Fourth, knowing that the skandha of thinking has ended and seeing the flowing of the skandha of formations, this person speculates that the continuous flow of the skandha of formations is permanent, and that the skandhas of form, feeling, and thinking which have already ended are impermanent.

Fourth, knowing that the skandha of thinking has ended and seeing the subtle flowing, like ripples, of the skandha of formations as he cultivates, this person speculates that the continuous flow of the skandha of formations is permanent. Seeing no change in it, he concludes, “Oh, it must be permanent in nature.” And that the skandhas of form, feeling, and thinking which have already ended are impermanent. Since they are gone, he thinks they must be impermanent.

Because of these speculations of impermanence and permanence, he will fall into externalism and become confused about the Bodhi nature. This is the third external teaching, which postulates partial permanence.

Because of these four wrong theories based on his speculations of impermanence and permanence, he will lose proper and pervasive knowledge, fall into externalism, and become confused about the Bodhi nature. He says, “This part is permanent and that part is impermanent.” Because he has these inverted theories and doesn’t even understand their implications himself, he adopts the ideas of external teachings and becomes confused about the actual nature of Bodhi. This is the third external teaching, which postulates partial permanence. This third inverted theory advocated by external sects maintains that things are partially permanent and partially impermanent.

Further, in his practice of samadhi, the good person’s mind is firm, unmoving, and proper and can no longer be disturbed by demons. He can thoroughly investigate the origin of all categories of beings and contemplate the source of the subtle, fleeting, and constant fluctuation. But if he begins to speculate about the making of certain distinctions, he could fall into error with four theories of finiteness.

Further, in his practice of samadhi, the good person’s mind is firm, unmoving, and proper and can no longer be disturbed by demons. This refers to any good person who cultivates the samadhi of directing the hearing inward to listen to his own nature, thus attaining perfect penetration of the ear organ. When he has broken through the three skandhas of form, feeling and thinking, he has solid samadhi and his mind is proper. Thus, the demons of the heavens and those of external sects cannot affect him in any way.

When the two skandhas of form and feeling still existed, the demons from the heavens were able to disturb his mind directly. When he reached the thinking skandha, the demons could no longer do so; they had to possess another person in order to disrupt his samadhi. Now, at the stage of the formations skandha, the demons cannot disturb his samadhi even if they possess another person. That’s what is meant by a “firm, unmoving, and proper” mind. The demons cannot get at him.

He can thoroughly investigate the origin of all twelve categories of beings and contemplate the source of the subtle, fleeting, and constant fluctuation. He contemplates this most concealed, ephemeral nature of living beings, within the subtle movement of the formations skandha. But if he begins to speculate about the making of certain distinctions… He ponders and reflects, and makes four kinds of distinctions, which will be discussed below. He could then fall into error with four theories of finiteness. Once he gets to thinking, he comes up with four theories of finiteness which belong to external teachings.

To be continued