The seven manaskāras of sbh4.1 generalized through the higher transitions, governed by the audārika-lakṣaṇa (gross-characteristic) pattern: each higher attainment is reached by recognizing the grossness of the lower and the peace of the higher. Seven transitions: 1st→2nd, 2nd→3rd, 3rd→4th jhāna; 4th jhāna→ākāśānantyāyatana, ākāśa→vijñāna, vijñāna→ākiñcanya, ākiñcanya→naivasaṁjñā-nāsaṁjñāyatana. Plus the two non-conscious attainments (asaṁjñā- and nirodha-samāpatti) and the five abhijñā (super-knowledges) with their twelve perceptions.
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Sanskrit
English
audārikalakṣaṇaṁ punaḥ sarvāsvadharasu bhūmiṣu yāvadākiñcanyāyatanāt samāsena dvividhaṁ veditavyaṁ |
The gross-characteristic in all these lower planes — up through the ākiñcanyāyatana — is, in summary, twofold:
duḥkhataraṁ vihāritā cādharādhobhūmīnāmapraśāntavihāritā ca |
the greater-painful, non-calm abiding-quality [vihāritā] of the lower-and-lower planes,
alpāyuṣkatarā ca |
and the lesser-life-span-quality [alpāyuṣkatarā].
Twofold criteria of grossness at every level: (1) the abiding-quality (vihāritā) of lower planes — both more painful AND less calm-abiding (one criterion with two aspects), and (2) the lesser life-span (alpāyuṣkatarā) — beings reborn in higher planes live longer cosmologically. The Sanskrit dvividha framing at 1.1 and 1.4 confirms the twofold reading; the two qualifiers in 1.2 both modify vihāritā, not list two separate criteria. For meditative purposes, the life-span criterion connects felt brevity-of-states at lower planes (states keep dropping away) with felt persistence-of-states at higher planes.
ṣaḍbhirvastubhiryathāyogaṁ paryeṣate |
He investigates by the six investigation-subjects, as appropriate.
yasyā yasyā bhūmervairāgyaṁ kartukāmo bhavatyupariṣṭācca yathāyogaṁ śāntalakṣaṇaṁ |
For whichever plane he wishes to make dispassion toward, the calm-characteristic is the plane above it, as appropriate —
yāvat prayoganiṣṭhāphalān manaskārāt tatra viviktaṁ kāmairiti |
up through the practice-culminating-fruit attention. Then he is 'secluded from sense-pleasures,' or at higher levels, secluded from the analogous gross-content.
dvividhāḥ kāmāḥ — kleśakāmā vastukāmāśca |
Sense-desires are twofold: kleśa-kāmas (defilement-desires) and vastu-kāmas (object-desires).
Restored from PDF 6373-6393. The pre-existing JSON jumped from sbh4.2:1.7 (
yāvat prayoganiṣṭhāphalān manaskārāt tatra viviktaṁ kāmair iti) directly to current 2.1 (savitarkasavicāraviviktebhyaścittaṁ vyāvartayitvā...), dropping the entire glossary unpacking of the first-dhyāna formula (paragraph 2 here) and the nikāma-akṛcchra-akisara triple of meditative consummation (apparatus at 2.11). The structure is a classical Yogācāra dhyāna-glossary: each phrase of the formula (viviktaiḥ kāmaiḥ, viviktaṁ pāpakair akuśalair dharmair, savitarkaṁ savicāraṁ, vivekajaṁ prīti-sukhaṁ) is defined in turn. The corresponding glossary for higher dhyānas continues from current 2.6 (now 3.6) onward.kāmavitarko 'pi dvividhaḥ — saṁprayogaviveka, ālambanavivekaś ca |
Sense-desire-vitarka too is twofold: association-seclusion (saṁprayoga-viveka) and object-seclusion (ālambana-viveka).
viviktaṁ pāpakair akuśalair dharmair iti — upakleśāḥ kāmahetukā akuśalā dharmāḥ — tadyathā kāyaduścaritaṁ, vāgduścaritaṁ, manoduścaritaṁ |
'Separated from evil unwholesome dharmas' — [these are] the secondary defilements caused by sense-desire, the unwholesome dharmas — namely: bodily misconduct, verbal misconduct, mental misconduct;
kalahabhaṇḍanavigrahavivādaśāṭhyavañcananikṛtimṛṣāvādāḥ sambhavanti |
[and] quarrel, dispute, contention, controversy, deceit, fraud, cunning, lying — [these] arise.
teṣāmprahāṇād viviktaṁ pāpakair akuśalair dharmair avitarkavicāreṣv adoṣadarśanāt svabhūmikair vitarkavicāraiḥ kāmaprātipakṣikaiḥ kuśalaiḥ |
From the abandonment of these [is] 'separated from evil unwholesome dharmas': by [seeing] no fault in non-discursive, non-investigative vitarkas, [and] by stage-pertinent vitarkas and vicāras that are antidotes to sense-desire, [that are] wholesome.
savitarkaṁ savicāraṁ prayoganiṣṭho manaskāraḥ kāmavivekaḥ kaḥ tasyānantaramutpannaḥ |
'With vitarka, with vicāra' — the consummation-of-engagement attention is the seclusion-from-sense-desires that arises immediately upon it.
taddhetukaṁ kaḥ tatpratyayaṁ yaḥ tenāha vivekajam īpsitābhilaṣitārthasaṁprāptaḥ, prītau vā doṣadarśanāt |
Caused by it, conditioned by it — by which [the Blessed One] said: 'born of seclusion' — having attained the desired-and-aspired-for goal; or from seeing fault in joy.
sarvadauṣṭhulyāpagamāc ca vipulapraśrabdhi cittakāyakarmaṇyatayā prītisukham anupūrveṇa gaṇayataḥ |
From the departure of all dauṣṭhulya, and by abundant serenity in mind-body workability, of one counting [accumulating] joy-and-pleasure successively —
tatprathamataś ca kāmadhātūccalitāt prathamaṁ samyag-ālambanopanidhyānād ekāgrasmṛtyupanibandhād dhyānaṁ prayoganiṣṭhāphalatvād upasampadya |
first from the leaving-behind of the realm of sense-desire, from right resting-on-the-object, from the binding-up of one-pointed mindfulness — the dhyāna [is reached], from the prayoga-niṣṭhā-phala state attained.
uttaratra ca bhāvanā-bahulīkāra-niṣpādanāt nikāma-lābhī, akṛcchra-lābhī, akisara-akṛtsna-lābhī, tathā dhyānasamāpattyā rātrim atināmayati, divasam api yāvad ākāṅkṣamāṇaḥ saptarātriṁdivasāni tena āha viharatīti |
And further, by the abundant-cultivation that produces [the result] — [he becomes] one who gains at will (nikāma-lābhī), one who gains without trouble (akṛcchra-lābhī), one who gains without difficulty (akisara-lābhī) — and thus by the dhyāna-attainment he passes the night [in dhyāna], also the day, as long as he wishes, up to seven days-and-nights, by which it is said 'he dwells [in dhyāna].'
Three-epithet synonymy chain on ease of dhyāna-attainment: nikāma-lābhī (one who gains at will), akṛcchra-lābhī (without trouble), akisara-lābhī (without difficulty). The MS reads akisara-akṛtsna-lābhī as a single compound, but a-kṛtsna ('not-whole') will not parse as 'entirely' and breaks the synonymy. Deleanu (Vol. 1 n. 199), citing BHSD on kisara = 'difficulty' and the Pali parallel akasira-lābhī, treats akṛtsna as a scribal interpolation; Shukla also flagged it as suspect. The English renders the three-epithet sequence; the Sanskrit JSON preserves the MS reading per the emendation policy.
savitarkasavicāraviviktebhyaścittaṁ vyāvartayitvā tat vyāvartya |
[At the 1st→2nd transition:] Turning the mind away from the savitarka-savicāra objects,
avitarkāvicārasamādhinimitteṣūpanibadhnāti |
he binds the mind to avitarka-avicāra-samādhi-nimittas.
avyagracāriṇyālambane ekadharmatayā śāntaṁ prasannaṁ cittaṁ pravartate |
in the non-distractedly-moving object, by single-dharma-character, calm, settled, the mind proceeds.
tenāha vitarkavicārāṇāṁ vyupaśamādadhyātmasaṁprasādanāt sabhāvanābhyāsāt tasyaivāvitarkāvicārasya samādheḥ, vitarkavicārasya samādheḥ, sacchidrasāntarāmavasthāmatikramya niśchidranirantarāmavasthāṁ prāpnoti |
Therefore: 'By the calming of vitarka and vicāra, by inward-confidence' — by the practice of avitarka-avicāra-samādhi, transcending the interrupted state, he attains the uninterrupted state.
Sac-chidra-sāntara (with-cleft, with-interval) describes first-jhāna attention as interrupted — the vitarka-vicāra create momentary clefts where attention falters before re-grasping the object. Niś-chidra-nirantara (without-cleft, without-interval) is the second jhāna's seamlessly continuous attention. A precise phenomenological description of the 1st→2nd transition.
tenāha cetasa ekotībhāvāt sarveṇa sarvaṁ vitarkavicāraprahāṇādavitarkamavicāraṁ prayoganiṣṭho manaskāraḥ samādhistasyānantaraṁ taddhetukaṁ tatpratyayamutpadyate |
Therefore: 'By one-pointedness of mind' — by completely abandoning vitarka-vicāra in every way, the avitarka-avicāra practice-culminating attention is the samādhi. Immediately following, conditioned by it, the next arises.
tenāha samādhijaṁ īpsitāninditārthaprāpteḥ prītau vā doṣadarśanāt |
Therefore: 'Born from concentration' — from the attainment of the desired, blameless object, or from seeing the fault in prīti coming next.
sa saṁpraharṣagataṁ daurmanasyagataṁ vitarkavicāraprathamadhyānakleśapakṣasarvadauṣṭhulyāpagamāt tatprātipakṣikapraśrabdhicittakāyakarmaṇyatāsuravānugatatvāt |
Pacifying gone-to-elation and gone-to-dejection, by the disappearance of all encumbrance belonging to the vitarka-vicāra-first-dhyāna-defilement side, the counter-action of which is praśrabdhi, the workableness of mind-and-body —
prītisukhamanupūrveṇa gaṇayato dvitīyaṁ bhavatyevaṁ sarvaṁ pūrvavad veditavyam |
'Rapture-and-happiness' — by the same understanding as before. By progression, the second comes to be. Everything else as before.
tasmiṁśca samaye dvividho 'sya cittakṣobhakaraḥ apakṣālo 'dhigato bhavati |
At that time, he has recognized two mind-disturbing obstructions:
niḥprītike tṛtīyadhyāne cittaṁ pradadhataḥ |
when placing the mind in the raptureless third dhyāna,
dvitīye ca dhyāne vitarkavicārāḥ, etarhi ca prītiḥ, tenāha upekṣako viharati |
in the second dhyāna there were vitarka-vicāra; here it is rapture. Therefore: 'He abides in equanimity.'
etau hi dvau dharmau cittasaṁkṣobhakarau |
Both these dharmas are mind-disturbance-makers,
Prīti (rapture) is unambiguously good at first and second jhāna, yet for the practitioner moving to third jhāna it must be recognized as gross — as a citta-kṣobha-kara (mind-disturbance-maker) that obstructs nirantarā upekṣā. The engine of the mundane path: what was the achievement of the prior level becomes the obstruction at the next.
tatra prathame dhyāne vitarkavicārā bhavanti |
In the first dhyāna there are vitarka-vicāra,
yenātrāpi nirantaropekṣā na pravartate |
by which here too uninterrupted equanimity does not proceed.
tenāyaṁ dhyāyī prathamadvitīyeṣu dhyāneṣu nāsti, tena tṛtīye dhyāne upekṣako viharatītyucyate |
Therefore in this contemplator, in the first and second dhyānas, equanimity is not yet; for which reason in the third dhyāna 'he abides in equanimity' is said.
sa upekṣakaḥ saṁstathā saṁstathopasthitasmṛtirviharati |
He, abiding in equanimity, abides thus with mindfulness established.
yathā yathā te prītisahagatāḥ saṁjñāmanasikārāḥ samudācaranti |
As perception-and-attention conjoined-with-rapture occur —
sa cet punarabhāvitatvāt tṛtīyasya dhyānasya smṛtisaṁpramoṣāt kadācitkarhicit citte prītisahagatāḥ saṁjñāmanasikārāḥ samudācaranti |
if, due to non-cultivation of the third dhyāna, by lapse-of-mindfulness, occasionally perception-and-attention conjoined-with-rapture occur in the mind —
tāṁstān laghu laghveva prajñayā pratividhyati |
those, those, lightly, lightly indeed, by wisdom he penetrates.
Laghu laghv eva prajñayā pratividhyati — 'lightly, lightly indeed, by wisdom he penetrates.' The mechanism of third jhāna: prīti-traces still arise but are met with quick wisdom rather than effortful suppression. The two stabilizing factors are smṛti (mindfulness) and saṁprajanya (clear-knowing).
tasya tasmin samaye evamupekṣakasya viharatā smṛtasya saṁprajanyasya āsevanānvayād bahulīkārānvayāt prītisahagataṁ prahīyate |
By that equanimity, by frequent practice, what is conjoined with rapture is abandoned.
taccittauddhatyakaraṁ, niḥprītikaṁ, śāntaṁ, praśāntaṁ cetasi veditamutpadyate |
That mind-agitating factor [is abandoned]; raptureless, calm, fully-calmed feeling arises in the mind.
The syntax distinguishes what is abandoned from what arises. The rapture-conjoined, mind-agitating factor is abandoned; what arises in the mind is raptureless, calm, fully calmed feeling. Reading the raptureless calm as the mind-agitating factor inverts the third-dhyāna transition.
prītiprātidvandvyena tasmin samaye rūpakāyena, manaḥkāyena vedita sukhaṁ ca praśrabdhisukhaṁ pratisamvedayate |
By counter-action to rapture, at that time, in the form-body and the mind-body, happiness and praśrabdhi-happiness are experienced.
adhastad rūpaṁ sukhaṁ nāsti nāpi nirantarā upekṣā tṛtīyāddhyānādūrdhvaṁ yadapyupekṣopalabhyate |
that form-happiness does not exist; nor does uninterrupted equanimity. From the third dhyāna upward, although equanimity is found,
tatrādhaḥ sukhopekṣābhāvādūrdhvaṁ ca sukhābhāvāt |
Below, sense-pleasure-equanimity is absent; above, happiness is absent.
The third jhāna is the unique zone where calm-equanimity meets felt happiness. Below it, you get happiness without continuous equanimity; above it, you get equanimity without happiness. Why classical texts sometimes call the third jhāna the most pleasant attainment — it is structurally pleasant in a way no other attainment is.
idaṁ tadāyatanaṁ yaduta tṛtīyaṁ dhyānaṁ yat tadāryā ācakṣate |
This is that base — the third dhyāna — which the noble ones declare.
yatpratilambhavihāriṇaṁ pudgalamadhikṛtya smṛtimān sukhavihārī tṛtīyaṁ dhyānamupasaṁpadya viharatīti āryāḥ punaḥ vṛddhāśca vṛddhaśrāvakāśca |
In dependence on this, the attaining-and-abiding person who is mindful and the happy-abider attains and abides in the third dhyāna — so the noble ones, the elders, the elder disciples say.
pratipakṣasya sukhasya prahāṇapratipakṣānākhyātaḥ kṣo 'nākhyātaḥ |
the counteragent for abandoning sukha is not separately stated.
yadeva tatpratipakṣakṛtaṁ sukhaprahāṇaṁ tadevākhyātaṁ |
Only the abandoning of sukha brought about by that counteragent is stated.
tasya ca niṣevaṇābhyāsāt tṛtīyadhyānāccalito yatra tṛtīyadhyānabhūmisukhaṁ tat prajahāti |
By practicing this, he drops out from the third-dhyāna plane where sukha is present, and abandons that sukha.
tenāha | sukhasya ca prahāṇāt pūrvameva ca saumanasyadaurmanasyayorastaṅgamāt |
Therefore: '[Damaged/Conjectural: By abandoning sukha and abandoning duḥkha], and previously by the disappearance of saumanasya and daurmanasya.'
tatra caturthadhyānasamāpattikāle tasmin samaye sa dhyāyī sukhaduḥkhavyatikramamanuprāpnoti |
In the fourth-dhyāna-attainment-time, that contemplator attains the transcendence of pleasure-and-pain.
tena yaśca pūrvaprahīṇaṁ, yaścaitarhi prahīyate |
Of what was previously abandoned, of what is now abandoned,
sukhasya ca prahāṇāt, duḥkhasya ca prahāṇāt, pūrvameva ca saumanasyadaurmanasyayorastaṅgamāt |
'From the abandoning of pleasure, from the abandoning of pain, from the previous disappearance of joy and dejection.'
tanna caturthadhyānasamāpattikāle sukhasya ca prahāṇād dvitīyadhyānasamāpattikāle duḥkhasya, tṛtīyadhyānasamāpattikāle saumanasyasyāstaṅgamāt, prathamadhyānasamāpattikāle daurmanasyasya, asti tāvat sukhaduḥkhayoḥ prahāṇād aduḥkhāsukhaivāsya vedanā, na viśiṣṭā bhavati |
Sukha is not abandoned only at the time of fourth-dhyāna attainment: duḥkha [was abandoned] at the time of second-dhyāna attainment, saumanasya disappeared at the time of third-dhyāna attainment, and daurmanasya at the time of first-dhyāna attainment. Thus, from the abandoning of pleasure-and-pain, he has neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, but it is not yet distinctive.
tenāha | aduḥkhāsukhā tasmin samaye prathamaṁ dhyānamupādāya sarve adhobhūmikāḥ apakṣālāḥ prahīṇā bhavanti |
Therefore: 'Neither-painful-nor-pleasant' — at that time, taking the first dhyāna as the starting reference, all the lower-plane obstructions are abandoned.
tadyathā vitarkavicārāḥ, prīti, āśvāsapraśvāsāḥ |
Namely: vitarka-vicāra, prīti, in-and-out-breaths.
