瑜伽師地論 聞所成地 · 佛教所應知處 · 三種(開)＋增二＋增三＋增四

The site of what the Buddha's teaching should have us know is a single net that draws in the knowable, woven by "number" — from two up to ten, it marshals the aggregates-realms-sense-fields, the limbs of the path, the four truths, and the emptiness of the three natures that the Buddha expounds, by their number. The ascending count has only reached "two," and it already hides within it the three natures of the Saṃdhinirmocana and the emptiness-teaching of the Prajñā.

In one line: The fourth aspect of the Inner Science, "the site of what the Buddha's teaching should have us know," gathers the matters the Buddha expounds by ascending enumeration (increasing from the number two up to ten), weaving the wisdom-of-hearing's "net of the knowable"; the Ascending-Two gate alone already points inward to the Saṃdhinirmocana (the three natures) and the Prajñā (emptiness), and the net gathers in fully the aggregates-realms-sense-fields, the limbs of the path, and the four truths.

Three Points of the Eye

1. Ascending enumeration = the matching-of-dharmas net. 「從二數佛教所詮事，增益乃至十種」 "from the number two it increases the matters expounded by the Buddha's teaching, on up to ten kinds" 〔Kuiji, T1829 0087b25〕 — taking number as the guiding thread, it weaves a net, so that every dharma worth knowing can hang upon it, and the wisdom-of-hearing thereby grasps the knowable and is not left gazing helplessly out at the sea. This sub-unit expounds the opening three kinds (the dwelling of sentient beings) ＋ the Ascending-Two (twenty-four pairs) ＋ the Ascending-Three ＋ the Ascending-Four.

2. The Ascending-Two already hides the deep teaching. The Ascending-Two gate's 「於如來所說甚深、相似甚深、空相應經」 "the profound, semblance-profound, and emptiness-corresponding sūtras spoken by the Tathāgata" — Kuiji points directly: these are the Saṃdhinirmocana's teaching of the three natures made manifest ＋ the Prajñā's emptiness-teaching 〔T1829 0088c28〕. Its key pairs: the grasper / the grasped gather up all idle proliferation; the view of the reifying self seeks out "the self as permanent" and "the self as annihilated" (the two extremes of permanence and annihilation share the one root, the view of self); shamelessness-toward-self and shamelessness-toward-others transgress right conduct, and the reverse of them is precisely shame-toward-self and shame-toward-others.

3. The Ascending-Three and Ascending-Four gather in the skeleton-of-bone. The Ascending-Three has the three eyes (the fleshly eye illumines the manifest, the divine eye illumines the manifest-and-unmanifest, the wisdom-eye illumines all kinds of forms and non-forms) and the three knowledges-clear; the Ascending-Four draws in the four foundations of mindfulness (counteracting the four bonds of grasping / receiving / discerning / clinging), the four kinds of the truly-real that is knowable (the fruit-and-cause of the defiled = suffering and origin, the fruit-and-cause of the clean = cessation and path, that is, the four truths), the four births, the four deaths, the four abodes of consciousness, and the four foods.

Note: the four foods will be 「攝事分中當廣分別」 "broadly analyzed in the Section on the Gathering of Matters," and the nine-aspect abiding of mind and the selecting-and-discerning by six matters will be broadly analyzed 「如聲聞地」 "as in the Śrāvaka Stage" — here the wisdom-of-hearing weaves the net and marks the eyes, and the wisdom-of-cultivation, following the marked eyes, broadens its practice. For the opening of the doctrine, see the 〈Exposition〉.

The fourth aspect of the Inner Science, "the site of what the Buddha's teaching should have us know," gathers the matters expounded by the Buddha's teaching by ascending enumeration — increasing from the number two, on up to the number ten (Kuiji: "from the number two it increases the matters expounded by the Buddha's teaching, on up to ten kinds"). This sub-unit expounds its opening passage of three kinds, and then the Ascending-Two (twenty-four pairs), the Ascending-Three, and the Ascending-Four. The technical terms are kept in their traditional form; every gate and every number is fully rendered in present-day language, without adding doctrine and without citing treatises; where the source abbreviates, 〔 〕 supply the sense.

Setting the Theme

What is the aspect "the site of what the Buddha's teaching should have us know"? It is the gathering of the matters expounded by the Buddha, arranged by number, increasing from "two" all the way up to "ten."

Opening: The Dwelling of Sentient Beings Is of Three Kinds

Know that here, the "dwelling" (the sustaining of life) of all sentient beings is of three kinds: first, day-by-day dwelling; second, life-long dwelling; third, the dwelling that goes on turning ever onward through the lovely births produced by wholesome dharmas. The first relies on the dominant force of food (maintaining itself day after day); the second relies on the dominant force of the life-force-formation (the formation that is the span of life) (maintaining itself to the exhaustion of the life-span); the third relies on the dominant force of non-heedlessness toward the various wholesome dharmas (turning ever onward, mounting ever higher, to lovely births).

Among unwholesome and morally-neutral dharmas there is also a similar "non-heedlessness" — as when, in evil deeds such as killing living beings, and in matters of deportment and craftsmanship and the like, one can also act with careful attention (doing it with concentration); but only in the case of one who is "non-heedless toward the wholesome dharmas" is there — in this present life, up to the very attaining of parinirvāṇa, and in the life to come, the going to a good destiny — the most there is that is accomplished (the greatest real benefit).

The Ascending-Two Gate (Twenty-four Pairs)

(1) In dependence on the sentient-being world and the receptacle world, there are two dharmas that can gather all the matters of idle proliferation: the dharma that grasps, and the dharma that is its support and is grasped.

(2) In the various worlds there are, in brief, two roots of defilement, which can draw on the defilement that is without meaning and without benefit: having no right understanding-and-conduct toward what is real (not understanding it as it really is), and, taking this as its forerunner, longing after what is without meaning (falsely seeking things without meaning).

(3) Outside the True Dharma, the ascetics and brahmins have, in brief, two roots of defilement: through the dominant force of the view of the reifying self (the view of self), the one seeks out "the self as permanent," the other seeks out "the self as annihilated" (the view of permanence, the view of annihilation).

(4) Sentient beings have, in brief, two roots of the manifold sufferings: the various expectant longings that accompany delight-and-love toward contaminated dharmas (the longings of craving-attachment), and the various expectant longings that are drawn on by irrationality and that accompany aversion-and-turning-away (the longings of wrong turning-away).

(5) There are two dharmas whereby a teacher and a disciple are "at odds in instruction and admonition": the disciple cannot patiently bear the words of teaching; and the teacher harbors a perverted view and habitually practices wrong conduct. The reverse of these is precisely the two dharmas of the white category (purity).

(6) There are two dharmas that can most gravely transgress the domain of right conduct, mundane and supramundane: having no concern for the unlovely fruits produced from one's own unrighteousness, and having no shame at the sins one commits; and having no concern for such things as the killing, binding, and decline of others in the present life, and having no shame at the sins one commits 〔the two dharmas of shamelessness-toward-self and shamelessness-toward-others〕. The reverse of these is precisely the two dharmas of the white category.

(7) There are two kinds of error-free establishing, which can let the practitioner dwell in the holy life using but little effort and in the end not have it come to nothing: first, the right establishing of the precepts — transgressing them brings great sin, not transgressing them produces great merit; second, the right establishing of the emergence — letting one who has transgressed quickly emerge again (having a fault, he is able to reform).

(8) There are two dharmas that let the doer gain the benefit of self and of others: first, the one dwelling in seclusion, whose mind is ever settled and who dwells in the bliss of the present dharma (benefit of self); second, the one dwelling amid clamor, who, when there are those who come seeking the Dharma, expounds it for them from time to time, and can let the True Dharma continue and long endure (benefit of others).

(9) There are two dharmas that can let sentient beings, through the two causes-and-conditions of "inwardly right attention, outwardly hearing another's voice," in the present life enter the direct realization of the truths, or ripen the various faculties for the time to come: first, rightly penetrating the cause of dharmas produced from a cause; second, in accordance with the profound, the semblance-profound, and the emptiness-corresponding sūtras spoken by the Tathāgata, giving conforming attention to all conditionedness and to the various dependent arisings, and pondering them again and again.

(10) There are two dharmas that can let a person of ripened faculties swiftly realize penetrating wisdom: first, in instruction and admonition, being far from flattery and deceit; second, taking turning-away as forerunner, keeping the conduct of body, speech, and mind far from frivolous play.

(11) There are two dharmas that let fellow practitioners of the holy life dwelling together in one place all attain, one and all, to dwelling in ease: first, patiently bearing the harassment of others; second, oneself not harassing others.

(12) There are two dharmas that let those dwelling together, when discord has not yet arisen, block it so that it does not arise, and, when it has arisen, quickly bring it to rest, reaching a state of no quarrel, no dispute, no strife, no contention: first, arousing kind-heartedness toward one another in turn; second, sharing goods and Dharma equally.

(13) There are two dharmas that swiftly let the mind abide and gain a concentration of pure holy life: first, through the dominant force of remembering-and-retaining what was long ago done and said — if there is anything one has broken, removing it by repentance in accord with the Dharma; if there is nothing one has broken, then giving rise to gladness; and studying accordingly day and night without slackening or giving up; second, through the dominant force of being able rightly to know all the undertakings of body, speech, and mind, in the end never transgressing amid the various faults, and thereby also having no anxious remorse, and giving rise to gladness accordingly — expounded at length up to the knowledge-and-vision of liberation.

(14) There are two dharmas that can transcend the manifold sufferings — that can transcend the sufferings of the evil destinies, and can transcend the great suffering of birth-and-death: first, seeing deeply the various perils of the present life and of the time to come, and keeping far from evil conduct; second, the mind being ever settled, and diligently cultivating the dharmas that are the limbs of awakening.

(15) There are two dharmas that can let one who cultivates the cutting-off and dwells in seclusion attain to dwelling in ease: first, toward the various sense-objects giving rise to no defilement, with no evil applied-and-sustained thought disturbing his mind; second, whatever he eats being necessarily for benefit, weighed out and digested, able to conform to the cutting-off, and letting the body be well-adjusted.

(16) There are two dharmas that let the various monks who cultivate the wholesome pass no time in vain: first, toward the various faculties and objects, with right diligence and skillful means, studying the marks of dharmas; second, knowing the time and knowing the measure, and being little given to sleep.

(17) There are two dharmas that can ruin the training in the higher mind and the training in wisdom: first, setting up a wrong training, transgressing the right training, and harboring hesitation; second, decisively giving rise to the wrong views of over-affirming and of under-denying. The reverse of these is precisely the two dharmas of the white category.

(18) There are two dharmas that can let a person who has gathered the provisions for awakening but has not yet entered direct realization swiftly enter direct realization: first, pondering the decline-and-flourishing, present and past, of self and others; second, diligently cultivating the error-free attention that is gathered under the practice of the truths.

(19) There are two dharmas that let one who practices contemplation swiftly bring the utterly ultimate, stain-free holy life to fullness: first, cultivating the direct realization of the truths; second, thereafter, diligently cultivating by the means of dispassion, having no relishing-taste toward the various meditative attainments, and keeping far from the various hindrances and difficulties.

(20) There are two dharmas that let one who practices contemplation swiftly be able to call forth all the excellent virtues, mundane and supramundane: first, the nine-aspect abiding of mind 〔the nine kinds of mental abiding〕; second, by means of six kinds of matter, with a rightly-concentrated mind selecting-and-discerning the various dharmas — as will be broadly analyzed in 〈the Śrāvaka Stage〉.

(21) One who practices contemplation has two kinds of purity: purity of attention and purity of the support. Within the three times keeping far from delusion, the wisdom being pure — this is named purity of attention; keeping far from the coarse-and-heavy dharmas that belong to the various afflictions of the three realms — this is named purity of the support.

(22) There are two dharmas that the arhats whose minds are well liberated inwardly realize for themselves: first, the cause of suffering in the present life being forever exhausted; second, taking this as forerunner, the suffering of the life to come in the end not arising.

〔The above are the pairs gathered under the Ascending-Two gate.〕

The Ascending-Three Gate

The two kinds of the site of what the Buddha's teaching should have us know have been stated. Next, the three kinds are stated —

(1) There are three [modes] by which, in dependence on ten marks, three gates, three kinds, and three roots, one arouses wrong conduct toward sentient beings and can let sentient beings fall into the various evil destinies. As for the "ten marks": ruining life, ruining goods, ruining wife-and-concubine; ruining the true matter, ruining good friends, ruining the undertakings for which one is praised; and the three defilements of thought — appropriating another's goods with the wish to make them one's own, wishing to make another meet with what he does not love, and the various evil views that slander what is true. As for the "three gates": the gate of the ruining of action, the gate of the ruining of intent, the gate of the ruining of means; among the ten marks, the first seven belong to the ruining of action, the next two belong to the ruining of intent, and the last one (evil views) belongs to the ruining of means — because through evil views, shame, kindness-and-compassion, and the keeping-far-from-evil-conduct are all ruined, and so, with no shame and no kindness-and-compassion, one broadly commits the manifold evils. As for the "three kinds": what is done by body, what is done by speech, what is done by thought. As for the "three roots": the mark of being for one's own benefit, the mark of being for the harm of others, the mark of being perverted toward others — taking what is not-dharma to be dharma, taking what should not be done to be what should be done, and firmly clinging to it in present conduct.

(2) Further, there are three dharmas that can let sentient beings not guard the faculties: first, in the support there being seeds of wrong dharmas; second, toward the various sense-objects grasping the wrong mark; third, in private places thinking wrongly. These three are precisely the categories of greed-longing, hatred, and harm.

(3) In dependence on four sites, three kinds of wrong applied-thought arise: toward the four white-category dharma-sites, one's own benefit and the rest, wishing to obtain them or wishing not to lose them, there arises the "applied-thought of desire"; toward the sites of the two categories of sentient beings — the hostile and the neutral — that can obstruct them, there arises the "applied-thought of hatred"; toward the sites of the sentient beings of the friend-category, there arises the "applied-thought of harm." Why is this 〔that harm-applied-thought arises even toward friends〕? Because if a friend transgresses, toward him there arises no wish to cut him off altogether, but only the wish for slight suffering-and-pain and for chastisement by way of means 〔hence it still belongs to the harm-category〕. The reverse of these is precisely the white category.

(4) In brief there are four kinds 〔here three are made clear〕 — four kinds of inner-dharma seeds fully gather all the seeds of all dharmas: mundane seeds, supramundane seeds, unclean seeds, clean seeds. The mundane seeds are the seeds of the formations bound to the desire, form, and formless realms; the supramundane seeds are the clean seeds that can realize the three vehicles and the fruits of the three vehicles, the eightfold noble path, and the like; the unclean seeds are the seeds of the formations bound to the desire realm; the clean seeds are again of two kinds — the mundane-clean (the seeds of the formations bound to the form and formless realms), the supramundane-clean (the seeds that can realize the three vehicles and the fruits of the three vehicles, the eightfold noble path, and the like).

(5) Further, there are three kinds of "the cause of contaminated dharmas produced from a cause": herein, if one does not cultivate the means in accord with right principle, it can produce the various sufferings; if one cultivates the means in accord with principle, then toward the suffering and toward its cause one can know and can cut off. That is: the defiled longing for the dharmas bound to the desire realm, and, toward the dharmas bound to the form and formless realms, likewise 〔one for each of the three realms〕.

(6) There are three kinds of afflictive courses that let sentient beings turn round in birth-and-death: giving rise to the intent to long after the superior desires — this is named the first afflictive course; giving rise to the intent to long after the superior self-body in the form and formless realms — this is named the second afflictive course; giving rise to the intent to long after wrong liberation — this is named the third afflictive course.

(7) There are three kinds of the action-means of sentient beings that have desire as their root: to gain the superior desires, to gain the superior self-body, to realize the superior path of liberation.

(8) There are three kinds of might whereby sentient beings appropriate the formations of the self-body within the three realms: the might of drawing-in (the action that can draw one in), the might of being-able-to-gain (the gandharva present directly before one), the might of coming-to-fullness (dwelling herein and receiving the maturation of the various clean and unclean actions).

(9) There are three kinds of aggregate of ignorance (avidyā): sentient beings who dwell in ignorance can thereby produce the differences of self-body in the three times — through the ignorance of the prior limit and the rest in the past can produce the present self-body; through the ignorance of the prior limit and the rest in the present can produce the future self-body; through the ignorance of the prior limit and the rest in the future can, in the future, produce the ever-later self-body to come.

(10) There are three kinds of the calamities-and-perils of birth-and-death shared by the not-yet-ultimate noble ones together with the various ordinary beings; if toward them one gives rise to deep loathing-and-dread, one should swiftly cut off three kinds of arrogant heedlessness and cultivate the means to the parinirvāṇa of the present dharma: the decline of health, the decline of youth, the decline of the life-span. One who has wisdom should contemplate that these three matters will surely follow after in the future.

(11) There are three kinds of the classes of sentient beings — the sites and the differences of bodily part on which the bonds of greed, hatred, and delusion rest, which can urgently bind sentient beings and shut them in the great-suffering prison of birth-and-death: the one who can benefit, the one who can harm, and the two-fold together-apart (the neutral).

(12) There are three sites in which the various sufferings arise, fully gathering all the manifold sufferings of sentient beings: the suffering produced from meeting-and-uniting, the suffering produced from parting-and-separating, the suffering of even continuance. The first is through the uniting of the phase of harm; the second is through the ruining-and-change of the phase of benefit; the third turns onward in continuance in all phases, belongs to what is gathered under the coarse-and-heavy, and is produced from the formations — only the multitude of the worthy-and-noble awaken to it as suffering, not the various ordinary beings 〔who can awaken to it〕.

(13) There are three kinds of the dharma of raising the mind up high, which do violence to the limb-of-the-fruit-of-stream-entry of one who seeks the śramaṇa-fruit and can obstruct the śramaṇa so that he does not gain the realization: measuring oneself against others and saying "I am superior," saying "I am similar," saying "I am inferior" — in all of these the mind gives rise to raising-up-high.

(14) Further, there are three kinds of seed that can produce all the various formations: the one that has already given its fruit, the one that has not yet given its fruit, the one whose fruit is directly present.

(15) There are three sites that are the support of the verbal expression of the various formations: past, future, present 〔the past, the future, the present〕.

