解脫道論 想受滅正受

The body of 〈Distinguishing the Truths〉 runs only as far as this passage. With the second of the two attainments—the attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling—explained, what follows is the conclusion of the twelve chapters and the summarizing verses.

There is one thing not easily seen in a straight reading, which becomes plain once the names are circled and set out in a row: for one and the same concentration, this passage uses six names.

The heading at the opening reads 想受滅正受, “attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling.” The first answer already changes it: 滅想受定, “concentration that ceases perception and feeling”—the graph order is reversed. The close of the procedure topic reads 入滅想受定, “entry into the concentration that ceases perception and feeling”—one graph, “entry,” added in front. In distinguishing a dead man from a man in this concentration, two more appear within a single sentence: one reads 入滅想定人, “person entered into the concentration that ceases perception”—the graph for “feeling” has dropped out; the other reads 入受想定人, “person entered into feeling-and-perception concentration”—“perception and feeling” is reversed to “feeling and perception.” And the interlinear note at the end closes the topic as 滅禪定, “cessation meditation-concentration”—both “perception” and “feeling” are gone, replaced by a single graph for “meditation.”

Six names, one thing. Two among them occur only this once each in the treatise.

Here is a tool to carry away: read through a passage, circle every place where it names its own subject and set them out in a column; then go and check whether any critical note falls on those names.

The result of that check here: not a single one. All seven critical notes in the passage fall on other graphs—the six names are not touched in a single place.

That check carries weight: where a critical note falls on the name, read the difference first as one of transmission; where no note falls on the name, the treatise is simply like this of itself. Record it as it stands; do not regularize it on its behalf.

There is another place worth remembering. The opening of this passage is likewise one long chain of questions, fourteen in a single breath; yet reading down through the topics, the ones given a heading and answered are fifteen. The extra topic is one the author supplied himself: “Who is it that does not cause it to arise?”

What was asked was only “who causes it to arise.” The author supplied the reverse side, and supplied it without haste: four kinds of person, each with its reason given. Only with the two topics taken together is the question “who” answered through.

And the preceding passage is exactly the reverse: there, twelve questions were asked and only seven were given a heading and answered, two questions having no heading at all. Both passages open with a chain of questions; one answers too few, the other too many. In neither place does the author explain.

There is one last piece of craft at the end. Of the fifteen topics in the passage, fourteen are given a positive answer; only the last answers, “it cannot be said whether this concentration is conditioned or unconditioned.” And the author does not stop there—he opens a further section devoted to explaining why it cannot be said: to call it conditioned will not do, for conditioned states are not present in this concentration; to call it unconditioned will not do either, for with unconditioned states there is no way to know entry and emergence.

Even where no answer can be given, there must be a reason why none can be given.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Attainment of the Cessation of Perception and Feeling · Doorway · Summer 2026

1. Fourteen Questions and Their Answers

Question: What is the attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling (想受滅正受)? Who causes it to arise? Through how many powers is it accomplished and caused to arise? By removing how many activities is it caused to arise? How many preliminary matters are there? For what purpose does it arise? How does it arise? How does one emerge from it? With what mind does one emerge? After emerging, on what does the mind rest? By how many contacts is one contacted? How do activities first arise? What is the difference between a dead person and a person in entry into concentration that ceases perception and feeling? Is this concentration conditioned or unconditioned?

This opening asks fourteen questions. The answers below have fifteen headings, one more than the questions: “Who does not cause it to arise?” Several answer headings also differ verbally from their questions. They remain as written.

What Is the Attainment of the Cessation of Perception and Feeling?

Answer: Mind and mental factors do not arise. This is called concentration that ceases perception and feeling (滅想受定).

Who Causes It to Arise?

Who causes the concentration to arise? Answer: Arahants and non-returners fulfill this concentration.

Who Does Not Cause It to Arise?

Who does not cause it to arise? Answer: Ordinary persons, stream-enterers, once-returners, and those born in the formless realm, because it is not their sphere.

Ordinary persons cannot cause it to arise because the defilements obstructing concentration have not been abandoned. Stream-enterers and once-returners cannot because they are to arise again. Those in the formless realm cannot because it is not their place.

(This topic was not in the opening questions.)

Through How Many Powers Is It Accomplished and Caused to Arise?

Through how many powers is it accomplished and caused to arise? Answer: Through two powers: the power of calm and the power of insight.

