阿含口解十二因緣經

Whoever wishes to cut off birth-and-death and turn toward the path of deliverance for the world (transcending the world, liberation) should contemplate and abandon the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination. What are the Twelve? They are:

1. The root is Delusion-and-darkness (Ignorance, avijjā).

2. From Delusion-and-darkness there arose Formations (saṅkhāra).

3. From Formations there arose Consciousness (viññāṇa).

4. From Consciousness there is Name-and-form (nāma-rūpa).

5. From Name-and-form there are the Six Declines (the Six Sense-bases, saḷāyatana).

6. From the Six Declines there arises That-which-is-reached (Contact, phassa).

7. From That-which-is-reached there arises Painful-feeling (Feeling, vedanā).

8. From Painful-feeling there is Craving (taṇhā).

9. From Craving there arises Seeking (Clinging, upādāna).

10. From Seeking there is Gaining (Becoming, bhava).

11. From Gaining there is Birth (jāti).

12. From Birth there is Old-age-sickness-death (Aging-and-death, jarāmaraṇa).

These are the twelve matters of dependent origination. As these twelve matters arise in succession, one should employ the Four Constants-otherwise-than-permanent (the practice of the Four Truths) to extinguish them. What are the Four Constants-otherwise-than-permanent? They are:

1. Knowing about suffering.

2. Casting off arising (the origin).

3. Knowing clearly about ending (cessation).

4. Practicing the path.

Again it is said: contemplation of birth, contemplation of aging, contemplation of sickness, contemplation of death. Contemplating these four matters then removes those Twelve Links of Dependent Origination. The accomplishment of the path is owing to contemplating these four matters in this way. One who practices the path and wishes to attain liberation must cut off the twelve matters of dependent origination; this is the cutting off of the root of birth-and-death. The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination exist within and without:

1. Within is Delusion; without is Earth.

2. Within is Formations; without is Water.

3. Within is Consciousness; without is Fire.

4. Within is Name-and-form; without is Wind.

5. Within is the Six Sense-bases; without is Space.

6. Within is the Material (Contact); without is the Seed.

7. Within is Painful-feeling (Feeling); without is the Root.

8. Within is Craving; without is the Trunk.

9. Within is Clinging; without is the Leaf.

10. Within is Becoming; without is the Branch.

11. Within is Birth; without is the Flower.

12. Within is Old-age-and-death; without is the Fruit.

The birth-and-death of human beings follows the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination within. The birth-and-death of the myriad things follows the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination without.

What is Delusion (Ignorance)? It means not paying reverence to one's father and mother, not distinguishing white from black (good from evil). Owing to that cause there is painful-feeling (feeling) that one does not wish to abandon, and one has no faith concerning this present life or the life to come.

Having performed matters in this way, one then follows along with formations; not performing them is also not possible. Therefore from Delusion there is then Formations. Having Formations, there is then Consciousness.

Having Consciousness, there is then Name-and-form. Having Name-and-form, there is then the Six Sense-bases. Having the Six Sense-bases, there is then the Material (Contact).

Having the Material (Contact), there is then Painful-feeling (Feeling). Having Painful-feeling (Feeling), there is then Craving. Having Craving, there is then Clinging.

Having Clinging, there is then Becoming. Having Becoming, there is then Birth. Having Birth, there is then Old-age-and-death.

For this reason the life of a human being takes on the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination; following the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination they arise, and without the causal links there is also no arising. The myriad things are likewise. If one does not cut off the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, one does not escape birth-and-death.

Practicing and cultivating the Thirty-seven Categories of the Scripture (the Thirty-seven Aids to the Path) is the means by which, from this, the path is attained. The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination have three matters:

1. It is delusion (ignorance).

2. It is the pure practice of birth-and-death.

These are the causal links of the former life.

3. It is consciousness. From consciousness one receives a body and is born.

4. It is name-and-form.

The form-body in turn becomes the five aggregates; these are the causal links of the present life.

5. It is the Six Declines (the Six Sense-bases).

Again producing the pure practice of birth-and-death, the seed-material (contact) are the causal links of the later life.

The three periods—former and later—turn around and share causal links, and so there are three matters. The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination have their root in the ten matters (deeds) of the body; the ten matters of the body issue forth, seven matters becoming one and three matters from four. The seven matters becoming one are: killing, stealing (theft), lust, double-tongued speech, harsh speech, false speech, frivolous speech—together with form they make one.

