Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence
(十二因緣了悟實法)
Date: May.05. 2015
“One ignorant thought initiates the Twelve Links. Volitional formation and consciousness lead to name and form and the six entrances. These lead to the causes of contact, sensation, craving, grasping and becoming, which lead to the suffering of birth, aging, illness and death.”
These verses basically describe the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. How does life come about, and where is it headed? How did our past lead us here? We do not know. In the future, where will we go? That is even more difficult for us to know. But the Buddha came to the human realm to help us understand how we come and go from this world. So, we must be mindful.
As we live through each day, life seems very peaceful. Nothing is really happening and we are not consciously aware of many things happening around us. A lifetime is measured in decades, which is a very short period of time. Moreover, impermanence may strike at any instant, so we may not even have decades. Therefore, we must not idle away our days, not consciously living our lives.
That would be such a pity. So, we must understand the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. First, we start with the Four Noble Truths. After we understand the Four Noble Truths, we must go one step further to understand how we came to be born human by following our past [karma]. After our karmic causes and conditions converged in our past life, they eventually dispersed and we thus came to be born in our present life.
I may ask, “What did you do in your past life?” But I would not just ask you this, I would also ask the same question of myself, “What did I do in my past life?” I would say the same thing as you, “I don’t know.” But at the present I do know where I was born in this lifetime. Where did I come into the world? This I know. I know who my parents are and the type of karmic connection I have with them. If you ask me how I came to leave my family and become a monastic to engage in spiritual practice, I know the causes and conditions behind that. This is because in this life, no one knows me better than myself.
So, throughout the course of my whole life, over these many decades, my life has gone through many changes. What exactly is changing throughout my life? My thoughts. All of us have so many thoughts. Who knows how many thoughts can arise in a day? Fortunately, my mind back then led me on a very clear and open road. By paving well my path in the world, I entered the Bodhi-path. But most people may remain in a state of ignorance. Every day, their thoughts arise out of ignorance. This ignorance leads to other conditions. What does it lead to? It leads to volitional formation, which leads to consciousness, which leads to name and form, which lead to the six entrances, which leads to contact, which leads to sensation, which leads to craving, which leads to grasping, which leads to becoming. These are all causes, which then lead to birth, aging, illness and death. These are the 12 Links of Cyclic Existence.
Yesterday’s sutra passage states, “The father knew his children, that each had his or her own preferences for all kinds of precious toys or unusual objects, which would surely bring them joy.”
That elder, the father, kept calling on his children to come out, but they were immersed in that environment. Although he said that the fire was all around them and that they must get out right away, the children treated the fire as something pretty and fun.
This is like watching the wildfires in Australia on television.
They have been brining for seven, eight, nine days and cannot be extinguished.We are worried about them, but when we watch it on television, at night, when the sky is burning red, it seems so beautiful.This is similar to when we see illusive and unreal states.The true state now in Australia, where the fire is actually burning, is a terrifying scene.
Moreover, if we see the fires in daytime, we see how the smoke and fire continue to rise.Seeing that makes us worried.
People who are actually there can see the actual situation, just as the Buddha sees the True Dharma behind all things.We must recognize the severity of such disasters, that they must have been caused by something.There must be underlying causes and conditions.
If the fires were not caused by the high heat, the dry tree branches, or the wind blowing and causing them to brush up against each other and give off a spark, then the cause must have been manmade, whether intentionally or unintentionally.This is a real situation and real people are actually there.They will investigate the cause of this fire.
Since we are somewhere far away, it can feel like what is happening there has nothing to do with us.Technology allows us to see the images there.
See, it may seem very beautiful to us.This is what ordinary people are like.All the images that we see are illusive, so we do not know to be scared.
The father sees how his children are like this, lost and mesmerized by that illusive and unreal state, unable to escape that hazardous situation.He knows they each have different preferences, so he uses various methods to call out to them and draw them out.
So, “The father knew his children, that each had his or her own preferences.”A father knows his children best.No one knows the children’s minds better than their father, just like how the Buddha understands the capabilities of sentient beings better than anyone.This is the same principle.
