An Explanation of the Twelve Nidānas in the Āgama Sutras

Chapter 8: The Key Link to Severing the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

Section 1: The Chain of Birth and Death of the Twelve Links and the Forward and Reverse Gates of Birth and Death

I. The Chain of Birth and Death of the Twelve Links

Ignorance (ignorance of manas) → Volitional formations (bodily, verbal, and mental actions) → Consciousness (six consciousnesses and karmic seeds) → Name-and-form (the five aggregates of the next life) → Six sense bases (six faculties) → Contact (contact of the six faculties with the six objects) → Feeling (feeling of the six consciousnesses, inducing feeling in manas) → Craving (craving of the six consciousnesses, mainly greed and craving of manas) → Grasping (grasping of the six consciousnesses, mainly grasping of manas) → Becoming (the conditioned phenomena of the three realms and the five aggregates) → Birth (the birth of the five-aggregate body in the three realms) → Aging, sickness, death, and suffering (the cessation of the five-aggregate body).

Birth and death arise due to ignorance; it is the ignorance of manas that causes the manifestation of infinite births and deaths. Due to ignorance, manas gives rise to mental activities, makes choices, and wishes to create karmic actions. Consequently, the six consciousnesses arise to fulfill manas’s wishes, creating bodily, verbal, and mental karmic actions, thus leaving karmic seeds in the three realms. With karmic seeds in the three realms, there will inevitably be rebirth and wandering within the three realms. During the intermediate state after death, manas follows karma to enter the womb, giving rise to the initial name-and-form. Subsequently, the six sense bases gradually become complete, contact arises, and following contact, the feeling of consciousness appears. With feeling, greed and craving become incessant, leading to grasping of feeling and sense objects. Karmic seeds are stored, ensuring the continued birth and existence of becoming in the next life, the birth of the next life will occur, and aging, sickness, and death will inevitably arise.

Name-and-form initially refers to manas and the fertilized egg, and finally refers to the body of the five aggregates. At the time of entering the womb, it is manas and the ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse consciousness) that enter the womb, combining with the fertilized egg to become name-and-form. Complete name-and-form is the six consciousnesses plus the six faculties and six objects, making eighteen elements. What consciousness does name-and-form depend upon to arise? Which consciousness enables its birth? It relies on the six consciousnesses of the previous life, because the actions of the six consciousnesses can leave karmic seeds for the five-aggregate body of the future life. Only with seeds can there be a five-aggregate body. When name-and-form is complete, contact of the internal and external six sense bases can occur, after which the six consciousnesses of the present life are born. Only when the six sense bases are complete can the six consciousnesses arise. When the six sense bases are complete, the five-aggregate body is complete, and the six consciousnesses can then create bodily, verbal, and mental actions. With karmic actions come seeds; with seeds come results. After karmic actions, karmic seeds are left behind to nourish the five-aggregate body of the future life. Sentient beings continue life after life in this way.

To liberate oneself from the suffering of the cycle of birth and death, it is necessary to break the twelve links of the chain of birth and death. The most crucial issue is the seeds. As long as the six consciousnesses cease to create karmic actions, no karmic seeds are left behind. The six consciousnesses’ cessation of karmic actions is entirely determined by the mental factor of volition (cetanā) in manas. Only when the volition of manas no longer chooses to create karmic actions will the six consciousnesses cease to create bodily, verbal, and mental karmic actions and leave no seeds. To prevent the volition of manas from creating karma, the ignorance of manas must be eradicated. To eradicate the ignorance of manas, one must practice the Four Noble Truths, practice the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, and engage in deep and subtle contemplation within meditative concentration. After realizing the emptiness and selflessness of the five-aggregate world, the chain of birth and death will gradually be untied, and liberation will be attained.

