Jewels from the treasury vasubandhus ( (51)

There are four types of sustenance: food, contact, mental volition, and consciousness.. W h a t sense base it is 39b Its nature is the three sense bases, Its nature is the three sense ba

2 Explanation, and 3 As a summary, ascertaining that there are four types of sustenance

1 O verview

38d Wanderers abide from sustenance

Wanderers all abide from sustenance There are four types of sustenance: food, contact, mental volition, and consciousness

2 Explanation This has three topics: a Explaining food, b Explaining the remaining kinds o f sustenance, and c Additionally, explaining the synonyms for the between state

a Explaining food This has three points

i W h at level it is on

39a The sustenance food is in Desire

T he sustenance food is only in Desire and not in the two higher realms be­ cause one has no attachm ent to food there

ii W h a t sense base it is

39b Its nature is the three sense bases,

Its nature is the three sense bases o f smell, taste, and touch: the three faculties

o f nose, tongue, and body discern a bite o f food, and then one swallows and eats it, so it is food

iii Dispelling a doubt

39cd But not the sense base form, since that

Does not affect its organ or the freed

Doesn’t it follow that the sense base form is food, because after discerning color, et cetera, as a bite o f food, one eats? you ask The sense base form is

no t food, since if it were, when swallowed it would have to benefit its faculty (the eye) and the sources that support that faculty, but it does not If th a t does

n o t affect its own organ or faculty, then it is impossible that it affect other

faculties, and seeing the form of enticing food does not affect the nonreturners and arhats who are freed from desire for food

b Explaining the remaining kinds of sustenance This has two points

i Identifying their essence

40ab Contact, volition, and consciousness are

Stained sustenance

C ontact that arises from the assembly of object, faculty, and consciousness; the mental karma o f volition; and consciousness are, between the two o f de­ filed and undefiled, stained or defiled sustenance; they are not undefiled The Great Exposition says the undefiled contact, volition, and conscious­ ness are not sustenance, because sustenance sustains existence by propelling

w hat had not been propelled and com pleting w hat had been propelled, whereas those three exhaust existence and arise as its antidote

ii W h at realms they are in

T hey are in all three realms

c Additionally, explaining the synonyms for the between state

40cd It’s born from mind, the searching state,

Scent-eater, and the between state,

41 a And reestablishing

W hat seeks out existence? you ask As it does not depend on future parents, warm th and moisture, and so forth, and arises from just mind, it is called born from m ind As its condition is to seek the state o f rebirth, it is called the searching state As it eats smells for sustenance, it is called a scent-eater A nd

it is called the between state, and as it is clearly directed toward taking birth

in a body, it is called reestablishing

3 As a summary, ascertaining that there are four types of sustenance

4 la -d Two have the purpose

O f developing its base and the supported

Two have the purpose to propel,

Establish the next life, in order

If everything defiled maintains existence, why are only these four presented

as sustenance? you ask It is taught because they are o f prim ary importance

O f the first two types o f sustenance, food is presented as having the purpose

o f developing its, this life’s, base, the body with its faculties, and contact is presented as having the purpose o f developing the supported mental factors

T he other two are sustenance o f volition, which has the purpose to propel the next life, and the sustenance of consciousness, which has the purpose to actually establish the next life once it has been propelled Thus they are pre­ sented in this order In this way, the first two are like a wet nurse who takes care o f someone after birth, and the latter two are like a m other who gives birth to someone who has not yet been born

A few words here:

T he wonderful acuity that purifies rebirth

Is not begrimed with filth from creatures o f degenerate times

W ithin this feast o f explanations for those wanting freedom,

There is a great gate to inexhaustible nectar

D The minds of staying and dying This has three topics: 1 Identifying the

m ind o f death, 2 W here the consciousness stops, and 3 T he cause o f severing the pith

1 Identifying the mind of death This has two topics: a General teaching, and b Specific explanations

a General teaching

42a—c To sever, to restore, and to

Detach, regress, die, and be born

Are the m ind consciousness alone

To sever the roots o f virtue through wrong views; to restore the virtuous roots through correct view or doubt; and to detach oneself from realms and levels,

to regress from a result through malice or another inappropriate attention; to die, which is similar to the m otion o f the five faculties contracting and their

continuum being cut; and be born, which is rebirth-linking through a mis­ taken m ind, are the m ind consciousness alone, not the others T he m ention

o f birth also includes rebirth-linking in the between state

b Specific explanations This has three points

1 Distinctions of feeling

42d At death and birth, there’s neutral feeling

At death and at b irth there is neutral feeling only, because pleasure and suf­ fering are clear, but a clear consciousness is unsuitable for death or birth

ii Distinctions of mind

43a N ot in one-pointed or no mind

Those who were born in the Desire realm do not die or take birth while they are resting in one-pointed equipoise or in a state with no mind This is because death and birth are not the same status as samadhi, because samadhi arises from effort and is beneficial, and because those who are in states w ith no mind cannot be harmed by fire, weapons, or so forth

iii The manner of entering the state without remainder

43b Nirvana in two neutral minds

T he m ind o f the state o f death is explained to be virtuous, nonvirtuous, or neutral O f these, an arhat passes into nirvana in one o f two neutral m inds

If one proposes that there is fully ripened neutral feeling in Desire, then it is either that o f the path of conduct or full ripened If one proposes there is not,

it is either a virtuous m ind o f a path o f conduct or an unafflicted neutral mind,

it is said In particular, those two are weak, which makes them consistent with severing the continuum o f m ind, whereas other minds are strong

2 W here the consciousness stops

43cd In gradual death, if low or hum an,

Divine or no rebirth, m ind dies

44a In the feet, navel, or the heart

In that case, what part o f the body does the consciousness cease in? you ask

In dying a gradual death, if they are going to the low or h u m a n or divine god realms, o r if they are arhats w ho have no re b irth , the m in d is said conventionally to die in the feet, the navel, or the heart, because the body faculty ceases there Some say that arhats exit through the crown o f their heads If one dies instantaneously, the body faculty stops in an instant along

w ith the m ind

3 The cause of severing the pith

44b Water, et cetera, severs the pith

In some o f these instances, the duhkha said to be o f the p ith being severed

arises T he pith is that part o f the body which harm ing will cause death Sev­ ering is an intolerable feeling arising there In cases when there is a lot o f phlegm, this is caused by the element o f w ater being disturbed Included by the phrase “et cetera,” when there is a lot o f bile, the element o f fire is dis­ turbed, and if there is a lot o f wind, the element o f wind is violently disturbed

It is not severed by the other source, earth: this is similar to the destruction o f the environment, the w orld.148

These three are all in terms o f gradual death In the instantaneous death of those born by miraculous birth, the faculties are not discarded through a single part o f the body, nor is the pith severed T he gods o f Desire do not have their pith severed, but when the five near signs and five distant signs o f death appear, they experience unfathomable suffering

E Categorizing beings in three groups

44cd Nobles are destined for the correct;

The heinous deeds for the mistaken

From a sutra:

Three groups o f sentient beings are recognized: the

group that is destined for the correct, the group des­

tined for the mistaken, and the uncertain group

O f these three groups that are taught, nobles are destined for the correct be­ cause they are certain to be born in the higher realms and not the lower, and then attain freedom, and those who have done the heinous misdeeds are des­ tined for the mistaken, because immediately after dying they are certain to

be reborn in hell Everyone else is uncertain