清淨道論 初道智・入流者Visuddhimagga · First Path Knowledge and the Stream-Enterer

Change-of-lineage knowledge is like a person letting go of the rope in midair while leaping a great ditch—it has seen nibbāna but is not yet the path; the path follows immediately, like a blindfolded archer who, without losing the stick’s signal, shoots through a hundred boards and pierces the aggregates of greed, hate, and delusion; fruition consciousnesses then arise, followed by the backward look—“I have indeed come by this path”

The Big Picture — The Opening of Purification by Knowledge and Vision: Change-of-Lineage, Path, Fruition, and Reviewing Within a Single Cognitive Process

After the three conformity consciousnesses at the end of Chapter 21, this chapter opens with change-of-lineage knowledge. It occupies the position of adverting to the path, belongs neither to purification by knowledge and vision of the way nor to purification by knowledge and vision, and is not classed under either while standing between them; yet, because it falls within the stream of insight, it is still called insight. The knowledge in the four paths alone is purification by knowledge and vision. First-path knowledge requires nothing further to be done—what had to be done was completed in the insight ending in conformity. The three conformity consciousnesses make the gross, medium, and fine darkness concealing the truths disappear; the mind does not plunge into, stand upon, adhere to, or cling to any formation, like water on a lotus leaf, and everything having the sign and occurrence as object manifests as an impediment. It therefore takes the signless, non-occurrence, the unformed, cessation, and nibbāna as object, crosses beyond the ordinary person’s lineage into the lineage of the noble ones, and makes its first turning, first inclination, and first directing of attention toward nibbāna, serving as condition for the path in six modes—change-of-lineage knowledge arises (§1). Three similes follow: crossing a ditch (conformity grasps the rope and leaps; the body inclines, tends, and leans toward the far bank; above the bank the rope is released; the person lands swaying—change-of-lineage has reached the far bank but is not yet steady, while the path gains firm footing) (§2); the moon and clouds (three winds disperse the gross, medium, and fine clouds—the three instances of conformity remove the darkness concealing the truths; the person with sight sees the moon—change-of-lineage sees nibbāna; the winds cannot see the moon and the person cannot disperse the clouds, each having what it can and cannot do) (§3); and the archer (blindfolded on a revolving mechanism, the archer receives another person’s stick signal and, without losing it, shoots through a hundred boards—the path, without losing change-of-lineage’s signal, pierces the three aggregates of greed, hate, and delusion), followed by the path’s nine benefits (§4). The close gives two or three fruition consciousnesses (rejecting accounts of one or four), the stream-enterer as the second noble person who returns at most seven times, five reviews (path, fruition, abandoned defilements, remaining defilements, and nibbāna), nineteen reviews across the four noble persons, and Mahānāma’s question (§5). [What is seen] Here the measuring rule of subtraction across the entire arc is fulfilled: path knowledge takes nibbāna as object and cuts the fetters—what each preceding chapter dismantled (person, first cause, counterfeit, and grasping at formations) is pierced and split apart by the path in this instant. Yet subtraction does not end in nothingness. After path and fruition, reviewing knowledge looks back upon what was abandoned, what remains, and the nibbāna realized—“This is the Dhamma I have penetrated by way of the object.” This is the same statement as in Chapter 17: not annihilation, but stilling.

§01 The Scope of Purification by Knowledge and Vision and the Arising of Change-of-Lineage Knowledge → Vernacular §1

From this point comes change-of-lineage knowledge. It occupies the position of adverting to the path, belongs neither to purification by knowledge and vision of the way nor to purification by knowledge and vision, and is not classed under either while standing between them; because it falls within the stream of insight, it is still called insight. The knowledge in the four paths is purification by knowledge and vision. One who wishes to accomplish first-path knowledge has nothing further to do—everything was done when insight ending in conformity arose. The three conformity consciousnesses, each according to its strength, make the gross darkness concealing the truths disappear; the mind neither plunges into nor stands upon, resolves upon, adheres to, clings to, or becomes bound to any formation. Like water on a lotus leaf, it draws back, contracts, and recoils; everything having the sign or occurrence as object manifests as an impediment. At the end of conformity’s repetition, it takes the signless, non-occurrence, the unformed, cessation, and nibbāna as object; crosses beyond the ordinary person’s lineage, designation, and plane into the lineage, designation, and plane of the noble ones; makes its first turning, first inclination, and first directing of attention toward nibbāna as object; serves as condition for the path through proximity, contiguity, repetition, decisive support, absence, and disappearance; reaches the summit, becomes insight’s summit, and does not return—change-of-lineage knowledge arises. The canonical text says that the understanding of emergence outwardly and of turning away is change-of-lineage knowledge: it is change-of-lineage because it surmounts the range from arising up to distress and the sign of formations outwardly, and because it plunges into the range from non-arising up to non-distress, cessation, and nibbāna (Vernacular §1). [How to read] Change-of-lineage knowledge has three features: position (on the threshold, counted on neither side), object (taking nibbāna as object for the first time), and function (surmounting the ordinary person’s lineage and serving as condition for the path in six modes). “First turning, first inclination, first directing of attention”—three “firsts”: for the first time, the mind turns toward nibbāna. [What is seen] “One who wishes to accomplish first-path knowledge has nothing further to do”—this is the most reassuring sentence in the entire arc. The path is not something to be “made”; everything to be done was completed in the preceding twenty-one chapters, and here the result follows naturally.

§02 The Simile of Crossing a Ditch—The Difference in Object Between Conformity and Change-of-Lineage Within One Cognitive Process → Vernacular §2

Conformity and change-of-lineage occur with one adverting in one cognitive process, but upon different objects. A person wishing to leap a great ditch and stand on the far bank runs swiftly, grasps a rope or pole hanging from a branch on the near bank, leaps, inclines, tends, and leans toward the far bank, releases the rope above it, lands swaying, and slowly gains firm footing. Likewise, wishing to stand in nibbāna—the far bank of the kinds of existence, birth, destination, station, and abode—the meditator runs swiftly through contemplation of arising and passing away and the rest, grasps with the adverting of conformity the rope of materiality hanging from the tree branch of the individual existence or a pole consisting of feeling or another aggregate, and takes it as impermanent, suffering, or not-self without releasing it. With the first conformity consciousness the meditator leaps; with the second the mind inclines, tends, and leans toward nibbāna; with the third the meditator comes close to the nibbāna now to be attained. With its cessation, the formations-object is released and change-of-lineage consciousness falls upon the unformed nibbāna that is the far bank. Because repetition has not been obtained on the single object, however, it is not yet firmly established, like the person who is swaying; firm establishment comes afterward with path knowledge (Vernacular §2). [How to read] The simile makes “two objects within one cognitive process” visible: the rope (formations) hangs from the near bank; grasping it, the person leaps, inclines toward the far bank, and reaches a point above it—these three steps are the three conformity consciousnesses; letting go and landing is change-of-lineage; gaining firm footing is the path. [What is seen] “Without releasing it”—all three conformity consciousnesses still hold formations (impermanence, suffering, and not-self); the strength of formations swings the mind toward nibbāna. Change-of-lineage alone lets go. This sentence matters for practice: before entry upon the path, one cannot release the three characteristics too soon; an early release drops one into the ditch.

§03 The Division of Work Between Conformity and Change-of-Lineage—The Simile of the Moon and Clouds → Vernacular §3

Conformity can dispel the defilement-darkness concealing the truths but cannot take nibbāna as object; change-of-lineage can take only nibbāna as object but cannot dispel that darkness. The simile is of a person with sight who goes out at night to determine the conjunction of the stars, looks upward, and cannot see the moon because it is covered by clouds. A first wind disperses gross clouds, a second medium clouds, and a third fine clouds; in the cloudless sky the person sees the moon and determines the conjunction of the stars. The three clouds are the gross, medium, and fine darkness concealing the truths; the three winds are the three conformity consciousnesses; the person with sight is change-of-lineage knowledge; and the moon is nibbāna. The winds can only disperse clouds and cannot see the moon—conformity only dispels darkness and does not see nibbāna. The person can only see the moon and cannot disperse clouds—change-of-lineage only sees nibbāna and does not remove darkness. Hence it is called adverting to the path: without itself being adverting, it occupies adverting’s position, gives the path a signal as though saying, “Arise in this way,” and ceases. The path, without losing that signal, follows in immediate continuity and arises piercing and splitting apart the aggregates of greed, hate, and delusion that have never before been pierced (Vernacular §3). [How to read] Keep the division of labor clear: conformity is the wind that scatters clouds (it removes darkness but does not see the moon); change-of-lineage is the person with sight (who sees the moon but does not scatter clouds); the path is the archer in the next section (which pierces). Each does one thing, and none is dispensable. [What is seen] “The person with sight thinks, ‘I shall determine the conjunction of the stars.’” The person looks up not merely to see the moon, but to determine the stars’ positions; likewise, change-of-lineage sees nibbāna in order to signal the path. This small detail shows that change-of-lineage knowledge is “in service”: it is the most fleeting and least self-claiming of consciousnesses.

