瑜伽師地論 聲聞地 · 第二瑜伽處 · 善巧淨惑＋修學六科

Complete the objects (skillfulness cures dullness · affliction-purifying severs affliction · the four kinds of object told out), then set up the skeleton of training (instruction · the trainings · conformity · ruin · yoga · attention). The point of the eye: the spine = the three higher trainings (discipline, concentration, wisdom) — the master-outline of the śrāvaka path, and the ground on which the later Consciousness-Only path of cultivation rests.

In one line: The latter two objects — the skillfulness objects (five: aggregates, elements, sense-fields, dependent origination, the possible-and-impossible · gathering into the two, intrinsic and common characteristics · skillfulness in the aggregates: "only aggregates are to be found · apart from the aggregates there is no self," breaking self-grasping) and the affliction-purifying objects (the mundane path contemplates coarse-and-peaceful and subdues affliction · the supramundane path contemplates the four truths and severs affliction · the four-truths-four-sickness simile); the four kinds of object are told out. The six rubrics of training — instruction (four instructions + three miracles) · the three higher trainings (discipline "establishes concentration" · mind "is that on which knowledge rests" · wisdom "discerns what is to be done" · the chain of the fruits of discipline · the two senses of "higher," that-toward-which-one-tends / the most excellent · three faculties · three doors of liberation) · the factors conducive to training (ten contrary · ten conceptions · four lights) · the ruining of yoga (four · the "semblance of the true Dharma" caution against wrong conduct) · the four yogas (trust, aspiration, effort, skillful means · sixteen) · the four attentions (forcing / with-intervals / without-interval / effortless · + four aspects · nine resolute convictions · three kinds of yoga-practitioner).

Three Points of the Eye

1. The three higher trainings = the master-outline of discipline-concentration-wisdom (the spine · the ground of what comes later) 〔T30 0435c–0436b〕: why only three = discipline "establishes concentration" (brings the mind to a single object, touches samādhi) · mind "is that on which knowledge rests" (right concentration brings true knowing-and-seeing) · wisdom "discerns what is to be done" (realizes the final severance of affliction). The order = the chain of the fruits of discipline (pure śīla → freedom from worry and regret → gladness → ease and joy → right concentration → knowing-and-seeing as it truly is → disenchantment → freedom from defilement → liberation → the actionless nirvāṇa). "Higher" = the sense of that-toward-which-one-tends (cultivate the lower training to tend toward the upper) + the sense of the most excellent (belonging to the holy teaching alone, not held in common with the outer paths). One who has wisdom necessarily possesses all three trainings (wisdom is the highest term · discipline and concentration the foundation). Three faculties (I-shall-come-to-know-the-unknown / already-knowing / endowed-with-knowing) · three doors of liberation (emptiness / wishlessness / marklessness). → This is the master-outline on which the Hundred Dharmas, the Thirty Verses, and even the five-stage Consciousness-Only path of cultivation rest.

2. Skillfulness breaks the self · the four truths and four similes (curing dullness, severing affliction): skillfulness in the aggregates, three senses (manifold differences · not-one-but-many · apart from these nothing is to be found, "only aggregates are to be found · apart from the aggregates there is no self · not any single dharma is 'mine'" 〔T30 0433c〕) = breaking the view of the transitory collection as a self; elements (cause / seed) · sense-fields (six consciousnesses arise by three conditions) · dependent origination (dharmas drawing forth dharmas, impermanent and without self) · the possible-and-impossible (cause and effect not disordered); gathering into the two skillfulnesses, intrinsic and common characteristics. Affliction-purifying: the mundane path, coarse-and-peaceful (temporary severance · subduing) · the supramundane four truths — suffering like a sickness 〔thoroughly known〕 · origination like the cause of the sickness 〔kept far off〕 · cessation like the state of no-sickness 〔touched-and-realized〕 · the path like a fine medicine 〔cultivated〕 〔T30 0435a〕; the three sufferings (of suffering / of change / of conditioned states).

3. The ruining of yoga · the "semblance of the true Dharma" caution + the buried thread of the store consciousness (caution and the ground-color of Consciousness-Only): the ruining of yoga is fourfold (final 〔without lineage〕 / temporary 〔with lineage〕 / loss of what was attained / wrong conduct); wrong conduct = a forged yoga set up on one's own, not according with the discourses / not appearing in the disciplines / running counter to the nature of dharmas · covered over for the sake of gain and not shown to one versed in the Tripiṭaka · "a semblance of the true Dharma · not the truly true Dharma · able to obstruct the true Dharma" 〔T30 0437c〕 — every yoga is to be checked against the three rulers of the discourses, the disciplines, and the nature of dharmas. The buried thread of the store consciousness: the two glosses of the consciousness-aggregate, "the store consciousness named 'mind' · mentation named 'the deliberating' · the six consciousnesses named 'consciousness,'" and the suffering of conditioned states, "the store consciousness's indifferent feeling is its substance" 〔Dunlun T42 0450a07 · 0451b01〕 — the Śrāvaka Stage's four truths already let show the store consciousness and mentation, one line with "falling into the store, into the element of mentation" in the Stage of Lineage (the ancient masters' Consciousness-Only reading · recorded only · not a one-way inheritance).

Note: skillfulness carries on the all-pervading Hastikakṣya-sūtra's occasion, "dullness toward the intrinsic characteristic → skillfulness in the aggregates"; the affliction-purifying mundane path opens the way to the dispassion of the third yoga-station, the supramundane four truths to the path of seeing; the four attentions / three kinds of yoga-practitioner → the cultivation-of-yoga (13-02-04 the thirty-seven factors of awakening · the four foundations of mindfulness carrying on the sixteen excellent practices of the preceding unit). The ancient masters lean chiefly on Dunlun's Notes on the Treatise, fascicle seven 〔T42 0449c19–0453b23 · the several treatises' varying counts of skillfulness recorded only · the three higher trainings · Jing's countering of the three darknesses by the four lights · the three glosses of the ruining of yoga · the store consciousness's indifferent feeling as the suffering of conditioned states · the masters Jing / Tai / Kuiji / Fa〕; Kuiji's Concise Compendium, fascicle eight 〔T43 0115a03–0115a26〕 is highly abbreviated in its glossing (only the three trainings · a single line on the "loss of what was attained" among the ruinings of yoga; skillfulness / affliction-purifying / instruction / attention, all four, unglossed). The doctrinal opening-out is seen in the 〈Exposition〉.

Continuing from the first two of the four objects (the pervasive object and the purifying-of-conduct object), this unit sets out the latter two objects — the skillfulness objects (the five skillfulnesses: in the aggregates, the elements, the sense-fields, dependent origination, and the possible-and-impossible; these cure delusion) and the affliction-purifying objects (by the mundane path, contemplating the coarse and the calm; by the supramundane path, contemplating the four truths; these sever the afflictions). With this, the four kinds of object are stated in full. Then it goes on, in order, to the six rubrics of the training within the Second Yoga-Station: instruction · the training · dharmas that accord with the training · the ruin of yoga · yoga · attention. The technical terms are left as they stand; every phrase is rendered into today's language, with no doctrinal addition, no citation of treatises, and no annotation of Sanskrit; where the treatise-text is compressed, it is filled back out within 〔…〕.

One · The Skillfulness Objects (Curing Delusion · the Five Skillfulnesses)

What are the skillfulness objects? In brief there are five kinds: first, skill in the aggregates; second, skill in the elements; third, skill in the sense-fields; fourth, skill in dependent origination; fifth, skill in the possible-and-impossible.

