清淨道論 義疏通講 · 冊21Visuddhimagga · Exposition Throughout · Vol. 21

Why cultivate knowledge of arising and passing away once more? Because the first time it was stained by illumination and happiness and could not clearly see the three characteristics; this time the author first tells you what “covers” each characteristic—continuity covers impermanence, the postures cover suffering, and compactness covers not-self—and then shows you how to uncover them

The Big Picture — The Entrance to Purification by Knowledge and Vision of the Way: Cleanse Knowledge of Arising and Passing Away and Look Again at the Three Characteristics

At the end of Chapter Twenty, the meditator distinguished the path from what is not the path. At the opening of this chapter, purification by knowledge and vision of the way is defined as the culminating insight constituted by the eight knowledges, together with the ninth, knowledge in conformity with the truths. The eight are knowledge of contemplation of arising and passing away freed from corruptions, knowledge of contemplation of dissolution, knowledge of the manifestation of fear, knowledge of contemplation of danger, knowledge of contemplation of disenchantment, knowledge of desire for deliverance, knowledge of contemplation of reflection, and knowledge of equanimity about formations (§1). The text then answers a natural question: was not knowledge of arising and passing away already attained in the preceding chapter, and why must it be cultivated again? The answer is that it must observe the three characteristics. The first time it was corrupted by the ten corruptions and could not observe them in their true savor. The text then exposes the particular “covering” of each characteristic: when arising and passing away are not attended to, continuity covers impermanence; when constant oppression is not attended to, the postures cover suffering; when the various elements are not analyzed, compactness covers not-self. Break continuity, expose the postures, and resolve compactness, and the three characteristics manifest as they are (§2). The final passage makes six distinctions: the impermanent (the five aggregates) and the characteristic of impermanence (arising, passing away, and alteration); suffering and the characteristic of suffering (constant oppression); not-self and the characteristic of not-self (not submitting to control). The meditator observes them as they are with knowledge of arising and passing away freed from corruptions (§3). 〔What is seen〕This chapter begins the road of “letting go all the way”: from dissolution, fear, danger, and disenchantment to desire for deliverance, these stages can feel unpleasant, like a gradual disillusionment with every conditioned phenomenon. Do not be afraid; this is the way, not a regression. The first step is very plain: return to knowledge of arising and passing away and cleanse it—the same knowledge, stripped of its corruptions, looks once more. The most useful teaching in this unit is the three “coverings.” They explain why, although you know impermanence, suffering, and not-self, you still do not “see” them: continuity, the postures, and compactness lie over them like three layers of cloth.

§01 The Scope of This Chapter—the Eight Knowledges and the Ninth Knowledge in Conformity with the Truths → Vernacular §1

The culminating insight constituted by the eight knowledges together with the ninth knowledge in conformity with the truths equals purification by knowledge and vision of the way. The eight are knowledge of contemplation of arising and passing away freed from corruptions and called insight that has entered upon the course; knowledge of contemplation of dissolution; knowledge of the manifestation of fear; knowledge of contemplation of danger; knowledge of contemplation of disenchantment; knowledge of desire for deliverance; knowledge of contemplation of reflection; and knowledge of equanimity about formations. The ninth, knowledge in conformity with the truths, is a designation for knowledge in conformity. One who wishes to accomplish it works among these knowledges beginning with knowledge of arising and passing away freed from corruptions (Vernacular §1). 〔How to read〕For now, put the eight names in your pocket; the following eight units will open them one by one. “Culminating insight” (sikhāppattā) names the eight knowledges as a whole: insight has reached its culmination. Knowledge in conformity is ninth because it is already inclining toward the path. 〔What is seen〕This is one of the longest chapters in the book—the seventh unit, 21-07 on knowledge of equanimity about formations, occupies a third of it—but its skeleton is only this one statement: eight plus one. Return to this line whenever you lose your way.

§02 Why Knowledge of Arising and Passing Away Is Cultivated Again—the Three Coverings of the Three Characteristics and Their Removal → Vernacular §2

Knowledge of arising and passing away is cultivated again in order to observe the three characteristics. Earlier it was corrupted by the ten corruptions and could not observe the three characteristics in their true savor; only when freed from corruptions can it do so. Why do the three characteristics fail to manifest? For the characteristic of impermanence, arising and passing away are not attended to, and continuity covers it. For the characteristic of suffering, constant oppression is not attended to, and the postures cover it. For the characteristic of not-self, the analysis of the various elements is not attended to, and compactness covers it. Apprehending arising and passing away and breaking continuity makes the characteristic of impermanence manifest as it is; attending to constant oppression and exposing the postures makes the characteristic of suffering manifest; analyzing the various elements and resolving compactness makes the characteristic of not-self manifest (Vernacular §2). 〔How to read〕The three coverings and their three removals are the heart of this unit: continuity—one event follows another and makes them look connected—covers impermanence, and the remedy is to see arising and passing away; the postures—after sitting too long, you change position and the discomfort is displaced—cover suffering, and the remedy is to attend to constant oppression; compactness—many things look like one solid whole—covers not-self, and the remedy is to analyze the elements one by one. 〔What is seen〕“The postures cover suffering” is among the most everyday observations in the whole book. You fail to experience sitting as suffering because you move; the moment you move, the next posture covers the suffering. These three coverings are not abstract doctrine but three forms of concealment operating every day.

§03 Six Distinctions within the Three Characteristics—Impermanent and the Characteristic of Impermanence, Suffering and the Characteristic of Suffering, Not-Self and the Characteristic of Not-Self → Vernacular §3

The impermanent is the five aggregates, since they have the nature of arising, passing away, and alteration, or, having been, they cease to be. The characteristic of impermanence is arising, passing away, and alteration—the alteration of mode expressed as “having been, ceasing to be.” “Whatever is impermanent is suffering”: the same five aggregates are suffering because of constant oppression; the mode of constant oppression is the characteristic of suffering. “Whatever is suffering is not-self”: the same five aggregates are not-self because they do not submit to control; the mode of not submitting to control is the characteristic of not-self. The meditator observes all this in its true savor through knowledge of contemplation of arising and passing away freed from corruptions, insight that has entered upon the course. 〔The Discourse on Knowledge of Arising and Passing Away Freed from Corruptions is concluded〕 (Vernacular §3). 〔How to read〕The distinction between “the impermanent” and “the characteristic of impermanence” is fine-grained: the impermanent is the thing itself—the five aggregates—while the characteristic of impermanence is the feature it bears—arising, passing away, and alteration. One observes the characteristic and realizes the thing. This distinction turns “contemplating the three characteristics” from a slogan into an act with an object. 〔What is seen〕The two statements beginning “Whatever …” turn the three characteristics into a chain: impermanence → suffering → not-self, the same chain seen at 20-04 §2. This unit is short because it is clean preparatory work: the knowledge has been cleansed, the object identified, and the coverings located. Only then can the contemplation of dissolution in the next unit bring down its blade.

For the General Reader

Three pieces of cloth cover the three characteristics. Continuity covers impermanence: one event follows another and makes them look connected. The postures cover suffering: after sitting too long, you change position and the next posture covers the discomfort. Compactness covers not-self: many things look like one solid whole. It is not that you do not understand impermanence, suffering, and not-self; these three pieces of cloth keep you from seeing them. The remedies are to see arising and passing away, attend to the constant oppression, and analyze the elements one by one. The first step is to cleanse knowledge of arising and passing away: remove the stains of illumination and happiness from the preceding chapter and look again with the same knowledge. This begins the road of “letting go all the way.” The next several stages can feel unpleasant; that is the way, not a regression.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–3 present the complete, paragraph-by-paragraph rendering of the scope of the chapter—the eight knowledges and the ninth—the reason for cultivating knowledge of arising and passing away again, the removal of the three coverings of the three characteristics, and the six distinctions within the three characteristics.

Once knowledge becomes sharp, it no longer sees “arising”—mindfulness settles only upon exhaustion, dissolution, breakup, and cessation; it sees form break up, then sees that the mind which saw form break up also breaks up: “Both the known and the knowledge are contemplated”; in the end only one thing remains—all formations breaking up again and again, like water bubbles in heavy rain

The Big Picture — The Turning Point of the Insight Path: From Seeing Arising and Passing Away to Seeing Only Dissolution

Knowledge of arising and passing away, now cleansed, repeatedly weighs material and immaterial phenomena. Knowledge becomes sharp and formations manifest rapidly, so the meditator no longer reaches arising, presence, occurrence, or the sign—mindfulness settles only upon exhaustion, dissolution, breakup, and cessation. This is knowledge of contemplation of dissolution (§1, which includes the full canonical citation and four verses). The author then explains the citation phrase by phrase (§2): reflecting on the object means seeing the object in terms of exhaustion and dissolution; contemplating dissolution means that a later mind observes the dissolution of the preceding mind—“Both the known and the knowledge are contemplated.” Next come the seven contemplations—impermanence, suffering, not-self, disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, and relinquishment—and what each abandons. “Relinquishment” has two meanings: fully giving up the defilements and entering into nibbāna. The four verses are then explained (§§3–4). Shifting the basis, withdrawing understanding, and the strength of adverting constitute reflective insight. Through inference from the object, past and future are established as one with the present; resolve upon cessation constitutes insight into the characteristic of dissolution. Reflection on the object, contemplation of dissolution, and manifestation as emptiness—“Only formations break up; their breakup is death, and there is nothing else”—constitute higher-wisdom insight. Skill in the three contemplations, the four contemplations, and the three manifestations leaves one unmoved by various views. The final passage gives the water-bubble simile and eight benefits (§5). 〔What is seen〕This is the true first step on the road of “letting go all the way”: from this point, the insight path sees only dissolution. Arising is still occurring, but knowledge no longer rests upon it. Knowledge of arising and passing away is like watching rings of ripples rise and fall; knowledge of dissolution is like watching only the instant each ring shatters. The author says that this knowledge is “accompanied by eight benefits”—abandoning the view of existence, relinquishing longing for life, constant exertion, and so on. These stages can feel unpleasant, but everything the author lists is a benefit.

§01 The Arising of Knowledge of Contemplation of Dissolution and the Citation on Which It Rests → Vernacular §1

By repeatedly weighing and investigating material and immaterial phenomena as impermanent, suffering, and not-self, knowledge becomes sharp and formations manifest rapidly. It no longer reaches arising, presence, occurrence, or the sign; mindfulness settles only upon exhaustion, dissolution, breakup, and cessation. Seeing “formations arise in this way and pass away in this way,” insight knowledge of contemplation of dissolution arises. The canonical passage says: understanding that reflects on the object and contemplates dissolution is knowledge belonging to insight. A mind with form as object arises and breaks up; one reflects on that object and contemplates the dissolution of that mind. To contemplate is to contemplate as impermanent, not permanent; as suffering, not pleasure; as not-self, not self; to become disenchanted, not delight; dispassionate, not lust; to cause cessation, not arising; to relinquish, not grasp. Contemplation as impermanent abandons the perception of permanence; as suffering, the perception of pleasure; as not-self, the perception of self; disenchantment abandons delight; dispassion, lust; causing cessation, arising; relinquishing, grasping. The same applies to feeling, perception, formations, consciousness, the eye, through aging-and-death. The four verses say: shifting the basis, withdrawing understanding, and the strength of adverting constitute reflective insight; inference from the object, establishment of the two as one, and resolve upon cessation constitute insight into the characteristic of dissolution; reflection on the object, contemplation of its dissolution, and manifestation as emptiness constitute higher-wisdom insight; one skilled in the three contemplations, four contemplations, and three manifestations is unmoved by various views (Vernacular §1). 〔How to read〕Notice the change in verbs. Earlier one “saw arising and passing away”; here one “weighs and investigates,” then “no longer reaches arising.” This is not a decision to ignore arising; knowledge moves so quickly that it has no time to rest upon arising. 〔What is seen〕The canonical passage puts “a mind with form as its object arises and breaks up” first. The first thing seen breaking up is not form but the mind that sees form. From the outset, knowledge of dissolution is reflexive.

§02 Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation—Reflection on the Object, Contemplation, and Relinquishment → Vernacular §2

Reflection on the object means reflecting upon and comprehending any object, seeing it in terms of exhaustion and dissolution. Understanding in contemplating dissolution is the knowledge arising from reflecting upon the object as exhausted and dissolved, the understanding that contemplates its dissolution. “A mind with form as its object arises and breaks up” means that a mind having form as object arises and breaks up, or that within the condition of having form as object a mind arises and breaks up. Reflecting upon that object means seeing that form-object in terms of exhaustion and dissolution. Contemplating the dissolution of that mind means that after the mind sees the form-object in terms of exhaustion and dissolution, a subsequent mind contemplates the dissolution of that mind—hence the ancient teachers’ statement, “Both the known and the knowledge are contemplated.” Contemplation means seeing successively, seeing repeatedly in various modes. Since dissolution is the furthest limit of impermanence, all formations are contemplated as impermanent, not permanent. Since the impermanent is suffering and suffering is not-self, they are contemplated as suffering and not-self. Since what is impermanent, suffering, and not-self should not be delighted in or lusted after, one becomes disenchanted and does not delight, dispassionate and does not lust. Not lusting, one causes lust to cease through mundane knowledge and does not cause it to arise—that is, one does not produce arising. Alternatively, as with formations already seen, so with those not seen, inferential knowledge causes cessation and not arising: it attends only to cessation, sees cessation alone, and does not see arising. Practicing thus, one relinquishes and does not grasp. The contemplations of impermanence and the rest, by suppression through the opposite factor, fully abandon the defilements together with formations comprised in the aggregates—relinquishment by giving up. Seeing the danger in the conditioned, they incline and enter into nibbāna—relinquishment by entering into. One neither grasps defilements by causing them to arise nor grasps conditioned objects by failing to see their danger. Delight is craving accompanied by rapture (Vernacular §2). 〔How to read〕The seven contemplations form a chain here: impermanence → suffering → not-self → because these should not be delighted in, disenchantment → because they should not be lusted after, dispassion → causing cessation → relinquishment. Each link follows from the preceding link; they are not seven independent items. 〔What is seen〕The two meanings of “relinquishment” are especially beautiful. Giving up releases the defilements together with formations; entering into inclines toward nibbāna and leaps in. Letting go and leaping are one movement. “Both the known and the knowledge are contemplated” is the heart of the entire unit: no observer is left standing to one side.

§03 Explanation of the First Two Verses—the Shifting of the Basis and Inference from the Object → Vernacular §3

The shifting of the basis means seeing the dissolution of form, then seeing the dissolution of the mind that saw it, and shifting from the former basis to another. The withdrawal of understanding means abandoning arising and taking one’s stand upon dissolution. The strength of adverting means being able, immediately after seeing the dissolution of form, to advert to the dissolution of the mind that had dissolution as its object. These three constitute reflective insight. Through inference from the object, the two are established as one: from the object directly seen, one infers that “past formations broke up in this way, and future formations will break up in this way,” establishing the two as having one nature. The ancient teachers say that the one of purified vision, having seen what is present, extends it by inference to past and future; all formations have the nature of dissolution, like dew when the sun rises. Resolve upon cessation means giving weight to, inclining toward, tending toward, and leaning into the cessation called dissolution. This constitutes insight into the characteristic of dissolution (Vernacular §3). 〔How to read〕“The shifting of the basis” describes the rhythm of contemplation: see form break up → see the mind that sees it break up → move to the next thing. Contemplation does not stop at any “basis.” The “withdrawal” in “withdrawal of understanding” is not regression; understanding withdraws from arising, moves to dissolution, and stands there. 〔What is seen〕“Extending by inference to past and future”: knowledge of dissolution need not personally witness past or future. From this breakup before one’s eyes, it infers that all break up in the same way. This is the method by which “impermanence” is extended from the present across the three times, the same method as “the present is thus, and so was the past” in 19-01.

§04 Explanation of the Last Two Verses—Manifestation as Emptiness and the Three Skills → Vernacular §4

Reflection on the object means comprehending preceding objects such as form. Contemplating its dissolution means seeing the dissolution of the object and then contemplating the dissolution of the mind that had it as object. Manifestation as emptiness occurs while contemplating dissolution: “Only formations break up; their breakup is death, and there is nothing else.” The ancient teachers say that the aggregates cease and there is nothing else; the breakup of the aggregates is called death; the heedful one sees their exhaustion rightly, as if piercing a jewel with a diamond. These three constitute higher-wisdom insight. Skill in the three contemplations means the three beginning with impermanence; the four contemplations are the four beginning with disenchantment; the three manifestations are as exhaustion, as dissolution, and as emptiness; being unmoved by various views means not trembling before views beginning with permanence (Vernacular §4). 〔How to read〕“Manifestation as emptiness” is the summit of the unit: “Only formations break up; their breakup is death, and there is nothing else.” Death is reduced here to “the breakup of the aggregates”; there is no “person who dies.” 〔What is seen〕“As if piercing a jewel with a diamond”: the heedful one sees the exhaustion of the aggregates by using the hardest tool to penetrate the hardest object. The statement describes the sharpness of knowledge of dissolution, and also says that the jewel—the aggregates—is not impenetrable.

§05 The Simile of Water Bubbles and the Eight Benefits of Contemplation of Dissolution → Vernacular §5

Unmoved, one attends: “What has not ceased is ceasing; what has not broken up is breaking up.” All formations break like fragile vessels, scatter like fine dust, and are roasted like sesame seeds. One abandons arising, presence, occurrence, and the sign and sees only their breakup. It is like a person with eyes standing by a lotus pond or river and seeing, in heavy rain, large water bubbles arise one after another and rapidly burst; thus one sees all formations breaking up again and again. The Blessed One’s verse says: as one sees a water bubble or a mirage, so the one who looks upon the world is not seen by the King of Death. Constantly seeing “all formations breaking up again and again,” knowledge of contemplation of dissolution gains strength accompanied by eight benefits: abandoning the view of existence, relinquishing longing for life, constant application to exertion, purity of livelihood, abandoning anxious striving, freedom from fear, gaining patience and gentleness, and enduring discontent and delight. The ancient teachers say: having seen these eight supreme benefits, the sage reflects on them repeatedly; like one whose clothing and head are ablaze, one contemplates dissolution to realize the deathless. 〔The Discourse on Knowledge of Contemplation of Dissolution is concluded〕 (Vernacular §5). 〔How to read〕The water-bubble simile is the image of this unit: heavy rain strikes the surface, and one large bubble after another rises and immediately bursts. You are watching neither the rain nor the water but the “bursting.” Read through the eight benefits: relinquishing longing for life, freedom from fear, enduring discontent and delight—knowledge of dissolution does not make a person dark; it makes a person light. 〔What is seen〕“Like one whose clothing and head are ablaze”: this is one of the book’s most urgent images for exertion. A person whose hair is on fire does not proceed slowly. The author places it at the close of knowledge of dissolution: one who sees formations breaking up again and again naturally has this urgency—not anxiety, but no further delay.

For the General Reader

Take away one picture and one statement. The picture: heavy rain strikes a pond; large water bubbles rise one by one and immediately burst. You are watching neither rain nor water but the “bursting”; all formations break up again and again in precisely this way. The statement: “Both the known and the knowledge are contemplated.” See the thing break, then see the mind that saw it break as well, leaving no observer standing to one side. From this point the insight path sees only dissolution and does not rest upon arising. This will not make you dark. The eight benefits listed by the author include no longer grasping at life, freedom from fear, gaining patience and gentleness, and enduring both the agreeable and the disagreeable—seeing lightly, not seeing darkly.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–5 present the complete, paragraph-by-paragraph rendering of the arising of knowledge of contemplation of dissolution and its canonical source, the phrase-by-phrase explanation and the two meanings of relinquishment, the explanation of the first two verses, the explanation of the last two verses and manifestation as emptiness, and the water-bubble simile with the eight benefits.

All formations manifest as fear, like lions, tigers, poisonous snakes, and charcoal pits—but the author immediately asks: is this knowledge itself afraid? No; it merely stands by the city gate looking at three charcoal pits and assesses, “Anyone who falls in will suffer greatly”

The Big Picture — The First “Unpleasant” Step, and the Clarification That It Is Not Itself Afraid

After contemplation of dissolution has been practiced and repeatedly developed, formations subject to breaking apart in every existence, birth, destination, station, and abode of beings manifest as a great fear, like lions, tigers, leopards, bears, yakkhas, rakkhasas, savage bulls, maddened elephants, poisonous snakes, and charcoal pits to a timid person. When one sees “Past formations have ceased, present formations are ceasing, and future formations will cease,” knowledge of the manifestation of fear arises (§1). The author gives two similes: a mother whose three sons are beheaded and a mother whose ten children die. Seeing the cessation of the past and present, they give up attachment to the future (§1). Then comes a crucial question: is this knowledge itself afraid?—It is not afraid. It is merely the assessment “ceased, ceasing, will cease,” like a person with eyes who looks at three charcoal pits or three stakes beside the city gate without himself being afraid (§2). The final passage cites the canonical text: to one attending as impermanent, the sign manifests as fear; to one attending as suffering, occurrence manifests as fear; to one attending as not-self, both manifest as fear. The passage is then explained phrase by phrase (§3). 〔What is seen〕This is the first “unpleasant” station on the road of “letting go all the way.” The author’s handling is remarkably measured: first he allows fear to manifest fully—the long list of lions, tigers, and poisonous snakes and the similes of two mothers—then immediately clarifies that “knowledge itself is not afraid.” Fear is a characteristic of formations, not an emotion of the meditator. This distinction rescues the reader. To someone who feels bleak upon reaching this stage, the author says: the bleakness is appropriate, but you need not be afraid. You are the person looking at the pit, not the person falling into it.

