Saṃyukta Āgama (287), Part 2

(2) Original Text: What exists such that nāmarūpa exists? Conditioned by what does nāmarūpa arise? With proper contemplation, uninterrupted wisdom arises as it truly is: Because consciousness exists, nāmarūpa exists; conditioned by consciousness, nāmarūpa arises. When I contemplated thus, I reached consciousness and could not proceed beyond it. That is to say: Conditioned by consciousness, nāmarūpa arises; conditioned by nāmarūpa, the six sense bases arise; conditioned by the six sense bases, contact arises; conditioned by contact, feeling arises; conditioned by feeling, craving arises; conditioned by craving, clinging arises; conditioned by clinging, becoming arises; conditioned by becoming, birth arises; conditioned by birth, aging, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair arise. Thus arises this entire mass of suffering.

Explanation: The Buddha said: "I then gave rise to this thought: 'What dharma exists such that nāmarūpa arises? Conditioned by what dharma does nāmarūpa arise?' Subsequently, I entered into proper contemplation, and uninterrupted wisdom arose as it truly is, knowing that because the ālaya-vijñāna exists, nāmarūpa arises; conditioned by the ālaya-vijñāna, nāmarūpa arises. When I contemplated thus, my contemplation reached the ālaya-vijñāna and could not proceed beyond it, because there is no dharma preceding it. That is to say, there is no dharma that can give rise to the ālaya-vijñāna or cause the ālaya-vijñāna to arise; no dharma surpasses the ālaya-vijñāna."

This traces the source against the stream of birth and death. The origin of birth and death lies in the ālaya-vijñāna. From the ālaya-vijñāna, birth and death flow forth: Conditioned by the ālaya-vijñāna, nāmarūpa arises; conditioned by nāmarūpa, the six sense bases arise; conditioned by the six sense bases, contact arises; conditioned by contact, feeling arises; conditioned by feeling, craving arises; conditioned by craving, clinging arises; conditioned by clinging, the becoming of the three realms arises; conditioned by becoming, birth arises; conditioned by birth, aging, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair arise. Thus, the great mass of suffering in the three realms accumulates. Why does birth and death flow forth from the ālaya-vijñāna? Because the mental faculty (manas) possesses ignorance, desiring to possess the dharmas of the five-aggregate worldly existence. The ālaya-vijñāna, complying with the ignorance and karmic seeds of the mental faculty, gives rise to the world of the three realms and the five-aggregate body, within which birth and death distinctly manifest.

The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination describe the sequential arising of suffering through the flow of birth and death conditioned by ignorance. The Ten Links of Dependent Origination describe the cessation of suffering by reversing the flow of birth and death through the cessation of ignorance. The reason for the birth-and-death flow of the Twelve Links is precisely because sentient beings' mental faculty possesses ignorance. Conditioned by ignorance, the ālaya-vijñāna, relying on that ignorance, gives rise to a chain of birth-and-death, propelling sentient beings into the sea of suffering. Conversely, the Ten Links of Dependent Origination trace the stream of birth and death in reverse, following the phenomena of birth, aging, sickness, and death back to their source at the ālaya-vijñāna. If one realizes the ālaya-vijñāna and understands how it gives rise to the five-aggregate nāmarūpa, one becomes a Bodhisattva, entering the path of Mahāyāna practice.

If one directly realizes each branch of both the Twelve Links and the Ten Links, one becomes a Pratyekabuddha, a Middle Vehicle sage. Although Pratyekabuddhas directly realize each branch of the Ten Links, regarding the ālaya-vijñāna, they merely infer it as truly existent. They have not realized the ālaya-vijñāna itself, nor have they discovered where it resides or what function it performs. Therefore, this does not constitute direct realization of the ālaya-vijñāna. This point represents an essential difference from the direct realization attained by Mahāyāna Bodhisattvas.