解脫道論 頭陀總說與衣相應二法

The most economical way to establish thirteen practices would be to list the items first and then explain their purpose one by one.

This treatise does not write that way.

Fascicle two of the Path of Freedom opens with the Chapter on the Ascetic Practices, and its first question is “Why undertake the qualities of the ascetic practices?”—why undertake them? Eight instances of “for” follow in succession: for few desires, for contentment, for being free of doubt, for extinguishing craving, for increasing courageous energy, for personally having few tasks and not receiving outside offerings, for secure abiding, and for cutting off what one clings to while guarding the goodness of virtue. Only after these does the text give three locations: they are the requisites of the concentrations, the first noble lineage, and the contemplation of excellent qualities.

Up to this point, the reader still does not know which thirteen practices the ascetic practices comprise.

Only when this whole account of their purposes is complete does the author ask, “What are the ascetic practices?”—and only then do the thirteen names appear.

The order has something to say. Viewed separately, any of the thirteen practices can look like a rule of austerity: do not accept householders’ robes, do not retain a fourth robe, do not accept invitations, do not sit down a second time, do not dwell in a house, do not lie down to sleep. If the items are seen first, what appears is a string of prohibitions; only when their purposes are seen first does it become clear what this string of prohibitions is meant to accomplish.

Yet the first sentence within the eight instances of “for” is not actually a purpose. It says, “Because people practising seated meditation are not all of one nature.”

The author speaks first not of the ascetic practices but of people. Because people practising seated meditation are not all of one nature, there must be thirteen practices rather than one. This sentence is not unfolded again within the present chapter, yet it is the root of two entire chapters later in the treatise: chapter six distinguishes the kinds of practice found in people, and chapter seven matches people with practices and meditation subjects.

The reason there are thirteen practices is that people differ, not that the practices stand in a hierarchy.

The author next gives the thirteen items a shared definition, and gives it only once. The question asks, “What is the rag robe?” but the answer says, “Its nature is able to undertake and maintain; this is what is called its nature”—and then adds four Chinese characters: 餘亦如是, “the rest are likewise.”

The thirteen practices share one nature: being able to undertake and maintain them.

The architecture of the passage is now clear: it first says why—the eight purposes; then what—the four groups containing thirteen items; then their common nature—the ability to undertake and maintain; and only after that does it proceed through what each item cuts off—householders’ gifts, surplus robes, invitations from others, alms-going that skips the sequence … continuing to the last item, “leaving sleep behind.”

The whole passage finally comes down to a very small matter: where is the boundary between undertaking and losing the three robes? The answer is, “If a bhikkhu does not keep robes in excess, this is undertaking the three robes. If one accepts a fourth robe, this is called loss.”

Within three robes is undertaking; the fourth robe is loss.

The purpose is stated at such a height—the requisites of the concentrations, the first noble lineage—yet the criterion descends low enough to be counted on one’s fingers. This is how the entire chapter proceeds: each item has a line that can be counted. It does not ask what is in your mind; it asks whether the fourth robe is present.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · General Account of the Ascetic Practices and the Two Robe-Related Practices · Doorway · Summer 2026

Question: Why Undertake the Qualities of the Ascetic Practices?

Question: At this time, a person practising seated meditation whose virtue is pure wishes to accomplish the most excellent wholesome qualities and also to obtain the qualities of the ascetic practices. Such a person should accomplish them in this way. Why undertake the qualities of the ascetic practices?

Answer: Eight Instances of “For”

Answer: Because people practising seated meditation are not all of one nature.

For few desires, for contentment, for being free of doubt, for extinguishing craving, for wishing to increase courageous energy, for personally having few tasks and not receiving offerings from others, for secure abiding, and for cutting off what one clings to while guarding the goodness of virtue—

these are the requisites of the concentrations, the first noble lineage, and the contemplation of excellent qualities.

What Are the Ascetic Practices?—Thirteen Practices

What counts as the ascetic practices? There are thirteen practices.

Two practices are associated with robes: the rag robe and the three robes.

Five practices are associated with alms-food: alms-food practice, sequential alms-food practice, eating at one sitting, measured eating, and not eating after the proper time.

Five practices are associated with sitting and lying down: first, sitting in a secluded place; second, sitting beneath a tree; third, sitting in the open; fourth, sitting in a charnel ground; and fifth, sitting in whatever place is found.

