断除贪欲，即可斩断轮回锁链

Even when the distant causes are present, no rebirth will take place if the proximate causes are absent. In other words，although ignorance and volitional actions, the causes from the past life, are already committed, it is still possible that we should not have to come back to samsara if we can completely eradicate craving, the desire for samsara, through the attainment of spiritual realization, notwithstanding all past negative karma have yet been purified.

即使有远因，但如果近因不具足，也是不会投胎的。也就是说，虽然我们有了前世的因——无明和行支，但是若能在这一世中修行成就，没有了爱缘起支，彻底地断除了对轮回的贪欲心，那么，即使在往昔所造恶业尚未完全清净的情况下，下一世也不会再投胎转世了。

It is said in the sutras that a cart with two wheels will be unable to move if one of the wheels is missing. By the same token, absent craving, there will be no rebirth despite the presence of all the past causes.

经书里面讲，木车有两个车轮，若缺少了其中一个车轮，车就没有办法行走；同样的，即使以前所有的这些因都存在，但若缺少了贪欲，就不能转世了。

Ordinary craving can be resolved by cultivating renunciation, but subtler craving must be extinguished through the practice of not-self.

粗大的贪欲可通过出离心来解决，细微的当然要通过人无我的修法来解决。

For someone to attain arhathood, the distant causes are needed but not the proximate cause - craving. Being an arhat, one must have eliminated all defilements and craving is a kind of defilement. Still, arhats have to bear the karmic fruits of this life resulting from the causes formed in the past life, as many such stories are told in One Hundred Stories about Karma and other scriptures. Even so, they will not be reborn in samsara again as they have cut off all worldly desires. It is to help us understand this causality that the Twelve Nidanas are divided into the twofold cause and effect.

阿罗汉有远因，但是没有近因——爱支（贪欲），因为贪欲属于烦恼，而阿罗汉已断尽所有的烦恼。他这一世因为前世的因缘，也会感受很多果报，在《百业经》等经书里讲了很多阿罗汉受报的公案。尽管如此，下一世他却不会再入轮回，因为他没有了贪欲。就是为了让我们了解这些，所以才把十二缘起支分成两重因果。