The Key Link in the Cessation of Suffering

If one wants to extinguish birth, aging, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress, which link in the twelve links of dependent origination is the most crucial? Or, which link in the twelve links of dependent origination most directly leads to birth, aging, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress? Some say it is grasping (upādāna), some say it is craving, some say it is feeling, some say it is contact, some say it is the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana), some say it is name-and-form, some say it is the six consciousnesses, some say it is volitional formations, and some say it is ignorance.

First, let us look at this: as long as grasping is eliminated and one no longer grasps, the existence of future lives will not appear, and birth and death will from then on disappear. So grasping is still rather crucial; without grasping, there are no causal conditions for birth in future lives. If one wants to eliminate grasping, how should one do it? If a person has intense craving, can he eliminate grasping? Absolutely not, so eliminating craving is also very crucial. The elimination of craving can only be accomplished after eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and cultivating the meditative concentration of the first dhyāna; only then does one have the ability to eliminate it. One who has eliminated craving is a person of the third or fourth fruit.

However, if a person experiences feeling without interruption, can craving be eliminated and cease to arise? Absolutely not, so eliminating feeling is also very crucial. How does one eliminate feeling? Feeling arises from contact with sense objects; only by reducing and eliminating contact can one reduce and eliminate feeling, so eliminating contact is also very crucial. How does one eliminate contact? When there are the inner six sense bases, there will be constant contact; without contact it is very uncomfortable, and not contacting is unacceptable, so eliminating the inner six sense bases is very crucial.

How does one eliminate the inner six sense bases? The inner six sense bases come from name-and-form; where there is name-and-form, there are the inner six sense bases, so eliminating name-and-form is very crucial. How does one eliminate name-and-form? Name-and-form comes from the karmic seeds of the three realms; karmic seeds are left behind by the six consciousnesses creating bodily, verbal, and mental actions. If the six consciousnesses do not create bodily, verbal, and mental actions, there will be no seeds of the three realms, and there will be no birth of name-and-form and the five aggregates in future lives, and birth and death will be ended. So eliminating the six consciousnesses and the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses is very crucial. How does one eliminate the six consciousnesses? The arising of the six consciousnesses is determined by the manas; if the manas wants to create bodily, verbal, and mental actions, the six consciousnesses will inevitably arise and act in compliance with the mental activities of the manas, so eliminating the mental activities of the manas is very crucial. How does one eliminate the mental activities of the manas? The manas has a mind directed toward the worldly dharmas of the three realms and moves within the worlds of the three realms because of the ignorance of the manas. As long as the manas has ignorance, it will inevitably have mental activities and will inevitably want to create karmic actions. So eliminating the ignorance of the manas is the most crucial point. Once ignorance is extinguished, the worlds of the five aggregates of the three realms will inevitably be extinguished completely, without even a speck of dust appearing. How does one extinguish ignorance completely?

In practice, one must first subdue the activities of the manas, subdue the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses, subdue the contact of the six sense bases, subdue feeling, subdue craving and desire, and subdue the grasping mind; only afterward can one eradicate them, until they are extinguished completely. The process of subduing is the process of cultivating the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment and cultivating the Noble Eightfold Path; it is the process of cultivating precepts, meditative concentration (samādhi), and wisdom. After subduing them, when the precepts are strict and clear, meditative concentration has advanced, wisdom has increased, and body and mind are tranquil and at ease, before long there will be the first complete transformation, and then the pure dharma eye will arise, one will realize the first fruit, and enter meditative absorption (samādhi). The second complete transformation occurs after cultivating the meditative concentration of the first dhyāna, when afflictions are severed and shed in sequence; when grasping at self is severed completely, one is liberated from the suffering of the worlds of the three realms.

When one link is subdued, the other links will be subdued in sequence; when one link is eradicated, the other links are eradicated in sequence. The eradication of ignorance is the most fundamental; if ignorance is not eradicated, the others cannot be eradicated completely, and they will still take root and sprout. When there is meditative concentration, contact will decrease, feeling will also decrease, craving will also decrease, and grasping will also decrease; these links will then be subdued. But if ignorance is not eradicated, these links will still grow and flourish. The mind of renunciation has not arisen because suffering has not been recognized; the inability to recognize suffering is because there is ignorance, and the ignorance is rather heavy.

The keys to these afflictions of birth and death and the ignorance of birth and death all lie in the manas; subduing the manas and eradicating the ignorance of the manas is the most crucial. If the manas has ignorance, it will cling to conditions, and afterward it will make choices, and afterward the six consciousnesses will arise, and afterward bodily, verbal, and mental actions will be created, and afterward karmic seeds will be stored, and afterward there will be conception and the birth of name-and-form, and a new round of birth and death will appear again. In this way it cycles on and on—when will there be an end? Eradicating the view of self and realizing the first fruit is the first eradication of the ignorance of the manas, eradicating only a portion of the ignorance of the manas. Continuing to practice and eradicating another portion, with wisdom and meditative absorption advancing, one realizes the second fruit and the third fruit; when the ignorance and afflictions of the three realms are eradicated completely, one realizes the fourth fruit. Therefore, one at the first fruit must eradicate the view of self of the manas; it is only eradicated to a small extent, a portion of it.