Then he expounded the teaching of the twelve causes

Ignorance (avidyā): There are one hundred and eight kinds of depravities (kleśa), becoming numerous, [so to speak,] when they are applied to the various affairs. In reality, however, it can be said that there is no more than one kind of delusion. Ignorance represents all delusions. It is shown in desire (or “greed”) and attachment (or “seizure”). Desire for and attachment to that which is useless and has been valued from the past, all this we call “ignorance.”

Karmic legacy {predisposition} (saṃskāras): When karma committed through body, mouth, and mind appears in the present, it means that [a karmic legacy] exists, which causes a future effect to exist. When retribution is drawn to the background, the process is then completed and phenomena come into existence. When the creation of phenomena is passed, [what is left] we call karmic legacy. Karmic legacy has to do with transmigration in the realm of birth and death.

Cognition {consciousness} (vijñāna): Cognition is the beginning of the present body, which means that the phenomenon of life comes into being

Name and visible form (nāmarūpa): As cognition becomes a seed, it can give rise to “name and visible form.” The four aggregates (skandhas) are referred to as name; the fifth [aggregate, which is] consciousness (vijñāna), accounts for “visible form.” They also are said to be in the womb, in an obscure and dark state. There is little consciousness of suffering and pleasure; there is no more than just “name.”

The six sense organs (saḍāyatana): The six sensations arise to appropriately match the six qualities (gums).

Contact {Impression} (sparśa): Once sensations and qualities appear, the consciousness of body comes into existence. The body consciousness is delicate and subtle. The three things join together. “To join together” is what is meant by contact.

Perception {feeling} (vedanā): Once sensations and qualities join together, there is [the process of deciding] whether it is agreeable or not. Next the three states of perception arise.

Craving (tṛṣṇā): Pleasure conditions perception. To follow one’s will is called craving. With craving one is attached to something. He who is attached to something is one whose root of birth and death (saṃsāra) is deep. Hence, stretching everywhere are the branches of [birth and death].

Grasping (upādāna): Because of the obstruction caused by craving, the four categories of grasping arise. By “grasping” one is able to grasp birth and death (saṃsāra).

Becoming {Existence} (bhava): Because of the four kinds of grasping, the three kinds of karma are produced. They are referred to as becoming, in the sense that they can bring about “becoming.”

Birth (jāti): Because of the three kinds of karma, the shoots [of life] crave and grasp water and moisture, duly developing into birth.

Aging and dying (jarāmarana): As birth secures one in the state of undyingness, this is the residence of craving and compassion.

The twelve causes and conditions involve all the three periods of past, present, and future [lives]. However, the names [of the three] are invisibly revealed in accordance with the trace of transformation. How? Two are present in the past, eight in the present, and two in the future. Because of ignorance and karmic legacy, suffering in this life is induced; thus, if one intends to cut it off right now, then consequently [upon cutting it off] there will be no more birth and death. Birth and death are the locus of the various calamities. How can one not fear it? Thus these two beginnings are shown. Many made inquiries into the meaning of the words, but men drift in the three worlds because of the twelve [causes and] conditions; so if [causes and] conditions are destroyed, it means that stupidity and ignorance are cut dead by the knife of wisdom, and that the water of craving is scorched and dried off by the fire of knowledge. The lofty net [of knowledge] opens up over the four corners all over the six forms of existence. Nonrebirth (anutpatti or ajāti) surpasses the eight apexes [of suffering?].

“Thereupon Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathāgata, having assented to the appeals made by the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the words of the ten quarters and also by the sixteen princes, turned the wheel of the teaching [of the four truths] three times, making twelve proclamations altogether.

[The Buddha] depicted [what happened in] the past to compare it with the present; this idea becomes evident here. [The Thus Come One] Victorious through Great Penetrating Knowledge preached the teaching of the three vehicles in the past for the Brahma kings, and preached the scripture of the Dharma Blossom for the sixteen princes. That the youngest of the princes was Śākyamuni means that for contemporary people he already had preached this Dharma. Now as he ascends a [Dharma] throne, he revives the past transformative teaching, preaching again the path of the One preceded by the three. “The three turns of the Dharma wheel” are as follows:

The first [turn] was made for when the Buddha proclaimed to Kauṇḍinya [and four other mendicants, to the effect that] “[what constitutes the self or] body is suffering. You should know it, then you will attain the four ‘spokes’ of seeing, knowing, understanding, and awakening. This forms the root of what you have not yet known.”

The second was made for when the Buddha proclaimed to the five men, [to the effect that] “you have known about suffering, and also obtained the four ‘spokes’ of seeing, knowing, understanding, and awakening. This forms the root of what you have already known.”

