By Victor M Fontane
The Twelve Links is an explanation of how Dependent Origination works according to classical Buddhist doctrine. This is not regarded as a linear path, but a cyclical one in which all links are connected to all other links, prior life, this life and next life. They shows how Samsara arises but also shows how to get out of Samsara achieved through The Four Noble Truth.
Ignorance (Avidya) - Ignorance is this context means not understanding the basic truths. In Buddhism, "ignorance" usually refers to ignorance of the Four Noble Truths--in particular that life is dukkha which means unsatisfactory or stressful.
Ignorance also refers to ignorance of anatman--the teaching that there is no "self" in the sense of a permanent, integral, autonomous being within an individual existence. What we think of as our self, our personality and ego, are for Buddhists regarded as temporary assemblies of the skandhas. Failure to understand this is a major form of ignorance.
Volitional Action (Sanskara) - Ignorance produces samskara, which can be translated as volitional action, formation, impulse or motivation. Because we don't understand the truth, we have impulses that lead to actions that continue us along a path of samsaric existence, which sew the seeds of karma.
Conditioned Consciousness (Vijnana) - Vijnana usually is translated to mean "consciousness," defined here not as "thinking," but rather as the basic awareness faculties of the six senses (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind). There are therefore six different types of consciousness in the Buddhist system: eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, smell-consciousness, taste-consciousness, touch-consciousness, and thought-consciousness.
Name-and Form (Nama-rupa) - Nama-rupa is the moment when matter (rupa) joins mind (nama). It represents the artificial assembly of the five skandhas to form the illusion of an individual, independent existence.
Nama-rupa works together with the next link, the six bases, to condition other links.
The Six Senses (Sadayatana) - Upon the assembly of the skandhas into the illusion of an independent individual, the six senses (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) arise, which will lead onward to the next links.
Sense Impressions (Sparsha) - Sparsha is contact between the individual sense faculties and the outer environment. The contact between faculties and objects leads to the experience of feeling,
Feelings (Vedana) - Vedana is the recognition and experience of the preceding sense impressions as subjective feelings. For Buddhists, there are only three possible feelings: pleasantness, unpleasantness or neutral feelings, all of which can be experienced in various degrees, from mild to intense. The feelings are the precursor to desire and aversion--the clinging to pleasant feeling or the rejection of unpleasant feelings.
Desire and Craving (Trishna) - The Second Noble Truth teaches that Trishna--thirst, desire or craving--is the cause of stress or suffering (dukkha).
If we are not mindful, we are perpetually being pulled around by desire for what we want and pushed by an aversion to what we don't want. In this state, we heedlessly stay entangled in the cycle of rebirth.
Attachement (Upadana) - Upadana is the attached and clinging mind. We are attached to sensual pleasures, mistaken views, external forms, and appearances. Most of all, we cling to the illusion of ego and a sense of an individual self--a sense reinforced moment-to-moment by our cravings and aversions. Upadana also represents clinging to a womb and thus represents the beginning of rebirth.
Becoming ((Bhava) - Bhava is new becoming, set in motion by the other links. In the Buddhist system, the force of attachment keeps us bonded to the life of samsara to which we are familiar, so long as we are unable and unwilling to surrender our chains. The force of bhava is what continues to propel us along the cycle of endless rebirth.
Birth (Jati) - The cycle of rebirth naturally includes birth into a samsaric life or Jati. It is an inevitable stage of the Wheel of Life, and Buddhists believe that unless the chain of dependent origination is broken, we will continue to experience birth into the same cycle. Birth inevitably leads to old age and death.
Old Age and Death (Jarads-maranam) - The chain inevitably leads to old age and death--the dissolution of what came to be. The karma of one life sets in motion another life, rooted in ignorance (avidya). A circle that closes is one that also continues.
The Four Noble Truths teach us that releasing from the cycle of samsara is possible. Through the resolution of ignorance, volitional formations, craving and grasping there is liberation from birth and death and the peace of nirvana as each link depends on the previous one. Thus the real task is to eliminate the ignorance about the reality.
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