LTF 71: More on the Obtainer Attitudes; the Last 3 Links; Dependent Arising

So, we have here, unawareness, which in this context of the twelve links – namely, that it has to cover both the Hinayana and Mahayana explanations – is limited to unawareness of how persons exist. This is the doctrinally based unawareness, or not knowing, or incorrect knowing, that we have gained from a false view that we have been taught and believed in – so, doctrinally based. We can also have the unawareness that arises automatically, that nobody has to teach us. We have discussed this quite in full. 

From a most general point of view, the doctrinally based view is the view that we have in the non-Buddhist Indian teachings – that we exist as a self, or a soul, that is static, unaffected by anything, that is a partless monad, a partless thing, that is separable from the body and mind and that goes onto future lives. We could have just parts of these misunderstandings, but in that case, they are called “incorrect considerations.” Now, the automatically arising unawareness is the view that there is a self that can be known independently, by itself – in other words, a self-sufficiently knowable “me” that can be known without some basis for it appearing at the same time.

For Prasangika (this is within the Mahayana view), the unawareness of persons that is the first link is the same unawareness that we have of phenomena. In all the other Mahayana systems besides Prasangika, the unawareness of persons that is the first link is what we have just explained, and although the unawareness of phenomena refers to persons as well, it is not the unawareness that is the first link. But here we want to specify unawareness according to the more general assertions of it that everybody accepts. But we could, in a broader sense, include all different types of unawareness.

Because of that unawareness, karmic impulses arise. So, we get karmic impulses to act in various destructive or constructive ways. Now let me explain in a more precise way. The karmic impulses affect our behavior. They are a manifest karmic force and then become unmanifest or dormant as karmic aftermath, called “karmic seeds.” A karmic seed in nature is an unspecified tendency – Buddha did not specify it as either destructive or constructive – and it accounts for the continuity of the karmic seed until it ripens. In terms of its function, a karmic seed is a karmic potential, either a positive or negative karmic potential (so-called merit and sin) and it is what ripens into the unspecified phenomena of a next rebirth. A karmic seed is imputed on the mind consciousness. That is the third link, loaded consciousness. That has one phase in this lifetime, the time of the cause, and another phase in a future lifetime, the time of the result. 

Then when a karmic seed, as a dormant karmic impulse, it is activated at the time of death, the dormant seed gives rise to a manifest karmic impulse, called a “throwing karmic impulse.” It throws the mind consciousness into a next rebirth and ripens into the unspecified aggregates of that rebirth. That means as a karmic potential, the karmic seed gives rise to the mind consciousness at the time of the rebirth link, with the sense consciousnesses and mental factors in the other aggregates as tendencies imputed on them. The mind consciousness at the moment of death is loaded with them as well. These are nameable mental faculties, and during the moment that the rebirth link lasts, they occur with or without form. With form means with a gross body, like sperm and egg. Formless means with a very subtle form, if we are talking about being reborn as a formless realm being.

The Ripened Result of a Karmic Potential Is Not the Physical Body Itself 

When we talk about a body that has ripened from a karmic potential, we are not saying that the actual physical substance of the body comes out of the seed of karma. The elements of the body come from the sperm and egg of the parents, and as it grows, it is replenished by food and drink and so on. So, we are not talking about a form of physical phenomenon ripening from a karmic potential. We are talking about our experiencing of that, our attaining of that body. This is what is ripening. Even in terms of Chittamatra, the body is an object of cognition. So, the sight of our body, the sound of our body, the physical sensation of our body – all that is coming from a karmic seed. We are not talking about the physical matter here.  

So, as the embryo develops, the links of the cognitive stimulators and then contacting awareness. occur That is the mental factor of, basically, experiencing something with a pleasant feeling, an unpleasant feeling… not feeling but with contacting awareness – contacting it as pleasant, unpleasant, or indifferent. Pleasant or pleasing is sort of like liking it. So, we have the contacting awareness. This is a mental factor that also ripens from a karmic tendency. And then feeling a level of happiness – that also ripens from a karmic tendency. 

After feeling of a level of happiness (all of these ripened results, by the way, are ethically neutral phenomena), we get various disturbing emotions. Now, the disturbing emotions also come from tendencies (same word as “seeds”). The tendencies for the disturbing emotions are likewise there on the mental continuum, coming from unawareness and so on and from previous occurrences of disturbing emotions.