(16) There are three marks that can gather the own-mark of all form-dharmas: the manifest, the shaped, the functioning — establishing the form grasped by the eye-consciousness. In its own site obstructing the going-and-abiding of other forms, [these] establish the faculty-form and all the object-realm forms — know that all told there are ten forms, and the forms of the concentration-ground; as for the various forms that one who has gained pure concentration and cultivates the means so as to draw forth transformation possesses, know that these are the object-realm of the inner transformation-mind, and are also the fruit of the not-yet-full transformation-mind.

(17) There are three kinds of mind followed after by the various afflictions: the mind of the various ordinary beings, the not-yet-full trainee-mind, the already-full trainee-mind.

(18) There are three kinds of hearers of the Dharma: one who, toward the dharma and toward its meaning, cannot receive-and-retain it; one who can only take it in but cannot hold it fast; one who can both receive it and hold it.

(19) There are three dharmas that are the foremost entering-in for the practitioner's contemplation of "the impermanence of body, speech, and mind": the in-and-out breath; applied-and-sustained thought; perception-and-volition.

(20) There are three kinds of the honored-and-superior who should receive reverent support: those superior in years, those superior in clan-lineage, those superior in virtue.

(21) There are three kinds of the causes of "the fixed and the not-fixed": two are fixed causes — the fixed cause of the evil destinies (the deeds of immediate retribution), the fixed cause of the good destinies and nirvāṇa (the uncontaminated conditioned dharmas); one is the not-fixed cause — the remaining dharmas.

(22) There are three dharmas whereby, for the sake of letting the noble teaching long endure, one raises a charge in turn: seeing directly that his conduct of body-and-speech transgresses the precepts; hearing it from another; knowing it by inference from other marks.

(23) The various Tathāgatas declare of themselves that they are complete in the three virtues of nothing-to-guard — this in order to show that the various teachers of the outsider-paths inwardly harbor manifold evils, calling themselves the all-knowing when in truth they are not the all-knowing; and further, in order to let those beings arouse toward the Tathāgata a true faith in the all-knowing.

(24) Further, there are three kinds of the searing-affliction of sentient beings arising from the great fire produced by wrong clinging: the searing-affliction of greed-love, the searing-affliction of grief-and-worry, the searing-affliction of perversion.

(25) There are three fires, which, in order to convert the sentient beings of wrong resolute-conviction who "delight in serving fire," show forth the fire of what should truly be served, without falsity — though truly not fire, "fire" is provisionally set up as their name: father-and-mother, wife-and-child, the true field-of-merit worthy of offerings.

(26) There are three kinds of the path of true superior rebirth expounded for those who desire-and-delight in superior rebirth: giving, gaining great wealth; upholding the precepts, gaining the going to a good destiny; cultivating concentration, keeping far from the feeling of suffering and gaining birth in a world of one-directional bliss with no harming affliction.

(27) There are three kinds — the inferior, middling, and superior desires of the various enjoyers of desire (the bliss produced in dependence on the various desires): using much effort, relying-on-conditions for the various desires (the various desires possessed by those dwelling in the present); using little effort, relying-on-mind for the various desires (the various desires possessed by the Bliss-Transforming heaven); using very little effort, relying-on-mind for the various desires (the various desires possessed by the Others'-Transformation heaven).

(28) There are three kinds of the inferior, middling, and superior bliss that surpasses the various desires: the joy with applied-and-sustained thought, the joy without applied-and-sustained thought, the bliss apart from joy.

(29) There are three kinds of awakening to the knowable, which can let the three vehicles emerge from the manifold sufferings: the kind that is from hearing another's voice, the kind that is inward right pondering, the kind that is the long-time cultivation of calm-and-insight.

(30) Again there are three kinds of awakening to the knowable 〔with regard to bondage〕: the fully-bound, the not-fully-bound, the wholly-unbound.

(31) There are three kinds of matters that should be done, whereby one who practices contemplation, through the dominant force of these three matters, cultivates all the wholesome dharmas, faith and the rest: forever cutting off the various afflictions to be cut off by the path of seeing and realizing the fruit of stream-entry; forever cutting off the various afflictions to be cut off by the path of cultivation and gradually realizing the fruits of once-returning, non-returning, and arhatship; and, having realized arhatship, dwelling in the bliss of the present dharma.

(32) By three portions illumining all the object-realms of the knowable, the three eyes are established: the fleshly eye (illumining the visible forms, manifest and unobstructed); the divine eye (illumining the visible forms — manifest and unmanifest, obstructed and unobstructed); the wisdom-eye (illumining all kinds of dharmas, whether form or non-form).

(33) There are three dharmas that can do violence to the enemy that is the presently-active afflictions: faithfully following good friends; not dwelling mingled with the various multitudes, householder and renunciant; inwardly right attention, awakening to the true principle of the knowable.

(34) Further, there are three kinds of the means of right admonition, which can, in turn, realize the ever-later realizations and gain nirvāṇa: the means of right admonition regarding morality, regarding the abiding of the mind, and regarding the true principle of the knowable that is awakened to. Just as the "means of right admonition" are three, so too the "means of repeatedly practicing right admonition" are three.

(35) Further, at the time of presently cultivating the means of right admonition, through three dharmas one gains a secure-and-peaceful abiding: the meditative attainments of emptiness, wishlessness, marklessness, and cessation; the four meditative absorptions; the four immeasurables.

(36) In brief there are three kinds of one-pointedness of mind that can let one realize true knowledge-and-vision: within the mental-speech, the aspect of the various differing objects; without interval to the mental-speech, the aspect of the various differing objects; transcending the mental-speech, focusing on a single object, the aspect of a single object with no variety and no difference.

(37) There are three sites that can well gather in the sentient beings-to-be-converted who "wrongly reckon the superiority, or the middling status, of what lies in an evil-and-wrong site," and draw them into the noble teaching: showing forth the most superior supernatural powers one oneself possesses; blocking or permitting the various defiled-and-clean conducts that others possess; expounding the wondrous Dharma, the right teaching and right admonition.

(38) There are three purities, which, in order to cut off the wrong conceit of the purity-delighting outsiders who "with outer-matter water momentarily remove outer stains and call themselves to have gained the foremost purity," establish these three purities of the ultimate meaning — 〔because they are〕 the cause of transcending [what is] "born in an unclean site."

(39) There are three kinds of sage (muni), established in order to cut off the wrong clinging of the outsiders who "uphold the sage-precept and momentarily rest from speech, calling themselves to have gained the true quiescence," and further in order to expound the error-free sage — that is, the two acts of body and speech that are gathered under the precepts beloved of the noble, and the uncontaminated mind.

