Robii pacatelor

[florin.oltean75]

The plight of living beings in samsara has six points of similarity with the mechanism of a well:

(1) Just as a bucket is bound to the windlass by rope, so living beings are bound to samsara by delusion and law of cause and effect.

(2) Just as a windlass is forced to rotate by its operator, so living beings are forced to wander in samsara by their unpeaceful and untamed minds.

(3) Just as one turn of a windlass is immediately followed by another, so one rebirth in samsara is immediately followed by another.

(4) Just as a bucket tumbles to the bottom of a well with great ease but is drawn up again only with much effort, so living beings readily migrate to lower rebirths but rise from them only with great difficulty.


(5) Just as when a windlass is spinning quickly it is difficult to identify where one rotation ends and the next begins, so as living beings wander in samsara it is impossible to tell which comes first - delusions, actions, or effects.

(6) Living beings wander in samsara in dependence upon the twelve dependent-related links.

Within these, there are three that are delusions, two that are actions, and seven that are effects.

The three delusions are
• dependent-related ignorance,
• dependent-related craving, and
• dependent-related grasping.

The two actions are
• dependent-related compositional actions and
• dependent-related existence.

The seven effects are
• dependent-related consciousness,
• dependent-related name and form,
• dependent-related six sources,
• dependent-related contact,
• dependent-related feeling,
• dependent-related birth, and
• dependent-related ageing and death.

The three delusions cause the two actions, which produce the seven effects, which in turn lead to the three delusions, and so on.

In this way, the twelve links revolve unceasingly, and it is impossible to say which comes first.

For example, we may feel that the delusion ignorance must come first, but there can only be ignorance if there has been birth, there can only be birth if there has been action, there can only be action if there has been ignorance, and so on.