(1) Skill in the aggregates. What are the aggregates, and what is skill in the aggregates? There are five aggregates: the form aggregate, feeling aggregate, perception aggregate, formations aggregate, and consciousness aggregate.

What is the form aggregate? All form whatsoever consists of the four great elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—and form derived from those four great elements. All such form is further distinguished as past, future, or present; inner or outer; coarse or fine; inferior or superior; far or near. Taken together, all of it is named the form aggregate.

What is the feeling aggregate? It includes feelings that arise with contact conducive to pleasure as their condition, feelings that arise with contact conducive to pain as their condition, and feelings that arise with contact conducive to neither pain nor pleasure as their condition. It also includes the six bodies of feeling: feeling born of eye-contact, ear-contact, nose-contact, tongue-contact, body-contact, and mind-contact. Taken together, all of these are named the feeling aggregate.

What is the perception aggregate? It includes perception with marks, perception without marks, small perception, vast perception, measureless perception, and the perception of the sphere of nothing-whatever, in which nothing at all is perceived as present. It also includes the six bodies of perception: perception born of eye-contact, ear-contact, nose-contact, tongue-contact, body-contact, and mind-contact. Taken together, all of these are named the perception aggregate.

What is the formations aggregate? It includes the six bodies of volition: volition born of eye-contact, ear-contact, nose-contact, tongue-contact, body-contact, and mind-contact. It also includes all the remaining mental factors apart from feeling and perception. Taken together, all of these are named the formations aggregate.

What is the consciousness aggregate? It is mind, mentation, and consciousness, and it also includes the six bodies of consciousness: eye-, ear-, nose-, tongue-, body-, and mental consciousness. Taken together, all of these are named the consciousness aggregate. The feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness aggregates all have, as does form, the distinctions of past, future, and present; inner and outer; coarse and fine; inferior and superior; far and near. These are what is named the five aggregates.

What is skill in the aggregates? It is to know well the manifold differences among the aggregates, to know that each aggregate is not a single thing but has many classes, and to know that apart from these aggregate-dharmas nothing further can be found or discriminated. This is the meaning of skill in the aggregates stated in brief.

What is their manifold differentiation? The form aggregate is distinct from the feeling aggregate, feeling from perception, perception from formations, and formations from consciousness; each of the five is distinct. This is named manifold differentiation.

What is their character of not being one but many? The form aggregate, for example, is not a single thing but has many classes: the great elements differ from the forms derived from them, and the classes of past, future, present, and so forth also differ. This is the form aggregate's not being one but many. The remaining four aggregates should be understood in the same way, each according to its corresponding distinctions.

What does it mean that apart from these dharmas nothing further can be found or discriminated? Only the aggregates can be found, and only bare events can be found. Apart from the aggregates, no self can be found; no permanent, enduring, unchanging dharma can be found; and not even the least dharma can be found that is truly "mine." Therefore, apart from the aggregates, nothing further can be found or discriminated.

(2) Skill in the elements. What are the elements, and what is skill in the elements? There are eighteen elements: the eye-, form-, and eye-consciousness-elements; the ear-, sound-, and ear-consciousness-elements; the nose-, smell-, and nose-consciousness-elements; the tongue-, taste-, and tongue-consciousness-elements; the body-, tangible-, and body-consciousness-elements; and the mind-, dharma-, and mental-consciousness-elements. These are named the eighteen elements. If one knows as it truly is, accepts, and carefully examines that each of these eighteen dharmas arises and appears from its own distinct element, seed, and lineage, this is named skill in the elements. To know as it truly is that the eighteen dharmas each turn from a distinct element is to become skillful regarding their causes and conditions. Hence it is named skill in the elements.

(3) Skill in the sense-fields. What are the sense-fields, and what is skill in the sense-fields? There are twelve sense-fields: the eye- and form-fields; ear- and sound-fields; nose- and smell-fields; tongue- and taste-fields; body- and tangible-fields; mind- and dharma-fields. These are named the twelve sense-fields.

What is skill in the sense-fields? For eye-consciousness, the eye serves as dominant condition, form as object-condition, and the just-ceased mentation as immediately antecedent condition; these three give rise to eye-consciousness and its associated dharmas. For ear-consciousness, the ear serves as dominant condition, sound as object-condition, and the just-ceased mentation as immediately antecedent condition; these three give rise to ear-consciousness and its associated dharmas. Nose-, tongue-, and body-consciousness arise in the corresponding way. For mental consciousness, mentation serves as immediately antecedent condition, the attention arising now as dominant condition, and dharmas as object-condition; these give rise to mental consciousness and its associated dharmas. Thus the six bodies of consciousness and their associated dharmas all flow through three conditions: dominant condition, object-condition, and immediately antecedent condition. One who becomes skillful regarding the conditions furnished by these inner and outer sense-fields is named skillful in the sense-fields.

(4) Skill in dependent origination. What is dependent origination, and what is skill in dependent origination? Dependent origination is this: ignorance conditions formations; formations condition consciousness; consciousness conditions name-and-form; name-and-form conditions the six sense-fields; the six sense-fields condition contact; contact conditions feeling; feeling conditions craving; craving conditions grasping; grasping conditions becoming; becoming conditions birth; and birth conditions aging and death, thereby amassing this entire great mass of suffering. This is named dependent origination.

What is skill in dependent origination? It is to know that only dharmas moisten dharmas, only dharmas evenly moisten dharmas, and only formations draw forth formations; no agent stands apart from them. Those formations are born from causes and conditions. Originally absent, they come to be; having come to be, they scatter and cease. Their nature is therefore impermanent. Because they are impermanent, they are dharmas subject to birth, aging, sickness, and death, and to sorrow, wasting away, grief, lamentation, distress, pain, and vexation. Because they are subject to birth through vexation, they are suffering. Because they are suffering, they are not under mastery and their power is weak. For this reason, it is certain that there is no self in them. To comprehend these dependently arisen dharmas skillfully in such modes, through knowledge of impermanence, suffering, or no-self, is named skill in dependent origination.

(5) Skill in the possible and impossible. This should be known as a particular differentiation of skill in dependent origination. Through it one rightly understands that the principle of cause and effect is not irregular or uneven: wholesome and unwholesome dharmas each have their distinct maturation. Wholesome dharmas can produce agreeable results of maturation, while unwholesome dharmas can produce disagreeable results. To know this as it truly is is named skill in the possible and impossible.

These five skillfulnesses, in brief, come to two: skill in the particular character (shown by skill in the aggregates) and skill in the common character (shown by the remaining four skillfulnesses). Thus, all together, these are named the skillfulness objects.

Two · The Affliction-Purifying Objects (Severing the Afflictions · the Mundane Path and the Supramundane Path)

What are the affliction-purifying objects? They are the contemplation of "the coarseness of the lower ground and the calmness of the upper ground" — as with the desire-realm set against the first meditative absorption, on up to the sphere of nothing-whatever set against the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.

What is coarseness? Coarseness is of two kinds: first, coarseness of substance; second, coarseness of number.

What is coarseness of substance? Compared with the first absorption, the desire realm has the five aggregates just as the first absorption does, but its faults and troubles are deep and heavy, painful dwelling predominates there, and it is exceedingly inferior and repellent. Therefore, the desire realm is said to be coarse in substance. The first absorption is not like this: it is exceedingly calm and sublime, and so it is said to be calm in substance.

What is coarseness of number? The form aggregate in the desire realm has many distinct classes that must be known and severed. The feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness aggregates likewise have many such classes. Therefore, the desire realm is said to be coarse in number. As each higher ground is compared in turn with the ground below it, both coarseness of substance and coarseness of number should be understood according to what is appropriate. From the desire realm through the sphere of nothing-whatever, every lower ground has more suffering and a shorter lifespan, while every higher ground has less suffering and a longer lifespan. The sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception is only calm and sublime, because no higher ground surpasses it.

