解脫道論 六人行處與三人攝約

One chapter has nine classifications, and each of the first eight has a closing sentence: Thus, they can be known through jhāna; thus, they can be known through going beyond; thus, they can be known through increase … all the way to the eighth classification, “Thus, they can be known through grasping” 〔T32 412a13〕.

After the ninth classification has been explained, that sentence does not come.

The corresponding five-character close through person does not occur anywhere in the work.

It is not only that the closing sentence is absent. Everywhere in the first eight classifications, so many are of one kind and so many outside that group are not, always adding to thirty-eight. This classification gives no opposed pair of numbers, and its entire passage does not contain even one occurrence of the character 餘.

Why? Because the first eight classifications divide things, while this one divides persons.

Thirty-eight things can be counted; however they are divided, they are still thirty-eight. Persons cannot be counted against that total. Lustful, angry, deluded, faithful, intellectual, and discursive temperaments—the six persons are not the thirty-eight items. They cannot be added up that way, so the account cannot be closed.

Nor does the author force a conclusion. After assigning the six persons, he writes, “The six persons, in what is distinguished, are summarized as three” 〔T32 412a29–412b01〕, and turns to answer an objection.

Yet Before Turning, He Says Something in His Own Voice

“It is further said: in regard to fields of practice, I see that as excellent” 〔T32 412a28–29〕.

The four Chinese characters 「我見彼勝」, “I see that as excellent,” occur only once in the entire treatise. This is one of the rare moments when the author steps forward to deliver a judgment in his own voice. And the phrase 分別行處, “fields of practice,” in the sentence is precisely the title of this chapter—these four characters also enter the body of the present chapter only here.

What is excellent? The preceding sentence has just said that mindfulness of death and contemplating the four elements are most excellent, yet “it is further said” sounds as though another statement is beginning. The treatise does not specify, and this edition does not decide on its behalf.

It is enough to remember the position: one of the treatise’s rare statements with “I see” falls one step before the whole chapter draws to its close.

Six Persons Are Summarized as Three, Yet One Receives Nothing

The objection in the latter half is answered with great regularity: the two persons of lustful temperament are divided into dull-faculty and keen-faculty, and the two persons of angry temperament are divided into dull-faculty and keen-faculty.

At the third pair, the pattern breaks: “There are two persons of deluded temperament, namely 無根, ‘without a root,’ and dull-faculty” 〔T32 412b08〕. It is not keen-faculty but 無根, “without a root.” This term occurs only on this one line in the entire treatise, and the text does not explain its meaning.

The break is not limited to the name. Each of the four persons in the first two pairs receives an assignment; only one member of the third pair does: “For the 無根, ‘without a root,’ person of deluded temperament, no field of practice should be taught” 〔T32 412b08–09〕.

Six persons are summarized as three: three pairs with six members, yet one member is given nothing.

There is one further matter. The first two pairs close with “lust can be removed” and “anger can be removed,” while the third closes with “in order to remove discursive thought.” Three things are removed—lust, anger, and discursive thought—but delusion is not among them. In the first half, the person of deluded temperament receives asking about the Dhamma, hearing the Dhamma, and dwelling with the teacher; in the latter half, that person receives mindfulness of breathing to remove discursive thought. The author never gives delusion itself a counteracting method.

What the text gives that person is a person.

Closing with a Sentence That Does Not Look Like a Conclusion

At the end of the chapter, the text says, “If excellent qualities have already been attained, they surpass the fields traversed by all practices; therefore there is no hindrance” 〔T32 412b12–13〕, and then stops. What this sentence answers is still that objection, not this classification and still less the chapter as a whole.

On the next line is the closing title of fascicle three 〔T32 412b14〕; turn the page, and there is “Part One of Chapter Eight, the Chapter on the Doorways of Practice” 〔T32 412b21〕.

Once the division is complete, cultivation begins. From beginning to end, this chapter has not taught even one method of cultivation. It has done only one thing: arranged the thirty-eight things nine times, except that on the final occasion what it arranged was not things but persons.

Once the arrangement reaches persons, it can go no further; the place where it can go no further is precisely the place to begin the work.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Fields of Practice for Six Persons and Their Summary as Three · Doorway · Summer 2026

The Ninth Classification · Through Person: What Three Kinds of Person Should Not Cultivate

Question: How is it through person?

Answer: A person of lustful temperament should not cultivate the four immeasurables, because they have a pure sign.

