“Ānanda, take an uneducated ordinary person who has not seen the noble ones, and is neither skilled nor trained in The Dharma of the noble ones. They’ve not seen good persons, and are neither skilled nor trained in The Dharma of the good persons.
uppannassa ca byāpādassa nissaraṇaṃ yathābhūtaṃ nappajānāti.
and they don’t truly understand the escape from ill will that has arisen.
他们没有真正理解从已生起的嗔恚中解脱出来的方法。
Tassa so byāpādo thāmagato appaṭivinīto orambhāgiyaṃ saṃyojanaṃ.
That ill will is reinforced in them, not eliminated: it is a lower fetter.
那种嗔恚在他们身上被强化，而不是被消除：它是一个下分结。
§3.2 – (case of noble one’s disciple)
Sutavā ca kho, ānanda, ariyasāvako ariyānaṃ dassāvī ariyadhammassa kovido ariyadhamme suvinīto, sappurisānaṃ dassāvī sappurisadhammassa kovido sappurisadhamme suvinīto na sakkāyadiṭṭhipariyuṭṭhitena cetasā viharati na sakkāyadiṭṭhiparetena;
But an educated noble-one's-disciple has seen the noble ones, and is skilled and trained in The Dharma of the noble ones. They’ve seen good persons, and are skilled and trained in The Dharma of the good persons. Their heart is not overcome and mired in identity view,
There is a path and a practice for giving up the five lower fetters. It’s not possible to know or see or give up the five lower fetters without relying on that path and that practice.
Suppose there was a large tree standing with heartwood. It’s not possible to cut out the heartwood without having cut through the bark and the softwood.
In the same way, there is a path and a practice for giving up the five lower fetters. It’s not possible to know or see or give up the five lower fetters without relying on that path and that practice.
同样地，有一种舍弃五下分结的道路和修行。不依靠那条道路和修行，就不可能了知、看见或舍弃五下分结。
§4.2 – (It’s possible to cut 5 lower fetters with that path, simile of heartwood)
There is a path and a practice for giving up the five lower fetters. It is possible to know and see and give up the five lower fetters by relying on that path and that practice.
In the same way, there is a path and a practice for giving up the five lower fetters. It is possible to know and see and give up the five lower fetters by relying on that path and that practice.
同样地，有一种舍弃五下分结的道路和修行。依靠那条道路和修行，就可能了知、看见并舍弃五下分结。
§4.3 – (It’s impossible to cease identity view without calming mind, simile of river ganges)
‘This is peaceful; this is sublime—that is, the stilling of all activities, the letting go of all attachments, the ending of craving, cessation, nirvana.’
“这是寂静的；这是崇高的——即一切活动的止息，一切执着的放下，贪欲的终结，止息，涅槃。”
So tattha ṭhito āsavānaṃ khayaṃ pāpuṇāti;
Abiding in that they attain the ending of asinine-inclinations.
安住于此，他们获得烦恼的止息。
no ce āsavānaṃ khayaṃ pāpuṇāti teneva dhammarāgena tāya dhammanandiyā pañcannaṃ orambhāgiyānaṃ saṃyojanānaṃ parikkhayā opapātiko hoti, tattha parinibbāyī, anāvattidhammo tasmā lokā.
If they don’t attain the ending of asinine-inclinations, with the ending of the five lower fetters they’re reborn spontaneously, because of their passion and love for that meditation. They are nirvana'd there, and are not liable to return from that world.
Furthermore, a monk, going totally beyond perceptions of form, with the ending of perceptions of impingement, not focusing on perceptions of diversity, aware that ‘space is infinite’, enters and remains in the dimension of infinite space.
Furthermore, a monk, going totally beyond the dimension of infinite space, aware that ‘consciousness is infinite’, enters and remains in the dimension of infinite consciousness.
此外，一位比丘，完全超越空无边处，觉知到“识是无限的”，进入并安住于识无边处。
So yadeva tattha hoti vedanāgataṃ saññāgataṃ saṅkhāragataṃ viññāṇagataṃ …
They contemplate the dharma there as impermanent …
他们在那里观想诸法为无常……
pe …
They turn their mind away from those dharmas …
他们将心从那些法中转离……
anāvattidhammo tasmā lokā.
If they don’t attain the ending of asinine-inclinations, they’re reborn spontaneously … and are not liable to return from that world.
Furthermore, a monk, going totally beyond the dimension of infinite consciousness, aware that ‘there is nothing at all’, enters and remains in the dimension of nothingness.
此外，一位比丘，完全超越识无边处，觉知到“一无所有”，进入并安住于无所有处。
So yadeva tattha hoti vedanāgataṃ saññāgataṃ saṅkhāragataṃ viññāṇagataṃ …
They contemplate the dharma there as impermanent …
他们在那里观想诸法为无常……
pe …
They turn their mind away from those dharmas …
他们将心从那些法中转离……
anāvattidhammo tasmā lokā.
If they don’t attain the ending of asinine-inclinations, they’re reborn spontaneously … and are not liable to return from that world.
“Sir, if this is the path and the practice for giving up the five lower fetters, how come some monks here are released in heart while others are released by wisdom?”
1. Interesting that the path to cutting the 5 lower fetters is the the four jhānas!
You were probably expecting The Buddha to say noble eightfold path, or sati (remembrance of Dharma) or right view, or a gradual training as the answer, but the Buddha just says the 4 jhānas and the 7 perception attainments.
2. This sutta, MN 64 is probably the most definitive sutta in saying it’s not possible to realize non-returner or arahantship without jhāna, since it says it’s impossible to cut the 5 fetters without the path, and the path is defined in this sutta as the 4 jhānas (and 7 perception attainments).
3. viveka in first jhāna, must be discernment + right view, not just ‘seclusion’, as explained here: only 1 way 1.2.64 – MN 64 says four jhānas is the path that leads to nirvana!
§100.2 – Notes from B. Ṭhānissaro (from his translation)
1. The list of concentration attainments to be used as a basis for insight while one remains in the attainment stops here. MN 111 indicates that the next two attainments—the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception and the cessation of perception & feeling—can be used as a basis for liberating insight only after one has emerged from the attainment. AN 9.36 notes that the attainments from the first jhāna up through the dimension of nothingness are “perception-attainments.”
Given that the work of insight requires perceptions, this suggests that the two higher attainments would be destroyed by trying to use the perceptions of insight while remaining in them. AN 9.36 adds, “As far as the perception-attainments go, that is as far as gnosis-penetration goes.
As for these two dimensions—the attainment of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception & the attainment of the cessation of perception & feeling—I tell you that they are to be rightly explained by those monks who are meditators, skilled at attainment, skilled at attainment-emergence, who have attained & emerged in dependence on them.”
2. Given that arahants are described as being of two sorts—released through awareness and released through discernment—it might seem that there should be two different paths to arahantship.
In this sutta, however, the Buddha is describing a single path.
That’s why Ven. Ānanda asks for clarification.
The Buddha’s response is in line with the explanation given in AN 9.43 - AN 9.45.
“Released through discernment” does not mean that one has attained awakening without experiencing any of the jhānas.
Instead, it means that one has experienced at least the first jhāna, but without any of the psychic powers that sometimes accompany the jhānas.
Thus a person whose faculty of concentration was too weak to encompass any of those powers would be described as released through discernment, whereas one whose faculty of concentration was strong enough to encompass at least some of them would be described as released through awareness.
