瑜伽師地論 三摩呬多地 · 攝諸經宗要·等持

Door Five (Gathering the Sūtra-Purport), second sub-section, and its widest heading: it gathers in the thirteen kinds of samādhi taught in the Buddha's sūtras.

In one line: The name "concentration" (samādhi) gathers in the widest, and so this heading gathers in the thirteen kinds of samādhi of the sūtras — with the three samādhis (emptiness → wishless → markless) setting up the skeleton of the science of concentration, the four measureless states matched to four concentrations, the eleven difficulties of the radiance concentration listing out the pits of cultivation, the five noble knowledges · the five noble limbs · the noble right concentration pushing it up to the noble stage, and the adamantine-like concentration as the last blow.

Three Points of the Eye

1. The three samādhis: emptiness first, then wishless, then markless. Emptiness (contemplating self and what belongs to self as empty · the four emptinesses) → wishless (contemplating, on the five appropriating aggregates, impermanence and suffering) → markless (taking as object the cessation of the appropriating aggregates · neither low nor high). Why emptiness first? "One must first rest upon the perception of no-self, and only thereafter, without interval, does one attain the wishless" 〔T1579 0337c〕 — seeing emptiness → not wishing → the markless is the inner sequence from cutting through the clinging to self to single-mindedly seeking deliverance. The markless concentration's "neither low nor high" (not corresponding to the two marks of adverse and favorable) reads in the Āgamas as "neither surging nor sinking" 〔Saṃyukta Āgama 556, 0145c22〕. The spontaneous dwelling of the fruit of the expedient means = the utterly good liberation.

2. The four measureless states matched to four concentrations, word-for-word from the Saṃyukta Āgama. Loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity = the giving-pleasure · extracting-suffering · rejoicing · undefiled attentions toward the three grades of sentient beings (without suffering-or-pleasure / with suffering / with pleasure). Each is matched to its most corresponding region of concentration: "cultivating loving-kindness to the utmost of the all-pervadingly pure · compassion to the sphere of space · sympathetic joy to the sphere of consciousness · equanimity to the sphere of nothingness" — word-for-word imprinted in Saṃyukta Āgama 743: "the mind together with loving-kindness is supreme in the pure; compassion, supreme in the sphere of space; sympathetic joy, supreme in the sphere of consciousness; equanimity, supreme in the sphere of nothingness" 〔T02n0099 0197c11〕. The four measureless states "can be cultivated only by the noble ones · are conjoined with the factors of awakening," not the mere good-heartedness of the ordinary being.

3. Concentration pushed up to the noble stage · the single adamantine blow as the close. The eleven difficulties of the radiance concentration = a table for avoiding the pits of cultivation (doubt · not-attending · torpor-and-drowsiness · too-excessive · too-slack 〔the chì-yàn-bird simile〕· hoping-for-one-gaining-two 〔the two-hidden-treasures simile〕· terror · various perceptions · self-exaltation · much talking · abandoning the inner and taking up the outer) — falling away from concentration falls away, for the most part, in the excesses and deficiencies of the applied mind; the similes are all the treatise's own establishing. The noble right concentration "has its practice, has its aids, and moreover has its equipment, and has seven limbs" from the Madhyama Āgama's Sūtra on the Noble Path 〔T01n0026 0735c02〕 (the first five path-limbs are the cause · three are the equipment · gathered into the three trainings). The adamantine-like concentration = the concentration of the last edge of the trainee's stage, "like the adamant able to pierce and break all the maṇis" 〔T1579 0340b〕; the subtlest seeds of delusion are cut off at the sound of it, the trainee's stage is brought to fullness and turns into the stage beyond training. (The five noble knowledges · the adamantine-like are names of the treatise's system · with no Āgama transmission, marked as such in truth.)

One. The Three Samādhis (Emptiness · Wishless · Markless)

Further, on the three samādhis.

The samādhi of emptiness: with respect to "being apart from a sentient being, a life-holder, a nurturer, one who takes up repeated existences" and the like — the 〔marks of self〕— the mind rests upon a single object. Know that emptiness is, in brief, of four kinds. First, contemplative emptiness — contemplating that all phenomena are empty of permanence and pleasure, and on down to being empty of self and what belongs to self; second, the emptiness that is its fruit — the unshakable liberation of mind, empty of craving and all the afflictions; third, inner emptiness — being empty, with respect to one's own person, of "the reckoning of a self, of what belongs to self, and of the conceit 'I am,'" and every crooked clinging; fourth, outer emptiness — being empty, with respect to the five desires, of desirous craving (as it is said: "Having gone beyond every perception of form, with respect to outer emptiness I take the body as witness and dwell in its full attainment"). Here, the perception that takes the fine desires as its object is called "perception of form," and because the craving that arises from this perception is cut off, it is called "outer emptiness." The practitioner, by the emptiness that is its fruit, either applies attention and contemplates outer emptiness or contemplates inner emptiness; by contemplative emptiness, either contemplates the emptiness that is inner-and-outer — and by that power the mind wins realization of both together. If he does not win realization, he should then apply attention and contemplate "the unshakable" (that is, the perception of impermanence, or the perception of suffering); contemplating thus, he is not moved by the conceit "I am" and the rest, and the mind wins realization of the two emptinesses together.

