Does the Mind Arise First or Do Dharmas Arise First? Does the Mind Cease First or Do Dharmas Cease First? (1)

When the mind arises, all manner of dharmas arise; when the mind ceases, all manner of dharmas cease. Dharmas include material form (rūpa) and mental dharmas. Material form is constituted by the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind, and includes the sentient beings' physical bodies and sense faculties as well as the material inanimate world of the universe. Material form has the sense-object marks of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, and is the object-aspect that can be discerned by the conscious mind. Mental dharmas are the discerning functions of the seven consciousnesses, which are the perceiving-aspect, generated by the flowing forth of seeds of consciousness.

Let us first observe how the physical body is born and what conditions are required for its birth. In the teaching of the twelve links of dependent arising, the Buddha taught that ignorance conditions volitional formations (avidyā-pratyayāḥ saṃskārāḥ): because ignorance exists, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of sentient beings continue without cease. Volitional formations condition consciousness: because bodily, verbal, and mental actions are continuously produced, the six consciousnesses continue without cease. Consciousness conditions name-and-form: because the six consciousnesses continue without ceasing, the manas must enter the womb and produce a fertilized egg; the fertilized egg is form (rūpa), and the manas is name (nāma); thus name and form combine into an initial life-form. Name-and-form conditions the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana): after the fertilized egg grows and develops, the five sense faculties are born; thus the six faculties are complete, which is the six sense bases. The six sense bases condition contact: the six faculties come into contact with the six sense objects. Contact conditions feeling: after contact, the six consciousnesses are born, and the feelings of the six consciousnesses arise.

Feeling conditions craving: with the arising of feelings, the conscious mind gives rise to craving for the six sense objects. Craving conditions grasping: because of craving, the manas and the six consciousnesses want to seize and grasp the six sense objects. Grasping conditions becoming: because the conscious mind grasps the six sense objects, the conditions for future existence are brought to completion, and the becoming of the three realms arises. Becoming conditions birth: because the dharmas of the three realms are complete, the life-form is born within the three realms, and thus name-and-form is born. Among these, name includes the seven consciousnesses and the aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of formations, and the aggregate of consciousness; form is the aggregate of form. Thus the five aggregates are born. This shows that when the manas' clinging continues without cease, the discrimination of the six consciousnesses continues without cease, and life-forms are continuously born. From this point of view, when the deluded mind is continuously born, material form is continuously born.

There is another question: can material form be born with only the deluded mind? It cannot be born, because the seven consciousnesses arise and cease intermittently, lack self-nature, and cannot store karmic seeds; therefore they cannot give birth to the material form of the five aggregates. The teaching of the pratyekabuddhas also includes the ten links of dependent arising, which explains the ultimate source of material form. When a pratyekabuddha traces backward through the twelve links of dependent arising, he contemplates: "Due to the existence of what is a life-form born?" and thereby deduces that when the dharmas of the three realms exist, a life-form will be born. He further contemplates: "Due to the existence of what do the dharmas of the three realms exist?" and thereby deduces that due to grasping, the becoming of the three realms is produced. Grasping includes: desire-grasping, which is craving for sense objects; view-grasping, which is grasping the five aggregates as self; self-utterance grasping, which is self-view and self-conceit; and precept-grasping, which is clinging to precepts that are not in accord with reason and cannot lead to liberation.