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8: Bondage
After describing the concept of influx, now in this eighth chapter, the nature of bondage is discussed.
The causes of bondage are referred to as wrong belief, non-restraint, carelessness, passions, and yoga. 1. These five are the causes of bondage.
The description of the nature of bondage is presented further in verse 2. Here, the causes are indicated. Regarding the number of causes of bondage, three traditions can be observed. According to one tradition, only passions and yoga are the causes of bondage. In the second tradition, wrong belief, non-restraint, passions, and yoga are considered four causes of bondage. The third tradition describes five causes of bondage by adding carelessness to the aforementioned four causes. Despite the differences in the number and names of the causes, from an essential perspective, there is no distinction among these traditions. Carelessness is a form of lack of restraint, and thus it falls under non-restraint or passions. In this view, the texts on karma nature refer to four causes of bondage. Wrong belief and lack of restraint do not differ in the nature of passions; hence, only passions and yoga are called the causes of bondage. The real question is, if this is indeed the case, then what is the basis for the variations in the number of traditions?
Response: Whatever the karmic bondage may be, at that time, the maximum four components are formed, with both passions and yoga being its different causes, because the elements of nature and region are formed through yoga, and the elements of condition and non-fruit-bearing are formed through passions. Therefore, in the analysis of the causes of those four components arising in a single karma, the scripture explains...