Observing the Five Aggregates to Cut Through the View of Self (Part 2)
Chapter Seven: Abhidharmakośa-śāstra, Volume Twenty-Three (The Afflictions That Should Be Eradicated for Realizing the Fruits)
Section One: The Afflictions to Be Eradicated at the First Fruit
I. Original text: 由于修惑具断有殊。立为三向。谓彼二圣。若于先时。未以世道。断修断惑。名为具缚。
Explanation: For those practicing the path of liberation, because the afflictions that should be eradicated during the course of practice vary greatly, those who eradicate afflictions and karma are designated as three fruit-approachers: the approacher to the first fruit, the approacher to the second fruit, and the approachers to the third and fourth fruits. The two kinds of practitioners of the noble path—those of dull faculties who follow faith and those of sharp faculties who follow the Dharma—if they have not previously eradicated, through wholesome mundane paths, the afflictions to be eradicated by cultivation, such a person is an ordinary being complete with all afflictions.
This means that cultivating the path begins from being an ordinary being; ordinary beings must also eradicate the corresponding afflictions. Every ordinary sentient being must go through various stages of path cultivation; at the very beginning one certainly cultivates mundane dharma, eradicating evil and cultivating goodness within mundane dharma. The content of the practice is the four right efforts; if the four right efforts are not fully cultivated, one cannot eradicate the afflictions, and one remains an ordinary being bound by all afflictive fetters. Before seeing the path, ordinary beings mainly cultivate the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment, which include the seven factors of enlightenment and the Noble Eightfold Path. Among the seven factors of enlightenment there is the factor of meditative concentration; when the concentration factor is complete, one will subdue and eradicate the lower-grade afflictions of the desire realm.
The Noble Eightfold Path also includes right concentration; when right concentration is complete, it will also subdue and eradicate the lower-grade afflictions of the desire realm. When the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment are cultivated to completion, precepts, concentration, and wisdom will be perfected, and only then are the conditions for seeing the path complete; upon encountering the conditions, one can attain purity of the Dharma eye and realize the first fruit. If these conditions of path cultivation are not complete, the conditions will not be complete either, and seeing the path will be impossible. Many people skip this stage of practice and claim to have seen the path and realized the first fruit—that is a mistaken "seeing of the path," nothing but great false speech.
Original text of the Abhidharmakośa-śāstra: 或先已断。欲界一品。乃至五品。至此位中名初果向。趣初果故。言初果者。谓预流果。此于一切沙门果中。必初得故。
Explanation: Among those practicing the path of liberation, some have previously eradicated the first through fifth grades of afflictions of the desire realm; at this point such a person can be called an approacher to the first fruit. Because he can tend toward the first fruit, he is called an approacher to the first fruit, and before long he will realize the first fruit and attain purity of the Dharma eye. The first fruit is also called the fruit of stream-entry (srotāpanna); among all the fruits of the śramaṇa, it is necessarily the first fruit to be attained.
The approacher to the first fruit eradicates the five grades of afflictions of the desire realm before he can realize the first fruit. This means that at the stage of an ordinary being, the approacher to the first fruit must eradicate the five grades of afflictions of the desire realm. On what basis can an ordinary being eradicate the five grades of afflictions? As stated above, in the course of cultivating the path, ordinary beings must cultivate the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment and must eradicate evil and cultivate goodness; cultivating goodness eradicates evil, and eradicating evil means eradicating the five grades of afflictions of the desire realm. If one only cultivates goodness without the preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) of the desire realm, or if that preparatory concentration is not complete, one cannot eradicate the five grades of afflictions and cannot become an approacher to the first fruit. Cultivating the preparatory concentration is the concentration factor among the seven factors of enlightenment, and it is right concentration among the Noble Eightfold Path. If the preparatory concentration of the desire realm is insufficient, right concentration is not complete, the cultivation of the Noble Eightfold Path is not complete, and there is no right path to speak of.
Therefore, when some people say that seeing the path and realizing the first or second fruit does not require meditative concentration, does not require preparatory concentration, or even that one can realize the fruit without cultivating concentration, such claims gravely violate the principles of the seven factors of enlightenment and the Noble Eightfold Path, violate the true principle of realizing the fruits, and even more gravely violate the teachings of the World-Honored One, Maitreya Bodhisattva, and all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Their claims of realizing the fruit have no such thing and no such reality; this belittles the cultivation and realization of the Buddha-dharma. It also shows that they have not gone through the actual stages of practicing the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment; their practice is rather blind, with a large element of conjecture. In the Dharma-ending age, many "good teachers" are indeed only skilled at collecting and disseminating knowledge, and do not understand the principles of cultivation and realization.
II. What are the coarse and heavy afflictions that the first fruit eradicates?
Every dharma has a distinction between coarse and subtle marks. Coarse marks are relatively obvious and conspicuous, visible and perceptible at once; subtle marks appear after the coarse marks, are not easy to discern, and require careful attentiveness to see and perceive. Both worldly and world-transcending dharmas are divided into coarse and subtle parts; even the conscious mind is divided into coarse and subtle.
