瑜伽師地論 聲聞地 · 第二瑜伽處 · 修果 · 補特伽羅異門 · 四魔

The closing of the Second Yoga-Station: the fruit of cultivation (the four fruits of asceticism · counteracting four afflictions) · the person on the path (six alternate names · three grades of faculty) · the Māra on the path (the four māras and the deeds of Māra) · the pivot of success and failure (the three causes of setting out to empty and fruitless result). The point of the eye: the four fruits cut off affliction to exhaustion in a sequence of depths; and the three causes of setting out (faculties / instruction / meditative stability) gather up the whole station.

In one line: The fruits of cultivation = the four fruits of asceticism (the noble path is called asceticism · the cutting-off of affliction is called fruit · four fruits established to counteract four afflictions: baseless affliction → stream-entry 〔cutting the three fetters〕 · reborn continuation → once-return · returning to be born → non-return · drawing on birth → arhat); the even-portioned / thin-dust types (three kinds of practitioner and the pace of cultivating the preparatory effort · the thin-dust type, with no three obstructions, most swift · the even-portioned type only makes the mind settle, does not cut off confusion); the six alternate terms for the person (ascetic 〔surpassing / taught / living / ruined path〕 · brahmin 〔by caste / by name and notion / of right conduct〕 · one of pure conduct 〔undertaken as seclusion / temporary cutting-off / final cutting-off〕 · monk, five kinds · one who strives, three kinds · one gone forth, two kinds = alternate terms for the one who takes up existence) plus the eight kinds of person (established by the four causes of faculties / yoga / preparatory effort / time); the four māras (aggregate / affliction / death / deva · the deeds of Māra measureless); setting out to empty and fruitless result (the three causes of faculties · instruction · meditative stability · the verdict of fruitful or fruitless · gathering up the whole station).

Three Points of the Eye

1. The four fruits = counteracting four afflictions (the point of the eye · the sequence of cutting off confusion) 〔T30 0445c · Dunlun T42 0460a21〕: stream-entry cuts off the "baseless afflictions" (view-confusions · headed by the view of the transitory collection as a self · the three fetters: the householder's view of self / the ill-spoken-Dharma's clinging to precepts and observances / the well-spoken-Dharma's doubt · the 112 view-confusions to be cut off by seeing [128 in the Abhidharma] cut off) · once-return cuts off "reborn continuation" (the fifth and sixth grades of the desire-realm cultivation-confusions) · non-return cuts off "returning to be born here" (the latter three grades · reborn only in the form and formless realms) · the arhat cuts off "all that draws on birth" (the confusions of the three realms exhausted · three senses: worthy of offerings / slayer of the thief / unborn). The noble path is called asceticism (toil and weariness, diligent and painstaking) · fruit = the analytic cessation.

2. The six alternate terms · the three kinds of practitioner (the marks of the person · carrying forward from before) 〔T30 0446a〕: the six alternate terms for the person (ascetic 〔the Well-Gone One, surpassing path / the teacher of right Dharma, taught path / the ordinary being of wholesome conduct, living path 〔the warmth of the wholesome dharmas giving rise to and nourishing the life-faculty of the noble wisdom〕 / the precept-transgressor, ruined path〕 · brahmin · one of pure conduct · monk, five kinds · one who strives, three kinds · one gone forth, two kinds) = alternate terms for the one who takes up existence; "the four ascetics are empty and utterly absent in the outsiders' teachings · only where the noble eightfold path is established is there a true ascetic." The even-portioned type (the five afflictions level · only makes the mind settle · does not cut off confusion 〔some say it also cuts off confusion · the ancient masters rebut it, "not so"〕 · breath-counting removes applied thought but not sustained thought) · the thin-dust type (no three obstructions 〔karmic / affliction / maturational〕 · the four requisites · realizes the settling of the mind most swiftly). The eight kinds of person are established by the four differences of faculties / yoga / preparatory effort / time.

3. The deeds of the four māras · setting out to empty and fruitless result (the māra-obstruction and success-or-failure · the gathering-up) 〔T30 0447c–0448b〕: the four māras (aggregate / affliction / death / deva · established by the four senses of the basis of death / the ability to cause death / being death itself / making obstruction · one not free of desire is in Māra's hand · one free of desire by the mundane path is still bound by Māra and in Māra's snare); the deeds of Māra are measureless (the retreat of the wholesome zeal · the gates of the faculties · food · sleep · right knowing · doubt · the terror of the forest hermitage · gain · all done by the four māras · to be rightly and thoroughly known and kept apart from · paired with the "counterfeit right Dharma" of the deviant conduct at 13-02-03). The three causes of setting out to empty and fruitless result: the faculties not yet gathered and accumulated · the instruction not according · the power of meditative stability weak and feeble — lacking any one, empty and fruitless · possessing all three, definitely fruitful (the ancient master Kuiji: "what is empty is the fruit of the uncontaminated path, not the mundane fruit" · the instruction not according is like Śāriputra's wrong instruction 〔teaching the washerman breath-counting · the bead-stringer the unclean〕 Dunlun T42 0462a). The three causes (faculties / instruction / meditative stability) gather up the eighteen headings that opened the station. The Second Yoga-Station is concluded.

★ Collation teaching (a one-character difference reveals the transmission): at the once-return line, the Taishō base text reads "binding (縛) greed, hatred, and delusion," while the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Sheng editions read "attenuate" (薄) (the Taishō's own collation note "縛 = 薄 【three editions】【Sheng】" · Dunlun's gloss the same); the doctrine of the four fruits cutting off fetters sets its seal — once-return is precisely the stage where greed, hatred, and delusion "grow thin but are not yet cut off," and "attenuate greed, hatred, and delusion" is the settled formula for the once-returner (sakṛdāgāmin), so "attenuate" has the ground of the four canon-editions plus the ancient masters plus the doctrine (the vernacular keeps the base-text 縛 · the variant reading recorded together · both readings preserved together). The Exposition here shows the method of "collating by the three of variant editions, ancient masters, and doctrine." Note: the fruit of cultivation carries forward from the cultivation of yoga (13-02-04 the thirty-seven factors of awakening); the six alternate terms and the even-portioned / thin-dust types carry forward from the twenty-eight classes / the five modes (13-02-01) and the five stilling-the-mind contemplations (13-02-02); the four māras and the deeds of Māra carry forward from the warning about the ruin of the yoga of deviant conduct (13-02-03); the three causes of setting out gather up the whole station (faculties → the person · instruction → the heading on instruction · meditative stability → the object and attention) → carrying on into the Third Yoga-Station (13-03). The ancient-master lean is toward Dunlun's Notes on the Treatise, fascicle seven, latter part 〔T42 0460a05–0462b02 · the four fruits counteracting four afflictions · the count of view-confusions · the four ascetics and the three noble teachings of the Mahāvibhāṣā · Śāriputra's wrong instruction · Jing / Tai / Kuiji / the vinaya-master Shou〕; Kuiji's Concise Compendium, fascicle eight 〔T43 0117b27–0118b02 · the even-portioned type · setting out to empty and fruitless result = the fruit of the uncontaminated path; the fruit of cultivation / the four māras absent〕. The doctrinal exposition is in the Exposition.

The closing of the Second Yoga-Station: the "fruit" of cultivation (the four fruits of asceticism), the difference in pace among three kinds of practitioner as they cultivate the preparatory effort, the six alternate names for the person (pudgala, "the one who takes up existence again and again"), the eight kinds of person and the causes for their establishment, the four māras and the deeds of Māra, and the three reasons why one may "labor in vain and accomplish nothing." Technical terms are kept as of old; rendered clause by clause into today's language, without adding doctrinal exposition, without citing the treatises, without annotating the Sanskrit; where the treatise-text is compressed, the fuller sense is restored within 〔 〕.

1. The Fruits of Cultivation — the Four Fruits of Asceticism

What are the fruits of cultivation? They are the four fruits of asceticism: first, the fruit of stream-entry; second, the fruit of once-return; third, the fruit of non-return; fourth, the supreme fruit of the arhat. Here, what is "asceticism" (śramaṇa)? What is "fruit"? — The noble path is called "asceticism"; the cutting-off of afflictions is called "fruit." Again, the middling or superior path arisen in a later life is the fruit produced by the path of a former life.

Question: On what ground are these four fruits established? Answer: In order to counteract four kinds of affliction. 　The fruit of stream-entry: when the affliction that draws on the evil destinies — that is a cause of going to the evil destinies — is cut off, and the counteracting path able to cut it off has arisen, then the fruit of stream-entry is established. And the World-Honored One spoke of "forever cutting off the three fetters" to establish this fruit — for in dependence on three classes there are three kinds of fetter that obstruct the noble path and keep it from arising: in dependence on the class of the householder there is the "view of the transitory collection as a self" (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) (because of this view one first gives rise to dread and, at the very outset, does not wish to set out toward the noble path); in dependence on the class of the ill-spoken discipline there is the "clinging to precepts and observances" (because of this, though one has already set out, one practices deviant ways and cannot give rise to the noble path); in dependence on the class of the well-spoken discipline there is "doubt" (because of this, though one has set out and is not deviant, one has not yet grown familiar with the right path and so hesitates and doubts, and this obstructs the noble path from arising). Therefore, the cutting off of just these three fetters is said to establish the fruit of stream-entry. This fruit of stream-entry at most still undergoes seven existences (hence a continuity through many births). 　The fruit of once-return: if one cuts off the affliction of "reborn continuation," causing birth not to continue on again, the fruit of once-return is established — forever cutting off the affliction of reborn continuation subsumed under existence-as-a-god and existence-as-a-human, one will at most undergo one further existence as a god and one existence as a human. 　The fruit of non-return: if one has already forever cut off the affliction "able to draw one back to be born here again," so that one is to be reborn only in existence-as-a-god, the fruit of non-return is established. 　The fruit of the arhat: if one has already forever cut off every affliction able to draw on existence-with-birth, the supreme fruit of the arhat is established. 　The World-Honored One further said: forever cutting off the three fetters, "binding" greed, hatred, and delusion 〔the character here reads 縛 "bind" in the Taishō base text, but the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Sheng editions read 薄 "attenuate" (the sense of the fruit of once-return being the attenuation of greed, hatred, and delusion; Dunlun's gloss also reads 薄) — a one-character variant reading; the base-text 縛 is kept and the variant 薄 recorded, both readings preserved together〕, establishes the fruit of once-return; forever cutting off what conduces to the five lower fetters, establishes the fruit of non-return; forever and finally cutting off every affliction, establishes the supreme fruit of the arhat. These are the fruits of cultivation.

2. The Difference among Three Kinds of Practitioner in Cultivating the Preparatory Effort (the Even-Portioned Type · the Thin-Dust Type)

Further: those of the greed-, hatred-, delusion-, conceit-, and discursive-thought types must first, by means of the objects for purifying conduct (the five stilling-the-mind contemplations), purify and cultivate their conduct, and only then realize the settling of the mind — each of them, in dependence on his particular object-field, by the force of the differing objects, diligently cultivates the preparatory effort. But those of the even-portioned type, following what they take delight in, latch onto that object and diligently cultivate; and this cultivation "only makes the mind settle; it does not purify their conduct." Those of the thin-dust type are the same. The three differ in the pace at which they cultivate the preparatory effort: those of the greed-and-the-rest types must pass a long time before realizing the settling of the mind; those of the even-portioned type realize the settling of the mind in not too long a time; those of the thin-dust type realize the settling of the mind most exceedingly swiftly.

Question: Earlier the modes of the greed-and-the-rest types of practitioner have been expounded at length; what are the modes of those of the even-portioned type and the thin-dust type? Answer: The even-portioned type — whatever modes the greed-and-the-rest types have, he too has them all; but his modes are neither superior nor excelling (not as intense as the greed-and-the-rest types), and, differing according to whatever conditions he meets, this type is designated as resembling those. 　The thin-dust type's modal differences are: no heavy obstruction; purity from the very outset; the requisites already complete; abundant pure faith; the accomplishment of keen intelligence; possession of the various merits; and possession of the various qualities. 　What is having no heavy obstruction? It is having none of the three obstructions. Which three? First, the karmic obstruction; second, the affliction obstruction; third, the maturational obstruction.

　The karmic obstruction consists of the five acts of immediate retribution and the other exceptionally grave acts intentionally performed. When the maturational fruit of those acts comes to fruition, it can obstruct the right path and keep it from arising; this is named the karmic obstruction. The affliction obstruction consists of fierce afflictions and afflictions that continue for a long time. Because of these afflictions, here in the present life, the various objects for purifying conduct cannot make one's conduct pure; this is named the affliction obstruction. The maturational obstruction is, in one case, the maturational fruit of birth in a place upon which the noble path cannot arise or grow; in another, although the noble path could arise and grow there, the maturation makes one deaf and dull-witted, blind and mute, using hand-signs in place of speech, without the strength or capacity to comprehend the meaning of the well-spoken and ill-spoken Dharma; this is named the maturational obstruction. Having none of these three is named having no heavy obstruction.

　What is purity from the very outset? It is well-purified discipline and upright view. Well-purified discipline is discipline made thoroughly pure by the ten causes and conditions stated before. Upright view is named upright by four modes.

　First, upright view is associated with pure faith. Because it is associated with pure faith, no one can draw one away from, or deprive one of, the Buddha's true Dharma and discipline. Second, upright view is associated with resolute conviction. Because it is associated with resolute conviction, toward the inconceivable majestic power and spiritual might of the Tathāgatas and noble disciples, their inconceivable differences of birthplace, the profound Dharma-teaching, and the unrecordable matters, one gives rise to deep resolute conviction, without alarm, fear, or dread. Third, upright view is apart from deceit and flattery. Because it is apart from deceit and flattery, one's view is upright and belongs to the upright class; one cultivates rightly as the noble teaching directs and discloses oneself exactly as one truly is. Fourth, upright view reflects well upon the Dharma and its meaning, is without perplexity or doubt, and applies itself to going forth. Thus, concerning the meanings of all dharmas as impermanent, suffering, empty, and without self, one reflects rightly and well, weighs rightly and well, and examines rightly and well; by this cause one is without perplexity or doubt, leaves the two divergent roads, and attains upward progress. By these four modes the view stated before is named upright view. The completeness of well-purified discipline and upright view is named purity from the very outset.

　What is having the requisites already complete? The requisites have been expounded at length before; in brief, they are four: first, the requisite of merit; second, the requisite of wisdom; third, the requisite of former lives; fourth, the requisite of the present Dharma.

　The requisite of merit is that by this cause one now obtains favorable provisions and abundant wealth, meets a true field of merit as a good spiritual friend, remains apart from obstacles, and is able to cultivate diligently. The requisite of wisdom is that by this cause one accomplishes keen intelligence, has the strength and capacity to comprehend the meaning of the well-spoken and ill-spoken Dharma, and obtains favorable teaching of the Dharma, teaching of its meaning, instruction, and admonition. The requisite of former lives is that, through accumulating wholesome roots in former lives, one now attains accomplishment of the faculties. The requisite of the present Dharma is that in this present life one has wholesome zeal for the Dharma, mature faculties, the discipline of restraint, and the discipline of the faculties, as expounded before. Having all four is named having the requisites already complete.

　What is abundant pure faith? It is being without perplexity or doubt toward the Great Teacher and giving rise deeply to pure faith and resolute conviction; as toward the Great Teacher, so likewise toward the Dharma and toward the training, with the rest as expounded before. What is the accomplishment of keen intelligence? It is that, by this intelligence, one swiftly receives the Dharma and its meaning, does not forget or lose the Dharma and its meaning even over a long time, and swiftly penetrates the Dharma and its meaning.

