解脫道論 世間、出世因緣與相攝

The final passage of fascicle ten. Of the seven approaches in the method concerning conditionality, the last two are completed here; when this doorway closes, the fascicle too comes to an end.

The sixth approach is analysis. It first distinguishes two kinds of conditionality: mundane and supramundane. The mundane is very brief—beginning from ignorance, it carries forward the drawing approach of the preceding passage.

The supramundane, by contrast, continues through eleven items: suffering depends on suffering; confidence depends on confidence; joy depends on joy; exhilaration depends on exhilaration; repose depends on repose; pleasure depends on pleasure; concentration depends on concentration; knowledge-and-vision according to reality depends on knowledge-and-vision according to reality; disenchantment depends on disenchantment; dispassion depends on dispassion; liberation depends on knowledge of cessation through liberation. Eleven items: in each, the same name appears twice, linked in the middle by “depends on”; ten follow that form throughout, while the last breaks the pattern, adding the two characters rendered “knowledge of cessation” in its latter half.

This series can be read directly against the mundane chain: one begins with ignorance and descends to suffering; the other begins with suffering and arrives at liberation. The same “depends on” carries a person all the way down, and all the way up.

Next come four kinds of condition—karma-and-defilement as cause, seed as cause, produced activity, and shared karma as cause; four names, four questions and four answers, matched one by one, with not one item missing.

Then comes the most direct of the alternative accounts: there is no shared karma. This is not a correction; it negates in full the fourth cause just established. With this, the chapter has presented three alternative accounts, and the treatise adjudicates none of them.

Once the alternative has finished speaking, what follows immediately is—As the Blessed One spoke in verse:

　　Karma is not shared with another; it is a store another cannot steal.
　　The merit a person makes brings that person its wholesome result.

The citation formula “As the Blessed One spoke in verse” occurs only once in the entire treatise. Other verse citations and verse passages have already appeared in the treatise; what is distinctive here is the exact wording of the formula and the place where it occurs.

Where does it occur? Immediately after the alternative, with no “further,” no “answer,” and no marker of any new beginning between them.

Who cites this verse? If it belongs to the alternative account, then that account cites the Blessed One’s words to support itself—and the verse says “Karma is not shared with another,” agreeing directly with the alternative’s “there is no shared karma.” If it belongs to the author of the treatise, then the author cites a verse after the alternative. The treatise does not mark the speaker.

The verifiable proximity and wording are still not enough to identify who cites the verse. This edition reproduces the text as it stands and does not decide on its behalf.

The seventh approach is mutual inclusion, and here there is one exception.

The inclusion sections of the methods concerning the aggregates, bases, and noble truths all read “three kinds of inclusion.” This passage instead reads “four kinds of mutual inclusion”—taking all four: aggregates, bases, elements, and truths. (The four-character expression rendered “four kinds of mutual inclusion” occurs only once in the entire treatise.)

Place the four passages side by side: the methods concerning aggregates, bases, and noble truths each omit the category with the same name as the subject under discussion; this passage lists all four categories—aggregates, bases, elements, and truths.

Here is one reproducible reading practice: place the object under discussion beside the names listed in its inclusion approach, and note what it lists and what it leaves out. The wording of the four passages compares in just this way; the treatise does not state why.

(Keep two difficult readings in mind as well: the sense-base column and the element column each contain one unbroken “consciousness-mind”; by the symmetry of what precedes and follows, each is one item. The truth column contains the two expressions “twelve truths” and “ten truths.” The treatise establishes only four truths; each expression occurs only once in the entire treatise, and the text explains neither. Yet the three—“ignorance, craving, and grasping”—plus the nine in “the remaining nine” make exactly twelve, matching the number of the twelve factors.)

The final two items close the thread planted at the beginning: supramundane conditionality belongs to the path truth, and the cessation of conditionality belongs to the cessation truth. Two kinds of conditionality were established at the opening; only here does the supramundane one receive its place.

