Chapter 6 - Links In Reverse Order

Just as the Dependent Origination evolves and "chains" from link to link through depending on the first predominant Cause, Ignorance , so also this Dependent Origination ceases through depending on the extinction of this very Ignorance as follows:

1. Depending on the extinction of Ignorance, Volitional Activities become extinct;
2. Depending on the extinction of Volitional Activities, Rebirth Consciousness becomes extinct;
3. Depending on the extinction of Rebirth Consciousness, the Mental and Physical States of a being became extinct;
4. Depending on the extinction of the Mental and Physical States of a being, Six Senses become extinct;
5. Depending on the extinction of Six Senses, Contact becomes extinct;
6. Depending on the extinction of the Contact, Feelings become extinct;
7. Depending on the extinction of the Feelings, Craving becomes extinct;
8. Depending on the extinction of the Craving, Grasping becomes extinct;
9. Depending on the extinction of the Grasping, the Process of Life becomes extinct;
10. Depending on the extinction of the Process of Life, Rebirth becomes extinct;
11. Depending on the extinction of Rebirth,
12. Decay, Death, Sorrow, Lamentation, Suffering, Intense Grief and Mental Distress became extinct.

Thus the whole mass of suffering in Samsara is ultimately exhausted and annihilated.

Here Avijja means not comprehensively understanding the Four Noble Truths, the past, the future and both the past and the future existences, the Cycle of Dependent Origination of all phenomena of existence, as they are in reality. Due to this Avijja, all the physical, verbal and mental activities were done, good or bad in a previous life, called atitakamma bhava, i.e. the process of active life in one's former birth.

In other words, a being deluded with ignorance has done:

1. Wholesome actions for which rebirth takes place in pleasant abodes, such as human or lesser Gods (Deva );
2. Unwholesome actions for which rebirth takes place in lower woeful miserable abodes, such as hell, animal kingdom, the kingdom of ghosts (Peta , or ghost-like beings whose life is partly pleasant and partly hellish;
3. Higher mental actions for which rebirth takes place in the planes of higher Gods (Arupa Brahma ) enjoying a limited period of continual bliss of ecstasy.

All moral and immoral thoughts, words and deeds are included in Sankhara. Actions good or bad, which are directly rooted in or indirectly tainted with ignorance, must necessarily produce their due effect and tend to prolong in Samsara. Even in moral activities, still conjoined with ignorance and craving for something, they too produce their due good or bad result, and nevertheless, are necessary to reduce or get rid of these ills of life. Ignorance, indeed, is more predominant in immoral activities, while it is latent in moral activities,

Thus dependent on past conditioning activities arises relinking or rebirth consciousness (patisandhi vinnana) in a subsequent birth. For instance, the foetus in the mother's womb is formed by the combination of this relinking-consciousness with the fertilized sperm-ovum cells of the parents. In this consciousness are latent all the past impressions, characteristics and tendencies of the particular individual life-flux. Simultaneous with the arising of the relinking-consciousness there appear physical and menial states or mind and matter (Nama Rupa) or the "corporeal organism".

Here Nama means the three aggregates:- feeling ( Vedana ), perception ( Sanna ) and mental formation (Sankhara) - that arise simultaneously with the relinking-consciousness. Rupa means the three combinations - body (Kaya ), sex (Bhava ) and seat of consciousness (Vatthu) - that also arise simultaneously with the relinking-consciousness, conditioned by past Kamma.

Then depending on these psycho-physical phenomena, there evolve the six sense-bases (salayatana). All the six senses - eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind have their respective objects and functions. Again, the six sense-objects, such as forms; sounds, odours, tastes, tangibles and mental objects collide with their respective sense-organs giving rise to six types of consciousness. The conjunction of the sense-bases, sense-objects and the resultant consciousness is contact (phassa ) which is purely subjective and impersonal.

When the objects come in contact with the senses, there appear feelings (Vedana) that experience desirable or undesirable fruits of an action done in this or in previous births. Chiefly there are three kinds of feelings, namely, pleasurable (Somanassa), unpleasurable (Domanassa), and neutral (Upekkha} This is the process of the present life as a result of the previous Kamma, I called (Paccupanna upapatti-bhava), i.e. the process at the time of taking birth.

Then, dependent on feeling arises craving (Tanha) which, like ignorance, is the other predominant factor in the Dependent Origination. Craving is threefold, namely craving for sensual pleasures ( Kamatanha ), craving for existence ( Bhavatanha) and craving for non existence (Vibbavatanha). There are also twelve kinds of craving corresponding to internal six senses and external sense-objects. When they are viewed as past, present and future, there are 36, and again when multiplied by three kinds of craving they all amount to 108.

After that, dependent on craving, there appears grasping or clinging (Upadana). Here Tanha is something like the love of a mother to her son, whereas Upadana is akin to much attachment for her husband. Grasping is caused by both attachment and false view. There are four kinds of grasping namely, Sensuality, False Views, Adherence to rites and rituals and Theory of Soul or Self-illusive View.

Again, dependent on grasping, there arises the Process of Life (Bhava) which literally means becoming. Thus a being or person keeps on the struggle of life, doing all kinds of good and bad actions. This is the active part of the present life called Paccupanna "Kammabhava", i.e. the process of his or her activities in the course of his or her present span of life. These yield results in the form of "patisandhi" conception of Rebirth, in the following life accordingly, which is again followed by decay, death and all other miserable evils. This future resultant of the present is called "anagata upapatti bhava', i.e. the process of life in the future as a result of the present.

Thus the cycle of Paticca Samuppada, meaning the "Wheel of Life' or the "Dependent Origination" takes into consideration as follows;

1. two root bases (mula ), i.e. ignorance and craving;
2. two Noble Truths (Sacca), i.e. Suffering and the Cause of Suffering;
3. three tenses (kala ), i.e. Past, Present and Future;
4. three junctions (Samadhi), i.e. First, Second and Third;
5. three rounds of defilements (vatta ), i.e. Sensuality, its Result and Defilement;
6. four sections ( Sankhepa), i.e. First, Second, Third and Fourth;
7. twelve parts ( Anga ), i.e. Ignorance, Volitional Activity, Consciousness, etc.;
8. twenty constituents or modes (Akara ), i.e. five modes in each section,

The cycle of Paticca Samuppada lengthens so long as the aggregate of grasping is apparent in one's life-process. So we must be mindfully aware of how this aggregate of grasping takes place in the Dependent Origination. In the act of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking, the psycho-physical phenomena become apparent at every moment one sees, hears, smells, tastes, touches and thinks. In every act of thus seeing when the eye-base comes in contact (Phassa) with the visible object, the phenomenon of seeing-consciousness indelibly becomes apparent.