(40) There are three dharmas that can let one dwelling in seclusion cut off the presently-active wrong applied-thought: through the dominant force of being reviled by others, reviling oneself, and losing the great benefit, the arising of shame-toward-others, shame-toward-self, and cherishing-reverence.

(41) In dependence on "the path" and "the fruit of the path," know that there are three kinds of the most superior and unsurpassed: the knowledge of impermanence, the knowledge of suffering, the knowledge of no-self 〔the three knowledges〕; the four kinds of course of practice, the swift-penetrating-through-bliss and the rest; all that is mundane and supramundane, of the trainee and the beyond-training, the liberation-in-time and the unshakable mind-liberation — the most superior and unsurpassed. One who practices contemplation first gains its knowledge, and by this knowledge, in order to cut off the afflictions, next cultivates the course of practice; having cultivated the course of practice, the mind gains liberation.

(42) There are three knowledges-clear, established in order to show the ignorance-nature of the ascetics and brahmins who "give rise to the wrong clinging of the two extremes of permanence-and-annihilation regarding the prior, later, and middle limits" and to "delusion about the nirvāṇa of the present dharma" — hence the three knowledges-clear are established.

The Ascending-Four Gate

The three kinds of the site of what the Buddha's teaching should have us know have been stated. Next, the four kinds are stated —

(1) There are four dharmas that can gather all the "knowable" and the "knowing": the body, and the wisdom that takes for its support the foundations of mindfulness augmented by hearing, reflection, and cultivation and that has the body-object for its object. Just as with "the body and the wisdom with the body-object for its object," so too with feeling, mind, and dharmas, and the wisdom with the objects of feeling, mind, and dharmas for its object 〔the four foundations of mindfulness〕. Further, there is a distinction — the four bonds: the bond of grasping, the bond of receiving, the bond of discerning, the bond of clinging; know that the mind is bound, toward the body, by the bond of grasping; toward feeling, by the inward bond of receiving; toward the mark of the object-realms, form and the rest, by the bond of discerning; toward the aforesaid body and the rest, by the bond of clinging that is the greater and lesser afflictions of greed, hatred, and the like. In order to counteract these four bonds, the four foundations of mindfulness are established.

(2) There are four kinds of ones who, "taking desire-and-effort as forerunner and taking the contemplation of perils and the counteraction as their support," can cut off the presently-active various unwholesome dharmas and cut off their bondage, can gain the wholesome dharmas and can increase them 〔the four right cuttings-off〕.

(3) There are four kinds of the gate of "the mind abiding at will and able to grow," for those who, in order to make the mind abide and to gain a superior concentration, cultivate the means: the desire to delight in emergence; upholding-reciting, repenting faults, and being diligent; the mind that can grasp the mark of a good-and-wholesome concentration; dwelling in an empty-and-quiet place and contemplating the various dharmas 〔the intent of the four bases of supernatural power〕.

(4) There are four kinds of "mind-concentration and mind-abiding": the mind-abiding with applied and sustained thought and with joy; the mind-abiding without applied and without sustained thought and with joy; the mind-abiding without applied and without sustained thought and apart from joy; the mind-abiding of the purity of equanimity-and-mindfulness that transcends all suffering-and-bliss 〔the four meditative absorptions〕.

(5) There are four kinds of the truly-real that is knowable, established through the distinction of the two categories of the defiled and the clean — one who can know, can well know it, is able to cut off all the afflictions to be cut off by seeing and by cultivation: the truly-real that is the fruit of the defiled category, the truly-real that is the cause of that category, the truly-real that is the fruit of the clean category, the truly-real that is the cause of that category 〔that is, the four truths: suffering, origin, cessation, path〕.

(6) There are four kinds of the bond of idle proliferation that "has perception as its forerunner": in the small desire, in the great form, in the immeasurable-space and consciousness-boundless site, and in the site of nothing-whatever — in each there is the bond of idle proliferation that has perception as its forerunner.

(7) There are four dharmas that, toward the various sentient beings, counteract hatred-and-harm and not-delighting-in and desire-longing, and, when well cultivated, can produce great merit and can tend toward dispassion: loving-kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity 〔the four immeasurables〕.

(8) There are four dharmas that surpass the form realm and make one grow distant-and-apart: the space-site, the consciousness-site, the nothing-whatever-site, the neither-perception-nor-non-perception-site 〔the four formless [attainments]〕.

(9) There are four kinds — in order to let liberation swiftly come to fullness — of the superior sustaining-dharma of the "noble desire for liberation" of the diligent cultivator, in order to cut off, by the dominant force, the four cravings — that is, having but little seeking for robes, food, and bedding, with no [wrong] making and no confusion, passing no time in vain and diligently cultivating the means, the mind apart from distraction, delighting in cutting off the afflictions, delighting in cultivating the right path.

(10) There are four kinds of the cutting-off of the various afflictions in cultivating the fruit of the path: the cutting-off of the afflictions to be cut off by seeing; the cutting-off of the upper-and-middling grades of the lower-part fetters to be cut off by cultivation; the remainderless cutting-off of just these; the remainderless cutting-off of the upper-part fetters.

(11) Further, there are four kinds of the limb-of-realizing-stream-entry, which can let the practitioner be utterly unmoved in the Buddha's noble teaching and in the good destinies: toward the Great Teacher, the purity of the unmoved mind produced by true awakening; just as toward the Great Teacher, so too toward the dharma realized, and toward the practitioner who cultivates-and-realizes for the sake of realizing the dharma. These three kinds are named "purity of mind," and the fourth one is named "purity of form" (because it is gathered under the precepts beloved of the noble) — the first three let one be unshaken in the noble teaching, the last one lets one be unshaken in the good destinies.

(12) Further, there are four kinds of the limb-of-realizing-stream-entry: being able well to serve, without any transgression, the Dharma-expounding teacher and the instructor; error-free hearing of the dharma expounded by the teacher and of the instructing dharma; being able rightly to ponder and well to penetrate the dharma one has heard; accomplishing what is to be cultivated.

