Selected Lectures on the Yogacarabhumi-sastra

There are also three causes arising from conditions that generate tainted dharmas. If one does not cultivate expedient means according to right principle in this regard, it can produce all sufferings. If one can cultivate expedient means according to right principle, one can know and sever both suffering and its cause. This refers to defiled seeking toward dharmas bound to the desire realm, and likewise toward dharmas bound to the form realm and formless realm.

Explanation: Additionally, there are three causes that generate tainted dharmas arising from conditions, thereby preventing the attainment of the untainted. These three causes are: First, regarding dharmas in the desire realm that bind the mind and prevent liberation, one harbors defiled intention, gives rise to seeking, clings to dharmas of the desire realm, and cannot escape. Second, regarding dharmas in the form realm that bind the mind and prevent liberation, one harbors defiled intention, gives rise to seeking, clings to the form realm, and cannot escape. Third, regarding dharmas in the formless realm that bind the mind and prevent liberation, one gives rise to seeking, clings without relinquishing, and cannot attain liberation.

If, in cultivation, one fails to properly contemplate the faults of these three causes generating tainted dharmas and lacks corresponding methods to counteract them, they will ultimately produce suffering and the faults of birth and death. If, during cultivation, one can properly contemplate their faults and has corresponding expedient means to counteract them, relinquishing attachment to the three realms, knowing the causes of suffering within them, then one can sever the suffering and faults of birth and death.

Superficially, the mundane dharmas of the three realms appear to bind the six consciousnesses, but in reality, they primarily bind the manas (mental faculty). It is the manas clinging to dharmas of the three realms that enables the five aggregates to take birth, exist, and undergo birth-and-death transmigration within them. If the manas does not cling to dharmas of the three realms, the clinging of the six consciousnesses becomes ineffective. Moreover, the six consciousnesses are impermanent dharmas that cease at the time of rebirth.

Due to the clinging of the manas, karmic seeds are stored in the tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature). In future lives, rebirth within the three realms necessarily occurs based on the clinging of the manas and the cause of these karmic seeds. If the manas clings to the desire realm, one is bound by the desire realm; if it clings to the form realm, one is bound by the form realm; if it clings to the formless realm, one is bound by the formless realm. If the manas clings to both the desire realm and the form and formless realms, one cannot be reborn into the form or formless realms but will inevitably be bound by the clinging to the lowest realm.

Therefore, within the desire realm, to sever desire, it is not sufficient to merely sever desire superficially at the level of consciousness. The manas in the deepest mind must also sever desire. Otherwise, one certainly cannot attain the first dhyāna (meditative absorption), nor can one transcend the desire realm to be born into the form or formless realms. The same principle applies to clinging to the form and formless realms.