Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 86-minute teaching, Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen deepens his explanation of the twelve links of dependent origination by connecting them to the four noble truths and the path to higher rebirth. He begins with the foundational conditions for successful practice: honest character and strong motivation rooted in certainty. He then traces which of the twelve links are causally active in a single person’s rebirth cycle, identifying the first three links—ignorance, compositional factors, and consciousness—as the driving causes, combined with craving, grasping, and existence that arise later in life. The bulk of the teaching maps how these links unfold from conception through infancy: the gradual development of name-and-form (mental and physical aggregates), the constitution of the six sense faculties in the womb, the emergence of contact after birth, and sensation as the child develops discrimination between pleasant and painful experiences. Geshe-la concludes by addressing the purpose of this teaching—to show that sentient beings arise through a chain of causality rather than through a creator or chance—and explores practical implications for practitioners preparing for death. The audience consists of lay students with some Buddhist background and at least one ordained member present in the room.
File metadata (for organising)
File: unclassified-2012-04-08-kr
Teacher: Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen
Collection: Unclassified
Date: 2008-04-12
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~3,574
Generally speaking, if one is a forthright and honest person, if one has therefore a good and sincere nature, one is generally speaking able to accomplish what one sets out to accomplish. In addition to this, one must have a strong motivation which accompanies this honest and forthright nature. Now when we speak of a motivation, this may sound like a very abstract term. We have to assess motivation in terms of our own experience. Motivation is that sense, this and such I will do.
When that certainty is there, we can speak of motivation, otherwise not. Then, in dependence on these two, one can engage in practice. Geshe-la explained over the last two days the 12 limbs of dependent arising and the teachings have gone exceptionally well. He’s very satisfied with the way things have been going and would like to emphasize the importance of the topic of the 12 links for practice. He will today connect them with the four noble truths which are the foundation of the practice of the being of the middling scope.
Therefore, please generate the motivation to listen to these teachings. So as Śāntideva points out in his Bodhisattvacharyavatara, this human life is critical. It is extraordinarily precious. This becomes evident if we reflect on the consequences of some of the non virtuous deeds which Geshe-la explained yesterday. If for instance, in dependence on a human physical basis animated by the motivation of anger towards someone who has harmed us and whom we view therefore as an enemy.
We engage in all the deeds required to deprive this person of his or her life. In other words, we murder him, then as a result of such a complete karmic deed, we will definitely have given rise to the impending karma for being reborn in the lower realms. On the other hand, if we abstain from this, we will have given rise to the impelling karma for a higher rebirth. Now if that deed is incomplete and if as a result of our actions, the opposite party does not die, then we will not have created the impelling karmic cause of a lower rebirth due to killing. On the other hand, if we harm the other person’s body, clearly, we have accumulated non virtuous karma.
So if we wonder what the causes of the higher rebirths are, whether we are speaking of a human rebirth or another higher rebirth, as Candrakīrti says in his Madhyamakāvatāra, there is no no other cause for higher state than the abandonment of the 10 non virtues, than an ethics which is an abandonment of the 10 non virtues. If this is the case, we might wonder whether merely abstaining from killing another person, merely refraining from killing another person is sufficient to accumulate the virtue of non killing and practice the ethics of non killing. This is not the case. It is not the case that merely abstaining from not killing another person, merely refraining from not killing another person is sufficient to generate an impelling cause for a higher rebirth as a human being or another higher rebirth. Rebirth.
Instead, one must over and again reflect on the thoughts of killing in general and in dependence on this makes a strong determination never to kill for certain ethics to be generated. So if we take the example of an animal, if we repeatedly train our mind in the sort of not engaging in killing this animal, in other words, in the thought of restraint and refraining from killing this animal, would this in and of itself be sufficient to create a powerful cause for rebirth in the higher realm? Probably not. And therefore, if we look at one series of the 12 links ranging from ignorance, compositional factors, consciousness, name and form, the six spheres, contact, sensation, craving, taking and existence. While in general, all of these 12 links are necessary for one series, when we specifically apply these 12 links to the case of one person, actually six links are intimately connected.
They are the first three links of ignorance, compositional factors, and consciousness, and the links of sensation, craving, and taking, which all are causal links. My apologies, I made a mistake. It is the last three links of the six causal links are craving, taking, existence. Sensation is not part of them. Then this should be meditated upon so that we can interiorize it.
