瑜伽師地論 思所成地 · 體義伽他 · 第八段「池」

The Body-Meaning Verses, cluster eight · three verses. It asks, "At what does the spring come to rest, along what path does the traffic no longer pass, in what place is the world's suffering-and-pleasure extinguished without remainder?"

In one line: The "Pool" cluster establishes the source-road of suffering and pleasure — "the spring = the six contact-bases (the source welling up craving-water) · the path = the two causes, affliction and karma · suffering-and-pleasure = the present and later life" — and answers that "the forever-extinguishing of the six bases and name-and-form = the nirvāṇa-realm without remaining basis"; ordinary beings lack nothing, the learner lacks yet has not relinquished, the one-beyond-learning both lacks and relinquishes, yet by reason of the remaining basis it still turns again.

Three Points of the Eye

1. The spring = the six contact-bases: the spring-pool gives rise to water and sustains and nourishes, right up until the craving-water is not yet dried up; so too the six inner contact-bases — touched and used by the foolish person's contact with the six sense-fields, giving rise to the various craving-waters. The six contact-bases = the source-spring of suffering and pleasure.
2. The path = two causes · suffering-and-pleasure = two lives: the path is of two kinds = the affliction-path · the karma-path (meant to convey the sense of "cause"). Suffering-and-pleasure = conditioned in the present life by the six contact-bases (comfortable / uncomfortable reception) + conditioned in a later life by good and evil conduct (comfortable / uncomfortable reception).
3. Extinguished without remainder = the nirvāṇa without remaining basis · the three classes' lacking and relinquishing: the forever-extinguishing of the six bases and name-and-form = the nirvāṇa-realm without remaining basis. Ordinary beings (one and all not lacking, nor as yet relinquished) · the learner (lacking yet not relinquished) · the one-beyond-learning (the path and the suffering-and-pleasure to come, both lacking and relinquished, and turning no more; the spring and the suffering-and-pleasure of the present life, both lacking and relinquished, yet by reason of the remaining basis still turning) → it is solely within the nirvāṇa-realm without remaining basis that all is extinguished without remainder.

Appended · Pointers

Name-and-form forever extinguished → cluster two, the cutting off of the craving and conceit toward name-and-form (11-03-02); with remaining basis / without remaining basis → Stage 16 / Stage 17, the two nirvāṇa-realms; the six contact-bases → clusters four and nine, the flood. For the doctrinal exposition, see the Exposition.

The 漢 root text (Xuanzang, T30n1579) is kept as a de-emphasized visual anchor for bilingual readers; the English below renders every word of it in plain, continuous prose.

The Verses (in today's language · three verses)

齊何泉止息？於何逕不通？世間諸苦樂，何處無餘滅？若於是處所，眼耳及與鼻舌身意、名色，永滅盡無餘。齊此泉止息，於斯逕不通，世間諸苦樂，是處無餘滅。

〔Question:〕 "At what does the 'spring' come to rest? Along what 'path' does 〔the traffic〕 no longer pass? The various sufferings and pleasures of the world — in what place are they extinguished without remainder?" 〔Answer:〕 "If at that place the eye, the ear, and the nose, the tongue, the body, the mind, and name-and-form are forever extinguished without remainder — thus far does the 'spring' come to rest, along this 'path' 〔the traffic〕 no longer passes, and the various sufferings and pleasures of the world are, in this place, extinguished without remainder."

Prose Exposition (in today's language)

What is the "spring"? It is the six contact-bases. Why so? It is like a spring-pool, which is able to give rise to the various waters — waters that belong to it and are fit to be touched and used, and which are able to sustain and nourish men and women, great and small, down even to the birds and beasts, right up until 〔the spring-water〕 is not yet altogether dried up 〔and until then does not cease〕. So too the six inner contact-bases: they are touched and used by the "contact with the six sense-fields" of every foolish common person, and they are able to sustain and nourish 〔sentient beings〕, right up until the various "craving-waters" within them are not yet altogether dried up 〔and until then do not cease〕.

What is the "path"? The path is of two kinds: first, the affliction-path; second, the karma-path. Here "path" is meant to convey the sense of "cause."

What are "suffering and pleasure"? Either they arise in the present life, conditioned by the six contact-bases — being either "comfortable reception" (subsumed under pleasant feeling) or "uncomfortable reception" (subsumed under painful feeling); or they arise in a later life, conditioned by the good conduct and the evil conduct that afflictions hold and maintain — being either subsumed under comfortable reception or subsumed under uncomfortable reception.

In what place are these six bases and name-and-form and the rest extinguished without remainder? It is within the "nirvāṇa-realm without remaining basis." If it be the ordinary beings, the spring, the path, and the suffering-and-pleasure are one and all not lacking, nor as yet relinquished. If it be the learners, they are "lacking yet not relinquished." If it be those beyond learning, the "path" and the suffering-and-pleasure yet to come are both lacking and relinquished, and turn 〔operate〕 no more; the "spring" and the suffering-and-pleasure of the present life are both lacking and relinquished — yet by reason of the "remaining basis" they still turn 〔operate〕 again 〔while he yet lives, the six faculties and name-and-form remain〕. Therefore it is said: it is within the "nirvāṇa-realm without remaining basis" that all that is extinguished without remainder.

The Condensed Meaning (in today's language)

Next, one should briefly discern the meaning of what was said above: it briefly shows that "the cause and the suffering-and-pleasure of the present life, and the cause and the suffering-and-pleasure of a later life, are, within the nirvāṇa-realm without remaining basis, all forever extinguished." One should know that this is the condensed meaning herein.

Cluster eight, three verses, one question and one answer; what it asks is where suffering and pleasure are cut off. The hard points are all put in the spring-simile the treatise itself already has.

First, One Question: Suffering and Pleasure Never End — Where Then Is Their "Source"? How Is It Cut Off?

The verses ask it beautifully, using three images: at what does the "spring" come to rest, along what "path" does the traffic no longer pass, in what place is suffering-and-pleasure extinguished? The treatise takes them apart one by one, and the most brilliant of all is the simile of the "spring" —

"What is the spring? It is the six contact-bases." Why should the six contact-bases (the six faculties touching their objects and so making contact) be the "spring"? The treatise's picture is exceedingly vivid: a spring-pool, giving rise to water without cease, and that water in turn sustaining men, women, old and young, and the birds and beasts — so long as the spring is not dried up, the water does not stop. So too the six contact-bases: the foolish person's six faculties touch their objects day after day, "able to sustain and nourish 〔sentient beings〕, right up until the various craving-waters are not yet altogether dried up." The six contact-bases are that spring welling up "craving-water" without cease — so long as one still touches objects and grasps at their marks, craving comes gurgling forth, and suffering-and-pleasure has no end.

The "path," for its part, is of two — the affliction-path and the karma-path; the treatise points out that "path" is precisely the sense of "cause." Affliction and karma are the two causal roads along which suffering-and-pleasure flows and turns. And suffering-and-pleasure itself the treatise divides into the present life and a later life (the comfortable / uncomfortable reception conditioned by the six contact-bases; the comfortable / uncomfortable reception conditioned by the good and evil conduct that afflictions hold and maintain). One spring (the six contact-bases), two paths (affliction and karma), and what flows out is the suffering-and-pleasure of both the present and the later life.

Where Is It Truly Cut Off? — The Nirvāṇa-Realm without Remaining Basis

Where then are "the spring at rest, the path no longer passable, suffering-and-pleasure extinguished"? The verses answer without hesitation: "If at that place the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind, and name-and-form are forever extinguished without remainder" — it is precisely within the nirvāṇa-realm without remaining basis. The treatise further sorts three classes of person, setting out very clearly "to what degree the cutting-off reaches":

• Ordinary beings: the spring, the path, and the suffering-and-pleasure are "one and all not lacking, nor as yet relinquished" (the common person is short of none of it);
• The learners: "lacking yet not relinquished" (the practitioner begins to have a breach, but has not yet relinquished it all);
• Those beyond learning (the arhat): the "path" and the suffering-and-pleasure yet to come are "both lacking and relinquished, and turn no more" — yet the "spring" and the suffering-and-pleasure of the present life, though also both lacking and relinquished, "by reason of the remaining basis still turn again."

This last stroke is of the utmost importance: though the arhat has cut off affliction and karma (the path) and cut off the suffering-and-pleasure of the later life, so long as this one lifetime's material body (the remaining basis) yet remains, that "spring" (the six faculties and name-and-form) still turns — and there will still be the suffering-and-pleasure of the present life. Only when this lifetime's bodily life too is relinquished (the basis without remainder) are the six bases and name-and-form "extinguished without remainder." Therefore the true "spring at rest, path cut off, suffering-and-pleasure extinguished" lies solely within the nirvāṇa-realm without remaining basis. This joins exactly to cluster two's "cutting off the craving and conceit toward name-and-form," and to the later Stage 16 / Stage 17 division of "with remaining basis / without remaining basis."

The Point of This Cluster

The "Pool" cluster, with the three questions of "spring, path, suffering-and-pleasure," points out all at once the source of suffering-and-pleasure (the six contact-bases = the spring), the causal roads (affliction and karma = the path), and the place of its thoroughgoing cutting-off (the nirvāṇa without remaining basis); then, with the difference in "lacking" and "relinquished" among the three classes of ordinary being / learner / one-beyond-learning, it marks out that even the arhat must await the basis-without-remainder before the "spring" is exhausted. The six contact-bases are a spring welling up craving-water — this is the one simile of the whole cluster most worth keeping in mind.

Carrying Forward

The six contact-bases = the spring · name-and-form forever extinguished = without remainder → cluster two, the cutting off of the craving and conceit toward name-and-form (11-03-02) · clusters four and nine, the flood (the six faculties); by reason of the remaining basis it still turns / the basis without remainder is forever extinguished → Stage 16, with remaining basis · Stage 17, the two nirvāṇa-realms without remaining basis; the affliction-path and the karma-path = cause → the two-cause teaching of the later treatises.