　What is possession of the various merits? By these merits one is comely and dignified in form, delightful to the multitude, and causes others to give rise to pure faith; one is little afflicted by illness or free of illness and long-lived, earnest and grave in speech, possessed of a great clan and lineage, known by the multitude, accomplished in great merit, often obtaining robes and other requisites of life, and receiving offering, reverence, honor, and praise from kings, great ministers, and others. What is possession of the various qualities? It is by nature already accomplishing the various qualities of exceedingly few desires and the rest; their marks are the adornments of the ascetic stated before. Such classes are named the modal differences of the person of the thin-dust type.

3. Alternate Terms for the Person — the Six Alternate Names for "the One Who Takes Up Existence"

What are the alternate terms for the person (the different names)? There are six: first, ascetic (śramaṇa); second, brahmin; third, one of pure conduct; fourth, monk (bhikṣu); fifth, one who strives; sixth, one gone forth.

(1) Ascetic is of four kinds: the ascetic of the surpassing path, the ascetic of the taught path, the ascetic of the living path, and the ascetic of the ruined path. The Well-Gone Ones (who have realized the remainderless, forever-ended state of greed, hatred, and delusion) are called ascetics of the surpassing path; those who teach the right Dharma (teaching the right Dharma so as to tame greed, hatred, and delusion) are called ascetics of the taught path; those who cultivate wholesome conduct (diligently cultivating right conduct so as to tame greed, hatred, and delusion) are called ascetics of the living path; those who practice deviant conduct (transgressing the precepts, practicing evil dharmas) are called ascetics of the ruined path. 　Again: the learner and the beyond-learner are called ascetics of the surpassing path (by the uncontaminated path they crush the whole range of afflictions to be cut off by seeing and by cultivation); if there are no Tathāgatas and bodhisattvas who diligently cultivate right conduct for the sake of awakening, then the community of śrāvakas who uphold the Tripiṭaka are called ascetics of the taught path (upholding the conventional Dharma and discipline, keeping the eye of the right Dharma turning unbroken); an ordinary being who is by nature well-tamed, who diligently cultivates right conduct for his own benefit, who has a sense of shame and remorse, and who takes delight in the right training, diligently applies himself so as to attain what has not been attained, touch what has not been touched, and realize what has not been realized, and has the strength and capacity to attain what has not been attained, touch what has not been touched, and realize what has not been realized — this is called an ascetic of the living path (because he has present in him the warmth of the various wholesome dharmas, able to give rise to and nourish the life-faculty of the noble wisdom, he is "living," not "dead"); one who transgresses the precepts, much practices evil dharmas, and so on, down to one who, being in truth no practitioner of pure conduct, claims to practice pure conduct, is called an ascetic of the ruined path (he ruins the very root of the right path, has no power, and is no vessel for the arising path; though there be present the teaching that expounds the right path and those who realize the right path, he does not obtain it). 　The World-Honored One in dependence on this said: this first ascetic and so on down to the fourth ascetic are, in the teachings of the outsider ascetics and brahmins, empty and utterly absent; where the noble eightfold path can be found established, there and only there is the first ascetic and so on down to the fourth ascetic.

(2) Brahmin is of three kinds: the brahmin by caste (born into a brahmin family, born through the mother's birth passage, with father and mother complete); the brahmin by name and notion (named in the world by a notion, provisionally set up in speech); and the brahmin of right conduct (whose task is definitely accomplished to the end, who has been able to drive out the evil and unwholesome dharmas — as it is said, "know that the brahmin has nothing further to do; his task being done, this is called a brahmin").

(3) One of pure conduct is of three kinds: pure conduct undertaken as seclusion (undertaking to train in the seclusion from all that is not pure conduct — the practice of the dharma of sexual desire); pure conduct as temporary cutting-off (ordinary beings who, by the mundane path, become free of desire for the desire-realm); and pure conduct as final cutting-off (the noble ones who attain the fruit of non-return, and further attain the fruit of the arhat).

(4) Monk is of five kinds: the monk who begs; the monk by self-declaration; the monk by name and notion; the monk who has ruined the afflictions; and the monk who has received the full precepts by the formal act of the fourfold motion.

(5) One who strives is of three kinds: striving that stills transgression of the precepts (being apart from all unwholesome bodily and verbal karma); striving that stills the object-fields (guarding closely the gates of the faculties, cultivating the mindfulness of defending and the ever-entrusted mindfulness); and striving that stills the afflictions (forever cutting off the whole range of afflictions to be cut off by seeing and by cultivation; and, toward any previously arisen thought of desire, thought of ill will, thought of harm, greed, hatred, wrong view, wrath, resentment, concealment, vexation, deceit, flattery, and other non-ascetic dharmas able to lead to dangerous evil destinies such as the hells, whatever arises, being able not to tolerate it and immediately cutting it off, dispelling it, and expelling it) — herein there are, in brief, two kinds of stilling the afflictions: stilling the latent proclivities and stilling the enwrapments.

(6) One gone forth is of two kinds: one gone forth within the well-spoken Dharma and discipline (the monk, the nun, the probationer, the male novice, the female novice; and again, one who is himself able to go forth from every evil and unwholesome dharma within his body is called one truly gone forth); and one gone forth within the ill-spoken Dharma and discipline (the various outsiders — some wholly without clothing, some in dyed-and-marred garments, some the ash-smearing and other overweening outsiders, and the rest of the many outsiders). 　Therefore it is said: whether the ascetic, whether the brahmin, whether one who cultivates pure conduct, whether the monk, whether one who strives, whether one gone forth — all of these are alternate terms for "the one who takes up existence again and again."

4. The Eight Kinds of Person and the Causes for Their Establishment

The person is, in brief, of eight kinds, and the causes by which they are established are, in brief, of four kinds. 　What are the eight kinds of person? First, one who has the capacity; second, one who has no capacity; third, one who well knows the skillful means; fourth, one who does not well know the skillful means; fifth, one who has uninterrupted cultivation; sixth, one who has no uninterrupted cultivation; seventh, one who has grown familiar through practice; eighth, one who has not grown familiar through practice. 　What are the four causes for establishing the persons? First, by the difference of faculties, those whose faculties have matured and those whose faculties have not matured are established. Second, by the difference of yoga, those who well know yoga and those who do not well know yoga are established. Third, by the difference of preparatory effort, those who have uninterrupted and earnest cultivation and those who do not have uninterrupted and earnest cultivation are established. Fourth, by the difference of time, those who have cultivated the path for a long time and those who have not cultivated the path for a long time are established. 　How do these four differences become the causes for establishing the former eight persons? Faculties already accomplished means one who has the capacity; faculties not yet accomplished means one who has no capacity. Well knowing yoga means one who well knows the skillful means; not well knowing yoga means one who does not well know the skillful means. Having uninterrupted and earnest cultivation means one who has uninterrupted cultivation, also called one who has ever-entrusted cultivation; lacking uninterrupted and earnest cultivation means one who has no uninterrupted cultivation, also called one who has no ever-entrusted cultivation. Having cultivated the path for a long time means one who has grown familiar through practice; not having cultivated it for a long time means one who has not grown familiar through practice. Thus, by the four differences of faculties, yoga, preparatory effort, and time, the eight persons are established. 　If a person's faculties are not yet accomplished, then all the matters of well knowing skillful means, having uninterrupted cultivation, and having grown familiar through practice — even when approached in accord with principle, Dharma, and skill — cannot be brought about. If the faculties have matured but one does not yet well know the skillful means, the matters to be brought about still cannot be accomplished. If the faculties have matured and one well knows the skillful means but has no uninterrupted cultivation, one cannot attain swift penetrating knowledge. If the faculties have matured, one well knows the skillful means, and one has uninterrupted cultivation but has not yet grown familiar through practice, one's own task to be done is still not accomplished. If the faculties are accomplished, one well knows the skillful means, one has uninterrupted cultivation, and one has grown familiar through practice, then every matter to be brought about can be accomplished, swift penetrating knowledge can be attained, and one's own task to be done is accomplished.

5. The Four Māras and the Deeds of Māra

It should be known that the māras are, in brief, of four kinds, and the deeds done by Māra are of measureless kinds; the yoga practitioner who cultivates contemplative practice should well and thoroughly know them, and should rightly keep apart from them. 　The four māras: first, the aggregate-māra (the five appropriating aggregates); second, the affliction-māra (all the afflictions of the three realms); third, the death-māra (the untimely dying and perishing of sentient beings from this or that community of sentient beings); fourth, the deva-māra (toward those who diligently cultivate the surpassing wholesome and seek to transcend the three māras of the aggregates, the afflictions, and death, there is the god born in the highest heaven of the desire-realm, attaining great sovereignty, who makes obstruction for them and sets in motion all sorts of disturbing enterprises). 　These four māras are established by four senses: in dependence on the "basis of death" (only when the present five appropriating aggregates have arisen is there death), on the "ability to cause death" (by the afflictions one draws on future birth, and once born there is dying), on "being death itself" (the exhaustion and cessation of the life-faculty, the dying — this is the intrinsic nature of death), and on "making obstruction to death" (when one who diligently cultivates the transcending of death is in the very midst of the right preparatory effort, the deva Māra, attaining great sovereignty, is able to make obstruction, keeping one from being able to escape the dharma of death, or letting one transcend it only after a long time and with extreme difficulty). Again, Māra may, with regard to a person, either temporarily not attain sovereignty (the ordinary being free of desire by the mundane path, whether here or born there) or attain great sovereignty (over one not yet free of desire, in Māra's hand doing as desire wills; and one free of desire by the mundane path is still bound by Māra, has not yet slipped Māra's snare, for he must return to be born in this realm again).

What are the deeds of Māra? 　As soon as some wholesome zeal able to lead to going forth arises, one, by the force of clinging to the desires, straightway retreats and casts it aside — this is a deed of Māra. 　Having settled into guarding closely the gates of the faculties, one, toward lovable forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, and dharmas, by grasping at their marks and grasping at their attendant fineness, delights the mind and goes toward them — this is a deed of Māra. 　Having settled into knowing the measure in food, one, toward delicious flavors and unbalanced food, by greed and craving, delights the mind and goes toward them — this is a deed of Māra. 　Having settled into diligently cultivating the yoga of wakefulness in the first and last watches of the night, one, toward the pleasure of sleep, the pleasure of lying down, the pleasure of lying on one's side, by the force of indolence, delights the mind and goes toward them — this is a deed of Māra. 　Having settled into abiding with right knowing, one, at the time of going and coming and other tasks, on seeing a young woman in the bloom of years, of comely form, and the like, by grasping unreasoningly at her marks and fineness, delights the mind and goes toward them; or, on seeing the various fine and lovely things of the world, or amid many affairs and much to be done, or on seeing householders and those gone forth mingling in merriment together, or on seeing evil friends dwelling together, straightway gives rise to rejoicing and delights the mind and goes toward them — all of these are deeds of Māra. 　If, toward the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, toward suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path, toward this world and the other world, one gives rise to doubt — all of these are deeds of Māra. 　When abiding in a forest hermitage, beneath a tree, in a charnel ground, or in an empty and quiet dwelling, if one sees vast and terrifying things and is frightened, the hairs standing on end; or sees the form of an ascetic or brahmin, or the form of a human or non-human, suddenly coming, and, unreasoningly, urging one to cast off the bright class and to take up the dark class — all of these are deeds of Māra. 　If toward gain, reverence, and praise one delights the mind and goes toward them; or if toward miserliness, vast craving, not knowing contentment, wrath, resentment, concealment, vexation, and deceit — "the dharmas counteracted by the ascetic's adornment" — one delights the mind and goes toward them — all of these are deeds of Māra. 　Such classes as these, the measureless and boundless enterprises of Māra, are all done by the four māras; each according to what is fitting should be rightly known.

