The Eighty-One Grades of Thought Delusions in the Three Realms to Be Abandoned by Cultivation

Original text of Volume 23 of the Abhidharmakośa-śāstra: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 each of the stages (bhūmis) of the three realms, the faults and virtues total nine kinds, and each of the nine is further divided into three kinds—lower, middle, and upper—roughly making twenty-seven kinds, and each of these is again divided into lower, middle, and upper three kinds; therefore the delusive afflictions of deliberation (manasikāra) of sentient beings are subdivided into eighty-one kinds.

The treatise says that "fault" means faults and errors; the faults of sentient beings are the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, which are the afflictive obstructions to be counteracted in the path of cultivation. "Virtue" means merit and virtue, which is the path of cultivation capable of counteracting the afflictions of deliberative delusion. If one wishes to cultivate in order to sever the nine grades of delusive afflictions, one must cultivate the path; to cultivate the path one must cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi); without meditative concentration, delusive afflictions cannot be severed. From the desire realm up to the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception at the summit of the three realms, each stage has nine grades of afflictive faults to be severed, and thus the path of cultivation capable of counteracting each grade of afflictive fault is also divided into nine grades. When the nine grades of deliberative delusion in all stages of the three realms are completely severed, 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; when the manas is not liberated, nothing is liberated. If the manas is to be liberated, the path of cultivation must be cultivated deeply down to the manas. To cultivate to such a depth that it reaches the manas, one must certainly cultivate meditative concentration; without meditative concentration one cannot reach the manas, and without reaching the manas it cannot obtain wisdom; without wisdom there can be no liberation. Therefore liberation is the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā; it is not something that the dry wisdom of the mind consciousness can accomplish. 

The three realms are divided in total into nine stages (bhūmis): the desire realm, the first dhyāna heaven of the form realm, the second dhyāna heaven, the third dhyāna heaven, the fourth dhyāna heaven, and in the formless realm, the heaven of the sphere of boundless space, the heaven of the sphere of boundless consciousness, the heaven of the sphere of nothingness, and the heaven of neither perception nor non-perception. Each stage has a corresponding state of meditative concentration, and each kind of meditative concentration can counteract the corresponding afflictions of deliberative delusion—this is the merit of the path of cultivation. Deliberative delusion is the fault, and its fault is counteracted by meditative concentration. When meditative concentration appears, the merit of cultivation appears; using the merit of this meditative concentration to counteract the afflictions of deliberative delusion, one will subsequently attain the fruits of realization by means of this merit. Of course, within this there will be the wisdom of liberation and its realization-attestation induced by meditative concentration; only when combined can there be liberation. 

The nine stages have corresponding nine grades of deliberative delusion. The greed, hatred, and delusion of the desire realm are roughly divided into lower, middle, and upper grades, and each grade is further divided into lower, middle, and upper, making nine grades in total: lower-lower 1, lower-middle 2, lower-upper 3; middle-lower 4, middle-middle 5, middle-upper 6; upper-lower 7, upper-middle 8, upper-upper 9. These nine kinds of deliberative delusion must be severed within the concentration of the desire realm and the concentration of the first dhyāna; without meditative concentration, not a single grade can be severed, and one cannot attain the aspiration toward the srotāpanna fruit, let alone the srotāpanna fruit itself. A practice that bypasses meditative concentration cannot be called cultivation; no matter how much theoretical knowledge one learns, if deliberative delusion is not severed, one cannot withstand the suffering of birth and death and will inevitably drift through birth and death according to karma. From this it can be seen that the merit of cultivating meditative concentration is extremely great and cannot be bypassed; shrinking from difficulty and avoiding the heavy while taking up the light cannot solve the problem. Moreover, cultivating meditative concentration is inseparable from strict observance of the precepts. Without receiving and upholding the precepts, meditative concentration cannot be cultivated, one will not receive the path of cultivation, there will be no merit, afflictive faults will not be lightened or reduced, and at the end of life one will transmigrate through the three evil destinies following afflictions, delusion, and karma. 

The greed, hatred, and delusion deliberative delusions of the first dhyāna heaven are divided into lower, middle, and upper grades, and each grade is further divided into lower, middle, and upper, making nine grades in total: lower-lower 1, lower-middle 2, lower-upper 3; middle-lower 4, middle-middle 5, middle-upper 6; upper-lower 7, upper-middle 8, upper-upper 9. By the same principle, the greed, hatred, and delusion deliberative delusions of the second dhyāna heaven are divided into: lower-lower 1, lower-middle 2, lower-upper 3; middle-lower 4, middle-middle 5, middle-upper 6; upper-lower 7, upper-middle 8, upper-upper 9. The third dhyāna heaven, the fourth dhyāna heaven, the heaven of the sphere of boundless space, the heaven of the sphere of boundless consciousness, the heaven of the sphere of nothingness, and the heaven of neither perception nor non-perception all have corresponding nine grades of deliberative delusion; taken together, these are the eighty-one kinds of deliberative delusive afflictions.