The samādhi of the wishless mind: with respect to the five appropriating aggregates, contemplating impermanence, or contemplating suffering, the mind rests upon a single object.

The samādhi of the markless mind: that is, with respect to the cessation of those very appropriating aggregates, contemplating the quiescent, the mind rests upon a single object. As the sūtra says: "The samādhi of the markless mind is neither low nor high" (and so on at length). 　What is "neither low nor high"? Because it does not correspond to the two marks of "adverse and favorable." Again, by two causes-and-conditions one enters the markless concentration: first, not attending to any mark; second, rightly attending to the markless realm. Because he does not attend to any mark, with respect to the marks he "neither wearies of them nor demolishes them, but only, without applied effort, attends to them" — hence it is called "not low"; because he rightly attends to the markless realm, with respect to the markless he "does not firmly cling" — hence it is called "not high." 　This samādhi is, in brief, of two kinds: first, the expedient means; second, the fruit of the expedient means. The "expedient means" is the repeated striving, discerning, and settling that has not yet been able to win liberation from the marks (because the consciousness that follows the marks disturbs the mind from time to time); the "fruit of the expedient means" is the repeated self-urging, self-striving, discerning, and settling that is at last able to take up the fruit and win liberation from following the marks. Because in this liberation there is a further liberation, and one dwells without self-urging and discerning, it is called "the utterly good liberation"; if one must still strive and discern in order to attain the dwelling, then, though it be called liberation, it is not the good liberation. Again, "understanding the fruit" and "understanding the merit" — because the cutting-off of the afflictions is brought to completion, and because the dwelling in ease within the present dharma is brought to completion — these two, namely cessation and the path, are in due order called understanding the fruit and understanding the merit (the stage of direct realization of the truths is called understanding the fruit; the fruit of the arhat is called understanding the merit). 　〔Explaining the three names〕If in this place that thing is not present, and by this it is contemplated as empty, it is called "emptiness"; what is thus contemplated as empty admits of nothing to be wished for, and so is called "wishless"; and to contemplate this as apart from every mode-of-mark is called "markless." Why is emptiness spoken of first, then the wishless, and last the markless (whereas elsewhere it says: because impermanent therefore suffering, because suffering therefore without self, and speaks of emptiness last)? Because if there is no contemplation of "no-self, impermanence, suffering," there is finally no purification; one must first rest upon the perception of no-self, and only thereafter, without interval, does one attain the wishless. Hence the sūtra says: "The perceptions of impermanence come to rest in dependence upon the perception of no-self." Having contemplated no-self within the impermanent, and giving rise to no wish, wishing only for the markless and single-mindedly seeking deliverance — therefore, without interval, the markless is spoken of.

Two. The Three Samādhis of the Applied-and-Sustained-Thought Sort

The samādhi with applied and sustained thought: the samādhi corresponds to applied thought and sustained thought. The samādhi with sustained thought only: the samādhi corresponds to sustained thought only (Great Brahmā cultivates this and becomes the Great Brahmā King). The samādhi with neither applied nor sustained thought: the samādhi corresponds to neither of the two, applied and sustained thought (by cultivating this one is born into the successively higher stages, up to the peak of existence — excepting only the uncontaminated samādhis). 　The mark of the samādhi with neither applied nor sustained thought: with respect to the mind of applied-and-sustained thought there arises relinquishment, and only by a single savor is there a resolute apprehension upon the inner object; and only a single savor appears in even balance.

