瑜伽師地論 聲聞地 · 第二瑜伽處 · 補特伽羅

The First Yoga-Station spoke of the "path"; the Second Yoga-Station shifts to asking after the "person": the ones who walk the path — what kind of pudgala are they? The point of the eye: the twenty-eight persons are a single whole-course map of the śrāvaka's cultivation-and-realization; and the ground-stock of their afflictions is precisely the target that the next passage, "the object," sets out to counteract.

In one line: The Second Yoga-Station opens by setting out eighteen subjects (the person · establishment · the object · instruction · training · the dharmas conducive to training · ruin · yoga · attention · the yoga practitioner · doing · cultivation · fruit · the alternate names · the one who takes up the destinies · cause · the deeds of Māra · the fruitless), and directly expounds the first two — the twenty-eight classifications of the person (dull-and-sharp faculties → predominant craving, hatred, delusion, conceit, discursive thought / even-balance / thin-dust-nature → coursing-toward and abiding-in-a-fruit / following-through-faith and following-the-dharma / convinced-through-faith and arrived-at-seeing / body-witness → at-most-seven-returns / household-to-household / single-interval → the non-returner's five parinirvāṇas 〔in the interim · upon being born · without exertion · with exertion · flowing upward〕 → liberated-at-times / of-the-unshakable-dharma / liberated-by-wisdom / liberated-in-both-parts) and the establishment by eleven differentiations (faculties · assembly · practice · vow · mode of coursing · path-and-fruit · preparatory effort · concentration · birth · regression-and-non-regression · obstruction); once the "person" is made clear, only then does the object below have its target for counteracting.

Three Points of the Eye

1. The twenty-eight persons = the whole-course map of the śrāvaka path: the innate stock (faculties dull-or-sharp · the five predominances / even-balance / thin-dust-nature) marks the starting-point → toward-the-fruit (the four coursings-toward and four fruits · following-through-faith and following-the-dharma as the two roads before the path of seeing · at touching the fruit they change name to convinced-through-faith and arrived-at-seeing, one titled from the faith-faculty, one from the wisdom-faculty · the body-witness has gained the eight liberations but not yet exhausted the outflows) marks the advance → the non-returner's five parinirvāṇas (in the interim / upon being born / without exertion / with exertion / flowing upward) divide finely the realizing-through-undergoing-birth → the arhat's two contrasts (regression-and-non-regression = liberated-at-times / of-the-unshakable-dharma · obstruction-difference = liberated-by-wisdom 〔liberated only from the affliction-obstruction〕 / liberated-in-both-parts 〔liberated from the concentration-obstruction as well〕) mark the ultimate. One passage gathers in the whole — before and after the path of seeing, the desire and form realms, with-remaining-basis and without 〔T30 0424a–0426b〕.

2. The three similes of parinirvāṇa-in-the-interim + the vow can shift, the lineage cannot (the doctrinal eye): parinirvāṇa-in-the-interim = reaching parinirvāṇa in the intermediate-existence station, for which the treatise-text itself strikes three sparks in three degrees of speed — the tiny sliver of kindling-fire whose faint spark barely leaps up and dies / the lump-ingot of iron from which sparks flow and die out before falling / the hot iron from which sparks fall and die away before reaching the ground 〔T30 0425a〕 (the three similes are struck by the treatise-text itself; Dunlun and Kuiji do not restate them · Dunlun separately cites the Saṃyukta-Abhidharma-hṛdaya's three kinds of parinirvāṇa-in-the-interim, T42 0443a · recorded only). The differentiation of vow: the vow can be shifted and cast off · the lineage is determinedly unable to be shifted 〔T30 0426a〕 — inheriting the Stage of Lineage's "the natural lineage is inherently present"; the Śrāvaka Stage takes up only the person of the śrāvaka-vehicle vow and the śrāvaka lineage.

3. First establish the person, then counteract (opening onto the object below): the differentiation of practice finely delineates the marks of the five practitioners (the craving-practitioner smiles and is deeply attached to the goods of livelihood · the hatred-practitioner withered-and-dry, given to much hatred and envy · the delusion-practitioner dim-and-dull, using his hands in place of speech · the conceit-practitioner exalting himself and slighting others · the discursive-thought-practitioner drifting-and-flighty, fond of idle proliferation 〔T30 0424c–0425c〕 · the ancient masters' eye, "the object subdues the mind, and it is not that the mind is able to subdue the object," Dunlun T42 0444a / Kuiji T43 0113a); this fivefold practice-nature is exactly what the five mind-stilling contemplations of purifying practice in 13-02-02 counteract (the impure as the counter to craving · loving-kindness-and-pity to hatred · dependent origination to delusion · the differentiation of elements to conceit · mindfulness of breathing to discursive thought). The Tripiṭaka-master judges the eleven differentiations as "not exceeding nine" (assembly belongs to practice · the mode of coursing to path-and-fruit 〔T42 0444a〕).

Appended note: the person carries forward the persons accomplished by the First Yoga-Station (lineage · entering-in · departure); it opens onto the counteracting object below. The lineage that cannot be shifted → the Stage of Lineage (13-01-01); the concentration-obstruction of parinirvāṇa-in-the-interim / flowing-upward / the two liberations → the Stage of Meditative Equipoise (Stage 06). The ancient masters in two postures: Dunlun's Notes, fascicle six, latter part 〔T42 0442b03–0444b14 · the nine grades of severing-and-moistening for household-to-household · Tai citing Nanda / Śīlabhadra · the questions-and-answers of Xuanzang and Xing · the single-interval's Sanskrit ekavīcika · the collation of the counts of the person across treatises: the Abhidharma-samuccaya 27 / the Xianyang 29 / the Nyāyānusāra 27 · Master Juàn / the Tripiṭaka-master〕 glosses each person in detail; Kuiji's Concise Compendium, fascicle eight 〔T43 0113a17–0114a02〕 is largely without exposition (glossing only the seven-returns person / household-to-household and single-interval / liberated-at-times / the enwrapment-of-craving abiding in the body · declaring for himself that he abbreviates and does not gloss the even-portion and the thin-dust). The doctrinal opening-up is found in the 〈Exposition〉.

