§6. The root instigator of the cycle of death and rebirth.

六、生死轮回的根本教唆者

thitibhutam avijja-paccaya
sankhara... upadanam... bhavo... jati...

　　‘缘无明住地而生行，‥‥取‥‥有‥‥生。’

Each and every one of us born as a human being has a birthplace: we have our parents as our birthplace. So why did the Buddha formulate the teaching on sustained conditions only from the factor of unawareness onwards? What unawareness comes from, he didn't say. Unawareness has to have a mother and father just as we do, and we learn from the above line that thitibhutam is its mother and father. Thitibhutam refers to the primal mind. When the primal mind is imbued with delusion, there is a sustaining factor: the condition of unawareness. Once there is unawareness, it acts as the sustenance for the fashioning of sankhara, mental fashionings, together with the act of clinging to them, which gives rise to states of becoming and birth. In other words, these things will have to keep on arising and giving rise to each other continually. They are thus called sustained or sustaining conditions because they support and sustain one another.

　　我们每个人生为人类都有他的生处，也就是我们都有父母做为我们的生处。那么为什么佛陀解说因缘法只从无明开始？无明从何而来，他并没有说，无明就像我们一样，一定有它的父母，我们从上面知道‘住地’是它的父母，‘住地’是指最初的心意。当最初的心意浸染了愚痴，就有持续的因素：无明的因缘。一旦有了‘无明’，它就成了‘行’—心理形成的因缘，伴随著对它们的执著，这就长养了‘有’和‘生’的状态。也就是这些事情将必继续生起并持续地相互增长，它们被称为缘起，因为它们互相支持强化。

Awareness and unawareness both come from thitibhutam. When thitibhutam is imbued with unawareness, it isn't wise to its conditions; but when it is imbued with awareness, it realizes its conditions for what they really are. This is how the matter appears when considered with the clear insight leading to emergence (vutthana-gamini vipassana).

　　明和无明都从‘住地’而来，当‘住地’浸染了无明，它并不知道它的情况；但是当它浸润于‘明’时，它知道它们真正的情况。这就是事实如何显现的经过，当以清净的内明予以思考时所呈现的。

To summarize: Thitibhutam is the primal instigator of the cycle of death and rebirth. Thus it is called the root source of the three (see § 12). When we are to cut the cycle of death and rebirth so that it disconnects and vanishes into nothingness, we have to train the primal instigator to develop awareness, alert to all conditions for what they really are. It will then recover from its delusion and never give rise to any conditions again. Thitibhutam, the root instigator, will stop spinning, and this will end our circling through the cycle of death and rebirth.

　　总而言之，‘住地’是生死轮回的主要教唆者，因此它被称为三毒(见第１２节)的根源，当我们要切断生死轮回，使它不再相连而消失于空时，我们必须训练这主要的教唆者去开发‘明’，警觉于所有情况的真相，于是它将从它的愚痴中复苏而不再去长养任何因缘，‘住地’，根本的教唆者，将停止旋纺，这将终止我们的生死轮回。

　【中译注】

　　有五住地：

　　一、邪见住地─对三界的错误知见。

　　二、欲爱住地─执著于欲界。

　　三、色爱住地─执著于色界。

　　四、无色爱住地─执著于无色界。

　　五、无明住地─无明的状态，不明白三界的状态。

　　无明如风，住地如三界大海，风吹大海便起烦恼波澜。