye and the rest do not become “faculties” on these grounds at all. If so, how should the matter be stated? The stanza says:

〔Stanzas 2–4〕The Faculties Established Anew—Discerning One’s Own Object, Two Set Up from the Body, the Abiding of the Commonality, Defilement and Purification, and the Dominance of the Last Three

Stanza: Because of dominance with respect to ‘discerning one’s own object,’ six faculties are established in all; from the body faculty the female and male faculties are set up separately, because they are dominant with respect to femaleness and maleness; because of dominance with respect to the abiding of the commonality of sentient beings, with respect to defilement, and with respect to purification, one should know that the life faculty, the five feelings, and the five beginning with confidence are established as faculties too; and the three faculties—coming to know what is not yet known, what is known, and full knowledge—are likewise so, for they are dominant with respect to attaining each successive path and nirvāṇa and the rest.

Treatise: ‘Discerning one’s own object’ refers to the six bodies of consciousness (from eye-consciousness through mind-consciousness). The five faculties beginning with the eye are dominant with respect to the consciousness that discerns each one’s own object; the sixth, the mental faculty, is dominant with respect to the consciousness that discerns all objects—hence the six faculties beginning with the eye are each established as faculties.

Someone asks: do not form and the other objects also exercise dominance over the consciousness that discerns them? They too ought to be established as faculties. Answer: an object exercises no dominance over consciousness. Dominant function means being ‘supreme and sovereign.’ The eye faculty is supreme and sovereign within the consciousness of form that it gives rise to, and this is why it is called dominant—first, because the eye is the common cause for discerning every kind of form (one eye faculty serves as the common cause for the many consciousnesses that discern many forms); second, because consciousness is sharp or dull according to the eye faculty. The form-object is not so; on both points it is the reverse (one form is the cause of only one consciousness, and consciousness is not sharp or dull according to form). The same holds as far as the mental faculty with respect to dharma-objects.

Next, the female and male faculties are set up separately from the body faculty because they are dominant within femaleness and maleness. The entities of the female and male faculties are not apart from the body faculty; this name is merely set up upon one portion of the body. Stated in order: within femaleness and maleness these two faculties are dominant; this one portion differs somewhat from the remainder of the body faculty, and so two faculties are set up separately out of the body faculty.

Differences in the bodily class, the voice, the activity, and the aspirations and inclinations of a woman are called femaleness. Differences in the bodily class, the voice, the activity, and the aspirations and inclinations of a man, unlike a woman’s, are called maleness. The difference between these two sexes comes from the female and male faculties, and this is why they are said to be dominant with respect to the two sexes.

With respect to the ‘abiding’ of the commonality of sentient beings, the life faculty is dominant; with respect to defilement, the five feelings beginning with pleasure are dominant. Why? Because the sūtra says: upon pleasant feeling greed increases; upon painful feeling hatred increases; upon feeling that is neither painful nor pleasant ignorance increases. With respect to purification, the five faculties beginning with confidence are dominant. Why? Because by the strength of these five faculties one can subdue the various afflictions and give rise to the noble path.

The words ‘one should know’ in the stanza urge acceptance that each of these classes can become a faculty. The three faculties without outflows are dominant with respect to attaining each successive path and nirvāṇa and the rest. The words ‘likewise so’ in the stanza show by extension that each of these three too can become a faculty—that is: the faculty of coming to know what is not yet known is dominant with respect to attaining the path of the faculty of what is known; the faculty of what is known is dominant with respect to attaining the path of the faculty of full knowledge; and the faculty of full knowledge is dominant with respect to attaining nirvāṇa, since one whose mind is not liberated cannot reach parinirvāṇa.

The word ‘and the rest’ in the stanza is meant to show that there is yet another account. Which one? This: with respect to the removal of the afflictions abandoned through seeing, the faculty of coming to know what is not yet known is dominant; with respect to the removal of the afflictions abandoned through cultivation, the faculty of what is known is dominant; and with respect to a pleasant abiding in the present dharma, the faculty of full knowledge is dominant, because through it one experiences the joy of liberation.

Someone objects: if a thing is established as a faculty merely because it is dominant, then ignorance and the rest ought also to be established as faculties, since ignorance and the rest, being causes, are each dominant with respect to the formations and the other results. And the organs of speech and the rest ought also to be faculties—the organ of speech, the hands, the feet, and the organs of excretion and of urination are respectively dominant with respect to speaking, grasping, walking, excreting, and producing pleasure. Answer: these matters should not be established as faculties, because what is accepted as a “faculty” has a definite characteristic. The stanza says:

〔Stanza 5〕The Comprehensive Criterion of a Faculty—The Support of Mind, Its Distinction, Its Abiding, Its Defilement, Its Provision, Its Purification

Stanza: The support of mind, the distinction of that support, the abiding of this life-span, the defilement of this life-span, the provision for this purification, and this purification itself—by these six measures the faculties are established.

Treatise: The ‘support of mind’ means the six faculties beginning with the eye. These six internal sense fields are the root of a sentient being. The distinguishing characteristic of that support comes from the female and male faculties. Again, by the life faculty this one life-span is made to abide. That this life-span becomes defiled is due to the five feeling faculties. The provision for this purification is the five faculties beginning with confidence. The accomplishment of this purification is due to the last three faculties without outflows. By these six items the matter of establishing faculties is fully accounted for.

Therefore one should not accept that ignorance and the rest, or the organs of speech and the rest, are established as faculties too—they do not have the kind of dominance stated here.

