The ten characteristics of each of the Four Siddhāntas
- The Worldly Siddhānta is characterized as (i) speaking about phenomenon and noumenon to comply with conditions that are suitable to, and are pleasurable to be heard by audiences; (ii) explaining both the Provisional (Unreal) and the Real; (iii) combinations of causes and conditions that result in differences between good and evil beings; (iv) a separate view of the five aggregates (i.e., form, sensation, conception, volitional activity, and consciousness) that are taken as real; (v) differentiating wholesomeness from evil; (vi) viewing the three periods (past, present, and future) of time separately; (vii) separating the Four Wholesome Factors (Ssu-shan-ken) that belong to the Ordinary Ranks of a Higher Level (Nei-fan) from the Ordinary Ranks of a Lower Level (Wai-fan); (viii) to differentiate between “the Path of Vision” and “the Path of Cultivation (ix) neither “learning” nor “no-learning 47 and (x) the Siddhānta for Each Person that is contained within.
- The Siddhānta for Each Person is characterized as (i) to arouse the wholesome mind that existed previously; (ii) to only talk about the Provisional (Unreal) of living beings; (iii) if wholesome conditions are combined, a wholesome person comes into being; (iv) from the wholesome five aggregates, the wholesome five aggregates can be reproduced; (v) to explain that the present wholesomeness can reproduce the future wholesomeness; (vi) concerning future period of time; (vii) concerning stages of “heat” and “summit”; (viii) concerning “the path of vision;” (ix) realizing the “learning and (x) the Siddhānta of Counteraction that is contained within.
- The Siddhānta of Counteraction is characterized as (i) to get rid of new evil; (ii) to only talk about the Real (i.e., evil is real because it causes the real effect of generating more evil); (iii) when evil conditions are combined, an evil person comes into being; (iv) to destroy the evil five aggregates with the wholesome five aggregates; (v) to destroy the present evil with the present wholesomeness; (vi) concerning the present period oftime; (vii) concerning the Four Types of Mindfulness (Ch., Ssu-nien-ch’u; Skt., catvāri smṛtyupasthānāni) that are practiced together and individually$ l (viii) concerning “the path of cultivation”; (ix) cultivating the “learning”; and (x) the Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth that is contained within.
- The Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth is characterized as (i) enabling a person to realize the path of a sage; (ii) not Unreal and not Real; (iii) not good and not evil; (iv) attaining the five aggregates with “non-defilement (v) neither good nor evil; (vi) attaining the negation of the three periods of time; (vii) attaining the Highest Mundane Dharma that is closest to “real non-defilement (viii) attaining “the path of no-learning”; (ix) attaining the arhatship of “no-learning”; and (x) the Supreme Truth that does not include the three other siddhāntas. (Vol. 2, Page 35-36)