What this chapter covers: This chapter explains the sixth purification — purification by knowledge and vision of the way. It describes the nine insight knowledges that bring insight to its peak: (1) knowledge of rise and fall free from imperfections, (2) knowledge of dissolution, (3) knowledge of appearance as terror, (4) knowledge of danger, (5) knowledge of dispassion, (6) knowledge of desire for deliverance, (7) knowledge of reflection, (8) knowledge of equanimity about formations, and (9) conformity knowledge. The chapter also covers the triple gateway to liberation, the seven kinds of noble persons, insight leading to emergence, and twelve vivid similes.
The Nine Knowledges
Insight reaches its peak through eight knowledges, with conformity knowledge (anuloma-nana) as the ninth. Together, these constitute the purification by knowledge and vision of the way. Here is the list:
- Knowledge of rise and fall, free from imperfections and steady on its course
- Knowledge of dissolution
- Knowledge of appearance as terror
- Knowledge of danger
- Knowledge of dispassion
- Knowledge of desire for deliverance
- Knowledge of reflection
- Knowledge of equanimity about formations
- Conformity knowledge
1. Knowledge of Rise and Fall — Mature
Why does the meditator return to rise and fall? Because the earlier version of this knowledge was disabled by the ten imperfections of insight (Chapter 20). It could not observe the three characteristics in their true nature. Once freed from those imperfections, it can.
What Conceals the Three Characteristics
Each characteristic is hidden by something specific:
- Impermanence is concealed by continuity. When we do not pay attention to rising and falling, things seem to carry on without interruption.
- Pain is concealed by the postures. When pain arises in one posture, we shift to another, and the new posture seems to remove the pain — hiding the fact that formations are always being oppressed.
- Not-self is concealed by compactness. When we do not resolve things into their elements, they seem to be solid, unified wholes.
However:
- When continuity is disrupted by discerning rise and fall, impermanence becomes apparent in its true nature.
- When the postures are exposed by attention to continuous oppression, pain becomes apparent in its true nature.
- When the compact is resolved into elements, not-self becomes apparent in its true nature.
The Impermanent, the Painful, and the Not-Self
The five aggregates are impermanent because they rise, fall, and change — they do not exist after having been. Rise, fall, and change are the characteristic of impermanence.
Those same five aggregates are painful because what is impermanent is painful. They are continuously oppressed. The mode of being continuously oppressed is the characteristic of pain.
Those same five aggregates are not-self because what is painful is not-self. No power can be exercised over them. The mode of being beyond anyone’s control is the characteristic of not-self.
The meditator now observes all this clearly, with insight free from imperfections and steady on its course.
2. Knowledge of Dissolution
When the meditator repeatedly examines formations and sees them as impermanent, painful, and not-self, his knowledge becomes keen and formations become apparent quickly. At that point, he no longer extends his attention to their arising, their presence, their occurrence, or their sign. He brings his attention to bear only on their cessation — their destruction, fall, and breakup.
When insight arises in him so that he sees how formations, having arisen, cease — that is called knowledge of dissolution.
How He Contemplates
He contemplates formations as impermanent, not as permanent. As painful, not as pleasant. As not-self, not as self. He becomes dispassionate — he does not delight. He causes greed to fade away — he does not inflame it. He causes cessation — not origination. He lets go — he does not grasp.
He does this for every kind of formation — consciousness with matter as its object, with feeling as its object, with perception, mental formations, and consciousness as its objects. In each case, he first sees the dissolution of the object, then contemplates the dissolution of the very consciousness that saw it.
The Ancients said: “He sees with insight both the known and the knowledge.”
What the Stanzas Mean
Four aspects define this knowledge:
- Substitution of the object: After seeing matter dissolve, he substitutes a new object by seeing the dissolution of the consciousness that was watching.
- Transference of understanding: He abandons attention to rising and specialises in falling.
- Power of adverting: He can immediately turn his attention to seeing the dissolution of the consciousness that just observed dissolution.
- Intentness on cessation: He gives both seen and unseen formations a single definition based on their dissolution. He becomes intent on that cessation — he inclines, tends, and leans towards it.
By inference from what he sees with his own experience, he defines past and future formations as having the same nature:
“With vision of those present purified, He infers those past and future to be alike; He infers that all formations disappear, Like dew-drops when the morning sun comes up.”
Seeing Formations as Empty
While contemplating dissolution, formations appear as void: “Only formations break up. Their breakup is death. There is nothing else at all.”
“Aggregates cease and nothing else exists; Breakup of aggregates is known as death. He watches their destruction steadfastly, As one who with a diamond drills a gem.”
The Bubble Simile
When the meditator constantly sees that all formations break up all the time, knowledge of dissolution grows strong. Formations keep breaking up like fragile pottery being smashed, like fine dust being scattered, like sesame seeds being roasted. Just as a man standing on a riverbank during heavy rain sees large bubbles appear on the water and burst as soon as they form, so the meditator sees formations breaking up ceaselessly. The Buddha said of such a person:
“And he who looks upon the world As one who looks upon a bubble, As one who looks upon a mirage, Is out of sight of Death the King.”
Strong knowledge of dissolution brings eight advantages: abandoning the false view of becoming, giving up attachment to life, constant application, purified livelihood, freedom from anxiety, absence of fear, patience and gentleness, and conquest of both boredom and sensual delight.
3. Knowledge of Appearance as Terror
As the meditator repeats and cultivates the contemplation of dissolution, all formations — in every kind of existence, destiny, and realm — appear to him as a great terror. They appear as lions, tigers, leopards, bears, ogres, fierce bulls, savage dogs, maddened elephants, venomous snakes, thunderbolts, charnel grounds, battlefields, and flaming coal pits appear to a timid man who wants to live in peace.
He sees that past formations have ceased, present ones are ceasing, and those yet to arise will cease in just the same way.
The Woman and Her Three Sons
A woman’s three sons had offended the king, who ordered their execution. When the eldest was beheaded and the executioner turned to the middle son, she gave up hope for the youngest: “He too will meet the same fate.”
The meditator’s seeing past formations cease is like seeing the eldest son’s head cut off. Seeing present formations cease is like seeing the middle son being executed. Seeing that future formations will also cease is like giving up hope for the youngest.
The Mother with Ten Children
A woman with a womb infection had given birth to ten children. Nine had already died. One was dying in her arms. Another was still in the womb. Seeing the nine dead and the tenth dying, she gave up hope for the unborn child.
Does This Knowledge Itself Feel Fear?
No. It does not fear. It simply forms the clear judgment that past formations have ceased, present ones are ceasing, and future ones will cease. Just as a man looking at three pits of glowing coals is not himself afraid — he simply understands that anyone who falls in will suffer greatly — so this knowledge is not afraid. It judges clearly.
But formations are called “a terror” because they are bound for destruction and appear only as something terrifying.
4. Knowledge of Danger
Seeing all formations as terror, the meditator finds no asylum, no shelter, no refuge in any kind of existence. There is not a single formation he can place his hopes in or hold on to.
- The three kinds of becoming appear like pits full of glowing coals
- The four primary elements appear like hideous venomous snakes
- The five aggregates appear like murderers with raised weapons
- The six internal sense bases appear like an empty village
- The six external sense bases appear like village-raiding robbers
- The seven stations of consciousness and nine abodes of beings appear as though burning, blazing, and glowing with the eleven fires
All formations appear as a huge mass of danger — destitute of satisfaction or substance. They appear as a forest thicket infested with wild beasts, a cave full of tigers, water haunted by monsters, an enemy with raised sword, poisoned food, a road beset by robbers, a burning coal, a battlefield.
Every aspect of conditioned existence is seen as dangerous. And simultaneously, the meditator sees the peace in their opposites: “Arising is terror; non-arising is safety.” “Arising is suffering; non-arising is bliss.” “Arising is worldly; non-arising is beyond the world.” “Arising is formations; non-arising is unbinding (nibbana).“
5. Knowledge of Dispassion
When the meditator sees all formations as danger, he becomes dispassionate towards them. He takes no delight in any kind of existence, destiny, or realm.
Just as a golden swan that loves the mountain foothills finds no delight in a filthy puddle at a village gate, but only in the great lakes, so this meditator finds delight not in formations but only in the contemplations. Just as a lion finds delight not in a gold cage but only in the vast Himalayas, so this meditator finds delight not in the triple becoming but only in the three contemplations. Just as the great white elephant Chaddanta, possessed of supernormal power, finds pleasure not in a town but only in his lake in the Himalayas, so this meditator’s mind tends, inclines, and leans towards the state of peace.
Background Note: The three knowledges of appearance as terror, danger, and dispassion are actually one and the same knowledge seen from three angles. The Ancients said: “This is one knowledge with three names. It saw all formations as terror — hence ‘appearance as terror.’ It aroused the sense of danger in those formations — hence ‘contemplation of danger.’ It arose becoming dispassionate towards those formations — hence ‘contemplation of dispassion.‘“
6. Knowledge of Desire for Deliverance
Through dispassion, the meditator’s mind no longer sticks to formations. He becomes desirous of being delivered from the whole field of formations and escaping from it.
He is like a fish in a net, a frog in a snake’s jaws, a jungle fowl shut in a cage, a deer caught in a strong snare, a snake in the hands of a snake charmer, an elephant stuck in a great bog, or a man encircled by enemies. Just as these beings desire to be free, so the meditator’s mind desires deliverance from all formations.
7. Knowledge of Reflection
Being desirous of deliverance, the meditator again discerns formations, attributing the three characteristics to them — this time in order to contrive the means to deliverance.
He sees all formations as impermanent because they are non-continuous, temporary, limited by rise and fall, disintegrating, fickle, perishable, unenduring, subject to change, coreless, due to be annihilated, formed, and subject to death.
He sees them as painful because they are continuously oppressed, hard to bear, a disease, a tumour, a dart, a calamity, an affliction, a plague, a disaster, a terror, a menace, no protection, no shelter, no refuge, dangerous, murderous, subject to defilement, and Mara’s bait.
He sees them as not-self because they are alien, empty, vain, void, ownerless, with no overlord, and with none to wield power over them.
The Snake Simile
A man put his hand into a fishing net underwater and seized what he thought was a big fish. When he pulled it up, he saw three marks and recognised it as a snake. Terrified, he saw the danger, felt revulsion, and desired to be free. He contrived a means: unwrapping the coils from the tip of the tail, he raised his arm, swung the snake two or three times around his head to weaken it, and flung it away crying, “Go, foul snake!” He scrambled to dry land and stood looking back, thinking, “I have been delivered from the jaws of a huge snake!”
The stages of the simile map to the meditator’s journey:
- Gladly acquiring a “person” = seizing the snake
- Seeing the three characteristics = seeing the three marks
- Appearance as terror = being frightened
- Knowledge of danger = seeing the danger
- Knowledge of dispassion = feeling revulsion
- Desire for deliverance = wanting to be free
- Knowledge of reflection = contriving the means to deliverance
Just as the man weakened the snake by swinging it so it could no longer bite, the meditator weakens formations by applying the three characteristics until they can no longer appear as permanent, pleasant, beautiful, or self.
Discerning Voidness
Having seen that all formations are void, the meditator discerns voidness in progressively deeper ways:
The double logical relation: “This is void of self or of what belongs to self.”
The fourfold logical relation: “I am not anywhere anyone’s possession, nor is there anywhere my possession in anyone.” He sees no self of his own anywhere, no self deducible from another’s ownership, no other’s self anywhere, and no other’s self deducible from his own ownership.
Six modes of voidness: Each formation — eye, ear, mind, and so on — is void of self, void of what belongs to a self, void of permanence, void of lastingness, void of eternalness, and void of being unchanging.
Eight modes: Each formation has no core of permanence, no core of lastingness, no core of pleasure, no core of self, nothing permanent, nothing lasting, nothing eternal, nothing unchanging. Just as a reed, a castor-oil plant, a fig tree, a lump of froth, a bubble, a mirage, a plantain trunk, or a conjuring trick has no core — so too formations.
Ten modes: He sees each formation as empty, vain, not-self, without an overlord, incapable of being made into what one wants, incapable of being had as one wishes, beyond anyone’s control, alien, and secluded from past and future.
Twelve modes: Each formation is no living being, no soul, no human being, no man, no female, no male, no self, no property of a self, not “I,” not “mine,” not another’s, not anyone’s.
Forty-two modes: He sees each formation as impermanent, painful, a disease, a tumour, a dart … through all forty aspects of the comprehension described in Chapter 20. When he sees this way, he looks upon the world as void:
“Let him look on the world as void: Thus, always mindful, He may escape the clutch of death By giving up belief in self. For Death cannot see the man That looks in this way on the world.”
8. Knowledge of Equanimity about Formations
When the meditator has discerned formations by attributing the three characteristics and seeing them as void, he abandons both terror and delight. He becomes indifferent and neutral. He neither takes formations as “I” nor as “mine.”
The Divorced Husband
Suppose a man was married to a lovely wife and so deeply in love he could not bear separation for a moment. He would be disturbed to see her talking or laughing with another man. But later, having discovered her faults and wanting to be free, he divorced her. After that, even seeing her doing whatever it might be with whomever it might be, he would not be disturbed. He would be indifferent and neutral.
So too this meditator, wanting to be free from all formations, sees nothing to be taken as “I” or “mine” and becomes indifferent and neutral towards everything.
When he knows and sees this way, his heart retreats, retracts, and recoils from all forms of existence. His heart no longer goes out to them. Just as water drops roll off a slanting lotus leaf and do not spread out, so his heart recoils from all formations. Just as a feather thrown on a fire curls up and does not spread out, so his heart withdraws.