The fourth-dhyāna formula is being explained retrospectively. The local quote at 5.7 appears to omit duḥkha, but the summation at 5.11 gives the full stock sequence: abandoning pleasure and pain, with prior disappearance of joy and dejection. Asanga explicitly lists breath (āśvāsa-praśvāsa) among what is abandoned at the fourth jhāna. The breath itself ceases. A structural marker: if the breath has not become very subtle to the point of apparent cessation, fourth jhāna proper has not been entered.
teṣāṁ ca prahāṇād yā tatropekṣā |
By the abandoning of these, the equanimity there arising,
paryavadātā, yenāsya etaccittaṁ caturthadhyānasamāpannasyāniñjyaṁ santiṣṭhate |
fully clarified. By which his mind, having attained the fourth dhyāna, stands without movement —
Aniñjya — without-movement, unperturbed. Sarveñjitāyatana — sphere of all-non-perturbation. The structural feature that makes fourth jhāna the launchpad for the formless attainments and the abhijñā. Fourth jhāna is a gateway state, not a destination.
tenāha | upekṣāsmṛtipariśuddhamiti |
Therefore: 'By the purity of equanimity-and-mindfulness.'
tatrākāśādhimokṣasya varṇasaṁjñā nīlapītalohitāvadātādipratisaṁyuktatāmasātāmasātayā nirvirāgatayā ca samatikrānto bhavati |
Of one whose mind is resolved on space, the form-perception — connected with blue-yellow-red-white etc. — is transcended by indifference-toward and dispassion-toward.
tenāha | rūpasaṁjñānāṁ samatikramādanābhāsagamanahetoryā anekavidhā bahunānāprakārā varṇapracayahetukā āvaraṇasaṁjñā sā yā sā vigatā bhavati |
Therefore: 'From the transcendence of form-perceptions' — for the cause of the mind proceeding to the limit. The obstruction-perceptions of various kinds, many-and-varied, caused by the accumulation-of-color, those go away.
tenāha | pratighasaṁjñānāmastaṅgamāt, tāsāṁ vā punarvigamahetoryā aupacayikī saṁjñā teṣvavaśiṣṭeṣu viśiṣṭeṣu saṁghāteṣu pravṛttāstadyathā bhojanapānavastrālaṅkāragṛhodyānavanasenāparvatādisaṁjñāḥ |
Therefore: 'From the disappearance of obstruction-perceptions.' Or, by the cause-of-disappearance of those, the abundance-perception proceeding in the remaining superior aggregations — namely, perceptions of food, drink, clothing, ornaments, house, garden, forest, army, mountain, etc.
teṣu sarveṇa sarvamābhogo 'pyasya na pravartate |
— in those, all and every directed-effort no longer proceeds.
tenāha | nānātvasaṁjñānāmamanasikārāt |
Therefore: 'From non-attention to manifold-perceptions.'
The transition from form-realm (4th jhāna) to formless (ākāśānantyāyatana) requires releasing three perception-categories simultaneously: form-perceptions (color), obstruction-perceptions (resistance/objects-as-blocks), and manifold-perceptions (the world of things). The release-mechanism: vairāgya for the first two, amanasi-kāra for the third.
sa evaṁ rūpapratighānānātvasaṁjñā bhāvayitvā anantākāreṇa ākāśādhimukto bhavati |
Having thus cultivated [release from] form-, obstruction-, and manifold-perceptions, he becomes resolved on space by the infinity-aspect.
tenāha | anantamākāśamaśaṁsasāmantakamatikramya prayoganiṣṭhān manasikārāducca-prayoganiṣṭhāphalaṁ maulaṁ samāpadyate |
Therefore: 'Infinite space' — taking the immediate-vicinity, transcending — from the practice-culminating attention to the high-practice-culminating-fruit, he attains the basic attainment.
tenāha | ākāśānantyāyatanamupasaṁpadya viharati |
Therefore: 'Having attained, he abides in the infinity-of-space-base.'
tasyākāśamālambanaṁ samāpannasya punastacca tadanye ca skandhāḥ svabhūmikāḥ sāmantake punaradhobhūmikā api skandhāḥ |
for the attainer of the space-as-object stage, that and the other aggregates are own-plane; the immediate-vicinity ones are also lower-plane aggregates.
samayena vijñānenānantamākāśamadhimucyate |
By a moment of consciousness, infinite space is resolved-on.
tadeva vijñānam anantākārākāśādhimokṣikaṁ |
That very consciousness, with the infinite-aspect of space-resolve —
The most subtle of the formless transitions. The consciousness that has been resolving on space-as-infinite is itself infinite (because its object is infinite). The practitioner shifts the resolve to that consciousness. Formless attainments are recursive applications of the same cognitive operation, not increasingly abstract objects.
tadeva vijñānam anantākāreṇādhimucyate |
that very consciousness is resolved-on with the infinite-aspect.
sasāmantake maulamākāśānantyāyatanaṁ samatikramyate |
With its immediate-vicinity, the basic ākāśānantyāyatana is transcended.
tenāha | sarvaśa ākāśānantyāyatanaṁ samatikramyānantaṁ vijñānamiti |
Therefore: 'Transcending the ākāśānantyāyatana completely, infinite consciousness.'
sa vijñānānantyāyatanamiti sāmantakaṁ samatikramya yāvat prayoganiṣṭhān manasikarāt maulaprayoganiṣṭhāphalaṁ samāpadyate |
He, transcending the immediate-vicinity of vijñānānantyāyatana, from the practice-culminating attention to the basic-practice-culminating-fruit, attains.
tenāha | vijñānānantyāyatanamupasaṁpadya viharatīti |
Therefore: 'Having attained, he abides in the vijñānānantyāyatana.'
sa vijñānānantyāyatanāducchalito vijñānāt pareṇālambanaṁ samanveṣamāṇo na punarlabhate |
He, dropping out from the vijñānānantyāyatana, searching for an object beyond consciousness, does not find one —
sa tadālambanamalabhamānaḥ sasāmāntakam maulaṁ vijñānānantyāyatanaṁ samatikramya nāsti kiñcidanyadālambanamadhimucyate |
Not finding that object, transcending the vijñānānantyāyatana-with-its-immediate-vicinity, he resolves: 'There is nothing else as an object.'
