Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume 9: Commentary on the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination (Part One)

Original text: 云何缘起体。若略说由三种相。建立缘起。谓从前际中际生。从中际后际生。中际生已。若趣流转。若趣清净究竟。

Explanation: What is the essence of dependent arising? To put it briefly, the essence of dependent arising is established through three aspects: the five-aggregate body of past lives, the five-aggregate body of the present life, and the five-aggregate body of future lives. The three aspects are: the five-aggregate body of dependent arising that is born in the present life due to the conditions of past lives; the five-aggregate body of dependent arising that will be born in future lives due to the conditions of the present life; and the five-aggregate body of dependent arising born in the present life, which has two different outcomes: one is to continue heading toward the cycle of birth and death through the six realms, and the other is to head toward ultimate purity.

The essence of dependent arising refers to the five-aggregate body that arises due to various causes and conditions. The five-aggregate body transmigrates life after life, and the transmigration of each life is related to the karmic force and causes and conditions of past lives, as well as to the karmic force and causes and conditions of the present life, while the transmigration into future lives is all related to the karma and causes and conditions of the present life. If ignorance and the bondages are eliminated in the present life, then future lives will head toward purity, extinguishing the cycle of birth and death; otherwise, one will continue to transmigrate within the cycle of the six realms. The essence of dependent arising has three aspects: the past-life aspect, the present-life aspect, and the future-life aspect. The five-aggregate body is divided into past life, present life, and future life, and these three aspects, depending on causes and conditions and karmic force, have both similarities and differences.

Original text: 云何从前际中际生。中际生已。复趣流转。谓如有一。不了前际无明所摄。无明为缘。于福非福及与不动身语意业。若作若增长。由此随业识。乃至命终流转不绝。能为后有相续识因。

Explanation: As for the essence of dependent arising that is born in the present life due to the causes and conditions of past lives, after being born in the present life, it again heads toward the transmigration of birth and death—why is this? This is because if there is a sentient being who is an essence of dependent arising, due to not knowing the ignorance of his own mind in past lives, there is the transmigration of birth and death in the present life. In the present life, still because of ignorance, he creates meritorious bodily, verbal, and mental actions, or non-meritorious bodily, verbal, and mental actions, or bodily, verbal, and mental actions that are neither meritorious nor non-meritorious—pure and imperturbable—or else further increases the creation of meritorious karma, non-meritorious karma, and the pure and imperturbable bodily, verbal, and mental actions that are neither meritorious nor non-meritorious. Due to the creation of these karmic formations, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses that operate following karmic force will cause the five-aggregate body to continue transmigrating without cessation until the end of life, becoming the cause for the continuity of consciousness in future existence among the three realms of existence.

The consciousness that follows karma refers to the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, with the seventh consciousness as the primary. It is the sixth consciousness that specifically creates karmic formations, while it is the seventh consciousness, the manas, that makes decisions and directs the creation of karmic formations. All the karmic seeds created by the five-aggregate body are stored in the ālayavijñāna at all times and places, and the ālayavijñāna, in accordance with these karmic seeds, continuously gives birth to and transforms the five-aggregate body that corresponds to the karmic seeds. Wherever there is karmic force, there must be the operation of the manas and the six consciousnesses, and of course there must also be the operation of the ālayavijñāna, to uphold the five-aggregate body that corresponds to the karmic force, whether it is defiled karma or pure karma, while the ālayavijñāna itself does not transmigrate within the stream of birth and death. The manas, the seventh consciousness, transmigrates life after life following its own karmic force; the manas and karmic force are bound together inseparably for even a moment. The six consciousnesses, however, are intermittent, not together with karmic force at every moment. The birth and transmigration of the six consciousnesses are also due to the fact that the manas and karmic force do not perish, and also due to the ignorance of the manas.