解脫道論 五通總標與變類

The Chapter on the Five Direct Knowledges begins not with power but with its threshold: concentration has been brought to mastery; the meditator abides in the fourth jhāna; only then can the five direct knowledges arise. In this treatise, they are not a sixth practice alongside concentration. They are what concentration can do once mastered. Their place—after the Chapter on Fields of Practice and before the Chapter on the Analysis of Wisdom—puts them at the end of concentration, not the beginning of wisdom.

The treatise then opens a remarkably wide inventory. Transformation is first divided into three: changing number, changing form, and producing a second body. It is then divided into seven: wisdom, concentration, the noble, karmic result, persons of merit, spells, and skillful means. These cannot be divided into a simple “first three and last four.” The final item still abandons defilements through renunciation and the path of arahantship, while the middle items bring in flying devas and birds, meritorious kings and householders, and spell-holders who manifest armies. A treatise on the path to freedom has made room for birds and sorcerers.

Why? Because its first explanation takes “direct knowledge” in the sense of “transformation,” not in the sense of “noble.” Whatever can transform must therefore enter the list; there is no added gate saying that the agent must be a noble disciple.

Outside the inventory, however, the treatise asks again: Who cultivates transformative discernment? Here the answer names only the meditator who has gained mastery of the fourth jhāna through the kasiṇas. The range of the term is broad; the threshold of practice is narrow. By keeping the two questions apart, the text prevents the reader from mistaking “can fly” for “has cultivated.”

One more mark can be counted directly. The character 斷, “abandon,” occurs six times in the passage and only under three items—wisdom, concentration, and skillful means. The first and seventh items close with the same phrase, “abandon all defilements,” enclosing the five items between them. The inventory is ordered not by the magnitude of an ability, but by what the transformation depends on.

When reading an inventory of abilities, begin with its “through.” Where the text says “through” a path or an attainment, the ability has been cultivated. Where it merely names a group, the ability is something found by birth, acquisition, or learning.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Five Direct Knowledges and the Classes of Transformation · Doorway · Summer 2026

Overview: Once Concentration Is Mastered, the Five Direct Knowledges Can Arise from the Fourth Jhāna

At this point the meditator has cultivated concentration to mastery as previously described and abides in the fourth jhāna. The five direct knowledges can then arise: psychic power, the divine ear, knowledge of others’ minds, recollection of past lives, and the divine eye.

The treatise next states the sense taken by each name. Psychic power takes the sense of “transformation.” The divine ear takes the sense of “surpassing the human ear.” Knowledge of others’ minds takes the sense of “understanding another’s intention.” Recollection of past lives takes the sense of “remembering former births.” The divine eye takes the sense of “seeing beyond the human eye.” In the initial list, all five names carry the character 通, “direct knowledge.” In the explanations, only psychic power and the divine eye retain it; the divine ear, knowledge of others’ minds, and recollection of past lives do not. This edition records the text as it stands and does not supply the missing character.

Three Questions Together

The treatise raises three questions at once: How many kinds of transformation are there? Who cultivates transformation? How should transformation be brought forth?

Three Kinds of Transformation

Answer: Transformation is of three kinds: determination-transformation, form-transformation, and mind-made transformation.

What is determination-transformation? The meditator makes one become many and many become one, and enlarges the body as far as the Brahmā world. This is called determination-transformation.

What is form-transformation? The meditator relinquishes his natural body and appears in the form of a boy, a nāga, a Brahmā king, or another such form. This is called form-transformation.

What is mind-made transformation? From this body the meditator produces another body, made according to his intention and complete in all bodily parts and faculties. This is called mind-made transformation.

Seven Further Kinds of Transformation

The treatise then says that transformation is also of seven kinds: transformation by wisdom, transformation by concentration, noble transformation, transformation born of karmic result, transformation of a person of merit, transformation produced by a spell, and transformation by skillful means.

Each is taken up in turn below. One textual feature must be preserved: in the sevenfold heading, all seven names use 變, “transformation.” In the ensuing questions and answers, the first three shift in places to 辯, “discernment.” Thus the question asks about 智變, “transformation by wisdom,” while the answer has 智辯變 and 變智辯; the next questions have 變定辯 and 聖辯. This edition preserves the alternation between 變 and 辯 without correcting it or deciding which form is right.

1. Transformation by Wisdom

Question: What is transformation by wisdom?

Answer: By manifesting impermanence, one abandons the perception of permanence and accomplishes transformation through discernment by wisdom. By the path of arahantship, one abandons all defilements and accomplishes discernment by wisdom; this is called transformation through discernment by wisdom. The elders 薄拘羅, 僧吉栗者, and 部吼多波羅 are given as examples; this is called transformation through discernment by wisdom. Their Indic identities are not supplied here.

2. Transformation through Discernment by Concentration

Question: What is transformation through discernment by concentration?

Answer: Through the first jhāna one abandons the hindrances and accomplishes transformation through discernment by concentration. Through the attainment of neither-perception-nor-non-perception one abandons the base of nothingness and accomplishes transformation through discernment by concentration. The elders 舍利弗多, 先時婆, and 昆檀若, and the laywomen 欝多羅 and 沙摩婆底, are given as examples; this is called transformation through discernment by concentration. Their Indic identities are not supplied here.

3. Noble Discernment: Four Statements

Question: What is noble discernment?

Answer: The treatise first gives four statements. They use three expressions—“unendurable,” “not unendurable,” and “not-not-endurable”—without defining them further. They are retained here as they stand.

First: If a bhikkhu delights in the unendurable, he should abide in the perception of the not unendurable; he thereby accomplishes abiding with the perception of the not unendurable.

Second: If a bhikkhu delights in the not-not-endurable, he should abide in the perception of the unendurable; he thereby accomplishes abiding with the perception of the unendurable.

Third: If a bhikkhu delights in the perceptions of the not unendurable and the not-not-endurable, he should abide in the perception of the not-not-endurable; he thereby accomplishes abiding with the perception of the not-not-endurable.

Fourth: If a bhikkhu delights in the unendurable and the not-not-endurable, he should abide in the perception of the unendurable; he thereby accomplishes abiding with the perception of the unendurable. The Taishō base text adds the two characters 若取 at the end of this sentence. The ending differs from those of the preceding three statements, and the text does not determine whether the two characters belong above or below. The perception established here is also the same as in the second statement. This edition preserves the wording without emending or repunctuating it.

Noble Discernment: Questions on the Statements

The treatise next sets out four questions and answers, asking how these perceptions are to be established.

Question: How does one abide in the perception of the unendurable with respect to the not unendurable? Answer: At an object held dear, one fulfills the perception of foulness, or apprehends it as impermanent.

Question: How does one abide in the perception of the not unendurable with respect to the unendurable and the not unendurable? Answer: At objects not held dear and held dear, one either fulfills loving-kindness or apprehends the elements.

Question: How does one abide in the perception of the unendurable with respect to the not unendurable and the unendurable? Answer: At objects held dear and not held dear, one either fulfills the perception of foulness or apprehends impermanence.

Question: How, with respect to the unendurable and the not unendurable, does one leave both statements behind and abide in equanimity, mindfulness, and present knowing? Answer: Seeing a form with the eye, the bhikkhu becomes neither glad nor distressed. He establishes equanimity and abides mindful and presently knowing. It is so at every sense door. This is called noble discernment.

The names in these four questions do not align one by one with the four statements above. The treatise itself supplies no pairing, and this edition does not impose one.

4. Transformation Born of Karmic Result

Question: What is transformation born of karmic result?

Answer: All devas and all birds—whether human or born in a bad destination—can travel through the sky and perform transformations. This is called transformation born of karmic result.

5. Transformation of a Person of Merit

Question: What is transformation of a person of merit?

Answer: The wheel-turning king, the householder 樹提, the householder 闍提, and the householder 瞿師羅 are named. It is further said that there are five great persons of merit who perform transformations. This is called transformation of a person of merit. The treatise names four people while giving the number as five; it does not list a fifth, and this edition neither supplies one nor reconstructs the names into Indic forms.