§01 The Arising of Knowledge of the Manifestation of Fear and the Similes of the Two Women → Vernacular §1

While contemplation of dissolution, whose object is the exhaustion, dissolution, breakup, and cessation of all formations, is practiced, cultivated, and repeatedly developed, formations subject to breaking apart in every existence, birth, destination, station, and abode of beings manifest as a great fear, like lions, tigers, leopards, bears, hyenas, yakkhas, rakkhasas, savage bulls, vicious dogs, maddened elephants, poisonous snakes, wheels of lightning, charnel grounds, battlefields, and blazing charcoal pits to a timid person who wishes to live at ease. When one sees “Past formations have ceased, present formations are ceasing, and future formations will cease,” knowledge of the manifestation of fear arises. First simile: a woman’s three sons offend the king, who orders their beheading. She accompanies them to the execution ground. Seeing the eldest son’s head already severed and the second son’s being cut off, she gives up attachment to the youngest: “He too will become like them.” Seeing the eldest beheaded is like seeing the cessation of past formations; seeing the second being beheaded is like seeing present cessation; giving up attachment to the youngest is like seeing future cessation. Second simile: a woman whose children do not survive bears ten children; nine have died, one is dying in her arms, and one remains in her womb. Recalling the deaths of nine is like seeing past cessation; seeing the child in her arms dying is like seeing present cessation; giving up attachment to the child in her womb is like seeing future cessation (Vernacular §1). 〔How to read〕Both similes of the mothers are extremely painful, and the author does not soften them: “He too will become like them.” This is what the mother says of her youngest son, and what the meditator says of future formations. The cessation of all three times is gathered into this one statement. 〔What is seen〕Notice that the mother’s action in the simile is to “give up attachment,” not to “fear.” The simile lands on letting go, not on fright. It is already preparing the way for the next section’s clarification that knowledge itself is not afraid. The true content of knowledge of the manifestation of fear is the loosening of one’s hold upon the future after seeing the cessation of all three times.

§02 Distinguishing That Knowledge Itself Is Not Afraid—the Similes of the Three Charcoal Pits and the Three Stakes → Vernacular §2

Is knowledge of the manifestation of fear itself afraid? No. It is merely the assessment “The past has ceased, the present is ceasing, and the future will cease.” It is like a person with eyes looking at three charcoal pits beside the city gate: he is not himself afraid but merely assesses, “Anyone who falls here will experience no small amount of suffering.” Or it is like looking at three stakes set in succession—a khadira-wood stake, an iron stake, and a gold stake—without himself being afraid, merely assessing the suffering of anyone who falls upon them. Within the three kinds of existence, which resemble three charcoal pits and three stakes, knowledge makes only the assessment “ceased, ceasing, will cease.” Because formations in every existence, birth, destination, station, and abode have fallen into calamity, are fraught with danger, and manifest as fear, this is called manifestation of fear (Vernacular §2). 〔How to read〕This is the unit’s most important distinction: fear is on the side of formations, not on the side of knowledge. The three charcoal pits represent the three kinds of existence—sense-sphere, material, and immaterial—and so do the three stakes of wood, iron, and gold. Even the “gold stake” is still a stake; falling on gold also impales. 〔What is seen〕“A person with eyes stands by the city gate”: he stands by the gate, not in the pit. Because he has eyes, he sees clearly. His mental act is “assessment,” not panic. This statement gives a person who has reached this stage a place to stand: you are the one standing by the gate and looking. When bleakness arrives, remember where you stand.

§03 The Cited Text and Its Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation—The Sign and Occurrence Manifest as Fear → Vernacular §3

The canonical text says: to one attending as impermanent, the sign manifests as fear; to one attending as suffering, occurrence manifests as fear; to one attending as not-self, both the sign and occurrence manifest as fear. The sign is the sign of formations, a designation for past, future, and present formations. Since one attending as impermanent sees only the death of formations, the sign manifests as fear. Occurrence is the occurrence of material and immaterial existence. Since one attending as suffering sees constant oppression even in occurrence regarded as pleasure, occurrence manifests as fear. One attending as not-self sees both as an empty village, a mirage, or a city of gandhabbas—hollow, vacuous, empty, ownerless, and without a guide—so both manifest as fear. 〔The Discourse on Knowledge of the Manifestation of Fear is concluded〕 (Vernacular §3). 〔How to read〕Each of the three characteristics is paired with one object of fear: impermanence sees “the sign”—formations themselves will die; suffering sees “occurrence”—even the existence taken as pleasure continuously oppresses; not-self sees both as an empty village. 〔What is seen〕“Even in occurrence regarded as pleasure, one sees only its nature of constant oppression”: this is the most honest statement about the characteristic of suffering. It is not seeing suffering only while suffering, but seeing it even within pleasure. And the five descriptions applied under not-self—hollow, vacuous, empty, ownerless, and without a guide—are the same group as the five modes of not-self among the forty modes in 20-02. The unit closes lightly here with the single word “concluded,” without superfluous comfort; the comfort was already given in the preceding section.

For the General Reader

When formations manifest as fear, like lions, tigers, poisonous snakes, and charcoal pits, remember two things. First, this is appropriate: past formations have ceased, present formations are ceasing, and future formations will likewise cease. The author uses two mothers losing their children to convey the weight of this step, without softening it. Second, this knowledge itself is not afraid. It is like a person with eyes standing by the city gate and looking at three charcoal pits, merely assessing, “Anyone who falls in will suffer greatly.” You are the one looking, not the one falling in. When bleakness arrives, remember where you stand. The mother’s action toward her youngest child is not fear but “giving up attachment.” This step lands on letting go.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–3 present the complete, paragraph-by-paragraph rendering of the arising of knowledge of the manifestation of fear and the similes of the two mothers, the clarification that knowledge itself is not afraid together with the three charcoal pits and three stakes, and the canonical citation with its explanation of the sign and occurrence.

Nowhere can any rescue, protection, or recourse be seen—the three kinds of existence are charcoal pits, the five aggregates are killers with raised swords; then the canonical text does something gentle: each time it says “arising is fear,” it follows with “non-arising is safety”

The Big Picture — Knowledge of Danger: Seeing Danger Everywhere and, for the First Time, Hearing of the “Peaceful State”

After repeatedly practicing, cultivating, and developing knowledge of the manifestation of fear, the meditator sees no refuge, shelter, destination, or recourse in any existence, birth, destination, station, or abode of beings, and neither longs for nor grasps any formation. The three kinds of existence are like charcoal pits full of coals but without flames; the four great elements are like fiercely venomous snakes; the five aggregates are like killers with raised swords; the six internal bases are like an empty village; the six external bases are like village-destroying thieves; and the seven stations of consciousness and nine abodes of beings are like places burning in eleven fires. All formations manifest as a great mass of danger, without savor or pleasure, like a boil, a disease, an arrow, a calamity, and an affliction (§1). After eight similes for a timid person—a dense forest, cave, water, enemies, food, road, house, and battlefield—the author cites a long passage: “arising is fear” through “distress is fear” is knowledge of danger, while “non-arising is safety” through “non-distress is safety” is knowledge of the peaceful state. It then repeats the same pattern in three further pairs: suffering/pleasure, with nutriment/without nutriment, and formations/nibbāna; three verses conclude the citation (§2). The phrase-by-phrase explanation (§3) identifies arising, occurrence, the sign, accumulation, and rebirth-linking as the five bases of knowledge of danger; destination, coming-to-be, the two kinds of birth, aging, death, and the rest are their synonyms. It also explains why knowledge of the peaceful state is stated here: to show the antidote, to comfort those who are alarmed, and to show the benefit of knowledge of danger. The closing section says that knowledge of these five bases and of their five opposites makes ten knowledges; skill in knowledge of danger and knowledge of the peaceful state makes skill in two knowledges; one thus remains unmoved by various views about nibbāna here and now (§4). [What is seen] This unit is the emotional low point on the road of “letting go all the way”—“seeing only danger everywhere.” Yet it is precisely here that nibbāna first appears in the path of insight in a positive sentence: “non-arising is safety,” “non-arising is nibbāna.” The author himself gives three reasons for citing this passage; the second is “to give comfort to those whose minds become alarmed after seeing danger through the manifestation of fear.” The arc’s statement that “the endpoint of subtraction is not nothingness but cessation” here takes canonical form.

§01 The Arising of Knowledge of Contemplation of Danger—the Three Kinds of Existence and the Rest Manifest as Danger → Vernacular §1

For one who repeatedly practices, cultivates, and develops knowledge of the manifestation of fear, no refuge, shelter, destination, or recourse can be seen in any existence, birth, destination, station, or abode of beings, and no formation is longed for or grasped. The three kinds of existence are like charcoal pits full of coals but without flames; the four great elements are like fiercely venomous snakes; the five aggregates are like killers with raised swords; the six internal bases are like an empty village; the six external bases are like thieves who destroy a village; and the seven stations of consciousness and nine abodes of beings are as though burning, blazing, and radiating flame in eleven fires. All formations are like a boil, a disease, an arrow, a calamity, and an affliction, manifesting as a great mass of danger without savor or pleasure (Vernacular §1). [How to read] This section takes several of the sharpest modes among the forty in 20-02—boil, disease, arrow, calamity, affliction, and killer—and makes them directly manifest. Previously one contemplated the five aggregates “as killers”; now the five aggregates manifest as killers with raised swords. The shift from “contemplating” to “manifesting” distinguishes these units. [What is seen] A “charcoal pit without flame but full of coals”: because there is no flame, the danger is not visible; because it is full of coals, whoever falls in is certainly burned. The terror of the three kinds of existence lies not in being violent but in being inconspicuous. “The six internal bases are like an empty village, the six external bases like thieves who destroy a village”: the interior is empty, the exterior invaded—one sentence says everything about the relation between faculties and objects.

§02 The Eight Similes for a Timid Person and the Long Cited Passage → Vernacular §2

For a timid person who wishes to live at ease, a lovely dense forest seems to contain wild beasts, a cave a tiger, water a rakkhasa, enemies raised blades, food poison, a road thieves, a house fire, and a battlefield a great army drawn up. Afraid, agitated, with hair standing on end, that person sees only danger everywhere. Likewise, when contemplation of dissolution makes all formations manifest as fear, the meditator sees everywhere only danger without pleasure or savor, and knowledge of danger arises. The canonical text says: “arising is fear” through “distress is fear”—the understanding in the manifestation of fear, knowledge of danger; “non-arising is safety” through “non-distress is safety”—knowledge of the peaceful state; “arising is fear, non-arising is safety”—knowledge of the peaceful state. It repeats the same structure with the three pairs suffering/pleasure, with nutriment/without nutriment, and formations/nibbāna. Three verses follow: arising, occurrence, and the sign are seen as suffering, and accumulation and rebirth-linking—this is knowledge of danger; non-arising, non-occurrence, and the signless are seen as pleasure, and non-accumulation and non-rebirth-linking—this is knowledge of the peaceful state; knowledge of danger arises in five places, in the five places of the peaceful state ten knowledges are comprehended, and one skilled in the two knowledges is unmoved by various views (Vernacular §2). [How to read] The long passage consists of four sets of paired statements: fear/safety, suffering/pleasure, with nutriment/without nutriment, and formations/nibbāna. Each set first gives fifteen instances of “is fear,” then fifteen corresponding instances of “non-… is safety,” and finally combines them. It teaches not only danger but seeing danger and its opposite at the same time. [What is seen] “Non-arising is nibbāna”—this is the most direct statement about nibbāna anywhere in the arc so far. Notice where it appears: not in a chapter about fruition, but at the low point of “seeing danger everywhere.” The author’s pedagogical psychology is exact: in the darkest place, one needs to hear that “there is also safety.”

