解脫道論 三種定與四種定諸門

The author of the treatise is describing the persons of the four kinds of practice. He first lists the names: painful practice with dull wisdom, painful practice with sharp wisdom, pleasant practice with sharp wisdom, and pleasant practice with dull wisdom.

He then expands them one by one: one of 密煩惱 and dull faculties practises painfully and obtains concentration with dull wisdom; one of 密煩惱 and sharp faculties practises painfully and obtains concentration with sharp wisdom; one of 疎煩惱 and dull faculties practises pleasantly and obtains concentration with dull wisdom; one of 疎煩惱 and sharp faculties practises pleasantly and obtains concentration with sharp wisdom.

Place the two columns side by side: the list is painful–dull, painful–sharp, pleasant–sharp, pleasant–dull; the expansion is painful–dull, painful–sharp, pleasant–dull, pleasant–sharp.

The third and fourth items are exactly reversed.

It is worth pausing here oneself: is the list unstable, or is the expansion unstable?

This passage cannot answer. What can be checked is another matter, and the evidence is hard—the Taishō has a textual note on both of these characters. For the third item’s 利, the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong witnesses read 鈍; for the fourth item’s 鈍, the four witnesses read 利. Taken together, the four witnesses’ list is precisely “pleasant practice with dull wisdom, pleasant practice with sharp wisdom,” in complete agreement with the order of the expansion.

The internal evidence is this: the base text’s list does not agree with its own expansion, while the variant list agrees with the expansion of the base text.

This edition records that internal evidence, still presents both readings without adjudication, and follows the base in the text. A textual note records without emending; however strong the internal evidence, it remains only internal evidence. To record it clearly and hand it over for human review—this is all the present edition can do.

From this one can take away a way of reading that will serve for a lifetime: when a passage first lists names and then explains them one by one, copy the list into one column and the expansion into another, then align them item by item. Then see whether the orders agree, whether every item is explained in the same way, and whether the Taishō has a textual note where they do not agree.

The order matters: align them yourself first, then consult the textual notes. Reversing the order turns the exercise into using the notes to look for a problem; in this order, it uses the problem to confirm the notes.

This passage has two further places where this method can be practised. One is the three groups of threefold concentration—the first two are correlated with jhānas, while the third suddenly changes to persons. The other is the final four statements: their form ought to be completely parallel, but in fact the first statement’s “the concentration has little energy” does not use the other three statements’ “that matter,” and the fourth statement’s “the concentration has already been obtained as the mind wishes” has one more word, “already,” than the other three; the textual note falls precisely on the fourth statement.

Where a textual note occurs is often where the text itself is unstable.

One final matter should be remembered: this passage has six doorways and more than four hundred characters, without a single simile. In the preceding unit’s definition of concentration, six similes were crowded into ten lines. The author uses similes when defining and does not use them when classifying.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Three-Fold and Four-Fold Divisions of Concentration · Doorway · Summer 2026

First Three-Fold Division: By Applied and Sustained Thought

Again, concentration is of three kinds: concentration with applied and sustained thought, concentration without applied thought but with little sustained thought, and concentration without applied or sustained thought.

What is with applied and sustained thought? The first jhāna has applied and sustained thought, the second jhāna has no applied thought and little sustained thought, and the remaining jhānas have neither applied nor sustained thought.

Second Three-Fold Division: By Joy, Pleasure, and Equanimity

Again, concentration is of three kinds: concentration arisen together with joy, concentration arisen together with pleasure, and concentration arisen together with equanimity.

The first and second jhānas are called arisen together with joy, the third jhāna is called arisen together with pleasure, and the fourth jhāna is called arisen together with equanimity.

Third Three-Fold Division: By Persons

Again, concentration is of three kinds: wholesome concentration, resultant concentration, and functional concentration.

What is wholesome concentration? When the learner on the noble path and the ordinary person cultivate form and formless concentration, this is called wholesome concentration.

When the learner in noble fruition and the ordinary person are born in the form and formless realms, this is called resultant concentration.

When the adept (one beyond training) receives form and formless concentration, this is called functional concentration.

First Four-Fold Division: Desire, Form, Formless, and 無所受

Again, concentration is of four kinds: desire concentration, form concentration, formless concentration, and 無所受定.