6. Transformation Produced by a Spell

Question: What is transformation produced by a spell?

Answer: A spell-holder recites a spell and can travel through the sky, appear as an elephant, transform into a horse or a chariot, produce infantry, and manifest various armies. This is called transformation produced by a spell.

7. Transformation by Skillful Means

Question: What is transformation by skillful means?

Answer: Through renunciation one abandons sensual desire, and through the path of arahantship one abandons all defilements. Just as a potter and others become fully accomplished in their craft, so through the arising of right means all things can be transformed. This is called transformation by skillful means.

Who Cultivates Transformative Discernment?

Question: Who cultivates transformative discernment?

Answer: “With respect to space, nine; or with respect to space, five”: through the kasiṇas one gains mastery in the fourth jhāna. This is his cultivation of transformative discernment. Another account says that the fourth jhāna of the form realm, because of its excellence in action, is his cultivation of transformative discernment. Another says that the four jhānas and two masteries are his cultivation of transformative discernment.

The expression “with respect to space, nine; or with respect to space, five” receives no further explanation in the treatise; its punctuation and referent remain unresolved. The treatise likewise does not name the two masteries in “the four jhānas and two masteries.” This edition retains both expressions without explaining or supplementing them.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Five Direct Knowledges and the Classes of Transformation · Vernacular · Summer 2026

At this point in the twelve chapters of the Path of Freedom, the sky changes. The preceding Chapter on Fields of Practice spent seventy-one units teaching, practice by practice, how the mind is gathered. Its final field, the perception of the unendurable in food, took even a mouthful apart. The first sentence of this chapter no longer speaks of gathering. It speaks of use.

The central observation can be stated at once: within the sevenfold inventory of transformation, the character 斷, “abandon,” occurs under only three items. It appears six times in the passage: under transformation by wisdom—“by manifesting impermanence, one abandons the perception of permanence” 〔T32 441b11〕 and “by the path of arahantship, one abandons all defilements” 〔T32 441b11–12〕; under discernment by concentration—“through the first jhāna, one abandons the hindrances” 〔T32 441b14–15〕 and “through the attainment of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, one abandons the base of nothingness” 〔T32 441b15–16〕; and under transformation by skillful means—“through renunciation, one abandons sensual desire” 〔T32 441c11–12〕 and “through the path of arahantship, one abandons all defilements” 〔T32 441c12〕. The remaining four—noble discernment, transformation born of karmic result, transformation of a person of merit, and transformation produced by a spell—do not use the character once. The first and seventh items also use the same sentence: transformation by wisdom closes with abandoning all defilements through the path of arahantship, and transformation by skillful means closes the same way. The sentence links the two ends and encloses the five intervening items. This inventory is arranged not by the magnitude of an ability but by what the transformation depends on: the power of the path at its edges, karmic result, merit, and spells in the middle. The inventory is broad; the threshold is narrow.

At the Opening: Supernormal Knowledge Is Not Another Practice

“At that time, the meditator, having thus brought concentration to mastery and abiding in the fourth jhāna, can bring forth the five direct knowledges” 〔T32 441a26–27〕. Three clauses give two qualifications. The first is “having thus brought”: “thus” points back to the work of the preceding chapter. This chapter does not repeat that work but begins from its accomplishment. The second is “abiding in the fourth jhāna”: the five direct knowledges do not arise from the first, second, or third jhāna, but from the fourth. The phrase “mastery of concentration” occurs twice in the whole treatise, here and in the divine-eye section 〔T32 444b06〕. Both instances occur in this chapter, marking the phrase as a threshold within the chapter.

In other words, the opening presents the direct knowledges as a use. They are not a sixth practice placed alongside concentration, but functions that can arise once concentration is mastered. Their position in the book speaks as well: after the Chapter on Fields of Practice and before the Chapter on the Analysis of Wisdom—at the end of concentration, not at the beginning of wisdom.