Three. The Limited · Great · Measureless Samādhis

The limited samādhi: either limited by way of its object (contemplating little form), or limited by way of attention (little faith, little desire, little resolute apprehension). The great samādhi: either great by way of its object (contemplating much form, yet not boundless and edgeless), or great by way of attention (higher faith, higher desire, higher resolute apprehension, yet not boundless and edgeless). The measureless samādhi: either measureless by way of its object (contemplating all forms as boundless and edgeless), or measureless by way of attention (boundless and edgeless faith, desire, and resolute apprehension). Herein the "great-mind samādhi" is the giving rise to resolute apprehension by imagining, beneath a single tree, the radiance of the gods; the "measureless samādhi" is the four measureless states. 　What is "beneath a single tree, imagining the radiance of the gods and giving rise to resolute apprehension"? Having thoroughly wearied of and demolished the desire realm, one attains the first meditative absorption; in order to make this concentration well-purified, one cultivates further expedient means; and having heard that the bodies of the gods carry radiance, one attends to the mark of the radiance of those bodies, and gives rise to resolute apprehension that it pervades beneath a single tree, and on to the great earth and the edge of the great sea (because as the samādhi grows ever greater there are differences, so too there are differences in what is thereby produced). 　〔A question-and-answer on "only two"〕Why is it that attention comes to be "only two"? Because attention is set up according to the compass of the resolute apprehension. Is it that, with attention as only two for its condition, the cultivation comes to be only two? Because by the power of this attention the concentration set up for cultivation has its differences (fullness, purity, and ever-greater excellence). Is it that, with the cultivation as only two for its condition, the practice comes to be only two? Just as one well cultivates the concentration and it grows ever more excellent, so too is set up a difference in what birth it draws. Is it that, with the practice as only two for its condition, the person is established as only two? By this cause-and-condition the sentient being that is produced is set up in differences of high and low, superior and inferior. 　Question: what is the difference in the radiance of the gods of the first and second meditative absorptions? Answer: like a maṇi-jewel, which has radiance outside but no radiance within — the body of the first absorption is likewise, giving off radiance outward but not within; like a bright lamp, which gives off radiance outside and of itself illumines within — the body of the second absorption is likewise, having radiance both within and without. Hence the sūtra says: from that stage upward there is only one kind of body, not so in the lower stages.

Four. The Four Measureless Concentrations

What is the establishing of the four measureless concentrations? Because sentient beings are of three grades: first, without suffering and without pleasure; second, having suffering; third, having pleasure; and in due order one desires to give them pleasure, desires to free them from suffering, desires that their pleasure never part from them. With respect to them, attention is of four kinds, and accordingly four are established — by "the attention of giving pleasure," "the attention of extracting suffering," and "the attention of rejoicing that the pleasure never parts," the first three are established (loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy); and with respect to these three 〔in their bias-faults〕, in order to establish the undefiled attention that is free of joyless longing, the undefiled attention that is free of ill-will, and the undefiled attention that is free of craving, "equanimity" is established. 　The sūtra says "with a mind that is together with loving-kindness" (and so on at length): because there is benefiting present at hand, it is called "together with loving-kindness"; because it has the mark of benefiting, it is called "the good friend of loving-kindness." The mark of benefiting is, in brief, of two kinds: first, desiring to profit; second, desiring to bring ease (these two are what all the measureless states display). "Without enmity" is being apart from ill intent; "without adversary" is being apart from present quarreling; "without harm" is being apart from unbenefiting deeds; "vast" is the object being vast and great; "great" is the contemplation of profit-and-ease being supreme; "measureless" is the fruit being measureless (like the four great rivers, where the many streams mingle together); "well cultivated" is being utterly ripened. Again, question: what is the mark of the mind together with loving-kindness and the rest? The answer "resolute apprehension pervading in full, and dwelling in its full attainment" — resolute apprehension pervading in full is the surpassing resolve-and-apprehension being everywhere complete; the full attainment is the fullness and pure whiteness; the dwelling is the contemplative practice one cultivates being attended to single-mindedly day and night. 　Question: the sūtra says "well cultivating loving-kindness, to the utmost of the all-pervadingly pure" — what is the hidden intent of this? Answer: in the third meditative absorption, among all pleasures its pleasure is supreme; recollecting this pleasure and cultivating loving-kindness, loving-kindness is foremost, and so it is said that cultivating loving-kindness reaches the utmost of the all-pervadingly pure; recollecting the sphere of space and cultivating compassion is likewise foremost (compassion desires to extract suffering, and the formless realm is far apart from the mass of sufferings, so recollecting the sphere of boundless space and cultivating compassion causes all suffering sentient beings to reach the place without the mass of sufferings and its basis); one who cultivates the concentration of sympathetic joy constantly recollects the sphere of boundless consciousness (rejoicing that sentient beings enjoy pleasure as consciousness is without measure, so recollecting the sphere of boundless consciousness and cultivating sympathetic joy is foremost); one who cultivates the concentration of equanimity constantly recollects the sphere of nothingness (the sphere of nothingness is the very last edge of the ground of the uncontaminated mind, and equanimity is foremost — just as the arhat is undefiled amid suffering, pleasure, and neither-suffering-nor-pleasure alike — causing all sentient beings to gain such equanimity, so recollecting the sphere of nothingness and cultivating equanimity is foremost). All of these are the noble practice, and only the noble ones can cultivate them; hence the sūtra proclaims them "conjoined with the factors of awakening."

