Selected Lectures on the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra

Original text:又有三种诸烦恼趣。令诸有情流转生死。谓于胜欲。发意悕求。名初烦恼趣。于色无色界胜自体中。发意悕求。名第二烦恼趣。于邪解脱。发意悕求。名第三烦恼趣。

Explanation: There are also three kinds of ways of tending toward affliction that cause sentient beings to transmigrate through birth and death. The first is that, because sentient beings have the aspiration for wholesome dharmas (good dharma desire), they are bound by this aspiration for wholesome dharmas and also cannot escape the three realms; they must pursue the Buddha-dharma life after life within the three realms until they attain buddhahood—this is the aspiration for wholesome dharmas of bodhisattvas who have made the great resolve. Because they do not leave the three realms, there is suffering within the three realms, including some subtle feelings of suffering; this is the first course of affliction. 

The second is that sentient beings, toward the superior karmic rewards of the form realm and the formless realm, give rise to the mind of longing, and are thereby bound within birth and death, unable to attain liberation. The beings of the form realm and the formless realm are superior in their own existence to the beings of the desire realm and have superior karmic rewards. But because sentient beings long for the superior karmic rewards of the form realm and the formless realm, long for the meditative concentrations of the form realm and the formless realm, and long for the enjoyment of merit in the form realm and the formless realm, they are bound by the karmic rewards of the form realm and the formless realm, cannot escape the three realms, and thus there is the suffering of birth and death within the three realms. This is the second course of afflictive longing of sentient beings.

The third is that sentient beings give rise to the mind of pursuing false liberation, and because their views and methods of practice are mistaken and not in accord with reality, not only do they fail to attain liberation, but they sink ever deeper into the abyss of birth and death. They have the desire for liberation, but they do not encounter the true dharma of liberation; they encounter the teachings of non-Buddhist paths, practice those non-Buddhist paths, and wish to seek liberation through non-Buddhist methods that are not in accord with reality, with the result that they are bound by the wrong views of those non-Buddhist paths and cannot attain liberation. This is the third course tending toward affliction.

Whether it is the longing for the true dharma or the longing for false dharmas, the ultimate longing is initiated by the manas; initially it is initiated by the mind consciousness through contact with these two kinds of dharmas, and gradually influences the manas, whereupon one begins to diligently study and practice either the true dharma or false dharmas, and only then can one ultimately attain liberation or fall into even deeper bondage of birth and death.