The fourth doorway closes here. Of the five instances of “is complete,” this is the fourth; of the five methods, only one remains—the method concerning the noble truths, in the next fascicle.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Mundane and Supramundane Conditions and Inclusion · Doorway · Summer 2026

Sixth Approach: Analysis

Question: How is it to be viewed through analysis?

Answer: There are two kinds of conditionality—mundane conditionality and supramundane conditionality.

Here, what begins with ignorance is mundane conditionality.

The heading reads “mundane conditionality” (世間因緣), while here it reads “mundane conditionality” (世因緣): one name in two forms. Both are reproduced here as they stand.

Supramundane Conditionality: Eleven Items

Question: What is supramundane conditionality?

Answer: Suffering depends on suffering; confidence depends on confidence; joy depends on joy; exhilaration depends on exhilaration; repose depends on repose; pleasure depends on pleasure; concentration depends on concentration; knowledge-and-vision according to reality depends on knowledge-and-vision according to reality; disenchantment depends on disenchantment; dispassion depends on dispassion; liberation depends on knowledge of cessation through liberation—this is called supramundane conditionality.

There are eleven items. In ten of them, the same name appears twice, with “depends on” between the two occurrences. Only the last reads “liberation depends on knowledge of cessation through liberation,” with the two extra characters “cessation-knowledge” in its latter half. It is reproduced here as it stands and is not made uniform with the others.

Four Kinds of Condition

A further four kinds of condition are stated: karma-and-defilement as cause, seed as cause, produced activity, and shared karma as cause.

Question: What is karma-and-defilement as cause? Answer: What begins with ignorance.

What is seed as cause? It is like the continuity of seed and shoot.

What is produced activity? It is like transformed form.

What is shared karma as cause? It is like the earth, Snow Mountain, the sea, the sun, and the moon.

The four names correspond one by one to the four questions and four answers; not a single item is missing. They are reproduced here as they stand.

One Alternative Account and One Verse

Another says: It is not that shared karma is the cause. Rather, for material and mental dhammas, season is the cause; there is no shared karma.

As the Blessed One spoke in verse:

Karma is not shared with another; it is a store that another cannot steal.

The merit a person makes brings that person its wholesome result.

Thus, analysis can be known.

The verse follows immediately after that alternative account, with no separate marker between them. Does the alternative account cite the verse as evidence for itself, or does the treatise’s author cite it after reporting the alternative? The treatise gives no marker. This is reproduced as it stands, without deciding the attribution.

Seventh Approach: Inclusion

Question: How is it to be viewed through inclusion?

Answer: There are four kinds of inclusion—inclusion under aggregates, inclusion under bases, inclusion under elements, and inclusion under truths.

Here:

Inclusion under aggregates—Ignorance, formations, contact, craving, grasping, and becoming are included in the formations aggregate. Consciousness is included in the consciousness aggregate. Name-and-form is included in four aggregates. The six bases are included in two aggregates. Feeling is included in the feeling aggregate. Birth and aging-and-death are included in the form aggregate and the formations aggregate.

Inclusion under the bases—Ignorance, formations, contact, feeling, craving, grasping, becoming, birth, and aging-and-death are included in the dhamma base. Consciousness is included in the mind base. Name-and-form is included in five internal bases. The six bases are included in six internal bases.

Inclusion under the elements—Ignorance, formations, contact, feeling, craving, grasping, becoming, birth, and aging-and-death are included in the dhamma element. Consciousness is included in the mind-consciousness element. Name-and-form is included in five elements. The six bases, twelve...

Inclusion under the truths—Ignorance, craving, and grasping are included in the ten truths. The remaining nine are included in the truth of suffering. Supramundane conditionality and the path factor are included in the truth of the path. The cessation of conditionality is included in the truth of cessation.

Thus, inclusion can be known. Through these approaches, the method concerning conditionality can be known. This is called the method concerning conditionality. (The method concerning conditionality is complete.)