One practice is associated with vigor: constant sitting without lying down.

What Does “Nature” Mean?

What is the rag robe? Answer: Its nature is able to undertake and maintain; this is what is called its nature. The rest are likewise.

What Each of the Thirteen Practices Cuts Off

What is undertaking the rag robe? Cutting off householders’ gifts.

What is undertaking the three robes? It is cutting off surplus robes.

What is alms-food practice? It is cutting off invitations from others.

What is sequential alms-food practice? It is cutting off alms-going that skips over the sequence.

What is eating at one sitting? It is not sitting down a second time.

What is measured eating? Cutting off greedy indulgence.

What is not eating after the proper time? It is cutting off expectations after the proper time.

What is sitting in a secluded place? Cutting off dwelling in a village.

What is sitting beneath a tree? Cutting off dwelling in a house.

What is sitting in the open? Cutting off places with extensive shelter.

What is sitting in a charnel ground? Cutting off other superior places.

What is sitting wherever found? Cutting off attachment to pleasant places.

What is constant sitting without lying down? It is leaving sleep behind.

Why Undertake the Rag Robe?

Why undertake the rag robe? One sees that householders’ robes have such faults as having to seek and beg for them, and one also sees the qualities of undertaking and maintaining the patchwork robe. I have seen it thus: I cut off householders’ gifts and therefore undertake the patchwork robe.

The Qualities of the Patchwork Robe

What are the qualities of undertaking the patchwork robe?

It resembles a householder’s robe, yet nothing is lacking when it is undertaken and maintained; obtaining it does not depend on others, and losing it causes no sorrow; the mind is without greedy defilement, and thieves do not take it; it is sufficient for regular use and requires little upkeep; what good people cultivate—this practice—is free of doubt; it accords with excellent wholesomeness and brings a happy abiding in the present life; it makes others admire it and enables them to obtain attainment—

these are the qualities of the patchwork robe, praised by the Buddha.

Question: How Many Kinds of Patchwork Robe Are There? Who Undertakes Them? For What Reason Are They Lost?

Question: How many kinds of patchwork robe are there? What kind of person undertakes them? For what reason are they lost?

Answer: There are two kinds of patchwork robe: first, one without an owner to guard it; and second, one discarded by people.

One may find it in a charnel ground, at a refuse heap, in a marketplace, or on a road; pick it up, cut it, wash it, dye it, cover it, join it, tailor it, and sew it; then complete and undertake it. This is called one without an owner.

Or it may be a remnant from cutting or piercing, something gnawed by cattle or rats, something burned by fire, or something thrown away by people; it may be a robe offered to cover a corpse or the clothing of non-Buddhist renunciants. This is called something discarded by people.

Undertaking and Loss—Here Undertaking Is “Rag Robe,” While Loss Is “Patchwork Robe”

What is undertaking the rag robe? If a bhikkhu cuts off householders’ gifts, this is called undertaking the rag robe.

What is loss? If a bhikkhu accepts a householder’s gift, this is called losing the patchwork robe.

Why Undertake the Three Robes?

What is undertaking the three robes? When there are surplus robes, one must perform pure giving for them, guard them, undertake them, and wear them. Knowing these faults and seeing the qualities of the three robes, from this day forward I abandon surplus robes; therefore I undertake the three robes.

The Qualities of the Three Robes

What are the qualities of undertaking the three robes?

The conduct of good people is to leave behind storing and roaming with surplus robes; to have little preparation, restrain the body, and be content; and, like a bird flying through the sky, to have nothing for which one looks back with attachment. What good people cultivate—this dhamma—is free of doubt.

Question: What Are the Three Robes Called? What Counts as Undertaking Them? What Counts as Losing Them?

Question: What are the three robes called? What is undertaking them? What is losing them?

Answer: They are 僧伽梨, 欝多羅僧, and 安陀會. These are called the three robes.

What is undertaking the three robes? If a bhikkhu does not keep robes in excess, this is undertaking the three robes.

If one accepts a fourth robe, this is called loss.

Several Points That Should Be Retained

The formula for making the undertaking in the thirteen practices is already uneven within this passage. The rag-robe practice says, “I have seen it thus: I cut off householders’ gifts and therefore undertake the patchwork robe,” while the three-robes practice says, “From this day forward I abandon surplus robes.” The four Chinese characters 我從今日 occur twelve times in the entire treatise, not once outside this chapter, yet among the thirteen practices only the rag-robe practice does not use them. This is recorded as it stands.