§03 Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation—the Five Bases and Six Synonyms → Vernacular §3

Arising means coming into existence here conditioned by former kamma; occurrence is the occurrence of what has arisen; the sign is the sign of all formations; accumulation is kamma that becomes a cause for future rebirth-linking; and rebirth-linking is future arising. Destination is where rebirth-linking proceeds; coming-to-be is the coming-to-be of the aggregates; birth (upapatti) is the occurrence of result; birth (jāti) is birth conditioned by existence and serving as a condition for aging and the rest; aging, death, and the rest are evident. The first five—arising, occurrence, the sign, accumulation, and rebirth-linking—are the bases of knowledge of danger; the others are their synonyms: coming-to-be and birth (jāti) are synonyms for arising and rebirth-linking, destination and birth (upapatti) are synonyms for occurrence, and aging and the rest are synonyms for the sign. Hence the verse speaks of “five places.” “Non-arising is safety” and the rest are stated to show the knowledge opposed to knowledge of danger; or to comfort those whose minds become alarmed after seeing danger through the manifestation of fear—“there is also what is fearless, safe, and free from danger”; or because, once arising and the rest have clearly manifested as fear, the mind inclines toward their opposites, and the words show the benefit of knowledge of danger accomplished through the manifestation of fear. Whatever is fear is necessarily suffering; because it is not free from the nutriment of the round, the nutriment of the world, and the nutriment of defilements, it is only with nutriment; whatever is with nutriment is nothing but formations. Therefore the passage says “arising is suffering” and the rest. The distinctions are stated only in terms of occurrence and according to the different modes of fear, suffering, and being with nutriment (Vernacular §3). [How to read] Fifteen names are reduced to five bases—the author performs a subtraction for the reader: what appears to be fifteen things is really five, and the five are really the two rounds of kamma and its result—accumulation → rebirth-linking → arising → occurrence → sign. [What is seen] The three reasons for “why the peaceful state is stated here” deserve to be read one by one: to show the antidote (doctrine), to comfort those who are alarmed (compassion), and to show the benefit (the mind already naturally inclines toward the opposite). The third goes deepest: a mind that fully sees danger turns toward its opposite on its own. There is no need to search elsewhere for nibbāna; once danger has been seen sufficiently, the mind inclines by itself. This is also the mechanism of disenchantment.

§04 The Ten Knowledges and Skill in the Two Knowledges → Vernacular §4

“Comprehends the ten knowledges” means comprehending, penetrating, and directly realizing the five knowledges whose bases are arising and the rest and the five whose bases are non-arising and the rest. “Skill in the two knowledges” means skill in knowledge of danger and knowledge of the peaceful state. “Unmoved by various views” means unshaken among views that proceed on the basis of such claims as the supreme nibbāna here and now. [The Discourse on Knowledge of Contemplation of Danger is concluded.] (Vernacular §4). [How to read] Ten knowledges are the five instances of “this is fear” plus the five instances of “this is safety”; skill in two knowledges means knowing how to see both danger and its opposite at the same time. “Unmoved by views about the supreme nibbāna here and now” means that even if someone tells you “this present thing is already nibbāna,” you remain unmoved, because the “non-arising” you have seen differs from anything that arises. [What is seen] This unit concludes with “unmoved,” the same wording found at the end of 21-02. Knowledge of dissolution is unmoved by views of permanence and the rest; knowledge of danger is unmoved by views of nibbāna here and now. At each station one advances, one more kind of view loses its power to move the mind.

For the General Reader

Reaching a point where nowhere offers rescue, protection, or recourse—the three kinds of existence look like charcoal pits and the five aggregates like killers with raised swords—is the emotional low point of this road. Here the author does something gentle. He cites a canonical passage that follows each “arising is fear” with “non-arising is safety,” and each “arising is formations” with “non-arising is nibbāna.” One reason he himself gives is to comfort those whose minds become alarmed after seeing danger—“there is also what is fearless, safe, and free from danger.” The deeper reason is that a mind which sees danger clearly turns toward its opposite on its own; there is no need to seek it elsewhere. The endpoint of subtraction is not nothingness but cessation—here that statement first takes canonical form.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–4 present the complete translation, section by section, of the arising of knowledge of danger and the three kinds of existence manifesting as danger, the eight similes and the long passage of four paired schemes, the five bases and six synonyms and the three reasons for stating the peaceful state, and the ten knowledges and skill in the two knowledges.

Disenchantment is not aversion: it is the royal goose finding no delight in an impure pit and delighting only in the seven great lakes; desire for deliverance is not flight: the fish in a net, the frog in a snake’s mouth, and the moon in Rāhu’s mouth all want to get out—one of these knowledges says “not this,” the other says “out of this”

The Big Picture — The Emotional Curve Turns Up from Its Lowest Point: From Disenchantment to the Desire to Escape

After seeing all formations as danger, the meditator becomes disenchanted, weary, and finds no delight in any formation subject to breaking apart. The author uses the similes of three kings: a golden royal goose finds no delight in an impure pit but delights in the seven great lakes; a lion king finds no delight in a golden cage but delights in the Himalaya; and a six-tusked elephant king finds no delight in a city but delights in the forest around Lake Chaddanta. Likewise, the meditator finds no delight in formations but delights only in the seven contemplations, the three contemplations, and the peaceful state (§1). Then comes an important statement: the manifestation of fear, contemplation of danger, and contemplation of disenchantment are one in meaning but different in name—one knowledge with three names (§2). Next, the mind neither adheres, clings, nor becomes bound to any formation, but desires deliverance from and escape out of all formations. Nine similes illustrate it: a fish in a net, a frog in a snake’s mouth, a jungle fowl in a cage, a deer in a snare, a snake in a snake charmer’s hands, an elephant in mud, a nāga king in a supaṇṇa’s mouth, the moon in Rāhu’s mouth, and a person surrounded by enemies (§3). Knowledge of desire for deliverance arises. [What is seen] Here the emotional curve of “letting go all the way” rebounds from its bottom: fear (21-03) and danger (21-04) look downward, disenchantment turns away, and desire for deliverance takes the first step. The author’s similes also change color. The preceding two units spoke of charcoal pits, killers, and a mother losing her children; here they speak of a royal goose, lion king, and elephant king. The mind of disenchantment is not gray but noble: not “I cannot bear this,” but “I do not belong here.”

§01 The Arising of Knowledge of Contemplation of Disenchantment—the Similes of Three Kings → Vernacular §1

Having seen all formations as danger, one becomes disenchanted, weary, and finds no delight in formations subject to breaking apart included in every existence, birth, destination, station of consciousness, and abode of beings. Like the golden royal goose that delights at the foot of Mount Cittakūṭa, finds no delight in the impure pit at a caṇḍāla village gate, and delights only in the seven great lakes, the royal goose among meditators finds no delight in formations subject to breaking apart whose danger has been clearly seen; because he possesses delight and joy in cultivation, he delights only in the seven contemplations. Like a lion king placed in a golden cage, finding no delight there but delighting only in the three-thousand-league expanse of the Himalaya, the lion among meditators finds no delight even in the three kinds of favorable existence but delights only in the three contemplations. Like the wholly white six-tusked elephant king, resting on seven supports, possessed of supernormal power, and traveling through the air, finding no delight in a city but delighting only in the forest around Lake Chaddanta in the Himalaya, the noble elephant among meditators finds no delight in any formation but delights only in the peaceful state seen according to “non-arising is safety.” His mind inclines toward it, tends toward it, and leans into it. [The Discourse on Knowledge of Contemplation of Disenchantment is concluded.] (Vernacular §1). [How to read] The three kings present three instances of “finding no delight” opposite three instances of “delighting only”: the royal goose finds no delight in the pit → delights in the lakes (seven contemplations); the lion finds no delight in the cage → delights in the Himalaya (three contemplations); the elephant finds no delight in the city → delights in the lakeside forest (the peaceful state). The sequence deepens: first delight in the methods of contemplation, then delight in the three characteristics, and finally delight in the peaceful state itself. [What is seen] “The lion king in a golden cage”: the cage is made of gold, just like the golden stake in the preceding unit. Favorable existence is a golden cage, but still a cage. The key to disenchantment lies in the other half, “delights only in…”: disenchantment has somewhere to go. It is not merely leaving; the mind already “inclines toward it, tends toward it, and leans into it”—three verbs, each drawing nearer than the last.

§02 Three Names, One Meaning—the Manifestation of Fear, Contemplation of Danger, and Contemplation of Disenchantment → Vernacular §2

This knowledge and the two preceding knowledges are one in meaning. The manifestation of fear is only one yet acquires three names: because one sees all formations as fear, it is named the manifestation of fear; because danger arises regarding formations, it is named contemplation of danger; because disenchantment toward formations arises, it is named contemplation of disenchantment. The canonical text likewise says that understanding in the manifestation of fear, knowledge of danger, and disenchantment are one in meaning and differ only in wording (Vernacular §2). [How to read] Three units, three names, one knowledge. Concerned that readers might take them as three separate stretches of road, the author says explicitly: they are three aspects of the same thing—fear is what is seen, danger is the judgment, disenchantment is the direction of the mind. [What is seen] For a practitioner, the point is not to wait for “disenchantment” as though it were another stage. It is already present when fear is seen. Nor need one worry, “I am still in fear and have not reached disenchantment”: these are three names for one knowledge.

§03 The Arising of Knowledge of Desire for Deliverance—the Simile of Nine Things → Vernacular §3

When, through knowledge of disenchantment, one becomes disenchanted, weary, and finds no delight, the mind neither adheres, clings, nor becomes bound to any formation among formations subject to breaking apart included in every existence, birth, destination, station of consciousness, and abode of beings. It desires deliverance from all formations and desires to escape, like a fish caught in a net, a frog in a snake’s mouth, a jungle fowl shut in a cage, a deer caught in a stout snare, a snake in a snake charmer’s hands, an elephant sunk in deep mud, a nāga king caught in a supaṇṇa’s mouth, the moon entered into Rāhu’s mouth, and a person surrounded by enemies—all of them desire deliverance and escape from their predicament. The meditator’s mind likewise desires deliverance and escape from all formations. When attachment toward all formations is gone and deliverance from all formations is desired, knowledge of desire for deliverance arises. [The Discourse on Knowledge of Desire for Deliverance is concluded.] (Vernacular §3). [How to read] All nine similes are of things “caught”: fish, frog, fowl, deer, snake, elephant, nāga, moon, and person; even the nāga king and moon are caught. The content of knowledge of desire for deliverance is very simple: wanting to get out. First the three negations—neither adhering, clinging, nor becoming bound—then the two affirmations—desiring deliverance and escape. First release the grip, then lift the foot. [What is seen] “The moon entered into Rāhu’s mouth”: the moon is swallowed, and the moon will come out. The simile carries an implicit confidence that escape is possible; among the nine, it alone is certain to emerge. The author places it eighth, close to the end; by the time the reader reaches it, the heart already has some ground beneath it.

