24 The Jatakas are the birth stories of the Buddha, recounting his previous lives and illustrating the workings of karma in his many rebirths before becoming a buddha.

21 See glossary.

25 Each of the six consciousnesses arises from the interaction between a sense faculty and its sense object.

26 In this context, any object or element arising in any of the eighteen reallms is a dhatu.

27 The following psychological model of mind is from Asangha’s Abhidharmasamuccaya-sastra, or Treatise on Synthesis of Phenomenonogy. Consciousness has eight aspects: the first five refer to our five sensory cognitions; the sixth refers to our mental cognition; the seventh refers to self-clinging that underlies all of our experiences; the eighth refers to the source of our continuation in samsara. The purpose in understanding the relationships of these mental factors is to recognize the psychological processes at work within us. Through examination, we recognize that suffering is caused by our own insistence on self-grasping, our attachment to a permanent self-identity. In turn, we will understand the need to realize impermanence and selflessness, which are the sole means to overcome our suffering.

28 In the Abhidharmasamuccaya-sastra (Treatise on Synthesis of phenomenology), Asanga delineates in detail the function of each of these dharmas. These 51 mental dharmas, or mental factors, are divided into six groups: the five all-accompanying mental factors, the five object-ascertaining mental factors, the eleven virtuous mental factors, the six root delusions, the twenty secondary delusions, and the four changeable mental factors.

29 Generally, ‘causes and conditions’ are the existential prerequisites for something to happen. As an analogy, sunlight, soil, and water are necessary causes and conditions for a plant to grow. ‘Causes and consequences’ are the karmic forces that bring causes and conditions together to bring about retribution. In the plant analogy, the planting of a seed (cause), along with the proper conditions (sunlight, soil, and water) results in a plant taking root (consequence).

30 The agamas are the earliest collections of Shakyamuni Buddha’s teaching on the four noble truths, the eightfold path, the twelve links of conditioned arsing, the eighteen realms of existence, etc.