Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume Ten (The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination)

(34) Original text: 问。已说一切支。非更互为缘。何故建立。名色与识互为缘耶。答。识于现法中。用名色为缘故。名色复于后法中。用识为缘故。所以者何。以于母腹中。有相续时。说互为缘故。由识为缘。于母腹中。诸精血色。名所摄受。和合共成羯罗蓝性。即此名色为缘。复令彼识于此得住。 

Explanation: Question: Now that all twelve links have been explained, and the various links are not all mutually conditioning one another, why is it said that name-and-form and consciousness are mutually conditioning? Answer: The six consciousnesses, within presently existing dharmas, can only arise and operate with name-and-form as their condition; and name-and-form, within dharmas appearing in later lives, can only arise and exist with the six consciousnesses as their condition. Why is this said? Because after name-and-form continues to grow within the mother's womb, the six consciousnesses will arise upon name-and-form; name-and-form and the six consciousnesses are mutually conditioning. With the six consciousnesses of the previous life as condition, the name-and-form within the mother's womb—the fertilized-egg form constituted of sperm and blood—is received and held by the name (including the seventh consciousness, manas), and together they combine to form the kalala nature of a fertilized egg. Then, with this name-and-form as condition, once name-and-form grows, the six consciousnesses come to abide upon it.

In the reverse sequence of dependent arising, the ālayavijñāna and name-and-form are also mutually conditioning: name-and-form takes the ālayavijñāna as condition to abide within the mother's womb, and the ālayavijñāna takes name-and-form as condition to manifest its functions and roles within worldly dharmas. If either one is missing, worldly dharmas would not exist.

Original text: 问。何故菩萨观黑品时。唯至识支。其意转还。非至余支耶。答。由此二支。更互为缘故。如识缘名色。如是名色亦缘识。是故观心至识转还。于余支中。无有如是。转还道理。于此一处。显示更互为缘道理。故名转还。于还灭品中。名色非是后有识还灭因。由此因缘复过观察。

Explanation: Question: Why is it that when bodhisattvas contemplate the black category—the gate of defiled flowing-on through birth and death—they can only contemplate up to the link of consciousness and cannot contemplate any further, the mind turning back, unable to continue contemplating the other links? Answer: This is because the link of consciousness and the link of name-and-form are mutually conditioning. Just as the ālayavijñāna conditions name-and-form for its worldly functions to manifest, so too name-and-form is conditioned by the ālayavijñāna in order to arise. Therefore, when the contemplating mind's flowing-on reaches the ālayavijñāna, it turns back and cannot contemplate any further. When contemplating the other links, there is no such turning-back phenomenon.

At the point of contemplating the link of consciousness, the principle that the ālayavijñāna and name-and-form are mutually conditioning is revealed; this is therefore called "turning back"—returning to name-and-form, unable to contemplate further forward to the link of formations. The ālayavijñāna is the source of name-and-form; one has reached the end. From this it can be seen that it is the ālayavijñāna that gives rise to name-and-form, and name-and-form originates from the ālayavijñāna. In the category of cessation and extinction within dependent arising, name-and-form is not the cause for the cessation of the six consciousnesses that will be reborn in future lives; for this reason, one passes over name-and-form and continues to contemplate. The cause for the cessation of the six consciousnesses is the cessation of the manas's formations, and the cause for the cessation of the manas's formations is the cessation of the manas's ignorance.

In the reverse contemplation of the twelve links of dependent arising, when contemplation reaches name-and-form, a branching occurs, dividing into two paths of contemplation: one is to contemplate the six consciousnesses from name-and-form; the other is to contemplate the ālayavijñāna, the source of name-and-form. First one contemplates the link of aging-and-death, discovering that aging-and-death appears because there is birth. Then contemplating birth, one discovers that birth appears because of existence in the three realms. Then contemplating existence, one discovers that existence appears because of grasping. Then contemplating grasping, one discovers that grasping appears because of craving. Then contemplating craving, one discovers that craving appears because of feeling. Then contemplating feeling, one discovers that feeling appears because of contact. Then contemplating contact, one discovers that contact appears because of the six sense bases. Then contemplating the six sense bases, one discovers that the six sense bases appear because of name-and-form.

Here at name-and-form is a crucial point: preceding name-and-form are two things—the six consciousnesses and the ālayavijñāna. The six consciousnesses are the condition for the arising of name-and-form in future lives: through the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses, karmic seeds are deposited, causing one to have no choice but to appear in future lives to receive retribution and actualize those karmic seeds. However, the actual arising of name-and-form is not produced by the six consciousnesses, because only after the six consciousnesses cease can name-and-form take rebirth and appear within the mother's womb. Therefore, what gives rise to name-and-form is not the six consciousnesses but the ālayavijñāna. This involves the other condition for the appearance of name-and-form—the ālayavijñāna. When contemplating the fundamental cause of the appearance of name-and-form, one discovers that it is the ālayavijñāna that gives rise to name-and-form; contemplating further forward, one cannot proceed any further—prior to the ālayavijñāna there are no more dharmas, no condition that gives rise to the ālayavijñāna. This shows that the ālayavijñāna is not part of dependent arising, is not born from any causes and conditions; it is therefore the inherently existing mind of consciousness, unborn and unceasing.