An Explanation of the Twelve Nidānas in the Āgama Sutras

Section 2   Explanation of Terminology

I. The Meaning of Name and Form

Form (rūpa) refers to the material phenomena composed of the four great elements (earth, water, fire, wind), visible to the physical eye, such as the form aggregate (rūpa-skandha). Name (nāma) refers to the phenomena of names, invisible to the physical eye but possessing functions; it can act upon the physical body and combines with the physical body to form the form aggregate, which can be perceived and observed, such as: the feeling aggregate (vedanā-skandha), the perception aggregate (saṃjñā-skandha), the mental formations aggregate (saṃskāra-skandha), and the consciousness aggregate (vijñāna-skandha). Name and form constitute the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) body of sentient beings, which is the unreal self carried through their endless rebirths. This self is not solid; it can be destroyed and perish, being a phenomenon subject to birth, abiding, change, and extinction; therefore, it is not the true self, but provisionally designated as "I". Name includes the mental faculty (manas) and its functions, encompassing the six consciousnesses and their functions.

II. Condition-Awakened Buddha and Solitary-Awakened Buddha

Pratyekabuddhas are divided into two types: one is the Condition-Awakened Buddha (Pratyekabuddha), and the other is the Solitary-Awakened Buddha (Pratyekabuddha). The Condition-Awakened Buddha is born in an era when a Buddha dwells in the world. When the Buddha teaches the doctrine of the twelve links of dependent origination (dvādaśāṅga-pratītyasamutpāda), the Condition-Awakened Buddha practices the twelve links of dependent origination under the Buddha's guidance. Through profound meditation, they deeply contemplate and investigate the law of dependent origination, ultimately realizing the fruit of Pratyekabuddhahood. They directly realize that the entire world of the five aggregates is born from causes and conditions; if one causal condition is missing, phenomena do not arise. Since phenomena are produced by causes and conditions, they are empty, devoid of inherent nature, and impermanent. Realizing this principle is to become a Condition-Awakened Buddha.

The Solitary-Awakened Buddha arises at a time when there is no Buddha and no Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha) present in the world. They contemplate the impermanent phenomena of the world alone, gradually discovering the twelve links of dependent origination and directly realizing each individual link. Solitary-Awakened Buddhas have practiced under Buddhas over countless lifetimes; their wholesome roots are extremely profound. Although they come into the human world in this life without encountering a Buddha teaching the Dharma, nor the Dharma itself dwelling in the world, due to the merit and virtue cultivated in past lives, upon seeing a certain phenomenon in the world, doubt arises in their mind, triggering deep contemplation. For example, when the autumn wind blows and leaves fall from trees, the Solitary-Awakened Buddha sees this and gives rise to questioning. To understand this phenomenon, they go alone into deep mountains and ancient forests to practice in solitude, continuously deepening their contemplation and investigation into these phenomena of birth and death.

The Solitary-Awakened Buddha contemplates: People are born and then die; trees lose their leaves in autumn, and new leaves grow again in spring – what is the reason for this? Why do all things have birth and death? Thus, while cultivating concentration (dhyāna), they continuously explore the causes and conditions involved. Sitting in meditation daily, contemplating, seeking the root cause of the arising of all phenomena – this is also called meditation practice, contemplation practice. After many years of arduous practice, they finally awaken to the twelve links of dependent origination, realizing the selflessness of persons (pudgala-nairātmya). They know that all phenomena in the world are born from causes and conditions; phenomena born from causes and conditions are empty, illusory, and impermanent, thereby realizing the fruit of Pratyekabuddhahood.

Because Solitary-Awakened Buddhas possess the four dhyānas and the eight samāpattis, upon realizing the Pratyekabuddha fruit, due to the power of samādhi, supernatural powers manifest. Thereafter, they use these supernatural powers to liberate sentient beings. If they go seeking alms and sentient beings offer them food, to repay the sentient beings, they will display supernatural powers: walking, standing, sitting, or lying down in the sky; emitting water from the upper body and fire from the lower body, or emitting fire from the upper body and water from the lower body; penetrating mountains or entering the earth. Sentient beings see this and are filled with admiration, thus giving rise to faith and joy in the Buddha Dharma, and they follow the Pratyekabuddha to practice. If the Pratyekabuddha's karmic connection with the world is exhausted, they will enter the remainderless nirvāṇa (anupādhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), depart from this world, and not return to the three realms.

After Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas realize nirvāṇa, they all depart from the world of the three realms. Consequently, the Buddha Dharma cannot continue to spread in the world, and those suffering sentient beings cannot be liberated. Therefore, the Buddha said that the compassion of the two vehicles (śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha) is thin; they only seek to extinguish their own suffering and do not consider helping other sentient beings to be free from suffering. In contrast, the compassion of Bodhisattvas is vast; they never abandon any activity that benefits and brings happiness to sentient beings. They cultivate the four immeasurable minds (brahmavihāra) of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity, and generate the ten infinite vows. Life after life, they extensively benefit sentient beings without end, until they attain Buddhahood, never entering the remainderless nirvāṇa. After becoming a Buddha, they then manifest immeasurable and countless five-aggregate bodies to benefit and bring happiness to boundless sentient beings.