This passage uses two names for the same robe. When listing it, defining it, and explaining undertaking it, the text says “rag robe”; when speaking of its qualities, it says “patchwork robe.” Then, within the single question and answer “What is undertaking the rag robe? … What is loss? … This is called losing the patchwork robe,” undertaking is expressed as “rag robe” and loss as “patchwork robe.” This is recorded as it stands and is not made uniform on the text’s behalf.

The closing formulas for the qualities also take two forms. The patchwork robe reads, “What good people cultivate—this practice—is free of doubt,” while the three robes read, “What good people cultivate—this dhamma—is free of doubt.” This is recorded as it stands.

The sentence “What is the rag robe? Answer: Its nature is able to undertake and maintain; this is what is called its nature. The rest are likewise” explains “nature,” not “rag robe,” and the four Chinese characters 餘亦如是 extend this explanation to the other twelve practices. The passage does not further explain what “its nature is able to undertake and maintain” means. The wording is retained literally here.

In listing the thirteen practices, the text says, “Five practices are associated with sitting and lying down: first, sitting in a secluded place; second, sitting beneath a tree … fifth, sitting in whatever place is found.” Only these five practices are numbered; the other eight are not. This is recorded as it stands.

In the list the name is “sitting in whatever place is found,” but when the text explains what it cuts off, it asks, “What is sitting wherever found?” omitting the word “place.” This is recorded as it stands.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · General Account of the Ascetic Practices and the Two Robe-Related Practices · Vernacular · Summer 2026

In this passage the Path of Freedom first gives a general account of the thirteen ascetic practices and then treats the two practices associated with robes. The first is the rag robe.

Yet within this very passage, that one practice has two names.

When it is listed, it is “rag robe”—“Two practices are associated with robes: the rag robe and the three robes” 〔T32 404b27–28〕. When it is defined, it is “rag robe”—“What is the rag robe? Answer: Its nature is able to undertake and maintain; this is what is called its nature” 〔T32 404c03–04〕. When the text says what it cuts off, it is still “rag robe”—“What is undertaking the rag robe? Cutting off householders’ gifts” 〔T32 404c04〕.

But as soon as the qualities are discussed, all four occurrences change to “patchwork robe”: “one further sees the qualities of undertaking and maintaining the patchwork robe” 〔T32 404c12–13〕; “I have seen it thus: I cut off householders’ gifts and therefore undertake the patchwork robe” 〔T32 404c13〕; “What are the qualities of undertaking the patchwork robe?” 〔T32 404c13–14〕; and “these are the qualities of the patchwork robe, praised by the Buddha” 〔T32 404c17–18〕.

Farther down, in the question and answer, the name changes back—and changes within a single question and answer: “What is undertaking the rag robe? If a bhikkhu cuts off householders’ gifts, this is called undertaking the rag robe” 〔T32 404c23–24〕, immediately followed by “What is loss? If a bhikkhu accepts a householder’s gift, this is called losing the patchwork robe” 〔T32 404c24–25〕.

Undertaking is expressed as “rag robe”; loss is expressed as “patchwork robe.” One question and answer, two names.

“Patchwork robe” occurs eight times in the whole treatise, seven of them in this passage〔404c12·c13·c14·c17·c18·c19·c25〕. The eighth occurs in the later passage on allowances as “does not lose the patchwork robe” 〔T32 406a17〕. That occurrence too concerns loss.

This edition does not make the two names uniform. It simply places them here as the first reminder for reading the passage: the terminology of this passage moves with its position.

The Beginning: Fascicle Two Opens with This Sentence, and the Sentence Is Used Twice in the Treatise

This passage contains the opening sentence of fascicle two of the Path of Freedom. Fascicle one closes with “Path of Freedom, fascicle one” 〔T32 404b13〕; the opening title “Path of Freedom, fascicle two” stands at〔T32 404b16〕; the translator line follows; the chapter heading “Chapter Three: Ascetic Practices” is at〔T32 404b20〕; and the text begins, “Question: At this time, a person practising seated meditation whose virtue is pure wishes to accomplish the most excellent wholesome qualities and also to obtain the qualities of the ascetic practices. Such a person should accomplish them in this way” 〔T32 404b21–22〕.

