清淨道論 義疏通講 · 冊20Visuddhimagga · Exposition Throughout · Vol. 20

The third purification must distinguish “the path from what is not the path,” yet the commentator does not begin with the path. He first teaches you “comprehension by groups”: place the three labels impermanent, suffering, and not-self on all formations, one by one, in eleven instances. Until insight has been initiated, the “counterfeit” that must be distinguished has not even appeared

The Big Picture — The Entrance to Purification by Knowledge and Vision of What Is and Is Not the Path Is to Initiate Insight First

The first two purifications—purification of view and purification by overcoming doubt—dismantled the “person” and the “first cause.” The third, purification by knowledge and vision of what is and is not the path, is the knowledge “this is the path; this is not the path.” Yet the commentator says at the outset that one who wishes to accomplish it must first undertake “comprehension by groups” (§1). There are two reasons. Knowledge of what is and is not the path arises only after insight has been initiated and illumination and the rest appear, while comprehension by groups is the beginning of insight. Furthermore, that knowledge arises while “full understanding as investigation” is occurring, and full understanding as investigation immediately follows full understanding of the known. The commentator therefore first gives a map of the three mundane kinds of full understanding (§2): full understanding of the known—the individual characteristics—has been completed through the apprehension of conditions; full understanding as investigation—the general characteristics—runs from comprehension by groups through contemplation of rise and fall; and full understanding as abandoning begins with contemplation of dissolution. He then cites the entire canonical passage from the Paṭisambhidāmagga (§3), supplies the twenty-four omitted groups and the Exposition of What Is to Be Directly Known (§4), and finally uses the five aggregates as an example: for each aggregate, determine in each of the eleven instances—past, future, present; internal/external, gross/subtle, inferior/superior, and far/near—that it is “impermanent in the sense of exhaustion, suffering in the sense of fear, and not-self in the sense of having no essence” (§5). 〔What is seen〕 This chapter is the ignition point of the whole arc—the ten corruptions of insight arrive in its final unit—but the entrance is extremely plain: first get insight underway. This is the rhythm sustained throughout the book: the first unit of each purification says, in effect, “return to the work.”

§01 Establishing Purification by Knowledge and Vision of What Is and Is Not the Path—Two Reasons for First Cultivating Comprehension by Groups → Vernacular §1

Purification by knowledge and vision of what is and is not the path is the knowledge that stands after knowing “this is the path; this is not the path.” One who wishes to accomplish it first applies himself to the methodical insight called comprehension by groups: knowledge of what is and is not the path arises only when illumination and the rest arise in one who has initiated insight, while comprehension by groups is the beginning of insight, so this purification is placed after overcoming doubt. That knowledge also arises while full understanding as investigation is occurring, and full understanding as investigation immediately follows full understanding of the known; therefore one must first apply oneself to comprehension by groups for this reason too (Vernacular §1). 〔How to read〕 The two answers to “Why begin with comprehension by groups?” are two aspects of one fact. One speaks from phenomena: the counterfeit does not emerge until insight has matured. The other speaks from the sequence of full understandings: what you have in hand is only full understanding of the known; full understanding as investigation has not yet begun. 〔What is seen〕 Notice that the commentator defines this purification with the word “stands.” It is the same word used for purification by overcoming doubt—“stands having overcome doubt.” This is not a flash of recognition but a recognition upon which one stands firm.

§02 The Three Mundane Kinds of Full Understanding and Their Domains—This Chapter’s Place Within Full Understanding as Investigation → Vernacular §2

The three mundane kinds of full understanding are: full understanding of the known, the wisdom that examines phenomena’s individual characteristics according to such statements as “form has the characteristic of being altered, feeling the characteristic of being felt”; full understanding as investigation, the insight wisdom that applies the general characteristics to phenomena according to such statements as “form is impermanent, feeling is impermanent”; and full understanding as abandoning, the insight wisdom that abandons the perception of permanence and the rest with respect to those phenomena. Their domains are these: from the delimitation of formations through apprehension of conditions is the domain of full understanding of the known, where penetration of individual characteristics predominates; from comprehension by groups through contemplation of rise and fall is the domain of full understanding as investigation, where penetration of the general characteristics predominates; and from contemplation of dissolution upward is the domain of full understanding as abandoning, where the seven contemplations predominate—contemplation of impermanence abandons the perception of permanence, contemplation of suffering the perception of pleasure, contemplation of not-self the perception of self, disenchantment delight, dispassion greed, causing cessation origination, and relinquishment clinging. Since this meditator has accomplished the delimitation of formations and apprehension of conditions, he has attained only full understanding of the known; the other two remain to be attained. Hence comprehension by groups comes first (Vernacular §2). 〔How to read〕 This is the milestone map for the entire road of insight: the three full understandings are three stretches of road, each marked by what “predominates.” First, see what each phenomenon is—its individual characteristic. Next, label them with the general characteristics—impermanence, suffering, and not-self. Finally, actually abandon the perceptions of permanence, pleasure, and self. The preceding two chapters completed the first stretch; this chapter opens the second; the third will not begin until Chapter Twenty-One. 〔What is seen〕 “Penetration of the individual characteristics alone is predominant”: attend to the word “predominant.” The three stretches are not sealed apart. All three activities occur within each stretch, but one takes the lead. This reassures the reader: even in the first stretch you were attending to impermanence, though it had not yet become the main axis.

§03 The Canonical Text on the Knowledge of Comprehension—The Full Passage from the Paṭisambhidāmagga and the Twenty-Four Groups Abbreviated in It → Vernacular §3

The canonical text says that wisdom in defining after gathering together phenomena of the past, future, and present is knowledge in comprehension: whatever form there is—past, future, present; internal/external, gross/subtle, inferior/superior, far/near—is defined as impermanent in one comprehension, as suffering in one, and as not-self in one; the same applies to feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness, and from the eye through aging-and-death. Defining after gathering together “form in the three times is impermanent in the sense of exhaustion, suffering in the sense of fear, and not-self in the sense of having no essence” is knowledge in comprehension. Gathering together “form in the three times is impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, subject to exhaustion, decline, dispassion, and cessation” is knowledge in comprehension. Gathering together “with birth as condition there is aging-and-death; without birth there is no aging-and-death, in the three times alike,” back through “with ignorance as condition there are formations; without ignorance there are no formations,” is knowledge in comprehension. It is knowledge in the sense of the known and wisdom in the sense of understanding. The groups of phenomena omitted by the formula “the eye ... through ... aging-and-death” are: phenomena occurring at a door, the five aggregates, six doors, six objects, six consciousnesses, six contacts, six feelings, six perceptions, six volitions, six cravings, six applications of thought, six sustainments of thought, six elements, ten kasiṇas, thirty-two body parts, twelve bases, eighteen elements, twenty-two faculties, three realms, nine kinds of becoming, four jhānas, four immeasurables, four attainments, and twelve factors of dependent origination (Vernacular §3). 〔How to read〕 The canonical text offers three formulas: the three-characteristic formula—exhaustion, fear, no essence; the seven-mode formula—impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, exhaustion, decline, dispassion, cessation; and the dependent-origination formula—without birth, no aging-and-death. The same “comprehension” can be conducted with sentences of three different depths. The twenty-four omitted groups form a list of “what you may practice upon.” 〔What is seen〕 “Knowledge in the sense of the known, wisdom in the sense of understanding”: whenever the commentator cites this canonical text he preserves this closing phrase. Knowledge and wisdom are not two different things; they are two names for the same knowing.

§04 The Exposition of What Is to Be Directly Known—Supplying the Omitted Items and Two Principles of Selection → Vernacular §4

The Exposition of What Is to Be Directly Known says that all is to be directly known: the eye, visible form, eye-consciousness, eye-contact, and feeling born of eye-contact—pleasant, painful, or neither—through the mind; form through consciousness; the eye through mind; visible forms through mental phenomena; the six consciousnesses, contacts, and feelings; perception, volition, craving, applied thought, and sustained thought regarding the six objects; the earth element through the consciousness element; the earth kasiṇa through the consciousness kasiṇa; hair through urine and the brain; the eye base through the mental-phenomena base; the eye element through the mind-consciousness element; the eye faculty through the faculty of one who has final knowledge; the three realms, three kinds of becoming, and six further kinds of becoming; the first through fourth jhānas, the mind-deliverances from loving-kindness through equanimity, the immaterial attainments from boundless space through neither perception nor non-perception; and ignorance through aging-and-death. Since the items are given there in full, here they are all omitted by an abbreviated formula. Of the omitted items, supramundane phenomena are not amenable to comprehension and should not be taken; among those amenable to comprehension, one begins with whichever appear clearly and are easy to apprehend (Vernacular §4). 〔How to read〕 This section is the universal version of the preceding list and then supplies two rules of selection: do not take supramundane phenomena—do not contemplate what has not been attained, the same principle as in 18-01—and begin with what appears and can readily be grasped, rather than beginning with the hardest item. 〔What is seen〕 “One should begin comprehension upon whichever ones appear clearly and are easily apprehended by oneself” is the most practical sentence in the unit. Insight does not begin with the book’s most exhaustive list; it begins with the clearest phenomenon before you.

§05 Comprehending the Five Aggregates—Analysis into Eleven Instances and Alternative Expressions of Impermanence and the Rest → Vernacular §5

To begin by way of the aggregates, delimit “whatever form there is” through the three beginning with past and the four pairs beginning with internal, making eleven instances, and define all form as impermanent: past form was exhausted in the past and did not reach this becoming; future form will be exhausted there and not reach a later becoming; present form is exhausted here and does not pass elsewhere; internal form is exhausted internally and does not become external ... and near form is exhausted there and does not become far. It is impermanent in the sense of exhaustion: one comprehension as a single statement, elevenfold by analysis. All of it is likewise suffering in the sense of fear, because what is impermanent brings fear, as with the deities in the Discourse on the Simile of the Lion: one comprehension, elevenfold. All of it is likewise not-self in the sense of having no essence: the substance of a self conceived as self, indweller, agent, experiencer, and master of itself does not exist; what is impermanent and suffering cannot even prevent the oppression of its own rise and fall, so how could it possess the nature of an agent and the rest? “If this form were self, form would not lead to affliction”: one comprehension, elevenfold. The same applies to feeling and the rest. Since what is impermanent is necessarily “conditioned” and so forth, the canonical text further states, to show alternative expressions and varied acts of attention, that “form in the three times is impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, subject to exhaustion, decline, dispassion, and cessation”; the same applies to feeling and the rest (Vernacular §5). 〔How to read〕 The eleven instances cut “all form” into eleven pieces: three of time and eight of contrast. “Exhaustion” is the import of impermanence: the past was exhausted in the past, the present is exhausted here, the internal is exhausted internally—each “is exhausted right where it is and does not pass elsewhere.” “Fear” is the import of suffering, and “no essence” the import of not-self: since it cannot even arrest its own rise and fall, how could there be an “agent” within it? 〔What is seen〕 “Whatever is impermanent cannot prevent even its own impermanence or the oppression of rise and fall; how then could it possess the nature of an agent?” This sentence gives the causal relation among the three characteristics: impermanence leads to suffering, and impermanence together with suffering leads to not-self. The three labels are not placed side by side; each gives rise to the next.

