解脫道論 四略、二十行、輪與牽

After the first of the seven approaches has been completed, this passage moves in one sweep through the second to the fifth—four summaries, twenty modes, wheel, and drawing.

Four approaches, four ways of cutting.

The four summaries cut the twelve factors into four groups: ignorance and formations belong to past karma-and-defilement; consciousness, name-and-form, the six bases, contact, and feeling belong to present result; craving, grasping, and becoming belong to present karma-and-defilement; birth and aging-and-death belong to future result. Two, five, three, and two: exactly twelve.

The twenty modes cut the twelve factors into six clauses. Each clause takes a certain number of factors and establishes what is taken under one of three characteristics (defilement, karma, or result).

The wheel makes no cut. It joins the beginning and the end.

Drawing takes only the two ends. Among the twelve factors, it concerns only the ends marked by ignorance and aging-and-death.

It is the same set of factors; the shape that appears depends on where the knife falls. This passage offers not a single sentence of theory. It simply performs the operation four times for the reader to see.

Of the four approaches, wheel is the shortest: only three sentences. The first is the chain (the intervening factors are passed over with “up to”). The second is the key—ignorance of this whole mass of suffering is itself ignorance. The third says only five characters: ignorance conditions formations; again, it is so.

Look closely at what it has done. The chain reaches its end with “the whole mass of suffering arises,” while ignorance of this whole mass of suffering is the chain’s first factor. Thus what is produced at the end is itself the beginning. No separate circle needs to be constructed; the chain closes by itself.

In the preceding unit, the reader already saw this circle: grain, seed, sprout, leaf, branch, tree, flower, sap, rice, seed—the tenth link is phrased exactly like the second, and the series joins itself. There its shape was disclosed by a simile; here it is stated directly in one sentence. The direct statement goes one step further: the circle is a circle not because things link end to beginning, but because this whole mass is not known.

Drawing has only two forms: beginning from ignorance and beginning from aging-and-death. Each receives two explanations—the first divides them into the sequence of exposition and the sequence of crossing; the second into knowing toward the future while standing at the boundary of becoming, and knowing toward the past while standing at the initial boundary. The two explanations stand side by side; the treatise does not reconcile them.

One place is worth stopping at for yourself. In the section on the twenty modes, after the six clauses have been listed, the treatise reports that these twenty-four dhammas, by taking their accomplishment, become twenty. Yet counting the six clauses item by item yields only twenty-three; and the treatise does not say how twenty-four “by taking their accomplishment” become twenty—which four are subtracted.

This point contrasts exactly with two other places in the same passage: the four summaries (two, five, three, and two) add up to twelve, and the three groups cited from the Abhidhamma (five, five, and two) also add up to twelve. Within one passage, two counts agree and one does not.

That a count comes out right is never something to take for granted.

(Keep one more thing in mind: the section on the twenty modes cites the Abhidhamma—“as the Abhidhamma says.” By this point, citation has appeared twice in the chapter, and the sources differ: two units earlier the text cited a saying of the Buddha; here it cites the Abhidhamma. Add the earlier place where a venerable was cited, and the chapter has three citation sites from three kinds of sources. All three are alike in one respect: none names the text or section, and none marks where the quotation ends. The treatise does not mark the boundary of a quotation, so we cannot draw one on its behalf.)

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Four Summaries, Twenty Modes, Wheel, and Drawing · Doorway · Summer 2026

Second Approach: Four Summaries

Question: How is it viewed through four summaries?

Answer: Ignorance and formations are summarized under past karma and defilements; consciousness, name-and-form, the six bases, contact, and feeling are summarized under present result; craving, grasping, and becoming are summarized under present karma and defilements; birth and aging-and-death are summarized under future result.

In this way, it can be understood through four summaries.

Counting the items in the four groups one by one gives two, five, three, and two, making twelve, matching the number of the twelve links. This is recorded as it stands.

Third Approach: Twenty Modes

Question: How is it viewed through twenty modes?

