Explanation of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination in the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra (6)

Original text:若于无明触所生受。相应心中所有贪爱。即于此心得离系故。贪爱永灭。于现法中。证心解脱。设彼无明不永断者。依于识等受最为后。所有诸行。后际应生。由无明灭故。更不复起。得无生法。

Explanation: If, with regard to the feeling born from contact with ignorance, all the craving and love that arises in the mind associated with that feeling departs from the bondage of craving in that associated mind, then craving is forever extinguished, and in the dharma of this present life, liberation of the mind is realized. If that ignorance is not forever extinguished, then with feeling dependent on consciousness being the last, all the volitional formations—feeling and the contact, six sense bases, nāma-rūpa, and so forth preceding it—should arise again in the later period. Because ignorance has ceased, these volitional formations no longer arise again, and the unborn dharma is attained.

Original text:是故说言。无明灭故行灭。次第乃至。异熟生触灭故。异熟生受灭。于现法中。无明灭故。无明触灭。无明触灭故。无明触所生受灭。无明触所生受灭故爱灭。爱灭故。如前得无生法。由此故说。取等恼最为后。诸行永灭。

Explanation: Therefore it is said that when ignorance ceases, volitional formations cease; sequentially, when consciousness ceases, the nāma-rūpa of retributive arising ceases; when the retributively-arisen nāma-rūpa ceases, the retributively-arisen six sense bases cease; when the retributively-arisen six sense bases cease, the retributively-arisen contact ceases; when the retributively-arisen contact ceases, the retributively-arisen feeling ceases. In the dharma of this present life, because ignorance ceases, the contact of ignorance ceases; because the contact of ignorance ceases, the feeling born from the contact of ignorance ceases; because the feeling born from the contact of ignorance ceases, craving ceases; and because craving ceases, just as before, the unborn dharma is realized. For this reason it is said that when grasping and other afflictions, being the last in the cycle of birth and death, no longer grasp at any dharmas, all the formations of the five aggregates are forever extinguished.

Original text:如是于现法中。诸行不转。由不转故。于现法中。于有余依界。证得现法涅槃。彼于尔时。唯余清净识缘名色。名色缘识。乃至有识身在。恒受离系受。非有系受。此有识身。乃至先业所引寿量。恒相续住。

Explanation: After all formations have ceased, in the dharma of this present life all formations no longer operate; because they no longer operate, in the dharma of this present life, in the realm that still has remaining support, the nirvāṇa of the present dharma is realized—that is, nirvāṇa with remainder. At that time, this person has only the pure Ālayavijñāna conditioning nāma-rūpa, and nāma-rūpa conditioning the pure Ālayavijñāna, and so forth, down to the existence of the body with consciousness, forever experiencing feelings free from bondage, not experiencing feelings bound by bondage. This body with consciousness also has a lifespan drawn forth by the karma of past lives, continuing to abide in the world for a long time without perishing.

Original text:若寿量尽。便舍识所持身。此命根后。所有命根。无余永灭。更不重熟。又复此识与一切受。任运灭故。所余因缘先已灭故。不复相续。永灭无余。是名无余依涅槃界。究竟寂静处。亦名趣求涅槃者。于世尊所。梵行已立。究竟涅槃。

Explanation: If the lifespan is exhausted, the body sustained by consciousness will be abandoned. All bodies in the later lives after this body are forever extinguished without remainder and will never appear again, much less grow anew. Because this consciousness and all feelings cease spontaneously along with the cessation of conditions, and because the remaining conditions—craving, grasping, existence, and so forth—have already ceased beforehand, they no longer continue in succession, being forever extinguished without remainder. This is called the realm of nirvāṇa without remainder, the place of ultimate tranquility. It is also said of the noble one seeking nirvāṇa that, in the presence of the World-Honored One, the pure brahma-life has been established and ultimate nirvāṇa has been attained.

Original text:如是已说。由三种相建立缘起。谓从前际中际生。从中际后际生。又于中际。若流转若清净。是名缘起体性。

Explanation: The above has already explained what is meant by dependent origination established through three aspects: namely, the arising of the middle period from the prior period, and the arising of the later period from the middle period; and further, within the middle period, whether one continues transmigrating through birth and death or advances toward ultimate purity—this is the essential nature of dependent origination.