Why? For a person of lustful temperament to attend to a perception of purity is not the practice appropriate to that person—just as for a person with a phlegm illness to eat much rich, fatty food is not suitable for that person.

A person of angry temperament should not cultivate the ten perceptions of impurity, because they are perceptions of anger; attention accompanied by anger is not the practice appropriate to that person—just as for a person tending the sick to consume boiling-hot food and drink is not suitable for that person.

A person of deluded temperament, whose wisdom has not increased, should not be made to take up a field of practice, because means are absent. If means are absent, that person’s effort bears no fruit—like a person riding an elephant without a hook.

What Each of the Six Kinds of Person Should Cultivate

A person of lustful temperament should cultivate the perception of impurity and contemplation of the body, because these counteract that person’s lust.

A person of angry temperament should cultivate the four immeasurables, because these counteract anger; or that person should cultivate a color kasiṇa, because the mind follows along.

A person of faithful temperament should cultivate the six stations of recollection, with recollection of the Buddha first, because faith becomes settled.

A person of intellectual temperament should cultivate contemplating the four elements, the perception of repulsiveness in food, mindfulness of death, and recollection of quietude, because these are profound fields. Further, a person of intellectual temperament has no hindrance with respect to any field of practice.

A person of discursive temperament should cultivate mindfulness of breathing, because it cuts off discursive thought.

A person of deluded temperament should ask about the Dhamma in words, hear the Dhamma at the proper time, and dwell with the teacher in reverence for the Dhamma, causing wisdom to increase.

General Statement and Summary

Among the thirty-eight practices (三十八行), according to what that person delights in; yet mindfulness of death and contemplating the four elements should be cultivated as most excellent.

It is further said: in regard to fields of practice, I see that as excellent.

The six persons, in what is distinguished, are summarized as three.

Objection: If So, There Is a Hindrance at the Outset

Question: If so, there is a hindrance at the outset.

Answer: There are two persons of lustful temperament, namely dull-faculty and keen-faculty.

For the dull-faculty person of lustful temperament, contemplation of impurity, as the counteraction to that person’s lust, is what should be taught; by carrying out the cultivation in this way, lust can be removed.

For the keen-faculty person of lustful temperament, when initial faith has increased, the stations of recollection should be cultivated; this is what should be taught, and by carrying out the cultivation in this way, lust can be removed.

There are two persons of angry temperament, namely dull-faculty and keen-faculty.

For the dull-faculty person of angry temperament, the four immeasurables, as the counteraction to that person’s anger, are what should be taught; by carrying out the cultivation in this way, anger can be removed.

The keen-faculty person of angry temperament cultivates as wisdom increases; 勝處, “place of excellence,” is what is taught, and by cultivating it, anger can be removed.

There are two persons of deluded temperament, namely 無根, “without a root,” and dull-faculty.

For the 無根, “without a root,” person of deluded temperament, no field of practice should be taught.

For the dull-faculty person of deluded temperament, mindfulness of breathing should be taught in order to remove discursive thought.

In this way, stated in summary, only three persons are constituted; therefore there is no hindrance.

Close

Within this Dhamma, the kasiṇas and mindfulness of breathing, 以空增長, “increase through emptiness,” constitute every practice without hindrance.

If excellent qualities have already been attained, they surpass the fields traversed by all practices; therefore there is no hindrance.

Several Points to Record

Each of the first eight classifications in this chapter closes with the form “Thus, such-and-such can be known through …”; the ninth classification has no such close. The only occurrence of “in this way, through” in the present passage is “In this way, stated in summary, only three persons are constituted”; it closes the later objection, not this classification. This is recorded as it stands.

Each of the first eight classifications gives numbers—so many fields of practice of one kind and so many of another. The ninth gives no opposed pair of numbers, nor does it contain a sentence assigning a second number to what is not included. This is recorded as it stands.

The expression “six persons” is used only once in this passage, in the closing sentence, without listing their names again. This is recorded as it stands.

The sentence “It is further said: in regard to fields of practice, I see that as excellent” is the sole place where the four characters of this chapter’s title enter its body. The passage does not state what is excellent. The literal wording is retained without adjudicating it.

The two persons of lustful temperament and the two persons of angry temperament are both “dull-faculty and keen-faculty,” while the two persons of deluded temperament alone are “無根, ‘without a root,’ and dull-faculty.” The passage does not explain 無根, “without a root.” Moreover, among the six members of these three pairs, the member for the 無根 person of deluded temperament says that no field of practice should be taught—when six persons are summarized as three, one member is assigned no field at all. This is recorded without supplying one.