The three matters from four are: envy (greed), anger (hatred), delusion—which, together with painful-feeling (feeling), conception (perception), birth-and-death (formations), and consciousness (consciousness), are the ten matters joined together to make the five aggregates, thus making the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination. Earth is called delusion; formations are the aggregate of flourishing, hence they produce the formations of birth-and-death.

From the seed-material (contact) is called formations; having formations there is then consciousness, which receives the body of birth-and-death. Having consciousness there is then name-and-form; the body in turn performs the ten matters (deeds), and the five aggregates have come into being. Having name-and-form there is then the six sense-bases, which in turn produce the aggregate of flourishing.

The formations and seed-material (contact) will afterward again be received and will turn around and share the causal links of birth-and-death; therefore they are called the causal links.

The ten matters of the body are the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination: Envy (greed) is delusion (ignorance). Anger is birth-and-death (formations). Pure deliberation is consciousness.

Killing is name-and-form. Stealing is the Six Declines (the Six Sense-bases). Lust is reaching (contact).

Double-tongued speech (speaking with two tongues) is painful-feeling (feeling). False speech is craving. Harsh and evil speech is becoming.

Embellished speech is the vow. Birth, present or absent, is becoming. Among the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, why is lust (greed) delusion (ignorance), anger birth-and-death (formations), and pure deliberation consciousness?

Because the three matters (deeds) within are the root. Having the three matters, there are then the seven matters, which form the five flourishing aggregates. Envy (greed) is the root of the five aggregates, hence it is delusion (ignorance).

When the formations of the five aggregates accord with the mind, there is joy; when they do not accord with the mind, there is anger—and thereupon birth-and-death (formations) are produced, all residing in the ten matters. From without it is from the body; from within it is from the mind. Delusion is not distinguishing good from evil and not knowing birth-and-death, hence there is consciousness.

One who practices the path and wishes to cut off the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination should first cut off the ten matters of the body. Since they come from delusion (ignorance), when the five aggregates of delusion are extinguished, the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination are likewise extinguished. To cut off the ten matters of the body—from without it is from the body, from within it is from the mind.

To speak of guarding body and mind means not killing; it is also called: from without it is from the mouth, from within it is from envy (greed). Cutting off means that toward the myriad things, all mental states do not arise, and so anger ceases; anger ceasing, killing ceases; killing ceasing, greedy desire ceases; greedy desire ceasing, lust ceases. From without, from the mouth, is sound.

The sound ceasing, double-tongued speech, harsh and evil speech, false speech, and embellished speech likewise cease. Being without delusion, one then enters the path; this is, in turn, the cutting off of the five aggregates, which are the root of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination.

In receiving a human body there are three distinct kinds:

The first is the five aggregates, the flourishing aggregates.

The second is the eighteen elements (dhātu).

The third is the practice of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination.

These are the three matters by which the body comes to have three distinctions.

+ The first, the five aggregates, the flourishing aggregates, are: the five aggregates issue forth from the ten matters of the body. From the eye is the form-aggregate. From the ear is the painful-feeling (feeling) aggregate. From the nose is the conception (perception) aggregate. From the mouth is the birth-and-death (formations) aggregate. From the mind is the consciousness aggregate. The mind, as master of mindful response, is the foundation of the six matters. This is the ground of the five aggregates.

+ The second, the eighteen kinds of entry, the nineteen faculties: the eighteen elements (dhātu) are the formations of the five aggregates, the flourishing aggregates. There is the object, there is the entry; this is the root of the twelve entrances, which, together with the six sense-faculties (faculties), make eighteen kinds (entries); having consciousness, they make nineteen faculties. To speak of the eighteen elements (dhātu) is to say that consciousness does not arise, hence they are the eighteen elements (dhātu). This is to say that the formations of the flourishing aggregates produce the eighteen elements (dhātu), the nineteen faculties.

+ The third, the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination: this means that the formations of the five aggregates, the five flourishing aggregates, seek (cling to) the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, and so there is a body; this is identical with the ten matters of the body, and is differentiated together with them. From form one obtains a body; from the four aggregates one obtains a designation. From name-and-form one obtains craving and clinging.

From clinging one practices delusion (ignorance); practicing delusion, one then forms the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination. One who practices the path should cut off form, not constructing a body (self); it is only by designation that a body is constructed. Although there are the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, these too are without-body (non-self).

Why? Because if the ear were a person, then it should be able to hear everything; according to its form and characteristics it is given a designation. It is like calling something gold.