For the General Reader

At this station, the emotional curve reaches bottom and turns upward. Disenchantment is not aversion. The golden royal goose finds no delight in an impure pit, the lion king no delight in a golden cage, the elephant king no delight in a city: “I do not belong here,” and I know where I belong—the seven contemplations, the three characteristics, and the statement “non-arising is safety.” Desire for deliverance is not flight. It is the simple direction shared by a fish in a net, a frog in a snake’s mouth, and the moon in Rāhu’s mouth: wanting to get out. Remember one further statement: fear, danger, and disenchantment are three names for the same knowledge. Do not worry that “I am still afraid and have not reached disenchantment,” and do not wait for disenchantment as the next station; when fear is seen, disenchantment is already within it.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–3 present the complete translation, section by section, of knowledge of contemplation of disenchantment and the three royal similes, the three names with one meaning, and knowledge of desire for deliverance with the nine similes.

You want to get out—but how? Apply the three characteristics once more. This time the purpose is not seeing but “weakening formations”: like the person who thought he had caught a fish but had seized a snake by the neck, whirling it over his head two or three times so it could no longer bite him, and only then releasing it

The Big Picture — The Means Following Desire for Deliverance: Reflecting on the Three Characteristics to Weaken Formations

After knowledge of desire for deliverance arises, the meditator, in order to be delivered from all formations, again comprehends them by applying the three characteristics through knowledge of contemplation of reflection. The author provides four sets of reasons: reasons for impermanence (not ultimate, temporary, bounded by arising and passing away, subject to destruction, unstable, and so on); reasons for suffering (constant oppression, disease, boil, arrow, calamity, affliction, tribulation, disaster, fear, difficulty, lack of refuge, shelter, or recourse, danger, root of calamity, killer, and so on); reasons for foulness (ignoble, malodorous, disgusting, repellent, unfit to be adorned, ugly, and loathsome—as the retinue of the characteristic of suffering); and reasons for not-self (other, hollow, empty, vacuous, ownerless, without a master, and not subject to control) (§1). Why comprehend them again? To accomplish the means of deliverance. The simile is of catching a snake. A fisherman catches a snake by the neck, thinks it is a fish, and rejoices. Lifting it up and seeing three swastika-shaped marks, he knows it is a snake; he becomes afraid, sees the danger, becomes disenchanted, and wants to let it go. He then makes the means of deliverance: he uncoils it from his hand starting at the tail, raises his arm, whirls the snake two or three times over his head until it is weak, says “Go, wicked snake,” releases it, hurries onto the bank, and looks back. The author maps each phase to the preceding knowledges, then concludes: applying the three characteristics whirls formations and weakens them, so they can no longer manifest as permanent, pleasurable, beautiful, or self; one is then well delivered and lets them go (§2). The last passage cites the canonical phrases “reflecting on the sign / reflecting on occurrence / reflecting on sign and occurrence” and explains the order in the expression “reflecting on the sign” (§3). [What is seen] This unit answers a practical question: when one wants out, what remains to be cultivated? The answer is to cultivate the same three characteristics once again, but with a changed purpose. Earlier, the characteristics were applied in order to see (full understanding as investigation); here, they are applied to weaken (full understanding as abandoning). The same knife changes from a scalpel into the hand motion used to subdue a snake. The snake simile is the most complete simile in the arc: in a single person’s fright and escape, it strings together all six knowledges from 21-01 through 21-06.

§01 Comprehending Formations by Applying the Three Characteristics through Four Sets of Reasons → Vernacular §1

One who desires deliverance from formations subject to breaking apart included in every existence, birth, destination, station, and abode again comprehends formations by applying the three characteristics through knowledge of contemplation of reflection. For such reasons as not ultimate, temporary, bounded by arising and passing away, subject to destruction, unstable, fragile, not lasting, subject to change, without substance, nonexistent, formed, and subject to death, one sees all formations as impermanent. For such reasons as constant oppression, suffering, a basis of suffering, disease, boil, arrow, calamity, affliction, tribulation, disaster, fear, difficulty, without refuge, without shelter, without recourse, dangerous, root of calamity, killer, subject to influxes, Māra’s food, subject to birth, aging, illness, sorrow, lamentation, distress, and defilement, one sees them as suffering. For such reasons as ignoble, malodorous, disgusting, repellent, unfit to be adorned, ugly, and loathsome, and because foulness belongs to the retinue of the characteristic of suffering, one sees them as foul. For such reasons as other, hollow, empty, vacuous, ownerless, without a master, and not subject to control, one sees them as not-self (Vernacular §1). [How to read] The four sets rearrange the forty modes of 20-02: twelve reasons for impermanence, twenty-seven reasons for suffering, seven for foulness, and seven for not-self. The additional set is foulness, which the author expressly calls “the retinue of the characteristic of suffering,” not a fourth characteristic. [What is seen] Foulness has a particular place here. Knowledge of reflection must “weaken formations,” and among the four distortions of permanence, pleasure, self, and beauty, “beauty” is the most stubborn. Even when the body is known as impermanent, suffering, and not-self, one still finds it attractive. Thus the means of deliverance adds this contemplation of foulness.

§02 Why They Are Comprehended in This Way—To Accomplish the Means of Deliverance, with the Simile of Catching a Snake → Vernacular §2

Seeing in this way is comprehending formations by applying the three characteristics. Why is it done? To accomplish the means of deliverance. A man who wishes to catch fish sets a fish trap in the water, reaches down through its opening, catches a snake by the neck, thinks he has caught a fish, and rejoices: “I have truly caught a great fish.” Lifting it up and seeing three swastika-shaped marks, he recognizes a snake, becomes afraid, sees the danger, becomes disenchanted with his catch, wishes to let it go, and makes the means of deliverance. Starting at the tail, he untangles it from his hand, raises his arm, whirls it over his head two or three times until it is weak, says “Go, wicked snake,” and releases it. He hurries onto the pond bank, says, “Ah! I have escaped from the mouth of a great snake,” stands there, and looks back over the way he came. The correspondences are these: catching the snake by the neck, thinking it a fish, and rejoicing = initially obtaining individual existence and rejoicing; lifting it up and seeing the three marks = analyzing the compact and seeing the three characteristics in formations; fear = knowledge of the manifestation of fear; seeing danger = knowledge of contemplation of danger; disenchantment with the catch = knowledge of contemplation of disenchantment; wishing to release it = knowledge of desire for deliverance; making the means of deliverance = applying the three characteristics through knowledge of contemplation of reflection; whirling the snake to weaken it so it cannot bite back, then being well delivered and releasing it = whirling formations by applying the three characteristics, weakening them so they cannot manifest again as permanent, pleasurable, beautiful, or self, and then being well delivered and releasing them. Therefore it is said, “He comprehends them in this way to accomplish the means of deliverance” (Vernacular §2). [How to read] This is the key simile of the chapter and deserves to be mapped phase by phase: joy (obtaining the body) → seeing the marks (seeing the three characteristics) → fear (knowledge of fear) → danger (knowledge of danger) → disenchantment (knowledge of disenchantment) → wishing to release (knowledge of desire for deliverance) → whirling the snake (knowledge of reflection) → letting go and reaching the bank (equanimity about formations and the path in the next unit). The “three swastika-shaped marks” identify the snake’s neck; the three characteristics are the three marks on the neck of formations, and seeing them reveals what has been caught. [What is seen] “Preventing it from turning back and biting him” explains why knowledge of reflection is necessary. If one releases formations immediately upon desiring deliverance, they can still turn back and bite in the guise of permanence, pleasure, beauty, and self. Whirl them several times—apply the three characteristics again—and they lose their strength to bite back. This is both the mechanism and the remedy for being pulled back after wanting to let go. “He stood there looking back over the way he came” anticipates the reviewing knowledge at the end of Chapter 22.

§03 The Cited Passage and Its Explanation—Distinguishing Reflection on the Sign and the Order of the Sentence → Vernacular §3

At this point knowledge of reflection arises. The canonical text says: for one attending as impermanent, knowledge arises while reflecting on the sign; for one attending as suffering, knowledge arises while reflecting on occurrence; for one attending as not-self, knowledge arises while reflecting on the sign and occurrence. “Reflecting on the sign” means knowing, on the basis of the characteristic of impermanence, that the sign of formations is not lasting and temporary. It is not that one first knows and knowledge arises afterward; the expression follows conventional usage, like “dependent on the mind and mental objects, mind-consciousness arises.” Or it speaks according to the method of unity, taking the preceding and following as one. The other two sentences are to be understood likewise (Vernacular §3). [How to read] The three canonical statements share the structure of the three in 21-03 §3: impermanence corresponds to “the sign,” suffering to “occurrence,” and not-self to both. Only the verb changes—from “manifesting as fear” to “knowledge arising through reflection.” The same objects that frightened one before are now seen clearly. [What is seen] The final paragraph is a fine grammatical distinction. “Knowledge arises while reflecting on the sign” sounds as if reflection comes first and knowledge afterward, but they are not sequential; the author uses “dependent on the mind and mental objects, mind-consciousness arises” (which likewise does not posit mind and mental objects first and consciousness afterward) and the “method of unity” (the first method in 20-06 §5) to explain the wording. The point is not to treat “knowledge” in the path of insight as something that arrives after observation—the observing itself is knowledge.

For the General Reader

You want to get out—what remains to be cultivated? Apply the three characteristics once more, but for a different purpose. Earlier they were applied to see; here they are applied so that formations lose the strength to turn and bite. Remember the snake-catcher. He thought he had caught a fish and rejoiced (obtaining this body and mind), lifted it and saw the three swastika-shaped marks (seeing the three characteristics), became afraid, saw danger, grew disenchanted, and wanted to release it (the preceding four knowledges). Then he whirled the snake two or three times over his head until it was weak and only then said “Go” and released it (this unit). If released without being whirled, it could turn back and bite. Both the mechanism and the remedy for being pulled back after wanting to let go appear here. The additional set is foulness, because among permanence, pleasure, self, and beauty, “beauty” is the most stubborn.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–3 present the complete translation, section by section, of comprehending through four sets of reasons and the three characteristics, the snake-catching simile as the means of deliverance with all its correspondences, and the canonical citation with the distinction concerning the order in “reflecting on the sign.”

