Observing the Five Aggregates to Cut Through the View of Self (Part 2)

Chapter Eleven: Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume Fifty-Five (The Three Direct Realizations) 

Original text:复次。此三种杂染。谓烦恼杂染。业杂染。生杂染。为欲断故。修六种现观。应知何等为六。谓思现观。信现观。戒现观。现观智谛现观。现观边智谛现观。究竟现观。

Explanation: Furthermore, there are the defilement of afflictions, the defilement of karma, and the defilement of birth. In order to sever these three kinds of defilement, one must cultivate the six kinds of direct realization (abhisamaya). What are these six? They are: the direct realization of deliberation, the direct realization of faith, the direct realization of precepts, the direct realization of truth through the wisdom of direct realization, the direct realization of truth through the wisdom of the limit of direct realization, and the ultimate direct realization.

The defilement of afflictions refers to the mental activities of greed, anger, and delusion. Because of the defilement of greed, anger, and delusion, one creates karmic activities defiled by greed, anger, and delusion; having such karmic activities, one will lead to a defiled body of birth in future lives. To sever these defiled dharmas, one must cultivate the six kinds of direct-perception contemplative practice. Below, these kinds of direct realization are introduced one by one.

The direct realization of deliberation means having a truthful, careful, and decisive deliberation regarding the principle of the Four Noble Truths, being able to decisively understand and realize the principle that all dharmas are suffering, empty, impermanent, and non-self. Non-Buddhist teachers cannot influence this decisive deliberation, and one no longer regresses from the principle of the Four Noble Truths. When the direct realization of deliberation is accomplished, there is right conduct, the mind-ground is pure, the mind gives rise to joy, all doubts are severed, one forever abides in good destinies, and does not proceed to evil destinies. This is the deliberation of the mind consciousness and the manas. The deliberation of the mind consciousness alone cannot change mental activities, sever doubts, purify the mind-ground, or forever end evil destinies. Of course, the direct realization of deliberation also includes deliberation on the Mahāyāna Dharma. Since it is called direct realization, it must accord with reality and truth, and there is wisdom of actual realization within it.

The direct realization of faith refers to having decisive faith and pure faith in the Three Jewels, without hesitation or indecision, and naturally one will no longer create karma of slander. Decisive faith represents wisdom; only with wisdom can there be direct realization; otherwise there can be no direct realization, only false discrimination. A person with the direct realization of faith no longer creates karmic activities that slander the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha. Slandering the Buddha includes saying that the Buddha was merely an arhat; that the fruit of a Pratyekabuddha has only the realization of the Four Noble Truths and the twelve links of dependent origination, and no other realization; that the Buddha has no great supernatural powers or immeasurable supernatural powers; that the Buddha is about the same as worldly people, quite ordinary; that the Buddha was a layperson who also engaged in laypeople's affairs; that the Buddha's flesh and hair were those of worldly people, and so on without end. These statements are neither pure faith nor decisive faith, and therefore at the end of life they will all proceed to the three evil destinies to receive retribution. A person with the direct realization of faith can truthfully know the immeasurable merits, virtues, wisdom, and supernatural powers of all Buddhas of the three times without misunderstanding, has determination (adhimokṣa) regarding the Three Jewels, is not superstitious, has right conduct, and has wholesome karma.

Slandering the Dharma is a widespread phenomenon in the Dharma-ending age; having seen much of it, it is no longer surprising. The most serious is the claim that the Mahāyāna is not the Buddha's teaching. These people cannot understand at all whether the Mahāyāna Dharma principles are correct, whether they accord with reason, or whether they are supreme; with a severely deluded mind, they blindly and baselessly conclude that it is not the Buddha's teaching. There are also those who declare Dharma to be non-Dharma and non-Dharma to be Dharma—various such inversions are all very serious acts of slandering the Dharma, and at the end of life they will inevitably summon hellish retribution.

