Pratītyasamutpāda (Sanskrit: प्रतीत्यसमुत्पाद, Pāli: paṭiccasamuppāda), commonly translated as dependent origination, or dependent arising, is a key doctrine in Buddhism shared by all schools of Buddhism. It states that all dharmas (phenomena) arise in dependence upon other dharmas: "if this exists, that exists; if this ceases to exist, that also ceases to exist". +more
The doctrine includes depictions of the arising of suffering (anuloma-paṭiccasamuppāda, "with the grain", forward conditionality) and depictions of how the chain can be reversed (paṭiloma-paṭiccasamuppāda, "against the grain", reverse conditionality). These processes are expressed in various lists of dependently originated phenomena, the most well-known of which is the twelve links or nidānas (Pāli: dvādasanidānāni, Sanskrit: dvādaśanidānāni). +more
Another interpretation regards the lists as describing the arising of mental processes and the resultant notion of "I" and "mine" that leads to grasping and suffering. Several modern western scholars argue that there are inconsistencies in the list of twelve links, and regard it to be a later synthesis of several older lists and elements, some of which can be traced to the Vedas.
The doctrine of dependent origination appears throughout the early Buddhist texts. It is the main topic of the Nidana Samyutta of the Theravada school's Saṃyuttanikāya (henceforth SN). +more
Overview
Dependent origination is a philosophically complex concept, subject to a large variety of explanations and interpretations. As the interpretations often involve specific aspects of dependent origination, they are not necessarily mutually exclusive to each other.
Dependent origination can be contrasted with the classic Western concept of causation in which an action by one thing is said to cause a change in another thing. Dependent origination instead views the change as being caused by many factors, not just one or even a few.
The principle of dependent origination has a variety of philosophical implications.
* As an ontological principle (i. e. +more
Etymology
Pratītyasamutpāda consists of two terms:
* Pratītya: "having depended. " The term appears in the Vedas and Upanishads in the sense of "confirmation, dependence, acknowledge origin". +more
Pratītyasamutpāda has been translated into English as dependent origination, dependent arising, interdependent co-arising, conditioned arising, and conditioned genesis.
Jeffrey Hopkins notes that terms synonymous to pratītyasamutpāda are apekṣhasamutpāda and prāpyasamutpāda.
The term may also refer to the twelve nidānas, Pali: dvādasanidānāni, Sanskrit: dvādaśanidānāni, from dvāvaśa ("twelve") + nidānāni (plural of "nidāna", "cause, motivation, link"). Generally speaking, in the Mahayana tradition, pratityasamutpada (Sanskrit) is used to refer to the general principle of interdependent causation, whereas in the Theravada tradition, paticcasamuppāda (Pali) is used to refer to the twelve nidānas.
Dependent origination in early Buddhism
The principle of conditionality
In the early Buddhist texts, the basic principle of conditionality is called by different names such as “the certainty (or law) of dhamma” (dhammaniyāmatā), “suchness of dharma” (法如; *dharmatathatā), the “enduring principle” (ṭhitā dhātu), “specific conditionality” (idappaccayatā) and “dhammic nature” (法爾; dhammatā). This principle is expressed in its most general form as follows: [wiki_quote=eb0100f6] According to Paul Williams "this is what causation is for early Buddhist thought. +more
Peter Harvey states this means that "nothing (except nirvāna) is independent. The doctrine thus complements the teaching that no permanent, independent self can be found. +more
Variable phenomena, invariant principle
According to the Paccaya sutta (SN 12. 20 and its parallel in SA 296), dependent origination is the basic principle of conditionality which is at play in all conditioned phenomena. +more
Pater Harvey argues that there is an "overall Basic Pattern that is Dhamma" within which "specific basic patterns (dhammas) flow into and nurture each other in complex, but set, regular patterns.".
