The first of three sub-bhūmis within Yogasthāna I. The gotrabhūmi describes what makes a person fit for the disciple-vehicle path — the conditions that must be in place before descent into practice can begin. It moves from prerequisites (a viable rebirth, faculties, faith, no immediate-retribution karma, support from the dharma and the community) through the path that lineage makes possible (going forth, restraint, dhyāna, the four noble truths, liberation), and finally to identifying the person-types that have the lineage versus those who do not.
I. The Stage of Lineage
Intactness of faculties, clarity directed to its sphere, unobstructed action
What is manuṣyatva (human-male birth)?
When someone here has been reborn in the community of humans, and is male, endowed with the male faculty, this is called manuṣyatva.
What is rebirth in a noble region?
When someone here has been reborn in the Middle Country, as before — namely wherever the resort of holy persons lies — this is called rebirth in a noble region.
What is intactness of faculties?
When someone here is born not blind, not deaf, [and so on as elaborated]; with limbs and minor limbs intact, of such a kind that, through the intactness of his limbs and his hearing and so on, he is fit for the gathering of the wholesome. This is called intactness of faculties.
What is clarity directed to its sphere?
When someone here, in the dharma-vinaya proclaimed by the Tathāgata, gains faith, clarity of mind. This is called clarity directed to its sphere — the sphere being the dharma-vinaya proclaimed by the Tathāgata, for the arising of all worldly and supramundane bright dharmas. The faith here, with that as predominant forerunner, is clarity directed to its sphere. Unobstructed action: [the state in which] the five actions of immediate retribution — matricide, patricide, killing an arhat, schism in the saṅgha, or drawing blood from the Tathāgata with hostile intent — have not been done, have not been committed by him in this very life. This is called unobstructed action. Conversely: when the five actions of immediate retribution have been done and accumulated, in this very life [the doer] becomes unfit for the arising of the noble path leading to nirvāṇa; that is why these are called obstructed action. By himself, this individual existence has been brought to fulfillment by these five factors. That is why it is called endowment-from-self.
What is endowment-from-others?
Namely: the arising of Buddhas; the establishment of the proclaimed dharmas of the true teaching; the further transmission of those established dharmas; and the responsive support of others.
What is the arising of Buddhas?
When someone, having generated benevolent intention toward all beings, attains [a final] individual existence through thousands of difficult deeds and a great accumulation of merit and knowledge — and seated on the seat of awakening, having abandoned the five hindrances, with mind well-established in the four foundations of mindfulness, having cultivated the thirty-seven dharmas conducive to awakening, he awakens to supreme, perfect awakening. This is called the arising of Buddhas. In past, future, and present times, just so [as described], blessed Buddhas arise in the world; and out of compassion for the world of disciples, taking up the four noble truths beginning with suffering, this dharma is brought forth, taught, and praised by the Buddhas and by the disciples of the Buddhas — this is called the arising of Buddhas.
What is the establishment of the taught dharmas?
When the true dharma has been taught, the dharma-wheel set in motion, for as long as the blessed Buddha lives and remains, and after the blessed Buddha has attained final nirvāṇa, for as long as practice does not decline and the true dharma does not disappear, this is called the establishment of the true dharma — up to that time the establishment is to be understood.
What is the further transmission of the established dharmas?
Those who are themselves attainers of the true dharma, knowing those fit and capable for the realization of the true dharma, transmit the conforming admonition and instruction in accord with their own attainment — this is called the further transmission of the established dharmas.
What is the responsive support of others?
‘Others’ here means the donors and patrons; by them one is supported with the requisites needed for life — namely robes, alms-food, lodging, medicine, and other provisions. This is called the responsive support of others.
What is wholesome dharma-desire?
When someone here, hearing the dharma from the Tathāgata or from a disciple of the Tathāgata, gains faith. Having gained it, he trains thus: ‘The household life is confining, a dwelling of dust; going forth into the open, having renounced all spouse-and-family, wealth, grain, and gold, in the well-stated dharma-vinaya, I shall rightly go forth from home to the homeless life. Having gone forth, by the practice of going-forth I shall accomplish my goal.’ Such a desire generated for the wholesome dharmas — this is called wholesome dharma-desire.
What is going forth?
[Damaged/Conjectural]: Making that wholesome dharma-desire predominant, [one goes forth] through the formal verbal act with motion as fourth, or through the undertaking of the training precepts from those skilled in full ordination. This is called going forth.
What is restraint of virtue?
Having so gone forth, he dwells endowed with virtue, restrained by the restraint of the Prātimokṣa, endowed with proper conduct and proper resort, seeing danger in the slightest fault, undertaking the precepts of training. This is called restraint of virtue.
What is restraint of the senses?
Depending on that very restraint of virtue, he becomes one of guarded mindfulness, alert mindfulness, with mind guarded by mindfulness, one who maintains a balanced state. Seeing forms with the eye, he does not seize signs, does not seize secondary features; he undertakes the restraint by which evil unwholesome dharmas would not flow into his mind on that account. Hearing sounds with the ear, smelling odors with the nose, tasting flavors with the tongue, feeling tangibles with the body, and cognizing dharmas with the mind — he does not seize signs, does not seize secondary features; he undertakes the restraint by which evil unwholesome dharmas would not flow into his mind on that account. He guards the mind-faculty and attains restraint over the mind-faculty. This is called restraint of the senses.