So the three first of the causal links which are ignorance compositional factors and the causal component component of consciousness impel the series of the 12 links for a given person and then the following causal links must be present as well which are craving, taking, and existence. And therefore, if we take the instance of one particular form of mind training, which is meditation on death and impermanence, initially reflecting on what meditation on death and impermanence can eliminate or counter, we engage over and again in this meditation. Why? To prepare for our own unavoidable death. This is a gateway through which we will all have to pass without one single exception.
At the time of death, when the death process has started in the Tibetan tradition, it is extremely important while the ear consciousness is still functioning to whisper within the ear of the dying person that he or she should practice their main practice, whatever their practice has been in this life. This is what they should try to practice in the death in the death process. Now once the person’s ear consciousness ceases to function and they are actually from the standpoint of Western medicine dead, then broadly speaking it is not terribly clear what if anything one can do for them. For this reason, it is at that point and this is something which His Holiness has emphasized over and again in teachings that one must help the person. Now, all of us will go through this, this is the critical point in our life and this is what we have to prepare for.
I’m sorry. So Geshe-la is sorry. He doesn’t want to upset you on Sunday morning. However, this is a critical point and this is why it must be something we hear about over and again. For the elderly, this is obvious.
However, for the young as well, there is no guarantee they will live for long. This is something we all are aware of. And therefore in the Buddhist tradition, it is considered critical to generate a virtuous state of mind before entering into the subtle stages of the state of death. As Vasubandhu says in his commentary on the Pratītyasamutpāda sūtra, we reincarnate in cyclic existence through the power of the karma of the afflictions which are the most potent within our mind. This can also be applied to one’s practice.
It is one’s most potent practice that to which we attach the most importance, which would be the dominant karmic force controlling our process of reincarnation. Therefore, for us, it is while we are hale and hearty, while we are in good health, that we have to engage in whatever accumulation of virtue we can. And it is not a good approach to wait until we are elderly and weak before worrying about this. So if we meditate in this way consistently and regularly on death and impermanence, progressively, our desires will weaken, our concept, our contentment will increase and both conceptions and expectations will decrease. As a result of this, we will become progressively more and more content as we approach the end of our life.
Then, within the death process, because of this practice of, meditation on death and impermanence, we will have accumulated a very large store of merit, which will act as the substantial cause for a future rebirth. And when this is combined with strong prayers at the time of death, which are of the nature of an aspiration, an aspiration in this case for rebirth in the higher realms, then this is sufficient to project us into a higher rebirth. In addition, through the practice of contentment and the reduction of desires, the limb of craving at the time of death will be greatly weakened in its potency and with this weakening of the eighth limb of craving, we will gain much greater control in the process of rebirth. There is one delicate point here which is that even rebirth in the higher realms is impelled by the eighth limb of craving. But this will be analyzed later.
Happy, happy rebirth. And therefore, when one has set the foundation of the three requisites for a higher rebirth, which is first pure ethics, secondly, a practice of the six perfections and thirdly, unstained prayers, which connect all three, then on this basis it is possible to obtain a higher rebirth. The process whereby this happens is at the level of the eighth link, the link of craving, that craving becomes actually an aspiration, a wish, for a higher rebirth. And as this wish intensifies, it turns into the ninth link, the link of appropriation, sometimes called taking or grasping. In Tibetan, it’s just taking.
This link of appropriation is different from the eight link because due to the intensification of this aspiration, this aspiration now has the potency to activate the karmic imprint which has been implanted within one’s substantial continuum. And once these two limbs, the eighth and the ninth limb of grasping and of appropriation have been completed, then in dependence on the karmic imprint which was implanted at the level of the second limb, the limb of compositional factors, the maturation of this karmic imprint will occur. The point just before this karmic imprint leads to rebirth in a future life is the tenth limb, the limb of existence, which is defined as the projecting karma which projects another existence once both the former limbs of craving and appropriation have planted and nourished the imprint of the impending karma on page six of your definitions handout. Now, at this point, the tenth limb, the limb of existence can probably be identified with the subtle death process. We will not talk here of the intermediate state, the Bardo, which is not within our topic, but merely of the subtle death process identified with the tenth link and the eleventh link, the link of birth starts as soon as the tenth link has ceased.
And at this point, the eleventh limb, the limb of birth is initiated. This eleventh limb actually corresponds to the fourth limb as well, the limb of name and form, which rapidly leads into the seventh limb. And at this point, there are four possible births, birth from a womb, from heat, from moisture, and miraculous births. Human births are mainly births from a womb and therefore the definition of a human birth from a womb, specifically the link of a human birth from a womb, is that interval of time ranging from the actual birth to the creation of the limb of name and form. Now regarding we are jumping from limb to limb, we are back at the fourth limb, the limb of name and form, which is a limb which arises after birth.