Invariant principle
According to the Paccaya sutta (SN 12. 20) and its parallel, this natural law of this/that conditionality is independent of being discovered by a Buddha (a "Tathāgata"), just like the laws of physics. +more
Bhikkhu Sujato translates the basic description of the stability of dependent origination as "the fact that this is real, not unreal, not otherwise". The Chinese parallel at SA 296 similarly states that dependent origination is "the constancy of dharmas, the certainty of dharmas, suchness of dharmas, no departure from the true, no difference from the true, actuality, truth, reality, non-confusion". +more
Variable phenomena - dependently arisen processes
The principle of conditionality, which is real and stable, is contrasted with the "dependently arisen processes", which are described as "impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, of a nature to be destroyed, of a nature to vanish, of a nature to fade away, of a nature to cease. " SA 296 describes them simply as "arising thus according to causal condition, these are called dharmas arisen by causal condition. +more
Conditionality and liberation
The Buddha's discovery of conditionality
Regarding the arising of suffering, SN 12. 10 discusses how before the Buddha's awakening, he searched for the escape from suffering as follows: "when what exists is there old age and death? What is a condition for old age and death?", discovering the chain of conditions as expressed in the twelve nidanas and other lists. +more
In the Mahānidānasutta (DN 15) the Buddha states that dependent origination is "deep and appears deep", and that it is "because of not understanding and not penetrating this teaching" that people become "tangled like a ball of string" in views (diṭṭhis), samsara, rebirth and suffering. SN 12. +more
Seeing the dharma
MN 28 associates knowing dependent origination with knowing the dharma: [wiki_quote=2c849d36]
A well-known early exposition of the basic principle of causality is said to have led to the stream entry of Sariputta and Moggallāna. This ye dharmā hetu phrase, which appears in the Vinaya (Vin. +more
Application
Conditionality as the middle way - not-self and emptiness
The early Buddhist texts also associate dependent arising with emptiness and not-self. The early Buddhist texts outline different ways in which dependent origination is a middle way between different sets of "extreme" views (such as "monist" and "pluralist" ontologies or materialist and dualist views of mind-body relation). +more
The Kaccānagottasutta then places the teaching of dependent origination (listing the twelve nidanas in forward and reverse order) as a middle way which rejects these two "extreme" metaphysical views which can be seen as two mistaken conceptions of the self.
According to Hùifēng, a recurring theme throughout the Nidānasamyutta (SN 12) is the Buddha's "rejection of arising from any one or other of the four categories of self, other, both or neither (non-causality). " A related statement can be found in the Paramārthaśūnyatāsūtra (Dharma Discourse on Ultimate Emptiness, SĀ 335, parallel at EĀ 37:7), which states that when a sense organ arises "it does not come from any location. +more
The Kaccānagottasutta and its parallel also associates understanding dependent origination with avoiding views of a self (atman). This text states that if "you don’t get attracted, grasp, and commit to the notion ‘my self’, you’ll have no doubt or uncertainty that what arises is just suffering arising, and what ceases is just suffering ceasing. +more
SN 12:12 (parallel at SĀ 372) the Buddha is asked a series of questions about the self (who feels? who craves? etc. ), the Buddha states that these questions are invalid, and instead teaches dependent origination. +more
The four noble truths
According to early suttas like AN 3. 61, the second and third noble truths of the four noble truths are directly correlated to the principle of dependent origination. +more
Lists of nidanas
In the early Buddhist texts, dependent origination is analyzed and expressed in various lists of dependently originated phenomena (dhammas) or causes (nidānas). Nidānas are co-dependent principles, processes or events, which act as links on a chain, conditioning and depending on each other. +more
The most common one is a list of twelve causes (Pali: dvādasanidānāni, Sanskrit: dvādaśanidānāni). Bucknell refers to it as the "standard list". +more
The most common interpretation of the twelve cause list in the traditional exegetical literature is that the list is describing the conditional arising of rebirth in saṃsāra, and the resultant duḥkha (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). An alternative Theravada interpretation regards the list as describing the arising of mental formations and the resultant notion of "I" and "mine," which are the source of suffering.
Understanding the relationships between these phenomena is said to lead to nibbana, complete freedom from the cyclical rebirth cycles of samsara. Traditionally, the reversal of the causal chain is explained as leading to the cessation of mental formations and rebirth. +more
Lists of nidanas
The twelve nidanas
The popular listing of twelve nidānas is found in numerous sources. In some of the early texts, the nidānas themselves are defined and subjected to analysis (vibhaṅga). +more
Alternative lists in SN/SA
The twelve branched list, though popular, is just one of the many lists of dependently originated dharmas which appear in the early sources. According to Analayo, the alternative lists of dependently arisen phenomena are equally valid "alternative expressions of the same principle. +more
Choong notes that some discourses (SN 12. 38-40 and SA 359-361) contain only 11 elements, omitting ignorance and starting out from willing (ceteti). +more
SN 12. 38 (and the parallel at SA 359) contain a much shorter sequence, it begins with willing as above which leads to consciousness, then following after consciousness it states: "there is in the future the becoming of rebirth (punabbhavabhinibbatti)", which leads to "coming-and-going (agatigati)", followed by "decease-and-rebirth (cutupapato)" and following that "there arise in the future birth, ageing-and-death, grief, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair. +more
In SN 12. 59 and its counterpart SA 284, there is a chain that starts by saying that for someone who "abides in seeing [the Chinese has grasping at] the flavour in enfettering dharmas (saññojaniyesu dhammesu), there comes the appearance (avakkanti) of consciousness. +more
SN 12. 65 and 67 (and SA 287 and 288) begin the chain with both consciousness and name and form conditioning each other in a cyclical relationship. +more
There are also several passages with chains that begin with the six sense spheres (ayatana). They can be found in SN 12. +more
Eye consciousness arises dependent on the eye and sights. The meeting of the three is contact. +more
Alternative lists in other Nikayas
The Kalahavivāda Sutta of the Sutta Nipāta (Sn. 862-872) has the following chain of causes (as summarized by Doug Smith):"name-and-form conditions contact, contact conditions feeling, feeling conditions desire, desire conditions clinging, and clinging conditions quarrels, disputes, lamentations, and grief. +more
Dīgha Nikāya Sutta 1, the Brahmajala Sutta, verse 3.71 describes six nidānas:
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Similarly, the Madhupiṇḍikasutta (MN 18) also contains the following passage:Eye consciousness arises dependent on the eye and sights. The meeting of the three is contact. +more
Correlation with the five aggregates
Mathieu Boisvert correlates the middle nidanas (3-10) with the five aggregates. According to Boisvert, the consciousness and feeling aggregates correlate directly with the corresponding nidana, while the rupa aggregate correlates with the six sense objects and contact. +more
Boisvert notes that while sañña ("perception" or "recognition") is not explicitly found in the twelvefold chain, it would fit in between feeling and craving. This is because unwholesome perceptions (such as delighting in pleasurable feelings) are responsible for the arising of unwholesome samskaras (like craving). +more
According to Analayo, each of the twelve nidanas "re-quires all five aggregates to be in existence concurrently. " Furthermore:The teaching on dependent arising does not posit the existence of any of the links in the abstract, but instead show how a particular link, as an aspect of the continuity of the five aggregates, has a conditioning influence on another link. +more
Development of the twelve nidanas
Commentary on Vedic cosmogeny
Wayman | |
---|---|
Brhadaranyaka | Pratityasamutpada |
"by death indeed was this covered" | nescience (avidya) |
"or by hunger, for hunger is death" | motivation (samskara) |
He created the mind, thinking, 'Let me have a Self'" | perception (vijnana) |
"Then he moved about, worshipping. From him, thus worshipping, water was produced" | name-and-form (nama-rupa) ( vijnana in the womb) |
According to Kalupahana, the concept of causality and causal efficacy where a cause "produces an effect because a property or svadha (energy) is inherent in something" along with alternative ideas of causality, appear extensively in the Vedic literature of the 2nd millennium BCE, such as the 10th mandala of the Rigveda and the Brahmanas layer of the Vedas.