Since afflictions are dharmas, and moreover mental dharmas, they are also divided into coarse and subtle parts. Coarse afflictions refer to heavy, coarse afflictions, the relatively obvious parts of afflictions, the contents that are easy to notice. "Heavy" means severe; obvious and coarse afflictions are necessarily relatively severe afflictions, or very heavy afflictions—parts that everyone can see and feel, parts that should not exist and are not accepted or tolerated by worldly people; they are the afflictions that should be eradicated first. Since even worldly people cannot accept these coarse and heavy afflictions, in the sphere of practice, and especially in the realm of sages and saints, their existence and manifestation are even less permitted.
Greed, hatred, delusion, conceit, doubt, and wrong views—these six root afflictions—each is divided into two major parts, coarse and subtle, and the subtle afflictions can be further subdivided. Coarse and subtle are relative terms: after removing the coarsest part, the remaining subtle part is also divided into coarse and subtle, and so on, subdividing endlessly; the afflictions that can no longer be subdivided are the most subtle, extremely subtle afflictions. These afflictions ordinary beings simply cannot discover or distinguish; perhaps even bodhisattvas at several bhūmis cannot discover or distinguish them—only bodhisattvas at the eighth bhūmi and above can eradicate them. Somewhat subtler afflictions, because ordinary beings lack wisdom and have not eradicated them themselves, cannot be discovered or distinguished by them; even those who have just realized the fruit and seen the mind cannot distinguish them, due to insufficient experience and wisdom.
All afflictions can be roughly divided into three grades—superior, middle, and inferior—and each grade can be further divided into superior, middle, and inferior. Superior-grade afflictions are relatively obvious, conspicuous, and severe; they are what should be eradicated first and what should least exist; they are called coarse and heavy afflictions. These are what should be eradicated during the practice of the Four Noble Truths, at the stage of the approacher to the first fruit. Only when the coarse and heavy superior-grade afflictions are eradicated can one have the opportunity to become a stream-enterer of the first fruit; otherwise one cannot even realize the approacher to the first fruit, let alone the first through fourth fruits.
For example, the affliction of greed can be divided into nine grades of coarse and subtle, and if further subdivided, it can be divided again. The coarsest part of greed is very severe, or relatively severe; ordinary people can see it and feel it and cannot tolerate it—such greed should not exist; if it still exists, one is an ordinary being with heavy afflictions. For example, great greed for money, great greed for sexual desire and romantic feelings, great greed for the physical body, great greed for fame and gain, and so on—endless in every aspect. Other afflictions are the same: the severe and obvious parts all belong to coarse and heavy afflictions, and all must be eradicated at the time of the first fruit or the approacher to the first fruit.
If a person claims to have realized the fruit, to have seen the mind and seen the nature, yet his afflictions are still very heavy, very obvious, easily discovered by others, and unacceptable to them, we can judge that this person has committed great false speech. Although this person may have theory after theory and speak the Dharma eloquently and beautifully, based on the afflictions manifested in his bodily, verbal, and mental actions, we can conclude that he is an ordinary being—no need to consider his eloquence or theoretical level; theoretical knowledge does not represent actual realization.
If a person says he has attained such-and-such a fruit and tells others, and if others harbor doubt, he becomes very afflicted, gives rise to hatred, becomes angry at them, curses and retaliates against them, and forms bad karmic ties with them—then it can be concluded that this person has not attained anything, because his afflictions are too coarse and heavy, even exceeding those of ordinary beings. Those who rely on the dharma they have learned to despise the multitude, to slander and attack others, to bully the weak with their strength—these can basically be concluded to be ordinary beings with coarse and heavy afflictions.
III. Question: When the srotāpanna eradicates the view of the five aggregates as self and as belonging to self, does this eradicate the manas's view of self?
Answer: At the first fruit, the view of self is eradicated by both the manas and the mind consciousness; both accept that the five aggregates are suffering, empty, impermanent, and non-self. However, the eradication of the view of self at the first fruit is not thorough; at the second fruit it goes deeper, so that greed, hatred, and delusion become attenuated; at the third fruit it goes deeper still, so that the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion can be eradicated; only at the fourth fruit is the view of self completely eradicated, and the conceit "I am" and self-grasping can be exhausted, untainted by even a trace of worldly dharma, with the ability to attain nirvāṇa without remainder. That is to say, only when all afflictions without exception have been completely eradicated does one realize the fourth fruit of arhatship; the fourth-fruit arhat is beyond training (aśaikṣa), needing to cultivate no further dharma and eradicate no further afflictions.
Although the first-fruit person still has greed, hatred, and delusion—not yet attenuated—the merit of having eradicated the view of self enables the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion to be effectively subdued, so that they do not manifest obviously and easily as in ordinary beings. In the course of cultivating the path, the first-fruit person has completed the cultivation of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment and is complete with the Noble Eightfold Path, showing that his mind is upright and wholesome, walking on the right path of practice; having completed the four right efforts shows that the afflictive bad habits of the first-fruit person have been subdued and no longer appear easily, wholesome dharmas have been established, and he possesses the goodness of a first-fruit person; with the merit of eradicating evil and cultivating goodness, he possesses the liberating merit and benefit of a first-fruit person. It is not as some who have not actually realized the fruit claim, that the first-fruit person has the same afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion as ordinary beings—this is a serious slander of first-fruit persons; in reality it is not so at all.