II. The Key Link to Severing the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

The Twelve Links span three lifetimes. Ignorance, volitional formations, and consciousness are the branches of the previous life. Name-and-form, six sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, and grasping are the branches of the present life. Becoming, birth, and aging-and-death are the branches of the next life. When contemplating this principle, there are two methods: forward and reverse. Contemplating the Twelve Links in the forward direction allows one to understand that the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses arising from manas due to ignorance lead to the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death of the five aggregates in the next life. Contemplating the Twelve Links in reverse has two branches. One branch traces back from name-and-form to the karmic seeds left by the actions of the six consciousnesses of the previous life, then further back to the ignorance of manas. The other branch traces back from name-and-form to the source of birth and death, the ālaya-vijñāna.

The first branch of the reverse dependent origination begins with aging-and-death and traces back successively to birth, becoming, grasping, craving, feeling, contact, six sense bases, name-and-form, six consciousnesses, volitional formations, and ignorance. Where is the key point for severing birth and death in the present life? It lies in the four links: grasping, craving, feeling, and contact. Because name-and-form and the six sense bases must be used; they cannot be eliminated now. If one were to eliminate them, it would require suicide. Even if one commits suicide, it cannot avoid the birth, aging, sickness, and death of future lives. Moreover, the karmic seeds of the six consciousnesses were deposited by bodily, verbal, and mental actions created in the previous life; even repentance cannot eliminate the name-and-form five aggregates. Therefore, to achieve liberation from birth and death in future lives, one must focus on cultivating the four links: contact, feeling, craving, and grasping. The latter three links arise from the flow of contact; they all arise directly or indirectly conditioned by contact. Thus, contact is a crucial link.

Contact is the contact of the six faculties with the six objects, that is, the contact of the internal six sense bases with the external six sense bases. Afterwards, the six consciousnesses arise to discern, then feeling arises, and greed and hatred appear. Grasping of the six sense objects also follows, and these karmic actions lead to the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death in this life and future lives. How can one avoid contact with the six objects? It requires reducing and eliminating the tendency of manas to grasp at objects. If manas does not grasp at the six objects, it will no longer wish to contact them. If there is no contact with the six objects, nothing happens afterward; the mind becomes pure. Therefore, the key still lies with manas.

How can manas be made to stop grasping at the six objects? First, cultivate meditative concentration (dhyāna). Second, understand the principle. Within concentration, contemplate the impermanence and arising-and-ceasing nature of the six objects. Understanding the principle can eradicate ignorance. Without ignorance, manas will no longer grasp at the six objects, lose interest in them, automatically reduce grasping, reduce the frequency and duration of contact, and gradually the mind will become pure. When the mind is pure, there is no feeling; without feeling, there is no craving; without craving, there is no grasping.

Since beginningless kalpas, the six faculties of sentient beings have been accustomed to contacting the six objects; it is very difficult to subdue and eliminate them entirely. Sometimes it is necessary for survival, or it is passive contact. Once contact occurs, one should reduce feeling or have no feeling. To achieve contact without mind, there is no feeling; without feeling, there is no craving; without craving, there is no grasping. To achieve little feeling or no feeling, one must have meditative concentration and contemplative wisdom. Only then can the mind be empty, detached from appearances, unaffected by objects, pure, and thus not grasp at objects.

If it is difficult not to be affected by objects and one cannot completely achieve it, then when feeling objects, try not to give rise to greed or hatred. Contemplate the impermanence and falsity of feeling, contemplate the arising-and-ceasing and impermanence of objects, and the mind can be subdued, greed and hatred can be reduced. Craving and feeling are closely connected; it is difficult not to give rise to craving when feeling arises. At this time, one must have meditative concentration; the power of concentration must be strong to subdue craving, even eradicate it. Eradicating craving requires at least the first dhyāna (first meditative absorption). In the practice of all dharmas, one cannot be separated from meditative concentration. If concentration is shallow, afflictions cannot be subdued, let alone eradicated, and liberation is hopeless.

If one fails at subduing craving, then grasping what is craved is almost inevitable; it is extremely difficult not to grasp. The cessation of grasping occurs when the third fruition (anāgāmin) is perfected; the fourth fruition (arhat) no longer grasps. A momentary grasp might be unavoidable, but immediately afterward, it is severed by wisdom. If this phenomenon occurs frequently, it indicates an arhat whose liberation is not yet firm. Before entering final nirvāṇa without residue at death, one must continuously perform preparatory practices to achieve cessation and nirvāṇa in an instant.

In summary, the four links of contact, feeling, craving, and grasping are all crucial. Only by subduing and eradicating the preceding link can the subsequent link possibly not arise. Therefore, the most crucial link for liberation is contact. In the practice of all dharmas, the environment is a very important factor. When all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas practiced, they were in quiet and secluded places, undisturbed by people or affairs, so there was less contact, progress was rapid, and enlightenment was swift. Therefore, in our practice, when we inevitably have to follow conditions, we should still create more causes and conditions for quiet cultivation, minimize the causes and conditions for contact, to facilitate practice. In bustling places, one cannot accomplish the path.

The link of ignorance spans three lifetimes. In the previous life, it was due to ignorance that the subsequent eleven links arose. In the present life, it is still due to ignorance that contact, feeling, craving, and grasping continue. In future lives, it will also be due to ignorance that these processes continue, perpetuating birth and death across three lifetimes. In which link is ignorance eradicated? Actually, during the Buddha’s time, most people who practiced the Twelve Links had practiced the Four Noble Truths, and some were even enlightened beings. Based on having eradicated the view of self, they then practiced the Twelve Links; ignorance had already been eradicated, but not completely and thoroughly. Therefore, the fruition of a pratyekabuddha (solitary realizer) attained through practicing the Twelve Links is higher than that of an arhat. More ignorance is eradicated, and concentration and wisdom are deeper than those of an arhat. Ignorance has many levels; pratyekabuddhas do not completely eradicate ignorance; only all Buddhas completely eradicate ignorance and birth and death.

III. The Key Link to Ending Suffering

If one wishes to end the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, and distress, which link in the Twelve Links is the most crucial? Or, which link in the Twelve Links most directly causes birth, aging, sickness, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, and distress? Some say grasping, some say craving, some say feeling, some say contact, some say the six sense bases, some say name-and-form, some say the six consciousnesses, some say volitional formations, some say ignorance.

First, consider that if grasping is eliminated, and one no longer grasps, becoming in the next life will not appear, and birth and death will cease from then on. Therefore, grasping is still crucial. Without grasping, there are no causes and conditions for birth in the next life. If one wishes to eliminate grasping, how should one proceed? If a person is very greedy and craving, can grasping be eliminated? Absolutely not. Therefore, eliminating craving is also crucial. The elimination of craving must occur after eradicating the view of self and attaining at least the first dhyāna; only then does one have the capacity to eliminate craving. Eliminating craving makes one a third or fourth fruition (anāgāmin or arhat).

However, if a person continuously experiences feeling, can craving be prevented from arising? Absolutely not. Therefore, eliminating feeling is also crucial. How to eliminate feeling? Feeling arises because of contact with objects. Only by reducing or eliminating contact can feeling be reduced or eliminated. Therefore, eliminating contact is also crucial. How to eliminate contact? As long as there are internal six sense bases, contact will be continuous; not contacting is difficult to endure; not contacting is impossible. Therefore, eliminating the internal six sense bases is crucial.

How to eliminate the internal six sense bases? The internal six sense bases arise from name-and-form; with name-and-form, there are internal six sense bases. Therefore, eliminating name-and-form is crucial. How to eliminate name-and-form? Name-and-form comes from the karmic seeds of the previous life. Karmic seeds are left by the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses. If the six consciousnesses do not create bodily, verbal, and mental actions, there will be no seeds for the three realms, and thus no birth of the name-and-form five aggregates in the next life; birth and death will cease. Therefore, eliminating the six consciousnesses and their bodily, verbal, and mental actions is crucial. How to eliminate the six consciousnesses? The arising of the six consciousnesses is determined by manas. If manas wishes to create bodily, verbal, and mental actions, the six consciousnesses will inevitably arise and comply with manas’s mental activities to create them. Manas has an inclination towards the phenomena of the three realms and operates within the three realms due to the ignorance of manas. As long as manas has ignorance, there will inevitably be mental activities and a desire to create karmic actions.

Therefore, eliminating the ignorance of manas is crucial. Once ignorance is eliminated, the five-aggregate world of the three realms will inevitably cease completely, without even a trace of dust remaining. How to completely eliminate ignorance? In practice, one must first subdue the mental activities of manas, subdue the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses, subdue the contact of the six sense bases, subdue feelings, subdue greed and desire, subdue the grasping mind, and only afterward can they be eradicated, until complete cessation. The process of subduing is the process of practicing the Thirty-Seven Aids to Enlightenment, practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, and practicing precepts, concentration, and wisdom. After subduing, precepts become clear, concentration increases, wisdom advances, body and mind become light and at ease, and soon the first transformation will occur. Then, the Dharma-eye becomes pure, the first fruition (srotāpanna) is attained, and one enters samādhi. The second transformation occurs after attaining the first dhyāna; afflictions gradually fall away and are eradicated. When self-attachment is completely eradicated, the suffering of the three realms is transcended.

Subduing one link causes the other links to be subdued in sequence. Eradicating one link causes the other links to be eradicated in sequence. Among them, the eradication of ignorance is the most fundamental. If ignorance is not eradicated, all other links cannot be completely eradicated; they will still take root and sprout. When one has meditative concentration, contact decreases, feeling decreases, craving decreases, grasping decreases; these links are subdued. But without eradicating ignorance, these links can still flourish. The absence of the mind seeking liberation (renunciation) is due to not recognizing suffering. Failure to recognize suffering is due to ignorance, which is relatively heavy.

The key to these birth-and-death afflictions and birth-and-death ignorance lies with manas. Subduing manas and eradicating the ignorance of manas is most crucial. If manas has ignorance, it will grasp at objects, then make choices, then the six consciousnesses arise, then bodily, verbal, and mental actions are created, then karmic seeds are stored, then rebirth occurs with name-and-form, and a new round of birth and death appears. It cycles like this endlessly without cessation. Attaining the first fruition by eradicating the view of self is the first eradication of the ignorance of manas, only eradicating a part of it, the coarser part. Continuing practice, another part is eradicated; wisdom and samādhi advance, attaining the second fruition (sakṛdāgāmin), then the third fruition (anāgāmin), completely eradicating the ignorance and afflictions of the three realms, attaining the fourth fruition (arhat). Therefore, the first fruition must eradicate the view of self in manas, but only a part, the coarser part.

IV. The Forward Gate of Birth and Death of the Twelve Links

The first link of the Twelve Links is ignorance. Sentient beings all have ignorance; ignorance is the root of birth and death, the cause that creates birth and death. What is ignorance? Ignorance is darkness in the mind, not understanding, not knowing. What is not understood? Not understanding birth, aging, sickness, and death; not understanding the five aggregates and eighteen elements; not understanding the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination; not understanding the true reality of the Dharma realm; not understanding the principle of liberation from birth and death and ultimate Buddhahood. All this lack of understanding is ignorance.

With ignorance comes karmic actions of ignorance; the second link of the Twelve Links is volitional formations: ignorance conditions volitional formations. Because manas has ignorance, it grasps at all dharmas, thereby producing various bodily, verbal, and mental actions. This inevitably leaves karmic seeds. Thus, the third link arises: volitional formations condition consciousness, and the karmic seeds of the six consciousnesses appear. With karmic seeds, name-and-form in the next life must necessarily arise. Bodily actions refer to the various activities of the five-aggregate body: production, business, career, politics, maintaining the existence of the physical body, etc. Verbal actions refer to speech, mental discourse, thinking, verbal actions, etc. Mental actions refer to deluded thoughts, plans, mental calculations, considerations, recollections, reasoning, judgments, imaginations, and other mental activities.