The phenomenon of slandering the Saṅgha is also very widespread. Declaring a monastic to be not a monastic, or a non-monastic to be a monastic, is slandering the Saṅgha. Accusing and publicizing the various bodily, verbal, and mental faults of monastics—whether such things actually happened or not—constitutes slandering the Saṅgha. It damages the image of monastics in the minds of sentient beings, creates bad influence, causes sentient beings to lose faith in the Saṅgha Jewel, and no longer trust and accept the Three Jewels, destroying the faith-root of sentient beings. Such karmic offenses are extremely grave; most are hellish offenses, with retribution in hell.

The direct realization of precepts means being able to firmly uphold without violation the various precepts established by the Buddha, and no longer being able to create karmic activities leading to the three evil destinies. A person who has accomplished the direct realization of precepts will absolutely never again intentionally kill, take what is not given, commit sexual misconduct, speak falsely, or consume alcohol; their bodily, verbal, and mental karma is pure and untainted, they have already been liberated from the suffering of the three evil destinies, have distanced themselves from the ten unwholesome paths, and their body of birth is that of a srotāpanna up to an arhat of the fourth fruit, as well as the fruit of a Pratyekabuddha, the fruit of a Bodhisattva, and the fruit of a Buddha. That is to say, only those who have accomplished noble fruits can have the direct realization of precepts.

According to what is said in Volume Fifty-Five of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra above, noble persons of the initial fruit and above who are complete in the direct realization of precepts will no longer violate the five precepts or the various precepts they have undertaken; their minds do not correspond to the three evil destinies, so they will not create the ten unwholesome karmic acts leading to the three evil destinies, and will not violate the five precepts, the bhikṣu precepts, the bhikṣuṇī precepts, or the Bodhisattva precepts. If a person cannot even uphold the five precepts, then based on the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra and the Prakaraṇāryavācā-śāstra (Xianyang Shengjiao Lun), one can conclude that this person has no realization of the initial fruit or above; the claimed attainment of fruit is a misjudgment, a false realization, and cannot be trusted.

After a person has eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and attained the initial fruit, they will no longer fall into the three evil destinies. Why is this so? Because their mind has changed; the mind no longer corresponds to the karma of the three evil destinies, will no longer create karmic activities of the three evil destinies, and thus will no longer fall into the three evil destinies to suffer. When the mind realizes non-self, it becomes empty; a person whose mind is empty cannot possibly create karmic activities of the three evil destinies. What are the karmic activities of the three evil destinies? They are karmic activities that violate the five precepts and karmic activities that violate the ten wholesome deeds. Only by upholding the five precepts can one obtain a human body and not the body of beings in the three evil destinies; only by upholding the ten wholesome deeds can one obtain a human or heavenly body and not the body of beings in the three evil destinies. The mental activities of a person who has eradicated the view of self and realized the fruit will certainly correspond to the five precepts and ten wholesome deeds, and only then can they be free from the karma and bodies of the three evil destinies.

Then this mind that has eradicated the view of self, this mind that corresponds to the five precepts and ten wholesome deeds, this mind that does not correspond to the karma of the three evil destinies—which mind is it? The mind consciousness is certainly such a mind, and the manas, which is the most important, should absolutely be such a mind. Moreover, the manas is an uninterrupted mind. Only after the view of self is eradicated will the manas uninterruptedly possess the merit of the combined path of vipaśyanā and śamatha. Whether sleeping, unconscious, dead, or in the antarā-bhava, at all times the merit of having eradicated the view of self is present in the body, and one will take rebirth, enter the womb, and conceive by means of this merit. Thus, whatever mental activities the manas has and whatever karma it has, there will be a corresponding embryonic body. If one does not wish to enter the three evil destinies, the manas must eradicate the view of self and possess all the merits. With only the mind consciousness's wisdom of hearing the Dharma, wisdom of inference, wisdom of speculation, and wisdom of emotional understanding and intellectual interpretation, one absolutely cannot guarantee the severance of the manifest activities of gross afflictions (dausthulya), cannot guarantee not creating karmic activities of the three evil destinies, cannot guarantee not violating the five precepts and ten wholesome deeds, and thus cannot guarantee not entering the three evil destinies at the end of life.