Five. The One-Portion-Cultivation and Full-Portion-Cultivation Samādhis

The one-portion-cultivation samādhi: either attending only to the mark of radiance, or attending only to the mark of form, and so entering concentration (these two, in due order, either discerning radiance or beholding the mass of forms). The full-portion-cultivation samādhi: attending to both together and entering concentration, both discerning radiance and seeing the mass of forms. 　For one who thus cultivates the concentration of radiance, the "concentration-difficulties" are of eleven kinds (namely doubt and the rest, as the sūtra sets out at length). Question: what is it that raises these difficulties? Answer: it is the marks of the samādhi that raise the difficulty (the marks are of two kinds: the object-mark and the cause-condition-mark; one uses those as a support to abide in the samādhi, and if one falls away from those marks one cannot abide). The eleven difficulties, in order, are: first, at the very outset one does not rightly know the appearing mark of radiance-and-form, and so feels "there is doubt"; second, because the expedient means is slack there is "a not-attending" (like one who does not wish to see forms shutting his eyes and turning his back); third, because he does not well guard the gates of the faculties and the like there is "bodily heaviness," and by much practicing of sleep or much waking there grows torpor-and-drowsiness, and he does not see the mass of forms (or, if he sees them, not in full); fourth, in order to force these two matters he applies extreme effort and strives with vigor, and so there is "too-excessive vigorous exertion"; fifth, by too-excessive striving he becomes again utterly base and low (like one who urgently grasps and holds a chì-yàn bird — thinking only to seek the mark of radiance); sixth, when this 〔radiance〕 arises together with the seeing of form, hoping for one and gaining two, he gives rise to elation (like a man who gains two hidden treasures); seventh, seeing everywhere in all directions, suddenly and all at once, inauspicious forms, he gives rise to great terror (like a man whirled about on both sides, starting up abruptly); eighth, in walking and in standing he gives rise to various perceptions concerning the mixed kinds of the world (outer perceptions raise a difficulty for concentration); ninth, because of the concentration he cultivates he reckons himself superior and views others as inferior, and so exalts himself (this too is named "various perceptions"); tenth, either by much talking or by long deliberating he wearies the body, and the mind does not attain concentration (much talking raises a difficulty for concentration); eleventh, when from concentration there arise the mark of radiance and the seeing of form, he then abandons the continuing attention of inner cultivation and wishes and delights to gaze outward and closely inspect the mass of forms, and so overmuch investigates (this raises a difficulty for concentration). These difficulties, each as is fitting, obstruct the samādhi's object-mark and cause-condition-mark; or, meeting with this, one falls away from the object-mark and cause-condition-mark, and in due order the two marks sink away together.

Six. The Samādhis Conjoined with Joy · Pleasure · Equanimity

The samādhi conjoined with joy: the samādhis of the first and second meditative absorptions. The samādhi conjoined with pleasure: the samādhis of the third meditative absorption. The samādhi conjoined with equanimity: the samādhis of the fourth meditative absorption and above.

Seven. The Four Cultivations of Concentration

For the sake of attaining the dwelling in ease within the present dharma: all cultivation of concentration in the expedient-means paths of the four dwellings in ease within the present dharma, and all cultivation of concentration in the not-yet-full, purely white, root stages (in order to make manifest the cultivation of a not-formerly-attained concentration, the World-Honored One taught the expedient-means path prior to the first meditative absorption). For the sake of attaining knowing-and-seeing: the bhikṣus, with respect to the mark of radiance, take it up earnestly, devotedly, and with close scrutiny (as the sūtra sets out at length) — this is all the cultivation of concentration in the expedient-means path able to give rise to the divine eye; herein the divine eye, with respect to the objects that are forms, is able to illumine and to contemplate, which is called "seeing," and is able to know the names and kinds of the gods (and so on at length, as in the Sūtra on the Surpassing Gods), which is called "knowing." For the sake of giving rise to the wisdom of discernment: all cultivation of concentration in the expedient-means path toward the stream-entry fruit in the direct realization of the truths, or for the sake of cultivating the unobstructed knowledges. For the sake of exhausting all the contaminants: all cultivation of concentration in the expedient-means path of the arhat fruit.

Eight. The Samādhi of the Five Noble Knowledges

What is the samādhi of the five noble knowledges? "This samādhi of mine is noble, undefiled, without grasping" (set out at length as in the sūtra). Herein is displayed the knowledge of five modes-of-mark: the knowledge of its own substance, the knowledge concerning the person, the knowledge of purity, the knowledge of the fruit, and the knowledge of the marks of entering and emerging from concentration. 　"Noble" — because it is good it is called noble, and because it is uncontaminated it is called noble; "undefiled" displays the good nobility, and "without grasping" displays the uncontaminated nobility. "Not to be drawn near by the ordinary being" is that it is drawn near by the buddhas and noble disciples; "praised by the acute and wise" is that it is extolled by them; "never disparaged by the acute-and-wise fellow practitioners of the pure life" is that it is extolled at all times (unlike the worldly first meditative absorption and the rest, which, in order to turn away from the lower stage, are first extolled with the mark of quiescence, and in order to advance to the higher stage, are afterward disparaged with the mark of coarseness). "Quiescent" is that the afflictions to be countered are forever quiescent; "subtle-and-fine" is that the afflictions of its own stage are not savored with craving; "attaining the path of security" is that the path attained is without backsliding; "realizing the mind's single-pointedness" is that one has attained the stage with neither applied nor sustained thought; "present ease" is that one can attain the dwelling in ease within the present dharma; "the fruition of pleasure hereafter" is that it draws forth the pleasure of nirvāṇa without remaining basis; "entering with right mindfulness" is that one well takes up the mark able to enter concentration without loss of memory; "emerging with right mindfulness" is that one well takes up the mark able to emerge from concentration without loss of memory.