In brief, having faults and troubles is the meaning of coarseness. A ground with more faults is named coarse precisely because its faults are more numerous; a ground with fewer faults is named calm precisely because its faults are fewer. This is the affliction-purifying object of the mundane conventional path. Why? The practitioner contemplates the many faults of a lower ground as a disease, a boil, or a poisoned arrow, seeing it as insecure, and therefore regards it as coarse. He contemplates the higher ground as the opposite and therefore regards it as calm. In this way he severs the afflictions of each lower ground in turn, from the desire realm through the sphere of nothing-whatever. Yet this severance is only temporary, not ultimate, because the afflictions will later resume their continuity.

The affliction-purifying object of the supramundane path is of four kinds: first, the noble truth of suffering; second, the noble truth of origination; third, the noble truth of cessation; fourth, the noble truth of the path.

What is the noble truth of suffering? It is the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, death, union with what is hated, separation from what is loved, and not obtaining what one seeks. Stated briefly, it is all the suffering of the five appropriated aggregates. This is named the noble truth of suffering.

What is the noble truth of origination? It is craving, craving for further becoming, craving accompanied by delight and greed, and craving that delights in this or that object. This is named the noble truth of origination.

What is the noble truth of cessation? It is the severance and cessation without remainder of that craving and the other afflictions. This is named the noble truth of cessation.

What is the noble truth of the path? It is the noble path with eight limbs and the other factors of the path. This is named the noble truth of the path.

The four truths are established through the causes and results of the dark and bright classes. Suffering is the result of the dark class, and origination its cause. Cessation is the result of the bright class, and the path its cause, because the path enables one to attain and realize cessation. Suffering is like a disease and must first be fully known. Origination is like the cause of disease and must next be abandoned. Cessation is like freedom from disease and must next be personally realized. The path is like good medicine and must be cultivated repeatedly.

Moreover, the suffering meant by the truth of suffering through the path meant by the truth of the path are just so and real, not otherwise than real; they are undistorted, not distorted. Thus they are called truths. Their own characteristics contain no falsity or deception, and on seeing them an undistorted cognition arises. For this reason they are named truths.

Question: Why are these truths named specifically "noble" truths? Answer: Only noble ones agree that these truths are indeed truths and know and see them as they truly are. Ordinary, childish beings neither know nor see them as they truly are. Therefore these truths are named specifically noble truths. For ordinary beings they are called truths only because their nature is so, not because those beings have awakened to them. For noble ones, both reasons apply: their nature is so, and the noble ones have awakened to them.

Again, the suffering of birth means the various painful bodily and mental feelings that arise at the time of birth. It is not that birth's own substance is itself suffering; birth is called suffering because it is a cause and condition for painful feelings. Aging, sickness, death, union with what is hated, separation from what is loved, and not obtaining what one seeks should be understood in the same way. In the last case, failure to obtain what is sought causes various painful bodily and mental feelings. It is not that failure itself is intrinsically suffering; it is called suffering because it serves as a condition for suffering.

The brief expression "all suffering of the five appropriated aggregates" should be understood as follows. Birth and the other headings directly reveal only the suffering that is suffering. The suffering of the five appropriated aggregates also reveals the other two, the suffering of change and the suffering of conditioned formations. Why? The five appropriated aggregates include all three kinds of feeling. They are therefore a vessel for the suffering already described and also contain the not-yet-explicit suffering of change and suffering of conditioned formations.

Question: Why did the World-Honored One state the suffering that is suffering directly by its own name, while stating the suffering of change and the suffering of conditioned formations through other headings? Answer: Ordinary and noble beings alike immediately recognize the suffering that is suffering as painful. Its nature is also intensely repellent. A person who has not previously trained in wisdom can understand it as soon as it is explained, and direct explanation of it allows beings capable of being tamed and taught to enter the truths more easily. Therefore it is stated directly.

How are the three characteristics of suffering established?

First, the suffering that is suffering. The suffering of birth through the suffering of not obtaining what one seeks reveals painful feeling and the bodily or mental basis on which it depends. Their opposites are the conditions that counteract them: youth counters aging, health counters sickness, life counters death, union with loved ones counters union with the hated, non-separation from the loved counters separation from the loved, and successful fulfillment of one's aim counters not obtaining what one seeks. This establishes the suffering that is suffering.

Second, the suffering of change. The afflictions arising from painful feeling and its basis, together with healthy and other states conducive to pleasant feeling, the pleasant feelings they produce, and the afflictions arising from those states and feelings, are collectively called the suffering of change. Because pleasant feeling and its basis are impermanent, when they change or become otherwise, one undergoes the many sufferings produced under the dominant force of that change. When afflictions arise anywhere, they bind the mind, damage it, and immediately produce suffering. Thus they are called the suffering of change. As the World-Honored One said, "Entering a changed mind, he grasps a woman's hand." Likewise, one who abides in the entanglement of sensual desire experiences bodily and mental grief and pain produced with that entanglement as condition. The same is true of the entanglements of ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and remorse, and doubt. These authoritative teachings reveal both suffering and change within affliction. Therefore afflictions are included in the suffering of change. This is the establishment of the suffering of change.

Third, the suffering of conditioned formations. This suffering pervades all five appropriated aggregates. In brief, after excluding the suffering that is suffering, the suffering of change included in affliction, and the suffering of change included in pleasant feeling and its basis, all remaining aggregates that accompany neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling are named the suffering of conditioned formations. This includes aggregates produced by that feeling, aggregates serving as conditions for its production, and aggregates that serve as the vessel in which it arises and abides. These aggregates are impermanent and associated with arising and ceasing; they bear every form of appropriation, are followed by the coarseness and heaviness of all three feelings, are insecure, cannot escape either the suffering that is suffering or the suffering of change, and do not operate under mastery. Because they are subject to the suffering of conditioned formations, they are called suffering. This establishes the suffering of conditioned formations.

The craving mentioned above is also called longing, eager desire, and delight. This longing operates through three gates: longing for future becoming, and two kinds of longing for objects. Longing for future becoming is named craving for further becoming. Longing for objects has two forms. With regard to an object already obtained, craving accompanies delight and attachment; this is craving accompanied by delight and greed. With regard to an object not yet obtained, craving longs for union with it; this is craving that delights in this or that object.

Cessation is of two kinds: first, cessation of the afflictions; second, cessation of the basis. The path is of two kinds: first, the path of the learner; second, the path of the non-learner. This is named the affliction-purifying object of the supramundane path.

Thus have been stated the four kinds of object: first, the pervasive object; second, the purifying-of-conduct object; third, the skillfulness object; fourth, the affliction-purifying object. 〔The rubric of "the object" is now complete.〕

Three · Instruction (the Four Instructions and the Instruction of Perfect Marks)

What is instruction? Instruction is of four kinds: first, unmistaken instruction; second, gradual instruction; third, instruction by teaching; fourth, instruction by realization.

What is unmistaken instruction? It is to explain the Dharma and its meaning without distortion, causing students to receive and retain it, recite it, and train in it so that they truly emerge, rightly exhaust all suffering, and reach suffering's end. This is named unmistaken instruction.

What is gradual instruction? It is to teach the Dharma and its meaning in accord with the time and the students' capacities: first causing them to receive and recite what is shallow and accessible, and only afterward causing them to train in what is deep and far-reaching. To lead them into the first direct realization of the truths, one first teaches suffering and then origination, cessation, and the path. To lead them into meditative absorption and equipoise, one first teaches the first absorption and then the remaining attainments. Instructions of these kinds are named gradual instruction.