The seven Chinese characters 爾時淨戒坐禪人 occur twice in the entire treatise. One occurrence opens chapter three here; the other opens chapter four: “Question: At this time, the person practising seated meditation whose virtue is pure, having carried out the undertaking of ascetic practices and accomplished an excellent wholesome state, what should be done?” 〔T32 406c21–22〕.

The two chapters begin with the same sentence pattern, and only one thing changes between them: chapter three asks before the undertaking has been carried out, while chapter four says “having carried out the undertaking of ascetic practices.” The author joins the two chapters with the same sentence; the joint lies in the two Chinese characters 已行, “having carried out.”

When reading the treatise here, one should notice that chapter two discusses virtue, chapter three the ascetic practices, and chapter four concentration. The ascetic practices do not establish a separate course; they are the stretch of road between virtue and concentration. Thus the first sentence of chapter three speaks of “a person practising seated meditation whose virtue is pure”—virtue has already been purified. The first sentence of chapter four speaks of one who has “carried out the undertaking of ascetic practices”—only when this stretch of road has been travelled does the text ask about concentration.

Eight Instances of “For”: Why Before What

The question is “Why undertake the qualities of the ascetic practices?” 〔T32 404b22–23〕. The author first gives a general statement in reply, “Answer: Because people practising seated meditation are not all of one nature” 〔T32 404b23〕, and then arranges eight instances of “for”: “for few desires, for contentment, for being free of doubt, and for extinguishing craving” 〔T32 404b23–24〕; “for wishing to increase courageous energy, and for personally having few tasks and not receiving offerings from others” 〔T32 404b24–25〕; “for secure abiding, and for cutting off what one clings to while guarding the goodness of virtue” 〔T32 404b25–26〕.

It closes with three statements: “These are the requisites of the concentrations, the first noble lineage, and the contemplation of excellent qualities” 〔T32 404b26–27〕.

Two things should be pointed out here.

First, the author’s order places “why” before “what.” Only after the eight purposes and the three locations have been stated does the text ask, “What are the ascetic practices?” 〔T32 404b27〕. A treatise establishing thirteen practices could list the items first and state their purpose afterward. This treatise does not. The purpose is stated in full before the items appear.

Second, the first sentence of the general account is not about the ascetic practices but about people—“Because people practising seated meditation are not all of one nature” 〔T32 404b23〕. Because those people are not all of one nature, there must be thirteen practices rather than one. This sentence is not unfolded again within the present chapter, but it is the root of all the later distinctions: the whole of chapter six, the Chapter on the Analysis of Practice, distinguishes the kinds of practice found in people; the whole of chapter seven, the Chapter on the Analysis of Meditation Subjects, matches people with practices and meditation subjects. The four Chinese characters 性不一種, “not all of one nature,” are the seed of those two later chapters.

The three names “requisites of the concentrations,” “first noble lineage,” and “contemplation of excellent qualities” each occur once in the entire treatise 〔404b26〕. The author gives three locations and does not explain them further; this edition does not investigate them on the author’s behalf.

Thirteen Practices: Four Groups, but Only One Group Is Numbered

Beneath “What are the ascetic practices? There are thirteen practices” 〔T32 404b27〕, four groups are listed: “Two practices are associated with robes: the rag robe and the three robes” 〔T32 404b27–28〕; “Five practices are associated with alms-food: alms-food practice, sequential alms-food practice, eating at one sitting, measured eating, and not eating after the proper time” 〔T32 404b28–29〕; “Five practices are associated with sitting and lying down: first, sitting in a secluded place; second, sitting beneath a tree; third, sitting in the open; fourth, sitting in a charnel ground; and fifth, sitting in whatever place is found” 〔T32 404b29–404c02〕; and “One practice is associated with vigor; there is one kind: constant sitting without lying down” 〔T32 404c02–03〕.

Two plus five plus five plus one makes thirteen. Each of the four groups is tied to one name: associated with robes, with alms-food, with sitting and lying down, and with vigor.

Of the four groups, only the five practices associated with sitting and lying down carry ordinal numbers—first, second, third, fourth, fifth. The two robe practices, five alms-food practices, and one vigor practice do not. This is recorded as it stands and is not made uniform.

One more point should be retained: the wording of the final group is unusually redundant—“One practice is associated with vigor; there is one kind” 〔T32 404c02〕, stating the number twice. None of the preceding three groups does this.

