Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume 34 (Part One)

Original text:若乐往趣出世间道。应当依止四圣谛境。渐次生起七种作意。所谓最初了相作意。最后加行究竟果作意。乃至证得阿罗汉果。修瑜伽师于四圣谛。略摽广辩增上教法。听闻受持。或于作意已善修习。或得根本静虑无色。

Explanation: If a practitioner delights in proceeding toward the supramundane path, he should rely upon the realm of the Four Noble Truths and gradually give rise to the seven kinds of mental engagement (manaskāra), namely the initial mental engagement of discerning characteristics (līkṣā-manaskāra), followed by the mental engagement of determination, the mental engagement of separation, the mental engagement of gathering joy, the mental engagement of contemplation, the mental engagement of the consummation of preparation, and finally the mental engagement of the fruit of the consummation of preparation, until attaining the fruit of an arhat. Yogic practitioners, with regard to the principle of the Four Noble Truths, briefly survey and extensively investigate the superior teachings, hearing, receiving, and upholding them; they may have already well cultivated the mental engagement in accordance with the truth, or they may have attained the fundamental dhyānas—the four dhyānas and eight samādhis—and even reached the formless realm concentrations.

This passage broadly reveals the content, sequence, or process of cultivation from an ordinary being to an arhat of the fourth fruit. For sentient beings to be liberated from worldly suffering and realize the bliss of nirvāṇa, they must cultivate and study the Four Noble Truths. In the process of cultivating the Four Noble Truths, one must give rise to the seven kinds of mental engagement. As for mental engagement, it refers to attention, focus, and applying the mind—the direction toward which the mind inclines—and it also refers to contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and observation. When the mental engagement differs, the direction differs, and the fruit differs accordingly. Only when the final mental engagement of the fruit of the consummation of preparation arises is the ultimate fruit obtained, the fruit of arhatship attained, liberation achieved, and the supramundane realm reached.