All actions of sentient beings cannot be separated from the creation of bodily, verbal, and mental actions. Due to ignorance, bodily, verbal, and mental actions are associated with the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion; the actions created are defiled karmic actions. Defiled karmic seeds are stored by the ālaya-vijñāna. When the karmic seeds mature in the future, they give birth to the karmic retribution body of the future life, thus the suffering of birth and death continues endlessly. Because there are karmic seeds created by the six consciousnesses, there will be karmic retribution in the next life. Thus, the fourth link arises: consciousness conditions name-and-form. What is name-and-form? Name refers to that which has only a name, without form or shape. At the initial moment of entering the womb, it refers to the seventh consciousness (manas). When the six faculties are complete, it refers to the seven deluded consciousnesses, i.e., the four aggregates of feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. Form refers to the fertilized egg, representing the body. Name-and-form together represent the body and mind, the five aggregates; the physical body combined with the conscious mind is called name-and-form.

The fifth link of the Twelve Links is name-and-form conditions the six sense bases. The six sense bases are the six faculties through which the six objects enter. As name-and-form grows, the five physical faculties arise, combining with the inherently present mental faculty (manas) to form the six sense bases. Because there is name-and-form, the six sense bases arise. The sixth link is the six sense bases condition contact. The existence of the faculties is for contacting the objects, so with the six sense bases there is necessarily contact. The eye faculty contacts form objects, the ear faculty contacts sound objects, the nose faculty contacts smell objects, the tongue faculty contacts taste objects, the body faculty contacts tangible objects, the mental faculty contacts mental objects. After the six sense bases contact the six objects, the six consciousnesses arise, and there is feeling, mental discourse, and discernment.

Contact gives rise to feeling; thus, the seventh link is contact conditions feeling. This feeling is first reception, acceptance, sensation, then pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings arise. For example, when the ear faculty contacts sound objects, ear consciousness and mental consciousness arise and discern, and pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral feelings arise: hearing music brings pleasant feeling, hearing quarreling brings unpleasant feeling. Contact conditions feeling is the result of the six faculties contacting the six objects. After feeling, greed and craving arise; thus, the eighth link is feeling conditions craving. After feeling arises, further thoughts and emotions of liking and disliking arise, desiring further seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing.

After greed and craving arise, there is grasping at sense objects, with mental activities of acceptance and rejection towards the objects. Thus, the ninth link is craving conditions grasping, wishing that the liked objects would exist forever without loss, and the disliked objects would disappear immediately. Because there are mental activities of possession and grasping, the ālaya-vijñāna complies with the grasping of manas, and the environment of the three realms and the five-aggregate body of the next life arise. Thus, the tenth link is grasping conditions becoming. The three realms have the five aggregates and eighteen elements of the desire realm, form realm, and formless realm. The desire realm has males and females, sexual desire, and means of subsistence: wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep. The form realm has the five aggregates and eighteen elements of genderless heavenly beings and heavenly palaces of the form realm. The formless realm has the sixth, seventh, and eighth consciousnesses and mental objects, without a physical body or objects of the five senses, hence called the formless realm. Because manas grasps at the dharmas of the three realms, it attracts the dharmas of the three realms, and the suffering of birth and death in the three realms appears.

The eleventh link of the Twelve Links is becoming conditions birth. Because the causes and conditions for existence in the three realms are complete, life will be born within the three realms. Only when the conditions for existence are complete can life be born; if not complete, it cannot be born. For example, moisture-born beings can only be born and survive in a moist environment. If a place is very dry, without moisture, moisture-born beings cannot be born. A moist environment can have mosquitoes. Thus, beings of the four modes of birth and nine abodes can only be born when the causes and conditions are complete. The more manas grasps, the faster the conditions are completed, and the faster life is born.