For the General Reader

This unit teaches “comprehension by groups”: place three labels on all formations, one by one, across eleven instances. The past has been exhausted, the future will be exhausted, and the present is being exhausted—therefore impermanent. What is impermanent brings fear—therefore suffering. What cannot even halt its own rise and fall contains no agent—therefore not-self. You need not begin with the most exhaustive list. Begin with the clearest phenomenon before you. This unit has not yet explained “what is and is not the path.” The commentator first asks you to initiate insight; the counterfeit appears only after insight matures, and that is the concern of the chapter’s final unit.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–5 presents the complete, sequential translation of the establishment of this purification and the two reasons for first cultivating comprehension by groups; the three mundane kinds of full understanding and their domains; the canonical text on knowledge in comprehension and its twenty-four abbreviated groups; the Exposition of What Is to Be Directly Known and its two principles of selection; and comprehension of the five aggregates in eleven instances.

When three labels are not enough, the commentator gives you forty. They are really only forty ways of expressing those same three. Apply them throughout the five aggregates and obtain a two-hundredfold division; if insight still does not succeed, sharpen the “faculties” and avoid the seven unsuitable things

The Big Picture — Turning “Impermanent, Suffering, Not-Self” from Three Words into Forty Ways of Seeing, Then into Two Hundred Acts of Practice

The preceding unit taught comprehension by groups: apply the three characteristics to all formations in eleven instances. This unit says that to make that comprehension firm, contemplate the five aggregates through the forty modes stated by the Blessed One in the question, “Through which forty modes does one gain conformity acceptance and enter the fixed course of rightness?” (§1). The commentator explains each of the forty modes, then calculates them for you: ten are contemplations of impermanence, five contemplations of not-self, and twenty-five contemplations of suffering. Multiplied by the five aggregates, they yield fifty, twenty-five, and one hundred and twenty-five—a two-hundredfold division (§2). If methodical insight still fails, sharpen the faculties through nine modes, avoid the seven unsuitable things, cultivate the seven suitable things, and alternate between comprehending form and the immaterial (§3). 〔What is seen〕 The forty modes are not forty new doctrines but forty angles on the same thing—like turning one stone forty times to view it. The commentator wants “firmness”: the three characteristics may slide off when applied once; applied two hundred times, they adhere. The practice quality of this unit is emphatic: insight is not merely figuring something out; it is honing.

§01 The Framework of the Forty Modes—Citing the Paṭisambhidāmagga, Conformity Acceptance, and Entry into the Fixed Course of Rightness → Vernacular §1

To make firm comprehension of the five aggregates as impermanent, suffering, and not-self, the text follows the analysis of the Blessed One’s question, “Through which forty modes does one gain conformity acceptance, and through which does one enter the fixed course of rightness?” Contemplate the five aggregates as impermanent, suffering, a disease, a boil, a dart, a calamity, an affliction, alien, disintegrating, a plague, a disaster, fear, a menace, unstable, dissolving, unenduring, without protection, without shelter, without refuge, void, hollow, empty, not-self, danger, subject to change, without essence, the root of calamity, a killer, non-being, tainted, conditioned, Māra’s bait, subject to birth, aging, illness, death, sorrow, lamentation, despair, and defilement—forty modes. And according to the formula “One contemplating the five aggregates as impermanent gains conformity acceptance; one contemplating that the cessation of the five aggregates is permanent, is Nibbāna, enters the fixed course of rightness,” comprehension as impermanent and so forth was stated with distinctions when knowledge in conformity was analyzed. He therefore comprehends the five aggregates accordingly (Vernacular §1). 〔How to read〕 The forty modes are borrowed from the section on “knowledge in conformity”—the treatise itself marks where they belong—and are borrowed here because they are the fullest expansion of the three characteristics. Keep the two results clear: gaining conformity acceptance and entering the fixed course of rightness. The forty modes belong to the final stretch toward the path, yet the commentator brings them to the beginning of the insight course for practice now; that shows their weight. 〔What is seen〕 Some of the forty expressions may initially look synonymous—calamity, plague, disaster, menace. The next section gives each its own “because it is ...” rationale. The reader need not distinguish them in advance; first let each one pass before the eye.

§02 Individual Explanation of the Forty Modes and Their Two-Hundredfold Division → Vernacular §2

Each aggregate is impermanent because not ultimate and having beginning and end; suffering because oppressed by rise and fall and the basis of suffering; a disease because dependent upon conditions and the root of disease; a boil because joined to the barb of pain, oozing the impurity of defilements, and swelling, ripening, and bursting through birth, aging, and dissolution; a dart because producing oppression, piercing within, and hard to extract; a calamity because censurable, bringing no growth, and a basis of calamity; an affliction because producing a lack of autonomy and being the proximate cause of illness; alien because uncontrolled and unarrangeable; disintegrating because broken by illness, aging, and death; a plague because bringing many plagues; a disaster because bringing vast, unrecognized harms and being the basis of every disaster; fear because the source of every fear and adversary of supreme security; a menace because pursued by many harms, assailed by faults, and intolerable like a menace; unstable because shaken by illness, aging, death, and worldly conditions; dissolving because disposed to dissolution both from without and from itself; unenduring because falling away in every state and lacking firmness; without protection because unable to protect and incapable of providing security; without shelter because unfit to rely upon and unable to shelter even one who relies upon it; without refuge because it has no substance of removing fear for dependents; void because devoid of imagined permanence, purity, pleasure, and self; hollow because void—or because slight, since the world too calls what is slight “hollow”; empty because devoid of owner, indweller, agent, experiencer, and director; not-self because its own nature is ownerless and so forth; danger because its occurrence is suffering and it is the danger of suffering—or because it “approaches and proceeds toward the wretched,” a designation for a pitiable person whom the aggregates resemble; subject to change because changing in the two ways of aging and death; without essence because weak and readily broken like sapwood; root of calamity because the cause of calamity; a killer because, like an enemy wearing a friend’s face, it kills one who trusts it; non-being because its being has departed and it arises from non-being; tainted because the proximate cause of the taints; conditioned because constructed by causes and conditions; Māra’s bait because food for Māra as death and Māra as defilement; subject to birth, aging, illness, and death because it has that nature; subject to sorrow, lamentation, and despair because it causes them; subject to defilement because it is the domain of the defilements of craving, view, and misconduct. Of these, the ten impermanent, disintegrating, unstable, dissolving, unenduring, subject to change, without essence, non-being, conditioned, and subject to death, multiplied by the five aggregates, yield fifty contemplations of impermanence. The five alien, void, hollow, empty, and not-self yield twenty-five contemplations of not-self. The other twenty-five, beginning with suffering and disease, yield one hundred and twenty-five contemplations of suffering. By comprehending the five aggregates through this two-hundredfold division, comprehension through the three characteristics called methodical insight becomes firm (Vernacular §2). 〔How to read〕 The section is long, but its skeleton has only three statements: each of forty angles has a reason; the forty divide into three groups—ten, five, and twenty-five; the three groups multiplied by five aggregates yield two hundred. “Two hundred” is a workload, not a doctrine; it tells you the amount of work firmness costs. 〔What is seen〕 Several explanations cut especially sharply: “a killer,” like an enemy wearing a friend’s face who kills the one who trusts it; “the root of calamity,” the aggregates as the root of every calamity; and “Māra’s bait,” food for Māra as death and Māra as defilement. The sharpest expressions among the forty are not merely “impermanent” but those that cause disenchantment with the aggregates. They prepare the way for the later chapters on fear, danger, and disenchantment.

§03 Nine Causes for Sharpening the Faculties and the Seven Unsuitable and Seven Suitable Things → Vernacular §3

One who applies himself to methodical insight without succeeding sharpens the faculties through nine modes: he sees only the exhaustion of formations as they arise again and again; accomplishes this with respect, constantly, and suitably; grasps the sign of concentration; keeps the awakening factors in operation; has no concern for body or life; overcomes them through renunciation; and does not stop midway. According to the Earth Kasiṇa explanation, he also avoids the seven unsuitable things, cultivates the seven suitable things, and alternates between comprehending form and the immaterial; when comprehending form, he should see the arising of form (Vernacular §3). 〔How to read〕 The nine causes are a checklist for when insight will not get underway: attend only to exhaustion rather than arising; maintain three attitudes—respect, continuity, and suitability; draw on two supports—the sign of concentration and the operation of the awakening factors; make two relinquishments—show no concern for body and life, and overcome them through renunciation; and uphold one non-relinquishment—do not stop midway. The seven unsuitable and seven suitable things are the environmental hygiene taught in Chapter Four’s Earth Kasiṇa: lodging, resort, speech, person, food, climate, and posture. 〔What is seen〕 “He sees only the exhaustion of formations as they arise again and again”: the first of the nine causes condenses the forty modes of the whole unit—do not attend to arising; attend to exhaustion. And the final instruction, “at one time form, at another the immaterial,” is a considerate practical suggestion: if stuck on name, return to form; if stuck on form, turn to name—the same spirit as 18-01’s “not letting go of the yoke.”

For the General Reader

If the three characteristics do not adhere, use the forty modes. They are simply forty ways of expressing impermanence, suffering, and not-self, but each is a blade cutting from a different angle: disease, boil, dart, killer, Māra’s bait, root of calamity. Read them once and notice which word most strongly arouses disenchantment toward this body and mind; that is your entrance. The two-hundredfold division is a workload, not an examination question. When insight will not get underway, check nine things: are you attending only to exhaustion; are you practicing respectfully, continuously, and suitably; are you drawing on concentration and the awakening factors; are you willing to relinquish concern for body and life; have you stopped midway? And check the environment too.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–3 gives the complete, sequential translation of the framework of the forty modes, their individual explanation and two-hundredfold division, and the nine causes for sharpening the faculties together with the seven unsuitable and seven suitable things.

“One comprehending form should see the arising of form”—this unit breaks “arising” down into sixteen mind-moments and every succession produced by four kinds of origination, so that “arising” is no longer one word but a machine whose gears you can see

The Big Picture — From “Saying Impermanent” to “Seeing Arising”: Form’s Four Sources and the Immaterial Six-Door Cognitive Process

The preceding unit ended, “One comprehending form should see the arising of form”; this unit teaches how. Form arises from four causes—kamma, mind, nutriment, and temperature (the general statement in §1). The commentator gives in turn the “six headings under kamma” (§2), “five headings under mind” (§3), “five headings under nutriment” (§4), and “five headings under temperature” (§5). Each is a chart showing where this kind of form comes from and how it produces another succession. Amid them is one crucial observation: form ceases slowly and turns ponderously; mind ceases quickly and turns lightly. While one instance of form remains, the life-continuum mind arises and ceases sixteen times (§1). The discussion then turns to the immaterial: the arising of eighty-one mundane minds—rebirth-linking, life-continuum, death, and registration—and the whole six-door cognitive sequence: adverting, eye-consciousness, receiving, investigating, determining, impulsion, and registration (§6). The closing sentence says that one who comprehends form at one time and the immaterial at another, applies the three characteristics, and proceeds in sequence accomplishes the cultivation of wisdom. 〔What is seen〕 This unit contains no single “doctrine”; it is all anatomical diagram. Yet its purpose is to make rise and fall visible. When you see one material phenomenon arise and remain until the sixteenth mind before ceasing, you need not believe in “impermanence”; you are watching it. This is the flesh of Chapter Twenty’s stage of full understanding as investigation: general characteristics must be applied to what has been seen.

