Samsara, Nirvana, and Buddha Nature
Page 24
In society birth is usually seen as auspicious and people joyously welcome the birth of a child. We are blind to the inevitable result of birth — aging and death. When we train our minds to see the complete picture of life — birth, aging, sickness, and death — our aspiration will turn toward liberation.
As noted above, birth may occur in four ways: from the womb, egg, heat and moisture, and spontaneously. Hell beings, devas, and bardo beings are born spontaneously without having to go through a developmental process. Some hungry ghosts are born from the womb, others are born spontaneously. Animals are born from the womb, egg, and, as in the case of insects, from heat and moisture. There are instances of human beings being born in all four ways.
Rebirth afflicts transmigrating beings because it brings aging and death, which are the essential duḥkha of transmigrating beings.
Birth according to the Pāli Tradition
There is a debate, beginning with the early Buddhist schools and continuing to this day, about whether there is a period of time between the death of one life and the following rebirth. Although no clear statement is found in the Pāli sūtras, some passages suggest this. It makes sense that in some cases, time is necessary for the suitable immediate conditions to come together for a birth that accords with the ripening karma of renewed existence. If the parents of the next life are in different places at the moment someone dies, a period of time is needed for them to come together again.
Birth, aging, and death have different meanings according to the context. In the Vibhaṅga, the second book of the Pāli Abhidhamma, birth refers not to birth in one of the three realms but to the arising of a mind-moment. Aging refers to the impermanence intrinsic in all conditioned phenomena, not to gray hair, aches, and pains. Death is that mind-moment’s cessation, not the upcoming separation of body and mind. Each presentation is valid and useful, but they should not be confused with each other or used to invalidate the other.
12. Aging or Death (jarāmaraṇa)
Aging and death are the result of birth. Aging is the body and mind that decay under the control of afflictions and karma. Death is the cessation of a similar type of mental and physical aggregates; it is the mind’s separation from the body under the control of afflictions and karma. This link is called aging or death because some beings die before becoming aged. The Buddha says (SN 12.2):
The aging of beings in the various orders of beings, their growing old, brokenness of teeth, grayness of hair, wrinkling of skin, decline of vitality, degeneration of faculties — this is called aging. The passing of beings from the various orders of beings, their perishing, breakup, disappearance, dying, completion of time, breakup of the aggregates, laying down of the carcass — this is called death.
Being under the influence of afflictions and karma, our bodies become ill, age, and die without choice. Contemplating this enables strong renunciation of saṃsāra’s duḥkha to grow in our minds.
Aging can be spoken of in two ways: (1) Progressive aging occurs each moment of life, beginning the moment after conception. It is not the case that we grow up and aging starts at an amorphous future date. Rather, from the moment after conception onward, we are aging and nearing death. (2) Deterioration is aging with the discomfort and fear that accompany old age.
The Sūtra on the Ten Grounds (Daśabhūmika Sūtra) says:
Death has two functions: (1) it causes a conditioned phenomenon to disintegrate, and (2) it brings about the cause of the continuation of ignorance.59
Death itself is a conditioned phenomenon, a result of birth. It causes a life to cease and, for ordinary beings, it enables ignorance and saṃsāric rebirth to continue.
Between aging and death is lamentation, sorrow, not getting what we seek, being separated from what is dear, encountering and being forced to endure what we do not like, being disillusioned when events do not occur as wished, and being unable to control the experiences and events we encounter in life. Reflecting on this closely, we begin to see cyclic existence for what it is: unreliable and repugnant.
The link of aging or death includes all our experiences of the duḥkha of pain and the duḥkha of change, which result from the preceding link, birth. This points to a deeper level of duḥkha — the pervasive duḥkha of conditioning, which is the underlying basis for all other duḥkha. Here, the eleventh link, taking birth under the control of ignorance and karma that entails assuming new polluted aggregates that are the basis for more duḥkha, is the primary meaning of pervasive, conditioned duḥkha.
Where does birth come from? From the preceding link, renewed existence. This comes from its preceding link, clinging. Clinging is the mind that seeks a new set of aggregates; it arises from craving, which does not want to separate from its object. Craving arises in response to pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings that are experienced owing to contact — the coming together of the cognitive faculty, the object, and the consciousness. Contact comes from the sensory six sources — eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mental — and these arise from name and form, the five aggregates. Name and form arise from consciousness, which appropriates the new form. Third-link consciousness is the consciousness on which a karmic seed has been placed. It arises from formative action, which is produced by ignorance. The entire unsatisfactory sequence of the twelve links of dependent origination is rooted in ignorance. To be liberated from this cycle, we must generate the wisdom realizing emptiness that uproots this ignorance.60
REFLECTION
Beginning with ignorance, slowly contemplate each link and investigate:
