解脫道論 行處、細罪與可學

The Path of Freedom is organized and judged throughout in the author's own voice. Sayings of the Buddha have fixed formulas of citation; a treatise is cited with “as the Abhidhamma says”; and when the author gives another account of his own, he says “further.”

But “there is another view”—citing an unnamed other person—occurs only once in the entire treatise.

It occurs here, where the subject is “fear of minor offenses.”

The first account is the author's own: “As for fearing minor offenses: I have completed what is to be learned; therefore I dare to act—this is called fear of minor offenses.”

Then he writes: “Further, there is another view.”

The second account follows: if an unwholesome mind arises, this is a slight fault; toward this slight fault the mind keeps its distance, sees its danger and fears it, and sees escape.

The two accounts stand there, and the author does not decide which is right.

The difference is substantial. The first speaks from an outer boundary—all the training rules have been undertaken, and therefore one dares to act without fear. The second speaks from an inner boundary—even the stirring of a single unwholesome thought in the mind counts as a slight fault.

The author knows that another account is in circulation, and he neither suppresses it nor merges it into his own, but simply places the two side by side.

There are many places where this treatise sets alternatives side by side without deciding: flavor, arising, and footing are stated twice without a decision; improper conduct is stated three times without the accounts subsuming one another. The only difference is that here he says explicitly, “This is someone else's view.”

One further point in this section deserves remembering. When discussing “proper resort,” the author says that there is proper resort and improper resort, and then gives a long list of improper resorts—brothels, drinking establishments, kings and ministers, and non-Buddhist ascetics.

When it is time for the positive side, he writes only four words: “Proper resort can be known.”

The preceding section writes improper conduct in detail and says of the positive side, “the opposite of improper conduct.” Here even “the opposite” is omitted.

Used in two sections in succession, this is his settled method: write out where one should not go in full, and hand where one should go to the reader to reverse.

The words “can be known” are not an omission. They are an instruction: now reverse it for yourself.

(One incidental note: no textual note occurs in this section. It is the only one of the Chapter on the Analysis of Virtue's nine sections without a variant reading. These few hundred characters may be read closely with confidence.)

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Proper Resort, Minor Offenses, and What Is to Be Learned · Doorway · Summer 2026

Proper and Improper Resort

Resort means that there is proper resort and improper resort.

What is improper resort? If a monk enters a brothel, a widow's house, a maiden's house, a eunuch's house, a nun's house, or any drinking establishment, and associates closely with kings, ministers, non-Buddhist ascetics, or companions outside the Dhamma, people such as these have no heart of faith and delight, constantly bring no benefit to the fourfold community, and are deeply repugnant—this is called improper resort.

As the Buddha said: a monk goes into a place of conduct contrary to the holy life. What does it mean to go into a place of conduct contrary to the holy life? It means trading in women for sex.

Proper resort can be known from this.

One thing is recorded here exactly as the treatise has it: the question concerns improper resort, and the answer is a long list of places and people; proper resort itself receives no separate explanation and is passed over with the single statement “proper resort can be known.” Nothing is supplied on its behalf here.

Three Kinds of Resort

Further, resort is of three kinds: resort of reliance, resort of guarding, and resort of binding.

What is resort of reliance? It is a good friend accomplished in ten qualities. Relying on these qualities, one comes to hear what one has not heard; what one has already heard is broadened after hearing; doubt and regret are cut off and right view becomes clear and pure; one can train in accordance with the Dhamma, with deep faith and courage; and virtue, learning, giving, and wisdom increase from moment to moment—this is called resort of reliance.

What is resort of guarding? If a monk must enter another's house or walk through a village, he advances with his eyes on the ground and does not look beyond a fathom; his bearing is composed, inspiring the respect of those who see him; he does not look at elephants, horses, carriages, or gatherings of men and women; he does not look at palaces, houses, lanes, or streets, or gaze upward and around—this is called resort of guarding.

What is resort of binding? As the Buddha said: if a monk observes the sphere of his household—this is called resort of binding.

This is called conduct. Because one is accomplished in these resorts, one is said to be accomplished in proper resort.

Fear of Minor Offenses

As for fearing minor offenses: “I have completed what is to be learned; therefore I dare to act”—this is called fear of minor offenses.

Further, there is a saying: if an unwholesome mind arises, this is called a slight fault; toward this slight fault the mind keeps its distance, sees its danger and fears it, and sees escape—this is called seeing fear in a slight fault.

One thing is recorded here exactly as the treatise has it: two accounts are given of the same matter, and the second is introduced by “further, there is a saying.” This introductory phrase occurs only once in the entire treatise. The two accounts stand side by side, and the treatise does not decide between them.

Rightly Undertaking to Learn What Is to Be Learned

As for rightly undertaking to learn what is to be learned: what is meant by “what is to be learned”? It means rightly undertaking and following all the deportment of the seven classes—this is called rightly undertaking to learn what is to be learned.

This is called the virtue of Pātimokkha deportment.

The definition at the beginning of the preceding section listed four things—being covered by deportment, being accomplished in proper resort, fearing minor offenses, and rightly undertaking to learn what is to be learned. The preceding section explained the first; this section finishes explaining the other three. Only with this sentence is the virtue of Pātimokkha deportment brought to a close.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Proper Resort, Minor Offenses, and What Is to Be Learned · Vernacular · Summer 2026

Finishing the Three Matters Left Owing by the Previous Section

At the beginning of the preceding section is a definition: “covered by Pātimokkha deportment, accomplished in proper resort, fearing minor offenses, and rightly undertaking to learn what is to be learned” 〔T32 402b21–23〕.

One sentence, four matters. The preceding section discusses only the first and leaves the other three standing there.

This section comes to finish those three accounts: proper resort in the first and second paragraphs, fear of minor offenses in the third, and rightly undertaking to learn what is to be learned in the fourth. When they are finished, the author writes, “This is called the virtue of Pātimokkha deportment” 〔T32 403a15〕—only here does the first item truly close.

Yet the weight of the three accounts differs greatly: proper resort occupies two paragraphs and more than three hundred characters, fear of minor offenses a little more than sixty, and rightly undertaking to learn what is to be learned a little more than forty. The sequence diminishes.

This diminishing is itself a kind of explanation. Proper resort concerns where the body goes and where the eyes look—the aspect most easily left unguarded and hardest to notice in oneself—so it is described in greatest detail. Rightly undertaking to learn what is to be learned says only, “rightly undertaking and following all the deportment of the seven classes” 〔T32 403a14〕, because the seven classes have written rules; one need only turn to those rules, and they need not be unfolded here.

Once Again, Asking About One Side and Answering with the Other

The form of the question in the first paragraph deserves a close look.

The author says, “Resort means that there is proper resort and improper resort” 〔T32 402c22–23〕—both sides are present.

He then asks what improper resort is. The answer is a long list: brothels, widows' houses, maidens' houses, eunuchs' houses, nuns' houses, and drinking establishments, together with kings, ministers, non-Buddhist ascetics, and companions outside the Dhamma.

Next he cites a saying of the Buddha: “As the Buddha said: a monk goes into a place of conduct contrary to the holy life” 〔T32 402c27〕, and explains it himself as trading in women for sex.

And then?

“Proper resort can be known” 〔T32 402c28〕.

Four words, and it is over.

Of the positive side, the author writes not one further word.

This is the same method as in the preceding section: there improper conduct is written out in detail, while the positive side is given only as “the opposite of improper conduct.” Here even the two words “the opposite” are omitted; it says directly that it “can be known.”

Used in two sections in succession, this is no accident. It is the treatise's settled way of handling positive and negative sides: write out the negative side in full and hand the positive side to the reader to reverse. It dares to do this because the negative list is concrete—concrete enough for every item to be reversed.

So when you read the two words “can be known,” do not take them as the author's passing over the matter. They are an instruction: now reverse it for yourself.

Three Kinds of Resort: Changing the Measure

The second paragraph begins anew: “Further, resort is of three kinds: resort of reliance, resort of guarding, and resort of binding” 〔T32 402c29–403a01〕.

Notice that these three items and the preceding paragraph's twofold division are not the same thing.

The preceding division of proper and improper resort distinguishes where one may go and where one may not go—it concerns places.

The three kinds here distinguish the function resort performs in practice: resort of reliance is what one may depend on in order to grow, namely a good friend accomplished in ten qualities; resort of guarding is how one guards oneself when entering a village, looking at the ground while advancing, not looking beyond a fathom, and not looking at elephants, horses, or carriages; while resort of binding stops after citing a single saying of the Buddha, observing the sphere of one's household.