The so-called 彼彼行正受行 is called desire concentration.

The four jhānas are called form concentration.

The four formless concentrations and the result of wholesome action are called formless concentration.

The fruits of the four paths are called 無所受定.

Second Four-Fold Division: Four Kinds of Practice

Again, concentration has four kinds of practice: painful practice with dull wisdom, painful practice with sharp wisdom, pleasant practice with sharp wisdom, and pleasant practice with dull wisdom.

These are four persons: first, one of 密煩惱; second, one of 疎煩惱; third, one of sharp faculties; and fourth, one of dull faculties.

Among persons of 密煩惱, one of dull faculties practises painfully and obtains concentration with dull wisdom. One of 密煩惱 and sharp faculties practises painfully and obtains concentration with sharp wisdom. Among persons of 疎煩惱, one of dull faculties practises pleasantly and obtains concentration with dull wisdom. One of 疎煩惱 and sharp faculties practises pleasantly and obtains concentration with sharp wisdom.

Within this, a person of 密煩惱 must subdue the defilements painfully because the defilements are dense; therefore this is painful practice. A person of dull faculties must accumulate jhāna practice for a long time before experiencing dull wisdom because the faculties are dull; therefore it is named dull wisdom.

By this method, all should be distinguished in the same way.

Third Four-Fold Division: The Small and Immeasurable in Concentration and Matter

Again, concentration is of four kinds: small concentration with a small matter, small concentration with an immeasurable matter, immeasurable concentration with a small matter, and immeasurable concentration with an immeasurable matter.

What is small concentration with a small matter? The concentration is not obtained as the mind wishes; the concentration has little energy—this is called small concentration with a small matter.

What is small concentration with an immeasurable matter? The concentration is not obtained as the mind wishes; that matter has great energy—this is called small concentration with an immeasurable matter.

What is immeasurable concentration with a small matter? The concentration is obtained as the mind wishes; that matter has little energy—this is called immeasurable concentration with a small matter.

What is immeasurable concentration with an immeasurable matter? The concentration has already been obtained as the mind wishes; that matter has great energy—this is called immeasurable concentration with an immeasurable matter.

Several Points to Record

Among the three groups of threefold concentration, the first two are both correlated with jhānas—the first, second, third, and fourth jhānas. The third is not correlated with jhānas but with persons—the learner on the noble path, the ordinary person, the learner in noble fruition, and the adept (one beyond training). This is recorded as written.

The first group says that the second jhāna is “without applied thought but with little sustained thought.” Later in this chapter, when the fourth group of fourfold concentration is presented, the second jhāna is “accomplished in three factors after leaving applied and sustained thought,” which means without applied or sustained thought. The two accounts coexist within the same chapter and are not connected until the passage on the five jhānas says, “because there are results for two persons.” This is recorded as written here.

The listed order of the four kinds of practice is: painful practice with dull wisdom, painful practice with sharp wisdom, pleasant practice with sharp wisdom, and pleasant practice with dull wisdom; the order of the item-by-item expansion below is: painful–dull, painful–sharp, pleasant–dull, pleasant–sharp. The third and fourth items of the list do not agree with the order of the expansion. At this point the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong witnesses read “pleasant practice with dull wisdom, pleasant practice with sharp wisdom,” which agrees exactly with the order of the expansion. This is recorded as written, and the present text follows the base.

The text says “these four persons,” but the four items listed are actually two pairs—密煩惱 and 疎煩惱 form one pair, while sharp faculties and dull faculties form the other. The four persons are produced by crossing these two pairs. This is recorded as written.

In the four statements of the group beginning with small concentration and a small matter, the first reads “the concentration has little energy,” while the other three all read “that matter … energy.” Again, the fourth reads “the concentration has already been obtained as the mind wishes,” while the other three do not have the word “already.” This is recorded as written.

In the fourth statement’s “that matter has great energy,” the base reads “matter,” while the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong witnesses read “concentration.” This is recorded as written, and the present text follows the base.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Three-Fold and Four-Fold Divisions of Concentration · Vernacular · Summer 2026

This passage’s six doorways form the densest passage in the Chapter on the Analysis of Concentration. In four hundred and seventy-three characters, the author changes the count of how many kinds of concentration there are six times.