With birth there is inevitably death; there is fundamentally no such thing as not aging and not dying. Therefore, after life is born, it gradually grows, ages, and dies; the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death appears; all sorrow, lamentation, pain, and distress, the great mass of suffering, appears. Thus, the twelfth and final link is birth conditions aging-and-death. Outsiders cultivate immortality, wishing never to die. In reality, no matter how long sentient beings live, they will ultimately die. Birth, aging, sickness, and death are one life cycle. All things have the cycle of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing. Humans have birth, aging, sickness, and death. The universe and environment all have the cycle of formation, abiding, decay, and emptiness. Every sentient being, once born, will have death; this is unavoidable. The above is the forward Twelve Links, the forward gate of birth and death.

V. The Reverse Gate of Birth and Death of the Twelve Links

Reversing the Twelve Links means reversing birth and death to end birth and death, liberating from the suffering of birth and death. The first link of the reverse dependent origination is the aging-and-death link. Why does the phenomenon of aging and death occur? Because there is birth; with birth there is necessarily aging and death. The second link of the reverse dependent origination is the birth link. Why is there birth? Why can life appear in the world? Because manas grasps at the dharmas of the three realms, the environment of the three realms appears, and the five-aggregate body follows and appears. The third link is becoming. The fourth link is grasping. Why do sentient beings grasp at the worldly dharmas of the three realms? Because there is greed and craving within the mind. The fifth link is craving. Why is there greed and craving? Because there is sensation and feeling towards the objects of the six senses within the three realms; with feeling, greed and craving arise. The sixth link is feeling. Why does feeling appear? Because there is contact; the six faculties always contact the six objects, and the seven consciousnesses have sensations towards the contacted objects.

The seventh link is contact. Why is there contact? Because there are six sense bases, there is contact with the six objects. The eighth link is the six sense bases. Why are there six sense bases? Because there is name-and-form; as name-and-form grows, the six sense bases arise. The ninth link is name-and-form. Why is there name-and-form? Because the six consciousnesses continuously create bodily, verbal, and mental actions, storing karmic seeds, which necessarily give birth to name-and-form corresponding to the karmic seeds. The tenth link is consciousness. Why do the karmic seeds of the six consciousnesses appear? Because the mental activities of manas are continuous, prompting the six consciousnesses to continuously create bodily, verbal, and mental actions, thus storing the karmic seeds of the six consciousnesses. The eleventh link is volitional formations. Why are bodily, verbal, and mental karmic actions continuous? Because manas has ignorance, continuously grasping at the world, causing the Twelve Links to cycle repeatedly. The final link is ignorance. This is the reverse tracing of the Twelve Links.

The reverse tracing of the Twelve Links also has another method, the Ten Links of Dependent Origination, which traces back to name-and-form. Tracing to the source, there is a fundamental contemplation: contemplating what the true source of name-and-form is, where the source of life is, how name-and-form is born, where name-and-form ultimately comes from. Pratyekabuddhas, tracing back to this point, know that the source of name-and-form is the ālaya-vijñāna; name-and-form is born from the ālaya-vijñāna. Tracing further back from the ālaya-vijñāna, there is no dharma; the ālaya-vijñāna is the source of birth and death. The links "volitional formations condition consciousness" and "ignorance conditions volitional formations" are merely supporting conditions for the birth of name-and-form. In the intermediate state, manas takes the ālaya-vijñāna to be reborn. Without the ālaya-vijñāna, manas also does not exist and cannot be reborn. Therefore, the source of name-and-form is the ālaya-vijñāna; this is called "name-and-form conditions consciousness" and "consciousness conditions name-and-form."