Now, the disturbing emotions need to be there in order to activate karmic seeds. They have to be activated, and the disturbing emotions are what activate them. And not only are the disturbing emotions necessary to activate these seeds, there are also various other factors that are necessary, such as meeting with the different circumstances in which disturbing emotions could arise and activate them. All of this is very relevant to the discussion that we have been having about the not-yet-happening of the result and the no-longer-happening of the cause and so on. All of these aspects can be understood in terms of these twelve links.

So, we have the disturbing emotions. The disturbing emotions here are craving and an obtainer emotion or attitude. These are the disturbing emotions that activate the karmic seeds. 

Then we have an impulse for further existence. That is an activated karmic seed. In other words, the impulse – karma – for a further rebirth that has been activated is called the “impulse for further existence.” It is sometimes translated as the link of “becoming,” but the word “becoming” doesn’t convey terribly much of the meaning of this link.

And then, to speak in a very general way of what happens as a result of an impulse for further existence, there is rebirth, which refers to conception (so, the arising of a rebirth) and then aging and death. Aging is the whole process of subtle impermanence as after the moment of conception, which is the moment of the arising of a rebirth, there is the rebirth state in which the continuum is gradually, moment to moment, going closer to its final perishing – that’s death (when it perishes and finishes). So, this is the process that is being described by these last two links – the arising of the subtle impermanence and perishing of a rebirth. 

It is because of that understanding, that way of explaining of these twelve links, that we could see that it is possible for these twelve links to be speaking about what happens moment to moment or period to period in our lives. In other words, “moment” in Buddhism doesn’t mean just one sixty-fifth of a finger snap. It is talking about one episode or one period of an occurrence of something. So, with the occurrence of something, an arising of a continuum of something, there is both a subtle impermanence as it goes towards its end and a perishing. So, we have that.

Does that make it a little bit clearer how things fit together with these twelve links? We are talking about the whole samsaric process.

Now, the aspect of suffering… well, the causal aspects, of course, are the disturbing emotions – namely, the unawareness and the craving (an obtainer emotion or attitude). And the other cause of suffering is the karma, the karmic impulses of the second link – these affecting karmic impulses. Then the activated impulse– the impulse for further existence and everything else – is an example of suffering here. The consciousness and all these aspects that are involved with the ripening of the aggregates and the whole process of the arising of a rebirth – its subtle impermanence and perishing – all of that is part of the suffering, the first two noble truths.

Now, we spoke about craving last time. Craving is aimed at the previous link, which is feeling. It is (1) craving for the previous happiness that we have had not to end, (2) craving for the unhappiness that we have to end, to be parted from it, and (3) the neutral feeling that we might have, like when we are in deep sleep, to just continue, to stay in that state. So, this craving is a type of desire, but it is aimed at a feeling.

Then we get the obtainer disturbing emotions or attitudes. This can be one or more of a whole list of things. 

[1] Obtainer Desire

We spoke about an obtainer desire and that this refers to the desire that we have, or the attachment that we have, to some desirable sensory object. This is at the time of death (remember the context here). 

So, when we are in the process of dying, we might be very happy, in which case, we want not to be parted from that happiness – let’s say that we’re with our loved ones and we’re happy with our life. Or it could be unhappiness, suffering that we experience – with pain, for instance. Let’s say we are experiencing a great deal of pain with cancer or some horrible wound that we received in an accident or a battle or something. We would have that craving to be parted from that, which could be a wish to die, actually. Usually, it is not a wish to die, though it can be. But we really want to be free of this, so there’s a strong craving for that. Or we could be unconscious, and there is a craving just to stay in that state. Obviously, that is not a very conscious craving, but one would want to just stay like that.

Now, the obtainer desire, this disturbing emotion, could be a desire for the sight of a loved one or the sight of some religious painting of a religious figure – a Buddha or Jesus or whomever. It could be the craving for a physical sensation, like holding somebody’s hand, a loved one. Often, when people die, they grab onto someone – “Don’t let go of me,” this type of thing – as if they were falling into some sort of black hole or a pit. So, this is the obtainer desire that we would experience.