> | Jurewicz | ||
---|---|---|---|
Hymn of Creation, RigVeda X, 129 | Twelve Nidanas | Skandhas | Commentary |
". +more | Avijja (ignorance) | - | |
". a volitional impulse [kama, "desire"] initiates the process of creation or evolution. " | Samkhara ("volitions") | Samkhara (4th skandha) | In Buddhism, "[d]esire, the process which keeps us in samsara, is one of the constituents of this skandha. " |
Kamma is the seed of consciousness. | Vijnana | Vijnana (5th skandha) | In the Hymn of Creation, consciousness is a "singular consciousness," (Jurewicz) "non-dual consciousness," (Gombrich) "reflexive, cognizing itself. " (Gombrich) * In Buddhism, Vijnana is "consciousness of," not consciousness itself. |
Pure consciousness manifests itself in the created world, name-and-form, with which it mistakenly identifies, losing sight of its real identity. | Nama-Rupa, "name-and-form" | - | According to Jurewicz, the Buddha may have picked at this point the term nama-rupa, because "the division of consciousness into name and form has only the negative value of an act which hinders cognition. " The first four links, in this way, describe "a chain of events which drive a human being into deeper and deeper ignorance about himself. " * According to Gombrich, the Buddhist tradition soon lost sight of this connection with the Vedic worldview, equating nama-rupa with the five skandhas, denying a self (atman) separate from these skandhas. |
A similar resemblance has been noted by Joanna Jurewicz, who argues that the first four nidanas resemble the Hymn of Creation (RigVeda X, 12) and other Vedic sources which describe the creation of the cosmos. Jurewicz argues that dependent origination is "a polemic" against the Vedic creation myth and that, paradoxically, "the Buddha extracted the essence of Vedic cosmogony and expressed in explicit language. +more
Jurewicz and Gombrich compare the first nidana, ignorance (avijja), with the stage before creation that is described in the Rigveda's Hymn of Creation. While the term avidya does not actually appear in this Hymn, the pre-creation stage is seen as unknowable and characterized by darkness. +more
According to Jurewicz, "in Vedic cosmogony, the act of giving a name and a form marks the final formation of the creator's atman. " This may go back to the Vedic birth ceremony in which a father gives a name to his son. +more
Jurewizc further argues that the rest of the twelve nidanas show similarities with the terms and ideas found in Vedic cosmogeny, especially as it relates to the sacrificial fire (as a metaphor for desire and existence). These Vedic terms may have been adopted by the Buddha to communicate his message of not-self because his audience (often educated in Vedic thought) would understand their basic meaning. +more
Synthesis of older lists
Early synthesis by the Buddha
According to Erich Frauwallner, the twelvefold chain resulted from the Buddha's combination of two lists. Originally, the Buddha explained the appearance of dukkha from tanha, "thirst," craving. +more
Paul Williams discusses Frauwallner's idea that the 12 links may be a composite. However, he ultimately concludes that "it may be impossible at our present stage of scholarship to work out very satisfactorily what the original logic of the full twelvefold formula was intended to be, if there ever was one intention at all. +more
As a later synthesis by monks
Hajime Nakamura has argued that we should search the Sutta Nipata for the earliest form of dependent origination since it is the most ancient source. According to Nakamura, "the main framework of later theories of Dependent Origination" can be reconstructed from the Sutta Nipata as follows: avidya, tanha, upadana, bhava, jaramarana. +more
Boisvert | |
---|---|
Skandha | Nidana |
Vijnana ("mere consciousness") | Vijnana (consciousness) |
Rupa (matter, form) | Saḷāyatana (six sense-bases) + phassa (contact) (includes sense-objects + mental organ (mano)) |
Vedana (feeling) | Vedana (feeling) |
Sanna (perception) | Sanna prevents the arising of ↓ |
Samkharas (mental formations) | Tanha ("thirst," craving) |
Samkharas (mental formations) | Upadana (clinging) |
Samkharas (mental formations) | Bhava (becoming) |
According to Mathieu Boisvert, nidana 3-10 correlate with the five skandhas. Boisvert notes that while sañña, "perception," is not found in the twelvefold chain, it does play a role in the processes described by the chain, particularly between feeling and the arising of samskaras. +more
According to Richard Gombrich, the twelve-fold list is a combination of two previous lists, the second list beginning with tanha, "thirst," the cause of suffering as described in the second noble truth". The first list consists of the first four nidanas, which reference Vedic cosmogony, as described by Jurewicz. +more
Bucknell's thesis
> | Ancestor version |
---|---|
avijja → (ignorance) | sankhara → (volitional action) |
> | Branched version |
---|---|
salayana (sixfold sense-base) + nama-rupa (six sense-objects) ↓ vijnana (consciousness) | phassa (contact) ↓ |
vedana (feeling) ↓ | |
etc. |
Waldron also mentions idea that in early Buddhism, consciousness may have been understood as having these two different aspects (basic consciousness or sentience and cognitive sense consciousness). While these two aspects were largely undifferentiated in early Buddhist thought, these two aspects and their relation was explicated in later Buddhist thought, giving rise to the concept of alaya-vijñana.
