The Characteristics and Cultivation Process of Wisdom from Hearing (śrutamayī-prajñā)

俱舍论疏第二十三卷  唐 法宝撰

Original text: 杂缘法念住总有四种。二三四五蕴为境别故。唯总缘五名此所修。彼居此中修四行相。总观一切身受心法。所谓非常苦空非我。然于修习此念住时。有余善根能为方便。彼应次第修令现前。谓彼已熟修。杂缘法念住。

Explanation: When cultivating the dharma mindfulness among the four foundations of mindfulness, one must also interspersedly contemplate the mindfulness of body, the mindfulness of feeling, and the mindfulness of mind; one must not only take dharmas as the object of the dharma mindfulness, but must also interspersedly take the other three foundations of mindfulness as objects. Because the four kinds of objects corresponding to the cultivation of dharma mindfulness—the aggregates of feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness—are each distinct, one must contemplate the dharma mindfulness by taking the five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness as a whole. In the dharma mindfulness, the practitioner's mind should cultivate four characteristics: suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self, contemplating from an overall perspective the suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self of body, feeling, mind, and dharmas. Moreover, when cultivating this foundation of mindfulness, there are other wholesome roots—such as warmth (ūṣmagata), the summit (mūrdhan), patience (kṣānti), and the supreme worldly dharma (laukikāgra-dharma)—that can serve as expedient means to verify the results of cultivation; the practitioner should cultivate them in sequence, causing them to manifest one by one. When these four wholesome roots manifest, it shows that the practitioner has already become thoroughly skilled in cultivating the mixed-object mindfulness of dharmas.

Original text: 将欲修习此念住时。先应总缘修无我行。次观生灭。次观缘起。以观行者先观诸行。从因生灭。便于因果相属观门。易趣入故。或有欲令先观缘起。此后引起缘三义观。此观无间修七处善。

Explanation: When the practitioner is about to cultivate this dharma mindfulness, he should first take the five aggregates as a whole and contemplate the characteristic of non-self; next he should observe the arising and ceasing of the five aggregates—this is contemplating the characteristic of impermanence of the five aggregates; next he should contemplate the dependent arising of the five aggregates—this is contemplating the characteristic of emptiness of the five aggregates. Because the contemplative practitioner first observes that the formations of body, feeling, mind, and dharmas arise and cease in accordance with causes and conditions, it becomes convenient to contemplate non-self and impermanence from the perspective of the interrelation of cause and effect, and thus easy to enter the principle of the Four Noble Truths. Some, however, wish to first observe the dependent arising of the five aggregates, and afterwards bring forth the contemplation of the three categories (aggregates, sense-bases, and elements) as objects. This method of contemplation is the uninterrupted cultivation of the seven aspects of skill (sapta-sthāna-kauśalya), that is, separately observing, with respect to the five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness, their suffering, origin, cessation, path, gratification, danger, and escape.

Original text: 于七处善得善巧故。能于先来诸所见境。立因果谛。次第观察。如是熟修智及定已。便能安立顺现观谛。谓欲上界苦等各别。于如是八。随次第观。修未曾修十六行相。彼由闻慧。于八谛中。初起如斯十六行观。如隔薄绢睹见众色。齐此名为闻慧圆满。

Explanation: Because skillfulness has been attained in the seven aspects of skill through cultivation, one is able, with respect to all the objects previously contemplated, to establish the truths of cause and effect—that is, to understand the suffering, origin, cessation, and path of the five aggregates—and observe the seven wholesome aspects of the five aggregates in sequence. Having thus skillfully cultivated contemplative wisdom and meditative concentration, one can then establish the wisdom of the truths conforming to direct realization. The truths conforming to direct realization are the wisdoms that accord with the respective truths of suffering, origin, cessation, and path of the desire realm and the form and formless realms; although at this time there is not yet the wisdom of direct contemplative realization, the wholesome root of warmth can arise, which does not contradict the principle of the Four Noble Truths.

In this way, with respect to the four foundations of mindfulness and the eight principles of the Four Noble Truths, one contemplates in accordance with their sequence, cultivating the sixteen characteristics that had never before been cultivated. Through the wisdom gained from hearing the Dharma, the practitioner, in the contemplation of these eight truths, first gives rise to the contemplation of these sixteen characteristics. At this time the wisdom is like viewing all forms through a layer of thin silk gauze; at this point, the wisdom of hearing is said to be fully cultivated.

When the wisdom of hearing is fully cultivated, contemplating the four foundations of mindfulness and the five aggregates is like seeing forms through a layer of thin silk: although one can see the outlines of forms, they are still unclear, hazy and indistinct. Before the wisdom of hearing appears, seeing all dharmas is even more obscure and unclear, with ignorance being very heavy. When one cultivates to the stage of the wisdom of hearing, ignorance becomes somewhat thinner; when one cultivates to the wisdom of reflection and the wisdom of cultivation, ignorance becomes even thinner; and when the wisdom of realization appears, a portion of ignorance is eliminated, and the three fetters are severed.

Comparing the characteristics of the wisdom of hearing and the process of cultivation described in the treatise above, examine to what degree your own wisdom of hearing has been cultivated, and whether it has been fully cultivated. Even if it has been fully cultivated, this is merely the stage of the wisdom of hearing, still very far from the wisdom of realization. If, after cultivating for many years, you have not even fully cultivated the wisdom of hearing, you should examine where you fall short, how to close the gap, and what measures you should take, then spur your horse onward and diligently cultivate the Path.