Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra: Commentary on the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination (Seventeen)

Original text:问。若自所逼迫。若他所逼迫。若时候变异。若先业所引。皆得生受。何故此中。但显触为彼缘。答。触是彼近因故。由触所引故。余缘所生受。亦从触生故。必不离触。是故偏说。

Explanation: Question: If feeling arises from being pressed by one's own conditions, or pressed by external forces, or from changes in temporal conditions, or being drawn by karma created in past lives—all these conditions can give rise to feeling—why does this passage only show contact as the condition for it? Answer: Because contact is the proximate cause of feeling (the others are all remote causes), for feeling is brought forth by contact. Moreover, the feeling produced by other conditions also arises from the condition of contact; without contact, even with the other conditions present, feeling would not arise. The arising of feeling certainly cannot be separated from contact; therefore it is specifically stated that contact is the condition for feeling.

Original text:问。经中亦说。无明为缘生爱。顺爱境界。亦得为缘。何故此中。但说受为缘耶。答。以受力故。于相似境。或求和合。或求乖离。由愚痴力。但于诸受。起尽等相。不如实知。由此不能。制御其心。

Explanation: Question: The sūtras also say that ignorance serves as the condition for the arising of craving; ignorance is the cause and condition of craving, and the sense objects that accord with craving are also causes and conditions of craving and can give rise to craving. Why does this passage only state that feeling is the condition for the arising of craving? Answer: Because of the force of feeling as a condition, when facing objects similar to the real object, one either seeks union with the object (because of pleasant feeling) or seeks separation from and escape from the object (because of painful feeling). Because of the force of ignorance as a condition, one does not truly understand the marks of the arising and ceasing of feelings and so forth; consequently, one cannot subdue one's mind, and thus craving arises. Therefore it is said that feeling is the condition for craving.