English
Therein, "being, person, village, mountain," and so on, is called conventional speech; "impermanent, suffering, not-self, aggregates, sense bases," and so on, is called ultimate speech. For the Buddhas, having awakened, teach in accordance with the conventional, ultimate, or mixed ways to those beings who are able to realize the Four Noble Truths, and reveal the path to immortality by showing the distinction of name and form. For this— The Sambuddha, best of speakers, declared two truths: Conventional truth, And a third, the ultimate meaning, is not found. Therein: Conventional language is true, the cause of worldly agreement; Ultimate language is true, the actual characteristic of phenomena. Therefore, the wise, not making, attachment to literal expressions; Established in the ultimate meaning, should avoid notions of personhood, etc. Without transgressing convention, the ultimate meaning is revealed; Since it was by the Guide, therefore another wise person also; Revealing the ultimate meaning, should not run beyond convention. This is the way of speaking about persons. Description of the Discourse on Decline, etc. After the discourse on persons, the discourse on decline, which begins with "An arahant declines from arahantship," concerns the non-learner and the learner excluding the stream-enterer, declining from the fruit of the highest path. The discourse on the holy life, which begins with "Just as ordination, so too the dwelling in the holy life, reckoned as penetration, exists only among humans; there is no dwelling in the holy life among the gods." The discourse on the cessation of defilements, which begins with "Defilements are abandoned in part by seeing suffering, and likewise by seeing arising, etc.," thus defilements are abandoned in stages according to various insights. The discourse on abandonment, which begins with "A worldling who has attained absorption abandons sensual desire and ill-will by way of cutting off; he becomes a non-returner at the very first attainment of the four truths." The discourse on everything exists, which begins with "All aggregates, etc., with their past, etc., exist in all three times in the nature of aggregates, etc." The discourse on past aggregates, etc., which begins with "Past and future aggregates, etc., exist." The discourse on some exist, which begins with "Among past phenomena of result and non-result, some exist only as non-result and result, not the other." The discourse on the foundations of mindfulness, which begins with "All phenomena are foundations of mindfulness." The discourse on "it is thus," which begins with "It does not exist in terms of past, future, etc., or it exists in its own nature, or it does not exist in another's nature." Therein, "it is thus" means it exists in this way. The discourse on external assistance, which begins with "Mara's retinue deities approach those who falsely claim arahantship, or are deceitful, upon seeing seminal emission." The three topics: The Arahant has ignorance regarding the names, clans, etc., of others; has doubt; and needs to be informed by others, exist. The statement that the word "suffering" is broken at the moment of the Stream-entry path is the topic of the breaking of speech. The statement that one who speaks the word "suffering" brings knowledge to suffering, and that is supramundane, is the topic of bringing suffering. The statement that the mind remains for a long time in attainment and in the life-continuum is the topic of the duration of the mind. The statement that all conditioned things are, without exception, burning, like a pit of embers, is the topic of the ember pit. The statement that the attainment of Arahantship is through sixteen sections, due to the arising of each path four times in terms of seeing each of the Four Noble Truths, is the topic of gradual realization. The statement that the conventional language of the Buddhas is supramundane is the topic of conventional language. The statement that there are two cessations: cessation without reflection, which is the cessation of defilements without the path of non-reflection for pure beings, and cessation with reflection, which is the cessation of defilements by that path, is the topic of cessation. The statement that the power of the Tathāgata is common to disciples is the topic of power. The statement that the nine powers without the knowledge of the destruction of the taints are supramundane is the topic of the noble. The statement that a passionate mind, in relation to Nibbāna, is freed from passion, is the topic of liberation. The statement that a mind first liberated by the temporary liberation of absorption, when being liberated by the liberation of cutting off at the moment of the path, is called "being liberated," is the topic of being liberated. The statement that at the moment of adaptation and change-of-lineage of the Stream-enterer, the eighth person, wrong view and doubt are said to be