Sentient beings each have their own ;pursuits and desires, so He taught skillful means according to their desires and capabilities.This principle is the same.
The following passage states again, “So, he told the children…”
The elder knew the desires in their heart, so he stated talking to them.“The toys you like to play with are rare and difficult to obtain. If you do not take them, you will regret it later.”He told them they must [come out].
What they needed, what they craved and what they wanted are all outside.“Come; cone quickly!”“If you do not hurry up and come out, you may not get what you want. If you miss out on this, you will regret it.”The elder knew what they liked, just like how the Buddha understands our capabilities.Thus He began by teaching the Four Noble Truths.Everyone who wants to listen to the Dharma, who wants to understand the principles of life, first needs a good foundation.
Regardless of whether they have great capabilities, average capabilities or limited capabilities, they all must first have this basic understanding.So, He began by teaching suffering, causation, cessation and the Path.
The Four Noble Truths were His first teachings.
We must take great care to understand this most fundamental teaching.So next, we need to know that to understand suffering, we must understand where suffering comes from, and what the origins of suffering are.
Causation is something we create at every moment.But these causes are accumulated over the Three Periods, past, present and future.Currently, throughout the course of every day we are constantly accumulating them.What we accumulate now will affect our future.Are we accumulating good causes or evil ones?Accumulating goodness is a state of mind.
Every day, we do good deeds and benefit others.Every day, we form good connections with people.Thus we accumulate goodness.If every day we give rise to afflictions, and every day we behave improperly, then we will constantly form negative connections. Thus we accumulate evil.
Whether we are accumulating goodness or evil, we are accumulating causes. Where will they [manifest]? In our future lifetimes. So, the karma we accumulated in previous lives led us to this life. If in this life, we are still in a state of ignorance, we will accumulate similar karma, which likewise affects us; in this life, we do not know when impermanence will manifest. Then, we “cannot take anything with us, but we bring the karmic causes and conditions we have accumulated into our future lives. These are the Three Periods. Everyone talks about the [Twelve] Links of the Three Periods. The links of the Three Periods all begin with [ignorance].
How many links are there? There are 12 links. Sentient beings [come into being] because of these links.Beginning with ignorance, each of these links leads us and pulls us to another link. This is how, in every life, we experience cyclic existence in the Three Periods.
Not only do we experience cyclic existence, we also transmigrate through the Six Realms. In the Three Periods and the Six Realms, these karmic links lead our way. These causes and conditions arise in sequence, and we follow this order of causes and conditions.
“The Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence: These links drag sentient beings to transmigrate in the Six Realms and Three Periods. The order of these causes and conditions begins with ignorance leading to volitional formation. Volitional formation leads to consciousness, consciousness to name and form. Name and form lead to the six entrances, and the six entrances lead to contact. Contact leads to sensation, sensation to craving, craving to grasping, grasping to becoming, becoming to birth, and birth leads to aging and death.”
These links are arranged in an order, beginning with ignorance. Ignorance is that initial thought. In the beginning, I told everyone that an ignorant thought may arise in a second, and the most critical moment in our whole lifetime may be that one second. In that second we can give rise to a thought that affects our whole lifetime. That one thought is an ignorant thought. Once ignorance stirs, it gives rise to greed, anger, and delusion. Once we give rise to greed, delusion will follow. This is all due to that one thought. Once an ignorant thought arises, the cycle of the links will begin. These links will lead us along. Being ignorant is like being blindfolded and being led by someone else.
So, ignorance leads to volitional formation. Thus we begin to take action. Volitional formation leads to consciousness. This starts with taking action, so we often talk about the Six Sense Organs and Six Sense Objects. When we connect with our external conditions, our eyes see forms, and we desire certain forms. When our ears hear sounds, we desire certain sounds. If we hear something, a comment that makes us unhappy, we will react. This is how conflict arises.
When we crave things we will try to take them. If we cannot take them easily, we try to find other ways, so we end up fighting over things. These are all volitional formations, kinds of actions. Our ignorance leads us to behave in certain ways. Thus ignorance leads to volitional formation. After we act, the karma we create is stored in our consciousness.
In our eighth consciousness, all the good and evil we have ever done is stored these as seeds. After we act, there is a result. The fruits of our good and evil deeds are seeds, which are collected in the eighth consciousness. Consciousness leads to name and form; once karma is created, it is outside of our control. We had formed affinities with our parents, so when our previous life ended, we came to this one. “Ignorance” leads to “volitional formation”, which leads to “consciousness”. The seed planted in our “consciousness” will lead us to a certain pair of parents and a certain place. This is how we ended up where we did.
So, consciousness” leads to “name and form.” “Name and form” is when a father’s sperm and a mother’s egg converge. We do not yet have human form Before we have fully taken shape, this is called “name and form.” This lasts until we have our hands and feet. In the womb, we gradually develop and begin to have mind-consciousness, the Six Sense Organs; this is the “six entrances.” The “six entrances” means that, in addition to our feet, hands and head, our consciousness and also starts to develop as “name and form” leads to the “six entrances.”
These six entrances take shape, leading to “contact,” sensory contact. Once we begin to have mind-consciousness, when the time comes, we come into contact with the outside world. Do you know the depth of the pain we experience at birth? When children are in their mother’s womb, they are like a ball of raw flesh. They have absolutely no contact with the air outside. It is only when they are born that they suddenly come in contact with the air. Their entire body is completely bare, without anything to protect them. Having never been exposed to air, the pain of that exposure shocks their system. So, when all babies are born, they cry. This is because the moment they are born, they feel a piercing pain all over their body. This shock to their nerves causes them to cry.This comes with “contact”.
“Contact” leads to “sensation” Being exposed to this world, we start to develop feelings, like pain. The feeling of being exposed to air is very painful, so we cry. After this beginning, these feelings continue from infancy into adulthood. As babies we already have desires. When we are hungry, we will cry. When we are being nursed by our mother, we automatically start sucking. We such the milk because of our “craving”. “Craving” is when we begin of pursue things. This starts when we were infants. As soon as we learn to walk, when we see other people’s things we try to take them.If we give a toddler something, [they say] “I don’t want this; I want that.” They are already picky. This starts when we are little Humans are like this; we start by craving small things, then we discriminate, become picky and fight over things. Starting form a young age, though both siblings get a share, one will try to take whatever the other has. From the very beginning, life is like this “Sensation” leads to “craving,” and “craving” leads to “grasping.” We try to take things “Grasping” leads to “becoming.” Once we have something, that leads to “becoming.”
What comes into being? Good and bad karma. Are you grasping things to do something good? You may need something right now to save people. You may need something right now to save people. Then something comes to be; what is it? You become loving; the other person becomes grateful. In their actions, those who give do so with love, and those who receive feel grateful. The opposite is thinking of all the ways you can take what another person has and make it your own. If you take things from other people, if you do it out of a negative intent, an unwholesome mind, out of greed. The person you took things from, the person you fought with, will resent and hate you because he has nothing. This has created karma of hatred and resentment.
So, “grasping” leads to “becoming,” good and bad karma coming into being. This leads to “birth,” giving rise to various things. After we finish creating good and bad karma in this lifetime, when this life is over where will we go? In future lives, we will be born, we will grow old, we will become ill and we will die. From the ignorance in our past lives, we created karma that led to our present life. And this life, we ignorantly crate more karma, which will lead us to our next life. In this way, “birth” leads to aging, illness and death. We need to understand this and comprehend how the 12 Links of Cyclic Existence connect to each other. Then we realize the principles of true emptiness.
Indeed, this started with just a single thought It is just a thought, so it is completely empty. But if we act on it and create a lot of karma, we will fill our lives with suffering. We have accumulated many [causes] so we [transmigrate] though lifetime after lifetime. If we can understand this, we have realized the principles of true emptiness.
Dear Bodhisattvas, in learning the Buddha’s Way, we must first understand the Four Noble Truths and the 12 Links of Cyclic Existence. Therefore, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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