Dependent Origination (v): The Sixfold Base

[Full title: B. Exposition of Dependent Origination (III): Detailed Exposition (v): The Sixfold Base]

203. As to the clause “With mentality-materiality as condition, the sixfold base”:

Three aggregates are “mind”; the basis,
Primaries, and the rest are “matter”:
And while all that conditions this
A part can represent the rest.

204. In the case of the mentality-materiality that is here a condition for the sixfold base, mentality is the three aggregates beginning with feeling, while materiality should be understood as that included in one’s own continuity stated thus “primaries and the rest are ‘matter’,” that is to say, the four primaries, six physical bases, and life faculty, [since they are conditioning factors] invariably. But this mentality and this materiality and this mentality-materiality, each one representing the rest as “mentality-materiality,” should be understood as a condition for the sixfold base consisting of the sixth base and the sixfold base each one representing the rest as the “sixfold base.” Why? Because in the immaterial becoming there is only mentality as a condition, and that is a condition only for the sixth base, [namely, the mind base,] not for any other. For it is said in the Vibhaṅga, “With mentality as condition, the sixth base” (Vibh 179).

205. Here it may be asked: “But how is it to be known that mentality-materiality is a condition for the sixfold base?” Because the latter exists when mentalitymateriality exists. For a given base exists when a given kind of mentality and materiality exists, not otherwise. But the way in which the one comes to exist when the other does will be explained below in the section dealing with how it is a condition. [563] Therefore:

A wise man should contrive to tell
Which one conditions which, and how,
At rebirth and in life as well;
[The explanation follows now.]

206. Herein what follows illustrates the meaning.

[(1) Mentality as Condition]

In immaterial rebirth
And life the mind alone will come
In seven ways and six to be
Condition at the minimum.

207. How? In rebirth-linking, firstly, mentality is a condition in seven ways at the minimum, as conascence, mutuality, support, association, kamma-result, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for the sixth base. Some mentality, however, is a condition, as root-cause condition [that is, greed, etc.,] and some as nutriment condition [that is, contact and mental volition]. So it is also a condition in other ways. It is by the [two latter] that the maximum and minimum should be understood. In the course of an existence, too, resultant mentality is a condition as already stated. But the other [non-resultant] kind is a condition in six ways at minimum, as the aforesaid conditions except for kamma-result condition. Some, however, are a condition, as root-cause condition, and some as nutriment condition. So it is also a condition in other ways. It is by these that the maximum and minimum should be understood.

208.

In five-constituent becoming
At rebirth, mind in the same ways
Acts as condition for the sixth,
And for the others in six ways.

209. Besides the immaterial states, also in the five-constituent becoming that resultant mentality, in association with the heart-basis, is a condition in seven ways at the minimum for the sixth, the mind base, in the same way as was said with respect to the immaterial states. But in association with the four primary elements, it is a condition in six ways, as conascence, support, kamma-result, dissociation, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for the other five beginning with the eye base. Some, however, are a condition as root-cause condition, and some as nutriment condition. It is by these that the maximum and minimum should be understood.

210.

Result is for result condition
During a life in the same ways;
While non-result the non-resultant
Sixth conditions in six ways.

211. For, as in rebirth-linking, so also in the course of an existence in the fiveconstituent becoming, resultant mentality is a condition in the seven ways at minimum for the resultant sixth base. But non-resultant mentality is a condition in six ways at minimum for the non-resultant sixth base, leaving out kammaresult condition. The maximum and minimum should be understood in the way already stated.

212.

And during life, result conditions
The other five in fourfold way;
The non-resultant kind can be
Explained in the aforesaid way. [564]

213. Again, in the course of an existence, the other resultant mentality, which has as its physical basis the eye sensitivity, etc., is a condition in four ways, as postnascence, dissociation, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for the rest of the five beginning with the eye base. And as the resultant, so also the non-resultant is explained; therefore [the mentality] classed as profitable, etc., should be understood as their condition in four ways.

This, firstly, is how it should be understood what bases mentality alone is a condition for in rebirth-linking and in the course of an existence, and how it is a condition.

[(2) Materiality as Condition]

214.

Not even for a single base
In immaterial becoming
Is matter a condition here.
But in five-aggregate becoming

Basis as matter is condition
At rebirth in a sixfold way
For the sixth base; the primaries
Are for the five in fourfold way.

215. As to matter, the materiality of the physical [heart-] basis is a condition in rebirth-linking in six ways, as conascence, mutuality, support, dissociation, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for the sixth, the mind base. But the four primaries are in general, that is to say, in rebirth-linking and in the course of an existence, conditions in four ways, as conascence, support, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for any of the five bases beginning with the eye, whenever they arise.

216.

Life and in lifetime food as well.
Conditions five in threefold way;
These five, the sixth in sixfold way;
Basis, the sixth in fivefold way.

217. But in rebirth-linking and in the course of an existence the material life [faculty] is a condition in three ways, as presence, non-disappearance, and faculty conditions, for these five beginning with the eye. Nutriment too is a condition in three ways, as presence, non-disappearance, and nutriment conditions, and that is so in the course of an existence, not in rebirth-linking, and applies when the bodies of beings subsisting on nutriment are suffused with the nutriment. In the course of an existence, not in rebirth-linking, those five bases beginning with the eye are conditions in six ways, as support, prenascence, faculty, dissociation, presence and non-disappearance conditions, for [that part of] the sixth, the mind base, comprising eye-, ear-, nose-, tongue-, and body-consciousness. But in the course of an existence, not at rebirth-linking, the materiality of the [heart] basis is a condition in five ways, as support, prenascence, dissociation, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for the remaining mind base apart from the five consciousnesses. This is how it should be understood what bases materiality alone is a condition for in rebirth-linking and in the course of an existence, and how it is a condition. [565]

[(3) Mentality-Materiality as Condition]

218.

Which mind-cum-matter combination
Is a condition for which kind
And how it is so in each case,
A wise man should now seek to find.

219. For example, firstly, in rebirth-linking in the five-constituent becoming, the mentality-materiality, in other words, the trio of aggregates with the materiality of the [heart-] basis, is a condition, as conascence, mutuality, support, kammaresult, association, dissociation, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, etc., for the sixth, the mind base. This is merely the heading; but since it can all be construed in the way already stated, the detail is not given here.

This is the detailed explanation of the clause “With mentality-materiality as condition, the sixfold base.”