Answer:

Taking past ignorance together with craving and grasping, they become what is taken under the character of defilement;

Taking past formations together with becoming, they become what is taken under the character of karma;

Taking present consciousness, name-and-form, the six bases, contact, and feeling together with birth and aging-and-death, they become what is taken under the character of result;

Taking present craving and grasping, they become what is taken under the character of defilement;

Taking present becoming together with formations, they become what is taken under the character of karma;

Taking future birth and aging-and-death together with consciousness, name-and-form, the six bases, contact, and feeling, they become what is taken.

These twenty-four factors become twenty by taking their accomplishment.

The treatise itself reports twenty-four factors, but counting the items listed in the base text one by one—ignorance, craving, grasping; formations, becoming; consciousness, name-and-form, the six bases, contact, feeling, birth, aging-and-death; craving, grasping; becoming, formations; birth, aging-and-death, consciousness, name-and-form, the six bases, contact, feeling—gives twenty-three. Further, the treatise does not explain how twenty-four become twenty by “taking their accomplishment.” This is recorded as it stands; this edition does not calculate it or add punctuation on the text’s behalf.

Three Groups Stated in the Abhidhamma

As stated in the Abhidhamma:

In initial karmic becoming, delusion is ignorance, gathering is formation, attachment is craving, seeking is grasping, and intention is becoming—these five factors belong to becoming in this life, and the karma first performed is their condition.

Not comprehending the entry of consciousness, delusion is ignorance, gathering is formation, attachment is craving, seeking is grasping, and intention is becoming—these five factors belong to this karmic becoming and are the condition for the time of future birth; when consciousness crosses at the time of future birth, name-and-form is purified.

What is contacted by a base is contact, and taking is feeling—these two factors belong to becoming at future birth, and the karma performed here is their condition.

In this way, it can be understood through twenty modes.

The numbers in the three groups are five, five, and two, making twelve. This is recorded as it stands.

Fourth Approach: Wheel

How is it known through the wheel?

Ignorance conditions formations, formations condition consciousness, and so on until birth conditions aging-and-death—in this way, the entire aggregate of suffering arises.

Not knowing this entire aggregate of suffering is called ignorance.

As for ignorance conditioning formations, it is again so—in this way, it can be understood through the wheel.

Fifth Approach: Drawing

What is meant by drawing?

There are two drawings, namely, beginning from ignorance and beginning from aging-and-death. On this point—

Question: What begins from ignorance?

Answer: It is the sequence of exposition.

What begins from aging-and-death? It is the sequence of crossing.

Further: beginning from ignorance is knowing toward the future while facing the boundary of becoming. Beginning from aging-and-death is knowing toward the past while facing the initial boundary.

In this way, it can be understood through drawing.

The same pair of drawings first receives one explanation (sequence of exposition / sequence of crossing), then receives another explanation (facing the future / facing the past). The two explanations stand together; the treatise does not reconcile them. This is recorded as it stands.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Four Summaries, Twenty Modes, Wheel, and Drawing · Vernacular · Summer 2026

The seven approaches have completed their first approach—the three junctures. This passage completes the second through fifth approaches in one sweep.

Let us put the central observation first: Among the four approaches, the shortest is “wheel,” with only three sentences; and what those three sentences do is recognize the chain’s end as its beginning—“Not knowing this entire aggregate of suffering is called ignorance.” The preceding unit revealed the shape of this circle through a simile; here one sentence states it directly.

Reading Practice: See How Each Approach Recuts the Twelve

This passage sets out four approaches in succession, each handling the same twelve factors. Here is the reading practice: see what blade each approach uses to recut them.

Four summaries cut them into four groups. “It can be understood. Question: How through four summaries? Answer: ignorance and formations are summarized under past karma and defilements” 〔T32 451b07〕 “consciousness, name-and-form, the six bases, contact, and feeling under present result; craving and” 〔T32 451b08〕 “grasping and becoming under present karma and defilements; birth and aging-and-death under future result” 〔T32 451b09〕 in summary.

Past karma and defilements, present result, present karma and defilements, future result—four measures, interlaced two by two (three times × karma and defilements versus result). Count them: two, five, three, and two, making exactly twelve. The cut is clean, and the count agrees.

Twenty modes cut them into six clauses. All six close with “become what is taken” 〔T32 451b11–451b16〕; each clause states how many factors are taken and under what character—defilement, karma, or result—they become what is taken.

Wheel does not cut. It joins the beginning and end.

Drawing takes only the two ends. Of the twelve factors, it attends only to the ends of ignorance and aging-and-death.

Four approaches, four blades. With the same set of things, the resulting shape differs according to where the cut is made—this is the teaching of the entire passage, yet it never states that teaching in a sentence. It simply performs the operation four times for the reader to see.

Wheel: Three Sentences Close the Chain

The wheel approach is the shortest of the four: “The twenty modes can be understood. How through the wheel? Ignorance conditions formations, formations condition consciousness, and” 〔T32 451b24〕 “so on until birth conditions aging-and-death; in this way the entire aggregate of suffering arises. Regarding this entire aggregate of suffering, not” 〔T32 451b25〕 “knowing it is called ignorance. As for ignorance conditioning formations, it is again so; in this way it can be understood through the wheel” 〔T32 451b26〕.

Three sentences. The first is the chain, with the middle omitted and carried by “and so on.” The second is the key: Not knowing this entire aggregate of suffering is ignorance. The third says only five words: as for ignorance conditioning formations, it is again so.

Look closely at what it has done. The chain reaches its end with “the entire aggregate of suffering arises”; not knowing this entire aggregate is precisely the chain’s first factor. Thus what arises at the end is itself the beginning. No separate circle needs to be constructed; the chain closes by itself.

The preceding unit already showed the reader this circle: grain, seed, sprout, leaf, branch, tree, flower, sap, rice, seed—the tenth link repeats the same sentence as the second, so the list joins back onto itself 〔T32 450b21·450b28〕. There the shape of the circle was revealed through a simile; here it is stated directly in one sentence.

And this direct statement goes further than the simile: the simile says only, “this sequence joins up”; this sentence says, “the point where it joins is ignorance.” The circle is a circle not because things themselves meet end to beginning, but because this entire mass is not known.

This edition states only this much according to the text and does not press the treatise further.

Drawing: Only the Two Ends, Each Explained Twice

Drawing is shorter still: “How through drawing? Two drawings, namely, beginning from ignorance and beginning from aging-and-death” 〔T32 451b27〕 “on this point” 〔T32 451b28〕.

There are only two: beginning from ignorance and beginning from aging-and-death.

Each of these is explained twice. The first time: “On this point. Question: What begins from ignorance? Answer: It is the sequence of exposition. What begins from aging-and-death?” 〔T32 451b28〕 “It is the sequence of crossing” 〔T32 451b29〕—one is the sequence of exposition, the other the sequence of crossing.

The second time: “Further, beginning from ignorance is at the boundary of becoming” 〔T32 451b29〕 “facing the future and knowing. Beginning from aging-and-death is at the initial boundary facing the past” 〔T32 451c01〕 “and knowing” 〔T32 451c02〕—one stands at the boundary of becoming and knows toward the future; the other stands at the initial boundary and knows toward the past.

The same pair of drawings receives two explanations. The two explanations use different coordinates: the first distinguishes exposition from crossing, while the second distinguishes facing the future from facing the past. The treatise places them side by side without reconciling them. They are recorded as they stand; this edition does not reconcile them.

(The three expressions “two drawings,” “sequence of exposition,” and “sequence of crossing” each occur only once in the whole treatise.)

Pause: The Text Announces Twenty-Four; the List Gives Twenty-Three

Now pause at the section on twenty modes.

After the six clauses have been listed, the treatise announces a number: “the six bases, contact, and feeling become what is taken. These twenty-four dhammas, by taking their accomplishment” 〔T32 451b16〕 “become twenty” 〔T32 451b17〕.