The central observation may be stated at the outset: in this passage’s fifth doorway, “the four kinds of practice,” the listed order does not agree with the order of the item-by-item expansion below it, while the variant readings in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong witnesses agree exactly with the order of the expansion.

This can be checked character by character, without relying on conjecture. Nor is it the only place in the passage where what comes before and after is uneven—the six doorways follow one another, and nearly every doorway has an irregularity; this is the only irregularity supported by a variant reading.

The First Two Doorways Correlate with Jhānas; the Third with Persons

Three groups of threefold concentration occur in succession.

The first group is divided by applied and sustained thought: “Again, concentration is of three kinds: concentration with applied and sustained thought, concentration without applied thought but with little sustained thought, and concentration without applied or sustained thought” 〔T32 407b16–17〕, and is correlated with jhānas—“What is with applied and sustained thought? The first jhāna has applied and sustained thought, the second jhāna has no applied thought and little sustained thought, and the remaining jhānas have neither applied nor sustained thought” 〔T32 407b17–19〕.

The second group is divided by joy, pleasure, and equanimity: “Again, concentration is of three kinds: concentration arisen together with joy, concentration arisen together with pleasure, and concentration arisen together with equanimity” 〔T32 407b19–20〕, and is also correlated with jhānas—“The first and second jhānas are called arisen together with joy, the third jhāna is called arisen together with pleasure, and the fourth jhāna is called arisen together with equanimity” 〔T32 407b20–21〕.

The third group changes: “Again, concentration is of three kinds: wholesome concentration, resultant concentration, and functional concentration” 〔T32 407b21–22〕. This group is correlated not with jhānas but with persons—“What is wholesome concentration? When the learner on the noble path and the ordinary person cultivate form and formless concentration, this is called wholesome concentration” 〔T32 407b22–23〕; “When the learner in noble fruition and the ordinary person are born in the form and formless realms, this is called resultant concentration” 〔T32 407b23–24〕; “When the adept (one beyond training) receives form and formless concentration, this is called functional concentration” 〔T32 407b24–25〕.

Though all are threefold divisions of concentration, the first two doorways ask, “Which jhāna is this?” while the third asks, “What kind of person is this?” This is recorded without being made uniform.

There is one smaller matter concerning the three names in the second group: “arisen together with joy,” “arisen together with pleasure,” and “arisen together with equanimity” each occur only twice in the whole treatise, and every occurrence is within this passage—once in the list of names and once in the correlation with jhānas. Beyond this passage, none of the three names occurs again anywhere in the treatise.

One Sentence to Remember: Does the Second Jhāna Have Sustained Thought?

The first doorway says, “the second jhāna has no applied thought and little sustained thought” 〔T32 407b18〕.

Later in the same chapter, however, when the fourth doorway of the fourfold divisions of concentration is presented, it reads “accomplished in three factors after leaving applied and sustained thought” 〔T32 408a03–04〕—applied and sustained thought are left together, making the second jhāna without applied or sustained thought.

Within the same chapter, there are two accounts of the second jhāna.

The author does not explain this in a single word in the present passage. Only in the still later fifth unit does the sentence appear, “Because there are results for two persons, the second jhāna is of two kinds: without applied or sustained thought, and without applied thought but with little sustained thought” 〔T32 408a10–11〕.

That sentence is not in the present passage, and this passage does not speak on its behalf. Here only what can be checked is set out: “without applied thought but with little sustained thought” occurs five times in the whole treatise—twice in the present passage, twice later where the five jhānas are presented, and once more in chapter eleven. The present passage establishes the name; only later does another passage come to settle it.

First Doorway of Four-Fold Concentration: One Name, Four Origins

“Again, concentration is of four kinds: desire concentration, form concentration, formless concentration, and 無所受定” 〔T32 407b25–26〕.

As the four names are explained, each is explained in a different way: desire concentration is explained by practice—“The so-called 彼彼行正受行 is called desire concentration” 〔T32 407b26〕; form concentration is explained by jhāna—“The four jhānas are called form concentration” 〔T32 407b26–27〕; formless concentration is explained by concentration together with the result of action—“The four formless concentrations and the result of wholesome action are called formless concentration” 〔T32 407b27〕; 無所受定 is explained by fruition—“The fruits of the four paths are called 無所受定” 〔T32 407b27–28〕.

