14. The Ninefold Thread in the Mode of Conveying Terms of Expression
422. Herein, what is the Mode of Conveying Terms of Expression? [It is this:]
“Ideas when demonstrated by
[Both] unity and diversity
Need thereby suffer no disjunction:
This Mode conveys Expression’s Terms”
423. Those [ideas] should be remembered according as they are demonstrated there where they appear [in their contexts as follows].
424.“Suffering” is a unity.
Herein, what is Suffering? (Birth is suffering, ageing is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, association with the loathed is suffering, dissociation from the loved is suffering, not to get one’s wish is suffering, in brief the five categories of assumption are suffering): form is suffering, feeling is suffering, perception is suffering, determinations are suffering, consciousness is suffering.
This is a diversity.
425.“The Origin of Suffering” is a unity.
Herein, what is the Origin of Suffering? (It is that craving which renews being (existence), is accompanied by relish and lust, relishing this and that, namely craving for sensual desires, craving for being (existence), craving for non-being (non-existence)). This is a diversity.
426.“Cessation of suffering” is a unity.
Herein, what is cessation of suffering? (It is the remainderless fading of that same craving, its ceasing, giving it up, relinquishing it, letting it go, non-relying on it, and rejecting it). This is diversity.
427.“The way leading to cessation of suffering” is a unity.
Herein, what is the way leading to cessation of suffering? (It is the Noble Eight-factored Path, that is to say, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration). This is a diversity.
428.“Path” is a unity.
Herein, what is a path? It is the path leading to hell, the path leading to the animal womb, the path leading to the ghost realm, the path leading to the Asura (Demon) womb, the path leading to heaven, the path leading to humanity, the path leading to extinction. This is a diversity.
429.“Cessation” is a unity.
Herein, what is cessation? It is deliberate cessation, undeliberate cessation? cessation of approval, cessation of resistance; cessation of conceit, cessation of contempt, cessation of domineering, cessation of envy, cessation of avarice, cessation of all defilements. This is a diversity.
430.“Form” is a unity.
Herein, what is form? Form is the four great entities, and any description of form assuming the four great entities.
431. Herein, what are the four great entities? They are the earth element, the water element, the fire element, the air element. These elements can be comprised in two moods, namely in brief [as above] and in detail.
432. How does one comprise the elements in detail? One comprises the earth element in detail in twenty moods, one comprises the water element in detail in twelve moods, one comprises the fire element in detail in four moods, and one comprises the air element in detail in six moods.
433. In what twenty moods does one comprise the earth element in detail? There are in this body head-hairs, body-hairs, nails, teeth, skin; flesh, sinews, bones, bone-marrow, kidney; heart, liver, midriff, spleen, lights; bowels, entrails, gorge, dung, and brain-in-the-head. One comprises the earth element in detail in these twenty moods.
434. In what twelve moods does one comprise the water element in detail? There are in this body bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat; tears, grease, spittle, snot, oil-of-the-joints, and urine. One comprises the water element in detail in these twelve moods.
435. In what four moods does one comprise the fire element in detail? There is that whereby one is warmed, whereby one ages, whereby one burns, and whereby what is eaten, drunk, chewed, and tasted, gets completely digested. One comprises the fire element in detail in these four moods.
436. In what six moods does one comprise the air element in detail? There are up-going forces, down-going forces, forces in the paunch, forces in the belly, forces that course through the limbs, and in-breath and out-breath. That is how one comprises the air element in detail in six moods.
437. He who thus in detail recharacterizes, estimates, fathoms, inquires into, and reviews, the elements as to individual-essence in these forty-two moods sees nothing at all worth taking, whether body or bodily part. Just as one who investigated a cesspool would see nothing at all worth taking, just as one who investigated a privy would see nothing worth taking, so too he who thus in detail re-characterizes, estimates, fathoms, inquires into, and reviews, the elements as to individual-essence in these forty-two moods sees nothing at all worth taking, whether body or bodily part.
438. That is why the Blessed One said: (Now both the earth element in oneself and the external earth element should be seen, with right understanding how they are, in this way: “I am not this, this is not mine, this is not I, this is not my self”. On seeing it thus, with right understanding how it is, he finds dispassion in the earth element, and lust for the earth element fades from his heart. Now both the water element in oneself and the external water element … both the fire element in oneself and the external fire element … both the air element in oneself and the external air element should be seen, with right understanding how they are, in this way: “I am not this, this is not mine, this is not I, this is not my self” On seeing it thus, with right understanding how it is, he finds dispassion in the air element, and lust for the air element fades from his heart). This is a diversity.
439.“Ignorance” is a unity.