The summit of the path of insight is not a higher state but a flatter mind—like a man who has abandoned his wife and no longer becomes angry or grieves when he sees her with someone else; like the direction-finding crow released by seafarers, which flies straight to shore if it sees one and returns to the mast if it does not. When even one’s “attitude toward formations” has been leveled, that is equanimity about formations

The Big Picture — the Longest Unit in the Work, the Final Loosening on the Path of Insight, and All the Distinctions That Branch from It

Knowledge of reflection whirls formations until they are weak; next comes knowledge of equanimity about formations, the weightiest unit in the arc. The author first unfolds contemplation of emptiness through seven stages: twofold emptiness (empty of self and what belongs to self), fourfold emptiness (“I am nowhere…”), six modes, eight modes (without substance and apart from substance, with ten similes of reed, castor-oil plant, udumbara, foam, bubble, mirage, plantain, illusion, and the rest), ten modes, twelve modes, and forty-two modes (§1). He then explains how equanimity about formations arises: fear and delight are abandoned, and the mind becomes unconcerned and neutral toward formations. The simile of the abandoned wife: once he could not bear a moment apart from her, but after seeing her faults and abandoning her, he no longer becomes angry or grieves when she is with someone else. The mind draws back, contracts, and does not extend toward the three kinds of existence, four births, five destinations, seven stations of consciousness, and nine abodes of beings, like a drop of water on a tilted lotus leaf or a chicken feather thrown into fire. Knowledge of equanimity about formations arises; if it sees nibbāna as peaceful it leaps in, and if not, it again takes formations as object—the simile of the seafarer’s direction-finding crow (§2). What follows comprises all the distinctions branching from equanimity about formations: the three gateways to liberation and three liberations, including why the Abhidhamma gives only two liberations (§3); the distinction among seven kinds of noble persons (§4); the one meaning of the three names desire for deliverance, reflection, and equanimity about formations (§5); the meaning of insight leading to emergence and thirteen modes of grasping and emergence (§6); twelve similes—the bat, black snake, house, cows, ogress, child, hunger, thirst, cold, heat, darkness, and poison (§7); and four matters determined by equanimity about formations—secluded conduct, awakening/path/absorption factors, practice, and liberation, together with the five grounds on which the path receives its name (§8). [What is seen] Equanimity about formations is the summit of the path of insight and the last loosening of the measuring scale that runs through the arc. Earlier one lets go of absorption pleasure, self, doubt, and good states; here even the “attitude toward formations” itself becomes level. When loosened this far, the mind naturally conforms and enters the path. The direction is letting go, not exertion. All the tens of thousands of words distinguishing categories in this unit hang from that single quality of being “level.”

§01 Seven Successive Contemplations of Emptiness—from Twofold Emptiness through Forty-Two Modes → Vernacular §1

Having comprehended through knowledge of reflection that “all formations are empty,” one comprehends twofold emptiness (empty of self and what belongs to self). Seeing neither self nor another standing in the position of one’s own requisites, one comprehends fourfold emptiness: “I am nowhere and do not belong to anyone’s anything; what is mine is nowhere and is not in anyone’s anything.” The author explains it phrase by phrase: one sees neither one’s own self anywhere, nor one’s self capable of being introduced into another’s position of brother, friend, or requisite, nor another’s self anywhere, nor another’s self capable of being introduced into the position of one’s own possession. The six modes take the eye through the mind, visible forms through mental objects, eye-consciousness through mind-consciousness, and eye-contact through aging-and-death as empty of self, what belongs to self, permanence, lastingness, perpetuity, and being not subject to change. The eight modes take materiality through aging-and-death as without substance, without any substance, and apart from substance—without a substance of permanence, lastingness, pleasure, or self—like a reed, castor-oil plant, udumbara, white tree, palibhadra, foam, bubble, mirage, plantain trunk, and illusion. The ten modes are hollow, vacuous, empty, not-self, without a sovereign self, not doing as one wishes, unobtainable, not proceeding according to one’s power, other, and separate. The twelve modes say not a being, life, person, young man, woman, man, self, what belongs to self, I, mine, another’s, or anyone’s. Finally, forty-two modes according to full understanding as investigation—impermanent, suffering, disease, boil, arrow, calamity, affliction, other, breaking apart, tribulation, disaster, fear, difficulty, unstable, dissolving, not lasting, without protection, shelter, refuge, or recourse, hollow, vacuous, empty, not-self, without savor, dangerous, subject to change, without substance, root of calamity, killer, nonexistent, subject to influxes, formed, Māra’s food, subject to birth, aging, illness, death, and sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and distress, arising, vanishing, without savor, dangerous, and escape—culminate in “contemplate the world as empty.” The verse tells Mogharāja to contemplate the world as empty while always mindful, uproot the view of self, cross beyond death, and become unseen by the King of Death (Vernacular §1). [How to read] The six stages are six enlargements of the word “empty”: from “not mine” (twofold) to “neither my self nor another’s self is anywhere” (fourfold), to every base, consciousness, and contact being empty of permanence and lastingness (six), to “there is not even a substance” (eight), to ten adjectives of emptiness (ten), to “not a being, life, person, woman, man” (twelve), and finally an expanded list of the forty modes (forty-two). Emptiness here is not one statement but six progressively deepened ways of seeing. [What is seen] The winding explanation of fourfold emptiness deserves a slow reading. The author turns “I am nowhere and belong to no one” into four “not-seeing” statements: not seeing self; not seeing self as countable among another’s possessions; not seeing another’s self; and not seeing another’s self as countable among one’s own possessions. It empties “self” and “mine” from both the own and the other’s sides. The surface list called forty-two modes contains forty-four items in this base text, two repeated; this edition translates every item without merging them. The final verse is the Buddha’s instruction to Mogharāja: “contemplate the world as empty” is not nihilism but “uproot the view of self”—remove the self that follows along as the observer.

§02 The Arising of Equanimity about Formations—the Similes of the Abandoned Wife and the Seafaring Bird → Vernacular §2

One who sees emptiness and comprehends formations through the three characteristics abandons fear and delight, becomes unconcerned and neutral toward formations, and does not take them as “I” or “mine”—like a man who has abandoned his wife. Once unable to bear even a moment away from her, deeply attached and angry, displeased, and grief-stricken when she stood, sat, talked, or laughed with another man, he later sees her faults, wishes to separate, abandons her, and no longer takes her as “mine.” Thereafter he can see her do anything with anyone without anger or grief, remaining merely unconcerned and neutral. When one knows and sees in this way, the mind draws back, contracts, recoils, and does not extend toward the three existences, four births, five destinations, seven stations of consciousness, and nine abodes of beings; it rests in equanimity or repulsion—like a drop of water drawing back on a slightly tilted lotus leaf, or a chicken feather or strip of sinew drawing back when thrown into fire. Knowledge of equanimity about formations arises. If it sees the peaceful state, nibbāna, as peaceful, it abandons the occurrence of formations and leaps into nibbāna; if not, it repeatedly takes formations as object—like a seafarer’s direction-finding crow. When a ship drifts into an unknown region and no shore is visible, the crow is released from the mast. It surveys every direction; seeing shore, it flies straight there, and seeing none, returns to the mast. Like flour tossed at the edge of a winnowing basket or cleaned cotton being carded, knowledge comprehends formations in various ways, abandons fear and delight, remains neutral in selecting formations, and stands through the three contemplations; it assumes the nature of the three gateways to liberation and becomes the condition for distinguishing seven noble persons (Vernacular §2). [How to read] The abandoned-wife simile describes “the mind after abandonment”: it is not that he no longer sees her; he sees her and no longer reacts. This is the definition of equanimity about formations—neither grasping nor rejecting, unconcerned and neutral. The direction-crow simile describes “where the mind goes after abandonment”: it flies to shore if it sees one (leaps into nibbāna if it sees it) and returns to the mast if it does not (continues taking formations as object). Equanimity can remain on the mast for a long time without any haste. [What is seen] “Fear and delight are abandoned”: fear belongs to the recent stations, delight to the station of the ten corruptions of insight. Reactions in both directions must be released for the mind to be level. “It comes to rest in equanimity or repulsion”: the author honestly places “repulsion” beside equanimity; a level mind need not like formations, it simply neither approaches nor receives them. The arc’s phrase “loosened through equanimity about formations” means precisely this: earlier one lets go of things; here one lets go of attitude.

§03 The Three Gateways to Liberation and the Three Liberations—Why the Abhidhamma Gives Only Two → Vernacular §3

Because it occurs through three contemplations and the three faculties become predominant, knowledge assumes the nature of three gateways to liberation: viewing all formations as bounded and circumscribed → the mind leaps into the signless element; stirring the mind regarding formations → it leaps into the desireless element; viewing all phenomena as other → it leaps into the emptiness element. Bounded and circumscribed means bounded by arising and passing away—“formations did not exist before arising”—and circumscribed by “after ceasing they go nowhere but vanish right here,” contemplation of impermanence. Stirring means the agitation of contemplation of suffering. Viewing as other means contemplation of not-self. For one attending as impermanent, formations manifest through exhaustion; as suffering, through fear; as not-self, through emptiness. The three liberations are signless, desireless, and emptiness: one attending as impermanent is abundant in resolution and gains signless liberation; as suffering, abundant in tranquility and gains desireless liberation; as not-self, abundant in joyful feeling and gains emptiness liberation. Each is the noble path occurring with nibbāna as object through its corresponding mode. The Abhidhamma gives only desireless and emptiness liberation, in an unqualified sense and according to the source from which insight came. The Paṭisambhidāmagga calls all three insights emptiness liberation according to abandoning grasping, signless according to abandoning signs, and desireless according to abandoning desires; yet because insight knowledge does not abandon the sign of formations, it is not signless in the unqualified sense. Only emptiness and desireless are unqualified, and the names are given at the noble-path moment according to their source (Vernacular §3). [How to read] The three gateways are the exits of the three characteristics: impermanence → signless, suffering → desireless, not-self → emptiness. This correspondence should be remembered; Chapter 22 will use it again. The “gateway” is insight knowledge on this shore; the “liberation” is the noble path, after passing through. [What is seen] Why does the Abhidhamma mention only two liberations? The author’s distinction is fine-grained: although insight knowledge “abandons the sign of permanence,” it still has a mode—it remains contemplation of the sign of formations—so strictly it cannot be called “signless.” Emptiness and desireless do not face the same problem. The passage reconciles an apparent difference between two canonical texts; it does not rank them. Readers need only know that the three-gateway account is the sutta method and the two-liberation account the Abhidhamma method; both stand.

§04 The Distinction among Seven Kinds of Noble Persons → Vernacular §4

The seven noble persons are the faith-follower, one liberated through faith, body-witness, one liberated both ways, Dhamma-follower, one attained to view, and one liberated through wisdom; equanimity about formations is the condition for distinguishing them. One who attends as impermanent, is abundant in resolution, and gains the faith faculty is a faith-follower at the stream-entry-path moment and one liberated through faith at the other seven positions. One who attends as suffering, is abundant in tranquility, and gains the concentration faculty is a body-witness in every position, and if that person gains immaterial absorption and reaches the highest fruition, one liberated both ways. One who attends as not-self, is abundant in joyful feeling, and gains the wisdom faculty is a Dhamma-follower at the stream-entry-path moment, one attained to view at six positions, and one liberated through wisdom at the highest fruition. The canonical text says that one attending as impermanent has the faith faculty predominant and gains the path of stream-entry, hence “faith-follower”; after stream-entry fruition is directly realized, “one liberated through faith,” and so on. The word meanings are: liberated through faith = one liberated through faith; directly realized what is touched = body-witness (first touches absorption and then directly realizes cessation, nibbāna); attained what is seen = one attained to view (“formations are suffering, cessation is pleasure” has been known, seen, understood, directly realized, and touched with wisdom); follows faith = faith-follower; follows the Dhamma called wisdom = Dhamma-follower; liberated in both respects through immaterial absorption and the noble path = one liberated both ways; understands and is liberated = one liberated through wisdom (Vernacular §4). [How to read] The seven noble persons are derived by three entrances multiplied by positions on path and fruition. One entering through impermanence is a faith-follower on the path and liberated through faith in fruition; one entering through suffering is always a body-witness (and at the highest fruition, if possessing immaterial absorption, liberated both ways); one entering through not-self is a Dhamma-follower on the path, attained to view at six positions, and liberated through wisdom at the highest fruition. The same entrance receives a different name according to how far one has gone. [What is seen] The point is not to rank persons but to say that “the characteristic through which you enter determines what you are called.” The three characteristics have no hierarchy, only affinities: those abundant in faith go by impermanence, those in concentration by suffering, those in wisdom by not-self. Knowledge of equanimity about formations is the “condition for distinction”: this is the branching point.