§01 The Arising of Kamma-Originated Form—Thirty Material Phenomena at Rebirth-Linking and the Contrast Between the Speeds of Mind and Form → Vernacular §1

Form arises from four causes beginning with kamma, and first of all from kamma. At a womb-born being’s moment of rebirth-linking, thirty material phenomena arise in three continuities: the base decad, body decad, and sex decad; this occurs at the arising, presence, and dissolution moments of the rebirth-linking mind. Form ceases slowly and turns ponderously, while mind ceases quickly and turns lightly (“I see no other single phenomenon that turns as lightly as mind”). During one material phenomenon’s duration, the life-continuum mind arises and ceases sixteen times. A mind’s arising, presence, and dissolution moments are equal; form’s arising and dissolution alone are equally swift, while its presence moment is long—it passes only after sixteen minds have arisen and ceased. Dependent upon the earlier-born base that arose at the rebirth-linking mind’s arising and has reached presence, the second life-continuum arises; dependent upon the base arisen with it and now in presence, the third arises, and so forth until the lifespan ends. For a dying person sixteen minds arise dependent upon one base in presence. Form arisen at rebirth-linking’s arising moment ceases with the sixteenth succeeding mind; form arisen at its presence moment with the seventeenth mind’s arising; form arisen at its dissolution moment upon the seventeenth mind’s presence. This continues so long as occurrence continues; the spontaneously born being’s seventy forms occur similarly in seven continuities (Vernacular §1). 〔How to read〕 Remember one ratio: the lifespan of one material phenomenon equals the lifespans of sixteen minds. Mind is like ripple after ripple on the water’s surface, form like a slower surge underneath; each ripple arises by stepping on a surge already in motion—“dependent upon an earlier-born base in presence.” 〔What is seen〕 “For a dying person, sixteen minds arise dependent upon a single earlier-born base in presence”: this sentence places death in the same machine. The last sixteen minds run across the final piece of form, and that is death. Impermanence here has no mystery, only gears.

§02 The Six Headings under Kamma → Vernacular §2

Kamma—wholesome and unwholesome volition; kamma-originated—the resultant aggregates and seventy material phenomena such as the eye decad; kamma-conditioned—that same form, with kamma as its support condition; kamma-conditioned and mind-originated—form originated by resultant mind; kamma-conditioned and nutriment-originated—nutritive essence in kamma-originated form, once in presence, produces another nutritive-essence octad, yielding four or five successions; and kamma-conditioned and temperature-originated—the fire element born of kamma, once in presence, produces a temperature-originated nutritive-essence octad, yielding four or five successions. Thus one sees the arising of kamma-originated form (Vernacular §2). 〔How to read〕 The six headings draw a tree: kamma is the seed, kamma-originated form the first branches and leaves; those branches then themselves produce nutritive-essence octads, and their fire element produces temperature-originated forms. Kamma does not produce only one batch of form; the form it produces continues for another four or five generations. 〔What is seen〕 “Four or five successions”: the commentator supplies a number for attenuation. Kamma-born form can perpetuate itself for four or five rounds, then stops. Impermanence does not mean “gone immediately”; it means “continues finitely, then is exhausted.”

§03 The Five Headings under Mind—Four Classes of the Eighty-Nine Minds → Vernacular §3

Mind—the eighty-nine minds; mind-originated; mind-conditioned; mind-conditioned and nutriment-originated; and mind-conditioned and temperature-originated. The eighty-nine minds fall into four classes: thirty-two—the eight sense-sphere wholesome, twelve unwholesome, ten functional excluding mind element, and two direct-knowledge minds, wholesome and functional—produce form, posture, and intimation; twenty-six—the ten remaining fine-material minds excluding resultants, eight immaterial minds, and eight supramundane minds—produce form and posture but not intimation; nineteen—the ten sense-sphere life-continuums, five fine-material minds, three mind elements, and one rootless resultant mind-consciousness element accompanied by joy—produce form only; sixteen—the two sets of five sense consciousnesses, every being’s rebirth-linking mind, the death mind of those whose taints are destroyed, and four immaterial resultants—produce neither form, posture, nor intimation. Form-producing minds do so only at the powerful arising moment, not the weak moments of presence or dissolution. Mind-originated means the three immaterial aggregates and seventeen forms: sound nonad, bodily and verbal intimation, space, lightness, malleability, wieldiness, accumulation, and continuity. Mind-conditioned is fourfold-originated form for which later-born mind and mental factors condition the earlier-born body; the nutriment- and temperature-originated branches each form two or three successions (Vernacular §3). 〔How to read〕 The eighty-nine minds have four ranks: those that move the body and express (thirty-two), move without expressing (twenty-six), merely maintain the body without movement (nineteen), and do not even originate form (sixteen). Intimation—bodily and verbal—is the form originated by mind that most resembles “intention”; only the first thirty-two minds have it. 〔What is seen〕 “The rebirth-linking mind does not originate form, sense consciousness does not originate form, the death mind does not originate form”: three crucial minds do not originate form because mind is then “weak”; form requires the powerful arising moment. A line of practice psychology hides here: when mind is weak, it cannot even move the body.

§04 The Five Headings under Nutriment → Vernacular §4

Nutriment—physical nutriment; nutriment-originated—the fourteen forms comprising the nutritive-essence octad, space, lightness, malleability, wieldiness, accumulation, and continuity, produced by nutritive essence that, having acquired appropriated kamma-originated form as its condition and become established there, has reached presence; nutriment-conditioned—form of fourfold origination conditioned by physical nutriment; nutriment-conditioned and nutriment-originated—ten to twelve successions. Food consumed for one day can support seven days; divine nutritive essence one or two months; a mother’s food pervades the fetus; food smeared on the body also originates form; kamma-born “appropriated nutriment” produces four or five successions. Nutriment-conditioned and temperature-originated means that the fire element of nutriment-originated form, once in presence, produces a temperature-originated nutritive-essence octad. Nutriment conditions nutriment-originated form as producer and the rest by way of support, nutriment, presence, and non-disappearance (Vernacular §4). 〔How to read〕 “One day’s food can support seven days”; “a mother’s food pervades the fetus”; “food smeared on the body also originates form”: this is the unit’s most intimate section. What you eat truly becomes your form and continues ten to twelve rounds, longer than kamma-born form’s four or five. 〔What is seen〕 Among the four origins, nutriment is the one you can directly act upon: kamma is past, temperature external, and mind hard to grasp. This is why Chapter One treats requisites and reflection in such detail; its practical landing point is here.

§05 The Five Headings under Temperature → Vernacular §5

Temperature—the fire element of fourfold origination, divided into hot and cold; temperature-originated—the fifteen forms comprising sound nonad, space, lightness, malleability, wieldiness, accumulation, and continuity, originated in the body when fourfold-originated temperature, with appropriated form as condition, reaches presence; temperature-conditioned—temperature conditions the occurrence and dissolution of fourfold-originated form; temperature-conditioned and temperature-originated—the fire element in presence produces another nutritive-essence octad and continues even when established for a long time in the non-appropriated domain; temperature-conditioned and nutriment-originated—ten to twelve successions. Temperature conditions temperature-originated form as producer and the remainder by support, presence, and non-disappearance. Seeing form’s arising thus is “comprehending form at one time” (Vernacular §5). 〔How to read〕 The temperature section alone adds a sentence absent from the other sources: “temperature-originated form continues even when established for a long time in the non-appropriated domain.” In a corpse, stone, or severed hair, kamma, mind, and nutriment have stopped, but temperature still originates form. Non-appropriated form is impermanent too; it is simply slower. 〔What is seen〕 Each of the four sections closes, “The arising of ... should be seen in this way.” Together these four sentences define “comprehending form at one time”: to comprehend form is to see it arise from four sources, continue for a limited number of successions, and be exhausted.

§06 The Arising of the Immaterial—Eighty-One Minds and the Six-Door Cognitive Process → Vernacular §6

One comprehending the immaterial should see its arising through the eighty-one mundane minds. At rebirth-linking it arises as one of nineteen minds according to kamma accumulated in the preceding becoming—the mode is given in the Explanation of Dependent Origination; after rebirth-linking it arises as life-continuum, at the lifespan’s end as death, and for sense-sphere beings at a strong object through the six doors as registration. During occurrence, eye-consciousness and its associated phenomena arise when the eye is unimpaired, form is present, illumination supports it, and attention serves as cause. Only form in presence strikes eye sensitivity at its presence moment; after the strike, the life-continuum arises and ceases twice; the functional mind element then performs adverting to the same object; next wholesome- or unwholesome-resultant eye-consciousness sees it; resultant mind element receives; resultant rootless mind-consciousness investigates; functional rootless mind-consciousness accompanied by equanimity determines; then a sense-sphere wholesome, unwholesome, or functional mind, or a rootless equanimous mind, performs five or seven impulsions; lastly one of eleven registration minds conforming to the impulsions registers the object. The other doors follow the same method, while sublime minds also arise at the mind door. Seeing the immaterial arise thus at the six doors is “comprehending the immaterial at one time.” Comprehending form at one time and the immaterial at another, applying the three characteristics and proceeding in sequence, one kind of meditator accomplishes the cultivation of wisdom (Vernacular §6). 〔How to read〕 The six-door cognitive process is the best-known diagram of Theravāda Abhidhamma: form strikes the eye → two life-continuum vibrations → adverting → eye-consciousness → receiving → investigating → determining → five or seven impulsions → registration. One act of “seeing” is analyzed into more than ten minds. Seeing that series is “seeing the arising of the immaterial.” 〔What is seen〕 The insight course here does not ask you to memorize the sequence—it was already taught in Chapter Fourteen—but to see it actually running within your own seeing and hearing. Then “mind is impermanent” ceases to be a sentence and becomes the scene before you. The closing says that “one kind of meditator” accomplishes wisdom cultivation here. The commentator is candid: some break through at this point; others need to continue through the sevenfold methods for form and the immaterial below.

