Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This text provides a meditative framework for understanding the twelve links of dependent origination, specifically tailored for practitioners of middling faculties using the recitation of Mañjuśrī's names as a gateway. The author argues that the cycle of rebirth is sustained by a causal chain where formations (saṃskāra) create habitual tendencies in the storehouse consciousness (ālayavijñāna), which in turn drive the subsequent links. The text explains the physiological and psychological progression from name-and-form to the development of the six sense faculties and the eventual ripening of karma into existence (bhava) and birth. By framing the present life as a simultaneous intersection of cause (from previous lives) and effect (for future lives), the work commits the reader to a systemic view of cyclic existence. The goal is to move the practitioner from the ritual act of chanting toward a precise analytical understanding of how afflictions and karmic latencies perpetuate the process of aging and death.
Provenance
About this text
A manual of instruction regarding the meditation on the twelve links of dependent origination, this work is attributed to the Indian author Mañjuśrīmitra. It is preserved within the classical Tibetan tradition in the Tengyur, specifically volume ངུ, where it comprises four pages as part of the Yoga Tantra Treatises. The work provides a meditative framework for practitioners of middling faculties, utilizing the Chanting of the Names as a gateway to understanding the causal chain of existence. It argues that the cycle of rebirth is sustained by formations that create habitual tendencies in the storehouse consciousness, which subsequently drive the emergence of the six internal sense faculties and the ripening of karma. By analyzing the progression from name-and-form to the development of consciousness and contact, the text frames the present life as a simultaneous intersection of causes from previous lives and effects for future ones. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the systemic view of cyclic existence and the specific intersection between ritual chanting and the psychological analysis of dependent origination.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Personal Instructions on Meditating Upon the Twelve Links of Dependent Arising from the Perspective of “The Recitation of the Names of Mañjuśrī”” (Toh 2566), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2566
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its integration of Yogācāra concepts, such as the ālayavijñāna, with the traditional twelve-link model of dependent origination. It demonstrates how ritual practices, like the recitation of names, were utilized as pedagogical tools to introduce complex ontological arguments to practitioners of varying capacities.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Introduction and the Role of Formations
Establishes the meditative context and explains how formations lead to the accumulation of habitual tendencies in the storehouse consciousness.
3
The Development of Sense Faculties
Discusses the transition from name-and-form to the production of the six internal sense faculties.
4
Craving and Existence
Analyzes the relationship between craving, the ripening of karmic latencies, and the resulting birth within the three realms.
5
The Temporal Nature of the Twelve Links
Explains the present life as a bridge between previous causes and future effects, concluding with the inevitability of aging and death.
Themes
Dependent Origination (Pratītyasamutpāda) (1-5)
Storehouse Consciousness (ālayavijñāna) (2)
Karmic Ripening and Habitual Tendencies (2, 4)
Causality across Lifetimes (5)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaPersonal Instructions on Meditating Upon the Twelve Links of Dependent Arising from the Perspective of “The Recitation of the Names of Mañjuśrī”·
Homage to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta. Regarding the meditation on the twelve links of dependent origination by those of middling faculties through the gateway of the Chanting of the Names (Nāmasaṃgīti): The Perfectly Complete Buddha taught the twelve links of dependent origination. Having observed the external dependent origination—from the seed to the sprout, up to the fruit, arising in the manner of eight links—he then taught the internal dependent origination, from ignorance to aging and death, as the twelve links. This demonstrates the causes and effects of how internal phenomena arise.
In that regard, ignorance arises from a lack of knowledge; it is delusion regarding suchness and delusion regarding the causes and effects of karma. Through that condition, ignorance arises. Why is it called "ignorance"? Because it is a great darkness, it is called ignorance. For example, just as one cannot see the nature of objects when obscured by darkness, ignorance likewise obscures and prevents one from seeing that karma and its results exist, that the truths and the Three Jewels possess excellent qualities, and that the nature of phenomena is emptiness. Because it is obscured and not seen, it is called "darkness." Some do not recognize the difference between virtue and non-virtue; others, though they believe in the existence of virtue and non-virtue, are confused about the actual meaning, and thus it is called ignorance.
Through that condition, formative activities (saṃskāra) arise. These are the three types of formative activities: meritorious, non-meritorious, and immovable. Because they perform formative activities, they are called "formative activities."
The unindicated [actions] are the various formations (saṃskāra). Through their activity, habitual tendencies (vāsanā) are accumulated in the ālayavijñāna, and by that cause, consciousness (vijñāna) arises. Through that, one performs the formations of virtuous, non-virtuous, and neutral karma within the three realms. Ignorance (avidyā) and formations are to be associated with the previous life. Consciousness arises with formations as its condition. Why is it called "consciousness"? Because the eye-consciousness and the others individually perceive and know the various external and internal phenomena—forms, sounds, smells, and so forth—it is called "consciousness." Impelled by the cause of the habitual tendencies deposited in the ālayavijñāna, it enters the mother’s womb in the manner of a momentary succession and becomes name-and-form (nāmarūpa). From consciousness downward is the present life; the three preceding [links] are the "projecting members." With that as a condition, name-and-form arises. Why? Because they depend upon one another, they are called "name-and-form." For example, just as three sticks joined at their tips can form a tripod, the four aggregates of name and the aggregate of form also depend upon one another, and are thus called "name-and-form." Once consciousness has entered the mother’s womb, the four aggregates of name and the aggregate of form develop through the six stages of the womb: the oval, the oblong, the round, the flesh-mass, the limb-protuberance, and so forth. With that as a condition, the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana) arise.
Because they act as the gateway for the arising or emergence of the mind and mental factors, they are called "gateways." In actual fact, based upon name-and-form—such as the mer-mer-po (kalala) stage and so forth—the six internal sense faculties are produced; through that condition, consciousness arises and expands toward the six objects. Conditioned by consciousness is "contact" (sparśa); because the object, the sense faculty, and consciousness converge, there is contact with objects that are pleasant, unpleasant, or neither. The cause of that contact is "feeling" (vedanā), which is the experience resulting from the emergence of contact. These four links from here on are the branches of the projected path.
Conditioned by feeling, craving (tṛṣṇā) arises. Why is it called "craving"? It is called craving because of thirst. Just as one tormented by thirst longs for water, so too, through the separation from painful feelings and the desire to meet with pleasure, there is craving. Through the condition of pleasant feelings, craving arises as the drinking of intoxicants; it is craving because of the repeated desire for them. The root of all this arises from ignorance. The three links of craving, grasping, and becoming are to be associated with the present life.
Conditioned by craving, grasping (upādāna) arises. Why is it so called? It is called grasping because of the act of taking up. There are four types of grasping: grasping at sensory desires, grasping at views, grasping at rules and rituals, and grasping at the view of a self. One repeatedly takes up the cause of becoming; the root of this as well is ignorance. Conditioned by grasping, becoming (bhava) arises. Why is that? Because it is the cause of future existence.
It is called "existence" (bhava) because of birth into cyclic existence, for it is birth within the three realms. The cause for birth there—the ripening of the latencies of karma and the afflictions—is called "craving" (tṛṣṇā). Because one accumulates virtuous and non-virtuous karma through the cause of grasping (upādāna), one takes up a future life; thus, it is "existence." These three [links] from this point onward are the branches of accomplishment.
Birth occurs with existence as its condition. Why? It is called "birth" (jāti) because the aggregates arise; since the aggregates of the body—such as those of gods and humans—arise previously non-existent within the five classes of beings, it is "birth." Furthermore, that birth occurs due to the cause of having performed the karma for birth into existence.
Aging and death occur with birth as their condition. Why is it called "aging" (jarā)? It is called "aging" because the aggregates ripen. For example, just as a fruit is said to be "aged" when it ripens, the hair becomes white and wrinkled; the body becomes like a latrine, the mouth like an empty cave, the hair like the flowers of a tinder-plant, and the forehead like a worn-out mat. This is "aging."
Death occurs with aging as its condition. Why? It is called "death" (maraṇa) because of perishing; since the duration of the body's aggregates has been exhausted and they are abandoned by heat and consciousness, it is "death." When there is birth, aging and death occur. These three—birth, aging, and death—are associated with the future life. Aging and death are the branches of the defects.
The twelve links of dependent origination are explained in five sections, established from the perspective of the causes of the previous life.
The present life is established by way of both cause and effect. Why is it taught in that way? It is because this life is produced by the causes of the previous life, and this life produces the causes for the next. Thus, when the twelve links proceed in forward order, aging and death occur at the end. If one investigates from where they arise, they arise from birth. Then, by gradually tracing how one condition produces another, the root is found in ignorance. That ignorance does not cease into non-existence; rather, it ceases into non-being or non-apprehension. Consequently, everything from the formative factors up to aging and death ceases. One should understand and meditate upon this reverse order. Thus, this work of mine is not a mere fabrication; it was composed based on the statement: "He who has uprooted the twelve links of existence / Holds the twelvefold purity." This concludes the Instruction on Meditating on the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination through the Mañjuśrī-nāmasaṃgīti*, composed by the master Mañjuśrīmitra.
Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations, and not in progress there. Translations published elsewhere have not been searched for, so one may exist. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).
Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.