瑜伽師地論 思所成地 · 體義伽他 · 第十段「貪」

The Body-Meaning Verses, Section Ten · four verses (again treating craving · first the asking · then the answering · then the conclusion · last the counteracting removal).

In one line: The "Craving" section (its second round) uses the "three phases" (householder / gone-forth / seclusion) to light up the marks of craving, hatred, gladness, grief, hair-on-end, and ranging thought; it tells craving's birth by the nyagrodha tree (the shared condition of moistening craving · the particular condition of one's own seed) and craving's binding by the māluvā vine (the binding of the forest); and it closes, with "come to know the conditioned-born is impermanent → cast off and vomit forth," by telling craving's untying.

Three Points of the Eye

1. The three phases, portrait of beings: the phase of the householder (craving toward an agreeable object · hatred toward a disagreeable object) · the phase of one gone forth (going forth on a fleeting impulse, then calling to mind wealth and treasure in grief · going forth for a living, then craving gain and honor in gladness) · the phase of seclusion (the right-faithed one dwelling at leisure, met with thunder, hail, tigers, and non-humans, frightened until the hairs stand on end · by day raising the ranging thoughts of desire). "As an infant clings to its wet-nurse" (ranging thought clinging to objects).
2. Two similes: birth and binding. The nyagrodha tree — moisture = the water of craving (the shared condition · all craving and hatred are moisture-born of it) · self = the seed-nature, element by element and severally distinct, of which craving and hatred come first and ranging thought after (the particular condition); a single tree puts forth many trees (the shared and the particular conditions). The māluvā vine — the vine twines about the trees of the forest, figuring craving's several binding of the six kinds of several desire (household / making-a-living / past-and-future objects-of-desire + the self-body and the sustaining of life · dust-and-night · the daytime afflictive desires).
3. The untying: come to know the conditioned-born is impermanent → vomit it forth and cross the flood. Knowing, as it really is, the cause and condition of craving-and-hatred, together with the impermanence of phenomena born of the assembly of conditions → giving rise to no craving-attachment toward whatever arises · casting it off, vomiting it forth, cutting it off; parted from the craving of the two realms of form and formlessness, one crosses the flood of existence · parted from the craving of desire, one crosses the flood of desire · once crossed, no falling back. The craving class (craving / gladness / the ranging thought of relying-upon-and-relishing) · the hatred class (hatred / grief / fright and terror).

Appended · Pointers

The shared condition of moistening craving / the particular condition of the seed → the Consciousness-Only doctrine of seeds; the six several desires and ranging thought → the Śrāvaka Stage; coming to know the conditioned-born is impermanent and vomiting it forth → the counteragent for craving in Section Three (11-03-03). 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 plain language · four verses)

〔A question:〕 "Craving and hatred — what is their cause and condition? By reason of what does one come to be glad, to be grieved, to have the hairs stand on end, to have the mind ranging in thought — clinging as an infant clings to its wet-nurse?" 〔An answer:〕 "〔They come〕 from the 'moisture-born and the self-born,' as with the nyagrodha tree; and 〔craving, hatred, and ranging thought〕 severally bind one to the several desires, as the māluvā 〔vine〕 lies twined amid a forest. This is the cause and condition of craving and hatred; by reason of it one comes to be glad, to be grieved, to have the hairs stand on end, to have the mind ranging in thought, as an infant clings to its wet-nurse." 〔A conclusion:〕 "Come to know those several causes and conditions, and 〔craving and hatred〕, once arisen, may straightway be removed and extinguished; 〔thus〕 one crosses beyond the sea one had never crossed of old, crosses the flood, and is without further existence."

Prose Exposition (in plain language)

What are craving and hatred? Suppose there be a certain person who, dwelling at home, upon meeting together with an agreeable object or an agreeable sentient being, gives rise to craving-attachment; and upon meeting together with a disagreeable object or sentient being, gives rise to hatred.

What are gladness and grief? 〔This is the phase of one gone forth.〕 Suppose there be a certain person who, toward the Dharma and Vinaya realized by the Buddha, abruptly comes to conceive a fleeting right faith; without well examining the gains and losses to come before and after, he suddenly spurs himself on, casts off the householder's way, and sets out for the homeless life. Having gone forth, he dwells mingled together with common folk of the way and of the world, and thereupon, toward the wealth and treasure, the kin and friends, that come and go, he calls them to mind with longing, and grief winds about his heart. Or again suppose there be a certain person who goes forth neither out of right faith nor of his own spurring-on, but is driven and pressed by a king, or on down to being terrified by "the dread of not making a living," and so leaves the household. Having gone forth, at the side of the right-faithed brahmins, householders, and the like, he time and again gains much in the way of gain, honor, and reverence, and conceives a deep relish for it, secretly thinking to himself: "This course of mine is a fine and wondrous thing — with no toil of plowing and sowing, no plying of trade, and little hardship endured, it is enough to keep me alive." Taking such gain, honor, and reverence for his condition, he thereupon, of his own accord, is glad and dwells at ease.

