Samyukta Āgama, Volume 12 (288), Part Three

(3) Original text: 尊者舍利弗。复问尊者摩诃拘絺罗。先言名色非自作。非他作。非自他作。非非自他作无因作。然彼名色缘识生。而今复言识缘名色。此义云何。尊者摩诃拘絺罗答言。今当说譬。如智者因譬得解。譬如三芦立于空地。展转相依。而得竖立。若去其一。二亦不立。若去其二。一亦不立。展转相依。而得竖立。识缘名色亦复如是。展转相依。而得生长。

Explanation: Śāriputra further asked Mahākauṣṭhila: "You just said that nāma-rūpa exists by itself naturally, is not produced by relying on other conditions, is not born from the combination of itself and other conditions, and is also not born without the combination of itself and other conditions, and is not born without cause or condition. Yet nāma-rūpa comes into existence because of the six consciousnesses. And now you also say that the six consciousnesses come into existence because of nāma-rūpa. What does this mean?"

Mahākauṣṭhila replied: "Let me now give an analogy; if one is a person of wisdom, one will grasp the principle through the analogy. Suppose three bundles of reeds are to stand on open ground: they must lean on one another in order to stand upright. If one bundle is removed, the other two cannot stand; if two bundles are removed, the remaining one cannot stand either. Only by mutually supporting one another can the three stand upright. It is the same with consciousness and nāma-rūpa: they depend on each other and only through mutual dependence can they grow."

The principle that the five aggregates of nāma-rūpa can only arise in dependence on the six consciousnesses is this: because the six consciousnesses continually create bodily, verbal, and mental actions, karmic seeds are deposited, and the body of the five aggregates cannot cease; in future lives there will be continued birth within the three realms. Because there are still karmic seeds for future lives, there will be the antarā-bhava (intermediate body) and the nāma-rūpa of future lives. The manas, within the antarā-bhava, transmigrates through the six paths of saṃsāra in accordance with the karmic seeds, and will enter the womb together with the eighth consciousness, thereby giving rise to the initial nāma-rūpa of the next life: nāma is the manas, the seventh consciousness, and rūpa is the fertilized egg. The principle that the six consciousnesses arise in dependence on nāma-rūpa is this: when the nāma-rūpa of a sentient being's fetal stage continues to grow and the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana) mature, the six faculties contact the six sense objects, and the six consciousnesses are born within the body of the five aggregates of nāma-rūpa. Thus nāma-rūpa and the six consciousnesses are mutually dependent; each can arise and continue to function, and in this way birth and death continue without end.

Among the ten links of dependent arising, there is also the statement that "consciousness conditions nāma-rūpa, and nāma-rūpa conditions consciousness." Here the consciousness is not the consciousness of the six consciousnesses, but the consciousness of the ālayavijñāna, the consciousness of the eighth consciousness. The meaning is that the ālayavijñāna, relying on the condition of the five aggregates of nāma-rūpa, can have its own functioning and activity within the world of the five aggregates; and nāma-rūpa also needs to depend on the ālayavijñāna in order to arise, develop, and continue to function. Without the ālayavijñāna to rely on, there would be no arising of nāma-rūpa; and without nāma-rūpa, the ālayavijñāna would abide in the state of nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa).

Original text: 尊者舍利弗言。善哉善哉。尊者摩诃拘絺罗。世尊声闻中。智慧明达。善调无畏。见甘露法。以甘露法具足身作证者。谓尊者摩诃拘絺罗。乃有如是甚深义辩。种种难问。皆悉能答。如无价宝珠。世所顶戴。我今顶戴尊者摩诃拘絺罗。亦复如是。我今于汝所。快得善利。诸余梵行。数诣其所。亦得善利。以彼尊者善说法故。我今以此尊者摩诃拘絺罗。所说法故。当以三十种赞叹。称扬随喜。

Explanation: Śāriputra praised him, saying: "Excellent, excellent, Venerable Mahākauṣṭhila! Among the World-Honored One's śrāvaka disciples, you are one of illuminating and penetrating wisdom, skilled in subduing the mind and fearless, who has seen the nectar of the Dharma. Because you have fully realized the nectar-Dharma of liberation and borne witness to it with your own body—'my body is exhausted, the holy life has been established, what was to be done has been done, and I know for myself that there will be no further becoming'—you possess such profound and unobstructed eloquence in the Dharma-meaning, able to answer and respond to all manner of difficult questions. You are like a priceless jewel, revered and held aloft by the world. My now holding the Venerable Mahākauṣṭhila in reverence is just like this. I have now gained excellent benefit from you, and other practitioners of the holy life who repeatedly visit you also gain excellent benefit. Because you, Venerable, are skilled in expounding the Dharma, I now, on account of the Dharma teachings spoken by the Venerable Mahākauṣṭhila, shall offer thirty kinds of praise, extolling and rejoicing in your merit."