If anyone encounters a "first-fruit person" whose greed, hatred, and delusion are as heavy as an ordinary being's, one can conclude that this person is a fake first-fruit person, an ordinary being pretending to be a first-fruit person. Nowadays deception is rampant in the world, and there is much deception in Buddhism too; a few individuals do it intentionally, but most do it unintentionally—simply because their view of self is heavy, they overestimate themselves, their eyes do not turn inward to look at themselves, they do not know how to examine and introspect, they crave prominence and like to compete with others for superiority, and the result is that they harm themselves instead. After death, because of great false speech, they automatically fall into hell.
Why is the karma of great false speech so serious? As the Buddha said in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra: for example, a poor man who falsely claims to be emperor is arrested by the king, beheaded as a public example, and his nine generations of kin are exterminated. In Buddhism, an ordinary being impersonating a sage commits an even greater offense than impersonating an emperor in worldly affairs, because a sage is far superior to an emperor. Impersonating a sage disrupts Buddhism, confuses perception, making sentient beings unable to distinguish sage from ordinary being, and the sequence of Buddhist cultivation and realization becomes disordered. Impersonating a sage is a pārājika offense, a beheading offense; after death one must enter hell to be punished and atone.
IV. The view-afflictions eradicated at the first fruit
Meditative concentration, beginning from the preparatory concentration, can counteract afflictions and subdue them; only by subduing afflictions, removing or lightening the obstructions, can one realize the first fruit. Although the first-fruit person only has the view, having only eradicated the afflictions eradicated by seeing, eradicating afflictions and the three fetters necessarily requires preparatory concentration. Although preparatory concentration must be developed through cultivating concentration, the afflictions eradicated by seeing have also undergone the practice of the four aids to penetration and the cultivation of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment, and thus a portion of desire-realm afflictions can be eradicated at seeing the path. Although the first fruit eradicates the view-afflictions at seeing the path, the cultivation-afflictions have not yet been eradicated, so one must continue cultivating the path to exhaust the afflictions. The cultivation-afflictions are gradually eradicated through further cultivation of the path after seeing the path; they also belong to the view of the second-, third-, and fourth-fruit persons: the more thorough and accurate the view, the deeper the eradication of self and what belongs to self, the emptier the mind, the lighter the afflictions.
Although the first fruit's view-afflictions are eradicated at the first seeing of the path, that first seeing of the path is itself the result of gradual cultivation of the path; without cultivation, the view-afflictions cannot be eradicated. The content of path cultivation is the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment and the four aids to penetration; among the thirty-seven aids, one is meditative concentration. Without cultivating the thirty-seven aids, or if they are not cultivated to completion, one cannot see the path, let alone eradicate the view-afflictions. Therefore, preparatory concentration is the necessary condition that the first-fruit person must possess for seeing the path.
Before the first fruit's seeing of the path, one must subdue one's previous afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion to a certain degree, eradicating the coarse and heavy parts, so that the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion do not obstruct the practitioner's seeing of the path. In the course of cultivating the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment, the extremely heavy afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion are gradually subdued, the afflictions gradually become thin, the mind gradually becomes soft and pliant, wisdom gradually becomes clear and bright; all obstructions, like dense dark clouds, gradually thin out, and the sunlight of wisdom can shine through the clouds—thus one sees the path. The thinness of afflictions before seeing the path is only relative to the previously severe afflictions; it is not the degree of attenuated greed, hatred, and delusion of the second fruit. The two are different; both are spoken of from a relative perspective—the words are the same but the connotations are absolutely different, so the two must not be confused.
The Four Noble Truths: the noble truth of suffering, the noble truth of the origin of suffering, the noble truth of the cessation of suffering, and the noble truth of the path to the cessation of suffering. Among them, the noble truth of the path to the cessation of suffering is the truth of cultivating the path, the theoretical basis. The study of this theory begins before the first fruit and continues until the fourth fruit of arhatship is realized. Therefore, cultivating the path does not begin only after seeing the path; it begins when one comes into contact with the Four Noble Truths, begins when one first practices the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness. Without cultivation, how could one see the path? Among the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment, the four right efforts are: first, eradicating evil dharmas that have already arisen; second, preventing evil dharmas that have not yet arisen from arising; third, bringing forth wholesome dharmas that have not yet arisen; fourth, increasing wholesome dharmas that have already arisen. These contents of cultivating goodness and extinguishing evil are precisely what counteract sentient beings' afflictions; only after counteracting and subduing the afflictions, making them light, can one see the path.
Section Two: The Eighty-One Grades of Cultivation-Afflictions of the Three Realms to Be Eradicated by Cultivating the Path
Original text: 地地失德九。下中上各三。论曰。失谓过失。即所治障。德谓功德。即能治道。如先已辩。欲修断惑九品差别。如是上地。乃至有顶。例亦应尔。如所断障一一地中各有九品。诸能治道。无间解脱九品亦然。
Explanation: In the three realms, the faults and merits of each stage total nine kinds; the nine kinds are each divided into three—inferior, middle, and superior—roughly making twenty-seven kinds, and each of these is again divided into inferior, middle, and superior; thus the cultivation-afflictions of sentient beings are subdivided into eighty-one grades.