The Land-Finding Crow
If this knowledge sees unbinding (nibbana), the state of peace, as peaceful, it rejects all formations and enters only into unbinding. If it does not yet see unbinding as peaceful, it occurs again and again with formations as its object — like a land-finding crow.
When traders at sea get blown off course with no land in sight, they release a crow from the mast-head. If the crow sees land, it flies straight towards it. If not, it returns and lands on the mast again. So too, if knowledge of equanimity sees the state of peace, it goes straight towards it. If not, it returns to formations as its object.
The Triple Gateway to Liberation
After discerning formations in every mode and becoming neutral, the meditator settles into one of the three contemplations. This enters upon the triple gateway to liberation:
- Contemplation of impermanence sees formations as limited by rise and fall. Consciousness enters the signless element (nibbana as “signless” because it is the opposite of the sign of formations).
- Contemplation of pain stirs up the mind with urgency about formations. Consciousness enters the desireless element (nibbana as “desireless” because desire is absent).
- Contemplation of not-self sees all things as alien. Consciousness enters the void element (nibbana as “void” because it is void of self).
These three contemplations lead to three liberations:
- One who has great resolution, contemplating impermanence, acquires the signless liberation
- One who has great tranquillity, contemplating pain, acquires the desireless liberation
- One who has great wisdom, contemplating not-self, acquires the void liberation
The Seven Kinds of Noble Persons
This knowledge of equanimity about formations is the condition for classifying noble persons into seven kinds:
- Faith devotee (saddhanusari): One who contemplates impermanence with great resolution and acquires the faith faculty, at the moment of the stream-entry path.
- One liberated by faith (saddha-vimutta): The same person in the remaining seven stages (three higher paths and four fruitions).
- Body witness (kaya-sakki): One who contemplates pain with great tranquillity and acquires the concentration faculty, in all eight stages.
- Both-ways liberated (ubhatobhaga-vimutta): A body witness who has also reached the formless attainments and attains the highest fruition.
- Dhamma devotee (dhammanusari): One who contemplates not-self with great wisdom and acquires the understanding faculty, at the moment of the stream-entry path.
- One attained to vision (ditthippatta): The same person in the next six stages.
- One liberated by understanding (panna-vimutta): The same person at the highest fruition.
The Last Three Knowledges Are One
The Ancients said: “This knowledge of equanimity about formations has three names. At the outset it is called knowledge of desire for deliverance. In the middle it is called knowledge of reflection. At the end, when it has reached its peak, it is called knowledge of equanimity about formations.”
These three are one in meaning. Only the wording differs.
Insight Leading to Emergence
When the meditator has reached equanimity about formations, his insight has reached its peak. It now leads to emergence. “Insight leading to emergence” is the name for the three knowledges of equanimity about formations, conformity, and change-of-lineage.
It has “reached its peak” because it has arrived at the final stage. It is called “leading to emergence” because it moves towards the path. The path is called “emergence” because it emerges externally from formations and internally from defilements.
Eighteen Ways of Emerging
The manner of emergence can be classified in eighteen ways, depending on what was interpreted and what is emerged from — internal or external, material or immaterial, impermanent or painful or not-self. For example:
- Someone who begins by interpreting internal formations and whose insight joins with the path while comprehending the internal: “After interpreting the internal, it emerges from the internal.”
- Someone who begins with matter and whose insight joins with the path while comprehending the immaterial: “After interpreting the material, it emerges from the immaterial.”
- Someone who begins contemplating impermanence and whose emergence occurs while contemplating not-self: “After interpreting as impermanent, it emerges from the not-self.”
In all cases, the meditator must comprehend both sides — internal and external, material and immaterial, all three characteristics — before emergence can take place.
Twelve Similes
Twelve similes illuminate this insight leading to emergence and the knowledges before and after it:
1. The Fruit Bat. A fruit bat landed on a honey tree with five branches, hoping for flowers or fruit. She tried each branch but found nothing worth taking. She lost interest, climbed a straight branch, poked her head through the foliage, looked up, flew into the air, and landed on another tree.
The meditator is the bat. The five aggregates are the five branches. Trying each branch is comprehending each aggregate. Finding nothing is the triple knowledge of desire for deliverance, reflection, and equanimity. Climbing the straight branch is conformity knowledge. Poking through the foliage is change-of-lineage knowledge. Flying into the air is path knowledge. Landing on another tree is fruition knowledge.
2. The Black Snake. This is the snake simile given earlier. Flinging the snake away is change-of-lineage. Standing and looking back is path knowledge. Standing in a safe place is fruition.