§05 Three Names, One Meaning—Desire for Deliverance, Contemplation of Reflection, and Equanimity about Formations → Vernacular §5

Knowledge of equanimity about formations and the preceding two knowledges are one in meaning. The elders say that one knowledge receives three names: at the lower stage knowledge of desire for deliverance, at the middle stage knowledge of contemplation of reflection, and at the final stage culminating knowledge of equanimity about formations. The canonical text calls the understanding that desires deliverance, reflects, and comes to rest “knowledge of equanimity about formations”: in the former part, a person disenchanted through knowledge of disenchantment wishes to abandon arising and the rest completely—desire for deliverance; in the middle, reflection in order to make the means of deliverance—reflection; at the end, after deliverance, equal regard—coming to rest. “Arising is formations; equanimity toward those formations is equanimity about formations.” Desire for deliverance, contemplation of reflection, and equanimity about formations have one meaning and different wording (Vernacular §5). [How to read] This follows the same pattern as 21-05 §2: there, the three “fear/danger/disenchantment” are one knowledge; here, “desire for deliverance/reflection/equanimity about formations” are one. The eight knowledges are really two plus three plus three: arising-and-passing-away and dissolution are two; fear, danger, and disenchantment are one knowledge with three names; desire for deliverance, reflection, and equanimity are one knowledge with three names. [What is seen] “At the lower stage … the middle stage … the final stage”: the same knowledge has different names according to position. This is practical for meditators. There is no need to wait for “equanimity about formations” to arrive as something new; at the time of desire for deliverance it is already present at its lower stage.

§06 Insight Leading to Emergence—the Meaning of Emergence and the Thirteen Modes of Grasping and Emerging → Vernacular §6

For one who has attained equanimity about formations, insight becomes culminating insight and leads to emergence—both are names for the three knowledges beginning with equanimity. Reaching the summit and supreme state = culminating; tending to emergence = leading to emergence. Emergence is the path: it emerges from the external grasped basis that has become a sign and from internal occurrence; leading toward it means connecting with the path. A matrix of thirteen modes follows: grasping internally and emerging internally; grasping internally and emerging externally; grasping externally and emerging externally or internally; grasping materiality and emerging from materiality or the immaterial; grasping the immaterial and emerging from the immaterial or materiality; emerging from five aggregates at one time; grasping as impermanent and emerging as impermanent or as suffering/not-self; grasping as suffering and emerging as suffering or as impermanent/not-self; grasping as not-self and emerging as not-self or as impermanent/suffering. Explanation: one who grasps internally cannot accomplish emergence by seeing internal phenomena alone; external phenomena must be seen, so insight may connect with the path during internal or external contemplation. One who grasps materiality cannot accomplish emergence by seeing materiality alone; the immaterial must also be seen, so connection may occur during contemplation of either. Grasping “whatever is subject to arising is subject to cessation” and emerging accordingly is emerging from five aggregates at once. One contemplating impermanence cannot accomplish emergence through impermanence alone; suffering and not-self must also be contemplated, and emergence can occur in any of the three. Whatever the initial grasping, if emergence is through impermanence all three kinds are abundant in resolution, gain faith, signless liberation, and the names faith-follower/liberated through faith; if through suffering, all are abundant in tranquility, gain concentration, desireless liberation, and the name body-witness (or, with immaterial absorption at highest fruition, liberated both ways); if through not-self, all are abundant in joyful feeling, gain wisdom, emptiness liberation, and the names Dhamma-follower/attained to view/liberated through wisdom (Vernacular §6). [How to read] The thirteen modes say that “where you begin contemplating” and “where you meet the path” can differ. Starting internally, one may meet the path while contemplating externally; starting from materiality, while contemplating the immaterial; starting from impermanence, while contemplating suffering. The author’s point is that contemplation cannot remain one-sided—internal alone, materiality alone, or impermanence alone does not accomplish emergence. [What is seen] The last paragraph supplies a crucial refinement. What determines the seven noble-person names is not the characteristic initially grasped but the characteristic at emergence. It does not matter where you begin; the characteristic on which insight connects with the path determines your gateway to liberation and your name. This makes §4 exact.

§07 Twelve Similes → Vernacular §7

The mnemonic verse for twelve similes lists bat, black snake, house, cows, ogress, child, hunger, thirst, cold and heat, darkness, and poison. They may be applied from any knowledge beginning with the manifestation of fear, but here they clarify the whole sequence from fear through fruition. The bat alights on a five-branched honey tree, feels every branch, finds no flower or fruit, says “this tree is fruitless,” abandons attachment, climbs a straight branch, thrusts out its head and looks, flies through the sky, and alights on another fruit-bearing tree: bat = meditator; five branches = five aggregates subject to clinging; alighting = grasping; feeling branches and finding nothing = contemplating aggregates and finding nothing worth taking; abandoning attachment = disenchantment and the three knowledges beginning with desire for deliverance; climbing the straight branch = conformity; looking out = change-of-lineage; flying = path; fruit-bearing tree = fruition. The black snake, already seen under knowledge of reflection: releasing it = change-of-lineage; looking back after release = path; reaching a fearless place = fruition. The householder sleeps after eating while his house catches fire, wakes afraid, looks for and sees a route, exits, runs, and reaches safety: sleep = ordinary grasping of aggregates as “I/mine”; fear on seeing fire = knowledge of fear; seeking a route = desire for deliverance; seeing it = conformity; exiting = change-of-lineage; running = path; safety = fruition. The farmer mistakes the king’s cattle for his own, recognizes them by daylight, abandons them in fear, flees, and reaches a fearless place: taking royal cows as one’s own = taking aggregates as self; recognition at daylight = recognition by three characteristics; fear = fear knowledge; wishing to abandon = desire for deliverance; abandoning = change-of-lineage; fleeing = path; safety = fruition. A man lives with an ogress, follows her at night, sees her eating human flesh in the charnel ground, fears, flees, and reaches safety—the same correspondence. A mother hears a child cry in the street, hurries down, mistakenly picks up another’s child, recognizes it, becomes ashamed and afraid—“may no one call me a child-thief”—sets the child down, hurries upstairs, and sits: taking another’s child = taking the aggregates; recognition = three characteristics; shame and fear = manifestation of fear; looking around = desire for deliverance; putting down = conformity; standing in the street = change-of-lineage; going upstairs = path; sitting = fruition. The remaining six—hunger, thirst, cold, heat, darkness, poison—show how insight leading to emergence tends to the supramundane: one hungering in saṃsāra seeks food of mindfulness of the body flavored with the Deathless; one thirsting seeks the drink of the noble eightfold path; one chilled by craving’s moisture seeks the path’s heat that burns defilements; one burned by eleven fires seeks nibbāna where they cease; one in ignorance’s darkness seeks cultivation of the path, the light of knowledge; one poisoned by defilements seeks nibbāna, the antidotal medicine of the Deathless (Vernacular §7). [How to read] The twelve similes are the arc’s “complete review”: each traverses the sequence from 21-03 to 22-01—fear → desire for deliverance → conformity → change-of-lineage → path → fruition. The six “escape” similes (bat, snake, house, cows, ogress, child) say “discover it is not yours, let go, leave, reach safety”; the six “seeking” similes (hunger, thirst, cold, heat, darkness, poison) show how intensely the mind desires the other side. [What is seen] The child simile is the gentlest and most exact. The woman is not simply afraid but ashamed and afraid—“may no one call me a child-thief.” Mistaking another’s child for one’s own and then feeling awkward upon recognition is precisely the mind’s relation to the five aggregates on the eve of equanimity: not hatred, but “excuse me, this is not mine.” The six seeking similes also remind us that the levelness of equanimity is not indifference. Beneath that levelness is a profound longing, like hunger for food or a poisoned person’s need for medicine.

§08 Four Matters Determined by Equanimity about Formations—Secluded Conduct, Awakening/Path/Absorption Factors, Practice, and Liberation → Vernacular §8

At this point one is called “of secluded conduct” (the verse: a bhikkhu of secluded conduct frequents a secluded seat; people call it fitting, because he does not display himself among existences). Equanimity about formations determines this character and also distinctions in the noble path’s awakening, path, and absorption factors, its practice, and its liberation. Elders say foundational absorption determines them, or the aggregates contemplated by insight, or personal inclination, but all these are determined only by insight leading to emergence in the former part. According to determination by insight: the path of a dry-insight practitioner, the path of an attainment-master not using absorption as basis, and the path using first absorption as basis while contemplating mixed formations all belong to first absorption, with seven awakening factors, eight path factors, and five absorption factors; insight in the former part may accompany joy or equanimity, but at emergence reaches equanimity about formations associated with joy. In the fivefold system, paths based on second, third, and fourth absorptions have respectively four, three, and two absorption factors, seven path factors, and the fourth-based path six awakening factors, by determination from both foundational absorption and insight; insight leading to emergence is joy-associated. A fifth-absorption-based path has two absorption factors, equanimity and one-pointedness, six awakening and seven path factors; insight leading to emergence is equanimity-associated. The same applies with immaterial absorption as basis—as the ground’s color makes a lizard resemble it. The second elder says the path resembles the attainment from which one emerges and whose factors one contemplates. The third says it resembles the absorption used as basis and contemplated according to inclination, though inclination alone is insufficient without either foundational or contemplated absorption, as shown by the Nandakovāda Sutta. Practice: difficult suppression of defilements with exertion and prompting = painful practice; the opposite pleasant. Slow course of insight and appearance of path after suppression = slow penetration; the opposite quick. Thus the path receives four names. All four Buddha paths are pleasant and quick; so are the General of the Dhamma’s. Mahāmoggallāna’s first path was pleasant and quick, the higher three painful and slow. Predominances too may vary or remain the same. The path receives names for five reasons: own nature (emerging through impermanence = signless, through suffering = desireless, through not-self = emptiness); antidote (impermanence analyzes compact and abandons permanent signs = signless; suffering abandons pleasure and dries desire = desireless; not-self abandons self/being/person and sees emptiness = empty); own quality (empty of greed = empty; without signs of materiality or greed = signless; without desires of greed = desireless); object (nibbāna is empty, signless, desireless); source (path receives insight’s source, fruition the path’s—emptiness insight names the path empty; signless insight names the path signless by the sutta rather than Abhidhamma method; change-of-lineage takes signless nibbāna as object and gives its name to the path; desireless insight gives its name to the path and the path to fruition). [The Discourse on Knowledge of Equanimity about Formations is concluded.] (Vernacular §8). [How to read] This is the list of “what equanimity determines”: (1) you become one of secluded conduct; (2) how many awakening, path, and absorption factors your path has—determined by insight before emergence, not by absorption alone; (3) whether your path is painful or pleasant, slow or quick; and (4) what your liberation is called. The final “five grounds for naming the path” presents signless, desireless, and emptiness from five angles. [What is seen] “Insight leading to emergence is only associated with joy / only associated with equanimity”: insight in the instant before emergence determines the path’s absorption factors. This is the most technical sentence in the unit, yet it precisely follows the arc’s measuring logic: the way one lets go determines the kind of path one obtains. “Insight gives its name to the path; the path gives its name to fruition”: the name travels forward from insight knowledge all the way to fruition, and equanimity about formations stands at the start of that transmission. The author rejects none of the three elders’ positions but says “only insight leading to emergence in the former part determines it,” returning decisive weight to the practitioner’s contemplation in that very instant.