"Fault" means transgression: the transgressions of sentient beings are the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, the afflictive obstructions counteracted by cultivating the path. "Merit" means virtue: the merit obtained by the path of cultivation that can counteract the afflictive cultivation-afflictions. If one wishes to cultivate and eradicate the nine-grade distinctions of the afflictions, one must cultivate the path; to cultivate the path one must cultivate concentration—without concentration, afflictions cannot be eradicated. From the desire realm up to the summit of the three realms, the heaven of neither perception nor non-perception, each stage has nine grades of afflictive faults to be eradicated; accordingly, the path of cultivation that counteracts each grade of afflictive fault is also divided into nine grades. When the nine grades of cultivation-afflictions of all stages of the three realms are exhausted, uninterrupted liberation is attained.
What is called uninterrupted liberation means that body and mind are liberated in every instant, liberated with respect to every dharma, liberated at all times. Such liberation cannot be attained by the mind consciousness alone; it is ultimately attained by the manas. When the manas is liberated, everything is liberated; if the manas is not liberated, nothing is liberated. For the manas to be liberated, the path must be cultivated deeply down to the manas; to cultivate to this depth of the manas, one must cultivate concentration—without concentration one cannot reach the manas, the manas cannot obtain wisdom, and without wisdom there is no liberation. Therefore liberation is the equal cultivation of samādhi and prajñā; it is not something the dry wisdom of the mind consciousness can accomplish.
The three realms are divided into nine stages in total: the desire realm; in the form realm, the first dhyāna heaven, second dhyāna heaven, third dhyāna heaven, and fourth dhyāna heaven; and in the formless realm, the heaven of boundless space, the heaven of boundless consciousness, the heaven of nothingness, and the heaven of neither perception nor non-perception. Each stage has a corresponding state of meditative concentration, and each concentration can counteract the corresponding cultivation-afflictions—this is the merit of cultivating the path. The cultivation-afflictions are the faults, and their faults are counteracted by meditative concentration; when concentration arises, the merit of practice appears; using the merit of that concentration to counteract the afflictive cultivation-afflictions, one subsequently uses this merit to realize the fruit—of course including the liberating wisdom realization born from concentration; combined together, liberation is achieved.
The nine stages have corresponding nine grades of cultivation-afflictions. The greed, hatred, and delusion of the desire realm are roughly divided into inferior, middle, and superior grades, and each grade is divided into inferior, middle, and superior, making nine grades in all: inferior-inferior (1), inferior-middle (2), inferior-superior (3); middle-inferior (4), middle-middle (5), middle-superior (6); superior-inferior (7), superior-middle (8), superior-superior (9). These nine cultivation-afflictions must be terminated within the desire-realm concentration and the first dhyāna concentration; without meditative concentration, not a single grade can be terminated, one cannot attain the approacher to the first fruit, let alone the first fruit. Skipping the cultivation of concentration cannot be called practice; no matter how much theoretical knowledge one learns, if the cultivation-afflictions cannot be eradicated, one cannot withstand the suffering of birth and death and will inevitably drift through birth and death according to karma. From this we can see that the merit of cultivating concentration is immense and cannot be bypassed; shrinking from difficulty and avoiding the heavy while taking the light cannot solve the problem. And cultivating concentration is inseparable from strict observance of the precepts; without keeping the precepts, concentration cannot be developed, it is not cultivating the path, there will be no merit, afflictive faults will not lessen or decrease, and at death one will transmigrate through the three evil paths according to afflictions and karma.
The greed, hatred, and delusion cultivation-afflictions of the first dhyāna heaven are divided into inferior, middle, and superior grades, each grade further divided into inferior, middle, and superior, making nine grades: inferior-inferior (1), inferior-middle (2), inferior-superior (3); middle-inferior (4), middle-middle (5), middle-superior (6); superior-inferior (7), superior-middle (8), superior-superior (9). Likewise, the greed, hatred, and delusion cultivation-afflictions of the second dhyāna heaven are divided into: inferior-inferior (1), inferior-middle (2), inferior-superior (3); middle-inferior (4), middle-middle (5), middle-superior (6); superior-inferior (7), superior-middle (8), superior-superior (9). The third dhyāna heaven, fourth dhyāna heaven, heaven of boundless space, heaven of boundless consciousness, heaven of nothingness, and heaven of neither perception nor non-perception each have corresponding nine grades of cultivation-afflictions; combined together, they are the eighty-one grades of afflictive cultivation-afflictions.
Original text: 应知此中下下品道势力。能断上上品障。如是乃至上上品道势力。能断下下品障。上上品等诸能治德。初未有故。此德有时。上上品等失已无故。如浣衣位粗垢先除。于后后时渐除细垢。又如粗闇。小明能灭。要以大明方灭细闇。
Explanation: Practitioners should understand that the power of the inferior-inferior grade path can eradicate the superior-superior grade afflictive obstructions, and the power of the superior-superior grade path can also eradicate the inferior-inferior grade afflictive obstructions. The superior-superior grade counteracting merit does not exist at the beginning of practice; once it appears, the superior-superior grade faults no longer exist—the superior-superior grade cultivation-afflictions have already been eradicated. For example, when washing clothes, the coarser dirt should be removed first, and only afterward can the finer dirt be gradually removed. Likewise, coarse darkness can be dispelled by a small light, but deep, subtle darkness must be dispelled by a great light; only when the subtle darkness is dispelled is there brightness without darkness.