abandoned, and at the moment of the path, they are named as abandoned, is the topic of the eighth person. The statement that at the moment of the path of the eighth person, the faculties of faith, etc., are obtained, and are not obtained, is the topic of the faculties of the eighth person. The statement that the fleshly eye itself, supported by the fourth jhāna, is called the divine eye, is the topic of the divine eye. Likewise, the fleshly ear is the topic of the divine ear. The statement that knowledge that accords with deeds itself is the divine eye is the topic of knowledge that accords with deeds. Gods and Brahmas... The "restraint story" is about how restraint exists even with the absence of complete restraint, due to the mere lack of killing and other such abstinences. The "non-percipient story" is about how perception exists for non-percipient beings at the moment of death and rebirth. The "neither-perception-nor-non-perception story" is about how perception does not occur in the realm of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. The "arahant-as-householder story" is about how an arahant could be a householder. The "rebirth story" is about how an anāgāmi becomes an arahant at the moment of arising in the Pure Abodes, with the rebirth consciousness. The "undefiled story" is about how even mundane things of an arahant are undefiled. There are two kinds of possessing: possessing the state of being endowed in the present moment, and possessing the attainment of higher realms such as the Form realm. But if, setting aside these two kinds of possessing, there is another kind of possessing here in terms of the conditions of rebirth, then the "possessing story" is about how an arahant possesses the four fruits. In this same way, the "possessing equanimity story" is about how an arahant possesses the six kinds of equanimity. The "enlightenment story" is about how a Buddha is always in the presence of enlightenment, known as the knowledge of the path and the knowledge of omniscience. The "characteristic story" is about how a Bodhisatta is only endowed with the marks of a great man. The "definitive story" is about how even Bodhisattas have the necessity of the path. The "another possessing story" is about how one standing in the fourth path possesses the three fruits, and so on. The "abandoning all fetters story" is about how, without qualification, arahantship is the abandonment of all fetters, along with what is abandoned by the first path and so on. Without qualification, the fruit is called liberation, but the knowledge of insight, the path, and reviewing are qualified. But if, without taking it this way, any knowledge dissociated from defilements is called liberation, then that is the "liberation story." The "non-training knowledge story" is about how the non-training knowledge is that which has a Buddha and other non-trainees as its object. The "perverted story" is about how the attainments of earth kasina and so on are perverted knowledge, since they occur in an object that is conceptually designated and does not exist ultimately. Here, the four kinds of perversions should be understood, beginning with perceiving permanence in the impermanent. The "Niyama-talk" arose, asserting that all ordinary people have the knowledge to attain certainty. The "Patisambhidā-talk" arose, asserting that all knowledge is analytical knowledge. The "Conventional-knowledge-talk" arose, asserting that even knowledge of conventional reality has a real object. The "Mind-reading-knowledge-talk" arose, asserting that mind-reading knowledge has only mind as its object, not the associated mental factors like lust. The "Future-knowledge-talk" arose, asserting that everyone has knowledge of all future phenomena. The "Present-knowledge-talk" arose, asserting that knowledge also occurs in one's own present knowledge. The "Fruit-knowledge-talk" arose, asserting that disciples, like Buddhas, know the fruit attainable by each person to be trained and teach the Dhamma for that purpose. The "Niyama-talk" arose, asserting that the right path is certainly unconditioned in the sense of being permanent. The "Dependent-origination-talk" arose, asserting that dependent origination is unconditioned, based on statements like "the stability of the Dhamma, the order of the Dhamma." The "Truth-talk" arose, asserting that the four noble truths are unconditioned, based on statements like "the truths are real, not unreal." The "Formless-realms-talk" arose, asserting that the four formless realms are unconditioned, based on the statement "the four formless realms are imperturbable." The "Cessation-attainment-talk" arose, asserting that the attainment of cessation is unconditioned. The "Space-talk" arose, asserting that space is unconditioned. The "Space-is-visible-talk." The "Earth-element-is-visible-talk," beginning with the earth element being visible and ending with the conclusion that bodily action is visible.