slightest trace of any positive existence.
Thus it is seen that if there were no ignorance (_avidya_), there
would have been no conformations (_sa@mskaras_), and if there were
no conformations there would have been no consciousness, and so
on; but it cannot be said of the ignorance "I am generating the
sa@mskaras," and it can be said of the sa@mskaras "we are being
produced by the avidya." But there being avidya, there come the
sa@mskaras and so on with other categories too. This character of
the pratityasamutpada is known as the coming of the consequent
depending on an antecedent reason (_hetupanibandha_).

It can be viewed from another aspect, namely that of dependence
on conglomeration or combination (_pratyayopanibandh_).
It is by the combination (_samavaya_) of the four elements, space
(_akas'a_) and consciousness (_vijnana_) that a man is made. It is
due to earth (_p@rthivi_) that the body becomes solid, it is due to
water that there is fat in the body, it is due to fire that there is
digestion, it is due to wind that there is respiration; it is due
to akas'a that there is porosity, and it is due to vijnana that
there is mind-consciousness. It is by their mutual combination
that we find a man as he is. But none of these elements think
that they have done any of the functions that are considered to be
allotted to them. None of these are real substances or beings or
souls. It is by ignorance that these are thought of as existents and
attachment is generated for them. Through ignorance thus come
the sa@mskaras, consisting of attachment, antipathy and thoughtlessness
(_raga, dve@sa, moha_); from these proceed the vijnana and
the four skandhas. These with the four elements bring about name
and form (_namarupa_), from these proceed the senses (_@sa@dayatana_),
from the coming together of those three comes contact (_spars'a_);
from that feelings, from that comes desire (_tr@s@na_) and so on.
These flow on like the stream of a river, but there is no essence
or truth behind them all or as the ground of them all [Footnote ref 2].
The phenomena therefore cannot be said to be either existent or
non-existent, and no truth can be affirmed of either eternalism
(_s'as'vatavada_) or nihilism (_ucchedavada_), and it is for this reason

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[Footnote 1: See _Madhyamikav@rtti_ (B.T.S.), pp. 101-108.]

[Footnote: _Ibid._ pp. 209-211, quoted from _Salistambhasutra_.