Original text: 失德相对理亦应然。白法力强。黑法力劣故。刹那顷劣道现行。无始时来展转增益上品诸惑。能令顿断。如经久时所集众病。服少良药能令顿愈。又如长时所集大闇。一刹那顷小灯能灭。
Explanation: The principle of faults and merits corresponding to each other is also like this. Because the power of wholesome dharmas is strong and the power of unwholesome dharmas is weak, in an instant, the lowest and shallowest path manifests, and the superior-grade afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion that sentient beings have continuously increased since beginningless kalpas can be eradicated instantly. It is like an illness accumulated over a long time, cured instantly by taking a small amount of good medicine. It is also like a great darkness accumulated over a long time, dispelled in an instant by a small lamp.
The path that can counteract afflictive faults is merit, that is, the merit developed by cultivating the path. The merit of cultivating the path includes precepts, concentration, and wisdom—none of the three can be lacking. Precepts, like concentration, can be divided into inferior, middle, and superior grades, and even wisdom can be divided into inferior, middle, and superior grades. Because of keeping the precepts, the mind is effectively restrained and does not scatter; combined with the effort of cultivating concentration, meditative concentration arises. Because of concentration, the Four Noble Truths one encounters and the principles of the Great Vehicle enter the mind and are thoroughly comprehended, and wisdom appears. The more strictly the precepts are kept, the deeper the concentration; the deeper the concentration, the more the dharma meanings enter the mind, the more thoroughly the principles are comprehended, the lighter the afflictions, and the greater the merit. Therefore keeping precepts is merit, concentration is merit, wisdom is merit; merit is not only the merit of virtue but also the merit of blessings, by which one is reborn in good paths in future lives. Merit is also the indriya, the fundamental suitable vessel for the Path; with merit there is the Path, and with the Path there is liberation.
Path and merit combined together constitute "morality" (daode). Those of lofty virtue and great renown, people of noble morality, naturally have weighty reputations without special promotion; their virtue naturally attracts, like the fragrance of flowers naturally attracting butterflies. A person with Path and merit cannot be moved by inferior people; to move him incurs loss—the law of cause and result does not permit it, nor does his virtue; great movement brings great loss, small movement small loss, flowering retribution in this life and retributive result in future lives, unavoidable, because his morality is lofty. For example, a king is honored in position and heavy with power; to insult him may mean imprisonment or beheading, even implicating nine generations of kin, because his power is flourishing.
Section Three: The Afflictions to Be Eradicated at the Second Fruit
Original text: 若先已断。欲界六品。或七八品。至此位中名第二果向。趣第二果故。第二果者。谓一来果。遍得果中。此第二故。
Explanation: If one has previously eradicated six grades of the desire realm's cultivation-afflictions, or seven or eight grades, then upon reaching this stage one is an approacher to the second fruit, tending toward the second fruit. The second fruit is the once-returner fruit (sakṛdāgāmin); after one round of return each between the human world and the heavens, one attains nirvāṇa without remainder. Among all the fruits to be attained, the once-returner fruit ranks second, hence it is called the second fruit.
The sixth, seventh, and eighth grades of the desire realm's cultivation-afflictions are somewhat deeper and subtler than the previous five grades and harder to eradicate; once cultivated and eradicated, the merit of eradication is higher, and the fruit is of course higher than the approacher to the first fruit and the first fruit with their five-grade merit of eradication. The nine grades of desire-realm afflictive cultivation-afflictions are all related to the dharmas of the desire realm: the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion toward the forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and dharmas of the desire realm; toward the food, clothing, and livelihood necessities of the desire realm; and toward sexual desire. The first grade, the inferior-inferior grade affliction, is the coarsest and heaviest, the most turbid, the lowest, the most serious in fault, the least that should be possessed, the most that should be removed. The second grade is next, the third grade next after that, up to the fifth grade; after cultivating and eradicating them, one is an approacher to the first fruit, between ordinary being and first fruit, still classified as an ordinary being, not exempt from transmigrating through the three evil paths, but the probability of falling into the three evil paths is greatly reduced; only after reaching the first fruit can the suffering of transmigration through the three evil paths be completely eliminated.
If one wishes to eradicate the five grades of desire-realm afflictions, one must keep the precepts and cultivate concentration; when desire-realm concentration arises, the five grades of cultivation-afflictions will be subdued and eradicated. Having eradicated these afflictions, continuing to keep precepts and cultivate concentration, contemplative practice wisdom arises, realizing that the five aggregates are suffering, empty, impermanent, and non-self; meditative absorption appears, purity of the Dharma eye is attained, and the first fruit is attained. Among these, meditative concentration is the key: without the desire realm's preparatory concentration, no affliction can be subdued or eradicated, and the approacher to the first fruit will not be attained.
Why can preparatory concentration eradicate the five grades of cultivation-afflictions? Because concentration concentrates the mind: first the body is stilled; only when the body is stilled can the mind subsequently become concentrated; when the mind is concentrated, it is subdued, tending less toward forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and dharmas, and the afflictions naturally cease. The afflictions eradicated by the approacher to the second fruit and the second fruit are somewhat subtler and deeper than those eradicated by the approacher to the first fruit and the first fruit, but they still belong to the desire realm's afflictions; one grade remains before the desire realm's afflictions are exhausted without remainder, and the desire realm's preparatory concentration can eradicate them; the form realm's and formless realm's concentrations can eradicate them even more easily.
