CHAPTER SUMMARIES OF THE TREASURY OF MANIFEST DHARMA

Chapter One: Introduction & Presentation of the Constituents
The Treasury of Manifest Dharma was composed by Vasubandhu in order to purify the negative karma he had created by abandoning the mahayana Dharma through criticizing it by saying “Nagarjuna is an emanation of Mara. My brother, Asanga, is his follower. The mahayana Dharma is like a flower in the sky.” For this reason, it is said that the study of this text abandons one’s own negative karma of having abandoned the Dharma, this being one of the most difficult actions to purify. In addition, this text provides a unique overview of the world, sentient beings, and both ordinary and spiritually realized minds as asserted by the Vaibhashika school of Buddhist thought that creates a sound basis for the in-depth study of every other philosophical subject.

At the beginning of his text, Vasubandhu explains the meaning of the title of the text and then sets out his renowned verse of homage:

To whomever has utterly destroyed the darkness with respect to all,
Extricates migrating beings from the mire of cyclic existence, and
Teaches in accordance with the meaning – homage. [1.1abc]

This homage to the Bhagavan Buddha sets out his three perfections – that he has utterly destroyed the darkness with respect to all phenomena, that he extricates migrating beings from the mire of cyclic existence, and that he teaches in accordance with the meaning. This is followed by a presentation of “manifest dharma” – stained wisdoms (including the contaminated wisdoms of hearing, thinking, and meditation) and stainless wisdoms (the uncontaminated paths of seeing, meditation, and no-more-learning). This subject is explained because “without the wisdom thoroughly discerning phenomena there is no method for pacifying the afflictions, and also worldly beings wander in the ocean of existence due to the afflictions.” What are the phenomena that are discerned by this wisdom? They are contaminated and uncontaminated phenomena. Contaminated phenomena are all compounded phenomena excluding true paths, so-called because contaminations (that is, afflictions) increase either by observing them or by being concomitant with them. Uncontaminated phenomena are true paths and uncompounded phenomena, that is, those phenomena that do not increase the contaminations.

The first chapter sets out a detailed exposition of contaminated compounded phenomena – the five aggregates, twelve spheres, and eighteen constituents. These are each further divided into various divisions that are extensively explained, providing a clear presentation of both mind and matter.


Chapter Two: Presentation of the Powers
The twenty-two powers which were merely mentioned in chapter one are extensively explained here. These powers include the five sense powers (the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body) which are so-called because they exert power over beautifying the body, protecting the body, producing their respective consciousnesses along with their concomitants, and their uncommon causes. The male and female powers exert power over the particulars and the differences of sentient beings. The life power exerts power over maintaining a similar class and connecting with a similar class. The mental power exerts power over connecting with a similar class and according with the entity of the power because actions of body and speech motivated by a virtuous or non-virtuous mental action that is the motivation become virtuous or non-virtuous. The five feeling powers (happiness, suffering, mental happiness, mental unhappiness, and equanimity) exert power over the thoroughly afflicted because attachment develops from feelings of happiness and mental happiness, hatred from feelings of suffering and mental unhappiness, and confusion from feelings of equanimity, and the thoroughly afflicted develop from them. The last eight powers exert power over the completely pure, since the five uncontaminated powers of faith, effort, mindfulness, meditative stabilization, and wisdom – which are included in the path of accumulation as the five powers and in the path of preparation as the five forces – suppress the manifest afflictions, whereas the three uncontaminated powers – the power making all that is unknown known (the path of seeing), the power knowing all (the path of meditation), and the power possessing the knowledge of all (the path of no-more-learning) – eliminate the seeds of the afflictions. These twenty-two powers are then explained in terms of whether they are contaminated or uncontaminated, their causes and results, their entities (virtuous, non-virtuous, or unspecified), the realms in which they exist, whether or not they are objects to be abandoned, and other particularities.

This chapter then sets out a presentation, peculiar to the Vaibhashika school, of phenomena that are concomitant with mind, that is, the mental factors: the many levels of mind, the many levels of virtue, the many levels of great afflictions, the many levels of non-virtue, and the many levels of small afflictions. This explanation includes a definition of all fifty-one mental factors. This is followed by a presentation of the fourteen non-associated compositional factors, which included acquisition, the life-force, and so forth. Then the various types of causes and conditions as well as their results are explained. The chapter concludes with a presentation of the twenty types of mind: those of the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm, as well as the uncontaminated.


Chapter Three: Presentation of the World
The third chapter extensively explains the three realms – who takes rebirth and where, which were merely mentioned in the first two chapters. Who are the thoroughly afflicted? They are the sentient beings of the three realms (the desire, form and formless realms) and the five types of migrating beings (gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell beings). Each of these are extensively explained in terms of their bodies, their lifespans, and the particular sufferings that they experience. Where do these sentient beings abide? They abide in the environmental world composed of the desire realm, form realm, and formless realm. How are they born? There are four types of birth: birth from a womb, birth from an egg, birth from heat and moisture, and miraculous birth. In addition, sentient beings are born due to the twelve links of dependent-arising: (1) ignorance, (2) karmic formations, (3) consciousness, (4) name and form, (5) the six spheres, (6) contact, (7) feeling, (8) craving, (9) grasping, (10) existence, (11) birth, and (12) aging and death. Thus, this chapter gives an extensive overview of the Buddhist view of the world and its varied inhabitants.


Chapter Four: Presentation of Actions
The fourth chapter then presents the cause of rebirth – actions – of the above mentioned sentient beings, beginning with the often cited line:

The various worlds are produced from actions. [4.1a]

This presentation refutes that the cause of the three realms is Ishvara and so forth, which is asserted by various non-Buddhist schools. The Vaibhashika schools asserts two types of actions:
(1) the actions that are intention, that is, mental actions, and
(2) the intended actions produced by that intention, that is, actions of body and speech, which are further divided into the revelatory and non-revelatory.

Non-revelatory actions consist of vows, non-vows, and the in-between. In this context, there arises an extensive discussion of the eight types of individual liberation vows in terms of how they are taken, how they are given up, and who possesses them, as well as the concentration vows which are naturally obtained by achieving the concentrations, and the uncontaminated vows which are naturally obtained by achieving an uncontaminated path. This is followed by an explanation of the fifteen types of actions mentioned in sutra, including the virtuous, non-virtuous, and unspecified, and the five actions of immediate retribution, as well as their results.


Chapter Five: Presentation of the Subtle Increasers
The fifth chapter presents the causes or motivation for those actions – the afflictions or subtle increasers – which together with actions bring the result of rebirth in cyclic existence. The six subtle increasers are: attachment, anger, ignorance, pride, doubt, and afflicted view. However, by dividing wrong view into the five – the view of the transitory collection, the view holding to an extreme, the view holding a bad view as supreme, the view holding bad morality and modes of conduct as supreme, and wrong view – there are ten. These in turn become ninety-eight when they are divided by way of their aspects, instances, and the realms:
• the 32 objects of abandonment of the path of seeing in relation to the four truths of the desire realm,
• the 28 objects of abandonment of the path of seeing in relation to the four truths of the form realm,
• the 28 objects of abandonment of the path of seeing in relation to the four truths of the formless realm,
• the 4 objects of abandonment of the path of meditation in relation to the desire realm (attachment, anger, ignorance, and pride),
• the 3 objects of abandonment of the path of meditation in relation to the form realm (attachment, ignorance, and pride), and
• the 3 objects of abandonment of the path of meditation in relation to the formless realm (attachment, ignorance, and pride).

This is followed by a presentation of the results of the abandonments of the subtle-increasers – the nine complete knowledges.


Chapter Six: Presentation of Paths and Persons
The sixth chapter presents the paths – the five paths of accumulation, preparation, seeing, meditation, and no-more-learning – and the persons on them, the twenty sangha; in other words, what abandons and who abandons the subtle increasers. The chapter begins with a brief presentation of the four noble truths and the two truths, and then sets out an explanation of the meditation on ugliness as an antidote to attachment and mindfulness of the inhalation and exhalation of the breath as an antidote to many conceptualizations. The path of accumulation is discussed in terms of the four close placements of mindfulness; the path of preparation in terms of its four divisions and their objects - the four truths and their sixteen attributes, impermanence and so forth; the path of seeing in terms of the instants of the forbearances and knowledges and their observed objects; and the path of meditation as beginning with the sixteenth instant. This leads to a presentation of the persons who realize the four truths – the four approachers and four abiders in the results – each of whom can be further divided into various types, resulting in the twenty sangha.


Chapter Seven: Presentation of Exalted Wisdom
The seventh chapter indicates the knowledges that are the uncommon qualities of a buddha. The ten knowledges are: (1) knowledge of sufferings, (2) knowledge of origins, (3) knowledge of cessations, (4) knowledge of paths, (5) dharma knowledge, (6) subsequent knowledge, (7) knowledge of extinction, (8) knowledge of non-production, (9) knowledge of others' minds, and (10) knowledge of conventionalities. These knowledges are discussed in terms of whether they are contaminated or uncontaminated; virtuous, non-virtuous, or unspecified; in which realms they exist; on which supports they exist; which persons possess them; and how many are acquired on which path and on which level. Then uncommon excellent qualities included in the knowledges – the eighteen unshared attributes of a buddha: (1-10) the ten powers, (11-14) the four fearlessnesses, (15-17) the three close placements of mindfulness, and (18) great compassion – are each explained. This is followed by a discussion of the excellent qualities shared with hearer and solitary realizer learners – without afflictions, the knowledge from prayer, the four individual correct knowledges, and the sixth clairvoyance – and those that are shared with ordinary beings – the first five clairvoyances, the concentrations, the immeasurables, the formless absorptions, the complete liberations, the masteries, and the totalities.


Chapter Eight: Presentation of Meditative Absorptions & Conclusion
The eighth chapter explains the common excellent qualities of buddhas – the meditative absorptions – from the point of view of explaining the support of exalted wisdom. The
nine absorptions are the first, second, third, and fourth actual concentrations, Infinite Space, Infinite Consciousness, Nothingness, the Peak of Existence, and the absorption of cessation. The excellent qualities included in them are:
• the four immeasurables,
• the eight complete liberations,
• the eight masteries, and
• the ten totalities.
This chapter discusses the causal meditative absorptions that bring about rebirth in the four concentrations of the form realm and the four absorptions of the formless realm, the resultant rebirths in these levels having already been discussed in the third chapter. Each of the concentrations is discussed in terms of the differences in their antidote, benefit, and basis branches, whereas the formless absorptions are discussed in terms of their differences in observed object.

The four immeasurables – immeasurable love, immeasurable compassion, immeasurable joy, and immeasurable equanimity – are the antidotes to malice, harmfulness, not liking others’ happiness, and much attachment. The eight complete liberations are:
(1) the complete liberation of that which has form viewing form;
(2) the complete liberation of that without form viewing form;
(3) the complete liberation of beauty;
(4-7) the four complete liberations of the formless absorptions; and
(8) the complete liberation of cessation

The eight masteries are the four spheres that master shapes and the four spheres that master colors. The ten totalities are the totalities of earth, fire, wind, water, white, red, yellow, blue, space, and consciousness, so-called because they pervade everything.

Vasubandhu then completes his text with a brief conclusion.