[2] Obtainer Deluded Outlook (Three Divisions)

And then the second type of obtainer refers to a deluded outlook. There are several deluded outlooks that we might have here. The first one is: 

• A distorted outlook 

A distorted outlook is primarily a denial of cause and effect. Now, denial of cause and effect is in the context of believing in future rebirth. We believe in future rebirth, but we deny that we’ll experience the results of any of our actions. It is like we think – to use the analogy of a computer – that our hard disc, as it were (the Speicher, in German), will be completely wiped clean when we die and that we will go into a next life with an empty disc drive. And then the formatting, the programs, the operating system and everything like that that will be loaded onto it in a future life will have no relation whatsoever to what have we done in this life. This could be quite disturbing because we don’t know what will be loaded onto it. It could be according to God’s will, or it could be according to chance, in which case, there’d be nothing that we could do to influence this.  

Or the distorted outlook could be a denial of rebirth. We think that this lifetime is the only one that a seemingly solid “me” is ever going to have, so we hang onto this life even more strongly. Another variation could be that we don’t believe there is any safe direction that we can take that can indicate what to do at the time of death or what can help us. So, we die with the strong feeling of being lost and helpless. We could have antagonism toward anybody who disagrees with our view. So, this denial of anything that can help us at the time of our deaths can be to die in a very bitter and miserable state of mind: “It was all useless; it was all pointless. And now there is nothing.” This is a distorted outlook. 

It is very important when studying all of this to relate it to actual things that could happen because this is what we want to avoid at the time of death. It would be good to avoid this all the time because this is what activates the karmic tendencies, like the karmic tendencies to feel unhappy. So, obviously, if we have these things, we are going to feel very unhappy. “May I not…” you know, craving not to be parted from a happy feeling. Well, a happy feeling is impermanent; even when we are alive, it is going to end. So, we are going to be miserable about that. “Relieve me from this pain that I have” – well, the pain may go on for quite a while. Just wishing to be parted from it is not going to help; it’s just going to make us even unhappier with the pain. And feeling uncertain about what is going to happen next – having no idea, wondering if it’s just by chance, thinking that we have no control over anything in our lives, no way to influence anything – that also can make us very unhappy. So, it is important to relate these things to real life situations.

Any questions about that?

The second obtainer deluded outlook here is what is called: 

• An extreme outlook 

One variety of this is the disturbing attitude that our bodies and minds with their present, seemingly concrete, permanent identities are going to last forever and that death will never happen. So, this is a grand denial of death, which is a very disturbing and upsetting state of mind because what happens is that we deny, deny, deny, and then, when the actual moment comes, we panic because we are totally unprepared for it and die in a very nasty state of mind. 

Another extreme outlook can be that we will have no continuity after we die. We think that nothing happens after death, that there is no further experiencing of anything. From a psychological point of view, this also can be a disturbing state of mind because, usually, underlying it, is a frightening feeling that there is going to a big nothing. That big nothing is actually quite frightening for most of the people who believe that there is a big nothing after death.

OK. So that is the extreme outlook.

The third obtainer deluded outlook is: 

• Holding a deluded outlook as supreme 

This is an attitude that involves how we regard things. According to one explanation, this distorted outlook is to regard our aggregates or our bodies as totally pure, clean, and a source of true happiness. This is based on an incorrect consideration of what is supreme. That is why we want to continue having our bodies. We think that they are so wonderful, so totally pure and great and that they are source of true happiness: “I can experience the happiness of eating food and having sex and listening to nice music” and so on. 

But it could take the opposite form, which would be to regard our aggregates as dirty and horrible and to consider that outlook as absolutely correct. “If I could just get separated from my body, which is horribly old and ugly and filled with pain and so on, it would be great. This is the supreme thing that I could do.” Often people who commit suicide have that type of attitude.

So, these three are put together here as an obtainer deluded outlook. 

[3] Holding Deluded Morality or Conduct as Supreme

The next one is the disturbing attitude of holding a deluded morality or conduct as supreme. Deluded morality and deluded conduct – these are two different words in Sanskrit and Tibetan.

Deluded morality is, for example, giving up some trivial behavior that is meaningless to give up, particularly under the circumstance of dying. An example would be to give up our favorite foods – because they “are not good for us” – when we are in the final stages of dying from terminal cancer. It doesn’t matter whether or not we eat a big portion of ice cream every day when we are in the final stages of dying.

My brother in-law was like that. He was dying of brain cancer. He loved ice cream Sundays. So, before he went into the hospital for the final… actually, he died only after a day or so in the hospital. But in those final days, he didn’t deny himself anything in terms of the food that he liked to eat. So, it would be deluded morality to think, “If I go on a diet and don’t eat these things…” then what? I’m dying. Is this going to make any difference? Absolutely not. I’ll fit better, or I’ll look better in the coffin? This is absurd. 

