Part 8 · Chapter 47

The Ari's Text

Behold, there are no Mochin less than three aspects, which are Chochma, Bina, and Daat. Chochma is the line of Chesed, Bina is the line of Gevura, and Daat is divided into two: half Chesed and half Gevura, to decide between them, in the secret of “for the Lord is a God of knowledge” — two kinds of knowledge, as it is written. Indeed, Chesed is the aspect of five Chasadim, and Gevura is five Gevurot, as mentioned in the Idra of Naso, p. 142.

Inner Light

This commentary hasn't been matched to individual seifim yet — items are shown in reading order, and the number beside each one counts the notes themselves, not the seifim of the Ari's text.

Not matched to a seif

1There are no Mochin of fewer than three discernments, etc. And behold, Hochma is the line of Hesed, and Bina is the line of Gevura, and Daat is divided into two, half Hesed and half Gevura: Since these matters are the keys to all the Mochin of Atzilut, it is fitting to speak of them at length. It has already been explained above that all the Roshim that emerged at first in the correction of Atzilut, even in the coupling of Gadlut in them, were in the discernment of face to back, for the Bina of the Rosh does not change her way because of the Gadlut, and she always stands in posterior toward Aba (see above, page 627, the passage beginning “And the cause”). It follows that the Bina of the Rosh detains the ZON of the Rosh from expanding out of her and outward, for ZON are not revealed outside of Bina except through the illumination of Hochma, in the manner of the ZON of the direct light, as is known. And since Bina is in posterior toward Aba, and there is in her only the light of Hassadim, ZON are found included in her and are not revealed outward. By this you will understand why the Roshim of Atzilut are called by the name GAR [first three], for there is in them only KHB, but ZON are missing in them, on account of the Bina that stands in posterior toward Aba and does not turn her face to Aba except through the raising of MAN [Mayin Nukvin].
By this you will understand the source of the Moach of Daat. For through the raising of MAN, Bina is awakened and returns face to face with Aba, and they raise a level of ten Sefirot upon the MAN. Then ZON are born and are revealed in the Rosh of the upper one itself, who until now were missing there because of the posterior of Bina; and now that Bina has returned face to face, the ZON of the Rosh are revealed from them with the illumination of Hochma as befits them. And these new ZON that were revealed in the Rosh are called Daat. In truth they are only the ZAT of the Rosh, which have now been added through the raising of the MAN.
And although they are only ZON, nevertheless there are in them complete ten Sefirot, GAR and ZAT. This is because there is in them illumination of Hochma, and therefore it is then regarded that HGT become HBD, and the NH in them became ZON. However, from their source there are in them only five Hassadim for the ZA in Daat, which are HGT NH of Hassadim, and five Gevurot for the Nukva in Daat, which are HGT NH of Gevurot. Only, the two Hassadim of Hesed and Gevura and the upper third of Hesed in Tifferet returned to be HBD by force of the illumination of Hochma in them; and likewise the two Gevurot and a third — which are Hesed and Gevura and the upper third of Tifferet on the side of the Nukva — also became HBD by force of the illumination of Hochma, except that they are joined together and are reckoned as one.
It was explained above in the adjacent item that the NHY of the upper one too, which are the garments of the Mochin, are likewise divided into ten Sefirot; see there. That is, they are divided by three thirds into the three lines: Netzah, Hod, Yesod. The right line, which is Netzah, is divided into three thirds: Hochma, Hesed, Netzah. Likewise the left line, which is Hod, is divided into three thirds: Bina, Gevura, Hod. And likewise the middle line, which is Yesod, is divided into three thirds: Daat, Tifferet, Yesod and Malchut.