The first half says that a person of lustful temperament “should cultivate the perception of impurity,” while the latter half says that the dull-faculty person of lustful temperament should “cultivate contemplation of impurity.” Within a single passage the first is a perception and the latter a contemplation. The forms are retained as they stand.

The opening list names “ten recollections”; the third passage says “ten stations of recollection”; the present passage says “six stations of recollection” and also simply “stations of recollection.” One group has four forms within this chapter, and the six stations are not listed. All four forms are retained as they stand.

What is taught to the keen-faculty person of angry temperament is 勝處, “place of excellence.” 勝處 is not among the thirty-eight items listed at the opening of the chapter, and the passage does not explain what it is. The source form and English gloss are retained.

Of the three similes, the first two both close with the same words, “is not suitable for that person”; the third does not use this form. In the second simile, the Taishō form 瞻病, “tending the sick,” is read as 病痰, “illness-phlegm,” by the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace witnesses—under those four witnesses, its first character is the same as the first character of 痰病, “phlegm illness,” in the preceding simile. This is recorded without adjudication, and the base is followed.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Fields of Practice for Six Persons and Their Summary as Three · Vernacular · Summer 2026

At the opening of this chapter, nine classifications are established: 「一以禪、二以正越、三以增長、四以緣、五以事、六以勝、七以地、八以取、九以人」, “first through jhāna, second through right going beyond, third through increase, fourth through condition, fifth through things, sixth through excellence, seventh through ground, eighth through grasping, and ninth through person” 〔T32 411a17–19〕.

When the first eight classifications have been explained, each one has a closing sentence: 「如是以禪可知」, “Thus, they can be known through jhāna” 〔T32 411b04〕; 「如是以越可知」, “Thus, they can be known through going beyond” 〔T32 411b09–10〕; 「如是以增長可知」, “Thus, they can be known through increase” 〔T32 411b12〕; 「如是以緣可知」, “Thus, they can be known through condition” 〔T32 411b17〕; 「如是以事可知」, “Thus, they can be known through things” 〔T32 411c23–24〕; 「如是以勝可知」, “Thus, they can be known through excellence” 〔T32 412a02〕; 「如是以地可知」, “Thus, they can be known through ground” 〔T32 412a06〕; and 「如是以取可知」, “Thus, they can be known through grasping” 〔T32 412a13〕.

Eight classifications, eight closes.

After the ninth classification, “person,” has been explained, this sentence does not appear. The corresponding five-character close through person does not occur anywhere in the work.

The observation can be stated at the outset: nine classifications are established, but only eight close; the ninth not only has no closing sentence, it also gives no opposed pair of numbers. Everywhere in the first eight classifications, so many fields of practice are of one kind and so many outside that group are not; from beginning to end, this passage does not contain even one occurrence of the character 餘.

The First Eight Classifications Divide Things; the Ninth Divides Persons

There is a reason for this difference.

What the first eight classifications divide are the thirty-eight items: their inclusion under jhāna, the three aspects of going beyond, whether or not they can be increased, whether or not they serve as conditions, whether their things are discriminated or actual, wherein their excellence lies, in what ground they arise, and by what a sign is grasped—what is divided is always those thirty-eight things. Thus, each classification can balance its account: so many on the positive side and so many on the negative side, totaling thirty-eight.

The ninth classification does not divide things; it divides persons. 「問：云何以人？答：欲行人，四無量不應修行，以淨相故」, “Question: How is it through person? Answer: A person of lustful temperament should not cultivate the four immeasurables, because they have a pure sign” 〔T32 412a13–14〕. From this question onward, the author proceeds by saying what each kind of person should not cultivate and what each should cultivate.

Persons are not the thirty-eight items, so they cannot be added up that way.

The pattern of the classification therefore changes completely: it gives no numbers, establishes no opposed pair, and does not end with the corresponding through-person close.

The only occurrence of 「如是以」, “in this way, through,” in this passage comes in the latter half: 「如是以略，唯成三人，是故無妨」, “In this way, stated in summary, only three persons are constituted; therefore there is no hindrance” 〔T32 412b10〕. It closes that objection, not this classification.

Three Things Not to Be Cultivated, Each Joined to a Simile

The first half of the ninth classification begins by stating what three kinds of person should not cultivate.

