Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume 10: Commentary on the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination (Part Nine)

Original text:问。无明望行。为几种缘。答。望诸色行。为增上缘。望无色行。为三缘。谓等无间缘。所缘缘。增上缘。如是余支。为缘多少。应如此知。谓有色支。望有色支。为一增上缘。望无色支为二缘。谓所缘缘。及增上缘。若无色支。望有色支。唯为一缘。望无色支为三缘。谓等无间缘。所缘缘。增上缘。

Explanation: Question: How many conditions does the link of ignorance conditioning volitional formations have? Answer: Ignorance conditioning (giving rise to) all formations of material form (bodily and verbal formations) has only one condition, the dominant condition (adhipati-pratyaya); conditioning (giving rise to) formations of non-material form (mental formations) there are three conditions: the sequential condition (samanantara-pratyaya), the object condition (ālambana-pratyaya), and the dominant condition. As for how many conditions each of the other links serves as, this should be understood as follows: a material-form link conditioning (giving rise to) a material-form link has only one condition, the dominant condition; a material-form link conditioning (giving rise to) a non-material-form link has two conditions: the object condition and the dominant condition. If a non-material-form link conditions (gives rise to) a material-form link, there is only one condition, the dominant condition; a non-material-form link conditioning (giving rise to) a non-material-form link has three conditions: the sequential condition, the object condition, and the dominant condition.

The links involving material form are related to body and speech, being the actions of body and speech; the links of non-material form are related to the conscious mind, being the actions of the conscious mind. A material-form link can give rise to both material-form and non-material-form links, and a non-material-form link can also give rise to both material-form and non-material-form links; material-form and non-material-form links can mutually support and receive one another.

Only between non-material-form and non-material-form links are there three conditions, because both belong to the conscious mind and mental concomitants (caittas), being of the same category, able to serve as objects for one another and to mutually enhance each other. Between material-form and material-form links there is only the dominant condition, one material form promoting the arising of another; but a material-form link toward a non-material-form link constitutes two conditions: the object condition and the dominant condition. Because material form is the object-aspect (ākāra) upon which the non-material relies, it is the object condition; and material form can also promote the arising of the non-material, so it is the dominant condition. The non-material toward the material, however, can only be the dominant condition, one condition.

The meaning of the sequential condition (samanantara-pratyaya) is a condition that is of equal kind and uninterrupted. Between conscious minds there is equality; the conscious mind and mental concomitants are equal, and they are conscious minds of the same kind. For example, between one mind consciousness and another there is the sequential condition; between one manas and another there is the sequential condition; between one eye consciousness and another there is the sequential condition, and so on. Additionally, a mental concomitant and the conscious mind with which it corresponds are a sequential condition for each other; or one may say the conscious mind and its corresponding mental concomitants are a sequential condition.

However, not all mental concomitants are a sequential condition with the conscious mind they correspond to, because mental concomitants do not exist at all times and in all places, always accompanying the conscious mind. Only those mental concomitants that accompany the conscious mind at all times and in all places constitute a sequential condition with the conscious mind—for example, ignorance (avidyā), and for example contact (sparśa) and mental engagement (manaskāra). Nor is the sequential condition forever a sequential condition; it is a sequential condition only for a period of time, a certain stage. When ignorance ceases, when the conscious mind no longer feels or perceives, the mental concomitants are no longer a sequential condition of the conscious mind. Ignorance is a dharma that the conscious mind takes as object, a dharma the conscious mind possesses, corresponding with the conscious mind; since beginningless kalpas it has continuously accompanied the conscious mind in its operation, inseparable from it. Therefore ignorance is the sequential condition of the conscious mind, and also its object condition and dominant condition.

The meaning of the object condition (ālambana-pratyaya) is that all dharmas are the object-aspects upon which the conscious mind relies; the object-aspect is also a condition, namely the object condition of the conscious mind. The object condition is also called the object-sphere (ālambana), and is divided into the direct object condition and the indirect object condition. The direct object condition is the dharma the conscious mind directly takes as object, the dharma it directly corresponds to, inseparable from the dharma. The indirect object condition is the dharma the conscious mind takes as object indirectly, separate from the conscious mind, not a dharma it can directly take as object. For example, person A's material body and conscious mind are the indirect object condition of person B's conscious mind; B's conscious mind can exist independently of A's five aggregates, and whether A exists or not does not affect the operation of B's conscious mind. Another example: the essential object (dravya) manifested by the eighth consciousness is the indirect object condition of the conscious mind; the conscious mind cannot directly take the essential object as object, but can only take the nature-object (vikṛti), the object accompanied by essence (bhāva), and the Image-Only Object transformed from the essential object. The conscious mind also cannot directly take seeds as object, so seeds are also the indirect object condition of the conscious mind. Apart from these, all are the direct object conditions of the conscious mind.

The meaning of the dominant condition (adhipati-pratyaya) is that this dharma can serve as the basis and assisting condition for the arising of another dharma, playing a facilitating, supporting, and boosting role in the production of the other dharma, rather than a direct and primary role; it is not the main factor in the arising of the dharma.