6. Setting Out to Empty and Fruitless Result — the Three Reasons for Laboring in Vain

By three causes and conditions, one who rightly cultivates, though he diligently sets out, yet accomplishes nothing. Which three? First, the faculties are not yet gathered and accumulated; second, the instruction does not accord; third, the power of meditative stability is weak and feeble. 　If the faculties are not yet gathered and accumulated, then even though one obtains accordant instruction and strong meditative stability, diligently setting out is still empty and fruitless; 　If the faculties are already gathered and accumulated and the power of meditative stability is also strong, yet one does not obtain accordant instruction, diligently setting out is still empty and fruitless; 　If the faculties are already gathered and accumulated and one also obtains accordant instruction, yet the power of meditative stability is not strong, diligently setting out is still empty and fruitless. 　If the faculties are already gathered and accumulated, the instruction accords, and the meditative stability is strong, then diligently setting out definitely has its fruit. This is called "empty and fruitless by three causes and conditions; definitely fruitful by three causes and conditions."

〔Here the Second Yoga-Station is concluded.〕

Teaching arc: the thirty-seven factors of awakening having been cultivated to completion, the last sub-unit of the Second Yoga-Station comes to gather it all up — first it speaks of the "fruit" of cultivation (the four fruits of asceticism, and how each one counteracts one of four kinds of affliction), then it looks back over the "person" on the path of cultivation (the six alternate names, the three kinds of practitioner and their differing pace), and the "Māra" on the path of cultivation (the four māras and the deeds of Māra that are everywhere), and finally gives the whole station a summation: with equal diligence, why do some bear fruit and some labor in vain? The point of the eye is in two places: how the four fruits cut off affliction to exhaustion in a sequence of depths; and those three conditions of the closing "setting out to empty and fruitless result" — the faculties, the instruction, and the meditative stability — lacking any one, it does not come off.

The Fruit of Cultivation: the Four Fruits of Asceticism, Counteracting Four Kinds of Affliction

The fruit of cultivation is just the four fruits of asceticism: stream-entry, once-return, non-return, and the supreme arhat. "Asceticism" is the noble path (the ancient masters say that "asceticism" here means "toil and weariness" — diligent, painstaking practice, extinguishing evil and giving rise to good), and "fruit" is the cutting-off of affliction (the analytic cessation provisionally spoken of at the site, within suchness, where confusion is cut off).

The treatise asks a good question: why are four fruits established? The answer: to counteract four kinds of affliction, cutting them off in a sequence of depths 〔Dunlun〕 —

• The fruit of stream-entry cuts off the "baseless afflictions": the view-confusions able to draw on the evil destinies, headed by the view of the transitory collection as a self (this view "reckons the existent out of the non-existent," reckoning a self that is fundamentally not there, and so is called "baseless"). The World-Honored One gathers it up as "cutting off the three fetters": the householder's view of the transitory collection as a self (afraid, one dare not enter the path), the follower of deviant dharmas' clinging to precepts and observances (having entered the path, one yet practices deviant ways), and the person within the right Dharma's doubt (not deviant, yet hesitating and doubting) — the three fetters once cut, one enters the noble kind, and at most undergoes seven further births.
• The fruit of once-return cuts off the affliction of "reborn continuation" (the middle several grades of the cultivation-confusions of the desire-realm), and at most comes and goes once more among gods and humans, one going and one returning.
• The fruit of non-return cuts off the affliction "able to draw one back to be born here" (the latter three grades of the cultivation-confusions), and from then on is reborn only in the form and formless realms, no longer returning to the desire-realm.
• The fruit of the arhat cuts off "every affliction able to draw on existence-with-birth," the confusions of the three realms being exhausted. The ancient masters give three senses of "arhat": the worthy of offerings (accomplished in both knowledge and cutting-off, fit to receive offerings), the slayer of the thief (slaying the thief of affliction), and the unborn (undergoing no further existence) 〔Dunlun〕.

A single road, from cutting off the view-confusions (stream-entry), through gradually cutting off the cultivation-confusions (once-return, non-return), to the exhaustion of the confusions (arhat) — this is the whole map of the "fruit" of the śrāvaka path.