An example of deluded conduct would be to dress, act or speak in some trivial manner that is meaningless to adopt in the face of imminent death – for instance, putting on our army uniforms so that we die in full army dress or holding onto a good luck charm or something like that as we were dying, thinking that acting like this will somehow help us in dying, that this is the best thing that we could do as we die. This, obviously, is also a bit silly.

There are a lot of people like that, especially in the army. “I want to die with my boots on. I want to die with my sword and my belt” – this sort of silly thing. OK. That is deluded conduct. Good luck charms, though, might be more relevant to a lot of people. You want to have your red string or want to be holding your rosary… these sorts of things.

[4] Asserting Our Identities – The Deluded Outlook Toward a Transitory Network

Then the fourth obtainer is asserting our identities, which refers to the deluded outlook toward a transitory network. This refers, basically, to regarding our aggregates as a solid “me,” and “me” as the possessor, controller, or inhabitant of this body and mind, which are solidly mine. 

So, when we are dying, this could, for instance, be panicking with the thought, “What’s happening to me?” – this solid “me” – and “What’s happening to my body? My body is not functioning anymore.” So, this is an obtainer attitude. This is what will obtain the next rebirth, in a sense. It’s like a grabbing out, but that’s not really the connotation here. It refers to what will obtain the next rebirth. 

How is it usually translated? “Grasping,” isn’t it? “Grasping” doesn’t really convey the meaning here.

Participant: Ergreifen, in German.  

Dr. Berzin: Ergreifen. Craving, grasping, and becoming – that is the usual way of translating this.

There are a lot of meditations that we can do on death – for instance, meditating on how death will come for sure, that nobody can tell when it is going to happen, and also that nothing will be of help at the time of death except the positive force that we have built up, the positive habits that we have built up, during our lifetimes. It is quite important that we have built up positive outlooks, positive attitudes, positive emotions, and so on as habits during our lifetimes so that at the time of death, rather than having these types of disturbing emotions – craving and one of these obtainer emotions or attitudes – we have something much more positive happening. 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has talked about how there are all these complicated visualizations that we can do at the time of death, ones that we practice with and rehearse in the highest class of tantric practice. There is an eight-step process of the subtle consciousness withdrawing from the elements of the body, and various types of perception occur where things start to become like a mirage. Things lose their solidity in our perception of them as the subtle energy, the subtle winds, and subtle consciousness withdraw. So, we go through these visualizations and then arise as a deity and all these sorts of things. Very, very complicated. 

His Holiness has said that, of course, this has a benefit of not freaking out while we are dying – because we have an idea of what is going to happen; it’s not a big unknown – and that we can observe something similar (if we are really able to do it – it’s not so easy) in the process of falling asleep because the consciousness likewise withdraws from at least the sensory objects. But at the time of death, His Holiness says, this is so difficult to do – the visualizations of these stages – that we are likely to get very frustrated and confused and then die in a very frustrated, angry state of mind: “Oh, I’m not doing it perfectly,” and, “Oh, I didn’t get the fourth arm on the left looking like this,” or “What comes next?” and so on. 

So, it is more beneficial, His Holiness said, to die in a state of mind of refuge and bodhichitta and thinking of the spiritual teachers. In other words, “May I continue going in this direction of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. May I be able to have all the circumstances – precious human rebirth, meeting with the great spiritual teachers, being able to study with them – and to continue on so that I can reach enlightenment and benefit everybody as much as is possible to reach liberation and enlightenment.” This is a state of mind to die in. Much easier to generate. We are not going to be so confused. And if we’ve familiarized ourselves in tantra practice with what’s going to happen, then we won’t be freaked out by it, which is beneficial. We won’t be afraid because we know what will happen.

Participant: What happens if somebody dies in a coma?

Dr. Berzin: If somebody dies in a coma, the stages of the subtle consciousness withdrawing occur anyway. And even if you die instantly, like being hit by a truck or something, these stages happen in very, very quick succession. You may not have very much, if any, awareness through that. If you can’t generate a certain state of mind when you die because you are in a coma or are hit by a truck… well, that’s why it is important to have beneficial states of mind all the time if you can. 

Not Wanting Our Last Thought to Be “Oh, S**t!”

