Selected Lectures on the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra

Original text: 复有三种从因所生有漏法因。若于此中。不如正理修方便者。能生诸苦。若能如理修方便者。于苦于因。能知能断。谓于欲界系法。染污希求。于色无色界系法亦尔。

Explanation: There are three further kinds of causes from which conditioned, defiled dharmas are produced, such that the untainted cannot be cultivated and accomplished. These three causes are: first, having a defiled intention toward dharmas that can bind the mind within the desire realm and prevent liberation, one gives rise to craving and longing, clinging to the dharmas of the desire realm and unable to break free. Second, having a defiled intention toward dharmas that can bind the mind within the form realm and prevent liberation, one gives rise to craving and longing, clinging to the form realm and unable to break free. Third, toward dharmas that can bind the mind within the formless realm and prevent liberation, the mind gives rise to craving and longing, clinging without letting go, and thus cannot attain liberation.

If, in one's practice, one fails to contemplate the faults of these three causes that produce conditioned, defiled dharmas in accordance with reality, and lacks the corresponding methods to counteract them, they will ultimately give rise to suffering and the faults of birth and death. If, in the course of practice, one can contemplate their faults in accordance with reality and has the corresponding skillful means to counteract them, renouncing craving and longing for the three realms and knowing the causes of suffering in the three realms, then one can eliminate suffering and the faults of birth and death.

On the surface, the conventional dharmas of the three realms all bind the six consciousnesses, but in fact what they bind most of all is the manas. It is because the manas clings to the dharmas of the three realms that the five aggregates can be born and survive within the three realms, undergoing birth and death and transmigrating within them. If the manas does not cling to the dharmas of the three realms, the craving of the six consciousnesses cannot function; moreover, the six consciousnesses are dharmas that cease and perish, having already ceased at the time of conception.

Because of the manas's craving and clinging, karmic seeds are stored in the tathāgatagarbha, and in future lives one will inevitably be reborn into the three realms on account of the manas's craving and the karmic seeds. If the manas craves the desire realm, it is bound by the desire realm; if the manas craves the form realm, it is bound by the form realm; if the manas craves the formless realm, it is bound by the formless realm. If the manas craves the desire realm as well as the form realm and the formless realm, then it is impossible to be born into the form realm or the formless realm, for one will inevitably be bound by the craving at the lowest level.

Therefore, within the desire realm, if one wishes to sever desire, it cannot be merely a superficial severing of desire at the level of the mind consciousness; the manas deep within the mind must also sever desire. Otherwise, one will certainly not attain the dhyāna of the first jhāna, nor will one be able to leave the desire realm and be born into the form realm or the formless realm. The same principle applies to the craving for the form realm and the formless realm.