The mechanism for moving to ākiñcanyāyatana is via negativa. The practitioner searches for an object beyond consciousness — and fails to find one. The failure to find is itself the resolution. 'Nothingness' is not a metaphysical claim about emptiness or void — it is the contemplative recognition that no further object is available.
so akiñcanasaṁjñādhimukta eva bhavati |
He becomes resolved on the perception of nothingness.
sa tasya saṁjñādhimokṣasya bahulīkārānvayādākiñcanyāyatanasāmantakaṁ samatikramya yāvat prayoganiṣṭhān manasikārān maulaṁ prayoganiṣṭhāphale samāpadyate |
By the abundance of this perception-resolve, transcending the ākiñcanyāyatana-immediate-vicinity, from the practice-culminating attention, he attains the basic practice-culminating-fruit.
tenāha | sarvaśo vijñānānantyāyatanaṁ samatikramya nāsti kiñciditi ākiñcanyāyatanamupasaṁspṛśya saṁpadya viharatīti |
Therefore: 'Transcending the vijñānānantyāyatana completely, there is nothing, the ākiñcanyāyatana — having attained, he abides.'
tenāha | saṁjñī yaduta ākiñcanyāyatanāducchalitaḥ |
Therefore: 'Perceiving' — namely, dropping out from the ākiñcanyāyatana,
ākiñcanyasaṁjñāyāmaudārikasaṁjñī ādīnavasaṁjñī ākiñcanyāyatanasaṁjñāṁ vyāvartayati |
gross-perceiving, fault-perceiving the perception-of-nothingness, he turns away the ākiñcanyāyatana-perception.
tena pūrvamākiñcanyāyatanasamāpattikāle akiñcanasaṁjñā samatikrāntā, etarhyakiñcanasaṁjñā samatikrāntā bhavati |
By that previous ākiñcanyāyatana-attainment-time, the perception-of-nothingness was transcended; now the non-perception-of-nothingness has come to be transcended.
tenāha saṁjñī yaduta kiñcanasaṁjñāyā vā, akiñcanasaṁjñāyā vā, akiñcanasaṁjñā vā, na ca punaḥ sarveṇa sarvaṁ sāsya saṁjñā niruddhā bhavati |
Therefore: 'Perceiving' — [Damaged/Conjectural: neither with perception of something, nor with perception of nothingness, nor with complete non-perception]. Not, however, that all and every perception of his is ceased.
tadyathā āsaṁjñike vā, nirodhasamāpattau vā, nānyatra sūkṣmā sā saṁjñā nimittālambane pravartate |
As in the non-perception-attainment or the cessation-attainment — but here, a subtle perception proceeds, with sign-as-object.
Naiva-saṁjñā-nāsaṁjñāyatana — perception is not ceased (that would be one of the non-conscious attainments below). The printed perception/non-perception phrase at 9.4 is repetitive and likely corrupt, so the English marks a contextual repair: the state is neither ordinary perception of something, nor the nothingness-perception, nor total non-perception. What remains is sūkṣmā saṁjñā nimittālambane pravartate — a subtle perception proceeding with sign-as-object. There is barely-perception. Hence 'neither perception nor non-perception.' This is the structural endpoint of the laukika path (bhavāgra).
evaṁ tadāyatanādhimuktaḥ sa-sāmantakam aulam ākiñcanyāyatanaṁ samatikramya naivasaṁjñānāsaṁjñāyatanasāmantakasya yāvat prayoganiṣṭhān manasikārāt prayoganiṣṭhāphalaṁ maulaṁ samāpadyate |
Thus resolved on that sphere, having transcended the sāmantaka and maula sphere of nothingness, [proceeding] from the sāmantaka of the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception up through the prayoganiṣṭha attentions, he attains the prayoganiṣṭhāphala maula.
tenāha — sarvaśa ākiñcanyāyatanaṁ samatikramya naivasaṁjñānāsaṁjñāyatanam upasampadya viharatīti ||
By this he says: 'Having entirely transcended the sphere of nothingness, having attained the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, he abides [in it].'
tatra dhyānasamāpattikāle adho rasātalapraveśavat |
There, at the time of dhyāna-attainment, [the sign is] as if descending downward into the underworld —
Restored from PDF 6492-6497. Two canonical Yogācāra similes for the qualitative difference between dhyāna-attainment and ārūpya-attainment: the dhyāna-attainment is like descending into the underworld (a downward, settling motion — the kāya-samprakhyāna-liṅga); the ārūpya-attainment is like falling from space (a free-fall release from form-perception). These bodily-experience signs are the practitioner's diagnostic for which attainment has been reached.
ārūpyasamāpattikāle ākāśāt patanavat |
At the time of ārūpya-attainment, [the sign is] as if falling from space.
tatra śamathākālenādhyupekṣaṇāt samyakprayogaḥ |
There [in both cases], right engagement [comes] from the equanimous attention at the śamatha-time.
tatra dve acittike samāpattī asaṁjñāsamāpattirnirodhasamāpattiśca |
There are two non-conscious attainments: the non-perception attainment and the cessation attainment.
tatrāsaṁjñāsamāpattiṁ saṁjñāvimukhena manaskāreṇa pṛthagjana eva samāpadyate, nirodhasamāpattiṁ punarārya eva |
The non-perception attainment is entered by an ordinary person using perception-turned-away attention; the cessation attainment, however, is entered only by a noble one.
