Exposition on the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination in the Yogācārabhūmi

Section 3: Detailed Analysis of the Twelve Links (2)

Original Text: Question: If something is conditioned by craving, is it all grasping? If something is grasping, is it all conditioned by craving? Answer: It should be understood that this follows the latter proposition. That is, all grasping is conditioned by craving. However, not all that is conditioned by craving is grasping. For instance, the remaining links apart from grasping, as well as the diligent vigor and other wholesome dharmas that arise conditioned by wholesome craving.

Explanation: Question: If a dharma arises conditioned by craving, do all such dharmas belong to the link of grasping? If these dharmas are all grasping, are they all born conditioned by craving? Answer: This question follows the latter proposition (i.e., "If something is grasping, is it all conditioned by craving?"). That is to say, all grasping arises conditioned by craving. However, dharmas that arise conditioned by craving are not all grasping; there are also the remaining links apart from grasping, as well as diligent vigor and other wholesome dharmas that arise conditioned by wholesome craving.

All grasping arises conditioned by craving. However, dharmas born conditioned by craving are not all grasping; there are also dharmas apart from grasping that arise conditioned by craving, such as the links of becoming, birth, aging-and-death, and so forth. If craving is absent and utterly extinguished, these links will no longer arise; they are all extinguished. Craving is the direct condition for grasping and the indirect condition for the other links; all arise because of craving.

Original Text: Question: If something is conditioned by grasping, is it all becoming? If something is becoming, is it all conditioned by grasping? Answer: This should also be answered following the latter proposition. That is, all becoming is conditioned by grasping. However, not all that is conditioned by grasping is becoming. For instance, the remaining links apart from becoming.

Explanation: Question: If a dharma arises conditioned by grasping, are all such dharmas the three realms of becoming? If these dharmas are all becoming, are they all born conditioned by grasping? Answer: Here too, it follows the latter proposition. All links of becoming arise conditioned by grasping. However, dharmas that arise conditioned by grasping do not all belong to becoming; there are dharmas apart from the link of becoming, such as the other links in the twelvefold chain apart from becoming: birth, aging-and-death, formations, consciousness, name-and-form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, and so forth. Grasping is the direct condition for the link of becoming and the indirect condition for the other links; all arise because of grasping.

Original Text: Question: If something is conditioned by becoming, is it all birth? If something is birth, is it all conditioned by becoming? Answer: All birth is conditioned by becoming. However, not all that is conditioned by becoming is birth. For instance, the remaining link apart from birth, namely the last link of aging-and-death.

Explanation: Question: If some dharmas arise conditioned by becoming, do all such dharmas belong to the link of birth? If these dharmas all belong to the link of birth, are they all born conditioned by becoming? Answer: All birth arises conditioned by becoming. However, some dharmas that arise conditioned by becoming do not all belong to the link of birth; for example, the last link of aging-and-death, apart from birth, also arises conditioned by becoming. Without the becoming of the five-aggregate world, there would be no phenomenon of aging-and-death.

Original Text: Question: If something is conditioned by birth, is it all aging-and-death? If something is aging-and-death, is it all conditioned by birth? Answer: All aging-and-death is conditioned by birth. However, not all that is conditioned by birth is aging-and-death. For instance, disease, encountering what is disliked, separation from what is loved, failure to obtain what is sought, and the arising therefrom of sorrow, lamentation, distress, and various kinds of mental agitation.

Explanation: Question: If a dharma arises conditioned by birth, do all such dharmas belong to the link of aging-and-death? If these dharmas are all included within aging-and-death, are they all born conditioned by birth? Answer: All phenomena of aging-and-death arise conditioned by birth. However, the arising of some dharmas is conditioned by birth yet does not belong to the phenomena of aging-and-death; for example, disease, encountering adversaries, separation from loved ones, failure to obtain what is sought, and the arising therefrom of worry, sorrow, sighing, and various kinds of mental agitation, and so forth.

Original Text: Question: Among these links of becoming, how many constitute the supreme obstacle to the right view included in the path factors? Answer: Ignorance and the mental formations arising therefrom, even if only a part, can be a supreme obstacle. As with right view, so it is with right thought and right effort. For right speech, right action, and right livelihood, bodily and verbal formations, even if only a part, are supreme obstacles. For right mindfulness and right concentration, the remaining links of becoming are to be understood as supreme obstacles.