Nine. The Samādhi of the Five Noble Limbs

What is the samādhi of the five noble limbs? "The bhikṣus, within this very body, the joy-and-pleasure born of seclusion" (set out at length as in the sūtra). "The joy-and-pleasure born of seclusion" is the joy-and-pleasure subsumed under the stage of the first meditative absorption; "moistened by it" is being moistened by joy; "moistened all over" is being moistened by pleasure; "filled all over" is the stage of attention that brings the applied practice to completion; "gladdened all over" is the earlier stages of attention (in those stages too there is joy-and-pleasure arising from time to time, yet not long-abiding nor complete); "within this body there is not the least portion that is not filled" is the stage of attention that is the fruit of the applied practice brought to completion. 　〔Five similes〕Simile one (the bathing-ball): "a keen-witted bath-attendant, or his pupil" figures the one who cultivates the contemplative practice; "a bronze vessel, an earthen vessel, a shell vessel" figures the teaching-and-admonition for the sake of the joy-and-pleasure born of seclusion; "fine bath-powder" figures what accords with the applied thought of deliverance and the rest; "watering it" figures the applied thought that purifies the path; "the bathing-ball" figures the body; "carrying moisture" figures the union with joy, "the moisture that follows" figures the union with pleasure, "pervading within and without" figures the seamless union of joy-and-pleasure; "not strong" figures being without scattering-and-agitation, "not weak" figures being undefiled, without craving-savor. Simile two (the mountain spring): the "mountain" figures the concentration without applied-and-sustained thought; the "peak" figures the second meditative absorption's resolute apprehension of a single savor upon the object without applied-and-sustained thought; the "spring" figures the limb of inner even-purity; the "water-axle" (which flows out to the side) and the "water-rope" (which surges up) display, in due order, the moistening of joy and of pleasure; "there being nowhere unfilled" figures the seamless correspondence. Simile three (the utpala): like the pleasure apart from joy of the utpala and the rest (the phenomena that correspond to it and the body that supports it being likewise so), the "water" figures the concentration apart from joy and without applied-and-sustained thought — joy's elation, being absent by that very fact, is figured by the flower-embryo submerged within the water. Simile four (the elder · the eight-thread nine-thread): "the purified mind" means corresponding to the purity of equanimity-and-mindfulness (having surpassed the calamities and troubles of the lower stages); "pure white" means its nature being good (the afflictions of its own stage being without craving-savor); why is "the elder" taken as a simile? Because all that he does he examines thoroughly, is heedful, and excels in deliberating, reckoning, and contemplating, and with respect to the gate of increase-and-decrease there is nothing he does not know (one who has realized the pure fourth meditative absorption is likewise so); "the eight-thread nine-thread" (a folded weave of eight strands and nine strands), by being firm and close, figures that mosquitoes, gadflies, and the like cannot invade and harm it, and "covering both head and feet" (without the two faults of having no garment or thin garment, and of having an exposed place) figures that this concentrated mind, purified and pure-white and pervading all over, is unassailed by scattering-and-agitation, and can endure cold and heat and on to another's scolding and evil speech and the painful feelings of the inner body. Simile five (repeated contemplation): "with respect to the mark contemplated, earnestly and devotedly," as explained before — that is, closely contemplating the formations of the three times, and, upon the contemplating, contemplating yet again. 　What is the establishing of the difference of the five limbs? Within the four meditative absorptions, all the single-pointedness of mind of the noble ones, and, with respect to what is set up, the close and scrutinizing contemplation — this is called "the noble samādhi." In dependence upon the four kinds of dwelling in ease within the present dharma, four limbs are established; in dependence upon the close contemplation of the law of dependent origination (and also for the sake of cutting off the remaining fetters and bonds) the fifth is established — by these two causes-and-conditions the five limbs are established.

