瑜伽師地論 白話全本 · 冊9

〔Stage heading〕本地分中思所成地第十一之一 — Within the Basic Section, the Stage of What is Attained through Reflection, the eleventh, part one

Opening the Gate: The Three Aspects of the Stage of What is Attained through Reflection

The foregoing has already treated the "Stage of What is Attained through Hearing." What is the "Stage of What is Attained through Reflection"? It should be known that, stated briefly, it is [recognized] by three aspects: first, by intrinsic purity; second, by discerning the knowable; third, by discerning the phenomena.

One · Intrinsic Purity (the Nine Aspects of Pure Reflection)

What is "intrinsic purity"? It is to be recognized by nine aspects: (1) as when there is a person who, dwelling alone in a solitary [place], deliberatively reflects on the principles of the phenomena just as he has heard and penetrated them; (2) staying away from every locus that is "not to be reflected upon or discussed," and deliberatively reflecting only on the locus that "is to be reflected upon"; (3) being able to distinguish well between "black speech" (the speech of what is not the true Dharma) and "great speech" (the speech of the true Dharma); (4) in all that he reflects upon, relying only on the "meaning" and not on the "letter"; (5) toward one part of the Dharma, generating only confident understanding, and toward one part of the Dharma, examining it with wisdom; (6) reflecting firmly; (7) reflecting settledly; (8) reflecting continuously without break; (9) being able to bring to a good consummation what he reflects upon, never in mid-course growing weary and afraid, drawing back and shrinking away. By these nine aspects, [his reflection] is called "pure, well-purified" reflection.

Two · Discerning the Knowable

What is "discerning the knowable"? It is to discern well "the meaning that is observed." And what is called "the meaning that is observed"? It is this: with respect to "what has phenomenal being," to know its "mark of being"; with respect to "what is not phenomenal being," to know its "mark of non-being" — this is called the meaning that is observed.

(a) The Being-Phenomena That Are Observed, Briefly of Five Kinds

What are "the being-phenomena that are observed"? It should be known that these phenomena are briefly of five kinds: (1) being-phenomena of the particular mark, (2) being-phenomena of the common mark, (3) being-phenomena of the fictitious mark, (4) being-phenomena of the causal mark, (5) being-phenomena of the fruitional mark.

1. Being-phenomena of the particular mark — these are again of three kinds: (i) being of the ultimate mark (the meaning that is free of verbal expression within phenomena, which is the field ranged over by supramundane knowledge, and is the "non-posited mark"); (ii) being of the aspectual mark (recognized by four kinds of observed aspect: first, that in this place a "name" is obtainable; second, that in this place a "referent-thing" is obtainable; third, that this name is not indeterminate with respect to this referent-thing — if it were deluded it would be indeterminate, if it were impermanent it would be indeterminate; fourth, that this name follows over onto this referent-thing without obstruction, and does not follow over in some places while turning back in others); (iii) being of the present mark (namely, that which has already arisen, and that which has causal-and-fruitional nature). All of this, stated as a whole, is the single "being-phenomena of the particular mark."

2. Being-phenomena of the common mark — these are again of five kinds: (i) the common mark of category (form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness — each a distinct category — are together named a single category); (ii) the common mark of the accomplishing of what is done (as wholesome contaminated phenomena, with respect to the drawing of a beloved fruit, are said to have a common mark by the deed that can accomplish it; unwholesome phenomena drawing an unbeloved fruit, and the factors conducive to awakening — the foundations of mindfulness, the right exertions, the bases of psychic power, the faculties, the powers, the awakening-limbs, the path-limbs, and so forth — with respect to the attaining of awakening, likewise are said to have a common mark by the deed that can accomplish it); (iii) the common mark of all formations (the mark of "impermanence" belonging to all formations); (iv) the common mark of all that is contaminated (the mark of "suffering" belonging to all contaminated formations); (v) the common mark of all phenomena (the mark of "emptiness and no-self" belonging to all phenomena). All of this, stated as a whole, is the single "being-phenomena of the common mark."

3. Being-phenomena of the fictitious mark — if in a certain place there briefly arise six kinds of verbal expression, it should be known that this place is named "being of the fictitious mark." Which six kinds of verbal expression?

• Verbal expression corresponding to a possessor: the several verbal expressions must be assigned to a "possessor" before their mark is understood; they are not unassigned to a possessor. As when one says "arising," one must ask "whose arising is this," and the expression arises only in dependence on the possessor to which it belongs — it is "the arising of form," "the arising of feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness"; it is not that when one says "form" one must ask "whose form is this." As with "arising," so too, correspondingly, with "aging, abiding, impermanence," and the other formations dissociated from mind. When this kind of expression arises in such a place, it should be known that this place is being of the fictitious mark.
• Verbal expression removed from this and that: the expression that is neither "displaying this by this" nor "displaying that by that." (The expression that displays this by this operates both at the locus of a real mark and at the locus of a fictitious mark, as when one says "the hardness of earth" 〔real〕 or "the roundness of stone" 〔fictitious〕; the wetness of water, the dripping of oil, the warmth of fire, the flame of a blaze, the movement of wind, the gusting of a gale are likewise. The expression that displays that by that operates at the locus of a real mark, as when one says "the consciousness of the eye, the contact of the body"; and operates at the locus of a fictitious mark, as when one says "the food, the carriage, the clothing, the ornaments of Buddhadatta or Devamitra.") But the expression that is "neither displaying this by this nor displaying that by that" operates uniformly at the locus of a fictitious mark, as when one says "the door of a house, the wall of a dwelling, the mouth of a jar, the belly of a pot, the chariots of an army, the trees of a grove, the ten of a hundred, the three of a ten." This is called verbal expression removed from this and that.
• Verbal expression of common convention: fictitiously positing an expression for the verbal self-nature of six kinds of aspect. The six kinds of aspect are: (i) the aspect of a thing (grasped by consciousness); (ii) the aspect of the knowable (grasped by attention, able to give rise to consciousness); (iii) the aspect of the pleasant-and-fine and the like (grasped by contact); (iv) the aspect of the benefiting and the like (grasped by feeling); (v) the aspect of verbal expression (grasped by perception); (vi) the aspect of wrong conduct and the like (grasped by volition).
• Verbal expression of the assemblage of many phenomena: establishing an expression of self-nature for a manifold combination. As, for the inner form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness, establishing expressions such as "diverse selves"; and for the combined distinctions of outer things — form, scent, taste, the tangible, and so forth — establishing diverse expressions such as house, dwelling, jar, clothing, chariot, carriage, army, grove, tree.
• Verbal expression that is not [applied] throughout everything: the several verbal expressions follow over in some places and revolve back in others. As the expression "dwelling-house" follows over place by place among the several dwelling-houses, but revolves back when it reaches a village, a settlement, a wayside post, a country, and the like; the expression "basin and pot" follows over place by place among basins and pots, but revolves back when it reaches a jar-vessel; the expression "army" follows over the several armies, but revolves back when it reaches the distinguished classes of men, women, the young and the small; the expression "grove" follows over the several groves, but revolves back when it reaches the distinguished classes of the roots, stems, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, and fruits of the trees.
• Verbal expression of the non-constant: recognized by four aspects. (i) By destruction (when a jar and the like are destroyed, the expression "jar" is discarded and the expression "shard" arises); (ii) by non-destruction (when diverse things are combined into a pellet or scattered, the expression for the distinct diverse things is discarded and the expression "pellet or powder" arises); (iii) by intensified effort (when, applying intensified effort to a lump of gold and the like, one fashions distinct ornaments such as a ring or bracelet, the expression "lump of gold" is discarded and the expression "ring or bracelet" arises); (iv) by transformation (when food and the like transform, the expression "food" is discarded and the expression "excrement" arises). Expressions of this class are called verbal expression of the non-constant.

As one gives rise to these six kinds of verbal expression toward the several things, it should be known that all these things are "fictitiously existent" — this is called being-phenomena of the fictitious mark.

4. Being-phenomena of the causal mark — this cause is briefly of five kinds: (i) the beloved cause (wholesome contaminated phenomena); (ii) the unbeloved cause (unwholesome phenomena); (iii) the nurturing cause (the wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate phenomena that arise earlier and earlier, by being cultivated, well cultivated, and much cultivated, are able to cause the wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate phenomena that arise later and later to progressively increase and prevail); (iv) the cause of continued turning (through this seed, through this perfuming, through this accompanying support, that phenomenon continues to turn; this, with respect to that phenomenon, is named the cause of continued turning); (v) the cause of cessation-and-return (the several formations returning-and-ceasing, defilement returning-and-ceasing; and all that can generate and accomplish the path able to still, able to bring to parinirvāṇa, able to lead to awakening, together with its provisions and means). Together these are named being-phenomena of the causal mark. If distinguished at length, their marks are to be known as in the [treatment of] "the causes and fruits of reflection."

5. Being-phenomena of the fruitional mark — from those five causes, whatever is generated, whatever is attained, whatever is accomplished, whatever is brought about, whatever is turned — it should be known that this is being-phenomena of the fruitional mark.

(b) The Non-Being-Phenomena That Are Observed, Also of Five Kinds

What are "the non-being-phenomena that are observed"? This mark also is of five kinds: (1) the non-being of the not-yet-arisen (future formations); (2) the non-being of the already-ceased (past formations); (3) mutual non-being (the several remaining phenomena have, by way of the remaining mark, a "quality of being removed from," a "quality of non-being"; or the "quality of the non-combining" of the remaining phenomena with the several remaining phenomena); (4) ultimate non-being (the nature established by conventional verbal self-nature, by fictitiously posited verbal expression 〔which, in terms of the ultimate, is all non-being〕); (5) absolute non-being (as with the son of a barren woman and the like, a class that is absolutely non-being).

(c) The Five Kinds of Being-Nature and the Five Kinds of Non-Being-Nature

Further, there are five kinds of being-nature and five kinds of non-being-nature. Which five kinds of being-nature? (1) the being-nature of the perfectly-accomplished mark; (2) the being-nature of the other-dependent mark; (3) the being-nature of the wholly-imagined mark; (4) the being-nature of the distinguishing mark; (5) the being-nature of the inexpressible mark. Of these: the first is the "ultimate mark"; the second is the "condition-arisen mark"; the third is the "fictitiously-posited mark"; the fourth is the "non-dual mark" (the mark of arising, the mark of aging, the mark of abiding, the mark of impermanence, the mark of suffering, the mark of emptiness, the mark of no-self, the mark of a thing, the mark of the knowable, the mark of the grasped, the mark of the pleasant-and-fine and the like, the mark of the benefiting and the like, the mark of verbal expression, the mark of wrong conduct and the like — these marks are named the "distinguishing mark"); the fifth, by four kinds of inexpressibility, is named the "inexpressible mark": (i) inexpressible because there is nothing [to express] (the person, with respect to those aggregates, cannot be said to be either the same or different); (ii) inexpressible because of profundity (the verbally-inexpressible nature of phenomena is inconceivable; the Dharma-body of the Tathāgata is inconceivable; the field of the several buddhas, and whether the Tathāgata after cessation exists or does not exist, and the like, cannot be declared); (iii) inexpressible because it would draw forth nothing of meaning (if any phenomena cannot draw forth the meaning of the Dharma or the holy life, the buddhas, the world-honored ones, though they have realized them, do not speak of them); (iv) inexpressible because it is established by the very-suchness of the mark of phenomena (suchness, with respect to the several formations and the like, cannot be said to be either the same or different).

Which five kinds of non-being-nature? (1) the non-being-nature of the ultimate mark; (2) the non-being-nature of the self-dependent mark; (3) the non-being-nature of the absolute particular mark; (4) the non-being-nature of the undifferentiated mark; (5) the non-being-nature of the expressible mark.

Three · Discerning the Phenomena (Setting Out the List)

What is "discerning the phenomena"? This again should be known as of two kinds: first, discerning the meaning of the sūtras (素呾纜, sūtra); second, discerning the meaning of the gāthās (伽他, gāthā). Discerning the meaning of the sūtras — this is treated at length in the "Section on the Gathering of Events" and in the "Instruction of the Bodhisattva Canon." Discerning the meaning of the gāthās — this again is of three kinds: first, the establishing of the ultimate-meaning gāthās; second, the establishing of the intended-meaning gāthās; third, the establishing of the essential-meaning gāthās. 〔For these three [sets of] gāthās below, see 11-01 / 11-02 / 11-03.〕

1. The Verses That Are Established (Forty-Four Verses · in Today's Words)

Here now the "Verses on the Ultimate Meaning" are established; these are verses spoken in a scripture. 〔Turned one by one into today's words as follows:〕

There is no master, no doer, and no experiencer 〔to be found〕 at all; nor do phenomena have any 〔activity that belongs to a self〕 — and yet the turning of activity is not nonexistent. Only the twelve links of existence, the five aggregates, the twelve bases, and the eighteen elements are in circulation. Examine all of this closely, and no "living being" can be found. Within and without alike, all of this is empty; and the very one who would cultivate emptiness is likewise never to be had. A "self" is decidedly not existent — it is only a false reckoning born of distortion. Sentient beings and self are both absent; only "causal phenomena" exist. All conditioned factors are momentary; they do not even "abide," let alone "act." Yet 〔people〕 say that what arises is the very activity, is the very doer.

The eye cannot see form, the ear cannot hear sound, the nose cannot smell scent, the tongue cannot taste flavor, the body cannot feel the tangible, the mind cannot know phenomena; and here too there is no 〔self〕 that can hold or press 〔the faculties〕 into service. A phenomenon cannot produce another phenomenon, nor can it produce itself — it arises only when the many conditions are complete; it is not that "the former one" is carried over, but that there is a fresh, new arising. A phenomenon cannot destroy another phenomenon, nor can it destroy itself — it arises only when the many conditions are complete, and having arisen, it perishes of its own accord.

Taking "two categories" as its support, this "arising" comes to be had: one is being ever heedless toward objects; the other is, again, a false and wrongful climbing-upward. One swept along by delusion goes toward the wrongful climbing-upward; one drawn along by the several cravings is ever heedless toward objects. Because there are phenomena that have a "cause," the mass of sufferings likewise follows. The root is the two afflictions 〔ignorance (avidyā) and craving〕; the twelve links divide into two 〔sets〕. A 〔phenomenon〕 has of itself no activity that could arise, nor is it made by another 〔phenomenon〕, still less can some other 〔self〕 make it — yet activity is not nonexistent. 〔Arising〕 is not within, nor without, nor in between the two — because 〔future〕 conditioned factors have not yet arisen; and yet at times it seems as though it could be had. Suppose the conditioned factors have already arisen: then for this very reason there is nothing to be had; in the future, there is no mark 〔to grasp〕; in the past, one can indeed discriminate. What is discriminated is what has been undergone; what has not been undergone can 〔by class〕 also be discriminated. Although the conditioned factors have no beginning, still a "beginning" can be had 〔that is, the fresh arising, moment after moment〕.

The forms are like a mass of foam; the feelings are like floating bubbles (water-bubbles); the perceptions are like a heat-shimmer; the conditioned factors are like a plantain-tree; the consciousnesses are like a conjured show — thus said the Kinsman-of-the-Sun 〔the Buddha, that is, He-Whose-Kin-Is-the-Sun〕 (the base text reads "曰親," while the Song, Yuan, and Ming editions read "日親"). The conditioned factors arise all at once, and all at once they abide and perish. "Delusion" cannot delude that "delusion," nor can it delude the one "who is deluded," still less can some other thing set delusion going — yet delusion is not nonexistent: it is from unwarranted attention that the several delusions arise; and this unwarranted attention, too, is not something an undeluded person would give rise to. Meritorious action, non-meritorious action, and imperturbable action — these are, again, to be understood in terms of the three times; and there are the three kinds of karma, and each and all of these do not harmonize with one another. The present perishes swiftly; the past abides with no location; the not-yet-arisen depends on the many conditions — and yet 〔conventionally〕 it is still said that "the mind turns in accordance with 〔karma〕." Whether one says it is 〔always〕 associated, or not associated at all 〔neither holds〕; it is not that "every mind is associated with every 〔conditioned factor〕," and yet it is said that the mind turns in accordance.

On this 〔stream of consciousness〕 there is no break; it is similar and yet dissimilar; and by conformity to the "view of self," conventional activity is not nonexistent. If the material body is broken up, the name-body 〔feeling, perception, formations, consciousness〕 perishes along with it; and yet 〔conventionally〕 it is said that there is a present and a future life, that one does the deed oneself and reaps its fruit oneself. Because of the difference between before and after, and because it is subsumed under one's own cause and one's own fruit, whether the "doer" and the "experiencer" are one or different cannot be stated. Because the pathway of causes is unbroken, the harmonized activity turns; 〔the fruit〕 is produced from its own cause and is made by appropriation. With delight in idle proliferation for a cause, one performs karma either pure or impure; 〔and so there come〕 the maturation of the several seeds, and the agreeable fruit and the disagreeable fruit.

In dependence on the maturation of the several seeds, the "view of self" arises; 〔the store consciousness〕 is realized within oneself, is without form, and is not to be seen — and the ordinary person, lacking the power of discernment, reckons it to be the "inner self." Taking the view of self as support, one then gives rise to all manner of false views. By a comprehensive grasping of one's own kind 〔the latent tendency〕, by the aid of past habituation, and by conformity to what one hears, the "view of self" is generated. From craving and from 〔the object as〕 condition, the grasping at an "inner self" arises; through appropriation and expectation, one defiles-and-habituates the outer 〔objects〕 as the grasped. The world is truly to be dreaded; through delusion one appropriates it; having first given rise to "the treasuring-in-craving," one thereby goes toward idle proliferation. That which is treasured-in-craving 〔the suffering of the conditioned〕, the noble ones penetrate as being suffering; this suffering presses upon the ordinary fool, without a moment's rest. With an unbalanced binding it fetters the mind, and amasses those masses of sufferings. "Amassing" is the object with respect to which the ordinary fool reckons a "self" and reckons "pain and pleasure." The several ordinary fools cling fast, like a great elephant sunk in the mire. By delusion it becomes dominant, all-pervasive in its operation and all-pervasive in its effect. This 〔store-consciousness〕 pool issues forth the several streams (the base text reads "池 [pool]," while the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace editions read "地 [ground]"); in the world it flows out as a torrent; it cannot be dried up by fire, wind, or sun, save only by "the practice of the true Dharma." As to suffering one reckons "I experience it," within pain and pleasure one comes to know it is suffering; discriminating this, one gives rise to a "view"; and from that 〔view〕 the 〔suffering〕 is born, and 〔the suffering〕 in turn gives birth to that 〔view〕.

The defiled mentation, ever and always, arises and perishes together with the several afflictions. If one is liberated from the several afflictions, it is not prior to 〔the afflictions〕, nor after 〔them〕. It is not that this 〔mentation〕, having already arisen, then has a pure 〔mentation〕 arise as a separate and different thing; it is that it was originally without defilement — this is why one speaks of "liberation from the masses of afflictions." That which has defilement is, in its ultimate nature, pure; and since there is no "thing to be purified," how could there be any "purifier"? Because the several seeds have perished, and because the several afflictions are exhausted, it is right here on this 〔consciousness〕 that there is non-defilement — which displays the two kinds of distinction 〔liberation from afflictions and liberation from the matter〕. 〔Nirvāṇa〕 is realized within oneself, is nothing but the exhaustion of the masses of suffering, and forever cuts off idle proliferation — it is therefore that in which there is no idle proliferation whatsoever. In the continuity of the name "living being," and in the mark of the concept "phenomenon," there is no circling in birth-and-death, and there is likewise no "one who enters nirvāṇa."

2. The Prose Commentary (the Explanation the Treatise Carries with Itself · in Today's Words)

In this 〔set of verses〕, it is in dependence on the ultimate meaning of the "no-self of the person (pudgala)" that these Verses on the Ultimate Meaning are thus proclaimed, for the sake of countering the twofold grasping at the extremes of "over-affirmation" and "under-denial."

"With respect to what is appropriated one speaks of it as master; with respect to the several karmic activities one speaks of it as doer; with respect to the several fruits and retributions one speaks of it as experiencer" — this half-verse blocks off the self discriminated as "apart from the aggregates." "Phenomena, too, have no activity" blocks off the self discriminated as "identical with the aggregates"; and by this one departs from the extreme grasping of "over-affirmation." "And yet the turning of activity is not nonexistent" displays that phenomena do have an intrinsic nature; and by this one departs from the extreme grasping of "under-denial." "Activity" is of three kinds: first, the activity of a master; second, the activity of a doer; third, the activity of an experiencer; and it is because there are these three activities that master, doer, and experiencer are provisionally set up.

Though it says "the several phenomena," it has not yet said what a "phenomenon" is; so it goes on to say the half-verse "only the twelve 〔links of existence〕, and so on." Such as the sequence of the links of existence, and the circulation of the several aggregates and the rest — this displays that "not grasping a subtle plurality of selves" is able to counter the grasping at master, doer, and experiencer. The eye, with form for its condition, produces the fruit that is eye-consciousness, and there is no separate experiencer — here it displays that it is right within the eighteen elements that "the character of an experiencer" is spoken of. Though it says "there is no master," it has not said there is no master of what; so it goes on to say "examine all of this closely, and no living being can be found." To say "examine closely" is to observe carefully and truly by means of the three means of knowledge 〔direct perception, inference, and authoritative teaching〕. If this 〔living being〕 did not exist, how would one establish the accomplishment of inner and outer? So it goes on to say "within and without alike, all of this is empty" — displaying that inner and outer are merely provisionally set up. How does one establish the two accomplishments of "the observer and the observed"? So it says "the very one who would cultivate emptiness is likewise never to be had." How does one establish the two accomplishments of "the noble one and the ordinary being"? So it says "a self is decidedly not existent, being a false reckoning born of distortion" — displaying that the self of the noble one and of the ordinary being is decidedly without any real self-nature, and is merely reckoned by distortion to exist. How does one establish the accomplishment of "that and this"? So it says "sentient beings and self are both absent." How does one establish the accomplishment of "the defiled and the pure"? So it says "only causal phenomena exist" — 〔making plain〕 that neither the defiled one nor the pure one is to be had.

Though it says the several phenomena all have no activity, it has not said in what way they are without activity; so it says "all conditioned factors are momentary; they do not even abide, let alone act." Earlier it already said "the turning of activity is not nonexistent"; how is it that they are without activity and yet there is a turning of activity? So it says "one then says that what arises is the activity, is the doer": with respect to the fruit it is named "activity," with respect to the cause it is named "doer"; and "what arises" displays that 〔consciousness〕 is produced from the several bases and the several consciousnesses; its coming-to-be produced is not something accomplished apart from the eye and the rest 〔of the faculties〕. As for the earlier statement that the several phenomena have no activity, here it displays that "no activity" is briefly of seven kinds: (1) no functioning-activity (the eye cannot see form, and so on); (2) no activity of turning-along (here too there is none that can hold or press into service; in the aforesaid sequence, master and doer are alike never to be had, and so there is no activity of turning-along); (3) no activity of producing another (a phenomenon cannot produce another); (4) no activity of self-production (nor can it produce itself); (5) no activity of transferring-over (it arises because the many conditions are present, not that "the former one" is carried over into a fresh, new arising); (6) no activity of destroying another (a phenomenon cannot destroy another); (7) no activity of self-destruction (nor can it destroy itself). Question: just as it arises because the many conditions are present, does it likewise perish because the many conditions are present? Answer: it arises because the many conditions are present, and having arisen, it perishes of its own accord.