A person of lustful temperament should not cultivate the four immeasurables, because they have a pure sign: 「欲行人作意淨想非其所行，如痰病人多食肥腴非其所宜」, “For a person of lustful temperament to attend to a perception of purity is not the practice appropriate to that person—just as for a person with a phlegm illness to eat much rich, fatty food is not suitable for that person” 〔T32 412a14–16〕. A person of angry temperament should not cultivate the ten perceptions of impurity, because they are perceptions of anger: 「如瞻病人飲食沸熱非其所宜」, “just as for a person tending the sick to consume boiling-hot food and drink is not suitable for that person” 〔T32 412a17–18〕. A person of deluded temperament, whose wisdom has not increased, should not be made to take up a field of practice, because means are absent: 「若離方便，其精進無果，如人騎象無鉤」, “If means are absent, that person’s effort bears no fruit—like a person riding an elephant without a hook” 〔T32 412a19–20〕.

All the similes in this chapter are here. Not one occurs in the first three passages; three appear in succession in the final passage.

The first two similes have the same pattern: a certain thing for a certain person, closing with the same words, “is not suitable for that person.” The third does not: it says nothing about suitability, but instead says, “that person’s effort bears no fruit.”

This third simile has one connection worth remembering. The words “without a hook” occur twice in the entire treatise: once in Chapter Five, where a person without a good friend is “like an elephant without a hook” 〔T32 408b04〕, and once here, where a person without means is “like a person riding an elephant without a hook” 〔T32 412a19–20〕.

The same elephant is without a hook in two places. Chapter Five concerns the absence of a person; this passage concerns the absence of a means. The author does not connect them, and this edition does not connect them on the author’s behalf; it merely places the two passages side by side.

Six Persons, One Assignment for Each

After stating what should not be cultivated, the author assigns what should be cultivated to the six kinds of person one by one: a person of lustful temperament 「應修不淨想及觀身」, “should cultivate the perception of impurity and contemplation of the body” 〔T32 412a20〕; a person of angry temperament 「應修四無量心」, “should cultivate the four immeasurables,” or 「當修色一切入」, “should cultivate a color kasiṇa” 〔T32 412a22〕; a person of faithful temperament 「當修六念處，念佛為初信定故」, “should cultivate the six stations of recollection, with recollection of the Buddha first, because faith becomes settled” 〔T32 412a22–23〕; a person of intellectual temperament 「當修觀四大、於食不淨想、念死、念寂寂」, “should cultivate contemplating the four elements, the perception of repulsiveness in food, mindfulness of death, and recollection of quietude” 〔T32 412a23–24〕, and moreover 「於一切行處無所妨礙」, “has no hindrance with respect to any field of practice” 〔T32 412a25〕; a person of discursive temperament 「當修念數息，以斷覺故」, “should cultivate mindfulness of breathing, because it cuts off discursive thought” 〔T32 412a25–26〕; and a person of deluded temperament 「以言問法、以時聞法、以恭敬法與師共住，令智增長」, “should ask about the Dhamma in words, hear the Dhamma at the proper time, and dwell with the teacher in reverence for the Dhamma, causing wisdom to increase” 〔T32 412a26–27〕.

Two things should be remembered here.

First, what the person of deluded temperament receives is not a field of practice, but three things. Asking about the Dhamma, hearing the Dhamma, and dwelling with the teacher—this is the only one among the six persons who is not assigned an object, but is instead assigned a way of relating to another person. The preceding chapter speaks of seeking a good friend; here the text returns to the teacher.

Second, the name changes again. What the person of faithful temperament should cultivate is called “six stations of recollection” 〔T32 412a22–23〕—these three Chinese characters occur once in the entire treatise. The opening list calls them “further, the ten recollections” 〔T32 411a13〕; the third passage calls them “ten stations of recollection” 〔T32 411c29〕; this passage calls them “six stations of recollection”; and in the latter half it simply says “should cultivate the stations of recollection” 〔T32 412b04〕. One group has four forms within this chapter. The treatise does not list which six constitute the six stations of recollection. They are transcribed as they stand, without supplementation.

Pause Here: In “I See That as Excellent,” What Is Excellent?

After the six persons have been assigned, the author writes three sentences.

「於三十八行隨其所樂，應當修念死及觀四大最勝」, “Among the thirty-eight practices (三十八行), according to what that person delights in; yet mindfulness of death and contemplating the four elements should be cultivated as most excellent” 〔T32 412a27–28〕. 「復說於分別行處，我見彼勝」, “It is further said: in regard to fields of practice, I see that as excellent” 〔T32 412a28–29〕. 「六人於所分別，略而為三」, “The six persons, in what is distinguished, are summarized as three” 〔T32 412a29–412b01〕.