In yet another linear version, dubbed the "Sutta-nipata version", consciousness is derived from avijja ("ignorance") and saṅkhāra ("activities" also translated as "volitional formations").
> | Looped version |
---|---|
vijnana (consciousness) ↑↓ nama-rupa (name-and-form) | |
[salayana (sixfold sense-base)] | |
phassa (contact) | |
vedana (feeling) | |
etc. |
The 12 nidānas as an early list
Against the view that the 12 link chain is later, Alex Wayman writes "I am convinced that the full twelve members have been in Buddhism since earliest times, just as it is certain that a natural division into the first seven and last five was also known."
Bhikkhu Bodhi writes that the suggestions of some scholars the twelvefold formula is a later expansion of a shorter list "remain purely conjectural, misleading, and objectionable on doctrinal and textual grounds."
Choong, in his comparative study of SN and SA also writes that the different accounts of dependent origination existed at an early stage and that they are simply different ways of presenting the same teaching which would have been used for different times and with audiences. Choong writes that the various versions of dependent arising "are unlikely to represent a progressive development, with some being earlier and others later" and that "the comparative data revealed here do not provide evidence to support the speculative suggestion that there was just one original (or relatively early) account of the series, from which the other attested accounts developed later. +more
Comparison of lists
The following chart compares different lists of nidanas from the early sources with other similar lists:
Comparison of lists | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
12 Nidanas | Bucknell's "hypothetical reconstruction" | Rigveda's Hymn of Creation | DN 15 Mahanidana sutra | MN 148:28 | Tanha-list | Boisvert's mapping to the skandhas | Four Noble Truths |
Avijjā | [Ignorance] | Avijjā | |||||
Saṅkhāra | [Activities] | Kamma | |||||
Viññāṇa | Sensual consciousness | Vijnana | Consciousness ↓ | Eye-consciousness | Vijnana | Dukkha (Five skandhas) | |
Nāmarūpa | ↑ Sense objects + | Identification of vijnana with the manifest world (name and form) | ↑ Name-and-form | ↑ Visible objects + | Rupa | Dukkha (Five skandhas) | |
Saḷāyatana | Six-fold sense bases | - | Eye | Rupa | Dukkha (Five skandhas) | ||
Phassa | Contact | Contact | Contact | Rupa | Dukkha (Five skandhas) | ||
Vedanā | Feeling (sensation) | Feeling | Feeling | Vedana | Dukkha (Five skandhas) | ||
- | - | - | Anusaya (underlying tendencies) | - | Sanna (perception) prevents arising of ↓ | Dukkha (Five skandhas) | |
Taṇhā | Craving | Craving | Craving ("thirst") | Samkharas (see also kleshas) | Dukkha (Five skandhas) | ||
Upādāna | Clinging (attachment) | Clinging | Clinging | Samkharas (see also kleshas) | Dukkha (Five skandhas) | ||
Bhava (kammabhava) | Becoming | Becoming | Becoming | Samkharas (see also kleshas) | Dukkha (Five skandhas) | ||
Jāti | Birth | Birth | Birth | Dukkha (Birth, aging and death) | |||
Jarāmaraṇa | Aging and death | Aging and death | Aging, death, and this entire mass of dukkha | Dukkha (Birth, aging and death) |
Transcendental/reverse dependent origination
Understanding dependent origination is indispensable for realizing nirvana since it leads to insight into how the process of dependent arising can be brought to an end (i. e. +more
According to Jayarava Atwood, while some dependent origination passages (termed lokiya, worldly) "[model] beings trapped in cycles of craving and grasping, birth and death", other passages (termed lokuttara, ‘beyond the world’) "[model] the process and dynamics of liberation from those same cycles. " According to Bodhi, these are also classified as "exposition of the round" (vaṭṭakathā) and "the ending of the round" (vivaṭṭakathā). +more
