Chapter 27 Chapter 25 The Cycle of Life

There is no God, Brahma, and there is no such thing as a samsara of life, only samsara depends on dependent origination. —— "The Pure Path" In the method of dependent origination, the Buddha comprehensively explained the whole process of life cycle. The Pali word Paticca means cause, or basis; Samuppada means arising or originating.Although its literal translation means that it arises because of, or arises according to conditions or originates from conditions, but it is suitable for including the entire content of the twelve causal origins, and it is called dependent origination (paccaya, paccayuppanna) in Buddhism.

We should understand the twelve dependent originations in this way: Because of A, there is B, because of B, there is C; without A, there is no B, and without B, there is no C.In other words: "This is, therefore that is; this is not, therefore that is not." (Imasmim sati, idam hoti; imasmim asati, idam na hoti). The Twelve Dependent Originations mainly deal with the process of birth and death, rather than the philosophical theory of the evolution of the world.It involves reincarnation and the cause of suffering, and aims to help people relieve life troubles.It does not attempt to explain the mystery of the absolute beginning of life.

It only explains "the simple development process of each state of affairs depending on the previous state of affairs". (1) The Four Noble Truths of ignorance of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the method of cessation of suffering are the main driving forces that turn the wheel of life.Ignorance is ignorance of the nature of things, or ignorance of one's own true colors.It overrides correct perception. "Ignorance is the root of deep-seated ignorance through which we are samsara in this world," Buddha said. (2) When ignorance is broken and wisdom arises, just like the Buddha and all Arhats, all the dharmas of dependent origination are completely shattered.

In Ruth Sayings (3), the Buddha said: "Those who destroy ignorance, who destroy darkness, do not reincarnate. For them, the gate of interdependence ceases to exist." Do not understand the past, do not understand the future, do not understand the past and the future, and even the law of dependent origination is called ignorance. Depending on ignorance as a condition, conditional actions (samkhara) arise. Xing is a polysemous Buddhist term that must be understood in context.Here, it refers to evil actions (akusala), good actions (kusa1a), and decision actions (anenjacetana).These construct the karma that creates samsara.The first evil action includes all the thoughts in the twelve kinds of unwholesome consciousness; the second good action includes all the thoughts in the eight kinds of good (sobhana) consciousness and the five kinds of material world Zen consciousness; the third decision line includes the four kinds of immaterial All the thoughts in Zen consciousness.

Formation (Samkhara) is one of the five aggregates, including 51 kinds of mental factors, including feelings and perceptions. In the English language, there is no proper word that adequately expresses the true meaning of the Pali Samkhara line. The four holy consciousnesses (1okuttaramamagcitta) are not called formations.This is because they are designed to eliminate ignorance.Wisdom (panna) predominates in this divine consciousness, whereas in worldly consciousness it is sankhara (cetala will).All good and bad body, speech and mind are included in the aggregate of formations.All actions, good or evil, directly or indirectly tainted by ignorance prolong the cycle of samsara in the Saha world.However, in order to get rid of the suffering of life, one must have behaviors free from greed.

Thus, the Buddha compared the Dharma to a raft crossing the sea of ​​life and death.All the activities of the Buddha and the Arahants are not considered as actions, because they have broken ignorance. Ignorance dominates bad deeds and lurks in good karma.Therefore, both good and bad actions are collectively referred to as arising from ignorance. Reconnection or rebirth consciousness (Patisandhivinnana) arises in a subsequent life as a result of past conditioned actions.Regenerative consciousness connects past and present.It is the initial awareness that people experience at conception. In the Abhidhamma, consciousness refers to only 19 regenerated consciousnesses.However, it also alludes to the 32 types of fruition consciousness (vipakacitta) experienced in the course of life.

The fetus in the mother's womb is formed by the combination of the regeneration consciousness and the sperm and egg cells of the parents.In this consciousness are stored all the past feelings, characters and latent forces of this life-stream. This reborn consciousness is considered pure (4) because it is free from unwholesome things such as greed, anger, and delusion (5) and goodness (6). Simultaneously with the arising of regenerative consciousness, namarupa, what some scholars call the physical machine, is formed. The second and third factors (samkhara and vinnana) are related to one's past and present life.The third and fourth two factors (vinnana and namarupa) are only temporary.