1. What is the nature or meaning of this link?
2. What is its function?
3. What is its cause? How is it related to the preceding link?
4. What is its result? How is it related to the subsequent link?
5. What is the antidote that will stop this link?
8
Dependent Origination: Cycling in Sam˙sāra
HAVING LEARNED the meaning of each of the twelve links individually, we will now look at various descriptions of how they function together to produce rebirth in saṃsāra. This will help us to understand clearly our situation in cyclic existence and inspire us to be conscientious and mindful of our thoughts, words, and deeds so as to avoid creating causes for unfortunate rebirths. It will also energize us to engage in purification practices to prevent the seeds of destructive karma from ripening as unfortunate rebirths. Furthermore, it will arouse our enthusiasm to learn about, contemplate, and meditate on emptiness in order to free ourselves from cyclic existence. Then, when we think of sentient beings bound in the cycle of innumerable sets of twelve links, compassion and bodhicitta will grow in our hearts.
How the Twelve Links Produce a Life
In verse 2 of the Heart of Dependent Origination (Pratītya samutpāda hṛdaya kārikā), Nāgārjuna says (LC 1:322):
The first, eighth, and ninth are afflictions.
The second and tenth are karma.
The remaining seven are duḥkha.
Of the twelve links, three — ignorance, craving, and clinging — are afflictions. Two — formative action and renewed existence — are karma. Seven — consciousness, name and form, six sources, contact, feeling, birth, aging or death — are suffering results. The three afflictions and the two actions are true origins of duḥkha and the seven results are true duḥkha.
Looked at from the broad perspective of continual rebirth in saṃsāra, each of these three groups causes the others, with no fixed order. Afflictions cause karma, which bring about duḥkha, unsatisfactory results. Included in these results are the mental aggregates, among which afflictions and karmic seeds are found. As Nāgārjuna says (RA 36):
With these three paths mutually causing each other
without a beginning, middle, or end,
this wheel of cyclic existence
turns like the wheel of a firebrand.
The twelve links of dependent origination are called links because they are connected and int
ertwined with each other. They follow one right after the other so quickly that, like a twirling firebrand, it is hard to tell where one set of twelve links stops and another begins. In fact, as we shall see, there are several descriptions of how a complete set of twelve links operates.
The links may be divided into projecting causes and effects and actualizing causes and effects: Projecting causes are links 1, 2, and 3a — ignorance, formative actions, and causal consciousness. Projected effects are links 3b through 7 — resultant consciousness, name and form, six sources, contact, and feeling. Actualizing causes are links 8 through 10 — craving, clinging, and renewed existence. Actualized effects are links 11 and 12 — birth and aging or death.
According to the explicit teaching in the Rice Seedling Sūtra, the projecting causes and effects and actualizing causes and effects occur over three lifetimes. Let’s call our present life, life B. In a preceding life, life A, the projecting causes — ignorance, formative action, and causal consciousness — created the potency on the consciousness that projected a new birth, called life B. In the present life, life B, the projected effects — resultant consciousness, name and form, six sources, contact, and feeling — occur. At the time of dying in life B, the actualizing causes — craving, clinging, and renewed existence — actualize the potency of another karmic seed on the mind. This results in life C, the actualized effects of our future life — birth, aging, and death.
EXPLICIT PRESENTATION
LINKS
RELATING TO WHICH LIFE
LIFE THEY OCCUR IN
Projecting causes 1–3a
B
A
Projected effects 3b–7
B
B
Actualizing causes 8–10
C
B
Actualized effects 11–12
C
C
There is no fixed time between lives A and B. Lives B and C are consecutive.
In the explicit presentation, the links from two different sets of twelve links are presented together. That is, two distinct sets of causality of two different lives are intertwined, with links 1–7 describing the evolution of life B and links 8–12 pertaining to the evolution of life C. For the production of life B, only links 1–3a are explicitly presented, and for the production of life C, only links 8–10 are explicitly presented. In actuality, both lives B and C have three projecting causes and three actualizing causes; the ones not explicitly mentioned are inferred. Similarly, only some of the resultant links for life B are explicitly mentioned (links 3b–7) and only some of the resultant links for life C are explicit (links 11–12). Here, too, the other resultant links are to be inferred for each life.
An example will help. An American man named John (life A) creates the projecting causes (links 1–3a) to be born as an Italian woman, Maria. In her life as Maria (life B), she experiences the projected effects of that karma (links 3b–7). As Maria is dying, the actualizing causes (links 8–10) to be reborn as a deva named Rooni ripen, and the deva Rooni (life C) is born and experiences their actualizing effects (links 11–12). One set of twelve links concerns the life as Maria, the other set has to do with rebirth as Rooni. Even though only links 1–7 are explicitly mentioned for Maria’s life, links 8–12 in that set of twelve links is implied. Similarly, although only the actualizing causes and effects are mentioned for the set of twelve links of Rooni’s life, the others are implied.