What is instruction by teaching? It is to hear the true teaching from a venerable teacher; from one resembling a venerable teacher, such as a preceptor or ordaining teacher versed in yoga; from the Tathāgatas; or from disciples of the Buddha—and then to teach others exactly what was heard, adding nothing and taking nothing away. This is named instruction by teaching.

What is instruction by realization? It is to use skillful means to teach others the dharmas one has personally attained, touched, and realized while dwelling alone in seclusion, so that they too may attain, touch, and realize them. This is named instruction by realization.

There is also instruction complete in every feature. How is it complete? Through instruction by three miracles: the miracle of spiritual power, the miracle of declaration, and the miracle of admonition. Through the miracle of spiritual power, one manifests various extraordinary fields, causing others to feel profound reverence; because they revere the instructor, they listen to the yoga-attention with great respect. Through the miracle of declaration, one discerns the differences in another person's mental conduct. Through the miracle of admonition, one teaches the true Dharma according to the person's faculties, conduct, and point of entry, and gives correct guidance regarding the practice. Thus the three miracles encompass instruction complete in every feature.

〔Within the Basic Section, the Śrāvaka Stage, the thirteenth, the third [portion] of the Second Yoga-Station — 本地分中聲聞地第十三第二瑜伽處之三〕

Four · The Training (the Three Higher Trainings)

What is the training? There are three higher trainings: first, the higher training in discipline; second, the higher training in mind; third, the higher training in wisdom. 　The higher training in discipline = dwelling in the possession of the precepts, and so forth (as explained at length before). 　The higher training in mind = separated from desires and from evil, unwholesome dharmas, with applied and sustained thought, with the joy-and-pleasure born of seclusion, entering the first meditative absorption and dwelling in its full attainment, on up to being able to enter the fourth meditative absorption and dwell in its full attainment; the formless [attainments] and all the remaining concentrations and equipoises are also all named the higher training in mind. Yet it is in dependence on the meditative absorptions that one can first enter the direct realization of the noble truths and attain the assurance of the right course (this cannot be accomplished by wholly forsaking all the meditative absorptions) — therefore the meditative absorptions are the most excellent, and so [this training] is stated by preference as the higher training in mind. 　The higher training in wisdom = the knowledge-and-vision, as they truly are, of the four noble truths and the like.

Question: Why are there only three trainings, neither fewer nor more? Answer: By reason of the sense of "establishing concentration" (the higher discipline — discipline establishes one-pointedness of mind, causing the mind to touch meditative absorption), the sense of "the basis for knowledge" (the higher mind — right concentration causes true knowledge-and-vision to operate with regard to what is to be known), and the sense of "carrying out what is to be done" (the higher wisdom — pure knowledge-and-vision can realize the ultimate severing of the afflictions; severing the afflictions is one's own aim-and-benefit, is the excellent thing to be done, and beyond this there is no further excellent thing to be done) — therefore there are only three trainings.

Question: Why do the three trainings follow this sequence? Answer: First, discipline being purified, there is then no worry-or-remorse; there being no worry-or-remorse, there is gladness-and-ease; by reason of ease, the mind attains right concentration; the mind being concentrated, one can know-and-see as it truly is; knowing-and-seeing truly, one can give rise to disenchantment; being disenchanted, one is freed from defilement; being free from defilement, one attains liberation; being liberated, one realizes the actionless, ultimate nirvāṇa. Therefore the three trainings follow this sequence.

Question: Why are they named the "higher" discipline, mind, and wisdom? Answer: By reason of "the sense of what it tends toward" and "the sense of being most excellent." The sense of what it tends toward = in order to tend toward the higher mind one cultivates pure discipline (named the higher training in discipline); in order to tend toward the higher wisdom one cultivates the concentrated mind (named the higher training in mind); in order to tend toward the severing of the afflictions one cultivates knowledge-and-vision (named the higher training in wisdom). The sense of being most excellent = these three trainings exist solely within the noble teaching, not in common with the outsiders.

Again, there may be a higher training in mind that draws forth the higher training in wisdom, or a higher training in wisdom that draws forth the higher training in mind (as when a noble disciple who has not yet attained the fundamental meditative absorption first trains in seeing-the-traces, and afterward, in order to sever the afflictions to be severed by the path of cultivation, cultivates the awakening-factor of mindfulness on up to the awakening-factor of equanimity — this is wisdom drawing forth mind). Again: there may be a higher training in discipline without the higher training in mind or wisdom; there may be the higher training in discipline and in mind without wisdom; but there is no "higher training in wisdom without discipline and without mind" — therefore, if there is a higher training in wisdom, it necessarily possesses all three trainings. The yoga practitioner should diligently cultivate these three trainings.

There are also three [types of] person who, in dependence on the three trainings, enter the direct realization of the truths: one not yet separated from desire, one twice-separated from desire, and one already separated from desire — one wholly not-yet-separated from desire, diligently cultivating, enters the direct realization of the truths, and having attained the direct realization, realizes the fruit of stream-entry; one twice-separated from desire realizes the fruit of once-returning; one already separated from desire realizes the fruit of non-returning.

There are also three faculties: the faculty of "wishing-to-know-the-not-yet-known" (one who, not having directly realized the truths, applies himself with diligent cultivation), the faculty of "already-knowing" (one who, having directly realized the truths, still dwells as a learner), and the faculty of "one-who-fully-knows" (the arhat, who has done what was to be done and dwells in the non-learner's station).

There are also three gates of liberation: emptiness, wishlessness, and marklessness. The objects to be known are, in brief, of two kinds — "the existent" and "the non-existent." The existent is further divided into the conditioned (the five aggregates of the three realms) and the unconditioned (nirvāṇa), which, spoken of together, are named "the existent"; whereas if one speaks of a self, a sentient being, a life-holder, a being-that-is-born, and the like, that is "the non-existent." Because one sees the faults and troubles within the conditioned, one has nothing to pray-for; and because one has nothing to pray-for, on this basis is established the gate of liberation of wishlessness; because one has nothing to pray-for [within the conditioned], one then gives rise to a deep prayer for nirvāṇa (seeing it as utterly calm, most sublime, forever emerged-and-released), and on this basis is established the gate of liberation of marklessness; and with regard to the non-existent one neither prays-for nor does-not-pray-for — knowing the non-existent for the non-existent just as it is non-existent, seeing it as non-existent — and on this basis is established the gate of liberation of emptiness.

Five · Dharmas That Accord with the Training (the Ten Contraries · the Ten Concordances · the Ten Perceptions · the Four Illuminations)

What are the dharmas that accord with the training? There are ten kinds of dharma contrary to the training; because they counteract these, there are ten kinds of dharma that accord with the training.

