‘That entities do not arise from themselves is certainly the case. This position is indeed reasonable. But the words how could it arise from other? do not make sense. Based on the scriptures which state, “The four external conditions are: the causal, the object, the immediately preceding and the dominant; conditions are the creators of entities,” although undesirable, production from other must be upheld.’
Some say: ‘The causal conditions are five excepting the enabling cause. The object condition is any dharma suitable to be an object of the six consciousnesses perceived as an object. The immediately preceding condition is the mind and mental states other than the mind which has entered transcendence without remaining aggregates. The dominant condition is the enabling cause.’ 1
Others say: ‘From the definition which states, “The cause is what accomplishes,” its causal condition is that which is something’s producer, constituting a seed; while the object condition is the object that causes production, similar to a supporting cane, of the causally arisen mind and mental factors, similar to the old person getting up, which is the sense of the statement, “It is the support of the generated dharmas.” That which is like an immediately preceding condition is that as soon as the cause has ceased the condition is there for the production of the result, just as a sprout immediately succeeds the disappearance of the seed. The dominant condition is that which by its presence makes something arise.2
‘Any other conditions, such as the simultaneously produced or subsequently produced, are included within these. Since an almighty god (īśvara) and so on are not conditions, it is ascertained that “There is no fifth condition.”’3
Title
Chapter 1: Pramuditā