For the General Reader

Take away one ratio and one reminder. The ratio: the lifespan of one material phenomenon equals the lifespans of sixteen minds. The body is a slow surge and mind a quick ripple; each ripple rises upon a surge already underway. Death is the last sixteen minds running across the last piece of form. The reminder: form has four sources—kamma, mind, nutriment, and temperature. Of these, nutriment is the one you can act upon. One day’s food supports seven days, and even what is smeared on the body originates form; what you eat becomes your body, then continues ten to twelve rounds before being exhausted. Once this is seen, impermanence need not be believed—you are watching it.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–6 gives the complete, sequential translation of kamma-originated form and the differing speeds of mind and form; the six headings under kamma; the five headings under mind and the four classes of eighty-nine minds; the five headings under nutriment; the five headings under temperature; and the arising of the immaterial through the six-door cognitive process.

From “a hundred years” down to “six parts of one step”—the sevenfold method for form is a blade that cuts ever finer, until you see formations breaking section by section with the crackle of sesame seeds thrown into a hot pan. The lamp simile tells you that coarse and subtle knowledge see the same lamp

The Big Picture — Honing “Impermanence” from the Scale of a Lifetime to the Scale of a Moment

The preceding unit taught “seeing the arising of form”; this one gives another kind of meditator a system: the sevenfold method for form—taking up and laying down, subsidence of growth in age, nutriment-made, temperature-made, kamma-born, mind-originated, and natural form (the framework in §1). The first method delimits a hundred-year life by rebirth-linking (“taking up”) and death (“laying down”) and applies the three characteristics (§1). The second, “subsidence of growth in age,” cuts the hundred years into three periods (§2); ten decades (§3); twenty, twenty-five, thirty-three, fifty, and one hundred divisions; three and six seasons; dark and bright fortnights; night and day; six parts of a day and night (§4); six postural activities; and six parts of one step (§5). Each cut is finer, until “formations break up section by section, joint by joint, portion by portion, crackling like sesame seeds cast into a hot pan.” The lamp simile gathers up these six levels of refinement (§6). The third through fifth methods treat nutriment-made form through hunger and satiety, temperature-made through cold and heat, and kamma-born through the six doors (§7). The sixth treats mind-originated form through joy and grief, with eight stanzas stating that “life and individual existence are joined to one mind alone.” The seventh treats natural form through the eight stages of an asoka shoot (§8). 〔What is seen〕 This unit is the main practice of the whole arc’s “full understanding as investigation” stage. It applies the same three characteristics repeatedly with seven blades and dozens of divisions. This is not repetition; it hones impermanence from “I know people age and die” into “I see the elements breaking section by section within this one step.” The lamp simile says it best: coarse and subtle knowledge see the same lamp, but one person sees the lamp go out when its oil is exhausted, while another sees it cease fiber by fiber.

§01 Framework of the Sevenfold Method for Form and the First Method—A Hundred Years Bounded by Taking Up and Laying Down → Vernacular §1

Another comprehends formations by applying the three characteristics through the sevenfold methods for form and the immaterial. The seven for form are taking up and laying down, subsidence of growth in age, nutriment-made, temperature-made, kamma-born, mind-originated, and natural form (the Ancients’ stanza says: through taking up and laying down; through growth in age tending to subsidence; through nutriment and temperature; through kamma and mind; through natural form—these seven one contemplates in detail). Taking up is rebirth-linking, laying down death. With these he delimits a hundred years and applies the three characteristics. All formations during it are impermanent because they undergo arising and ceasing, change, are temporary, and preclude permanence. Because arisen formations reach presence, are assailed by aging while present, and necessarily break after aging, they are suffering—constantly oppressed, hard to bear, a basis of suffering, and precluding pleasure. Because no one has mastery in the three cases “May what has arisen not reach presence; may what has reached presence not age; may what has aged not break up,” they occur empty of mastery and are not-self—empty, ownerless, not subject to mastery, and precluding self (Vernacular §1). 〔How to read〕 First see the reasons under each characteristic: four for impermanence—arising and ceasing, change, temporariness, preclusion of permanence; four for suffering—oppression, intolerability, basis of suffering, preclusion of pleasure; and four for not-self—emptiness, ownerlessness, absence of mastery, preclusion of self. This is the book’s standard syntax for applying the characteristics. The dozens of later repetitions of “impermanent, suffering, and not-self” omit these reasons; the reader should supply them. 〔What is seen〕 “May what has arisen not reach presence, what has reached presence not age, what has aged not break up—no one has mastery in these three places”: not-self here is not philosophy but three wishes you cannot make come true.

§02 Subsidence of Growth in Age—The Three Periods of Beginning, Middle, and End → Vernacular §2

Subsidence of growth in age is the subsidence of form grown and enlarged according to age. A hundred years are divided into thirty-three years of the beginning period, thirty-four of the middle, and thirty-three of the end. Form of the beginning period ceases without reaching the middle; middle-period form without reaching the end; final-period form cannot pass beyond death. Each is impermanent, suffering, and not-self (Vernacular §2). 〔How to read〕 The first cut divides a hundred years into three. From here the syntax is fixed: “Form occurring in A ceases right there without reaching B.” Every later section repeats the sentence with a different A and B. 〔What is seen〕 “Whatever is impermanent is suffering; whatever is suffering is not-self”: here the commentator writes the three characteristics as a chain. 20-01 §5 already supplied the reasons; here he uses it directly.

§03 Ten Decades—from the Dull Decade through the Recumbent Decade → Vernacular §3

Next come ten decades: dull (the dull, frivolous child), playful, beautiful (visible appearance at fullness), strong, wise (wisdom well established; even one naturally weak in wisdom develops a little then), declining (play, beauty, strength, and wisdom decline), stooping, bent (like the tip of a plough), confused (forgetting immediately what one has done), and recumbent (a centenarian lies down much). Form in the first decade ceases without reaching the second, and so on; form in the tenth ceases without reaching another becoming. All is impermanent, suffering, and not-self (Vernacular §3). 〔How to read〕 The ten names form a miniature essay on life: dull → playful → beautiful → strong → wise → declining → stooping → bent → confused → recumbent. The commentator adds a compassionate aside in the “wise decade”: “Even one naturally weak in wisdom still develops a little wisdom then.” 〔What is seen〕 Dividing life is not for sentiment but to see at each boundary that one form “ceases without reaching the next.” The form of one’s forties does not survive into one’s fifties; this is verifiable impermanence.

§04 From Twenty to One Hundred Divisions; Three and Six Seasons; Dark and Bright Fortnights; Night and Day → Vernacular §4

Next he divides the hundred years into five-year periods making twenty divisions; four-year periods making twenty-five; three-year periods making thirty-three; two-year periods making fifty; and one-year periods making one hundred. A year is divided into three seasons—four months of rains, winter, and summer—and six seasons—two months of rains, autumn, winter, cool season, spring, summer; then dark and bright fortnights; night and day; and the six parts of a day and night—forenoon, midday, afternoon, first watch, middle watch, last watch. In each case he applies the three characteristics through “form in A ceases without reaching B” (Vernacular §4). 〔How to read〕 This section accelerates the blade, cutting from five-year periods all the way down to one watch of the night. The reader need not plod through every period. See instead that each finer cut leaves the same sentence true. This demonstrates that impermanence is “everywhere thus,” not an abstract proposition. 〔What is seen〕 “Form occurring in the dark fortnight does not reach the bright fortnight”: even the moon’s phase becomes a ruler, showing that the commentator seeks no privileged scale—impermanence is visible at any scale.

§05 Six Postural Activities and the Six Parts of One Step—Strength and Weakness of the Four Elements → Vernacular §5

He next applies the three characteristics through going forward, returning, looking ahead, looking aside, bending, and stretching, then divides a single step into lifting, advancing, shifting aside, lowering, placing, and pressing (lifting the foot, moving it forward, shifting it around a stump, thorn, or snake, lowering it, setting it down, and pressing foot and ground as the other foot lifts). In lifting, advancing, and shifting aside, earth and water are slight and weak while fire and air are abundant and strong; in lowering, placing, and pressing, fire and air are slight and weak while earth and water are abundant and strong. Applying the three characteristics to the six parts, the elements and derived forms of lifting cease without reaching advancing, and so forth, until those of placing cease without reaching pressing. “At each place, section by section, joint by joint, portion by portion, formations break up with a crackling sound like sesame seeds thrown into a hot pan.” For one who observes formations proceeding section by section, comprehension of form becomes subtle (Vernacular §5). 〔How to read〕 The six parts of a step are the unit’s climax: in one step, six clusters of form arise and cease, and within each part the strengths of the four elements exchange places—fire and air strong as the foot rises, earth and water strong as it descends. “Like sesame seeds thrown into a hot pan, crackling”: this is the book’s most audible line about impermanence. 〔What is seen〕 “For one who observes formations occurring section by section, comprehension of form becomes subtle.” Subtlety is this section’s result: not knowing more but seeing more finely. The next section’s lamp simile is designed precisely for this “subtle.”

§06 The Lamp Simile—The Increasing Subtlety of Three Persons’ Knowledge and Its Sixfold Correspondence → Vernacular §6

A border-country man who knew only wooden and grass torches and had never seen a lamp entered the city and asked of a lamp, “What is this delightful thing?” One person answered, “It is called a lamp; when oil and wick are exhausted, even the path by which it went cannot be known.” Another said, “That is coarse—the wick burns progressively, and the flame at each third ceases without reaching another part.” A third said, “That too is coarse—at each finger’s breadth, half-finger’s breadth, thread, and fiber, the flame ceases without reaching another fiber; yet apart from a fiber no flame can be designated.” The correspondences are: exhaustion of oil = applying the characteristics to a hundred years bounded by taking up and laying down; one third = the hundred years’ three periods; a finger’s breadth = divisions by ten, five, four, three, two, and one year; half a finger = the year’s three and six seasons; a thread = dark and bright fortnights and the six parts of night and day; a fiber = the six postural activities and six parts of one step (Vernacular §6). 〔How to read〕 All three people are right; only their degrees of coarseness differ. On the insight path there is no “wrong impermanence,” only “coarse impermanence.” The border man’s question is revealing: “What is this delightful thing?” He is first attracted to the lamp; the three city men grow progressively cooler, analyzing the “delightful” thing into cessation fiber by fiber. 〔What is seen〕 “Apart from a fiber, a flame cannot be designated”: the subtlest person adds one statement. Flame does not exist apart from the wick’s fibers, just as form does not exist apart from moments. At the finest limit one reaches “only moments, no thing.” This prepares the next unit—the sevenfold method for the immaterial—and Chapter Twenty-One.