(13) There are four knowledges that gather all knowing: the knowledge that is uncontaminated only, able to see directly among the various dharmas; the knowledge that is one-directionally uncontaminated, not-directly-seeing among the various dharmas; the mundane knowledge that is one-directionally contaminated, drawn on either in accord with principle, or not in accord with principle, or neither in accord with principle nor not in accord with principle; the knowledge-of-the-difference-of-others'-minds that is common to the contaminated and the uncontaminated.

(14) There are four kinds of knowledge that truly grasps the two categories of "turning [in transmigration] and turning-back [to reversal]," which can exhaust the various contaminants: the knowledge of the truly-real that is the fruit of the turning-category, the knowledge of the truly-real that is the cause of the turning-category, the knowledge of the truly-real that is the fruit of the turning-back category, the knowledge of the truly-real that is the cause of the turning-back category.

(15) There are four dharmas that can let one of faith cultivate the right means for the sake of cutting off the afflictions: the diligence of continuous, earnest exertion; the mindfulness of right-knowing conduct; calm-abiding; insight.

(16) There are four kinds of the footprints that can penetrate dharmas and can exhaust the upper contaminants they rest on: cultivating the contaminated wisdom in order to gain the noble path; having already gained the path, being deficient in the various afflictions and deficient in the various matters; the remainderless forever-cutting-off of the various affliction-matters; cultivating still further the path as gained.

(17) There are four dharmas that are associated in turn, that have activity and have an object, that turn in union and turn upon one and the same object: feeling, perception, formation, consciousness 〔the four non-form aggregates〕.

(18) There are four guardings that can let one who has entered the Buddha's noble teaching love-and-delight in the noble teaching: the guarding of life, the guarding of strength, the guarding of the mind-affliction, the guarding of the right means.

(19) There are four kinds of the sites that are the support of gaining right view and of error-free meaningful conduct: through the former three, letting the time of acting be pure; through the latter one, letting the time of abiding be pure — the guarder of the faculty-gates, who toward the various object-realms neither conforms nor opposes, and, through the dominant force of the mindfulness that guards the faculty-gates, acts with right knowing; the dweller-in-seclusion, whose mind is undefiled and focuses on a single object.

(20) Through four practices one can realize knowledge-clear and liberation: through mindfulness, the eye, and wisdom one can realize "knowledge-clear"; and through the body one can realize the unshakable and the liberation-in-time.

(21) Further, there are four dharmas that can be the support for the arising of the vast and various differing derived-forms: the nature of solidity, the nature of wetness, the nature of warmth, the nature of movement-and-the-like of lightness 〔the four great elements〕.

(22) There are four dharmas that can sustain the various classes of already-arisen sentient beings so as to gain long endurance, and can gather-and-benefit those seeking existence 〔the four foods〕 — as will be broadly analyzed in 〈the Section on the Gathering of Matters〉.

(23) There are four kinds of the footprints on which the various consciousnesses rest in their turning round within birth-and-death: having seen the various forms, tending toward them; through craving-love grasping them as the object; the support and the object-realm both being established. Just as with the various forms, so too with feeling, perception, and formation 〔the four abodes of consciousness〕.

(24) The various monks, in dependence on cherishing the body-and-life of the present dharma, give rise toward robes, food, and bedding to a craving of seeking-longing; in dependence on cherishing the body-and-life of the later dharma, give rise toward later existence to a craving of longing; in dependence on delusion about nirvāṇa, give rise toward non-existence to a craving of longing — in brief there are four kinds of the craving of longing: the craving for robes, the craving for food, the craving for bedding, the craving for existence-and-non-existence.

(25) There are four dharmas that can let sentient beings presently do what should not be done: conforming to the lovely matter; going against the unlovely matter; being afraid of a powerful enemy, one's mind perverted; being deluded about the fruit of the present dharma and of the later dharma.

(26) There are four kinds of "the treatise-of-response to inquiry," which can cut off what is doubted, can awaken what is not awakened, and can also sustain the power of superior discernment: toward the true reality of dharmas, one should "respond one-directionally"; toward the maturation of the fruit of the actions of the various sentient beings, one should "respond by distinguishing"; toward a question about the non-one-directional that is spoken in a hidden way, one should "respond by counter-questioning"; toward what is not in accord with principle, one should "set aside the response." Herein, why is "setting aside the response" named a response? It is that one responds to that question — saying that the World-Honored Buddha does not respond on this 〔that is, taking "not responding" as the response〕.

(27) There are four kinds of beneficent giving, either clean or unclean: three kinds clean — one is complete only in one's own morality-and-view, or complete only in another's morality-and-view, or complete in both one's own and another's morality-and-view; one kind unclean — both one's own and another's morality-and-view being both not complete. The clean ones will be born in good destinies, with abundant property; the unclean ones will be born in evil destinies, with no lack of property.

(28) There are four kinds of the classes of sentient beings "produced from action," in the gate of the support for taking birth in this or that destiny: through action and the egg-shell 〔egg-born〕; through action and the womb-membrane 〔womb-born〕; through action and the moist-and-foul 〔moisture-born〕; through action alone 〔transformation-born〕.

(29) The sentient beings taking birth in this or that place have four kinds of death: death by one's own cause (for those taking birth among the play-forgetting and mind-wrathful gods); death by another's cause (for those in the mother's womb at the kalala, arbuda, peśī, and ghana [stages]); death by both causes (the remaining sentient beings in the desire realm); death by neither cause (the sentient beings of the form and formless realms, with the summit-of-existence as their last).

(30) Further, there are four pure paths 〔with regard to the faculty and to joy-and-bliss〕: the effortless faculty not being complete and also joy-and-bliss not being complete; the effortful faculty being complete but joy-and-bliss not being complete; joy-and-bliss being complete but the effortful faculty not being complete; joy-and-bliss being complete and also the effortful faculty being complete.

(31) Again there are four pure paths: turning-the-back on the wrongly-spoken Dharma and Vinaya; turning-toward the well-spoken Dharma and Vinaya; the path of provisions; the pure path. As for the first: as when someone, toward the outsider-views and the meaningless suffering-and-cutting practices they draw on, has in mind no delight and no acceptance. As for the second: as when someone, amid the various skillfulnesses regarding the aggregates, realms, sense-fields, dependent arising, the possible-and-impossible, and the like, has delight and acceptance, and is also able patiently to bear such sufferings as cold and heat. As for the third: that is, pure morality, guarding the faculty-gates, and the various good-provisions-gathered True Dharma. As for the fourth: that is, calm-abiding and insight, cutting off the various afflictions, dwelling in the bliss of the present dharma.

