Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, Volume 10 (Twelve Links of Dependent Origination)

(37) Original text: 问。何因缘故。依止缘起。建立七十七智耶。答。为显有因杂染智故。又复为显。于自相续。自已所作。杂染智故。又复为显。前际诸支。无始时故。又复为显。后际诸支。容有杂染。还灭义故。又复为显。支所不摄。诸有漏慧。遍知义故。于一一支。皆作七智。当知总有。七十七智。 

Explanation: Question: For what reason, based on the links of dependent origination, are the seventy-seven wisdoms established? Answer: It is to reveal that existence in the three realms is due to the wisdom of defiled causation; it is also to reveal the wisdom of defilement that one has produced oneself in the continuous operation of one's own five-aggregate body; it is further to reveal that some of the earlier links among the twelve links have no beginning—the link of ignorance (avidyā) existed already countless eons ago and was not born later, therefore it has no beginning and is called beginningless ignorance; it is also to reveal that the later links contain defilement and have the meaning of cessation and return [to cessation]; and it is also to reveal that all the tainted wisdoms not encompassed by the links have the meaning of thoroughly knowing all dharmas. For each and every link, seven wisdoms are applied; one should know that there are altogether seventy-seven wisdoms. Apart from the link of ignorance, the remaining eleven links, with respect to the seven kinds of wisdom, together amount to seventy-seven wisdoms. 

Original text: 问。何因缘故。于缘起中。建立四十四智耶。答。为显于一一支。依四圣谛。观察道理。是故总有。四十四智。 

Explanation: Question: For what reason are forty-four wisdoms established within dependent origination? Answer: To reveal that each of the eleven links is contemplated in accordance with the Four Noble Truths and the principle of cultivating the path; therefore there are altogether forty-four contemplative wisdoms, with each link contemplated through wisdom regarding the principle of the Four Noble Truths. For example, using wisdom that accords with reality and truth, one contemplates the suffering, origination, cessation, and path of volitional formations (saṃskāra); contemplates the suffering, origination, cessation, and path of the six consciousnesses; contemplates the suffering, origination, cessation, and path of name-and-form; contemplates the suffering, origination, cessation, and path of the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana); and contemplates the suffering, origination, cessation, and path of contact, feeling, craving, grasping, existence, birth, and aging-and-death. Taken together, these are the forty-four contemplative wisdoms.