English
That functional phenomena are rooted in ignorance, The method beginning with volitional activity as root Is stated as "volitional activity as condition, consciousness," Not ignorance as root. Moreover, since those phenomena, Such as mundane wholesome states, Are included in the truth of suffering, The application is made thus: "Thus is the arising of this entire mass of suffering." But for supramundane wholesome states, It is "thus is the arising of these phenomena." This is the distinction in the teaching Between mundane and supramundane states. This is the method in the Abhidhamma Commentary. Now, the method of conditions, Emptiness of agent, etc., Root, meaning, connection, summary, Form, round, and division, Comparison with a fence, And simile, Here, from the distinction of profound methods, One should understand appropriately, The judgment beyond the Pali. There, the method of conditions Is twofold: general and specific. There, the method of conditions in general Reveals the mere fact of being and becoming. Specifically, But in the Paṭṭhāna, when the twenty-four conditions beginning with the root condition are presented, it reveals the mere arising of specific conditions in accordance with each. And that will become clear in the explanation of the Paṭṭhāna matrix, in the division of these twenty-four conditions. There, generally, it should be understood that formations and so on arise only due to the condition of ignorance and so on. For one whose ignorance is not abandoned in the four noble truths, and in the beginning and so on, being ignorant of suffering in the beginning and so on, desiring with a perception of happiness the suffering of the transformation of formations, known as the fruit of merit, which is filled with many dangers such as birth, aging, disease, and death in the three existences, he undertakes meritorious, imperturbable, and formative activities through the three doors. Being ignorant of the origin, not seeing the danger in the cravings and attachments that are the cause of suffering, nor in the indulgence in sensual pleasures and so on that are the cause of suffering, he undertakes the three kinds of formations with the perception of happiness and being overcome by defilements. Being ignorant of cessation and the path, perceiving cessation in a specific existence that is not cessation, and perceiving the path of cessation in sacrifices to the gods and the path to immortality and so on that are not the path, he undertakes the three kinds of formations. Being ignorant of the dependent origination of phenomena, he speculates, "Beings arise without a cause, without a condition, and do not exist after death," or "The self knows or does not know, and that self fabricates formations, and that self arises in rebirth, and the minute lord and others establish the body in the state of the embryo and so on, and complete the senses, and that one endowed with senses contacts, feels, craves, and does clinging and so on," or "All beings are transformed by destiny, association, and nature." Thus, blinded by ignorance – "Just as a man born blind, without a guide; Sometimes goes by the right path, sometimes by the wrong path. "So too, the fool wandering in saṃsāra, without a guide; Sometimes does merit, and sometimes demerit." In the manner already stated, one fabricates the three kinds of formations. Is it only ignorance here that is the condition for the formations? Surely, from one cause, only one effect arises, not multiple effects; or from multiple causes, only one effect? Truly, for the purpose of indicating prominence, obviousness, and uniqueness, even among many causes, only ignorance is specified as the condition, just as in "conditioned by contact is feeling," and "diseases arise from phlegm." For ignorance is the primary cause, obvious for the formations, and unique, being the cause even for causes like craving; not objects, etc., for even with their presence in an arahant, there is no arising of formations. Thus, here, the existence of cyclical formations should be understood as dependent on the existence of ignorance. Similarly, the existence of consciousness should be understood as dependent on the existence of formations, since without accumulated karma, there would be no consciousness, and there would be the consequence of the arising of all kinds of resultant consciousness everywhere for everyone. As it is here, so too, above, the existence of name-and-form, etc., should be understood as dependent on the existence of consciousness, etc., according to what is appropriate, through experience and reasoning. This is, in general, the way of conditionality. Specifically, ignorance is a condition for meritorious formations in two ways: as an object-condition and as a support-condition. For, relying on ignorance, in the arising of reflections, etc., it is the object-condition for meritorious formations of the sense-sphere, and when knowing a deluded mind with supernormal knowledge, it is the object-condition for meritorious formations of the form-sphere. However, for the purpose of transcending ignorance, one who, deluded by ignorance, desires the attainment of existence in the realm of desire and form, and then performs meritorious deeds in the realm of desire and form, for him it is the support-condition. For demeritorious formations, this ignorance, relying on it, when greed, etc., arise, is the object-condition, etc., and for one who, deluded by ignorance, commits offenses such as killing living beings, it is the condition. By the condition of envy, for the second javana and so on, through the conditions of immediately proximate, dependence, habitual object, absence, and disappearance, while doing any unwholesome deed, there are various conditions such as root, co-nascent, reciprocal, dependence, associated, presence, and absence. But for the imperturbable formations, there is only one condition, the condition of dependence. In the section on consciousness conditioned by formations, all three formations are conditions for consciousness in the three realms, in the arising and continuation of rebirth, in two ways: by the condition of action and by the condition of dependence, as appropriate. According to the Abhidhamma method, for co-nascent consciousness, there are conditions such as co-nascent, reciprocal, dependence, associated, action, presence, and absence. In the section on name-and-form conditioned by consciousness, consciousness, both resultant and non-resultant, is a condition for name alone or for name mixed with form, in the arising and continuation of rebirth, in nine ways or eight ways, as appropriate, through the conditions of co-nascent, reciprocal, dependence, associated, resultant, nutriment, faculty, presence, and absence. In rebirth, resultant consciousness is a condition for the material object in nine ways, through the conditions of co-nascent, reciprocal, dependence, resultant, nutriment, faculty, dissociation, presence, and absence. But excluding the material object, for the remaining form, there are eight conditions, the same, but without the reciprocal condition. However, volitional consciousness, in the one-aggregate and five-aggregate realms, is a condition for karma-produced form by way of dependence, according to the Suttanta method. In the continuation of existence, all consciousness is a condition for that particular name-and-form, as appropriate. Here, it should be understood that in the formless realm, consciousness is a condition only for name; in the non-percipient realm, only for form; and in the five-aggregate realm, for name-and-form. Therefore, the explanation is given: name and form, and name-and-form are name-and-form. In the section on the six sense bases conditioned by name-and-form, name, both resultant and non-resultant, in the formless realm, due to the absence of the sixth sense base, is a condition through the conditions of co-nascent, reciprocal, dependence, associated, resultant, presence, and absence. According to their suitability, through persistence, it becomes a sevenfold condition. But for the remaining five, the five sense bases beginning with the eye, in rebirth in the five-aggregate existence, accompanied by the four great elements, it becomes a sixfold condition through co-nascence, dependence, result, separation, presence, and non-disappearance. Here, some are through the root condition, and some through the nutriment condition, and according to these, the highest and lowest should be understood in all cases. But in the course of existence, for the five, beginning with the eye, both resultant and non-resultant, it becomes a fourfold condition through post-nascence, separation, presence, and non-disappearance. Thus, it should be understood that name itself is a condition for the six sense bases. But form, being the base, in rebirth, for the sixth sense base, it becomes a sixfold condition through co-nascence, mutuality, dependence, separation, presence, and non-disappearance. The four great elemental forms, for the five, beginning with the eye, in rebirth and in the course of existence, it becomes a fourfold condition through co-nascence, dependence, presence, and non-disappearance conditions. But the life faculty of form, is threefold through faculty, presence, and non-disappearance. Likewise, nutriment is through nutriment, presence, and non-disappearance. And that nutriment is only in the course of existence for form and life faculty, not in rebirth. But those five, the five sense bases beginning with the eye, for the sixth, called five-consciousness, the mind base, they are a sixfold condition through dependence, pre-nascence, faculty, separation, presence, and non-disappearance, only in the course of existence, not in rebirth. Likewise, for the mind base devoid of five-consciousness, the base form is a fivefold condition through dependence, pre-nascence, separation, presence, and non-disappearance.