Explanation: Question: Among the twelve links of becoming, how many links constitute the primary and most direct obstacle to the right view included in the Noble Eightfold Path? Answer: Ignorance and the mental formations arising from it, even a part, can become the primary obstacle to right view, let alone more parts, which are even greater obstacles. Ignorance and formations obstruct not only right view but similarly right thought and right effort. Bodily and verbal formations, even a part, become the primary obstacle to right speech, right action, and right livelihood. The remaining links of becoming, such as consciousness, contact, feeling, volition, and grasping, even a part, become the primary obstacle to right mindfulness and right concentration.

The twelve links of becoming are an obstacle to the right cultivation of the Noble Eightfold Path; they are an obstacle to the cultivation of all other path factors and similarly an obstacle to the cultivation of the Four Noble Truths of suffering, origin, cessation, and path. Therefore, regardless of what dharma is cultivated, ignorance is an obstacle. The common goal of cultivating all dharmas is to eliminate the obstacle of ignorance.

Original Text: Question: Among these links of becoming, how many pertain solely to the defiled category? How many pertain to both defiled and pure categories? Answer: Four pertain solely to the defiled category. The rest pertain to both defiled and pure categories. Question: How does the link of birth pertain to both categories? Answer: If birth is in the unfortunate destinies or difficult places, it pertains solely to the defiled category. If birth is among humans and gods in non-difficult places, it pertains to both defiled and pure categories. It should be understood that the remaining links, according to what is appropriate, all pertain to both categories.

Explanation: Question: Among these links of becoming, how many links pertain solely to the defiled category? How many links pertain to both defiled and pure categories? Answer: Four links pertain solely to the defiled category, namely: ignorance, formations, craving, and grasping. The rest pertain to both defiled and pure categories. Question: Why does the link of birth pertain to both defiled and pure categories? Answer: If birth occurs in the three unfortunate destinies or places with calamities, the link of birth pertains solely to the defiled category. If birth occurs among humans and gods in places without calamities, the link of birth pertains to both defiled and pure categories. It should be understood that the remaining links, according to the corresponding dharmas, all pertain to both defiled and pure categories.

Original Text: Question: What kind of ignorance, when absent, causes formations to be absent? What kind of ignorance, when extinguished, causes formations to be extinguished? Answer: There are three kinds of ignorance that instigate afflictive bonds and latent tendencies. When this ignorance is extinguished, that ignorance is extinguished. With its extinction, formations are also extinguished accordingly.

Explanation: Question: What kind of ignorance, when absent, causes formations to be absent? What kind of ignorance, when extinguished, causes formations to be extinguished? Answer: There are three kinds of ignorance that can instigate afflictive bonds, latent tendencies, and ignorance itself. When these three kinds of ignorance are extinguished, the ignorance within the twelve links is extinguished. Because ignorance is extinguished, formations are consequently extinguished. There is also subtle ignorance beyond the twelve links, which needs to be gradually extinguished during the practice of the Bodhisattva path.

Original Text: Question: What kind of formations, when absent, causes consciousness to be absent? What kind of formations, when extinguished, causes consciousness to be extinguished? Answer: When all formations within one's own continuum have been performed and ceased, and no antidote has yet arisen, and also because mental formations exist, bodily and verbal formations arise. Because this exists, that exists; because that does not exist, the consciousness conditioned thereby also does not exist. If this is completely extinguished, it should be known that consciousness is also extinguished accordingly.

Explanation: Question: What kind of formations, when absent, causes consciousness to be absent? What kind of formations, when extinguished, causes consciousness to be extinguished? Answer: All formations of the mental faculty, in their continuous operation within the self, cease as they arise, and when no dharma has yet arisen to counteract the formations of the mental faculty, because the mental formations exist, the bodily, verbal, and mental formations of the six consciousnesses arise. Because the mental faculty has formations, the six consciousnesses exist; because the formations of the mental faculty are absent, the six consciousnesses are also absent. If the formations of the mental faculty are completely extinguished, it should be known that the six consciousnesses are consequently all extinguished.

