The Key Link to Ending Suffering

If one wants to eliminate birth, aging, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress (śoka-parideva-duḥkha-daurmanasyopāyāsa), which link in the twelve links of dependent origination is the most crucial? Or, which link in the twelve links 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, future becoming will not appear, and birth and death will from then on disappear. So grasping is rather crucial; without grasping, there are no causal conditions for future birth. If one wants to eliminate grasping, how should one do it? If a person has strong craving, can he eliminate grasping? Not at all, so eliminating craving is also crucial. The elimination of craving must be accomplished after eliminating self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and cultivating the first dhyāna; only then does one have the ability to eliminate it. One who has eliminated craving is a third-fruit or fourth-fruit person (Anāgāmin or arhat).

But if a person constantly feels, can craving be eliminated and cease to arise? Not at all, so eliminating feeling is also crucial. How to eliminate feeling? Feeling arises from contact with sense objects; only by reducing and eliminating contact can feeling be reduced and eliminated, so eliminating contact is also crucial. How to eliminate contact? When the inner six sense bases exist, there will be constant contact; without contact it is very uncomfortable, one cannot do without contact, so eliminating the inner six sense bases is very crucial.

How to 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 to 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 through their bodily, verbal, and mental actions. If the six consciousnesses do not perform bodily, verbal, and mental actions, there will be no seeds of the three realms, and there will be no future birth of name-and-form and the five aggregates (pañcaskandha), and birth and death will be ended. So eliminating the six consciousnesses and their bodily, verbal, and mental actions is very crucial. How to eliminate the six consciousnesses? The arising of the six consciousnesses is determined by the manas. When the manas wants to perform 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 to eliminate the mental activities of the manas? The manas has a mind toward the worldly dharmas of the three realms and moves within the three realms because of the manas's ignorance. As long as the manas has ignorance, it will inevitably have mental activities and will inevitably want to perform karmic actions, so eliminating the ignorance of the manas is the most crucial point. Once ignorance is eliminated, the five-aggregate world of the three realms will inevitably be extinguished completely, without even a speck of dust appearing. How to 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 subdue the grasping mind; only afterward can they be severed, until they are extinguished completely. The process of subduing is the process of cultivating the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment and the Noble Eightfold Path, the process of cultivating precepts, samādhi, and wisdom. After subduing, when the precepts are strict, meditative concentration is elevated, wisdom has advanced, and body and mind are tranquil and at ease, before long there will be the first metamorphosis; then the pure dharma eye arises, one realizes the first fruit, and enters meditative absorption (samādhi). The second metamorphosis occurs after the first dhyāna is attained; afflictions are severed one by one, and when self-grasping is completely severed, one is liberated from the suffering of the three realms.

When one link is subdued, the other links will be subdued in sequence; when one link is severed, the other links are severed in sequence. Severing ignorance is the most fundamental; if ignorance is not severed, the others cannot be severed 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 are thereby subdued. But if ignorance is not severed, these links will still flourish. The mind of renunciation has not arisen because suffering has not been recognized; the inability to recognize suffering is due to ignorance, which 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 severing the manas's ignorance is the most crucial. When the manas has ignorance, it will mentally engage and cling; afterward it will make choices; afterward the six consciousnesses arise; afterward bodily, verbal, and mental actions are performed; afterward karmic seeds are stored; afterward there is conception and the birth of name-and-form, and a new round of birth and death appears again. Thus it cycles on and on—when will it ever end? Eliminating self-view and realizing the first fruit is the first severing of the manas's ignorance, severing only a portion of the manas's ignorance. Continuing to practice, severing another portion, with wisdom and samādhi advancing, one realizes the second fruit and the third fruit; when the ignorance and afflictions of the three realms are completely severed, one realizes the fourth fruit. So the first fruit necessarily severs the manas's self-view, only severing it slightly, severing a portion.