When the mind is distracted, suffering arises: depression takes hold, the body trembles, and even the breath—both inhalation and exhalation—becomes disturbed. To remove these afflictions, the sage prescribes the steady practice of one principle, a single-pointed focus. The mind can be made clear by cultivating four noble attitudes: friendliness toward the happy, compassion toward those who suffer, joy in the virtuous, and equanimity toward those who act otherwise. Alternatively, clarity may be gained through regulating the breath, especially by attentive exhalation and retention. Other methods also exist: one may engage the mind with a sensory object, allowing mental activity to arise with this as its support. Or, one may rest the mind in a state free from sorrow, luminous and serene. The mind can also be directed toward a person who is free from passion for sense objects, drawing inspiration from their purity. Sometimes, knowledge arises from dreams or sleep, and the mind may rest upon this insight. Or, one may meditate on whatever is most suitable to one’s own inclination. Through these practices, mastery of the mind extends from the smallest atom to the greatest magnitude. When the fluctuations of the mind are diminished, it becomes like a flawless jewel, reflecting perfectly the color of the perceiver, the act of perception, and the object perceived. This state is called absorption, or samādhi. In the first stage of absorption, reasoning is present, and the experience is mixed with concepts of word, meaning, and knowledge. When memory is purified, the mind appears empty of its own nature, and only the object shines forth—this is absorption without reasoning. By this same process, absorption with and without subtle reflection concerning subtle objects is explained. The subtlety of the object ultimately culminates in that which is without distinguishing mark. These states are known as samādhi with seed. With mastery of absorption without subtle reflection, clarity of the inner self arises. In this state, knowledge is filled with truth, distinct from knowledge gained by testimony or inference, for it concerns the particular object directly. The impression born of this absorption obstructs other impressions, and when even this ceases—when all cessation is accomplished—samādhi without seed arises. The yoga of action is composed of austerity, study, and devotion to the Lord. This practice cultivates samādhi and attenuates the afflictions. The afflictions are five: ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life. Ignorance is the field from which the others arise, whether dormant, attenuated, interrupted, or fully active. Ignorance is seeing the impermanent as permanent, the impure as pure, the painful as pleasurable, and the non-self as self. Egoism is the apparent identification of the powers of seeing and the seen as one. Attachment dwells upon pleasure; aversion dwells upon pain. Clinging to life flows on by its own force, established even in the wise in the same way. These subtle afflictions are resolved by returning to their source. Their active forms are abandoned through meditation. Karmic impressions rooted in affliction are experienced in seen and unseen births. As long as the root exists, its fruition is birth, lifespan, and experience. These bear fruits of joy or suffering, according to virtue or vice as their cause. For the discerning, all is suffering because of the pain of change, anxiety, latent impressions, and the conflict of the qualities. The suffering that has not yet come is to be avoided. The cause of what is to be avoided is the conjunction of the seer and the seen. The seen is of the nature of illumination, activity, and inertia. It is composed of elements and senses, and exists for experience and liberation. The stages of the qualities are particular, universal, marked, and unmarked.