The Four Preparatory Practices: Heat (ūṣma-gata), Summit (mūrdhan), Patience (kṣānti), and the Supreme Worldly Dharma (laukikāgra-dharma)

Original text: 颂曰：彼居法念住。总观四所缘。修非常及苦空。非我行相。论曰。彼观行者。居缘总杂。法念住中。总观所缘。身等四境。修四行相。所谓非常。苦空非我。修此观已。生何善根。

Explanation: A practitioner who is currently cultivating the mindfulness of dharmas among the four foundations of mindfulness should contemplate the four objects of contemplation—body, feeling, mind, and dharmas—from an overall perspective, in order to cultivate the contemplative aspects of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self with respect to body, feeling, mind, and dharmas. The treatise says: A practitioner engaged in contemplative practice of the four foundations of mindfulness, dwelling in the mindfulness of dharmas that takes the totality mixed with the other [foundations] as its object, contemplates the objects of contemplation in their totality—the four spheres of body and so forth—and cultivates the four contemplative aspects, namely impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and non-self. After cultivating this contemplation, what wholesome roots will arise?

Original text: 颂曰：从此生暖法。具观四圣谛。修十六行相。次生顶亦然。如是二善根。皆初法后四。次忍唯法念。下中品同顶。上唯观欲苦。一行一刹那。世第一亦然。皆慧五除得。

Explanation: The verse says: After cultivating the [contemplation of] suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self of the four foundations of mindfulness, the wholesome root of heat (ūṣmagata) arises, which is capable of fully contemplating the Four Noble Truths and cultivating the sixteen contemplative aspects. Next, the wholesome root of the peak (mūrdhan) arises in the same way; it likewise fully contemplates the Four Noble Truths and cultivates the sixteen contemplative aspects. These two wholesome roots, heat and the peak, are both cultivated by first practicing the mindfulness of dharmas and afterward mixing in the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness of body, feeling, mind, and dharmas. The subsequent wholesome root of acquiescence (kṣānti) can arise through cultivating only the mindfulness of dharmas. The low and middle grades of the wholesome root of acquiescence contemplate the same objects as the peak; the high grade contemplates only the suffering of the desire realm, contemplating the truth of suffering in each formation of the five aggregates, in each and every moment.

The wholesome root of the supreme worldly dharma (laukikāgra-dharma) is also like this: it arises only when cultivating the mindfulness of dharmas alone. The objects of contemplation in its low and middle grades are the same as those of the peak, and its high grade contemplates only the suffering of the desire realm. All four wholesome roots take wisdom as their essence—they are of the nature of wisdom, cultivated by taking the five aggregates as their object, with the exception of acquisition (prāpti).

The sixteen contemplative aspects mean that each of the four foundations of mindfulness must be observed for its characteristics of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self—four contemplative aspects each—so the four foundations of mindfulness comprise sixteen contemplative aspects in total: the suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self of the mindfulness of the body; the suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self of the mindfulness of feeling; the suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self of the mindfulness of the mind; and the suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self of the mindfulness of dharmas. In the cultivation of the wholesome roots of heat and the peak, all sixteen contemplative aspects must be cultivated; the contemplative wisdom therein gradually becomes deeper and more subtle, and meditative concentration also gradually deepens. The levels of samādhi and wisdom differ, and only after cultivating to the completion of the fourth wholesome root, the supreme worldly dharma, with samādhi and wisdom both complete, can one realize the path of seeing.