Regarding the limb of name and form, which is on page four of your handout, This limb of name and form refers to the five contaminated aggregates of an ordinary being. The name component of the limb refers to the four mental aggregates, which are sensation, recognition, volition, and consciousness. And form refers to the physical aggregate, in other words, the body. If one is reborn as a human being, then the form component of the limb of name and form is that subtle form which is present from the moment of conception, I. E, the union of the spermatozoa of the father and the egg of the mother.
Now, if within the context of name and form, one is reborn as a human being, then there is a tenfold subdivision of the process of evolution of the egg into the embryo. The first five subdivisions are the transition from the thin level, where there’s a mere skin on the very thin skin on the surface of the egg, to the following stage, which is one of thickening, followed by a stage of elongation approximately in the third week, followed by a stage of hardening, followed finally by the stage in which the limbs appear. These five stages occur within the womb. Then there are five stages of evolution out of the womb, which are the stage of infancy, of childhood, of the prime of life, which is between 30 and 40, of maturity and of old age. And for the five initial stages which occur within the womb of the mother, a more detailed explanation of these stages is that the initial stage, which we call the stage of thinness or the thin stage, is one in which the egg has just been fertilized.
The second stage of thickness is where it gains substance and then the fourth stage is one in which its appearance becomes more evident or the fifth stage is one in which the sense organs, the eye, ear, nose, sense organ become capable of functioning. And if one analyzes more carefully, the process of becoming a human occurs from the point of conception when consciousness enters in the fertilized egg which has arisen from the spermatozoa of the father and the egg of the mother, and it extends all the way up to the point where the limbs and the sense organs become functional. In other words, the fifth of the subdivisions within the womb. At this point, from the standpoint of Vinaya and other treatises, one is an actual human being. And therefore, from the standpoint of Vinaya, as you know, Buddhist monks have as root vow not to kill and the issue which arises is when the embryo becomes or when the fertilized egg becomes a human being.
From the standpoint of Vinaya, the fertilized egg as such has become a human being and its destruction would expose the monk to the crime of murder and would break the root vow. Then the following limb occurs when the sense faculties are present, the, sense consciousnesses are present, the object is present, but nonetheless the object cannot still be experienced. There cannot be a confluence of sense consciousnesses, sense organs and object. Geshe-la wonders if you have experience of this. It is said that once the six senses are constituted, the six spheres are constituted in the baby, he can move in the womb.
Is this true? Speak. Do you hear him speak? This is your experience. And and therefore here at the level of the fifth limb of the six spheres, even though the sense consciousnesses exist, even though the sense organs exist and even though their objects where they be present could be connected to the sense organ and the sense consciousnesses.
Nonetheless, the infant is still not able to experience them. Then there is a bit of a doubt here regarding the fifth limb. This fifth limb which is the completion of the sense organs extends throughout the stay of the child in the womb and the doubt is, is this fifth limb completed before the child is born or is it completed after the birth of the child? Then Geshe-la says as monks at Sera Je, they have no experience of these matters because they are blessed by not having children, but he has compassion on you lay people who have many children and he wonders whether you know. But that’s much later already.
Much much later. People who have children. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I told Gin that my mother told this to me that she and I had conversations before I was born. Not the importance of baroque music for the mind. In Tibet, the mothers would speak to their children when they were in the womb to calm them. So it’s known by the farmers that cattle, horses, sheep and so forth move within the womb before they are born. But here Geshe-la, it says this is not so much a matter of debate as one of empirical evidence.
The following limb. A limb is the sixth limb contact which is the ninth limb if you view it in the process of development of the six causal limbs and the six result limbs. This sixth limb of contact probably occurs after birth, because within the womb, the main sense organs of the child are generally non operational in actuality. Then when the child leaves the womb, these sense organs such as sight become operational. However, the feature of the limb of contact is that even though the child is able to experience, for instance, a visual object, he is not able to discriminate between pleasant, unpleasant and neutral sensations yet.