Pardon my language, but we don’t want to die in the state of mind of saying, “Oh, shit!” This often happens. I noticed it in myself. I was quite shocked by it. In Dharamsala once during the monsoon, I slipped and fell because the ground was very slime-y and slippery, and I landed on the edge of a concrete step and cracked some ribs. It was very painful. And for what seemed like a very long period of time, I couldn’t catch my breath. And what was the thought that came into my mind? “Oh, shit!” Scheiße, in German.

Now, is that the last thought we want to have? You know, we are driving our car, and then we see this large truck heading for us and about to hit us, and we say, “Oh, shit!” And then that’s it. Then we’re dead. That indicates what type of habit we have built up. And that’s not a very good state of mind to die in, is it? This is why we want to try to build up something more positive as a strong habit. 

It’s interesting, the Tibetans have an expression that they would use in similar situations. They don’t say, “Oh, shit.” They say “dkon-mchog gsum,” which is “Three Jewels of Refuge.” It’s a sort of like saying “Jesus Christ,” which is better than saying “oh, shit.” [Laughter] 

So, even if we don’t have a great meaning associated with it – “mother of God” or whatever it is – try to built up some more beneficial habits so that when we are near a death experience or death experience comes, we think of bodhichitta, of our teachers, of precious human rebirth, and so on. OK?

Participant: Perhaps it is better to say, “Oh, Christ” than “Oh, shit.”

Dr. Berzin: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely, “Oh, Christ” is better.

Participant: I used to say, “Oh, God.’

Dr. Berzin: “My God.” There are a lot of expletives that one could say besides “Oh, shit,” but it’s funny how accustomed we’ve become to that.

That’s an indication of the influence of misleading friends. Somebody had to teach us that, didn’t they? So, where did we learn that? It’s interesting to think about. And certainly, many people around us say that, so it is reinforced. 

Participant: Does it makes any difference? If I say, “Oh, shit,” or I said, “God,” does it make any difference to my state of mind that’s full of fear and defensiveness and then “me, me, me”?

Dr. Berzin: No, what you say doesn’t make any difference in terms of the fear and the defensive of “Oh, me, me, me.”  

Participant: So, we don’t have to change what we say.

Dr. Berzin: Yes. But it adds to it. It just makes it worse. To say, “Oh, God,” and still die in a state of fear and “me, me, me,” and all of that is not going to help either. However, what I am saying is that saying dkon-mchog gsum (the Three Jewels) or “Oh, Christ” or whatever is better than saying “oh, shit.” However, that is not the optimal state of mind to die in. Optimal state of mind is not to say anything like that but to generate bodhichitta, to think of the gurus: “May I not be separated; may I always be able to study and continue on the path to enlightenment.” That is the beneficial thing you want to generate. Whether you say something or not is irrelevant. So, we are just talking about degrees of what would be better or worse… more or less helpful. Put it that way. 

I mean in a sense you are right. It’s just the sound of a word. When we say, “Oh, shit,” we don’t actually visualize shit and think of what it means. Similarly, when you say, “Jesus Christ” or  “Oh, my God,” you don’t think of Jesus Christ, and you don’t think of my God. 

Participant: It is ironic, but the state of mind… 

Dr. Berzin: Right. So, the state of mind is similar. It’s just a sound. We are not thinking of the meaning of it. So, one could argue that there is not much difference in terms of there just being a sound and not associating a meaning with it. One could argue that. But I still think there is a difference – a slight difference, perhaps, but  a difference. 

Participant: I find it really difficult. It is already difficult if you have time to think about it and set up the mentality – like, if you’re in a plane that is falling down and you have some time. Actually, that’s a very good situation to die in. But the truck? It’s really difficult.

Participant: I prefer the truck, actually.

Participant: Why? On a plane, you have time because of the altitude.

Participant: Do you think that you calm down when the plane’s crashing down? I don’t know.

Dr. Berzin: I don’t know. It’s very interesting how the mind works. I had very bad bronchitis when I was in America a couple of years ago. One night I started coughing, and my throat contracted, and I couldn’t breathe. So, it was like a choking type of thing. That can happen with severe bronchitis. So, you’re like that, and you’re wondering, “Am I ever going to be able to catch my breath, to take a breath in?” It’s a little bit like drowning. And it took what seemed like a very long time before I could somehow relax my body enough. For sure… I mean, I noticed myself – I wasn’t thinking “oh, shit,” but I certainly wasn’t thinking, “Now I am going to die. I accept that, and now I pray for a better rebirth and bodhichitta.” All my efforts were concentrated on trying to breathe again.

