善品

I. What This Concept Is Saying

1. Behind a Single Phrase Stands a Whole Project of Defining "Good"

「善品」is not a "list of good deeds," nor is it a "moral manual." In the context of the *瑜伽師地論* (*Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra*, T1579), 品 (pakṣa, "class") means category or general class; 善品 (kuśala-pakṣa, "the wholesome class") refers to the general class of all wholesome dharmas to be cultivated and accumulated—a category of practice set in opposition to 惡品 (akuśala-pakṣa, "the unwholesome class," the general class of unwholesome dharmas). The short phrase 精勤方便修諸善品 ("diligently and skillfully cultivating the wholesome class") describes the very act of comprehensively cultivating wholesome dharmas.

To explain this term thoroughly, one must first clarify "why it is called good." The treatise explains the reason for the name of all wholesome dharmas by means of two causes:

- 自性無倒 (intrinsic nature free from error): The intrinsic nature of a wholesome dharma operates in accordance with its object as it truly is, and can counteract error and defilement. In other words, cognitively it is lucid; functionally it can "reverse" defilement—it is not muddled or carried along by inertia. - 安隱 (security): Wholesome dharmas lead to good destinations and open the way to nirvāṇa. They are "safe"—not the kind that turns around and bites you later.

What contravenes both of these is called 不善 (akuśala, "unwholesome"; the 惡品, unwholesome class): its intrinsic nature is inverted, it reaps undesirable fruits, and it fails to understand correctly both matters and their results. The treatise also speaks of 無記 (avyākṛta, "indeterminate")—that which is neither inverted nor able to counteract inversion, neither secure nor insecure—and so it is listed separately from good and evil. For example: being hungry at noon and wanting an ordinary meal is in itself neither good nor evil; if one changes it into "deliberately starving oneself to punish the body," it is evil; if one changes it into "using the satisfaction of this meal to give rise to gratitude and share some with a colleague," it is good. The same act, three different qualities—the key is the direction of the intrinsic nature.

From this it can be seen that the "good" of 善品 is a word that inspects the intrinsic nature, not an external score. To ask whether an action has the "intrinsic nature" of goodness is to ask: in that moment, is the mind inverted or in accordance with reality? Will it pull a person toward security or toward insecurity in the long run? Buddhism is not drawing up a moral checklist; it is describing the directionality of a mental state.

2. The Intrinsic Nature of Wholesome Dharmas: Eleven Items and Their Order of Appearance

The treatise explicitly lists eleven intrinsic natures of wholesome dharmas: 信 (śraddhā, faith), 慚 (hrī, shame), 愧 (apatrāpya, dread of blame), 無貪 (alobha, non-greed), 無瞋 (adveṣa, non-anger), 無癡 (amoha, non-delusion), 精進 (vīrya, diligence), 輕安 (praśrabdhi, serenity), 不放逸 (apramāda, heedfulness), 捨 (upekṣā, equanimity), and 不害 (avihiṃsā, non-harming).

These are not eleven parallel options but a system deployed according to circumstances. The treatise explains their respective appearance by way of six situations:

| Situation | Wholesome dharmas that come into play | |---|---| | Deciding—when one faces what should or should not be done and needs to judge | 信 (pure faith regarding wholesome dharmas, cause and effect, teachers, etc.) | | Stopping defilement—when one becomes aware that one is about to be defiled | 慚 (self-reflection and shame), 愧 (fear of others' reproach) | | Wholesome karma in motion—when wholesome activity is running | 無貪、無瞋、無癡、精進 | | Worldly path of dispassion—when separating from desire through worldly meditative absorption | 輕安 | | Supramundane path of dispassion—when separating from desire through the supramundane path | 不放逸、捨 | | Gathering in sentient beings—when benefiting and helping others | 不害 |

Here there is a detail extremely easy for modern readers to overlook: 不放逸、捨、不害 are called "conventionally existent" (世俗有)—that is, they are not independent "other things" but "derivative positions" (分位) established upon the root wholesome dharmas preceding them:

- 不放逸 is established upon 無貪、無瞋、無癡、精進; - 捨 is likewise established as a derivative position of these four root wholesome dharmas; - 不害 is a derivative position of 無瞋.