The Second Yoga-Station opens. First, a "topic-heading uddāna" sets out the eighteen subjects that will be expounded at length in this station; then it directly expounds the first two — the twenty-eight classifications of the person, and the establishment of the person by eleven differentiating principles. Names are kept as of old (person = pudgala, "the one who repeatedly takes up the destinies," the human being; stream-enterer · once-returner · non-returner · arhat = the four fruits of the śramaṇa). Rendered clause by clause into today's language, without adding doctrine, without citing treatises, without annotating Sanskrit; where the treatise-text compresses, what it abbreviates is supplied back in 〔brackets〕.

〔Within the Basic Section, the Śrāvaka Stage, the thirteenth · the first part of the Second Yoga-Station〕

Opening: The Eighteen Subjects This Station Will Expound

Question: Within the "stage of departure" that was raised and shown in the earlier First Yoga-Station, how many classifications of persons can attain departure? And — how is the person established? What is the object? What is instruction? What is training? What are the dharmas conducive to training? What is the ruin of yoga? What is yoga? What is attention? What is the yoga practitioner, and how many kinds of doing does the yoga practitioner have? What is the cultivation of yoga? What is the fruit of cultivation? How many alternate designations (different names) are there for the person? How many persons are there? How many causes and conditions are there for establishing the person? How many kinds of Māra, and how many deeds of Māra, are there? What is "setting out in vain, without fruit" (laboring to no purpose, giving rise to the pursuit yet accomplishing nothing)?

The uddāna (the summary verse) says:

　　The persons, their establishment, the object, instruction,
　　training, the dharmas conducive to training, ruin, yoga, attention,
　　the yoga practitioner, doing, cultivation, fruit, the alternate names, the one who takes up the destinies,
　　cause, the deeds of Māra, and the fruitless — all these will be expounded at length one by one.

〔What follows first expounds the first two subjects: the classifications of the person, and the establishment of the person.〕

One · The Twenty-Eight Classifications of the Person

The differences in the classification of the person are of twenty-eight kinds. Which twenty-eight? They are: one of dull faculties, one of sharp faculties, one in whom craving is predominant, one in whom hatred is predominant, one in whom delusion is predominant, one in whom conceit is predominant, one in whom discursive thought is predominant, one who has attained the even balance, one of thin dust-nature, one coursing toward [a fruit], one abiding in a fruit, one who practices by following through faith, one who practices by following the dharma, one who is convinced through faith, one who has arrived at seeing, one who is a body-witness, one who has at most seven returns of existence, one who is "household-to-household," one who has a single interval, one who reaches parinirvāṇa in the interim, one who reaches parinirvāṇa upon being born, one who reaches parinirvāṇa without exertion, one who reaches parinirvāṇa with exertion, one who flows upward, one liberated at [certain] times, one of the unshakable dharma, one liberated by wisdom, and one liberated in both parts.

1. The person of dull faculties: that is, there is a kind of person who has achieved dull faculties, whose understanding operates, with respect to the matters that ought to be known, sluggishly and feebly (as already stated earlier). This is again of two kinds, whose marks should be known: first, one who is by original lineage of dull faculties; second, one who has not yet well cultivated the faculties.

2. The person of sharp faculties: that is, there is a kind of person who has achieved sharp faculties, whose understanding operates, with respect to the matters that ought to be known, neither sluggishly nor feebly (as already stated). This too is of two kinds: first, one who is by original lineage of sharp faculties; second, one who has already well cultivated the faculties.

3. The person in whom craving is predominant: that is, there is a kind of person who, in his various past other lives, has already cultivated, already practiced, already much cultivated the affliction of craving; by this cause and condition, in the present life, toward the things that are craved, he has sharp craving and long-lasting craving. This is named the person in whom craving is predominant.

4. The person in whom hatred is predominant: that is, one who in his past other lives has already cultivated, already practiced, already much cultivated the affliction of hatred; by this cause and condition, in the present life, toward the things that are hated, he has sharp hatred and long-lasting hatred. This is named the person in whom hatred is predominant.

5. The person in whom delusion is predominant: that is, one who in his past other lives has already cultivated, already practiced, already much cultivated the affliction of delusion; by this cause and condition, in the present life, toward the things about which he is deluded, he has sharp delusion and long-lasting delusion. This is named the person in whom delusion is predominant.

6. The person in whom conceit is predominant: that is, one who in his past other lives has already cultivated, already practiced, already much cultivated the affliction of conceit; by this cause and condition, in the present life, toward the things about which he is conceited, he has sharp conceit and long-lasting conceit. This is named the person in whom conceit is predominant.

7. The person in whom discursive thought is predominant: that is, one who in his past other lives has already cultivated, already practiced, already much cultivated discursive thought; by this cause and condition, in the present life, toward the things that are discursively thought about, he has sharp discursive thought and long-lasting discursive thought. This is named the person in whom discursive thought is predominant.

8. The person who has attained the even balance: that is, there is a kind of person who, in his past other lives, did not cultivate, did not practice, did not much cultivate craving, hatred, delusion, conceit, and discursive thought, yet who also did not once see their fault and danger, was not able to become weary of and undo them, and did not well investigate them. By this cause and condition, toward the things craved, hated, deluded about, conceited about, and discursively thought about, although he has no sharp craving and no long-lasting craving, still, when he faces those things, craving does yet arise into activity (craving and the other four are all present evenly, neither predominant nor suppressed-and-severed). As it is with craving, so it is with hatred, delusion, conceit, and discursive thought. This is named the person who has attained the even balance.