Certain other masters set up a different account of the characteristic of a faculty. The stanza says:

〔Stanza 6〕The Other Masters’ Alternative Account—Support in Cyclic Existence, Arising, Abiding, Experience; Likewise in Return to Cessation

Stanza: Or else, by the support in cyclic existence together with the three senses of arising, abiding, and experience, the first fourteen faculties are established; on the side of return to cessation, the last eight faculties are established in the same way.

Treatise: The word ‘or’ in the stanza shows that what follows is the intent of certain other masters—they establish the twenty-two faculties by the two gates of cyclic existence and return to cessation.

Support in cyclic existence means the six faculties beginning with the eye. Arising is by the female and male faculties, since sentient beings are born from them. Abiding is by the life faculty, since it is in dependence on it that they abide. Experience is by the five feelings, since it is by them that objects are received. By just these four senses the first fourteen faculties are established.

In the stage of return to cessation as well, the last eight faculties are established by the analysis of these same four kinds of sense. The support of return to cessation is the five faculties beginning with confidence; as for the three faculties without outflows, arising is by the first (the faculty of coming to know what is not yet known), abiding by the second (the faculty of what is known), and experience by the third (the faculty of full knowledge). The number of the faculties is fixed in just this way, neither more nor fewer. It is also on such grounds that the sūtra lays out the sequence of the twenty-two faculties.

(In answer to the earlier objection:) The organ of speech should not be established as a faculty with respect to speaking, because speaking is accomplished only when training has made its difference (the dominance is not the organ’s own). Nor should the hands and feet each be established as faculties with respect to grasping and walking, because they have no separate entity—‘grasping’ and ‘walking’ are merely names for hands and feet arising in different places and with different characteristics. Moreover, apart from hands and feet there is grasping and walking all the same, as with the kind of beings that crawl upon the belly. Hence hands and feet cannot be established as faculties with respect to those activities.

The organ of excretion should not be established as a faculty with respect to excreting, because a heavy thing falls of itself in space and is besides drawn out by the force of wind (that place is not what exercises mastery). The organ of urination should not be established as a faculty with respect to producing pleasure, because that pleasure is in fact produced by the female and male faculties. Furthermore, the throat, the teeth, the eyelids, and the joints of the limbs would all have to be established as faculties—for they have power with respect to swallowing, chewing, opening and closing, and bending and stretching. And so on, until every cause that has power with respect to its own activity would have to be established as a faculty. Though these have power, they are not dominant, and so they are not established as faculties; the organs of speech and the rest are likewise not dominant, and so should not be established as faculties.

Among these, the eye and the rest as far as the male faculty have already been discussed earlier (in the Chapter on the Elements). The entity of the life faculty is a formation not associated with mind, and it will be analyzed at length in due course in the section on formations not associated with mind. The entity of confidence and the rest is mental factors, and they too will be analyzed at length in the section on mental factors. Only the five feelings beginning with pleasure and the three faculties without outflows have no other place in which to be analyzed, and so should be explained now. The stanza says:

〔Stanzas 7 and 8〕The Division of the Five Feelings and the Establishment of the Three Faculties without Outflows

Stanza: Bodily displeasure is called the pain faculty, and bodily pleasure the pleasure faculty; the mental pleasure of the third meditative absorption is also called pleasure, while mental pleasure in the other levels is called joy; mental displeasure is called the sorrow faculty; intermediate feeling makes no difference between body and mind (and so is a single faculty). On the paths of seeing, of cultivation, and beyond training, the three faculties without outflows are established, each in dependence on nine faculties.

Treatise: ‘Body’ in the stanza means bodily feeling—because it arises in dependence on the body, that is, feeling associated with the five consciousnesses. ‘Displeasure’ means causing harm and distress; within bodily feeling, that which causes harm and distress is called the pain faculty. ‘Pleasure’ means embracing and benefiting (nourishing and assisting); within that same bodily feeling, that which embraces and benefits is called the pleasure faculty.

There is also the feeling associated with mind in the third meditative absorption; that which embraces and benefits is likewise called the pleasure faculty—for in the third meditative absorption there is no bodily feeling (the five consciousnesses do not arise), and so the mental pleasure there is called pleasure. This very same mental pleasure, when the third meditative absorption is set aside, is called the joy faculty in the three lower levels (the desire realm, the first meditative absorption, and the second). Why the division? Because the mental pleasure of the third meditative absorption is settled and still, already free of the craving for joy, and so is called only the pleasure faculty; while the mental pleasure of the three lower levels is coarse and agitated and still has the craving for joy, and so is called only the joy faculty.

Feeling associated with mental consciousness that causes harm and distress is mental displeasure, and is called the sorrow faculty.

‘Intermediate’ in the stanza means neither pleasure nor displeasure, that is, feeling that is neither painful nor pleasant; this intermediate feeling is called the equanimity faculty.

Question: is this equanimity faculty bodily feeling or mental feeling? Answer: it should be said to extend to both. Question: on what grounds are the two, bodily and mental, established together as one faculty? Because this feeling, whether in the body or in the mind, is equally without discrimination. It should be known that pain and pleasure in the mind arise for the most part from discrimination, whereas in the body it is not so: they arise following the force of the object; and the pain and pleasure in the body of an arhat or other noble one arise in just this way (which shows that bodily feeling does not follow discrimination). Therefore, when pain and pleasure are established as faculties, body and mind are set up separately; but equanimity is without discrimination and arises spontaneously, and so in establishing it as a faculty body and mind are combined into one.

Furthermore, painful feeling and pleasant feeling have different characteristics of harming and of benefiting in body and in mind, and so are established as separate faculties; equanimity is equally without discrimination in body and in mind, neither harming nor benefiting, with no difference of characteristic, and so is established altogether as a single faculty.