Ten. The Noble Right Samādhi That Has a Cause and Has Equipment

What is the noble right samādhi that has a cause and has equipment? Because it is good and because it is uncontaminated it is called "noble." There are five path-limbs that are the "cause" of this concentration — right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood; there are three kinds that are the "equipment" — right view, right effort, right mindfulness. Herein the Bhagavān, speaking all-together, says that the first seven path-limbs are the cause and the equipment of the noble right samādhi: by the sense of "leading forward in due order" the five are set up as cause; by the sense of "assisting the samādhi" the three are set up as equipment. 　What is "the sense in which right view and the rest lead forward in due order"? First, having come to know that there truly exist in the world true arhats of right practice and right attainment, one gives rise deeply to a delight-and-desire for deliverance, and gains right view; next, one contemplates that dwelling at home in deliverance is cramped and confined, and thereupon leaves home, receives and studies the moral discipline, and cultivates and purifies one's livelihood — this is called right speech, right action, right livelihood. This right view and the rest are still not able to cut off the counter-things, the wrong views and the other five; still in dependence upon these five wholesome dharmas, and hearing the sound from another, one successively gives rise to the right view of the wisdom-born-of-hearing; and for the sake of cutting off the counter-things and cultivating the provisions of the path, one applies expedient means and contemplates; next, in dependence upon the wisdom-born-of-hearing one gives rise to the wisdom-born-of-reflection, and again in dependence upon the wisdom-born-of-reflection one gives rise to the wisdom-born-of-cultivation. By this right view one comes truly to know that wrong view is wrong view, right view is right view, on to right livelihood; and for the sake of cutting off wrong view and the rest and bringing right view and the rest to fullness, one gives rise to zealous effort; if by this one is able to cut off the counter-things and to gather the countering dharmas to fullness, this is called right mindfulness (this mindfulness is precisely a portion of the samādhi, and so right samādhi too is spoken of together with it). If at this time one relinquishes wrong view and the rest so that they do not arise, and cultivates right view and the rest to fullness, then within the expedient-means path one is also able to relinquish wrong effort and wrong mindfulness and to cultivate to fullness right effort and right mindfulness; if with respect to those dharmas one is able to cut off and to bring to fullness, then at that very moment the noble right samādhi too attains fullness. Herein, with wisdom as the leading head, one first settles oneself upon the higher moral discipline; next, hearing the sound from another and attending in accord with principle, and taking the two — the training in the higher moral discipline — as support, within the expedient-means path one gives rise to the training in the higher mind and the training in the higher wisdom (right mindfulness is named the training in the higher mind; right view and right effort are named the training in the higher wisdom). These three trainings, in the cultivation of the noble right samādhi, all attain fullness.

Eleven. The Adamantine-Like Concentration

What is the adamantine-like concentration? It is "the samādhi of the last edge of the trainee's stage." This samādhi is the very foremost, the most venerable and supreme, and the utterly firm and solid; above it there is no affliction able to overwhelm it, yet it is able to overwhelm every affliction — and so this concentration is named "adamantine-like." Just as the adamant, its nature being firm and solid, cannot be pierced and broken by the maṇis and the rest, yet it can pierce and break all the maṇi-jewels and the rest; this concentration is likewise so, and hence is figured by the adamant.

Why This Sub-Section Is the Longest: "Concentration" Gathers In the Widest

Already in the general heading, when "concentration" (samādhi) was treated, a hint was buried in a single line — that among the names for concentration, this word "concentration" governs the widest, "gathering in the single-pointedness of mind throughout every phase in which there is mind." And so, when the sub-section on "Concentration" within the door of "Gathering the Sūtra-Purport" comes to expound it, the treatise draws in, in one breath, thirteen sorts of samādhi: the three samādhis (emptiness, wishless, markless) lead off; then follow the three of applied-and-sustained thought and the rest, the limited-great-measureless, the four measureless states, the one-portion and full-portion cultivations, the samādhis conjoined with joy-pleasure-equanimity, the four cultivations of concentration, the five noble knowledges, the five noble limbs, and the noble right samādhi that has a cause and equipment, with the adamantine-like concentration to close. The reason this sub-section is the longest is precisely that this name "concentration" gathers in the broadest — the various concentrations scattered through the Buddha's sūtras are, for the most part, gathered under this one heading to be expounded.

The Three Samādhis: Why Emptiness First, Then Wishless, Then Markless

The three samādhis are emptiness, wishless, and markless — the three skeletal doors of the science of concentration. What the treatise expounds most carefully is their order. The samādhi of emptiness contemplates "self and what belongs to self" as empty (subdivided further into four: contemplative emptiness, the emptiness that is its fruit, inner emptiness, and outer emptiness); the samādhi of the wishless contemplates, with respect to the five appropriating aggregates, impermanence and suffering; the samādhi of the markless takes as its object the cessation of the appropriating aggregates and contemplates the quiescent. The treatise poses itself a question: elsewhere it plainly says "because impermanent therefore suffering, because suffering therefore without self, and only afterward speaks of emptiness" — so how is it that here the order is reversed, with emptiness spoken first? The treatise answers through to the ground: "one must first rest upon the perception of no-self, and only thereafter, without interval, does one attain the wishless" — only having seen no-self (emptiness) will one no longer wish for anything within the three realms (wishless), and only then will one be willing single-mindedly to seek deliverance and enter the markless. Hence the sūtra says "the perceptions of impermanence come to rest in dependence upon the perception of no-self". The three doors are a single line: seeing emptiness → not wishing → the markless — precisely the inner sequence by which a person passes from seeing through the clinging to self to single-mindedly seeking deliverance.

The markless concentration carries a fine reminder besides. The treatise cites the sūtra saying "the samādhi of the markless mind is neither low nor high" — what is "neither low nor high"? "Not corresponding to the two marks of adverse and favorable": in adversity the mind goes low, in favor the mind goes high, and the markless concentration is apart from both these extremes. This "neither low nor high," in the Āgamas, reads "neither surging nor sinking" 〔Saṃyukta Āgama 556〕 — the same mark of steadiness of the markless concentration; the treatise says "low-and-high," the sūtra says "surging-and-sinking," and they speak of one thing. The treatise further distinguishes "the expedient means" and "the fruit of the expedient means": that which attains its dwelling only by relying on repeated striving, though named liberation, is not the good liberation; that which comes to dwell spontaneously, without any further need to strive, is what is called "the utterly good liberation." The heat of concentration is measured by just this — whether or not effort is still being applied.

The Four Measureless States: Loving-Kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy, Equanimity, Each Matched to Its Most Corresponding Region

Among the thirteen headings, the one that most shows the Buddha's heart is the four measureless states. The treatise asks: why establish the four — loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity? Because sentient beings are of three grades — those without suffering and without pleasure, those with suffering, those with pleasure; toward them, one separately "desires to give them pleasure (loving-kindness), desires to free them from suffering (compassion), desires that their pleasure never part (sympathetic joy)," and then, toward the bias-faults of these three attentions (longing, ill-will, craving), one gives rise to undefiled attention and establishes "equanimity." The four measureless states are not four emotions; they are four attentions of "wishing sentient beings well."

Most marvelous is how the treatise matches each of the four measureless states to its most corresponding region of concentration: "cultivating loving-kindness to the utmost of the all-pervadingly pure, cultivating compassion to the utmost of the sphere of space, cultivating sympathetic joy to the utmost of the sphere of consciousness, cultivating equanimity to the utmost of the sphere of nothingness." Why? Cultivating loving-kindness is the giving of pleasure, and in the third meditative absorption pleasure is supreme, so recollecting this pleasure and cultivating loving-kindness is foremost; cultivating compassion is the extracting of suffering, and the formless sphere of space is far apart from the mass of sufferings, so recollecting the sphere of boundless space and cultivating compassion, one wishes all suffering sentient beings to reach the place without suffering; cultivating sympathetic joy is the rejoicing at another's pleasure, and consciousness is without measure, so recollecting the sphere of boundless consciousness and cultivating sympathetic joy, one wishes sentient beings to enjoy pleasure as consciousness is without measure; cultivating equanimity is evenness, and the sphere of nothingness is the very last edge of the ground of the uncontaminated mind, and equanimity is foremost (just as the arhat is undefiled amid suffering and pleasure alike), so one recollects the sphere of nothingness and cultivates equanimity. This matching is no fanciful speculation of the treatise's author — it is word-for-word imprinted in the seven-hundred-forty-third sūtra of the Saṃyukta Āgama: "the mind together with loving-kindness, much cultivated, is supreme in the pure; compassion cultivated is supreme in the sphere of space; sympathetic joy cultivated is supreme in the sphere of consciousness; equanimity cultivated is supreme in the sphere of nothingness". Here the treatise is expounding, line by line, the "loving-kindness–pure, compassion–space, sympathetic joy–consciousness, equanimity–nothingness" that the Buddha himself spoke. And the treatise's closing line is especially weighty: the four measureless states "can be cultivated only by the noble ones," and so the sūtra says they are "conjoined with the factors of awakening" — cultivated to the utmost, loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity are a noble practice corresponding to the factors of enlightenment, not the mere good-heartedness of the ordinary being.

The "Pits" of Cultivating Concentration: The Eleven Difficulties of the Radiance Concentration

When the treatise expounds "one-portion cultivation and full-portion cultivation" (cultivating the radiance concentration, either taking up radiance alone or taking up the mass of forms as well), it lists in passing the eleven kinds of "concentration-difficulty" one will run up against in cultivating the radiance concentration — an exceedingly practical table for avoiding the pits of cultivation. Running up against doubt (not rightly knowing the radiance-and-form mark), not-attending (the expedient means too slack, like shutting the eyes and turning the back when one does not wish to see), torpor-and-drowsiness (not guarding the gates of the faculties, much sleeping), too-excessive vigor, too-slack baseness (like one urgently seizing a chì-yàn bird — grip it and it tires, loose it and it flies), the elation of hoping for one and gaining two (like a man who suddenly gains two hidden treasures and delights overmuch), the great terror at seeing inauspicious forms, the raising of various outer perceptions, self-exaltation (reckoning oneself superior to others), much talking and deliberating, abandoning the inner and taking up the outer…… one difficulty after another, all of them psychological traps the cultivator will truly meet. The treatise names them one by one precisely so that the cultivator may recognize them: falling away from concentration falls away not upon the object, but in these subtle excesses and deficiencies of the applied mind.