According to Jayarava, AN 11. 2 (which has a parallel at MA 43) is a better representative of transcendental dependent origination passages and better conforms "to the general outline of the Buddhist path as consisting of ethics, meditation and wisdom. +more
Comparison of Lists
The following chart compares various transcendental dependent arising sequences found in Pali and Chinese sources:
Transcendental Dependent Arising in various sources | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SN 12. 23 | MĀ 55 (Parallel to SN 12. +more | AN 11. 1-5 and AN 10. 1-5, MĀ 42 and 43 | AN 7. 65, 8. 81, 6. 50, 5. 24 | MĀ 45 (parallel to AN 8. 81) | Comments |
Suffering (Dukkha) | Suffering (苦, Skt. Duḥkha) | _ | _ | _ | B. Bodhi comments: "Suffering spurs the awakening of the religious consciousness," it shatters "our naive optimism and unquestioned trust in the goodness of the given order of things," and "tears us out of our blind absorption in the immediacy of temporal being and sets us in search of a way to its transcendence. " |
_ | _ | _ | _ | Shame (慚) and scruple (愧) | Equivalent to the Pali "hiri" (shame, Skt. hrī), or "remorse at bad conduct" and "ottappa" (Skt. apatrāpya, moral dread or fear of our own bad conduct). |
_ | _ | _ | _ | Love and respect (愛恭敬) | The Sanskrit for respect is gaurava |
_ | _ | _ | Mindfulness and Full Awareness (sati-sampajañña) | _ | In MN 10, mindfulness is cultivated by being attentive (upassana) to four domains: the body, feelings (vedana), the mind (citta), and principles/phenomena (dhammas). In MN 10, sampajañña is a "situational awareness" (trans. Sujato) regarding all bodily activities. |
_ | _ | _ | Shame and moral concern (hiri and ottapa) | _ | Bhikkhu Bodhi: "Hiri, the sense of shame, has an internal reference; it is rooted in self-respect and induces us to shrink from wrongdoing out of a feeling of personal honor. Ottappa, fear of wrongdoing, has an external orientation. It is the voice of conscience that warns us of the dire consequences of moral transgression: blame and punishment by others, the painful kammic results of evil deeds, the impediment to our desire for liberation from suffering. " |
_ | _ | _ | Sense Restraint (indriya-saṃvara) | _ | MN 38: "When they see a sight with their eyes, they don’t get caught up in the features and details. If the faculty of sight were left unrestrained, bad unskillful qualities of desire and aversion would become overwhelming. For this reason, they practice restraint, protecting the faculty of sight, and achieving its restraint. " The same passage is repeated for each of the other sense bases (including thoughts in the mind). |
_ | _ | Fulfilling ethical conduct (sīla) | Sīla | _ | The early sources contain various teachings on basic ethical conduct such as the five precepts and the ten courses of wholesome action. |
_ | _ | Clear conscience (avippaṭisāra) AN 10. 1 / Lack of regrets (AN 11. 1) | _ | _ | |
Faith (saddhā) | Faith (信) | _ | _ | Faith (信) | Skt. śraddhā. An attitude of trust directed at ultimate liberation and the three jewels. SN 12. 23 states that "suffering is the supporting condition for faith", thereby linking it with the last nidana in the 12 nidana chain. Faith also comes about through the hearing of the exposition of true Dhamma (teaching). Faith also leads to the practice of morality (sila). |
_ | Wise Attention (正思惟) | _ | _ | Wise Attention (正思惟) | Skt. yoniso-manasikāra |
_ | Right mindfulness (正念) | _ | _ | Right mindfulness & attentiveness (正念正智) | Skt. smṛti (and samprajāna) |
_ | Guarding the sense faculties (護諸根) | _ | _ | Guarding the senses (護諸根) | Skt. indriyasaṃvara |
_ | Ethics (護戒) | _ | _ | Ethics (護戒) | Skt. śīla |
_ | Non-regret (不悔) | _ | _ | Non-regret (不悔) | |
Joy (pāmojja) | Joy (歡悅, Skt. prāmodhya) | Joy | _ | Joy (歡悅) | From confidence in the sources of refuge and contemplation on them, a sense of joy arises |