Here, through the power of calm, one has mastery over the eight attainments; through the power of insight, mastery follows the seven contemplations.

What are the seven successive contemplations? Contemplation of impermanence, suffering, not-self, disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, and relinquishment.

The power of calm serves the factor of cessation meditation and immovable liberation. The power of insight serves seeing the danger in arising and liberation through the unarisen.

By Removing How Many Activities Is It Caused to Arise?

By removing how many activities is the concentration caused to arise? Answer: By removing three activities: verbal, bodily, and mental activity.

On entering the second meditation, thought and examination—the verbal activity—are removed. On entering the fourth meditation, out-breath and in-breath—the bodily activity—are removed. In a person entered into the concentration that ceases perception and feeling, perception and feeling—the mental activity—are removed.

How Many Preliminary Matters?

How many matters are preliminary? Answer: Four: a single binding, non-disturbance, far determination (遠分別), and discerning what is and is not a matter.

A single binding means wrapping the bowl and robe together in one place with the retained gaiji 𭞴 and undertaking it. Non-disturbance means undertaking, by every available means, the wish that this body not be disturbed. Far determination means measuring bodily strength and undertaking a determination by days: “After this long-far interval, I shall emerge when the term has passed.” Discerning what is and is not a matter means determining beforehand: if the Saṅgha assembles on a matter, one undertakes, “I shall emerge at that sound.”

A single binding protects the robe. Non-disturbance and long-far determination (久遠分別) protect the body. Discerning what is and is not a matter prevents obstruction of an assembly of the Saṅgha. While abiding in the base of nothingness, or when first performing the preliminary matter, one enters the first meditation.

(The heading says 遠分別, “far determination,” while the later explanation says 久遠分別, “long-far determination.” Four matters receive only three purpose-statements because non-disturbance and long-far determination share one. The forms remain distinct.)

Why Cause It to Arise?

Why cause it to arise? Answer: For abiding happily in the present Dhamma; it is the final immovable concentration of a noble person.

Furthermore, it is for arousing superknowledges and entering vast concentration. Examples are the arhat named Zhengming (正命羅漢), for protecting the body; the elder Shelifu (舍利弗); and the elder Bailuzidisha (白鷺子底沙). No unattested Indic names are supplied.

(The question says “for what purpose does it arise,” while this heading says “why cause it to arise.”)

How Is It Caused to Arise?

How is it caused to arise? The sitting meditator enters a very peaceful abiding, sitting or lying down, delighting in cessation and intending cessation, and enters the first meditation. Having entered, one emerges carefully and immediately sees that meditation as impermanent, painful, and not-self, continuing through knowledge of equanimity toward formations.

The same procedure is followed with the second, third, and fourth meditations, the base of infinite space, the base of infinite consciousness, and the base of nothingness: after entering and carefully emerging, one immediately sees the concentration as impermanent, painful, and not-self, continuing through knowledge of equanimity toward formations.

Then one immediately enters the base of neither perception nor non-perception and from there causes two or three minds of neither perception nor non-perception to arise. After they arise, one causes mind to cease. Once mind has ceased, it neither arises nor manifests as entry. This is called entry into the concentration that ceases perception and feeling (入滅想受定).

2. The Seven Topics Beginning with Emerging from It

How Does One Emerge from It?

How does one emerge from it? One does not attend, “I shall now emerge.” At the predetermined initial time, the prior determination takes effect.

With What Mind Does One Emerge?

With what mind does one emerge? A non-returner emerges with a non-returner’s fruition mind; an arahant with an arahant’s mind.

After Emerging, on What Does the Mind Rest?

After emerging, on what does that mind rest? Answer: The mind is directed solely toward peace.

By How Many Contacts Is One Contacted?

By how many contacts is one contacted? Answer: By three contacts: emptiness contact, signless contact, and desireless contact.

How Do Activities First Arise?

How do activities first arise? One proceeds from bodily activity, and from that, verbal activity.

Difference Between a Dead Person and a Person in Concentration

What is the difference between a dead person and a person entered into concentration that ceases perception (入滅想定人)? In a dead person, the three activities have sunk away and do not manifest (沒無現); lifespan is cut off, warmth is cut off, and the faculties are cut off. In a person entered into feeling-perception concentration (入受想定人), the three activities are cut off and sunken (斷沒); lifespan is not cut off, warmth is not cut off, and the faculties are not different (諸根不異). This is the difference.