So, it’s very interesting. In the process of dying, do you eventually surrender to death or do you keep on fighting it? I don’t know. Do you reach a point where you surrender? 

Participant: It’s difficult. You feel afraid when you can’t breathe and…

Dr. Berzin: Well, yes. When you can’t breathe, you feel afraid. And I certainly did experience fear.

What did you say? Speak louder.

Participant: There’s no reason why dying in the plane isn’t the best. In the plane, you cannot do anything anyway, so you could potentially relax. If you’re choking, you feel like you can do something, so, then, you have to do something 

Dr. Berzin: Right. If you are choking and you can’t get your breath, you feel as though there is something you could do. But that is different from being in the final stages of dying of cancer where there is no hope that you are going to revive. Maybe you’ll be able to hang on for another couple of hours or days of misery. Or when you’re in the plane that is crashing and you have a few moments, then, since there is nothing that you can do, you could surrender. 

Participant: The only time I felt that the plane was really crashing, I couldn’t bring myself to… although it crossed my mind to try to relax and to think of the Three Jewels and so on, it was very hard. It was really, really, really very hard

Dr. Berzin: So, what did you experience? Fear? 

Participant: Me, me, me.

Dr. Berzin: Me, me, me. 

It’s not a nice experience. But when you have an experiences in which you feel you are going to die or almost going to die, what is going on in our minds and our emotions? 

You see, this is why… As I said, there are many forms of death meditation, but one form of death meditation is to imagine, “Now I am dying.” You don’t have to do it in the full tantric way with all the visualizations and imagining the steps that happen in the actual process of dying. You just imagine that you are on your deathbed and what you want to have around you. Do you want to have all your relatives and friends crying and carrying on, making a big scene? Or would you rather have peace and quiet? A lot of people don’t want to die alone. Well, do you want to die with a lot of people around you? That also could not be very helpful for being able to settle your mind. You want to have loud techno music that you like it so much going on in the background? No, not quite. Not quite.

Participant: You imagine that you are dying, then after you feel that. 

Dr. Berzin: You feel what? 

Participant: You feel that you are dying

Dr. Berzin: No. The point of imagining that we are dying is to generate the type of mind that we would like to have when we are dying. That’s the whole point. So, it is not just “I’m dying, I’m dying, I’m dying.” Not like that. It’s the whole thing of “Death will come for sure; I can never tell when. And the only thing that is going to be helpful is my state of mind and the positive habits and karmic force that I have built up.” You think in terms of that. 

First, you consider, “Well, am I ready? If I were to die now, would I feel that my life was in order – that I have said and done what I could in the time that I have had? How have I prepared for the future in terms of myself, my future lives, and in terms of what I leave behind?” Are we going to leave behind a mess that other people are going to have to deal with – a million euros of debt that our wife or husband or children are going to have to deal with? What are we leaving behind? To practice the state of mind that we would like to have is helpful. 

Now, during the day, if we are aware that death could come at any time, etc., then, instead of imagining all day that we are dying… that’s not the point. The point is to then motivate ourselves to take advantage of the time that we have within the context of – to go back to my favorite Zen koan – “Death can come at any time: relax.” In other words, if we are uptight about death, it is just going to make it worse. So, relax and do what needs to be done. And when you need to take a break, take a break. But make your time worthwhile. This is important. This is important.

So, we have this death meditation. 

Now, the next links… it would be nice to finish this. We have an impulse for further existence. This is an activated karmic seed. A karmic seed is now activated so that it can throw… it’s called “throwing karma.” A throwing karmic impulse is the activated state of a karmic seed laid by a karmic impulse during this lifetime or a previous one. Now it can give its result. 

How is it activated? By circumstances. This is true in any discussion of karma, not just throwing karma. Let’s say we are talking about being hit by a car. What is activated is a karmic potential for  the consciousness to experience being hit by a car. Or it could be a karmic potential to experience feeling unhappy, feeling pain… all these things. That is what is ripening here. A karmic seed is activated to give that result. The karmic seed, as a karmic potential, doesn’t cause the car to hit us. That is caused by the car, the road, and the person who is driving it, and their impulses to drive the car, and all of that. So, there are many, many causes and circumstances. But those external circumstances, plus the circumstances of our craving and these obtainer attitudes and so on, will activate certain karmic potentials. 