Five names are followed by five explanations: “psychic power, divine ear, knowledge of others’ minds, recollection of past lives, and divine eye” 〔T32 441a27–28〕. They are then explained as “psychic power takes the sense of transformation” 〔T32 441a28〕, “the divine ear takes the sense of surpassing the human ear” 〔T32 441a28〕, “knowledge of others’ minds takes the sense of understanding another’s intention” 〔T32 441a29〕, “recollection of past lives takes the sense of remembering former births” 〔T32 441a29〕, and “the divine eye takes the sense of seeing beyond the human eye” 〔T32 441a29–441b01〕. Pause over one small irregularity. All five names carry 通, “direct knowledge,” in the list; only the first and last retain it in the explanations. The Taishō text reads this way, and this edition neither supplies nor regularizes the character. The same alternation between full and shortened forms will recur below.

Each explanation is one sentence. The first—“psychic power takes the sense of transformation”—is the hinge of the entire passage, for over the next twenty lines the treatise no longer speaks of “psychic power”; it speaks only of “transformation.” The sense selected for direct knowledge is transformation, not nobility. That choice determines why the following inventory is so broad.

Three Transformations: Three Ways the Body Changes

“How many kinds of transformation are there? Who cultivates transformation? How should transformation be brought forth?” 〔T32 441b01–02〕. Three questions are laid out together. This unit answers the first, returns to the second at its close, and leaves the third for the next unit.

The first classification gives three: “determination-transformation, form-transformation, and mind-made transformation” 〔T32 441b02–03〕. All three definitions turn on the body, but they move it differently. Determination-transformation changes the number or measure of the same body: “making one many and many one, enlarging the body as far as the Brahmā world” 〔T32 441b03–04〕. Form-transformation changes the form of that body: “relinquishing the natural body and appearing as a boy, a nāga, or a Brahmā king” 〔T32 441b05–06〕. Mind-made transformation produces another body from this one: “from this body producing another body, made according to one’s intention, complete in all bodily parts and faculties” 〔T32 441b07–08〕. One changes number, one changes form, and one produces a second body. Later sections treat all three separately. The closing parenthesis there reads “mind-produced transformation” 〔T32 443a05〕 rather than the present “mind-made transformation”; the single-character difference between 作 and 造 is preserved rather than corrected.

Seven Transformations: A Very Wide Inventory

The second classification suddenly widens the opening: “transformation is further of seven kinds: transformation by wisdom, by concentration, noble transformation, transformation born of karmic result, transformation of a person of merit, transformation produced by a spell, and transformation by skillful means” 〔T32 441b08–10〕. These cannot be cut into “first three and last four.” Though listed seventh, transformation by skillful means still explicitly abandons defilements through renunciation and the path of arahantship. The three items born of karmic result, belonging to persons of merit, and produced by spells are what carry the list into the world of devas and birds, kings and householders, and spell-holders.

Transformation by wisdom: “by manifesting impermanence, one abandons the perception of permanence and accomplishes transformation through discernment by wisdom; by the path of arahantship, one abandons all defilements and accomplishes discernment by wisdom” 〔T32 441b11–12〕. Its support is wisdom: seeing impermanence abandons the perception of permanence, and the path of arahantship abandons all defilements. The complete sentence “by the path of arahantship, one abandons all defilements” occurs only twice in the treatise. The other occurrence is in the Chapter on the Analysis of Virtue, among the four paths that abandon defilements 〔T32 400c25〕. There it appears in a discussion of virtue; here, in a discussion of supernormal knowledge. Its use in both places shows that the phrase is an established formula of the treatise, not a phrase coined for this chapter.

Transformation through discernment by concentration: “through the first jhāna one abandons the hindrances … through the attainment of neither-perception-nor-non-perception one abandons the base of nothingness” 〔T32 441b14–16〕. Its support is concentration: a lower attainment abandons the object above it, one level at a time.