Mind, pleasure, joy, equanimity, and the five faculties beginning with confidence—these nine faculties, on the three paths, establish in order the three faculties without outflows. That is: on the path of seeing, the ‘faculty of coming to know what is not yet known’ is established in dependence on the nine faculties beginning with mind; on the path of cultivation, the ‘faculty of what is known’ is established in dependence on those same nine; and on the path beyond training, the ‘faculty of full knowledge’ is established in dependence on those nine as well.

On what grounds are these three names established? Answer: on the path of seeing there operates a mode of ‘what has never yet been known and is to be known,’ and so that person is said to be one who comes to know what is not yet known. On the path of cultivation there is no longer anything never yet known; it is only in order to sever the remaining latent tendencies that one knows the same objects again and again, and so that person is said to be one of what is known. On the path beyond training one knows that one has already known, and so it is called knowing; one who possesses this knowing is called one of full knowledge. Or else: one who has cultivated this knowing until it has become his own nature is called one of full knowledge—that is, one who has attained the knowledge of exhaustion and the knowledge of non-arising and therefore knows of himself, as it really is: ‘I have fully known suffering and need not fully know it again,’ and so on at length. The faculties possessed by such a person are called the faculty of coming to know what is not yet known, and the rest.

The various differences among the entities of the faculties having now been explained, what should next be clarified are the distinctions of meaning under the several gates. Among these twenty-two faculties, how many are with outflows and how many without outflows? The stanza says:

〔Stanza 9〕The Gate of With and Without Outflows

Stanza: Only the last three faculties are without outflows; the seven faculties that are form, together with life, sorrow, and pain, should be known to be with outflows only; the remaining nine extend to both sides.

Treatise: The last three faculties spoken of above (coming to know what is not yet known, what is known, and full knowledge) are in their entity only without outflows—“without outflows” means stainless; stain and outflow differ in name but are one in substance. The seven faculties that are form, together with the life faculty, the sorrow faculty, and the pain faculty, are invariably with outflows. The seven faculties that are form are the five beginning with the eye plus the female and male faculties, since all are included in the aggregate of form. Mind, pleasure, joy, equanimity, and the five faculties beginning with confidence—these nine extend to both with outflows and without outflows.

Certain masters say that the five faculties beginning with confidence too are only without outflows. Their reason is that the World-Honored One said: ‘If someone is wholly without these five faculties beginning with confidence, I declare that he stands in the class of outer ordinary beings.’ (Which would show that all who possess the five faculties beginning with confidence are noble ones.)—Answer: this is not a reliable proof, for that statement was made with reference to the faculties without outflows. How is this known? Because the World-Honored One first established the various distinctions of noble station in dependence on the five faculties beginning with confidence that are without outflows, and only then made this statement.

Or else: ordinary beings are roughly of two kinds, inner and outer. ‘Inner’ means those who have not cut off their wholesome roots; ‘outer’ means those whose wholesome roots are already cut off. It was with reference to ‘outer ordinary beings’ that the World-Honored One spoke thus: ‘If someone is wholly without these five faculties beginning with confidence, I declare that he stands in the class of outer ordinary beings.’

Again the sūtra says: ‘There are sentient beings dwelling in the world, some already born and some already grown, having faculties of every difference—superior, middling, and inferior.’ This was spoken before the Buddha had turned the wheel of Dharma (when there were as yet no faculties without outflows), and so it is known that the five faculties beginning with confidence extend to what is with outflows as well.

Again the World-Honored One said: ‘So long as I had not known, as it really is, the origin, the disappearance, the gratification, the danger, and the escape with respect to these five faculties beginning with confidence, I could not transcend this world with its gods and humans, its Māra and its Brahmā, and could not, in the end, realize unsurpassed perfect awakening.’—A dharma without outflows cannot be examined under such a division of aspects (origin, disappearance, gratification, danger, and escape are examinations made upon dharmas with outflows), and so the five faculties beginning with confidence extend to both with outflows and without outflows.

With outflows and without outflows have now been explained. Among the twenty-two faculties, how many are maturation and how many are not maturation? The stanza says:

〔Stanza 10〕The Gate of Maturation and Non-Maturation, with the Incidental Discussion on Prolonging and Relinquishing the Life-Formations

Stanza: Only the life faculty is maturation; the sorrow faculty and the last eight faculties are not maturation; the seven faculties that are form, the mental faculty, and the remaining four feelings each extend to both maturation and non-maturation.

Treatise: Only the single life faculty is definitely maturation.

(Someone objects:) If so, then what the arhats prolong when they ‘prolong the life-formations’ is precisely the life faculty; of whose karma is such a life faculty the maturation? Answer: as the root treatise (the Treatise on the Development of Wisdom) says: what is it for a monk to ‘prolong the life-formations’? It is that an arhat who has accomplished the superknowledges and attained sovereignty of mind gives away, according to his portion, robes and bowl and the other requisites that sustain life, either to the Saṅgha or to a single person; and having given, he makes a vow and thereupon enters the fourth limit-stage meditative absorption. Rising from that concentration, he thinks and says aloud: ‘Whatever karma of mine could bring about the maturation of wealth and pleasure, may it all be turned instead to bring about the maturation-result of lifespan.’ At that moment all his karma capable of bringing about the maturation of wealth and pleasure is turned to bring about the maturation-result of lifespan.

There is another position: it is that the residue of maturation from past karma is drawn out. They say that a maturation still remaining from karma undergone in a former life is drawn out for experience by the power of the limit-stage concentration cultivated in the present life.

