The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination Taught by the World-Honored One in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra (Part Two)

Original text of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra: 所以者何。世尊。外道说因。不从缘生。而有所生。世尊说。观因有事。观事有因。如是因缘杂乱。如是展转无穷。

Explanation: Bodhisattva Mahāmati says: Why does what the non-Buddhists say not accord with what You teach? World-Honored One, the non-Buddhists speak of the cause for the arising of the five aggregates but do not include the various conditions for that arising—there are no conditions whatsoever, such as seeds, karmic seeds, karmic conditions, and so forth; God or a deity simply gives rise to the five aggregates. Yet World-Honored One, You say that when one observes a cause, one knows there must be an event; and when one observes an event, one knows there must be a cause. In this way, with cause and condition mixed together, it goes on and on without end—is this not very chaotic?

Original text of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra: 佛告大慧。我非无因说。及因缘杂乱说。此有故彼有者。摄所摄非性。觉自心现量。

Explanation: The World-Honored One tells Bodhisattva Mahāmati: I do not teach without cause, nor do I speak of conditioned dharmas without involving causes, nor do I teach cause and condition in a chaotic manner. As for the principle that "when this exists, that exists," neither the grasping subject nor the object grasped has any self-nature; one should awaken to the immediate manifestation from one's own mind (manas). The cause-and-condition dharmas I teach—the cause that produces the next dharma and the dharma that is produced—both lack inherent self-nature and are not real dharmas. For example, "ignorance conditions volitional formations (avidyā-pratyayāḥ saṃskārāḥ)": ignorance gives rise to bodily, verbal, and mental actions; where there is ignorance there are bodily, verbal, and mental actions. This is a provisional dharma, not real. The true cause that actually gives rise to bodily, verbal, and mental actions is another, genuine cause—not ignorance.

Another example: "volitional formations condition consciousness." Where there are bodily, verbal, and mental actions, the six consciousnesses arise. This too is a provisional dharma, not real; the cause that gives rise to the six consciousnesses is another real dharma. Another example: "consciousness conditions name-and-form." Where there are the six consciousnesses, name-and-form arises. This is a provisional dharma; the cause that gives rise to name-and-form is not the six consciousnesses but another genuine cause. All twelve links of dependent origination are such provisional dharmas, not real. The true causes are not these; they do not lie within cause and condition. One should know that the arising and existence of all dharmas are manifested by the own mind—all is the immediate manifestation from one's own mind (manas). The own mind is the fundamental cause for the arising of all cause-and-condition dharmas, and that is the tathāgatagarbha.

Original text of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra: 大慧。若摄所摄计著。不觉自心现量。外境界性非性。彼有如是过。非我说缘起。

Explanation: The World-Honored One says: Mahāmati, if one clings to the view that, within the twelve links of dependent origination, the link that produces the next link and the next link that is produced are both real, and does not awaken to the fact that they are produced and manifested by the own mind, then there are endless faults. All dharmas apart from the own mind lack inherent self-nature and do not arise from one another in succession: this dharma cannot give rise to that dharma. Ignorance cannot give rise to bodily, verbal, and mental actions; volitional formations cannot give rise to the six consciousnesses; the six consciousnesses cannot give rise to name-and-form; name-and-form cannot give rise to the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana); the six sense bases cannot give rise to contact; contact cannot give rise to feeling; feeling cannot give rise to craving; craving cannot give rise to grasping; grasping cannot give rise to existence in the three realms; existence cannot give rise to the five-aggregate life-form; and the five aggregates cannot give rise to old age, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress. The truth is that all these cause-and-condition dharmas are generated, manifested, and transformed by the own mind. The cause-and-condition dharmas that the non-Buddhists speak of have many faults; they are not the dependent origination that I teach.

Original text of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra: 我常说言。因缘和合而生诸法。非无因生。

Explanation: I have often said that only when causes and conditions come together can all dharmas arise—there is a cause and there are also conditions. The cause is the own mind, the tathāgatagarbha, and the conditions are many: for example, the condition of ignorance, karmic conditions, the conditions of father and mother, and so on. Only when cause and conditions come together can the various cause-and-condition dharmas arise; it is not that dharmas can be born from conditions alone without a cause. If there were only ignorance without the own mind, the tathāgatagarbha, there would be no sentient beings' bodily, verbal, and mental actions. Without the tathāgatagarbha, bodily, verbal, and mental actions alone could not bring about the arising of the six consciousnesses. Without the tathāgatagarbha, the six consciousnesses alone could not bring about the birth of name-and-form.

Without the tathāgatagarbha, name-and-form alone could not bring about the arising of the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana). Without the tathāgatagarbha, the six sense bases alone could not bring about contact. Without the tathāgatagarbha, contact alone could not bring about feeling. Without the tathāgatagarbha, feeling alone could not give rise to craving. Without the tathāgatagarbha, craving alone could not give rise to grasping. Without the tathāgatagarbha, grasping alone could not give rise to existence in the three realms. Without the tathāgatagarbha, existence in the three realms alone could not bring about the birth of a life-form. Without the tathāgatagarbha, the five-aggregate life-form alone could not bring about old age, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress.