Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, Volume 10 (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 established that nāma-rūpa (name-and-form) and consciousness are mutually conditioning? Answer: The six consciousnesses, in presently existing dharmas, can arise and operate only with nāma-rūpa as their condition; and nāma-rūpa, in the dharmas that appear in later lives, can arise and exist only with the six consciousnesses as their condition. Why is this said? Because after nāma-rūpa continues to grow within the mother's womb, the six consciousnesses will arise upon nāma-rūpa; nāma-rūpa and the six consciousnesses are mutually conditioning. With the six consciousnesses of the previous life as the condition, the fertilized-egg form composed of sperm and blood within the mother's womb, together with the nāma (name) that is the seventh consciousness, is taken up and received, and together they combine to form the kalala (embryonic) nature of the fertilized egg. Then, with this nāma-rūpa as the condition, after nāma-rūpa grows, the six consciousnesses come to abide upon it.

In the reverse-order dharma of dependent origination, the Ālayavijñāna and nāma-rūpa are also mutually conditioning: nāma-rūpa, with the Ālayavijñāna as its condition, is able to abide within the mother's womb; and the Ālayavijñāna, with nāma-rūpa as its condition, is able to manifest its functions and roles in worldly dharmas. If either one were 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 engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the gate of defiled transmigration through birth and death, they can only contemplate up to the link of consciousness and cannot contemplate further forward, so the mind turns back and cannot continue contemplating the other links? Answer: This is because the link of consciousness and the link of nāma-rūpa are mutually conditioning. Just as the Ālayavijñāna conditions nāma-rūpa in order for worldly functions to manifest, likewise nāma-rūpa also depends on the Ālayavijñāna as its condition in order to arise. Therefore, when the contemplating mind's flow of contemplation reaches the Ālayavijñāna, it turns back and cannot contemplate further forward. When contemplating the other links, there is no such phenomenon of turning back.

At the point of contemplating the link of consciousness, the principle that the Ālayavijñāna and nāma-rūpa are mutually conditioning is revealed; therefore it is called "turning back" — returning to nāma-rūpa, unable to contemplate further forward to the link of volitional formations. The Ālayavijñāna is the source of nāma-rūpa; one has reached the end. From this one can see that it is the Ālayavijñāna that gives rise to nāma-rūpa, and nāma-rūpa originates from the Ālayavijñāna. In the chapter on cessation (nirodha) of the dharma of dependent origination, nāma-rūpa is not the cause for the cessation of the six consciousnesses that arise in future lives; for this reason, one passes over nāma-rūpa and continues to observe. The cause for the cessation of the six consciousnesses is the cessation of the manas's volitional activity, and the cause for the cessation of the manas's volitional activity is the cessation of the manas's ignorance.

In the reverse contemplation of the twelve links of dependent origination, upon contemplating to nāma-rūpa a branching occurs, dividing into two paths of contemplation: one is to contemplate from nāma-rūpa to the six consciousnesses; the other is to contemplate from nāma-rūpa to the Ālayavijñāna, the source of nāma-rūpa. First one contemplates the link of aging-and-death, and discovers that aging-and-death appears because there is birth. Then contemplating birth, one discovers that birth appears because there is existence in the three realms. Then contemplating existence, one discovers that existence appears because there is grasping. Then contemplating grasping, one discovers that grasping appears because there is craving. Then contemplating craving, one discovers that craving appears because there is feeling. Then contemplating feeling, one discovers that feeling appears because there is contact. Then contemplating contact, one discovers that contact appears because there are the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana). Then contemplating the six sense bases, one discovers that the six sense bases appear because there is nāma-rūpa.

Here at nāma-rūpa is a crucial point: preceding nāma-rūpa are two things — the six consciousnesses and the Ālayavijñāna. The six consciousnesses are the condition for the arising of nāma-rūpa in future lives, because the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses store karmic seeds, causing one to have no choice but to appear in future lives to undergo retribution and actualize those karmic seeds. However, the actual arising of nāma-rūpa is not produced by the six consciousnesses, because only after the six consciousnesses cease can nāma-rūpa take birth and appear within the mother's womb. Therefore, what gives rise to nāma-rūpa is not the six consciousnesses but the Ālayavijñāna. This brings in the other condition for the appearance of nāma-rūpa — the Ālayavijñāna. When contemplating the fundamental cause of the appearance of nāma-rūpa, one discovers that it is the Ālayavijñāna that gives rise to nāma-rūpa; contemplating further forward, one can contemplate no further, because before the Ālayavijñāna there are no more dharmas — there is no condition that gives rise to the Ālayavijñāna. This shows that the Ālayavijñāna is not part of the dharma of dependent origination and is not born from any causes and conditions; it is therefore the inherently existent mind-consciousness that is unborn and undying.