So, which karmic potentials are going to be activated by craving and an obtainer attitude? We have craving not to be parted from happiness and to be parted from suffering all the time, don’t we? And we have these obtainer attitudes, at least the one of grasping for me, me, me most of the time. So, this becomes a very difficult question. Given the fact that we have a countless number of karmic potentials, or seeds, what determines which one is activated at any time? I think that the answer to that is that it depends on the circumstances, the external circumstances, of what fits with that. And the external circumstances come from unbelievable number of causes coming together. Unbelievable number. Asanga lists twenty different types of causes that can affect what we experience.

When all causes and circumstances are complete, a karmic potential gets activated as a karmic impulse. It can be an impulse of throwing karma. Throwing karma is what throws us into the immediately following rebirth and “throw” in the sense of “Ah! There it is: the rebirth state,” in other words, the type of rebirth that we are going to have – a dog rebirth, a human rebirth, an elephant rebirth – with the basic hardware of that rebirth, of that rebirth state. As I was saying, when we are happy, we’ll wag our tail; when we are very hot, we’ll stick our tongue out. That is part of the rebirth state of being a dog. A human will have different characteristics. So, this is what is going to be thrown… and the type of consciousness, the type of intelligence: the limitations of a dog brain or the opportunities of a human brain. 

Then there are what is associated with it, which are completing impulses, or completing karma, which will complete the circumstances. So, are we going to be a dog on the streets of Calcutta, or are we going to be a pet dog of His Holiness the Dalai Lama? It’s the circumstances, what completes that rebirth state.

OK? So that’s what we are talking about here with this tenth link, the link of an impulse for further existence. 

Then we get the next rebirth. And as I said, that is what is called “birth.” What’s literally translated as “birth” is literally the word for “arising.” It is the arising of a rebirth state. So, it’s one moment – the arising. We could consider that conception. 

That becomes a very difficult question, actually, one that is not easy to understand or solve, which is, at what moment does the mental continuum of a bardo being (that state after death, where there is a period of bardo before the next rebirth) connect with the physical substance so that you have this link of name and form? Is it the exact moment of conception? Is it even before conception like we have in some visualizations and explanations – that it enters the father’s head and goes down the central channel and joins with the sperm and goes into the womb? So, is it even before conception? Is it the moment of conception? Is it sometime after conception? The embryo has developed to a certain point and only when there is enough apparatus there, physical apparatus for transmission of neural… not even neural – the transmission of information… 

Probably, we would have to have our friend the informatics here get into a discussion of where is life or consciousness present. Its presence might have to do with there being transmission of information. The information of heat in the molecules of water on the bottom of a pot filled with water getting heated on a stove gets transmitted to the molecules of water higher up in the water, so that they heat up. Not that type of information transfer. So, it’s not an easy question to answer. And it is a very important one to answer in terms of the issue of abortion, obviously. But in any case, this skye-ba in Tibetan (arising), this link would have to be the arising of the consciousness connecting with a physical basis of a rebirth state. 

The last link is aging and dying. Aging is the process of subtle impermanence, subtle nonstaticness, so each moment, the continuum gets closer and closer to its end. That’s why it is stated that the actual cause of death is birth: if we weren’t born we wouldn’t die. You know the joke, the definition of life: it is a sexually transmitted disease with a hundred percent fatality rate. So, anyway, bad joke, but true. But true. Very Buddhist point of view.

To Get Rid of Death, We Have to Get Rid of Rebirth – Reversing the Sequence of the Twelve Links

Let’s say we die of cancer or of a car accident or whatever. That’s just a circumstance for dying. The actual cause is rebirth. That is why, to get rid of death and aging, we have to get rid of rebirth because rebirth is the actual cause. Now we go in the reverse sequence. Dying, by the way, as I said, is the perishing, the moment of death. So, to get rid of that ultimate end, death, we have to get rid of the actual cause, rebirth. 

Now, to get rid of the arising of a rebirth, you have to get rid of the activated karmic seed that would give rise to a throwing karmic impulse for further existence. To get rid of that, you have to get rid of what would activate it because that is the way that you purify yourself of karmic seeds. If there is nothing to activate it, it’s gone because it can no longer produce an effect. So, you can’t say there is a potential for an effect and a not-yet-happening of the effect if there is no cause that can give rise to an effect. 

If you remember our discussion, the future is talking about a not-yet-happening of something. The not-yet-happening of a rebirth is that facet of the karmic potential that is not yet giving rise to a result. If a karmic potential can’t give a result, then you don’t have this not-yet-giving-rise to a result. So, you don’t have the not yet happened rebirth… or the not-yet-happening of a rebirth, I should say. Maybe that is not so clear with all the words here. But the point is that, if a potential can’t give a result, then you can’t have a potential for a result anymore. So, if there is nothing to activate it, you won’t get a result. 

So, we have to get rid of the craving and the obtainer emotion. To get rid of that… well, the obtainer emotion is based on wanting happiness. You want happiness, and you don’t want unhappiness. Right? Why are you so attached to the touch of somebody’s hand? Well, that comes because you crave the happiness that you think will come from that. If you didn’t experience happiness at holding somebody’s hand, why would you want to hold somebody’s hand? So, you have to get rid of the craving for the happiness and the craving to be rid of the unhappiness. 

To get rid of that craving, you have to get rid of the happiness and unhappiness, which is what ripens from karma. Unhappiness – well, that’s the suffering of suffering. Happiness – that’s our usual, samsaric happiness that is never without the suffering of change. To get rid of that, you have to get rid of the contacting awareness. You make contact with something with liking it, finding it pretty, or not liking it, finding it not pretty. For that, you have to get rid of the cognitive stimulators – the eye sensors, the sights and sounds and so on. To get rid of that, you have to get rid of the nameable mental faculties with or without form. To get rid of that, you have to get rid of loaded consciousness; that’s going into a past life that is loaded with karmic aftermath. To get rid of that, you have to get rid of these karmic impulses that put all that aftermath on the consciousness. To get rid of that, you have to get rid of the unawareness that causes all of this to happen.

So, it is by understanding this reverse sequence that we understand how to stop, to gain a true stopping of (the third noble truth), samsara, of suffering and its causes, as summarized by the twelve links. So that’s why Nagarjuna says, “by stopping rebirth…” He says, 

[111] When rebirth has occurred, then an extremely great mass of sufferings will have arisen, such as sorrow, sickness, aging, deprivation of what we desire, and fear of death; but, by stopping rebirth all of these (sufferings) will have been stopped. 

It’s very clear here: by stopping rebirth, all of these (sufferings) will have been stopped. Then he says in the line before, sorrow, sickness, aging, deprivation of what we desire, and fear of death” (that is the aging and dying link), all of that will have been stopped. How? By stopping rebirth, the link before it. So here it is quite clear – the reversal process.

Then Nagarjuna sums this up:

[112] This dependent arising, the (most) cherished (gem) in the treasure of the Triumphant One’s proclamations, is profound; whoever sees it correctly sees the Buddha, the supreme Knower of Reality.

So, what he is saying here is that dependent arising, referring to dependent arising in terms of the twelve links, is the most treasured gem of the Buddha’s teachings. So, if we want to become a Buddha, a supreme Knower of Reality, that is what we need to understand.

Now, from the Hinayana point of view, there is not much difference between what we need to understand to become an arhat or a Buddha. They don’t speak about the voidness of all phenomena. Whether we become a liberated being (an arhat) or we become a Buddha is just a matter of how much positive force we have built up. They don’t put the emphasis on bodhichitta. That’s why the section we’re up to in the outline is how to set out toward enlightenment – so, the path to enlightenment – and here the path to enlightenment is also the path to liberation. That is why it says that whoever understood the twelve links of dependent arising one correctly sees the Buddha, the supreme Knower of Reality – so, you gain enlightenment.

Now, one could also understand dependent arising here to have a deeper meaning, which is dependent arising in terms of mental labeling – that everything, given the voidness of phenomena, exists dependently on what the words and concepts for them refer to. That’s what establishes the existence of something. And that is the big discussion of voidness. That is not so necessary to go into here, but there are other levels that we could understand this on.

That concludes this section. It took many classes. Anyway, this topic of the twelve links is really quite important. It can be elaborated far more than I have elaborated it here. And obviously, as Nagarjuna says, this is the main thing to understand.

Two Levels of Understanding Dependent Arising: as Conventional Truth (Cause and Effect) and as Deepest Truth (Voidness)

We want to understand dependent arising, first, on this level and then on the level of voidness, the Prasangika presentation of voidness. This level of dependent arising deals with our understanding of conventional truth – what we experience in terms of our samsaric experience. And dependent arising in terms of mental labeling deals with the understanding of the deepest truth – voidness. So, we have two presentations of dependent arising: dependent arising in terms of cause and effect (here, in the context of the twelve links – so, understanding the conventional truth of things; and dependent arising in terms of mental labeling – so, understanding the deepest truth of things.