The Twelve Links
of Interdependent Origination
Geshe Rabten Rinpoche
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Geshe Rabten Rinpoche, one of Sera monastery's
most renowned meditation masters, was appointed a spiritual assistant to
His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the mid-1960s. Upon the request of His
Holiness he began teaching Westerners in Dharamsala in 1969, and went to
live and teach in Switzerland in 1975. He passed away at his Swiss center,
Rabten Choeling, in 1986. This teaching was given at Tushita on April
11th, 1980.
Edited from an oral translation by Gonsar Rinpoche. From Teachings at
Tushita, edited by Nicholas Ribush with Glenn H. Mullin, Mahayana
Publications, New Delhi, 1981. A new edition of this book is in
preparation. Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre is the FPMT centre in New
Delhi, India.
To practise Dharma is not merely to carry the name of being a buddhist.
Nor is it to make certain superficial alterations in our lifestyle. Dharma
practice means the total integration of our minds and the Dharma.
For this to become possible we must first prepare ourselves by cultivating
spiritual stability-a sense of pure renunciation-within our stream of
being. The Tibetan term for this, nges-jung, implies that we should first
realize that we are caught in the rebirth process of cyclic existence, or
samsara, a state of being characterized by a great many sufferings.
Therefore at the beginning of our practice we must realize the true nature
of samsara itself and the way in which we exist in samsara. We must become
aware of the unsatisfactory nature of samsara, the condition in which we
find ourselves. This is very important. Once we have recognized the true
nature of samsara and become disillusioned with it, from the depths of our
hearts we should generate a spontaneous aspiration to attain liberation
from it. Such a pure and spontaneous aspiration of seeking liberation is
the meaning of renunciation.
Generally there are two ways to develop the renounced mind. The first of
these involves meditation on the two aspects of samsara: the suffering
nature of samsara and the causes of samsaric suffering. The second method
of developing renunciation is based upon meditation on the twelve links of
interdependent origination (Sanskrit: pratityasamutpada). I would like to
speak briefly on this second technique.
There are two main ways of explaining the twelve links: a scriptural
presentation, which explains the twelve as a general mode of the nature of
samsaric evolution, and an experiential presentation, which speaks of the
twelve links in terms of how they are experienced by an individual over a
continuum of lifetimes. The order of the links differs slightly between
these two systems. I would like to focus on the twelve links in the
context of how they are experienced.
The first of the twelve is ignorance, the root of all samsaric sufferings.
In Sanskrit, this is avidya, which means "not seeing." An obscuration of
the mind is implied. To explain precisely what this ignorance is and how
it functions would require a great deal of time and energy. Therefore,
let's concentrate on the central principles.
People who go to a specific teaching or discourse gather with the
intention, "Today I will go and listen to the teachings." We all have
certain conceptions about our "selves," about this "I". This conception of
"I" is the ego. It is something present in us at all times, becoming more
obvious on certain occasions. For example, when you encounter very
positive circumstances or, conversely, face a great difficulty, your
conception of the "self" becomes more intense and visible than usual. Each
of us is subject to our own concept of "I" in this way. We can see this
quite easily without lengthy theoretical reasonings. It can become clear
in our daily experiences.
When circumstances cause this ego-concept to arise with great strength, we
are grasped by it as if the "I" existed within us as something very solid,
very vivid, and totally uncontrollable. Such is the way the false self
grasps us. However, whether or not the self exists as it appears to the
ordinary person is an important subject of contemplation. If we search
within ourselves, from the top of our head down to the soles of our feet,
we come to the conclusion that normally neither the physical body itself
nor any of its individual parts can serve as the "I" which arises so
strongly in traumatic experiences. There is nothing in the body to
represent our sense of "I". The bodily organs and so on are only parts of
the body. The body sort of "owns" them. If we analyse our minds in the
same way, we find that the mind is but a stream of different thoughts and
mental factors. This brings us to the conclusion that there is nothing in
the mind to actually represent the "I" that we have conceived. Moreover,
there does not exist any separate entity outside the body and mind to
represent the "I" or self. We should meditate like this and see how it is
so.
When we analyse, we don't find anything to stand for "I". This does not
mean that we do not exist at all. Complete non-existence cannot be the
situation, for we are presently analysing how we exist. Although we do not
find an entity to represent the self when we search the body and mind for
one, we find our situation is very subtle. We do not exist as simply as
the ignorant mind supposes. To understand the true nature of the self
requires thorough training and sustained meditational practice.
This factor of the mind that holds a wrong view of the self, a fabrication
of the self, is what is meant in Buddhism by ignorance. It is this
ignorance that is the first of the twelve links of interdependent
origination. On the foundation of this false concept of the self rest all
the other delusions, such as attachment towards ourselves, our friends and
possessions, and aversion for things and people foreign or alien to us.
The development of these attachments and aversions in turn causes us to
accumulate a great number of unwholesome karmas. Unwholesome thoughts lead
to unwholesome actions of body and speech.
The distorted actions of body, speech and mind that are produced by
ignorance, attachment and hatred stain the mind with what are called
volitional formations. This is the second of the twelve links. The moment
after we produce a distorted karma, the action itself has passed and is
gone, but an imprint has been left on our stream of consciousness. That
imprint will remain with the consciousness until it manifests in the
future as a favorable or unfavorable experience, depending on the nature
of the original action.
