Take a 👀 inside ! - the procrastinators handbook

Here’s the translation:

The Essential Painting Every Practitioner Must Know: Part Two (I)

The Thangka of the “Twelve Links of Dependent Origination” illustrates:

1. Ignorance

2. Formation

3. Consciousness

4. Name and Form

5. The Six Sense Bases

6. Contact

7. Feeling

8. Craving

9. Clinging

10. Becoming

11. Birth

12. Aging and Death

This cycle perpetuates endlessly.

🌕The following teachings are from the Venerable Master Hsing Yun🙏🙏🙏

➡️ Sentient beings, due to a single moment of “ignorance” (1), create various karmic “formations” (2). These lead to the formation of karmic “consciousness” (3), which carries over to rebirth as “name and form” (4). As the six sense bases (5) develop, they make “contact” (6) with external objects, leading to “feeling” (7). Feelings give rise to “craving” (8), which fuels “clinging” (9). This results in the creation of karmic “becoming” (10), giving rise to the individual “birth” (11), which inevitably leads to “aging and death” (12). Death then marks the beginning of another cycle of life.

➡️ Thus, through the chain of “ignorance conditions formation, formation conditions consciousness, consciousness conditions name and form, name and form condition the six sense bases, the six sense bases condition contact, contact conditions feeling, feeling conditions craving, craving conditions clinging, clinging conditions becoming, becoming conditions birth, and birth conditions aging and death,” sentient beings are trapped in the endless cycle of life and death. These twelve conditions are interdependent, which is why they are called the “Twelve Links of Dependent Origination.”

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➡️ The Twelve Links reveal the cause-and-effect relationship underlying the cycle of sentient life. “Ignorance” (1) and “formation” (2) are causes from past lives🙋‍♀️, which lead to present-life results such as “consciousness” (3), “name and form” (4), “six sense bases” (5), “contact” (6), and “feeling” (7). In the present life, “craving” (8), “clinging” (9), and “becoming” (10) sow the seeds for future-life results like “birth” (11) and “aging and death” (12). This creates the cyclical relationship of delusion, karma, and suffering across three lifetimes, known as the “Three-Lifetime, Two-Fold Cause and Effect.” (Refer to Diagram 4).

➡️ From Diagram 4, it is evident that the Twelve Links are like a chain🔗, tightly binding the past, present, and future lifetimes together. They are also akin to a fortress wall👀, trapping individuals inside. Although there is a gate, it is heavily guarded, making it difficult to escape. In truth, people can transcend the binding force of the Twelve Links😔, but the pull of greed, hatred, and ignorance often keeps them trapped in the cycle of dependent origination.

➡️ Therefore, to break free from the cycle of rebirth and achieve liberation, one must eliminate the root cause of birth and death—“ignorance.” Only by extinguishing ignorance will “formation cease, consciousness cease, name and form cease, the six sense bases cease, contact cease, feeling cease, craving cease, clinging cease, becoming cease, birth cease, and aging and death along with all suffering cease.” This process is called the “Reverse Path of Dependent Origination,” while the continuous cycle is known as the “Path of Dependent Origination.”

🌱🌱🌱#impastotechnique #expressionism