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mita Sutra to bring people closer to the attainment of
Buddhahood by means of a deep understanding of
all dharmas as manifesting Reality and Emptiness.
Hence, someone endowed with superior wisdom and
the highest potential who understands that all dhar-
mas are void can attain Buddhahood immediately.
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The attainment of the pratyekabuddha is the out-
come of his or her practice based on the Dharma of
the Twelve Links in the Chain of Causation, or
causes and conditions. Causes and conditions act as
the support for the twelve links, a concept which
confuses people even further. Ignorance conditions
karmic action; karmic action conditions conscious-
ness; consciousness conditions name and form;
name and form condition the six sense-doors (sense-
organs); the six sense-organs condition contact;
contact conditions sensation; sensation conditions
craving; craving conditions grasping; grasping con-
ditions becoming; becoming conditions birth; birth
conditions old age and death, sorrow, pain, grief,
lamentation, despair and anguish. The Twelve Links
in the Chain of Causation, in combination with
causes and conditions, illustrate how confusion con-
tributes to human suffering.
Let me explain further. Ignorance in the context of
the Buddha s teaching means either not knowing or
knowing incorrectly; the term is interchangeable
with confusion. Assumptions based on ignorance
support or condition unskillful actions. Action
rooted in confusion reinforces the bias generated by
ignorance.
Consciousness is the prime agent in the selection of
conditions for rebirth: If there is confusion present
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during the intermediate existence between death and
rebirth, proper conditions for the next existence will
not be recognized. In this respect, it is consciousness
that conditions name and form.
Name and form at the beginning of a new existence
are simply the sperm of the father combined with
ovum and blood of the mother; the form already
exists, but the name part has yet to develop. The
eighteen realms, that eventually come into existence,
will be conditioned from the very beginning by
name and form.
The six organs develop on the basis of corporeality
and of the seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touch-
ing and knowing natures, with a discriminatory bias
already built in. The six senses develop on the basis
of the six organs: The six organs, being the sense-
doors, condition contact.
Contact takes place when a sense-organ produces
sense data in response to stimulation. In the case of a
newborn, the earliest experience is tactile: There is
an abrupt change of environment in terms of temper-
ature and texture, causing intense discomfort in the
newborn baby, making it cry. The contact conditions
sensation.
As the range of stimuli widens, diversity of contact
increases; the material sense-organs develop accord-
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ingly, each becoming progressively specialized and
its own realm more and more specific. Eye, ear,
nose, tongue, body and mind develop preferences
and aversions, giving rise to greed and anger. There-
fore, it is said that sensation conditions craving.
Craving is sometimes interpreted as thirst. Initially,
it is the thirst for the continuation of one s existence,
construed as independent. That notion is the anchor
for the impulse to grasp. Grasping leads inevitably to
clinging, which brings new becoming in its wake.
Becoming may be described as setting the stage for
new birth. It is the unavoidable outcome of grasping.
Birth is conditioned by becoming. It introduces a
new round in the cyclic pattern of existence; because
there is birth, old age and death automatically
follow.
Old age and death require care and produce pain,
grief and anguish. Most human beings when ap-
proaching death are ravaged by grief and anxiety.
They hold on to their thirst for existence, which is
entrenched through lifelong habits; their suffering
and their fear are similar to what a tortoise ex-
periences when its shell is removed. Death and dy-
ing are frequently accompanied by manifestations of
grief.
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Birth, death and all the suffering in between arise
because of ignorance and supportive conditions, and
ordinary people have no choice but to continue the
cycle of continual rebirth in the Six Realms. The
pratyekabuddha, understanding the source of defile-
ment and of birth and death and on hearing the
Dharma of the Twelve Links in the Chain of Caus-
ation, will generate the mind of Tao and practice to
end his or her own suffering. He or she will attain
the path and fruit of the Middle Vehicle, thereby
ending the allotment of birth and death.
To free oneself from confusion or ignorance is
requisite for right, or correct, practice. When ignor-
ance is eliminated, all delusory activity ceases.
There is no more fuel to feed delusion, and, thus,
consciousness is extinguished, which means that
there is no more birth, no more death. With the six
sense-organs extinguished, there is no more contact.
In the absence of contact and sensation, there is no
longer any greed or hatred, no craving and, there-
fore, no grasping (no karmic activity); without grasp-
ing there can be no becoming, which means that all
future rebirths are extinguished. Without birth there
is no aging and death, and that is the end of pain,
grief, lamentation and anguish.
The Buddha taught the Prajna Paramita Dharma to
awaken practitioners to the teaching of the Void and
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to make them receptive to it. The Chinese term Wu
(none, nothing) implies putting an end to grasping;
to understand the essential Void of all existence is to
understand the True Mind. To see one s Self Nature
enables the swift attainment of Buddhahood, be-
cause, when ignorance is recognized as void, there is
nothing left to break off. Therefore the Sutra says,
 Also, no ending of ignorance. Since, originally,
there is no such thing as old age and death (the
products of conceptual mind), the Sutra says,  Until [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]