Nama-rupa should be understood as nama, rupa, or nama-rupa.In the realm of formlessness (arupa) only consciousness arises; in the realm of unconsciousness (asanna) only matter arises; in the realm of desire (kama) and realm of form (rupa) there is name and form. Here, name refers to the three aggregates, namely feeling (vedana), perception (sanna), and formation (samkhara).They arise simultaneously with regenerated consciousness.Form (rupa) refers to body (kaya), sex (bhava), and mind (vatthu), which arise simultaneously with reborn consciousness, driven by past karma. The physical body consists of four elements, namely 1.ground (pathavi), 2.water (apo), 3.fire (tejo), 4.Wind (vayo); four derivatives (upadarupa), namely, 5.color (vanna), 6.smell (gandha), 7.Fragrance (rasa), 8.Nutritional elements (oja), 9.Life force (jivitindriya), 10.Body (kaya) composition.

Gender and meaning position are also composed of the above one to nine, plus their respective gender and meaning position. From this, we can prove that a person's sex is determined by karma at the time of conception. Here, rupa means the sensitive parts (pasada) of the body. Gender is not developed at conception, but latent.Neither the heart, nor the brain, nor the so-called mind is formed at conception, but they have potential abilities. It should therefore be remarked that, unlike the other faculties, Vedas does not establish a definite place for consciousness.The theory of cardiology (that the heart is the mind) was once popular in the time of the Buddha and is clearly endorsed by the Upanishads.Buddha could have accepted this theory, but he didn't.In the Phra Dhabha, the Buddha indicated the location of consciousness in indirect terms "yamrupamnissaya" in terms of materiality.He does not directly claim that materiality is the heart (hadaya) or the brain.But according to commentators such as Venerable Jue Yin and Venerable Anuruddha, the mind must be the heart.We should understand that the Buddha neither accepted nor opposed the universal doctrine of the heart.

During the embryonic period, the six faculties (salayatana) gradually evolve from these psychological and physical phenomena of infinite potential.These extremely fine dust particles thus evolved into complex organs of the six faculties. The human body machine is very simple when it is formed, but it is very complicated when it breaks down.On the other hand, general machines are very complicated to manufacture, but very simple to use.The power of one finger is enough to drive a huge machine. The six-organ human machine operates almost mechanically, without any soul or operator as its driving force.Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind have their own corresponding objects and functions.The six objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma are connected with their respective root organs, thus producing the six consciousnesses.The combination of the six faculties, the six objects, and the resulting six consciousnesses is the corresponding contact (phassa), which is purely subjective and impersonal.