The ten kinds of dharma contrary to the training: first, the lovely form of a woman, young, in the flush of vigor (a superior-grade obstacle to the good man and the rest who are rightly training); second, giving rise to clinging-attachment toward the formations included in the false-view-of-self; third, laziness and slackness; fourth, the false view of self; fifth, clinging-attachment to fine tastes in dependence on morsel-food; sixth, giving rise to desire-craving amid the various worldly idle-proliferations one thinks upon; seventh, the faults and troubles [that arise from] reflecting upon the yoga-attention of the various dharmas — this in turn is of eleven kinds: (1) wavering doubt with regard to the truths, the Jewels, the aggregates, and karma-and-fruit; (2) for one who delights in cultivating severance, the coarse-and-heavy states of the body; (3) for one who is lax and slack, being over-shadowed by dullness-and-drowsiness in the attention to the faults-and-troubles of cultivating tranquillity-and-insight, so that the mind becomes utterly shrunk; (4) for one whose vigor is too fierce, the body wearied and the mind vexed; (5) for one whose vigor is too weak, not attaining excellent advancement, and the wholesome qualities declining; (6) with regard to some small gain, fame, or praise — some one pleasure — giving rise to deep delight; (7) restlessness, the un-calm, leaping-and-agitated turmoil; (8) giving rise to alarm-and-terror at the everlasting-cessation-nirvāṇa of the false-view-of-self; (9) with regard to speech, making immoderate exertion, talking to excess, fond of overpowering [others] and stirring up the means of dispute; (10) with regard to the manifold objects previously seen, heard, and received, the mind galloping, the mind scattering; (11) forcibly sinking into thought where one ought not to think; eighth, giving rise to deep relish-and-clinging amid the pleasure of the meditative absorptions and equipoises; ninth, for one who wishes to realize-and-enter the markless concentration, drifting-and-scattering in accordance with the formations; tenth, when one touches bodily painful feelings on up to the life-robbing painful feeling, craving-and-cherishing one's lifespan and hoping to stay alive, and, following upon this hoping, grieving-lamenting and being confused-and-distressed. These are named the ten kinds of dharma contrary to the training.

The ten perceptions that counteract these ten: first, the perception of the impure; second, the perception of impermanence; third, the perception of impermanence-and-suffering; fourth, the perception of suffering-and-no-self; fifth, the perception of loathing-food; sixth, the perception that the whole world is not to be delighted in; seventh, the perception of light; eighth, the perception of dispassion; ninth, the perception of cessation; tenth, the perception of death. Cultivating these ten perceptions well can sever the ten obstacles, the dharmas contrary to the training. Among them, "the perception of light" is established in dependence on the four illuminations: the illumination of the dharma, the illumination of the meaning, the illumination of tranquillity, and the illumination of insight (in the present sense, the intent is to take up that which can sever "the obstacle of the yoga-attention that reflects upon the various dharmas").

There are also ten kinds of dharma that accord with the training. What are the ten? First, a past cause; second, an accordant teaching; third, application in accord with principle; fourth, what is done uninterruptedly and earnestly; fifth, fierce eager desire; sixth, the power to sustain yoga; seventh, stilling the coarseness and heaviness of body and mind; eighth, repeated examination; ninth, freedom from timidity; tenth, freedom from overweening pride.

What is a past cause? It is that faculties cultivated in the past have matured and the necessary capacities have accumulated.

What is an accordant teaching? It is a teaching that is undistorted and presented in proper sequence.

What is application in accord with principle? It is to practice without distortion exactly as instructed. Such practice gives rise to right view.

What is what is done uninterruptedly and earnestly? Through correct application, one does not let one's life pass vainly without cultivating wholesome qualities, and one rapidly accumulates all such qualities.

What is fierce eager desire? One develops a powerful longing for higher liberation, thinking, "When shall I be able to abide fully in that state, as noble ones abide fully there?"

What is the power to sustain yoga? Two causes enable one to obtain this power: being of sharp faculties by nature and having cultivated continuously for a long time.

What is stilling the coarseness and heaviness of body and mind? When physical weariness produces bodily and mental heaviness, a more relaxed posture stills it. When excessive applied and sustained thought produces bodily and mental heaviness, the means of inwardly calming the mind stills it. When a constricted, weakened mind is entangled in dullness and drowsiness and produces bodily and mental heaviness, a purifying attention based on insight into the higher-wisdom Dharma stills it. When innate afflictions not yet severed produce an afflictive heaviness of body and mind that cannot yet be relinquished, continuous diligent cultivation of the true path stills it.

What is repeated examination? Depending on discipline, one repeatedly examines the bad deed that should not be done and the good deed that should be done. One prevents an uncommitted bad deed from occurring, does not retreat from a good deed not yet performed, relinquishes a bad deed already done, and does not abandon a good deed already done. Through the force of attention examining whether afflictions have or have not been severed, one also repeatedly examines them: knowing them severed, one rejoices; knowing them not severed, one repeatedly and diligently cultivates the true path.

What is freedom from timidity? Because one has not yet known, seen, or realized what must later be known, seen, and realized, timidity may arise, wearying and depleting the mind. Once it arises, one does not cling to it but quickly severs and extinguishes it.

What is freedom from overweening pride? One has no overweening pride regarding what has been attained, touched, or realized and is free from distorted grasping. One forms the thought "attained" only regarding what has truly been attained, "touched" only regarding what has truly been touched, and "realized" only regarding what has truly been realized.

These ten dharmas should be cultivated by yoga practitioners who delight in training. At the beginning, middle, and end they remain constantly accordant and never contrary. Therefore they are named dharmas that accord with the training.

Six · The Ruin of Yoga (Four Kinds)

What is the ruin of yoga? In brief there are four kinds: the final, the temporary, the loss of what was attained, and what is done by wrong conduct. 　Final ruin of yoga = the person without lineage — within whose body there is no dharma able to tend toward nirvāṇa, so that the supramundane yoga is finally lost-and-ruined. 　Temporary ruin of yoga = the person with lineage — within whose body there is a dharma able to tend toward nirvāṇa; though the outer conditions be lacking and a long time pass by, in the end the conditions will surely converge, and he will cultivate yoga and make it manifest, and having cultivated it well he shall attain final nirvāṇa — therefore it is said that his yoga is temporarily lost-and-ruined. 　Ruin of yoga through the loss of what was attained = losing the knowledge, the vision, and the pleasant dwelling one had attained, touched, and realized. 　Ruin of yoga done by wrong conduct = practicing with diligent effort not in accord with right principle, so that though much effort is expended nothing is accomplished: one cannot accomplish any yoga at all, and this is not a wholesome dharma. There is also a certain sort of person: one with many afflictions, of a nature much sullied, yet whose cognition is keen and whose awareness-wisdom is fierce, who possesses inborn awareness and well gathers what he has heard, and who brings his hearing to completion whether it is little or much. He may dwell in a secluded place, where upright householders and renunciants come to him; he teaches them the Dharma and makes their minds glad. He also practices deceit, falsely displaying various tamed-and-good bodily and verbal deeds. Thereby he amasses gain, reverence, and praise, is thought to possess great merit, and obtains various robes, food, bedding, medicines for illness, and bodily requisites. Kings, great ministers, householders, wealthy elders, and merchant-chiefs revere and honor him, all declaring him to be an arhat. Cherishing an intimate affection for the lay and monastic disciples who follow and revolve around him, and wishing to draw in more, he thinks: "These lay and monastic disciples trust and follow me, and all declare me to be an arhat. If they come to question me about yoga-attention, tranquillity, insight, and the like, and, on receiving their question, I cannot answer, they will abandon their faithful inclination toward me and no longer declare me to be an arhat; thereby I shall lose gain and reverence. I should now reflect, weigh, examine, and establish a yoga for myself." Driven by this matter and attached to gain, reverence, and fame, he dwells alone in seclusion and himself carefully reflects, weighs, examines, and establishes a yoga. Yet this yoga "does not accord with the discourses, does not appear in the discipline, and contravenes the nature of dharma." Before monks who hold the three baskets well, he conceals his yoga and is unwilling to reveal it; to his lay and monastic disciples he teaches it privately and secretly, not letting it come to light. Why? He fears that those who hold the three baskets well, on hearing this yoga topic, would test it against the discourses and find that it does not accord with them, illuminate it by the discipline and find that it does not appear there, and examine it by the Dharma and find that it contravenes the nature of dharma. They would therefore not accept it, would challenge him with words of disbelief, dispute with him, and expose him. Kings, great ministers, householders, wealthy elders, and merchant-chiefs would then no longer revere and honor him, and he would no longer obtain robes, food, bedding, medicines for illness, and bodily requisites. Through the predominant force of attachment to gain and reverence, with regard to what is not the Dharma he gives rise to the perception of Dharma, the perception of concealment, and evil desire-and-pleasure, openly revealing and teaching what is not the Dharma as the Dharma. Those who tolerate and approve his view likewise give rise to the perception of Dharma regarding what is not the Dharma and are benighted and dull-witted; though they practice diligently according to his teaching, all of it should be known as wrong conduct. This is named the ruin of yoga done by wrong conduct — "a semblance of the right dharma, not the true right dharma, able to obstruct the right dharma." The yoga practitioner who diligently cultivates the meditative absorptions should rightly and thoroughly know these four kinds of ruin of yoga, and should keep far off from them.