§07 Nutriment-Made, Temperature-Made, and Kamma-Born—Hunger and Satiety, Cold and Heat, and the Six Doors → Vernacular §7

He next divides form into four beginning with nutriment-made and applies the three characteristics to each. Nutriment-made form appears through hunger and satiety: when hungry, form is scorched and weary, like a burnt stump or a crow crouched in a charcoal basket, ill-colored and misshapen; when sated, it is full, pleasant, soft, smooth, and agreeable to touch. Hungry form ceases without reaching satiety, sated form without reaching hunger. Temperature-made form appears through cold and heat: in heat it is scorched, weary, and ill-colored; in cold, full, pleasant, and smooth. Kamma-born form appears through the bases and doors: at the eye door thirty kamma-born forms plus twenty-four supporting forms make fifty-four; the ear, nose, and tongue are the same; the body door has forty-four, the mind door fifty-four. Eye-door form ceases without reaching the ear door, and so on until body-door form ceases without reaching the mind door (Vernacular §7). 〔How to read〕 These three methods add another dimension to the preceding “time slices”: origin. This form was made by hunger, by heat, or by kamma at the eye door. The hungry face is “like a crow crouched in a basket of charcoal”; the commentator’s similes often carry a trace of humor. 〔What is seen〕 Kamma-born form is divided “by doors”: fifty-four at the eye door, forty-four at the body door. The numbers share their source with 18-01 §4. By now the reader need not fear them; they merely distinguish “this heap” from “that heap.”

§08 Mind-Originated and Natural Form—The Form of Joy and Grief and the Eight Stages of an Asoka Shoot → Vernacular §8

Mind-originated form appears through joy and grief: in joy it is smooth, soft, pleasant, and agreeable to touch; in grief, scorched, weary, and ill-colored. Each ceases without reaching the other. Eight stanzas then become evident: life, individual existence, and every pleasure and pain are joined only to one mind, the moment turning swiftly; even deities living eighty-four thousand aeons never stand through two minds joined; the aggregates that cease in one who dies and one who remains are alike—gone, they do not reconnect; what has just broken, will break in future, and ceases between are no different in characteristic; the unborn never lived, one lives by the present, and the world dies with mind’s breaking—designation in the ultimate sense; what has broken enters no store, the future has no accumulation, and what arises and stands is like a mustard seed on an awl’s point; dissolution stands before arisen phenomena, which do not mingle with the old; they come from the unseen and go to the unseen, like lightning arising and ceasing in the sky. Natural form—external form unconnected with faculties: iron, copper, tin, lead, gold, silver, pearls, gems, beryl, conch, stone, coral, ruby, agate, earth, rock, mountain, grass, tree, creeper, and the rest, arisen since the aeon of evolution—is then treated through an asoka shoot: pale red → deep red → light red → tender leaf → mature leaf → green → blue-green (maintaining similar continuity for about a year) → yellow leaf breaking from the stalk and falling. Each stage ceases without reaching the next; by this method all natural form is comprehended. Thus formations are comprehended through the sevenfold method for form (Vernacular §8). 〔How to read〕 The eight stanzas are the philosophical summit of the unit: “Life and individual existence and all pleasure and pain are joined to one mind alone.” In the ultimate sense, your life is only as long as “this mind.” “What has broken enters no store, the future has no accumulation”: no warehouse stores the past, none stocks the future. “Like a mustard seed on an awl’s point”: the present standing point is that small. 〔What is seen〕 Natural, external form also receives the three characteristics. The asoka shoot moves from pale red to yellow leaf; the insight course extends from “my body” to “all form.” Not only am I impermanent—iron, copper, gold, silver, mountains, rocks, grasses, and trees follow the same law. From here the world is no longer a background within which “I am impermanent”; it obeys the same law as I do.

For the General Reader

Take away one blade and one lamp. The blade: “Form occurring in A ceases right there without reaching B.” A and B may be one’s thirties and forties, rains and winter, dark and bright fortnights, forenoon and midday, lifting and lowering the foot. Cut ever finer until, within one step, you hear formations crackling like sesame seeds in a hot pan. The lamp: three people see one lamp; one sees it go out when oil is exhausted, one sees each third of the wick cease, and one sees it cease fiber by fiber. There is no wrong impermanence, only coarse impermanence. And one stanza: “Life and individual existence, with all pleasure and pain, are joined to one mind alone.” In the ultimate sense your life lasts only as long as this mind.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–8 gives the complete, sequential translation of the sevenfold framework and the hundred years bounded by taking up and laying down; the three periods; ten decades; twenty divisions through six parts of day and night; six postural activities and six parts of a step; the lamp simile; the nutriment-made, temperature-made, and kamma-born methods; and mind-originated form, the eight stanzas, and the asoka shoot as natural form.

The mind that contemplated form must itself be contemplated by a subsequent mind—the sevenfold method for the immaterial turns the blade toward the observer: a pair, a moment, a chain of ten minds; then comes one of the book’s most candid statements: for one who says “I contemplate,” view has not been removed; only for one who says “formations alone contemplate formations” has it been removed

The Big Picture — Turning Insight’s Blade from What Is Observed Toward the Observer, and Foreshadowing the Eighteen Great Insights

The sevenfold method for form divided form down to the six parts of a step; this unit turns to the immaterial—not another heap of objects, but the very minds that just contemplated form. Its framework comprises seven methods: by group, by pair, by moment, by sequence, by removal of view, by removal of conceit, and by exhaustion of delight (§1). Under the first, “by group,” the Commentator records the Account of Purification and the Account of the Noble Lineage, and judges the latter more appropriate (§1). Under the second, “by pair,” the mind contemplating form is contemplated by a subsequent mind (§2). Under the third, “by moment,” four minds are contemplated successively (§3). Under the fourth, “by sequence,” ten minds are contemplated successively, stopping at the tenth because by then the meditation subjects of form and the immaterial have both been mastered (§4). The fifth through seventh methods have no separate ways of contemplating; they are three kinds of “non-arising”: view does not arise, conceit does not arise, and craving does not arise. Here the Commentator again records two accounts, and the Account of the Noble Lineage casts them as three memorable statements (§5). The final section foreshadows the eighteen great insights, which are to be attained beginning with contemplation of dissolution by means of full understanding as abandoning; at this stage only a portion is penetrated (§6). 〔Observation〕 This unit’s force lies in §5: the last adversary on the path of insight is not the thing observed but the very thought “I contemplate”—holding “I contemplate” means that view has not been removed; holding “I contemplate well” means that conceit has not been removed; and savoring the thought “I am able to contemplate” means that delight has not been exhausted. This anticipates the ten corruptions of insight in the next two units: the counterfeit is not outside but in the observer’s attitude.

§01 The Framework of the Sevenfold Method for the Immaterial and the First Method—By Group; Two Accounts Recorded and the Commentator’s Judgment → Vernacular §1

The framework of the sevenfold method for the immaterial is: by group, by pair, by moment, by sequence, by removal of view, by removal of conceit, and by exhaustion of delight. “By group” means the phenomena with contact as the fifth. According to the Account of Purification, the phenomena with contact as the fifth that arise while one contemplates “hair of the head is impermanent, suffering, and not-self,” and so on through “the brain is impermanent, suffering, and not-self,” do not reach one another; they break up part by part and portion by portion, crackling like sesame seeds thrown into a hot pan, and are therefore impermanent, suffering, and not-self. According to the Account of the Noble Lineage, at each of the seven points in the sevenfold method for form, the mind occurring with the contemplation “form is impermanent, suffering, and not-self” is itself contemplated by a subsequent mind as impermanent, suffering, and not-self. This is called comprehension by group and is the more appropriate account; the remaining methods are distinguished according to it (vernacular §1). 〔Reading〕 The two accounts differ in this way: the Account of Purification observes “the group of mental factors arising while one contemplates hair,” whereas the Account of the Noble Lineage observes “the very mind that just contemplated form.” The latter turns the blade more directly toward the observer. The Commentator himself judges it more appropriate, and the six remaining methods follow it. 〔Observation〕 “Phenomena with contact as the fifth” is a designation for mental phenomena—contact, feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness—and appeared in the stanza in 18-03. Here it changes from “something explained” into “something observed.”

§02 The Second Method—By Pair → Vernacular §2

After contemplating “form of taking up and laying down is impermanent, suffering, and not-self,” one contemplates that mind with a subsequent mind as “impermanent, suffering, and not-self.” The same applies to form of the subsidence of growth in age, nutriment-made form, temperature-made form, kamma-born form, mind-originated form, and natural form. This is called comprehension by pair (vernacular §2). 〔Reading〕 A “pair” is one mind contemplating form plus one mind contemplating that mind. This is reflexivity in its smallest unit: the thought that just “saw form as impermanent” is itself impermanent. 〔Observation〕 All seven points of the sevenfold method for form are reused here as one set. The Commentator’s system is extremely economical: it establishes no new object but makes the mind that arose upon an old object into a new object.

§03 The Third Method—By Moment → Vernacular §3

After contemplating form of taking up and laying down, one contemplates the first mind with a second, the second with a third, the third with a fourth, and the fourth with a fifth as “this too is impermanent, suffering, and not-self.” The same applies at the other six points. Thus, starting with the mind that apprehends form, one contemplates through four successive minds; this is called comprehension by moment (vernacular §3). 〔Reading〕 A “pair” is one pair; a “moment” is a chain of four, each contemplating the one before it. It is like mirrors facing mirrors, though the Commentator stops at four. 〔Observation〕 “Moment” here does not mean merely that every mind lasts for a moment, which is assumed. It means that the contemplation itself proceeds moment by moment: the observer becomes a chain, and there is no observer standing outside that chain.

§04 The Fourth Method—By Sequence → Vernacular §4

The same process continues until the eleventh mind contemplates the tenth. One may contemplate in this sequence for the whole course of a day; yet by the contemplation of the tenth mind, both the meditation subject of form and the meditation subject of the immaterial have been mastered, so one should stop at the tenth. This is called comprehension by sequence (vernacular §4). 〔Reading〕 A chain of ten minds, then stop. “One should stop at the tenth” does not mean that more are impossible, but that more serve no purpose: by the tenth, the practice has been mastered. 〔Observation〕 The Commentator supplies a boundary for “enough.” Each method on the path of insight has its point of mastery; once mastered, one moves to the next rather than prolonging a single method without limit. This has the same spirit as the lamp simile’s “coarse and subtle both correspond”: enough is enough.