The Buddha explained the twelve links in this way to emphasize that the process of rebirth is continuous. While experiencing the effects of one life, the causes for another life are being created.
This presentation also emphasizes the unique functions of projecting causes and actualizing causes. Projecting means that those (projecting) causes are suitable to bring duḥkha after the actualizing causes come together and nourish them. Actualizing means that those (actualizing) causes make the potency of the karmic seed powerful enough to bring the result immediately.
In addition to the explicit presentation, Asaṅga set forth implicit presentations. In these, the order in which the four groups — projecting causes, projected effects, actualizing causes, and actualized effects — occur is not necessarily the order in which the twelve links are listed.
In the first implicit presentation, the cause of the new life (B) is begun in a previous life (A) with its projecting causes: ignorance prompted the creation of formative karma that has the power to bring rebirth, and that karmic seed was laid upon the causal consciousness. At the time of death of life A, the actualizing causes of craving and clinging nourished that seed and it transformed into renewed existence. In the very next life, all of the results — resultant consciousness, name and form, six sources, contact, feeling (projected effects), birth, and aging or death (actualized effects) — are experienced. Here the resultant consciousness and birth occur simultaneously, and in the very next moment, while name and form, six sources, contact, and feeling unfold, the link of aging or death is in process. In this way, a set of twelve links is completed in two consecutive lives.
IMPLICIT PRESENTATION 1
LINKS
RELATING TO WHICH LIFE
LIFE THEY OCCUR IN
Projecting causes 1– 3a
B
A
Projected effects 3b–7
B
B
Actualizing causes 8–10
B
A
Actualized effects 11–12
B
B
Lives A and B are consecutive.
In the second implicit presentation, the projecting causes created in life A ripen as life C, with life B occuring just prior to life C. Any amount of time may pass — one lifetime or eons of other lives — between lives A and C. At the end of one of these lives (B), craving, clinging, and renewed existence occur, and the karmic seed infused on the consciousness long ago is now about to bring a new birth. The projected effects and actualized effects occur together in the very next life (C).
IMPLICIT PRESENTATION 2
LINKS
RELATING TO WHICH LIFE
LIFE THEY OCCUR IN
Projecting causes 1–3a
C
A
Projected effects 3b–7
C
C
Actualizing causes 8–10
C
B
Actualized effects 11–12
C
C
There is no fixed time between lives A and B. Lives B and C are consecutive.
An Example
The teaching on the twelve links of dependent origination is complex and requires a great deal of contemplation. An example concerning the two implicit presentations will aid your understanding.
Pat arrives home from work and sees that her children left a mess in the kitchen. Tired from her job, she loses her temper and shouts at her children. This is the beginning of a set of twelve links. After Pat sees the mess, self-grasping ignorance/the view of a personal identity arises in her mind (link 1). This ignorance does not understand that the I is empty of inherent existence and instead grasps the I as inherently existent. In addition, self-grasping ignorance grasps her body and mind, her children, the mess in the kitchen, the chore of cleaning it up, and her unhappiness to exist inherently. Based on this, distorted attention that exaggerates the horribleness of the situation arises. This is immediately followed by anger and the intention to speak harsh words. Ignorance that does not understand the functioning of karma and its effects is also present, and because she is tired she does not consider either the long- or short-term effects of harsh words and does not apply the antidote to calm her mind. Harsh words fly out of her mouth, creating formative action (link 2), and a seed of destructive karma is laid on her mindstream. A having-ceased of the action of harsh words is also created (link 3a). This completes the projecting causes. The children scramble to clean the kitchen, and satisfied that shouting accomplished her purpose, Pat doesn’t think to purify the
paths of karma of malice and harsh words.
At the end of her life, as she is dying, Pat becomes angry and upset because the people around her are arguing and creating commotion. That mental state prompts craving and clinging (links 8 and 9) to nourish the seed of destructive karma created when she shouted at her children, priming it to bring a new rebirth (link 10). These are the actualizing causes. Her consciousness is drawn to the body of a screech owl and takes birth there (links 3b and 11). Aging or death (link 12) begins, as do the sequential links of name and form, six sources, contact, and feeling (links 4–7). These are the projected and actualized results of that set of links. Although like all sentient beings, Pat seeks only happiness, not suffering, owing to ignorance she created the cause for suffering. Since links 8–10 occurred at the end of Pat’s life, that set of twelve links was completed in two lives as in implicit presentation 1.
Let’s change the scenario slightly. Motivated by compassion Pat regularly volunteers at a hospital where she gladdens the hearts of people needing support and hope. This begins another set of twelve links and leaves the seed of virtuous karma on her consciousness. At the time of her death, she rejoices in her own and others’ kind hearts and good deeds, and this virtuous mental state activates links 8–10 of the set of twelve links that began with her volunteer work. Her consciousness is attracted to take birth in the body of a human being and the projected and actualized results of that set of links occur.