Within these, the six-character expression 彼彼行正受行 occurs only once in the whole treatise. The author does not explain it, and its punctuation is also doubtful. It is retained according to the characters, without being punctuated on the text’s behalf.

Pause: The List Has “Pleasant–Sharp, Pleasant–Dull,” but the Expansion Has “Pleasant–Dull, Pleasant–Sharp”

The fifth doorway is the longest in this passage and the place most deserving a pause.

The author first lists the names: “Again, concentration has four kinds of practice: painful practice with dull wisdom, painful practice with sharp wisdom, pleasant practice with sharp wisdom, and pleasant practice with dull wisdom” 〔T32 407b28–407c01〕.

According to this list, the order of the four items is: painful–dull, painful–sharp, pleasant–sharp, pleasant–dull.

The author next gives the persons: “These are four persons: first, one of 密煩惱; second, one of 疎煩惱; third, one of sharp faculties; and fourth, one of dull faculties” 〔T32 407c01–02〕.

He then expands them one by one: “Among persons of 密煩惱, one of dull faculties practises painfully and obtains concentration with dull wisdom” 〔T32 407c02–03〕; “one of 密煩惱 and sharp faculties practises painfully and obtains concentration with sharp wisdom” 〔T32 407c03–04〕; “among persons of 疎煩惱, one of dull faculties practises pleasantly and obtains concentration with dull wisdom” 〔T32 407c04〕; “one of 疎煩惱 and sharp faculties practises pleasantly and obtains concentration with sharp wisdom” 〔T32 407c04–05〕.

According to this expansion, the order of the four items is: painful–dull, painful–sharp, pleasant–dull, pleasant–sharp.

In the third and fourth items, the list and the expansion are exactly reversed.

It is worth pausing here to ask: is the list wrong, or is the expansion wrong?

The passage itself gives no answer. What can be checked is another matter, and the evidence is hard: the Taishō has a textual note on both of these characters. For the third item’s 利, the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong witnesses read 鈍; for the fourth item’s 鈍, the four witnesses read 利. Taken together, the four witnesses’ list is precisely “pleasant practice with dull wisdom, pleasant practice with sharp wisdom”—in complete agreement with the order of the expansion.

The internal evidence is therefore this: the base text’s list does not agree with its own expansion, while the variant list agrees with the expansion of the base text.

This edition records the internal evidence, still presents both readings without adjudication, and follows the base in the text. This is not a matter the present edition can decide: a textual note records without emending, and however strong the internal evidence, it remains only internal evidence. It is recorded clearly and handed over for human review.

One further point should be retained: the author says “these four persons” 〔T32 407c01〕, but the four items listed are actually two pairs—密煩惱 and 疎煩惱 form one pair, while sharp faculties and dull faculties form the other. The four persons are not counted directly from four items; they are produced by crossing two pairs. The author does not state the method of crossing; he merely sets out the four correlated persons for the reader to see.

This doorway ends by saying, “By this method, all should be distinguished” 〔T32 407c08〕. Among the chapter’s sixteen doorways, only this one tells the reader, once its account is complete, to use this method to infer the rest.

The Sixth Doorway: Four Statements with Two Irregularities

The final doorway is a set of four statements concerning concentration and matter: “Again, concentration is of four kinds: small concentration with a small matter, small concentration with an immeasurable matter, immeasurable concentration with a small matter, and immeasurable concentration with an immeasurable matter” 〔T32 407c08–10〕.

Set out in sequence, the four statements ought to be completely parallel—the concentration half says whether concentration is obtained as the mind wishes, while the matter half says whether energy is small or great. In fact, there are two irregularities:

The first is in the first statement. “What is small concentration with a small matter? Concentration is not obtained as the mind wishes; the concentration has little energy; this is called small concentration with a small matter” 〔T32 407c10–11〕—the matter half reads “the concentration has little energy” 〔T32 407c10–11〕. The remaining three statements all read “that matter”: “that matter has great energy” 〔T32 407c12〕, “that matter has little energy” 〔T32 407c13〕, and “that matter has great energy” 〔T32 407c15〕. Of the four statements, the first does not use “that matter.”

