解脫道論 十三頭陀的方便與攝約

The preceding three passages have treated the thirteen ascetic practices item by item, drawing a hard line for each: accept a householder’s robe and it is lost; pass beyond the neighboring house and it is lost; eat at a second sitting and it is lost; dwell again within the city and it is lost; lie down and it is lost.

With lines drawn so hard, how is a person to live?

The first thing the present passage does is turn back and open a gap.

The author calls this an “allowance.” The word occurs fifteen times in the whole Chapter on the Ascetic Practices, all in this passage—not once in the preceding three.

Every gap opened is concrete. An alms-food practitioner who encounters a meal distributed in monastic order, a regular-residence meal, or an observance meal may accept it by way of an allowance without losing alms-food practice. A sequential alms-food practitioner who sees elephants and horses fighting at a doorway, or encounters a household that should not be entered, may go around by way of an allowance without losing the sequence. One eating at one sitting may rise if cattle or snakes come in, if it rains, or if the heshang 和上 comes, and may then eat again without losing eating at one sitting. One who dwells in a secluded place may enter a settlement to receive ordination, confess an offense, ask about the Dhamma, or care for the sick without losing the secluded place. One who dwells beneath a tree may enter shelter when rain comes and return at dawn without losing being beneath a tree.

Every gap opens onto the words “does not lose.” The text does not say that one may break the practice; it says that this does not count as breaking it.

Three items have no gap: measured eating, not eating after the proper time, and constant sitting without lying down. These are precisely the three with the hardest criteria—one’s own fixed measure, twenty-one portions, and a single instance of lying down. Where there is no room for negotiation, no gap is opened.

Yet immediately after the item on constant sitting without lying down, an unexpected sentence appears: “A further account says: when performing nasal irrigation, one may make an allowance and does not lose constant sitting.”

In a treatise of eighty-seven thousand Chinese characters, the four characters 復有一說 occur only once. The author records an account contrary to his own, neither adopting nor rejecting it.

At the strictest item, he leaves the sole alternate account.

After opening these gaps, the passage does its second thing: it gathers.

Thirteen are gathered into eight—five items are subsumed: measured eating, eating at one sitting, being beneath a tree, sitting in the open, and the charnel ground. Eight are then gathered into three—the secluded place, the rag robe, and going for alms-food.

These three are precisely the first items of the three groups presented earlier.

The final sentence is: “If these three are pure, the ascetic practices are fulfilled.”

It does not say that three ascetic practices are fulfilled; it says that the ascetic practices are fulfilled.

Gathering therefore does not mean deleting. Not one of the ten gathered items is abolished; they still stand in the preceding three passages, each stating undertaking and loss. Gathering says something else: the structure of these thirteen things lies in three places—where one lives, what one wears, and how one eats. When these three stand, the remaining ten naturally stand.

First widen the boundary enough for a person to live, then tighten the count enough to remember.

One paragraph of 488 Chinese characters accomplishes both.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Allowances and Subsumption of the Thirteen Ascetic Practices · Doorway · Summer 2026

Allowance for the Rag Robe

How may one depart from the rag robe?

For robes donated by householders—芻麻, 古貝, 憍奢耶, 欽婆羅, and the like—if one accepts them by way of an allowance, one does not lose the patchwork robe.

Allowance for the Three Robes

What of the three robes?

If one has kept a surplus robe for more than ten days; if there is a month-expected robe, a merit robe, or another surplus robe; or if there are bedding and spreads to protect, a wound-covering robe, a hand towel, or a rain-bathing robe—if these are neither undertaken nor subject to pure giving, then, when one acts by way of an allowance, one does not lose the three robes.

Allowance for Alms-Food Practice

What is the allowance for alms-food practice?

If there is a meal distributed in monastic order, a regular-residence meal, a meal distributed by lots, a fifteenth-day meal, an observance meal, a communal meal, or a monastery meal, one may accept it by way of an allowance without losing alms-food practice.

If one sees this as a fault, one should also relinquish it.