Two Difficult Readings in the Inclusion Passage

First, the base text reads “consciousness mind, included in the base” and “consciousness mind, included in the consciousness element.” The two characters 識, “consciousness,” and 意, “mind,” stand together with no enumeration comma between them. By the symmetry of the surrounding clauses, each occurrence constitutes one item (consciousness belongs to the mind base; consciousness belongs to the mind-consciousness element). The original wording is reproduced here, without supplying punctuation.

Second, the base text reads “the six bases, included in twelve truths” and “ignorance, craving, and grasping, included in ten truths.” This treatise establishes only four truths, yet the expressions “twelve truths” and “ten truths” appear here; each occurs only once in the entire treatise, and the text does not explain either one. Further, the three in “ignorance, craving, and grasping” plus the nine in “the remaining nine” total exactly twelve, matching the number of the twelve links. The original wording is reproduced here, without emendation or added punctuation.

One Difference from the First Three Methods

The inclusion sections of the aggregate method, the base method, and the noble-truth method each read “three kinds of inclusion.” The inclusion section here instead reads “four kinds of inclusion” and takes all four—aggregates, bases, elements, and truths. This is reproduced here as it stands.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Mundane and Supramundane Conditions and Inclusion · Vernacular · Summer 2026

Fascicle ten has reached its final passage. Of the seven approaches in the method concerning conditionality, the last two are completed here; when the gate closes, the fascicle itself comes to an end.

Let us state the observation first: This passage offers two points of contrast with earlier parts of the chapter. First, its inclusion approach has “four kinds of mutual inclusion,” not “three kinds of inclusion”: the methods concerning aggregates, bases, and noble truths each list the other three categories, whereas this passage lists aggregates, bases, elements, and truths, four categories. This is the visible wording across the four passages, and the treatise does not state why. Second, the introductory formula “as the Blessed One spoke in verse” follows an alternative account, and the treatise does not mark who cites it.

Reading Practice: See How Many Kinds Each Inclusion Passage Uses

First consider the first departure from the pattern, because it provides a measure one can carry away.

The aggregate method’s inclusion approach says, “three kinds of inclusion: base inclusion, element inclusion, truth inclusion” 〔T32 448c09〕; the base method says, “three kinds of inclusion: aggregate inclusion, element inclusion, truth inclusion” 〔T32 449c17〕; and the noble-truth method uses three kinds of inclusion—aggregates, bases, and elements 〔T32 453b23〕. All three have three kinds.

This passage, however, says, “Thus it can be known through analysis. Question: How through mutual inclusion? Answer: four kinds of mutual inclusion” 〔T32 451c16〕, followed by “aggregate inclusion, base inclusion, element inclusion, and truth inclusion” 〔T32 451c17〕—four kinds.

(What can be checked is simple: the four-character source phrase “four kinds of mutual inclusion” occurs only once in the entire treatise.)

Placed side by side, the four passages show this distribution in their wording: the aggregate method lists bases, elements, and truths; the base method lists aggregates, elements, and truths; the noble-truth method lists aggregates, bases, and elements. Conditionality, the subject of this passage, is not one of the four names—aggregate, base, element, or truth—and all four are listed.

The reading practice this passage gives us is this: place the subject under discussion beside the names listed in its inclusion approach, and first record what it lists and what it omits. The first three passages each omit the category with the same name as their subject; this passage lists all four categories.

This edition records only this verifiable textual contrast and does not state the treatise’s reason on its behalf.

Supramundane Conditionality: Eleven Items, Ten in One Form and the Last Irregular

The sixth approach is analysis. It first distinguishes two kinds of conditionality: mundane and supramundane. The mundane form is very brief—“the beginning; this is mundane conditionality” 〔T32 451c04〕—namely, beginning from ignorance; it carries forward the drawing approach of the preceding unit.

(Also keep in mind a small unevenness: the label has “mundane conditionality” 〔T32 451c03〕, whereas the line below uses the shorter “mundane condition”—one name in two forms. They are reproduced as they stand, without being made uniform.)