(32) There are four kinds of the means of "training in the higher mind": for one not yet free of desire, in order to gain the fruit of non-returning 〔or for one who has already gained the fruit of non-returning〕, relying on the not-yet-arrived concentration to seek the bliss of the present dharma; and further, in order to let others cut off the various evil dharmas and go to a good destiny; and further, in order to, for oneself, cut off the various afflictions and gain superior discernment.

(33) There are two actions, with four differing marks: the differences of the action gathered under "turning" are three; the action gathered under "turning-back" is set up as one single kind altogether. Know that the first action one-directionally can call forth the unlovely fruit, the maturation of the evil destinies; the second action one-directionally can call forth the lovely-and-blissful fruit, the maturation of the form and formless realms; the third action can call forth the lovely-and-unlovely fruit, the maturation of the gods-and-humans of the desire realm; the fourth action can cut off the former three actions.

(34) There are four kinds of the augmenting endeavor of the classes of sentient beings: blissful but not beneficial; beneficial but not blissful; both blissful and beneficial; neither blissful nor beneficial.

(35) There are four gates that arouse the various afflictions and can let sentient beings unite-and-not-part with the sufferings of birth and the rest: the gate of defiled-clinging to the various desires; the gate of defiled-clinging to the meditative attainments of the form and formless realms; the gate of the various views of the outsiders; the gate of the not-knowing (ajñāna) of those who, dwelling within this Dharma, have not yet gained the eye. And cultivating the noble path lets the manifold sufferings produced by these four gates be swiftly loosed-from-bondage; just as one can let sentient beings unite-with-suffering 〔by these four gates〕, so too one can let "the following-the-stream action of grasping later existence, hard to be liberated from" 〔be swiftly loosed〕 likewise.

(36) Further, there are four kinds of person, fully gathering all persons: the ordinary being; the trainee not yet free of desire; the trainee already free of desire; the beyond-training who has surpassed the view of the reifying self, all of them.

(37) There are four kinds of person 〔with regard to expounding the Dharma to self and others〕: one who himself dwells in the disciplinary restraint but cannot expound the True Dharma for others; one who himself does not dwell in the disciplinary restraint but can expound the True Dharma for others; one who can do both; one who can do neither.

(38) There are four kinds of person 〔with regard to clan-lineage and conduct〕: one whose clan-lineage is low-and-humble yet who presently practices the white dharma; one whose clan-lineage is honored-and-high yet who presently practices evil dharma; one whose clan-lineage is low-and-humble and who presently practices evil dharma; one whose clan-lineage is honored-and-high and who presently practices the white dharma. The first has suffering in the present dharma but not in the later dharma; the second has suffering in the later dharma but not in the present dharma; the third has suffering in both lives; the fourth has bliss in both lives.

(39) There are four kinds of person 〔with regard to imposing suffering on self and others〕: one who imposes suffering on himself but not on others and thereby produces non-merit (one who receives the outsiders' self-suffering precept); one who imposes suffering on others but not on himself and thereby produces non-merit (any one of those without disciplinary restraint); one who imposes suffering on both and thereby produces non-merit (the various kings and the masters-of-sacrifice, the horse-sacrificers, and the like); one who imposes suffering neither on self nor on others and thereby produces great merit (one who dwells in the meditative absorptions and the person who is apart from the various evils).

(40) In brief there are four kinds of fault of speech: the untrue, the divisive, the virtue-ruining, the meaningless; the reverse of these is precisely the four kinds of virtue of speech.

(41) In brief there are four kinds of un-noble false speech: speaking perversely about what is seen and not seen; and so too about what is heard and not heard, sensed and not sensed, known and not known; the reverse of these is precisely the truthful speech of the worthy-and-noble.

The teaching arc: the site of what the Buddha's teaching should have us know gathers, by "number," the matters expounded by the Buddha — from two up to ten, weaving a single net that draws in the knowable. But the numbering is no dry contrivance: the Ascending-Two gate alone already hides within it the three natures of the Saṃdhinirmocana and the emptiness-teaching of the Prajñā. This sub-unit's point of the eye is to see how, within the ascending-enumeration gate, the aggregates-realms-sense-fields, the limbs of the path, the four truths, and the emptiness of the three natures come to be woven into a net by number. All that is expounded is what the treatise-text itself already holds and what the ancient masters have themselves explained; not one meaning is added.

Why the Buddha's Teaching Can Be "Numbered" Out

The wisdom-of-hearing must come to recognize "the site of what the Buddha's teaching should have us know" — all the things worth knowing that the Buddha expounds. But the Buddha-dharma is vast; how is it to be held in hand? The method the fourth aspect of the Inner Science gives is, unexpectedly, simple: use "number." From two, three, four, on up to ten, it takes the matters the Buddha expounds and marshals them by their number. Kuiji fixes the point in a single phrase: 「從二數佛教所詮事，增益乃至十種佛教所詮事，名佛教所應知處相」 tr. "from the number two it increases the matters expounded by the Buddha's teaching, on up to ten kinds of matters expounded by the Buddha's teaching — this is named the aspect that is the site of what the Buddha's teaching should have us know".

This is the ancient method of the Abhidharma "matching-of-dharmas": taking number as the guiding thread, it weaves a net, so that every dharma worth knowing has a place to hang, and the wisdom-of-hearing is thereby saved from gazing helplessly out at the sea. This sub-unit expounds its opening: first a passage of "three kinds" (the dwelling of sentient beings: day-by-day dwelling, life-long dwelling, and the dwelling that goes on turning ever onward through the lovely births of wholesome dharmas), and then it raises the Ascending-Two, the Ascending-Three, and the Ascending-Four.

The "Number" Is No Dry Contrivance — Within the Ascending-Two Already Lies the Deepest Sūtra

Do not suppose that arranging by number makes things shallow. The ascending count has only reached "two," and it already points toward the deepest teaching. The treatise lists a gate: 「於如來所說所有甚深、相似甚深、空相應經，一切緣性及諸緣起，隨順作意數數思惟」 tr. "in accordance with the profound, the semblance-profound, and the emptiness-corresponding sūtras spoken by the Tathāgata, and toward all conditionedness and the various dependent arisings, giving conforming attention and pondering again and again" 〔the treatise〕. Kuiji points directly at what these two kinds of sūtra are: the "profound sūtra" is precisely the teaching, such as the Saṃdhinirmocana, in which the three natures are made manifest; the "semblance-profound, emptiness-corresponding sūtra" is precisely the emptiness-teaching of the Prajñā.