Seven · Yoga (the Four Yogas: Trust, Desire, Vigor, Means)

What is yoga? Yoga is of four kinds. What are the four? First, trust; second, desire; third, vigor; fourth, means.

Trust has two modes and two bases. The two modes are confidence and compliance, and purity. The two bases are examination of the principles of dharmas and confident understanding of a person's spiritual power.

Desire is of four kinds. What are the four? First, desire to attain; second, desire to inquire; third, desire to gather provisions; fourth, desire to accord with yoga. Desire to attain is longing for higher liberation, as explained above. Desire to inquire is this: after longing has arisen, one goes to a monastery and approaches a knowledgeable fellow practitioner who has achieved subtle wisdom in yoga, in order to hear what one has not heard and to bring one's hearing to completion. Desire to gather provisions is the longing to advance in purifying disciplinary restraint and restraint of the faculties, knowing moderation in food, reducing sleep, and dwelling with clear comprehension. Desire to accord with yoga is the longing, delight, and wish to act that arise on the path cultivated through uninterrupted and earnest application.

Vigor is of four kinds. What are the four? First, vigor for hearing; second, vigor for reflection; third, vigor for cultivation; fourth, vigor for purifying obstacles. Vigor for hearing is the diligent, courageous, and decisive application made to hear what has not been heard and to bring what has been heard to completion. Vigor for reflection is to dwell alone in seclusion and reflect on, weigh, and examine the meaning of the Dharma as heard. Vigor for cultivation is to enter quietude and diligently cultivate tranquillity and insight from time to time. Vigor for purifying obstacles is to rouse oneself day and night in walking and seated meditation, cleansing the mind of obstructive dharmas through diligent, courageous, decisive effort.

Means has four successive aspects: through the strengthening power of disciplinary restraint, one guards mindfulness well; through guarding mindfulness well, one becomes heedful, protects the mind, and cultivates wholesome dharmas; through heedfulness, the mind correctly cultivates inward tranquillity and insight into the higher-wisdom Dharma. These form the four aspects of means.

The four classes of yoga contain sixteen kinds in all. First, through trust one develops deep confident understanding of the aim to be attained. Once confident in that aim, one develops eager desire for wholesome dharmas. Through eager desire, one rouses oneself day and night and abides diligent, firm, and courageous. Once vigor has arisen, one embraces the means and can attain what was not attained, touch what was not touched, and realize what was not realized. Therefore these four dharmas are named yoga.

Eight · Attention (the Four Attentions · the Further Four · the Four Aspects · the Nine Resolute Convictions · the Four Tasks · the Three Yoga Practitioners)

What is attention? There are four attentions: attention that operates by forceful exertion, attention that operates with intervals, attention that operates without intervals, and attention that operates effortlessly. 　Attention that operates by forceful exertion = the beginner, causing his mind inwardly to abide-in-equipoise and to settle-in-equipoise, or unmistakenly discerning the dharmas, on up to the point where he has not yet attained the attention he is cultivating: at that time, redoubling his strength, he curbs-and-checks his mind and makes it dwell on a single object. 　Attention that operates with intervals = after he has attained the attention he is cultivating, the apprehending-the-aspect attention that gradually advances along the mundane and supramundane path, which — being intermixed by the "reflection" of meditative absorption — is not yet able to cultivate single-mindedly and purely. 　Attention that operates without intervals = from the apprehending-the-aspect attention onward, up to the culmination-of-effort attention. 　Attention that operates effortlessly = the fruit-of-the-culmination-of-effort attention.

There are also the further four kinds of attention: the accordant attention (giving rise to deep disenchantment-and-abhorrence toward the object, rousing right application, but not yet having severed the afflictions); the counteracting attention (able to sever the afflictions); the attention conducive to purity (when the mind is downcast, taking up a pure-and-sublime mark and rousing it to gladness-and-joy); the attention conducive to contemplation (contemplating whether the afflictions are severed or not yet severed).

Question: When one rightly attends to the object, how many aspects does one reflect upon? Answer: Four aspects — the object-aspect (the image, of the same class as the thing to be known, appearing clearly-and-distinctly); the cause-and-condition-aspect (the amassing of the provisions of meditative absorption, the accordant guidance, the fierce eager desire that co-operates with cultivation, the deep disenchantment-and-abhorrence toward what is to be loathed, the ability thoroughly to know whether one is disturbed or undisturbed, and the not being harassed-and-touched by others (the marks of disturbance being either what a person does, or what a non-person does, or what a sound does, or what exertion does); if insight is chief, then after inwardly shrinking his mind and contemplating with utmost fierce vigor comes the cause-and-condition-aspect; if tranquillity is chief, then after rousing excellent insight and stopping with utmost fierce vigor comes the cause-and-condition-aspect); the aspect to be kept far off (of four kinds: the mark of sinking, which makes the mind inferior-and-low; the mark of restlessness, which makes the mind lifted-up-high; the mark of clinging, which makes the mind give rise to defilement-and-clinging toward the object and stir up disturbance; and the mark of distraction, which makes the mind gallop-and-scatter outwardly and be agitated — as already stated in the Stage of Meditative Equipoise); and the aspect to be cultivated.

Question: When attention gives rise to resolute conviction toward the object, how many resolute convictions are there? Answer: Nine — the resolute conviction that is light-and-clear (with regard to the mark of light, clarifying the mind and taking it up well, so as to be together with light); the resolute conviction that is not light-and-clear (unable to take it up well, so as to be together with murk-and-darkness); the dull resolute conviction (in one of dull faculties); the quick-and-keen resolute conviction (in one of sharp faculties); the small resolute conviction (small confidence-and-desire, and a small object); the vast resolute conviction (vast confidence-and-desire, and a vast object); the measureless resolute conviction (boundless confidence-and-desire, and a boundless object); the pure resolute conviction (already well-cultivated, accomplished, and ultimate in its operation); the impure resolute conviction (not yet well-cultivated, accomplished, or ultimate in its operation).

Question: How many kinds of yoga-task does one who cultivates yoga have? Answer: Four — the cessation of the basis, the transformation of the basis, the thorough knowing of the object, and the delighting in the object. The cessation of the basis and the transformation of the basis = because one diligently cultivates the yoga-attention, the basis co-operating with coarse-and-heavy states gradually ceases, and the basis co-operating with pliancy gradually transforms. The thorough knowing of the object and the delighting in the object = either they take the cessation-and-transformation of the basis as chief (whereby the thorough-knowing-and-delighting-in the object, as dominant condition, causes the cessation-and-transformation of the basis), or they take the purity of the basis as chief (whereby the purity of the basis, as dominant condition, causes the thorough-knowing-and-delighting-in the object to attain a good purity, operating at the time when what is to be done is accomplished).

