Saṃyukta Āgama (287), Part Four

(Four) Original text:我复作是思惟。何法无故行无。何法灭故行灭。即正思惟。如实无间等。无明无故行无。无明灭故行灭。行灭故识灭。识灭故名色灭。名色灭故六入处灭。六入处灭故触灭。触灭故受灭。受灭故爱灭。爱灭故取灭。取灭故有灭。有灭故生灭。生灭故老病死忧悲恼苦灭。如是如是纯大苦聚灭。

Explanation: The Buddha said: I further contemplated in this way: with the absence of what dharma do the mental formations cease to exist? With the cessation of what dharma do the mental formations cease? Thereupon I entered right contemplation (samyak-manasikāra), and afterward there arose true, unbroken and uninterrupted wisdom, realizing that when the manas's ignorance is absent, the mental formations cease to exist; when the manas's ignorance ceases, the mental formations cease; when the mental formations cease, the karmic formations of the six consciousnesses cease; when the karmic formations of the six consciousnesses cease, the nāma-rūpa of future lives ceases; when nāma-rūpa ceases, the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana) cease; when the six sense bases cease, contact ceases; when contact ceases, feeling ceases; when feeling ceases, craving ceases; when craving ceases, grasping ceases; when grasping ceases, existence ceases; when existence ceases, birth ceases; when birth ceases, aging, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress (śoka-parideva-duḥkha-daurmanasyopāyāsa) cease — and thus, thus, the entire great mass of suffering ceases.

The cycle of birth and death of the twelve links of dependent origination is, in the final analysis, all due to the ignorance of the manas; the manas is the prime initiator. Therefore, in order to escape the cycle of birth and death and attain liberation, one must break through and completely eradicate the ignorance of the manas, so that the manas no longer deludedly engages in the three realms of existence; then the mental formations of the manas cease. Because the manas has realized that all dharmas are empty and without self, there is no longer any reason or motivation to grasp at any dharma. As long as there is no grasping, there is no suffering — that is liberation and ease.

When the manas no longer has mental formations toward the world of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), no longer has intentions, no longer has clinging, and no longer has grasping (upādāna), it will no longer direct the six consciousnesses to create more bodily, verbal, and mental actions. The minds of the seven consciousnesses will then all be pure, in nonaction, and tranquil; the karma of the three realms will be ended, the karmic seeds will be gone, and in future lives there will be no more world of the five aggregates, and thus no more nāma-rūpa — this is a temporary cessation. After immeasurable kalpas in the future, when the conditions for the Mahāyāna dharma ripen, one will be born again from the quiescent nirvāṇa, practice the bodhisattva path, liberate oneself and liberate others, complete the Buddha Way, and enter the true place of quiescence — nirvāṇa without abiding (apratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa) — no longer needing to extinguish the body and obliterate wisdom.

The breaking of the manas's ignorance begins with the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and attaining the fruit of srotāpanna, and continues to the attainment of the fruit of a pratyekabuddha, when the seeds of ignorance of birth and death in the three realms are completely severed. There remains the beginningless ignorance and the ignorance as numerous as dust and sand, which are gradually broken through in the cultivation and realization of the path to buddhahood, until all are completely eradicated, whereupon one becomes the Great Awakened World-Honored One. Merely completely severing the ignorance of the three realms is only awakening to a small portion; it is not yet the Great Awakening, not ultimate awakening. On the path of learning Buddhism, making the resolve is very important: the greater the resolve, the greater and more thorough the awakening, and the faster one becomes a Buddha.