§04 The Archer Simile and the Nine Benefits of the Path → Vernacular §4

An archer sets up one hundred boards at a distance of eight usabhas, covers his face with cloth, readies bow and arrow, and stands on a revolving mechanism. Another person turns it and gives a stick signal when the boards face the archer. Without losing the signal, the archer releases the arrow and pierces the hundred boards. The stick’s signal is change-of-lineage knowledge; the archer is path knowledge; piercing the hundred boards without losing the signal is path knowledge, without losing the signal given by change-of-lineage, taking nibbāna as object and piercing and splitting apart the aggregates of greed, hate, and delusion. The path not only pierces the aggregates of greed and the rest; it dries up the ocean of suffering in the beginningless round, closes every door to bad destinations, brings the seven noble treasures into one’s presence, abandons the eightfold wrong path, stills enmity and fear, gives one the status of a true-born child at the breast of the Rightly and Fully Enlightened One, and leads to hundreds of other benefits. Knowledge associated with this path of stream-entry is knowledge in the path of stream-entry. [Here ends the account of first-path knowledge] (Vernacular §4). [How to read] The archer is blindfolded—the path does not “look” at nibbāna’s appearance; it shoots by change-of-lineage’s signal. One arrow goes through a hundred boards—one moment cuts through three aggregates. Read the nine benefits in order: drying the ocean of suffering, closing the doors to bad destinations, making the seven noble treasures present, abandoning the eightfold wrong path, stilling enmity and fear, becoming the Buddha’s true-born child at the breast … [What is seen] “Brings one to the status of a true-born child at the breast of the Rightly and Fully Enlightened One”—the stream-enterer is the Buddha’s own child. This sentence answers the wise person “established in virtue” at the opening of Chapter 1 from afar: from a person established in virtue to the Buddha’s true-born child, the road of twenty-two chapters joins here.

§05 The Number of Fruition Consciousnesses and the Stream-Enterer’s Five Reviews and the Nineteen Reviews → Vernacular §5

Immediately after path knowledge come two or three fruition consciousnesses, since supramundane wholesome result is immediate—“that concentration is immediate” and “one slowly attains the immediate [condition] leading to the destruction of the influxes”; the accounts of one, two, three, or four should not be accepted. Because change-of-lineage arises at the end of conformity’s repetition, there must be at least two conformity consciousnesses: one consciousness cannot obtain repetition condition, and a cognitive process with one adverting has at most seven consciousnesses. With two instances of conformity, the third is change-of-lineage, the fourth path, and three are fruition; with three instances of conformity, the fourth is change-of-lineage, the fifth path, and two are fruition. The account of four instances of conformity, with change-of-lineage fifth, path sixth, and one fruition consciousness, is rejected because absorption occurs only in the fourth or fifth consciousness and, after that, no longer occurs owing to the nearness of the life-continuum. At this point the person becomes a stream-enterer, the second noble person, and, even if exceedingly negligent, makes an end of suffering within at most seven returns among devas and humans. At fruition’s end the mind descends into the life-continuum; interrupting it, mind-door adverting arises to review the path, followed by seven impulsions reviewing the path. It descends into the life-continuum again, and in sequence reviews fruition and the rest—the path (“I have indeed come by this path”), fruition (“This is the benefit I have obtained”), abandoned defilements (“These are what I abandoned”), remaining defilements (“These are what the three higher paths must abandon”), and nibbāna (“This is the Dhamma I have penetrated by way of the object”). These are the stream-enterer’s five reviews; once-returners and non-returners have the same, while arahants have no review of remaining defilements—nineteen in all. This is only the highest limit, for trainees may or may not review abandoned and remaining defilements. Mahānāma therefore asked the Blessed One, “What state remains unabandoned within me, such that states of greed sometimes obsess my mind?” (Vernacular §5). [How to read] The arithmetic of the cognitive process is seven consciousnesses in one process: two or three conformity + one change-of-lineage + one path + three or two fruition—the sum is seven. The Commentator uses this arithmetic to reject both “four conformity and one fruition” and “four fruition.” The five reviews are the backward look after path and fruition: the road traveled, what was gained, what was abandoned, what remains, and what was realized. [What is seen] “Even if exceedingly negligent, a stream-enterer returns at most seven times”—this is the formal version of “the foot has landed on the right ground” (19-01, lesser stream-enterer): from here there is no falling back. Mahānāma’s question provides a remarkably honest corroboration: a trainee does not necessarily know which defilements remain—reviewing knowledge is not omniscience, but a backward look that may or may not occur. The Commentator places this at the chapter’s opening to remove the reader’s imagining that “once attainment occurs, everything is known.”

For the General Reader

The three similes together portray the instant of entering the path. Leaping a great ditch—holding the rope of formations (impermanence, suffering, and not-self) and swinging toward nibbāna’s bank: the three conformity consciousnesses are grasping the rope and leaping, inclining across, and arriving above the far bank; change-of-lineage knowledge lets go and lands but is not yet steady; the path gains firm footing. The moon and clouds—conformity is the wind that scatters clouds, change-of-lineage the person who sees the moon; each does one thing. The blindfolded archer—the path, without losing change-of-lineage’s signal, shoots one arrow through a hundred boards and pierces the aggregates of greed, hate, and delusion. Then comes the backward look: I came by this path; I attained this fruit; I abandoned these; these remain; I penetrated that Dhamma. This fulfills subtraction, yet it does not end in nothingness—it ends in stilling that has been realized. One further reassurance: even if exceedingly negligent, a stream-enterer returns at most seven times; once the foot has landed, it does not fall back.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–5 give the complete paragraph-by-paragraph rendering of the scope of purification by knowledge and vision and change-of-lineage knowledge, the ditch-crossing simile, the moon-and-clouds simile, the archer simile and the path’s nine benefits, the number of fruition consciousnesses, and the five and nineteen reviews.