Question: How many kinds of yoga practitioner are there? Answer: Three — the beginner yoga practitioner, the yoga practitioner already in habitual practice, and the yoga practitioner who has passed beyond attention. 　The beginner yoga practitioner is of two: the beginner with regard to attention (dwelling on a single object, diligently cultivating attention, but not yet having attained the attention to be cultivated, not yet having touched-and-realized one-pointedness of mind), and the beginner with regard to purifying the afflictions (one who, having already realized the attention to be cultivated, wishes to purify his mind of the afflictions and rouses, takes up, and rightly and diligently cultivates the apprehending-the-aspect attention). 　The yoga practitioner already in habitual practice = having, apart from the apprehending-the-aspect attention, well cultivated the remaining attentions on up to the culmination-of-effort attention. 　The yoga practitioner who has passed beyond attention = dwelling in the station of the fruit-of-the-culmination-of-effort attention, having surpassed the attention cultivated by the means-of-effort, and dwelling in the fruit of cultivation. 　Again: from the arising of the eager desire to cultivate the wholesome dharmas, on up to before the wholesome roots conducive to penetration have arisen, one is named a beginner; when the wholesome roots conducive to penetration have arisen (warmth, summit, accordant-acceptance-of-the-truths, the supreme worldly dharma), one is named already in habitual practice; when one has realized-and-entered the assurance of the right course, attained the direct realization of the truths, [being] not [other-dependent] on other conditions, and not carried off by other conditions with regard to the Buddha's noble teaching, one is named having passed beyond attention (having surpassed the attention dependent on other conditions, dwelling in the attention not dependent on other conditions).

Teaching arc: the preceding unit fitted out the "medicine to match the sickness" (the five settling-the-mind objects). This unit first completes the objects — skillfulness (which cures dullness) and affliction-purifying (which severs affliction); with these, the four kinds of object are told out to the end. Then the treatise shifts altitude and lays open the whole skeleton of the matter of "training": how one is instructed (the instruction), what one learns (the three higher trainings), by what one is set in accord (the factors conducive to training), what ruins it (the ruining of yoga), by which powers it goes (the four yogas), and with what manner of attention it is applied (the four attentions). The point of the eye is the spine down the middle — the three higher trainings (discipline, concentration, wisdom): they are not only the master-outline of the śrāvaka path, but the very ground on which the whole of the later Consciousness-Only path of cultivation (equipment → intensified practice → seeing → cultivation → culmination) rests.

Completing the Objects: Skillfulness Cures Dullness, Affliction-Purifying Severs Affliction

The five settling-the-mind objects were "medicine laid down against the five kinds of conduct-nature," but there remain two kinds of object that "cure dullness and affliction alike."

The skillfulness objects cure "dullness" — the five skillfulnesses in aggregates, elements, sense-fields, dependent origination, and the possible-and-impossible. The most crucial is skillfulness in the aggregates: the treatise says that, once one skillfully knows the "manifold differences, the not-one-but-many" of the five aggregates, one must go further and see that "apart from these aggregates, nothing whatever is to be found" — "only aggregates are to be found, only bare events are to be found; apart from the aggregates there is no 'self' to be found, nor anything constant and unchanging to be found, nor is there any single dharma that is 'mine'". In other words, skillfulness in the aggregates is to take the dissecting-knife of the five aggregates and cut away the illusion of "self." Skillfulness in the elements sees that the eighteen elements each arise from their own separate seeds (element = the sense of cause); skillfulness in the sense-fields sees the six consciousnesses flowing on by way of three conditions (the dominant, the object, and the immediately-antecedent-and-equal); skillfulness in dependent origination sees the twelve links as merely dharmas drawing forth dharmas, impermanent and without self; skillfulness in the possible-and-impossible sees that cause and effect are not disordered (the wholesome brings a liked fruit, the unwholesome an unliked fruit). The five skillfulnesses gather down into two: skillfulness in the aggregates manifests "skillfulness in intrinsic characteristics," the other four manifest "skillfulness in common characteristics."

The affliction-purifying objects cure "affliction," and divide into two roads. One is the mundane path: one contemplates the lower ground as "coarse" and the upper as "peaceful" — the desire-realm, set beside the first meditative absorption, is deep in fault, heavy in suffering, its life-span short, and so is "coarse"; the first absorption is utterly peaceful and utterly sublime, and so is "peaceful." Thus, ground by ground, one loathes the lower and delights in the upper, subduing from the desire-realm up to the base of nothing-whatever. But this is only a "temporary severance," not a final one (in a later time it will resume its course). The other is the supramundane path: one contemplates the four noble truths. Here the treatise strikes off a set of easily-remembered sickness-and-cure similes — the truth of suffering is like a sickness (to be thoroughly known), the truth of origination is like the cause-and-condition of the sickness (to be kept far off), the truth of cessation is like the state of no-sickness (to be touched-and-realized), and the truth of the path is like a fine medicine (to be cultivated, cultivated much). It also expounds suffering as threefold: the suffering of suffering (painful feeling itself), the suffering of change (the suffering that arises when pleasant feeling deteriorates and affliction binds the mind), and the suffering of conditioned states (even the neither-painful-nor-pleasant five appropriating-aggregates, being impermanent, gross-and-heavy, and not one's own to command, are of themselves suffering).

Here there is one buried thread worth marking. The ancient master Dunlun says: "If one goes by the gate of true principle, the store consciousness's feeling of indifference is the very substance of the suffering of conditioned states"; and, glossing the consciousness-aggregate's "mind, mentation, and consciousness," he allows that "the store consciousness may be named 'mind,' mentation named 'the deliberating,' and the six consciousnesses named 'consciousness'". The Śrāvaka Stage, in speaking of the four truths and of the consciousness-aggregate, has at bottom already let show the shadow of the store consciousness and of mentation — this is one line with "falling into the store, into the element of mentation" in the Stage of Lineage (13-01-01). (This is the ancient masters' Consciousness-Only reading, recorded here and not taken over as a one-way inheritance.)

With this, all four kinds of object — the all-pervading, the purifying-of-conduct, the skillfulness, and the affliction-purifying — are told out to the end.

The Spine of the Whole Passage: The Three Higher Trainings

The objects told out, the treatise turns into "training." First it says how one is to be instructed (the four instructions: unerring, gradual, teaching, realization, with the "instruction complete in every aspect" of the three miracles added), and then it comes to the spine of the whole passage — the three higher trainings: the higher training in discipline, the higher training in mind, and the higher training in wisdom.

The treatise poses a good question: why are the trainings just three, no more and no fewer? The answer points out the division of labor among the three: discipline "establishes concentration" (keeping the precepts brings the mind to a single object and can touch samādhi); concentration is "that on which knowledge rests" (right concentration causes a true knowing-and-seeing of the thing to be known to arise); and wisdom "discerns what is to be done" (a purified knowing-and-seeing can realize the final severance of affliction, and to sever affliction is the highest self-benefit, than which there is none more excellent). The order of the three, too, is not idly arranged; the treatise gives a fine "chain of the fruits of discipline": pure śīla → freedom from worry and regret → gladness → ease and joy → the mind's attaining of right concentration → knowing-and-seeing as it truly is → disenchantment → freedom from defilement → liberation → the actionless final nirvāṇa. A single chain of cause and effect running from keeping the precepts to nirvāṇa, link engendering link.