9. The person of thin dust-nature: that is, there is a kind of person who, in his past other lives, did not cultivate, did not practice, did not much cultivate the affliction of craving, yet who has already been able to see much of its fault and danger, has already been able to become weary of and undo it, and has already well investigated it. By this cause and condition, in the present life, when the things craved appear before him, among the many fine, superior-grade objects he raises only a slight and inferior craving; toward middling-grade and lower-grade objects, craving does not arise at all. As it is with craving, so it should be known with hatred, delusion, conceit, and discursive thought. This is named the person of thin dust-nature (the dust and grime of affliction being thin).

10. The person coursing toward [a fruit]: that is, the person who courses along the four coursings-toward. Which four coursings-toward? First, the coursing toward the fruit of stream-entry; second, the coursing toward the fruit of once-returning; third, the coursing toward the fruit of non-returning; fourth, the coursing toward the fruit of arhatship. This is named the person coursing toward [a fruit].

11. The person abiding in a fruit: that is, the person who abides in the four fruits. Which four fruits? First, the fruit of stream-entry; second, the fruit of once-returning; third, the fruit of non-returning; fourth, the fruit of arhatship. This is named the person abiding in a fruit.

12. The person who practices by following through faith: that is, there is a kind of person who requests instruction and admonition from another, and by that strength cultivates-and-realizes the practice toward the fruit; he does not, by the dharma that he has himself heard, received, brought to a conclusion, thought over, weighed, and examined, having his own competence and his own force, practice by following the dharma — but only, following after another, practices out of faith. This is named the person who practices by following through faith.

13. The person who practices by following the dharma: that is, there is a kind of person who is able, by the dharma that he has himself heard, received, brought to a conclusion, thought over, weighed, and examined, having his own competence and his own force, to practice by following the dharma, and who need not request instruction and admonition from another in order to cultivate-and-realize the practice toward the fruit. This is named the person who practices by following the dharma.

14. The person convinced through faith: that is, that person who practices by following through faith, at the time when — through another's instruction and admonition — he reaches and gains the touching-realization of a śramaṇa-fruit, is then named the person convinced through faith.

15. The person who has arrived at seeing: that is, that person who practices by following the dharma, at the time when he reaches and gains the touching-realization of a śramaṇa-fruit, is then named the person who has arrived at seeing (having arrived by seeing the truths).

16. The person who is a body-witness: that is, there is a kind of person who, with respect to the eight liberations, is able to enter and emerge in forward and reverse order, and bears witness with the body, abiding in them for the most part, yet has not yet been able to realize the perpetual exhaustion of the outflows. This is named the person who is a body-witness.

17. The person who has at most seven returns of existence: that is, there is a kind of person who has already been able to perpetually sever the three fetters — the view of the transitory collection, the clinging to precepts-and-observances, and doubt — has gained the fruit of stream-entry, and has become one of "the dharma of not-falling" (one who will surely never fall into an evil destiny), determinedly heading toward awakening. He takes birth, going and coming among gods and humans, at most seven times over, and then realizes the limit of suffering (the exhaustion of suffering). This is named the person who has at most seven returns of existence.

18. The person who is "household-to-household": there are two kinds of household-to-household. First, god-household-to-household; second, human-household-to-household. God-household-to-household is one who, in the heavens, is reborn from one household into another household, now going, now coming, and realizes the limit of suffering; human-household-to-household is one who, among humans, is reborn from one household into another household, now going, now coming, and realizes the limit of suffering. It should be known that both of these are stream-enterer persons (ones in the stream-entry station who are nearing the once-returner).

19. The person of a single interval: that is, that once-returner person who, coursing in the coursing toward the fruit of non-returning, has already been able to perpetually sever the superior-grade and middling-grade afflictions of the desire realm, with only the lower grade remaining; needing only to undergo one further existence among the gods of the desire realm, he there reaches parinirvāṇa, and no longer returns to be born in this world. "A single interval" means separated by but a single [life]. This is named the person of a single interval.

20. The person who reaches parinirvāṇa in the interim: there are three kinds of person who reach parinirvāṇa in the interim (all of whom reach parinirvāṇa in the "intermediate existence" station). 　First, there is a kind: after his life ends here, the intermediate existence continues to arise; the moment the intermediate existence arises, he at once reaches parinirvāṇa. Just like a tiny sliver of kindling-fire, whose faint spark has barely leapt up when it thereupon dies away. 　Second, there is a kind: after his life ends here, the intermediate existence continues to arise; after the intermediate existence has arisen, it pauses a little while, and, not yet having headed toward the "existence-of-birth," he reaches parinirvāṇa. Just like a lump-ingot of red-hot iron, blazing and glowing crimson, from which, when it is struck with the hammer, sparks flow forth — the sparks die out before they have fallen. 　Third, there is a kind: after his life ends here, the intermediate existence continues to arise; after the intermediate existence has arisen, it has already headed toward the existence-of-birth, but, not yet having gained the existence-of-birth, he reaches parinirvāṇa. Just like that hot iron, from which, when it is beaten, sparks flow forth — the sparks fall, and, before they have reached the ground, they thereupon die away. 　These three kinds of person who reach parinirvāṇa in the interim are, taken all together, spoken of as one single kind, "the person who reaches parinirvāṇa in the interim."

21. The person who reaches parinirvāṇa upon being born: that is, one who, the very moment he is born into that (form-realm) place, thereupon reaches parinirvāṇa. This is named the person who reaches parinirvāṇa upon being born.

22. The person who reaches parinirvāṇa without exertion: that is, one who, after being born into that place, need not further rouse preparatory effort, does not apply exertion, and undergoes no toil — the noble path becomes manifest of itself and he reaches parinirvāṇa. This is named the person who reaches parinirvāṇa without exertion.

