Saṃyuktāgama, Volume 12: The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination (1)

(283) Original text: 如是我闻。一时。佛住舍卫国。祇树给孤独园。尔时世尊。告诸比丘。若于结所系法。随生味着。顾念心缚。则爱生。爱缘取。取缘有。有缘生。生缘老病死忧悲恼苦。如是如是纯大苦聚集。

Explanation: When the World-Honored One was at Jetavana, the Anāthapiṇḍada Park in Śrāvastī, expounding the Dharma of dependent origination at a Dharma assembly, He told the bhikṣus: If, with regard to the dharmas to which fetters bind you, you follow them by giving rise to relishing and attachment, and your mind, dwelling upon them, becomes bound, then craving arises. Craving conditions grasping; grasping conditions existence; existence conditions birth; birth conditions old age, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress. Thus, thus, the great mass of suffering purely arises.

A fetter (saṃyojana) is a bond, an affliction, a tie, an imprisonment of the mind. There are nine fetters: the fetter of craving, the fetter of aversion, the fetter of delusion, the fetter of jealousy, the fetter of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), the fetter of grasping, the fetter of doubt, the fetter of stinginess, and the fetter of conceit. Where do these fetters bind oneself? They bind one within the cycle of rebirth in the three realms and six paths. Then what are the dharmas to which the fetters bind? They are the realms of the six sense objects, the worldly dharmas of the three realms. What does "following them by giving rise to relishing and attachment" mean? It means believing that the mundane worldly dharmas have flavor and interest, that they can satisfy one's greed and other afflictions; the mind yearns for them, and then the mind gives rise to dwelling upon them. What does dwelling upon them mean? The mind keeps thinking of them, keeping them in mind, longing for them, wanting to obtain them, and thus it will keep grasping at them.

What is the bondage of the mind? It is the mind being entangled and tied up by these dharmas. Once bound, the mind gives rise to craving and other afflictions. What manifestations follow once craving arises? Grasping, seizing, cherishing, clinging without letting go. Who grasps and who binds whom? On the surface it is one's own mind that grasps and seizes the dharmas of the six sense objects, but in reality the mind is seized and bound by the dharmas of the six sense objects. Therefore, the most serious consequence of the bondage of the mind is grasping, which stores karmic seeds and gives rise to the dharmas of three-realm existence in future lives.

If a bhikṣu, or any other practitioner, with regard to the fetters of birth-and-death that can bind his own mind, gives rise to craving and attachment following those fetters, believing that the dharmas bound by these fetters are full of flavor, very enjoyable, very comfortable, and if his mind constantly dwells upon these dharmas, then his mind will be bound by these fetters, and in that case craving will arise. Once craving arises, the mind will give rise to a mind of attachment, and then grasp at these fetters; as long as sentient beings have any attachment in their minds, the conditions—or one might say the causes and conditions, or the seeds—for birth in future lives are formed; once the seeds for future birth are formed, when the causes and conditions mature, or when the seeds mature, a living being will be born; after the living being is born, old age, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress will appear accompanying that living being. What are the causes and conditions for birth in future lives? They are the dharmas of the three realms: the dharmas of the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm.

Once craving arises, there is grasping and possession; after grasping, the three-realm existence is produced, the conditions for future survival are complete, and the dharmas of the three realms will arise; with the dharmas of the three realms, life will arise within them. After life is born, old age, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress will accompany it, and the great mass of suffering purely arises. If craving and other afflictions are extinguished, the knots of the mind are untied; without bondage, one is no longer bound by the three realms and the five desires and six sense objects, and thus the mind is liberated.