Sūtra on the Oral Explanation of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination from the Āgamas

(2) Original text: 人生死从内十二因缘。万物生死从外十二因缘。何等为痴。谓不礼父母。不分别白黑。从是因缘得痛。不欲弃。不信今世亦后世。已作是事。便随行不作。是亦不得。是以有痴便为行。已有行便为识。已有识便为名色。已有名色便为六入。已有六入便为栽。已有栽便为痛。已有痛便为爱。已有爱便为受。已有受便为有。已有有便为生。已有生便为老死。 

Explanation: Human birth and death come from the inner twelve links of dependent origination, while the arising and ceasing of all things comes from the outer twelve links of dependent origination. What is ignorance (avidyā)? Ignorance means failing to pay respect to one's parents and being unable to distinguish right from wrong. From the condition of ignorance, grasping arises, yet one cannot abandon ignorance, and one does not believe that this life's causes yield the fruits of future lives. Having already begun wholesome deeds, because of ignorance one no longer wishes to continue them, and thus one does not obtain the wholesome fruits. Therefore it is said that where there is ignorance there are mental formations; where there are mental formations, the six consciousnesses will arise; where there are the six consciousnesses, there will be future name-and-form; where there is name-and-form there will be the six sense bases; where there are the six sense bases there will be contact; where there is contact there will be feeling; where there is feeling there will be craving; where there is craving there will be grasping; where there is grasping there will be future existence; where there is existence there will be birth; and where there is birth there will be aging and death. 

Original text: 故人生取十二因缘。得十二因缘生。无因缘亦不生。万物亦尔。不断十二因缘。不脱生死。行三十七品经。为从是得道。十二因缘有五事。一者痴。二者生死精行。是前世因缘。三者识。从识受身生。四者名色。色身复成五阴。是今世因缘。五者六衰。复作生死精行种栽。是后世因缘。前后三世转相因缘故。为有五事。 

Explanation: Therefore, after a person is born, they take hold of the twelve links of dependent origination; only through the dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination can one be born. Without causes and conditions, not only does a person not come into birth—all things likewise do not come into birth. If one does not cut off the twelve links of dependent origination, one cannot escape the cycle of birth and death. Cultivating the sūtra of the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment is precisely for the sake of attaining the fruit of the Path and escaping birth and death. The twelve links of dependent origination are divided into five categories: the first is ignorance; the second is the mental formations that proceed through birth and death—these two are the causes and conditions of past lives, which enable continuous birth in subsequent lives, hence the present life's five aggregates of birth and death. The third is consciousness; from the karmic seeds of the six consciousnesses, a material body will come into birth. The fourth is name-and-form, which allows the material body to develop the functions and roles of the five aggregates—this is the cause and condition for the existence of the present life's five-aggregate body. The fifth is the six sense bases, which are the seeds capable of diligently creating karmic formations, and are the causes and conditions for the birth of the future material body. The twelve links of dependent origination are the causes and conditions of birth and death flowing through the past, present, and future three lifetimes, summarized into these five categories.