瑜伽師地論 菩薩地 · 靜慮品

In one line: The substance of meditative absorption is not the posture of sitting but "one-pointedness of mind" — Dunlun settles the key: "one-pointedness of mind — this brings out the substance of the meditative absorptions" 〔T42n1828 0543c22〕; calm and observation are not two prescriptions for curing an illness but two emphases of one and the same state of concentration (named according to predominance); the "returning to birth in the desire realm" of the difficult-to-practice absorptions is a precise operation of compassionate vow (no afflictions arise · only the seeds moisten birth · from the seventh stage onward it is in every case of benefit, able at any moment actively to make the afflictions arise), not a sacrifice of willpower; the ultimate landing-place is the disaster-relief checklist of the wish-fulfilling absorption — the power of concentration must in the end respond to the world's suffering.

Three points of the eye:

1. One-pointedness of mind brings out the substance of the meditative absorptions (the point of the eye): "taking as prior the hearing-and-reflecting upon the bodhisattva collection, whatever fine-and-good, worldly-and-world-transcending one-pointedness of mind there is, the mind rightly abiding therein" 〔0527b17-19〕; Dunlun cites the Duifa, "the mind being purely good, binding the mind to a single object — hence it is named 'meditative absorption'," and gives the verdict "one-pointedness of mind — this brings out the substance of the meditative absorptions" 〔T42n1828 0543c17-22〕 — the most clean-cut single line among the intrinsic-nature-passage glosses of the three perfections of the Basic Section (patience / vigor / meditative absorption).
2. The dispute over matching calm-and-observation to torpor-and-agitation (the point of the eye): Master Jing — vipaśyanā cures torpor, śamatha cures agitation; an unnamed dissenting account rebuts — calm and observation always contain concentration and wisdom together, and are here named only according to predominance 〔T43n1829 0148c15-21 · T42n1828 0543c17-22〕; the two accounts set side by side, not adjudicated.
3. The difficult-to-practice absorption of returning to birth in the desire realm · Jing's threefold qualification (the point of the eye): the bodhisattva, having already realized the excellent absorption and destined by karmic law to be born in the higher realms, yet "following his own wish and delight relinquishes those most excellent joys of the meditative absorptions, and out of compassion for sentient beings … deliberately deliberates and chooses to be born once more in the desire realm" 〔0527c〕; Jing's original words: "here no afflictions arise, only the seeds moisten birth; this too is without harm, since from the seventh stage onward it is in every case of benefit; when he needs afflictions to arise, at that very moment he makes them arise" 〔T42n1828 0544a16-21, recorded only by Dunlun; Kuiji shows no equally clear text〕 — no real afflictions arise · only the seeds moisten birth · from the seventh stage onward not merely without harm but in every case of benefit · able at any moment actively to make the afflictions arise; a use of sovereign mastery, not a passive dissolving of risk.

Appended pointers:

• The nine aspects of the meditative absorptions correspond to the nine aspects of the four chapters on giving, discipline, patience, and vigor — still the six-perfections common formula; the eleven aspects of the benefiting-sentient-beings absorption follow the frame of the prior chapter.
• The Section on Ascertainment, Heading 10, ascertaining the Chapter on the Aids to Awakening, further sets up along a separate axis the ten purified aspects of the perfection of meditative absorption (purity-that-is-purity-itself / uncontaminated / method-that-is-root / realizing-the-root / method-that-is-mastery / abiding-in-mastery / drawing-forth-the-mastery-of-the-higher-knowledges / mastery-of-maturing-sentient-beings / mastery-of-subduing-the-outsiders / unsurpassed-unbinding) 〔0712b28-0712c04〕; Woncheuk further has a re-listed gloss — see the Apparatus, Heading II.
• Alternate translations: Dharmakṣema's Chapter on Meditation, 13th · Guṇavarman's Chapter on Meditation, 14th — the chapter is titled "禪" (meditation) in both (Xuanzang takes the rendering-by-meaning "靜慮," meditative absorption); Dharmakṣema's removing-meditation passage contains the incantation-based meditation, communicating with this treatise's wish-fulfilling-absorption passage — see the Apparatus, Heading II.

Overall Heading: The Nine Aspects of the Meditative Absorptions

What is the bodhisattva's perfection of meditative absorption? The uddāna (a summary verse) says: intrinsic-nature, all, difficult, all-gate, good-persons', all-kinds, wish-fulfilling, happiness of this world and the other, purified — these nine aspects are, stated briefly, the "meditative absorptions." That is to say, these nine aspects of the meditative absorptions, taken together, are the bodhisattva's perfection of meditative absorption: first, intrinsic-nature absorption; second, all-absorption; third, difficult-to-practice absorption; fourth, all-gate absorption; fifth, good-persons' absorption; sixth, all-kinds absorption; seventh, wish-fulfilling absorption; eighth, the absorption of the happiness of this world and the other world; ninth, purified absorption.

One · Intrinsic-Nature Absorption

What is the bodhisattva's intrinsic-nature absorption? It is that the bodhisattvas, taking as their forerunner the hearing and reflecting upon the bodhisattva collection, possess every kind of fine-and-good, worldly and world-transcending one-pointedness of mind, and their mind rightly abides therein — whether of the śamatha (calm) class, or of the vipaśyanā (observing) class, or of the yoked course of calm-and-observing that pervades both classes together. Know that this is the intrinsic nature of the meditative absorptions that the bodhisattva possesses.

Two · All-Absorption

What is the bodhisattva's all-absorption? This absorption is, in brief, of two kinds: first, worldly absorption; second, world-transcending absorption. Know that these two kinds, each according to what befits it, are again of three kinds each: first, the absorption of abiding in present happiness; second, the absorption that draws forth the meditative-poise merits of the bodhisattva; third, the absorption of benefiting sentient beings.

If the absorption a bodhisattva possesses is removed from all discrimination, able to give rise to bodily and mental pliancy, most utterly quiescent, removed from arrogant elation, parted from all savoring attachment, and extinguishing all marks — know that this is the bodhisattva's absorption of abiding in present happiness.

If the absorption a bodhisattva possesses is able to draw forth and to abide in the various excellent, inconceivable, immeasurable meditative poises subsumed under the lineage of the ten powers — poises such that all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas do not so much as know their names, still less can enter and realize them; and if the absorption a bodhisattva possesses is able to draw forth and to abide in all the merits held in common with the śrāvakas — the bodhisattva's liberations, dominant bases, totalities, unobstructed knowledges, non-contention, and knowledge-of-vows — know that this is the absorption that draws forth the meditative-poise merits of the bodhisattva.

The bodhisattva's absorption of benefiting sentient beings is of eleven kinds, as stated before. That is to say, the bodhisattvas, relying on the meditative absorptions, are able to draw forth toward sentient beings the various works of meaning-and-benefit and to act as their helpers-and-companions; for those in suffering, they can remove their suffering; for sentient beings, they can expound in accordance with principle; for those who have shown kindness, they know the kindness and know the favor, and repay it before them; against various fears, they afford protection; for those in a place of loss, they undo their grief-and-sorrow; to those in want, they give the goods of livelihood; over the multitude, they govern well; toward sentient beings, they turn well in accord with their minds; toward the truly virtuous, they praise and gladden them; toward those with faults, they subdue them rightly; and, for the sake of delivering sentient beings, they manifest supernormal powers, either to strike fear or to draw in.

All of this, taken together, is called the bodhisattva's all-absorption — beyond this there is nothing further in excess or added.

Three · Difficult-to-Practice Absorption

What is the bodhisattva's difficult-to-practice absorption? This absorption is, in brief, of three kinds.

If a bodhisattva, already able to abide in the various absorption-states that are vast, excellent, most well matured, and much drawn forth, yet in accord with his own wish and delight relinquishes those most excellent joys of the meditative absorptions, and — out of compassion for sentient beings, contemplating with even regard the immeasurable matters of benefiting sentient beings, and for the sake of the maturing of sentient beings in meaning-and-benefit — deliberately deliberates and chooses to be born once more in the desire realm: know that this is the bodhisattva's first difficult-to-practice absorption.

If a bodhisattva, relying on the meditative absorptions, is able to set in motion the various bodhisattva meditative poises that are immeasurable, innumerable, inconceivable, and surpass all the domains coursed by the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas: know that this is the bodhisattva's second difficult-to-practice absorption.

If a bodhisattva, relying on the meditative absorptions, swiftly realizes unsurpassed perfect awakening: know that this is the bodhisattva's third difficult-to-practice absorption.

Four · All-Gate Absorption

What is the bodhisattva's all-gate absorption? This absorption is, in brief, of four kinds: first, the absorption with both applied and sustained thought; second, the absorption accompanied by joy; third, the absorption accompanied by happiness; fourth, the absorption accompanied by equanimity.