The treatise repeatedly stresses that they have "no separate entity." This means: so-called 不放逸 is not some new mental energy, but merely a name we give to the whole when 無貪、無瞋、無癡、精進—these four root wholesome dharmas—are simultaneously present in that moment. In other words, the opposite of heedlessness is not the addition of one more force, but having the four root wholesome dharmas simultaneously present in one's life.

3. The Multi-level Distinctions of Wholesome Dharmas: Not a Single "Good"

The treatise establishes distinctions among wholesome dharmas on levels from one dharma up to ten dharmas. Here are the essentials:

- 生得善 (innate good) and 方便善 (acquired good): 生得 is the wholesome root one is born with (such as a child's natural non-harming); 方便 is what is obtained through cultivation. - 自性善、相應善、等起善 (intrinsic good, associated good, consequent good): 自性善 is the eleven items themselves; 相應善 refers to the other mental factors that arise simultaneously with intrinsic good; 等起善 refers to bodily and verbal karma set in motion by wholesome mental factors. Together the three constitute a complete "moment of good." - 順福分善、順解脫分善、順決擇分善、無漏善 (good tending toward merit, good tending toward liberation, good tending toward discrimination, undefiled good): ascending in four levels toward merit, liberation, seeing the path, and the undefiled. Worldly giving belongs to 順福分; keeping precepts belongs to 順解脫分; 煗 (ūṣmagata, "warmth"), 頂 (mūrdhan, "summit"), 忍 (kṣānti, "patience"), and 世第一法 (laukikāgradharma, "supreme worldly dharma") belong to 順決擇分; after seeing the path is 無漏善 (anāsrava-kuśala, undefiled good). - 施性善、戒性善、修性善、愛果善、離繫果善 (good of the nature of giving, good of the nature of precepts, good of the nature of cultivation, good with desirable fruits, good with the fruit of disconnection): established by the three "activities" of giving, keeping precepts, and meditative cultivation, or by "inducing desirable fruits" and "attaining disconnection."

The treatise also establishes distinctions among wholesome dharmas by five aspects: 1. 感當來可愛果—planting good fruits for the future; 2. 對治雜染—reversing defilements in the present; 3. 雜染寂滅所顯—nirvāṇa itself is manifested through the cessation of defilements; 4. 清淨住所顯—the pure abode of the śrāvaka vehicle; 5. 饒益有情所顯—the various altruistic wholesome deeds of bodhisattvas and tathāgatas.

There is also a sixfold summary: counteracting defilement, calming defilement, gathering in desirable fruits, the continuity of purity, making offerings at stūpas, and gathering in sentient beings. The first two lean toward self-benefit, the last four toward benefiting others and continuation—showing that the wholesome class is not merely "managing oneself."

4. The Merits of Wholesome Dharmas—Why It Is Worth a Lifetime of Practice

The treatise says the merits of wholesome dharmas are immeasurable:

- They purify the mind, freeing it from the 纏 (paryavasthāna, "bonds," manifest defilements) and 隨眠 (anuśaya, "latent tendencies," dormant seeds) of afflictions; - They make the object of cognition free from error, the wholesome roots firm and non-retreating, and the continuity of their outflow unbroken (not present today and gone tomorrow); - They do not harm oneself and do not harm others, distancing one from the sins of the present life and the sins of future lives; - They bring joy and delight, lead to good destinies, increase resolve toward nirvāṇa, and enable one to swiftly attain what one seeks.

Note a subtle and important juxtaposition here: self-benefit and benefiting others are accomplished simultaneously in the same act. To be able to counteract defilement is at the same time to not harm self or others; to be able to gather in desirable fruits is at the same time to purify one's own mind. The wholesome class is not a relay race of "first cultivate yourself, then go help others," but two currents in the same river.