The third. was made for when the Buddha proclaimed to the five men, [to the effect that] “you have known about suffering. You don’t have to know again. You have also attained the four ‘spokes’ of seeing, knowing, understanding, and awakening. This forms the root of what you had no knowledge of.”

There are four courses and three turnings in one proclamation; hence, there are twelve (in total). In this way, one who does not yet know should know: one who does not yet know the cause [of suffering] should know it; one who does not yet know the extinction [of suffering] should know it; and one who does not yet know the path [to extinction] should know it. In this way in each truth [of the four noble truths] there are the four courses of seeing, knowing, understanding, and awakening. One proclamation encompasses the four truths. The three proclamations contain the Dharma wheel of forty-eight “spokes.” “Twelve” is the outcome of [the four truths applied to] the three proclamations. The “forty-eight,” when we speak of them in terms of the [four] truths, are “the twelve causes and conditions” (pratītya-samutpāda) [multiplied by] the four truths. “The four truths” spell out the facts involved (shih) in detail, whereas the terms [of the process] are made brief. “The twelve causes and conditions” spell out the terms in detail, whereas the facts involved are made brief. As their faculties were sharp, when [the Buddha] preached merely the arising and destruction of the twelve [causes and conditions], they immediately comprehended for themselves, coming up with the Dharma medicine that would free them from suffering without fail, which means that they had reached the end of the path (tao).

The palaces of the Brahman-heavenly[-kings] of the five hundred billion worlds in the east were illumined {aglow} twice as brightly as ever.

The fact that nothing was left not covered by the first illumination implies that there is nothing that the Tao does not mirror. That the Brahma god [kings] from [all] the ten directions went far in search of this portent shows that, once [the Sage] is stimulated (kan), [beings] are certain to reach [the goal], regardless of the distance. That they did not recognize the portent of the glow tells that li is outside the reach of the senses. Their gift of the palaces [to the Buddha] expresses again their infinitely [sincere, grateful] minds. They abandoned the joy of abstruse meditation and visited the Buddha, coming a long way, and because their sentiment had remained on the wondrous Dharma, they begged the Buddha to turn the Dharma wheel.

He sat cross-legged without moving his mind and body for one to ten small kalpas. During all that time the Dharma of the Buddhas did not come into his mind.

By stating that the Buddha-dharmas did not yet appear before him for ten minor kalpas, [the Buddha] means to show that the ultimate li is dark and remote, and difficult to size up at once. Also expressed here is that the will of [the Buddha] Great Penetration was very strong and that his decisive mind could not be blocked, thus encouraging beings to cherish a longing for [complete enlightenment].

When he sat on that seat, the Brahman-heavenly-kings rained heavenly flowers on the area extending a hundred yojanas in all directions from that seat.

The fact that men and gods congregate there, making offerings, [in multitudes] like forests, shows that the utmost virtue is so dignified and weighty that li has moved [even] the gods. The Brahmā kings are the lords of living beings, and yet they are among those who have come to pay reverence [to this Buddha]. Would it not be even more so for the rest [of the beings]?

Before [Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha] left home, he had sixteen sons.

Things caused in the past are depicted here.

Underlying the depiction of [the Buddha named] Victorious through Great Penetrating Knowledge (Mahābhijnā-jnānābhibhū) is a threefold meaning. First, because Victorious through Great Penetrating Knowledge also preached the three and the One, in that order, it lends support to and completes the present preaching. Second, the five hundred disciples and the great multitude were previously in the place of Victorious through Great Penetrating Knowledge and were converted by Śākyamuni. The story of what happened to Śākyamuni [in the past] is certain to lead beings to believe that [achievements made] in earlier times help one to accomplish awakening now. Third, it means that the boundary of [the realm of] birth and death is so remote, and the Great Path (Tao) is so dark and distant, that [the Buddha] urgently devised the two vehicles, which are symbolized in the parable of the conjured city.

“A countless, limitless, inconceivable, asaṃkhya number of kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence {Victorious through Great Penetrating Knowledge}

[What the Buddha] said here, that [that] Buddha passed into extinction a long time ago, is intended to express that Śākyamuni reflects on the remote past as if he had thought of it today, in order to prove that the li he is now preaching is deep and proper.