The middle sentence merits a pause and a question.

The four Chinese characters 「我見彼勝」, “I see that as excellent,” occur once in the entire treatise 〔T32 412a29〕. This is a first-person judgment spoken by the author himself—the treatise speaks this way in very few places. Another is “as when I see a person drinking alcohol and eating” in Chapter Eight 〔T32 416b17〕, but that passage introduces a simile rather than delivering a judgment.

The four characters 「分別行處」, “fields of practice,” in this sentence are precisely the title of this chapter. 分別行處 occurs four times in the entire treatise: twice on the chapter-heading line 〔T32 411a07〕, once at the end of Chapter Four in 「復次已分別行處已」, “again, fields of practice have already been distinguished” 〔T32 408a25〕, and only this one occurrence enters the body of the present chapter.

The question is: what does “that” refer to?

The preceding sentence has just said that mindfulness of death and contemplating the four elements are most excellent, so “that” could refer to those two. Yet the words “it is further said” sound as though they introduce another statement—“It is further said: in regard to fields of practice, I see that as excellent”—in which case what is excellent could instead be the very act of distinguishing fields of practice: I see clearly distinguishing the fields of practice as excellent.

The treatise does not specify. This edition does not decide on its behalf. It records only what can be checked: this sentence is the sole occurrence in which the chapter’s title enters its body, and it is also a rare first-person judgment in the treatise, placed one step before the whole chapter draws to its close.

Three Pairs, with the Third Pair Breaking the Pattern

The latter half begins with an objection: 「問：若然，於初有妨」, “Question: If so, there is a hindrance at the outset” 〔T32 412b01〕. If the six persons are summarized as three, is there not then a hindrance at the outset?

The author answers by dividing each of the three kinds of person according to two faculties.

「二欲行人，謂鈍根、利根」, “There are two persons of lustful temperament, namely dull-faculty and keen-faculty” 〔T32 412b01–02〕. The dull-faculty person of lustful temperament cultivates contemplation of impurity, while the keen-faculty person of lustful temperament cultivates the stations of recollection; both “can remove lust.” 「二瞋行人，謂鈍根、利根」, “There are two persons of angry temperament, namely dull-faculty and keen-faculty” 〔T32 412b04–05〕. The dull-faculty person cultivates the four immeasurables, while 「利根瞋恚行人，以智增長修行，勝處是所教」, “the keen-faculty person of angry temperament cultivates as wisdom increases; 勝處, ‘place of excellence,’ is what is taught” 〔T32 412b06–07〕; both “can remove anger.”

At the third pair, the pattern breaks: 「二癡行人，謂無根、鈍根」, “There are two persons of deluded temperament, namely 無根, ‘without a root,’ and dull-faculty” 〔T32 412b08〕.

Not dull-faculty and keen-faculty, but 無根, “without a root,” and dull-faculty. The term 無根 occurs twice in the entire treatise, both occurrences on this one line 〔T32 412b08〕. The treatise does not explain this name or state its order in relation to the dull and keen faculties.

The break in the pattern is not limited to the name. Each of the four members of the first two pairs receives a teaching; only one member of the third pair does: 「為無根癡行人，不應教修行處」, “For the 無根, ‘without a root,’ person of deluded temperament, no field of practice should be taught” 〔T32 412b08–09〕; 「為鈍根癡行人，為除覺，應教修念數息」, “For the dull-faculty person of deluded temperament, mindfulness of breathing should be taught in order to remove discursive thought” 〔T32 412b09–10〕.

Six persons are summarized as three: three pairs with six members, yet one member is given nothing.

There is another small point. The first two pairs close with “lust can be removed” and “anger can be removed,” while the third closes with “in order to remove discursive thought”—three things are removed: lust, anger, and discursive thought, but delusion is not among them. In the first half, a person of deluded temperament receives asking about the Dhamma, hearing the Dhamma, and dwelling with the teacher; in the latter half, that person receives mindfulness of breathing in order to remove discursive thought. The author never gives delusion itself a counteraction.

The author does not give a reason, and this edition does not supply one.

A Way of Reading: Look for Where a Parallel Set Breaks Its Pattern

The way of reading offered by this passage is simple: when a set of parallel items appears, first count whether it is even; where it is not even is the place to look.

This method is used three times within the passage.

First, nine classifications but eight closes—the ninth classification is the uneven one, and it is uneven because it divides persons rather than things.