The earlier statement "there are causal phenomena that exist" is meant to display that the "defiled intrinsic nature" of the householder and the renunciant is a matter of causal phenomena that exist; so it says "taking the two categories as support, this arising comes to be had," and so forth. By these two verses, it displays that ignorance and craving are "causal phenomena that exist." The next five verses display the "cause" and the "time-division" on which the varieties within the category of defilement depend. Here, "causal phenomena" refers to ignorance through to feeling; "causal masses of suffering" refers to craving through to aging-and-death — this statement displays the three kinds of defilement: afflictions, karma, and birth. "Because of the root two afflictions" displays the defilement of afflictions, taking up only the most eminent defilement of afflictions. The words "of itself has no activity that could arise," and the rest, further and separately display the meaning of the defilement of karma; for what it does has differences, and its fruit-maturation is inconceivable. "Of itself has no activity that could arise" is because it awaits a good or bad friend, being drawn along by another; "nor is it made by another" is because it awaits accomplishment by one's own exertion; "still less can some other make it" is because it awaits the difference of the cause in the prior birth before there is anything done. The verses "not within, nor without," and so forth, display that in dependence on the future no defilement is produced, while in dependence on the present and past conditioned factors defilement can be produced: suppose the conditioned factors have already arisen — then by this mark there is no discrimination; the future has no mark, so there is no discrimination — thus in such a way, what is to come is decidedly unknowable. If one does not discriminate in this way, then a different class can at times be had. If it is with respect to the past, then one can discriminate — thus in such a way, a past appearance can be discriminated; and not only what has been undergone can be discriminated: what has not been undergone, though one does not clearly grasp its appearance, can still by its class be discriminated. This, then, displays that in dependence on the discrimination of present conditioned factors as cause, the several defilements are produced. "Although the conditioned factors have no beginning, still a beginning can be had" displays the time-division difference of defilement: from beginningless time it constantly pursues, and moment after moment it is freshly arisen.

From this point on, it displays the category of purity, because when one observes it as it truly is, purity is attained. Whether by the "particular mark" — observing form and the rest as like a mass of foam, and so on; or by the "common mark" — observing that conditioned phenomena share the common mark of arising, abiding, and perishing; or by the "two truths, the conventional and the ultimate" — for though there is no "one who is deluded," it is not that there is no delusion: with respect to the conventional truth of what is produced from the many conditions, one says "delusion can delude"; but with respect to the ultimate, there is nothing pursued. Again it displays: it is not that one "who is not deluded" gives rise to unwarranted attention — so he is deluded by delusion. And by the conventional, one says that the several consciousnesses turn in accordance with meritorious action and the rest; but with respect to the ultimate, there is nothing pursued. "Again, the three are to be known" refers to past, future, and present; "the three kinds of karma" refers to bodily karma and the rest; "each and all do not harmonize" is that they do not harmonize with respect to one another. Why? "The present perishes swiftly, the past abides with no location, the not-yet-arisen depends on the many conditions, and yet the mind turns in accordance": if it were associated with this 〔mind〕 by turns, in the way meritorious action and the rest are, there being no harmonizing — then the principle of mind-association is likewise so; how could there be any real character of turning-in-accordance? For what reason? If the mind is associated with those several conditioned factors, or not associated 〔neither holds〕; it is not that this and that are at times not associated, and at times not not-associated; nor is it that every mind is either associated or not associated. Thus, by the ultimate, the "character of the mind's turning-in-accordance" cannot be established.

Here now it displays, by the conventional, the causes and conditions for saying "the mind turns in accordance." "On this stream there is no break" — in this verse it displays that the conventional truth is not without activity and turning-in-accordance; and again, by the ultimate, there is no doer and no experiencer, while by the conventional one comes to say "one does the deed oneself and reaps it oneself"; and again, whether doer and experiencer are one or different cannot be stated — to display this meaning, it goes on to say the verse "the difference of before and after," and so forth. Thus, by the ultimate, there is no master, doer, or experiencer; there is only cause and fruit. Upon the character of cause and fruit it resolves the several doubts, briefly by five verses, displaying that here one gives rise to the distortion of "self": the first verse displays that although there is no self, still the subsequent existence is not cut off; and the several causes and fruits are not all present at once; nor is everything produced from everything; and again, this pathway of causes is not cut off — the four lines within the verse resolve, in that sequence, these four doubts. The second verse displays the character of cause and fruit. The last three verses display the distortion of "self" arising within the several causes and fruits that are without self: displaying that object-condition, that support, that cause, and that fruit. The first verse displays the object-condition: 〔the store consciousness〕 is realized within oneself, is without form and hard to see, and is hard to ponder, and so is named "without form" (the scripture says the mark of form is that which can be pondered; because it is hard to point out and show to another, it is "not to be seen"). The second verse displays its support and fruit: the ordinary person is the "support," the several views are the "fruit." The third verse displays its cause: the innate view of self is produced by the comprehensive grasping-and-reckoning of the latent tendency of one's own kind; the discriminated view of self of the several outsiders and the rest is produced by past habituation and so on — and this outsider-view must, by repeated habituation, by unwarranted pondering, and further by conformity to hearing an untrue Dharma from another, come to grow. Here it displays: it is by the faults of support, attention, and object that the discriminated view of self comes to arise.

The next five verses display how that "view of self," by the sequence of "amassing," gives rise to "suffering"; and how this suffering, together with the view of self, is the cause-and-condition of the two sufferings; and how it can be an obstacle to liberation. Among them, the first verse displays "amassing"; the second and third verses display the store consciousness subsumed under "the suffering of the conditioned" — 〔the consciousness〕, having treasured it in craving, then goes toward idle proliferation (saying "I shall exist," "I shall not exist," and so on; to say "treasuring-in-craving" is to appropriate it as one's own body; and again this suffering, at all times, constantly pursues, without a single moment's rest). The fourth verse displays that this suffering is the condition for "the one who reckons a self" and for "pain and pleasure." The fifth verse displays that reckoning a self, by reason of delusion, obstructs liberation. To say "dominant" is with regard to the other two sufferings; to say "all-pervasive in operation" is that it pursues the several feelings; "all-pervasive in effect" is that it pervades the wholesome, the unwholesome, and the indeterminate. Here now it displays that the suffering of the conditioned subsumed under the store consciousness is similar to the other 〔streams〕, and again displays the difference: because it can be dried up only by "the practice of the true Dharma," it is, among the several streams in the world, the most violent. "The several streams" figures the eye and the other six 〔faculties〕, the five destinies, the three realms, and so on. "The practice of the Dharma" displays "the full knowledge of understanding-and-liberation" and "the full knowledge of bondage." "The full knowledge of understanding-and-bondage" is just the knowing of suffering — that is, knowing that the suffering-feeling and the pleasure-feeling that I experience all depend upon suffering; and again this discrimination can give rise to the several views, and from that 〔view they are〕 produced, and 〔they〕 can in turn give rise to that 〔view〕.

Having displayed "the full knowledge of understanding-and-bondage," there remain six verses that display "the full knowledge of understanding-and-liberation": it says that the defiled mentation ever and always arises and perishes together with the several afflictions; if one is liberated from the several afflictions, it is not prior, nor after — "not prior" is because it ever arises together with the several afflictions; "not after" is because it perishes at the very same time as those afflictions. It further displays the character of the "liberation" spoken of: it is not that this 〔mentation〕, having arisen, is then purified, with some other remaining pure mentation arising; it is that it was from the first without defilement, and so is spoken of as "liberation." To accomplish this meaning, it further says the verse "that which has defilement is, in its ultimate nature, pure," and so forth. And it further displays two kinds of liberation: liberation from afflictions, and liberation from the matter. "Because the several seeds have perished, and because the several afflictions are exhausted" displays liberation from afflictions; "it is right here that there is non-defilement" displays liberation from the matter. As the scripture says: "Bhikṣu, know this! If within the eye craving-and-desire is forever cut off, then this eye too shall be forever cut off," and so on at length. Having thus displayed "liberation with a remaining basis," it goes on to display "liberation without a remaining basis": "realized within oneself" displays that it is inconceivable; "nothing but the exhaustion of the masses of suffering" is to dispel the false reckoning of "sheer non-existence-of-nature" — 〔nirvāṇa〕 is the forever-stilled-and-extinguished with a remaining basis, and so is spoken of as stilled-and-extinguished, not as being wholly without nature. "Without idle proliferation" is that this liberation-nature is realized only within: that "different or not different," "after death it shall exist, or it shall not exist," and all such idle proliferation, cannot be predicated of it. To display that the person (pudgala) and phenomena are alike neither circling in birth-and-death nor entering parinirvāṇa, it therefore says the verse: "In the continuity of the name 'living being,' and in the mark of the concept 'phenomenon,' there is no circling in birth-and-death, and there is likewise no one who enters nirvāṇa."

With the above, the Verses on the Ultimate Meaning of the Holy Teaching have been explained.

I. The Verses Cited from the Scripture (Great Brahmā, Lord of the Sahā World, asks about the three trainings · the World-Honored One answers with fifty verses · in plain language)

The treatise next establishes the "Verses on the Meaning of Intent." As is said in the scripture: on one occasion, the Lord of the Sahā world, Great Brahmā, came to the place of the World-Honored One, bowed his head to the Buddha's feet, withdrew and sat to one side, and, with fine and lovely verses, praised him and asked:

"To the one who has reached the ultimate in 'training' and is well able to sever the nets of doubt [the World-Honored One], I now ask: what is 'training,' what is trained, and how is one to train? Pray expound it for me."

The World-Honored One answered: Great Seer [Brahmā], you should listen well —

Training, stated briefly, is of three kinds: the higher discipline, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom; in these three one is to train. [In training the higher discipline] one should perfect the six branches; [in training the higher mind] one accomplishes the four blissful abidings; [in training the higher wisdom] upon each of the four [noble truths] there are four modes, and wisdom is ever pure.

First [discipline], one abides well in the root; next [concentration], one delights in the stilling of the mind; last [wisdom], with regard to the noble views and the evil views, there is accord and non-accord. First being purified, then delighting in the meditative absorptions, and being skilled in the truths; and just within the truths, one should give rise to [the truth of the path], should keep far from [suffering and its origin], and should increase [the truth of cessation].

Within the places of training there are four destinies and three abodes. One should keep far from two of the destinies [the good destiny and the evil destiny], and upon the other two destinies [the higher destiny and the destiny of nirvāṇa] there is realization. [The three trainings,] two by two, abide as two kinds [of cause and condition], and the last one alone is able to head toward nirvāṇa. In gradual sequence they serve mutually as cause and condition, cultivated either singly (pure) or together (mixed).

That which first departs from wrongdoing and last delights in full accomplishment is, among the trainings, the "first" [discipline], and in this training one is astute. That which, by this [discipline], is cultivated through wisdom and is purified, and which, purity being born, delights in full accomplishment, is, among the trainings, the "middle" [concentration]. That from which the mind is liberated and all idle proliferation forever ceases is, among the trainings, the "honored" [wisdom].

If a practice heads toward the impure, yet is also able to head toward the good destiny, this practice is called the "first" [discipline]; know that it is "not-shared" [it can be accomplished even apart from concentration and wisdom]. If a practice heads toward the pure, yet is not the ultimate of all destinies, this practice is called the "middle" [concentration]; know that it too is "not-shared." If a practice heads toward the pure, and is also the ultimate of all destinies, this practice is called the "honored" [wisdom]; know that it is "necessarily-shared" [it is not apart from discipline and concentration].

Whether a learner or one-beyond-learning [possessed of the right training], know that both are astute; whether a learner or one-beyond-learning [possessed of the wrong training], know that both are fools. If one can cast aside the taking-in of [family and kin], can sever the coarse heaviness [the hindrances to concentration], and can see face to face the known [the four truths] — this is to uphold the three trainings. [The three trainings,] whether with object or without object, also manifest as subtle and coarse; they are drawn forth by upholding, by seclusion, and by the awakening prompted through speech [the three trainings are drawn forth in sequence]. The first training has only one, the second training has two kinds, the third training is complete with three, and the wise one transcends them all [that is, the one-beyond-learning, the arhat].

[The following twenty-one verses fully clarify the marks of the purity of the discipline-training:] not breaking the moral discipline (śīla); being able to follow one's vow in the training; being irreproachable in deportment; keeping far from the five places. Being without transgression and departing [from it], being without wrongdoing yet [treating even a small fault as] a wrongdoing [seeing great terror in a minor offense], seeking within that training and diligently cultivating those practices [receiving and studying the points of training]. In the end never casting aside [the moral discipline], not failing in it even at peril of life, ever abiding in right conduct, turning in accord with the discipline (vinaya). Taking the mending of one's vow as foremost, one also mends the purity of livelihood; keeping far from the two extremes [sensual pleasure and self-mortification], one also casts aside wrong vows [such as [birth in] heaven]. With regard to all obstructing dharmas one is in the end without craving-attachment; the moment a mind-disturbing dharma arises, at once one keeps far from it swiftly. Neither too sunken nor too buoyant, ever abiding well in right mindfulness, one cultivates the holy life with both root and retinue pure.

One should give rise to diligent effort, ever firm and valiant; ever cultivating non-negligence, one abides well in the five branches. One should conceal one's own good qualities and disclose one's manifold faults; obtaining robes and the like, whether coarse or fine, one rejoices in all; one follows worldly affairs but little, and accords even with what is coarse and shabby; one upholds the merits of the ascetic practices (dhūta), for the sake of the calm departure from the afflictions. One should be complete in deportment and take in [only] a measured amount; one never, [for gain or fame,] falsely displays a mark of deportment. One does not speak of one's own true virtues, nor cause others to speak of them; though one has something to seek, one does not display an unusual mark; begging from others, one never coerces them; obtaining by the Dharma, having obtained, one does not slight it. One is not attached to gain and honor; one also does not grasp the augmentation or diminishment of the [wrong] views. One does not cling to the meaningless writings and spells that accord with the world; one also does not delight in hoarding meaningless surplus robes and bowls. Fearing that the afflictions would increase, one does not dwell defiled among householders; for the sake of purely cultivating wisdom, one should draw near to the worthy and holy. One does not keep the household of a friend, fearing it would give rise to grief and sorrow, distraction, and the arising of suffering and affliction; the moment such arises, one keeps far from it. One does not accept offerings of faith, fearing they would do harm like a boil; toward the true Dharma of the Tathāgata, one has never cast it aside. Amid others' offenses and transgressions, one exerts no effort [and stays] at ease; one ever examines one's own faults, and knowing them, discloses them swiftly. If one has committed what is committed, one should depart from it in accord with the Dharma; in the tasks one ought to undertake, one is able valiantly to do them oneself. Toward the majestic virtue and the teachings of the Buddha and his disciples, one has faith in and accepts them all, and, seeing [that slander is] a great offense, one does not slander. Toward the utterly profound Dharma, beyond the reach of thought and reckoning, one is able to cast aside the tenets of one's former teacher and not firmly cling to one's own view.

[The following clarifies the means of the concentration-training:] ever delighting to dwell in a place of seclusion and to use lodging at the outermost limit, ever cultivating wholesome dharmas, firm in effort and valiant. Being without [craving-]desire, [yet] giving rise to [the] desire [for wholesome dharmas], not loathing [the wholesome], [yet] loathing [the unwholesome], departing from sleep, [yet at times] sleeping, from time to time not dwelling in stillness [so as to counter sinking], departing from wrongdoing, [yet momentarily treating a fault as] a wrongdoing, being without expectant longing, [yet] having [the] longing [for what is further and superior] — in every mode and at all times one accomplishes the right means.

[The following clarifies the arising of, and departure from, sensual craving:] the drawing-forth, the awakening, the binding through conjunction, the marked, the intimate, and also the manifold delights, the pressing-in, the utterly intimate — these are named "false discrimination," which is able to give rise to sensual craving, and which the wise should keep far from. Sensual desires make one insatiable, are shared in common by the many, are the cause of what is contrary to Dharma, are able to increase craving-desire, are what the worthy and holy should keep from, swiftly head toward ruin and destruction, rest upon a host of conditions, and are the ground on which peril and negligence rest [the eight faults]. Sensual desires are like a dry bone, like a soft lump of flesh, like a torch of grass, like a great pit of fire, like a python or venomous snake, like a thing seen in a dream, like borrowed ornaments, like fruit ripe at the tip of a tree [the eight similes] — knowing sensual desires in this way, one should crave and delight in none of them.

[The following clarifies the sequence of the seven attentions of the wisdom-training:] one should hear the true Dharma, ever reflect on and cultivate it; first one contemplates the coarse [the lower realm] and the calm [the higher realm]; next, in cultivation, one is single-directed [gathering joy]; casting off the coarse heaviness of the afflictions, one gives rise to gladness at the severing; investigating amid the several marks; attaining the culmination of intensified practice; being able to depart from the desire of the desire-realm, and to depart from the desire of the form-realm, one enters the direct realization of the true truths, is able to depart from all desire, and realizes the nirvāṇa within the present dharma and the final exhaustion of the remaining basis.

II. The Prose Explanation (the explanation the treatise carries with it · in plain language)

"To the one who has reached the ultimate in training and well severs the nets of doubt, I now ask about training and what is trained; expound for me how to train" — in this verse, Great Brahmā first praises the World-Honored One, then raises his request. He praises the World-Honored One: he says that in all training the World-Honored One has already gained the first and utmost ultimate (this is said in terms of the exclusive virtue of "the perfection of the practice of self-benefit"); and that he is able well to sever all the successively arisen nets of doubt (this is said in terms of the exclusive virtue of "the perfection of the practice of benefiting others"). He raises his request: what is training? how many kinds of training are there? how does one train?

Thereupon the World-Honored One, in order to spur on those beings who are "afraid of many undertakings and slothful," gathering all together, briefly expounded three trainings. Hence it is said: Great Seer, listen well! Training, stated briefly, is of three kinds — the higher discipline, mind, and wisdom; in these one is to train. Here it is shown: relying on discipline, mind, and wisdom — for one who is distracted, to make him undistracted, as a skillful means it expounds the higher-discipline training; for one whose mind is not yet settled, to make him gain settling, as a skillful means it expounds the higher-mind training; for one whose mind has gained settling but is not yet liberated, to make him liberated, as a skillful means it expounds the higher-wisdom training. By this cause and condition, all that practitioners undertake reaches the ultimate. This shows that the World-Honored One, with hidden intent, proclaimed that all trainings, without exception, are subsumed within these three trainings.

Again, to show by what skillful means, within the trainings, what is trained is accomplished, it is said: "one should perfect the six branches; the four blissful abidings are accomplished; upon the four there are four modes each, and wisdom is ever pure" — this verse, in due sequence, shows the skillful means of accomplishing the three trainings. "One should perfect the six branches" is the skillful means in terms of the higher-discipline training. Which six branches? (1) abiding in pure moral discipline; (2) guarding the discipline of individual liberation (prātimokṣa-saṃvara); (3) fullness of comportment; (4) fullness of the sphere of conduct; (5) seeing great terror in the several small offenses; (6) receiving and studying the points of training. These six branches show the four kinds of purity of moral discipline: abiding in pure moral discipline is the root that serves as basis; guarding the discipline of individual liberation shows "the purity of moral discipline as departure" (departing for the sake of seeking liberation); comportment and sphere of conduct, both full, show "the purity of moral discipline as being without reproach"; seeing great terror in the several small offenses shows "the purity of moral discipline as being without breach or gap"; receiving and studying the points of training shows "the purity of moral discipline as being without error." Because the six branches are utterly full, the higher-discipline training becomes the basis for the remaining skillful means. "The four blissful abidings are accomplished" shows the skillful means of the higher-mind training — the four meditative absorptions are named "the four abidings of mind," and because they are a blissful abiding within the present dharma they are named "blissful." "Upon the four there are four modes each, and wisdom is ever pure" is said in terms of the higher-wisdom training — within the four noble truths of suffering, origin, cessation, and path, each and every one has four modes (that is, impermanence and the rest), and the higher-wisdom training is what is shown by this purified wisdom.

"First, one abides well in the root; next, one delights in the stilling of the mind; last, the noble views and the evil views, accord and non-accord" — this verse shows the higher three trainings arising in sequence. "The root" is the higher discipline (the latter two are the flowing-kind of the first training); moral discipline being complete already, then, through non-remorse and the rest, cultivating in sequence, one is able to gain the second, the blissful stilling-settling of the mind; the mind having gained settling, because one sees as it really is, one is able to gain the third, the accomplishing of the noble views and the keeping-far from the evil views. "First being purified, then delighting in the meditative absorptions, and skilled in the truths; and just within the truths, one should give rise, keep far, and increase" — this verse shows the differences of the sequential purity of the three trainings: "first purified" is the first training, "delighting in the meditative absorptions" is the second training, "skilled in the truths" is the third training; and within being skilled in the truths, "should give rise" refers to the truth of the path (it should be given rise to), "should keep far" refers to the truths of suffering and origin (they should be kept far from), "should increase" refers to the truth of cessation (as the afflictions of the weak, middling, and strong grades are severed in sequence and gradually, cessation increases).

"Within the places of training there are four destinies and three abodes; keeping far from two of the destinies, and upon two destinies there is realization" — this verse shows that, in the places of the higher discipline, mind, and wisdom training, because in what is cultivated there is success and failure, in accord with this the fruit-recompense obtained has the difference of four destinies: the good destiny of humans and gods in the desire-realm is the fruit obtained by the "success" of the higher discipline; the evil destiny of the remaining destinies of the desire-realm is the fruit obtained by the "failure" of the higher discipline; the higher destiny of the god-destinies of the form and formless realms is the fruit of the higher mind; the destiny of nirvāṇa, not subsumed under the three realms, is the fruit of the higher wisdom. Among these destinies, having kept far from the first two (the good destiny and the evil destiny), one should realize the latter two (the higher destiny and the destiny of nirvāṇa) — this shows what is obtained by the two paths, worldly and world-transcending. "Two abide as two kinds, one is able to head toward nirvāṇa, in gradual sequence serving as cause and condition, cultivated purely or mixedly" — it shows that the initial discipline-training and mind-training, in gradual sequence, are able to serve as the abiding cause and condition for the mind-training and wisdom-training; the middle higher-wisdom training, and the higher-discipline training subsumed under the restraint of meditative absorption, are able to serve as the abiding cause and condition for the two kinds; the highest one is able to serve as the abiding cause and condition for nirvāṇa. Know that here it shows cultivation whether singly (pure) or together (mixed), each according to what is fitting.

"First departing from wrongdoing, last delighting in full accomplishment, among the trainings this is the first" — it shows that by the higher-discipline training, cultivating in sequence through non-remorse and the rest, it serves as the turning cause for the later [concentration]. "By this, wisdom-cultivation purifies, purity being born, it delights in full accomplishment, among the trainings this is the middle" — it shows that by the higher-mind training, the supreme wholesome root that is the wisdom accomplished through cultivation arises in sequence, serving as the cause for the highest [wisdom] training. "From this the mind is liberated, all idle proliferation forever ceases, among the trainings this is the honored" — it shows that by the higher-wisdom training, it is able to serve as the cause for the supreme fruit of nirvāṇa.

"If a practice heads toward the impure, yet also heads toward the good destiny, this practice is called the first; know that this is not-shared" — it shows that the higher-discipline training, if it has failure and breach, is a cause of the evil destiny, and if it is able to be established, is a cause of the good destiny; this is "not-shared" (it can be established even apart from the latter two trainings). "If a practice heads toward the pure, but is not the ultimate of all destinies, this practice is called the middle; also not-shared" — it shows that the middle [concentration] training's practice, because it departs from the desire of the desire-realm and gains purity, is named "heading toward the pure," but because it has not yet exhausted the departure from the desire of the higher realms and has not forever uprooted the latent tendency of desire, it is not named "the pure that is the ultimate of all destinies"; because it can be accomplished even apart from the highest [wisdom] it is named "not-shared," but it is not apart from the first [discipline]. "If a practice heads toward the pure, and is the ultimate of all destinies, this practice is called the honored; know that this is necessarily-shared" — it shows that the highest [wisdom] training's practice keeps far from all the desires of the three realms and is also able to forever uproot all the latent tendencies, and among all destinies is the most ultimate; only when it is not apart from the former two [discipline and concentration] can it be accomplished singly, and so it is named "necessarily-shared."

"If there is learning and no learning, know both to be astute" — this half-verse is not distinguishing the learner stage from the stage beyond learning; it shows the mark of the astute one within the three trainings: having right learning and lacking wrong learning. "If there is learning and no learning, know both to be fools" — the latter half-verse reverses the terms to show the mark of the fool within the three trainings: having wrong learning and lacking right learning. "If one casts aside the taking-in, also severs the coarse heaviness, and sees face to face the known, this is upholding the three trainings" — it shows: being able to cast aside the taking-in of family and kin and the like, being able to sever the several coarse heavinesses that are the hindrances to concentration, being able to see face to face the marked known-principle of the four noble truths; in due sequence, the three trainings are fully accomplished. "If with object or without object, also manifesting as subtle and coarse" — this half-verse shows that the latter two trainings and the first training, in order, have the difference of with-object and without-object, subtle and coarse. "Drawn forth by upholding, by seclusion, and by the awakening prompted through speech" — this half-verse shows the drawing-forth causes and conditions of the first, middle, and last in order: drawn forth by the aspiration of the vow; drawn forth by the seclusion of body and mind; drawn forth by the speech of another and by inner right reflection. "The first training has only one, the second training has two kinds, the third training is complete with three, and the wise one transcends them all" — it shows that the first is one and not-shared, the middle is not apart from the first, the highest is not apart from the two; the one who transcends them all — know that "the one-beyond-learning" is the arhat.

"Not breaking the moral discipline, being able to follow one's vow in the training, being irreproachable in deportment, keeping far from the five places" — it shows the marks of upholding the discipline. "Not breaking the moral discipline" is abiding in pure discipline; "able to follow one's vow" is guarding the discipline of individual liberation; "irreproachable in deportment" is being without offense in comportment; "keeping far from the five places" is being without offense in the sphere of conduct — briefly there are five places where the several bhikṣus should not go: the household of a king, the household of the herald, the household of the wine-seller, the household of the courtesan, and the household of the caṇḍāla and the kaṭhina. The "household of the herald" refers to sheep-slaughterers and the like (because proclaiming everywhere that this sheep-slaughtering and the like become extremely grave offenses, and that they mostly commit the evil karma of slaying sheep and the like). "If being without offense and departing, being without wrongdoing yet [treating a fault as] a wrongdoing" — it shows seeing great terror in the several small offenses (in accord with departure there is also no wrongdoing; in accord with wrongdoing there is also no offense). "Seeking within that training, and diligently cultivating those practices" — it shows receiving and studying the points of training. "In the end never casting aside, not failing even at peril of life, ever abiding in right conduct, turning in accord with the discipline" — the four phrases in order show the nature of constant moral discipline, the nature of firm moral discipline, the nature of constant doing, and the nature of constant conformity. "Taking the mending of the vow as foremost, one also mends pure livelihood" — this half-verse shows the purity of comportment and of livelihood (the several comportments are first taken up by a vow and then cultivated, hence named "vow"). "Both extremes are kept far from, and one casts aside wrong vows" — this half-verse shows keeping far from the two extremes of enjoying sensual pleasure and self-mortification, and casting aside vows such as [birth in] heaven, so that the moral discipline is pure.

"With regard to all obstructing dharmas, one is in the end without craving-attachment; the moment a mind-disturbing dharma arises, one at once keeps far from it swiftly" — it shows seeing no merit in and having no craving-attachment for the obstructing dharmas of purity such as not guarding the sense-doors; and toward the dharmas that disturb the mind such as unwholesome desire and hatred and applied thought, though momentarily arisen one at once dispels them, so that the training is pure. "Neither too sunken nor too buoyant, ever abiding well in right mindfulness, with root and retinue pure, one cultivates the holy life" — it shows keeping far from minor and feeble wrongdoing, wrongdoing out of place, and loss of mindfulness, so that at the time of culmination and at the time of skillful means the cultivation of the holy life is in both cases pure. "One should give rise to diligent effort, ever firm and valiant, ever cultivating non-negligence, abiding well in the five branches" — it shows that through the three efforts of donning-the-armor, skillful-means, and non-retreat, one cultivates the five-branch non-negligence, making what is trained pure and surpassing. "The five-branch non-negligence" refers to: the past, the future, the present, what was done at a prior time, and what is done concurrently.

"One should conceal one's own good qualities and also disclose one's manifold faults. Obtaining robes and the like, whether coarse or fine, one rejoices in all. Following worldly affairs but little, one accords even with the coarse and shabby. Upholding the merits of the ascetic practices, for the calm departure from the afflictions" — these two verses show keeping far from the cause of craving-desire for retinue and the cause of much-desire and non-contentment, and keeping far from the cause that obstructs pure training, so that the training is pure. "One should be complete in deportment, take in [only] a measured amount, and never, for any purpose, falsely display a mark of deportment" — it shows being complete in deportment, not craftily displaying a mark before others, being well aware of measure in all one takes in, and taking in only what sustains life for the sake of cultivating the holy life, so that the training is pure. "One does not speak of one's own true virtues, nor cause others to speak of them; though one has something to seek, one does not display an unusual mark; begging from others, one never coerces them; obtaining by the Dharma, having obtained, one does not slight it" — these two verses show keeping far from flowery speech, craftily displaying a mark, coercion, and using gain to summon gain, making what is trained pure and surpassing. "One is not attached to gain and honor, and does not grasp the augmentation or diminishment of the [wrong] views" — it shows not craving-attachment to gain and honor, and not grasping the five kinds of evil view. "One does not cling to the meaningless writings and spells that accord with the world, and does not delight in hoarding meaningless surplus robes and bowls" — it shows not grasping the causes of the several evil views (the heterodox wrong treatises, which are able to obstruct liberation from the appropriated aggregates, and what they fabricate is named "according with the world"), and keeping far from the cause of craving-attachment to gain and honor (surplus robes and bowls and the like), and because the cause is pure the training is pure. "Fearing that the afflictions would increase, one does not dwell defiled among householders; for the sake of purely cultivating wisdom, one should draw near to the worthy and holy" — it shows keeping far from the cause of what is to be countered and drawing near to the cause that is able to counter. "One does not keep the household of a friend, fearing it would give rise to grief, sorrow, and distraction, which are able to produce suffering and affliction; the moment it arises one keeps far from it" — it shows that drawing near to households gives rise to grief, sorrow, and distraction, increases the afflictions, and is a cause of the many sufferings, so that the moment the affliction arises one at once dispels it. "One does not accept offerings of faith, fearing they would do harm like a boil; toward the true Dharma of the Tathāgata, one has never cast it aside" — it shows not craving gain and honor, not grasping evil and wrong views, not vainly accepting offerings of faith, not slandering the true Dharma, and keeping far from the cause of craving the several desires of a future life and of giving rise to evil views. "Amid others' offenses and transgressions, one exerts no effort [and stays] at ease; one ever examines one's own faults, and knowing them, discloses them swiftly" — it shows keeping far from seeking out others' faults, being undistracted and ever glad in one's own wholesome class, and, with regard to one's own faults, knowing them as they really are, disclosing them, repenting and removing them, and departing from overweening pride. "If one has committed what is committed, one should depart from it in accord with the Dharma; in the tasks one ought to undertake, one is able valiantly to do them oneself" — it shows departing from what is committed and keeping far from craving to be honored, served, and attended by others. "Toward the majestic virtue and the teachings of the Buddha and his disciples, one has faith in and accepts them all, and, seeing [that slander is] a great offense, one does not slander" — it shows the fullness of faith, and seeing a great offense in slander. "Toward the utterly profound Dharma, beyond the reach of thought and reckoning, one is able to cast aside the tenets of one's former teacher and not firmly cling to one's own view" — it shows keeping far from abiding in the grasping of one's own view.

"Ever delighting to dwell in seclusion and to use lodging at the outermost limit, ever cultivating wholesome dharmas, firm in effort and valiant" — it shows that body and mind both being in seclusion, drawing near to lodging that accords with concentration, keeping far from unwholesome applied thought and purely cultivating pure and wholesome dharmas, not being crushed and covered by the secondary afflictions such as sinking and agitation, and being able well to perfect the right intensified practice — so that the skillful means of the higher-mind training is surpassing. "Being without desire, [yet] giving rise to desire; not loathing, [yet] loathing; departing from sleep, [yet] sleeping; at times not dwelling in stillness; departing from wrongdoing, [yet treating a fault as] a wrongdoing; being without longing, [yet] having longing; in every mode and at all times accomplishing the right means" — these two verses show keeping far from craving-desire, hatred, dullness-and-sleep, agitation-and-wrongdoing, and doubt [the five hindrances]; giving rise to desire for wholesome dharmas, and utterly loathing the several desires; for the sake of the capacity to cultivate the wholesome, practicing sleep from time to time; if the mind sinks, giving attention to the pure and sublime mark, and while roaming about not dwelling in stillness; giving rise to grief and remorse over prior offenses, and having no grief or remorse over non-offense; giving rise to longing for the ever-more-surpassing; earnest and unbroken right means — so that the higher-mind training turns to become pure.

"The drawing-forth, the awakening, the binding through conjunction, the marked, the intimate, and also the manifold delights, the pressing-in, and the utterly intimate — these are named false discrimination, which is able to give rise to sensual craving, and which the wise should keep far from" — these two verses show the eight kinds of false discrimination, which are able to give rise to all the craving-love of sexual desire, arising in sequence from the initial skillful means up to the culmination: (1) the drawing-forth discrimination (the discrimination associated with the mind of improper reflection that is able to draw forth toward a lovable object); (2) the awakening discrimination (the discrimination, just within that lovable object, associated with the wrapping-round of craving that awakens); (3) the binding-through-conjunction discrimination (whatever discrimination there is just within that lovable object); (4) the marked discrimination (the discrimination that grasps at the various pure and sublime marks and forms); (5) the intimate discrimination (the discrimination associated with valiant striving amid the lovable object already gained); (6) the delight discrimination (the discrimination of the various enjoyments, longings, and cravings amid the object gained); (7) the pressing-in discrimination (the discrimination at the time the two faculties meet); (8) the utterly-intimate discrimination (the discrimination at the time the impure comes forth). Because of keeping far from them, all that is cultivated in training is pure and surpassing.

"Sensual desires make one insatiable, are shared in common by the many, are the cause of what is contrary to Dharma, are able to increase craving-love, are what the worthy and holy should keep from, swiftly head toward ruin and destruction, rest upon a host of conditions, and are the ground on which peril and negligence rest" — these two verses show the eight faults of sensual desires (of the present dharma and the future dharma, each as is fitting); if one is able to see them, that is the skillful means for severing craving-desire. "Sensual desires are like a dry bone, also like a soft lump of flesh, resembling a torch of grass, just like a great pit of fire, comparable to a python or venomous snake, also like a thing seen in a dream, like borrowed ornaments, like fruit ripe at the tip of a tree; knowing sensual desires in this way, one should crave and delight in none of them" — here it broadly draws in the eight faults spoken of before, "making insatiable" and the rest, and, with similes commonly established by all the world, shows the grave depth of the faults of sensual desires: sensual desires are like a dry bone, hence they make one insatiable; like a lump of flesh, hence shared in common by the many; just like a torch of grass, which as it starts up and comes to the fore utterly burns and torments, hence a cause contrary to Dharma; like a great pit of fire, which gives rise to parching craving, hence increases craving-love; like a python, hence the worthy and holy keep far away; like a thing seen in a dream, hence they swiftly head toward ruin and destruction; like borrowed ornaments, hence they rest upon a host of conditions; like an overripe, rotten fruit at the tip of a tree, hence they are the ground on which peril, death, and negligence rest. What wise one would crave and delight in them?

"One should hear the true Dharma, ever reflect on and cultivate it; first one contemplates the coarse and the calm; next, in cultivation, one is single-directed; casting off the coarse heaviness of the afflictions, one gives rise to gladness at the severing; investigating amid the several marks; attaining the culmination of intensified practice; being able to depart from the desire of the desire-realm, and to depart from the desire of the form-realm, one enters the direct realization of the true truths, is able to depart from all desire, realizes the nirvāṇa within the present dharma and the final exhaustion of the remaining basis" — here it shows that through the seven attentions such as "apprehending-the-aspect," both the worldly and the world-transcending paths are pure, and one realizes the two fruits of nirvāṇa, with-remaining-basis and without-remaining-basis, and the higher-wisdom training is ultimately pure: "hearing the true Dharma, ever reflecting" shows the attention of apprehending-the-aspect; "ever cultivating" shows the attention of resolute conviction (cultivating by giving rise to resolute conviction); "first contemplating the coarse and the calm" shows the attention of seclusion; "single-directed in cultivation" and the rest show the attention of gathering joy; "investigating amid the several marks" shows the attention of investigation; "the culmination of intensified practice" shows the attention of the culmination of effort; "being able to depart from the desire of the desire-realm and the desire of the form-realm, entering the direct realization of the true truths, able to depart from all desire" and the rest show the attention of the fruit of the culmination of effort, both worldly and world-transcending.

Thus, the noble scriptural verses on the meaning of intent have been explained.

The Verse (in Today's Language)

Now we establish the "Body-Meaning Verses." As the 〔scriptural〕 verse says:

Of all the evil there is — worldly evil — in body, speech, and mind, do none of it; through mindfulness and clear comprehension, keep apart from all desires; and do not draw near to that which can lead to fruitless suffering, the 〔self-mortifying practice〕.

The Prose Explanation (the Treatise's Own Gloss · in Today's Language)

In this verse, what is called "evil" means the evil deeds. Of all evil deeds — with respect to "every kind, every cause and condition, every locus" — none should be done.

How is evil not done with respect to every kind? By not committing the mass of evils through body, speech, and mind. How is evil not done with respect to every cause and condition? By never committing the evils that arise from greed, hatred, and delusion. How is evil not done with respect to every locus? By committing no mass of evils, whether at "a locus that is a sentient matter" or "a locus that is a non-sentient matter."

How does one, through mindfulness and clear comprehension, keep apart from all desires? By cutting off "desire for objects" and cutting off "desire that is affliction."

How does one cut off desire for objects? Suppose there is someone who, within the right Dharma and Vinaya realized by the Tathāgata, gains a purified trust; he understands that the household life is cramped and confining, like a prison, and so he yearns to leave it — and (to state it at length) by the mind of right trust he forsakes the way of the household and enters the way that is not the household 〔the going-forth〕 — yet his craving-greed for desire is not yet forever gone. This is called "cutting off desire for objects" 〔what is cut off is the outer, household desire〕.

How does one cut off desire that is affliction? Having gone forth, in order to make the craving-greed for desire cut off without remainder, he betakes himself to the wilderness and the mountain forests, settling amid the outermost bedding and seat, or dwelling in an āraṇya place, or even in an empty and quiet room; and against all the false-discriminating greed subsumed under "desire that is affliction" — the affliction-desire aroused with respect to the "desires for objects" — for its counteraction, he cultivates the four foundations of mindfulness. Or again he comes out and, dwelling near a hamlet or village, well guards his body, well watches over the sense-faculties, and, well abiding in right mindfulness, enters the hamlet; or, going to and fro through village and town, in coming and going, advancing and halting, he constantly abides in clear comprehension, so as to dispel drowsiness and all fatigue. Right there, within the four foundations of mindfulness, taking as his basis the good settling of right mindfulness, for the sake of forever cutting off the latent tendency of craving-greed for desire, he cultivates the counteraction; and again, taking as his basis that "abiding in clear comprehension," he keeps apart from all the hindrances, so that body and mind are attuned and supple and have some capacity, and with ardor he cultivates, by skillful means, "cutting off" and "quiescence." Because he takes such mindfulness and clear comprehension as his basis, he is able to realize the "cutting off of desire that is affliction," to keep apart from all desires, and, further, to dwell in the first meditative absorption complete. In this way, with respect to the one edge — "the practice of enjoying the pleasure of desires" — those base, mean, filthy phenomena of the ordinary being, he is able either to cut them off or to know them.

What is called "leading to fruitless suffering"? Suppose there is a certain kind of śramaṇa or brāhman who practices the "self-mortifying practice," in the present life pressing and cutting himself with sufferings of many kinds, burning and tormenting himself all over, supposing of himself: "Now, because I am pressed and tormented by the suffering of the present life, I shall be liberated from suffering to come." Though he seeks this thing, he only sears and presses himself; as for this thing, in the end he cannot attain it — rather, he gathers up all the more a great matter of harm and torment. This is called "leading to fruitless suffering." The noble disciples, having well understood such a phenomenon — the one edge of "enjoying the self-mortifying practice," which can lead to the ignoble, fruitless suffering — keep far away from it, not drawing near it, not approaching it, and not serving it.

The Abbreviated Meaning (the Treatise's Own Summary Statement · in Today's Language)

Next, we shall now briefly set out the meaning stated above. How is it briefly set out? Sentient beings have "two kinds of fulfillment": first, the fulfillment of higher rebirth; second, the fulfillment of the definite excellence. The "fulfillment of higher rebirth" means being reborn in a good destination; the "fulfillment of the definite excellence" means the exhaustion of craving, the parting from desire, quiescence, nirvāṇa. With respect to these two fulfillments and their obstacles, to be able to cut off 〔the obstacle〕 and to realize 〔the fulfillment〕 — this is the abbreviated meaning —

• If, with respect to "every kind, every cause and condition, every locus," one does no evil deed, one is then able to cut off every obstacle to the "fulfillment of higher rebirth," and able also to realize the fulfillment of higher rebirth.
• If, with respect to "the edge of enjoying the pleasure of desires" and "the edge of enjoying the self-mortifying practice," one definitely keeps apart 〔parts from the two edges〕, one is then able to cut off every obstacle to the "fulfillment of the definite excellence," and able also to realize the fulfillment of the definite excellence.

This, one should know, is the abbreviated meaning herein.

The Verses (in today's language · four verses)

Beings who conceive of "what-is-to-be-spoken-of" take their stand upon "what-is-to-be-spoken-of"; not understanding "what-is-to-be-spoken-of," they amass birth-and-death. If one understands "what-is-to-be-spoken-of," one has no anxiety over one who would speak against one; and because this [anxiety] is absent, others should not reproach one. If one reckons in terms of equal, superior, and inferior, one thereupon stirs up disputes; but in the three kinds of the unmoved [unmoved alike by equal, superior, and inferior], equal, superior, and inferior are all gone. Having cut off name-and-form, craving, and conceit — unattached, with the smoke stilled, without vexation, without longing — such a one cannot be seen, either here or there, in the world of gods and humans.

Prose Exposition (in today's language)

Within these four verses, first, as for the word "what-is-to-be-spoken-of," it means all conditioned phenomena. Why? Because all conditioned phenomena are subsumed under the "three kinds of the matters of speech." Here in the present sense, it is the "wondrous fivefold objects of desire" that are said to be "what-is-to-be-spoken-of": moreover, as for the wondrous fivefold objects of desire, the several ascetics and brahmins and the rest must seek and beg them by speech from a donor's side, and so they are called "what-is-to-be-spoken-of"; the several rulers, for the wondrous fivefold objects of desire, must summon them by speech from their servants and attendants and the like in order to enjoy them, and by this too they are called "what-is-to-be-spoken-of"; again, those who partake of desire cannot of themselves come to know the perils in the wondrous fivefold objects of desire — only when the buddhas and the disciples of the buddhas have proclaimed those perils for them can they come to understand — and by this too they are called "what-is-to-be-spoken-of."

Those who partake of desire, toward the several desires, think improperly, and grasp their marks and grasp too their subsidiary features; thereupon they give rise to craving-attachment toward those desires, indulge and are greedy in enjoying them, and go so far as to cling to them firmly. Again, they do not know as it really is that the several desires have a host of perils — namely, that the several desires are impermanent, hollow, false, empty and without substance, things bound to decay, deceiving and deluding the fool as a conjuring-trick does, of very slight sweetness of craving and of many perils; nor do they understand as it really is the "escape" from these desires that are of "slight sweetness and many perils" (that is, the subduing of, and even the transcending of, the craving for desire). Since they neither see the perils nor know the escape, yet partake of the several desires, they thereupon deeply take delight in and cling to the several formations that have "being born" for their root in the desire-realm, and, having enacted karma whose root is "being born," they take on birth in the desire-realm, and having been born, they die and perish. Therefore it is said: "Beings who conceive of what-is-to-be-spoken-of take their stand upon what-is-to-be-spoken-of; not understanding what-is-to-be-spoken-of, they amass birth-and-death."

If one meets a good man, gets to hear the right Dharma, and attends to it in accord with reason, then toward the several desires one understands as it really is their perils and their escape. One gains pure faith in the right Dharma-and-Discipline realized by the Tathāgata and sees the perils in the several desires ever more deeply and with growing force. One is thereupon able to renounce however little or much wealth and treasure, storehouses, kinsfolk, and retinue one has, and, with a mind of right faith, to leave the household state and go forth to the homeless state, where all birth, aging, illness, and death are forever extinguished. Having thus gone forth, one practices the holy life without any further object of prayer. One has no such perverse prayer as, "By keeping the precepts, striving, and cultivating the holy life I shall be reborn in heaven or in some other heavenly station." Since one has no such false aspiration, one sees in oneself no ground for reproach, does not fear it, and is not anxious over it. Nor should others reproach, blame, and rebuke one, saying: "Worthy sir! You are in the very flush of your prime; why do you cast off the wondrous desires present before you, not follow the wishes of your kinsfolk, and instead seek the desires that must bide their time, vowing to cultivate the holy life?" This is to have accomplished pure moral conduct (śīla) and pure view. Therefore it is said: "If one understands what-is-to-be-spoken-of, one has no anxiety over one who would speak against one; and because this is absent, others should not reproach one."

Why [does dispute arise]? Because from a topsy-turvy view there arises conceit, and, held fast by conceit, one comes to stir up dispute together with the other ascetics and brahmins — therefore this view is called "the root of dispute." If there is an ascetic or brahmin who, relying on the dispute-rooted view of "equal, superior, inferior," is lifted up in mind, and who, relying on the three classes of conceit — "I am superior, I am equal, I am inferior" — establishes himself as superior, or equal, or inferior, then they dispute with one another back and forth. But if a noble disciple is not stirred by self, what-belongs-to-self, or self-conceit 〔and so on, is not even stirred by "I shall be neither-perceiving-nor-non-perceiving"〕, understands that all formations arise from a concurrence of conditions, and within the formations sees only the nature of phenomena (their dharma-nature) — he will not so much as measure himself against another as superior, equal, or inferior; how much less would he give rise to the conceit of views and dispute? Though before others he may set forth his own tenet and overthrow the doctrines of others, yet toward the several phenomena it is only for the sake of the dharma-nature and out of compassion (with the wish that, should anyone grasp the meaning of even a single phrase of what he has spoken and thus practice rightly, it may bring that one great benefit, weal, and ease through the long night, and may make the Tathāgata's right Dharma long endure) — it is not in reliance on the conceit of views, nor for the sake of gain and honor, that he disputes. Therefore it is said: "If one reckons in terms of equal, superior, and inferior, one thereupon stirs up disputes; but in the three kinds of the unmoved, equal, superior, and inferior are all gone."

This noble disciple does not vow to cultivate the holy life in order to seek the wondrous desires of the present life. By cultivating it in this way, he keeps far from false aspirations and false views, abandons the craving pursuit of gain and honor, and becomes pure in every respect, his radiance blazing and shining everywhere. Gods and humans should only praise him, not reproach him; and he is able to cross beyond birth, aging, illness, and death. These too are consequences of the "three kinds of the unmoved" taught in the third verse.