Herein, what is ignorance? It is unknowing about suffering, unknowing about the origin of suffering, unknowing about cessation of suffering, and unknowing about the way leading to cessation of suffering; unknowing about the past, unknowing about the future, unknowing about the past and future; unknowing about specific conditionality and dependently arisen ideas; it is any such unknowing, unseeing, non-actualization, failure to be enlightened by another, failure to enlighten oneself, non-penetration, failure to characterize, failure to recharacterize, failure to counter-characterize, disregard, inexperience, witlessness, folly, unawareness, delusion, illusion, confusion, ignorance, flood of ignorance, bond of ignorance, underlying tendency to ignorance, obsession by ignorance, lock of ignorance, delusion as a root of the unprofitable. This is a diversity.
440.“Science” is a unity.
Herein, what is science? It is knowledge about suffering, knowledge about the origin of suffering, knowledge about cessation of suffering, knowledge about the way leading to cessation of suffering; knowledge about the past, knowledge about the future, knowledge about the past and future; knowledge about specific conditionality and dependently arisen ideas; (it is any such understanding, act-of-understanding, investigation, reinvestigation, investigation-of-ideas, characterization, recharacterization, counter-characterization, wisdom, skill, cleverness, elucidation, cogitation, scrutiny, breadth, wit, guidance, insight, awareness, goad, understanding faculty, understanding power, understanding weapon, understanding [storied] palace, understanding light, understanding illumination, understanding lucidity, understanding jewel, non-delusion, investigation-of-ideas, right view, investigation-of-ideas enlightenment factor, path-factor included in the path). This is a diversity.
441.“Attainment” is a unity.
Herein, what is attainment? There is percipient attainment, unpercipient attainment, neither-percipient-nor-unpercipient attainment, attainment percipient of non-entity, attainment of cessation. This is a diversity.
442.“Meditator” is a unity.
Herein, what is a meditator? There is the Initiate meditator, there is the Adept meditator, there is the neither-Initiate-nor-Adept meditator, there is the “thoroughbred” meditator, there is the “colt” meditator, there is the meditator governed by views, there is the meditator governed by craving, there is the meditator governed by understanding. This is a diversity.
443.“Concentration” is a unity.
Herein, what is concentration? There is concentration with conflict, concentration without conflict; concentration with risk, concentration without risk; concentration with ill will, concentration with non-ill-will; concentration with happiness [i.e., the first two meditations], concentration free from happiness [i.e., the last two meditations]; materialistic concentration, non-materialistic concentration; concentration with prompting-determinations, concentration without prompting-determinations; concentration kept in being unilaterally, concentration kept in being bilaterally, concentration whose keeping in being is both ways kept in being; concentration with thought and exploring, concentration without thought and with mere exploration, concentration without thought and without exploring; concentration dealing with an inferior state, concentration dealing with steadiness, concentration dealing with distinction, concentration dealing with penetration; concentration belonging to worlds, concentration disjoined from worlds; wrong concentration, right concentration. This is a diversity.
444.“Way” is a unity.
Herein, what is a way? There is the way of luxury, the way of austerity, the middle way; the way of the impatient, the way of the patient; the way of quieting, the way of taming; the painful way with sluggish acquaintanceship, the painful way with swift acquaintanceship, the pleasant way with sluggish acquaintanceship, the pleasant way with swift acquaintanceship. This is a diversity.
445.“Body” is a unity.
Herein, what is a body? There are the name-body and the form-body. Herein, what is the form-body? It is head-hairs, body-hairs, nails, teeth, skin; flesh, sinews, bones, bone-marrow, kidney; heart, liver, midriff, spleen, lights; bowels, entrails, gorge, dung; bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat; tears, grease, spittle, snot, oil-of-the-joints, urine; and brain-in-the-head. This is the form-body. The name-body consists of feeling, perception, choice, cognizance, contact, and attention. This is the name-body. This is a diversity.
446. In this way, while some idea [say, “birth”] has the same essence [“namely suffering” in this instance] as that of some [other related] idea, [say, “ageing” in this instance], that former idea finds unity with this latter idea through [their common] unity, yet it has diversity from it in virtue of that whereby it has its differentiating (particular) characteristic.
So when one is asked about the Tread[-type, which term covers all modes of the Teaching,] or about prose-expositions or about verse, the inquiry should be made as follows: “How, then, does he ask according to unity or according to diversity”? If asked according to a unity, then it should be answered according to the unity. If asked according to a diversity, then it should be answered according to the diversity. If asked expressed in terms of creatures, the answer should be expressed in terms of creatures. If asked expressed in terms of ideas, the answer should be expressed in terms of ideas. According as it is asked, so it should be answered.
447. That is why the venerable Mahā-Kaccāna said:
“Ideas when demonstrated by
[Both] unity and diversity
Need thereby suffer no disjunction:
This Mode conveys Expression’s Terms”.
The Mode Conveying Terms of Expression is ended.