..續本文上一頁ess may be of different qualities, according to the kamma upon which it depends. In the case of all those who read this, the consciousness "leaping" into a new birth at the time of conception, was a human relinking consciousness arising as a result of having practiced at least the Five Precepts, the basis of "humanness" in past lives. One should note that this relinking consciousness is a resultant, not something which can be controlled by will. If one has not made kamma suitable for becoming a human being, one cannot will, when the time of death comes round, "Now I shall become a man again!" The time for intentional action was when one had the opportunity to practice Dhamma. Although our relinking- consciousness in this birth is now behind us, it is now that we can practice Dhamma and make more sure of a favourable relinking consciousness in future—that is, if we wish to go on living in Samsara.
This relinking-consciousness is the third constituent necessary for conception, for even though it is the mother”s period and sperm is deposited in the womb, if there is no "being" desiring to take rebirth at that place and time there will be no fertilisation of the ovum.
Dependent upon relinking-consciousness there is the arising of Mind-body.
..............................
4th Link: MIND - BODY (nama-rupa)
Depicted by people sitting in a boat with one of them steering. The boat symbolises form, and its occupants, the mental aggregates.
This is not a very accurate translation but gives the general meaning. There is more included in rupa that is usually thought of as body, while mind is a compound of feeling, perception, volition and consciousness. This mind and body is two interactive continuities in which there is nothing stable. Although in conventional speech we talk of "my mind" and "my body," implying that there is some sort of owner lurking in the background, the wise understand that laws govern the workings of both mental states and physical changes and mind cannot be ordered to be free of defilements, nor body told that it must not grow old, become sick and die.
But it is in the mind that a change can be wrought instead of drifting through life at the mercy of the inherent instability of mind and body. So in the illustration, mind is doing the work of punting the boat of psycho-physical states on the river of cravings, while body is the passive passenger. The Tibetan picture shows a coracle being rowed over swirling waters with three (
or four) other passengers, who doubtless represent the other groups or aggregates (khandha).
With the coming into existence of mind-body, there is the arising of the Six Sense-spheres.
..............................
5th Link: SIX SENSE - SPHERES (salayatana)
Depicted by a house with six windows and a door. The senses are the ”portals” whereby we gain our impression of the world. Each of the senses is the manifestation of our desire to experience things in a particular way.
A house with six windows is the usual symbol for this link. These six senses are eye, ear, nose, tongue, touch and mind, and these are the bases for the reception of the various sorts of information which each can gather in the presence of the correct conditions. This information falls under six headings corresponding to the six spheres: sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles and thoughts. Beyond these six spheres of sense and their corresponding six objective spheres, we know nothing. All our experience is limited by the senses and their objects with the mind counted as the sixth. The five outer senses collect data only in the present but mind, the sixth, where this information is collected and processed, ranges through the three times adding memories from the past and hopes and fears for the future, as well as…
《Dependent Arising》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…