5. The "Powerful Causes" of Wholesome Dharmas and the Ranking of the Three Kinds of Good

Wholesome dharmas are not flat; they have degrees of strength and weakness. The treatise says they are made powerful by five causes:

1. 加行 (prayoga, "effort"—sufficient exertion at the time of practice); 2. 宿習 (habit from past lives—much accumulation in former or previous lives); 3. 攝受勝功德 (receiving superior merit—when the object encountered is distinguished, such as buddha, dharma, saṅgha, or teacher); 4. 田事處 (field, deed, and place—the excellence of the field of merit, the act, and the location); 5. 自性 (intrinsic nature—the degree of completion of the wholesome dharma itself, as in giving, where that performed with non-greed, non-delusion, respect, seriousness, and without seeking reward is strongest).

At the same time, the hierarchy of the three kinds of good is clear: good accomplished by giving is inferior to precepts and cultivation; good accomplished by precepts surpasses giving but is inferior to cultivation; good accomplished by cultivation surpasses both giving and precepts. This is not to say giving is bad, but that giving alone cannot reach complete purity and liberation—it must be paired with keeping precepts and meditative cultivation (not to mention undefiled wisdom). Contemporary readers can read it as: action, rules, and mental training—three ascending levels, none dispensable.

6. The Pedagogical Dimension of the Wholesome Class: Not Solitary Practice, but Teaching Others

The treatise says that bodhisattvas, by the expedient means of 立要契 (making a covenant), cause sentient beings to swiftly learn the wholesome class and cut off the unwholesome class. This clearly shows that 善品 has never been a word for private individual practice alone, but also carries the practical dimension of teaching and gathering in sentient beings. The word 品 (pakṣa, "class") is even more suggestive here—it is at once category (which things are good), grade (to what degree one has cultivated), and appraisal (what the quality of this matter is). To cultivate the wholesome class is to live oneself into a "category" that others are willing to learn from.

7. A Related Scriptural Verse

The most direct canonical counterpart in Chinese Buddhism to the "wholesome class / unwholesome class" framework is the famous verse of the *七佛通誡偈* (the "Common Admonition Gāthā of the Seven Buddhas," also collected as the root gāthā of the *法句經* (*Dharmapada*) and the *七佛所說蟻喻經*):

「諸惡莫作，眾善奉行；自淨其意，是諸佛教。」

*("Commit no evil, practice all good; purify your own mind—this is the teaching of all buddhas.")*

In Chinese monastic tradition this verse is the root gāthā of the morning and evening liturgies, and it runs on the same track as the *Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra*'s "cultivate the wholesome class, remove the unwholesome class." It turns 善品 into a phrase everyone can memorize—"眾善奉行" ("practice all good")—but one must remember that "practice" is not a checklist but an entire set of intrinsic nature free from error and secure work of the mind.

II. Walking Through It in Daily Life

Below, using the situation most familiar to a contemporary person, we walk through the wholesome class step by step. Setting: Wednesday evening. A young man named Xiao He (小何), working in the city, has just come home from work. Tired but not yet eaten, he has a pile of unread messages on his phone; his parents have sent a health video from their hometown; the work group chat is still flashing.

Step One: Deciding—"What Should I Do Right Now?"

Classic configuration: 信 (faith, present when deciding).

The moment Xiao He opens his phone, several things rush into his mind at once: should he check the messages first (work anxiety), scroll short videos for a while (tired instinct), call his parents back (filial thought), or cook dinner first (the body's signal). This is the situation of "deciding."

Here 信 is not "believing some religious proposition" but a pure faith toward wholesome dharmas, cause and effect, and teachers—a positive conviction that "I believe there is a better way to live, and that doing this will truly benefit self and others." When this conviction is present, direction appears: he knows that at this moment he should eat and video-chat with his parents, rather than numb himself with videos.

The most common place where people misread this: they read 信 as "believing something is true" (a cognitive sense), whereas in the *Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra* 信 is first of all the pure force of the mind turning toward wholesome dharmas (a kinetic sense). The point is not "what one believes" but "the force in the mind that moves in the direction of good."