What is knowing the right measure in food?
Having so restrained the senses, he takes food with reflection. Not for arrogance, not for intoxication, not for adornment, not for embellishment, but only for the sustaining of this body, for its support, for the supporting of the holy life. ‘I shall remove old feelings and shall not produce new ones; I shall have continuation, strength, comfort, blamelessness, and ease of contact’ — this is called knowing the right measure in food.
What is application to wakefulness?
By day, by walking and sitting, he purifies the mind of obscuring dharmas. By day, having purified the mind of obscuring dharmas through walking and sitting, leaving the dwelling, washing the feet outside, he lies down on the right side in the lion-posture, perceiving light, mindful, clearly aware, attending to the perception of rising. And in the last watch of the night, rising swiftly, by walking and sitting he again purifies the mind of obscuring dharmas. This is called application to wakefulness in the early and late watches of the night.
What is dwelling with full awareness?
So applied to wakefulness, he dwells with full awareness in setting forth and returning, in looking ahead and looking around, in bending and stretching the limbs, in wearing the saṅghāṭi robe and carrying the bowl, in eating and drinking and chewing and tasting, in dispelling sleep and fatigue, in going, standing, sitting, lying down, in being awake, in speaking, and in keeping silent. This is called dwelling with full awareness.
What is seclusion?
Having purified the preparatory ground by these dharmas, he dwells in secluded lodgings — forests, the foot of trees, empty huts, mountain caves, mountain caverns, heaps of straw, the open air, cemeteries, the depths of the woods. These remote lodgings are called seclusion.
What is purification from hindrances?
Gone to the forest, or to the foot of a tree, or to an empty hut, he purifies the mind of the five hindrances: of sense-desire, ill-will, sloth-and-torpor, restlessness-and-regret, and doubt. Having purified the mind of these hindrances, free of hindrances, he establishes it in a state fit for concentration — this is called purification from hindrances.
What is dependence on concentration?
Having abandoned the five hindrances that defile the mind and produce secondary defilement, secluded from sense-desires, secluded from unwholesome dharmas — with applied and sustained thought, with the joy and pleasure born of seclusion — he enters and dwells in the first dhyāna. From the quieting of applied and sustained thought, with inner serenity and unification of mind, without applied thought, without sustained thought — with the joy and pleasure born of concentration — he enters and dwells in the second dhyāna. With the fading of joy, he dwells equanimous, mindful, fully aware, experiencing pleasure with the body — that of which the noble ones declare, ‘he is equanimous, mindful, dwelling in pleasure’: he enters and dwells in the third dhyāna. With the abandoning of pleasure and the prior cessation of joy-and-dejection, with neither-pain-nor-pleasure, purified by equanimity and mindfulness, he enters and dwells in the fourth dhyāna. This is called dependence on concentration. By this gradual progression, he brings to fulfillment ever-higher conditions of emergence — distinguished, more distinguished, most distinguished, and fresh — beginning with endowment-from-self and culminating in dependence on concentration. Thus, with the mind purified, cleansed, free of impediment, free of secondary defilement, made straight, made workable, settled, attained to imperturbability — if, taking up the four noble truths for their full knowledge, abandonment, realization, and cultivation, he receives admonition and instruction by the voice of another, he becomes fit and capable of generating attention to the meditation sign. And by the right view that precedes [yoga], by which he comes to the four noble truths, he fulfills liberation. And he attains final nirvāṇa in the nirvāṇa-element without remainder. There, taking up right vision, the fulfillment of liberation, and final nirvāṇa without remainder — this is to be understood as the perfecting of the lineage. There, [the factors] from endowment-from-self up to dependence on concentration — these are to be understood as the lesser supporting conditions for the perfecting. There, the voice of another that has teaching and admonition concerning the four truths as predominant, together with wise attention, this is to be understood as the principal supporting condition for the perfecting. This is called the delineation of lineage.
What are the marks of a person established in the lineage?
Answer: the opposites of the marks of one not of the nature for final nirvāṇa. Answer: those that are the marks of one not of the nature for final nirvāṇa, the marks of a person established in the lineage are to be understood as their opposite.
What, again, are the marks of one not of the nature for final nirvāṇa, endowed with which he is one not of the nature for final nirvāṇa?
‘He is one not of the nature for final nirvāṇa,’ thus it should be known. There are many marks of one not of the nature for final nirvāṇa. Just a portion. I shall set forth only a portion. Here, for a person not of the nature for final nirvāṇa, from the very beginning that craving — completely, entirely, in every way — is so lodged in his very ground that even all the Buddhas could not uproot it: of the nature of non-abandonment, not to be drawn out, deeply settled, firmly fixed. This is the first mark of a person not established in the lineage.