Original Text: Question: What kind of consciousness, when absent, causes name-and-form to be absent? What kind of consciousness, when extinguished, causes name-and-form to be extinguished? Answer: Because the seed consciousness is absent, the resultant consciousness is absent. When both are extinguished together, name-and-form is also extinguished accordingly. As with the principle of consciousness conditioning name-and-form, so it is with the remaining links up to feeling conditioning craving, according to what is appropriate, it should be understood similarly.

Explanation: Question: What kind of consciousness, when absent, causes name-and-form to be absent? What kind of consciousness, when extinguished, causes name-and-form to be extinguished? Answer: Because the consciousness that creates karmic seeds is absent, the resultant consciousness is absent. When both kinds of consciousness are extinguished together, name-and-form is consequently extinguished. Just as with the principle of consciousness conditioning name-and-form, so it is with the remaining other links, up to feeling conditioning craving; according to the corresponding dharmas, it is the same.

The birth of name-and-form requires karmic seeds. Karmic seeds are produced by the choices made by the formations of the mental faculty, which give rise to the six consciousnesses creating karmic actions. When the six consciousnesses create karmic actions, karmic seeds are left behind. In future lives, when the karmic seeds ripen, name-and-form will be born, and new six consciousnesses will experience the results. If the six consciousnesses cease creating karmic actions, the resultant consciousness will not arise, and name-and-form will certainly not arise again. The root cause lies in the mental faculty no longer having formations. For the mental faculty to no longer have formations, the prerequisite is to extinguish the ignorance of the mental faculty; only then will formations cease.

Original Text: As with the principle of ignorance conditioning formations, so it is with craving conditioning grasping, and grasping conditioning becoming; it should be understood similarly. As with the principle of formations conditioning consciousness, so it is with becoming conditioning birth; it should be understood similarly. As with the principle of consciousness conditioning name-and-form, so it is with birth conditioning aging-and-death; it should be understood similarly.

Explanation: The principle of ignorance conditioning formations is the same as the principles of craving conditioning grasping and grasping conditioning becoming. The principle of formations conditioning consciousness is the same as becoming conditioning birth. The principle of consciousness conditioning name-and-form is the same as birth conditioning aging-and-death.

The same principle should be contemplated for the following links: What kind of name-and-form, when absent, causes the six sense bases to be absent? What kind of name-and-form, when extinguished, causes the six sense bases to be extinguished? What kind of six sense bases, when absent, causes contact to be absent? What kind of six sense bases, when extinguished, causes contact to be extinguished? What kind of contact, when absent, causes feeling to be absent? What kind of contact, when extinguished, causes feeling to be extinguished? What kind of craving, when absent, causes grasping to be absent? What kind of craving, when extinguished, causes grasping to be extinguished? What kind of grasping, when absent, causes becoming to be absent? What kind of grasping, when extinguished, causes becoming to be extinguished? What kind of becoming, when absent, causes birth to be absent? What kind of becoming, when extinguished, causes birth to be extinguished? What kind of birth, when absent, causes aging-and-death to be absent? What kind of birth, when extinguished, causes aging-and-death to be extinguished? These questions should all be contemplated and examined in detail within meditative concentration.

Original Text: Question: What kind of feeling, when absent, causes craving to be absent? What kind of feeling, when extinguished, causes craving to be extinguished? Answer: As with the principle of formations conditioning consciousness, it should be understood similarly.

Explanation: Question: What kind of feeling, when absent, causes craving to be absent? What kind of feeling, when extinguished, causes craving to be extinguished? Answer: It is the same as the principle of formations conditioning consciousness. Because the three kinds of feeling operate continuously, ceasing as they operate, if there is no method to counteract feeling, feeling will continue to operate indefinitely. Because feeling exists, craving consequently arises. If feeling is extinguished, and nothing is felt, craving for dharmas will no longer arise. If all feeling is extinguished, craving is completely extinguished.

Original Text: Question: As previously stated, among the eight aspects of dependent arising, how many aspects are revealed by the twelvefold dependent arising? How many are not? Answer: Three aspects are revealed by it. Namely, two are partially revealed, and one is fully revealed. The remaining aspects are not. What are the two partially revealed? Namely, the aspect of the arising of internal consciousness and the aspect of deeds done by oneself. What is the one fully revealed? Namely, the aspect of the turning of the sentient world.

