The Foundations of Buddhism

No Self

Both Vasubandhu and Buddhaghosa present as standard a

way of taking the twelvefold formula as relating to three differ"'

ent lives of a being (cf. Table 3). In our previous life we have'

performed various actions, we have been prey to the various

volitions, impulses, and activities of the mind, both meritorioti~

and unmeritorious, wholesome and unwholesome, and thes'e

are collectively summed up in the formula as (2) 'formations'

(saJ?1skiira/saJ?1khiira); although some of our actions have beet}:

wholesome, we never entirely succeed in freeing ourselves fron11

a fundamentally distorted and partial seeing of the way things

are; like a blind man we stumble from the right road to the wrong

road without really understanding what we are doing;^31 thus

(1) 'ignorance' (avidyiilavijjii), as a positive misconception and:

not the mere absence ()f knowledge,^32 forms the background to

all our past actions, and so the formula begins, 'conditioned by

ignorance are formations'. In the present we are heirs to these.

past deeds. In the process of rebirth at the moment of conception

in ou'r mother's womb we come into existence with (3) a minq

or consciousness ( vijiiiina/viiiiiiil}a) that is directly conditioneq

by these past deeds; in turn this consciousness gives rise to

(4) our basic mental and physical make-up (niima-rupa) which
in turn conditions the physical and mental capacities with which
we turn to the world, (5) our five physical senses, and the mind
(iiyatana). Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosa relates these last two
links to the gradual development of the foetus in the womb.

From the moment of birth by way of these six senses ( 6) various

sensations (sparsa!phassa) and experiences come to us lead-
ing to ( 7) pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings ( vedanii);
Vasubandhu relates this link to the stage in its development when
a child learns to distinguish clearly those things which will bring

pleasure and those that will bring pain. This world of feelings,

some of which we like, some of which we dislike, some of which

we are indifferent towards, gives rise to (8) craving (tT$1Jii/fa1Jhii)
for more of the pleasant feelings and fewer of the painful feel-

ings. For Vasubandhu this link is particularly associated with the

awakening of sexual passion at puberty. In re~ponse to our crav-

ing we determine on and (9) cling to (upiidiina) various courses