Thursday, June 11, 2020

The 12 links of dependent arising: from ignorance to aging and death

Craving and grasping foster our attachment, and therefore forms the karmic force that will bring us to our next life in the cycle of birth, aging, and death.  

The ignorance from life to life brings about volition 行 and consciousness识 lifetime after lifetime and therefore there is consciousness going through rebirths one life after another.

After consciousness enters the womb, "name and form" begin and thus another life is started. After birth, there is contact. 

Craving starts from birth with feeling hunger, desiring and pursuing. It doesn't stop until death. And the next is " grasping". Grasping actually follows closely on craving. What do we grasp? We grasp what is good, what we like and what we want. But we also grasp what work against our end. In that case, we reject it. Craving include like and dislike. 

Craving and grasping as two elements and two stages actually last a long period from birth until death. It's all within this state of mind.  In our heart, we hope to get more and more. This continues with death. With craving and grasping, we create karma, and then existence follows on from that. Existence in what way? Existence of causes for the future. The causes for the future will then lead one to the future life. 

The force that forms the cause for the future will then already be in existence. With its existence, consciousness will form. And this consciousness will enter the womb for the next life. In the next life, there willl be birth, aging and death again. So the existence will lead to the next life, life after life. 

This is the 12 links of dependent arising throughout three periods of time. 

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