Explanation of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination in the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra (14)

Original text: 问。如经中说。诸业以贪嗔痴为缘。何故此中。唯说痴为缘耶。答。此中通说。福非福不动业缘。贪嗔痴缘。唯生非福业故。

Explanation: Question: As stated in the sūtras, all the karmic actions of sentient beings are created with greed, hatred, and delusion as conditions. Why is only delusion mentioned here as the condition? Answer: Here, the three karmic conditions—meritorious formations, unmeritorious formations, and immovable formations—are all comprehensively said to have ignorance and delusion as their condition, whereas greed, hatred, and delusion as conditions can only give rise to unmeritorious karmic formations.

With greed, hatred, and delusion as afflictions serving as the condition, one will certainly create unmeritorious evil karma, and will not create meritorious karma or the pure immovable formations; whereas with ignorance as the condition, all three kinds of karmic formations can be created, not limited to unmeritorious evil karma, because there are many people who perform good deeds out of ignorance, due to not understanding the suffering of the world and emptiness.

Original text: 问。身业语业。思所发起。是则行亦缘行。何故但说。无明缘行。答。依发起一切行缘而说故。及依生善染污思缘而说故。Explanation: Question: Bodily karma and verbal karma are initiated by the deliberation (manasikāra) mental factor of the manas; thus volitional formations also serve as the condition for volitional formations—bodily formations and verbal formations also arise conditioned on volitional formations. Why is it only said that ignorance conditions volitional formations? Answer: This is said on the basis of the condition that initiates all volitional formations, including the formations of the manas (the deliberation mental factor); all volitional formations arise from ignorance, and the deliberation of the manas operates only because of ignorance, which leads to the arising of bodily formations and verbal formations; and it is also said on the basis of the condition that gives rise to wholesome and defiled deliberation mental factors—the condition for giving rise to wholesome states and the condition for giving rise to defiled states are both ignorance. Therefore it is said that ignorance conditions volitional formations, and not that the volitional formations of the deliberation mental factor condition bodily formations and verbal formations.