What is it for a monk to ‘relinquish the life-formations’? It is that an arhat who has accomplished the superknowledges and attained sovereignty of mind gives to the Saṅgha and the rest as before; and having given, he makes a vow and thereupon enters the fourth limit-stage meditative absorption. Rising from that concentration, he thinks and says aloud: ‘Whatever karma of mine could bring about the maturation of lifespan, may it all be turned instead to bring about the maturation-result of wealth and pleasure.’ At that moment all his karma capable of bringing about the maturation of lifespan is turned to bring about the maturation-result of wealth and pleasure.

The Venerable Ghoṣa speaks thus: that arhat rouses the power of the fourth limit-stage concentration and causes the great elements of the form realm to become present within his body; and those great elements either accord with the life-formations or run counter to them, and by this set of causes and conditions he either retains the life-formations or relinquishes them.

(The author of the treatise says:) It should rather be stated thus—that arhat, by this sovereign power of concentration, turns aside the portion of duration belonging to the great elements of the faculties that were produced by past karma and formerly obtained, and draws out instead a portion of duration, never had before, belonging to great elements of the faculties produced by the power of concentration. Therefore this life faculty is not maturation, while all the remaining life faculties are maturation.

Because one discussion gives rise to another (a incidental discussion): for what set of causes and conditions does that arhat prolong the life-formations? It is for the benefit and ease of others, or so that the noble teaching may long endure in the world; he observes that the life-formations of his own body are about to be exhausted, and observes that others do not have these two capabilities (there is no one able to do this work in his stead). And for what set of causes and conditions does he relinquish the life-formations? That arhat observes that what remains of benefit and ease to others in his dwelling in the world is very little, or he is oppressed by the suffering of illness and the like. As one stanza says:

Quoted stanza: The holy life has been excellently established; the noble path has been well cultivated; when the lifespan is exhausted he rejoices, as one who lays down a whole body of illnesses.

Treatise (continued): Here it should be known: in what places, and by which persons, can the lifespan be prolonged or relinquished in this way? Answer: by those arhats among the humans of the three continents (Videha in the east, Jambudvīpa in the south, Godānīya in the west) whose female or male continuity is unbroken (their faculties not deficient), who are liberated not dependent on circumstance (of sharp faculties), and who have attained the limit-stage concentration—because there is a sovereign concentration within their bodies and they are without afflictions.

The sūtra says: the World-Honored One prolonged many vital formations and relinquished many life-formations. What difference is there between ‘vital’ and ‘life’? Some say there is no difference, as the root treatise says: ‘What is the life faculty? Lifespan in the three realms.’ Certain other masters say: the result of karma of a former life is called life-formations; the result of present karma is called vital formations. Others again say: that by which the commonality of sentient beings is made to abide is called life-formations; that by which one abides for a time is called vital formations.

The sūtra’s word ‘many’ is meant to show that what is prolonged or relinquished is many moments—vital and life formations are not a matter of a single instant, and vital and life formations have the property of being able to be prolonged or relinquished (hence ‘many’). Others say that this word ‘many’ is meant to preclude the notion that some real entity, a vital principle or a lifespan, abides through a long time. Others again say that this word is meant to show that there is no real entity of a vital principle or of a lifespan at all: the two names ‘vital’ and ‘life’ are merely set up provisionally upon a plurality of ‘formations’; were it not so, the word ‘formations’ should not have been used.

Why did the World-Honored One relinquish many life-formations and prolong many vital formations? To show that he had attained sovereignty over dying, he relinquished many life-formations; to show that he had attained sovereignty over living, he prolonged many vital formations. That he retained just three months, neither more nor less, is because beyond that term there would be no further work of ripening beings, while short of that term the benefit to beings would not be brought to completion. It was also to establish what he himself had said earlier: ‘Because I have well cultivated the four bases of supernormal power, I can, should I wish to abide for an aeon or for more than an aeon, abide just as my mind intends.’ The Vaibhāṣikas speak thus: this shows that he now subdued the two Māras, the Māra of the aggregates and the Māra of death—for the World-Honored One had already subdued the Māra of the heavens and the Māra of the afflictions beneath the tree of awakening.

The incidental discussion having ended, we return to the main discussion. The sorrow faculty and the last eight faculties beginning with confidence are all not maturation, because they are determinate (bearing a definite mark of wholesome or unwholesome). The remainder extend to both. What follows by implication is thereby established: namely that the seven faculties that are form, the mental faculty, and the four feelings apart from sorrow—these twelve faculties each extend to both classes, maturation and non-maturation.

As for the seven faculties that are form, those that come about through nourishment by food and the like are not maturation, and the rest are maturation. As for the mental faculty and the four feelings: those that are wholesome or defiled, and those included in the modes of deportment (walking, standing, sitting, and lying down), in the fields of craft (the skilled arts), and in the mind capable of transformation, are correspondingly not maturation, and the rest are maturation.

(Someone asks:) If the sorrow faculty is not maturation, how is this sūtra to be reconciled? As the sūtra says: ‘There are three kinds of karma—karma conducive to the feeling of joy, karma conducive to the feeling of sorrow, and karma conducive to the feeling of equanimity.’ Answer: if ‘conducive’ is said with reference to being ‘associated with’ that feeling, there is no fault—it means that the karma is associated with sorrow and is therefore called karma conducive to the feeling of sorrow, just as contact associated with pleasure is called contact conducive to the feeling of pleasure. (It is not being said that sorrow is the maturation-result of that karma.)

(Objection:) If so, karma conducive to the feeling of joy and karma conducive to the feeling of equanimity should be explained in the same way, since one and the same sūtra states them. Answer: explain them as you wish; it does me no harm—whether explained as maturation or as association, there is no fault in the reasoning, and I am left with no difficulty from which there is no escape.

(Question:) In reconciling the sūtra text in this way, what then is the real reason? Why is sorrow not maturation? Answer: because sorrow arises through discriminating the various matters that are not to one’s liking, and when it ceases it likewise depends on discrimination; maturation is not so (maturation arises and ceases spontaneously).

(Objection:) If so, the joy faculty too should not be maturation, for it likewise arises through discrimination and ceases through discrimination.

(The Sarvāstivādins counter:) If the sorrow faculty were accepted as maturation, then after committing karma of immediate retribution sorrow arises at once—and that karma would then have to be said to have already ripened into its result at that very moment (which is unreasonable). (The opponent gives a counter-instance:) The joy faculty should be pressed in exactly the same way: if the joy faculty is accepted as maturation, then after performing an outstanding meritorious deed joy arises at once, and that karma too would have to be said to have already ripened into its result at that moment.

The Vaibhāṣikas all speak thus: because one who is already free of desire has no sorrow faculty, whereas maturation is not so (maturation does not disappear on account of freedom from desire), sorrow is not maturation.

(Objection:) If so, something should be said about the maturation joy faculty of a being free of desire—by what characteristic is it known that it is still present? (Answer:) Whatever characteristic obtains on that side, the characteristic on this side may be known in the same way: that is, since a wholesome joy faculty may still be present at this station, an indeterminate maturation joy faculty should likewise be known by inference not to be absent. As for the sorrow faculty at this station, no kind of it whatsoever can be present, and so it is definitely not maturation.

The eight faculties beginning with the eye, in a good destiny, are the maturation of wholesome karma, and in a bad destiny the maturation of unwholesome karma. The mental faculty, whether in a good or a bad destiny, is the maturation brought about by karma of both kinds. The joy, pleasure, and equanimity faculties, in whatever destiny, are the maturation of wholesome karma. The pain faculty, whether in a good or a bad destiny, is the maturation of unwholesome karma. If in a good destiny there is a person of both sexes, this too is said only with reference to the ‘place’ of the faculty—the place upon which those two faculties depend is brought about by unwholesome karma; it is not that unwholesome karma can bring about the entity of a faculty, and the faculties that are form in a good destiny are still drawn forth by wholesome karma.

Maturation and the rest have now been explained. Among the twenty-two faculties, how many have maturation and how many do not have maturation? The stanza says:

〔Stanza 11〕The Gate of Having and Not Having Maturation

Stanza: The sorrow faculty definitely has maturation; the first eight faculties and the last three do not have maturation; the mental faculty, the remaining four feelings, and confidence and the rest each extend to both.

Treatise: As was disputed above, the sorrow faculty should be known definitely to have maturation. The word ‘definitely’ in the stanza rests on two senses, ‘only’ and ‘out of turn’—it is meant to show that the sorrow faculty only has maturation (there being no share of it that lacks maturation), and, because it possesses two features at once, that it is stated ahead of its turn. To possess two features means that sorrow is neither indeterminate (for it arises from forceful volition) nor without outflows (for it belongs only to the unconcentrated levels). It is for this reason that ‘the sorrow faculty definitely has maturation’ is stated ahead of its turn.

The first eight faculties beginning with the eye, together with the last three, definitely do not have maturation—the first eight because they are indeterminate, the last three because they are without outflows. The remainder extend to both, and what follows by implication is thereby established: namely the mental faculty, the remaining four feelings, and confidence and the rest (the word ‘and the rest’ takes in diligence and the other four faculties)—these ten faculties each extend to both classes.

Mind, pleasure, joy, and equanimity, if unwholesome, or if wholesome and with outflows, have maturation; if indeterminate or without outflows, they do not have maturation. The pain faculty, if wholesome or unwholesome, has maturation; if indeterminate, it does not. The five faculties beginning with confidence, if with outflows, have maturation; if without outflows, they do not.

Having maturation and the rest have now been explained. Among the twenty-two faculties, how many are wholesome, how many unwholesome, and how many indeterminate? The stanza says:

〔Stanza 12〕The Gate of the Three Ethical Qualities

Stanza: Only the last eight faculties are wholesome; the sorrow faculty extends to the wholesome and the unwholesome; the mental faculty and the remaining feelings extend to all three qualities; the first eight faculties are indeterminate only.

Treatise: The eight faculties beginning with confidence are invariably wholesome. Although these eight stand later in the enumeration, they are stated first because the discussion carries on from what precedes. The sorrow faculty extends only to the wholesome and the unwholesome. The mental faculty and the remaining feelings each extend to all three qualities—wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate. The eight faculties beginning with the eye are indeterminate only.

Wholesome, unwholesome, and the rest have now been explained. Among the twenty-two faculties, how many belong to the desire realm, how many to the form realm, and how many to the formless realm? The stanza says:

〔Stanza 13〕The Gate of Realm Affiliation

Stanza: The desire, form, and formless realms exclude, in order, the last three; the form realm further excludes female, male, sorrow, and pain; the formless realm further excludes the five faculties that are form together with joy and pleasure.

Treatise: The desire realm excludes the last three faculties without outflows, because those three faculties are unbound to any realm; from this it is known that only nineteen faculties belong to the desire realm.

The form realm, as before, excludes the three faculties without outflows and further excludes the four faculties male, female, sorrow, and pain; from this it is known that fifteen faculties extend to belonging to the form realm as well.