Two attainments in which consciousness itself ceases. Asaṁjñā-samāpatti is reachable by ordinary persons (pṛthag-jana) — serious meditators without supramundane attainment. Nirodha-samāpatti requires ākiñcanya-vairāgya plus stream-entry-or-higher status — an attainment of the noble path, not just of meditative skill. The latter is the closest mundane experience of nirvāṇa.
tatra dvābhyāṁ manaskārābhyāmanayoḥ samāpattyoḥ samāpattipraveśo bhavati |
By two attentions, entry into these two attainments occurs:
tadyathā saṁjñāvimukhena manaskāreṇāsaṁjñāsamāpatteḥ, naivasaṁjñānāsaṁjñā ucchalitenālambanasannirūddhena ca manaskāreṇa nirodhasamāpatteḥ |
namely, into the non-perception attainment by perception-turned-away attention; into the cessation attainment by attention dropping-out from naivasaṁjñā-nāsaṁjñā and resolving-on-cessation-of-object.
tatra saṁjñārogaḥ, saṁjñāgaṇḍaḥ, saṁjñāśalyaḥ maṁ, etacchāntametatpraṇītaṁ yadutāsaṁjñikamiti |
Now, perception is illness, perception is a boil, perception is an arrow — this is peace, this is the sublime, namely the unperceptional [attainment].
saṁjñāśalyaḥ maṁ — the stray maṁ after śalyaḥ is a source-level fragment that does not parse cleanly; it is preserved as-is per the emendation policy. The three-fold characterization (roga / gaṇḍa / śalya — disease, boil, arrow) is the canonical Buddhist formula for naming saṁjñā as fundamentally unsatisfactory, motivating the unconscious attainment as escape.
saṁjñāvimukhaṁ manaskāraṁ parigṛhyotpannotpannāmasaṁjñāsmṛtyamanasikārānu ramanucareti rati |
Taking up an attention turned away from perception, [one] follows the non-attention to perception [as each impulse of] memory of perception arises and arises.
tasya bhāvanānvayātprayogamārge sacittikāvasthā bhavati |
Through cultivation, on the path of preparation, there is a state still with mind.
samanaskārasamāpannasya ca punaścittaṁ na pravartata iti |
And to one who has entered the attainment along with [its supporting] attention, mind no longer functions.
sa evaṁ niḥsaraṇasaṁjñā pūrvakeṇa manaskāreṇa śubhakṛtyavītarāgasya, bṛhatphalebhyo vītarāgasya, cittacaitasikānāṁ dharmāṇāṁ nirodha iyamucyate asaṁjñāsamāpattiḥ |
Thus, by an attention preceded by the perception of escape, in one free of passion for the [Śubha-]kṛtsna [and] free of passion for the bṛhatphala [heavens], the cessation of mind and mental dharmas — this is called the unperceptional attainment.
MS reads śubhakṛtya, but no heaven by that name exists in Buddhist cosmology. The intended reading is śubha-kṛtsna — the Śubhakṛtsna ('Entirely-Beautiful') heaven, the third and highest of the Third Dhyāna realm. The corruption -tya for -tsna is a standard palaeographic substitution; the parallel passage in Asaṅga's Abhidharmasamuccaya (10, 20) confirms. The English restores [Śubha-]kṛtsna; the Sanskrit JSON preserves the MS reading per the emendation policy. The pairing with bṛhatphala (the highest heaven of the Fourth Dhyāna) marks the joint upper bound of mundane vairāgya required for entry into asaṁjñā-samāpatti.
tatra naiva saṁjñānāsaṁjñāyatanalābhī āryaḥ pareṇa śāntena vihāreṇa viharttukāmaḥ naiva saṁjñānāsaṁjñāyatanāccittamuccālayati |
Then, the noble one who has gained the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, wishing to abide in a further peaceful abode, raises [his] mind out of the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.
taccittamuccalitamālambanaṁ na labhate |
That mind, [thus] raised, does not find an object.
ya evamākiṁcanyāyatanavītarāgasya śaikṣasyārhato vā vihārasaṁjñāpūrvakeṇa manaskāreṇa cittacaitasikānāṁ dharmāṇāṁ nirodha iyamucyate nirodhasamāpattirevaṁ ca punarasyāḥ prāptirbhavati |
Thus, for a trainee or an arhat free of passion for the sphere of nothingness, by an attention preceded by the perception of [peaceful] abiding, the cessation of mind and mental dharmas — this is called the cessation-attainment; and this is how it is obtained.
tatra dhyānasanniśrayeṇa pañcānāmabhijñānāmabhinirhāro bhavati |
By the basis of dhyāna, the manifestation of the five higher knowledges occurs.
sa tatpariśuddhaṁ dhyānaṁ niśritya yo anenābhijñādhipateyo dharmaḥ śruto bhavatyudgṛhītaḥ, paryavāptaḥ, yaduta ṛddhiviṣayamārabhya, pūrvenivāsadivyaśrotracyutyupapādacetaḥparyāyaṁ vā tameva manasi kurvan samāhitabhūmikena manaskāreṇārthapratisaṁvedī ca bhavati |
Relying on that pure dhyāna: whatever dharma he has heard, grasped, fully obtained — bearing on the higher-knowledge-predominant, namely the range-of-supernormal-power, recollection-of-past-abodes, divine-ear, divine-eye, knowledge-of-others'-minds — that very dharma he attends to with concentrated-plane-attention. He becomes meaning-knower
The five higher knowledges: range of supernormal powers, divine ear, knowing minds of others, recollection of past lives, divine eye (passing-and-arising of beings). A sixth, āsrava-kṣaya (destruction of outflows), is supramundane and not part of this laukika-path treatment. These are far outside the working territory of contemporary lay practice.
tasyārthapratisaṁvedino dharmaḥ pratisaṁvedinastathā tathā cittānyabhisaṁskurvato bahulīkārānvayād bhavati |
Of that meaning-knowing, dharma-knowing practitioner, shaping the mind in such-and-such ways through frequent cultivation —
sa kālo bhavati samayo yadasya bhāvanāphalāḥ pañcābhijñā utpadyante |
there comes a time and occasion when his fruits of cultivation, the five higher knowledges, arise.
api ca tasyāsa tathārtha pratisaṁvedī, dharmapratisaṁvedī sarvābhijñānirhārāya dvādaśasaṁjñā bhāvayati |
Moreover, the one expert in meaning and in dharma, in order to bring forth all the abhijñās, cultivates twelve saṁjñās.
The 12-saṁjñā framework operationalizes how the five abhijñās are produced. The first five (lightness, softness, space-element, body-mind co-presence, adhimokṣa) prepare the ṛddhi-viṣaya (supernatural-powers domain). The next four — past-conduct-recollection, sound-assembly, luminous-form-sign, defilement-induced-form-modification — each yields one further abhijñā (pūrvenivāsa, divya-śrotra, divya-cakṣus/cyutyupapāda, cetaḥ-paryāya-jñāna). The last three (adhimokṣa redux, abhibhvāyatana, kṛtsnāyatana) yield āryā ṛddhi proper — the noble supernatural power distinguished from illusionist's display by being actually efficacious.
kāyacittasamavadhānasaṁjñāmadhimuktisaṁjñāṁ,
the perception of body-mind co-presence, the perception of resolve,
pūrvānubhūtacaryānukramānusmṛtisaṁjñāṁ
the perception of recollecting past-experienced conduct in sequence,
nānāprakāraśabdasannipātanirghoṣasaṁjñāmavadātarūpanimittasaṁjñāṁ,
the perception of the assembled noise of various kinds of sound, the perception of luminous-form-signs,
kleśakṛtarūpavikārasaṁjñāmadhimokṣasaṁjñāmamibhvāyatanasaṁjñāṁ kṛtsnāyatanasaṁjñāñca |
the perception of form-changes produced by defilements, the perception of resolve, the perception of the abhibhvāyatanas, and the perception of the kṛtsnāyatanas.
tatra laghusaṁjñāyāṁ laghukamātmānamadhimucyate |
Now, in the perception of lightness, one resolves oneself as light.
vāyumaṇḍalake vā sa tathā adhimucyamānaḥ tatra prerayatyādhimokṣikeṇaiva manaskāreṇa |
Or one [resolves oneself] upon a wind-disk; thus resolved, one impels [oneself] there by attention conjoined with resolve.
itīyaṁ mṛdusaṁjñāyā laghusaṁjñāyāḥ poṣikā, anugrāhikā yayā anugṛhyamāṇā laghusaṁjñā pṛthuvṛddhivaikalyatāṁ vipulatāṁ gacchati |
Thus the perception of softness nourishes and supports the perception of lightness, by which the latter — supported — comes to extension, growth, and amplitude.
tatrākāśadhātusaṁjñā yayā saṁjñayā laghutāṁ ca mṛdutāṁ cātmano 'dhimucyate |
Then the perception of the space-element: by this perception, one resolves oneself as light and soft.
tatra yadantarālaṁ vivandhacaraṁ rūpigataṁ gamanāya tadākāśamadhimucyate |
one resolves the [intervening] obstructive form-spaces as [open] space, for passage through them.
tatra cittakāyasamavadhānasaṁjñā yayā cittamvā kāye samavadadhāti |
Then the perception of body-mind co-presence: by which one sets the mind into the body,
kāyamvā citte, yenāsya kāyo laghutaraśca bhavati, mṛdutaraśca, karmaṇyataraśca, prabhāsvarataraśca |
or the body into the mind, whereby the body becomes lighter, softer, more workable, more luminous.
cittānvayaścitta pratibandhaścittaṁ niśritya varttate |
[The body becomes] mind-conforming, mind-bound, proceeding in dependence on mind.
tatrādhimokṣikasaṁjñā yayā saṁjñayā bhūdūragamāsanne adhimucyate, āsannaṁ dūre, aṇu sthūlaṁ, sthūlamaṇu, pṛthivī āpaḥ, āpaḥ pṛthivī evamekaikena mahābhūtenānyonyaṁ karaṇīyaṁ |
Then the perception of resolve: by which one resolves the distant as near, the near as distant, the small as large, the large as small, earth as water, water as earth — thus making each of the great elements interchangeable with the others.
vistareṇa tathānirmitaṁ cādhimucyate, rūpanirmitaṁ vā, śabdanirmitaṁ vā |
And in detail, one similarly resolves [things] as transformed, [whether] form-transformations or sound-transformations.
ityābhiḥ pañcasaṁjñābhiḥ bhāvanāyā pariniṣpannābhiranekavidhamṛddhiviṣayaṁ pratyanubhavatyeko bhūtvā bahudhātmānamupadarśayati |
By these five saṁjñās, perfected through cultivation, one experiences various kinds of supernatural feats — being one, manifesting [oneself as] many;
yadutādhimokṣikayā nairmāṇikayākyāsaṁjñayā tatra bahudhā punarātmānamupadarśayancaikī bhavati |
namely, by the resolve-perception of creation, manifesting [oneself as] many, then becoming one again.
yaduta nirmāṇāntardhāyikayā adhimuktisaṁjñayā tiraḥkuḍyaṁ, tiraḥprākāramasajjamānena kāyena gacchati |
Namely, by the resolve-perception of disappearance of the creation, one passes through walls, through ramparts, with body unhindered;
tadyathodake, udake bhidyamānena srātasā gacchati |
as if in water, [or] one goes through the water with a [parted-water] current as if it were broken.
tadyathā pṛthivyāmākāśe paryaṅkenākrāmati |
Likewise one walks cross-legged on space as if on earth.
tadyathā pakṣī śakuniḥ, imau vā sūryācandramasāvevaṁ mahardhikau mahānubhāvau pāṇinā āmārṣṭi |
Like a winged bird; or one touches with the hand even these so-mighty, so-powerful sun and moon.
laghumṛdvākāśadhātucittakāyasamavadhānasaṁjñayā parigṛhītayā adhimuktisaṁjñayā sarvametatkaroti |
By the resolve-perception, taken together with the perceptions of lightness, softness, space-element, and body-mind co-presence, one accomplishes all this.
tatra dvividhābrahmalokasya kāyena vaśe vartanā, gamanena ca |
Now this twofold mastery of the Brahmā-world, by body and by going, [is to be understood]
yathaivādhimuktyā vā, brahmalokādadhaścartukāmatā bhūtānāṁ tadekatyasya copādāyarūpasya |
Just as by resolve, or the [downward] wish to go from the Brahmā-world to beings [there], and to the form-derivative [substance] of one of them.
