Abhidharmakośa-śāstra, Volume XXIII: The Four Preparatory Practices

Section One: The Heat Root of Goodness and the Summit Root of Goodness

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: There is a verse that says: A practitioner who is currently cultivating the dharma establishment of mindfulness among the four establishments of mindfulness should contemplate, from an overall perspective, the four objects of contemplation—body, feeling, mind, and dharmas—contemplating the aspects of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self of body, feeling, mind, and dharmas. There is a treatise that says: For a practitioner contemplating the four establishments of mindfulness, the conditions encountered are both general and mixed. When contemplating the dharma establishment of mindfulness, one should contemplate from an overall perspective the four objects of contemplation—body, feeling, mind, and dharmas—and cultivate the four aspects, namely impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and non-self. After cultivating this contemplation, what roots of goodness arise?

The meaning here is that at the stage of cultivating the dharma establishment of mindfulness, when one contemplates the objects of contemplation—body, feeling, mind, and dharmas—from an overall perspective, the four roots of goodness will arise, called the four preparatory practices. The four preparatory practices only begin to be cultivated before seeing the path (darśana-mārga); before cultivating the dharma establishment of mindfulness, the four roots of goodness cannot yet appear, because the opportune conditions have not yet arrived and the roots of goodness are not yet mature.

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: There is a verse that says: After cultivating the impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and non-self of the four establishments of mindfulness, the heat dharma (ūṣmagata) arises. With the root of goodness of the heat dharma, one can fully contemplate the Four Noble Truths and cultivate the sixteen aspects: the four aspects of the truth of suffering, the four aspects of the truth of origin, the four aspects of the truth of cessation, and the four aspects of the truth of the path. Continuing to cultivate the dharma establishment of mindfulness, the summit dharma (mūrdhan) likewise arises in the same way, also fully contemplating the Four Noble Truths and cultivating the sixteen aspects. These two roots of goodness, the heat dharma and the summit dharma, both arise from first cultivating the dharma establishment of mindfulness, contemplating from an overall perspective the four objects of contemplation—body, feeling, mind, and dharmas—and afterwards cultivating the Four Noble Truths.

The subsequent root of goodness of the patience dharma (kṣānti) can arise solely by cultivating the dharma establishment of mindfulness. The lower and middle grades of the patience dharma's roots of goodness contemplate the same objects as the summit dharma's root of goodness. The upper grade of the patience dharma contemplates only the suffering of the desire realm; each of the five aggregates, in each and every instant, must be contemplated for its truth of suffering. The supreme worldly dharma (laukikāgra-dharma), this root of goodness, is also like this: all of them arise solely when cultivating the dharma establishment of mindfulness; the lower and middle grades contemplate the same objects as the summit dharma, and the upper grade contemplates only the suffering of the desire realm. All four roots of goodness take wisdom as their essence—they are of the nature of wisdom—except for the fifth, the root of goodness of those who have attained the dharma and attained the path.

The sixteen aspects are the aspects that appear after cultivating the Four Noble Truths. Among them, for the Noble Truth of Suffering one contemplates the suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self nature of the four establishments of mindfulness—these four aspects; for the Noble Truth of Origin one contemplates the four aspects of the truth of origin: cause, origin, arising, and condition; for the Noble Truth of Cessation one contemplates the four aspects of the truth of cessation: cessation, tranquility, excellence, and escape; for the Noble Truth of the Path one contemplates the four aspects of the truth of the path: path, accordance, practice, and emergence. In the cultivation of the roots of goodness of the heat dharma and the summit dharma, all sixteen aspects must be cultivated, and the contemplative wisdom therein gradually becomes deeper and subtler; meditative concentration also gradually deepens, and the levels of concentration and wisdom deepen progressively, until, after the fourth root of goodness, the supreme worldly dharma, is cultivated to perfection, concentration and wisdom are complete, and only then can one see the path.

Original text:论曰。修习总缘共相法念住。渐次成熟。乃至上上品。从此念住后。有顺决择分。初善根生。名为暖法。此法如暖。立暖法名。是能烧惑薪。圣道火前相。如火前相故。名为暖。

Explanation: There is a treatise that says: Cultivating the dharma establishment of mindfulness that contemplates from an overall perspective the common characteristics of all sentient beings, one's wisdom gradually matures, up to the highest of the high grade. After this establishment of mindfulness, there arises the state conducive to the branch of discernment (nirvedhabhāgīya), according with the principle of the Four Noble Truths, and the first root of goodness is born, called the heat dharma. This dharma is like warmth, hence the name heat dharma is established. It is like the firewood that can burn the afflictions; it is the appearance preceding the fire of the noble path. Because it is like the state before fire, it is called heat.