Allowance for Sequential Alms-Food Practice

What is the allowance for sequential alms-food practice?

If one sees elephants, horses, and the like fighting in front of a doorway, making it a shameful and contemptible place, then on seeing such a place one should avoid it.

Again, on seeing 旃陀羅 or 覆鉢學家, or when “following the heshang, ācariya, or guest bhikkhu” (heshang 和上; ācariya 闍梨), one may pass over such cases by way of an allowance without losing the sequence.

Allowance for Eating at One Sitting

What is the allowance for eating at one sitting?

If, while one is eating, there is “seeing elephants, horses, cattle, snakes, rain, the heshang, the ācariya, or a guest bhikkhu,” one may rise by way of an allowance and eat again after rising without losing eating at one sitting.

Measured eating and eating after the proper time have no allowance.

Allowance for a Secluded Place

What is the allowance for a secluded place?

For such conditions as receiving ordination, confessing an offense, asking about the Dhamma, participating in the observance-and-invitation ceremony, being ill oneself, caring for the sick, or asking about a doubtful passage in a scripture, one may dwell in a settlement by way of an allowance without losing the secluded place.

Allowances for Beneath a Tree and the Like

What is the allowance for being beneath a tree?

If rain comes, one may enter a covered place; once the sign of dawn has appeared, one returns and does not lose being beneath a tree.

The allowances for dwelling in the open, the charnel ground, and whatever place is found are likewise the same. Other dwelling places may be used.

Constant sitting without lying down has no allowance.

A further account says: when performing nasal irrigation, one may make an allowance and does not lose constant sitting.

Thirteen Become Eight

Through these thirteen ascetic practices, there further come to be eight practices.

As the Abhidhamma says, there are eight ascetic practices. This is subsumed under not eating after the proper time.

Measured eating and eating at one sitting—the undertaking and maintenance of these form a single kind. This is subsumed under the secluded place.

Why are being beneath a tree, sitting in the open, and the charnel ground within the secluded place?

If one constructs dwellings, delights in work, accumulates many things, and is attached to dwelling places, this is not what the mind delights in. Forming this intention, one dwells purely beneath a tree, in a charnel ground, or in the open. Therefore, they become eight.

Eight Become Three

From the eight ascetic practices there further come to be three practices: first, the secluded place; second, the rag robe; and third, going for alms-food.

If these three are pure, the ascetic practices are fulfilled.

The Buddha Speaks to Nantuo

Therefore the Buddha said to Nantuo: When shall I see you accomplished in a secluded place, undertaking the rag robe, not eating after the proper time, directed to sustaining bodily life, not seeing what is desired?

Several Points That Should Be Retained

The forms in which the allowances for the thirteen items appear are uneven in this passage. The first two items begin “How may one depart from the rag robe?” and “What of the three robes?”, without the word “allowance”; the following five take the form “What is the allowance for such-and-such?”. This is recorded as it stands.

Among the thirteen items, three are expressly said to have “no allowance”: measured eating, eating after the proper time, and constant sitting without lying down. Yet after the item on constant sitting without lying down, another sentence appears: “A further account says: when performing nasal irrigation, one may make an allowance and does not lose constant sitting.” The four Chinese characters 復有一說 occur only once in the entire treatise. This is recorded as it stands.

The punctuation of the passage “As the Abhidhamma says, there are eight ascetic practices. This is subsumed under not eating after the proper time. Measured eating and eating at one sitting—the undertaking and maintenance of these form a single kind. This is subsumed under the secluded place” is uncertain: whether “This is subsumed under not eating after the proper time” concludes the preceding sentence or governs the following one cannot be decided within this passage. The wording is retained literally here, without deciding the punctuation on the text’s behalf.

Five items are subsumed: measured eating, eating at one sitting, being beneath a tree, sitting in the open, and the charnel ground. Thirteen minus five is exactly eight. The passage does not state this calculation; here too, only the number is recorded, without establishing an explanation on the author’s behalf.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Allowances and Subsumption of the Thirteen Ascetic Practices · Vernacular · Summer 2026

The preceding three passages have treated the thirteen ascetic practices item by item: what is undertaken, what the qualities are, what counts as undertaking, and what counts as loss.