As regards this topic, as the task is achieved, then its effect is completed; this is the calendrical order [li-shu] of self-soness [tzu-jan]. That the four great voice hearers already had their roots planted in the distant past is shown in the present prophecy. What the Buddha has stated so far completes his preaching. What he has preached must be in compliance with li. When li is complied with, the [natural] factors, as they converge, come to bear fruits. Therefore, the Buddha arranged for them (the disciples) to receive his prophecy. This bestowal of prophecy [is like] the blossom of the Dharma. Fetters cause the creation of all things and images [or phenomena], but when the Sage is united with li, these fetters are completely destroyed. These fetters having been destroyed, it is illogical to claim the existence of a “land.” Whereas it can be said that there is no “land,” this does not [necessarily] imply the nonexistence of a “land.” [For, although] there is neither body nor name, yet body and name both exist more really than ever (before). Therefore it should be understood that what the “lands,” the titles, and the bestowal of prophecy mean is that [the Buddha] merely devised such things as a way of responding to beings, in order to guide them to [feeling] unsatisfied [with themselves].

Thereupon Great Maudgalyāyana, Subhūti and Mahā-Kātyāyana {all greatly agitated,} trembled, joined their hands together with all their hearts, looked up at the World-Honored One with unblenching eyes, and sang in gāthās in unison:

The way these men sought the prophecy [as it is described here] suggests that they entertained inwardly a wondrous understanding of Ii, making them deserve to receive the prophecy, with the result that they came to the point of seeking it themselves. [The Buddha] secretly guided those unawakened, urging them [to drive themselves] toward awakening and understanding. Because their will to acquire understanding was so intense, [their will] to obtain the prophecy was also the same.

His right teachings will be preserved for twenty small kalpas. The counterfeit of his right teachings will be preserved also for twenty small kalpas.

It is shown that there is [a distinction between] superior and inferior realms, and that there is [a difference] between long life and short life. Why is this? The Sage certainly has not made this so. [The difference in individuals of] the subtle triggering-mechanism accounts for it. Hence, [the Buddha] explains the difference.

My sons [, that is, the Bodhisattvas]
Who seek
The enlightenment of the Buddha exclusively,
Who believe that they will become Buddhas definitely,
And who have compassion towards others,
May be likened to the short {small} trees.

By this [the Buddha] intends to explain that the bodhisattva path is the superior one, comparing it again to trees. “Trees” are meant for shade and covering. The Greater Vehicle has the connotation of “covering [in this sense] it is similar to trees. [Those who are in] the seventh stage (bhūmi) and [those who are] below are referred to as small trees whereas [those who are in] the eighth or above are spoken of as great trees.

The cloud covered the sun,
And cooled the earth.
It hung down
As low as if we could reach it.

This symbolizes that through the transformation body (nirmāṇakāya) [the Buddha] makes contact with beings, so that he appears approachable [to them] step by step.
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p245

“Kāśyapa, know this! I, the Tathāgata, am like the cloud. I appeared in this world just as the large cloud rose.

The Dharma-body fills up [the ultimate of nonbeing]; the shade of compassion is like a cloud.

I expounded the Dharma to gods, men and asuras of the world with a loud voice just as the large cloud covered all the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds.

li is broad and immeasurable: it is “great.” There is no being that does not hear and know about it: it “pervades.” It “pervades” and covers men and gods, so that they may be free of the heat (or passion) of depravities (kleśa).

I said {proclaimed} to the great multitude, ‘I am the Tathāgata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. I will cause all living beings to cross [the ocean of birth and death] if they have not yet done so. I will cause them to emancipate themselves [from suffering] if they have not yet done so. I will cause them to have peace of mind if they have not yet done so. I will cause them to attain Nirvana if they have not yet done so. I know their present lives as they are, and also their future lives as they will be. I know all. I see all. I know the Way. I have opened the Way. I will expound the Way. Gods, men and asuras! Come and hear the Dharma!’

li becomes luminous: he “proclaims.” They should pay attention to it: thus, he talks about it. The Tao spreads in the world. When conditions are met, they are certain to hear it. This is, “all should come here in order to listen to the Dharma!”

forests, mountains, ravines and valleys

This phrase illustrates that the benefit of the Dharma extends everywhere, leaving no corner unreached.

all these plants being different in names and forms

Conditions (pratyaya) and physical forms are not identical.

were covered with a dark cloud

Cloud symbolizes the Dharma-body; rain represents the preaching of the Dharma. The Dharma-body pervades everywhere, fully and thickly, and the Dharma-sound permeates all over equally.

watered by a rainfall at the same time. {Everything rained on by the same cloud}

[The phrase] at the same time means that there is no [sequence of time], first or later. Raining down equally means that [rain] falls without any distinction between much and little. The Dharma rains of the four virtues with respect to li also are like that.

Rain “by the same cloud” implies that there is no water of a different taste. Although their genetic natures are varied, all [beings of different] appellations seek to sustain life. The same “rain” of the previous conversion [causes] the shoots of the Tao to issue forth: it is “the earth.” The present preaching helps them to attain understanding: it is the “rain.”