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— (1) Ignorance and Action or its equivalent ; (2) Desire, Attachment, and Deed-process. Present 1. Effect. — (1) Consciousness, Name and Form, Sense Organs, Sensation, Feeling, or its equivalent ; (2) Birth, Old Age, and Death. 2. Cause. — (1) Desire, Attachment, Deed-process or its equivalent ; (2) Ignorance, Action, etc. Future 1. Effect.— (I) Birth, Old Age and Death or its equivalent ; (2) Consciousness, Name and Form, Sense Organs, Sensation, Feeling. 2. Cause. — (1) Ignorance, Action or its equivalent; (2) Desire, Attachment, and Deed-process. i Cf. arrangement in |£ — f&, vol. i, p. 162. COSMIC DYNAMICS 177 (b) Mahdydna Interpretation l The interpretation of the chain of causality in the Sarvastivadin and Sthaviravadin schools is in such close agreement on all essential points that it has been possible to consider them together. Here, however, the Yogacarm school introduced radical innovations. The most important points were as follows : — 1. A two-fold instead of a three-fold relationship. In Hinayana the chain takes account of three lives — past, present, and future. In Mahayana it shows the causal relationship of two lives only, the first ten belonging to one life, and the last two to the other life. It may be applied, however, either to the relationship between past and present, or between present and future. Thus, the present life may be considered as links 11 and 12, results of 1-10 in the past life ; or as links 1-10, resulting in 11 and 12 in the future life. Thus, 11 and 12 cover the same time, place, person, and stage as the whole of 1 to 10, being merely two different ways of regarding the same group of dharmas, the one as cause, the other as effect. The Yogaearins assert that the causal aspect has received greater emphasis and subdivision than the resultant aspect merely in order that, by knowing the exact nature of the causal process, we may control the nature of our next re-birth, or, better still, so curb the causal factors that no further re-birth takes place. 2. The four-fold classification of the nidanas. The Hinayana classification of the nidanas into (1) past cause, (2) present effect, (3) present cause, (4) future effect is, there fore, completely superseded, and in its place we find an entirely different four-fold grouping of the twelve links, largely based on the idea that the phenomenal world around us is but the expression, manifestation, unfolding (gj, fj, hsien 1 The Madhyamikas denied the Prat. Sam. from the Absolute standpoint, but accepted the Sarv. interp. for their relative philosophy. Cf. Mad. Vr. {Chinese trans.), f. 26, etc. Consequently, what is known as the Mahaj-ana interpretation began with the Yogaearins. For these see V.M.S., f. 8, p. 35 seq., and Wei Shih, p. 217, and Prat. Sam. Sastra. N 178 MANUAL OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY hsing) of the seeds (mental, of course) which are stored up in the Alaya-vijnana. For the phenomenal world to come into being, then (substantive matter having been denied), it is necessary (1) that some causal force bring about the formation of the seeds of each dharma ; (2) but these seeds even after they have been created will remain quiescent in the Alaya- vijnana without manifesting the phenomenal universe unless some new force comes as a stimulus or a fertilizing force. Thus, for one plant to produce another plant it must produce seed, and this seed must be subject to the fertilizing influence of ground, rain, and sun. With this in our minds, we can now understand the four-fold category of the Yogacarins, which is : .1. Seed-producing force Present^— 2. Seed ^^3. Seed-stimulus Future 4. Manifested effect Into these four groups the twelve nidanas are placed in the following way : — 1. Seed-producing Force. — This consists of ignorance and action. These are the ultimate causes of re-birth, since they alone are powerful enough to produce seeds. Ignorance is divided into two kinds : (i) ignorance concerning cause and effect, i.e. lack of knowledge that demerit will be invariably punished and merit rewarded, if not in this life then in some other. Owing to this type of ignorance, men perform actions that will bring about re-birth in the lower gati ; (ii) ignorant evaluation, i.e. even though knowing the laws of cause and effect, men perform actions which will lead to re-birth in one of the heavens of the Kama, Kupa, or Arupa worlds, not knowing that these spheres bring no permanent happiness. Action is subdivided in several ways, but in the present instance only the division of action into unfortunate, fortunate, and immovable need be noticed. The first leads to re-birth in the lower gati ; the second to re-birth in the Kama heavens, and the third into the two higher worlds (Rupa anci Arupa) , COSMIC DYNAMICS 179 2. The Seed. — This consists of the links Consciousness, Name and Form, the Sense Organs, Sensation and Feeling. (a) Consciousness is the seed of the eighth vijnana, which serves as the basis of existence in the future life in any of the divisions of the three worlds. This is the most important of the resultant seeds, since the eighth or Alaya-vijnana is the substratum of all the other dharmas. (6) Name and Form. — These are the seeds of all the divisions of the skandhas of the future personality, excepting the seeds of (i) the Alaya-vijnana, (ii) the Six Sense Organs, (iii) Sensation, and (iv) Feeling. All these seeds belong to the field of the indeterminate Vipaka phala (see iii, p. 61). (c) The Six Sense Organs. — These are the seeds which will give rise to the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mental indriyas in the future existence. (d) Sensation. — This is the seed which will give rise to the Caitasika Sparsa in the next life. (e) Feeling. — This is the seed which will give rise to the single Caitasika Vedana in the next life. 3. Seed-fertilizing Forces. — The seeds for the next life having been produced, have an innate tendency to sprout or germinate (future corporeal existence). As yet, however, the force which they can exert is too weak to act. The next two nidanas (Desire and Attachment), however, serve as a stimulant under whose influence the seeds awaken into full activity. Desire is more technically defined as the inferior, and Attachment as the superior klesas associated with the Mano vijnana. Bhava or Existence, the tenth nidana, is defined by the Yogacarin school as being the above-mentioned seeds of the future hie in their germinated stage, or when the process of sprouting has begun as the result of the influence of the klesas. 4. Manifested Effect. — Just as the seed from an old seed lives on after the parent plant has decayed, bringing forth a new plant, BO does the germinated seed from an old 180 MANUAL OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY personality, after the death of the latter, result in the manifestation of a new personality. In this personality two stages are noticeable. The first is the waxing stage, from the moment the germinated seed enters the mother's womb to the time when, in middle life, the period of growth is over. This is called Jati, birth, or the eleventh nidana. From the time when growth ceases and decay sets in until the end of the new life the personality is said to be dominated by Jara-marana, or old age, disease, and death. ADDITIONAL REMARKS ON KARMA The Pratitya-samutpada, and the whole process of causality as applied to the personality, are summed up in the word Karma. It was, therefore, to be expected that the Buddhist philosophers should have given a great deal of attention to this term, and for the Orientals to notice means to introduce subdivisions. It is impossible to go into detail concerning all these minor classifications, more particularly as most of them are only of ethical import and have no relation to philosophy, but one or two general terms may be mentioned. The Sarvastivadin and Yogaearin divisions of karma are chiefly concerned with matters dealing with the proper enumerations of the Silas or moral precepts, though a good deal of space is devoted to the division of karma into Vijfiapti and Avijnapti, corresponding to the classification of Rupa into Vijfiapti and Avijnapti which we have given above. This point, however, we are compelled to ignore.