The present passage consists of only one paragraph, 488 Chinese characters long, and does two things.

The first is to open a gap—to state the circumstances in which each of the thirteen items is not considered lost. The author calls this an “allowance.”

The second is to gather—thirteen are gathered into eight, and eight again into three.

Yet the two are really one thing: first widen the boundary enough for a person to live, then gather the number into something that can be remembered.

Fifteen Occurrences of “Allowance,” All in This Passage

The two Chinese characters 方便, rendered “allowance,” occur 136 times in the whole Path of Freedom, but only fifteen times within the Chapter on the Ascetic Practices, all in the present passage (406a17 to 406b06).

Not one “allowance” appears in the preceding three passages. Those passages state only undertaking and loss, the two sides of a single line, with a clearly drawn boundary. The present passage suddenly widens that boundary.

The manner in which it widens the boundary differs from item to item:

Rag robe—“How may one depart from the rag robe? For robes donated by householders—芻麻, 古貝, 憍奢耶, 欽婆羅, and the like—if one accepts them by way of an allowance, one does not lose the patchwork robe” 〔T32 406a16–17〕. 憍奢耶 and 欽婆羅 each occur once in the entire treatise〔406a17〕.

Three robes—“What of the three robes? If one has kept a surplus robe for more than ten days” 〔T32 406a17–18〕. What follows lists the month-expected robe, merit robe, surplus robe, bedding and spreads, wound-covering robe, hand towel, and rain-bathing robe, and gathers them under “if these are neither undertaken nor subject to pure giving, then, when one acts by way of an allowance, one does not lose the three robes” 〔T32 406a20–21〕.

Alms-food practice—“What is the allowance for alms-food practice? If there is a meal distributed in monastic order or a regular-residence meal” 〔T32 406a21〕, together with a meal distributed by lots, a fifteenth-day meal, an observance meal, a communal meal, and a monastery meal: “one may accept it by way of an allowance without losing alms-food practice. If one sees this as a fault, one should also relinquish it” 〔T32 406a22–23〕.

The allowance for this item carries a sentence that draws it back in: a gap has been opened, but the close says, “If one sees this as a fault, one should also relinquish it.” Among the allowances for the thirteen items, this alone carries its own closure.

Sequential alms-food practice—“What is the allowance for sequential alms-food practice? If one sees elephants, horses, and the like fighting in front of a doorway, making it a shameful and contemptible place” 〔T32 406a23–24〕; and “on seeing 旃陀羅 or 覆鉢學家, or when ‘following the heshang, ācariya, or guest bhikkhu’ (heshang 和上; ācariya 闍梨), one may pass over such cases by way of an allowance without losing the sequence” 〔T32 406a25–27〕. 覆鉢學家 occurs once in the entire treatise〔406a25〕.

Eating at one sitting—“What is the allowance for eating at one sitting? If, while one is eating, there is ‘seeing elephants, horses, cattle, snakes, rain, the heshang, the ācariya, or a guest bhikkhu’” 〔T32 406a27–28〕, then “one may rise by way of an allowance and eat again after rising without losing eating at one sitting” 〔T32 406a28–29〕.

Secluded place—“What is the allowance for a secluded place? For receiving ordination, confessing an offense, asking about the Dhamma, participating in the observance-and-invitation ceremony, being ill oneself, caring for the sick, or asking about a doubtful passage in a scripture” 〔T32 406b01–02〕, then “for such conditions, one may dwell in a settlement by way of an allowance without losing the secluded place” 〔T32 406b02–03〕. Of the seven matters, five concern the Dhamma and two concern illness.

Beneath a tree—“What is the allowance for being beneath a tree? If rain comes, one may enter a covered place; once the sign of dawn has appeared, one returns and does not lose being beneath a tree” 〔T32 406b03–04〕. The next sentence gathers three items at once: “The allowances for dwelling in the open, the charnel ground, and whatever place is found are likewise the same” 〔T32 406b04–05〕.