"Name-and-form" means the five appropriating aggregates. If one contemplates them and sees them as suffering, then, at the time of the direct realization of the [four] truths, when one sees to the full the suffering of the five appropriating aggregates, the craving toward the five appropriating aggregates is, by reason of one's resolve, all said to be "cut off," although the latent tendency of that craving is not yet cut off. If such a one further cultivates the path as it was attained, then self-conceit is cut off without remainder, and one becomes an arhat, with the outflows forever exhausted. By having realized the fruit of arhatship, with the mind well liberated, one forever cuts off attachment to one's own body and the appurtenances of one's own body, together with the active entanglements and latent tendencies; one is apart from craving, pride, and every kind of heedlessness. Because one is apart from craving, pride, and heedlessness, this is called "the smoke stilled"; there is no scorching vexation and no expectation or longing.

What is called "the smoke stilled"? "Smoke" means craving. Why? Just as the smoke of the world is the forerunner of fire, able to injure the eye-faculty and to make it unable to rest at ease, so too is craving: it is the forerunner of the fire of greed, hatred, and delusion, able to injure the wisdom-eye and to disturb the continuum of the mind (able to draw forth meaningless discursive thought). When one has, toward this craving, already cut it off and already known it, and even brought it about that in the world to come it becomes something no longer arising, this is called "the smoke stilled."

Since one has thus stilled the smoke and is apart from attachment, then, though one still seeks the appurtenances that are conditions for life — it is not that one does not seek them — yet one is able to be liberated from the seeking that is greedy craving, and what one seeks is without defilement. This is "unattached."

What is "without vexation"? The treatise sets out the "three vexations" (the vexation of greed, the vexation of hatred, the vexation of delusion) and speaks of them one by one: (1) When such a one seeks in this way at present, if another gives of himself, or urges others to give, and gives at the time with earnest heart and not without earnestness, with fine things and not coarse, in plenty and not in scarcity, swiftly and not slowly — yet he does not crave the taste of it, and toward what he obtains he enjoys it without defilement, giving rise to no greedy stinginess and no firm clinging — enjoying the requisites of life in this way, he is not scorched by the "vexation of greed." (2) If that donor is himself unable to give, or obstructs another's giving, and even if he does give, gives without earnestness, and even slowly and not swiftly — yet the seeker does not resent it, and by this gives rise to no anger-vexation; and when he enjoys what he has obtained, he neither grieves nor broods, and has no mind to harm and no mind of ill-will — enjoying in this way, he is not vexed by the "vexation of hatred." (3) And toward what he obtains, whether fine or coarse, when enjoying it he sees deeply its perils, well knows the escape, abides in right mindfulness, and stays far from folly — in this way he is not vexed by the "vexation of delusion."

What is "without longing"? Longing means longing-and-hoping, the fixing of the mind upon something to be had. He does not "hold up his trunk with greedy craving harbored within" and make his way to householders' homes — 〔he does not count on〕 obtaining from the great clans of the kṣatriyas, or of the brahmins, householders, and lay masters, the finest fit foods, and even wealth and treasure, clothing, delicacies, seats and bedding, and the medicines for illness and utensils for the body's need; thus in seeking and in enjoying, toward these goods he has no longing whatever. He also constantly abides in "the thought of death": passing from the night-watch into the day-watch, and passing again from the day-watch back into the night-watch, in the interval between "I have measureless causes for dying" (as the sūtra sets forth at length: namely the arising of wind-disorder, and even the terrors wrought by non-humans); and by this cause, toward the goods sought and the goods enjoyed, and even toward "life" itself, he has no longing. Thus, because of being "unattached, with the smoke stilled, without the scorch of vexation, and without longing," he cannot be seen among the causes of the gods and humans, of Śakra, of the Sovereign [Īśvara], of the World-Lords among the gods, and so on; nor can he be seen among the causes-and-fruits of those gods and humans; nor can he be seen in the world of gods and humans of these four continents and elsewhere; nor can he be seen in the world of gods and humans of this world-system and elsewhere. Therefore it is said: "Having cut off name-and-form, craving, and conceit — unattached, with the smoke stilled, without vexation or longing — he cannot be seen, either here or there, in the world of gods and humans."

Summary Meaning (in today's language)

The first verse shows "the desires that bide their time," and the perverse conduct toward desire and the fruit of that perverse conduct. The second verse shows the renouncing of desire as according with right reason, the cultivating of the pure holy life while yet being reproached as not according with reason, and the desires that bide their time. The third verse is the same 〔showing the renouncing of desire as according with reason, and reproach as not according with reason〕. In the fourth verse the World-Honored One shows that the Dharma he presently realizes is forever apart from the blaze [of the afflictions], and even that it is realized by the wise inwardly within themselves.

More specifically, the first verse declares that the several desires have the characteristic of "what-is-to-be-spoken-of," thereby showing that they are desires that bide their time. They do not satisfy one as soon as the need arises; speech must come first, after which they are sought and enjoyed. Because beings let their conceptions rest upon those desires and do not understand their perils and escape, they engage in perverse conduct and amass birth-and-death as its fruit. The second verse shows, in sequence, understanding the several desires, departing from false aspirations, cultivating the holy life, departing from false views, departing from the seed of self-conceit that is the root of view, and keeping far from attachment to gain and honor. For all these reasons, abandoning the several desires accords with right reason, while another person's reproach does not.

Again: the several desires are called "biding their time," because if in a former life one did not make merit, then though one now exert oneself, the desires one delights in cannot be brought to fruition; and if one has made merit only in the present life, then the desires one delights in still do not chime in — they must be brought about only in a later life, and so the several desires are called "biding their time." The fourth verse shows: because the afflictions to be cut off by seeing [the truths] are cut off, one presently realizes the first ascetic-fruit 〔the path of seeing〕; because the afflictions to be cut off by cultivation are cut off, one presently realizes the later ascetic-fruit 〔the path of cultivation〕; the cutting off of greedy craving and the cutting off of self-conceit show the Dharma presently realized; and being apart from attachment, with the smoke stilled, shows that one is forever apart from the blaze, and even that it is realized by the wise inwardly of themselves.

How, then, can another know that inwardly realized Dharma? The outward signs of being without scorching vexation and without any longing make it knowable.

Herein the first three verses are what the World-Honored One spoke for the gods — 〔there was a monk who thought to himself〕 that a monk cannot set forth the great meaning of the Tathāgata's holy teaching, whereas he alone could; and when he spoke these words, since he came to understand, both his mind of scorn toward the monk and his conceit toward himself were removed. The fourth verse, then, sets forth at length the great meaning of the Tathāgata's holy teaching.

The Verses (in plain language · five verses)

〔The god pleads:〕 "Overwhelmed and eclipsed by sensual craving, my mind burns everywhere. I only beg the Great Seer to have pity, and to teach me how to still 〔this craving〕." 〔The World-Honored One answers:〕 "It is because your perception is inverted that your mind is made to burn everywhere; therefore you must ever hold aloof from the pure and lovely mark that draws forth craving. You should cultivate [the perception of] the impure, ever settling the mind upon a single object; and so that the fire of craving may be quenched swiftly, you must again and again pour water upon it 〔as a counteragent〕. Contemplate the 'unlovely formations' as suffering and as without self; also fasten mindfulness upon the body, and cultivate revulsion abundantly. Cultivate [the concentration] upon the signless, and demolish conceit together with its latent tendency; through the direct realization concerning conceit, you shall reach the limit of suffering."

The Prose Exposition (in plain language)

What is "inverted perception"? It is, toward an impure object, casting away the mark of the impure, and — through incorrect attention — taking up the pure and lovely mark and taking up its secondary charms.

What is "holding aloof from the pure mark that draws forth craving"? It is when a certain person, having seen a woman (a "mother-village") in the flush of youth, of a color to be found lovely and delightful, thereupon draws in the faculties and does not pursue her in thought.

What is "ever settling the mind upon a single object and cultivating [the perception of] the impure"? It is when a certain person first, by skillful means, takes up "the mark of the wholesome-and-good concentration" — that is, the livid-bruised corpse and so on down to the skeleton, or the mark of the bone-chain; and taking just this mark, he fastens mindfulness and reflects upon the lovely object present before him — as taken up before, so afterward likewise 〔he keeps to it〕. Again, toward the inner body — whether his own or another's — he contemplates that it is filled with impurities of every kind: that within this body there are hairs, there are nails, on down to excrement and urine, impurities of every kind.

What is "contemplating the unlovely formations as suffering"? It is when a certain person reflects thus: the craving-attachment and the yearning to make use [of her] that arise after seeing a woman of lovely color in the flush of youth — this is precisely the truth of arising, the cause of the mass of sufferings; from this they are born, and being born, aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, care and suffering, disturbances of every kind, are born from this.

What is "contemplating the unlovely formations as without self"? It is when a certain person reflects thus: in my own bodily form, in a woman's bodily form, there is no self and no sentient being and the like — who is it that can make use, and by whom is the making-use undergone? There are only formations, only dharmas, arisen from the assembly of conditions.

What is "fastening mindfulness upon the body and cultivating revulsion abundantly"? It is when a certain person is by disposition of the class in which sensual craving is fierce and full; and because sensual craving is fierce and full in him, even though he draws in the faculties, he is still one whose mind is damaged by sensual craving; and even though he applies attention and reflects upon the impure, upon suffering, upon no-self, his mind is still damaged by sensual craving. For this reason he, relying upon attention to and reflection upon "the impure, or suffering, or no-self," provisionally holds [craving] in revulsion, opposes it, does not go along with it, and — with mindfulness fastened before him in the "foundation of mindfulness of the body" — draws near it, cultivates it, and cultivates it abundantly. Because he dwells much in a practice such as this, he is able to cut off this fierce and full sensual craving — and at that point, when he draws in the faculties, his mind is not damaged by sensual craving; and when he applies attention and reflects upon the impure, suffering, and no-self, his mind too is not damaged by sensual craving. Because he cultivates a practice such as this, the "enwrapment" of the several sensual cravings is cut off only as to its present activity — not the "latent tendency" cut off.

Further: this enwrapment of sensual craving and its latent tendency may, in brief, be found in the continua of two [kinds of] persons — first, it may be found in the continuum of an ordinary being; second, it may be found in the continuum of one still in training (though within the body of a certain portion of those in training it may not be found: as to the lower craving, because it has already been forever cut off, they have attained security; as to the higher craving, because it has not yet been cut off, they have not attained security). Within the body of one beyond training, the craving belonging to the middling element and the fine element is not even to be found, how much less that of the low element — for the one beyond training, both the lower and the higher craving are cut off, and in every part he has attained security. Having understood this, the one in training of a certain portion who has not yet parted from sensual craving gives rise, toward the later "beyond-training," to a mind of aspiration and delight, and sees the merit of the stilling and peace that is parinirvāṇa; because he no longer reflects upon any mark, because he ever rightly reflects upon the signless element, because he diligently cultivates the concentration upon the signless, and because he cultivates just this abundantly, he forever cuts off the "self-conceit to be cut off by cultivation" of the three realms; and because of this cutting-off, he is called one beyond training, parted from the craving of the three realms, with the lower and higher craving cut off, having attained security. Because all the causes of suffering are cast away, he realizes the limit of the whole mass of sufferings. Therefore it is said: "Cultivate [the concentration] upon the signless, and demolish conceit together with its latent tendency; through the direct realization concerning conceit, you shall reach the limit of suffering."

The Condensed Meaning (in plain language)

Next, let us briefly set forth the meaning of what was said above: it displays that sensual craving "arises from these [causes]," "is stilled by these [causes]," and "the stilling thereof."

Sensual craving arises from these [causes] (five causes): first, from the perception of the pure and lovely; second, from delighting in pleasure; third, from the perception of a sentient being; fourth, from fierce and full craving; fifth, from the latent tendency remaining, not yet exhausted.

Sensual craving, once arisen, is stilled by these [causes] (five causes): first, by applying attention and reflecting upon the impure; second, by applying attention and reflecting upon suffering; third, by applying attention and reflecting upon no-self; fourth, by fastening mindfulness and cultivating revulsion abundantly; fifth, by the latent tendency being forever extinguished without remainder.

The stilling (two kinds): first, the stilling of present activity; second, the forever-cutting-off of the latent tendency, so that it does not arise in the time to come. By the former four causes the "first stilling" (present activity) is accomplished; by the fifth cause the "second" (the forever-cutting-off of the latent tendency) is accomplished.

The Verses (Plain Language · Three Verses)

〔天女問：〕「云何苾芻多所住，能越五暴流、當度第六？云何定者能度廣大欲愛，而未得腰舟？」〔世尊答：〕「身輕安、心善解脫、無作、繫念、不傾動、了法、修習無尋定，憤、愛、惛沈過解脫——如是苾芻多所住，越五暴流當度六；如是定者能度廣欲愛而未得腰舟。」

〔The goddess asks:〕 "How does a monk, dwelling much [in what], come to cross the five floods and be about to cross the sixth? How is a concentrated one able to cross the vast desire-craving, and yet has not obtained the waist-boat?" 〔The World-Honored One answers:〕 "Bodily pliancy; the mind well liberated; non-doing; mindfulness bound-fast; not tilted-and-shaken; discerning the Dharma; cultivating the concentration without applied thought; released from the faults of rancor, of craving, and of dullness — a monk who dwells thus much comes to cross the five floods and is about to cross the sixth; a concentrated one who is thus is able to cross the vast desire-craving, and yet has not obtained the waist-boat."

Prose Exposition (Plain Language)

This is a verse arisen on the occasion of what the goddess asked. The floods are six: that is, the eye-flood is able to see the visible forms, and so on down to the mind-flood being able to discern the phenomena.

As for the Buddha's noble disciple, the trainee who has seen the trace: toward the eye-cognized form that "accords with joy," he does not settle into craving; toward the eye-cognized form that "accords with sorrow," he does not settle into hatred; toward the eye-cognized form that "accords with equanimity," he investigates it again and again and rests settled in equanimity. Suppose he has already given rise to the entanglement of desire-greed, or the entanglement of hatred, or the entanglement of delusion (taking the three bodies — the joy-body, the sorrow-body, and the equanimity-body — as their condition): he does not cling to them firmly, and even up to spitting them out 〔casting them off〕; by this cause and condition, the various afflictive entanglements belonging to these three bodies come not to be active, and he dwells in pliancy — this is called "obtaining bodily pliancy," while he is still unable to attain "the mind well liberated" (because the latent tendencies are not yet forever cut off). At a later time he is again able forever to cut off the latent tendencies belonging to those [afflictions], and comes to be far apart from the bound-following within the afflictions belonging to those [three bodies] — this alone is called "the mind well liberated with respect to the greed, hatred, and delusion of the three bodies." As it is with the eye-cognized form, so down to the body-cognized tangible, it should be understood to be likewise. Thus, "having cut off the five lower fetters," one "crosses the five floods" (crossing the eye-flood able to see the visible forms, and so on down to crossing the body-flood able to sense the tangibles).

Having thus crossed over the five floods, there still remains the sixth, "the mind-flood." So as to cross it over, he further cultivates "non-doing, non-shaking, mindfulness bound-fast":

• Non-doing — toward nirvāṇa his mind gives rise to aspiration and delight, yet he is not tilted-and-shaken by the conceit of "I," is without any deliberating and without any contriving; and he is not tilted-and-shaken by [the thought] "that this I and mine will exist in time to come, and even that I shall be neither-perception-nor-non-perception."
• Non-shaking — his mind is not entangled and bound by those higher-portion fetters, is unshaken, unaltered, and unturned; and toward any one of the tranquil concentrations he gives rise to no relishing, no longing, no firm clinging.
• Mindfulness bound-fast — so as to cut off those higher-portion fetters, he dwells within the inner body contemplating the body along [its length], and so on as is expounded at length concerning the foundations of mindfulness.

By cultivating non-doing he cuts off "the various cravings of arising"; by cultivating non-shaking he cuts off "the various cravings for concentration" (this departing-from-activity is what is called "cutting off"); by cultivating mindfulness bound-fast he cultivates the antidote so as to make the higher-portion fetters be forever cut off without remainder. Thus, by cultivating non-doing, mindfulness bound-fast, and not-tilted-and-shaken, he is able to make all the higher-portion fetters be forever cut off without remainder — this is "crossing over the sixth flood" (the mind-flood able to discern the phenomena).

There is also a further distinction in the meaning of "non-shaking": it is the wholesome root of loving-kindness, because loving-kindness is by nature non-hatred. For this reason, the noble disciples cut off mistaken aspirations concerning the view of a real self in the aggregates and cultivate tranquillity and insight: through loving-kindness they cultivate tranquillity, and through the foundations of mindfulness they cultivate insight. One who cultivates rightly in this way develops three minds that accord with cutting off the higher-portion fetters, and quickly brings them to fulfillment: toward the "higher body" he has no mind of infatuated attachment; toward the sentient beings "below" he has no mind of indignation; and, being diligent, toward both higher and lower objects he has no defiled mind. The rest is as explained above. This is what is meant by having crossed the five floods and being about to cross the sixth.

What is "discerning the Dharma"? Toward the phenomenon of suffering he is able to discern and able to contemplate; toward the phenomena of origin, cessation, and path he is able to discern and able to contemplate. What is "cultivating the concentration without applied thought"? Having discerned phenomena thus, he rests settled within "the cutting-off of the reliance on the various desires of household life, and the casting-them-off-and-departing"; or in a wilderness, or beneath a tree in a vacant quiet, toward the joy-body of the joy-according eye-cognized form, the sorrow-body of the sorrow-according [form], and the equanimity-body of the equanimity-according [form], toward this object he is without the entanglement of desire-applied-thought, and his mind dwells settled much, and so on until he is even without "the entanglement of applied thought associated with household matters," and his mind dwells settled much; and should the desire-applied-thought, and even the applied thought associated with household matters, arise, he is at once able to discern as-it-really-is the escape, is not obstructed by it, and is able to reflect meditatively, to reflect examiningly, and to reflect discerningly. By this means, by cultivating along this path, he is able to cut off the fault of the tainting-craving of the joy-body, the fault of the rancor of the sorrow-body, and the fault of the dullness of the equanimity-body; because the entanglements are cut off, the body attains pliancy, and because the latent tendencies are cut off, the mind is well liberated with respect to the tainted [state] of the three bodies bound to the desire-realm — at this time it is called "having crossed over the vast desire-craving" (with respect to the visible forms and even the tangibles: the craving that flows-through-everywhere, the craving of union, the craving of increase, the craving of not-parting, the craving of not-joining, the craving of decline, the craving of separation, or the craving to take up birth again in the desire-realm).

There is also a second differentiated account of "cultivating the concentration without applied thought": the practitioner has already attained the meditative absorption without applied thought and without sustained thought. The rest — cutting off the joy-body's tainting craving, the sorrow-body's indignation, and the equanimity-body's dullness, and gaining bodily pliancy and mental liberation through cutting off the entanglements and latent tendencies — is as explained above.

Summary of the Meaning (Plain Language)

The goddess asked the World-Honored One in brief for three essential meanings: first, the cutting-off of the lower fetters; second, the means for cutting off the higher fetters; third, that very means for cutting off the lower fetters, and how those fetters are well cut off. The World-Honored One answered accordingly. With "bodily pliancy and the mind well liberated" he answered that the lower fetters have been cut off, not the means by which they are cut off. With "non-doing, mindfulness bound-fast, and not-tilted-and-shaken" he answered the means for cutting off the higher fetters, not that cutting-off itself. As for the cutting-off of those higher fetters, the goddess understood it by analogy with the preceding answer. What remained unanswered was only the means for cutting off the lower fetters and how they are well cut off.

The World-Honored One therefore first used the detailed distinctions of the first account of "cultivating the concentration without applied thought" to answer the means of cutting-off, explaining what can cut off, how the cutting-off is carried out, and what is cut off. "Discerning the Dharma" is called "that which is able to cut off"; "cultivating the concentration without applied thought" is called "how the cutting-off is"; the fault of rancor to be cut off is the hatred class, the fault of craving is the greed class, and the fault of dullness is the delusion class. Thus the agent, manner, and object of cutting-off correspond. Once this means had been answered at length, only the question of "well cutting-off" remained. Through the second differentiated account of "cultivating the concentration without applied thought," he answered what well cutting-off is: final cutting-off, far-departing cutting-off, and the cutting-off of all defilement. Discerning phenomena explains final cutting-off; cultivating the concentration without applied thought explains far-departing cutting-off; and cutting off every active entanglement and latent tendency of greed, hatred, and delusion explains the cutting-off of all defilement. This is the concise meaning to be understood here.

Further: the goddess asked in reliance upon "the trainees who have not yet obtained the surpassing mind, who have departed from desire-greed but have not departed from the higher greed." "Mind" is named the waist-boat (as the sūtra says, "the axle of conscience, the waist-boat of mind"); one who has not yet obtained this waist-boat is called "one who has not obtained the waist-boat." What here is named the waist-boat? It is the mind well liberated with respect to the various fetters.

The 漢 root text (Xuanzang, T30n1579) is kept as a de-emphasized visual anchor for bilingual readers; the English below renders every word of it in plain, continuous prose.

The Verses (in today's language · three-and-a-half verses)

〔A deva asks:〕 "The world is ever beset by fear; sentient beings are forever wearied by it — in the mass of suffering not yet arisen, or in that already arisen, 〔they dread it〕. If there is 〔any place〕 with even a little freedom from fear, I now ask you to tell it to me." 〔The World-Honored One answers:〕 "Deva! I behold liberation: not apart from knowledge and vigor, not apart from the restraint of all the faculties, not apart from all-relinquishment." 〔The deva praises:〕 "I behold — after so exceedingly long a time — a brahmin 〔now〕 come to parinirvāṇa; he has passed beyond all terrors, transcended the world's craving and clinging."

Prose Exposition (in today's language)

In this verse, everything from the realm of desire up to the summit of existence — all the "satkāya" (the existing bodies) — is named "the world." The point intended here fixes on the sentient-being world of the desire realm, where there is both pleasure and suffering.

If sentient beings are gathered up and nourished by the "ten requisites of the body," lacking nothing, sound and free of illness, their years not yet declined into age, they are named "the sentient-being world that has pleasure"; the opposite of this, one should know, is "the sentient-being world that has suffering." Among the world's beings, few have pleasure and many have suffering.

Those "sentient-being worlds that have pleasure" ever harbor terror: they fear that "my wealth and treasure will be seized and plundered by the king," and so on down to fearing that "through this cause I shall meet with various calamities"; they fear that "wind or heat may break out within me," and on down to fearing that "men or non-humans and the like may harm and injure me" — thus fretting over the future suffering of wealth and treasure decaying and spoiling, and the suffering of the body breaking up, their minds are ever in dread. Those "sentient-being worlds that have suffering" are, right before us, pressed and harried in body and mind by the mass of suffering; they have suffering, have sorrow, have grief, have the arrow, have all manner of vexation and distress, and abide with no rest at all. Therefore it is said: "The world is ever beset by fear; sentient beings are forever wearied by it; in the mass of suffering not yet arisen, or in that already arisen."

By reason of this, that deva, beholding directly that the pleasure of the "sentient-being worlds that have pleasure" is not fixed and certain, then puts a question to the Tathāgata: is there any place of "certain pleasure, free of fear"? At that time the World-Honored One, by skillful means, displayed to him that only within the sacred teaching is there such a place, not among the various outsiders.

That is: suppose there be some śramaṇa or brahmin dwelling outside the true Dharma who, regarding the perils of the desires in the present life and in lives to come, does not know them as they really are; and because he does not know, he longs for the distinctions of desires yet future, relinquishes the desires of the present life, seeks the desires of a later life, and with diligent effort receives and trains in whatever precepts and restraints. Though he abides in such precepts, yet he is without wisdom, does not guard the gates of the faculties, does not keep right mindfulness, has no constant and careful mindfulness … Because he does not tame and restrain the gates of the faculties, over even the small gains and honors others bestow on him he still gives rise to a savoring relish and thereupon to fond attachment — how much more over vast ones? Such a one who diligently receives precepts and restraints, being far from wisdom and not tightly guarding the gates of the faculties, cannot even cut off the desires of the present life — how much less the desires of a later life.

Again, among those very ones, suppose there be some śramaṇa or brahmin who, coarsely knowing the perils of desire, is able to pass beyond the desires of both the present and later life, yet again longs for "the higher ground free of desire"; he raises the notion of "liberation" toward what is "not liberation," and, having cut off and cast away the desires, thereby draws near to seclusion. Because he diligently and repeatedly cultivates right thinking, he becomes free of the desire of the desire realm, on up to being free of desire at the sphere of nothing-whatever. By reason of this he relinquishes the lower-ground self-body and loves the higher-ground self-body; and because he loves that 〔higher ground〕, in lives to come he is not liberated even from the lower-ground self-body — how much less the higher ground. Thus one who has cast away wealth-and-treasure and self-body and lost the road, though he abides in fierce and valorous diligence, cannot attain the "place of unbroken happiness, free of fear." Why? Because that outsiders' teacher does not himself so much as see or know this place — how then could he expound it at length for his disciples and the like? Therefore, in the treatises composed by outsiders' teachers and their disciples, there is definitely no final limit to the mass of suffering. The opposite of this: within the well-spoken true Dharma and Vinaya, one should know, there is full possession of every benefit and boon, and, further, there is definitely a final limit to the mass of suffering. On this hidden intent the Buddha said to that deva: "Deva! I behold liberation: not apart from knowledge and vigor, not apart from the restraint of all the faculties, not apart from all-relinquishment."

The Condensed Meaning (in today's language)

Next, one should briefly discern the meaning of what was said above: it shows that, within the ill-spoken false-Dharma and Vinaya, both teacher and disciples suffer decline and loss; whereas within the well-spoken true Dharma and Vinaya, all possess auspiciousness, and with respect to all suffering are able to realize its final limit.

At that time, that deva, hearing the Buddha answer what he had asked, rejoiced and leapt for joy, and with four kinds of unsurpassed merit praised the Tathāgata: namely, because a buddha, a World-Honored One, is hard to appear; because, having appeared, he can accomplish the deeds that benefit others; because he can also establish the merit of benefiting himself; and because, with respect to the benefit of himself and others, he is free of a defiled mind —

• "I behold — after so exceedingly long a time — a brahmin come to parinirvāṇa": this praises the World-Honored One's merit of being "hard to appear";
• "He has passed beyond all foes": this praises the World-Honored One's merit of the "deeds that benefit others";
• "He has passed beyond all terrors": this praises the World-Honored One's merit of "establishing the benefit of himself";
• "He transcends the world's craving": this praises the World-Honored One's merit of "being free of a defiled mind with respect to the benefit of himself and others."

Of these four distinctions of merit, one should know there are further three distinctions: namely, because he is hard to appear, because he is hard to behold, and because he establishes the deeds of benefiting himself and benefiting others; one who beholds him is then able to accomplish the great goal, and one who accomplishes the great goal, because he is free of a defiled mind, throughout all births is likewise without the mass of faults. Such merits as these the buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, possess most surpassingly; and so, with these marks, the deva praises the Tathāgata.

The Verses (Rendered · Three Verses)

〔Question:〕 "Who is able to encourage and lead the beings of the superior classes 〔toward the good〕, and to disclose the path of departure? On what 〔teacher〕 must one abide, and what 〔dharma〕 must one learn, so as not to fear the death of the world to come?" 〔Answer:〕 "The one who, by discipline and by wisdom, perfumes and cultivates himself; who is complete in concentration, mindfulness, and uprightness; who has cut off all sorrows and burnings, and who has right mindfulness and liberation of mind — he is able to encourage and lead the beings of the superior classes and to disclose the path of departure; abide in this 〔teacher〕, learn in this 〔dharma〕, and one will not fear the death of the world to come."

The Prose Exposition (Rendered)

The "superior classes" spoken of in this verse are the four superior and eminent classes of birth: first, the brahmins; second, the kṣatriyas; third, the vaiśyas; fourth, the śūdras. To teach and transform the beings of the superior classes "by the Dharma, by the right, by regulation, and by guidance" is what is named "encouraging." What is shown here is this: only the Buddha, the World-Honored One, is able to teach and transform the beings of the superior classes by the Dharma, by the right, by regulation, and by guidance — and by this cause the World-Honored One reveals of himself, "I alone am the true encourager and leader," and therefore he says to that deity that he is "complete in discipline, complete in wisdom, and perfumes and cultivates himself." Again, only the World-Honored One is able to proclaim, for the beings of the four superior and eminent classes, the noble eightfold path that departs from all the sufferings of the multitude; and here too the World-Honored One reveals of himself that he is the true speaker.

〔The nine virtues are now explained:〕 What is completeness in discipline? When the Buddha, the World-Honored One, was formerly a bodhisattva, he cast away the finest and subtlest desires, forsook the household life, and took up and upheld all the disciplines of body and speech. What is completeness in wisdom? It is that, while abiding in that upholding of the disciplines of body and speech, he gave rise to such an aspect — inwardly and rightly reflecting, deeply and thoroughly weighing, examining with careful precision: "This world now suffers much hardship, namely birth and old age" (as the scripture explains at length). What is perfuming and cultivating oneself? Over countless remaining lifetimes in the past, across three great incalculable eons (asaṃkhyeya), he practiced and well practiced the six perfections; and by that cause, his mind now, without a teacher and of itself, inclines toward departure, and he is able, by subtle and marvelous knowledge, to enter into realization of the formations arisen from the manifold conditions. What is completeness in concentration? It means being able, and so on, to become free of the desire for the sphere of nothing-whatever, and to realize the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. What is completeness in mindfulness? It means that, relying on the superior concentration thus attained, in order to cut off the afflictions to be cut off by the path of seeing, he cultivates the four foundations of mindfulness; and taking the foundations of mindfulness thus cultivated as his leading head, he goes on to cultivate the thirty-seven factors of awakening. What is uprightness? It means that he gives rise to the upright, noble eightfold path that "flows against the stream," able to cut off all the afflictions to be cut off by the path of seeing, and upon the against-the-stream path he attains "stream-entry-and-following." What is the everlasting cutting-off of all sorrow, grief, and burning? It means that, from the direct realization of the truths, he together attains the state of a "non-returner," and is further able to cut off forever the five lower fetters; ill-will accords, as it were, with sorrow and grief, and greed accords, as it were, with burning, and of such as these he has already cut off all forever. What is right mindfulness? It means that, in order to cut off forever the higher fetters, he again cultivates the four foundations of mindfulness, and goes on to cultivate the thirty-seven factors of awakening. What is liberation of mind? It means that, because he has already cut off forever the higher fetters, his mind is well liberated from the two kinds of obstruction — the afflictive obstruction and the cognitive obstruction; and because his mind is thus well liberated, he attains the state of "the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly and Fully Awakened" (explained at length as in the scripture).

By this, then, he is able to encourage and lead the beings of the superior classes and to disclose the path of departure. As for those of the four superior classes — whoever, of any one of them, delights within this noble teaching in right conduct, and, wishing to realize the noble eightfold path, diligently cultivates and learns within the three trainings — he will surely be able to realize the noble eightfold path and the fruit of nirvāṇa; and because he realizes that, he does not fear the birth, old age, sickness, and death to come.

The Summary Sense (Rendered)

Next comes a brief clarification of the sense stated above: it briefly shows that only the Buddha, the World-Honored One, is able to make the four classes 〔of beings〕 swiftly attain purity — that they, if they can rightly practice herein, do not do so in vain 〔to no purpose〕; it further shows that the Tathāgata's noble teaching is the well-spoken true Dharma and Vinaya; and it further shows that the Buddha is the unsurpassed great teacher of gods and humans. Know that this is the summary sense herein.

The Verses (in today's language · two verses)

〔Question:〕「云何能擅有名譽？云何能具足珍財？云何能獲得美稱？云何能攝受親友？」〔Answer:〕「持戒，能擅名譽；布施，能具珍財；諦實，能獲美稱；惠捨，能攝親友。」

〔Question:〕"How is one able to enjoy sole renown? How is one able to possess ample precious wealth? How is one able to win fine repute? How is one able to gather in kin and friends?" 〔Answer:〕"By keeping the precepts, one is able to enjoy renown; by giving, one is able to possess precious wealth; by truthfulness, one is able to win fine repute; by bestowing generously, one is able to gather in kin and friends."

The Prose Exposition (in today's language)

How is it that keeping the precepts enables one to enjoy sole renown? Suppose there is a certain person, whether man or woman, who is fully possessed of moral discipline (śīla) and of the wholesome qualities — down to abstaining, until the end of life, from the sin of killing and staying far from the taking of life (as the sūtra sets forth at length) — so that all the ascetics, brahmins, and the rest in the ten directions constantly praise this person; and, on account of this, this person is respected and supported by the various kings, ministers, and elders, down to the people of towns, cities, and villages.

How is it that giving enables one to possess ample precious wealth? Suppose there is a certain person who, in some former life, performed and increased "deeds of merit that are acts of giving"; on account of this, in the present life this person is greatly rich, born into a house of great wealth and treasure, down to having many storehouses filled to overflowing.

How is it that truthfulness enables one to win fine repute? Suppose there is a certain person who does not, by using false measures, scales, boxes, and the like, and by such things as flattery, deceit, contempt, and lying speech, bring in wealth and treasure; but only by lawful undertakings and skills, and by relying on the Dharma without violence, brings in wealth and treasure. This person being such, all people cry out: "Excellent! This gentleman-scholar is truly able to bring in wealth and treasure by lawful undertakings and skills."

How is it that bestowing generously enables one to gather in kin and friends? Suppose there is a certain person who has before them many and various family possessions, and who stays far from the stain of stinginess, does not begrudge their goods, and delights themself with proper ease and joy — extending even to 〔the benefit of〕 friends and companions, kinsfolk, and elders; and those people then help one another in turn, bringing in wealth and treasure for this person and guarding and increasing it.

The Abridged Meaning (in today's language)

Next comes a brief clarifying of the meaning stated above: it briefly displays the two conditions of "reverence" and "material gain." "Keeping the precepts, one enjoys renown" displays the condition of reverence; the remaining three lines display the condition of material gain — namely, by the power of the cause (giving), by the power of a person's own effort (truthfulness), and by the power of a supporting companion (bestowing generously). This should be known as the abridged meaning here.

The 漢 root text (Xuanzang, T30n1579) is kept as a de-emphasized visual anchor for bilingual readers; the English below renders every word of it in plain, continuous prose.

The Verses (in today's language · three verses)

齊何泉止息？於何逕不通？世間諸苦樂，何處無餘滅？若於是處所，眼耳及與鼻舌身意、名色，永滅盡無餘。齊此泉止息，於斯逕不通，世間諸苦樂，是處無餘滅。

〔Question:〕 "At what does the 'spring' come to rest? Along what 'path' does 〔the traffic〕 no longer pass? The various sufferings and pleasures of the world — in what place are they extinguished without remainder?" 〔Answer:〕 "If at that place the eye, the ear, and the nose, the tongue, the body, the mind, and name-and-form are forever extinguished without remainder — thus far does the 'spring' come to rest, along this 'path' 〔the traffic〕 no longer passes, and the various sufferings and pleasures of the world are, in this place, extinguished without remainder."

Prose Exposition (in today's language)

What is the "spring"? It is the six contact-bases. Why so? It is like a spring-pool, which is able to give rise to the various waters — waters that belong to it and are fit to be touched and used, and which are able to sustain and nourish men and women, great and small, down even to the birds and beasts, right up until 〔the spring-water〕 is not yet altogether dried up 〔and until then does not cease〕. So too the six inner contact-bases: they are touched and used by the "contact with the six sense-fields" of every foolish common person, and they are able to sustain and nourish 〔sentient beings〕, right up until the various "craving-waters" within them are not yet altogether dried up 〔and until then do not cease〕.

What is the "path"? The path is of two kinds: first, the affliction-path; second, the karma-path. Here "path" is meant to convey the sense of "cause."

What are "suffering and pleasure"? Either they arise in the present life, conditioned by the six contact-bases — being either "comfortable reception" (subsumed under pleasant feeling) or "uncomfortable reception" (subsumed under painful feeling); or they arise in a later life, conditioned by the good conduct and the evil conduct that afflictions hold and maintain — being either subsumed under comfortable reception or subsumed under uncomfortable reception.

In what place are these six bases and name-and-form and the rest extinguished without remainder? It is within the "nirvāṇa-realm without remaining basis." If it be the ordinary beings, the spring, the path, and the suffering-and-pleasure are one and all not lacking, nor as yet relinquished. If it be the learners, they are "lacking yet not relinquished." If it be those beyond learning, the "path" and the suffering-and-pleasure yet to come are both lacking and relinquished, and turn 〔operate〕 no more; the "spring" and the suffering-and-pleasure of the present life are both lacking and relinquished — yet by reason of the "remaining basis" they still turn 〔operate〕 again 〔while he yet lives, the six faculties and name-and-form remain〕. Therefore it is said: it is within the "nirvāṇa-realm without remaining basis" that all that is extinguished without remainder.

The Condensed Meaning (in today's language)

Next, one should briefly discern the meaning of what was said above: it briefly shows that "the cause and the suffering-and-pleasure of the present life, and the cause and the suffering-and-pleasure of a later life, are, within the nirvāṇa-realm without remaining basis, all forever extinguished." One should know that this is the condensed meaning herein.

Verse One (Plain Language)

〔問：〕「誰能越暴流？誰能超大海？誰能捨眾苦？誰能得清淨？」〔答：〕「正信，越暴流；無逸（不放逸），超大海；精進，捨眾苦；智慧，得清淨。」

〔Question:〕 "Who is able to cross the flood? Who is able to pass over the great sea? Who is able to cast off the manifold sufferings? Who is able to attain purity?" 〔Answer:〕 "Right trust crosses the flood; non-negligence (heedlessness) passes over the great sea; energetic effort casts off the manifold sufferings; wisdom attains purity."

Verse One · Prose Exposition (Plain Language)

How does right trust cross the flood? Suppose there is a certain person who, in order to come to know the perils of the desires, listens to the true Dharma spoken by the Buddha or by a disciple of the Buddha; and, having heard the Dharma, obtains right trust, whereupon aspiration and delight arise, and so as to cut off "the desire that is objects" and "the desire that is affliction," he comes to relinquish the household desire-for-objects, leaves the home life out of right trust, and sets out for the homeless state. Once he has left home, in order to cut off the desires that are affliction, he dwells secluded; through blazing, diligent, energetic effort, and on up to the cultivation of right meditative reflection, he cuts off the desires that are affliction and attains "the concentration-stage of dispassion." Thus, with right trust as his support and his guide, he comes to cross over the flood of the desires.

How does non-negligence pass over the great sea? Toward that concentration he in the end relishes it not, and on up to having not even a firm clinging settled within it; excepting only that, so as to realize "the knowledge that the taints are exhausted," he concentrates his mind upon it. By this the concentrated mind is pure, bright-white, upright, and pliant, and he is able to enter into the direct realization of the Four Noble Truths, and on up to realizing the everlasting exhaustion of the taints. Thus, with non-negligence as his support and his guide, he is able to cut off the two floods of existence — "the bondage to the realm of form and the bondage to the formless realm" — and to cut off the two floods of "ignorance (avidyā) and views" — and this is why it is named "passing over the great sea."

How does energetic effort cast off the manifold sufferings? Suppose there is a certain person, a trainee who has seen the trace, who reflects thus: "I ought to realize dispassion toward the three realms, the everlasting exhaustion of the fetters." He then reaches seclusion, and there dwells in valiant, diligent effort, not letting his mind settle much into the entanglement of desire-greed; and he is able to know as it really is the escape from the present entanglements of desire-greed, and toward "the hindrance of desire-greed" he purifies and cultivates his mind, whereupon he is able to cut off the entanglements of desire-greed, and the various griefs and sufferings of mind that arise conditioned by the entanglement of desire-greed. As with "the hindrance of desire-greed," so on up to "the hindrance of doubt," likewise 〔cut off〕. Thus, with energetic effort as his support and his guide, he is able to cast off the manifold sufferings.

How does wisdom attain purity? After he has extinguished "the five hindrances" that can defile the mind and on up to obstruct the ultimate nirvāṇa, he then, in dependence on the "not-yet-arrived" 〔concentration〕, dwells settled within the not-yet-arrived; and, by the taintless knowledges of suffering, origin, cessation, and path that he obtained earlier, he reflects, amid the sufferings, upon true suffering, and on up to reflecting, toward the path, upon the true path, whereupon he attains dispassion toward the three realms without remainder, the everlasting exhaustion of the taints. Thus, with the wisdom obtained earlier as his support and his guide, he is able to realize purity.

Summary of Meaning One: The World-Honored One, in this verse, briefly shows that "the ordinary being first departs from desire, and thereafter is purified by the direct realization of the Noble Truths," and shows that "the trainee takes the direct realization of the Noble Truths first, and 〔thereafter〕 is purified by departing from desire."

Verse Two (Plain Language)

〔問：〕「誰能超越暴流，晝夜無惛昧？於『無攀無住、甚深、無減劣』〔之處安住〕？」〔答：〕「圓滿眾尸羅、具慧、善安定、內思惟、繫念，能度極難度〔之有頂〕；於諸欲想離染，亦超色界結，他便〔住於〕無攀無住、甚深、無減劣。」

〔Question:〕 "Who is able to transcend the flood, without dimness or torpor by day or by night? Who 〔dwells〕 in that which is 'without grasping and without abiding, profound, and undiminished'?" 〔Answer:〕 "One perfect in the whole body of moral discipline, possessed of wisdom, well settled in concentration, inwardly reflecting, and fastened in mindfulness, is able to cross the utterly-hard-to-cross 〔summit of existence〕; toward the several desire-notions he departs from defilement, and passes beyond the fetters of the form realm too; and he then 〔dwells in〕 that which is without grasping and without abiding, profound, and undiminished."

Verse Two · Prose Exposition (Plain Language)

What is the flood? It is the so-called "four floods": the desire-flood, the existence-flood, the view-flood, and the ignorance-flood. What is "without grasping and without abiding"? It is the so-called everlasting exhaustion of the cravings, dispassion, quiescence, nirvāṇa, and the attainment of cessation. Why? What is called "grasping" is the affliction-"entanglement"; what is called "abiding" is the affliction-"latent tendency"; where both of these are absent in that locus, therefore it is said to be "without grasping and without abiding" — this is to say that "nirvāṇa" is without grasping and without abiding. Again: "perception" is named grasping, and "feeling" is named abiding; if in a given locus both of these are absent, then that locus is said to be without grasping and without abiding — this is to display that "the concentration of the cessation of perception and feeling" is without grasping and without abiding. In the present sense here, the intent takes "the attainment of cessation."

What is being perfect in the whole body of moral discipline? It is to dwell well settled in the discipline of body and speech, and to purify one's livelihood. What is being possessed of wisdom? It is to know as it really is the noble truth of suffering, and on up to the noble truth of the path likewise. What is being well settled in concentration? It is to depart from the desires, and on up to dwelling fully settled in the fourth meditative absorption, or the meditative attainment of "the first existence" (the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception). What is inwardly reflecting? It is to observe, again and again, at the "twenty-two loci," saying, "I now change my appearance and adornment from what is customary, and put away the fair form of the worldly one" (as the sūtra expounds at length). What is being fastened in mindfulness? It is that, when observing again and again at the twenty-two loci, one, in reliance on "the notion of a renunciant," makes it operate constantly, turn constantly, and stand present; and by this cause and condition, so as to cut off the remaining fetters, one cultivates the four foundations of mindfulness. What is being able to cross the utterly-hard-to-cross? It is that, because all the fetters are cut off without remainder, one is able to cross the utterly-and-extremely-hard-to-cross "summit of existence" — which is not what any of the ordinary foolish beings are able to cross. How does one, toward the several desire-notions, attain departure from defilement? It is that, toward the lower-portion fetters, they are already cut off and already known. How does one pass beyond the fetters of the form realm? It is that, toward the higher-portion fetters of the bondage to form, they are already cut off and already known. How is one, within that which is without grasping and without abiding and profound, without diminishment? It is that, in the formless realm, one has either already departed from desire or not yet departed from desire, has already attained the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, and is capable and strong enough to enter the attainment of cessation — the trainee and the adept alike may have this, and so it is not said with fixity that one "passes beyond the fetters of the formless."

Summary of Meaning Two: The World-Honored One, in this verse, briefly shows "being able to attain the utterly ultimate path," and shows "being able to realize the path of the foremost abiding" 〔realizing cessation〕.

The 漢 root text (Xuanzang, T30n1579) is kept as a de-emphasized visual anchor for bilingual readers; the English below renders every word of it in plain, continuous prose.

The Verses (in plain language · four verses)

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

Prose Exposition (in plain language)

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Condensed Meaning (in plain language)

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

The Verses (Plain Language · Five Verses)

〔天說：〕「應當作婆羅門〔所應作〕，謂斷〔惡〕、無縱逸，求棄捨諸欲，不悕望此〔梵世之〕有。若還有所應作，就不是真婆羅門。當知〔真〕婆羅門，於所作已辦。」〔又：〕「諸身分劬勞〔精進〕、〔卻〕未到極底、未度〔者〕；已得度、住於陸〔地〕、無〔須再〕勤、到彼岸〔者〕——天！你今當知，這〔陸地彼岸〕譬喻真梵志，謂永盡諸漏、得常委、〔得〕靜慮。他永斷一切愁憂及熾燃，恒住於正念，也常心解脫。」

〔The deva speaks:〕 "One should do what a brahmin 〔ought to do〕 — namely, cut off 〔evil〕 and be without unruly negligence; seek to relinquish and forsake all desires, and cherish no longing for this 〔brahma-world〕 existence. If there is yet more that ought to be done, then he is not a true brahmin. Know that the 〔true〕 brahmin is one whose work-to-be-done is already accomplished." 〔And further:〕 "Those who, in all their bodily parts, toil and 〔strive〕 — and yet have not reached the very bottom, have not crossed over; those who have already crossed, who dwell upon the dry 〔land〕, who need toil 〔no more〕, who have reached the far shore — O deva, know now that this 〔dry land and far shore〕 is a figure for the true brahmin, namely one who has forever exhausted the contaminants, who has obtained constant application (chángwěi) and 〔obtained〕 the meditative absorptions. He has forever cut off all sorrow and burning, dwells ever in right mindfulness, and is likewise ever liberated in mind."

Prose Exposition (Plain Language)

In this verse, it first shows that the deva speaks for the World-Honored One "in reliance upon the brahmins of the worldly convention." That is, there are brahmins of good caste who style themselves "I am a true brahmin," who reckon the brahma-world to be the utmost final goal, who long for the brahma-world and rest settled in the form 〔realm〕; ever diligent and vigorous, their minds without lassitude or weariness, ever delighting in seclusion, in quiet solitary dwelling, cutting down and sparing sleep, cultivating meditative stillness, so as to cut off the desire for affairs and the desire that is affliction. Because those brahmins of good caste "reckon the brahma-world to be final and long for the brahma-world," they therefore "do not seek the existence of desire" 〔yet still seek brahma-world existence〕.

It further shows that "the Tathāgata, in reliance upon the brahmins of the ultimate truth," answers that deva: if a brahmin, "having done what is to be done, must yet again and again do more," has yet some further, surpassing thing that ought to be done, know that this is not a true brahmin; if a brahmin "has realized the thing that a brahmin ought to do, has ascended beyond the shore of all satkāya (the existing body), and rests settled upon the dry land," know that this is a true brahmin. By this it shows: both the trainee and the one-beyond-training are 〔ultimate-truth〕 brahmins.

The "trainee" is of two kinds — namely, with respect to the desire realm, "either not yet freed from desire, or already freed from desire." The one not yet freed from desire: he has not obtained the very bottom, has not reached the far shore, and with respect to two phenomena is still not complete — first, he has not obtained the surpassing inner tranquillity (śamatha); second, though he has obtained it, the insight (vipaśyanā) that is the phenomenon of superior wisdom is not yet well purified. Because he lacks the inner tranquillity, he mounts the "buoyant float that is the noble path as it has been obtained," and, so as to realize the inner tranquillity, "plies as if with the feet" in fierce and valorous vigor; and further, so as to make the insight that is the phenomenon of superior wisdom well purified, "plies as if with the hands" in fierce and valorous vigor. When he thus applies vigor, his freeing from the desire of the desire realm is "like obtaining the very bottom," and his realizing arhatship is "like reaching the far shore." The one already freed from desire: he has realized the surpassing inner tranquillity and has obtained the well-purified insight; only so as to advance in cutting off the higher fetters does he arouse vigor — not with all the bodily parts. If he has already crossed over, has become an arhat, has accomplished his work-to-be-done, and is apart from toilsome exertion, he is named "one dwelling upon the dry land, who has already reached the far shore."

This then shows: the 〔ultimate-truth〕 brahmins, in reliance upon the ultimate truth, are in brief of three kinds — two are trainees, one is one-beyond-training. The brahmins who have already ultimately reached the far shore are named "those who have forever exhausted the contaminants"; those not yet freed from desire, applying vigor in all the bodily parts, are named "those who have obtained constant application"; those already freed from desire, who have obtained the very bottom, are named "those who have obtained the meditative absorptions." The one who has obtained the meditative absorptions, because he has forever cut off all the lower fetters, has already cut off all the sorrow and burning belonging to the classes of greed-and-desire and ill-will. The one who has forever exhausted the contaminants, because he has forever cut off the afflictions to be cut off by cultivation, has already well cultivated the four foundations of mindfulness, and dwells ever in right mindfulness and in liberation of mind. He is not one who "having done, does again and again," nor has he any surpassing thing that ought to be done — therefore he is called "the true brahmin of the ultimate truth."

〔It closes by way of question and answer:〕 "Monk! Monk! Have you crossed over the flood?" He answers: "Just so, O deva!" "Without a hold, without a stay, have you crossed over the flood?" He answers: "Just so, O deva!" "Monk! In what manner, then, are you now without a hold, without a stay, and have crossed over the flood?" 〔The answer follows in cluster twelve.〕

The Verses (in today's language · five verses)

〔The World-Honored One narrating of himself:〕 "Just as I 〔vainly〕 toiled, so did I 〔grow〕 the more feeble; just as I grew feeble, so did I 〔come to a〕 halt; just as I came to a halt, so was I 〔carried〕 adrift 〔and drowned〕. O deva! Just as I let go of that toilsome labor, so did I no longer grow feeble." Thus is set out at length the "bright-and-white class"; and among these the "jñeya-verse" (the verse of light) should be understood.

The Prose Exposition (in today's language)

Within this verse, as for "having nothing to cling to, nothing to abide in": this means nirvāṇa and the attainment of cessation, as already said above.

The World-Honored One, in reliance on what he showed forth in former days when cultivating the bodhisattva practice — all that "most extremely hard-to-do austerity," that "valiant vigor comprised under non-means" — and further in reliance on what he showed forth when seated on the seat of awakening, the "full comprehension that cuts off the valiant vigor comprised under non-means" — spoke these words: "O deva! You should know: in former days, just as I vainly set up toilsome labor 〔suffering hardship to no purpose〕, so did I 〔grow〕 the more feeble; just as I grew feeble, so did I 〔come to a〕 halt; just as I came to a halt, so was I again carried adrift and drowned." What runs counter to this — this should be understood as the "bright class" (the side of pure and wholesome dharmas).

Herein is shown: the "valiant vigor comprised under non-means" at the time of cultivating austerity is named "toilsome labor"; practicing a wrong means, so that wholesome dharmas fall away and are lost, is named "growing feeble"; once one knows the wholesome dharmas have fallen away, and so lets the wrong means come to rest, this is named "coming to a halt"; letting go of the various austerities, yet then seeking out another teacher, and so at the places of wrong grasping of "Uddaka, Āḷāra" and the like 〔the outsider teachers〕 following along and observing — this is why it is named "being carried adrift and drowned." And again at a later time, 〔the World-Honored One〕 seated on the seat of awakening, cast away every "valiant vigor comprised under non-means," and all wholesome dharmas thereupon grew and increased; the wholesome dharmas having grown and increased, he then, toward the wholesome dharmas, "gave rise to no complacency, took no leisure to halt," and toward what was to be cultivated and cut off he searched onward and onward for what was surpassing and subtle; and it being by such non-complacency that "he sought out no further outsider teacher," but, "with no teacher, spontaneously," cultivated the thirty-seven factors of awakening, and realized supreme, right, and full awakening — he is named "the Greatly Awakened One." The four meanings herein should be understood as matched, in due order, to the four lines of the scripture — "letting go of toilsome labor" and the rest.

How, again, is the distinction shown by way of nirvāṇa's "having no reliance, no abiding"? It is that 〔a person〕 unable to cross the torrent of the entanglements and latent tendencies of the afflictions is so, in brief, by four causes. What four? Namely: first of all there is "the applied thought that relies on greedy relishing"; and because it relies on and takes as its support the applied thought of greedy relishing, there is "indolence"; and further, because it relies on and takes as its support indolence, one "abides in the portion of an ordinary being"; and because it relies on and takes as its support abiding in the portion of an ordinary being, one "goes along with the stream of birth-and-death" — the force of craving makes him, within the river of birth-and-death of the five destinies, go along downstream, carried adrift and drowned. By the four causes that run counter to these, one is able to cross the torrent, as should accordingly be understood.

How, again, is the distinction shown by way of "the attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling"? It is that, just as there is someone who, having already realized the attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling, yet abides in heedlessness — abiding much in "perception and feeling," and not abiding much in "the cessations of the various perceptions and feelings"; by this causal condition he falls away from the attainment of cessation; and by this falling away, he comes once more to a halt in "the cause for arising in a lower ground"; and because he abides in that cause, his mind then determinately proceeds toward the fruit obtained there. What runs counter to this should be understood as the four-line distinction of the "bright class."

The Verses (in today's language · three verses)

〔The heavenly maiden asks:〕"〔You〕have come alone to the forest hermitage 〔a place of quiet〕, sat in meditative absorption, and cast away precious wealth — is it that you seek something else? Or is it that you are spying out a fiefdom 〔scheming for rank〕? Why do you not consort with others, keeping no companions at all?" 〔He answers:〕"〔I〕have attained the matter and my heart is at peace; I have crushed the demon-army of alluring fine form. I dwell alone and reflect, and there receive the most excellent ease — and so I do not consort with others, and keep no companions at all."

Prose Explanation (in today's language)

This is a verse occasioned by the heavenly maiden's question. What is called "attaining the matter" is, in brief, of two kinds: first, the attaining of the matter of the śramaṇa-fruit; second, the attaining of the matter of the noble supernormal powers. By the first kind of "attaining the matter," one transcends all the great suffering of birth-and-death; by the second kind of "attaining the matter," one realizes the eight liberations, reflects in stillness, and dwells at ease in the present state. Again: the first attaining of the matter is able to subdue the "demon-army" of lovely, alluring form; the second attaining of the matter is able to dwell alone and reflect, and there receive excellent ease. The intent of 〔the verse〕 here is to set forth the "matter of the noble supernormal powers."

Why so? Suppose there is a certain person who, in order to accomplish the "matter of the noble supernormal powers," in order to make his liberation pure and complete, cultivates by the skillful means of the "ten totalities"; and by this cause and condition he makes the concentration on the totalities pure and complete, likewise makes his liberation turn to become pure, complete, and bright-and-clear, and is likewise able to accomplish the matter of the noble supernormal powers. Once he knows that this is accomplished, he then himself penetrates: "my matter is accomplished" — and the matter of the śramaṇa-fruit is likewise brought to fulfillment. He is a true śramaṇa.

Toward "those who seek wealth" 〔he〕 deeply cultivates disgust-and-censure; toward the various towns, their comings-and-goings, and the like, he is able to know their "origin," to know their "danger," to know their "escape," and also to know the "practice that tends toward escape": the cause and condition that gives rise to those 〔desires〕 is called the "origin" 〔that is, the arising〕; that they are impermanent, manifold suffering, of a nature to change and decay is called the "danger" 〔that is, suffering〕; the subduing, cutting off, and transcending of desire-and-greed is called the "escape" 〔that is, cessation〕; the noble eightfold path is called the "practice that tends toward escape" 〔that is, the path〕. If there is one who, toward those 〔places〕, does not see their "origin," on down to not seeing the "practice that tends toward escape," then by that cause and condition he is unable to feel disgust-and-censure toward places such as "beings possessed of precious wealth," but circulates among them without cease, and yet fancies of himself that "his 〔own〕 heart has attained peace"; while toward the inward peace of the one gone forth, who has realized the eight liberations and the absorptions of meditative stillness, he instead gives rise to slander. By this he becomes, toward "inward peace," incapable of seeing it well, knowing it well, examining it well, and penetrating it well. But if the "inward peace of the ultimate truth" runs contrary to this, then he is able to see it well, on down to penetrate it well.

The Condensed Sense (in today's language)

Next, briefly setting forth the sense stated above: the Blessed One here briefly indicates — those who "enjoy desires" and those who "delight in mixed abiding" are not the inward peace of the ultimate truth; only if one has realized the absorption of the eight liberations and departed from all the relish of craving is one named "the inward peace of the ultimate truth." Know that this is the condensed sense here.

子1 · All Conditioned Things Are Impermanent

「諸行無常，有生滅法；由生滅故，彼〔之〕寂〔滅〕為樂。」

"All conditioned things are impermanent; they are phenomena that arise and cease. Because of this arising and ceasing, their 〔peaceful〕 stilling 〔and extinction〕 is bliss."

In this verse, both the aggregates and the appropriated aggregates are named "conditioned things," but here the intent lies with the appropriated aggregates. The five appropriated aggregates are, in brief, of three kinds — namely past, future, and present. "All conditioned things are impermanent" means that these conditioned things, being originally non-existent, come to be, and having come to be they straightway cease: if it is the aggregates within the several self-bodies born in the past and obtained in the past, they have all already passed, already withered and ceased, and having arisen have sunk away — their substance is "impermanent." If it is the aggregates within the several self-bodies to be born in the future and obtained in the future, they are all not yet born, have not yet arisen, have not yet ceased and sunk away, and are able to arise — these are "phenomena that have arising." If it is the aggregates within the several self-bodies born in the present and obtained in the present — the aggregates that momentarily abide and sustain the living being's survival — they are all phenomena of death, able to be destroyed by the destruction that annihilates, and these are "phenomena that have ceasing." Although the aggregates of a future-acquired self-body are phenomena that have arising, there is among them no acquired self-body that is permanent or constant, much less one that will continue to abide just as it is; there is only its bare arising, followed immediately by cessation. If a living being, within the present phenomenon, forever exhausts the cause of the future aggregates, so that all the future self-body aggregates do not arise at all, this is said to be "their stilling." Again, this stilling is said to be "bliss" for two reasons: first, because every cause of suffering has ceased, the coarse-and-heavy [tendencies] have forever come to rest, and one dwells at ease within the present phenomenon; second, because one is forever liberated from all the manifold sufferings of birth, aging, sickness, and the rest that would come in the future.

Brief meaning: this states in brief "the ground on which right view rests, and the fruit of right view." Also: the ground on which full comprehension rests and its being cut off · the phenomena to be fully comprehended and the full comprehension · the defilement of the conditioned things of the three times and, through their stilling, the purity · the phenomena of dependent origination and the ceasing of dependent origination · the truth of suffering and the truth of cessation · the ground on which the two liberation-gates of emptiness and wishlessness rest and the ground on which the single liberation-gate of the markless rests · the ground on which is cut off the two phenomena that run counter to the direct realization of the noble truths (first, that which conforms to idle proliferation; second, that which dreads the absence of idle proliferation) · the two counter-agents not shared with the outsiders (first, the un-inverted nature of what is to be known; second, the un-inverted nature of what is to be realized).

子2 · Non-Negligence Is the Trace of the Deathless

「無逸〔是〕不死跡；放逸為死跡。無逸者不死；縱逸者常死。」

"Non-negligence 〔is〕 the trace of the deathless; negligence is the trace of death. The non-negligent do not die; the unrestrained ever die."

How is "non-negligence the trace of the deathless"? It means that, relying on four supports, one sets up four kinds of guarding: guarding of life, guarding of body, guarding against mental defilement, and guarding of right method — this is named "non-negligence." This non-negligence, as reliance and as sustainer, causes those whose provisions for nirvāṇa are not yet complete to complete them swiftly, and those already complete to attain final nirvāṇa within the present phenomenon. How is "negligence the trace of death"? It means that a householder in white robes is greedily attached to the enjoyment of the desires and commits unwholesome deeds; or that one gone forth manifests the four non-guardings (from non-guarding of life down to non-guarding of right method). Negligence runs through both classes, householder and one gone forth; and this very negligence, as reliance and as sustainer, delights in generating the root conduct and commits the root deeds that generate [existence], and by this one is born, and having been born comes to the end of life and dies untimely. How is it that "the non-unrestrained do not die, and the unrestrained ever die"? Death is of five kinds: well-tempered death, ill-tempered death, past death, present death, and future death. One who well cultivates non-unrestraint, when at present he dies rightly by well-tempered death, has in the past already died by past death (in the past, too, by ill-tempered death); at present he does not die by ill-tempered death; and in the future he dies neither by well-tempered death nor by ill-tempered death — therefore he is called "not dying." The unrestrained one, at present dying rightly by ill-tempered death, has in the past also died by ill-tempered death, at present dies by that very ill-tempered death, and in the future will likewise die by ill-tempered death — therefore he is called "ever dying."

Brief meaning: the non-unrestrained = the truth of the path and the truth of cessation; the unrestrained = the truth of the origin and the truth of suffering. It also displays the nature of what-is-possible-and-what-is-not and the nature of one's own deeds as doer (the first half being the nature of what-is-possible-and-what-is-not, the latter half the nature of one's own deeds as doer; the first half being the teacher doing for the disciple what ought to be done, the latter half the disciple's own doing).

子3 · Living Beings Are Bored and Shaken by Cogitation

「眾生〔被〕尋思所鑽搖，〔由〕猛利貪欲隨觀〔淨〕妙；倍增染愛而流轉，便能自為堅固縛。」

"Living beings 〔are〕 bored and shaken by cogitation, 〔and〕 through fierce greedy desire keep viewing 〔things as〕 fair and fine; multiplying defiled craving they wander on, and thereby make for themselves a firm bond."

"Bored and shaken by cogitation" means: toward the desire-objects previously obtained and previously enjoyed, one attends improperly, giving rise to evil cogitations that rest upon indulgent craving. "Fierce greedy desire" means: because in former other lives one cultivated and much practiced greedy desire, in this present life, toward the desires previously obtained and enjoyed, even when one attends properly one's mind is scattered and undone by greedy desire. "Keeping viewing them as fair and fine" means: not well guarding the body, not restraining the faculties, not abiding in right mindfulness, one roams the village and sees young women of comely beauty, and then, improperly, one seizes upon the mark of the fair and fine, and body and mind are inflamed. "Multiplying defiled craving" is by five aspects: ① even toward the low and mean desires one gives rise to fierce greedy clinging and attachment — how much more toward the superior and fine; ② by unrighteous and violent means one amasses wealth, and not by the righteous does one likewise constantly take in one's furnishings; ③ even a base and useless thing one is unwilling to give up — how much more the precious and weighty; ④ to pursue even a little mean wealth one commits many evils of body, speech, and mind — how much more for the abundant and superior; ⑤ even toward taking up a small fine practice one has no love or delight — how much more toward the vast and great; 〔also, even of nirvāṇa one is unwilling to hear, how much less to desire and obtain it〕. The "firm bond" is by three aspects: first, its being solid (in the present phenomenon, through the roots of evil conduct — greed, ill-will, and delusion); second, its being touched by suffering; third, its following one for a long time (in the future, birth in the destinies of the hells, animals, and hungry ghosts).

Brief meaning: through "two causes of ruin" there are "two kinds of ruin." The two causes of ruin = the power of improper thought (recollection / mistaken discrimination / mistaken seizing of marks / improper thought while abiding and while acting) and the power of the cause (the lingering desire-greed toward agreeable objects, formed by past habit); the two kinds of ruin = ruin in seeking (pursuing mistaken wealth by unrighteous and violent means) and ruin in enjoyment (toward objects conducive to pleasure, to pain, or to neither-pain-nor-pleasure giving rise to attachment / aversion / delusion, committing all manner of evil conduct, and being bound by the three firm bonds and the bond of the evil destinies). Furthermore, a distinction: one bound by the fetter of craving has, in brief, seven kinds of defilement (all wrought by greedy craving) — the defilement of recollection · the defilement of un-freedom · the defilement of the object · the defilement of feverish torment · the defilement associated with the good destinies · the defilement associated with the evil destinies · the defilement of the [wrong] views (meeting evil friends who teach inverted dharmas, increasing in one of the sixty-two views, being deluded about dependent origination, and, bound by the fetter of views, not emerging from the great ocean of birth-and-death).

The two causes and two ruins may be unfolded as follows. "The power of improper thought" includes improperly thinking because one recalls an object enjoyed before, because one wrongly discriminates a presently appearing object, because one wrongly seizes its marks, or because one continues improper thought while either abiding or acting toward it. "The power of the cause" is desire-greed habitually cultivated in the past toward an agreeable object. A person possessing both causes pursues and amasses wrongful wealth through unrighteous or violent means; this is "ruin in seeking." Toward previously obtained objects conducive to pleasure, pain, or neither-pain-nor-pleasure, such a person either becomes defiled and attached without knowing escape, gives rise to hatred and is obscured by it, or gives rise to delusion and is obscured by it. Thus obscured, he commits evil conduct of body, speech, and mind, is bound by the three firm bonds of greed, hatred, and delusion, and is further bound to hell, the animal destiny, and the hungry-ghost destiny; this is "ruin in enjoyment."

The seven defilements of a person bound by the fetter of craving are all wrought by greedy craving. First, the defilement of recollection: one improperly recollects an agreeable object previously enjoyed, hopes for and pursues it, and thereby scatters and ruins the mind. Second, the defilement of un-freedom: having habitually practiced desire-greed in former lives, one is fiercely disposed toward it now; even while attending reasonably to an agreeable object, hope, pursuit, and desire-greed scatter the mind, which is therefore not free. Third, the defilement of the object: while roaming through a town or village, one encounters a comely and agreeable person; because that object is exceptionally attractive, consciousness clings to its beautiful marks and generates manifold hopes, pursuits, and cravings.

Fourth, the defilement of feverish torment: through those three defilements that cause craving to grow, existing craving becomes increasingly strong; one longs for past objects already enjoyed, hopes for future objects to be enjoyed, and clings to objects now being enjoyed, until body and mind are fevered throughout. Fifth, the defilement associated with a good destiny: driven by the force of craving as the truth of origin, one performs fine conduct of body, speech, and mind and is born among gods or humans; there one clings to pleasant feeling, dwells intoxicated by it, and gives oneself wholly to negligence. Sixth, the defilement associated with an evil destiny: driven by that same force, one performs evil conduct of body, speech, and mind, falls after death into hell or another evil destiny, and there is tormented by extremely heavy grief and suffering, evil-mindedness, and indignation. Seventh, the defilement of views: driven by craving, one meets evil friends who teach an inverted doctrine as though it liberated one from defilement. Although seeking liberation, one does not realize it; instead one of the sixty-two views grows, and delusion regarding dependent origination increases. Bound by the fetter of views, one cannot emerge from the great ocean of the five destinies and birth-and-death.

子4 · Abiding in the Dharma, Complete in Discipline

「住法、具尸羅，有慚、言諦實，能保愛自身，亦令他所愛。」

"Abiding in the Dharma, complete in discipline (śīla), having conscience, speaking what is true and real — such a one can cherish and protect his own self, and is likewise cherished by others."

"Abiding in the Dharma" means that, within the Tathāgata's well-spoken true Dharma and Vinaya, one goes forth with pure faith and delights in cultivating the holy life. "Complete in discipline" means that, having so gone forth and out of love [for it], one is without breach in the precepts — down to being without stain — carrying them on continuously, acting and turning by them, and toward all the training-grounds one is able to receive and able to train. "Having conscience" means being conscience-stricken toward what one ought to be conscience-stricken about, conscience-stricken toward that which can give rise to evil and unwholesome phenomena (that which can conform to the fault of evil precepts, whose cause and condition are the improper marks and improper cogitations, whether afflictions or secondary afflictions). "Speaking what is true and real" means disclosing one's evils and not hiding one's evils; if one has transgressed, then before a wise fellow in the holy life one truthfully raises it against oneself and counters it in accordance with the Dharma.

Brief meaning: this states in brief "the purity of discipline gathered under four causes" — because one can rightly receive it · because, having received it, one does not breach it · because one keeps far from the causes of breach · because, even when one has breached it through un-knowing or negligence, one straightway counters it in accordance with the Dharma.

子5 · If One Sees Another's Evil Deed

「若見他惡業，能審諦思惟『自身終不為』，由彼業能縛〔故〕。」

"If one sees another's evil deed, one can carefully and truly reflect, 'I myself will never do it,' because that deed can bind 〔one〕."

"Seeing another's evil deed and carefully and truly reflecting" means: a good son or good daughter, keen-witted by nature and accomplished in the reasoned, true-observing forbearance toward the Dharma, on seeing that another, because of practicing evil conduct, meets with humiliation and flogging, is seized by the king's men and taken to the king, down to having his life cut off, reflects thus: this person in the present phenomenon commits such evil and, in this very present phenomenon, receives such bitter fruit and retribution; such an evil deed should never be done, should not be committed, should not be practiced, should not be transgressed.

One also sees those of no-restraint who slaughter sheep, chickens, pigs, and the like. Such livelihoods do not enable them to ride elephants, horses, carriages, or litters, nor bring vast treasuries that remain undispersed; instead they are censured by the world. Even common hired laborers avoid bodily contact with them, how much more the worthy and wise. One also sees a person once greatly wealthy whose precious goods, servants, property, and good qualities gradually decline through laziness and long-standing negligence. Seeing each, one makes the same reflection: "I will never do such evil."

One sees the manifold distinctions of living beings' bodily marks — born blind, deaf, mute, cross-eyed, lame, scabby or leprous, short-lived, ill-formed, much diseased, born poor and base, with few relatives, of bad wisdom, a paṇḍaka or semi-paṇḍaka, ugly of form — while others are not so. One sees a keen-witted, unlazy, energetically courageous person capable of farming, commerce, seafaring, or reasoned discourse, yet whose undertakings repeatedly decline and never reach completion. One sees two people who have both gone forth to the homeless life and cultivate the holy life, one lacking robes, food, and other support, the other not. In each difference of body, deed, and unsuccessful pursuit, one reflects according to deed and fruit and resolves not to produce the corresponding evil.