Explanation: Question: As stated earlier, among the eight aspects of dependent arising, how many aspects are revealed by the twelvefold dependent arising? How many are not revealed by the twelvefold dependent arising? Answer: Three aspects are revealed by the twelvefold dependent arising; the rest are not revealed by it. Among them, two aspects are partially revealed by the twelvefold dependent arising, and one aspect is fully revealed by it. Which two aspects are revealed by the twelvefold dependent arising? The aspect of the arising of internal consciousness and the aspect of deeds done by oneself are partially revealed by the twelvefold dependent arising. Which aspect is fully revealed by the twelvefold dependent arising? The aspect of the turning of the sentient world is revealed by the twelvefold dependent arising.

Original Text: Question: For those who do not know the principle of dependent arising as it truly is, how many faults are there? Answer: There are five. Namely, giving rise to the view of self. And being able to give rise to views associated with the past. As with views associated with the past, so it is with views associated with the future, and views associated with both past and future as well. Furthermore, holding firmly and tenaciously to those views, having attachment and fear, not attaining Nirvana in the present life. This is called the fifth fault. Question: For those who know as it truly is, how many benefits are there? Answer: Inverting the previous five faults, it should be understood that there are also five benefits.

Explanation: Question: For those who cannot know the principle of dependent arising as it truly is, how many faults are there? Answer: There are five faults: 1. Being able to give rise to the view of self; 2. Being able to give rise to views associated with all past phenomena; 3. Just as with views associated with past phenomena, similarly being able to give rise to views associated with future phenomena and views associated with both past and future phenomena; 4. Furthermore, generating fierce and tenacious clinging to these views of self; 5. Having attachment to and fear regarding the view of self, and thus being unable to attain Nirvana in the present life. Question: For those who can know the principle of dependent arising as it truly is, how many great and evident benefits are there? Answer: Inverting the previous five faults, it should be understood that there are five corresponding great and evident benefits.

Original Text: Furthermore, among these twelve links of dependent arising, how many are substantially existent? Answer: Nine. How many are not substantially existent? Answer: The remainder. How many have a single matter as their intrinsic nature? Answer: Five. How many do not have a single matter as their intrinsic nature? Answer: The remainder.

Explanation: Furthermore, among the twelve links of dependent arising, how many are substantially existent? Nine links are substantially existent, namely: the link of formations, the link of consciousness, the link of name-and-form, the link of the six sense bases, the link of contact, the link of feeling, the link of craving, the link of grasping, and the link of becoming. How many are not substantially existent? The remaining three links are not substantially existent, namely: the link of ignorance, the link of birth, and the link of aging-and-death. "Substantially existent" means having actual functional efficacy. "Not substantially existent" means lacking actual functional efficacy, being merely nominal. How many links distinctly manifest their own intrinsic nature? Five links: the link of consciousness, the link of name-and-form, the link of feeling, the link of craving, and the link of grasping. How many links do not distinctly manifest their own intrinsic nature? The remaining links do not distinctly manifest their own intrinsic nature.

Original Text: How many are the cause of the obstacle to omniscience? Answer: One. How many produce suffering? Answer: Five. How many are the womb of suffering? Answer: Five. How many are solely suffering? Answer: Two.

Explanation: How many links are the cause of the obstacle to omniscience (jñeyāvaraṇa)? One link\: the link of ignorance. How many links produce suffering? Five links produce suffering, namely: formations, consciousness, feeling, birth, and aging-and-death. How many links are the womb of suffering? Five links are the womb of suffering, namely: consciousness, name-and-form, feeling, craving, and grasping. "Womb" means containing, concealing, nurturing, upholding, and giving birth. How many links are solely suffering? Two links are solely suffering: birth and aging-and-death.

Original Text: How many are said to be the causal division? Answer: The first six [i.e., ignorance up to contact] and also craving, grasping, and becoming are said to be the causal division. How many are said to be the resultant division? Answer: The last two are said to be the resultant division.

Explanation: How many are said to be the causal division (hetubhāga) of other links? The first six links are the causal division that induces the arising of other links: ignorance, formations, consciousness, name-and-form, the six sense bases, and contact. The links of craving, grasping, and becoming are also said to be the causal division, being the causes of birth and aging-and-death. How many are said to be the resultant division (phalabhāga)? The last two links are said to be the resultant division: birth and aging-and-death.

