九品

Nine classes, or grades, i.e. 上上, 上中, 上下 upper superior, middle superior, lower superior, and so on with 中 and 下. They are applied in many ways, e.g. 上品上生 the highest type of incarnate being, to 下品下生, the lowest, with corresponding karma; see 九品淨土. Each grade may also be subdivided into nine, thus making a list of eighty-one grades, with similar further subdivision ad infinitum.