The direct realization of truth through the wisdom of direct realization: according to what is said in Volume Fifty-Five of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, during the process of cultivating the path of preparation (prayoga), one must first accumulate the meritorious provisions for seeing the path to the utmost completeness, and the mind must have been effectively subdued and softened. Then, following along the limit of the worldly determination of the definitive division (niścaya-bhāga), uninterrupted wholesome roots arise. This means that through cultivating the path of preparation, the manas has been fully permeated and influenced by wholesome dharmas, the mind-ground has become soft and subdued, and wholesome roots have manifested. In the cultivation of the Buddha's path, "uninterrupted" generally refers to the manas. The mind consciousness is intermittent, constantly ceasing, and unreliable. Only when cultivation reaches the manas can wholesome dharma cultivation be considered to have reached a stage, have a qualitative leap, and the path-endeavor can ascend to a higher level.

After the manas gives rise to wholesome roots, the mind will preliminarily dispel the imputed dharmas of sentient beings, meaning that one preliminarily realizes the path, realizing that the five aggregates are empty, imputed, and false. At this time, one can remove the gross afflictions (dausthulya) severed at the first seeing of the path. This meaning is already very clear: seeing the path at the initial fruit does sever the manifest activities of gross afflictions, and can remove some gross afflictions. Only after the manas also sees the path can gross afflictions be severed; the mind consciousness has no way to sever afflictions.

After attaining the initial fruit, the wisdom realization of seeing the path of the initial fruit will manifest and continue uninterruptedly, and then the merit and wisdom of seeing the path arise a second time; the mind further dispels the various imputed dharmas of the sentient beings of the five aggregates, the view of self is further deeply severed, and one attains the second fruit, able to remove the middle-grade gross afflictions severed at seeing the path. This means that seeing the path at the initial fruit is not ultimate; the view of self has only been severed in the initial, soft grade, and there remain the second, middle-grade severance and the third-grade ultimate severance. The gross afflictions are also not severed ultimately; at seeing the path of the second fruit and the third and fourth fruits, one must continue to sever gross afflictions. The second fruit, of course, is also attained by the manas; only then can uninterrupted wisdom arise and further sever gross afflictions.

After attaining the second fruit, the wisdom realization of seeing the path of the second fruit will manifest and continue uninterruptedly, and then the merit and wisdom of seeing the path arise a third time, more deeply and universally dispelling the imputed dharmas of the five aggregates of all sentient beings; the view of self is further, more deeply, and ultimately severed, and by this merit all the manifest activities of gross afflictions to be severed at seeing the path are severed. Volume Fifty-Five of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra says that this seeing of the path is the combined path of the first dhyāna meditative concentration and contemplative wisdom; not only must there be profound contemplative wisdom of eradicating the view of self, there must also be first-dhyāna meditative concentration in order to sever all gross afflictions. This is the eradication of the view of self by the noble ones of the third and fourth fruits, called the seeing of the path of the third and fourth fruits.

The earlier initial and second fruits do not require first-dhyāna meditative concentration, but must have preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi), and the preparatory concentration must be complete; otherwise the contemplative wisdom of eradicating the view of self will not arise, and one cannot eradicate the view of self and attain the initial and second fruits. When attaining the third fruit, one is complete with the three grades of vipaśyanā contemplative wisdom of eradicating the view of self three times, and is also complete with the three grades of meditative concentration mind of śamatha for seeing the path; together with the combined operation of meditative concentration and wisdom, these are collectively established as the three minds. Thus, in a single instant, the śamatha and vipaśyanā of the third and fourth fruits are all complete.

All benevolent ones who study the Four Noble Truths must rely on the Dharma, not on persons. All should follow the standard of eradicating the view of self and seeing the path taught by Bodhisattva Maitreya in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra to measure whether oneself or others have truly seen the path with the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā, or have a falsely self-proclaimed seeing of the path. By clarifying the standard of seeing the path, one will not confuse and mislead, commit the great offense of false speech, or damage the Buddha's teachings.

