Saṃyuktāgama 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, with regard to the dharmas you grasp, your mind gives rise to craving and attachment, immersing itself in them, constantly remembering, gazing back, and longing, with the mind rushing off to chase after the aggregates of name-and-form; once name-and-form arises, the six sense bases (the six faculties) will be produced; with the six sense bases there will be contact (the contact between the six faculties and the six sense objects); when the six faculties contact the six sense objects, feelings arise; with feelings, craving arises; with craving, grasping arises; after grasping, the existence of the three realms in future lives arises; with the dharmas of the three realms, the aggregates of the five aggregates arise; once the body of the five aggregates is born, there will be old age, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress (śoka-parideva-duḥkha-daurmanasyopāyāsa), and thus all the sufferings of birth and death in the three realms are assembled together.

What are the dharmas that are grasped? The eye grasps forms, the ear grasps sounds, the nose grasps odors, the tongue grasps flavors, the body grasps tangible objects, and the manas grasps mental objects (dharmas). When the six faculties grasp the six sense objects, if one finds these grasped dharmas full of flavor and meaning, craving arises, and one then becomes immersed in them, unable to extricate oneself. When one is unable to free oneself from craving for the dharmas one grasps, the mind yearns toward them; every thought is of the dharmas one craves, the mind is bound up tightly, without liberation or ease, and one inevitably remains mired in birth and death.

As for the mind that is liberated and at ease, it does not chase after or grasp at anything; there is nothing on its mind, nothing it remembers or dwells upon. When the eye sees forms, it does not grasp the marks of forms; when the ear hears sounds, it does not grasp the marks of sounds; when the nose smells odors, it does not grasp the marks of odors; when the tongue tastes flavors, it does not grasp the marks of flavors; when the body feels tangibles, it does not grasp the marks of tangibles; when the mind discerns dharmas, it does not grasp the marks of dharmas. All dharmas are discarded once used, without lingering remembrance or entanglement in the mind. Rushing after things is also called grasping (upādāna); when every thought dwells upon them, wanting to obtain them, craving gives rise to grasping, and grasping is the karma of birth and death; the birth of future lives cannot be avoided, and great suffering is thereby assembled. The karma of suffering is all created by oneself and experienced by oneself; if one does not wish to experience the fruits of suffering, one should not create the karma of suffering. In this way, not assembling suffering, there will be no fruits of suffering.

Life after life, sentient beings blindly chase after the five aggregates of name-and-form, blindly chase after the worldly objects of the senses, never knowing to stop and deeply reflect on what benefit there is in what they seek, what real dharma there is in it, what direction it leads toward, and what results it can bring; nor do they know to contemplate 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 else beyond the world of the five aggregates might be more worth pursuing.

When sentient beings chase after and reach name-and-form, the six sense bases will arise upon name-and-form. The outer six sense bases are the six sense objects that are about to enter the inner six faculties; the inner six sense bases are the six faculties within the supreme faculty (indriya) of the brain. When the outer six sense bases contact the six faculties, the six consciousnesses arise to discern the six sense objects; after the six consciousnesses know what the six sense objects are, feelings arise; after perceiving the realms of the six sense objects, afflictions of craving arise; once craving arises, grasping inevitably follows without cease, wanting to possess them forever; after grasping, one becomes inseparable from the six sense objects, together with them life after life, and thus future lives will unavoidably keep appearing in the three realms, with old age, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress following in their wake, and great suffering is thereby assembled. Such unceasing transmigration is truly suffering beyond words. This chain of birth and death is called the dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination.