Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume Ten (The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination)

(5) Original text: 问。何因缘故。无明等诸有支。作如是次第说。答。诸愚痴者。要先愚于。所应知事。次即于彼。发起邪行。由邪行故。令心颠倒。心颠倒故。结生相续。生相续故。诸根圆满。根圆满故。二受用境。受用境故。若耽着若希求。由希求故。于方觅时。烦恼滋长。烦恼滋长故。发起后有。爱非爱业。由所起业。滋长力故。于五趣生死中。苦果生。苦果生已。有老死等苦。谓内身变异。所引老死苦。及境界变异。所引忧叹苦。热恼之苦。

Explanation: Question: What causes and conditions make the twelve links of dependent origination, beginning with ignorance, arranged and expounded in such an order? Answer: All foolish and deluded people are first ignorant of the things they ought to know; next, with regard to those things they do not understand, they initiate evil conduct. Because of engaging in evil conduct, the mind becomes inverted; because the mind is inverted, the knots of affliction bind them so that life continues on without interruption. Because life continues on without interruption, the six faculties are perfectly endowed; because the six faculties are perfectly endowed, there are the retributive enjoyment of the five-aggregate body as the direct retribution and the enjoyment of the living environment as the circumstantial retribution. Because there are objects of enjoyment to be experienced, one either indulges in the objects of enjoyment or develops further craving and longing. Because of craving and longing, in the process of searching everywhere, afflictions grow and increase. Because afflictions grow and increase, wholesome and unwholesome karmic actions leading to future existence in the three realms are initiated. Because of the growing force of the karmic actions that have been created, the bitter fruit arises within the birth-and-death of the five destinies. Once the bitter fruit has arisen, there are the sufferings of old age, death, and so forth—namely, the suffering of old age and death induced by the alteration of the internal body, as well as the suffering of sorrow, lamentation, and anguish induced by the alteration of external objects.

Original text: 是故。世尊如是次第。说十二支。复有次第差别。谓依二种缘。建立缘起次第。一内身缘。二受用境界缘。内身缘。前六支所摄。受用境界缘。后六支所摄。先于内身。起我执等愚。由此不了。诸业所引。苦果异熟故。发起诸业。既发起已。即随彼业。多起寻思。由业与识。为助伴故。能感当来。三种苦果。谓根初起。所摄苦果。根圆满所摄苦果。受用境界。所摄苦果。即名色为先。触为最后。

Explanation: Therefore, the World-Honored One expounded the twelve links in such an order. There is also a difference in sequence: the sequence of dependent origination is established on the basis of two kinds of conditions. One is the condition of the internal body, and the other is the condition of the objects of enjoyment in the environment. The condition of the internal body is subsumed under the first six links; the condition of the objects of enjoyment is subsumed under the latter six links. The internal-body condition is subsumed under the first six links—ignorance, formations, consciousness, name-and-form, the six sense bases, and contact; the condition of the objects of enjoyment is subsumed under the latter six links—feeling, craving, grasping, existence, birth, and old age and death. Sentient beings first give rise to foolishness such as self-grasping within the internal body; because of self-grasping, they do not understand that the five-aggregate body is produced by all karmic formations, and that the bitter fruit of karma ripens at different times and in different places. For this reason, they initiate all karmic formations. Once the karmic formations have been initiated, they continually give rise to searching and deliberation in accordance with those karmic formations. Because the karmic formations serve as aids in conjunction with the mind consciousness, they can attract three kinds of bitter fruit in future lives: the bitter fruit associated with the initial arising of the five faculties in the mother's womb, the bitter fruit experienced after the five faculties are perfectly endowed at birth, and the bitter fruit experienced when enjoying the objects of the environment. The condition for the appearance of these three kinds of bitter fruit is that name-and-form comes first, and contact comes last; only then can the bitter fruit appear.