The Five Noble Limbs, the Noble Right Concentration: When Concentration Reaches the Noble Stage, It Must Have Sūtra, Simile, Limb, and Path

The last several headings push "concentration" up to the noble stage. The samādhi of the five noble knowledges — the noble one himself knows "this samādhi of mine is noble, undefiled, without grasping," and it contains five knowledges (of its own substance, concerning the person, of purity, of the fruit, of the marks of entering and emerging from concentration); the treatise further matches the fourteen phrases of the sūtra one by one into these five knowledges 〔Kuiji〕. The samādhi of the five noble limbs — within the four meditative absorptions one limb is taken from each, and a further limb of "closely contemplating dependent origination and cutting off the remaining fetters" is added, making five limbs; the treatise uses five exceedingly homely similes to expound them (the bathing-ball simile for joy-and-pleasure pervading the body, the mountain-spring with its water-axle and water-rope for the moistening of joy-and-pleasure, the utpala flower-embryo for the pleasure apart from joy, the elder's eight-thread nine-thread weave for the purity and firm closeness of the fourth meditative absorption, and repeated contemplation for the close contemplation of the three times). The ancient masters explain in passing the Western customs behind several of these similes — "in the West, bathing has master and pupil," "in the West, the folded weave takes eight strands and nine strands for one warp" 〔Kuiji〕 — a few homely matters of a foreign land, borrowed by the treatise to expound the joy-and-pleasure and purity within concentration. The noble right samādhi that has a cause and has equipment — this concentration has a "cause" and has "equipment": the first five path-limbs (right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood) are the cause; the latter three (right view, right effort, right mindfulness) are the equipment. This is precisely what the Buddha himself spoke in the Sūtra on the Noble Path of the Madhyama Āgama: "the noble right concentration has its practice, has its aids, and moreover has its equipment, and has seven limbs" — within the noble eightfold path, apart from the limb of right concentration itself, the remaining seven limbs are precisely the cause and equipment for accomplishing the noble right concentration. The treatise further gathers it into the three trainings: right mindfulness is the training in the higher mind, right view and right effort are the training in the higher wisdom, and the three trainings all attain fullness in the cultivation of the noble right concentration.

The Adamantine-Like Concentration: The Last Blow

Last comes the adamantine-like concentration — "the samādhi of the last edge of the trainee's stage," that final moment of concentration at the trainee's stage. The treatise closes with one hardest simile: "just as the adamant, its nature firm and solid, the maṇis and the rest cannot pierce and break it, yet it can pierce and break all the maṇi-jewels" — this concentration, above it there is no longer any affliction able to break it, yet it can overwhelm every affliction. In one moment the adamantine-like concentration arises, and the subtlest seeds of delusion are cut off at the sound of it; the trainee's stage is thereby brought to fullness and turns into the stage beyond training. The thirteen kinds of samādhi, expounded to this point — the path of the science of concentration sets out from seeing emptiness and comes to its close in the single adamantine blow.

Carrying Forward

The Concentration sub-section is the widest stretch of the door "Gathering the Sūtra-Purport," gathering up and expounding thirteen sorts of samādhi scattered through the Buddha's sūtras: the three samādhis set up the skeleton of the science of concentration (the order emptiness → wishless → markless); the four measureless states are matched to four concentrations (loving-kindness–pure, compassion–space, sympathetic joy–consciousness, equanimity–nothingness, word-for-word from the Saṃyukta Āgama); the eleven difficulties of the radiance concentration list out the pits of cultivating concentration; the five noble knowledges, five noble limbs, and noble right concentration push concentration up to the noble stage; and the adamantine-like concentration is the last blow. Of the sūtras drawn in here (the three samādhis, the four measureless states, the Sūtra on the Noble Path, the Sūtra on the Surpassing Gods), all are Āgama sūtra-texts, and the treatise here is expounding, one by one, the various concentrations the Buddha taught; the five noble knowledges and the adamantine-like concentration, however, are names of the treatise's own system, with no Āgama transmission, and are marked as such in truth. The final stretch of the door "Gathering the Sūtra-Purport," the sub-section on "attainment-concentration" (the direct-vision, the no-perception, the cessation attainments), unfolds the depth and shallowness of the "reaching" of concentration — and especially the passage on the attainment of cessation (the cessation of perception and feeling) joins directly to the eighth liberation, "turning away from perception and feeling," of the Liberation sub-section, and runs downward to the appropriating grasp of the eighth consciousness in Consciousness-Only.