The direct realization of truth through the wisdom of direct realization: a person who possesses the direct realization of truth through the wisdom of direct realization can attain all the fruits of the monastic life, can induce all pure merits, can give rise to the remaining direct-realization wisdom, and can help summon pure fruits and karma within the good destinies. If a learned one (śaikṣa) or one beyond training (aśaikṣa) has accomplished the direct realization of truth through the wisdom of direct realization, they will never again act on the basis of the false view of self; all their actions are non-self. They will never have doubts about the Dharma they have realized themselves, will never be born in places that are defiled and contaminated, and in the places where they are born will no longer have greedy attachment. In their present life of living and practice, all worldly phenomena are purified, without defilement or impurity; they will no longer slander the Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, or the Mahāyāna Dharma, will no longer create evil karma, and even less can they commit the five rebellious acts and seven rebellious acts; they will never again be born in the three realms for an eighth time—this is the meaning of the initial fruit exhausting the seven existences.

The direct realization of truth through the wisdom of the limit of direct realization: this wisdom can only be obtained after seeing the path. After which seeing of the path can it be obtained? It is obtained after the third-grade seeing of the path, after the seeing of the path of the third and fourth fruits with the combined operation of first-dhyāna meditative concentration and wisdom. The direct-realization wisdom obtained is based on prior worldly wisdom, observing the lower realm (the desire realm) and the upper realm (the first dhyāna heaven of the form realm), as well as the two established true principles of the desire realm and the first dhyāna heaven of the form realm; the realm thus obtained belongs to the worldly wisdom of dharma-knowledge (dharma-jñāna) and analogous knowledge (anvaya-jñāna), and extends through both worldly wisdom and supramundane wisdom. In the contemplative practice of each of the Four Noble Truths, there will appear the wisdom of acquiescent delight and the wisdom of decisive direct realization. Thus, relying on the direct realization of the previous truth, in the contemplative practice of the preceding and following truths, two pairs of direct-realization wisdom arise—this is the direct realization of truth through the wisdom of the limit of direct realization. Persons of the third and fourth fruits who have accomplished the direct realization of truth through the wisdom of the limit of direct realization will never fear the challenging questions of others, because their direct-realization wisdom is deep and sharp, and they have thoroughly penetrated the Dharma principles of the path of liberation; no one can stump them, and they can skillfully answer all challenges.

The ultimate direct realization: this is the direct-perception contemplative wisdom attained by the arhat of the fourth fruit. Because the arhat of the fourth fruit has exhausted all the manifest activities of afflictions to be severed in the cultivation of the path, he obtains the wisdom of extinguishing existence in the three realms, obtains the wisdom that he may never again be born in future lives; or, because of his compassion for sentient beings, he gives rise to the mind to save and liberate sentient beings, and will still be born into the world in future lives, but without any manifest activities of afflictions, and still abides in the world relying on his wisdom of the eternal extinction of the world—this is the ultimate direct realization. Realizing the wisdom of the eternal extinction of the world is the most ultimate; realizing the wisdom that the world is ultimately empty is the most ultimate—this is the ultimate direct realization. Previous direct realizations still had taints not exhausted, and therefore were not yet the ultimate direct realization.   

The great arhat who has accomplished the ultimate direct realization will never again violate the five precepts, no longer intentionally killing, taking what is not given, engaging in sexual desire, speaking falsely, or accumulating wealth and treasures for personal use. Sexual desire here refers to any kind of sexual desire, regardless of severity, regardless of whether worldly conventions permit it, regardless of whether it is moral or immoral; because as long as one has attained the fruit of arhatship, one is necessarily a monastic—there is not a single layperson, and there will be no family members, so there is no such thing as licit sexual relations. False speech here refers to any kind of false speech, including worldly false speech intentionally spoken incorrectly within worldly conventions. An arhat will never fear unknowable things that may happen in the future, nor will he falsely reckon all the sufferings and pleasures of the world as self-made, made by another, or made by both self and other, nor will he falsely remember them as arising without cause, neither from self nor from other. The great arhat who has accomplished the ultimate direct realization has been liberated from all the great suffering of birth and death in the world; this body is the final body, and he will no longer receive future existence—except for those who retain their form and abide in the world.