An Interpretation of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra (Part Sixteen)

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, it is with the six elements as condition that one enters the mother's womb. Why does this passage 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 elements of the sperm and blood, and the bodily cavities, will certainly be without deficiency. Moreover, the element of consciousness is supreme. Furthermore, this is stated with reference to all births and to the arising of all forms of existence.

The consciousness element 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 ālayavijñāna giving rise to the great seeds of earth, water, fire, wind, and space, and the seventh consciousness in the womb needs the ālayavijñāna to provide seeds of consciousness to sustain it. Therefore, what can enter the womb is the consciousness element, the ālayavijñāna. The elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space are not mentioned because where there is the ālayavijñāna, there will necessarily be the great 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 a condition; once 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 passage say only that the six sense bases are born with name-and-form as condition? Answer: Here it is said that name-and-form is the causal condition for the birth of the six sense bases, because the six sense bases are born directly upon name-and-form; 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 bases arise gradually 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 spontaneous maintenance; therefore it is not said 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 conjunction of the three—faculty, sense-object, and consciousness—as its condition. Why does this passage say only that contact is born with the six sense bases as condition? Answer: If the six sense bases are present, the other two—the six sense objects and the six consciousnesses—will certainly 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, and play the decisive role in the conjunction of the three, the six sense bases subsume the six sense objects and the six consciousnesses. Therefore it is said that contact arises with the six sense bases as condition.