Matharavritti 51
English (machine translation) 51
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51.1
There, he states the ninefold contentment:
51.2
Four are internal, designated nature, means, time, and fortune;
five are external, due to turning away from objects; thus nine contentments are declared.
51.3
Those four contentments proceed with reference to the self: contentment regarding nature, contentment regarding the means, contentment regarding time, and contentment regarding fortune. As when someone knows merely nature, but does not know its properties—possession and absence of constituents, permanence and impermanence, consciousness and non-consciousness, and omnipresence—merely by the knowledge of the existence of nature, being content thinking 'I know,' having renounced, [yet] liberation does not belong to him. This is contentment regarding nature. Someone, having self-assertion merely through taking up the triple staff, the water-pot, the rosary, and the black antelope skin, says, 'I am liberated; by this my liberation will come to be.' Content with merely this much, he does not proceed to the attainment of knowledge. Nor does liberation belong to him; this is contentment regarding the means. Someone speaks thus: 'Liberation will occur by itself in time; what is the use of discerning the fundamental principles?' He is content through mere engagement in [preliminary] knowledge. Nor does liberation belong to him; this is contentment regarding time. Someone [thinks], 'Only by great fortune does one become liberated; therefore knowledge cannot be the instrument of liberation.' Being content with that much, liberation does not belong to him; this is contentment regarding fortune. Thus, arising with reference to the self, these are the four internal contentments. But the external contentments are five. They occur through the cessation of the five objects, being five for one who contemplates the defects of acquisition, preservation, decay, lack of satisfaction, and violence. Thus, taken together, there are nine contentments. There, as for 'acquisition'—namely, of objects—having ascertained the suffering of occupations such as agriculture and animal husbandry for that purpose, turning away from them, he attains contentment. This is the fifth contentment. Even when acquired, it is suffering to preserve the objects against kings, thieves, and the like; therefore turning away, thinking 'I have no need for objects,' he attains contentment: that is the sixth contentment. Even when preserved, they waste away as they are enjoyed; therefore turning away, thinking 'I have no need for them,' he attains contentment: this is the seventh. Likewise, even when remedies such as acquisition and [remedying] decay are applied, there is no absence of thirst of the sense faculties; therefore turning away, thinking 'I have no need for them,' contentment belongs to him who turns away: this is the eighth. Even when the stated remedies are applied, for one engaged in acquisition and the like, these [objects] cannot be obtained without violence, without harming living beings; therefore turning away, thinking 'I have no need for them,' he attains contentment. This is the ninth contentment. Thus these are the five external contentments. Together they are nine. (Thus, with these contentments, [thinking] there is liberation without knowledge, he is content by mere dispassion.) In other treatises there are also other names for these nine contentments, namely: Ambhas, Salila, Ogha, Vṛṣṭi, Tāra, Sutāra, Sunetra, Sumarīca, and Uttamāmbhasika. Opposite to these are the non-contentments: Anambhas and so on. In this way contentments and non-contentments have been explained.