(The dead person’s counterpart is called 入滅想定人, dropping “feeling,” while the practitioner is called 入受想定人, reversing perception and feeling. The first two practitioner conditions say “not cut off,” but the third says “faculties are not different,” not “not cut off.” The two phrases for the three activities are likewise different.)

Is This Concentration Conditioned or Unconditioned?

How is this concentration conditioned or unconditioned? Answer: It cannot be said that this concentration is conditioned or unconditioned.

3. Final Question: Why Can It Not Be Said?

Question: Why can this concentration not be said to be conditioned or unconditioned?

Answer: Conditioned phenomena do not exist within this concentration; the entry and emergence of unconditioned phenomena cannot be known. Therefore it cannot be said that this concentration is conditioned or unconditioned.

(Cessation meditation-concentration (滅禪定) is complete.)

(Thus the opening heading says 想受滅正受, the first answer 滅想受定, the procedure 入滅想受定, the comparison 入滅想定人 and 入受想定人, and the final note 滅禪定. All six distinct names are preserved.)

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Attainment of the Cessation of Perception and Feeling · Vernacular · Summer 2026

The second of the two attainments is completed here, and with it the body of Chapter Twelve. What follows is the conclusion of the twelve chapters and the final verses.

The finding comes first: from the opening heading to the closing inline note, one concentration has six different names—想受滅正受, 滅想受定, 入滅想受定, 入滅想定人, 入受想定人, and 滅禪定. None of the passage’s seven critical notes falls on any of these names.

Six Names

Point them out one by one.

The heading at the opening reads “Question: what is 想受滅正受, the attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling?” 〔T32 461a22〕.

The first answer reverses the order: “Mind and mental factors do not arise. This is called 滅想受定, concentration that ceases perception and feeling” 〔T32 461a26–27〕.

The procedural account adds entry: “This is called 入滅想受定, entry into the concentration that ceases perception and feeling” 〔T32 461c02–03〕.

The comparison with a dead person uses two further forms in one span. The question says 入滅想定人, “person entered into concentration that ceases perception” 〔T32 461c09–10〕, omitting “feeling.” Its counterpart says 入受想定人, “person entered into feeling-perception concentration” 〔T32 461c11–12〕, reversing perception and feeling.

The closing note says 滅禪定, “cessation meditation-concentration,” is complete 〔T32 461c16〕. Perception and feeling disappear from the name and “meditation” replaces them.

Six names, one thing. And of these, 入滅想定人 and 入受想定人 each occur only once in the whole treatise.

Reading Method: Circle Every Name by Which a Passage Calls Its Subject

When reading a treatise passage, circle each expression by which it names its own subject and arrange the expressions in a series.

Differences in names often reveal seams where the text shifts its angle of approach. The next step matters just as much: check whether the names carry critical notes.

Here none does. The seven notes fall on the answer particle, the second graph in the robe expression, the gaiji 𭞴, the graph in “term,” the graph in “matter,” a locative, and the order of “from it.” Not one touches the six names.

That result has weight. A note on a name could indicate witness variation; without one, the transmitted body itself is using these different forms. The edition preserves all six and does not nominate one as the standard.

Pause: Fourteen Questions but Fifteen Answer Headings

The passage opens with another long chain: “What is the attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling? Who causes it to arise? Through how many powers …? … What is the difference between a dead person and a person in the concentration? Is this concentration conditioned or unconditioned?” 〔T32 461a22–26〕.

Fourteen of them in a single breath.

Yet reading down through the topics, those given a heading and answered are fifteen.

Stop and ask: which is the one that is extra?

It is this one: “Who is it that does not cause it to arise? Answer: ordinary persons, stream-enterers, once-returners, and those born in the formless realm, because it is not their sphere” 〔T32 461a28–461b01〕.

What was asked was only “who causes it to arise”; the author supplied a “who does not cause it to arise” of his own. And he supplied it without haste: four kinds of person, each with its reason given—“ordinary persons cannot cause it to arise, for the defilements that obstruct concentration are not yet severed. Stream-enterers and once-returners cannot cause it to arise, for they are to arise again. Because it is not their place, those who have entered the formless realm cannot cause it to arise” 〔T32 461b01–03〕.