What are the hairs standing on end, and the mind ranging in thought? 〔This is the phase of seclusion.〕 Suppose there be a certain person who, not of his own spurring-on and not for the sake of a living, but out of right faith, forsakes the householder's way and sets out for the homeless life. Having gone forth, he does not dwell mingled together with folk of the way and of the world, but reaches seclusion and dwells quiet and at leisure. While he dwells at leisure, whether amid dust and haze, or in the dark watches of the night, he sees great masses of cloud and hears the crash of thunder, or he meets with hail and rain, with lions, tigers, and leopards, or he suffers the fierce and cunning who rob, plunder, and carry off, or he encounters non-humans coming to trouble and press upon him — and thereupon he gives rise to fright and terror, and the hairs of his body stand on end. Or, come the daytime, toward the fine desires, the kin and friends, that come and go, he gives rise to all the ranging thoughts of relying-upon-and-relishing 〔them〕: that is, the ranging thought of desire, as the scripture sets forth at length, on down to the ranging thought bound up with household and lineage.

How is it "moisture-born and self-born," as with the worldly nyagrodha tree? "Moisture" names the water of craving; by taking this for its condition, it is able to give rise to the several graspings, and craving, hatred, and all the rest, one and all, take this 〔water of craving〕 for their "shared condition." "Self" is just the seed-nature, element by element and severally distinct, of which "craving and hatred come first, ranging thought after" 〔that is, the "particular condition"〕.

How is it that craving, on down to ranging thought, "severally binds one to the several desires," as with the worldly māluvā 〔vine〕 twining about the trees of a forest? In brief, there are six kinds of "several desire": ① there are "present objects-of-desire fetched by the power of one's own body and hands" (the several desires of the householder) — toward this range of objects, taking this for its condition, craving and hatred arise; ② there are "present objects-of-desire of every kind gained from another" (the several desires of one who has gone forth for the sake of a living) — toward this, taking this for its condition, gladness arises; ③ there are "objects-of-desire past and future" (the several desires of one who has gone forth on a sudden self-spurring) — toward this, taking this for its condition, grief arises; ④ there are "the remaining objects-of-desire of the several afflictions," in brief of two kinds, namely "as to the self-body of the desire realm" and "as to the sustaining of the bodily life"; ⑤ there is "unsevered craving of false discrimination" (the several matters suffered amid dust and night by the right-faithed one dwelling in seclusion) — toward this, taking this for its condition, fright and terror arise, and the hairs of the body stand on end; ⑥ there is "unsevered craving of false discrimination" (this same person, come the daytime, toward outer forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tangibles) — toward this, taking this for its condition, the ranging thoughts of the mental ground arise.

〔The counteracting removal:〕 Again, suppose there be a śramaṇa or a brahmin who comes to know, as they really are, craving and hatred and the rest, and their causes and conditions, as set forth above; and who is further able to know that "phenomena born of the assembly of conditions are of impermanent nature." Then, whatever arises, he gives rise to no craving-attachment toward it, but straightway casts it off, vomits it forth, and cuts it off. Because he is parted from the craving of the two realms of form and formlessness, he crosses "the flood of existence"; because he is parted from the craving of desire, he crosses "the flood of desire" — and this flood that of old he had never crossed, he has now crossed, and there is in the end no falling back.

The Condensed Meaning (in plain language)

Next, let us briefly discern the meaning of what was said above: in this verse the Bhagavat briefly displays the "three phases" — first, the phase of the householder; second, the phase of one gone forth; third, the phase of seclusion. He further briefly displays the craving and the hatred born "of shared and unshared causes and conditions"; the "two kinds of several binding" amid the several desires; and the "means of cutting off" together with the "boon of cutting off." Again: herein, the craving, the gladness, and the ranging thoughts of relying-upon-and-relishing — these one should know to be of the "craving class"; the hatred, the grief, and the fright and terror — these one should know to be of the "hatred class." Such, one should know, is the condensed meaning herein.

Section Ten, four verses — the second time "craving" is treated (the third section already treated it once); this time what is tracked is the "cause and condition" of craving and hatred. The hard points are all put by way of the two plant similes the treatise itself already has.

First, One Question: Craving, Hatred, Gladness, Grief, Hair-on-End, Scattered Thought — Where Do They All Come Out From?