Second, three pairs, but the third pair is “without a root and dull-faculty”—delusion is the uneven one, and the person of deluded temperament is precisely the only kind of person in this chapter who is given no method counteracting the named temperament.

Third, three similes, but only the first two share a form—the third simile is the uneven one, and it concerns not the unsuitability of an object but the absence of means.

Where a pattern breaks is often where the author is pointing to something distinct. This method does not require prior mastery of the technical names; it asks only that readers read a parallel set as a parallel set, then see which cell is empty and which cell has changed form.

Applied to the chapter as a whole, the answer is clear: the nine classifications divide with great regularity, except for the final classification, which gives neither numbers nor a closing sentence. By the time persons are reached, the work of distinction has been completed; what follows is not further division but cultivation—and the methods of cultivation begin in the next chapter with 「問：云何地一切入」, “Question: What is the earth kasiṇa?” 〔T32 412b22〕.

Closing with a Sentence That Does Not Look Like a Conclusion

The final two sentences of this chapter are: 「於是法，一切入及數息，以空增長，無妨成一切行」, “Within this Dhamma, the kasiṇas and mindfulness of breathing, 以空增長, ‘increase through emptiness,’ constitute every practice without hindrance” 〔T32 412b11–12〕; and 「若已得勝功德，勝一切行所行之處，故成不妨」, “If excellent qualities have already been attained, they surpass the fields traversed by all practices; therefore there is no hindrance” 〔T32 412b12–13〕.

The six Chinese characters 「一切入及數息」, “the kasiṇas and mindfulness of breathing,” occur twice in the entire treatise—once in the chapter’s opening classification through jhāna 〔T32 411b01〕 and once here. The same six characters stand at the beginning and end.

The three Chinese characters 「勝功德」, “excellent qualities,” occur three times in the entire treatise: once in the preface of Chapter One 〔T32 399c24〕, once in Chapter Three 〔T32 404b26–27〕, and once in the final sentence of this passage. The whole chapter closes with this term, and the treatise gives no further explanation.

After this sentence comes the closing title of fascicle three 〔T32 412b14〕. Turn the page, and the next heading is “Part One of Chapter Eight, the Chapter on the Doorways of Practice” 〔T32 412b21〕.

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Take away three things. One observation—nine classifications are established, but only eight close: each of the first eight ends with 「如是以…可知」, “Thus, they can be known through …” 〔411b04·411b09–10·411b12·411b17·411c23–24·412a02·412a06·412a13〕, while the ninth has no such close (the corresponding through-person formula occurs nowhere in the work) and gives no opposed pair of numbers (the whole passage contains no occurrence of 餘); the passage’s sole 「如是以」 is 「如是以略」, “in this way, stated in summary” 〔412b10〕, which closes the objection, not this classification. The checkable reason is that the first eight classifications divide thirty-eight items and can therefore balance their accounts, while the ninth divides persons and cannot. One way of reading—when a parallel set appears, first count whether it is even; the uneven place is where one should look. This passage uses that method three times: nine classifications and eight closes (the ninth is uneven), three pairs with the third made up of “without a root and dull-faculty” (delusion is uneven), and three similes with the first two sharing the close “is not suitable for that person” (the third is uneven). One place to pause and ask—「復說於分別行處，我見彼勝」, “It is further said: in regard to fields of practice, I see that as excellent” 〔T32 412a28–29〕. 「我見彼勝」, “I see that as excellent,” occurs once in the entire treatise and is a rare first-person judgment (another first-person statement is the simile 「如我見人飲酒及食」, “as when I see a person drinking alcohol and eating” 〔416b17〕); 分別行處 in the sentence is the title of this chapter and enters the body of the present chapter only here. What “that” refers to—mindfulness of death and contemplating the four elements in the preceding sentence, or the act of distinguishing fields of practice—the treatise does not specify, and this edition does not decide on its behalf.

Three smaller things should also be remembered. Both occurrences of 無根, “without a root,” in the entire treatise are in this passage 〔412b08〕; among three pairs with six members, the 無根 person of deluded temperament is one member for whom “no field of practice should be taught”—six persons are summarized as three, yet one member is assigned no field. Three things are removed—lust, anger, and discursive thought—but delusion is not among them. And “without a hook” occurs twice in the entire treatise: Chapter Five’s “like an elephant without a hook” 〔408b04〕 concerns the absence of a person, while this passage’s “like a person riding an elephant without a hook” 〔412a19–20〕 concerns the absence of a means—the same elephant, but a different absence.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Fields of Practice for Six Persons and Their Summary as Three · Exposition · Summer 2026