Although sentient beings have ignorance, if there were only ignorance without the ālaya-vijñāna, name-and-form still could not be born; there would not even be ignorance. Therefore, the direct root of sentient beings' birth is the ālaya-vijñāna. Without the ālaya-vijñāna, there would be no ignorance, no birth, aging, sickness, death, and no three realms. Because the ālaya-vijñāna produces the fertilized egg, this name-and-form (fertilized egg) relies on the ālaya-vijñāna to grow and change. Therefore, name-and-form directly originates from the ālaya-vijñāna, and the ālaya-vijñāna also relies on name-and-form to manifest.

Separated from name-and-form, the ālaya-vijñāna cannot manifest or function. This is called "consciousness conditions name-and-form" and "name-and-form conditions consciousness"; consciousness and name-and-form depend on each other. Since the ālaya-vijñāna exists, after eradicating ignorance in the Twelve Links through practice and entering nirvāṇa, it is not annihilation into nothingness; the fundamental basis, the ālaya-vijñāna, still exists. Each link of the Twelve Links takes the ālaya-vijñāna as its fundamental reliance; otherwise, it becomes the fallacy of conditions without cause. Only then do fourth fruition arhats and pratyekabuddhas dare to enter the nirvāṇa without residue, because nirvāṇa is not annihilation into nothingness.

VI. The Decisive Role of Manas in the Twelve Links

Sentient beings have the great mass of suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death entirely because there is ignorance, and this ignorance is the ignorance of manas. Manas has ignorance, thus there is the mental factor of volition (cetanā), after which the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses appear. With bodily, verbal, and mental actions, karmic seeds appear. The second and third links of the Twelve Links arise because of manas. The bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses exist in compliance with manas; the seeds deposited exist because of the mental activities of manas. Therefore, the name-and-form of the next life arises because of the grasping of ignorant manas. Thus, manas has an absolute leading role in birth and death and a driving force for other dharmas. If manas is defiled, the six consciousnesses are defiled, the seeds are defiled, and name-and-form has more suffering, especially the suffering of the three lower realms.

After name-and-form grows, the six sense bases are born. The contact of the six sense bases with the six objects is governed by manas. If manas grasps a lot, contact is frequent, and karmic actions of birth and death are many. If grasping is little, contact is little, and karmic actions of birth and death are few. The feeling, craving, and grasping after contact, although involving the feeling, craving, and grasping of the six consciousnesses, what actually plays the decisive role in inducing the next link to arise is the feeling, craving, and grasping of manas. If manas has no feeling, craving, or grasping, the next link does not appear. The final three links—becoming, birth, and aging-and-death—arise entirely because of the grasping of manas. Therefore, in the arising of the cycle of birth and death, manas plays a decisive role.

The Twelve Links clarify that manas is the root of birth and death. Liberation and sinking depend on manas. To end birth and death, one must resolve the problem of manas and eradicate the ignorance of manas. Manas is also the root of the Four Noble Truths: suffering, its origin, cessation, and the path. Suffering comes from the karmic actions created by the six consciousnesses prompted by the ignorant mental activities of manas. The origin (accumulation) comes from the seeds deposited by the karmic actions created by the six consciousnesses prompted by manas. Cessation is the cessation of the ignorant mental activities of manas. The path is attained through manas realizing the Dharma.

Since manas plays such a huge decisive role in the cycle of birth and death, it possesses all mental factors (caittas), including all wholesome mental factors, afflictive mental factors, and neutral mental factors. The mental factors of manas determine the mental factors of the five consciousnesses and determine the mental factors of mental consciousness. If the mental factors of manas change, the mental factors of the six consciousnesses change, and all dharmas change accordingly. If the mental factors of manas do not change, even if the mental factors of the six consciousnesses change, they will change back. If the afflictions of manas are not severed, even if the afflictions of mental consciousness are severed, they will regenerate. If manas lacks meditative concentration, even if the six consciousnesses have concentration, it cannot last long; they will inevitably scatter again. Therefore, manas plays a decisive role in the Twelve Links, and cultivating manas is extremely important.