23. The person who reaches parinirvāṇa with exertion: that is, one who, after being born into that place, must rouse preparatory effort, apply great exertion, and pass through extreme toil — only then does the noble path become manifest and he reaches parinirvāṇa. This is named the person who reaches parinirvāṇa with exertion.

24. The person who flows upward: that is, there is a kind of non-returner person who, from here rising to be born into the first meditative absorption, abides there and does not reach parinirvāṇa; from there his life ends, and he again, by turns, rises to be born into each of the further, higher places of birth, up to — either reaching the Highest-of-Form Heaven, or reaching the station of neither-perception-nor-non-perception (only there reaching parinirvāṇa). "Flowing upward" means flowing-and-turning ever upward. This is named the person who flows upward.

25. The person liberated at [certain] times: that is, there is a kind of person who is of dull-faculty lineage, who, with respect to the "abiding in the pleasant state within the present dharma" (the pleasures of the various meditative concentrations) in the world, may possibly regress; or, contemplating self-harm, or guarding his liberation, he rouses himself to diligent cultivation of the practice of non-heedlessness — for the sake of guarding against regression, either abiding merely in the wholesome portion of his own share, or, through a single day and a single night, through instants, moments, and brief spans, striving to advance to the superior, yet still not having realized the utmost, most sharp [non-regression]. "Liberated at times" means that he must await the [right] time and await conditions before he can gain liberation. This is named the person liberated at [certain] times.

26. The person of the unshakable dharma: that is, there is a kind of person who is the opposite of the above (the one liberated at times) — of sharp faculties, and with respect to the abiding in the pleasant state within the present dharma he definitely does not regress; it should be known that this is named the person of the unshakable dharma.

27. The person liberated by wisdom: that is, there is a kind of person who has already been able to realize the perpetual exhaustion of the outflows, but who, with respect to the eight liberations, has not yet been able to bear witness with the body and abide in them in full measure (he has severed only the affliction-obstruction, and has not gained the attainment of cessation). This is named the person liberated by wisdom.

28. The person liberated in both parts: that is, there is a kind of person who has already been able to realize the perpetual exhaustion of the outflows, and who, moreover, with respect to the eight liberations, has already borne witness with the body and abides in them in full measure — with respect to both parts, "the part that is the affliction-obstruction" and "the part that is the liberation-obstruction (the obstruction to meditative attainment)," his mind has gained liberation. Therefore he is named the person liberated in both parts.

Two · The Establishment of the Person by Eleven Differentiating Principles

How is the person established? That is, by eleven differentiating principles it should be known that the person is established. Which eleven differentiating principles? First, the differentiation of faculties; second, the differentiation of assembly; third, the differentiation of practice; fourth, the differentiation of vow; fifth, the differentiation of the mode of coursing; sixth, the differentiation of path-and-fruit; seventh, the differentiation of preparatory effort; eighth, the differentiation of concentration; ninth, the differentiation of birth; tenth, the differentiation of regression and non-regression; eleventh, the differentiation of obstruction.

(1) Establishment by the differentiation of faculties: by the differentiation of the faculties, two kinds of person are established — first, one of dull faculties; second, one of sharp faculties.

(2) Establishment by the differentiation of assembly: by the differentiation of the assembly (one's status within the Saṅgha), seven kinds of person are established — the bhikṣu, the bhikṣuṇī, the śikṣamāṇā (the probationary female trainee), the toil-diligent male (the śrāmaṇera), the toil-diligent female (the śrāmaṇerikā), the male who serves-in-proximity (the upāsaka), and the female who serves-in-proximity (the upāsikā).

(3) Establishment by the differentiation of practice: by the differentiation of practice (one's habitual disposition of affliction), seven kinds of person are established — one in whom craving is predominant is named a "craving-practitioner," one in whom hatred is predominant is named a "hatred-practitioner," one in whom delusion is predominant is named a "delusion-practitioner," one in whom conceit is predominant is named a "conceit-practitioner," one in whom discursive thought is predominant is named a "discursive-thought-practitioner," one who has attained the even balance is named an "even-portion practitioner," and one of thin dust-nature is named a "thin-dust practitioner."

Question: By what mark should the craving-practitioner person be known? Answer: The craving-practitioner person, even toward those slight and inferior things that are craved, is yet able to give rise to the utmost, thick-and-heavy, superior-grade enwrapment of craving — how much more so toward middling-grade and superior-grade objects. And this enwrapment of craving abides within his body, continuing over a long time, binding him along for a long span. Because of the enwrapment of craving, he is subdued by the lovable dharma, yet is not able to subdue that lovable dharma. His faculties are glad-and-cheerful; his faculties are not rigid; his faculties are not harsh; his faculties are not coarse; by nature he does not delight in using evil bodily and verbal deeds to injure and vex others; he is hard to make leave [what he craves], hard to make weary of it; his resolute conviction is low and inferior; the tasks he undertakes are firm and long-enduring, his precepts firm and long-enduring, and he is able to endure and able to bear. Toward the goods of livelihood he is by nature deeply attached, giving rise to deep craving and esteem, with much delight and much cheer; he keeps far from frowning (does not knit his brow), with relaxed countenance and level gaze, smiling and speaking first. By such classes as these, it should be known, this is named the mark of the craving-practitioner.

Question: By what mark should the hatred-practitioner person be known? Answer: The hatred-practitioner person, even toward those slight and inferior things that are hated, is yet able to give rise to the utmost, thick-and-heavy, superior-grade enwrapment of hatred — how much more so toward middling-grade and superior-grade objects. This enwrapment of hatred abides within his body, continuing over a long time, binding him along for a long span. By this enwrapment of hatred, he is subdued by the hateful dharma, and is not able to subdue that hateful dharma. His faculties are withered-and-dry; his faculties are rigid; his faculties are rough-and-harsh; his faculties are coarse-and-parched; by nature he is fond of using evil bodily and verbal deeds to injure and vex others; he is easy to make leave, easy to make weary; he is fierce-and-violent, harsh of mouth, his features angular (severe-and-cutting); he has not much resolute conviction; the tasks he undertakes are not firm, not solid, his precepts not firm, not solid; he does not endure, does not bear; he has much worry and much distress, by nature fond of going against, taking things unaccommodatingly, by nature much given to grief-and-sorrow, by nature fond of coarse speech, harboring much resentment and hatred, his disposition savage-and-cruel, extremely perverse-and-malicious, fond of standing in mutual opposition; getting from another only a few words, he grows greatly incensed and greatly wrathful, abiding haggard-and-wan, prone to giving rise to fury, his brow and face knitted-and-frowning, never with a relaxed countenance, looking askance and downward, and toward others' glory and gain much given to hatred and much given to envy. By such classes as these, it should be known, this is named the mark of the hatred-practitioner.

Question: By what mark should the delusion-practitioner person be known? Answer: The delusion-practitioner person, even toward those slight and inferior things about which he is deluded, is yet able to give rise to the utmost, thick-and-heavy, superior-grade enwrapment of delusion — how much more so toward middling-grade and superior-grade objects. This enwrapment of delusion abides within his body, continuing over a long time, binding him along for a long span. By this enwrapment of delusion, he is subdued by the delusion-inducing dharma, and is not able to subdue that delusion-inducing dharma. His faculties are dim-and-dull; his faculties are stupid-and-benighted; his faculties are frail-and-weak; his bodily deeds are slow, his verbal deeds are slow; what he thinks is ill thought, what he says is ill said, what he does is ill done; he is lazy-and-slack, and does not bring the tasks he starts to completion; his eloquence in speech is thin-and-weak, his nature not sharp-and-quick, his mindfulness much given to forgetting-and-losing, and in his abiding he lacks correct knowing; what he takes up is slanted-and-wrong (crooked-and-perverse); he is hard to make leave, hard to make weary; his resolute conviction is low and inferior; he is dull-and-stupid, mute-and-dumb, using his hands in place of speech; he has no ability to comprehend the meaning of dharmas well-spoken or ill-spoken; he is entangled-and-bound by the object, drawn-and-plundered by others, dispatched-and-ordered about by others. By such classes as these, it should be known, this is named the mark of the delusion-practitioner.

Question: By what mark should the conceit-practitioner person be known? Answer: The conceit-practitioner person, even toward those slight and inferior things about which he is conceited, is yet able to give rise to the utmost, thick-and-heavy, superior-grade enwrapment of conceit — how much more so toward middling-grade and superior-grade objects. This enwrapment of conceit abides within his body, continuing over a long time, binding him along for a long span. Because of the enwrapment of conceit, he is subdued by the conceit-inducing dharma, and is not able to subdue that conceit-inducing dharma. His faculties are agitated-and-stirring; his faculties are held-high; his faculties are scattered-and-distracted; he is diligent in taking delight in adorning his own body, lofty and grand in speech, taking no pleasure in humbling himself; toward his parents, his kin, and his teachers-and-elders he is not able, time and again, to serve them in accord with the dharma; he harbors much haughtiness-and-pride, unwilling with his body to pay homage, to inquire after, to join palms, to go out to meet, or to perform the deeds of harmony-and-reverence; he exalts and raises himself, slighting and belittling others. He takes delight in gains-and-support, delights in respect-and-honor, delights in the worldly praise-and-acclaim of reputation-and-eulogy; what he does is flighty-and-frivolous, and he is fond of making mockery, teasing, and jest; he is hard to make leave, hard to make weary; his resolute conviction is broad-and-vast; his loving-kindness and compassion are slight and inferior; he reckons-and-clings to the views of "a self, a sentient being, one who lives, one who is nourished, a person, one who is born," and the rest, for the most part belonging to the superior grade; he has much enmity and much hatred. By such classes as these, it should be known, this is named the mark of the conceit-practitioner.

Question: By what mark should the discursive-thought-practitioner person be known? Answer: The discursive-thought-practitioner person, even toward those slight and inferior things that are discursively thought about, is yet able to rouse the utmost thick-and-heavy, superior-grade enwrapment of discursive thought — how much more so toward middling-grade and superior-grade objects. This enwrapment of discursive thought abides within his body, continuing over a long time, binding him along for a long span. Because of this enwrapment, he is subdued by the dharma that is discursively thought about, and is not able to subdue that dharma discursively thought about. His faculties do not stay put; his faculties are drifting-and-flighty; his faculties are agitated-and-stirring; his faculties are scattered-and-distracted; his bodily deeds are mistaken-and-erring, his verbal deeds mistaken-and-erring; he is hard to make leave, hard to make weary; he is fond of idle proliferation, delighting in idle proliferation; he has much bewilderment, much doubt, and harbors much wishful desire; his precepts are not firm, not settled, his tasks not firm, not settled; he harbors much dread-and-anxiety, his mindfulness much given to forgetting-and-losing, taking no delight in seclusion, much delighting in scattered-agitation; toward the world's various fine matters he goes drifting and turning along with craving and desire; and yet he is briskly diligent without slackness, bringing to completion the tasks he starts (his energy vigorous yet hard to rein in). By such classes as these, it should be known, this is named the mark of the discursive-thought-practitioner.

The above is what is named "the establishment of the person by the differentiation of practice."

