因緣心論頌因緣心論釋

The differentiation of the twelve links—

The Able Sage spoke of dependent arising.

Among afflictions, karma, and suffering,

Within these three all are wholly subsumed.

The first, the eighth, and the ninth are afflictions;

The second and the tenth are karma;

The remaining seven are suffering—

The twelve are subsumed within only three.

From the three arise the two,

From the two arise the seven,

And the one again arises from the three:

Thus does the wheel keep turning.

The realms are only cause and effect;

Herein there is no sentient being.

It is solely from phenomena that are empty

That phenomena which are empty again arise.

Recitation, lamp, mirror, and seal,

Fire, crystal, seed, sourness, and sound—

The aggregates continue in succession and cease;

The wise should understand they do not transmigrate.

Concerning those things exceedingly subtle,

If one holds the view of annihilation,

That person lacks wholesome causes and conditions

And has not seen the meaning of dependent arising.

Herein nothing whatever can be seen,

Nor is there the least thing to be established;

By the true, contemplating the true,

Seeing the true, one is liberated.

EXPLANATORY COMMENTARY ON THE

TREATISE ON THE HEART OF DEPENDENT ORIGINATION, composed by the Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna.

Herein there was a śramaṇa who, desiring to hear, listened; he was good at remembering and retaining, able to understand, able to contemplate, and yet apt to forget. He came to his Teacher concerning the teaching of the Tathāgata and inquired in this manner.

"O Bhagavān! The differentiation comprises twelve links; the Able Sage spoke of dependent arising. Where, then, are those subsumed? Now I wish to hear this gladly."

Wishing to make clear the meaning of this question concerning the true reality, the Master spoke, saying:

You ask how, among the three—afflictions, karma, and suffering—all are completely subsumed; and so this distinction is set forth. Stated in general, herein there are ten and two. Stated precisely, they are the twelve links.

Since there is differentiation, they are therefore called "differentiation." Just as the parts of a chariot are called its members, so they are called "links." Because one is able to be at peace in body and speech, one is called the "Able Sage." "Able Sage" means one who proclaims and explains. Stated otherwise, that name is without intrinsic nature—a determinate self, a provisional mark of sovereignty. At that time, naturally, following upon craving, the Lord of Transformation straightway meets with chance occurrence and thus comes to arise; this is called that which is born of causes and conditions.

This differentiation has twelve member-factors. With respect to afflictions, karma, and suffering, they change one after another like garments donned in turn, like a bundle of reeds. Among these, the three together subsume all completely.

The word "completely" means that there is no remainder.

A question was asked: What are the afflictions? What is karma? What is suffering? Within these differentiated phenomena, what is subsumed where?

The reply was given: The first, the eighth, and the ninth are afflictions. Among the differentiated twelve member-factors, the first is precisely ignorance. The eighth is craving; the ninth is grasping.

These three are subsumed under afflictions. What is karma? The second and the tenth are karma: the second is formations, the tenth is becoming.

These two phenomena are subsumed under karma. The remaining seven are all suffering. Afflictions and karma being thus subsumed, those seven kinds are precisely suffering.

The subsumed, it should be known, are these: consciousness, name-and-form, the six sense-bases, contact, feeling, birth, and aging-and-death. To say that all are subsumed within that place means it subsumes the suffering of separation from what is dear, of union with what is hateful, and of not obtaining what is sought. These are precisely the twelve member-factors.

With respect to karma, afflictions, and suffering, all are wholly subsumed. To say "only" means this concealment, whereby the scripture speaks of the Dharma and herein it is completely subsumed, with nothing further remaining.

A question was asked: This meaning is now clear; but why do those—karma, suffering, and afflictions—mutually give rise to one another? I beg you to explain it for me.

The reply was given: From the three arise the two—from the three afflictions arise the two of karma. From the two arise the seven, which, as said above, are the phenomena of suffering. Those seven again give rise to the three, which are the afflictions.

And from those three afflictions again arise the two of karma; herein there is repeated change and movement. To speak of "becoming" means that there are these three kinds: the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm. Therein, without rest, formative activity flows on; those things, arising variously in the world, drift and flow on of themselves.

To say this is to reveal the meaning of indeterminacy—that it is not like a fixed revolving, but that one after another arises among the various states of becoming. This is what is meant by indeterminacy.

A question was asked: How is there a self-sovereign person among sentient beings? And how does its function operate in this matter?

The reply was given: The realms add cause and effect; they add provisional designation. Therein there is no sentient being. This indeed is the meaning of true reality: it is not that the provisional is established and thereby comes to be a real existent; rather, it is a provisionally posited realm and does not constitute a real thing.

A question was asked: If this be so, then who is there that passes from this present life on to that life to come?

The reply was given: There are no most subtle phenomena that move from this life over to another life. Nonetheless, it is only from phenomena that are empty that there again arises that which is empty of phenomena. From what is without self and without anything belonging to a self—the afflictions and karma, the five kinds that are without cause—there again arises that which is empty, without self and without anything belonging to a self.

The seven phenomena that are the fruit of suffering are themselves without self and without anything belonging to a self; with respect to this hand, they are without self and without anything belonging to a self. Nonetheless, from intrinsic nature—which is fundamentally a phenomenon without self—there again arises a phenomenon whose intrinsic nature is without self. Thus should one understand, and act according to the teaching.

Herein it was again asked: As for the arising, from intrinsic nature—a phenomenon fundamentally without self—of a phenomenon whose intrinsic nature is without self, is there any simile for this?

The reply, in answer, was given: Recitation, lamp, mirror, and seal, fire, crystal, seed, sourness, and sound. These are similes and provisional illustrations establishing intrinsic nature that is without self and the accomplishment of the life to come, as should be understood. It is like a master who, having recited a scripture, transmits it to a disciple, and thereafter the master says nothing further, and so nothing comes across.

Yet the disciple recites it anew, transmitting it onward, and what is received is thereby derived, becoming devoid of cause and effect. So too, the recitation of the master, like the consciousness-mind at the moment of death, is also of this sort: were it to become permanent, it would not come over to the life to come; and the life to come, were it not derived from that which is received, would become devoid of cause and effect.

Just as the master's recitation together with the disciple's recitation—that one and this other—cannot easily be set up as identical, so too, in dependence upon that consciousness-mind at the moment of death, discrimination is born, and the consciousness-mind straightway comes to arise. So too is it here: that one and this other cannot easily be set up as identical. In the same way, from light is born light; and depending upon the image of a face, this image appears within the mirror.

From a seal there comes to be an impression; from sourness there comes to be saliva; from a seed is born a sprout; from a sour-plum seed is born saliva; from a sound, an echo resounds. That one and this other cannot easily be set up as identical. In the same way, the aggregates link together in succession and do not transmigrate—this one should clearly understand.

To speak of "aggregates" means the aggregates of form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. To speak of "linking in succession" means that, having ceased, from that as cause there again arises this further state. There are no most subtle phenomena such as these that, arising here in this life, move over to another life; this is therefore called "flowing on." It arises from the latent dispositions of false discrimination.

The words that follow are the contemplation in reverse order—that is, knowing in the reverse sequence. That person should contemplate all phenomena as impermanent, suffering, empty, and without self. Then he is not deluded about things; and if he does not encounter them, there is no craving.

If there is no craving and aversion, then nothing is born; if there is no aversion, then there is no karma. If there is no karma, then there is no grasping; if there is no grasping, then nothing is produced as becoming thereafter. If there is no becoming, then there is no birth; and if there is no birth, then the suffering of this body and mind is born no more.

Thus, not perfuming the five kinds as cause, then with respect to that, the fruit again is not born. This fruit is liberation; therefore it cuts off—it severs annihilationism and eternalism, together with those evil views. Herein there are two verses, as follows:

Concerning things exceedingly subtle,

If one holds the view of annihilation,

That person lacks wholesome causes and conditions

And has not seen the meaning of dependent arising.

Herein nothing can be altered,

Nor is there the least thing to be established;

By the true, again contemplating the true,

Seeing the true, one is liberated.

Explanatory Commentary on the Treatise on the Heart of Dependent Origination

(The end)