Why are the female and male faculties excluded? Because the form realm is already free of the dharmas of sexual desire, and because possessing female and male faculties would make the bodily form unsightly. (Someone objects:) If so, why does the sūtra speak of ‘male’ there? (Counter-question:) Where is this said? (Answer:) It is said in a sūtra. As the sūtra says: ‘There is no such principle and no such possibility that a female body should be the Great Brahmā; there is such a principle and such a possibility that a male body should be the Great Brahmā.’ (Reconciliation:) That refers to another kind of male appearance, namely the features possessed by a male body in the desire realm (it is not that the form realm really has a male faculty).

Why is there no pain faculty? Because bodies in the form realm are pure and subtle (not a support for pain), and because there are no unwholesome dharmas there (no object of pain). Why is there no sorrow faculty? Because calm abiding moistens the continuum of body and mind (not a support for sorrow), and because there is definitely nothing there that harms or injures (no object of sorrow).

The formless realm, as before, excludes the three faculties without outflows together with female, male, sorrow, and pain, and further excludes the five faculties that are form together with the joy faculty and the pleasure faculty; from this it is known that only eight faculties extend to belonging to the formless realm—namely mind, life, equanimity, and the five beginning with confidence.

Belonging to the desire realm and the rest have now been explained. Among the twenty-two faculties, how many are abandoned through seeing, how many abandoned through cultivation, and how many not subject to abandonment? The stanza says:

〔Stanza 14〕The Gate of the Three Modes of Abandonment

Stanza: The mental faculty and three feelings extend to all three; the sorrow faculty extends to what is abandoned through seeing and through cultivation; nine faculties are abandoned through cultivation only; and five are either abandoned through cultivation or not subject to abandonment.

Treatise: Mind, joy, pleasure, and equanimity each extend to all three, because each may be abandoned through seeing, abandoned through cultivation, or not subject to abandonment. The sorrow faculty extends only to what is abandoned through seeing and through cultivation, because it is not without outflows. The seven faculties that are form, the life faculty, and the pain faculty are abandoned through cultivation only—because they are not defiled, are not produced by the six kinds of affliction, and are all with outflows. The five faculties beginning with confidence are either abandoned through cultivation or not subject to abandonment—because they are not defiled (and so are not abandoned through seeing) and extend to both with outflows and without outflows. The last three faculties are not subject to abandonment only, because all are without outflows, and a dharma without fault is not something to be abandoned.

The distinctions of meaning under the several gates have now been explained. In which realm, and how many maturation faculties, are first obtained? The stanza says:

〔Stanza 15〕The Gate of the Maturation Faculties Obtained at Birth

Stanza: In the desire realm, birth from the womb, from an egg, and from moisture first obtain two maturation faculties; birth by transformation first obtains six, seven, or eight; the form realm first obtains six; the upper realm obtains the life faculty only.

Treatise: In the desire realm, birth from the womb, from an egg, and from moisture, at the first moment of taking birth, obtain only the two maturation faculties of body and life, because in these three modes of birth the faculties arise gradually.

(Question:) Why are the mental faculty and the equanimity faculty not obtained at that time? (Answer:) Because the mind at the moment of continuing into birth is necessarily defiled (a defiled mind is not maturation, and so is not counted among the maturation faculties).

Birth by transformation obtains six, seven, or eight faculties at its first stage: one without sexual form (having neither female nor male faculty) first obtains six, as with the humans at the beginning of an aeon. Which six? Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and life. One with a single sexual form first obtains seven, as with the gods. One with both sexual forms first obtains eight. (Question:) Are there then beings of both sexes who take birth by transformation? (Answer:) Within the bad destinies birth by transformation with both sexes is admitted.

The first obtaining of faculties in the desire realm having been stated, next come the form and formless realms. In the desire realm desire predominates, and so only ‘desire’ is said; in the form realm form predominates, and so only ‘form’ is said. The sūtra too says: ‘Peaceful liberations that transcend form and the formless.’ The form realm first obtains six maturation faculties, as stated above for one without sexual form born by transformation. ‘The upper realm obtains life only’—in the formless realm concentration predominates and birth predominates, and so the word ‘upper’ is used; in the formless realm the maturation faculty first obtained is the life faculty alone and nothing else.

The first obtaining of maturation faculties has now been stated. In which realm, and how many faculties, cease last at the moment of death? The stanza says:

〔Stanza 16〕The Gate of the Faculties That Cease at Death

Stanza: The faculties that cease at the moment of dying—three in the formless realm, eight in the form realm; in the desire realm ten, nine, or eight for one who dies all at once, and only four for one who dies gradually; if one dies with a wholesome mind, add in each case the five beginning with confidence.

Treatise: When life is about to end in the formless realm, the three faculties life, mind, and equanimity cease last. When life is about to end in the form realm, those same three together with the five beginning with the eye—these eight cease last—because all who are born by transformation are necessarily born with their faculties complete and die with them complete.

For one whose life ends all at once in the desire realm, ten, nine, or eight faculties cease last: for a person of both sexes, ten faculties cease last, namely the female and male faculties together with the preceding eight; for one of a single sex, nine cease last, one of female and male being excluded; for one without sexual form, eight cease last—that is, without female and male, only the preceding eight.

What has been said above is stated with reference to dying all at once. If one dies gradually, only four faculties are relinquished last—that is, when life ends gradually in the desire realm, body, life, mind, and equanimity cease last; and there is definitely no principle by which these four cease one before another (they must cease together).

What has been said above should be known to refer only to those who die with a defiled or an indeterminate mind. If one dies with a wholesome mind in any of the three realms, the five faculties beginning with confidence are necessarily all present, and so to every station stated above the five beginning with confidence should be added in number—that is, in the formless realm the count rises to eight, and as far as gradual death in the desire realm it rises to nine; the counts in between may be known by the same reasoning.

