The Saddharma-smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra³⁷⁸ says that an artist paints all shapes by distributing the five colors. There are beautiful and ugly [images]. [The basis for these images] is discovered in the hand of the artist. The distinctions in the six destinies are not creations by Īśvara and so forth, but appear from a single thought of an ignorant mind.

When there is a combination of ignorance and the worst kind of evil activity,³⁷⁹ then the causes and conditions of hell arise, as an artist uses the color black. When there is a combination of ignorance and mediocre evil activity, then the causes and conditions of beasts arise, as an artist uses the color red. When there is a combination of ignorance and lesser evil activity, then the causes and conditions of preta arise, as an artist uses the color blue-green. When there is a combination of ignorance and lesser good activity, then the causes and conditions of asura arise, as an artist uses the color yellow. When there is a combination of ignorance and mediocre good activity, then the causes and conditions of human beings arise, as an artist uses the color white. When there is a combination of ignorance and the best good activity, then the causes and conditions of heavenly beings arise, as an artist uses the most superior white color.

One should know that it is through a combination of ignorance and every sort of [good and/or evil] activity that there arises name-and form, the six senses, experience, passion, attachment, existence, rebirth, decay, sickness, death, and so forth. [The results] are different according to the [past] level [of good and evil activity]. All the destinies such as that of human and divine beings include all [”10,000″] pleasures and sufferings which begin with rebirth and end in death, and after death they return to another rebirth. They roll through the past, present, and future like the wheels of a carriage on fire. Therefore a Sutra says, “Sentient beings are drowning in the whirlpool of the river of existence. Blinded by ignorance, they are not able to escape.”³⁸⁰

A Sutra also calls this a “twelve-linked chain” because we are all caught and tied up in it.³⁸¹ It is also called the “twelve leveled castle,” and the “twelvefold garden of thorns.”³⁸² This [interpretation of twelvefold dependent co-arising is [that phenomena are always] newly arising and perishing and do not remain [the same] from one thought to another thought. Therefore it is called [the understanding of] dependent co-arising as arising and perishing.

Part four of the [P’a sa] Ying lo ching³⁸³ says that ignorance is the condition for volitional activity, which gives birth to the twelvefold [chain of dependent co-arising]… up to birth being the condition for decay and death and gives birth to the twelvefold [chain of dependence].³⁸⁴ Thus there are one hundred and twenty links of conditioned co-arising.³⁸⁵ The first involves nescience so the rest up to decay and death also involve nescience. It involves nescience because it is [a state of] unenlightenment. The first [link of ignorance] is [a state of] unenlightenment, so the rest up to and including decay and death are [states of] unenlightenment. Birth is caused by nescience and death is caused by nescience.

If one is awakened concerning [the true nature of] conditioned co-arising, conditioned co-arising no longer occurs. If nescience does not occur, then future rebirth and death is exhausted. This is called being “enlightened.” To be enlightened means to follow the way [of the Buddha to enlightenment].

378

This Sūtra is often quoted by Chih-i, who considered it a Mahāyāna text on meditation. According to the Bukkyō kaisetsu daijiten V, 329—330, its content is generally closer to Hinayāna teachings, but it contains Mahāyānistic elements, such as the analogy of the mind as a painter, which is very similar to that found in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. The following comments by Chih-i are a summary of teachings found in this Sūtra. The Sutra says, “As a single artist produces many decorations, so a single mind produces various kinds of karma. Things are manifested in five colors; the perception of these arouses passions and pleasures. The [images] painted by the five sense organs are also like this. … Attractive and ugly forms are drawn … the activity of the mind is also like this. It is able to produce good and evil retribution.” return

379

In T’ien-t’ai doctrine, the first two links of twelvefold conditioned co-arising, that is, ignorance (avidyā) and volitional activity (saṃskāra), correspond to the Tripiṭaka Teaching, and therefore are discussed under the rubric of the interpretation of conditioned co-arising as conceptually understood and as arising and perishing. return

380

This phrase is from the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. return

381

This phrase is from the P’a-sa ying lo ching. This P’a-sa ying lo ching is not to be confused with the Ying lo ching which is an apocryphal Chinese Sūtra and one of Chih-i’s sources for the term “threefold truth.” In the Fa hua hsüan i, however, both of these texts are referred to merely as the Jên wang Ching. return

382

I was unable to locate the sources for these descriptions of twelvefold pratītyasamutpāda. The Shakusen kōgi identifies the phrase “twelve-leveled castle” as being from the Wu chü chang chü ching, but this text is not extant, as least as far as I was able to determine. return

383

The following is a summary of the Ying lo ching. The Ying lo ching says, “Ignorance is a condition for volitional activity, which also gives birth to the twelve [links]. Volitional activity is a condition for consciousness, which also gives birth to the twelve [links]. Consciousness is a condition for name and form, which also gives birth to the twelve [links] … and so forth. return

384

In other words, each of the twelve links includes the other eleven links. return

385

Twelve links times eleven should give the figure of one hundred and thirty-two. Chan-jan addresses this problem in the Fa hua hsüan i shih ch’ien [Annotations on “The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra,”] and says that since birth and death are one category (saṃsāra), the figure of one hundred and twenty is reached by multi plying twelve by ten instead of eleven. return