Supramundane conditionality then runs through eleven items: “Beginning, this is mundane conditionality. Question: What is supramundane conditionality? Answer: suffering depends on suffering; confidence” 〔T32 451c04〕; “depends on confidence; joy depends on joy; exhilaration depends on exhilaration; repose depends on repose; pleasure depends” 〔T32 451c05〕; “on pleasure; concentration depends on concentration; knowledge-and-vision according to reality depends on knowledge-and-vision according to reality; disenchantment depends on disen-” 〔T32 451c06〕; “chantment; dispassion depends on dispassion; liberation depends on knowledge of cessation through liberation; this is supra-” 〔T32 451c07〕mundane conditionality.

There are eleven items. In each, the same name appears twice with one “depends on” between them. Ten have exactly this form, and only the last breaks the pattern—it reads “liberation depends on knowledge of cessation through liberation,” with the two-character expression “knowledge of cessation” added in the latter half.

(The character meaning “depends on” occurs eleven times in this passage, exactly once for each of the eleven items.)

Suffering, confidence, joy, exhilaration, repose, pleasure, concentration, knowledge-and-vision according to reality, disenchantment, dispassion, and liberation—this series can be read directly against the mundane chain. One begins with ignorance and comes down into suffering; the other begins with suffering and comes to rest in liberation. The same “depends on” carries a person downward along one path and upward along the other. This edition records only the contrast between the two series and does not formulate another teaching on the treatise’s behalf.

Four Kinds of Condition, and an Alternative That Directly Says “There Is None”

Next come four kinds of condition: “supramundane conditionality. Further, four kinds of condition are stated: karma-and-defilement as cause; seed as” 〔T32 451c08〕; “cause; produced activity; shared karma as cause” 〔T32 451c09〕.

There are four names and four question-and-answer pairs, corresponding one by one, with not a single item missing: karma-and-defilement as cause begins from ignorance; “ignorance is the beginning. What is seed as cause? It is like the continuity of seed and sprout. What is produced” 〔T32 451c10〕; “activity? It is like transformed form. What is shared karma as cause? It is like earth, Snow Mountain, sea, sun, and moon” 〔T32 451c11〕.

Three similes are each tied to one cause—seed-and-sprout continuity, transformed form, and earth, Snow Mountain, sea, sun, and moon—while the first cause has no simile. It is reproduced without supplying one.

Then comes the chapter’s third alternative account: “Further, another says: these do not have shared karma as cause; for material and mental dhammas, season is cause” 〔T32 451c12〕; “there is no shared karma” 〔T32 451c13〕.

This account speaks most directly: there is no shared karma. It is not a correction; it rejects in its entirety the fourth cause just established above.

The chapter has now presented three alternative accounts—two in 11-08 under the object approach, one defending the eye and one defending the ear, and this one here. The treatise decides none of the three.

Pause Here: Who Cites That Verse?

Immediately after the alternative comes: “there is no shared karma. As the Blessed One spoke in verse:” 〔T32 451c13〕

Karma is not shared with another; it is a store that another cannot steal,

The merit a person makes brings that person its wholesome result. 〔T32 451c14–451c15〕

The five-character formula “as the Blessed One spoke in verse” occurs only once in the entire treatise, and the verse line “karma is not shared with another” also occurs only once. But the treatise has already included other cited verses and verse texts; what is unique here is this introductory formula, not verse as a form.

And where does it fall? Immediately after the alternative, with no “further,” no “answer,” and no marker of any kind opening a new passage.

Pause and ask: who cites this verse?

If it belongs to the alternative account, then that other speaker cites the Blessed One’s words in support of the position—and the verse’s “karma is not shared with another” accords directly with the alternative’s “there is no shared karma.” If it belongs to the author of the treatise, then the author cites a verse after the alternative; perhaps it concludes the alternative, or perhaps it points elsewhere.

The treatise does not mark this.

Only three things can be verified: the verse immediately follows the alternative with no new introductory marker; its words accord with those of the alternative; and “as the Blessed One spoke in verse” occurs nowhere else in the treatise. These three points are still insufficient to identify the citer. This edition reproduces the passage without deciding.