In this great section analyzing the faculties, every dharma concerning the faculties should be pondered. Among the twenty-two faculties, how many can attain which fruit of the ascetic life? The stanza says:

〔Stanza 17〕The Gate of the Faculties Used in Attaining the Fruits

Stanza: Nine faculties attain the two fruits at the two edges; the two middle fruits use seven, eight, or nine faculties; eleven faculties attain arhatship—and that is said with reference to what may be present within a single body.

Treatise: ‘Edges’ in the stanza means the fruit of stream-entry and the fruit of arhatship, because among the four fruits of the ascetic life they stand first and last. ‘Middle’ means the fruit of once-return and the fruit of non-return, because set against the first and the last they lie in between.

The first fruit, stream-entry, is attained by nine faculties: namely the mental faculty and the equanimity faculty, the five beginning with confidence, the faculty of coming to know what is not yet known, and the faculty of what is known—nine in all. The faculty of coming to know what is not yet known is on the uninterrupted path, the faculty of what is known on the path of liberation; these two aid one another in attaining the first fruit—serving, in that order, as the drawing cause and the supporting cause with respect to the attainment of release from bondage.

The fruit of arhatship too is attained by nine faculties: namely the mental faculty, the five beginning with confidence, the faculty of what is known, the faculty of full knowledge, and any one taken from among joy, pleasure, and equanimity—nine in all. The faculty of what is known is on the uninterrupted path, the faculty of full knowledge on the path of liberation; these two aid one another in attaining the last fruit—serving, in that order, as the drawing cause and the supporting cause with respect to the attainment of release from bondage.

The two middle fruits are attained, as the case may be, by seven, eight, or nine faculties. Why?

Take first the fruit of once-return. One who realizes it in sequence attains it by the mundane path through seven faculties, namely the mental faculty and the equanimity faculty and the five beginning with confidence; by the supramundane path he attains it through eight faculties, namely the seven just named plus the faculty of what is known as the eighth. One who has become free of the craving of desire in double measure and so realizes it by leaping over attains it through nine faculties, as with the fruit of stream-entry.

For the fruit of non-return, one who realizes it in sequence attains it by the mundane path through seven faculties and by the supramundane path through eight, just as with attaining the fruit of once-return in sequence. One who has become wholly free of the craving of desire and realizes it by leaping over attains it through nine faculties, just as with attaining the fruit of once-return by leaping over.

Though this is so in general, there is still a difference within it: because the matter differs according to the level, any one of pleasure, joy, and equanimity may be taken; whereas in the case stated above of ‘attaining the earlier fruits by leaping over’ there is only the single equanimity faculty (pleasure and joy not being included).

Again, for one who realizes the fruit of non-return in sequence: if on the ninth path of liberation he enters a fundamental level, then by the mundane path he attains it through eight faculties—because his uninterrupted path is associated with equanimous feeling while his path of liberation has joyful feeling besides, and these two aid one another in attaining the third fruit; with respect to the attainment of release from bondage they serve as the two kinds of cause, as stated above. By the supramundane path he attains it through nine faculties—the eight as before plus the faculty of what is known as the ninth, since it is present on both the uninterrupted path and the path of liberation.

(Someone objects:) Did not the root Abhidharma (the Treatise on the Development of Wisdom) ask ‘by how many faculties is arhatship attained?’ and answer ‘by eleven faculties’? How is it that you say here it is attained by nine?

(Answer:) In actual fact the fourth fruit is attained by nine faculties only. The root treatise says eleven with reference to what ‘may be present within a single body.’ That is: it is admitted that there may be such a person who, after falling repeatedly from the station beyond training, realizes the fruit of arhatship again and again with any one of pleasure, joy, and equanimity present (so that eleven faculties are used in all, counting earlier and later occasions together). It is for this reason that the root treatise says eleven faculties. Yet there is no principle by which three feelings arise at one time, and so it is said here that it is definitely attained by nine faculties.

(Question:) Why is the same not said with regard to the fruit of non-return? (Answer:) Because none attains the fruit of non-return with the pleasure faculty, whereas a principle of falling away does exist afterwards; nor is there re-attainment by the pleasure faculty after falling away (since one who has first become free of desire and realizes the third fruit by leaping over has no principle of falling back)—for this fruit of freedom from desire, attained by both the mundane and the supramundane paths, is exceedingly firm.

Now it should be pondered: which faculties does one possess, and among those faculties how many are necessarily possessed? The stanza says:

〔Stanzas 18–20〕The Gate of Necessary Possession

Stanza: One who possesses life, mind, or equanimity necessarily possesses three faculties in each case; one who possesses the pleasure faculty or the body faculty necessarily possesses four in each case; one who possesses the eye and the rest, or the joy faculty, necessarily possesses five in each case; one who possesses the pain faculty necessarily possesses seven; one who possesses the female, the male, or the sorrow faculty, or confidence and the rest, possesses eight in each case; the last two faculties without outflows each carry eleven, and the first faculty without outflows carries thirteen.

Treatise: Whoever possesses any one among the three faculties life, mind, and equanimity necessarily possesses all three—there is no principle by which one of these three could be lacking while the others were still possessed. Apart from these three, the remaining faculties are all indefinite: they may or may not be possessed.