Buddha said: "Vision consciousness arises from eyes and forms; it is the aggregation of these three. Ear consciousness arises from ears and sounds; nose consciousness arises from nose and smells; tongue consciousness arises from tongue and tastes; body and touch arises. Consciousness; Consciousness arises from mind and mind-faculty. Contact is the aggregation of these three." However, we should not think that mere meeting is contact (na sangatimatto eva phaso). (7) Conditioned by contact, feeling (vedana) arises. Strictly speaking, when the matter is in contact with the root organ, the feeling experiences this external environment, which is exactly the result of the good and evil karma done in this life or the previous life through feeling.Apart from this feeling, there is no soul or other sovereign being who experiences the results of the action. Feeling or sensation is a mental process.There are mainly three kinds of feelings, namely pleasant feeling (somanassa), painful feeling (domanassa), and no memory (adukkhamasukha), plus physical pain (dukkha) and pleasure (sukha), there are five kinds in total.Anonymity is also called upekkha, which means no distinction, or neutrality. According to the Abhidhamma, there is only one consciousness that goes with pain, and likewise, there is only one consciousness that goes with happiness.Both of these are related to painful feelings.Among the 89 consciousnesses.The other 85 kinds are either pleasure or enjoyment without memory. Here we have to understand that the bliss of nirvana is not associated with any sensation.Although the bliss of Nirvana is supreme (Nibbanamparamamsukham), however, it is the joy of liberation from suffering rather than any material enjoyment. Conditioned by feeling, desire (tanha) arises.Along with ignorance, it is the two most important factors in the method of dependent origination.Attachment, desire, and greed are other translations of this Pali language. There are three kinds of desire, namely: desire for sensual enjoyment (kamatanha); desire for material enjoyment associated with eternity (bhavatanha), that is, enjoyment of sensual pleasures, thinking that it will never disappear; desire for enjoyment associated with cessation (vibhavatanha), also It is the enjoyment of material desires, and the belief that everything ceases to exist after death.The last one is the materialist view. Desire for eternal existence (bhavatanha), and desire for non-existence (vibhavatanha) are interpreted as attachment to the realm of form and the realm of immateriality, respectively.Generally, these two terms are interpreted as attachment to birth or non-birth. Corresponding to the six objects, such as form and sound, there are six kinds of greed.When they are considered to be internal and external, there are 12 forms.When viewed in terms of past, present, and future, there are 36 of them.When they are multiplied by the three forms of greed mentioned above, there are 108 kinds. For worldly people, it is natural to cling to materialistic enjoyment.Overcoming sensual desires is not easy.In the cycle of life, the most powerful factors are ignorance and greed.They are the two main factors in the method of dependent origination.As can be seen, ignorance is the past cause of the present; greed is the present cause of the future. With desire as a condition, grasping (upadana) arises, which is intensified greed.Greed (tanha) is like groping in the dark to steal something, while grasping (upadana) is like actually stealing something.Cravings and wrong views give rise to grasping, which allows the wrong view of me or me to arise. There are four kinds of grasping, namely: lust for the flesh, wrong views, obsession with prayers, or the soul. The last two are also called wrong views. With greed as a condition, existence (bhava) arises.It constitutes the positive flow of good and bad actions (ie, the different realms of existence (upapattibhava)) and the negative flow of kamma (kammabhava).There is a subtle difference between karma and karma in that the former deals with past lives, while the latter deals with present lives.Both mean karmic activity.But only kamma constitutes future birth. With existence as a condition, future life (jati) arises. Strictly speaking, birth is the arising of mental and physical phenomena (khandhanam Patubhavo). Old age and death (jaramarana) are the inescapable consequences of life. If there is a result due to the cause and condition, then if the cause is broken, the result will undoubtedly be destroyed. The method of reversal of the twelve causal relationships will clearly illustrate this problem. Old age and death are possible only in or through the psychologically and physically constituted physical body, the organ of the six faculties.We must wait for such a mechanical body to arise before we can have life.But rebirth is the inevitable result of craving and clinging to past kamma or actions.When feeling arises, such desire also arises.Feelings are produced after the contact between the sense organs and the sense objects. Therefore, its production must have six roots that cannot be independent of the two methods of mind and matter.Due to ignorance of things and ignorance of the truth, under the traction of karma, mental dharma and regenerated consciousness are produced at the same time. The whole formal process can be summarized as follows: With ignorance as a condition, karma arises. With karma as a condition, rebirth consciousness arises. With regenerated consciousness as a condition, name and matter arise. With name and form as conditions, the six sense organs arise. With the six sense organs as the condition, contact arises. With contact as a condition, feeling arises. With feeling as a condition, love arises. With love as a condition, clinging arises. With clinging as a condition, existence (kammabhava) arises. With existence as a condition, life arises. With birth as a condition, there arises old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, suffering, anguish, despair, etc. In this way, pain arises. The complete eradication of ignorance leads to the cessation of kamma. The complete cessation of karma leads to the cessation of rebirth consciousness. The complete severance of regenerated consciousness leads to the cessation of mind and matter. The complete eradication of name and form leads to the termination of the six sense organs. The complete eradication of the six sense organs leads to the cessation of contact. The complete cessation of contact leads to the cessation of feeling. The total cessation of feeling leads to the cessation of love. The total cessation of love leads to the cessation of taking. Take the complete severance, leading to the termination of some Some are completely cut off, leading to the termination of life. The complete eradication of birth leads to the cessation of old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, suffering, distress, despair, etc. In this way, the entire karma of suffering is completely terminated. The first and second of the twelve karmic conditions are related to the past, the middle eight are related to the present, and the last two are related to the future. Among them, good and evil deeds (samkhara) and existence (bhava) are considered karma; ignorance (avijja), desire (tanha) and grasping (upadana) are considered afflictions (kilesa); Form (namarupa), six sense organs (salayatana), contact (phassa), feeling (vedana), birth (jati), old age and death (jaramarana) are considered as fruits (vipaka). Therefore, ignorance, volition, craving, grasping and karma are the past five causes, which give rise to the present five results (phala), namely regenerated consciousness, name and form, six sense organs, contact and feeling.Likewise, present craving, grasping, karma, ignorance and volitional actions give rise to the above five fruits in the future. If so, cause and effect continue endlessly.The beginning of this process is unknown, because one cannot imagine when this life-stream becomes infected with the defilement of ignorance.However, when wisdom replaces ignorance and life attains the state of Nirvana, samsara ends. "This ignorance makes people sink in the fear of countless cycles of birth and death, now and then." "However, the enlightened person has no future life."(8) [Note] (1) See "Abhidhamma Handbook".Nalanda Elder, 360 pages. (2) "Jing Ji". V.730. (3) PAGE 14. (4) The Buddha said in the "Additional Branches" that "this consciousness has a flow." (pabhassaramidamitam).First Product, p. 10.According to the commentary it is regeneration consciousness. (5) In case the result is compliant, (ahetukavipaka). (6) In the case where the result is valid, (sahetukevipaka). (7) "Corresponding Ministry".The second product, page 70; the English translation of "The Corresponding Department", the second product, page 50. (8) The Teachings of the Buddha, Chalmers, 729, 730.