The order of the thirteen items governs the entire chapter that follows. Once this passage has finished with the two robe practices, the next passage, beginning at〔405a04〕, treats the five alms-food practices; the passage after that, beginning at〔405b22〕, treats the five practices associated with sitting and lying down together with constant sitting without lying down. As soon as the general list appears, the skeleton of the whole chapter is fixed.

One Sentence Explains the Thirteen Practices: “The Rest Are Likewise”

Once the thirteen practices have been listed, the first question is “What is the rag robe?” Yet the answer is “Its nature is able to undertake and maintain; this is what is called its nature. The rest are likewise” 〔T32 404c03–04〕.

This question and answer deserve a pause. The question asks, “What is the rag robe?” but the answer does not say what the rag robe is; it says what “nature” is.

The four Chinese characters 是謂為性, “this is what is called its nature,” occur once in the entire treatise 〔T32 404c03〕. The four Chinese characters 餘亦如是, “the rest are likewise,” extend this explanation all at once to the other twelve practices—the “nature” of all thirteen is being able to undertake and maintain.

Thus, in presenting the thirteen ascetic practices, the treatise actually gives only one shared definition: being able to undertake and maintain them. The items are thirteen; their nature is one.

Thirteen sentences then run in a single sequence, one sentence for each item, each saying what it cuts off: “What is undertaking the rag robe? Cutting off householders’ gifts” 〔T32 404c04〕; “What is undertaking the three robes? It is cutting off surplus robes” 〔T32 404c05〕; “What is alms-food practice? It is cutting off invitations from others” 〔T32 404c05–06〕; and so on through “What is sitting wherever found? Cutting off attachment to pleasant places” 〔T32 404c10–11〕 and “What is constant sitting without lying down? It is leaving sleep behind” 〔T32 404c11〕.

Thirteen items, thirteen instances of “cutting off”—strictly speaking, twelve instances of “cutting off” and one of “leaving,” for the last item says, “It is leaving sleep behind.”

These thirteen sentences contain another irregularity. In the list, the name is “fifth, sitting in whatever place is found” 〔T32 404c02〕; here it becomes “What is sitting wherever found?” 〔T32 404c10〕, omitting the word “place.” The same item has two different names in its two occurrences. This is recorded as it stands and is not made uniform.

Within this passage, then, the thirteen ascetic practices have already been stated twice. The first time lists their names in general; the second gives, item by item, what each one cuts off. A third presentation—the longer form of “why undertake it → its qualities → question on undertaking and loss”—is completed here only for the first two items. The remaining eleven are completed one by one in the next three passages.

Pause: Why, Among the Thirteen Practices, Does Only the Rag Robe Not Say “From This Day Forward”?

The third, longer form begins, “Why undertake the rag robe? One sees that householders’ robes have such faults as having to seek and beg for them, and one further sees the qualities of undertaking and maintaining the patchwork robe. I have seen it thus: I cut off householders’ gifts and therefore undertake the patchwork robe” 〔T32 404c11–13〕.

This is a formula of undertaking: see the danger, see the qualities, and thereupon make the undertaking. All thirteen practices in the chapter follow this form.

Yet in the sentence that makes the undertaking, twelve items uniformly say, “From this day forward.” The three-robes practice in this passage says, “From this day forward I abandon surplus robes” 〔T32 404c27〕; alms-food practice in the next passage says, “From this day forward I cut off invitations from others” 〔T32 405a06–07〕; sequential alms-food practice says, “From this day forward I abandon alms-going out of sequence” 〔T32 405a16〕; and the sequence continues through the last item, constant sitting without lying down, which says, “From this day forward I cut off torpor and lying down” 〔T32 406a12〕. The four Chinese characters 我從今日, “from this day forward,” occur twelve times in the entire treatise, not once outside this chapter.

Only the rag-robe practice says “I have seen it thus” 〔T32 404c13〕—and the four Chinese characters 我見如是, “I have seen it thus,” occur once in the entire treatise.

Why?

This is a place to pause and ask. Only two things can be verified.

First, the rag robe is the first of the thirteen practices, and the formula has not yet been fixed. The longer form appears for the first time with this item; the form is being established within the item, not followed from an earlier model.

Second, the formula is fixed within this very passage, in the next item. The second item here, the three robes, already says, “From this day forward I abandon surplus robes; therefore I undertake the three robes” 〔T32 404c27–28〕. In other words, beginning with the second item, the form never changes again.