It is like using gold to make various objects; on that basis they are given names. Earth, water, fire, wind, and space—these five matters that construct the body—are likewise without-body (non-self). Why?

It is by the body that one cognizes the subtle and smooth (touch). A dead person is like earth, not cognizing the subtle and smooth (touch); therefore one knows that earth, water, fire, wind, and space are without-body (non-self). The body too is empty, the mind too is empty—all are empty, without anything possessed—and there is also no painful-feeling (feeling).

Why? Because a dead person no longer knows feeling. In this way it is empty.

When the mind has departed from the body, there is also no feeling. It is only that the causal links are mutually combined, and so they return to being without anything. Within the body there are twelve kinds of wind: the wind of the upward breath—the wind of the downward breath; the wind in the eye—the wind in the ear—the wind in the nose; the wind in the back; the wind in the ribs; the wind in the navel; the wind in the arms; the wind in the legs; the winding wind; the blade-wind; the blade-wind reaching the sick person; the blade-wind that kills; the blade-wind that severs and ends a person's life.

Now to speak of birth, aging, sickness, and death. Birth is, at the first, entering into the mother's womb (conception), and afterward being born. Having been born, there is then aging. It is only by stilling within the mind, using stilling, that one extinguishes the in-breath and out-breath, sees clearly the root of the body, and unites the ten matters in order to extinguish them.

The five matters within the body:

1. It is earth.

2. It is water.

3. It is fire.

4. It is wind.

5. It is space.

What is hard and firm is earth. What is soft is water. What is hot is fire. What is breath is wind. What allows food and drink to pass in and out is space. There must also be other causal links combined to make a person, who takes himself to be "my body." Or, wishing to cognize the myriad things together, one makes a comparison and takes there to be a body; there are also five causal links combined together:

1. Form (form).

2. Painful-feeling (feeling).

3. Conception (perception).

4. Birth-and-death (formations).

5. Consciousness (consciousness).

Those ten matters combined together, one then sees birth-and-death. Matters (deeds) have good and evil. Good practice is of two kinds: not transgressing—the body has three, the mouth has four, the mind has three—this is the first good.

The second good is: giving, keeping the precepts, patient endurance, energy, and non-doubting—this is the second good. Evil is likewise of two kinds: transgressing—the body has three, the mouth has four, the mind has three—together with drinking liquor, this is the first evil. Doubt, envy, greed, and stinginess—this is the second evil.

Guarding body, mouth, and mind—this is one who practices the path. From merit one is born. From formations there is aging, sickness, and death; the body is then destroyed.

When a person enters concentration, the mind departs from the body and abides in the causal links of the ground. Why does one not die? Because the four matters, combined and holding together, have not yet dispersed and decayed.

One who practices the ten matters (deeds) follows the three matters. One who practices the three matters follows the two matters. One who practices the two matters follows the one matter.

What are the ten matters? They are the ten evils, and so there are the three matters of body, mouth, and mind. Having the three matters, there are then the two matters of name and form.

Having name-and-form, one then falls into delusion (ignorance), revolving for a hundred kalpas before being able to become a human being—which is difficult to fully attain. The life of a human being purely produces earth-consciousness as its seed; the consciousness of the five destinies, with their different names, is joined into a single consciousness; entering into a single consciousness, one therefore loses the root of what was formerly cognized.

Just as when a person is born up into the heavenly realm, carrying human consciousness one receives heavenly consciousness, and so forgets the affairs of the human world. A person is born from non-being and dies from being. From non-being, why is there birth?

Not cognizing non-being, there is birth. From being, why is there death? Not cognizing being, there is death.

Cognizing non-being, one is no longer born. Cognizing being, one no longer dies.

When the mind has a place of contemplation, owing to its ceasing, one reaches the place where one is reborn. If the mind's thought does not cease, one also cannot proceed to be born upon the mind. The first arising of the mind, owing to ceasing, then contemplates again; though the places of contemplation are many, one therefore returns, from the very first of the mind, to receive the causal links.

A person is born with the wife as the root. Husband and wife, impure, defiled, and manifest, obtain a body. Growing up, one is then led astray by evil acquaintances—these are the five aggregates, the six stillings, the twelve declines (entries) that deceive—and so there is aging, sickness, death, sorrow, and suffering.

Birth-and-death is delusion; the wise should cut off the six stillings, namely earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness. The twelve declines (entries) are form, sound, taste, the subtle-and-smooth (touch), and mindful desire (mental objects). Within there are thieves who conceal their names.

These are the twelve declines (entries). A person is born through three causal links:

1. Coming together.

2. Aggregating.

3. The mind, the intellect, the consciousness.

Painful-feeling (feeling), conception (perception), birth-and-death (formations), and consciousness—these are the coming together. The various cravings and desires—these are the aggregating. The first at the top is the mind.

In the middle is the intellect. The last is the consciousness. As for a human being, first there is entering into the mother's womb, like the yellow within a hen's egg.

By the thirty-seventh day there are surely fully formed the head, face, hands, feet, fingers, and toes. Four days before birth, one turns around facing downward. A human being, within the mother's womb, endures much hardship and suffering.

During the time within the mother's womb, the life-span increases day by day, and the consciousness grows day by day. When the body has become a little firmer, by the time it reaches half a year, the body together with the consciousness diminishes day by day. Obtaining a body is a blessing, and it is also a misfortune.

Why? Because obtaining a human body—this is a blessing. Because of hunger and thirst, cold and heat, lustful craving, and envy—this is the misfortune.

A person bears children through five causal links:

1. There is the original vow.

2. Shared karma.

3. Understanding propriety.

4. A debt come due.

5. Repaying a debt.

What is the original vow? It means that in a former life, upon seeing the beautiful children of others, one made a vow, saying, "May my child be likewise."

Shared karma: it is shared reckoning, comparing and gaining advantage, calling together.

Understanding propriety: it means there should be mutual affection and respect.

A debt come due: the parents are in charge of the matter of birth, and the child does not use it in accord with them.

Repaying a debt: the child is in charge of the matter of birth, entrusting it to the parents.

A child is born through three causal links:

1. The parents, in a former life, owed the child money.

2. The child, in a former life, owed the parents money.

3. An enemy-foe comes to be the child.

The parents labor hard to produce wealth, and having obtained it they die, and the child inherits and uses it. This is: the parents of the former life owed the child money.

The child labors and produces wealth, and having obtained it dies, and the parents use it. This is: the child of the former life owed the parents money.

Sometimes a child is born and after a hundred days and so forth then dies, and the parents grieve and are afflicted with sorrow and anguish. This is: an enemy-foe comes along to be born together with them.

Children born are of three kinds:

1. A child of merit.

2. A true and upright child.

3. A child not true and upright.

What is a child of merit? It means that the parents keep the precepts, give, are patient, are energetic, and practice the path; the child too is likewise. This is a child of merit.

A true and upright child: it is when the parents do not have faith in the path, yet the child alone upholds and practices the teaching of the path. This is a true and upright child.

A child not true and upright: it is when the parents follow the work of the path, following the practice of the Dharma, yet the child only knows how to drink liquor and do evil. This is a child not true and upright.

A child is born from its parents, having shared mind, having shared conduct, having shared contemplation. To share in long life, wealth and honor, and dignified bearing—this is shared conduct. Greedy desire and anger—these are shared mind. Energetic practice of the path—this is shared contemplation. When the root of conduct lies with the father, for the most part one resembles the father. When the root of conduct lies with the mother, for the most part one resembles the mother. Where conduct is not shared, they are not of the same kind.

When a person is born and touches the ground, having no cognition yet, one then joyfully turns toward the mother; this is because the root of consciousness acts as the causal link, and so it is thus.

When a person is born again, there are causal links: the body is able to pass in and out without interruption; by the seventh day there is again a sac enveloping the body, and there are also earth, water, fire, wind, and space, only very small and hard to see. A person of old age cognizes little and forgets much; the consciousness gradually shifts and diminishes, turning toward the place of the later birth. Why?

Because one does not foreknow the place where one will be born, since one has not yet arrived there. One person is born, another comes; another goes to the place of another; another worries over the place of another. By going there over a long course of time it becomes familiar, and so forth—and so one does not learn.

The body has three painful-feelings (feelings), and the mind too has three painful-feelings (feelings).

The three feelings of the body are:

1. Being struck by a blade, a staff, tiles, bricks, or stones.

2. Sickness and emaciation.

3. Death.

The three feelings of the mind are:

1. Worry over what is known of father, mother, brothers, wife, and children.

2. Worry over wealth, precious goods, and enemy-foes.

3. Worry over the life-span.

What is the feeling-aggregate? It means that the five aggregates are not in harmony, and so one feels suffering.

What is the death-aggregate? It is that, being ripened and decayed, there is therefore death.

All sicknesses are produced by the action of the mind; the body has no cognition, and so it does not produce that sickness.

Why then does the body fall sick? Because the four causal links are not in equilibrium.