The causal division refers to the links that can induce the arising of subsequent dharmas; they have the meaning of inducing arising and can also store seeds. Without this cause, subsequent dharmas cannot arise. Among them, the greatest and root cause is the link of ignorance, followed by the link of formations, then the link of consciousness. After that, the resultant body appears, and upon that body, actions are continuously performed, again serving as causes for producing future results. The resultant division refers to the links that form the final fruit or result, induced by the preceding links as causes and conditions. Birth and death are the greatest fruits and results; the five-aggregate body is nothing more than this.

Original Text: How many are said to be the mixed causal-resultant division? Answer: The remaining link is said to be the mixed division. Why is that? There are two kinds of feeling, called the mixed division. First, the feeling that is the cause for future life, conditioned by contact. Second, the resultant feeling in the present life, conditioned by craving. These two are mixedly spoken of as feeling conditioned by contact.

Explanation: How many are said to be the mixed causal-resultant division (miśra-bhāga)? Apart from the first six links, the middle three links (craving, grasping, becoming), and the last two links, the remaining link is the one mixed with cause and result, which is the link of feeling. Why is this so? Because there are two kinds of feeling, called the defiled division (kleśa-bhāga). One is the dharma that appears later, feeling that arises conditioned by contact; this feeling is the cause for craving. The second is the dharma existing in the present, the resultant feeling conditioned by craving; because there is craving, there is feeling. These two kinds of feeling together are spoken of as feeling conditioned by contact. Feeling is both the cause for the arising of subsequent craving and the result born conditioned by craving; being both cause and result is called the mixed division.

Original Text: Furthermore, how many links produce the result of agreeable and disagreeable objects? How many links produce the result of the self-body? Answer: The first six links can produce the former result [objects]. The last three links can produce the latter result of the self-body. One link produces both results.

Explanation: Furthermore, how many links induce the result of agreeable and disagreeable objects? How many links induce the result of the self-body (i.e., the five-aggregate existence)? The first six links – ignorance, formations, consciousness, name-and-form, the six sense bases, and contact – can induce the result of agreeable and disagreeable objects. The last three links – becoming, birth, and aging-and-death – can induce the result of the five-aggregate self-body. One link induces both the result of agreeable and disagreeable objects and the result of the self-body: this is the link of grasping.

The first five links – ignorance, formations, consciousness, name-and-form, and the six sense bases – induce the link of contact. The link of contact induces the result of agreeable and disagreeable objects, the three kinds of feeling, which experience agreeable and disagreeable objects. Without contact, the three kinds of feeling would not arise. Without the six sense bases, there would be no contact. Without name-and-form, there would be no six sense bases. Without the consciousness of the previous life, there would be no name-and-form. Without the formations of the mental faculty, there would be no consciousness and its seeds. Without ignorance, there would be no formations of the mental faculty.

The last three links – becoming, birth, and aging-and-death – induce the result of the self-body, because if the becoming of the three realms exists, the result of birth will occur. Because there is birth, the result of aging-and-death will occur. As for the link of grasping, because of grasping at dharmas, it can induce the result of agreeable and disagreeable objects and, moreover, cause the five aggregates to continuously appear in the world, inducing the result of the five-aggregate self-body. If there is no grasping, then no objects appear, nor does future becoming appear; all results cease.

Original Text: Furthermore, how many links operate together with pleasant feeling? Answer: All except two of the remaining links. How many links operate together with painful feeling? Answer: Namely that [feeling] and one of the excluded. How many links operate together with neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling? Answer: As with the principle of pleasant feeling, it should be understood. How many links do not operate together with feeling? Answer: One of the excluded.

Explanation: Furthermore, how many links operate together with pleasant feeling? Excluding the two links mentioned (birth and aging-and-death?), the remaining links of feeling, craving, and grasping operate together with pleasant feeling. Because there is pleasant feeling, craving arises; because of craving, the determination to grasp arises. If it were painful feeling, there would be no craving; without craving, there is no grasping. Therefore, feeling, craving, and grasping operate together with pleasant feeling.