Some say that realizing the fruit and seeing the mind do not require meditative concentration, that afflictions need not be eradicated, and even say that the first fruit's afflictions are exactly the same as an ordinary being's. Such statements precisely show that this person has never truly gone through the stage of cultivating the path; his own mind certainly corresponds to the afflictions of ordinary beings, so his claimed realization and seeing of the mind are highly doubtful. A person without meditative concentration naturally does not know the merit and benefit of concentration, naturally cannot eradicate any afflictions, and his afflictions are of course identical to an ordinary being's without difference. But in reality it is not so: concentration has the merit of eradication, has blessings and virtue; it is the most important key link and booster of cultivating the path. Without this key link of concentration, the wisdom that eradicates the view of self will not arise; the mind consciousness's understanding has no decisive effect—the wisdom of the manas is what is decisive, determining whether ignorance and afflictions exist, determining the direction of future lives, determining whether there is liberation.
Realizing the first fruit is like being reborn with a completely changed body and bones; the manas is the mainstay bone—whatever the bone is, that is the womb. If the manas's ignorance and afflictions are not eradicated, the bones do not change and one cannot shed the ordinary being's womb; which womb the antarābhava enters is determined by the bone of the manas. Why can concentration enable the manas to be reborn with changed bones? Because concentration subdues the six consciousnesses; the six consciousnesses move less and more slowly, so the manas's domination and regulation of the six consciousnesses naturally decreases, the grasping mind weakens, the mind can dwell more on the dharma meanings, the capacity to absorb and digest dharma meanings is strengthened, the deliberation on dharma meanings becomes more focused, one gradually comprehends the dharma meanings thoroughly, wisdom arises, afflictions are eradicated, and partial or complete liberation is attained. Without concentration, the six consciousnesses' grasping at the six sense objects is uninterrupted, the manas's command over the six consciousnesses is uninterrupted, one cannot dwell on the dharma meanings, wisdom cannot arise, afflictions are not eradicated, and liberation is hopeless.
Section Four: The Afflictions to Be Eradicated at the Third Fruit
Original text: 若先已离欲界九品。或先已断初定一品。乃至具离无所有处。至此位中。名第三果向。趣第三果故。第三果者。谓不还果。数准前释。
Explanation: If in previous cultivation one has already departed from the nine grades of desire-realm afflictions, or has previously eradicated the first grade of affliction of the form realm's first dhyāna, up to having completely departed from the afflictions of the formless realm's heaven of nothingness, then upon reaching this stage one is an approacher to the third fruit, tending toward the third fruit. The third fruit is the non-returner fruit (anāgāmin); such a one will not return to the human world to cultivate the path and attain parinirvāṇa, but will directly attain nirvāṇa without remainder in one of the five non-returner heavens.
There are many distinctions in the liberating wisdom of the third fruit, to be discussed later. The key point now is that the approacher to the third fruit has already departed from all the afflictions of the desire realm, and has even eradicated the first grade of affliction of the form realm's first dhyāna, thus becoming an approacher to the third fruit. To depart from all the desire realm's afflictions, relying solely on the desire realm's preparatory concentration is simply not enough; one must also have the form realm's first dhyāna concentration, at most the formless realm's concentration of nothingness, to eradicate all the desire realm's cultivation-afflictions.
Why is one who has eradicated the desire realm's cultivation-afflictions only an approacher to the third fruit and not a third fruit? Because afflictions must first be eradicated, and only after the obstructions are removed can one continue to contemplate the five aggregates and give rise to deeper wisdom of seeing the path; only with the third fruit's seeing of the path can one realize the third fruit. The second fruit is the same: the approacher to the second fruit eradicates eight grades of cultivation-afflictions within preparatory concentration, removing the afflictive obstructions, and only then can one further contemplate the five aggregates, give rise to the second fruit's wisdom of seeing the path, and realize the second fruit. The first fruit is the same: within the preparatory concentration at the stage of an ordinary being, one eradicates the five grades of cultivation-afflictions; after removing the coarse afflictive obstructions, one contemplates the suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self of the five aggregates, obtains the initial wisdom that eradicates the view of self, and realizes the first fruit.
Measured by this standard of seeing the path, how many in the Sahā world have truly seen the path of the Hīnayāna? If the Hīnayāna path has not truly been seen, and the five aggregates have not ended, how could there be the somewhat higher Mahāyāna seeing of the path? It turns out the streets are full of fake and false "seeing of the path." What fruits are all the self-proclaimed and other-proclaimed fruits? Thinking of the future retributive results, one breaks out in wave after wave of cold sweat. Why do so many people still not know fear? It is merely foolishness and delusion—not shedding tears even upon seeing the coffin; when lying inside the coffin, no tears can flow either, and one can only bleed in the three evil paths.