Step Two: Stopping Defilement—"But I Really Want to Scroll First"

Classic configuration: 慚、愧.

Xiao He has just decided to eat and call his parents, but his hand unconsciously reaches for short videos. "Wanting to scroll a bit" is not evil, but "knowing one should do the real thing yet being dragged away by attachment"—this is defilement. The treatise says that when stopping defilement, 慚 and 愧 arise:

- 慚 is self-reflection: one looks down on oneself—"How could I be like this, dragged around by such a small thing"; - 愧 is fear of others: thinking that if one's parents or teacher saw this state, one would be ashamed—"If my teacher were here, I couldn't hold my head up."

This pair is not self-deprecation; it is precisely the two forces that wake a person up from inertia. If Xiao He can raise even a moment of 慚 or 愧, he can take his hand off the screen.

The common misreading: equating "shame and dread" with "I am worthless." In fact 慚 and 愧 are lucid self-observation, not a verdict on one's person. They target only this moment's defilement, not the person.

Step Three: Wholesome Karma in Motion—"I'm Acting Now"

Classic configuration: 無貪、無瞋、無癡、精進.

Xiao He gets up, goes to the kitchen, puts his phone aside, focuses on cooking, eats, and calls his parents on video. When these "wholesome activities" are running, the four root wholesome dharmas among the intrinsic goods are simultaneously present:

- 無貪: no clinging to the short videos; - 無瞋: no transference of anger at his exhaustion (angry at the food, angry at his family); - 無癡: clear that what he is doing right now is right, not muddled; - 精進: getting up and doing it, not waiting until his mood is better.

These four are not four actions appearing in sequence, but four facets of the same wholesome present moment. A mind without clinging, without disturbance, clear and lucid, and actually acting—this is what the four characters 善品業轉 ("wholesome karma turning") mean.

The most common place where people narrow this: they think "doing good deeds" means donating blood, giving money, or volunteering. In fact wholesome activity includes all bodily and verbal karma performed with non-greed, non-anger, non-delusion, and diligence—washing dishes, cleaning, walking to work with focus, one breath at a time. The key is not the "size" of the deed but the "intrinsic nature" of the mind.

Step Four: Going Deeper in the Moment—"He Gets into a Dispute with His Parents"

Suppose during the video call his parents again urge him to return to his hometown and take the civil service exam, and he becomes annoyed. At this point the classic configuration brings out 無瞋 and 不害:

- 無瞋: irritation arises within, but there is no displaced anger, no sarcasm; - 不害: established as a derivative position of 無瞋—genuinely not wanting the other party to be hurt.

Note that "不害 is conventionally existent, established upon the derivative position of 無瞋, with no separate entity." This means 不害 is not an independent switch one flips, but the whole aspect that manifests when 無瞋 is truly present—a state that neither makes one's parents miserable nor makes oneself suppressed.

The misreading: many people think "enduring" (忍) is good. Endurance may be non-anger, but if the endurance contains suffocation, grievance, or secret scorekeeping, then its intrinsic nature is anger (latent), not good. In the treatise, 無瞋 means genuinely letting go in the mind, not biting down; it is not grinding one's teeth and swallowing.

Step Five: Returning to Oneself—"Ten to Fifteen Minutes of Sitting at Night"

Classic configuration: 輕安.

After dinner, Xiao He has some time to himself. He sits down for a few rounds of breath observation, or simply sits in stillness. This corresponds to separating from desire on the worldly path: the mind is drawn back from the day's scatteredness, and coarse signs such as desire, hatred, and harming are temporarily subdued; body and mind naturally give rise to 輕安: a state of lightness, openness, and being undisturbed.

This is one of the distinguished merits of wholesome dharmas: it makes the object free from error, the wholesome roots firm, and the outflow continuous. It is not a performance; it is a repeatable experience.

The misreading: taking 輕安 as "I should feel comfortable." If one deliberately pursues comfort, it becomes a new attachment. 輕安 is a by-product, not the goal; its appearance is evidence that "the mind is no longer biting itself."

Step Six: A Deeper Path—"I Realize This Is Only Temporary—Do I Want to Go Further?"

Classic configuration: 不放逸、捨, and the direction of 順決擇分 and 無漏善.

If Xiao He goes further on this basis—for example, formally beginning to study Buddhism, joining meditation retreats, reading scriptures, and accepting a teacher's guidance—he enters the track of separating from desire on the supramundane path. What arises here are 不放逸 and 捨:

- 不放逸 is established upon 無貪、無瞋、無癡、精進—meaning that these four root wholesome dharmas remain present continuously over a longer timescale, not retreating because of fluctuations in mood, weather, relationships, or popular culture. 不放逸 is not tensely demanding of oneself, but making the root wholesome dharmas the underlying texture of daily life. - 捨 is likewise established upon these four root wholesome dharmas—a stable state of mental equanimity, not pulled by favorable or unfavorable conditions. It is not indifference, but no longer needing to confirm oneself by "winning."

From this moment on, what he cultivates is no longer merely worldly good (which brings the fruits of good destinations), but 順解脫分善—good moving toward liberation; one level further, 順決擇分善 (warmth, summit, patience, supreme worldly dharma), preparing for the path of seeing; and ultimately 無漏善—completely free from the taint of afflictions.

Step Seven: Widening the View—"What I Cultivate Is Not Only My Own Affair"

Classic configuration: 饒益有情所顯 (manifested through benefiting sentient beings)—the various altruistic wholesome deeds of bodhisattvas and tathāgatas; and 攝受有情 (gathering in sentient beings, one of the six categories).

As Xiao He's practice gradually stabilizes, he begins to cultivate not only for himself—he is more patient with his parents, more honest with colleagues, less cold to strangers, and has less contempt even for those he finds hard to stomach. This is the aspect of 善品 moving toward benefiting sentient beings.

Note the key point in the treatise: bodhisattvas, by the expedient of making a covenant, cause sentient beings to swiftly learn the wholesome class and cut off the unwholesome class. The wholesome class has always had successors. When a person is truly cultivating wholesome dharmas, those around him will inevitably be lifted up a little too—not by force, but by example, by atmosphere.

Walkthrough Summary

| Situation | Wholesome dharmas that appear | Concrete action for a modern person | |---|---|---| | Deciding | 信 | Knowing what to do at this moment | | Stopping defilement | 慚、愧 | Observing back from inertia, waking up | | Wholesome karma in motion | 無貪、無瞋、無癡、精進 | Doing what should be done with a pure mind | | Worldly path of dispassion | 輕安 | The lightness and ease of body and mind in sitting | | Supramundane path of dispassion | 不放逸、捨 | Long-term stable practice | | Gathering in sentient beings | 不害 | A way of living that does not harm self or others |

Here no step is abstract. Every step is a concrete response to a concrete situation, and every wholesome dharma manifests in that moment under the two marks of intrinsic nature free from error and security.

III. Why Contemporary People Need It

1. Two Features of Contemporary Life That Make the Wholesome Class Unprecedentedly Important

The first feature: attention is hijacked, values are relativized.

In contemporary daily life, the "attention economy" of algorithms, pushes, trending topics, ads, and short videos is essentially an environment that keeps the mind continuously inverted—it rewards not non-greed, non-anger, and non-delusion, but their opposites: clinging, agitation, and muddledness. The treatise says wholesome dharmas can make "the object free from error." In an age of severely disordered attention, this is the most basic "foundation repair."

The second feature: action is abundant, inner life is thin.

Contemporary people do not lack action—overtime work, socializing, consumption, learning: the density of action is extremely high. Yet many feel a state of "having done a lot but accumulated nothing." This is because most of these actions lack the intrinsic nature of good (intrinsic nature free from error) and do not lead toward security (good destinations, realization of nirvāṇa). They are activities born without clarity. The wholesome class reminds people: it is not what one does, but with what intrinsic nature one does it, that constitutes real cultivation.

2. Comparisons with Contemporary Experience (and Their Limits)

- Comparison with "flow" research: The psychological concept of flow (Csikszentmihalyi's term) describes a state of absorption, felt control, and self-forgetting that bears some superficial resemblance to 輕安 in the *Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra*. But it must be said: flow is not necessarily good—a person playing a game with full absorption is also a flow state; 輕安, by contrast, requires intrinsic nature free from error and security as preconditions. This is a difference of direction, not of degree. - Comparison with mindfulness/meditation: Contemporary popular mindfulness training overlaps technically with what the treatise calls "cultivating attention" (修諸作意), such as awareness of the breath. But mindfulness is mostly used as a stress-reduction tool and does not necessarily lead to counteracting defilement and moving toward nirvāṇa—which are precisely the defining functions of the wholesome class. In other words, treating mindfulness as a supplement is instrumentalization; treating it as an entryway into the wholesome class is its use as a factor of liberation. - Comparison with the "self-improvement" culture: The contemporary vogue of "becoming a better version of yourself" is mostly a project of self-optimization, aimed at greater efficiency, success, and happiness. The wholesome class may also look like "improvement," but it is not self-optimization; it is self-purification—the goal is to reduce inversion and increase accordance with reality, not to make "me" stronger, but to make the mind on which "me" depends clearer.

Any modern comparison can only reach the gate; it cannot enter the gate: modern psychology and neuroscience can describe some of the physiological/cognitive conditions under which wholesome dharmas operate (for example, the default mode network, emotion regulation circuits), but dimensions such as intrinsic nature free from error, security, and nirvāṇa are not fully translatable into scientific vocabulary. To treat this as "science has proven Buddhism" is an over-reading; to treat it as "two completely separate systems" is also a waste—they can illuminate each other at certain levels, but they cannot replace each other.

3. Why the Wholesome Class Is Especially "Real" for Contemporary People

The treatise gives five merits of wholesome dharmas that are the most urgently needed by modern people:

1. Purifying the mind and freeing it from the bonds and latent tendencies of afflictions—directly countering the binds of anxiety, depression, and insomnia. 2. Making the object free from error—maintaining lucid judgment amid information overload. 3. Wholesome roots firm and non-retreating, outflow continuous—making the wish "to become better" genuinely sustainable (this is the hardest part). 4. Not harming self, not harming others—repairing the most common relational wounds. 5. Leading to good destinations, increasing resolve toward nirvāṇa, swiftly attaining what one seeks—giving one's life a direction that will not collapse.

These five correspond exactly to five pain points of contemporary people: an unclear mind, poor judgment, inability to persist, wounded relationships, and a life without direction.

IV. Common Misreadings and Clarifications

Misreading One: "The Wholesome Class" = "A Checklist of Good Deeds"

Clarification: A checklist is the appearance; intrinsic nature is the substance. The same act (donating money, saving someone, speaking gently), if its intrinsic nature is inverted (mingled with seeking fame, putting others down, self-indulgent sentimentality), is not of the wholesome class. The key to the wholesome class is intrinsic nature free from error and security, not the outer appearance of behavior.

Misreading Two: "Good" = "What Makes Me Comfortable"

Clarification: Contemporary people easily equate wholesome dharmas with "positive psychology" or "feeling good about oneself." But in the treatise, 安隱 is not comfort—it is a stable state that ultimately will not turn around and bite one. Sometimes good is precisely uncomfortable (refusing social obligations, facing the truth, no longer avoiding). The criterion is not whether it feels pleasant in the moment, but whether the intrinsic nature is in accordance with reality and whether it leads to genuine security.

Misreading Three: "The Unwholesome Class" = "What Bad People Do"

Clarification: Unwholesome dharmas belong to the categories of mental factors and karma, not to personality labels. A person who cultivates well can still have unwholesome dharmas manifesting; a person who seems terrible can still have wholesome roots manifesting. The wholesome and unwholesome classes are states of mind, not classes of persons.