Further, a person not established in the lineage, even after hearing in many ways the manifold and numerous attractions of saṁsāra, and after hearing in many ways the manifold and numerous qualities of nirvāṇa, has not produced even a slight seeing of fault or danger in the proliferation of saṁsāra, nor even mere urgency with respect to the past, and will not produce it with respect to the future, and does not produce it with respect to the present. With respect to nirvāṇa, the destruction of craving, dispassion, and cessation, he has produced, will produce, and produces only a limited, scanty, slight seeing of qualities and benefits, only a slight clarity, with respect to past, future, and present. This is the second mark of a person not established in the lineage. [Damaged]: Further, a person not established in the lineage, in many ways … is endowed with weak shame and weak moral dread concerning suffering-bound [conduct]. By which he, with mind compassionless, mind unconstricted, mind elated, transgresses against all. And he is never on any account remorseful. Not otherwise. This is the third mark of one not established in the lineage. Further, for one not established in the lineage — when [the teaching] is wholly complete in every aspect for him, free of fault, manifold, leading [to liberation] — when the true dharma is being taught taking up suffering, or origin, or cessation, or path, he does not gain even the mere turning of mind toward [right] action, or even toward release, with respect to past, future, or present. This is the fourth mark of one not established in the lineage. Further, a person not established in the lineage, if at any time he goes forth in the well-stated dharma-vinaya, is one under pressure from a king, or under pressure from thieves, or distressed by debt, or fearful for his livelihood, or fearful of māra, no recluse but claiming to be a recluse, no celibate but claiming to be celibate — in past, future, and present, of the person not established in the lineage, the going forth is thus to be understood. Or such going forth, full ordination, monkhood is not for a person desirous of training. By this way of speaking, with this intention, and in the sense that it does not lead out, the person not established in the lineage is reckoned as 'gone forth.' This is the fifth mark of a person not established in the lineage.
Further, a person not established in the lineage, whatever wholesome action he performs by body, by speech, by mind, all of it is with the intention of becoming, of seeking a distinguished further existence, with the intention of enjoyments. This is the sixth mark of a person not established in the lineage. Such kinds of many marks are present for him, endowed with which he is reckoned ‘one not of the nature for final nirvāṇa.’
What, then, are persons established in the lineage?
Answer: there is a person established in the lineage. Only established in the lineage, not descended, not gone out — descended, not gone out; descended, gone out; of mild faculty, middle faculty, sharp faculty; of lust-conduct, hatred-conduct, delusion-conduct; born in an unfavorable moment; heedful; wrongly practiced; not wrongly practiced; obscured; unobscured; far; near; matured and not matured; purified and not purified.
What, then, is the person only established in the lineage?
Answer: when someone here has come to possess the seed of supramundane dharma, but does not yet, however, gain the association with good persons, the hearing of the true dharma, nor undertake faith and virtue in the dharma-vinaya proclaimed by the Tathāgata. He does not take up what is heard. He does not increase generosity, does not make his view upright. This is called the person only established in the lineage.
By its opposite on the bright side, one established in the lineage and descended is to be understood. But this distinction: he is not yet a gainer of the noble path. Nor of its fruit, the disjunction from defilements.
What is one established in the lineage, descended, and gone out?
[Same as the descended-not-yet-gone-out], with this distinction: he is a gainer of the noble path and of its fruit.
What is the person of mild faculty?
He whose faculties, with respect to the knowable as their object, are extremely sluggish, or slow. Whether associated with mental engagement that is born of hearing, of reflection, or of cultivation. Namely, faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, or wisdom. They are not capable, not fit for the penetration of dharma or for the swift penetration of meaning. This is called the person of mild faculty.
What is the middle faculty?
He whose faculties, with respect to the knowable as their object, are not extremely sluggish — the rest as stated in detail above; this is called the person of middle faculty.
What is the person of sharp faculty?
The person whose faculties, with respect to the knowable as their object, are not sluggish, not slow. Associated with mental engagement born of hearing, of reflection, or of cultivation. Namely, faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, or wisdom. They are capable of penetrating dharma, or of swiftly penetrating meaning, even when [the meaning is] subtle. This is called the person of sharp faculty.
What is the person of lust-conduct?
He who, with respect to a lust-arousing object, has intense lust and prolonged lust — this is called the person of lust-conduct.
What is the person of hatred-conduct?
He who, with respect to a resistance-arousing object, has intense hatred and prolonged hatred — this is called the person of hatred-conduct.
What is the person of delusion-conduct?
He who, with respect to a knowable object, has intense delusion and prolonged delusion — this is called the person of delusion-conduct.
What are the persons born in an unfavorable moment, heedless, wrongly practiced?
Persons born in an unfavorable moment, heedless, wrongly practiced, obscured, not obscured — these are to be understood accordingly.
What is the person who is far?
There is a person far from nirvāṇa by remoteness in time. There is one far by remoteness in application.
What is one far by remoteness in time?
After many hundreds of births, many hundreds of thousands of births, after that he becomes fit for swift attainment of conditions, for final nirvāṇa. There, by remoteness in application, the person is established only in the lineage, not yet descended. He is fit for the swift attainment of conditions, for final nirvāṇa. He, by remoteness through not having begun application toward nirvāṇa, by the remoteness in application — this is called the person who is far.
The person who is near [is ready to descend into the path].