How many links operate together with painful feeling? Feeling itself, and one of the previously excluded links – aging-and-death – also operate together with painful feeling. How many links operate together with neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling? Just like the principle of operating with pleasant feeling, feeling, craving, and grasping also operate together with neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling. How many links do not operate together with feeling? One of the previously excluded links – the link of becoming – does not operate together with feeling.

Original Text: Furthermore, how many links are included in the suffering of change? Answer: The links operating together with pleasant feeling and a part of the link not operating together with feeling. How many links are included in the suffering of suffering? Answer: The links operating together with painful feeling and a part of the link not operating together with feeling.

Explanation: How many links are included in the suffering of change (vipariṇāma-duḥkhatā)? The links included in the suffering of change are the links operating together with pleasant feeling – feeling, craving, grasping – and a part of the link not operating together with feeling – becoming. How many links are included in the suffering of suffering (duḥkha-duḥkhatā)? The links operating together with painful feeling – feeling and aging-and-death – and a part of the link not operating together with feeling – becoming.

The suffering of change means the suffering that arises when an existing dharma is destroyed or lost. When pleasant feeling cannot be maintained and disappears, unhappiness arises, which is suffering. When love cannot be maintained and disappears, suffering arises. When the existence in the three realms cannot be held onto and disappears, suffering arises. These are all called the suffering of change. The link of feeling (specifically painful feeling) and the link of aging-and-death operate together with painful feeling and are included in the suffering of suffering, because the painful feeling within feeling is inherently suffering, and aging-and-death is inherently suffering; suffering that is suffering in itself is called the suffering of suffering. The link of becoming, not operating together with feeling, includes a part that is suffering, hence it is included in the suffering of suffering.

Original Text: How many links are included in the suffering of conditioned existence? Answer: All links included in the suffering of change and the suffering of suffering are also included in the suffering of conditioned existence. Or, some are included in the suffering of conditioned existence but not the other two sufferings. Namely, the links operating together with neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling and a part of the link not operating together with feeling.

Explanation: How many links are included in the suffering of conditioned existence (saṃskāra-duḥkhatā)? All links included in the suffering of change and the suffering of suffering are also included in the suffering of conditioned existence. Furthermore, some are included in the suffering of conditioned existence but not in the other two sufferings; these are the links operating together with neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, and a part of the link not operating together with feeling.

The scope of the suffering of conditioned existence is very broad; all dharmas that are impermanent, flowing, and unstable are suffering, included within the suffering of conditioned existence. Because they flow unstably, do not abide, cannot be grasped or maintained, are impermanent, arising, ceasing, and changing, they are suffering.

Original Text: Question: In all places of birth and in all samāpattis, are all the links manifestly observable? Answer: They are not observable. For instance, in the heaven of non-perception and in the attainment of cessation and the attainment of non-perception, the material links are observable, not the non-material links. If born in the formless realm, the non-material links are observable, not the material links.

Explanation: Question: In all places of birth within the three realms, and in the samāpatti meditative attainments, can all twelve links manifest, becoming presently observable? Answer: The twelve links are not all observable or manifest. For example, in the heaven of non-perception (Asaññīsatta), and in the attainment of cessation (nirodha-samāpatti) and the attainment of non-perception (asaññā-samāpatti), the link of consciousness is not observable, nor are contact, feeling, perception, craving, or grasping observable. In the attainment of non-perception, the link of consciousness is absent, but the material bodily links are observable; it is not that there are no material links. If born in the formless realm, no material links are observable, but the non-material link of consciousness remains; there is contact between the mental faculty and mental objects, but no contact with sense objects.

Original Text: Question: Is it possible to abandon a link by relying on another link? Answer: Yes. Namely, by relying on a link of a higher realm, one abandons a link of a lower realm. But this is only partial, not complete. It is only temporary, not ultimate.

Explanation: Question: Is it really possible to abandon one link by relying on another link? Answer: Yes, it is by relying on a link of a higher realm that one abandons a link of a lower realm. For example, by relying on the links of the formless realm, one abandons the links of the form realm; by relying on the links of the form realm, one abandons the links of the desire realm; or by relying on higher links within the form realm, one abandons lower links within the form realm; by relying on higher links within the desire realm heavens, one abandons lower links within the desire realm. This reliance is only partial; not all links are abandoned in this way. It is also a temporary abandonment, not an ultimate one.

