妙法蓮華經玄義 2.118

2.118

Regarding how it gives rise to the twelve links of conditioned arising outside the realms: as the Ratnagotravibhāga states, "The wisdom of emptiness of arhats and pratyekabuddhas originally does not perceive the Tathāgata's body." Although the two vehicles possess the four antidotes such as impermanence, relative to the Tathāgata's dharma-kāya, these are still inversions, and because they are inversions, they are ignorance. Abiding in the undefiled realm, there are four kinds of hindrances: namely, condition, mark, birth, and destruction. "Condition" refers to the entrenchment of ignorance serving as a condition for activity. "Mark" refers to ignorance together with activity acting as a cause. "Birth" refers to the entrenchment of ignorance together with the cause of undefiled karma generating the three kinds of mind-made bodies. "Destruction" refers to the three kinds of mind-made bodies being conditioned by inconceivable death of transformation. This is still like the twelve links of conditioned arising within the realms, from ignorance to aging-and-death. "Condition" is the link of ignorance. "Mark" is the link of activity. "Birth" is the five links such as name-and-form. The three links of craving, grasping, and existence can be known by analogy with the previous. "Destruction" is the link of birth and death. While the number of these twelve links is the same as within the realms, their meaning and significance differ greatly. That treatise states: "The three kinds of mind-made bodies have not yet attained freedom from the defilement of ignorance, nor attained the ultimate unconditioned purity; because ignorance and subtle conceptual proliferation have not been permanently eradicated, they have not attained the ultimate unconditioned self; because the accumulation of ignorance and subtle conceptual proliferation causes the aggregate of mind-born [existence] through undefiled karma not to be permanently eradicated, they have not attained unconditioned bliss; because the defilement of afflictions, defilement of karma, and defilement of birth have not been ultimately eradicated, they have not realized the ultimate permanence of nectar." Because of the path of afflictions as "condition," they do not attain great purity; because of the path of karma as "mark," they do not attain the eight masteries of self; because of the path of suffering as "birth," they do not attain great bliss; and because of aging-and-death as "destruction," they do not attain changeless permanence—all due to the inconceivable arising and ceasing of the twelve links of conditioned arising. This is the characteristic of the twelve links of the inconceivable arising and ceasing of conditioned arising outside the realms (and so forth).