Sūtra of the Oral Explanation of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination from the Āgamas

(5) Original text:色不为身。但名字为身。虽有眼耳鼻舌身意。亦复非身。何以故。设耳是人。当能听一切。从形得名字。譬金字。譬如以金作物。因从是得字。地水火风空。是五事作身。亦复非身。何以故。身知细滑故。人已死地不知细滑故。知地水火风空非身。身亦空意亦空。俱空无所有。亦无痛痒。何以故。人已死亦不复觉痛痒。如是为空。意已离身。亦无痛痒。但因缘共合故。还归无有。 

Explanation: The aggregate of form is not the sentient being's body; it is the four aggregates of name—feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness—that constitute the sentient being's body. Although there are the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, they are also not the body. Why? If the ear faculty were the person's body, it should be able to hear all dharmas, but in reality the ear faculty can only hear one dharma—sounds—and cannot hear or discern the other dharmas. All dharmas acquire their names from their forms and appearances; for example, "gold character," for instance when gold is fashioned into objects, the name is acquired from the form of the gold—gold rings, gold bracelets, and so on. The five great seeds of earth, water, fire, wind, and space constitute the material body, but they are also not the body. Why is this said? Because the body can discern the tactile object of smoothness and softness; after a person dies, earth, water, fire, wind, and space still remain, yet they no longer know the tactile object of smoothness and softness. Therefore one should know that earth, water, fire, wind, and space are not the body. In fact, the body of the four aggregates is also empty, the manas is also empty—all are empty, with nothing there, and there is no feeling either. Why? Because after a person dies there is no longer any feeling. That is why it is said that everything is empty. After the manas departs from the body, there is no feeling either; the body of the five aggregates exists merely through the combination of causes and conditions. When the causes and conditions disperse, it ultimately returns to nonexistence, becoming empty nothingness. 

Original text:身中有十二风。上气风下气风。眼风耳风鼻风。背风胁风脐风。臂风足风。曲风刀风。刀风至病人。杀生刀风。刀风断截人命。生老病死。生者谓初堕母腹中时为生。已生便老。止者谓意中止。用止故败气息出入。见了身本。 

Explanation: Within the sentient being's body there are twelve kinds of winds: the wind of upward-moving vital energy and the wind of downward-moving vital energy; the eye wind, ear wind, nose wind, back wind, flank wind, navel wind, arm wind, foot wind, concealed wind, and knife wind. The knife wind can harm people; the knife wind kills living beings and can sever a person's life. Humans have birth, aging, sickness, and death. Birth means the moment when one first descends into the mother's womb is called birth; after birth one gradually grows old; the cessation of life is death. The cessation is the cessation of the manas within the material body; because the manas's function within the material body ceases, the decaying breath appears, and at this point one knows the original nature of the body. 

Original text:合十事为败。身中五事。一者地。二者水。三者火。四者风。五者空。坚者为地。软者为水。热者为火。气者为风。饭食得出入为空。亦余因缘合为人。自计是我身。若欲万物当挍计有身。亦有五因缘共合。一者色。二者痛痒。三者思想。四者生死。五者识。是十事共合。便见生死。 

Explanation: There are ten things that combine to become decay and ruin. Within the body there are five things: first, earth; second, water; third, fire; fourth, wind; fifth, space. The hard is earth, the soft is water, the hot is fire, the breath is wind, and the place where food and drink can enter and exit is space. There are also other causes and conditions combining to form a person, who then grasps at the five-fold combination as "my body." If one wishes to encompass all things as the body, then one further combines another five conditioned factors: first, the aggregate of form; second, the aggregate of feeling; third, the aggregate of perception; fourth, the aggregate of volitional formations; fifth, the aggregate of consciousness. When these ten causes and conditions combine together, the dharma of birth and death manifests.