The same term is measured by two different standards in the two successive paragraphs. As usual, the author does not say that he has changed the measure.

This is precisely what this chapter has been teaching from its first section: when a list bearing the same name is introduced by “further,” first suppose that it applies a different measure, not that it fills a gap left by the first. Each of the two paragraphs is complete on its own; do not stack them together.

One related point is worth recording: the expression “ten qualities” occurs only once in the entire treatise 〔T32 403a01〕, and the treatise does not list its ten items. A number is stated without its items; this chapter has already shown both forms—the thirty-four dhammas do give their items, while these ten do not. Record it without supplying them.

The Only Time in the Entire Treatise the Author Says “There Is Another View”

Now we reach the place in this section most worth pausing over.

The third paragraph discusses “fear of minor offenses.” The first account is: “As for fearing minor offenses: I have completed what is to be learned; therefore I dare to act—this is called fear of minor offenses” 〔T32 403a10–11〕.

Then the author writes a phrase that occurs only once in the whole Path of Freedom:

“Further, there is another view” 〔T32 403a11〕.

The second account follows: if an unwholesome mind arises, this is a slight fault; toward this slight fault the mind keeps its distance, sees its danger and fears it, and sees escape—this is called seeing fear in a slight fault.

The two accounts stand side by side, and the author does not decide which is right.

Why is this phrase “there is another view” worth pausing over?

Because it is not “as the Buddha said,” and it is not the author's own “further.” The treatise has fixed formulas when it cites the Buddha—“as the Buddha said,” “again, as the Buddha said,” and “as the Blessed One said”; it says “as the Abhidhamma says” when citing a treatise; and it says “further” when the author himself gives another account. But “there is another view” cites an unnamed other person.

Across more than a hundred pages of the whole treatise, this happens only once.

This shows two things. First, the greater part of this treatise is the author's own organization and judgment, not a compilation of various views. Second, at this one place the author deliberately makes room—he knows that another account of “fear of minor offenses” is in circulation, and he neither suppresses it nor merges it into his own account, but simply places the two side by side.

The difference between the two accounts is substantial. The first speaks from the standpoint of “having completed what is to be learned”: all the training rules have been undertaken, and therefore one dares to act without fear. The second speaks from the standpoint of “the arising of an unwholesome mind”: even the stirring of a single unwholesome thought in the mind counts as a slight fault. The former is an outer boundary; the latter, an inner boundary.

The author does not reconcile them, so the reader must retain both. This too is something the treatise does repeatedly: flavor, arising, and footing are stated twice without a decision in the second section; improper conduct is stated three times without the accounts subsuming one another in the fifth; here two accounts of fear of minor offenses are set side by side without a decision.

The only difference is that this time the author says explicitly, “This is someone else's view.”

One Sentence Closes a Long Unfolding

The fourth paragraph is extremely short: “As for rightly undertaking to learn what is to be learned: what is meant by what is to be learned? It means rightly undertaking and following all the deportment of the seven classes” 〔T32 403a13–14〕.

The seven classes are not listed. The expression “seven classes” occurs only twice in the whole treatise, the other occurrence being in the final section of this chapter 〔T32 404a11〕, where it says “within the seven classes, one observes oneself,” again without listing the items.

Then comes: “This is called the virtue of Pātimokkha deportment” 〔T32 403a15〕.

Seven words close an unfolding that spans two sections and nearly a thousand characters.

Only at this point is the first of the fifth group's four items complete. The second item, “virtue of purity of livelihood,” begins in the next section.

One Further Point to Record

One further point: this section contains no textual note.

The nine sections of the Chapter on the Analysis of Virtue contain fifty textual notes in all, yet this section has none. It is the only passage in the entire chapter without a variant reading.

No meaning need be drawn from this—variants in a textual tradition are unevenly distributed by nature; the preceding section alone has eleven crowded into its short passage on bodily misconduct. But it is useful for a reader to know that the wording of the passage at hand is uncontested: these few hundred characters can be read closely with confidence.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Proper Resort, Minor Offenses, and What Is to Be Learned · Exposition · Summer 2026