Samyukta Āgama Sūtra (284), Part One

(1) Original text: 如是我闻。一时。佛住舍卫国祇树给孤独园。尔时。世尊告诸比丘。若于所取法随生味着。顾念缚心。其心驱驰。追逐名色。名色缘六入处。六入处缘触。触缘受。受缘爱。爱缘取。取缘有。有缘生。生缘老病死忧悲恼苦。如是如是纯大苦聚集。

Explanation: The World-Honored One told the bhikṣus: If, toward the dharmas you grasp, your mind gives rise to craving and attachment, immersing itself in them, constantly recollecting, gazing after, and longing for them, the mind rushes off, chasing after nāma-rūpa (name-and-form, the five aggregates); once nāma-rūpa has arisen, the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana) come into being; with the six bases there is contact (sparśa)—the contact of the six faculties with the six sense objects; when the six faculties contact the six objects, feelings arise; with feeling there arises craving; with craving there arises grasping; after grasping, the three-realm existence of future lives is produced; with three-realm dharmas there arises the body of the five aggregates; once the body of the five aggregates has been born, old age, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress (śoka-parideva-duḥkha-daurmanasyopāyāsa) follow, and thus all the afflictions of birth and death in the three realms are assembled together.

What are the "grasped dharmas"? The eye grasps forms, the ear grasps sounds, the nose grasps scents, the tongue grasps flavors, the body grasps tangible objects, and the manas grasps mental objects. When the six faculties grasp the six sense objects, if one finds these grasped dharmas full of flavor and savor, craving arises, and one becomes immersed in them, unable to extricate oneself. When one cannot free oneself from craving for the dharmas one has grasped, the mind yearns toward them; every thought is of the dharmas one craves; the mind is bound fast, unable to attain liberation and ease, and inevitably one remains mired in birth and death.

The mind that is liberated and at ease does not seek after or grasp; there is nothing weighing on it, nothing it remembers or frets over. When the eye sees forms, it does not take up the signs of forms; when the ear hears sounds, it does not take up the signs of sounds; when the nose smells scents, it does not take up the signs of scents; when the tongue tastes flavors, it does not take up the signs of flavors; when the body feels tangibles, it does not take up the signs of tangibles; when the mind discerns dharmas, it does not take up the signs of dharmas. All dharmas are discarded once used, not dwelt upon or entangled with in the mind. "Rushing after" is also called grasping—when every thought dwells on something, wanting to obtain it, craving produces grasping, and grasping is the karma of birth and death; the rebirth of future lives cannot be avoided, and great suffering is assembled. The karma of suffering is all created by oneself and experienced by oneself. If you do not wish to experience the fruits of suffering, then do not create the karma of suffering; by not assembling suffering in this way, there will be no fruits of suffering.

Life after life, sentient beings blindly chase after the five aggregates of nāma-rūpa, blindly chase after worldly sense objects, never knowing to stop and reflect deeply on what benefit their pursuits hold, what real dharma there is in them, what direction they lead in, and what results they can bring; nor do they think about the origin of the birth and death of the five aggregates, what meaning there is in being born and dying again and again, how to avoid the suffering of the birth and death of the five aggregates, and what beyond the world of the five aggregates might be more worth pursuing.

When sentient beings chase after and reach nāma-rūpa, the six sense bases arise upon that nāma-rūpa. The outer six bases are the six sense objects about to enter the inner six faculties; the inner six bases are the six faculties within the supreme faculty (rūpa-prasāda) of the brain. When the outer six bases contact the six faculties, the six consciousnesses arise to discern the six sense objects. After the six consciousnesses know what the six objects are, feelings arise; having felt the realms of the six objects, the affliction of craving arises; once craving has arisen, grasping inevitably follows without cease, wanting to possess them forever. After grasping, one becomes inseparable from the six sense objects, bound together with them life after life; then the lives of future worlds inevitably keep appearing in the three realms, and old age, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress appear in their wake, and great suffering is assembled. Thus the cycle of saṃsāra continues unbroken—truly a suffering beyond words. This chain of birth and death is called the dharma of the twelve links of dependent arising.