The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

The Dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination: ignorance conditions volitional formations, volitional formations condition consciousness, and so on. Here, "volitional formations" refers to bodily formations, verbal formations, and mental formations, and "consciousness" refers to the six consciousnesses. Therefore, ignorance must refer to the ignorance of the manas, because the ignorance of the manas drives the continuous arising and operation of bodily, verbal, and mental actions, and the six consciousnesses have no choice but to engage in bodily, verbal, and mental actions, so that they cannot cease.

What does the ignorance here include? It must include all ignorance: the six fundamental afflictions of greed, aversion, delusion, arrogance, doubt, and wrong view (mithyā-dṛṣṭi), as well as the twenty secondary afflictions. Because of these afflictions of ignorance, the manas continuously drives the arising and manifestation of bodily, verbal, and mental actions, causing the six consciousnesses to engage in actions without cease; the six consciousnesses then cannot become pure, cannot attain non-action, and cannot cease.

"The six transforming consciousnesses call it the basis of defilement and purity" also means this. All dharmas arise and operate entirely because of the manas, without exception, without special cases. The manas is the driving force and fundamental cause for the arising of all dharmas in the threefold world; once the ignorance of the manas is completely extinguished and there is no power of vows, the world of the five aggregates immediately ceases.

When the manas has no afflictions of ignorance, the six consciousnesses have no reason to engage in the karma of ignorance and afflictions, because they are not free and cannot be their own masters.

All dharmas are interconnected; no dharma exists independently or in contradiction with other dharmas. It is only a matter of whether one, in one's own practice, has thoroughly comprehended these dharmas. When one has not comprehended them, this dharma is just this dharma and that dharma is just that dharma, interfering with one another. When one has comprehended them, all dharmas are perfectly harmonious, complementary and mutually supportive, all closely linked together. When the Buddha-dharma is thoroughly comprehended, from any one aspect one can verify this dharma and also verify that dharma, and can discover more facts and truths, with wisdom perfectly harmonious and unobstructed.