Among them: the four faculties eye, ear, nose, and tongue are definitely not possessed by one born in the formless realm; and one born in the desire realm who has not yet obtained them, or who has lost them, does not possess them either. The body faculty is definitely not possessed only by one born in the formless realm. The two faculties female and male are definitely not possessed by one born in the two upper realms; and one born in the desire realm who has not yet obtained them or who has lost them does not possess them either. The pleasure faculty is definitely not possessed by an ordinary being born in the fourth meditative absorption or in the formless realm. The joy faculty is definitely not possessed by an ordinary being born in the third or fourth meditative absorption or in the formless realm. The pain faculty is definitely not possessed by one born in the form or formless realm. The sorrow faculty is definitely not possessed by anyone free of the craving of desire. The five faculties beginning with confidence are definitely not possessed by one whose wholesome roots are cut off. The first faculty without outflows (the faculty of coming to know what is not yet known) is definitely not possessed by any ordinary being or by one already established in a fruit. The second faculty without outflows (the faculty of what is known) is definitely not possessed by any ordinary being, nor by one on the path of seeing, nor by one beyond training. The last faculty without outflows (the faculty of full knowledge) is definitely not possessed by any ordinary being or by one still in training. At the stations not excluded by the conditions above, it should be known, as stated before, that those faculties are necessarily possessed.

If one possesses the pleasure faculty, one necessarily possesses four faculties—life, mind, equanimity, and this pleasure faculty. If one possesses the body faculty, one likewise necessarily possesses four—life, mind, equanimity, and this body faculty. If one possesses the eye faculty, one necessarily possesses five—life, mind, equanimity, the body faculty, and the eye faculty. For the ear, nose, and tongue faculties it should be known that there are likewise five—the first four as in the case of the eye, the fifth being that faculty itself.

If one possesses the joy faculty, one likewise necessarily possesses five—life, mind, equanimity, the pleasure faculty, and the joy faculty. (Question:) One born on the level of the second meditative absorption who has not yet obtained the third—having relinquished the lower level and not yet obtained the upper—which pleasure faculty does he possess? (Answer:) It should be said that he possesses the defiled pleasure faculty of the third meditative absorption; the rest he has not yet obtained.

If one possesses the pain faculty, one necessarily possesses seven—the body faculty, the life faculty, the mental faculty, and the four feelings apart from sorrow. If one possesses the female faculty, one necessarily possesses eight—the seven as stated for the pain faculty, with the female faculty as the eighth. If one possesses the male faculty, one likewise necessarily possesses eight—the seven as stated for the pain faculty, with the male faculty as the eighth. If one possesses the sorrow faculty, one likewise necessarily possesses eight—the seven as stated for the pain faculty, with the sorrow faculty as the eighth. If one possesses confidence and the rest, one likewise possesses eight in each case—life, mind, equanimity, and the five beginning with confidence.

If one possesses the faculty of full knowledge, one necessarily possesses eleven faculties—life and mind, pleasure, joy, and equanimity, the five beginning with confidence, and the faculty of full knowledge. If one possesses the faculty of what is known, one likewise necessarily possesses eleven—the ten as stated above plus the faculty of what is known. If one possesses the faculty of coming to know what is not yet known, one necessarily possesses thirteen—body, life, mind, pain, pleasure, joy, equanimity, the five beginning with confidence, and the faculty of coming to know what is not yet known.

How many faculties, then, does one possess who possesses fewest? The stanza says:

〔Stanza 21〕The Gate of the Fewest Faculties Possessed

Stanza: Fewest is eight—one without wholesome roots possesses the five feelings, body, life, and mind; a fool (an ordinary being) born in the formless realm possesses the wholesome (the five beginning with confidence) together with life, mind, and equanimity.

Treatise: One whose wholesome roots are already cut off is called “without wholesome roots.” If he possesses fewest, he still possesses eight faculties—namely the five feeling faculties together with body, life, and mind. ‘Feeling’ means what receives, because it takes in; or else it is so named because receiving is its very nature—just as what is complete in nature is named by the word ‘complete.’

Just as one whose wholesome roots are cut off possesses fewest at eight faculties, so a fool born in the formless realm likewise possesses eight. ‘Fool’ designates an ordinary being, because he has not yet seen the truths. Which eight? The five faculties beginning with confidence together with the life, mind, and equanimity faculties. The five faculties beginning with confidence are invariably wholesome, and so are called ‘the wholesome’ as a class. (Question:) If so, the three faculties without outflows should be included as well (for they too are wholesome). (Answer:) No—for the statement is made with reference to ‘eight faculties,’ and what is spoken of is ‘a fool born in the formless realm’ (an ordinary being has no faculty without outflows).

How many faculties, then, does one possess who possesses most? The stanza says:

〔Stanza 22〕The Gate of the Most Faculties Possessed

Stanza: Most is nineteen faculties—a person of both sexes excludes the three pure faculties; a noble one not yet free of desire excludes two pure faculties and one sexual form.

Treatise: A person possessing both sexes has all the faculties beginning with the eye complete; excluding the three faculties without outflows, he possesses the remaining nineteen. What is without outflows is called “pure” because it is free of the two bonds. A person of both sexes is necessarily an ordinary being of the desire realm and is not yet free of the craving of desire, and so has nineteen faculties.

(Question:) Is it only such a person who has nineteen faculties, or is there another besides? (Answer:) A noble one not yet free of desire also has nineteen—that is, a noble one still in training who is not yet free of the craving of desire possesses at most nineteen faculties as well, except that what he excludes is two faculties without outflows and one sexual form. If he abides on the path of seeing, he excludes the faculty of what is known and the faculty of full knowledge; if he abides on the path of cultivation, he excludes the faculty of coming to know what is not yet known and the faculty of full knowledge. One of the two faculties female and male is excluded, because no noble one is of both sexes.

Closing of the fascicle: Because the distinction between faculties and non-faculties arose in the analysis of the elements, the twenty-two faculties have on that occasion been extensively analyzed to their conclusion.