This passage is therefore both the beginning of the thirteen items and the place from which their form is fixed. The first item shows the form before it was fixed; from the second item onward the fixed form appears—the two forms are placed side by side in a single passage.

The author does not say why, and this edition does not decide on the author’s behalf. It simply places the two wordings side by side: one says “I have seen it thus,” the other “From this day forward”; in the remaining eleven items there is no third form.

The Closing Formula: “What Good People Cultivate” and “The Conduct of Good People”

The qualities of the patchwork robe close with “It is sufficient for regular use and requires little upkeep; what good people cultivate—this practice—is free of doubt” 〔T32 404c15–16〕. This is followed by “It accords with excellent wholesomeness and brings a happy abiding in the present life; it makes others admire it and enables them to obtain attainment” 〔T32 404c16–17〕, and concludes, “These are the qualities of the patchwork robe, praised by the Buddha” 〔T32 404c17–18〕.

The qualities of the three robes close with “What are the qualities of undertaking the three robes? The conduct of good people is to leave behind storing and roaming with surplus robes” 〔T32 404c28〕; “to have little preparation, restrain the body, and be content; and, like a bird flying through the sky, to have nothing for which one looks back with attachment” 〔T32 404c29〕; and “What good people cultivate—this dhamma—is free of doubt” 〔T32 404c29–405a01〕.

There are two closing formulas: one says, “What good people cultivate—this practice—is free of doubt,” and the other, “What good people cultivate—this dhamma—is free of doubt.” Only the middle two Chinese characters differ.

Beginning with alms-food practice in the next passage, the twelve occurrences uniformly read, “The conduct of good people—this action—is free of doubt” (405a10·a19·a24·a28·b09·b17·b28·c08·c16·c23·406a08·a14)—the difference lies in the middle two Chinese characters: 是行, 是法, and 是業, “this practice,” “this dhamma,” and “this action.”

Count the three forms together: the closing formula 善人所…無疑 occurs fourteen times in the entire treatise, not once outside this chapter—twice in this passage (“this practice” and “this dhamma”) and twelve times afterward (“this action”).

The pivot at which the formula changes lies precisely in the final item of this passage, the three robes. In the sentence on the qualities of the three robes, the opening already says, “The conduct of good people” 〔T32 404c28〕—the first occurrence of those four Chinese characters in the entire treatise—while the closing still says, “What good people cultivate” 〔T32 404c29–405a01〕. In the next item, alms-food practice, the two become “The conduct of good people—this action—is free of doubt” 〔T32 405a10〕, and thereafter the formula never changes.

As for the four Chinese characters 佛所稱歎, “praised by the Buddha”: they occur once in the entire treatise 〔T32 404c17–18〕, tied to the end of the qualities of the patchwork robe. Among the thirteen items, the qualities of this item alone are joined to these four characters. This is recorded as it stands and is not investigated on the text’s behalf.

Two Kinds of Patchwork Robe: Where They Are Picked Up

“Question: How many kinds of patchwork robe are there? Who undertakes them? For what reason are they lost?” 〔T32 404c18–19〕 asks three things in one question, but the answer addresses only the first—“There are two kinds of patchwork robe: first, one without an owner to guard it; and second, one discarded by people” 〔T32 404c19〕. The remaining two matters are answered separately below.

Without an owner to guard it—“One may find it in a charnel ground, at a refuse heap, in a marketplace, or on a road; pick it up, cut it, wash it, dye it, cover it, join it, tailor it, and sew it; then complete and undertake it. This is called one without an owner” 〔T32 404c20–21〕. Four places and eight procedures.

Discarded by people—“It may be a remnant from cutting or piercing, something gnawed by cattle or rats, something burned by fire, or something thrown away by people” 〔T32 404c21–22〕; “it may be a robe offered to cover a corpse or the clothing of non-Buddhist renunciants. This is called something discarded by people” 〔T32 404c23〕.

One point may be noted in passing: in this passage the charnel ground is a place where a robe is picked up, but in the next passage it is itself an ascetic practice—sitting in a charnel ground. The same place is, in one position, a source of material and, in another, a dwelling place. The author does not connect the two, and this edition does not connect them on the author’s behalf.

The Three Robes: From Surplus Robes to a Fourth Robe

After the longer form for the three robes is complete, another question begins: “Question: What are the three robes called? What is undertaking them? What is losing them?” 〔T32 405a01–02〕. The answer is, “They are 僧伽梨, 欝多羅僧, and 安陀會. These are called the three robes” 〔T32 405a02–03〕.

Once the three names have been given, that part of the answer is finished. The author does not explain what each robe is, how large it is, or when it is worn. The names alone are given, not their characteristics.

Undertaking and loss are two sides of a single sentence: “If a bhikkhu does not keep robes in excess, this is undertaking the three robes” 〔T32 405a03–04〕; “If one accepts a fourth robe, this is called loss” 〔T32 405a04〕.

The criterion for undertaking and the criterion for loss are the two sides of the same line: within three robes is undertaking; the fourth robe is loss. The preceding rag-robe practice has the same form—“cutting off householders’ gifts” is undertaking, while “accepting a householder’s gift” is loss〔T32 404c23–25〕.

This is the most important form in the chapter: every item has a line that can be counted and pointed to. It is not a question of what is in the mind; it is the fourth robe, the second sitting, or passing beyond the neighboring house. What makes an ascetic practice an ascetic practice is determined at a line.

Reading Practice: To Read the Thirteen Ascetic Practices, Count the Closing Formulas First

The reading practice this passage provides lies in the closing formula discussed above.

When this chapter presents one ascetic practice, a sentence of the form 善人所…無疑 always closes it. That sentence is not ornament; it is a paragraph marker.

The chapter can therefore be read in this way: before reading sentence by sentence, first scan the chapter for the phrase “free of doubt”—it occurs nineteen times in the whole treatise, not once outside this chapter〔404b24–406c17〕. When the closing formula arrives, one knows that an item is complete; when the wording of the closing formula changes, one knows that the group has changed.

Applied to this passage, the result is this: the passage has two closing formulas in two forms (“this practice” and “this dhamma”), so it contains two items. From the next passage onward the form is fixed as “this action”; once the form has been fixed, one need only count the items and no longer inspect the wording of the form.

This method can be carried into any long enumerative passage in the treatise: first find the sentence that every item shares and take it as the boundary marker; what lies between two boundary markers is one item. The treatise has no modern punctuation or paragraphing; the boundary marker is the author’s own sign of division.

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Take away three things. One observation: the rag robe and patchwork robe are two names for one thing, and the name changes precisely in the section on qualities: the list, definition, and statement of what is cut off all say “rag robe”; all four occurrences in the section on qualities say “patchwork robe”〔404c12·c13·c14·c17〕; and within the one question and answer containing “this is called undertaking the rag robe”〔404c24〕 and “this is called losing the patchwork robe”〔404c25〕, both names appear—undertaking is expressed as “rag robe,” loss as “patchwork robe.” “Patchwork robe” occurs eight times in the entire treatise, seven here; the eighth〔406a17〕 also concerns loss. One reading practice: to read the thirteen ascetic practices, count the closing formulas first: 善人所…無疑 occurs fourteen times in the whole treatise, not once outside this chapter; when a closing formula arrives, one item is complete, and when its wording changes, the group has changed. One place to pause: in the formula of undertaking, twelve of the thirteen items say “From this day forward,” but only the first, the rag robe, says “I have seen it thus”〔404c13〕. Two things can be verified: the first item is where the form is initially established, and the form is fixed in the next item within this passage〔404c27〕. The author does not state the reason, and this edition does not decide on the author’s behalf.

Four smaller matters should also be retained: the seven Chinese characters 爾時淨戒坐禪人 occur twice in the entire treatise, opening chapters three and four respectively〔404b21·406c21〕, with the joint lying in the two Chinese characters 已行, “having carried out”; the sentence “Its nature is able to undertake and maintain; this is what is called its nature. The rest are likewise” explains all thirteen practices〔404c03–04〕—the items are thirteen, their nature one; of the four groups, only the five practices associated with sitting and lying down carry ordinal numbers〔404b29–404c02〕, while the last group repeats the number as “one … there is one kind”; and the four Chinese characters 佛所稱歎, “praised by the Buddha,” occur once in the entire treatise〔404c17–18〕, tied among the thirteen items only to the qualities of the patchwork robe.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · General Account of the Ascetic Practices and the Two Robe-Related Practices · Exposition · Summer 2026