§05 The Fifth Through Seventh Methods—Removal of View, Removal of Conceit, and Exhaustion of Delight → Vernacular §5

The three have no separate methods of contemplation. One who sees the form apprehended earlier and the immaterial apprehended here sees no “sentient being” apart from form and the immaterial. The perception of a sentient being is removed; when formations are apprehended with that mind, view does not arise and so view has been removed; when formations are apprehended with a mind from which view has been removed, conceit does not arise and so conceit has been removed; when formations are apprehended with a mind from which conceit has been removed, craving does not arise and so delight has been exhausted. This is the Account of Purification. The Account of the Noble Lineage sets out the threefold framework and shows this method: one who holds “I contemplate; this is my contemplation” has no removal of view, while one who holds “formations alone contemplate formations, comprehend them, define them, apprehend them, and delimit them” does; one who holds “I contemplate well; I contemplate agreeably” has no removal of conceit; one who savors contemplation with the thought “I am able to contemplate” has no exhaustion of delight. “If formations were self, it would be proper to apprehend them as self; yet they are not-self and are apprehended as self. Therefore they are not-self in the sense of not being subject to mastery, impermanent in the sense of having been and then not being, and suffering in the sense of being oppressed by arising and cessation.” One who sees thus has removal of view. “If formations were permanent … yet they are impermanent and are apprehended as permanent.” One who sees thus has removal of conceit. “If formations were pleasurable … yet they are suffering and are apprehended as pleasurable.” One who sees thus has exhaustion of delight. Seeing formations as not-self removes view; seeing them as impermanent removes conceit; seeing them as suffering exhausts delight. Each insight stands in its own position. At this point the meditation subjects of form and the immaterial have been mastered (vernacular §5). 〔Reading〕 These are the three lines most worth memorizing in the whole unit, perhaps in the whole arc: “I contemplate”—view has not been removed; “I contemplate well”—conceit has not been removed; savoring “I am able to contemplate”—delight has not been exhausted. Three illnesses and three medicines: not-self treats view, impermanence treats conceit, and suffering treats delight. 〔Observation〕 “If formations were self, it would be proper to apprehend them as self”: the Commentator does not scold attachment but first concedes, “If it really were self, there would be nothing wrong with apprehending it as self,” and then says, “But it is not.” There is no moral pressure here, only fact. “In this way, this insight stands only in each of its own respective positions”: each of the three insights occupies its own place and is not used interchangeably. Not-self does not treat conceit, and suffering does not treat view. This is precise medicine.

§06 The Eighteen Great Insights and the Partial Penetration of Them at This Stage → Vernacular §6

One who has mastered the meditation subjects of form and the immaterial penetrates here a portion of the eighteen great insights that are to be attained in all modes by full understanding as abandoning, beginning above with contemplation of dissolution, and abandons the phenomena opposed to them. The eighteen great insights are kinds of understanding headed by contemplation of impermanence: contemplation of impermanence abandons the perception of permanence; contemplation of suffering, the perception of pleasure; contemplation of not-self, the perception of self; contemplation of disenchantment, delight; contemplation of dispassion, greed; contemplation of cessation, origination; contemplation of relinquishment, grasping; contemplation of exhaustion, the perception of compactness; contemplation of decay, accumulation; contemplation of change, the perception of lastingness; contemplation of the signless, the sign; contemplation of the desireless, desire; contemplation of emptiness, adherence; higher-wisdom insight into phenomena, adherence to substance; knowledge-and-vision as it is, adherence born of delusion; contemplation of danger, adherence through attachment; contemplation of reviewing, non-reviewing; and contemplation of turning away, adherence to bondage. Because formations have already been seen through the three characteristics, the contemplations of impermanence, suffering, and not-self have been penetrated. Because “contemplation of impermanence and contemplation of the signless are one in meaning and differ only in phrasing; contemplation of suffering and contemplation of the desireless are one in meaning and differ only in phrasing; contemplation of not-self and contemplation of emptiness are one in meaning and differ only in phrasing,” those three too have been penetrated. Higher-wisdom insight into phenomena is all insight, and knowledge-and-vision as it is is included in purification by overcoming doubt, so these two too have been penetrated. Of the rest, some have been penetrated and some have not; they will be distinguished later (vernacular §6). 〔Reading〕 The eighteen great insights are a pharmacopoeia for the entire path of insight: each insight abandons one thing. Here the Commentator claims only eight of them—the three characteristics, the three gateways, higher-wisdom insight into phenomena, and knowledge-and-vision as it is. Of the other ten the Commentator says only that some have been penetrated and some have not, leaving the distinction to later units. This section marks “you are here” on the map. 〔Observation〕 Notice that the ninth of the eighteen great insights, “contemplation of decay” (which abandons accumulation), and the “contemplation of dissolution” at the opening of §6 are not the same Pāli term. The Chinese uses the same character in both, but the terms differ: in this edition’s already-established readings, “contemplation of decay” is the ninth item in this list, while “knowledge of contemplation of dissolution” is the knowledge treated in Chapter 21. The unit’s final sentence is modest: “Some have been penetrated and some have not; we shall show their distinction later.” The Commentator never lets readers imagine they have already arrived.

For the General Reader

Take away three sentences and one list. The sentences are these: “I contemplate”—view has not been removed; “I contemplate well”—conceit has not been removed; “I am able to contemplate,” with quiet self-satisfaction—delight has not been exhausted. The medicines are precise: not-self treats view, impermanence treats conceit, and suffering treats delight; they are not interchangeable. The list is the eighteen great insights: each insight abandons one thing. At this point you possess only eight—the three characteristics, the three gateways, higher-wisdom insight into phenomena, and knowledge-and-vision as it is. Of the rest, some have been penetrated and some have not; the Commentator leaves the distinction to later chapters. There is also a practical boundary: when contemplating the mind that contemplated, stop at the tenth mind. Enough.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–6 gives the complete, paragraph-by-paragraph translation of the framework of the sevenfold method for the immaterial and the two accounts of comprehension by group; comprehension by pair, by moment, and by sequence; the two accounts of the three removals—view, conceit, and delight; and the eighteen great insights together with their partial penetration at the present stage.

Before a lute sounds, its sound is not stored anywhere; after it has sounded, it has not gone anywhere—“not having been, it comes to be; having been, it vanishes.” When this is seen in the five aggregates through fifty aspects, the four truths, dependent origination, the four methods, and the three characteristics all emerge from it: this is knowledge of arising and passing away. It is still young; the Commentator calls it “tender insight knowledge”

The Big Picture — The First Plateau on the Path of Insight: Contemplation of Arising and Passing Away

Knowledge of comprehension has made the three characteristics familiar. Next comes knowledge in contemplation of arising and passing away: wisdom that contemplates change in present phenomena. First comes development in brief (§1): the characteristic of generation in arisen name-and-form is contemplated as arising, and its characteristic of change as passing away. The simile of the lute’s sound then states the unit’s skeletal sentence: not having been, it comes to be; having been, it vanishes. Next comes development in detail (§2): for each of the five aggregates, its arising is seen through the arising of four conditions—ignorance, craving, kamma, and nutriment, with contact substituted for nutriment for feeling, perception, and formations, and name-and-form substituted for contact for consciousness—and its passing away through the cessation of those four conditions; together with the characteristic of generation and the characteristic of change, each aggregate has ten aspects, making fifty. This establishes two approaches, “by condition” and “by moment” (§3). Once those two approaches open, the four truths (§4); dependent origination in forward and reverse order and dependently originated phenomena (§4); the four methods—unity, diversity, non-activity, and suchness of phenomena—and the four views they abandon; and the three characteristics, the individual characteristic, and the temporariness of the conditioned characteristic (§5) all become evident. In the final section, formations appear ever new through twelve similes; the practitioner penetrates contemplation of arising and passing away with its full fifty aspects—tender insight knowledge—and is called “one who has initiated insight” (§6). 〔Observation〕 This unit is the first “plateau” in the whole arc. From this point, the path of insight is no longer a matter of attaching labels but of seeing phenomena arise and pass away. And it is precisely here that danger begins: the ten corruptions of insight in the next unit arise in “one who has initiated insight.” The Commentator’s description of this knowledge as “tender” is profound: it is strong and bright but not yet mature—the very age at which one may be deceived by illumination and happiness.

§01 Development of Arising and Passing Away in Brief—The Simile of the Lute’s Sound → Vernacular §1

One who has abandoned the perception of permanence and the other states opposed to contemplation of impermanence and the rest, whose knowledge is purified, and who has reached the further shore of knowledge of comprehension begins to attain knowledge in contemplation of arising and passing away. The canonical text states: arisen form is present; its characteristic of generation is arising, its characteristic of change is passing away, and contemplation is knowledge; the same applies to feeling, perception, formations, consciousness, the eye, and so on through existence. He begins in brief: he contemplates the characteristic of generation of arisen name-and-form—birth, arising, and newness—as arising, and the characteristic of change—exhaustion and dissolution—as passing away. He understands that before name-and-form arises there is no heap or accumulation; while it arises it does not come from a heap or accumulation; while it ceases it does not go to any cardinal or intermediate direction; and after it has ceased it does not stand in a heap, accumulation, or store anywhere. So too with the sound of a lute: there is no accumulation before it arises, it does not come from an accumulation as it arises, it goes to no direction as it ceases, and it is not stored anywhere after cessation. Dependent on the lute, its appurtenance, and the person’s effort, not having been, it comes to be; having been, it vanishes. All material and immaterial phenomena are the same (vernacular §1). 〔Reading〕 The simile of the lute’s sound is the key to the whole unit. There are four “nots”: there is no warehouse before arising, nothing is taken from a warehouse during arising, nothing travels somewhere during cessation, and nothing is stored anywhere after cessation. Arising and passing away are not “movement”; they are “not having been, it comes to be; having been, it vanishes.” 〔Observation〕 Notice that the Commentator begins “in brief” and then proceeds “in detail.” The brief development needs only one sentence—see arising, see passing away—while the detailed development divides it into fifty aspects. This is the rhythm of instruction: first let the practitioner taste it, then make it exact.

§02 Development of Arising and Passing Away in Detail—Ten Aspects for Each of the Five Aggregates, Fifty in All → Vernacular §2

The analysis of knowledge of arising and passing away proceeds as follows. From the arising of ignorance, craving, kamma, and nutriment comes the arising of form; thus the arising of the form aggregate is seen in the sense of the arising of its conditions. Seeing the characteristic of generation also means seeing the arising of the form aggregate—five aspects. The passing away of the form aggregate is seen through the cessation of those four conditions, and by seeing the characteristic of change—five aspects. For the feeling aggregate, contact replaces nutriment; perception and formations follow feeling; for the consciousness aggregate, name-and-form replaces contact. Ten aspects of arising and passing away for each aggregate make fifty. On this basis, one attends in detail by condition and by moment: “Such is the arising of form; such is its passing away; thus form arises; thus it passes away” (vernacular §2). 〔Reading〕 Fifty aspects equal five aggregates multiplied by four conditions for arising, plus the characteristic of generation, plus four conditions for passing away, plus the characteristic of change. For each aggregate, four answers to “because of what does it arise?” and four to “because of what does it cease?” are joined by “see it arising” and “see it passing away.” The former belong to conditions; the latter belong to moments. 〔Observation〕 The substitutions among nutriment, contact, and name-and-form are precise: form is conditioned by nutriment; feeling, perception, and formations by contact; and consciousness by name-and-form. These are echoes on the path of insight of three joints in the dependent origination of Chapter 17.

§03 Establishing the Two Approaches—By Condition and by Moment → Vernacular §3

As one attends thus—“so it is that these phenomena, not having been, come to be; having been, they vanish”—knowledge becomes clearer. Seeing arising and passing away in two ways, by condition and by moment, makes evident the distinctions among the truths, dependent origination, the methods, and the characteristics. Seeing the arising of the aggregates through the arising of ignorance and the rest, and their cessation through the cessation of ignorance and the rest, is seeing arising and passing away by condition. Seeing the arising and passing away of the aggregates through the characteristic of generation and the characteristic of change is seeing them by moment, for the characteristic of generation occurs only at the moment of arising and the characteristic of change only at the moment of dissolution (vernacular §3). 〔Reading〕 The two doors must be kept distinct: “by condition” sees “why”—with the arising of ignorance comes the arising of form; “by moment” sees “happening now”—at this moment it arises, at that moment it dissolves. Everything in the next three sections opens through these two doors. 〔Observation〕 “Knowledge becomes clearer”: the Commentator describes the knowledge at this level as “clearer,” foreshadowing the corruption called “illumination” in the next unit. The clarity is genuine, but it can be misidentified.

