Đại Thừa Bá Pháp Minh Môn Luận

Written by Tin-Tsun Bodhisattva
As the World Honored one has said, "all Dharmas have no self."

What are all Dharmas, and what is meant by having no self? All Dharmas may be generally grouped into five categories:

1. Mind Dharmas

2. Dharmas interactive with the Mind

3. Form Dharmas

4. Dharmas not interactive with the Mind

5. Unconditioned Dharmas

They are in this sequence because the first are supreme, the second interact with the first, the third are the shadows manifest by the previous two, the fourth are the positions in which the previous three are not found, and the last are revealed by the previous four.

The first, Mind Dharmas, include in general eight:

1. The Eye Consciousness

2. The Ear Consciousness

3. The Nose Consciousness

4. The Tongue Consciousness

5. The Body Consciousness

6. The Mind Consciousness

7. The Manas Consciousness

8. The Alaya Consciousness

The second, Dharmas interactive with the Mind, include in general fifty-one. They are divided into six categories:

1. The five universally interactive

2. The five particular states

3. The eleven wholesome

4. The six fundamental afflictions

5. The twenty derivative afflictions

6. The four unfixed

The five particular states are:

1. Desire

2. Resolution

3. Recollection

4. Concentration

5. Judgment

The eleven wholesome Dharmas are:

1. Faith

2. Vigor

3. Shame

4. Remorse

5. Absence of greed

6. Absence of anger

7. Absence of stupidity

8. Light ease

9. Non-laxness

10. Renunciation

11. Non-harming

The six fundamental afflictions are:

1. Greed

2. Anger

3. Stupidity

4. Arrogance

5. Doubt

6. Improper views

The twenty derivative afflictions are:

1. Wrath

2. Hatred

3. Rage

4. Covering

5. Deceit

6. Flattery

7. Conceit

8. Harming

9. Jealousy

10. Stinginess

11. Lack of shame

12. Lack of remorse

13. Lack of faith

14. Laziness

15. Laxness

16. Torpor

17. Restlessness

18. Distraction

19. Improper knowledge

20. Scatteredness

The four unfixed are:

1. Sleep

2. Regret

3. Examination

4. Investigation

The third category is the Form Dharmas. In general there are eleven kinds:

1. Eyes

2. Ears

3. Nose

4. Tongue

5. Body

6. Forms

7. Sounds

8. Smells

9. Flavors

10. Objects of touch

11. Dharmas pertaining to form

The fourth category is the Dharmas not interactive with the Mind. In general, there are twenty-four:

1. Attainment (acquisition)

2. Life-faculty

3. Generic similarity

4. Dissimilarity

5. The no thought samadhi

6. The samadhi of extinction

7. The reward of no thought

8. Bodies of phonemes`

9. Bodies of sentence

10. Bodies of phonemes

11. Birth

12. Dwelling

13. Aging

14. Impermanence

15. Revolution

16. Distinction

17. Interaction

18. Speed

19. Sequence

20. Tim

21. Direction

22. Numeration

23. Combination

24. Discontinuity

The fifth category is the Unconditioned Dharmas of which there are, in general, six:

1. Unconditioned empty space

2. Unconditioned extinction which is attained by selection

3. Unconditioned extinction which is unselected

4. Unconditioned unmoving extinction

5. Unconditioned extinction of feeling and thinking

6. Unconditioned True Suchness

What is meant by there being no self? There are in general, two kinds of Non-self:

1. The Non-self of Pudgala

2. The Non-self of Dharmas