Mutual Inclusion: Four Columns in Order, and Two Difficult Readings

The seventh approach is mutual inclusion, and it sets out four columns in order.

Aggregate column: “Contact, craving, grasping, and becoming are included in the aggregate of formations. Consciousness is included in the aggregate of consciousness. Name-and-form is included in four aggregates” 〔T32 451c18〕; the six bases belong to two aggregates, feeling to the aggregate of feeling, and “included in the aggregate and in the aggregate of formations” 〔T32 451c20〕—birth and aging-and-death belong jointly to the aggregates of form and formations.

The base and element columns have the same form with a different frame. Each contains one run-together expression: “aging-and-death is included in the dhamma base. Consciousness-mind is included in the base. Name-and-form is included in five internal bases” 〔T32 451c21〕; and “aging-and-death is included in the dhamma element. Consciousness-mind is included in the consciousness element. Name-and-form is included in five elements” 〔T32 451c23〕. The two source characters for “consciousness” and “mind” run together without a break. By the symmetry of what comes before and after, each place is one item—consciousness belongs to the mind base, and consciousness to the mind-consciousness element. The source wording is reproduced without adding punctuation.

The truth column has an even more difficult place: “included. The six bases are included in twelve truths. Ignorance, craving, and grasping are included in ten truths. The remaining” 〔T32 451c24〕; “nine are included in the truth of suffering” 〔T32 451c25〕.

The treatise establishes only four truths. Yet “twelve truths” and “ten truths” appear here; each phrase occurs only once in the entire treatise, and not one sentence explains either.

Only one verifiable point adds up: the three—ignorance, craving, and grasping—plus the “remaining nine” make twelve, matching the number of the twelve links. As for how the two phrases are to be read, this edition records the original wording without changing it or adding punctuation.

The final two items pick up what was planted at the passage’s beginning: “the nine are included in the truth of suffering. Supramundane conditionality and the path factor are included in the path truth. Conditionality” 〔T32 451c25〕; “cessation is included in the cessation truth” 〔T32 451c26〕. The passage began by establishing two kinds of conditionality. The mundane kind is analyzed and included throughout; only here does the supramundane kind receive its place.

The Method Closes, and So Does the Fascicle

The last sentence reads: “cessation is included in the cessation truth. Thus mutual inclusion can be known. Thus, through the approaches, the conditionality” 〔T32 451c26〕; “method can be known. This is called the method concerning conditionality (the method concerning conditionality is complete)” 〔T32 451c27〕.

The fourth gate has closed. Of the five occurrences of “is complete,” this is the fourth.

What follows immediately is “The Path of Freedom, Fascicle Ten”—this passage is the final passage of the fascicle. Of the five methods, one remains: the method concerning the noble truths, in the next fascicle.

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Carry away three things: one observation—this passage uses “four kinds of mutual inclusion” 〔T32 451c16, sole occurrence in the treatise〕 rather than three; it also has “as the Blessed One spoke in verse” 〔T32 451c13, sole occurrence in the treatise〕 immediately following an alternative account, with no new introductory marker between them. One reading practice—place the subject under discussion beside the names listed in its inclusion approach: the first three passages each omit the category with the same name as their subject, whereas this passage lists all four; this is the visible wording across the four passages, and the treatise does not state why. One place to pause—the verse “karma is not shared with another” accords with the alternative’s “there is no shared karma”: who cites this verse? The treatise does not mark the citer; this edition reproduces the passage without deciding.

Remember three smaller points as well: supramundane conditionality has eleven items; ten repeat the same name on both sides of “depends on,” while only the last, “liberation depends on knowledge of cessation through liberation,” breaks the pattern; in the truth column of mutual inclusion, “twelve truths” and “ten truths” each occur only once in the entire treatise and are left unexplained, while the three of “ignorance, craving, and grasping” plus the nine of “the remaining nine” do make twelve; the chapter has three alternative accounts—two in 11-08 and one here—and the treatise decides none of them.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Mundane and Supramundane Conditions and Inclusion · Exposition · Summer 2026