all the impress of change; therefore, my heart is
sad and heavy." Or this:

"A hollow compliance and a protesting heart, such method is not for me to
follow: I now will seek a noble law, unlike the worldly methods known to
men. I will oppose disease, and change and death, and strive against the
mischief wrought by these, on men."

According to the _Samyutta Nikaya_, the twelve _Nidanas_ (or chain of
consequences) are:

"On ignorance depends karma;

"On karma depends consciousness;

"On consciousness depends name and form;

"On name and form depends the six organs of sense."

"On contact depends sensation;

"On sensation depends desire;

"On desire depends attachment;

"On attachment depends existence;

"On existence depends birth;

"On birth depend old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, and
despair.

"Thus does this entire aggregation of misery arise."

Having arrived at this conclusion, the problem may be solved by learning
how to avoid existence. But, let us consider what the term "existence"
means. The common acceptance of the word, as used in the English, seems to
include _being_; but if we will consider the word in its literal meaning,
when analyzed, we find that it comes from "est" (to be), and the prefix
"ex," meaning actually "_not-being_."

The word _Being_, is a synonym for eternal life--for Deity. It does not
savor of anything that has been created, or that will terminate. _Being
is_, therefore, to cease to _ex_-ist, is to cease to live under the spell
of the illusory and changing quality of _maya_, or externality.

Far from meaning to be "wiped out," or absorbed into The Absolute, in the
sense of complete loss of consciousness, it means the eternal retention of
consciousness, unhampered by the delusion of sense as a reality.

To escape from this chain of illusory ideas,
and their consequences, the obvious necessity is
to claim the soul's right to _Being_. This is done
by dispelling ignorance (_A-vidya_) by vidya
(knowledge). Thus karma ceases:

"On the cessation of karma ceases consciousness of self;

"On the cessation of this consciousness of self, cease name and form;

"On the cessation of name and form, cease the organs of sense;

"On the cessation of sense, ceases contact;

"On the cessation of contact, ceases sensation;

"On the cessation of sensation, ceases desire;

"On the cessation of desire ceases attachment;

"On the cessation of attachment ceases e