Saṃyuktāgama (283), 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。若于结所系法。随生味着。顾念心缚。则爱生。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: When the World-Honored One expounded the dharma of dependent origination at a Dharma assembly in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada's Park, in the country of Śrāvastī, He told the bhikṣus: If, with regard to the dharmas to which the fetters bind you, you follow them by giving rise to relishing attachment, and with remembrance your mind becomes bound, then craving arises. Craving conditions grasping; grasping conditions existence; existence conditions birth; birth conditions old age, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress. In this way, in this way, the great mass of suffering alone comes to be gathered.

When the mind relishes and constantly dwells upon them in thought, craving and greedy love arise; because of greedy love for the dharmas to which the fetters of afflictions bind, the mind will give rise to grasping and cling without letting go; because of clinging and refusing to let go, the mind inevitably does not depart from these dharmas, and the karmic seeds for future lives are thereby stored, so there must be the five-aggregate world of future lives; when the karmic seeds of future lives mature, the five-aggregate body will be born again, not diverging from these dharmas; because there is birth, old age, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress will accompany the five-aggregate body, and thus the immense suffering of measureless birth-and-death is gathered together once again.

Fetters are the shackles that bind, afflict, entangle, and imprison the mind. There are nine kinds of fetters: the fetter of craving, the fetter of anger, the fetter of delusion, the fetter of jealousy, the fetter of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), the fetter of grasping, the fetter of doubt, the fetter of stinginess, and the fetter of pride. Where can these fetters bind oneself? They bind one within the cycle of rebirth in the three realms and six paths. Then what are the dharmas to which the fetters bind? They are the realms of the six sense objects, people, affairs, and material things—the worldly dharmas of the three realms. What does "following them by giving rise to relishing attachment" mean? It means believing that the mundane worldly dharmas have flavor and interest, that they can satisfy one's greedy mind and other afflictions, and so the mind yearns for them, and then remembrance arises. What does remembrance mean? The mind keeps thinking of them, dwelling on them, longing for them, wanting to obtain them, and thus one keeps grasping at them.

What is the bondage of the mind? It is the mind being entangled and bound by these dharmas. Once bound, the mind gives rise to greedy love and other afflictions. What manifestations follow once greedy love arises? Grasping, seizing, cherishing, clinging without letting go. Who grasps and who binds whom? On the surface it is one's own mind that grasps and seizes the dharmas of the six sense objects, but in reality the mind is grasped and bound by the dharmas of the six sense objects. Therefore, the most serious consequence of the bondage of the mind is grasping, storing karmic seeds, and producing the dharmas of three-realm existence in future lives.

If a bhikṣu, or any other practitioner, with regard to the fetters of birth-and-death that can bind his own mind, gives rise to greedy love following those fetters, believing that the dharmas bound by these fetters are full of flavor, very enjoyable, very comfortable, and always keeps thinking about these dharmas, then his mind will be bound by these fetters, and in that case greedy love will arise. After greedy love arises, the mind will give rise to a grasping mind, and then grasp at these fetters; as long as sentient beings have any grasping in their minds, the conditions—or one might say the causes and conditions, or the seeds—for birth in future lives are formed; after the seeds for birth in future lives are formed, when the causes and conditions mature or the seeds mature, a living being will be born; after the living being is born, old age, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress will appear accompanying that living being. What are the causes and conditions for the birth of a future living being? It is the receptacle-world of the three realms: the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm.

After greedy love arises, there is grasping and possession; after grasping, the three-realm existence is produced, the conditions for future existence are complete, and the dharmas of the three realms will arise; with the dharmas of the three realms, life will be produced within them. After life is born, old age, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress will accompany it, and the great mass of suffering alone comes to be produced. If greedy love and other afflictions are extinguished, the knots of the mind are untied; without bondage, one is no longer bound by the three realms and the five desires and six sense objects, and thus the mind is liberated.