For the General Reader

Take away two similes and one direction. First: the man who has abandoned his wife. Once he could not bear a moment apart from her; after abandoning her he can see her with anyone without anger or grief. Equanimity does not mean no longer seeing formations, but seeing without reacting. Second: the seafarer’s direction-finding crow. If it sees shore, it flies straight there; if not, it returns to the mast. Equanimity can remain on the mast a long time, without hurry, and naturally leaps when it sees nibbāna. The direction is letting go, not exertion. Earlier one abandons absorption pleasure, self, doubt, and good states; here even the “attitude toward formations” becomes level. This is the summit of the path of insight and the final loosening of the measuring scale that runs through the work. Beneath the levelness is not indifference but longing as deep as hunger for food or a poisoned person’s need for medicine. Whether you are called a faith-follower or a Dhamma-follower, whether your path is pleasant or painful, slow or quick—all those distinctions branch from this levelness and need not concern you beforehand.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–8 present the complete translation, section by section, of seven stages of emptiness contemplation, the arising of equanimity with two similes, the three gateways and liberations, seven noble persons, three names with one meaning, insight leading to emergence with thirteen modes, twelve similes, and the four matters determined by equanimity with the five grounds for naming the path.

Equanimity about formations ripens into “now the path is about to arise”; the mind falls into the life-continuum, then rises through three impulsions—preliminary work, access, conformity—like a righteous king seated in judgment who hears the decisions of eight judicial ministers and says “Let it be so”: conforming downward with eight knowledges and upward with the thirty-seven phenomena belonging to awakening. Then the author gives this stretch of the road a name from each of eight canonical texts

The Big Picture — the Ninth Knowledge and the Chapter Close: Letting Go All the Way until the Mind Naturally Conforms

As knowledge of equanimity about formations is practiced and developed, faith grows stronger, energy is well aroused, mindfulness well established, the mind well concentrated, and sharper equanimity arises. Equanimity thinks, “Now the path is about to arise,” contemplates formations as impermanent, suffering, or not-self, and falls into the life-continuum. It rises through mind-door adverting and then three impulsions—the first named preliminary work, the second access, the third conformity, though each may generally be called repetition, preliminary work, access, or conformity (§1). Why “conformity”? It conforms downward with the true functions of the preceding eight knowledges (knowledge of arising and passing away truly saw arising and passing away … equanimity about formations truly had equanimity toward what should be regarded with equanimity) and upward with the thirty-seven phenomena belonging to awakening. The simile of the Dhamma king: a righteous king hears the judicial ministers’ decisions and says “Let it be so,” conforming with both their decision and ancient royal law; hence it is called “knowledge in conformity with the truths” (§2). The closing section says conformity knowledge is the end of insight leading to emergence that takes formations as object, while change-of-lineage knowledge is the end of that insight taken as a whole. The author reconciles eight canonical texts and their eight names for insight leading to emergence—non-identification, disenchantment, knowledge of the stability of phenomena, summit of perception, factor of exertion for complete purification, three names, three names, and purification by knowledge and vision of the way—and concludes the chapter with two verses (§3). [What is seen] This unit is the natural final stroke of the arc’s road of “letting go all the way.” Once loosened into equanimity, the mind naturally conforms. The name “conformity” is exact: it is not a new effort, but the decisions of the preceding eight knowledges being approved by a higher mind. In the simile, the Dhamma king says only “Let it be so.” The last mind of the insight that still has formations as its object performs agreement, not struggle.

§01 The Cognitive Process of Conformity Knowledge and Why It Is Called Conformity → Vernacular §1

With knowledge of equanimity about formations repeatedly practiced, cultivated, and developed, faith joined with resolution arises more strongly, energy is well aroused, mindfulness well established, the mind well concentrated, and sharper equanimity arises. Thinking “now the path is about to arise,” equanimity contemplates formations as impermanent, suffering, or not-self and falls into the life-continuum. After the life-continuum, mind-door adverting arises with formations as impermanent, suffering, or not-self as object according to equanimity’s method. After the functional mind that emerges from the life-continuum, the first impulsion in the uninterrupted succession takes formations as object—preliminary work; the second—access; the third—conformity. Collectively all three may be called repetition, preliminary work, access, or conformity. They conform with former and later parts: downward with the true functions of the preceding eight knowledges—arising-and-passing-away knowledge sees arising and passing away in what arises and passes; dissolution contemplation sees dissolution in what dissolves; what is fearsome manifests as fear in the manifestation of fear; contemplation of danger sees danger in what is dangerous; disenchantment knowledge is disenchanted with what merits disenchantment; desire-for-deliverance knowledge desires deliverance from what one should be delivered from; reflection knowledge reflects on what should be reflected on; equanimity about formations has equanimity toward what should be regarded with equanimity—and upward with the thirty-seven phenomena belonging to awakening to be gained through this practice (Vernacular §1). [How to read] First see the cognitive process: equanimity about formations → fall into the life-continuum → mind-door adverting → preliminary work → access → conformity. Its structure parallels the preliminary phase of the absorption process in Chapter 4 (preliminary work, access, conformity), but here the object is one of the three characteristics of formations, not a counterpart sign. [What is seen] “Equanimity about formations thinks, ‘now the path is about to arise’”: the author gives equanimity itself a kind of knowing. The phrase delicately shows that entry into the path is not being pushed forward; the ripened mind knows on its own. The eight retrospective statements beginning “truly…” line up the eight knowledges for the reader. The content of conformity knowledge is agreement that all eight statements are true.

§02 The Simile of the Dhamma King → Vernacular §2

A righteous king sits in a place of judgment, hears the judicial ministers’ decisions, abandons going where one should not go, and neutrally approves, saying “Let it be so.” He conforms both with their decisions and with ancient royal law. Conformity knowledge is like the king, the eight knowledges like eight judicial ministers, and the thirty-seven phenomena belonging to awakening like ancient royal law. Knowledge arisen with formations as object according to impermanence and the rest conforms downward with the true functions of the eight knowledges and upward with the thirty-seven phenomena belonging to awakening, and is therefore called knowledge in conformity with the truths (Vernacular §2). [How to read] The king “abandons going where one should not go”—he does not interfere; “neutrally approves”—the aftertone of equanimity; “Let it be so”—agreement. The function of conformity knowledge is to confirm the conclusions of all eight insight knowledges as Dhamma at once. [What is seen] “Knowledge in conformity with the truths”: what it conforms with are the truths. Impermanence, suffering, and not-self seen by the eight knowledges belong to the truths of suffering and its origin; the thirty-seven phenomena belonging to awakening belong to the truth of the path. Conformity follows them while standing at the gate of the truths. This simile echoes the three royal similes in 21-05: there the king finds no delight in a low place; here the king approves the decision. The same “king”—the meditator’s mind—has reached the place of judgment.

§03 The Reconciliation of Eight Canonical Texts on Insight Leading to Emergence and the Chapter Close → Vernacular §3

Conformity knowledge is the end of insight leading to emergence that takes formations as object; taken in its entirety, change-of-lineage knowledge is the end. To avoid confusion about insight leading to emergence, eight canonical texts are reconciled: the Discourse on the Analysis of the Six Bases, “relying on non-identification, abandon and surmount the equanimity depending on unity”—non-identification; the Discourse on the Simile of the Snake, “becoming disenchanted, one becomes dispassionate; through dispassion one is liberated”—disenchantment; the Susīma Discourse, “knowledge of the stability of phenomena first, knowledge of nibbāna afterward”—knowledge of the stability of phenomena; the Poṭṭhapāda Discourse, “perception first arises, knowledge afterward”—summit of perception; the Dasuttara Discourse, “purification by knowledge and vision of the way is a factor of exertion for complete purification”—factor of exertion for complete purification; the Paṭisambhidāmagga, “desire for deliverance, contemplation of reflection, and equanimity about formations are one in meaning and differ in wording”—three names; the Paṭṭhāna, “conformity is a condition for change-of-lineage and purification”—three names; the Discourse on the Relay Chariots, “is the holy life lived for purification by knowledge and vision of the way?”—purification by knowledge and vision of the way. The verses say: insight leading to emergence, peaceful and completely purified, is called by many names by the Great Seer; one who wishes to emerge from the muddy suffering and great fear of saṃsāra should always practice here. The chapter closes (Vernacular §3). [How to read] Eight texts and eight names are eight angles on the same stretch of road: from “non-identification” (no longer depending even on a particular equanimity), through “summit of perception,” “factor of exertion for complete purification,” and “purification by knowledge and vision of the way.” The author says that these names encountered in different canonical texts all refer to this stretch. [What is seen] There are two statements about the “end of insight leading to emergence”: conformity knowledge is the end when the object is formations, because it is the final mind with formations as object; change-of-lineage is the end in its entirety, because it has turned toward nibbāna but is not yet the path. This sentence opens the next chapter: the first mind in Chapter 22 is the path after change-of-lineage. The final verses reduce the whole chapter to one statement: “one who wishes to emerge from the muddy suffering and great fear of saṃsāra should always practice here.” “Great fear” calls back to 21-03, “emergence” to 21-07’s insight leading to emergence; the chapter’s road closes its circle in the final verse.

For the General Reader

When equanimity about formations ripens, there comes a moment when the mind knows, “Now the path is about to arise.” It sinks into the life-continuum and rises through three thoughts called preliminary work, access, and conformity. Conformity is not a new effort but the conclusions of the preceding eight knowledges being approved. It is like a righteous king hearing the decisions of eight judicial ministers and saying “Let it be so,” conforming both with their judgment and with ancient royal law, the thirty-seven phenomena belonging to awakening. The last mind of the insight that still has formations as its object performs agreement, not struggle. Letting go all the way, the mind naturally conforms. Different canonical texts give this stretch different names—knowledge of the stability of phenomena, summit of perception, purification by knowledge and vision of the way—but the author connects them and says they all refer to this stretch. Chapter 21 ends here; in the next chapter, the path arises.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–3 present the complete translation, section by section, of the cognitive process of conformity knowledge and the reason for its name, the simile of the Dhamma king, and the reconciliation of eight canonical texts on insight leading to emergence with the two closing verses of the chapter.