Seeing the path is likened to the appearance of the mark of fire, the burning of firewood. Before the fire appears, a change in temperature first occurs; the temperature rises and warmth appears—this corresponds to the root of goodness of the heat dharma. As the temperature continues to rise and the heat reaches a certain degree, the firewood burns and the fire appears. In between, one sequentially passes through the roots of goodness of the summit dharma, the patience dharma, and the supreme worldly dharma, and afterwards one can see the path. The appearance of the heat dharma shows that through cultivating the four establishments of mindfulness and the Four Noble Truths, the practitioner's mind has undergone a change, able to accord with the principle of the Four Noble Truths and give rise to the state conducive to the branch of discernment, no longer resisting or contradicting the principle of the Four Noble Truths—equivalent to an initial acceptance of the principle of the Four Noble Truths, having been perfumed by it.

Original text:此暖善根分位长故。能具观察四圣谛境。及能具修十六行相。观苦圣谛。修四行相。一非常二苦。三空四非我。观集圣谛。修四行相。一因二集。三生四缘。观灭圣谛。修四行相。一灭二静。三妙四离。观道圣谛。修四行相。一道二如。三行四出。此相差别。如后当辩。

Explanation: Because the stage of cultivation experienced by this root of goodness of the heat dharma is relatively long—that is, because its position is of long duration—during the stage when the root of goodness of the heat dharma is manifest, one can fully observe the entire true realm of the Four Noble Truths, and can fully cultivate the sixteen aspects. This means that if one has only observed the truth of suffering, the root of goodness of the heat dharma cannot yet appear; if one has only observed the truths of suffering and origin, the root of goodness of heat still cannot appear; if one further observes the truth of cessation, the heat dharma still cannot appear; only after observing all of the Four Noble Truths can the root of goodness of the heat dharma appear.

Observing the Noble Truth of Suffering of the five aggregates, one cultivates four aspects: impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and non-self; observing the Noble Truth of Origin of the five aggregates, one cultivates four aspects: the cause of the arising of suffering, how suffering is gathered, how the aggregation of suffering is born, and what condition suffering depends upon for its birth; observing the Noble Truth of Cessation, one cultivates four aspects: how suffering is extinguished, that after suffering ceases there is tranquility, that tranquility is the most subtle and excellent state, and that after tranquility one escapes suffering; observing the Noble Truth of the Path, one cultivates four aspects: contemplating the path cultivated to extinguish suffering, that the cultivated path accords with true reality, that bodily, verbal, and mental actions accord with the principle of the Four Noble Truths and tend toward nirvāṇa, and emerging from the three realms to attain liberation forever. All the cultivation content involved here has its differences, and these different marks will be discussed later.

Original text:此暖善根。下中上品。渐次增长。至成满时。有善根生。名为顶法。此转胜故。更立异名。动善根中。此法最胜。如人顶故。名为顶法。或由此是。进退两际。如山顶故。说名为顶。此亦如暖。具观四谛。及能具修。十六行相。

Explanation: When this root of goodness of the heat dharma grows from the lower grade to the middle grade, and then from the middle grade to the upper grade, gradually increasing until it reaches perfection, another root of goodness arises, called the root of goodness of the summit dharma. As the summit dharma's root of goodness becomes increasingly excellent, it is given a different name. Among these ever-increasing roots of goodness, the summit dharma is the most supreme, like the top of a person's head, hence it is named the summit dharma. It is also named the summit dharma because the summit dharma stands between advance and retreat—before it is advance, behind it is retreat; the summit dharma is like a mountain peak, and therefore it is called the summit. At the stage of the root of goodness of the summit dharma, just as with the heat dharma, one can fully observe the Four Noble Truths and fully cultivate the sixteen aspects.

Original text:如是暖顶二种善根。初安足时。唯法念住。以何义故。名初安足。谓随何善根。以十六行相。最初游践四圣谛迹。后增进时。具四念住。诸先所得。后不现前。于彼不生钦重心故。

Explanation: These two roots of goodness, the heat dharma and the summit dharma, at the time of their initial establishment, appear only when cultivating the dharma establishment of mindfulness. For what reason is it called "initial establishment"? The meaning is that accompanying whichever root of goodness, one first enters the contemplative practice of the Four Noble Truths by means of the sixteen aspects. After the roots of goodness of the heat and summit dharmas advance further, the cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness becomes complete. The dharmas previously attained no longer manifest afterwards, because toward those previously cultivated dharmas the mind does not give rise to a particularly reverent attitude—those dharmas are relatively coarse and shallow, and having already passed beyond them, one no longer needs to cultivate them.