Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume Ten: Explanation of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination (9)

Original text:问。无明望行。为几种缘。答。望诸色行。为增上缘。望无色行。为三缘。谓等无间缘。所缘缘。增上缘。如是余支。为缘多少。应如此知。谓有色支。望有色支。为一增上缘。望无色支为二缘。谓所缘缘。及增上缘。若无色支。望有色支。唯为一缘。望无色支为三缘。谓等无间缘。所缘缘。增上缘。

Explanation: Question: How many conditions does ignorance (avidyā) serve as, with respect to volitional formations (saṃskāra)? Answer: With respect to all material volitional formations, ignorance serves as only one condition, the predominant condition (adhipati-pratyaya); with respect to immaterial volitional formations, it serves as three conditions: the sequential condition (samanantara-pratyaya), the object condition (ālambana-pratyaya), and the predominant condition. As for how many conditions the remaining links serve as, one should understand it as follows: a material link serves as one predominant condition with respect to a material link, and as two conditions with respect to an immaterial link\: the object condition and the predominant condition. If an immaterial link serves as a condition with respect to a material link, it is only one condition, the predominant condition; with respect to an immaterial link, it serves as three conditions: the sequential condition, the object condition, and the predominant condition.

The material links are related to body and speech, being the actions of body and speech; the immaterial links are related to the conscious mind, being the actions of the conscious mind. A material link can give rise to both material and immaterial links, and an immaterial link can also give rise to both material and immaterial links; material and immaterial links can mutually support and receive one another.

Only between immaterial links and immaterial links are there three conditions, because both are parts of the conscious mind and mental factors (caittas), being of the same kind, able to condition one another and mutually enhance one another. Between material links and material links there is only the predominant condition, one material form promoting the arising of another material form; but a material link with respect to an immaterial link constitutes two conditions: the object condition and the predominant condition, because a material form is the perceived object-aspect (nimitta) of the immaterial, and therefore is the object condition, and a material form can also promote the arising of the immaterial, and therefore is the predominant condition; whereas the immaterial with respect to the material can only be one condition, the predominant condition.

The meaning of the sequential condition is a condition that is of equal kind and uninterrupted. Conscious minds and conscious minds are equal; the conscious mind and mental factors are equal, and they are conscious minds of the same kind. For example, between one mind consciousness and another mind consciousness there is a sequential condition; between one manas and another manas there is a sequential condition; between one eye consciousness and another eye consciousness there is a sequential condition, and so on. In addition, a mental factor and the conscious mind it corresponds to are a sequential condition for each other; or one may say the conscious mind and its corresponding mental factors are a sequential condition for each other.

However, not all mental factors are a sequential condition with the conscious mind they correspond to, because mental factors do not exist at all times and in all places, always accompanying the conscious mind; only those mental factors that accompany the conscious mind at all times and in all places form a sequential condition with the conscious mind, such as ignorance (avidyā), for example, or contact (sparśa) and attention (manaskāra). Nor is a sequential condition forever a sequential condition; it is a sequential condition only for a period of time, a certain stage. When ignorance ceases, when the conscious mind no longer feels or perceives, the mental factor is no longer a sequential condition of the conscious mind. Ignorance is a dharma that the conscious mind takes as its object, a dharma that the conscious mind possesses, corresponding with the conscious mind; since beginningless kalpas it has continuously accompanied the conscious mind in its operation, never separating from it. Therefore ignorance is the sequential condition of the conscious mind, and also its object condition and predominant condition.

The meaning of the object condition is that all dharmas are the object-aspects (nimitta) that the conscious mind takes as its object; the object-aspect is also a condition, namely the object condition of the conscious mind. The object condition is also called the objective sphere (ālambana); it is divided into the direct object condition and the indirect object condition. The direct object condition is the dharma that the conscious mind directly takes as its object, the dharma it directly corresponds to, inseparable from the dharma. The indirect object condition is the dharma that the conscious mind takes as its object indirectly, which is separate from the conscious mind, not a dharma that can be directly cognized. For example, the material body and conscious mind of person A are the indirect object condition of person B's conscious mind; B's conscious mind can exist independently, apart from A's five-aggregate body, and whether A exists or not does not affect the operation of B's conscious mind. Another example: the essential realm (dravya-ālambana) manifested by the eighth consciousness is the indirect object condition of the conscious mind; the conscious mind cannot directly cognize the essential realm, but can only cognize the real realm (bhūta-ālambana), the realm with essence (adhipati-ālambana), and the subjectively imagined realm transformed from the essential realm. The conscious mind also cannot directly cognize seeds (bīja), so seeds are also the indirect object condition of the conscious mind. Apart from these, all are the direct object conditions of the conscious mind.

The meaning of the predominant condition is that a dharma can serve as the basis and aiding condition for the arising of another dharma, playing an assisting, supporting, and boosting role in the production of another dharma, rather than a direct and primary role; it is not the principal factor in the arising of a dharma.