(4) Establishment by the differentiation of vow: there may be a person who has already made the right vow in the śrāvaka vehicle, or has already made the right vow in the pratyekabuddha vehicle, or has already made the right vow in the Great Vehicle. It should be known that, among these — if a person has already made the right vow in the śrāvaka vehicle, he may be of the śrāvaka lineage, or of the pratyekabuddha lineage, or of the Great-Vehicle lineage; if he has already made the right vow toward pratyekabuddha awakening, he may be of the pratyekabuddha lineage, or of the śrāvaka lineage, or of the Great-Vehicle lineage; if he has already made the right vow in the Great Vehicle, he may be of the Great-Vehicle lineage, or of the pratyekabuddha lineage, or of the śrāvaka lineage (vow and lineage do not necessarily match). But if a person of the śrāvaka lineage has already made the right vow toward pratyekabuddha awakening, or toward unsurpassed perfect awakening — being of the śrāvaka lineage, he will later determinedly still cast off that vow, and will in the end surely abide only in the śrāvaka-vehicle vow; and it should be known that it is likewise for the person of the pratyekabuddha-vehicle lineage and of the Great-Vehicle lineage. Therefore, among these, for all these persons, the "vow" can be shifted and can be cast off, but the "lineage" is determinedly unable to be shifted, unable to be cast off. In the present sense here, it should be known that only the person "who has already made the right vow in the śrāvaka vehicle, and is of the śrāvaka lineage" is being spoken of. This is named the establishment of the person by the differentiation of vow.

(5) Establishment by the differentiation of the mode of coursing: as with the persons raised and shown before, they gain departure by relying on four modes of coursing. Which four? A mode of coursing may be "painful-and-slow in penetration," or "painful-and-swift in penetration," or "pleasant-and-slow in penetration," or "pleasant-and-swift in penetration." It should be known that, among these: if a person of dull-faculty nature has not yet gained a root meditative absorption (cultivating by relying only on the access-concentration and the like), all his modes of coursing are named "painful-and-slow in penetration" (painful to work at, and slow in penetration); if of sharp-faculty nature but not yet having gained a root meditative absorption, it is named "painful-and-swift in penetration" (painful yet swift); if of dull-faculty nature but having already gained a root meditative absorption, it is named "pleasant-and-slow in penetration" (pleasant yet slow); if of sharp-faculty nature and having already gained a root meditative absorption, it is named "pleasant-and-swift in penetration" (pleasant yet swift). This is named the establishment of the person by the differentiation of the mode of coursing.

(6) Establishment by the differentiation of path-and-fruit: that is, the "coursing along the four coursings-toward" and the "abiding in the four fruits." Those coursing along the four coursings-toward: first, the coursing toward the fruit of stream-entry; second, the coursing toward the fruit of once-returning; third, the coursing toward the fruit of non-returning; fourth, the person coursing toward the fruit of arhatship. Those abiding in the four fruits: first, the fruit of stream-entry; second, the fruit of once-returning; third, the fruit of non-returning; fourth, the fruit of arhatship. Those who turn upon the path of coursing-toward are named "ones coursing toward," and by the path of coursing-toward four kinds of person are established; those who have already gained a śramaṇa-fruit are named "ones abiding in a fruit," and by the path-and-fruit four kinds of person are established. This is named the establishment of the person by the differentiation of path-and-fruit.

(7) Establishment by the differentiation of preparatory effort: that is, the person who practices by following through faith and the person who practices by following the dharma. If, following after the faith of a person (another), he diligently cultivates right practice, he is named the person who practices by following through faith; if, toward the dharmas, not awaiting another's condition, following the vinaya (the discipline / rule), he diligently cultivates right practice, he is named the person who practices by following the dharma. This is named the establishment of the person by the differentiation of preparatory effort.

(8) Establishment by the differentiation of concentration: that is, the body-witness person, who, with respect to the eight liberations, has already borne witness with the body and abides in them in full measure, yet has not yet obtained the perpetual exhaustion of the outflows. It should be known that this kind of person, with respect to the eight liberations — "the liberation of one who, possessing form, contemplates forms; the liberation of one who, being inwardly without perception of form, contemplates outward forms; the liberation of the pure, borne witness with the body, abided in in full measure; the liberation of the station of boundless space; the liberation of the station of boundless consciousness; the liberation of the station of nothing-whatever; the liberation of the station of neither-perception-nor-non-perception; the liberation of the cessation of perception-and-feeling" — has already been able to enter and emerge, in forward and reverse order, at will. This is named the establishment of the person by the differentiation of concentration.

(9) Establishment by the differentiation of birth: that is, the person who has at most seven returns of existence, the household-to-household one, the one of a single interval, the one who reaches parinirvāṇa in the interim, the one who reaches parinirvāṇa upon being born, the one who reaches parinirvāṇa without exertion, the one who reaches parinirvāṇa with exertion, and the one who flows upward (all of them established by the mark of the differences in their "undergoing of birth"). This is named the establishment of the person by the differentiation of birth.

(10) Establishment by the differentiation of regression and non-regression: by "regression," the arhat liberated at times is established — he, with respect to the abiding in the pleasant state within the present dharma, may possibly regress; by "non-regression," the arhat of the unshakable dharma is established — he, with respect to the abiding in the pleasant state within the present dharma, definitely does not regress. This is named the establishment of the person by the differentiation of regression and non-regression.

(11) Establishment by the differentiation of obstruction: that is, the arhat liberated by wisdom and the arhat liberated in both parts. The arhat liberated by wisdom is one who has already been liberated from the affliction-obstruction, but not yet liberated from the concentration-obstruction; the arhat liberated in both parts is one who has already been liberated from the affliction-obstruction, and has also already been liberated from the concentration-obstruction, and therefore is spoken of by the name "liberated in both parts." This is named the establishment of the person by the differentiation of obstruction.

By the various differentiating principles raised and shown above, in their proper sequence, it should be known that the person is established in just this way.

The teaching arc: the First Yoga-Station spoke, all the way through, of the "being" of the lineage, the "movement" of entering-in, and the "accomplishment" of departure — it spoke of the path. The Second Yoga-Station shifts to a different way of asking: the ones who walk this path — what kinds of "person" are they? At its opening it first sets out eighteen subjects, the very first of which is "the person" (pudgala, the human being, the one who repeatedly takes up the destinies). In a single breath the treatise lays out twenty-eight kinds of person, and then takes eleven measuring-rules to establish them. The point of the eye is that these twenty-eight persons are in fact a single "whole-course map of persons" for the śrāvaka's cultivation-and-realization; and each one's habitual disposition of affliction is precisely the target that the next passage, "the object," will set out to counteract — first make the person clear, and only then can the counteracting be aimed with precision.

A Different Way of Asking: The Ones Who Walk the Path — What Kind of Person?

The stage of departure has finished expounding a whole śrāvaka path. The moment the Second Yoga-Station opens its mouth, what it asks is not "how is the path cultivated?" but: "within the stage of departure shown before, how many classifications of persons can realize departure?" — turning the lens from "dharma" to "person." The treatise then lists the eighteen subjects this station will expound at length (the person, establishment, the object, instruction, training, the dharmas conducive to training, ruin, yoga, attention, the yoga practitioner, doing, cultivation, fruit, the alternate names, the one who takes up the destinies, cause, the deeds of Māra, the fruitless), gathering them together with a single uddāna, and then directly expounds the first two: the twenty-eight kinds of person, and the eleven measuring-rules that establish these persons.

The Twenty-Eight Persons Are, in Fact, a "Whole-Course Map"

Do not be frightened off by the number twenty-eight. Read it in its natural order and you will find that it is a single line — running from "the starting-point's innate stock" through to "the terminus's ultimate":

Look first at the innate stock: is a person of dull faculties or of sharp faculties (quick or slow in understanding)? Which kind of affliction is predominant in him — is craving, hatred, delusion, conceit, or discursive thought "predominant"? Or is he one of the "even-balance" in whom the five are all level, or one of the "thin dust-nature" whose afflictions are thin? These several kinds mark out the ground-stock each person brings with him before cultivating the path.

Look next at the advance: "coursing toward" and "abiding in a fruit" — coursing along the four coursings-toward (the coursing toward stream-entry, toward once-returning, toward non-returning, toward arhatship), abiding in the four fruits. The one who practices by following through faith and the one who practices by following the dharma are the two roads of persons before the path of seeing: one relies on a teacher and cultivates out of faith, the other relies on himself and cultivates by following the dharma; when they reach the touching-realization of a śramaṇa-fruit, the former changes its name to "convinced through faith," the latter to "arrived at seeing" — one takes its title from the faith-faculty, the other from the wisdom-faculty 〔Dunlun〕. The "body-witness," in turn, is the person who has borne witness to the eight liberations with the body, but who has not yet exhausted the outflows.

Look, finally, at the fine points of the finish, all of which branch out upon this one fruit, "non-returning." The stream-enterer has "at most seven returns of existence," going and coming among gods and humans at most seven times over and then exhausting suffering; the quicker "household-to-household" and "single interval" are persons in the stream-entry and once-returner stations who are nearing the next fruit. Arriving at non-returning, the treatise distinguishes five [modes of] parinirvāṇa: reaching parinirvāṇa in the interim, upon being born, without exertion, with exertion, and by flowing upward — divided out finely according to "where, with how much effort, and how far he goes before he realizes nirvāṇa." Last come the two paired contrasts of the arhat: regression and non-regression (liberated at times / of the unshakable dharma), and liberated by wisdom and liberated in both parts. In one passage of twenty-eight persons, the whole of the śrāvaka's persons — before and after the path of seeing, in the desire realm and the form realm, with remaining basis and without — is gathered in.

A Good Example to Teach With: The Three Sparks of Parinirvāṇa-in-the-Interim

Of the twenty-eight persons, the one with the most vivid image is "parinirvāṇa in the interim" — the non-returner who reaches parinirvāṇa while yet in the "intermediate existence" (the transitional body between this life and the next). Fearing that you will not grasp just how fleeting the "intermediate existence" is, the treatise strikes off three sparks in a row as similes:

The first kind reaches parinirvāṇa the moment the intermediate existence arises — 「如小札火，微星纔舉，即便謝滅」 tr. "like a tiny sliver of kindling-fire, whose faint spark has barely leapt up when it thereupon dies away." The second kind pauses a little, and reaches parinirvāṇa before it has rushed toward the next life — 「如鐵摶鋌，炎熾赫然，鎚鍛星流，未下便滅」 tr. "like a lump-ingot of red-hot iron, blazing and glowing crimson, from which, when it is struck with the hammer, sparks flow forth — the sparks die out before they have fallen." The third kind has already rushed toward the next life, yet reaches parinirvāṇa before it has joined to it — 「如彼熱鐵，椎鍛星流，下未至地，即便謝滅」 tr. "like that hot iron, from which, when it is beaten, sparks flow forth — the sparks fall, and, before they have reached the ground, they thereupon die away."

Three sparks, three degrees of speed — all of them speak of one and the same thing: this kind of person is so short-lived that he need not even join to the next term of life, but settles the matter of birth-and-death right there in the transitional body. (One must note this: these three spark-similes are struck by the treatise-text itself; the ancient masters Dunlun and Kuiji do not, here, restate the three similes. Dunlun separately cites the Saṃyukta-Abhidharma-hṛdaya's three kinds of parinirvāṇa-in-the-interim — "in the desire realm, not far off / at the halfway of the coursing / on the verge of reaching the form realm" — to gloss it: this is a different way of dividing, recorded alongside, not mixed in.)

