瑜伽論記 3.159

3.159

To the answer, "Because the truth-principles are expounded on this basis," and so on: Contemplating aging-and-death and so forth constitutes the thirty-four cognitions. When contemplating within the four truths, aging-and-death comes first because it is suffering; therefore one contemplates aging-and-death first. The seeds of the five present branches, such as consciousness, have existed from beginningless time and are called "old consciousness," "old name-and-form," and so on. From these seeds arise that future birth and aging-and-death; between these two fruits, consciousness, name-and-form, and the rest are collectively called "new consciousness," "[new] name-and-form," and so on. Previously it was generally stated that name-and-form takes up rebirth; because the essence of name-and-form is broad and subsumes the other branches, merely speaking of name-and-form has already addressed the rest. Regarding "due to the mind's liberation": because in the present lifetime one does not give rise to the branches of ignorance and formations as active projectors, the seeds of the five branches also sequentially do not arise. Because the present causes sequentially do not arise, at the stage of aging-and-death the five fruits, such as consciousness, all sequentially cease. It should properly be said that the cessation of new consciousness is foremost down to the cessation of feeling being last; however, because that [text] takes name-and-form as primary, it says that the cessation of new name-and-form is foremost down to the cessation of feeling being last. Alternatively, among the forty-four cognitions, one first contemplates aging-and-death to form the contemplation of the four truths: one contemplates that birth is the origin of aging-and-death, which is old name-and-form because it arose prior; aging-and-death begins from the arising of birth, which is new name-and-form. Now, contemplating the cessation of the essence of aging-and-death is precisely the cessation of new name-and-form. Among the twelve branches, one first contemplates the cessation of aging-and-death as foremost. The Pratītyasamutpāda-sūtra states: "Just like an illness, the cause of an illness, the cessation of an illness, and the good medicine"; therefore, in reverse order, birth and aging-and-death are placed first.