Noble discernment is the longest and most difficult item. Four statements circle around the expressions “unendurable,” “not unendurable,” and “not-not-endurable”: “if a bhikkhu delights in the unendurable, he should abide in the perception of the not unendurable” 〔T32 441b18–19〕, followed by three statements of the same form with the names changed. Four questions then ask how these perceptions are established. The first three ask how to “abide in a certain perception”; the fourth suddenly changes: “How, with respect to the unendurable and the not unendurable, does one leave both statements behind and abide in equanimity, mindfulness, and present knowing?” 〔T32 441b29–441c01〕. No new perception is established. The two preceding statements are left behind, and the meditator abides in equanimity, mindfulness, and present knowing: “Seeing a form with the eye, the bhikkhu becomes neither glad nor distressed; he establishes equanimity and abides mindful and presently knowing. It is so at every sense door. This is called noble discernment” 〔T32 441c01–03〕.

The names in the four statements and four questions do not align neatly. The second and fourth statements both establish the “perception of the unendurable,” while the four questions do not match the statements one by one. The four other editions have a major variant here. Under their reading, the fourth statement contains “leaving both statements behind” and thus aligns with the fourth question. This edition follows the Taishō base text and does not impose a pairing the text itself does not make. One feature survives the textual tangle: the first three questions change perception; the fourth does not change perception but abides in equanimity. Changing perception makes the agreeable appear disagreeable or the disagreeable agreeable; equanimity falls into neither side. The final question is where the “noble” direction of this discernment comes into view.

Look closely at the medicines given in the first three questions. They are all familiar: “at an object held dear, fulfill the perception of foulness” 〔T32 441b24–25〕, “or apprehend it as impermanent” 〔T32 441b25〕, “at objects not held dear and held dear, either fulfill loving-kindness or apprehend the elements” 〔T32 441b26–27〕, and “at objects held dear and not held dear, either fulfill the perception of foulness or apprehend impermanence” 〔T32 441b28–29〕. The four medicines are foulness, impermanence, loving-kindness, and the elements. Foulness, loving-kindness, and the elements are fields of practice taught one by one in the previous chapter: the ten foulness meditations, loving-kindness among the four immeasurables, and analysis of the four elements. Each is named in the list of thirty-eight fields in the Chapter on the Analysis of Fields of Practice 〔T32 411a09–11〕. Impermanence is not a separate item in that list; it is a way of apprehending. Noble discernment does not invent new tools. It takes several well-practiced methods from the preceding chapter and uses them differently. Previously foulness removed lust and loving-kindness removed hate; here both are used to move freely between what is held dear and what is not. The same medicine treated an illness in the earlier chapter; here it changes perception. The difference does not lie in learning another tool, but in having the existing tools ready at hand. This answers the chapter’s opening threshold: the direct knowledges are not new practices, but earlier practices mastered to the point of use.

Transformation born of karmic result: “all devas and all birds—whether human or born in a bad destination—travel through the sky and perform transformations” 〔T32 441c04–05〕. Its support is karmic result. A bird’s flight also counts as a transformation.

Transformation of a person of merit: “the wheel-turning king, the householder 樹提, the householder 闍提, and the householder 瞿師羅; it is further said that there are five great persons of merit who perform transformations” 〔T32 441c06–07〕. Four names are given, but the number is five. The fifth is not supplied by the treatise, and this edition neither adds one nor reconstructs the names into Indic forms.

Transformation produced by a spell: “a spell-holder recites a spell, travels through the sky, appears as an elephant, transforms into a horse or a chariot, produces infantry, and manifests various armies” 〔T32 441c08–10〕. Its support is the spell; the agent need not even be a meditator.

Transformation by skillful means: “through renunciation one abandons sensual desire; through the path of arahantship one abandons all defilements. Just as a potter and others become accomplished in their craft, so through the arising of right means all things can be transformed” 〔T32 441c11–13〕. Its support returns to the path and closes with an ordinary simile: a potter whose craft has been mastered. “Potter” occurs twice in the whole treatise. The other occurrence is under joy born of faith: “seeing a potter and others, joy arises” 〔T32 415c29〕. There the potter is something seen; here the potter is the vehicle of the simile.

Pause here and ask: Why does a treatise on the path to freedom include flying birds and spell-holders in an inventory of direct knowledge?