Five · Good-Persons' Absorption

What is the bodhisattva's good-persons' absorption? This absorption is, in brief, of five kinds: first, the absorption without savoring attachment; second, the absorption accompanied by loving-kindness; third, the absorption accompanied by compassion; fourth, the absorption accompanied by sympathetic joy; fifth, the absorption accompanied by equanimity.

Six · All-Kinds Absorption

What is the bodhisattva's all-kinds absorption? This absorption is of six kinds and of seven kinds, thirteen in all.

The six kinds: first, the wholesome absorption; second, the absorption of indeterminate transformation; third, the absorption of the śamatha class; fourth, the absorption of the vipaśyanā class; fifth, the absorption of rightly examining and reflecting upon the benefit of self and others; sixth, the absorption able to draw forth the merit of supernormal power and might.

The seven kinds: first, the absorption whose object is the name; second, the absorption whose object is the meaning; third, the absorption whose object is the mark of calm; fourth, the absorption whose object is the mark of uplifting; fifth, the absorption whose object is the mark of equanimity; sixth, the absorption of abiding in present happiness; seventh, the absorption able to benefit others.

These thirteen kinds are called the bodhisattva's all-kinds absorption.

Seven · Wish-Fulfilling Absorption

What is the bodhisattva's wish-fulfilling absorption? This absorption is, in brief, of eight kinds: first, the absorption able to still the various calamities and troubles — poisons, frost-hail, scorching heat, the hauntings of ghosts, and the like — and able to accomplish the basis of incantations; second, the absorption able to dispel the various sicknesses that arise from a discord in the nature of the elements; third, the absorption able, when the various famines, great calamities, and droughts are present, to raise up and call down sweet rain; fourth, the absorption able rightly to rescue from the various perils of water and land caused by humans or non-humans; fifth, the absorption able to give food and drink to the various sentient beings who lack food and drink and are stranded in the wilds; sixth, the absorption able to give the various goods and positions to the sentient beings to be delivered who lack goods and positions; seventh, the absorption able rightly to admonish and instruct the heedless sentient beings in the worlds of the ten directions; eighth, the absorption able rightly to carry out, for the various sentient beings, whatever is to be done as it arises.

Eight · The Absorption of the Happiness of This World and the Other World

What is the bodhisattva's absorption of the happiness of this world and the other world? This absorption is, in brief, of nine kinds: first, the absorption that subdues sentient beings by the manifesting-transformation of supernormal power; second, the absorption that subdues sentient beings by the manifesting-transformation of prognostication; third, the absorption that subdues sentient beings by the manifesting-transformation of instruction; fourth, the absorption that, to those who do evil, displays the marks of the evil destinies; fifth, the absorption able to give eloquence to those who have lost their eloquence; sixth, the absorption able to give right mindfulness to those who have lost their right mindfulness; seventh, the absorption able to compose and establish undistorted treatises, subtle hymns of praise, and mātṛkā (matrices), so that the true Dharma long abides; eighth, the absorption that, with regard to the various crafts and works of the world, is able to draw forth meaning-and-benefit and to benefit sentient beings, able, in accord with need, to make the various implements of livelihood — writing, reckoning, measuring, sealing, couches-and-seats, parasols, and the like; ninth, the absorption that, for the sentient beings to be delivered who are born in the evil destinies, in order to still their manifold sufferings for a while, sends forth a great radiance to touch upon them.

Nine · Purified Absorption

What is the bodhisattva's purified absorption? This absorption is, in brief, of ten kinds: first, the absorption purified by worldly purity, in that it is removed from the various savoring attachments; second, the absorption purified by world-transcending purity, in that it is without defilement; third, the absorption purified by the purity of preparatory effort; fourth, the absorption purified by the purity of the root already attained; fifth, the absorption purified by the purity of advancing beyond the root; sixth, the absorption purified by the purity of mastery in entering, abiding in, and emerging from concentration; seventh, the absorption purified by the purity of being able, after relinquishing the meditative absorptions, once more to enter into and realize mastery; eighth, the absorption purified by the purity of mastery in the manifesting-transformation of supernormal power; ninth, the absorption purified by the purity of being removed from all wrong resorts of view; tenth, the absorption purified by the purity in which all the afflictive and the cognitive obstructions are purified.