Appended: a One-Character Difference Reveals the Transmission — "Bind" and "Attenuate"

This passage cites the World-Honored One's verse on the four fruits, and at the very line for the "fruit of once-return" the various editions of the canon have exactly a one-character difference — and it happens to be a window onto "how the scriptural teaching was handed down." The Taishō base text reads "forever cutting off the three fetters, 'binding' (縛) greed, hatred, and delusion, establishes the fruit of once-return"; but the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Sheng editions — all four canon-editions — read "attenuate" (薄) — and even the Taishō's own collation note records "縛 = 薄 〔Song, Yuan, Ming three editions · Sheng edition〕"; and the ancient master Dunlun's gloss, in his Notes on the Treatise, likewise reads "attenuate greed, hatred, and delusion". On the one side, a single Taishō edition reads "bind"; on the other, four canon-editions plus the ancient-master's gloss plus the Taishō's own collation note all read "attenuate."

Which should one follow? Here there is no need for any person to "settle" it — the scriptural teaching speaks for itself; look at how it apportions the four fruits and it becomes clear: the fruit of stream-entry cuts off the three fetters (the view of self, clinging to precepts and observances, doubt); the fruit of once-return, on top of cutting off the three fetters, further makes "greed, hatred, and delusion grow attenuated" (attenuated but not yet cut off); the fruit of non-return cuts off the five lower fetters; the fruit of the arhat cuts off every affliction to exhaustion. Once-return (sakṛdāgāmin) is precisely the stage at which the three poisons "grow thin," and so the settled formula of this line is originally "attenuate greed, hatred, and delusion" (the Āgamas and this treatise expound the four fruits alike). Were it to read "bind" (bondage), it would not stand within this sequence of "gradually attenuating, gradually cutting off." What is more, the two characters 薄 "attenuate" and 縛 "bind" are close in form, and in the course of transmission and copying were easily mistaken for one another. When the four canon-editions, the ancient-master's gloss, and the doctrinal structure of the four fruits — all three — set their seal together, the original face of this one character becomes clear.

This is precisely the measure of care one ought to have in reading the canon: do not cling in life-and-death to a single base text, but let the "variant editions, the ancient-master's gloss, and the doctrinal structure" collate one another — this is the science of collation, and it is exactly the effort by which the Buddha's teaching, "rely on the meaning, not the letter; rely on the explicit meaning, not the inexplicit," is brought down to a single character and a single phrase. A one-character difference reveals the care of the transmission; therefore this translation keeps the base-text 縛 "bind" in the vernacular body, and records the four editions' 薄 "attenuate" together with the reasoning here under the Apparatus, both readings preserved together.

The Person on the Path of Cultivation: Six Alternate Names, Three Grades of Faculty

The fruit having been spoken of, the treatise turns back to look at the "person." Among practitioners there are six alternate names (in fact all of them are other designations for "the one who takes up existence again and again," the person, pudgala): ascetic (further divided into the surpassing path 〔the Well-Gone Ones who have cut off greed, hatred, and delusion〕, the taught path 〔those who teach the right Dharma〕, the living path 〔ordinary beings who cultivate wholesome conduct〕, and the ruined path 〔those who transgress the precepts and practice evil〕 — the ancient masters say that the fine point of the "living path" lies in this: the ordinary being, though he has not yet realized the noble state, nonetheless "has present in him the warmth of the wholesome dharmas, able to give rise to and nourish the life-faculty of the noble wisdom," and so is "living," not "dead", and this word "warmth" joins straight onto the warmth-wholesome-root of the fire-drilling simile); brahmin (three kinds: by caste / by name and notion / of right conduct); one of pure conduct (three kinds: undertaken as seclusion / temporary cutting-off / final cutting-off); monk (five kinds); one who strives (three kinds: stilling transgression of the precepts / stilling the object-fields / stilling the afflictions); one gone forth (two kinds: within the well-spoken Dharma / within the ill-spoken Dharma). The World-Honored One also points out one essential line: these four kinds of ascetic are "in the teachings of the outsider ascetics and brahmins empty and utterly absent" — only where the noble eightfold path is established is there a true ascetic.

Looking again from the side of faculty: earlier the treatise spoke of the five kinds of practitioner with a preponderance of greed, hatred, delusion, conceit, or discursive thought; here it adds another two kinds: the even-portioned type (the five afflictions level, none preponderant; when he cultivates the five stilling-the-mind contemplations he "only makes the mind settle, does not purify his conduct," because he has no preponderant confusion to counteract) and the thin-dust type (the dust-defilement of afflictions thin, cultivating most swiftly). The pace of the three kinds: the preponderant type realizes the settling of the mind only after a long time, the even-portioned type in not too long, the thin-dust type most swiftly. Why is the thin-dust type swift? Because he "has no three obstructions" (no karmic, affliction, or maturational obstruction), his precepts and view are pure, his requisites already complete, and his faith, wisdom, and merit all full. (The ancient masters, in passing, discriminate a point easily misunderstood: some say "the even-portioned type also cuts off confusion by cultivating the five stilling-the-mind contemplations," and Dunlun and Kuiji both plainly deny it — "not so"; the even-portioned type only makes the mind settle, and does not cut off confusion; and they further say that the breath-counting contemplation removes only "applied thought" and not "sustained thought," because sustained thought is a submerged and fine examining-of-the-object, whereas applied thought is scattered — hence "it removes applied thought." Recorded together.)