What is worry? It is when all things are not as one wishes.

Whence the lack of clear determination? It is because of sickness that has passed.

Whence the urgency? It is precisely that one is about to be destroyed.

Whence the dispersal and decay? It is because old age harms the body.

What is aging and death? It is destruction.

What is otherwise-than-permanent (impermanence)? It is the lack of self-mastery.

What is suffering? It is being pressed and oppressed.

What is emptiness? It is having no master.

What is meant by saying "I act"? It is on account of without-body (non-self).

Being unable to part from suffering, and not seeking to feel suffering—these are the ten matters.

That which human beings desire comprises three matters. The cravings of human beings always wish to attain:

1. Strength.

2. Peace and security.

3. Long life.

Likewise there are three enmities:

1. Old age, the enemy of strength.

2. Sickness, the enemy of peace and security.

3. The death of the body, the enemy of long life.

There are also three matters of refuge and salvation:

1. Taking refuge in the Buddha.

2. Taking refuge in the Dharma.

3. Taking refuge in the Bhikṣu Saṅgha.

There are four matters that are to be feared: namely birth, old age, sickness, and death.

A person of red face has five causal links:

1. Being near fire.

2. Drinking liquor.

3. Fear.

4. Brooding anger.

5. Much shame.

White hair has four causal links:

1. Much fire.

2. Much worry.

3. Much sickness.

4. A type that whitens early.

A person sick and emaciated has four causal links:

1. Lack of food.

2. Having worry.

3. Much grief.

4. Having sickness.

When the body is not yet in harmony, there are four matters not foretold to a person:

1. White hair.

2. Old age.

3. Sickness.

4. Death.

These four matters cannot be avoided, cannot be parted from, and cannot be refused.

There are four matters that cannot be endured:

1. Hunger.

2. Thirst.

3. Cold.

4. Heat.

The body again has four matters:

1. Without truth.

2. Without sufficiency.

3. Never eating to fullness.

4. Never satisfied.

The body again has four sufferings:

1. The suffering at the time of birth.

2. The suffering at the time of aging.

3. The suffering at the time of sickness.

4. The suffering at the time of death.

All tastes do not exceed eight kinds:

1. Bitter.

2. Not sweet-and-smooth.

3. Pungent.

4. Salty.

5. Bland.

6. Sweet.

7. Sour.

8. Not clearly perceiving the taste.

Bitter increases cold and heat. Not sweet-and-smooth increases much wind and removes cold. Pungent removes water. Sour removes wind, and causes a person's eyes to grow dim and dark.

Eating has three causal links, all of which enter into the blood vessels, bones, and marrow:

1. Fat and grease.

2. Poison.

3. Liquor.

These three all enter throughout the body; there is no place they do not reach. All foods and drinks contain fat, only thick or thin, much or little.

People have four kinds of caste:

1. The elder (householder of rank).

2. The arts of the path (skilled craft).

3. The shaman-priest (ritual master).

4. The farmer (tiller of the fields).

Birth is of four kinds:

1. Birth from the womb (womb-birth).

2. Birth from the union of heat and cold (moisture-birth).

3. Birth from transformation.

4. Birth from an egg.

Birth from the womb is human beings together with animals. Birth from the union of heat and cold is such as worms, moths, and the like. Birth from transformation is such as the devas and the denizens of hell. Birth from an egg is such as flying birds and fish.

A person's head has forty-five bones. From the spine upward there are fifty-one bones. The four limbs have one hundred and four bones, which combined make two hundred bones. A person's body has seven hundred thousand blood vessels and ninety-nine pores. One is able to contemplate and see all of this for oneself, distinguishing and cognizing it.

There was an Arhat who, using the divine eye to see clearly, saw that women fallen into hell were very many, and then asked the Buddha why this was so. The Buddha said: It is due to four causal links:

1. Greed for jewels and goods such as garments, always wishing to obtain much.

2. Mutual envy of one another.

3. Much idle talk.

4. Fashioning a beautiful appearance and much lustful craving.

For these reasons many fall into hell.

– Note (by the translator):

This Scripture (Treatise) (1508/1) was translated into Chinese during an early period (the Later Han dynasty, 2nd century CE), and so most of the translated sentences, vocabulary, and technical terms were still in a stage of groping and formation:

The explanations and expressions are in places unclear, lacking, confused, and illogical.

Many passages of the translated text are obscure in meaning and awkward.

The vocabulary and technical terms for the most part belong to the early period, and we have had to insert parentheses to note the standard, commonly used terms.