Original Text: Question: How many links are defiled? How many are undefiled? Answer: Three are defiled. The rest pertain to both kinds. If undefiled, being wholesome or unobscured neutral, it should be understood that they are divided into two kinds accordingly. Question: How many links are bound to the desire realm? Answer: All links, because they arise together in combination. Question: How many links are bound to the form realm? Answer: All, partially.

Explanation: Question: Among the twelve links, how many are defiled, and how many are undefiled? Answer: Three links are defiled: ignorance, craving, and grasping. The rest pertain to both defiled and undefiled. If they pertain to the undefiled, they belong to the wholesome or the unobscured neutral (anivṛtāvyākṛta) category; undefiled links belong to these two natures. Question: How many links are bound to the desire realm? Answer: All twelve links are bound to the desire realm; they all arise combined within the desire realm. Question: How many links are bound to the form realm? Answer: Each of the twelve links has a part bound to the form realm.

Original Text: Question: How should it be known that they have aging? Answer: Because those formations have the nature of decay and deterioration. As with the form realm, it should be understood that the formless realm is also like that. Question: How many links are of the training stage? Answer: None. Question: How many links are of the beyond-training stage? Answer: Also none. Question: How many links are neither of the training nor beyond-training stage? Answer: All.

Explanation: How can it be known that the twelve links include the link of aging? Answer: Because all these formations have the nature of decay, deterioration, and destruction; hence, it is said that the link of aging exists. As with the dharmas bound to the form realm, so it is with the dharmas bound to the formless realm; they have the attribute of decay and destruction. Question: How many links belong to the stage of training (śaikṣa)? Answer: None belong to the stage of training. Question: How many links belong to the stage beyond training (aśaikṣa)? Answer: None belong to the stage beyond training. Question: How many links belong to the stage neither training nor beyond training? Answer: All twelve links belong to the stage neither training nor beyond training.

Original Text: Question: Why are all wholesome, defiled links not of the training stage? Answer: Because they lead to cyclic existence. If all wholesome, defiled dharmas were of the training stage, they would contradict cyclic existence, and also because they function with illumination as a condition, they are not links.

Explanation: Question: Why are the wholesome, defiled dharmas within the twelve links not part of the training stage? Answer: Because defiled wholesome dharmas can also cause beings to fall into and revolve in birth and death. If all defiled wholesome dharmas were part of the training stage, it would contradict birth and death revolving, and would also destroy ignorance, giving rise to illumination (understanding). If there is illumination, it does not belong to the links within the twelvefold dependent arising. Therefore, it is said there is no training stage within the twelve links.

Original Text: Question: How many links should be said to be abandoned by the Stream-enterer? Answer: A part of all; none are completely abandoned. As with the Stream-enterer, so it is with the Once-returner. Question: How many links should be said to be abandoned by the Non-returner? Answer: All of the desire realm. For the form and formless realms, it is indefinite. Question: How many links should be said to be abandoned by the Arhat? Answer: All of the three realms.

Explanation: Question: How many links are abandoned by the Stream-enterer (Srotāpanna)? Answer: A part of each of the twelve links is abandoned; none are completely abandoned. Like the Stream-enterer, the Once-returner (Sakṛdāgāmin) is also like this; a part of each of the twelve links is abandoned; none are completely abandoned. Question: How many links are abandoned by the Non-returner (Anāgāmin)? Answer: The Non-returner abandons all links belonging to the desire realm. For links belonging to the form and formless realms, some are abandoned, some are not. Question: How many links are abandoned by the Arhat? Answer: The Arhat abandons all links of the three realms.

All twelve links operate within the three realms; they all belong to the links within the three realms. The Arhat abandons all dharmas of the three realms to enter final Nirvana (nirupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa); thus, all twelve links are completely abandoned without remainder. The Non-returner has meditative attainments at or above the first dhyāna, meaning they have form realm and formless realm meditative states. Their mind is not associated with the desire realm; they have abandoned desire realm craving and hatred and no longer engage in desire realm dharmas. However, they have not completely abandoned the dharmas of the form and formless realms; a portion remains. As for how much of this portion, it varies from person to person; hence, it is said that the abandonment of form and formless realm links is indefinite.