Let the text answer for itself; three things can be checked:

First, this topic stands in direct opposition to the one above it—“Who causes this concentration to arise? Answer: arahants and non-returners bring this concentration to fulfilment” 〔T32 461a27–28〕: two kinds of person who can, four kinds who cannot. Only with the two topics taken together is the question “who” answered through.

Second, the preceding passage is exactly the reverse. 12-16 also opens with a chain of questions—twelve asked, and only seven given a heading and answered, two questions having no heading at all. Both passages open with a chain of questions; one answers too few, the other too many.

Third, the author gives not a word of explanation. He does not say why this topic had to be supplied, nor why the preceding passage came up short.

This edition sets down only these three, supplying nothing and regularizing nothing.

Two Powers and Seven Successive Contemplations: Seven Headed, Seven Listed

“Through how many powers is it accomplished and caused to arise? Through two powers: calm and insight” 〔T32 461b03–04〕.

Calm derives mastery from eight attainments; insight derives mastery from the seven successive contemplations 〔T32 461b04–06〕.

The author then asks a question inside the answer: “What are the seven successive contemplations? Impermanence, suffering, not-self, disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, and relinquishment” 〔T32 461b06–07〕.

Seven headed, seven listed, with not one member missing. And the expression 七隨觀 occurs only once in the whole treatise.

This device of raising a question inside the answer occurs only here in the passage. The fourteen questions had already been asked in a single breath; halfway through answering, the author stops and asks one of his own—because unless that name is opened out, the reader cannot catch the three graphs 隨七觀. Recorded as it stands.

The two powers each have two results: calm serves the factor of cessation meditation and immovable liberation; insight serves seeing the danger in arising and liberation through the unarisen 〔T32 461b07–09〕. The two liberation names each occur only once.

Three Activities and Four Matters: One Aligns, One Does Not

The three-activity topic is regular: “Through the removal of how many activities is the concentration caused to arise? Answer: by removing three activities—verbal activity, bodily activity, and mental activity” 〔T32 461b09–10〕, with its explanation, “here, on entering the second meditation, thought and examination become what is removed as verbal activity; on entering the fourth meditation, out-breath and in-breath become what is removed as bodily activity; for one entering the concentration that ceases perception and feeling, perception and feeling become what is removed as mental activity” 〔T32 461b10–13〕.

The order of the heading and the order of the explanation are the same, and each activity is tied to one attainment (the second meditation, the fourth meditation, the concentration that ceases perception and feeling), while what each activity refers to is also given (thought and examination, out-breath and in-breath, perception and feeling). Not one member is missing.

The topic of the four preliminary matters is not regular.

Heading and explanation are regular: “As to how many preliminary matters: answer, four preliminary matters—single binding, non-disturbance, far determination, and discerning what is and is not a matter” 〔T32 461b13–14〕, and then each is explained in turn—“here, single binding means undertaking to keep bowl and robe in one place (𭞴)” 〔T32 461b14–15〕; “non-disturbance means undertaking, by every means, that this body shall give rise to no disturbance” 〔T32 461b15–16〕; “far determination means undertaking, in proportion to one’s bodily strength, a determination made by days, so that one shall emerge when that long term has passed” 〔T32 461b16–17〕; “discerning what is and is not a matter means determining before the time arrives: should the Sangha assemble for some business, one undertakes to emerge at that call” 〔T32 461b17–18〕. Four matters, four explanations.

The author then states the purposes again: the binding protects the robe; non-disturbance and long-far determination (久遠分別) protect the body; and discerning the matter prevents obstructing the Saṅgha 〔T32 461b18–20〕.

Four matters, and the second pass yields only three clauses—non-disturbance and long-far determination have been combined into one, because their purpose is the same: both are for guarding the body.

And within that same sentence there is one more matter of wording: the heading reads 遠分別, and this pass reads 久遠分別. One graph, 久, has been added, and there is no note here. Recorded as it stands, not regularized.

Causing It to Arise: Ascending Through Each Attainment

“The sitting meditator enters a very peaceful abiding, sitting or lying down, delighting in cessation and intending cessation, and enters the first meditation” 〔T32 461b24–26〕.

After entering the first meditation, one emerges carefully and immediately sees it as impermanent, painful, and not-self, continuing through knowledge of equanimity toward formations 〔T32 461b26–27〕. The second, third, and fourth meditations, infinite space, infinite consciousness, and nothingness are each traversed in the same way 〔T32 461b27–28〕.

Finally, one immediately enters neither perception nor non-perception, causes two or three such minds to arise, and then causes mind to cease. Once mind has ceased, it neither arises nor manifests as entry; this is 入滅想受定, entry into the concentration that ceases perception and feeling 〔T32 461b29–461c03〕.

The preceding passage does not run its procedure this way. The fruit attainment of 12-16 reads, “having made the seeing of arising and cessation the first contemplation of formations, one proceeds as far as change-of-lineage knowledge; immediately upon change-of-lineage knowledge, one is settled in the fruit attainment of Nibbāna”—from the seeing of arising and cessation straight through to change-of-lineage knowledge, and then without interval. This passage ascends attainment by attainment, walking the same four steps again at every one.

Both are “causing to arise”: one runs as a single continuous line, the other repeats itself layer upon layer. The difference between the two is recorded; its rationale is not argued on the author’s behalf.

Dead Person and Person in Attainment: Three Against Three, but the Language Does Not Align

The last topic of the second section shows the craft most clearly.

For a dead person, “the three activities have sunk away and do not manifest (沒無現); lifespan is cut off, warmth is cut off, and the faculties are cut off” 〔T32 461c10–11〕.

For a person entered into feeling-perception concentration, “the three activities are cut off and sunken (斷沒); lifespan is not cut off, warmth is not cut off, and the faculties are not different (諸根不異)” 〔T32 461c11–12〕.

Three matters set against three: lifespan, warmth, faculties. In the dead person all three are cut off; in the person in attainment lifespan is not cut off and warmth is not cut off—

and then the third stops short: what the person in attainment is given is 諸根不異, “faculties not different,” not 諸根不斷, “faculties not cut off.”

The first two simply put a 不, “not,” in front of 斷, “cut off”; the third changes the word. The author did not bring the third slot into line.

There is one smaller place as well: of the three activities, the dead person is given 沒無現, “sunk away and not manifest,” and the person in attainment 斷沒, “cut off and sunken”—the two expressions differ too.

There is no note here. This edition records it as it stands, does not regularize it, and does not change 不異, “not different,” to 不斷, “not cut off,” on the author’s behalf.

Final Topic: The Only Answer That Says “It Cannot Be Said”

Of the fifteen headings, fourteen receive positive answers. Only the last does not: “Is this concentration conditioned or unconditioned? It cannot be said that it is conditioned or unconditioned” 〔T32 461c13–14〕.

The author does not stop there. He opens a separate section to explain the impossibility: “Why can this concentration not be said to be conditioned or unconditioned? Conditioned phenomena do not exist within it; the entry and emergence of unconditioned phenomena cannot be known” 〔T32 461c14–15〕.

Two branches block the two alternatives. Calling it conditioned fails because conditioned phenomena are absent. Calling it unconditioned fails because entry and emergence cannot be known. Only then does the text conclude that it cannot be said.

An inability to state the answer is not left vague; it receives its own reasoned section.

The inline note closes: “(Cessation meditation-concentration (滅禪定) is complete)” 〔T32 461c16〕. The preceding passage closes in the same form, but the name of the present subject changes once more.

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Carry away three things. One finding: one concentration bears six names: 想受滅正受 〔T32 461a22〕, 滅想受定 〔T32 461a26–27〕, 入滅想受定 〔T32 461c02–03〕, 入滅想定人 〔T32 461c09–10〕, 入受想定人 〔T32 461c11–12〕, and 滅禪定 〔T32 461c16〕. None of seven notes falls on them. One method: circle every self-name in a passage, line the names up, and check whether a critical note explains the differences; here it does not, so the six textual forms remain distinct. One question to hold: fourteen opening questions yield fifteen answer headings 〔T32 461a22–26〕; the extra “Who does not cause it to arise?” 〔T32 461a28〕 completes the positive “who” by a negative counterpart, without authorial explanation.

Remember three smaller points. A single internal question—“What are the seven successive contemplations?” 〔T32 461b06〕—heads and lists exactly seven. The second account of four preliminary matters gives three purpose-statements 〔T32 461b18–20〕 and changes far determination to long-far determination. Finally, death and attainment contrast three matters in uneven language 〔T32 461c10–12〕: 沒無現 versus 斷沒, and “faculties cut off” versus 諸根不異, “faculties not different.”

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Attainment of the Cessation of Perception and Feeling · Exposition · Summer 2026