成唯識論了義燈 4.57

4.57

Regarding contemplation of dependent origination—defiled and pure, direct and reverse, the forty-four kinds of knowledge, the seventy-seven kinds of knowledge, and so forth—these are fully set forth elsewhere, and here they are briefly omitted. Question: Why is it said in some places that contemplating the branches of dependent origination turns back at consciousness? Answer: It is said in this way in reference to the beginner's stage of practice in the reverse contemplation of defilement, which constitutes the proximate preparatory contemplation of the conventional truths. How so? For instance, one contemplates the suffering of aging-and-death, the origination of aging-and-death, the cessation of aging-and-death, and the path leading to the cessation of aging-and-death, up to contemplating each truth accordingly. Because the branch of aging-and-death is subsumed under the truth of suffering, in dependent origination one first contemplates in reverse, examining the branch of aging-and-death by means of three characteristics: first, the subtle causes and conditions; second, the coarse causes and conditions; and third, the non-indeterminate causes and conditions that induce rebirth. 'Subtle' refers to craving, grasping, and becoming; the very substance of rebirth is called 'coarse'. Due to these two forms of rebirth, aging-and-death exist. Future aging-and-death has subtle rebirth as its cause; present aging-and-death has coarse rebirth as its cause. Apart from these two aspects of rebirth, nothing else can definitely bestow the fruit of aging-and-death; hence it is called 'non-indeterminate'. Although one contemplates the truth of suffering of aging-and-death up to craving, one is not yet satisfied regarding the suffering of the future limit along with its truth of origination. Consequently, one further examines the causes and conditions for future origination—the present manifold sufferings. That is, one comprehensively contemplates in reverse feeling, contact, the six sense bases, name-and-form, and consciousness. One contemplates future suffering as the future truth of suffering; one contemplates its causes of origination as the future truth of origination. Contemplating by what the truth of origination of future suffering exists, one knows that it is born from previous origination, having consciousness as its boundary, and that present suffering exists. Having known that it is born from previous origination, one should not further contemplate how this exists. Because consciousness and name-and-form condition each other mutually like bundles of reeds, without an agent and the like, for this reason contemplation turns back at consciousness and therefore does not reach the branches of formations and ignorance. Having thus contemplated the ten branches of suffering and origination, one next contemplates the truth of cessation: starting from aging-and-death up to ignorance, how will they cease in the future? Because one does not perform the new branch of formations conditioned by that ignorance, that suffering then ceases. Next, one further seeks the path that realizes this cessation, recollecting the worldly right view regarding the phenomena of dependent origination previously instructed by the teacher, and causes it to appear before oneself. Contemplating repeatedly in this way causes one's view to increase; this is the reverse contemplation of defilement. This contemplation of the cessation of aging-and-death and the path leading to its cessation does indeed reach ignorance. Here, this is stated only in terms of the causes of the branches of future and present aging-and-death, omitting past aging-and-death and its causes; because one performs [the contemplation of] the four truths, they are contemplated together. If one performs [the contemplation of] the seventy-seven kinds of knowledge, one contemplates the three times separately; or, based on present aging-and-death, one contemplates near and distant causes, all causes being past, which then reaches up to the branch of craving. If one contemplates future aging-and-death, it goes from becoming to craving. What precedes feeling is future suffering, taken according to the sequence of their future arising; otherwise, seeds do not condition one another mutually. Question: Why is it said in some places that contemplation goes from ignorance and stops at birth? Answer: This is spoken in terms of the inclinations of the trainees who wait to seek cause and effect; aging-and-death has no fruit, so it only reaches the branch of birth. Question: What is the reason that some reverse contemplations reach only to the branch of name-and-form? Answer: That is stated based on karmic seeds being named the branch of consciousness, because consciousness is subsumed under name-and-form. In the treatises, there are many explanations of the name and substance of name-and-form: either the four aggregates are taken as 'name', as stated here; or the three aggregates are taken as 'name', as in Sarvāstivāda and the like; or the immediately preceding ceased mind is taken as the cause of 'name', as in the ninth fascicle of the Yogācāra-bhūmi; or it includes the defiled, which is the present text; or it is purely indeterminate, which is the twelve branches below, designated by their essential natures as branches because they are induced solely by karma.