BUDDHACARITA 14.74: Divided Consciousness & Psycho-Physicality – Let's Go Round Again

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan: 

| rnam par śes pa’i rkyen las ni | | miṅ daṅ gzugs la brten nas ni |

| slar yaṅ rnam par śes pa skye | |

rnam par shes: consciousness (識)

rkyen: condition; cause; minor cause; factor; reason (pratyaya)

ming dang gzugs: name and form (名色; nāma-rūpa)

brten: supported; in dependence on; leans on; based upon;

la brten nas: in dependence upon

slar yang: again, further (api punar)

rnam par shes pa: consciousness

skye: arising, production (生)

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

74. Consciousness is the causal condition from which name-and-form is produced. Name-and-form again is the support on which consciousness is based.

Revised:

74. Divided consciousness is the causal grounds from which arises psycho-physicality. Psycho-physicality, again, is the basis of divided consciousness.

Chinese:

縁識生名色 縁名色生識

by some concurrent cause knowledge engenders name and thing, whilst by some other cause concurrent, name and thing engender knowledge; (SB)

Because of consciousness, one produces name-and-form; and because of name-and-form, one produces consciousness.(CW)

COMMENT:

One more time, with feeling...

punar-bhavāya saṁskārān avidyā-nivṛtas tridhā |
abhisaṁskurute yāṁs tair gatiṁ gacchati karmabhiḥ ||MMK26.1||
The doings that lead to yet further becoming, the one enclosed in ignorance, in three ways, does do – and by these actions, to a new sphere in the cycle of going, does go.

vijñānaṁ saṁniviśate saṁskāra-pratyayaṁ gatau |
saṁniviṣṭe 'tha vijñāne nāma-rūpaṁ niṣicyate ||2||
Divided knowing, into the new sphere of going, does set, having as its causal grounds the doer's doings. With the setting in, then, of this divided consciousness, psycho-physicality is instilled.

niṣikte nāma-rūpe tu ṣaḍāyatana-saṁbhavaḥ |

ṣaḍāyatanam āgamya saṁsparśaḥ saṁpravartate ||3||
There again: With the instilling of psycho-physicality, there is the coming about of six senses. Six senses having arrived, there occurs contact. 

cakṣuḥ pratītya rūpaṁ ca samanvāhāram eva ca |
nāma-rūpaṁ pratītyaivaṁ vijñānaṁ saṁpravartate ||4||
Depending on eye, form, and the bringing of the two together – depending in other words on psycho-physicality – divided consciousness occurs.

saṁnipātas trayāṇāṁ yo rūpa-vijñāna-cakṣuṣām |
sparśaḥ saḥ tasmāt sparśāc ca vedanā saṁpravartate ||5||
When the threesome of form, consciousness and eye are combined, that is contact; and from that contact there occurs feeling.

vedanā-pratyayā tṛṣṇā vedanārthaṁ hi tṛṣyate |
tṛṣyamāṇa upādānam upādatte catur-vidham ||6||
With feeling as its causal grounds, there is thirsting – because the object of feeling is thirsted after. While thirsting is going on, taking hold takes hold in the four ways.

upādāne sati bhava upādātuḥ pravartate |
syād dhi yady anupādāno mucyeta na bhaved bhavaḥ ||7||
While taking hold is taking hold, the becoming arises of the taker – because becoming, if it were free of taking hold, would be liberated and would not become becoming.

pañca skandhāḥ sa ca bhavaḥ bhavāj jātiḥ pravartate |
jarā-maraṇa-duḥkhādi śokāḥ sa-paridevanāḥ ||8||
Five aggregates, again, are becoming itself. Out of the becoming arises birth. The suffering and suchlike of ageing and death – sorrows, accompanied by lamenting; 

daurmanasyam upāyāsā jāter etat pravartate |
kevalasyaivam etasya duḥkha-skandhasya saṁbhavaḥ ||9||
downheartedness, troubles – all this arises out of birth. In this way there is the coming into being of this whole aggregate of suffering.

saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ |
avidvān kārakas tasmān na vidvāṁs tattva-darśanāt ||10||
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the ignorant one do. The ignorant one therefore is the doer; the wise one is not, because of reality being realized.

avidyāyāṁ niruddhāyāṁ saṁskārāṇām asaṁbhavaḥ |
avidyāyā nirodhas tu jñānasyāsyaiva bhāvanāt ||11||
In the clearing away of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. The clearing away of ignorance, however, is because of the bringing-into-being of just this act of knowing.

tasya tasya nirodhena tat tan nābhipravartate |
duḥkha-skandhaḥ kevalo 'yam evaṁ samyaṅ nirudhyate ||12||
By the stopping of this one and that one, this one and that one no longer advance. This whole aggregate of suffering is brought in this way to a complete full stop .

The doings that lead to yet further becoming, the one enclosed in ignorance, in three ways, does do – and by these actions, to a new sphere in the cycle of going, does go. Divided knowing, into the new sphere of going, does set, having as its causal grounds the doer's doings. With the setting in, then, of this divided consciousness, psycho-physicality is instilled.

There again: With the instilling of psycho-physicality, there is the coming about of six senses. Six senses having arrived, there occurs contact. Depending on eye, form, and the bringing of the two together – depending in other words on psycho-physicality – divided consciousness occurs.

When the threesome of form, consciousness and eye are combined, that is contact; and from that contact there occurs feeling. With feeling as its causal grounds, there is thirsting – because the object of feeling is thirsted after. While thirsting is going on, taking hold takes hold in the four ways. While taking hold is taking hold, the becoming arises of the taker – because becoming, if it were free of taking hold, would be liberated and would not become becoming. Five aggregates, again, are becoming itself. Out of the becoming arises birth. The suffering and suchlike of ageing and death – sorrows, accompanied by lamenting; downheartedness, troubles – all this arises out of birth. In this way there is the coming into being of this whole aggregate of suffering.

The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the ignorant one do. The ignorant one therefore is the doer; the wise one is not, because of reality being realized. In the clearing away of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. The clearing away of ignorance, however, is because of the bringing-into-being of just this act of knowing. By the stopping of this one and that one, this one and that one no longer advance. This whole aggregate of suffering is brought in this way to a complete full stop .