III. What Consciousness Refers to in the Twelve Links and the Ten Links

In the twelve links of dependent origination: Ignorance (avidyā) conditions formations (saṃskāra); formations condition consciousness (vijñāna); consciousness conditions name-and-form (nāmarūpa). Here, consciousness refers to the six consciousnesses, because the bodily, verbal, and mental actions created by the six consciousnesses plant karmic seeds for future lives, which lead to entering the womb and thus the name-and-form of a future life. However, in the ten links of dependent origination, where consciousness conditions name-and-form and name-and-form conditions consciousness, this consciousness does not refer to the six consciousnesses. The meaning of "name-and-form conditions consciousness" is that name-and-form depend on this consciousness to have the phenomena of birth, abiding, change, and extinction; this consciousness exists first, and only then does name-and-form and the six consciousnesses come into being. Name-and-form already includes the six consciousnesses, so the six consciousnesses arise along with name-and-form; they are subject to birth, abiding, change, and extinction, and also depend on this consciousness to have these characteristics. Therefore, the consciousness in "name-and-form conditions consciousness" is not equivalent to the six consciousnesses; it is a relationship of producer and produced. This consciousness is the fundamental consciousness existing prior to heaven and earth, the ālaya-vijñāna, which is unborn, undying, and gives birth to all phenomena.

IV. The Connotation of Dependent Origination and Emptiness of Nature

"Dependent origination and emptiness of nature" (pratītyasamutpāda-śūnyatā) observes, from the perspective of the emptiness of phenomena (dharma-śūnyatā) in the Hinayāna, that all phenomena produced by the Tathāgatagarbha are entirely conventional phenomena (saṃvṛti-sat), not observed from the Mahāyāna perspective of the Tathāgatagarbha. In the conventional sense, all phenomena arise due to causes and conditions; their forms and substances are empty, subject to birth and death, decay, impermanence, unobtainable, and ungraspable. This is observing the nature of conventional phenomena from the Hinayāna perspective. The cause (hetu) is the source and origin initiating all phenomena, which can also be said to be karmic seeds planted by past actions, including wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral karma. The condition (pratyaya) is the people, things, and environmental factors that facilitate and assist the manifestation of karmic seeds into karmic results. When causes and conditions are complete, the karmic result manifests. All phenomena born from causes and conditions change when the causes and conditions change. Therefore, all worldly knowledge and productive activities also change along with the constantly changing conditions of the world; they are not fixed.

However, the supramundane truth is not a phenomenon born from causes and conditions; thus, it does not change. If it could change, it could not be called the truth or the noble truth (ārya-satya). Only the seventh consciousness exists without cause or condition. Actually, the existence of the seventh consciousness also has a cause, which is the one thought of ignorance (avidyā) within the seventh consciousness. If this one thought of ignorance is extinguished, the seventh consciousness would cease to exist. The existence of the seventh consciousness has no condition; it has existed since beginningless kalpas ago, with no traceable supporting condition for its arising. Therefore, the seventh consciousness has no beginning; because ignorance has no beginning, it is called beginningless ignorance (anādy-avidyā).

Since all phenomena are dependently originated and empty in nature, the cause is also empty and subject to birth and death, and the condition is also empty and subject to birth and death, then when causes and conditions cease, all phenomena cease. This does not involve the Mahāyāna Dharma of the Tathāgatagarbha; it does not involve the Tathāgatagarbha giving birth to all these phenomena, hence it is called the Hinayāna teaching of emptiness. If the Tathāgatagarbha is not involved, the emptiness of all phenomena does not reach the fundamental point; it seems as if phenomena exist, hence they are dependently originated and empty. Actually, from the Mahāyāna Tathāgatagarbha perspective, all phenomena are the Tathāgatagarbha; there are no substantial phenomena at all. All phenomena are unborn, hence also unextinguished; since they are transformations of the Tathāgatagarbha, what is there to be born? What is there to be extinguished? Nothing exists outside the Tathāgatagarbha.

The emptiness of the Hinayāna is an emptiness of destruction and ruin. The emptiness (śūnyatā) of the Mahāyāna Tathāgatagarbha is the empty nature-mind (śūnyatā-citta) that is unborn and undying. These two are fundamentally different and cannot be confused. Dependent origination and emptiness of nature is the kind of nothingness (śūnyatā) taught in the Hinayāna; it has not yet touched upon the practice connotation of the Mahāyāna Tathāgatagarbha Dharma. Therefore, dependent origination and emptiness of nature is incomplete; one still needs to realize the ultimate meaning and the essential nature of all worldly phenomena.