One also sees a king or the king-like who has subdued vast lands and clings to them without release. For the slight present pleasure of a single skeletal body, he performs measureless evil through body, speech, and mind, ruins the happiness of many future lives, and will receive their great sufferings. One reflects: "How foolish: he protects only one life and body, not many lives and bodies; loves only slight present pleasure, not the greater happiness of the long future; yet he will certainly undergo repeated heavy suffering." A keen-witted person possessing the divine eye also sees beings dying and being born, even in the great hells, and knows that present evil brings bitter fruit in a later life.

Thus, by four kinds of practice one truly and well reflects and examines: first, observing that transgressing, wrong livelihood, or negligent indolence in committing evil brings unwished-for fruit in the present phenomenon; second, observing that the distinctions in living beings' supporting bodies, and their failures to accomplish what they do and seek, are all due to evil deeds done before; third, observing kings and the king-like presently committing evil deeds and inferring that they will in the future receive unwished-for fruit; fourth, observing living beings dying and being born, and how, through evil committed in the present phenomenon, they receive unwished-for fruit in a later phenomenon. Because one thus knows it as it truly is, one will never do it oneself.

"The bond of deeds" is threefold — delighting in deeds, being weighed down by deeds, and being un-free with respect to the fruit and retribution of deeds: the first bond of deeds = habituation to evil and delight in evils, so that the mind cannot enter the good phenomena; the second bond of deeds = with respect to the deeds of immediate [retribution], whether performing them in full or not in full, though one might delight in the true Dharma and temporarily go forth, one still cannot obtain [that going-forth], much less the realization of the śramaṇa-fruits; the third bond of deeds = the evil conduct of body, speech, and mind generates the evil destinies, and being born there one is un-free and cannot bear the suffering at will, or one is born in a borderland utterly without the four kinds of good and worthy assemblies (monks down to laywomen).

Brief meaning: this shows in brief the reasoned reflection in reliance upon living beings' deeds and the fruit-and-retribution of deeds, and displays that, with reasoned reflection as the prior [ground], one practices the Dharma in accordance with the Dharma.

子6 · The Noble Ones Ever Speak the Most Excellent Speech

「賢聖常說最善語；愛非不愛語第二；諦非不諦語第三；法非非法語第四。」

"The noble ones ever speak the most excellent speech; speech that is loved and not unloved is second; speech that is true and not untrue is third; speech that is Dharma and not non-Dharma is fourth."

"Good speech" means good telling, good words, good discourse, and it should be known to have three marks: pleasing to the mind, unstained, and wholesome only — by the first it makes the other rejoice, by the second it makes one's own discipline in the end without breach, by the third it can make the other come out of the unwholesome place and abide in the wholesome place, drawing in benefit, welfare, and ease. There is speech that is "loved but neither true nor Dharma" (praising another with fair and fine words for what is not a real virtue); there is speech that is "true but neither loved nor Dharma" (with a defiled mind uttering coarse and harsh words to reproach another for real fault and evil); and there is speech that is "Dharma and both loved and true" (one who well knows praising and reproaching, who, having known what may be praised and what may be reproached, yet does not praise and does not reproach, but only, by good skillful means, speaks the true Dharma for the other, making him come out of the unwholesome place and abide in the wholesome place).

Brief meaning: this shows in brief all good speech, whether by way of statement or by way of exposition.

子7 · Faith, Conscience, Discipline, Giving, Dharma

「信、慚、戒、施、法，善人所稱讚；是名趣天道，能往天世間。」

"Faith, conscience, discipline, giving, and Dharma are praised by good people; these are named the path that goes to the heavens, able to go to the heavenly worlds."

It means that a certain one obtains right faith in the Buddha's Dharma and Vinaya, is ashamed to remain in household life, receives and keeps the pure precepts, and, gaining clothing, food, and bedding, is thereby content, cuts down on vessels and is sparing in his provisions, and of all lawful gains he in the end keeps nothing private but must share their use with fellows in the holy life, and all the true Dharma — good in the beginning, middle, and end — extolling the holy life (from the discourses down to the discussions), he can receive and keep, research and probe, thoroughly master, transmit and expound. Having accomplished these good phenomena, he will obtain three excellent benefits: first, he is praised by the buddhas and by the true good people who are the Buddha's disciples; second, if one has well perfected both the provisions of merit gathered under discipline and the giving of wealth, and the provisions of wisdom gathered under the giving of Dharma, one obtains entry into the like-portion of the pure heavenly assemblies that realize the place of liberation; third, if the two provisions are not yet perfected, one can cause them to be swiftly perfected, and after the body breaks up one is surely born in a good destiny and mostly goes to the blissful worlds of the heavens above. Furthermore, a distinction: one believes "the ill-disciplined will fall into the evil destinies, and the miserly and greedy obtain the retribution of poverty," and in the present phenomenon one gives rise to deep shame toward evil discipline and miserly greed, casts off evil discipline and receives the pure precepts, casts off miserly greed and, with a stainless mind, abides at ease in household life down to practicing giving well — and in the present phenomenon one is praised by the noble and worthy, and after the body breaks up one is born in a good destiny in the heavens above.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief the two kinds of right conduct, of the householder and of the one gone forth, and all the excellent benefits that are the fruit of right conduct.

子8 · Much Hearing Can Know the Dharma

「多聞能知法；多聞能遠惡；多聞捨無義；多聞得涅槃。」

"Much hearing can know the Dharma; much hearing can keep far from evil; much hearing casts off the meaningless; much hearing attains nirvāṇa."

It means that a certain one, toward the un-inverted teaching-Dharma that ought first to be practiced — the discourse on giving, the discourse on precepts, the discourse on birth in the heavens, and the like — reverently listens, and having heard, understands its meaning (that the manifold evil conduct of the present phenomenon and the meaningless causes that are the evil conduct [leading to] the future suffering of the evil destinies ought to be swiftly kept far from, and that one should go to the good destinies and cast off the meaningless causes of the evil-destiny suffering that generates rebirth into the evil destinies); and by understanding such Dharma-meaning he practices the Dharma in accordance with the Dharma, can keep far from the causes of suffering and can draw in the causes of ease, obtaining ease and casting off suffering. If, toward the superior teaching-Dharma associated with the four noble truths and the like, he reverently listens and understands its meaning (that all that has birth is great suffering, and that the peaceful nirvāṇa [is the goal]), then, if his faculties are already ripened and his provisions already full, he obtains the understanding-of-the-meaning; because his mind is purified, as soon as he has heard the Dharma he, if he has not yet directly realized the noble truths, can enter into direct realization, and if he has already directly realized them, obtains the exhaustion of the contaminants; if his faculties are not yet full, then, by keeping far from evils, in reliance upon the higher discipline arousing the higher mind, in reliance upon the higher mind giving rise to the higher wisdom, he can cast off the affliction that is the root of all suffering — the meaningless — and realize nirvāṇa.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief that first hearing the true Dharma [leads to] reasoned reflection, that first reasoned reflection [leads to] practicing the Dharma in accordance with the Dharma, and that with practicing the Dharma in accordance with the Dharma as the prior cause one obtains the excellent fruit.

子9 · The Wise Are Like Space, Undefiled

「智者如空無染污，不動猶如天帝幢；如泛清涼盈滿池，不樂淤泥生死海。」

"The wise are like space, undefiled; unmoving, they are like the banner of the deva-king; like one floating on a cool, brimming pond, they do not delight in the mire, the sea of birth-and-death."

This distinguishes the arhat monk whose mind is well liberated and who is beyond all idle proliferation, like space. Why? Just as space is apart from all idle proliferation and can be defiled by neither the pure nor the impure, so too the arhats: all worldly phenomena, whether favorable or adverse (gain and loss, down to pain and pleasure — the eight phenomena), can defile them not at all. Again, the trainees who have already left desire-greed and are headed for arhatship, who well abide their minds in the four foundations of mindfulness and cultivate the markless mind-concentration, are like the banner of the deva-king: in all agitated arising of arrogant elation, idle proliferation, contriving and enterprise, and the greedy craving that accompanies wish-making, they cannot be tilted or moved. Again, the trainees who have already left desire-greed and obtained the non-returner fruit, in whose minds arises desire and delight for the higher liberation, are like one who roams a cool, cold spring-pond: in the feverish mire of the relishing of savor, the concentration [-fetters], and the fetters of the higher portion, they in the end take no delight, nor do they delight in the great sea of birth-and-death. Furthermore, a distinction: the arhat's eating, speaking, and roaming, his abiding in the markless, and his being still followed by the suffering of the remaining basis — these three should be understood in that order; and again, the wisdom-liberated arhat, the trainee who is a body-witness, and the both-ways-liberated arhat — these three should be understood in that order.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief being apart from the desire of the three realms, yet, in the Buddha's noble intent, still having a remaining basis · being apart from the greed of the desire realm, gathered under the path of superior advance · and the non-returner fruit. Also: the excellence that is liberation, the excellence that is meditative poise, and the excellence that is wisdom. Also: the fruit obtained by the trainings of higher mind and higher wisdom, and the two trainings of higher mind and higher wisdom.

子10 · If One Measures Me by Form

「若以色量我、以音聲尋我，欲貪所執持，彼不能知我。若於內了知、於外不能見，由內果觀察，彼〔仍〕音聲所引；若於內無知、於外而能見，由外果觀察，亦音聲所引；若於內無知、於外不能見，彼普障愚夫，亦音聲所引；若於內了知、於外亦能見，英雄出離慧，非音聲所引。」

"If one measures me by form, or seeks me by sound, one is held fast by desire-greed and cannot know me. If one understands within but cannot see without, by observation through the inner fruit, that one is 〔still〕 led by sound; if within one has no knowing but without one can see, by observation through the outer fruit, one too is led by sound; if within one has no knowing and without one cannot see, that one, the wholly-obstructed fool, is likewise led by sound; if within one understands and without one can also see, the hero of emergent wisdom is not led by sound."

It means that a certain one whose substance is an ordinary being, who has not cut off the false discrimination and desire-greed, observes the World-Honored One's thirty-two marks of a great person and thereby measures: "This is the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Fully and Rightly Awakened; what he speaks is subtle and fine; his disciples must surely be good." Later, drawing near to bad persons, he hears improper Dharma, follows another's discourse and another's sound, believes and complies with the other, and, being led by the other, once again gives rise to slander toward the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha — all because he does not know as it truly is the Tathāgata's Dharma-body. There is again one who, by the divine eye that is the fruit of inner meditative stillness, sees the World-Honored One from afar and forms the same understanding (as before — likewise following another's sound); there is again one who, by the fleshly eye that is the outer fruit of desire-realm deeds, having seen, measures (likewise following sound); there is again one who, in all he sees, [finds] nothing at all, is wholly obstructed, and for a long time is led by another's sound. But if the noble and worthy ones cut off, subdue, and transcend desire-greed and obtain the noble wisdom-eye, then, by the noble wisdom-eye, within they realize and understand the Tathāgata's Dharma-body; and though without they see the Tathāgata's form-body, or a stūpa or painting, they understand that this is not the Fully and Rightly Awakened One in the highest sense; within they rightly know, and without they rightly observe, and do not follow another's discourse or another's sound, and toward the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha they have decisive faith and acceptance — all because they understand as it truly is the Tathāgata's Dharma-body.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief that if one sees the Tathāgata only by the conventional, then [one's faith] is undecided, but if one sees the Tathāgata by the ultimate, then it is decided.

子11 · The Sixth, the Sovereign King

「第六增上王，染時染自取；於無染、不染，染者名愚夫。」

"The sixth, the sovereign king — in the time of defilement, it defiles what it itself grasps; toward the undefiled it is not defiled, [but] the defiled one is named a fool."

"The sixth, the sovereign king" means mind, mentation, and consciousness. If one has already crossed the five floods but not yet crossed the sixth flood of mentation, then at that time one's mind follows and pursues the relishing of savor in the concentrations — hence "the time of defilement." There is again a person who, through the long night, in defilement grasps [things] as his own and, toward agreeable phenomena, clings to and hoards them and will not let go — this is "defiling what it itself grasps." Greed is named defilement, and the future-world suffering that is generated by greed is also named defilement. If the one who defiles what he himself grasps, toward the defiled mind, does not, with applied effort, take it in but blocks and holds it back, and cultivates the mentation's counter-agent attention, then his mind, in the present phenomenon, is undefiled, and in the future too is without that suffering's defilement. But if, applying effort, he yet does not hold it back, does not block it, does not cultivate the counter-agent, then in reliance upon this cause of suffering he suffers through the long night and cannot keep far from it — hence he is named a fool.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief all the excellent benefits of keeping far from the cause of suffering, and displays that the cause of suffering can bring on one's own suffering, which is the nature of the fool.

子12 · There Is a City with Bone for Its Rampart

「有城〔以〕骨為墉，筋肉而塗飾；其中有貪、恚、慢、覆所任持。」

"There is a city 〔with〕 bone for its rampart, sinew and flesh for its plastered adornment; within it are greed, ill-will, conceit, and concealment, by which it is upheld."

What is called the "city" means mind, mentation, and consciousness. This city uses only bone for its bricks and stones, sinew in place of cords and warp-threads, and flesh as its daubed plaster, forming a rampart of the bodily frame that encircles it all around. Within the city are four evil phenomena, injurious to the good phenomena of the well-spoken Dharma and Vinaya, by which it is upheld: two belong to householders who enjoy the desires (greed and ill-will), and two to those gone forth within the ill-spoken Dharma (conceit and concealment). Because one is attached to desire and yearns for desire and does not run counter to base and filthy conduct, one does not even believe and accept the well-spoken Dharma, much less cultivate the good; relying on the ill-spoken Dharma one gives rise to arrogant conceit and cannot go of oneself to the Buddha or to a disciple, and even if the Buddha or a disciple, out of compassion, comes to one of himself, one, through the secondary affliction of concealment defiling the mind, does not even disclose one's own faults, much less believe, understand, and cultivate the good — thus, into the good phenomena, neither of these two mind-cities can enter, much less take them up as one's own.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief that householders and those gone forth, all through four kinds of defiling cause and condition, ruin the well-spoken Dharma and Vinaya.

子13 · Like a Turtle Drawing Its Limbs into Its Own Shell

「如龜藏支於自㲉，苾芻善攝意尋思；無所依止、不惱他，證般涅槃無所謗。」

"Like a turtle hiding its limbs within its own shell, the monk well gathers in the mentation's cogitations; without any reliance, and not vexing others, he realizes final nirvāṇa and slanders nothing."

It means that a certain one, in reliance upon the first meditative stillness, casts off the three evil cogitations (the cogitation of desire, the cogitation of ill-will, and the cogitation of harm); and, further able to cast off even the good cogitations of the ground of the first meditative stillness, he abides in the concentration without applied and without sustained thought — like a turtle drawing its limbs in and hiding them in its shell, he gathers in the cogitations in just this way (from the concentration without applied and without sustained thought up to the summit of existence). When he rightly abides in this concentration he gives rise to no relishing of savor, and having emerged he accomplishes phenomena that may be loved and delighted in, is tractable, gentle, and easy to dwell with, does not vex wise fellows in the holy life, is delighted in by the wise as one to dwell with, and accomplishes the phenomenon of no strife or contention. By right method he can enter into the direct realization of the noble truths and obtain the exhaustion of the contaminants; toward the phenomena he does not [rely] on another's faith, obtains a well-purified, superior knowledge-and-vision, and understands as it truly is that "the Dharma is truly the Dharma, and the Vinaya is truly the Vinaya"; he never, in reliance upon inverted views, slanders the Dharma as [not-]Dharma or slanders the non-Dharma as non-[Dharma], and does not display the non-Dharma as Dharma or the Dharma as non-Dharma, and so on.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief, for one of the well-spoken Dharma, the path of the counter-agent that cuts off four kinds of disturbance. The four kinds of disturbance = first, the disturbance of defiled-and-undefiled cogitation; second, the disturbance of relishing the savor of the superior concentration; third, the disturbance of mutual strife and litigation; fourth, the disturbance of slandering the right path.

子14 · Equal and Unequal in Their Arising

「等不等而生，牟尼捨有行；內樂定差別，如俱舍卵生。」

"Equal and unequal in their arising, the sage casts off the conditionings of existence; the inner bliss and the concentration differ, like the egg-born within the shell."

It means that when the Buddha manifests his abiding in the bodhisattva station of the last existence, he first obtains the arising of a wondrous form-body perfect in the thirty-two marks and eighty subsidiary excellences; and later, when he realizes the unsurpassed, full, and right awakening, the arising of his form-body is "equal" to the former; but the arising of his name-body, through the superior and non-outflowing being dissimilar [to the former], is "unequal" to the former. Again, the Buddha manifests taking the inner bliss of peace and the bliss of the śramaṇa as his reliance, obtaining mastery over concentration, and, as by the power of the concentrated mind, casts off the life-conditionings and the conditionings of existence — the arising of that most excellent form-body reaching its final limit is "equal" to the former, while the arising of the name-body is "unequal" to the former; hence there is a difference. Just as a chicken arises in reliance upon the egg (the shell), and having arisen gradually grows, similar in kind, and breaks the shell and comes out, so too is the principle of the distinction of the Tathāgata's form-body and name-body. The distinction here: if the Buddha did not cast off the life-conditionings, he would enter final nirvāṇa only upon completing his life-span; but because, upheld by the power of concentration, he casts off the life-conditionings, he enters final nirvāṇa without completing his life-span.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief the casting-off of the life-conditionings, the two kinds of distinction of the form-body and the name-body, and displays the cause and condition of casting off the basis.

子15 · No Mire Equals the Desires

「無淤泥等〔於〕欲，無魑魅等〔於〕瞋，無羅網等〔於〕癡，無江河等〔於〕愛。」

"No mire equals 〔the〕 desires, no goblins equal 〔ill-〕will, no net equals delusion, no river equals craving."

It means that there are four kinds of "worldly phenomena of un-freedom" that the world plainly sees able to make a living being turn about un-free: first, sinking mired in the mire; second, being possessed by ghosts and goblins; third, entering into a net; fourth, falling into a swift-flowing river and being swept along in the current and drowned. There are again four kinds of "true phenomena of un-freedom" that are likewise so: ① being born and growing in the desire realm, sunk mired in the mire of impure, rank desires, one cannot freely draw forth, guard, and increase good phenomena; ② having cast off desire and gone forth within the well-spoken Dharma, harboring anger in the mind and being by nature much given to evil speech, through anger being un-free, one repeatedly transgresses the training-grounds and, with coarse words, strikes at, reproaches, and expels fellows in the holy life; ③ having cast off desire and gone forth within the ill-spoken Dharma, one enters the great delusion-view net of the evil Māras and wanders in birth-and-death un-free; ④ being born in the ground of the higher, desire-freed [realms], toward the fetters of craving not yet cut off and not fully comprehended, un-free, one is born again in the lower realms and, following the current, abides there, hard to emerge from.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief the fools' bondage in the various realms and various classes. Furthermore, a distinction: four phenomena (sinking mired in the mire of desire, unable to go forth in purity · being covered by anger, harming even oneself, how much more others · in the class of delusion, holding evil and wrong views, denying father and mother, how much less able to support them oneself · widely amassing the desires, swept along by greedy craving, unable even to feed oneself, how much less to be generous to others) can obstruct the four phenomena that the keen-witted ought to know (going forth in purity, keeping far from ill-will and harm, reverently serving father and mother, delighting in the practice of wise giving).

子16 · In Space There Is No Bird's Track

「虛空無鳥迹，外道無沙門；愚夫樂戲論，如來則無有。」

"In space there is no bird's track; among the outsiders there is no śramaṇa; the fool delights in idle proliferation; the Tathāgata, however, has none."

It means that there are living beings who yearn and delight for superior desires (gathered under the seeking-of-desire), some who yearn and delight for a superior body (gathered under the seeking-of-existence), and some who yearn and delight for the liberation of the śramaṇa and brahmin (gathered under the seeking-of-the-holy-life). Those gathered under the seeking-of-desire and the seeking-of-existence mean "By my little portion of giving and keeping of precepts I shall be born in a good destiny in the heavens above and reward myself with the fine five desires," and they obtain the most excellent desire and body; just as the flocks of birds soar in the sky and everywhere find no place to set foot, so too living beings, in the impermanent desires and body, find no place at all to abide securely. Those gathered under the seeking-of-the-holy-life are again of two kinds: in reliance upon the well-spoken Dharma, and in reliance upon the ill-spoken Dharma. Those in reliance upon the ill-spoken Dharma — among the outsiders there is no śramaṇa at all; those in reliance upon the well-spoken Dharma but gathered under a mistaken seeking-of-the-holy-life likewise have no śramaṇa; those gathered under the right seeking-of-the-holy-life do have a śramaṇa. All three of these gates (the seeking-of-desire / the seeking-of-existence / the seeking-of-the-holy-life) are named "delighting in and attached to idle proliferation"; because the Tathāgata has cast off all yearning and seeking, he has no idle proliferation, and one may know by analogy that the Tathāgata's disciples gathered under the right seeking-of-the-holy-life likewise have no idle proliferation.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief that those who strive with effort apart from the well-spoken Dharma and Vinaya are all empty and of no benefit.

子17 · Those Who Abide, All Idle Proliferation Absent

「住戲論皆無，踰牆、塹〔而〕離愛；牟尼遊世間，天人不能識。」

"Those who abide — all idle proliferation absent — leap the wall and the moat and 〔so〕 are apart from craving; the sage roams the world, and gods and humans cannot recognize him."

It means that the arhat monk is forever apart from greedy craving, and, by four aspects, from the evil Māra-foe and from the mastery to which all fools are subjected, is liberated and self-mastered, roaming at will through empty and settled villages. There are fools who, encountering the true arhat roaming with ultimate self-mastery, do not know it as it truly is, and then, in two respects, falsely give rise to contempt and disparagement: "How is it that this good son casts off the precious wealth of his own belonging that nourishes life, and instead seeks his sustenance as the belonging of others? Why does he cast off the means to be born in the heavens and painfully strive to seek the cutting-off and extinction of existence?" — such a fool sees that being born in the heavens has excellent merit and that household life has much property, and therefore, toward the sage, falsely gives rise to slighting and neglect; the gods he serves cannot even fathom the vast merit of the sage, how much less can those who serve the gods recognize him. How is the craving-freed arhat, by four aspects, liberated and self-mastered? It means that the fool, through the four stations of consciousness, is driven and put to labor by the Māra-foe as master, coming and going through the five destinies — not so the arhat; again, the fool, as through a grave fault (adding to or subtracting from the various evil views, taking up evil phenomena such as knives and staves, falling into idle proliferation and generating the evil destinies), is put to labor by Māra — not so the arhat; again, as through a middling fault (dwelling within the wall-and-rampart of the bonds of desire-craving, not emerging from the desire realm and generating suffering), is put to labor by Māra — not so the arhat; again, as through a light fault (being born in the form and formless realms, encircled by the deep moat of ignorance (avidyā), shut in the prison-cell of birth-and-death), is put to labor by Māra — not so the arhat.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief that all fools are ashamed of what should not be shamed and unashamed of what should be shamed, and that, toward what should not be feared, they give rise to the view of fear, and, within what should be feared, give rise to the view of no fear.

子18 · If One Perfumes Away the Cogitations

「若有熏除諸尋思，於內無餘離分別，超過礙著、諸色想，四軛蠲除、不往生。」

"If one perfumes away the cogitations, within, without remainder, one is apart from discrimination, transcending obstructive clinging and all form-perceptions; the four yokes cleared away, one is not [re]born."