Two Opening Forms, and Three Items with “No Allowance”

The form of the allowance section is uneven from its opening.

The first two items do not use the word “allowance”—“How may one depart from the rag robe?”〔406a16〕 and “What of the three robes?”〔406a17–18〕. The following five all take the form “What is the allowance for such-and-such?”—“What is the allowance for alms-food practice?”〔406a21〕, “What is the allowance for sequential alms-food practice?”〔406a23〕, “What is the allowance for eating at one sitting?”〔406a27〕, “What is the allowance for a secluded place?”〔406b01〕, and “What is the allowance for being beneath a tree?”〔406b03〕. Seven items, but two opening forms. They are recorded without being made uniform.

Among the thirteen items, three are expressly said to have no allowance: “Measured eating and eating after the proper time have no allowance” 〔T32 406a29〕, and “Other dwelling places may be used. Constant sitting without lying down has no allowance” 〔T32 406b05–06〕.

These three are precisely the three items with the hardest criteria in the chapter—measured eating is determined by one’s own fixed regular standard, not eating after the proper time by twenty-one portions, and constant sitting without lying down by a single instance of lying down. There is no room for negotiation, and therefore no allowance.

Pause Here: The Treatise’s Only “A Further Account Says” Concerns Nasal Irrigation

Yet immediately after “constant sitting without lying down has no allowance,” another sentence appears:

“A further account says: when performing nasal irrigation, one may make an allowance and does not lose constant sitting” 〔T32 406b06–07〕.

The four Chinese characters 復有一說 occur once in the entire treatise〔406b06〕; the two Chinese characters 灌鼻 also occur once in the entire treatise〔406b06〕.

The treatise is not sparing in its formulas for recording alternate accounts—復有說 occurs five times in the whole treatise (410a23·438c08·449a14·451c12·460c24), and 復說 occurs thirty-six times—but the form 復有一說 appears only here in the entire work.

This is worth pausing over.

The author has just said, “Constant sitting without lying down has no allowance,” yet within a single sentence records an opposing account: nasal irrigation permits one. He neither adopts nor rejects it, but simply sets it down.

Why record an alternate account for this one item?

The present passage cannot answer. Only three things can be verified.

First, among the thirteen items this is the only one in which an alternate account follows “no allowance.” No such statement follows the other two items with no allowance, measured eating and eating after the proper time.

Second, the gap opened by the alternate account is exceedingly narrow—not for the Dhamma, not for illness, not for rain, but only for the single matter of nasal irrigation. The allowances for the seven items readily list seven or eight matters; here there is only one.

Third, constant sitting without lying down forms a group by itself among the four groups (“One practice is associated with vigor; there is one kind: constant sitting without lying down” 〔T32 404c02–03〕), and its qualities alone point directly to cultivating jhāna (“constantly and deeply quiet, capable of cultivating the excellence of jhāna” 〔T32 406a14〕). The strictest item is nevertheless the only one for which an alternate account is recorded.

All three are matters of wording alone. The author does not state the reason; this edition does not decide, adopt, or reject on his behalf.

Thirteen Become Eight: Five Items Are Subsumed

When the allowances have been stated, the passage turns to subsumption: “Through these thirteen ascetic practices, there further come to be eight practices” 〔T32 406b07〕.

Next comes the only citation of a treatise in the chapter: “As the Abhidhamma says, there are eight ascetic practices. This is subsumed under not eating after the proper time” 〔T32 406b07–08〕, followed by “Measured eating and eating at one sitting—the undertaking and maintenance of these form a single kind. This is subsumed under the secluded place” 〔T32 406b08–09〕.

The author then poses his own question: “Why are being beneath a tree, sitting in the open, and the charnel ground within the secluded place? If one constructs dwellings and delights in work” 〔T32 406b09–10〕; “accumulates many things and is attached to dwelling places, this is not what the mind delights in” 〔T32 406b10–11〕; and “forming this intention, one dwells purely beneath a tree, in a charnel ground, or in the open. Therefore, they become eight” 〔T32 406b11–12〕.

Thirteen minus eight is five. The items shown in the text as subsumed are likewise exactly five: measured eating, eating at one sitting, being beneath a tree, sitting in the open, and the charnel ground.

The author does not write out this subtraction. This edition records only the count: five items are subsumed, and thirteen minus five leaves eight, agreeing with “there further come to be eight practices.”

The Punctuation Is Uncertain Precisely Where the Head of Subsumption Is at Stake

If the three sentences above are read according to the punctuation of the Taishō edition, they yield a result that is not easy to understand—“This is subsumed under not eating after the proper time” concludes the preceding statement and belongs to “the eight ascetic practices,” while “This is subsumed under the secluded place” follows “measured eating and eating at one sitting.”

But measured eating and eating at one sitting concern food, whereas the secluded place concerns dwelling.

If they are punctuated differently—not eating after the proper time subsumes measured eating and eating at one sitting, while the secluded place subsumes being beneath a tree, sitting in the open, and the charnel ground—then the five items fall under two heads, each according to its kind.

This edition does not decide the punctuation. It sets side by side only three verifiable things:

First, five items are subsumed—measured eating, eating at one sitting, being beneath a tree, sitting in the open, and the charnel ground—and thirteen minus five leaves eight, agreeing with “there further come to be eight practices”〔406b07〕.

Second, the author’s question immediately afterward is “Why are being beneath a tree, sitting in the open, and the charnel ground within the secluded place?”〔406b09–10〕—the question already presupposes that being beneath a tree, sitting in the open, and the charnel ground belong to the secluded place, and the answer below it—constructing dwellings, delighting in work, accumulating many things, and being attached to dwelling places—concerns precisely dwelling places.

Third, after measured eating and eating at one sitting the text says, “the undertaking and maintenance of these form a single kind”〔406b08–09〕—the phrase “form a single kind” says that they resemble one another; it does not name the head under which they fall.

All three are present in the wording. Judgment on the punctuation belongs to Shi Huijing; this edition preserves the literal wording.

Eight Become Three: If Three Are Pure, All Thirteen Are Fulfilled

“From the eight ascetic practices there further come to be three practices: first, the secluded place; second, the rag robe; and third, going for alms-food” 〔T32 406b12–13〕.

These three are precisely the first items in each of the three groups that appeared at the beginning of the chapter: the rag robe is the first of the two robe practices〔404b28〕, alms-food practice the first of the second group〔404b28〕, and the secluded place the first of the third group〔404b29〕. At the end of the gathering, the author leaves the first item of each group.

The closing sentence deserves attention: “If these three are pure, the ascetic practices are fulfilled” 〔T32 406b13–14〕.

It does not say that three ascetic practices are fulfilled; it says that “the ascetic practices are fulfilled”〔406b14〕. When the three are pure, all thirteen are fulfilled.

Subsumption is therefore not deletion. None of the ten subsumed items is abolished—they still remain in the preceding three passages, each with its undertaking and loss. Subsumption says this: the structure of the thirteen lies in three places; when those three stand, the rest naturally stand.

The Buddha Speaks to Nantuo

The entire passage closes with words attributed to the Buddha: “Therefore the Buddha said to Nantuo: When shall I see you accomplished in a secluded place, undertaking the rag robe, not eating after the proper time, directed to sustaining bodily life, not seeing what is desired?” 〔T32 406b14–16〕.

The three named here—the secluded place, the rag robe, and not eating after the proper time—are not entirely the same as the three gathered above: the third item above is “going for alms-food,” whereas the third here is “not eating after the proper time.”

The author gives no explanation, and this edition does not make them uniform on his behalf. It records only the difference: the third of the three practices is going for alms-food〔406b13〕, while the third in the Buddha’s words is not eating after the proper time〔406b15〕.