So for instance, such an infant, if he were to be burnt, would not be able to discriminate between the happy or the painful experience. And the seventh limb, the tenth in the development of causal and effect limbs for one person, on page five of your, definitions, is the, limb of sensation. This occurs when the child is able to discriminate after contact between pleasant, unpleasant and neutral sensations, but before craving arises. So the two links which are remaining since we have already covered as within the causal context, the links of craving, appropriation and existence are the two final links, the eleventh and the twelfth links of birth on the one hand and aging and death on the other. Birth has already been covered in the context of the presentation of the 12 links for one being and birth actually ceases when the child is brought physically into the world.
Now regarding aging and death, technically aging starts the second instant after birth. The reason for this is to eliminate the worldly viewpoint that aging is a phenomenon which only afflicts the elderly. The aging process starts within the second instant after birth and the reason it is conjoined with death within the limb of aging and death, the twelfth limb, is to show the finality of aging. So if you take the translation of Asaṇga’s Abhidharma Samuccaya on page two, this will be easier to follow. Where we have the standard sequence of the 12 links, which is a general sequence as Geshe-la has explained.
When this general sequence is applied to one being and these 12 links are followed in the development of one being, we have the first three causal links of ignorance, compositional factors and consciousness, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, which are then followed by the following causal links, links 2.7, 2.8, two point nine and two point ten, excuse me, links 2.8, two point nine and two point ten which are craving, taking and existence. This link, link 2.1 gives rise to link 2.4, name and form, followed by the six spheres, contact and sensation. And the link of birth occurs simultaneously within part of link 2.4 or the link of aging and death follows the remaining effect links. This is how the 12 links are postulated for the development of one person. So the meaning of the 12 links is that one is not created by a creator god nor is one created by oneself or contingently accidentally.
Instead, one is the product of this chain of causality. In Geshe-la’s case, if he traces back his own memories, his first memories start around age four and for most children they start around age four or five. So what about yourselves? If you can trace your memories further back to age three, to age two, to age one, Age two. Excellent.
You have a different educational experience from that in Tibet. In Tibet, the children received almost no input until they went to school. There was little or no interaction with the parents. They were just allowed to run. As in the West, you start to interact at ages two or three with your parents.
We’ll take only your question and short please. We all have experience of this that if we have a very powerful traumatic experience of fear, then this is something which will mark the child in which he will remember. Is there a question, however? Yes, Grant. What is stillbirth?
The death of the child at birth or death before birth? Dead in the womb and then the and your doubt is? So probably for a stillborn child, seven limbs, would be established. The limb of ignorance, of compositional factors, of consciousness, then the limb of craving, taking and existence and the limb of name and form. Yours is a strange question because indeed you have to throw in as well the limb of aging and death since a child is dead.
Good, good question. It’s a difficult question. It’s a very good question. Basically not all 12 links are present. It’s not terribly clear we can say that one series of 12 links is complete if he the child is stillborn.
I think about your question. Yeah? Yeah. Offer Amanda. Amanda.
Key terms in this teaching
- contaminated aggregates zagchä kyi phung po (Tib)
- The aggregates of an ordinary being that are contaminated by the seeds of delusion and therefore pervaded by suffering because they are controlled by delusion and karma. LYWA
- dependent origination pratityasamutpada (Skt); ten drel (Tib)
- Also called dependent arising. The way that the self and phenomena exist conventionally as relative and interdependent. LYWA
- four noble truths denpa zhi (Tib)
- The subject of the Buddha's first turning of the wheel of Dharma. The truths of suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path to the cessation of suffering as seen by an arya. LYWA
- higher realms
- The higher realms comprise the more fortunate rebirths as a human, god or demi-god. LYWA
- intermediate state antarabhava (Skt); bardo (Tib)
- The state between death and rebirth. LYWA
- lower realms ngen dro (Tib)
- The three realms of cyclic existence with the most suffering: the hell, hungry ghost and animal realms. LYWA
- thought transformation lojong (Tib)
- Also known as “mind training” or “mind transformation”. A powerful approach to the development of bodhicitta, in which the mind is trained to use all situations, both happy and unhappy, as a means to destroy self-cherishing and self-grasping. LYWA
- twelve links of dependent origination pratitya samutpada (Skt); ten drel yen lag chu nyi (Tib)
- Also called the twelve dependent-related limbs or branches; the twelve steps in the evolution of cyclic existence: 1) ignorance; 2) karmic formation; 3) consciousness; 4) name and form; 5) sensory fields; 6) contact; 7) feelings; 8) craving; 9) grasping... LYWA
Definitions adapted from the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive glossary, as taught in the Gelug tradition.