Twenty-four dhammas become twenty by taking their accomplishment.

Count the six clauses item by item: the first has ignorance, craving, and grasping—three; the second, formations and becoming—two; the third, consciousness, name-and-form, the six bases, contact, feeling, birth, and aging-and-death—seven; the fourth, craving and grasping—two; the fifth, becoming and formations—two; the sixth, birth, aging-and-death, consciousness, name-and-form, the six bases, contact, and feeling—seven.

The total is twenty-three.

Yet the treatise says twenty-four. The difference is one.

Further, how do twenty-four “by taking their accomplishment” become twenty? Four must be subtracted, but which four? The treatise does not provide its calculation.

Pause and ask one question: how should this number be counted?

This passage cannot answer. Only three things can be verified: the treatise announces twenty-four; counting the items transmitted in the base text gives twenty-three; and the treatise does not provide the subtraction by which they “become twenty.” This edition records these facts without calculating or adding punctuation on the text’s behalf.

This case contrasts with two others in the same passage: the four-summary groups (two, five, three, two) add to twelve, and the three groups cited from the Abhidhamma (five, five, two) also add to twelve. Within one passage, two totals agree and one does not. The count of forms at conception at the end of the preceding unit is another place where the figures fail to agree.

That the numbers agree is never something to take for granted. This is precisely why the chapter checks them again and again.

One Citation with a Changed Authority

There is one more matter to record in the section on twenty modes.

“They become twenty. As the Abhidhamma says: in initial karmic becoming, delusion is ignorance,” 〔T32 451b17〕—here the treatise cites the Abhidhamma.

The citation contains three groups: initial karmic becoming has five dhammas—delusion is ignorance, gathering is formation, attachment is craving, seeking is grasping, and intention is becoming; this karmic becoming has five dhammas—the same five names, though the becoming to which they are attached differs; and future birth becoming has two dhammas—contact and feeling. Five, five, and two make twelve.

What deserves notice is that the authority has changed. Two units back, in 11-11, the treatise cited “as the Buddha said” 〔T32 450c04〕; here it cites “as the Abhidhamma says.” The chapter has now presented two citations, and their authorities differ—one is a Buddha-saying and one the Abhidhamma. Add the citation of the Venerable in 11-02 〔T32 446a01〕, and the chapter has three citations from three kinds of source.

Both citations are alike in one respect: neither gives the name of the scripture or its section, nor marks where the quotation ends. The treatise does not mark the quotation’s boundary, and this edition does not draw it on the treatise’s behalf.

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Take away three things. One observation—the wheel approach has only three sentences, and what it does is recognize the chain’s end as its beginning: “Regarding this entire aggregate of suffering, not” 〔T32 451b25〕 “knowing it is called ignorance” 〔T32 451b26〕. The preceding unit used the ten-link grain-and-seed simile to reveal the shape of this circle; this passage states it directly in one sentence. And that sentence goes further—the circle is a circle not because things meet end to beginning, but because this entire mass is not known. One reading practice—see how each approach recuts the twelve factors: four summaries cut four groups, twenty modes cut six clauses, wheel does not cut but joins beginning and end, and drawing takes only the two ends. With the same things, a different place of cutting yields a different shape. One place to pause—twenty modes announces, “These twenty-four dhammas, by taking their accomplishment, become twenty” 〔T32 451b16–451b17〕, yet counting the listed items gives twenty-three, and the treatise does not provide the subtraction by which they “become twenty”: How should this number be counted? This edition records it without calculating on the treatise’s behalf.

Remember two smaller matters as well: the two drawings each receive two explanations—sequence of exposition versus sequence of crossing, and facing the future versus facing the past—without the treatise reconciling them; and this passage introduces its citation with “as the Abhidhamma says” 〔T32 451b17〕, under an authority different from 11-11’s “as the Buddha said” 〔T32 450c04〕, while neither passage marks where its quotation ends.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Four Summaries, Twenty Modes, Wheel, and Drawing · Exposition · Summer 2026