Original text: 次依修道。道类智时。建立众圣有差别者。颂曰。至第十六心。随三向住果名信解。见至亦由钝利别。论曰。即前随信随法行者。至第十六道类智心名为住果。不复名向。随前三向今住三果。谓前预流向今住预流果。前一来向今住一来果。前不还向今住不还果。阿罗汉果必无初得。见道无容断修惑故。
Explanation: After the approacher to the third fruit, when, again in accordance with the cultivation of the path, the knowledge conforming to the path arises, distinctions among the many sages are established. When the sixteenth mind-moment is reached, those who, following the three approachers' merit of eradication, abide in the three fruit positions are called those liberated by faith among the followers of faith; those liberated by view among the followers of Dharma also differ according to dull or sharp faculties. The aforementioned followers of faith and followers of Dharma, upon reaching the sixteenth mind-moment when the knowledge conforming to the path arises, are called abiding in the fruit; they abandon the position of approacher and are no longer called approachers. Following the previous approacher to the first fruit, the approacher to the second fruit, and the approacher to the third fruit, they now abide in the three fruits: the previous approacher to the non-returner fruit is now the non-returner fruit. As for realizing the fruit of arhatship, there is no approacher, no initial intermediate fruit—one directly realizes the fruit of arhatship, because once the arhat sees the path, there is nothing left to cultivate or eradicate; only after the previous three fruits have all been cultivated can one realize the fourth fruit of arhatship and become beyond training. The first three fruits all involve training, cultivation, and eradication; the fourth fruit is beyond training, beyond cultivation, beyond eradication.
Section Five: The Afflictions to Be Eradicated Before the Fourth Fruit
I. Arhats are divided into two kinds: those liberated by wisdom and those liberated in both ways. The arhat liberated by wisdom has only the first dhyāna of meditative concentration, relying mainly on liberating wisdom; the arhat liberated in both ways must have the four dhyānas and eight concentrations, or add the cessation absorption. An arhat must exhaust the manifestation of all afflictions; without concentration above the first dhyāna, it is impossible to completely eradicate afflictions such as greed, hatred, and the conceit "I am." Evidence for this is found in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, or also in the Abhidharmakośa-śāstra.
No matter what affliction it is, even the coarsest and shallowest affliction, meditative concentration is required to eradicate it; without concentration, not the slightest affliction can be eradicated or subdued. Only by eradicating the five coarsest and heaviest grades of desire-realm afflictions can one become an approacher to the first fruit, close to the first fruit—all of this requires concentration; the deeper the concentration, the more afflictions are eradicated. Without form-realm concentration, the desire realm's affliction of greed cannot be exhausted, nor can the affliction of hatred; then one cannot realize the third fruit of anāgāmin or the fourth fruit of arhat. Therefore, in the cultivation and realization of the Buddha-dharma, concentration is extremely important and indispensable; without concentration, there is no talk of actual practice, let alone actual realization—studying the Buddha-dharma becomes child's play. So when someone says one can realize the fruit without cultivating concentration, the absence of concentration proves that this person is complete with all afflictions, cannot eradicate the view of self and realize the fruit, and is just an ordinary being bound by all fetters.
According to the degree to which afflictions have been eradicated, one can judge the fruit realized; realizing the fruit is closely related to eradicating afflictions and closely related to concentration. Afflictions are ignorance; only by eradicating ignorance can one obtain wisdom and liberation; with afflictions there is no wisdom, and without concentration there are afflictions and no wisdom. The Buddha-dharma is interlinked and thoroughly integrated; if each link is disconnected and cannot connect—if this dharma is this dharma and that dharma is that dharma, unable to organically merge together—it shows the Buddha-dharma has not been penetrated, the checkpoints have not been passed, and there is no actual realization.
II. Why is the conceit "I am" a condition obstructing the Path?
The Path is non-self; the conceit "I am" is the existence of self. Self and non-self are opposed; the conceit obstructs the path of non-self and the contemplative practice of non-self. Contemplating non-self with a mind of self, contemplate as one may, in the end it is still self, and the Path cannot be realized. The instances of the conceit "I am" listed in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra all begin with the word "I," showing that where there is self there is the conceit "I am"; the conceit is the manifestation of self. Therefore all afflictions arise because of self; self is the root of sin, the chief culprit. If someone says: "I have realized the fruit, I am stronger than you all, I am the most capable," and so on—as soon as such an attitude appears, we know this person's self is heavy and he has not eradicated the view of self; hence a person with heavy conceit "I am" cannot possibly eradicate the view of self. Cultivating the path is the process of continuously eradicating afflictions; the lighter the afflictions, the thinner the view of self, the closer to the Path; the three approachers and four fruits are determined according to the degree of eradication of afflictions.
III. The difference between the innate view of self and the conceit "I am"
Some people cannot understand the difference between the conceit "I am" and the innate view of self, and take the conceit "I am" to be the innate view of self, saying that the innate view of self is only eradicated at the fourth fruit. This misunderstanding is enormous and makes it impossible to truly eradicate the view of self. The innate view of self is the manas's view of self, one of the two kinds of view of self, to be eradicated at the first fruit; if it is not eradicated, one is not a first-fruit person, not one who has eradicated the view of self. The conceit "I am" is the manas's heaviest affliction, belonging to the manas's innate self-grasping, not to the innate view of self; innate self-grasping can only be eradicated just before realizing the fourth fruit, hence only the fourth-fruit arhat has no manifest affliction of the conceit "I am."
