This treatise is a small repertory: it gathers the path’s cardinal doctrines in the form of lists, so that the practitioner may always have them at hand. At its heart stand the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment, the qualities that lead to Nirvana and that the Buddhas, the Paccekabuddhas, and all the Arahants brought to completion. They fall into seven groups: the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right exertions, the four bases of success, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven factors of enlightenment, and the Noble Eightfold Path.
The four foundations of mindfulness
These are the heart of the factors of enlightenment: mindfulness turned to four fields.
- The body: following the body in every posture and movement, and seeing it as a gathering of elements that arise, last a while, and decay, so as not to cling to it.
- Feelings: following each feeling that arises — pleasant, painful, or neutral — and seeing it as impermanent, arising, persisting, and ceasing.
- The mind: following the state in which the mind abides — collected or scattered, with greed, hatred, or delusion, bright or gloomy — and seeing it arise and cease at every moment.
- Phenomena: following the objects that strike the mind — the hindrances, thoughts good or bad — catching them in time and seeing their arising and ceasing.
On this foundation one then comprehends the Noble Truths: suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path that leads to it.
Dependent origination
The chain by which suffering arises condition upon condition — dependent origination: from ignorance the formations; from the formations consciousness; from consciousness mind-and-body; from this the six sense bases; from these contact; from contact feeling; from feeling craving; from craving clinging; from clinging becoming; from becoming birth; and from birth aging and death, with sorrow, lamentation, pain, and despair — so arises the whole mass of suffering. And in the opposite direction: with the ceasing of ignorance the formations cease, and so on link after link, until — with the ceasing of birth — the whole mass of suffering ceases. Contemplate this arising and ceasing, so as no longer to grasp this compounded body as an “I”; set the mind in equanimity and reach liberation, up to Nirvana.
The other groups of factors
The four right exertions: to guard against evil not yet arisen; to abandon the evil already arisen; to make the good arise; and to make the good already arisen grow.
The four bases of success: contentment in the Dharma (chanda); energy (viriya); constant attentiveness (citta); and the investigation that sees clearly (vīmaṃsā).
The five faculties and the five powers bear the same names — faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom — first as faculties to be cultivated, then as firm powers that nothing can shake.
The seven factors of enlightenment: mindfulness; investigation of phenomena; energy; joy; tranquillity; concentration; and equanimity.
The Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration — which, gathered together, are virtue, concentration, and wisdom.
The seven purifications
Purity as the way to Nirvana, degree by degree: the purity of virtue; of mind; of view; of the knowledge that has overcome doubt; of the knowledge that distinguishes what is the path from what is not; of the knowledge of the way; and finally of the knowledge and vision that sees clearly into Nirvana.
The sixteen insight knowledges
The sequence of knowledges that ripen in insight: discerning mind-and-body; seeing its causal conditions; seeing it as impermanent, suffering, and without self; seeing its arising and passing; then its dissolution; what is fearful in it; the danger that it is; the disenchantment that is born of it; the wish to be free of it; the practice for its cessation; the letting-go of the formations; the knowledge that conforms to the truth; the one that ripens at the passage; the knowledge of the path; that of the fruit; and finally the knowledge that reviews how much has been cut off and how much still remains.
There are the five aggregates, but no one who bears them. There is life, but no owner of the life. There is happiness, but no one who clings to it. There is suffering, but no one who suffers. There is convention: know how to use it, yet cling not to it.
A restless mind is suffering. A mind that slips outward is the origin. A calm mind that knows how to set things right is cessation. A mind without greed, without anger, without delusion is the path. … onward, toward Nirvana …
The ten fetters
The chains that bar the way to path, fruit, and Nirvana, which one who practises must untie. The monk gives two lists, as found in the Suttas and in the Abhidhamma.
After the Suttas: the illusion of self; doubt about the Triple Gem; the superstitious keeping of precepts; sensual craving; ill will; attachment to the realm of form; attachment to the formless absorptions; conceit; restlessness; and ignorance.
After the Abhidhamma: sensual lust; anger; conceit; wrong view; doubt; the wrong keeping of precepts; attachment to becoming; envy; stinginess; and ignorance.
The imperfections of insight
As insight develops, luminous experiences may arise that the practitioner, if he has not yet clearly known, mistakes for the goal: a radiant light; an unexpected knowing; a rapt joy; a calm never felt before; a sublime happiness; a firm conviction; a fervent effort; a steady mindfulness; a serene equanimity; and contentment with the fruit attained. None of these is yet Nirvana: do not be deceived, but press on until you reach the true goal.
The forty meditation subjects
The supports to choose among for cultivating the mind, according to one’s temperament.
The ten recollections: the recalling of the virtues of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha; of one’s own virtue and generosity; of the deities; of the body as impure; of the death to come; of the peace of Nirvana; and of the breath that comes and goes.
The ten kasiṇas: fixing the mind on earth, water, fire, wind, space, light, or on one of the colours — green, red, yellow, white.
The ten contemplations of foulness: meditating on a corpse in its stages of decay — bloated, discoloured, oozing, worm-ridden, hacked, blood-smeared, scattered, reduced to bones — to loosen attachment to the body.
The four divine abidings: loving-kindness, which wishes happiness on all; compassion, which would free beings from suffering; sympathetic joy, which rejoices in the good of others; and equanimity, which receives and lets go.
The four formless meditations: fixing the mind on infinite space, on infinite consciousness, on nothingness, and on the state of “neither perception nor non-perception,” up to the formless absorption.
To these are added the analysis of the four elements that compose the body, and the perception of the loathsomeness of food: both lead to disenchantment with form and to joy in Nirvana.
The five raptures and five hindrances
Meditative joy has five ascending degrees: a slight thrill of gladness; a shiver that raises the hairs; a thrill that pervades the whole body; a joy so intense that the body sways; and one so intense that the body seems to lift up.
The five hindrances, at last, are the obstacles that obstruct meditation: attachment to the pleasures of the senses; ill will; drowsiness and torpor; restless agitation; and wavering doubt. One who practises should quell them in order to proceed toward Nirvana.