Why are they called "higher"? In two senses: the sense of that-toward-which-one-tends (one cultivates the lower training for the sake of tending toward the upper — keeping precepts for the sake of tending toward concentration, cultivating concentration for the sake of tending toward wisdom, cultivating wisdom for the sake of tending toward the severance of affliction), and the sense of the most excellent (these three trainings belong to the Buddha's holy teaching alone, not held in common with the outer paths). The treatise adds one further and pressing line: "one who has discipline does not necessarily have wisdom, but one who has wisdom necessarily possesses all three trainings" — wisdom is the highest term, discipline and concentration its foundation.

These three higher trainings do not only draw the śrāvaka path to a close; they are the whole master-outline of the later Consciousness-Only path of cultivation. What the Hundred Dharmas, the Thirty Verses, and even the path to buddhahood teach — the equipment, the intensified practice, the path of seeing, the path of cultivation, and the culmination — all have their skeleton in this "discipline → concentration → wisdom" higher training. What the Śrāvaka Stage sets up here is a base-map of the path of cultivation running through both the great and the small vehicles. The treatise then, in accordance with the three trainings, distinguishes three persons (not-yet-freed-from-desire / doubly-freed-from-desire / already-freed-from-desire, answering to the stream-enterer / the once-returner / the non-returner), three faculties (the "I-shall-come-to-know-the-unknown," the "already-knowing," and the "endowed-with-knowing"), and three doors of liberation (emptiness / wishlessness / marklessness).

How One Is Set in Accord, How It Comes to Ruin

Merely having the framework of training is not yet enough; the treatise further speaks of the two faces of "conformity" and "ruin."

The factors conducive to training: it first lists ten "factors contrary to training" (women's beauty, clinging attachment to the conditioned, indolence, the view of the transitory collection as a self, craving for fine flavors, worldly frivolous talk, the eleven kinds of fault in pondering the attention of yoga, relishing the pleasure of concentration, dissipation, craving for life…), and then gives the countering "ten conceptions" (the conception of the impure, of impermanence, of the suffering in impermanence, of the no-self in suffering, of loathing food, of the world as not to be delighted in, of light, of dispassion, of cessation, of death). Among them, the "conception of light" is established upon four kinds of light: the light of the Dharma (the wisdom-of-hearing reaching to the taught teaching), the light of the meaning (the wisdom-of-reflection deciding the meaning), the light of tranquillity, and the light of insight. The ancient master Jing puts the point through: when the teaching is dark, one cures it with the wisdom-of-hearing's light of the Dharma; when the meaning is dark, one cures it with the wisdom-of-reflection's light of the meaning; but as for the light of tranquillity-and-insight, here one deliberately "sets it aside and does not take it up" — because tranquillity-and-insight are themselves precisely "the substance of the training," and one cannot take the substance of the training and make of it a tool for countering hindrances. Added to these are ten positive "factors conducive to training" (past causes, conformity to the teaching, application in accordance with principle… freedom from over-weening pride).

The ruining of yoga is of four kinds, and the one most worth reading is the fourth, "that which is done by wrong conduct". Here the treatise all but writes out a cautionary tale: there is one heavy with affliction yet clever, who can preach the Dharma and can draw in offerings, and is honored by people as an arhat; fearing that his disciples will bring true yoga to question him and that, unable to answer, he will lose his offerings, he "makes up a yoga of his own" — but this thing "does not accord with the discourses, does not appear in the disciplines, and runs counter to the nature of dharmas," and so he dares only transmit it in private and dares not show it to one versed in the Tripiṭaka (fearing to be exposed the moment it is checked against sūtra, discipline, and the nature of dharmas). The treatise's one verdict upon it: this is "a semblance of the true Dharma, not the truly true Dharma, able to obstruct the true Dharma." For those who, greedy for name and gain, forge a method of cultivation, this is a demon-revealing mirror — and it warns the practitioner too that every yoga must be checked against the three rulers of the discourses, the disciplines, and the nature of dharmas.

The Practitioner's Gears: The Four Yogas and the Four Attentions

The last two rubrics are the "gears" by which the practitioner operates. The four yogas = trust, aspiration, effort, and skillful means — from trust one deeply gives rise to conviction, from trust one raises glad aspiration, from glad aspiration one goads on effort day and night, from effort one takes up skillful means, and one is able to attain the not-yet-attained and realize the not-yet-realized (each divided into four, sixteen in all). The four attentions = the attention that operates by forcing (the beginner in the work reins in the mind and makes it abide on a single object), the attention that operates with intervals (having gained attention, but broken into by scattered thought, not yet pure), the attention that operates without interval (pure cultivation without break), and the attention that operates effortlessly (the fruit of the culmination of effort · spontaneous and effortless). The treatise further subdivides the four remaining attentions, the four aspects of what is pondered (the object, the cause-and-condition, what is to be kept far off 〔sinking, agitation, attachment, distraction〕, and what is to be cultivated), the nine resolute convictions, and the three kinds of yoga-practitioner (the beginner in the work / one already practiced in conduct / one who has passed beyond attention) — laying out the whole course by which a practitioner, from raw hand to seasoned adept, applies the mind, as a clear stair.

This unit both gathers up "the objects" and sets up the whole skeleton of "training": skillfulness breaks the self, affliction-purifying severs affliction, the three trainings are the master-cord, conformity is the aid, the discernment of ruin is the caution, and yoga-and-attention are the function. With both the objects and the training made ready, the next unit (13-02-04) will formally enter the content of "cultivation" — the thirty-seven factors of awakening — and its very first item, "the four foundations of mindfulness," is precisely what the sixteen excellent practices of the preceding unit have already connected up to.

Carrying Forward

This unit gathers "the objects" together and sets up the bones of "training," and both ends have their taking-up. Carrying forward from before: skillfulness (in aggregates, elements, sense-fields, dependent origination, the possible-and-impossible) cures the occasion of "dullness toward intrinsic and common characteristics," carrying on precisely the one vein of the all-pervading objects' Hastikakṣya-sūtra — "dullness toward the intrinsic characteristic of the conditioned → skillfulness in the aggregates"; the affliction-purifying mundane path (contemplating coarse-and-peaceful) opens the way to the dispassion of the third yoga-station, and the supramundane path (contemplating the four truths) opens the way to the path of seeing (13-02-02 objects). The spine reaches backward: the three higher trainings (discipline, concentration, wisdom) not only draw the śrāvaka path to a close, but are the master-outline on which the Hundred Dharmas, the Thirty Verses, and even the whole five-stage Consciousness-Only path of cultivation (equipment → intensified practice → seeing → cultivation → culmination) rest — the "why only three trainings · their order · the sense of 'higher'" set up in this unit is their very root; the four attentions (forcing / with-intervals / without-interval / effortless) are to be read together with the seven attentions of the Stage of Meditative Equipoise (Stage 06), and the light of tranquillity-and-insight of the ten factors conducive to training, together with the three kinds of yoga-practitioner (beginner in the work / already practiced in conduct / passed beyond attention), open the way to the next unit's thirty-seven factors of awakening of the cultivation-of-yoga (the four foundations of mindfulness first · 13-02-04). As for the buried thread of the store consciousness and mentation that the ancient masters read out at the consciousness-aggregate and at the suffering of conditioned states ("the store consciousness named 'mind,' mentation named 'the deliberating'" · "the suffering of conditioned states has the store consciousness's indifferent feeling for its substance"), it runs one line with "falling into the store, into the element of mentation" in the Stage of Lineage — this being the ancient masters' Consciousness-Only reading, recorded and not taken over as a one-way inheritance. Within a single unit, the objects cure dullness, the three trainings raise the master-cord, and the store consciousness lets show its buried thread: the base-map of the Śrāvaka Stage's path of cultivation and the ground-color of Consciousness-Only are laid down at one and the same time.