3. The House on Fire. A man ate his meal, went to bed, and fell asleep. The house caught fire. Waking in terror, he looked for a way out, found one, escaped quickly, and stayed in a safe place. Falling asleep is the ordinary person’s taking the aggregates as “I.” Waking in terror is appearance as terror. Looking for a way out is desire for deliverance. Seeing the way is conformity. Escaping is change-of-lineage. Staying safe is fruition.
4. The King’s Oxen. A farmer’s oxen escaped at night. At dawn he found and drove home what he thought were his oxen — but they were the king’s. When daylight revealed his mistake, he was terrified. He abandoned the oxen and fled to safety. Taking the five aggregates as “mine” is like taking the king’s oxen.
5. The Ghoul. A man unknowingly married a ghoul. One night he followed her and saw her eating human flesh. Terrified, he fled to safety.
6. The Child. A woman heard a child crying in the street and rushed down, thinking it was her son. She picked up someone else’s child by mistake. Recognising her error, she was embarrassed, put the child down, and hurried back upstairs.
7-12. Hunger, Thirst, Cold, Heat, Darkness, and Poison. These six similes show how the meditator with insight leading to emergence longs for the supramundane:
- Like a starving man longs for food, the meditator longs for the mindfulness that tastes of the deathless
- Like a parched man longs for a drink, he longs for the noble drink of the Eightfold Path
- Like a frozen man longs for warmth, he longs for the fire of the path that burns up defilements
- Like a man faint with heat longs for coolness, he longs for unbinding
- Like a man in darkness longs for light, he longs for the light of path-knowledge
- Like a man poisoned longs for an antidote, he longs for unbinding — the deathless medicine
At this point the meditator is called “one who walks aloof”:
“When a monk keeps apart And cultivates seclusion of the mind, It will befit him, as they say, To show himself no more in this becoming.”
9. Conformity Knowledge
As the meditator repeats and cultivates equanimity about formations, his faith becomes more resolute, his energy better exerted, his mindfulness better established, his mind better concentrated, and his equanimity more refined.
He thinks, “Now the path will arise.” Equanimity about formations, having comprehended formations as impermanent, painful, or not-self, sinks into the life-continuum. Then mind-door adverting arises, making formations its object in the same way. After that, three impulsion consciousnesses arise in sequence:
- Preliminary work — the first impulsion, maintaining the continuity of consciousness
- Access — the second impulsion
- Conformity — the third impulsion
All three can be called by any of these names interchangeably. But what matters is what conformity conforms to: it conforms to both what precedes it and what follows it.
It conforms to the eight preceding insight knowledges by, so to speak, confirming each one: “Knowledge of rise and fall indeed saw the rise and fall of precisely those states that possess rise and fall.” “Contemplation of dissolution indeed saw the dissolution of precisely those states that possess dissolution.” And so on through all eight.
It also conforms to the thirty-seven factors of awakening that follow.
The King and the Judges
Just as a righteous king sitting in the place of judgment hears the pronouncements of eight judges and, remaining impartial, says “So be it” — conforming both to their pronouncements and to the ancient royal custom — so conformity knowledge conforms to the eight insight knowledges and to the factors of awakening that follow.
This is why it is called “knowledge in conformity with truth.”
Sutta References for Insight Leading to Emergence
This insight leading to emergence is known by many names in different discourses:
- In the Salayatana-vibhanga Sutta, it is called “aloofness” (atammayata) — literally “not-made-of-that-ness,” meaning non-attachment to any form of being
- In the Alagadda Sutta, it is called “dispassion” (nibbida)
- In the Susima Sutta, it is called “knowledge of the relationship of things” (dhammathiti-nana) — “First there is knowledge of the relationship of things; afterwards there is knowledge of unbinding”
- In the Potthapada Sutta, it is called “the peak of perception” (sannagga)
- In the Dasuttara Sutta, it is called “the principal factor of purity” (parisuddhi-padhaniyanga)
- In the Patisambhidamagga, it is called by three names: desire for deliverance, reflection, and equanimity about formations
- In the Patthana, it is called “conformity to change-of-lineage” and “conformity to cleansing”
- In the Rathavinita Sutta, it is called “purification by knowledge and vision of the way”
The Greatest Sage did thus proclaim This insight stilled and purified, That to emergence leads beside, With many a neatly chosen name. The round of rebirth’s slough of pain Is vast and terrible; a man Wisely should strive as best he can, If he would this emergence gain.
This is the twenty-first chapter, “The Description of Purification by Knowledge and Vision of the Way,” in the section on the Development of Understanding in the Path of Purification, composed for the purpose of gladdening good people.