Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra: Volume X

(11) Original Text: Question: Physical and verbal karmas are initiated by mental volition. Thus, volitional formations (saṅkhāra) also condition volitional formations. Why then is it said only that ignorance conditions volitional formations? Answer: It is stated based on the condition that gives rise to all volitional formations (including the mental volition of the mental faculty). And it is stated based on the condition that gives rise to wholesome or defiled mental volition. Question: Consciousness (vijñāna) also has name-and-form (nāmarūpa) as its condition. Why then is volitional formations alone stated here as its condition? Answer: Volitional formations serve as the defiling condition for consciousness, capable of instigating and producing the resultant consciousness of future existence. This is not like name-and-form, which merely serves as the supporting basis and object condition for the arising of consciousness.

Explanation: Question: Physical and verbal karmas are initiated by the mental volition (cetanā) of the mental faculty (manas). Therefore, it is said that volitional formations (saṅkhāra) also give rise to physical and verbal formations, and physical and verbal formations arise conditioned by volitional formations. Why then is it said only that ignorance (avidyā) conditions volitional formations? Answer: This is stated based on the condition that initiates all volitional formations, including the volition (cetanā) of the mental faculty. All volitional formations arise from ignorance; the mental volition operates because of ignorance, leading to the production of physical and verbal karmas. It is also stated based on the condition that gives rise to wholesome or defiled mental volition. Both the condition for arising wholesome [volition] and the condition for arising defiled [volition] are ignorance. Therefore, it is said that ignorance conditions volitional formations, and it is not said that the volitional formation of mental volition conditions physical and verbal formations.

Question: The six consciousnesses (vijñāna) also arise conditioned by name-and-form (nāmarūpa). Why then is it stated here that consciousness arises conditioned only by volitional formations? Answer: Volitional formations are the condition for the defilement (good, bad, or neutral) of the six consciousnesses. Volitional formations can instigate the arising of consciousness, leading to the manifestation of the six consciousnesses—how the karmic result of volitional formations comes about is through the physical, verbal, and mental actions performed by the six consciousnesses. It is not like name-and-form, which merely serves as the supporting condition and object condition for the birth of consciousness—it is the condition for the arising of consciousness. The two conditions are distinct: the volitional formations of the mental faculty are the condition that instigates the birth of the six consciousnesses, while name-and-form is the direct supporting condition and object condition upon which the six consciousnesses rely.

Original Text: Question: Name-and-form is also produced by the primary elements (mahābhūta) and arises from contact (sparśa). Why then is consciousness alone stated as its condition? Answer: Because consciousness can serve as its newly arising cause. Once name-and-form has arisen, or while it is arising, the primary elements and contact can only serve as its consolidating cause.

Explanation: Question: Name-and-form is also created by the seven primary elements (earth, water, fire, wind, space, consciousness, and the defilement of views) and arises due to the condition of contact (sparśa). At conception, there is mental contact; at birth, there are the six sense bases. Why then is it stated here that name-and-form arises conditioned by the six consciousnesses? Answer: The six consciousnesses can serve as the causal condition for the new arising of name-and-form. After name-and-form has arisen, or while it is arising, the six primary elements (earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness) and contact can only serve as the consolidating cause, the perpetuating cause, or the transforming cause for name-and-form to become the five aggregates (skandhas). The two types of causes function at different stages—before and after the arising of name-and-form—and their roles differ. It is stated that consciousness conditions name-and-form from the important perspective of the instigating cause; therefore, it is not stated from the perspective of the primary elements and contact.

Original Text: Question: As stated in the sūtras, it is by the condition of the six elements (dhātu) that one enters the mother's womb. Why then is only the consciousness element (vijñāna-dhātu) stated here? Answer: Because if the consciousness element exists, it is certain that the primary elements of blood and semen in the mother's womb, along with the abdominal cavity and orifices, will be present without lack. Furthermore, because the consciousness element is supreme. And because it is stated based on all births and all states of existence at the time of birth.

Explanation: Question: As stated in the sūtras, it is by the condition of the six elements (earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness) that one enters the mother's womb. Why then is only the consciousness element (vijñāna-dhātu) stated here as the condition for entering the womb? Answer: If the ālaya-vijñāna element exists in the mother's womb, it is certain that the primary elements constituting the blood and semen required for the fetus, pervading the body sense faculty, internal organs, and seven orifices, will be present without deficiency. Therefore, it is said that name-and-form arises conditioned by the ālaya-vijñāna element. Furthermore, because the ālaya-vijñāna element is mental, the supreme among all dharmas, it is stated that one enters the womb conditioned by the ālaya-vijñāna. And because it is stated based on the arising of all dharmas and the arising of all states of existence (bhava), the ālaya-vijñāna is supreme, being the direct causal condition for entering the womb and the arising of name-and-form.

The consciousness element capable of entering the womb must be the ālaya-vijñāna, not the six consciousnesses. This is because upon entering the womb, the six consciousnesses cease; initially, there are no six consciousnesses in the womb, but there is the ālaya-vijñāna. Moreover, the materiality of the fertilized egg in the womb is produced, transformed, and sustained by the ālaya-vijñāna generating the primary elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space. The seventh consciousness (manas) in the womb requires the ālaya-vijñāna to provide the seeds of consciousness for its maintenance. Therefore, the element that enables entry into the womb is the consciousness element, the ālaya-vijñāna, not the earth, water, fire, wind, or space elements.