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

Original text: 问。何因缘故。依止缘起。建立七十七智耶。答。为显有因杂染智故。又复为显。于自相续。自已所作。杂染智故。又复为显。前际诸支。无始时故。又复为显。后际诸支。容有杂染。还灭义故。又复为显。支所不摄。诸有漏慧。遍知义故。于一一支。皆作七智。当知总有。七十七智。 

Explanation: Question: For what reason, based on dependent arising, are the seventy-seven wisdoms established? Answer: It is to demonstrate that existence in the three realms is due to the presence of defiled wisdom; also to demonstrate that, in the continuous operation of one's own five aggregates, the defiled wisdom is what one has oneself produced; further, to demonstrate that some of the earlier links among the twelve links have no beginning—the link of ignorance has existed since beginningless kalpas and was not born later, therefore it has no beginning and is called beginningless ignorance (avidyā); furthermore, to demonstrate that the defilements contained in the later links have the meaning of cessation and extinguishment; and also to demonstrate that all the tainted wisdom subsumed under each link has the meaning of thoroughly knowing all dharmas. Apart from the link of ignorance, the remaining eleven links each have seven wisdoms, which together amount to seventy-seven wisdoms. 

Original text: 问。何因缘故。于缘起中。建立四十四智耶。答。为显于一一支。依四圣谛。观察道理。是故总有。四十四智。 

Explanation: Question: For what reason are the forty-four wisdoms established within dependent arising? Answer: In order to demonstrate that each of the eleven links is contemplated in accordance with the Four Noble Truths and the principles of cultivating the path, a total of forty-four contemplative wisdoms are established, with each link being observed through wisdom regarding the principles of the Four Noble Truths. For example, using wisdom that accords with reality to contemplate the suffering, origin, cessation, and path of volitional formations (saṃskāra); contemplating the suffering, origin, cessation, and path of the six consciousnesses; contemplating the suffering, origin, cessation, and path of name-and-form; contemplating the suffering, origin, cessation, and path of the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana); and contemplating the suffering, origin, cessation, and path of contact, feeling, craving, grasping, becoming, birth, and aging-and-death—thus, taken together, these are the forty-four contemplative wisdoms.