![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FuLi2E8C.jpg&t=663&c=v1RqyfXpMwCBng)
By contemplating on the twelve links, one gains greater insight into the workings of karma; this insight enables us to begin to unravel our habitual way of thinking and reacting.
The twelve causal links are:
1) Avidyā lack of knowledge – a blind person, often walking, or a person peering out
2) Saṃskāra constructive volitional activity – a potter shaping a vessel or vessels
3) Vijñāna consciousness – a man or a monkey grasping a fruit
4) Nāmarūpa name and form (constituent elements of mental and physical existence) – two men afloat in a boat
5) Ṣaḍāyatana six senses (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) – a dwelling with six windows
6) Sparśa contact – lovers consorting, kissing, or entwined
7) Vedanā pain – an arrow to the eye
![Cool](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/cool.gif)
Tṛṣṇa thirst – a drinker receiving drink
9) Upādāna grasping – a man or a monkey picking fruit
10) Bhava coming to be – a couple engaged in intercourse, a standing, leaping, or reflective person
11) Jāti being born – woman giving birth
12) Jarāmaraṇa old age and death – corpse being carried
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FBhfqNDE.png&t=663&c=MMV5kGSPwL0hfw)