Explanation of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra (16)

Original text:问。如经中说。六界为缘。得入母胎。何故此中。唯说识界。答。若有识界。决定于母胎中。精血大种。腹穴无阙故。又识界胜故。又依一切生。一切有生时而说故。

Explanation: Question: As stated in the sūtra, with the six elements as the condition, one enters the mother's womb. Why does this text say only that the element of consciousness is the condition? Answer: If the element of consciousness is present, then within the mother's womb the great-element seeds of the semen and blood, and the bodily cavities, will definitely be without deficiency. Moreover, the element of consciousness is supreme. Furthermore, this is stated with reference to all births, at the time of arising in all states of existence.

Explanation: The consciousness that can enter the womb must be the Ālayavijñāna, not the six consciousnesses, because upon entering the womb the six consciousnesses cease; at the very beginning in the womb there are no six consciousnesses, but there is the Ālayavijñāna. Moreover, the form of the fertilized egg in the womb is produced, transformed, and sustained by the great-element seeds of earth, water, fire, wind, and space generated by the Ālayavijñāna, and the seventh consciousness in the womb needs the Ālayavijñāna to provide consciousness seeds to sustain it. Therefore, what can enter the womb is the element of consciousness, the Ālayavijñāna. It does not speak of the elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space, because where there is the Ālayavijñāna, there will be the great-element seeds of earth, water, fire, wind, and space.

Original text:问。六处亦以饮食为缘。何故此中。但说名色为缘耶。答。此中说名色。是彼生因故。彼既生已。亦以饮食。为任持因。

Explanation: Question: The six sense bases—the eye base, ear base, nose base, tongue base, body base, and mind base—are also born with food and drink as their condition; when there is food and drink, name-and-form grows, and the five bases among the six sense bases grow along with it. Why does this text say only that the six sense bases are born with name-and-form as their condition? Answer: Here it says that name-and-form is the causal condition for the birth of the six sense bases; the six sense bases are born directly upon name-and-form, and without name-and-form the six sense bases could not possibly exist. In the womb, the initial name is the mind base, and the five sense bases are gradually born upon the form of the fertilized egg; therefore name-and-form is the causal condition for the birth of the six sense bases. After the six sense bases are born, food and drink also serve as the condition for their effortless maintenance; therefore it does not say that food and drink are the causal condition for the birth of the six sense bases.

Original text:问。触以三和为缘。何故此中。但说六处为缘。答。若有六处。定有余二无阙故。又六处胜故。由六处摄二种故。

Explanation: Question: Contact arises with the convergence of the three—faculty, object, and consciousness—as its condition. Why does this text say only that contact is born with the six sense bases as its condition? Answer: If the six sense bases exist, the other two—the six sense objects and the six consciousnesses—will definitely appear without deficiency; there will be no lack of the six sense objects and the six consciousnesses, so the six sense bases are used as the representative. Moreover, because among the three, the six sense bases are superior to the six sense objects and the six consciousnesses, playing the decisive role in the convergence of the three, the six sense bases subsume the six sense objects and the six consciousnesses; therefore it says that contact arises with the six sense bases as its condition.