Sūtra of the Āgama Oral Explanation of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

Original text:十二因缘亦灭断身十事者。外从身内从意故。言身意持。谓不杀。亦谓外从口。内从嫉断者。谓万物一切意不起。便嗔恚止。嗔恚止便杀止。杀止便贪欲止。贪欲止便泣止。外口者谓声。止声者。两舌恶口妄言绮语亦止，无有疑便入道。是为还五阴断十二因缘本。 

Explanation: By practicing the twelve links of dependent origination and carrying out the ten kinds of activities, one can also completely extinguish and eradicate the body of the five aggregates. This is because the external dharmas—form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental objects—manifest in dependence upon the physical body, while the internal dharmas arise following the mind; therefore it is said that the physical body is maintained and held by the mind. For example, the activity of not killing can also be said to manifest externally through the mouth, while internally it is severed from the mind by cutting off jealousy: with regard to all things, as long as the mind does not give rise to anything, anger ceases; when anger ceases, killing ceases; when killing ceases, greed ceases; when greed ceases, weeping stops. The external dharma produced through the mouth is sound; when sound is stopped, double-tongued speech, harsh speech, false speech, and frivolous speech also cease, and when the mind is free of doubt, one enters the Path. This is the ten kinds of activities returning to the five aggregates and cutting off the root of the twelve links of dependent origination. 

Original text:人受身有三别。第一。五阴盛阴。第二。十八种。第三。十二因缘行。是三事得身三别。第一五阴盛阴者。五阴从身十事出。从眼为色阴。从耳为痛痒阴。从鼻为思想阴。从口为生死阴。从意为识阴。心主念对是六事为根本。是为五阴地。 

Explanation: When a person receives birth and obtains a human body, there are three kinds of distinctions: the first distinction is the flourishing aggregates of the five aggregates; the second distinction is the eighteen kinds; the third distinction is the activity of the twelve links of dependent origination. These three kinds of matters result in three distinctions in the physical body obtained. As for the first, the flourishing aggregates of the five aggregates: the body of the five aggregates can carry out ten kinds of activities through the physical body—what is carried out at the eye faculty is the aggregate of form; at the ear faculty, the aggregate of feeling; at the nose faculty, the aggregate of perception; at the mouth, the aggregate of birth-and-death (volitional formations); and at the manas, the aggregate of consciousness. The conscious mind governs mental engagement, corresponding to the six kinds of activities of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental objects, which are the root of all dharmas—this is the ground of the five aggregates. 

Original text:第二。十八入十九根。十八种者。五阴行为盛阴。有对有入为十二入本。六情为十八间。有识故为十九根。言十八种者。识不生故。为十八种。是说盛阴行。生十八种十九根。第三。十二因缘者。谓五阴五盛阴。行求十二因缘便有身。是同身十事。俱分别之耳。从色得身。从四阴得名字。从名色得爱受。从受行痴。行痴便成十二因缘。道当为断。 

Explanation: The second kind, the eighteen kinds of dharmas, are subsumed within the nineteen faculties. The eighteen kinds of dharmas are the operation of the body of the five aggregates, also called the flourishing aggregates. The six faculties confronting the six sense objects are the root of the twelve entrances (āyatanas); together with the six consciousnesses, this makes the eighteen dhātus (realms); adding the manas, it is therefore also called the nineteen faculties. What is referred to as the eighteen kinds of dharmas excludes the seventh consciousness, making eighteen kinds. In the course of the operation of the flourishing aggregates, there are the eighteen kinds of dharmas, which together with the manas—the nineteenth dharma—participate and cooperate. 

The third kind, the dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination, is the blazing operation of the five aggregates, which pursues the twelve links of dependent origination, and thus there is the body of the five aggregates. The body of the five aggregates carries out ten kinds of activities; to classify them specifically: from the aggregate of form the physical body is obtained, and from the four aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness the name of the five aggregates is obtained. On the name-and-form, love and feeling can be manifested; from feeling, mental activity and delusion are manifested; with mental activity and delusion, the dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination is accomplished, and only through cultivating the Path can the twelve links of dependent origination be severed.