The Secret Doctrine Volume 3.pdf

1 Jarâmarana
2 Jâti
3 Bhava
4 Upâdâna
5 Trishnâ
6 Vedanâ
7 Sparsha
8 Chadayâtana
9 Nâmarûpa
10 Vigñâna
11 Samskâra
12 Avidyâ *
THE TWELVE NIDANAS
* If the Nidânas are read the reverse way, i.e.,
from 12 to 1, they give the evolutionary order.—
Ed.J]
(1) JARÂMARANA, lit death in
consequence of decrepitude. Notice
that death and not life comes as the
first of the Nidânas. This is the first
fundamental in Buddhist Philosophy;
every Atom, at every moment, as soon
as it is born begins dying.
The five Skandhahas are founded on it;
they are its effects or product.
Moreover, in its turn, it is based on the
five Skandhas. They are mutual things, one gives to the other.
(2) JÂTI, lit. Birth.
That is to say, Birth according to one of the four modes of Chaturyoni (the four
wombs), viz.,:
(i) Through the womb, like Mammalia.
(ii) Through Eggs.
(iii) Ethereal or liquid Germs—fish spawn, pollen, insects, etc.
(iv) Anupâdaka—Nirmânakâyas, Gods, etc.
That is to say that birth takes place by one of these modes. You must be born in one
of the six objective modes of existence, or in the seventh which is subjective. These
four are within six modes of existence, vis.:
Karmic Effects(Page 587)
Exoterically:—
(i) Devas; (ii) Men; (iii) Asuras; (iv) Men in Hell; (v) Pretas, devouring demons on
earth; (vi) animals.
Esoterically:---
(i) Higher Gods; (ii) Devas or Pitris (all classes); (iii) Nirmânakâyas; (iv) Bodhisattvas;
(v) Men in Myalba; (vi) Kâma Rûpic existences, whether of men or animals, in Kâma
Loka or the Astral Light; (vii) Elementals (Subjective Existences).
(3) BHAVA = Karmic existence, not life existence, but as a moral agent which
determines where you will be born, i.e., in which of the Triloka, Bhûr, Bhuvar or Svar
(seven Lokas in reality).
The cause or Nidâna of Bhava is Upâdâna, that is, the clinging to existence, that
which makes us desire life in whatever form.
Its effect is Jatî in one or another of the Triloka and under whatever conditions.
Nidânas are the detailed expression of the law of Karma under twelve aspects; or we
might say the law of Karma under twelve Nidânic aspects.
Skandhas
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