In this way the meditative absorptions are immeasurable and boundless, and are able to obtain the great awakening-fruit of the bodhisattva. Relying on this, the bodhisattva fulfills the perfection of meditative absorption, and thereupon, with regard to unsurpassed perfect awakening, swiftly has realized, will realize, and now realizes it.

The Six Perfections Reach the Fifth Step

Giving, discipline, patience, vigor — all along, these have been a work of "movement": giving out, holding the line, bearing injury, pushing oneself forward. Meditative absorption is different: it is the first work among the six perfections that asks a person to "grow still." Yet the very first sentence of the Chapter on Meditative Absorption bars a common misunderstanding at the door: the substance of meditative absorption is not the posture of sitting, nor some special experience, but "one-pointedness of mind" — the mind abiding upon a single object, no longer scattered.

Intrinsic-Nature Absorption: Dunlun Sets the Key in a Single Line

The treatise defines intrinsic-nature absorption: "taking as prior the hearing-and-reflecting upon the bodhisattva collection, whatever fine-and-good, worldly-and-world-transcending one-pointedness of mind there is, the mind rightly abiding therein — whether of the śamatha class, or of the vipaśyanā class, or of the yoked course pervading both classes." 〔the treatise〕 Here Dunlun first sets up a benchmark of definition by citing the Abhidharma-samuccaya-vyākhyā (the Duifa): "the mind being purely good, binding the mind to a single object — hence it is named 'meditative absorption'"; and then gives the single heaviest verdict of the whole chapter: "one-pointedness of mind — this brings out the substance of the meditative absorptions."

This line is worth stopping over. In the Chapter on Patience, where it treats intrinsic-nature patience, Dunlun records the readings of four masters — Jing, Tai, Kuiji, and Woncheuk — each from a different angle; in the Chapter on Vigor, where it treats intrinsic-nature vigor, Woncheuk offers a threefold-correspondence deconstruction. But when it comes to the Chapter on Meditative Absorption, Dunlun gives only one clean-cut settlement of the key — not because this question is any simpler, but because those four characters, "one-pointedness of mind," have in truth already stated to the last the most central thing about the meditative absorptions: whether it be calm (śamatha), or observation (vipaśyanā), or the yoked course of the two, the shared bedrock is that mind which no longer chases about on every side but abides upon a single object.

Calm and Observation: Not Two Prescriptions for Curing an Illness, but Two Emphases of One and the Same Thing

The treatise says of the two classes, calm and observation, "either the two of one same kind, or the joined portion," and both Kuiji and Dunlun leave on record an interesting debate. Master Jing's account is very intuitive: śamatha (calm) and vipaśyanā (observation) counter two distinct lapses respectively — one prone to dullness should cultivate observation to lift himself up, one prone to restlessness should cultivate calm to settle himself; calm and observation are two prescriptions, each curing its own illness. But immediately upon this, another unnamed dissenting account raises a rebuttal: calm and observation were never really separate to begin with — within any given state of concentration, concentration (calm) and wisdom (observation) are both present at once; the reason they are here given distinct names is only that one speaks according to "predominance" (whichever portion is at this moment the more evident), not that within some state of concentration there is only calm and no observation, or only observation and no calm.

The two accounts look contradictory, yet they in fact remind the reader of two levels of one and the same thing: seen from the "point of entry," one may indeed counter dullness or restlessness each in its own way; but seen from the "ultimate point," calm and observation were never truly divided into two households. Both readings are of use on the road of practice — for a beginner, Jing's countering method gives a concrete point of entry; only in the deeper reaches does one come to feel that calm and observation are, from the first, two faces of one body.

All-Absorption: Present-Happiness-Abiding, Meditative-Poise Merits, Benefiting Sentient Beings — the Three Destinations of the Absorptions

All-absorption divides into three destinations. The absorption of abiding in present happiness speaks of the happiness that the absorption itself brings in the present moment — removed from discrimination, bodily and mental pliancy, most utterly quiescent, removed from arrogant elation, parted from all savoring attachment, extinguishing all marks. The absorption that draws forth the meditative-poise merits of the bodhisattva speaks of the excellent realization the absorption sets in motion — "all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas do not so much as know its name, still less can they enter it"; this is a domain of meditative poise the bodhisattva alone has, beyond the reach of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas. The absorption of benefiting sentient beings, in turn, extends the working of the absorptions all the way out into the eleven concrete tasks of benefiting others — acting as a person's helper-and-companion, removing suffering for the suffering, expounding in accordance with principle, knowing kindness and repaying it, protecting from fear, undoing grief-and-sorrow, giving the goods of livelihood, governing the multitude, turning in accord with their minds, praising the virtuous, subduing those with faults, manifesting supernormal powers to draw in. Take the three destinations together: the absorptions are not a solitary enjoyment that flees the world; at one and the same time they lead toward one's own realization and toward the benefit of others, favoring neither side over the other.