After attaining the fruit of Arhatship or Pratyekabuddhahood, one then turns to the Mahāyāna to practice the Tathāgatagarbha Dharma. After realizing the Tathāgatagarbha, one gradually contemplates and examines the phenomena of the five aggregates world. Then one will know the relationship between the five aggregates and the Tathāgatagarbha, the truth of the birth and death of the five aggregates, thoroughly realizing the essential nature of the Tathāgatagarbha and the substance of the five aggregates world. Only when ignorance is completely extinguished can one become a Buddha. Merely realizing that the five aggregates world is dependently originated and empty in nature is only realizing the emptiness from the Hinayāna perspective; one cannot yet become a Buddha.

V. How to Correctly Understand "Formations Condition Consciousness" and "Consciousness Conditions Name-and-Form"

First, there may be misunderstandings in the translation of Buddhist scriptures. Due to the varying levels of realization among translators, their different depths of realization, and some translators having no realization at all, the translated scriptures have discrepancies in doctrinal meaning. One person translates at one level; multiple people translate at multiple levels. In the past, Hinayāna practitioners did not understand the mental faculty (manas). When encountering the doctrinal meaning concerning the mental faculty during scripture translation, their understanding deviated; some fundamentally could not understand it. If a person had very good meditative concentration (dhyāna), this deficiency could be compensated for in their practice and realization, but it could not be compensated for in explaining and translating scriptures. This led to various misunderstandings among later generations without meditative concentration, making direct realization impossible and forcing them to resort to reasoning, analysis, and conjecture.

If Buddhist practitioners have not yet mastered the doctrinal meaning comprehensively and are unable to understand and directly realize the mental faculty, misunderstandings and confusion will arise in their understanding of the scriptures. For example, concerning the twelve links "ignorance conditions formations; formations condition consciousness," no matter how much one thinks, it remains unclear what exactly "formations" and "consciousness" refer to; the relationship between the two cannot be clarified, and the sequence of operation may be reversed. If the consciousness in "formations condition consciousness" is understood as the seventh consciousness or the eighth consciousness, the doctrinal meaning becomes gravely mistaken. What kind of formation could produce the seventh consciousness? Only the activity of the eighth consciousness can produce the seventh consciousness, but the eighth consciousness has no ignorance, so "ignorance conditions formations" becomes inexplicable. What kind of formation can produce the eighth consciousness? No activity, worldly or supramundane, can produce the eighth consciousness. Therefore, the consciousness in "formations condition consciousness" and "consciousness conditions name-and-form" cannot be the seventh or eighth consciousness; it can only be the six consciousnesses.

Then, what kind of formation can produce the six consciousnesses? The six consciousnesses here actually refer to the karmic seeds of the six consciousnesses, which are produced by bodily, verbal, and mental formations. Bodily, verbal, and mental formations and the six consciousnesses are in a parallel, co-existing relationship; therefore, the six consciousnesses are not produced by bodily, verbal, and mental formations. It is the karmic seeds of the six consciousnesses that are produced by bodily, verbal, and mental formations. The six consciousnesses can only be born from the eighth consciousness, with the ignorance of the seventh consciousness as a supporting condition. The eighth consciousness, complying with the ignorance of the seventh consciousness, gives birth to the six consciousnesses, which then create bodily, verbal, and mental formations, planting the karmic seeds of the six consciousnesses as the cause for the future birth of the five-aggregate name-and-form body. This chain of conditions operating link by link constitutes the complete twelve links of the suffering of birth, death, and rebirth.

VI. Phenomena Arise from Conditions; I Say They Are Empty

Cause (hetu) is the internal driving force for the birth of all phenomena; it can also be said to be karmic seeds, or actions performed in past lives. Condition (pratyaya) is the external causal force or power required for the birth of all phenomena. With the cause of karmic seeds plus the external conditions, phenomena can arise. However, there is another reason: who is it that gives birth to phenomena through causes and conditions? This reason is none other than the ālaya-vijñāna alone.

For example, the birth of a wheat plant: the cause is the wheat seed; the conditions are climate, soil, etc. When causes and conditions are complete, the wheat sprout arises. However, the wheat sprout cannot arise actively by itself; it also requires a person to plant the seed in the soil, apply fertilizer, irrigate, water, and aerate. Without human effort, even with wheat seeds and the earth, water, fire, and wind elements present, the two cannot combine, and the wheat sprout cannot arise.

Similarly, if there are only karmic seeds and external conditions, without the ālaya-vijñāna unifying them, phenomena will not arise. This is because phenomena are composed of the seven fundamental elements (sapta-dhātu). The ālaya-vijñāna contains these seven fundamental elements, including the karmic seeds. External conditions and forces are also phenomena among phenomena, similarly composed of the seven fundamental elements, born from the ālaya-vijñāna. Therefore, no matter what phenomena they are, all phenomena are born from the ālaya-vijñāna; that is, they are born from causes and conditions.

Since phenomena are born from causes and conditions, they are fundamentally non-existent prior to their arising; they are born later. Where there is birth, there will be extinction. When the causes and conditions cease, the phenomena will cease. Therefore, phenomena are empty; phenomena born from causes and conditions are empty, utterly ungraspable.