Misreading Four: Reading "Faith" as "Believing Some Religious Proposition"

Clarification: In the *Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra*, 信 is one of the wholesome mental factors, the pure force of the mind toward wholesome dharmas, cause and effect, and teachers. It is a positive force of mind, not "believing some doctrine." If faith does not lead to non-greed, non-anger, non-delusion, and diligence, it is merely superstition—not the faith meant here.

Misreading Five: Reading "Non-greed, Non-anger, Non-delusion" as "Repression"

Clarification: 無貪 is not "not being allowed to like things"; it is what clings no longer clings. 無瞋 is not "not being allowed to be angry"; it is not being swallowed by irritation in the moment it arises. 無癡 is not "becoming omniscient"; it is no longer being covered over by inversion. These three are not subtractions; they are restoring the mind to accordance with reality. This also answers a common question from modern readers: does practice mean becoming dull? Answer: not dullness, but lucidity without being swept away.

Misreading Six: Understanding "The Wholesome Class" as Merely "The Opposite of Removing Evil"

Clarification: The treatise explicitly states that the wholesome class is not merely "stopping evil"; it itself has multiple aspects, including counteracting defilement, manifested through the cessation of defilement, manifested through the pure abode, manifested through benefiting sentient beings. The wholesome class is positive construction, not passive defense. This matches the "眾善奉行" ("practice all good") half of the verse "commit no evil, practice all good"—practice is positive, directional work.

Misreading Seven: "I Only Need to Cultivate Liberation; I Don't Need to Bother with the Wholesome Class"

Clarification: The treatise explicitly states that good accomplished by giving is inferior to precepts and cultivation; good accomplished by precepts surpasses giving but is inferior to cultivation; good accomplished by cultivation surpasses both giving and precepts. Without the foundation of giving and precepts, the good accomplished by cultivation cannot stand. Elsewhere it says that good tending toward merit, good tending toward liberation, good tending toward discrimination, and undefiled good are related as successive ascending levels. To seek the undefiled directly without cultivating the merit-tending good is a castle in the air. This point deserves special attention in the contemporary context—many people immediately demand "enlightenment" or "seeing the nature and becoming awakened" of themselves, yet are unwilling to honestly begin with keeping precepts, giving, and meditative cultivation, and so stand still year after year.

Misreading Eight: "The Wholesome Class" Is Only a Buddhist Affair

Clarification: The description of the wholesome class as a category is an accurate observation of the mental conduct of all sentient beings—anyone, at any moment in which their intrinsic nature is free from error, counteracts inversion, and leads toward security, is a manifestation of the wholesome class in that moment. Buddhists are not the entirety of "those who cultivate the wholesome class"; they are a group of people who see this matter of the wholesome class somewhat clearly. So a person who does not call themselves Buddhist, if they live in the present moment of non-greed, non-anger, and non-delusion, is a manifestation of the wholesome class in their life.

Conclusion: "The Wholesome Class" as a Grammar for Viewing One's Own Life

善品 is not a religious frame; it is more like a grammar for viewing one's own life: when I say "this moment is good," I do not mean "this moment I did a good deed," but this moment my mind is in accordance with reality and leads toward security. When we can use this grammar to look at our own day—the decisions in commuting, the defilement before the screen, the purity in action, the non-harming in relationships, the serenity in sitting—we discover that what is called "practice" is not elsewhere; it is right here in the intrinsic nature of this very thought.

The *Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra* calls all of this 精勤方便修諸善品 ("diligently and skillfully cultivating the wholesome class"), and teaches us, with regard to the two dharmas of the diminishing factor (退分) and the superior factor (勝分), to know what to abandon and what to cultivate: to observe the faults of saṃsāra and the merits of nirvāṇa. The diminishing factor is to be cut off; the superior factor is to be cultivated; faults are to be observed; merits are to be welcomed. This is the true face of the wholesome class as an entire category of practice—a field one can enter, walk far in, and in which one grows ever more secure.