Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Fascicle 9: Explanation of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination (2)

Original text:此识将生果时。由内外贪爱。正现在前。以为助伴。从彼前际。既舍命已。于现在世。自体得生。在母腹中。以因识为缘。相续果识。前后次第而生。乃至羯罗蓝等位差别。而转于母胎中。相续果识。与名色俱。乃至衰老。渐渐增长。尔时感生。受业名已。与异熟果。

Explanation: When the consciousness that follows karma is about to manifest the karmic retribution body, because craving for internal and external objects is presently manifest, with craving as the assisting condition and companion, after the life faculty of the previous life has been relinquished, the self-identity of the five-aggregate body in the present life is able to be born. In the mother's womb, the five-aggregate dependent-arising body takes the causal consciousness—the six consciousnesses of the previous life that gave rise to the self-identity—as the condition, and the retributive consciousnesses that continue the karmic fruit, the six consciousnesses of the present life that receive the retribution, are born sequentially one after another, and even the differently staged embryonic bodies such as the kalala stage are successively produced and revolve within the mother's womb. The six consciousnesses that receive the continuing karmic fruit transmigrate together with nāma-rūpa (name-and-form, the five aggregates), and the five-aggregate body gradually grows until old age. At that time, because of karmic power, the six consciousnesses named as receiving karma and the vipāka retribution are brought forth.

At the time when the manas and the Ālayavijñāna are about to take rebirth, the craving of the karma-following consciousness—the manas and the mind consciousness—for the physical body of the future life, as well as the sexual desire for the father and mother of the future life, arises; with this craving as the assisting companion, one enters the mother's womb. If there is no craving, two situations will occur: one is not taking rebirth in the womb, the other is entering the womb with a pure mind. One who has no craving is a noble one who has relinquished the craving of the desire realm. If a noble one does not take rebirth in the womb, he may be born by spontaneous birth (upapāduka), or may enter nirvāṇa without remainder. If a noble one does take rebirth in the womb, it is because of pure great vows, taking rebirth through the power of vows.

Here there are two concepts—the causal consciousness and the continuing retributive consciousness—that need to be explained. The cause refers to the previous-life cause of the arising of nāma-rūpa in this life. In the previous life, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions created by the six consciousnesses left behind karmic seeds; when those karmic seeds matured, the nāma-rūpa of this life came about. Only after nāma-rūpa is born are the six consciousnesses of this life born, to receive the karmic fruit of the actions created in the previous life. Therefore, the six consciousnesses of this life are the retributive consciousnesses that receive the retribution of nāma-rūpa and connect with the previous life to continue revolving, while the six consciousnesses of the previous life are the cause leading to the retribution of this life, and are called the causal consciousness.

Original text:又此异熟识。即依名色而转。由必依托六依转故。是故经言。名色缘识。俱有依根曰色。等无间灭依根曰名。随其所应。为六识所依。依止彼故。乃至命终。诸识流转。

Explanation: The Ālayavijñāna is also called the vipāka consciousness (the consciousness of retributive maturation). The vipāka consciousness operates in dependence upon nāma-rūpa; because the vipāka consciousness must rely on the six faculties in order to operate, the sūtra says that nāma-rūpa arises conditioned on the Ālayavijñāna or the vipāka consciousness. The faculty that operates together with the Ālayavijñāna is called form (rūpa), that is, the fertilized egg; the dependent faculty that operates simultaneously with the Ālayavijñāna is called name (nāma), that is, the manas. The manas is the faculty upon which the consciousness-seeds and so forth of the six consciousnesses depend for their moment-to-moment, uninterrupted (samanantara) arising and ceasing in continuity. In this way, the Ālayavijñāna operates together with nāma-rūpa, and the six consciousnesses are born in dependence upon it. The six consciousnesses, relying on the Ālayavijñāna and nāma-rūpa, operate without cease until the end of life.

Because the five aggregates and the seven consciousnesses create karmic actions during the process of transmigration, leaving behind karmic seeds, there will be karmic fruits in future lives. Karmic actions exist in dependence upon the Ālayavijñāna, and karmic fruits require the Ālayavijñāna to manifest them; therefore the Ālayavijñāna is also called the vipāka consciousness, which enables the five aggregates and the seven consciousnesses to receive karmic fruits in different forms when the karmic seeds mature. However, the Ālayavijñāna cannot operate on its own; it must cooperate with the manas and karmic power. Only when the manas and the karmic fruit require it can it operate, can there be the mental characteristic (citta-lakṣaṇa), and can it be discovered. If the manas and the karmic fruit have no need of it, the Ālayavijñāna no longer operates, and there is no characteristic of operation, so it will not be detected.

Therefore, the Ālayavijñāna must operate in the mother's womb in dependence on the fertilized egg and the manas, and subsequently gives rise to the six consciousnesses. Thus nāma-rūpa is also the dependent faculty for the arising of the six consciousnesses, and after the six consciousnesses are born, they are also subsumed within "name." Since the Ālayavijñāna must rely on the manas in order to operate, the manas is also called the concomitant dependent faculty (sahabhū-āśraya) for the operation of the Ālayavijñāna; but it is not the case that the Ālayavijñāna exists only by depending on the manas—without the manas, the Ālayavijñāna still exists, only it can no longer operate all the dharmas of the five-aggregate world. In the mother's womb, initially there is only the form of the fertilized egg and the name of the manas; therefore, the faculty upon which the six consciousnesses—having ceased moment by moment without interruption (samanantara)—depend is the manas. The six consciousnesses can be born and operate only by relying on the manas and the fertilized egg; they are also born and operate by relying on the Ālayavijñāna, and also rely on the karmic seeds.