Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence PART 2 (十二因緣二)
We discussed the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, the twelve factors that lead to our rebirth. The first is ignorance, the next ones are volitional formations and then consciousness.
The fourth Link is “name and form”. Why is it called name and form when this name and form is not yet tangible? It is brought by karmic consciousness. This karmic consciousness is intangible. Ignorance is also intangible. Volitional formations are intangible as well. But they pull us around. We cannot see the mind-consciousness either. All of our actions in the past are collected in the consciousness. After the mind-consciousness enters the womb, it becomes name and form.
Name and form are also intangible. These are the workings of the mind. The point at which consciousness becomes the mind is called name and form. “Name” refers to the mind. It is like when a woman becomes pregnant. At the very beginning, she does not know, because it has not yet taken shape. It is not yet substantial at the beginning. The form is the substance, but the name is intangible, it only deals with the mind consciousness.
But the body gradually grows to have tangible form. We have said this before. When a couple is intimate, the father’s sperm and mother’s egg join together to form an embryo. It is similar to a blister on our skin when we get burned by fire. There is a thin membrane over the blister, and inside the blister is water. It more or less looks like that. The embryo forms after the union of the sperm and the egg.
When [the consciousness] enters the embryo, this stage is called name and form. We cannot yet see any shape or figure. It is just the union of the sperm and the egg. It has substance but barely any shape. This is the stage of name and form. By about the fifth week, this new life can be seen with the naked eye. By then, the mother may experience morning sickness and know that she is pregnant. This is still name and form.
At this time, it is only a droplet, like a drop of crystal-clear water. It gradually becomes opaque and shaped like a sphere. The sphere’s form gradually protrudes into five different areas, which become the four extremities and the head. When this happens, the fetus is about two mothers old.
The fourth of the Twelve Links is “name and form.” Name refers to the workings of the mind, which has no tangible form. Form is the tangible substances that make up the body. After the embryo is formed, by the fifth week the body and limbs start to take shape. This stage is “name and form.”
The fifth Link is the “six sense organs.” The six sense organs form between seven to eight weeks of development. By then, they become discernible. With today’s advanced technology, when you see a doctor, even early on they can tell you that you are pregnant. The fetus has a head and limbs. The body and limbs are almost fully formed. Right around this time, our Six Roots, or six sense organs, are developing. This stage is called the six sense organs.
The fifth of the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence is the six sense organs. After name and form, at about six weeks old, the fetus’s limbs are complete. After seven weeks, the six sense organs gradually develop.
The Six Roots develop gradually. Eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body all develop. At this time, prenatal education is important. When a pregnant woman is regularly in a bad mood, it has a bad influence on the fetus. The fetus can hear the mother’s complaints, expressing her anger and resentment. Eventually, the child will acquire the mother’s bad temper. Conversely, if during pregnancy, the mother maintains a calm and even temper, and is full of love, the fetus will learn this behavior. This is prenatal “contact.”
Before birth, the fetus has already started to listen, to feel, and to learn. So we call it prenatal education. Contact with the outside world starts once the six sense organs become developed. Now the fetus has almost reached full-term. Some babies are born premature at six to seven months. These premature babies also learn during the pregnancy. We call this “contact.”
When the baby is born after full-term, he comes into contact with the mundane world.
While in the mother’s womb, the six sense organs begin to function, and then, when the baby is born, the Six Roots come into contact with the Six Sense Objects of the outside world. Our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body make contact with the Six Sense Objects. From birth to about three or four years old, the Six Roots and Sense Objects interact. We still do not know much about the world. We depend on our parents to look after us. Although we have contact with the world, we still need someone to look after us.
The sixth of the Twelve Links is “contact.” From birth till three or four years old, the Six Sense Organs and the Six Sense Objects come into contact. During that stage, one is still naive and unaware.
The next Lind is “sensation.” Children are adorable. With the contact of sense organs and objects, they gradually grow up. They grow to be five or six years old, then twelve or thirteen years old. While growing up, their feelings become complex. When a child is about four to six years old, he can distinguish good feelings from bad ones. At about six or seven years of age, he begins to experience feelings of hate. If we want to know how we were when we were young, at five or six we began to have memories; we had a lot of feelings about everything. At four to six years of age, based on our contact with the outside world, we start to form many memories. So from the age of five or six to twelve or thirteen we are in the period of sensation. But we are still considered children. A child or teenager still needs his parents for his living and education. When sense organs interact with sense object, he experiences good and bad feelings. He learns how to distinguish them.
Seventh of the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence is “sensation.” From the age of five or six till around twelve or thirteen, the Six Sense Organs and the Six Sense Objects come into contact, and one learns to distinguish good feelings from bad ones.