A single "Ascending-Two" gate has already drawn the three natures of Consciousness-Only and the emptiness of the Prajñā together into the net-eyes of "what should be known." The object of the wisdom-of-hearing, at this point, reveals its depth and breadth — the ascending enumeration does not number the Buddha-dharma thin; it weaves even the deepest teaching into a graspable set of guiding threads.

The Eye of the Ascending-Two: The Grasper and the Grasped, the Two Views of Permanence and Annihilation, Shame-toward-Self and Shame-toward-Others

Among the twenty-four pairs of the Ascending-Two, there are several places most worth pausing over, and all are joints that the treatise-text itself holds —

The very first pair at the opening, 「能取之法，及彼所依、所取之法」 tr. "the dharma that grasps, and the dharma that is its support and is grasped," already gathers up all the matters of idle proliferation: all idle proliferation, traced to the bottom, is nothing other than the grasper and the grasped. The third pair is more incisive still: 「薩迦耶見增上力故，推求我常、推求我斷」 tr. "through the dominant force of the view of the reifying self, seeking out 'the self as permanent,' seeking out 'the self as annihilated'" — the two forking paths of the permanence-view and the annihilation-view have, in fact, the very same root, the "view of self"; recognize this one point, and the two-extreme views of the outsiders are more than half seen through. Then there is the sixth pair, where the treatise says the two dharmas of 「於自非法不可愛果無有顧慮、於所作罪無有羞恥」 tr. "having no concern for the unlovely fruits of one's own unrighteousness, and no shame at the sins one commits" can most gravely transgress right conduct, and that 「與此相違即是白品」 tr. "the reverse of these is precisely the white category" — turned around, this is just shame-toward-self and shame-toward-others. Let the wisdom-of-hearing come to know these several pairs by heart, and it is as though it has grasped in hand just those few joints that lie between defilement and purity.

The Ascending-Three and Ascending-Four: Weaving the Aggregates-Realms-Sense-Fields, the Limbs of the Path, and the Four Truths into a Net by Number

Climbing on up to the Ascending-Three and the Ascending-Four, the net-eyes grow denser still. The Ascending-Three draws in the three feelings, the three times, the three kinds of awakening-to-the-knowable, and the three eyes — the fleshly eye illumines the manifest and unobstructed forms, the divine eye illumines the manifest-and-unmanifest, obstructed-and-unobstructed forms, and the wisdom-eye illumines all kinds of dharmas, whether form or non-form — and, further, the three knowledges-clear.

The Ascending-Four draws in the whole skeleton-of-bone of the path of cultivation: the four foundations of mindfulness (the treatise says they precisely counteract the "four bonds" of grasping, receiving, discerning, and clinging — the mind is bound toward the body by the bond of grasping, toward feeling by the bond of receiving, toward the object-realm by the bond of discerning, toward the body and the rest by the bond of the afflictions' clinging, and the four foundations of mindfulness are established to counteract them), the four right cuttings-off, the four bases of supernatural power, the four meditative absorptions, the four immeasurables, the four formless [attainments], the four abodes of consciousness, the four foods, the four births (egg, womb, moisture, transformation), and the four deaths. Among these, most worth looking at is "the four kinds of the truly-real that is knowable": the treatise explains them with 「染污品果、彼品因、清淨品果、彼品因」 tr. "the fruit of the defiled category, the cause of that category, the fruit of the clean category, the cause of that category" — this is precisely the cause-and-fruit, defiled-and-clean reading of the four truths of suffering, origin, cessation, and path, and it draws the four truths, too, into the "four" square.

Numbering upward in this way all along, the wisdom-of-hearing gradually weaves a guiding net in hand: which dharmas belong to two, which to three, which to four — the aggregates-realms-sense-fields, the limbs of the path, the four truths, and the emptiness of the three natures each have their landing-place.

One Simile: The Provisionally-Established "Fire" That Turns a Wrong Resolute-Conviction

In the ascending-enumeration passage there is a vivid simile. The Ascending-Three says: 「又有三火……雖實非火，假立火名：一者父母，二者妻子，三者真實應供福田」 tr. "Further, there are three fires … though truly not fire, 'fire' is provisionally set up as their name: first, father-and-mother; second, wife-and-child; third, the true field-of-merit worthy of offerings". It turns out this is for the sake of converting those outsiders who "delight in serving fire" — they hold, with resolute conviction, that serving fire is purity. The Buddha does not hard-break their feeling of service, but instead turns "fire" to point at father-and-mother, wife-and-child, and the field-of-merit worthy of offerings: the "fire" that should truly be served is these three kinds of grace-field and merit-field. By provisionally setting up a "fire"-name, he turns round a wrong resolute-conviction. Reading to this point, the wisdom-of-hearing tastes the skillfulness of the Buddha's exposition of the Dharma — not hard-breaking, but skillfully turning.

Carrying Forward

What the ascending-enumeration gate sets up is a single "net of the knowable" for the wisdom-of-hearing: from two up to ten, it takes the aggregates-realms-sense-fields, the limbs of the path, the four truths, and the emptiness of the three natures that the Buddha expounds, and by number weaves them into a graspable set of guiding threads. Some eyes of the net the treatise itself marks as broadly explained elsewhere — the four foods will be 「攝事分中當廣分別」 tr. "broadly analyzed in the Section on the Gathering of Matters," and the nine-aspect abiding of mind and the selecting-and-discerning of the various dharmas by six matters will be 「如聲聞地當廣分別」 tr. "broadly analyzed as in the Śrāvaka Stage": here the wisdom-of-hearing weaves the net and marks the eyes, and the wisdom-of-cultivation, following the marked eyes, broadens its practice. The later treatises of the matching-of-dharmas (the Abhidharma-samuccaya, the Abhidharma-samuccaya-vyākhyā) carry forward this very body of ascending-enumeration gathering-of-dharmas; the various treatises of Consciousness-Only, for their part, carry forward the deep teaching of the three natures and of emptiness at which the Ascending-Two points.