The conceit "I am" and innate self-grasping exist depending on the view of self; only after the view of self is eradicated can the conceit and innate self-grasping gradually become thin and finally be exhausted. When the view of self is exhausted, the conceit "I am" no longer exists. Therefore the innate view of self and the conceit "I am" cannot be mentioned in the same breath, and the concepts must not be confused.
Subconsciously there is already an "I," without needing to think, analyze, or compare—this is the conceit "I am," the manas's cognition, like something in the marrow. The manas's conceit "I am" is not easy to detect, still less to pull out, including inferior conceit, superior conceit, and exaggerated conceit. As long as there is an "I" in the mind, there is certainly the conceit "I am." Everyone knows there is an "I"; whether self-conceited or self-abased, both are based on the view of self and are extremely hard to eradicate, deeply rooted. For example, when a baby sees someone wanting to hold him and, being displeased, turns his head and ignores them—this is the innate conceit "I am," present along with the manas, existing without the mind consciousness's comparison; whether or not there is mind consciousness, the manas has the innate view of self and conceit "I am." Those who love to show off and like to stand out all have heavy conceit; those who become displeased when their errors are pointed out all belong to conceit; those who always think themselves quite good all have conceit; those who like to compare themselves with others show the manifestation of conceit; all who have self-cognition have conceit.
The manas's innate view of self is a deeply rooted view of self that takes the five aggregates as self. This mentality is not easy to detect and is very hidden, so many people cannot subdue or eradicate the innate view of self and say that eradicating only the mind consciousness's discriminated view of self constitutes eradicating the view of self and realizing the first fruit. But if the manas's innate view of self is not eradicated, then even if the mind consciousness's discriminated view of self is truly eradicated, the view of self will continually arise again depending on the manas, arising anytime and anywhere without one's awareness—very troublesome.
Because the innate view of self is not the mind consciousness's view of self, it is not a feeling. Feeling is relatively superficial; it is the mind consciousness's awareness, the mind consciousness's discriminated view of self, existing through discrimination and absent when not discriminating; it is easier to discover and subdue than the manas's view of self. But after being subdued it will appear again and cannot be eradicated completely, because the mind consciousness's shared basis, the manas, has not eradicated the view of self—how could the mind consciousness, which turns according to the manas, truly eradicate the view of self? This inevitably leads to the view of self appearing anytime and anywhere, and one has no choice but to suppress it constantly; often it simply cannot be suppressed. Then at death one certainly continues to transmigrate in the ocean of birth-and-death suffering according to the manas's innate view of self and afflictions, not exempt from the three evil paths.
The first-fruit person who has severed the three fetters has the conceit "I am"; even the second fruit, whose greed, hatred, and delusion have been weakened, still has the conceit "I am" as an existing mental factor. Only at the third fruit is the conceit subdued, or a small part eradicated, but not yet exhausted; when exhausted, one becomes a fourth fruit. The manas's innate self-grasping is harder to eradicate than the innate view of self. In sequence: first eradicate the innate view of self and the discriminated view of self and realize the first fruit; then further deepen the contemplative practice on the two views of self and weaken greed, hatred, and delusion to realize the second fruit; then further deepen the contemplative practice on the two views of self, develop the first dhyāna concentration, eradicate afflictions, and realize the third fruit. When the manas's innate view of self is completely exhausted, innate self-grasping is also completely exhausted, the conceit "I am" disappears, and one realizes the fourth fruit of arhatship.
IV. Breaking ignorance and eradicating afflictions is the true practice
Among the twelve links of dependent origination, the first four links—ignorance, volitional formations, consciousness, and name-and-form—show that the birth of name-and-form is the continuation of the suffering of birth-and-death transmigration, and the suffering of the wheel of birth and death is entirely due to ignorance. Ignorance is foolishness; foolishness gives rise to foolish karmic actions, prompting the six consciousnesses to continuously create bodily, verbal, and mental actions of greed, hatred, and delusion, storing seeds of unwholesome karma, whence the suffering of birth and death continues unbroken. Therefore practice consists in breaking ignorance and afflictions; when ignorance is broken, wisdom is obtained.
Ignorance and wisdom are in opposition, like the two ends of a balance scale—one rises as the other falls. So when there is wisdom, there are no afflictions and no creation of afflictive unwholesome karma; when there are afflictions, it shows there is ignorance in the mind. Any creation of affliction is due to ignorance and lack of wisdom; with wisdom, no afflictive karma is created. Once someone creates afflictive karma, with bodily, verbal, or mental actions contrary to the Dharma, it shows this person's ignorance is not broken and wisdom has not arisen, and the suffering of birth and death cannot be ended.
The hallmark of accomplishment in studying Buddhism is breaking ignorance, eradicating afflictions, and increasing wisdom—not how much theoretical knowledge one has learned. Learning theoretical knowledge is ultimately for breaking ignorance and eradicating afflictions; apart from this purpose, studying the Dharma has no meaning whatsoever. To end the suffering of birth and death, one must eradicate evil and cultivate goodness: doing good leads to good paths and liberation; doing evil leads to evil paths and the suffering of birth and death. If ignorance is not broken and afflictions not eradicated, no matter how much Buddhist knowledge one learns, it will not help liberate one from the suffering of birth and death. Therefore mastering much theoretical knowledge is not the direction of practice; breaking ignorance, eradicating afflictions, and increasing wisdom is the right path.