The Eleven Measuring-Rules: How the Person Is "Established"

Merely listing twenty-eight persons is still not enough; the treatise asks again: on what ground do you divide persons in this way? The answer: by eleven "differentiating principles" — faculties, assembly, practice, vow, mode of coursing, path-and-fruit, preparatory effort, concentration, birth, regression-and-non-regression, obstruction. Each measuring-rule cuts out one group of persons: faculties cut out the two kinds, dull and sharp; assembly cuts out the seven congregations, bhikṣu and bhikṣuṇī down to the male and female who serve-in-proximity; practice cuts out the seven practitioners, craving-practitioner, hatred-practitioner, and so on … all the way to "obstruction," which cuts out the liberated-by-wisdom (liberated only from the affliction-obstruction) and the liberated-in-both-parts (liberated from the concentration-obstruction as well). The Tripiṭaka-master Xuanzang saw through it clearly, saying that these eleven in fact "do not exceed nine" — because the differentiation of assembly can be folded into the differentiation of practice, and the mode of coursing can be folded into path-and-fruit; they are just repetitions 〔Dunlun〕.

Among these eleven measuring-rules there is one that is especially weighty: the differentiation of vow. The treatise says that the "vow" a person makes can be shifted and can be cast off — even if a person of the śrāvaka lineage should for a time make a pratyekabuddha vow or a Great-Vehicle vow, he will later "determinedly still cast off that vow" and in the end return to the śrāvaka vow; but his "lineage" is determinedly unable to be shifted, unable to be cast off. The vow can change; the lineage cannot — this connects right back to what the Stage of Lineage taught, "the natural lineage is inherently present": the seed is a ground-color that cannot be altered. And so at the close of this passage there is a special declaration: within the Śrāvaka Stage, only the person of "the śrāvaka-vehicle vow and the śrāvaka lineage" is taken up to be spoken of.

Why Speak of the "Person" First: The Counteracting Must Have a Target

As for that passage on "the differentiation of practice," the treatise expends great effort in delineating the "marks" of the five practitioners — the craving-practitioner, whose faculties are glad-and-cheerful, who smiles and speaks first, and is deeply attached to the goods of livelihood; the hatred-practitioner, whose faculties are withered-and-dry, whose brow and face are knitted-and-frowning, given to much hatred and much envy; the delusion-practitioner, whose faculties are dim-and-dull, whose mindfulness much forgets-and-loses, who uses his hands in place of speech; the conceit-practitioner, who exalts himself and slights others, delighting in gains-and-support; the discursive-thought-practitioner, whose faculties are drifting-and-flighty, who is fond of idle proliferation. The ancient masters point out the eye of this passage: the one enwrapped in craving is a case where 「為境制伏心，非心能伏境」 tr. "the object subdues the mind, and it is not that the mind is able to subdue the object" — before counteracting, it is the object that leads the mind along, and not the mind that keeps the object in hand 〔Dunlun · Kuiji〕.

To know the ground-stock of a person's afflictions this finely has its purpose: the "five mind-stilling contemplations" of the next passage, "the object" — the impure as the counter to craving, loving-kindness-and-pity as the counter to hatred, the contemplation of natures and of dependent origination as the counter to delusion, the differentiation of elements as the counter to conceit, mindfulness of the in-and-out breath (ānāpāna) as the counter to discursive thought — are precisely a medicine mixed, dose by dose, against these five practitioners. First sort out the patients clearly, and only then can the medicine be prescribed rightly. This is the very sequence by which the Second Yoga-Station sets up the "person" first and speaks of "the object" afterward.

A single śrāvaka path, grown up from the natural seed of the Stage of Lineage, has by this point grown into twenty-eight "persons," each with a name and a mark; and once the persons are made clear, the text below will go on to fit them out with the objects that counteract.

Carrying Forward

This "map of persons" of the Second Yoga-Station is the pivot that carries forward from the First Yoga-Station and opens onward to the counteracting. Carrying forward: the opening question — "within the stage of departure shown before, how many classifications of persons can realize departure" — gathers precisely the practitioners accomplished by the Stage of Lineage ("being"), the Stage of Entering-In ("movement"), and the Stage of Departure ("accomplishment") into twenty-eight kinds of person, each with name and mark; and the differentiation-of-vow line, "the vow can be shifted, the lineage is determinedly unable to be shifted," directly inherits the Stage of Lineage's sense that "the natural lineage is inherently present and cannot be shifted" — which is why the Śrāvaka Stage takes up only the person of the śrāvaka-vehicle vow and the śrāvaka lineage (13-01-01, the Stage of Lineage). Opening onward: the ground-stock of the faculties-and-practice of the twenty-eight persons (the five practice-marks of predominant craving, hatred, delusion, conceit, and discursive thought) is precisely the occasion to be counteracted by the "object," the five mind-stilling contemplations of purifying practice in the next sub-unit — the impure as the counter to craving, loving-kindness-and-pity as the counter to hatred, the contemplation of natures and dependent origination as the counter to delusion, the differentiation of elements as the counter to conceit, mindfulness of the in-and-out breath as the counter to discursive thought (13-02-02); the person is established, and only thereafter is the counteracting aimed with precision. Those among them that touch upon the concentration-grounds of the form and formless realms — parinirvāṇa in the interim (the intermediate existence), flowing upward (to the Highest-of-Form Heaven / neither-perception-nor-non-perception), the body-witness and the liberated-in-both-parts (the eight liberations · the concentration-obstruction) — are to be cross-read with the Stage of Meditative Equipoise: the "concentration-obstruction" that the liberated-in-both-parts liberates himself from is exactly what that stage counteracts (Stage 06, the Stage of Meditative Equipoise). A single passage on the classifications of the person, carrying forward the one thread of the lineage above and opening the counteracting object below, is the opening move of the Second Yoga-Station's sequence of "first establish the person, then expound the dharma."