Difficult-to-Practice Absorption: Already Free to Go, Yet He Chooses to Stay

Of the three difficult-to-practice absorptions, the first is the passage of deepest doctrine in the whole chapter: the bodhisattva has already come to abide in the vast, excellent, most-well-matured states of meditative absorption, and by such power of concentration should, by right, be born into the higher heavens of meditation; yet "following his own wish and delight he relinquishes those most excellent joys of the meditative absorptions, and out of compassion for sentient beings … deliberately deliberates and chooses to be born once more in the desire realm" — plainly free to go, yet, out of compassion for sentient beings, he deliberately chooses to remain in this desire realm so full of affliction and suffering.

This sounds like a kind of sacrifice, but Master Jing's account, as recorded by Dunlun, states the mechanism of the matter with greater precision: "here no afflictions arise, only the seeds moisten birth; this too is without harm, since from the seventh stage onward it is in every case of benefit; when he needs afflictions to arise, at that very moment he makes them arise." When the bodhisattva returns to birth in the desire realm, it is not that afflictions are freshly set arising again — his mind is not, in truth, defiled once more by greed, hatred, and delusion — it is only that the seeds of the afflictions still moisten birth, sustaining the driving mechanism required for taking birth in the desire realm, and this does the bodhisattva no harm; moreover, from the seventh stage onward, this mechanism is not merely without harm but wholly of benefit — when there is need, the bodhisattva can actively, at any moment, make the afflictions arise ("when he needs afflictions to arise, at that very moment he makes them arise"). This is not "the risk having vanished"; it is the bodhisattva's having come into complete self-mastery over this mechanism — using it when he wishes, and not being moved by it in the least when there is no need. In other words, this is not the bodhisattva "backsliding into the afflictions of an ordinary being"; it is the bodhisattva's having precisely retained just so much of a seed as suffices — no more than the taking-birth mechanism requires — and, from the seventh stage onward, having further gained the sovereign power to summon it up at will: a precise operation of compassionate vow, not a sacrifice of willpower. The second and third difficult-to-practice absorptions are, respectively, the setting-in-motion of a meditative poise surpassing the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, and the swift realization, by the power of the absorptions, of unsurpassed awakening. Take the three difficult-to-practice absorptions together: the difficulty is not in "entering" a deep concentration, but in "letting go" of the most excellent happiness that deep concentration brings, and turning back toward sentient beings.

All-Gate Absorption, Good-Persons' Absorption, All-Kinds Absorption: The Skeleton and the Detail of the Absorptions

The four all-gate absorptions — with-applied-and-sustained-thought, joy-accompanied, happiness-accompanied, equanimity-accompanied — are the skeleton of the traditional four dhyānas, using the dhyāna-factors (applied-and-sustained thought, joy, happiness, equanimity) as the axis of classification. The five good-persons' absorptions — savoring-free, loving-kindness-accompanied, compassion-accompanied, sympathetic-joy-accompanied, equanimity-accompanied — set the four immeasurables (loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity) side by side with "not clinging to the savor of meditation," reminding the one who cultivates concentration: the good person's absorption is not a hiding away inside meditative bliss to admire one's own fragrance in solitude, but an entering-into-concentration that carries the four immeasurables with it.

The thirteen aspects of the all-kinds absorption: the six kinds lean toward a classification by the character of the absorptions (wholesome / indeterminate-transformation / śamatha-class / vipaśyanā-class / reflection-on-the-benefit-of-self-and-others / able-to-draw-forth-supernormal-power), and the seven kinds lean toward the object taken by the absorptions (name-object / meaning-object / calm-mark-object / uplifting-mark-object / equanimity-mark-object / present-happiness-abiding / able-to-benefit-others) — the former asks "which kind of concentration is this," the latter asks "what is this concentration attending to"; the two schemes of classification complement each other in angle, and taken together they lay out the inner structure of the absorptions in fine detail.

Wish-Fulfilling Absorption: The Power of Concentration Applied at the Most Concrete Scene of Disaster

The eight wish-fulfilling absorptions read nothing like an abstract description of meditation; rather they read like a disaster-relief checklist: stilling the troubles of poisons, frost-hail, scorching heat, the hauntings of ghosts; dispelling the sicknesses that arise from a discord in the nature of the elements; raising up and calling down sweet rain in times of famine and drought; rescuing from the perils of water and land; giving food and drink to those who lack it and are stranded in the wilds; giving goods and positions to those who lack them; admonishing and instructing the heedless; rightly carrying out what sentient beings need done. Dharmakṣema's alternate-translation edition likewise records, in the corresponding passage, a similar "incantation-based meditation" (averting calamity, calling down rain, and so on) 〔Chapter on Meditation〕, which can be cross-attested with this. This aspect reminds the reader: the "going to the other shore" of the perfection of meditative absorption is not a hiding away in deep mountains, heedless of the world; its power of concentration must in the end come down to earth at the concrete scene of relieving the sicknesses and sufferings of sentient beings — a disaster-relief checklist is precisely the most practical deployment of the meditative absorptions.

The Absorption of the Happiness of This World and the Other, and the Purified Absorption: The Deployment and the Ultimate of the Absorptions

The nine aspects of the absorption of the happiness of this world and the other — subduing sentient beings by the manifesting-transformation of supernormal power, of prognostication, of instruction; displaying the marks of the evil destinies to warn those who do evil; giving eloquence, giving right mindfulness; composing treatises and hymns to sustain the long abiding of the true Dharma; mastering the worldly crafts, writing, and reckoning to benefit sentient beings; sending forth radiance to still the suffering of beings in the evil destinies — these nine continue the direction of the wish-fulfilling absorption, "the power of concentration applied to benefiting others," and lay out the deployment of the absorptions more broadly still.

The ten purified absorptions are the gathering-up of the whole chapter: from worldly purity and world-transcending purity, to the purity of preparatory effort, the purity of the root attained, the purity of advancing beyond the root, to the purity of mastery in entering-abiding-emerging, the purity of once more entering into and realizing mastery, the purity of mastery in the manifesting-transformation of supernormal power, and at last to the purity of being removed from all wrong resorts of view and the purity in which the afflictive and cognitive obstructions are both purified. The ten aspects go from shallow to deep, from the earliest "not clinging" all the way to the final "the two obstructions, afflictive and cognitive, both purified" — the ultimate of the perfection of meditative absorption is not how deep or how long the concentration is, but that mind which is thoroughly no longer bound by any defilement whatsoever.

The One Meaning This Chapter Brings to Light

The nine aspects of the Chapter on Meditative Absorption look as though they are speaking of "the various facets of meditation," but from first to last they teach only one thing: what is settled in absorption is not the posture of the body, but that mind which is no longer scattered and abides upon a single object; and once this mind truly grows still, it does not thereby depart the world — rather it can respond to the world's suffering all the more precisely. One-pointedness of mind is the substance of the absorptions; calm and observation are from the first two faces of one body and not two prescriptions; the "returning to birth in the desire realm" of the difficult-to-practice absorptions shows how the compassionate vow operates with precision between the seeds and the arising of the afflictions; and the disaster-relief checklist of the wish-fulfilling absorption proves that the landing-place of the perfection of meditative absorption was never in the deep mountains, but in the very place where sentient beings are.

Carrying Forward

Meditative absorption comes forward from the Chapter on Vigor; its nine aspects are still the six-perfections common formula; the eleven aspects of the benefiting-sentient-beings absorption of the all-absorption follow the frame of the prior chapter, expressly saying "as before, they should be understood." The Section on Ascertainment, Heading 10, ascertaining the Chapter on the Aids to Awakening, further sets up along a separate axis the ten purified aspects of the perfection of meditative absorption (purity-that-is-purity-itself / uncontaminated / method-that-is-root / realizing-the-root / method-that-is-mastery / abiding-in-mastery / drawing-forth-the-mastery-of-the-higher-knowledges / mastery-of-maturing-sentient-beings / mastery-of-subduing-the-outsiders / unsurpassed-unbinding), re-ascertaining along that other axis. Then follows the Chapter on Wisdom (the last of the six perfections) — the meditative absorptions establish the quiescent mind, wisdom goes on to establish the illumining clarity of seeing; and with this the six perfections come round to completion.