The answer lies in the first explanation at the chapter’s opening. The treatise explains psychic power as “taking the sense of transformation” 〔T32 441a28〕. If the direct knowledge is being considered as transformation, whatever can transform belongs in the inventory; the text does not add a gate saying that the agent must be noble. The inventory is therefore broad: devas, birds, kings, householders, and spell-holders are all included. Yet the treatise immediately does something else. It raises “Who cultivates transformative discernment?” as a separate question 〔T32 441c14〕, and its answer names only one kind of person: “With respect to space, nine; or with respect to space, five: through the kasiṇas one gains mastery in the fourth jhāna; this is his cultivation of transformative discernment” 〔T32 441c14–16〕. The inventory includes birds; the practice is for meditators. The range of the term is broad, while the threshold of practice is narrow. By treating them as two questions, the text prevents “can fly” and “has cultivated” from becoming one claim.

Who Cultivates Transformative Discernment: Three Accounts, One Threshold

The final paragraph answers the second question with three accounts: “Through the kasiṇas one gains mastery in the fourth jhāna; this is his cultivation of transformative discernment. Another account says that the fourth jhāna of the form realm, because of its excellence in action, is his cultivation of transformative discernment. Another says that the four jhānas and two masteries are his cultivation of transformative discernment” 〔T32 441c15–17〕. The sentence “this is his cultivation of transformative discernment” occurs three times in three lines. The accounts are preserved side by side; the treatise selects none and ranks none.

In the first account, the punctuation and referent of “with respect to space, nine; or with respect to space, five” remain unresolved. Two textual clues can be checked. When the Chapter on the Analysis of Fields of Practice classifies the thirty-eight fields “by condition,” it says that “nine fields are conditions for direct knowledge” 〔T32 411b13〕 and explains them as “the eight kasiṇas and the discriminated space kasiṇa” 〔T32 411b14〕. The divine-eye section later has the parallel wording “light as nine, or light as five” 〔T32 444a13–14〕. These are clues, not conclusions. The final account also does not identify the two masteries in “the four jhānas and two masteries.” Both expressions are retained without supplementation.

Although the three accounts differ, the threshold they state is the same: mastery of the fourth jhāna. The broad inventory narrows here to a single line: cultivated transformation has one path.

A Reading Practice to Carry Forward

The most economical and revealing way to read this passage is: when reading an inventory of abilities, read its “through” first.

Each of the seven items is asked in turn. The answers repeatedly open with 以, “through”: through manifesting impermanence, through the path of arahantship, through the first jhāna, through the attainment of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, through renunciation, through the path of arahantship. Arrange those phrases in a column and the seven transformations divide at once. Where a path or attainment is introduced by “through,” the transformation has been cultivated. Where the answer simply names a population—devas and birds, kings and householders, spell-holders—it has been obtained by birth, acquisition, or learning. The text can make the distinction without adding a sentence of evaluation.

This method remains useful beyond the passage. When the treatise gives a series of names, the opening of each answer often states what it depends on. Read the support before the manifestation. In the Chapter on the Analysis of Wisdom and later in the Chapter on the Analysis of Truth, the same habit helps distinguish results from causes. Those watching the spectacle count the names; those learning the way count the “through.”

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Carry away three things. One observation: 斷, “abandon,” occurs six times under only three items—wisdom, concentration, and skillful means—while the first and seventh are linked by “abandon all defilements”; the inventory is ordered by support, not by magnitude. One reading practice: in an inventory of abilities, read the “through”: a path or attainment following “through” marks what is cultivated; a named population marks what comes by birth or learning. One place to pause: why include flying birds and spell-holders? Because the treatise explains direct knowledge as transformation rather than nobility; whatever transforms enters the list. But it separately asks who cultivates, and answers with the meditator established in mastery of the fourth jhāna. The inventory includes birds; the practice is for meditators.

The seventy-one units of the preceding chapter taught how to gather the mind. This chapter begins by teaching how the gathered mind is used. Its first lesson is not how to fly, but how to distinguish what was merely found along the road from what was reached by walking it.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Five Direct Knowledges and the Classes of Transformation · Exposition · Summer 2026