It means that a certain one who has already entered the station of the trainee but is not yet apart from desire-realm desire: in reliance upon the first meditative stillness, he perfumes away the evil cogitations of the desire realm; in reliance upon the second meditative stillness — the inner even purity, the one-directed nature of mind — the discrimination of the ground of the first meditative stillness is, without remainder, forever left behind; in reliance upon the third meditative stillness he transcends the obstructive clinging to the joys of the second meditative stillness; in reliance upon the fourth meditative stillness he transcends the obstructive clinging to the pleasures of the third meditative stillness; in reliance upon the formless concentrations he transcends all form-perceptions. Thus, gradually, in reliance upon the various concentrations up to the summit of existence (whether by concentration or by birth), he clears away the "four yokes": first, clearing away the yoke of defiled cogitation; second, clearing away the yoke of undefiled cogitation; third, clearing away the yoke of the bondage of joy and pleasure; fourth, clearing away the yoke of all form-perceptions — and by this, toward the various lower grounds, he is no longer [re]born. It should be known that the ordinary being, though he reaches the summit of existence, is still bound by the four yokes, and therefore toward the lower grounds is again [re]born.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief the two kinds of distinction — the trainee who has reached the final limit of existence, and the ordinary being.

子19 · Giving Makes Merit Increase

「惠施令福增，防非滅怨害，修善捨諸惡，惑盡得涅槃。」

"Giving makes merit increase, guarding against wrong extinguishes enmity and harm, cultivating the good casts off all evils, and with the delusions exhausted one attains nirvāṇa."

It means that a certain one obtains right faith in the Buddha's Dharma and Vinaya, and, though dwelling in household life, keeps his mind far from the stain of miserliness, receives and keeps the seven kinds of meritorious-deed bases in reliance [on giving], and whether walking or standing, down [to all his activity], grows in merit. If, further, within the well-spoken Dharma he goes forth in purity, complete with the power of forbearance, then, to guard his discipline, though he meets with abuse, insult, harassment, and reproach, or is beaten and injured by hand, tile, stone, knife, or staff, fearing to ruin his discipline his mind has no evil thought and he utters no evil word, but, taking only that object as condition, abides pervading it with a mind conjoined with loving-kindness; and by this, in the present phenomenon, all enmity and harm between self and other come to rest, and in the life to come he is born in a blissful world free of vexation, has few enemies, is looked up to by the world, and is gladly beheld by the many. Having thus well cultivated the means, in reliance upon the higher discipline he arouses the higher mind, in reliance upon the higher mind he gives rise to the higher wisdom, and when he enters into the direct realization of the noble truths he forever casts off the deeds [leading to] the evil destinies and the evil destinies themselves; and, further cultivating the path as previously obtained, he gradually removes the fetters, and in the nirvāṇa-realm with remaining basis he enters final nirvāṇa, and thereafter, in the nirvāṇa-realm without remaining basis, he again enters final nirvāṇa.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief the four kinds of right conduct of one who has obtained pure faith — first, the conduct that brings on wealth; second, the conduct that brings on the good destinies; third, the pure cultivation-conduct that keeps far from the suffering of the evil destinies; fourth, the pure cultivation-conduct that keeps far from all suffering.

子20 · Do None of the Evils

「諸惡者莫作，諸善者奉行，自調伏其心，是諸佛聖教。」

"Do none of the evils, undertake all the goods, tame your own mind — this is the noble teaching of the Buddhas."

It means that a certain one obtains right faith in the Buddha's Dharma and Vinaya, and, in every kind, by every cause and condition, in every place, is able to cut off all the evil conduct there is, and within the well-spoken Dharma can well receive and train in the discipline and restraint. By three aspects he undertakes the goods: namely, he well abides in discipline, guards the pure restraint of the individual liberation [precepts], down to receiving and training in all the training-grounds; in reliance upon the training of higher discipline he gives rise to the training of higher mind, in reliance upon the training of higher mind he gives rise to the training of higher wisdom, and by this, toward the objects of knowledge, he knows and sees as they truly are. Having thus become complete in the good phenomena, he further, by three aspects, tames his own mind: namely, because he knows as it truly is, he can give rise to disgust; because of disgust, he can attain freedom from defilement; because of freedom from defilement, he can attain liberation.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief the three trainings and their training-fruit, and displays that one's own noble teaching is not shared with others.

子21 · Hard to Tame, Flighty

「難調伏、輕躁，淪墜於諸欲；善調伏其心，心調引安樂。」

"Hard to tame, flighty, it sinks and falls into the desires; well tame your own mind — a tamed mind draws on ease."

It means, speaking of mind, whether mentation or consciousness: through the long night it loves and delights in dwelling amid clamor and turmoil, and in the place of clamor it is hard to keep far from and hard to tame; though forcibly settled amid the uninterrupted cultivation of good phenomena, it cannot wholly abide apart from greed, apart from ill-will, apart from delusion, nor wholly abide roused-up-yet-without-agitation, still and at peace, but swiftly, swiftly gives rise again to being with greed, with ill-will, with delusion, low and mean, agitated, unstill; though forcibly settled within inner calm and stopping, through the long night it loves and delights in forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tangibles, and toward the objects of the five desires it races and sinks. The noble disciples, toward such delighting and attachment to the defiled, can give rise to a mind of suffering [over it], and in the end do not indulge it to turn about at will, nor do they comply with it, but again and again, by thought and choice, accomplish the keeping-far-from and constantly cultivate the good phenomena, the one-pointed nature of mind; and, by the rightly-concentrated mind, they can know as it truly is, can give rise to disgust, can attain freedom from defilement, can attain liberation, and, having well tamed the mind and exhausted the causes of suffering, in the present phenomenon they attain a blissful abiding, and in the future the manifold sufferings are forever exhausted.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief the mind that can refrain from complying with the long-night wandering of the wrong path, and the excellent benefits obtained by not complying.

子22 · Well Knowing the Marks of Mind

「於心相善知，能餐遠離味、靜慮、常委、念、受無染喜樂。」

"Well knowing the marks of mind, one can savor the flavor of seclusion — the meditative absorptions, constant application, mindfulness — and enjoy undefiled joy and bliss."

It means that a certain trainee who sees the trace can well understand the marks of stopping, rousing, and equanimity, and by this obtains four merits: ① his mind abides in a single object-condition, apart from the coarse-and-heavy [tendencies], and can well enjoy the ease of body and mind (the first merit); ② with the purified concentrated mind, to the utmost of what he has cultivated and as he has cultivated it, he can rightly examine the principle of the phenomena, obtaining the inner-Dharma insight (the second merit); ③ in reliance upon the purified stopping-and-insight, toward the factors of awakening he, valorous and uninterrupted, can constantly cultivate the application, cultivating without slackness and without dread (the third merit); ④ by the mind without slackness or dread he obtains the foremost right mindfulness and right knowing, his mind is well liberated, and he can enjoy the joy and bliss of liberation and the undefiled bliss, attaining a blissful abiding in the present phenomenon (the fourth merit).

Brief meaning: this shows in brief the four merits of skill in the marks — that accomplished by calm abiding (śamatha), that accomplished by insight (vipaśyanā), that accomplished by non-slackness-and-dread, and that accomplished by reaching the ultimate.

子23 · Not Living by the Crafts

「無工巧活、輕自己、樂勝、〔淨〕諸根、盡解脫；無家、無所、無悕望、斷欲、獨行〔，是〕真苾芻。」

"Not living by the crafts, holding oneself light, delighting in the superior, 〔purifying〕 the faculties, wholly liberated; without home, without abode, without yearning, cutting off desire, faring alone 〔— this is〕 the true monk."

It means that one who accomplishes five limbs and forever cuts off five limbs should be known to gain the name of true monk. Accomplishing the five limbs: ① he does not rely on falsely contrived means of wrong livelihood, does not lean on families of power, does not cultivate fame and lineage-standing, does not deceitfully accept what the Buddha and the noble disciples have spoken, in the manner of one who, relying on a craft-place, unrighteously yearns for clothing and food (the first limb); ② he cuts down and spares his vessels, well casts off precious wealth, with clothing merely to cover the body and food merely to fill the belly is content and rejoicing, and wherever he roams he must carry his robe and bowl (the second limb); ③ he yearns for and loves and delights in the śramaṇa[-hood] and the training-grounds, and even for the sake of the peril to his life does not transgress the disciplinary precepts he has trained in, how much less for a little gain (the third limb); ④ rightly cultivating the means, content in pure livelihood and loving and delighting in the training-grounds, toward the noble truths not yet directly realized he can enter into direct realization and obtain the pure vision, or, if through loss of mindfulness there momentarily arise evil and unwholesome cogitations that draw on greed, ill-will, and delusion, being slow to [lose] and forgetful in mindfulness, he swiftly again removes and dispels them (the fourth limb); ⑤ cultivating the path as previously obtained, toward the fetters, bonds, all the latent tendencies, secondary afflictions, and entanglements, his mind attains liberation (the fifth limb). Forever cutting off the five limbs: the arhat can no longer transgress in five respects — he cannot cast off the training-grounds and turn back, cannot store up anything and grasp it as his own to enjoy, nor enjoy the desires, cannot for the sake of wealth or life knowingly speak falsely, cannot cast off desire and practice taking-what-is-not-given, and cannot, having forever left greedy desire and abiding alone and faring alone, again grow near to non-holy-life and pair together in coupling (or reckon that suffering and pleasure are self-made / other-made / made by both / made by neither, arising without cause).

〔The brief meaning follows the text; see above, "accomplishing the five limbs, forever cutting off the five limbs."〕

子24 · The Mind Fares Far, Fares Alone, Bodiless, Sleeping in the Cave

「心遠行、獨行、無身、寐於窟；能調伏難伏，我說〔為〕婆羅門。」

"The mind fares far, fares alone, is bodiless, sleeps in the cave; one who can tame what is hard to tame — him I call 〔a〕 brahmin."

What is called "mind" is also named mentation and also named consciousness. In the past, through all the fools' measureless distinct self-bodies unrolling one after another, and through their causes unrolling one after another, though there is no doer it flows on in birth-and-death, and its prior limit cannot be known — hence it is named "faring far." In the present it turns one at a time, apart from the second, accompanying mind, and not every kind of mind turns all at once — hence it is named "faring alone." Again, this present [mind], as its own substance first arises and comes before one (whether as greed, or ill-will, or delusion, or the nature of the remaining afflictions and secondary afflictions), that very self-substance does not turn on to the very end; unlike the five material faculties (whether alike or different, inferior or superior), which, as the self-substance first arises, that very self-substance turns on to the end — the mind is not so: the mind passes through its various day-and-night, instant-and-lava (kṣaṇa-lava) and other positions, not one but many, of various classes, arising at a differing time of arising and ceasing at a differing time of ceasing; and because the mind's own-nature, defiled in substance, is not established as real, it is named "bodiless." This one, in the future world, dwelling in the four stations of consciousness and having latent tendencies, may have the sense of coming and going in a later birth — hence it is named "sleeping in the cave." If one who is keen-witted can, by these four aspects, understand as it truly is the mind of the past, present, and future worlds, and can cultivate disgust-and-ceasing and the liberation of the mind, that one can pass beyond the various views of a self-body (satkāya), reach the far shore, and abide securely on the dry land — he is named "brahmin."

Brief meaning: this shows in brief that the mind, in the past, was for a long time defiled and without a doer; in the present world, its nature is instantaneous and by own-nature pure; and in the future world, through negligence or non-negligence, it is defiled or pure.

子25 · Who Can Cover the World (with the Question-and-Answer on Mindfulness, Wisdom, and Name-and-Form · the Pārāyaṇa's Ajita)

「誰能覆世間？誰能令不顯？誰復能塗染？誰為大怖畏？」「無明覆世間；放逸令不顯；戲論能塗染；苦為大怖畏。」「諸流處處漏，是漏誰能止？當說誰防護？眾流誰所偃？」「世間諸流漏，是漏念能止；我說能防護，由慧故能偃。」「念慧與名色，今問是一切，何當永滅盡？唯願為我說。」「念慧與名色，我說是一切；若諸識永滅，於斯永滅盡。」「云何念所行，諸識當永滅？今請垂方便，為釋令無疑。」「於內外諸受，都不生欣樂；如是念所行，諸識當永滅。」「若諸善說法，及有學異類，彼常委能趣，請大仙為說。」「不耽著諸欲，其心無濁染，於諸法巧念，是苾芻能趣。」

"Who can cover the world? Who can make it not appear? Who again can smear and stain it? What is the great terror?" "Ignorance covers the world; negligence makes it not appear; idle proliferation can smear and stain it; suffering is the great terror." "The streams leak out everywhere — who can stop this leaking? Who, tell me, guards against it? By whom are the many streams dammed?" "The world's streams and leakings — this leaking, mindfulness can stop; I say it guards against it; through wisdom it can be dammed." "Mindfulness, wisdom, and name-and-form — I now ask, [being] all this, when will they forever cease and be exhausted? Pray, tell me." "Mindfulness, wisdom, and name-and-form — I say these are all [of it]; if the consciousnesses forever cease, herein they forever cease and are exhausted." "How, by mindfulness's ranging, will the consciousnesses forever cease? I now beg you bestow the means and explain it, that I may have no doubt." "Toward the inner and outer feelings, give rise to no delight at all; such is mindfulness's ranging, [by which] the consciousnesses will forever cease." "For those of the well-spoken Dharma, and the trainees of the various kinds, that constant application by which they can advance — pray, great seer, tell of it." "Not greedily attached to the desires, his mind without turbid stain, skilled in mindfulness toward the phenomena — such a monk can advance."

This is the verse asked by "Ajita" within the "Pārāyaṇa." The word "world" is, in brief, of three kinds: the desire-world, the form-world, and the formless-world; but here the intent distinguishes the two worlds of one gone forth and of the householder. The world of one gone forth is again twofold: the ill-spoken Dharma (covered by ignorance), and the well-spoken Dharma (which, having illumination, ought to be able to appear, but through negligence is made not to appear). The householders of the various kinds, the white-robed laity, are smeared and stained by the various idle proliferations — idle proliferation being, in brief, of three kinds (the three kinds of verbal matters are named idle proliferation · what is set forth by way of the four kinds of verbal expression is also idle proliferation · the applied-and-sustained thought that can issue in speech is also idle proliferation); toward the verbal matters of the three times, in reliance on the four verbal expressions, one gives rise to the various-kinds' distinct discrimination and thought, whether adverse or conforming — this is named "smearing and staining." Both the preceding idle proliferation and the subsequent smearing-and-staining are found for the most part among householders; hence they are said to be smeared by idle proliferation.

The ill-spoken Dharma is covered by ignorance, the well-spoken Dharma is made not to appear by negligence, and the householder is smeared and stained by idle proliferation. When the cause of suffering turns in the present phenomenon, these people cannot know as it truly is that it is the cause of suffering, but love and delight in that cause and abide in it; by this they generate future suffering, which is called the "great terror." The ill-spoken Dharma through the gate of ignorance, the householder through the gate of idle proliferation, and the well-spoken Dharma through the gate of negligence all leak the manifold sufferings from the six sense-bases. By hearing another's sound and, within, rightly attending, one understands the fault and peril of conditioned things; the mindfulness associated with this understanding turns counter to the stream and holds the leaking back, and is named the "counter-agent that subdues." The non-outflowing wisdom gathered under supramundane right view can dam all three streams and is named the "counter-agent that cuts off." Because both the temporary subduing and the permanent cutting-off counteract the leaks, both are named "guarding against."

Those of the ill-spoken Dharma and the householders wholly fall into the defiled class. Within the well-spoken Dharma two kinds are found: the negligent fall into the defiled class and are not gathered under manifestation; the non-negligent fall into the pure class and are gathered under manifestation. Both those who have already manifested and those who ought still to manifest are therefore non-negligent. The arhat has already manifested and has no further task of non-negligence: mindfulness and wisdom have been well cultivated in the four foundations of mindfulness, and purified consciousness has been realized with certainty. In the nirvāṇa-realm without remaining basis that consciousness will forever cease; mindfulness and wisdom likewise cease, and all name-and-form drawn on by prior deeds and gathered under the remaining basis is exhausted. Until then, the arhat abides well in the six constant abidings and gives rise to no delight toward inner feelings on the grounds apart from desire or outer feelings associated with desires. This is the arhat's right mindfulness in operation, until at the exhaustion of life consciousness forever ceases.

The trainee still ought to manifest and still has tasks of non-negligence: tasks to be done constantly and tasks to be done thoroughly. The various trainees — one of at most seven returns, the family-to-family one, the once-returner, and the one able in the present phenomenon to enter final nirvāṇa — cultivate counteractions to the lower and higher fetters. Because they do not cling to desires, the lower fetters cannot defile their minds; because their minds are without turbid stain, the higher fetters cannot defile them. They know as it truly is the origin and the escape of every phenomenon that involves suffering, establish the mind well in the four foundations of mindfulness, and cultivate the noble path previously attained. By cultivating this counteractive path, they bring every task of non-negligence to completion and advance to the ultimate.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief that householders and those gone forth in outsider dharmas are decisively defiled, and displays that, among those gone forth within the well-spoken Dharma, if negligent they fall into the defiled class, and if non-negligent they fall into the pure class.

子26 · Yearning and Seeking the Desires (the Aṭṭhaka-vagga Verse in Reliance on the Desires)

「於諸欲悕求，或所期果遂，得已心定喜，至死而保愛。諸樂欲眾生，若退失諸欲，其色便變壞，如毒箭所中。若遠離諸欲，猶如毒蛇首；彼於愛世間，正念能超度。田事與金銀、牛馬珠環釧、女僕增諸欲，是人所耽樂。攀緣沈下劣，變壞生諸漏；從此集眾苦，如船破水溢。若永絕諸欲，如斷多羅頂；棄捨諸愁憂，猶蓮華水滴。」

"Yearning and seeking the desires — if the hoped-for fruit is fulfilled, once obtained the mind is settled and glad, and cherishes them until death. As for beings who take pleasure in the desires, if they lose and fall from the desires, their complexion then alters and spoils, as though struck by a poison arrow. If one keeps far from the desires — as [far as] from the head of a poison snake — that one, in the world of craving, can by right mindfulness pass beyond. Field-affairs and gold and silver, oxen, horses, pearls, rings, and bracelets, women and servants that increase the desires — these are what such a person is engrossed in and delights in. Clinging and grasping, one sinks low and mean; when they alter and spoil, the various contaminants arise; from this the manifold sufferings gather, as a broken boat is flooded by water. If one forever severs the desires — as one cuts the crown of the tāla tree — one casts off all sorrow and grief, like a water-drop on the lotus flower."

This is the verse in reliance on the desires within the "Aṭṭhaka-vagga." A certain person yearns for future desires and arouses diligent means to obtain them; when the hoped-for result succeeds, he becomes attached and enjoys what is present. Such yearning and actual enjoyment give rise to gladness and pleasure, and together are named "the relishing-of-savor of the desires." When what he has obtained and enjoyed is lost, his attachment to that savor lets the arrow of craving enter his mind as if he had been struck by a poison arrow; he suffers great grief and may even die. This is "the fault-and-peril of the desires." The poison snake figures the objects of desire, and its head figures their savor. The fool greedily enjoys that savor and is like one bitten by the snake. The much-hearing noble disciple keeps as far from the savor of desires as from a poison snake's head, never enjoying with craving and defilement or giving rise to attachment. From forms through tangibles, all such craving is tamed, cut off, and crossed beyond; this is "emergence from the desires."

The own-nature of desire is twofold: object-desire and affliction-desire. Object-desires are, first, grain, whose supporting activity is farming, and second, wealth, whose support is gold, silver, and the like. Those seeking grain necessarily seek fields; those seeking wealth seek gold and silver. The latter pursuit proceeds either by serving a king or by trade. Farming requires oxen as a means; service to a king requires horses; in trade, precious pearls correspond with gold and silver, while rings and bracelets are crafted things of another class. These are only the foremost examples; buying, selling, negotiation, and the other affairs of commerce are understood likewise. Once wealth and grain are amassed, women serve as companions in their enjoyment and merriment. Before they are amassed, servants assist in gathering, guarding, and producing interest. All this vast accumulation, clung to and not relinquished, is named object-desire.

Affliction-desire is the false discriminating greed that follows and savors object-desires, arising in reliance on attached consciousness. It makes the mind sink and become low and mean. When agreeable, delightful, pleasing object-desires alter, spoil, scatter, and are lost, the outflows arise and sorrow, lament, grief, distress, suffering, and vexation bind the mind. Covered by outflows without a counteraction, one is like a broken boat gradually filling with water and gathers the future sufferings of birth, aging, illness, and the rest. If one has emerged from desires, one forever severs the attached, defiled consciousnesses that arise following their savor, as cutting the crown of a tāla tree prevents further growth. Even when pleasing object-desires alter and spoil, sorrow and every other vexation cannot abide in purified consciousness, as a drop of water does not cling to a lotus leaf.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief the three own-natures of the desires — the relishing-of-savor, the fault-and-peril, and the emergence; and displays that the relishing-of-savor can become the fault-and-peril, and the merits there are in emerging from it.

子27 · No Longing for the Past (the Bhaddekaratta Verse)

「於過去無戀，不悕求未來，現在諸法中處處遍觀察，智者所增長，無奪亦無動。」

"No longing for the past, no yearning for the future, in the phenomena of the present observing everywhere throughout — what the wise one increases is neither snatched away nor moved."

This is the verse of the "making of the excellent-and-worthy." It means that a certain one obtains pure faith in the Buddha's Dharma and Vinaya, and with a rightly-faithful mind casts off home and goes to the homeless, and by five aspects cultivates the holy life and makes it well pure: ① he can cast off the conduct of household life with no lingering regard, nor, taking it as condition, does his mind give rise to lingering longing and re-arise attachment (the first aspect); ② toward the gain and honor of the present phenomenon, and toward the conduct of the various-kinds' future, he gives rise to no yearning, nor does he wish for and seek the future conduct of humans and gods while cultivating the holy life (the second aspect); ③ toward the phenomena of forms and the rest gathered under the five appropriated aggregates of the present, and their establishment, he can rightly observe, and toward the evil conduct of body, speech, and mind of the present and the future and its evil fruit-and-retribution he can cut it off and cultivate the good (the good conduct of body, speech, and mind likewise); and again, toward the aggregates of forms and the rest, observing that the past, future, and present worlds are all impermanent, and being impermanent are suffering, and being suffering are without self, and being without self he does not grasp at "mine" toward all of them, down to not grasping them as "I," observing with the truly-real right wisdom (the third aspect); ④ in reliance upon the first Dharma-insight his faculties ripen, and the two provisions of merit and wisdom, in the world to come, penetratingly increase and grow, not to be plundered by kings and the like (the fourth aspect); ⑤ in reliance upon the second Dharma-insight, toward the merit of nirvāṇa in the present phenomenon he can well increase and grow, not to be tilted by the afflictions and secondary afflictions (the fifth aspect). By these five aspects he cultivates the holy life and makes it well pure; and if, in reliance on this, [he practices] even for one day and one night, that too is "excellent-and-worthy, foremost excellent-and-worthy," and it should be known to pass beyond all the rest of the holy life there is.

Brief meaning: this shows in brief that the holy life cultivated within the well-spoken Dharma and Vinaya is, in all its marks, well pure, and not shared with others.

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〔The Summary Verse for the Whole Body-Meaning Verses〕

〔At the treatise's close, gathering all fourteen clusters of the Body-Meaning Verses:〕 嗢拕南曰：惡、說、貪、流、怖、類、與、池、流、貪、作、劬勞、得義、論議——十四種。 The uddāna says: Evil, Speaking, Greed, Stream, Terror, Kind, With, Pond, Stream, Greed, Doing, Toil, Attaining-the-Meaning, Discourse — the fourteen kinds.