The base upon which the imprints of karma are left is the continuity of
the stream of mind. Therefore the mind which serves as the basis of the
imprints of karma is the third link, the link of consciousness. This
stream of consciousness carries the imprints, and later helps them to
ripen and manifest. This process may be likened to sowing a seed in the
earth, which serves as a cause of the growth of a crop. However, as well
as sowing seeds in the ground, favorable conditions are required for the
seeds to grow. Contributory causes such as water, fertilizer and so forth
must be present in order for the seeds to ripen and reach maturity.
The attachment which evolves from ignorance helps to cultivate the karmic
seeds which have been sown in our stream of consciousness. This attachment
is the fourth link. There also exists in our mindstream a type of
attachment which has a special function in bringing karmic seeds to
fulfillment. This is the fifth of the twelve-linked chain. This particular
attachment, which is called craving, manifests at the end of our life and
gives an anticipation of our future existence. Although both above types
of attachment have the nature of desire, each has its own function. One
helps to ripen karmic seeds, whereas the other brings them to completion
and connects us with our future existence.
The sixth link is 'becoming.' When we come to the end of our present life,
a certain mental karma arises and immediately directs us towards our
future existence. This special mental action which appears at the final
stage of our life is called 'becoming.
These six links are generally associated with this life, although it is
not necessarily the case that they should manifest in this life. In
particular situations some of them may develop in other lifetimes, but in
most cases they belong to this life.
As we near death our body and mind begin to weaken. Bodily strength and
the grosser levels of thought dissolve until finally we enter a most
subtle level of consciousness, which the scriptures call the clear light
state. That is the final stage of our life. That is the actual
consciousness of death-the most subtle level of consciousness. After
remaining in that state for a certain time, there occurs a slight movement
of consciousness and we enter the intermediate stage. We shoot out of the
body and enter the bar-do, the realm between death and rebirth. This stage
of being has its own body and mind. However, the body is not made of the
same gross elements as ours, so bar-do beings do not have our gross form.
The bar-do body is composed of a subtle energy called "wind," which exists
on a dimension different to ours. We should not think this is a very
wonderful or beautiful state, however, for it is characterized by great
suffering and difficulty. One undergoes a total loss of free will and is
driven here and there by the forces of karma, until finally one finds an
appropriate place of rebirth. The beings in this state subsist on smell
rather than on ordinary food and it is this search for food that
eventually leads them to seek rebirth. After a certain period in the bardo
state they take rebirth in accordance with their karmic situation.
There are many different realms into which one can take rebirth, and each
of these has its own causes and conditions. For example, in order to take
rebirth as a human being, the future parents must unite in sexual union,
their white and red cells (sperm and ovum) must combine and enter into the
womb of the mother, and so forth. Then when the bar-do being, driven by
the force of his own individual karma, reaches his karmically determined
parents, there arise certain circumstances which cause the end of bar-do
life. After this death of the bar-do body, the consciousness enters into
the mixture of the two cells of the parents.
The moment the wind leaves the bar-do body and enters the united cells of
the parents the link of rebirth is instituted. This is the seventh link.
Mere union of the parents, however, is not a sufficient cause for engaging
this link. As well, the womb of the mother must be free from obstacles
which can cause interference to the birth of the child; the material
causes of the physical body of the child, that is the cells of the
parents, should also be free from the defects; and the three beings
involved must have a karmic connection with one another in order to
establish this kind of father-mother-child relationship. When all these
circumstances are complete, rebirth takes place.
The moment the consciousness enters into the seeds of the parents the
actual seventh link is established. From then until the sensory organs of
the child are developed is the eighth link, which is called 'name and
form.' Why is it called 'name and form'? The particular material
substances-the elements which constitute the cells of the parents-art the
form, and the consciousness which dwells within that material basis is
called name.
After all the sense organs of the child have developed into a mature,
functionable state one enters the ninth link, the link of the six senses.
This is like the construction of a building in which the finishing work,
such as windows and doors, has been completed.
The tenth link is contact. After the outer senses have evolved, they
function through the inner senses to establish contact with outer sense
objects, such as visible forms, sounds and so on. This contact gives rise
to the eleventh link, sensation. Pleasant sensations arise from contact
with pleasant objects, unpleasant sensations from unpleasant objects, and
so forth. This produces the aging process, the twelfth link of the chain
of interdependent origination, which is called 'aging and death.
All of us are locked in this process of repeatedly circling on the wheel
of birth, old age, death, bar-do and rebirth. The process is not a special
situation that applies only to a few types of beings, something which
happens to somebody else. It is a process embracing every one of us. We
are in that process and going through that process at every moment. This
is a very important point to contemplate. If we are aware of this constant
process of evolution, we will come to a correct realization of the
problems of samsara.
By meditating in this way we gradually generate a very sincere aspiration
to achieve liberation. That aspiration is pure renunciation. However, it
is not enough merely to have this aspiration; one must work further and
practise the methods which bring about liberation. On the one hand we need
the help and guidance of the objects of refuge, but from our own side we
must learn and put into practice the actual methods that have been taught.
By the combination of these two the assistance of refuge and our own self-
effort-actual liberation from samsaric suffering can be achieved.
Source: www.lamayeshe.com
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Update: 01-07-2003