The Characteristics and Cultivation of the Warmth (Ūṣman) Root of Goodness

Abhidharmakośa-śāstra, Volume Twenty-Three (Part Two)

Original text: 论曰。修习总缘共相法念住。渐次成熟乃至上上品。从此念住后。有顺决择分。初善根生。名为暖法。此法如暖。立暖法名。是能烧惑薪。圣道火前相。如火前相故。名为暖。

Explanation: There is a treatise that says: cultivating the dharma-smṛtyupasthāna by comprehensively contemplating the common characteristics of all sentient beings' five aggregates — suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self — one's wisdom gradually matures until reaching the highest of the high grade. After this smṛtyupasthāna, there arises the faculty conforming to the niyāma (nirvedhabhāgīya), and the first wholesome root is born, called the heat stage (ūṣmagata). This dharma is like warmth, hence the name "heat dharma." It is the firewood capable of burning afflictions, the precursor of the fire of the noble path. Because it is like the precursor of fire, it is called "heat."

The path of seeing is likened to the appearance of the fire mark, the meaning of firewood burning. Before the fire appears, the first thing that occurs is a change in temperature — the temperature rises and warmth emerges; this stage corresponds to the wholesome root of the heat stage. As the temperature continues to rise and the heat reaches a certain degree, the firewood ignites and fire appears. In between, one sequentially passes through the wholesome roots of the peak stage (mūrdhan), the patience stage (kṣānti), and the supreme worldly dharma (laukikāgra-dharma), and only afterward can one attain the path of seeing. The appearance of the heat stage indicates that the practitioner, through cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness and the Four Noble Truths, has undergone a change of mind, able to accord with the principle of the Four Noble Truths and give rise to the faculty conforming to the niyāma, no longer resisting or opposing the principle of the Four Noble Truths — which is also equivalent to an initial acceptance of the principle of the Four Noble Truths.

Original text: 此暖善根分位长故。能具观察四圣谛境。及能具修十六行相。观苦圣谛。修四行相。一非常二苦三空四非我。观集圣谛。修四行相。一因二集三生四缘。观灭圣谛。修四行相。一灭二静三妙四离。观道圣谛。修四行相。一道二如。三行四出。此相差别。如后当辩。

Explanation: The wholesome root of the heat stage encompasses relatively many and comprehensive practices — this is what is meant by "the stage it occupies is long." During the stage when the heat dharma is manifest, one can fully observe the true realm of the Four Noble Truths, and can fully cultivate the sixteen aspects (ṣoḍaśa-ākāra). Contemplating the Noble Truth of Suffering of the five aggregates, one cultivates four aspects: impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and non-self; contemplating the Noble Truth of the Origin of the five aggregates, one cultivates four aspects: the cause of the arising of the five aggregates, how the five aggregates accumulate, how the five aggregates are born, and what the conditions for the birth of the five aggregates are; contemplating the Noble Truth of the Cessation of the five aggregates, one cultivates four aspects: how the five aggregates cease, the tranquility of nirvāṇa, the subtle realm of nirvāṇa, and liberation from suffering; contemplating the Noble Truth of the Path, one cultivates four aspects: the path cultivated to extinguish the five aggregates, the cultivation that accords with true reality, how to depart from birth and turn toward nirvāṇa, and how to escape the three realms and attain liberation. All the practices involved here have their differences, and these differing marks will be discussed later.