The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination as Taught by the World-Honored One in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra (Part Two)

Original text: 所以者何。世尊。外道说因。不从缘生。而有所生。世尊说。观因有事。观事有因。如是因缘杂乱。如是展转无穷。

Explanation: Bodhisattva Mahāmati says, why does what the non-Buddhists say not accord with what You say? World-Honored One, the non-Buddhists say that the cause of the birth of the five aggregates does not include the various conditions of birth, that without any conditions—such as karmic seeds, karmic conditions, and so on—God or a divine spirit gave birth to the five aggregates. But World-Honored One, You say that when one sees a cause arising, one knows that something is bound to happen; when one sees the arising of things, one knows there must be a cause. In this way, with both causes and conditions, it develops endlessly—is this not very chaotic?

Original text: 佛告大慧。我非无因说。及因缘杂乱说。此有故彼有者。摄所摄非性。觉自心现量。

Explanation: The World-Honored One tells Bodhisattva Mahāmati: I do not speak without cause, nor do I speak of conditioned arising without involving causes, nor do I speak of causes and conditions in a chaotic way. In the dharma of causes and conditions that I teach, neither the cause that produces the next dharma nor the dharma that is produced has any self-nature; neither is a real dharma. For example, ignorance conditions volitional formations: ignorance gives rise to bodily, verbal, and mental actions; where there is ignorance there are bodily, verbal, and mental actions. This is a false dharma, not real. The true cause that actually gives rise to bodily, verbal, and mental actions is another, genuine cause—it is not ignorance.

Another example: volitional formations condition consciousness; where there are bodily, verbal, and mental actions there is the arising of the six consciousnesses. This too is a false dharma, not real; the cause that gives rise to the six consciousnesses is another real dharma. Another example: consciousness conditions name-and-form; where there are the six consciousnesses there is the arising of name-and-form. This is a false dharma; the cause that gives rise to name-and-form is not the six consciousnesses, but another genuine cause. All twelve links of dependent origination are such false dharmas, not real; the true causes are not these, and are not found within causes and conditions. One should know that the arising and existence of all dharmas are manifested by one's own mind—all are immediate manifestation from one's own mind (sva-citta-pratyakṣa). The own mind is the fundamental cause of the arising of all dharmas of causes and conditions—that is the tathāgatagarbha.

Original text: 大慧。若摄所摄计著。不觉自心现量。外境界性非性。彼有如是过。非我说缘起。

Explanation: The World-Honored One says: Mahāmati, if one grasps at and clings to the twelve links of dependent origination, taking the link that gives rise to the next dharma and the next dharma that is produced as real, as not produced and manifested by one's own mind, then there are endless faults. All dharmas apart from the own mind have no self-nature and do not arise in mutual succession: this dharma cannot give birth to that dharma—ignorance cannot give rise to bodily, verbal, and mental actions; volitional formations cannot give rise to the six consciousnesses; the six consciousnesses cannot give rise to name-and-form; name-and-form cannot give rise to the six sense bases; the six sense bases cannot give rise to contact; contact cannot give rise to feeling; feeling cannot give rise to craving; craving cannot give rise to grasping; grasping cannot give rise to existence in the three realms; existence cannot give rise to the five-aggregate life form; and the five aggregates cannot give rise to old age, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress. The truth is that all these dharmas of causes and conditions are generated, manifested, and presented by the own mind. The dharma of causes and conditions spoken by the non-Buddhists has many faults; it is not the dharma of dependent origination that I teach.

Original text: 我常说言。因缘和合而生诸法。非无因生。

Explanation: I have often said that all dharmas are born from the combination of causes and conditions, not born without cause. There is a cause and there are also conditions: the cause is the own mind, the tathāgatagarbha, and there are many conditions. For example, the condition of ignorance includes karmic conditions, the conditions of father and mother, and so on. Only when causes and conditions combine together can the various dharmas of causes and conditions be born; it is not that without a cause, conditions alone can give birth to them. With only ignorance and no own mind, the tathāgatagarbha, there would be no sentient beings' bodily, verbal, and mental actions; without the tathāgatagarbha, bodily, verbal, and mental actions alone would not give rise to the six consciousnesses; without the tathāgatagarbha, the six consciousnesses alone would not give rise to name-and-form.

Without the tathāgatagarbha, name-and-form alone would not give rise to the six sense bases; without the tathāgatagarbha, the six sense bases alone would not give rise to contact; without the tathāgatagarbha, contact alone would not give rise to feeling; without the tathāgatagarbha, feeling alone would not give rise to craving; without the tathāgatagarbha, craving alone would not give rise to grasping; without the tathāgatagarbha, grasping alone would not give rise to existence in the three realms; without the tathāgatagarbha, existence in the three realms alone would not give rise to a life form; without the tathāgatagarbha, the life form of the five aggregates alone would not give rise to old age, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress.