Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume X: The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

(28) Original text: Furthermore, among the twelve links of dependent origination, how many are substantial? Nine. How many are non-substantial? The remainder. How many have a single entity as their intrinsic nature? Five. How many do not have a single entity as their intrinsic nature? The remainder.

Explanation: Furthermore, how many among the twelve links of dependent origination are substantial? Nine links are substantial: the link of volitional formations (saṃskāra), the link of consciousness (vijñāna), the link of name-and-form (nāmarūpa), the link of the six sense-spheres (ṣaḍāyatana), the link of contact (sparśa), the link of feeling (vedanā), the link of craving (tṛṣṇā), the link of grasping (upādāna), and the link of becoming (bhava). How many are non-substantial? The remaining three links are non-substantial: the link of ignorance (avidyā), the link of birth (jāti), and the link of aging-and-death (jarāmaraṇa). "Substantial" means having actual functional efficacy; "non-substantial" means lacking actual functional efficacy, being merely nominal.

Original text: How many are the cause of cognitive obscurations? One. How many generate suffering? Five. How many are the womb of suffering? Five. How many are solely suffering? Two.

Explanation: How many links are the cause of cognitive obscurations? One link\: the link of ignorance. How many links generate suffering? Five links generate suffering: consciousness, name-and-form, feeling, birth, and aging-and-death. How many links are the womb of suffering? Five links: consciousness, name-and-form, feeling, birth, and aging-and-death. "Womb" means containing, covering/protecting, nurturing, sustaining, and giving birth. How many links are solely suffering? Two links are solely suffering: birth and aging-and-death.

Original text: How many are said to be the causal division? The first six: ignorance up to contact, and craving, grasping, and becoming—three are said to be the causal division. How many are said to be the resultant division? The last two are said to be the resultant division.

Explanation: How many links are said to be the causal division relative to other links? The first six links are the causal division that instigates the arising of other links: ignorance, volitional formations, consciousness, name-and-form, the six sense-spheres, and contact. The three links of craving, grasping, and becoming are also said to be the causal division—the cause of birth and aging-and-death. How many links are said to be the resultant division? The last two links are said to be the resultant division: birth and aging-and-death.

The causal division refers to the links that can instigate the arising of subsequent phenomena; they have the function of instigation and can store seeds. Without this cause, subsequent phenomena cannot arise. The greatest and fundamental cause is the link of ignorance, followed by the link of volitional formations, then the link of consciousness, after which the karmic result-body appears. Subsequently, based on this result-body, actions are continuously performed, which also serve as causes for producing future karmic results. The resultant division refers to the links that constitute the final fruit, formed by the preceding links serving as the instigating cause and condition. Birth and death are the greatest fruit and karmic result; the five aggregates are nothing more than this.

Original text: How many are said to be the mixed causal-resultant division? The remaining link is said to be the mixed division. Why is that? There are two kinds of feeling, called the mixed division. One is the feeling which is the cause for future existence, arising with contact as its condition. The other is the feeling of the present existence, which is the resultant feeling serving as the condition for craving. These two, mixed together, are spoken of as contact-conditioned feeling.

Explanation: How many links are said to be mixed with both cause and result? Apart from the first six links, the middle three links, and the last two links, the remaining link (feeling) is the one mixed with both cause and result. Why is it said so? Because there are two kinds of feeling, called the defiled division: one is the phenomenon of future existence, the feeling that arises later with contact as its condition and cause; the other is the feeling of the present existence, which serves as the condition for craving, inducing the result of craving. These two together are spoken of as contact-conditioned feeling. Feeling is both the cause for the arising of subsequent craving and the result born from contact as a condition. Being both cause and result, it is called the mixed division.