The Māra on the Path of Cultivation: the Four Māras and the Deeds of Māra Everywhere

Cultivation is not a road with none to bar the way. The treatise lists the four māras: the aggregate-māra (the five appropriating aggregates), the affliction-māra (the afflictions of the three realms), the death-māra (untimely dying and perishing), and the deva-māra (the god of the highest heaven of the desire-realm, who specially makes obstruction to those who diligently cultivate the transcending of the former three māras). These four māras are established by four senses: only with the five appropriating aggregates is there a "basis of death"; by the afflictions one is "able to cause death"; the exhaustion and cessation of the life-faculty is "being death itself"; and the deva Māra "makes obstruction to death." The treatise also says a stern thing: one not yet free of desire is "in Māra's hand, doing as desire wills"; and even one who by the mundane path has become free of desire is still bound by Māra, has not yet slipped Māra's snare — because he must return to be born in this realm again.

More to the point are the "deeds of Māra" — Māra does not always show himself; he hides in every seam of slackening: the wholesome zeal arises and is straightway dragged back by the desires — a deed of Māra; one guards the gates of the faculties yet grasps at marks and fineness — a deed of Māra; one knows the measure in food yet craves delicious flavors — a deed of Māra; one ought to be diligently wakeful yet craves sleep and lying down — a deed of Māra; one abides with right knowing yet is drawn off by comely forms and fine things — a deed of Māra; one gives rise to doubt toward the Three Jewels and the four truths — a deed of Māra; in a forest hermitage one sees a terrifying thing and is frightened, or sees a false ascetic's form urging one to cast off the good and take up the evil — a deed of Māra; one craves gain and reverence, or gives rise to miserliness, wrath, resentment, and deceit (these being precisely the dharmas counteracted by "the ascetic's adornment") — also a deed of Māra. "Such measureless and boundless enterprises of Māra are all done by the four māras." This passage, and the earlier warning about the counterfeit-right-Dharma of "the ruin of the yoga of deviant conduct" (13-02-03), are a paired demon-revealing mirror: one reveals false dharmas, the other reveals slackening, and both call on the yoga practitioner to "rightly and thoroughly know, and keep apart from" them.

The Summation of the Whole Station: Setting Out to Empty and Fruitless Result

Finally, the treatise sets down over the whole Second Yoga-Station a concluding verdict — with equal diligence in setting out, why do some bear fruit and some labor in vain? By three conditions: the faculties gathered and accumulated, the instruction according, and the power of meditative stability strong. Lacking any one of the three, "diligently setting out is empty and fruitless"; possessing all three, "definitely fruitful."

For "the instruction does not accord," the ancient masters cite a famous story: Śāriputra taught "the washerman" the breath-counting contemplation and taught "the bead-stringer" the contemplation of the unclean — the dharma, though a good dharma, was matched to the wrong disposition, and so neither attained the noble path 〔Dunlun〕. The dharma not matched to the disposition, though diligent, is fruitless. Kuiji further rules: what this "empty and fruitless" is empty of is the "fruit of the uncontaminated path," not the mundane fruit — though one attain meditative stability, without true instruction the uncontaminated cannot arise, and so one accomplishes nothing.

These three conditions in fact gather back the whole intent of the eighteen headings that opened the Second Yoga-Station: "faculties" (the faculties of the person), "instruction" (the heading on instruction), "meditative stability" (the stability accomplished through the object and attention) — the person, the dharma, and the stability all complete, and only then is the śrāvaka path truly walkable. The Second Yoga-Station is here brought to completion; and the thread of "the one who takes up existence" (the person), which expounds cultivation-and-realization by entering from the "person," is now to be carried on into the Third Yoga-Station.

Carrying Forward

The sub-unit on the fruit of cultivation is the tail of the Second Yoga-Station, and here the threads of the preceding four sub-units each come to their close. Carrying forward three lines from before: first, the previous sub-unit cultivated the thirty-seven factors of awakening to completion into the paths of seeing and cultivation, and this sub-unit speaks of their "fruit" — the four fruits of asceticism (stream-entry → arhat) as the utmost of śrāvaka cultivation-and-realization, counteracting the four afflictions and cutting them off to exhaustion in sequence (13-02-04 the cultivation of yoga); second, the six alternate names for the person (ascetic, brahmin, and the rest) are of one vein with the twenty-eight classes, and the even-portioned and thin-dust types carry straight on from the five modes and the five stilling-the-mind contemplations (the objects for purifying conduct) — this sub-unit clarifies the pace of the three kinds of practitioner in cultivating the preparatory effort, the thin-dust type being most swift because it has no three obstructions (13-02-01 the person · 13-02-02 the object); third, the four māras and the measureless deeds of Māra are, with the warning about the "counterfeit right Dharma" of the ruin of the yoga of deviant conduct in the sub-unit before last, a paired demon-revealing mirror, both being obstructions to the path of cultivation, which the yoga practitioner should rightly and thoroughly know and keep apart from (13-02-03 the ruin of yoga). Gathering toward what comes after: the closing heading, the three causes and conditions of "setting out to empty and fruitless result" (the faculties, the instruction, the meditative stability), gathers up the dispositions of the eighteen headings that opened the station — the faculties being the person, the instruction being the heading on instruction, the meditative stability being the stability accomplished through object and attention — and the verdict of fruitful or fruitless is precisely the summation of the Second Yoga-Station. The Second Yoga-Station being concluded, the thread of "the one who takes up existence," expounding cultivation-and-realization by entering from the "person," carries on into the Third Yoga-Station (13-03). Within this one station, the five sub-units — the person, the object, the training, the cultivation, and the fruit — join head to tail, and here the whole course of the śrāvaka path comes to its summit.