tatra pūrvānubhūtacaritānukramānusmṛtisaṁjñā yayā kumārakabhāvamupādāya yatrāsya smṛtiḥ pravarttate |
Then the perception of recollecting past-experienced conduct in sequence: by which, from the state of childhood onward, wherever one's memory functions,
yatrārya gato bhavati, sthito, niṣaṇṇaḥ, śayito vistareṇa sarvāṁ pūrvānubhūtāṁ caryāmaudārikatayā anuparivāṭikayā avyutkramantinte kayā samanusmaransaṁjānāti |
wherever the noble one has gone, stood, sat, lain — recollecting in detail all past-experienced conduct in coarse sequence, without skipping, one knows it.
tasyā bhāvanānvayād bhāvanāphalamanekavidhaṁ pūrvenivāsaṁ samanusmarati yāvatsaṁsāraṁ soddeśaṁ vistareṇa |
Through cultivation, the fruit of cultivation: one recollects manifold past abodes, even back through saṁsāra, with their distinctive marks, in detail.
tatra nānāprakāraśabdasannipātanirghoṣasaṁjñā |
Then the perception of the assembled noise of various kinds of sound:
yasmin grāme vā, nigame vā śreṇyāmvā, pūge vā, parṣadi vā, āyataviśāle vā gṛhe, avavarake vā, nānāprakārasya janakāyasya sanniṣaṇṇasya sannipatitasya yo vyatimiśro, vicitro, nirghoṣo niścarita |
in a village, a town, a guild, a corporation, an assembly, a wide hall, or a chamber — the various assembled and gathered noise — mingled, varied, [a sound that] issues forth,
mahatyā vā nadyā vahantyā nirghoṣaḥ, tatra nimittamudgṛhya yā saṁjñābhāvanā yayā samāhitabhūmikena manasikāreṇāryānāryeṣu śabdeṣu, divyamānuṣyakeṣu, dūrāntikeṣvābhogaṁ vārayati |
Or the roar of a great flowing river: taking the sign there, the cultivation of perception by which, with attention based in the concentrated stage, one directs [attention] to noble and ignoble sounds, divine and human, far and near.
tasyāsya bahulīkārānvayād bhāvanāphalaṁ divyaṁ śrotraṁ pratilabhate |
Through cultivation, one gains the divine ear as the fruit of cultivation,
pūrvavadālokanimittamudgṛhya tadeva nimittaṁ manasi karoti |
as before, taking the light-sign, one attends to that very sign.
tasyā bhāvanānvayād bhāvanāphalaṁ cyutyupapādajñānaṁ pratilabhate |
Through cultivation, one gains the knowledge of passing-away-and-rebirth as the fruit of cultivation,
yena divyena cakṣuṣā viśuddhena vistareṇa yāvatkāyasya bhedātsvargatau svargaloke deveṣūpapadyante |
by which one sees, with the divine eye purified, beings — in detail — being reborn at the breakup of the body in good destinies, in heavenly worlds, among the gods.
tatra kleśakṛtarūpavikārasaṁjñā |
Then the perception of form-changes produced by defilements:
yayā raktadviṣṭamūḍhānāṁ krodhopanāhaprayuktaparidāhāhrīkyānapatrāpyakleśopakleśaparyavanaddhacittānāṁ sattvānāṁ rūpāvasthāmupalakṣayati |
by which one observes the form-state of beings stained by lust, by aversion, by delusion — beings with minds bound by anger, resentment, burning, shamelessness, unconcern, defilements, and secondary defilements —
evaṁ rūpāraktasya rūpāvasthā bhavati |
Thus is the form-state of one enraged by [some] form,
evaṁ rūpā dviṣṭasya rūpāvasthā bhavati |
Thus is the form-state of one disgusted by [some] form,
tadyathā mūkatā arthanidhyaptāvapratipadyanatā prākṛtāprākṛtā vā vāgvyāhāratā |
namely, muteness, failure to engage in the determination of meaning, ordinary or extraordinary speech-utterance.
ityebhirākārairevaṁ bhāgīyairyāvadāhrīkyānapatrāpyaparyavasthitasya yā rūpāvasthā bhavati |
By these aspects of such kinds — up through one bound by shamelessness and unconcern — whatever form-state arises,
tadyathā bahulīkārānvayād bhāvanāphalaṁ cetaḥparyāyajñānamutpadyate |
Through cultivation, the knowledge of others' minds arises as the fruit of cultivation,
yena parasattvānāṁ parapudgalānāṁ vitarkitaṁ vicāritaṁ mano manasā yathābhūtaṁ prajānāti |
by which one knows the applied-thought, sustained-thought, and mind of other beings and persons — mind by mind, as it actually is.
tatra vimokṣābhibhvāyatana-kṛtsnāyatanasaṁjñābhāvanā pūrvavadveditavyā |
Then the cultivation of perceptions of vimokṣa, abhibhvāyatana, and kṛtsnāyatana is to be understood as before.
yayā bhāvanayā āryāmṛddhimabhinirharati |
By this cultivation, one accomplishes noble supernatural power —
vastupariṇāminīṁ nairmāṇikīmādhimokṣikīṁ |
[the power] of transforming things, of creation, of resolve.
catasraḥ pratisamvidaḥ tadyathā dharmapratisaṁvidarthapratisaṁvinniruktipratisamvitpratibhānapratisamvit |
and the four pratisaṁvids: discrimination of dharma, discrimination of meaning, discrimination of language, and discrimination of expression.
tatrāryāyāścānāryāyā ṛddherayaṁ viśeṣaḥ |
Now this is the distinction of noble supernatural power from ignoble:
Yogācāra āryā-ṛddhi / anāryā-ṛddhi — the noble-vs-ignoble distinction in supernatural powers. Noble: the resolved transformation actually occurs; the task can be accomplished. Ignoble (e.g., māyākāra, illusionists): only the appearance is produced. The same distinction in different terms grounds the standard Buddhist evaluation of magic vs realization.
āryayā ṛddhyā yadyadeva vastu pariṇāmayati |
by noble supernatural power, whatever object one transforms,
anāryayā na punarna tathaiva bhavatyapi tu |
By ignoble [supernatural power], on the other hand, it does not become so; rather,
māyākārakasyaiva saṁdarśanamātrakaṁ khyāti |
as with an illusionist's display, only a mere showing is manifested.