And this is what he says: “And behold, Hochma is the line of Hesed, and Bina is the line of Gevura, and Daat is divided into two: half Hesed and half Gevura.” The meaning is that it was explained above in the adjacent item that Netzah and Hod are the discernment of the vessels of the GAR of Daat, and Yesod is the vessel of the ZAT of Daat. Therefore those two and a half Hassadim, together with the two and a half upper Gevurot, which are HGT up to the Chazeh [chest], which returned to be HBD, as above — behold, Hochma clothed in the right line, which is the three thirds in Netzah, and was divided there into Hochma, Hesed, Netzah, and all of them are the discernment of Hochma. And Bina clothed in the left line, which is the three thirds in Hod, and was divided there into Bina, Gevura, Hod, and all of them are the discernment of Bina. And in the upper third of Tifferet the upper Daat of the GAR of Daat clothed there, which is called the concealed Daat. Thus the GAR of Daat have been explained, which are HGT that returned to HBD; and the ZON in Daat, which are the two Hassadim and two thirds together with the two Gevurot and two thirds — which are the two lower thirds of Tifferet and NH — for of the HG that remain, they are doubled and became complete five Hassadim and complete five Gevurot, the five Hassadim being the ZA in the Daat of the ZAT, and the five Gevurot being the Nukva in this Daat. And both of them clothe in the middle line of the vessel of Yesod, in the three thirds in it, which are Daat, Tifferet, Yesod, and all of them are the discernment of Daat alone.
Thus it has been explained how the ten Sefirot of Daat clothe in the three garments of the NHY of the upper one: the line of Hochma clothed in the garment of the Netzah of the upper one, the line of Bina in the garment of the Hod of the upper one, and the line of Daat in the garment of the Yesod of the upper one. And each line is divided into three thirds: the right line is divided into Hochma, Hesed, Netzah; the left line into Bina, Gevura and Hod; and the middle line into Daat, Tifferet and Yesod. Only, the three thirds in the right line are all of them the discernment of Hochma, and the three thirds in the left line are all of them the discernment of Bina, and the three thirds in the middle line are all of them the discernment of Daat.
It was also explained that the discernment of Hochma, Bina, Daat — that is, the GAR of Daat — are from their source only HGT, but by force of the illumination of Hochma that they received they became HBD. It was also explained that the NH and the two thirds of Tifferet that remained after HGT became GAR, although there is in them only two thirds of Tifferet and the two lower HG, which are Netzah and Hod, nevertheless they were doubled and became five Hassadim, HGT NH, and five Gevurot, HGT NH. And this is because in every place where the HGT of ZA became HBD, the NHY of ZA became HGT, and new NHY emerge for him, as is known. So it is here too: the two HG and the two lower thirds of Tifferet became HGT up to the Chazeh, and there emerged for them two new lower thirds of Tifferet and two new lower HG, that is, from the Chazeh downward; and therefore they were doubled and became once again complete five Hassadim and five Gevurot. And these five Hassadim and five Gevurot are the ones called in their generality by the name the Moach of Daat, and it is clothed in the three thirds of the garment of the Yesod of the upper one. And it is the one called by the name the Daat that expands; but the Daat that is clothed in the upper third of Tifferet does not expand and is not revealed, for it is reckoned as the discernment of the ends, which are Hochma and Bina that clothe in the garments of the Netzah and Hod of the upper one, and it is not of the discernment of the actual middle line. Therefore it always remains beneath the Hochma and Bina that are in the Rosh, and only the five Hassadim and five Gevurot in the middle line are the ones that expand downward, since they are clothed in the garment of the Yesod of the upper one, which is the actual middle line. And this is the rule, that there is no expansion whatsoever from the discernments of the ends, which are the right and left lines, but from the middle line alone; and this rule suffices for all places. And although the Daat that decides between Hochma and Bina is clothed in the upper third of Tifferet, which is also a middle line, nevertheless there it is a blocked place, for there is no revelation of the illumination of Hochma except from the Chazeh downward, which is in the two lower thirds of Tifferet. Therefore the Daat that is in the upper third is called the concealed Daat. Understand this well.