The second is in the fourth statement. The concentration half of the first three reads “concentration is not obtained as the mind wishes” 〔T32 407c10〕, “concentration is not obtained as the mind wishes” 〔T32 407c11–12〕, and “concentration is obtained as the mind wishes” 〔T32 407c13〕; the fourth reads “concentration has already been obtained as the mind wishes” 〔T32 407c14–15〕. It has the additional word “already” (已).

The Taishō textual note falls precisely on the fourth statement: in “that matter, great energy,” four witnesses read 定, “concentration,” for the base text’s 事, “matter.” Each reading corresponds to one of the forms in the other statements of the same set—the base follows “that matter,” agreeing with the second and third statements; the four witnesses follow “concentration,” agreeing with the first. Both readings are recorded without adjudication, and the present text follows the base.

Six Doorways in One Passage, Without a Single Simile

There is one further matter to look back upon after reading the passage: not a single simile occurs in it.

Earlier, in the section defining concentration in 04-01, six similes are crowded into ten lines—a lamp in a hall, a balance held in the hand, oil in a bowl, a cart drawn by four horses, an arrow-maker straightening a shaft, and medicine dispelling poison. In the present passage, six doorways occupy four hundred and seventy-three characters without using a single simile introduced by “like.”

The author uses similes when defining concentration and does not use them when classifying concentration. This passage is pure classification.

How to Read: Copy the List and the Expansion into Two Columns, Then Align Them

The way of reading offered by this passage is the very method used to reach the observation above.

When a passage first lists names and then explains them one by one, do not simply read straight through. Copy the list into one column and the expansion into another, then align them item by item.

After aligning them, examine three things: first, whether the orders agree; second, whether every item is explained in the same way; and third, whether the Taishō has a textual note where they do not agree.

Applied to this passage, all three yield something: the fifth doorway’s order does not agree, the disagreement occurs precisely where there are textual notes, and the variant side agrees with the expansion; the fourth doorway explains its four items in four different ways—by practice, by jhāna, by concentration together with the result of action, and by fruition; the sixth doorway’s four statements have two irregularities, and another textual note falls on one of them.

Where a textual note occurs is often where the text itself is unstable. Align the text yourself before consulting the notes—the order cannot be reversed, or one is using the notes to look for a problem instead of using the problem to confirm the notes.

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Take away three things. One observation: in the fifth doorway, the third and fourth items of the listed order are reversed in the expanded order (the list is painful–dull, painful–sharp, pleasant–sharp, pleasant–dull 〔T32 407b28–407c01〕, while the expansion is painful–dull, painful–sharp, pleasant–dull, pleasant–sharp 〔T32 407c02–05〕), and the Taishō has textual notes on both of these items, while the listed order in the four witnesses agrees exactly with the expansion. Its internal evidence is recorded, both readings remain presented without adjudication, and the present text follows the base. One way of reading: copy the list into one column and the expansion into another, then align them item by item; see whether the orders agree, whether the modes of explanation are the same, and whether there is a textual note where they do not agree. Align them yourself before consulting the notes, not the other way around. One place to pause: is the list unstable, or is the expansion unstable? The passage itself cannot answer; what can be checked is only the direction of the internal evidence—the base text’s list does not agree with the base text’s expansion, while the variant list agrees with the base text’s expansion. This edition does not decide on the text’s behalf.

Four smaller matters should also be retained: among the three doorways of threefold concentration, the first two correlate with jhānas and the third with persons 〔T32 407b17–25〕; this passage’s “the second jhāna has no applied thought and little sustained thought” 〔T32 407b18〕 and 04-04’s “accomplished in three factors after leaving applied and sustained thought” 〔T32 408a03–04〕 coexist as two accounts in the same chapter, and only in 04-05 are they connected by “because there are results for two persons”; the present passage does not state the reason. The four statements of the sixth doorway have two irregularities—the first reads “the concentration has little energy” 〔T32 407c10–11〕 while the other three read “that matter,” and the fourth reads “concentration has already been obtained as the mind wishes” 〔T32 407c14–15〕 while the other three have no “already.” Across more than four hundred characters and six doorways, similes have no occurrences, in contrast with the six similes in 04-01’s section defining concentration.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Three-Fold and Four-Fold Divisions of Concentration · Exposition · Summer 2026