坐禪三昧經 2.74

2.74

What are verbal formations? Applied thought and discursive thought: having engaged in applied and discursive thought, one subsequently speaks with the mouth; if there is no applied or discursive thought, there is no speech; this is called verbal formations. What are mental formations? (Feeling is what worldly people cling to as the three kinds of pain; 'pain' should be 'feeling', for feeling entails experiencing suffering and pleasure according to the realm, which does not exist in the higher realms, so it is proper to say feeling and perception are what renunciants are troubled by.) Feeling and perception are mental dharmas; because they are bound and tied to the mind, they are called mental formations. Furthermore, there are formations bound to the desire realm, formations bound to the form realm, and formations bound to the formless realm. Furthermore, there are wholesome formations, unwholesome formations, and immovable formations. What are wholesome formations? All wholesome formations of the desire realm, as well as the three stages of the form realm. What are unwholesome formations? All unwholesome dharmas. What are immovable formations? The wholesome formations with outflows of the fourth dhyāna, and the wholesome formations with outflows of the formless concentrations. These are called formations.