Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, Volume Ten (Twelve Links of Dependent Origination)

(28) Original text: 复次。是十二支缘起。几支是实有。谓九。几支非实有。谓余。几一事为自性。谓五。几非一事为自性。谓余。 

Explanation: Furthermore, among the twelve links of dependent origination, how many links truly exist? Nine links truly exist, namely: the link of volitional formations, the link of consciousness, the link of name-and-form, the link of the six sense bases, the link of contact, the link of feeling, the link of craving, the link of grasping, and the link of becoming. How many links do not truly exist? The remaining three links do not truly exist, namely: the link of ignorance, the link of birth, and the link of aging-and-death. "Truly exist" means having actual functional efficacy; "not truly exist" means lacking actual functional efficacy, being merely a name. 

Original text: 几是所知障因。谓一。几能生苦。谓五。几苦胎藏。谓五。几唯是苦。谓二。

Explanation: How many links are causes of the obstruction of the knowable (jñeya-āvaraṇa)? One link\: the link of ignorance. How many links can give rise to suffering? Five links can give rise to suffering, namely: consciousness, name-and-form, feeling, birth, and aging-and-death. How many links are the womb-embryo of suffering? Five links, namely: consciousness, name-and-form, feeling, birth, and aging-and-death. "Womb-embryo" means containing and storing, covering and protecting, nurturing, upholding, and giving birth. How many links are only suffering? Two links are only suffering: birth and aging-and-death. 

Original text: 几说为因分。谓前六。无明乃至触。及爱取有。三说为因分。几说为果分。谓后二说为果分。 

Explanation: How many links are said to be the causal portion of other links? The first six links are the causal portion that induces the arising of other links: ignorance, volitional formations, consciousness, name-and-form, the six sense bases, and contact. The three links of craving, grasping, and becoming are also said to be the causal portion, being the causes of birth and aging-and-death. How many links are said to be the resultant portion? The last two links are said to be the resultant portion: birth and aging-and-death. 

The causal portion refers to the links that can induce the arising of subsequent other dharmas; they have the meaning of inducing and can also store seeds. Without this cause, the subsequent other dharmas could not arise. The greatest cause and fundamental cause is the link of ignorance; next is the link of volitional formations; then next is the link of consciousness; after that, the retributive body appears, and thereafter, on the retributive body, one must continually create actions, which again serve as the causes for the results of future lives. The resultant portion refers to the links in which the preceding links, acting as inducing causes and conditions, congeal into the final fruit. Birth and death are the greatest fruit and retribution; the body of the five aggregates is nothing more than this. 

Original text: 几说为杂因果分。谓所余支说为杂分。所以者何。有二种受。名为杂分。一谓后法。以触为缘因受。二谓现法。与爱为缘果受。此二杂说。为触缘受。 

Explanation: How many links are said to be mixed, comprising both the causal and resultant portions? Apart from the first six links, the middle three links, and the last two links, the rest are links that mix cause and result, namely the link of feeling. Why is this said? Because feeling is of two kinds, called the mixed-defiled portion: one is the dharma of future existence, the feeling that arises later with contact as its condition and cause; the other is the feeling of the present life, which serves as the condition for craving, inducing the result of craving. These two together are spoken of as "contact conditions feeling." Feeling is both the cause for the subsequent arising of craving and the result born with contact as its condition; being both cause and result, it is called the mixed portion.