The next Link is “craving.” During early childhood, people learn their likes and dislikes. However, sexual attraction, or sexual desire, has not begun yet. There are only some [vague] feelings. During the stage of craving, from 14,15 or 16 until 20 years old, in the confusion of life, greed develops. One is greedy for objects of desire, including those of sexual desire. It begins with curiosity, and it grows stronger during adolescent years. This craving is not for material things only, it includes romantic attraction. So sexual desire gradually develops.
The Eighth of the Twelve Links is “craving.” From fourteen or fifteen years old until eighteen or nineteen years old, teenagers start to experience feelings of desire and affection.
The next Link is “grasping.” As the desire, passion and lust grow stronger, one starts to grasp at the object of affection, turning strong desires into actions. Karmic actions start to accumulate. From about 14 or 15 years old, until about 18, 19 or 20 years old, young people begin to create positive and negative karma. This begins in their teens. Because of craving, they continue to grasp at things. Because they grasp, their desires flourish. As their desires grow stronger, the Five Sense Objects naturally drive them, and their minds will follow. They become more and more greedy. There is no end to this craving. Their desires to possess things become stronger. When grasping and craving unite, they constantly fight to have what they desire.
Ninth of the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence is “grasping.” After one is over 20 years of age, desire grow even stronger and one continuously seeks external things.
The next link is “becoming.” Becoming means coming into existence. Grasping at what is desired causes one to take good and evil actions. These actions have distinct karmic consequences. Good and evil karmic seeds begin to accumulate. If one does a lot of good, then good karmic seeds will gather. This is the process of “becoming.” Overly strong cravings for affection and desire will compel one to grasp and to create karma. The evil karma will start to accumulate in the Storehouse Consciousness. As sensation turns to craving, and craving turns to grasping, karmic seeds begin to accumulate. They are stored in the Eight Consciousness. The accumulation of karmic seeds is the stage of “becoming.”
The tenth of the Twelve Links is “becoming.” In the attempt to obtain external objects, one creates positive and negative karma. These are the seeds of cyclic existence; they are the cause of future retribution.
The eleven Links is “birth.” Our Eight Consciousness has stored all the good and evil karmic seeds created by our past actions. According to the karma we have created, we are reborn to parents with whom we have an affinity. At birth start all over again. This is how the Twelve Links of Existence work. We start again at birth.
In the decades since we were born, what exactly have we accomplished? Are we satisfied with this life? If you are not satisfied, you should realize that in the past you made contact with the world, then, with sensation, craving started. Thus there was grasping, follow by becoming. We must assume that this is what happened our past lives. When the Sense Organs engage the Sense Objects, we experience the feelings of love and hate that arise within us. We are then provoked to take action. Due to the cause and conditions of past lives, we were born again in this world.
Once we are born, it is set. What is your father’s name? What is your mother’s name? We all realize that it was the actions of past lives that led to our birth in this present one. Are you satisfied with your parents? Some resent their fathers, some resent their mothers, while others are grateful. There are all kinds of conditions. We have already been born, in this place, at this moment in time. Now we will bring all of our good and bad karma from this life into our next one. After we were born, we started creating karma. Is it positive or negative karma? Will we be reborn as a human in our next life? We do not know. But our affinity is to be born in the Six Realms.
Eleventh of the Twelve Links is “birth.” Stored karmic seeds caused one to be born into this life. Karma created in this life, will be carried to the next one. This is cyclic existence in the Six Realms an the Four Births.
After birth, there will, of course, be “old age and dearth.” We will grow old and die. Old age is not guaranteed, but death is, because life is impermanent. Since we were born into this world, our life is impermanent. The end of our journey is death.
Death comes when the body of the Five Skandhas deteriorates and decays.
When we are still alive, our Five Skandhas are still together. Because we have this body, we have Form, Sensation, and Perception. With Form, Sensation, and Perception there is Action, so we create karma. While we are healthy, we create karma everywhere. Consciousness is also part of the Five Skandhas, Form, Sensation, Perception, Action, Consciousness. After deterioration of the Five Skandhas, this Consciousness, our karmic consciousness, carried us into our next life.
In conclusion, the Twelve Links of Existence begin with consciousness, then name and form, the six sense organs, contact, sensation, craving, grasping, and becoming. This progression covers the period of a human life. All the good and bad feelings of this life and all of our karmic actions are stored in our consciousness. With ignorance in our consciousness, we continue to create karma. In the process of becoming, karmic seeds form. They accumulate in the consciousness. We grow old, and die. Then consciousness leaves our body and begins again. These are the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence.
Everyone, time passes quickly. Now that we know that life and death cannot be separated from the Links of Existence, we must always be mindful. It all begins with one of thought of ignorance. “An ignorance thought causes the Three Subtleties. External states lead to the Six Coarse Marks.” We travel on this path, grow old, and then die. Then a new cycle starts all over again. Will we be in the Human Realm in our next life? We do not know, but we do know will be within the Six Realms.
In conclusion, we must be mindful, and very carefully contemplate the Twelve Links of Existence. Everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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