The verse asks it very concretely, and with a picture attached: why does a person come to crave and to hate, to be glad and to grieve, to have "the hairs stand on end" (frightened until the down of the body bristles), and to raise up scattered ranging thoughts, "clinging as an infant clings to its wet-nurse" (clinging to objects as a nursing baby clings to its nurse)? The treatise first lays these feelings out under "three phases," and it comes off as three portraits of those gone forth:

• The phase of the householder: meeting an agreeable object he craves, meeting a disagreeable object he hates (this is craving-and-hatred);
• The phase of one gone forth: one man conceives a fleeting faith and, without thinking it through, goes forth — only to turn back and "call to mind with longing his wealth and treasure and kin, grief winding about his heart"; another goes forth because a king pressed him, or because he feared he could not stay alive, and once gone forth grows attached to gain and honor, secretly reckoning, "with no farming and no trade I can still keep alive — what a fine thing," and so is glad and dwells at ease (this is gladness and grief);
• The phase of seclusion: the man who has truly gone forth out of right faith, dwelling alone in quiet, is instead — amid "dust and haze, the dark of night, thunder and hail, tigers and leopards, the pressing of non-humans" — frightened until the hairs of his body stand straight up, or by day raises ranging thoughts toward the fine desires and the kin of former days (this is hair-on-end and mind-ranging-in-thought).

With the three phases laid out at a stroke, the treatise casts a light that shows the mind-sickness of the practitioner at every stage down to the last hair — even the solitary pure cultivator will, at midnight, be frightened until his hair bristles, and will, by day, think of home.

Two Similes That Say the Whole of Craving's "Shared Condition" and "Particular Condition"

The treatise then uses two exceedingly vivid plant similes to tell how craving and hatred are born and how they bind:

The first simile · the nyagrodha tree (the banyan) — this tells of the "moisture-born and the self-born." "Moisture" is the water of craving, and it is the "shared condition": craving, hatred, and all the afflictions are born only by being moistened by this one pool of craving-water. "Self" is the seed-nature, element by element and severally distinct, of which "craving and hatred come first, ranging thought after," and it is the "particular condition." The ancient masters bring the growing-habit of the banyan to life: the banyan grows from a single seed; its branches grow large, hang down and enter the ground, and there put forth many trees; a bird that has carried off a seed and dropped it into a forking hollow can put forth yet again — "out of a single root-tree are born many trees." What they rely on is one and the same pool of water (the shared condition), each springing from its own seed (the particular condition). Just so is craving-and-hatred: moistened by one and the same craving-water, each comes up out of its own seed, roots interlacing into a whole forest.

The second simile · the māluvā vine (the creeper) — this tells of the "several binding to the several desires." How do craving, hatred, and ranging thought bind a person? The treatise says, "as the māluvā vine twines about the trees of a forest": the trees of the forest are the six kinds of "several desire" (the desires of household affairs, the desires of making a living, the desires of past-and-future, the remaining afflictive desires, the false craving of dust-and-night, the ranging thought of the daytime), and craving is like the creeper, binding these six desires each fast, one by one. A single banyan tells "how craving is born," a single creeper tells "how craving binds" — birth and binding, the two plant similes tell it plain as day.

How Is It Untied? — Come to Know "the Conditioned-Born Is Impermanent," and at That Very Moment Vomit It Forth

The last line of the verse gives the way out: "Come to know its cause and condition, and once arisen it may straightway be removed and extinguished." The treatise makes it good very crisply: if a śramaṇa or brahmin comes to know, as it really is, the cause and condition of craving-and-hatred, and comes further to know that "phenomena born of the assembly of conditions are impermanent," then "whatever arises he gives rise to no craving-attachment toward it, but straightway casts it off, vomits it forth, cuts it off" — parted from the craving of the two realms of form and formlessness he crosses "the flood of existence," parted from the craving of desire he crosses "the flood of desire," and once crossed he never falls back. See through it — that the vine is only a vine, the water only water, all of it conditioned-born and impermanent — and the binding, at that very moment, loosens.

The Point of This Section

The "Craving" section (its second round) uses the "three phases" (householder / gone-forth / seclusion) to light up the portrait of craving, hatred, gladness, grief, hair-on-end, and ranging thought; then, with the nyagrodha tree (the shared condition of moistening craving / the particular condition of one's own seed), it tells craving's "birth," and with the māluvā vine (the binding of the forest), it tells craving's "binding"; and it closes, with "come to know the conditioned-born is impermanent → cast off and vomit forth," by telling craving's "untying." A single banyan tree, a single creeper — these are the two liveliest teaching-props in the whole section.

Carrying Forward

The shared condition of moistening craving / the particular condition of the seed → the Consciousness-Only doctrine of seeds (the principle of shared and particular conditions); the six kinds of several desire · ranging thought → set forth at length in the Śrāvaka Stage; coming to know the conditioned-born is impermanent → vomiting it forth and crossing the flood → the counteragent for craving in Section Three (11-03-03) · the four floods of Section Nine (11-03-09).