“Nantuo” occurs three times in the entire treatise—chapter two uses him in the comparison “as when one sees Nantuo because of his deportment”〔T32 403b12–13〕; the present passage says “Therefore the Buddha said to Nantuo”〔T32 406b14〕; and chapter five says “Therefore the Blessed One instructed Nantuo”〔T32 408b12〕. In two of the three occurrences, Nantuo is the person instructed by the Buddha. The same disciple appears twice in this treatise as one who receives instruction.

Reading Practice: On Seeing “Subsumption,” Turn Back and Count the Items

The reading practice offered by this passage rests on one word: subsumption.

When this treatise speaks of “subsumption,” it does not mean merging or abolishing; it means gathering many items under one while leaving those items intact. Thus, whenever readers encounter “is subsumed under such-and-such,” they can do one very simple thing: turn back and count.

Applied to the present passage: on seeing “This is subsumed under not eating after the proper time”〔406b08〕 and “This is subsumed under the secluded place”〔406b09〕, count the subsumed items—five; then count those remaining—eight; this agrees with “there further come to be eight practices”〔406b07〕. On seeing “there further come to be three practices”〔406b12–13〕, count again—eight are gathered into three, and the three are the first items of the three groups.

Counting the items is the least laborious way to check what the treatise itself says. The author says “there further come to be eight practices” without writing out the subtraction; a reader can count and know which five he has subtracted. The author says “there further come to be three practices” without saying why these three; a reader can compare the preceding passage and see that they are the respective first items of the three groups.

This method will continue to be used in later chapters of the treatise: whenever words of gathering and enumeration such as “subsumption,” “become,” or “further become” appear, do not first ask their meaning; first count their items. If the count agrees, half the meaning is already clear. If the count does not agree, there is usually an uncertainty of punctuation or transmission at that place—as there is here.

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Take away three things. One observation: the present passage gathers thirteen into eight and eight into three, and its manner of gathering is subsumption, not abolition: five items are subsumed—measured eating, eating at one sitting, being beneath a tree, sitting in the open, and the charnel ground—and thirteen minus five leaves eight〔406b07–12〕; eight are gathered into three, and those three are precisely the first items of the three groups—the rag robe, alms-food practice, and the secluded place〔406b12–13〕; the closing sentence says, “If these three are pure, the ascetic practices are fulfilled”〔406b13–14〕—it does not say that three ascetic practices are fulfilled, but that the ascetic practices are fulfilled. One reading practice: on seeing “subsumption,” turn back and count the items: subsumption in this treatise gathers without abolishing, so whenever words of gathering and enumeration appear, count the items first; when the count agrees, half the meaning is clear, and when it does not, an uncertainty of punctuation or transmission is often present. One place to pause: the only “A further account says” in the entire treatise concerns nasal irrigation〔406b06–07〕: the author has just said “constant sitting without lying down has no allowance”〔406b05–06〕, yet within one sentence records an opposing account without adopting or rejecting it. Both 復有一說 and 灌鼻 occur once in the entire treatise, while other formulas for alternate accounts appear as 復有說 five times and 復說 thirty-six times. The strictest item is nevertheless the only one for which an alternate account is recorded. The author does not state why, and this edition does not decide on his behalf.

Three smaller matters should also be remembered: “allowance” occurs fifteen times in the Chapter on the Ascetic Practices, all in this passage (406a17 to 406b06), and not once in the preceding three passages; the opening form for allowance takes two shapes—the first two items do not use the word “allowance”〔406a16·406a17〕, while the following five take the form “What is the allowance for such-and-such?”; and the three items in the Buddha’s words are not entirely the same as the three above—the preceding statement has “first, the secluded place; second, the rag robe; and third, going for alms-food”〔406b13〕, while the Buddha’s words have “accomplished in a secluded place, undertaking the rag robe, not eating after the proper time”〔406b14–15〕. They are recorded without being made uniform.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Allowances and Subsumption of the Thirteen Ascetic Practices · Exposition · Summer 2026