§04 The Manifestation of the Four Truths and Dependent Origination → Vernacular §4

Seeing arising by condition makes the truth of origin evident, because one understands what generates. Seeing arising by moment makes the truth of suffering evident, because one understands the suffering of birth. Seeing passing away by condition makes the truth of cessation evident, because one understands that when a condition does not arise, what is conditioned by it does not arise. Seeing passing away by moment likewise makes the truth of suffering evident, because one understands the suffering of death. Seeing arising and passing away itself is “this mundane path,” so the truth of the path becomes evident because delusion is destroyed. Seeing arising by condition makes dependent origination in forward order evident—“when this exists, that comes to be.” Seeing passing away by condition makes dependent origination in reverse order evident—“with the cessation of this, that ceases.” Seeing arising and passing away by moment makes dependently originated phenomena evident, because one understands the conditioned characteristic: what has arising and passing away is conditioned, and conditioned things are dependently originated (vernacular §4). 〔Reading〕 Here the four truths are not “taught”; they are “seen.” Seeing “because of what it arises” reveals the truth of origin; seeing “it is arising now” reveals the truth of suffering; seeing “because of what it ceases” reveals the truth of cessation; seeing “it is ceasing now” also reveals the truth of suffering, the suffering of death; and the very “seeing” is the truth of the path. The four truths are four faces of seeing arising and passing away. 〔Observation〕 “His seeing of arising and passing away—this is the mundane path”: the truth of the path appears in the seeing itself, rather than in what is seen. This places the observer within the four truths and echoes “formations alone contemplate formations” in 20-05 §5.

§05 The Manifestation of the Four Methods and Four Characteristics—The Abandonment of Four Views → Vernacular §5

Seeing arising by condition makes the method of unity evident—the cause and fruit are connected and the continuity is unbroken—and more thoroughly abandons the view of annihilation. Seeing arising by moment makes the method of diversity evident—ever-new phenomena arise—and more thoroughly abandons the view of eternity. Seeing arising and passing away by condition makes the method of non-activity evident—phenomena do not come under mastery—and more thoroughly abandons self-view. Seeing arising by condition makes the method of suchness of phenomena evident—the fruit arises in conformity with its conditions—and more thoroughly abandons the view of non-action. Seeing arising by condition makes the characteristic of not-self evident—phenomena operate without an agent and in dependence on conditions. Seeing arising and passing away by moment makes evident the characteristic of impermanence—what has been is no more, and the earlier and later limits are separate; the characteristic of suffering—phenomena are oppressed by arising and passing away; the individual characteristic—phenomena are delimited by arising and passing away; and the temporariness of the conditioned characteristic within the individual characteristic—at the moment of arising there is no passing away, and at the moment of passing away there is no arising (vernacular §5). 〔Reading〕 Four methods correspond to four views: unity treats the view of annihilation—there is continuity, not severance; diversity treats the view of eternity—it is not the same thing but an ever-new one; non-activity treats self-view—no one is doing it; and suchness of phenomena treats the view of non-action—fruits arise from conditions, so causality is not absent. The first pair treats the two extremes of eternity and annihilation; the latter pair treats the two extremes of a self and no causality. Four pitfalls are filled at once. 〔Observation〕 Unity and diversity become evident together without contradiction. This is the unit’s subtlest point: the continuity is one, so it is not annihilated; the moments are diverse, so nothing is eternal. “Neither one nor different” is not metaphysical language here; it is what each of the two doors sees.

§06 The Ever-Newness of Formations—Twelve Similes and the Attainment of Tender Insight Knowledge → Vernacular §6

Once the distinctions among the truths, dependent origination, the methods, and the characteristics are evident, formations appear ever new: “These phenomena, never arisen before, arise; having arisen, they cease.” They appear not merely ever new but briefly lasting, like a dewdrop at sunrise, a water bubble, a line drawn on water with a stick, a mustard seed on an awl’s point, and a lightning flash; and devoid of substance and without a core, like an illusion, a mirage, a dream, a whirling firebrand, a city of the gandhabbas, foam, a plantain trunk, and the like. By this point, in the mode “only what is subject to decay arises, and once arisen it proceeds to decay,” one penetrates contemplation of arising and passing away with its full fifty aspects—tender insight knowledge. One who attains it is called “one who has initiated insight” (vernacular §6). 〔Reading〕 The twelve similes form two groups: the first five express “briefness” (dewdrop, bubble, line on water, mustard seed on an awl’s point, lightning), and the latter seven express “insubstantiality” (illusion, mirage, dream, whirling firebrand, city of the gandhabbas, foam, plantain trunk; the closing “and the like” is not counted as a further simile). Briefness is temporal impermanence; insubstantiality is ontological not-self—the two groups correspond to two characteristics. 〔Observation〕 “Tender insight knowledge” is not disparagement but fact. It can already see fifty aspects and make the four truths evident, but it is young. “One who has initiated insight” is both its title and the host of the ten corruptions of insight in the next unit. The Commentator gives you this title in the final sentence of this unit so that the very next sentence can tell you where the danger lies.

For the General Reader

Take away one sentence and one name. The sentence is: “Not having been, it comes to be; having been, it vanishes.” Like the sound of a lute, it was not stored anywhere before sounding, and it does not go anywhere once the sound ends. Every thought and every heartbeat is like this. From this one sentence, the four truths, dependent origination, and the way out of the four pits—eternity, annihilation, self, and absence of causality—all emerge by themselves. They are not memorized; they are seen. The name is tender insight knowledge. When you first truly see arising and passing away, that knowledge is bright and strong but still young. What the Commentator explains next is what most easily deceives knowledge at that age.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–6 gives the complete, paragraph-by-paragraph translation of the brief development of arising and passing away with the lute-sound simile; its detailed development through fifty aspects of the five aggregates; the two approaches of condition and moment; the manifestation of the four truths and dependent origination; the four methods, four views, and characteristics; and the twelve similes together with tender insight knowledge.

The page most worth remembering in the whole book: when insight reaches tender insight knowledge, illumination, knowledge, rapture, tranquillity, happiness, resolution, exertion, manifestation, equanimity, and a trace of subtle delight surge up. Most are not bad; the problem is that you may take them to mean “I have attained the path.” Recognizing that “these ten are not the path” is purification by knowledge and vision of what is and is not the path

The Big Picture — The Moment the Counterfeit Appears, and This Arc’s Purest Application of the Book’s Measure

The final sentence of the preceding unit gives the practitioner the title “one who has initiated insight.” This unit’s first sentence immediately says that the ten corruptions of insight arise in such a person—and only in a clansman who practices rightly, works diligently, and has initiated insight. They do not arise in a noble disciple, someone on a wrong path, or an indolent person (§1). Their names are illumination, knowledge, rapture, tranquillity, happiness, resolution, exertion, manifestation, equanimity, and delight. The Commentator first treats “illumination” in detail: when it arises, the practitioner takes what is not the path to be the path and what is not the fruit to be the fruit, abandons the root meditation subject, and sits savoring illumination. The extent of illumination ranges from the place where one sits cross-legged to ten thousand worlds, and the text adds a story of two elders seeing flowers and fish on a dark night (§2). It then records three elders who believed themselves arahants and tells how Elder Dhammadinna tested Elder Mahānāga with a conjured elephant: the practitioner of sixty years rose to flee when he saw the elephant, recognized that he was still an ordinary person, and attained arahantship in three steps (§3). The remaining nine corruptions are then explained in turn (§4); the last, “delight,” arises as attachment in a subtle, peaceful guise and cannot even be apprehended as a defilement. Section 5 says that the ten become thirty according to grasping—by view, conceit, and craving—and that an undiscerning person is shaken by them. Section 6 gives the remedy: one endowed with understanding delimits the illumination as “impermanent, conditioned, dependently originated,” contemplates it as “not mine, not I, not my self,” untangles the thirtyfold tangle, and determines: “Illumination and the rest are not the path; insight knowledge free from corruptions and entered upon the course is the path.” This is purification by knowledge and vision of what is and is not the path. The chapter closes by determining three truths: purification of view determines the truth of suffering, purification by overcoming doubt the truth of origin, and this purification the truth of the path. 〔Observation〕 This is the page where the subtractive measure of this arc—and of the whole book—detonates. Read it together with what came before: when the rapture, happiness, and illumination of jhāna surged up in Chapter 4, the Commentator warned that they were scaffolding rather than the destination; the near enemy of loving-kindness in Chapter 9 was a counterfeit with almost the same feeling. Here is the highest level of the same lesson. The illumination, rapture, and happiness among the ten corruptions are almost the insight-path version of Chapter 4’s cup of wine, while the real corruption is the tenth, delight: subtle pleasure in the first nine. The first nine are not themselves bad; attachment makes them bad. The entire work of this purification comes down to one sentence: recognize that “these ten are not the path; continuing to see arising and passing away as impermanent, suffering, and not-self is the path.” Even a good state produced by your own practice must be seen through, not clung to, and released.

§01 The Names of the Ten Corruptions of Insight and the Person in Whom They Arise → Vernacular §1

The ten corruptions of insight arise in one who has initiated insight through tender insight. They do not arise in a noble disciple who has reached penetration, in one following a wrong path, or in an indolent person who has abandoned the meditation subject; they certainly arise in a clansman who is practicing rightly, devoted to the work, and has initiated insight. The ten are illumination, knowledge, rapture, tranquillity, happiness, resolution, exertion, manifestation, equanimity, and delight. The canonical text says: when one attends as impermanent, illumination arises; adverting to illumination with the thought “illumination is a phenomenon” produces distraction, which is agitation. A mind seized by that agitation does not understand the manifestation as impermanent as it actually is; the same applies when attending as suffering or not-self, and the same pattern extends from knowledge through delight (vernacular §1). 〔Reading〕 First notice who encounters these corruptions: only someone who practices rightly and diligently. This is both consolation and warning. Encountering them means you are on the right road, but precisely because you are on the right road, this trap exists. The canonical text classifies it as “agitation about phenomena.” Illumination itself is not agitation; adverting to it with the thought “illumination is a phenomenon” and thereby becoming distracted is agitation. 〔Observation〕 The first nine of the ten bear the names of good things—knowledge, rapture, happiness, mindfulness, equanimity—while only the tenth, “delight,” bears the name of a defilement. The Commentator places them side by side so that the reader does not rush to divide them into good and bad, but first sees how they draw the practitioner away from the course of insight.

§02 The Corruption of Illumination—In Extent from One’s Cross-Legged Seat to Ten Thousand Worlds → Vernacular §2

Illumination is the illumination of insight. When it arises, the meditator takes what is not the path to be the path and what is not the fruit to be the fruit: “I never had such illumination before; I must have attained the path and fruit.” He leaves the course of insight, abandons the root meditation subject, and sits savoring illumination. Its extent may light only the cross-legged seat, or the room, outside the room, the whole monastery, a quarter yojana, half a yojana, one yojana, and so on, even forming one mass of light from earth to the Brahmā world of Akaniṭṭha. The Blessed One’s illumination lit ten thousand worlds. In a double-walled house at Cittalapabbata on a dark-fortnight observance night, with clouds covering every direction, two elders sat in darkness: one said that he saw five-colored flowers on the lion throne in the shrine courtyard; the other said he saw fish and turtles in the ocean a yojana away (vernacular §2). 〔Reading〕 Illumination can truly be immense—large enough to light ten thousand worlds in the Buddha’s case, or to see fish in the deep ocean a yojana away on a dark night. The Commentator does not deny its reality; he only says it is not the path. “Leaving the course of insight” is precise: one has not fallen into a pit but taken a side road—from observing arising and passing away to watching light. 〔Observation〕 The two elders compare who can see farther in the dark. The story offers no explicit comment, yet what they compare is precisely “my illumination.” Readers can see for themselves where the road forked.

§03 Three Accounts—Two Elders, Three Elders, and Elder Dhammadinna’s Test of Elder Mahānāga → Vernacular §3

The corruption mostly arises in those who have attained serenity and insight. Since defilements suppressed by attainment do not occur, the thought “I am an arahant” arises—as with Elders Mahānāga, Mahādatta, and Cūḷasumana. The story: Elder Dhammadinna of Talaṅgara, who had attained the analytical knowledges and was a great one whose influxes were destroyed, wondered whether his teacher Elder Mahānāga’s ascetic task had reached its summit. Seeing that the teacher was still an ordinary person and knowing that without his visit the elder would die as one, he flew there, asked a thousand questions, and received an unhindered answer to each. Asked when he had attained the Dhamma, the elder replied, “Sixty years ago.” Dhammadinna asked him to use concentration, create a white elephant, and make it raise its ears, extend its tail, put its trunk into its mouth, sound a terrifying cry, and charge. The elder did so, but at the sight of the terrifying elephant rushing toward him, he rose to flee. Dhammadinna caught the corner of his robe: “Is there timidity in one whose influxes are destroyed?” The elder recognized that he was an ordinary person, squatted at Dhammadinna’s feet, and asked him to be his refuge. Dhammadinna taught him a meditation subject; the elder mounted the walking path and attained arahantship on the third step. He was of a hating temperament. Bhikkhus of this kind too are shaken by illumination (vernacular §3). 〔Reading〕 This is one of the book’s most moving stories: sixty years—an old practitioner able to answer a thousand questions and conjure a white elephant had believed himself an arahant for sixty years. His student used an elephant charging toward him to show him that fear remained. Then the teacher did the most remarkable thing: he squatted at his student’s feet and said, “Please be my refuge.” Three steps later he attained the fruit. 〔Observation〕 The point is not that the teacher was wrong for sixty years but how cleanly he responded when shown. That clean response proves the work of those sixty years. The Commentator records this story to leave a road open for everyone harmed by corruptions that “mostly arise in those who have attained serenity and insight”: when shown, release it immediately; the road is still beneath your feet.

§04 The Nine Remaining Corruptions Explained One by One—Knowledge, Rapture, Tranquillity, Happiness, Resolution, Exertion, Manifestation, Equanimity, and Delight → Vernacular §4

Knowledge is knowledge of insight: as material and immaterial phenomena are weighed and investigated, sharp, courageous, exceedingly clear knowledge arises with irresistible force like Indra’s released thunderbolt. Rapture is the rapture of insight: the five kinds—minor, momentary, showering, uplifting, and pervading—fill the whole body. Tranquillity is the tranquillity of insight: body and mind are free of distress, heaviness, rigidity, unwieldiness, illness, and crookedness; tranquil, light, malleable, wieldy, exceedingly clear, and upright; they experience superhuman delight. The verse says that a peaceful-minded bhikkhu in an empty dwelling, rightly seeing phenomena, has superhuman delight; whenever he comprehends the aggregates’ arising and passing away, he gains rapture and gladness—the deathless for one who knows. Happiness is the happiness of insight, exceedingly sublime and suffusing the whole body. Resolution is faith, a strong faith associated with insight that is exceptional clarity of mind and mental factors. Exertion is energy, neither slack nor over-strained, but well exerted. Manifestation is mindfulness, well and firmly established, deeply planted, immovable like the king of mountains; whatever one adverts to, gathers, attends to, or reviews becomes manifest to mindfulness like the other world to the divine eye. Equanimity is insight equanimity and equanimity in adverting: the first is forceful neutrality toward all formations, while the second occurs at the mind door and proceeds sharply like Indra’s thunderbolt or a red-hot iron arrow thrown into a leaf receptacle. Delight is delight in insight: toward insight adorned with illumination and the rest, it arises as attachment in a subtle, peaceful guise and cannot even be apprehended as a defilement. As with illumination, when any of these arises, the meditator takes what is not the path for the path and what is not the fruit for the fruit, leaves the course of insight, abandons the root meditation subject, and sits savoring delight (vernacular §4). 〔Reading〕 Read the nine one by one and notice that the Commentator uses the highest descriptors for each: thunderbolt knowledge, five raptures filling the body, superhuman delight, mindfulness like the king of mountains, equanimity like a red-hot iron arrow. They are genuinely good—good enough to resemble the fruit. The description of the tenth, “delight,” is the most dangerous: it has “a subtle, peaceful guise” and “cannot even be apprehended as a defilement.” It disguises itself as peace. 〔Observation〕 “Manifestation” here is mindfulness and belongs to a different category from the “insight leading to emergence” before conformity knowledge after 21-08. Here mindfulness has become as strong as “the other world to the divine eye.” Even mindfulness can become a corruption, showing that corruption does not mean “a bad thing appeared”; it means “a good thing was grasped.” This has the same root as the illness “I contemplate” in 20-05 §5.

§05 The Thirty Graspings of the Ten Corruptions—Grasping by View, Conceit, and Craving → Vernacular §5

Illumination and the rest are called corruptions because they are bases for corruption, not because they are unwholesome; delight is both corruption and basis. As bases there are ten, but as graspings there are thirty: grasping “my illumination has arisen” is grasping by view; grasping “how agreeable that illumination has arisen” is grasping by conceit; savoring illumination is grasping by craving. Thus illumination has three graspings—view, conceit, and craving—and so does each of the rest. An unskillful, undiscerning person is shaken and distracted by them, contemplating each as “this is mine, this I am, this is my self.” The Ancients’ verse says he is shaken by illumination, knowledge, and rapture; his mind trembles because of tranquillity and happiness; he is shaken by resolution, exertion, manifestation, adverting to equanimity, equanimity itself, and delight (vernacular §5). 〔Reading〕 Ten times three equals thirty: each good thing can be grasped in three ways—“mine” is view, “how agreeable” is conceit, and “savoring” is craving. These are the same illnesses as the three statements in 20-05 §5: “I contemplate,” “I contemplate well,” and “I am able to contemplate.” 〔Observation〕 “Not because they are unwholesome”: the Commentator clears the names of the first nine. Illumination, knowledge, rapture, tranquillity, happiness, faith, energy, mindfulness, and equanimity are wholesome phenomena; grasping is the corruption. This sentence rescues many practitioners: you need not fear illumination, only “mine.”

§06 Determining What Is and Is Not the Path—Determining Three Truths and the Chapter’s Close → Vernacular §6

When illumination and the rest arise, a skillful, wise, discerning person endowed with understanding delimits and examines them with wisdom: “This illumination of mine has arisen; yet it is impermanent, conditioned, dependently originated, subject to exhaustion, decay, dispassion, and cessation.” Or: “If illumination were self, it would be proper to apprehend it as self; yet it is not-self and is apprehended as self. Therefore it is not-self in the sense of not being subject to mastery, impermanent in the sense of having been and then not being, and suffering in the sense of being oppressed by arising and passing away.” The method of the sevenfold method for the immaterial should be applied in detail. Illumination through delight is contemplated as “this is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self,” and the practitioner is not shaken. The Ancients’ verse says that when these ten bases are fully understood by wisdom, one is skillful in agitation about phenomena and does not proceed to distraction. Untangling the thirtyfold tangle, one determines: “Illumination and the rest are not the path; insight knowledge free from corruptions and entered upon the course is the path.” Knowledge standing after knowing “this is the path; this is not the path” is purification by knowledge and vision of what is and is not the path. Three truths have now been determined: purification of view determines the truth of suffering through the delimitation of name-and-form; purification by overcoming doubt determines the truth of origin through apprehension of conditions; and this purification determines the truth of the path through determining the right path. Thus three truths are first determined by mundane knowledge. The chapter ends (vernacular §6). 〔Reading〕 The remedy is one action: observe illumination as any other formation—it is impermanent, conditioned, dependently originated, subject to exhaustion, decay, dispassion, and cessation; it is not mine, not I, not my self. This uses the three statements of 20-05 and the sevenfold formula of 20-01; there is no new method. “Insight knowledge free from corruptions and entered upon the course is the path.” The path is not another, higher state; it is the original road continued after seeing through these ten. 〔Observation〕 The determination of three truths is a beautiful close to the chapter: three purifications each determine one truth—suffering, origin, and the path—while cessation remains for purification by knowledge and vision. This is the purest application of the whole arc’s measure: even a good state produced by your own practice must be seen through, not clung to, and released. Chapter 1 dismantles the medal of virtue, Chapter 4 the wine of jhāna, Chapter 9 the near enemy of loving-kindness, and here the illumination of insight. The same lesson at its highest level.

For the General Reader

The sentence most worth remembering is: your best meditation experience is not the destination. Illumination, rapture, happiness, even insight equanimity and equanimity in adverting and mindfulness like the king of mountains can surge up. Most are genuinely good; the problem is that you may take them to mean “I have attained the path.” Attach to them and good things become obstacles. The real corruption is the tenth, that trace of subtle delight, which disguises itself as peace. The remedy is not a new trick: regard illumination as any other formation—impermanent, conditioned, dependently originated; not mine, not I, not my self. See through it, do not cling, and continue on the original road. Remember the old elder of sixty years: when a student used an elephant to show that fear remained, he squatted down for instruction and attained the fruit in three steps. How cleanly you respond when shown—that is the practice.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–6 gives the complete, paragraph-by-paragraph translation of the names of the ten corruptions of insight and the people in whom they arise; the corruption of illumination and its extent; the three elders and Dhammadinna’s test of Mahānāga; the remaining nine corruptions; the thirty graspings; determining what is and is not the path; and determining the three truths.