Rapture (pīti) | Rapture (喜, Skt. prīti) | Rapture | _ | Rapture (喜) | Generally, the application of meditation is needed for the arising of rapture, though some rare individuals might experience rapture simply from the joy which arises from faith and a clear conscience arising from moral living. The meditative states called jhanas are states of elevated rapture. |
Tranquillity (passaddhi) | Calming down (止, Skt. prāśabdha) | Tranquility | _ | Calming down (止) | In the higher states of meditation, rapture gives way to a calm sense of tranquility. |
Happiness (sukha) | Happiness (樂) | Happiness | _ | Happiness (樂) | A subtler state than rapture, a pleasant feeling. |
Samādhi | Samādhi (定) | Samādhi | Samādhi (AN 8. 81 has sammā "right" samādhi) | Samādhi (定) | Bodhi: "The wholesome unification of the mind", totally free from distractions and unsteadiness. |
Knowledge and vision of things as they really are (yathābhūta-ñānadassana) | To see reality, and know things as they are (見如實知如真, Skt. yathābhūta-jñānadarśana) | Knowledge and vision of things as they really are | Knowledge and vision of things as they really are | To see reality, and know things as they are (見如實知如真) | With a peaceful and concentrated mind, insight (vipassana) can be developed, the first phase of which is insight into the nature of the five aggregates. Only pañña, the wisdom which penetrates the true nature of phenomena, can destroy the defilements which keep beings bound to samsara. This wisdom is not mere conceptual understanding, but a kind of direct experience akin to visual perception which sees the impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and selflessness of all phenomena. In Northern Buddhist traditions and Mahayana works, insight into emptiness is further emphasized. |
Disenchantment (nibbidā) | Disenchantment (厭) | Disenchantment | Disenchantment | Disenchantment (厭, Skt. nirveda) | Noticing the passing away of phenomena, the fact that nothing is stable, reliable or permanent, gives rise to a sense of disenchantment towards them. B. Bodhi: "a conscious act of detachment resulting from a profound noetic discovery. Nibbida signifies in short, the serene, dignified withdrawal from phenomena that supervenes when the illusion of their permanence, pleasure, and selfhood has been shattered by the light of correct knowledge and vision of things as they are. " |
Dispassion (virāga) | Dispassion (無欲) | Dispassion | Dispassion | Dispassion (無欲, Skt. virāga) | The first truly transmundane (lokuttara) stage in the progression. B. Bodhi: "Whatever tends to provoke grasping and adherence is immediately abandoned, whatever tends to create new involvement is left behind. The old urges towards outer extension and accumulation give way to a new urge towards relinquishment as the one clearly perceived way to release. " |
Liberation (vimutti) | _ | Liberation (MĀ 42 ends the sequence here) | Liberation (AN 8. 81 skips this stage) | Liberation (解脱, Skt. vimokṣa) | Having a twofold aspect: the emancipation from ignorance (paññavimutti) and defilements (cetovimutti) experienced in life, the other is the emancipation from repeated existence attained when passing away. |
Knowledge of destruction of the āsavas - defiled influences (āsava-khaye-ñāna) | Nirvāṇa (涅槃) | Knowledge and vision of liberation (Vimutti-ñānadassana) | Knowledge and vision of liberation | Nirvāṇa (涅槃) | Different sources finish the sequence with different terms indicating spiritual liberation. B. Bodhi (commenting on SN 12. 23): "The retrospective cognition of release involves two acts of ascertainment. The first, called the "knowledge of destruction" (khaya ñana), ascertains that all defilements have been abandoned at the root; the second, the "knowledge of non-arising" (anuppade ñana), ascertains that no defilement can ever arise again. " |
Interpretations
There are numerous interpretations of the doctrine of dependent origination across the different Buddhist traditions and within them as well. Various systematizations of the doctrine were developed by the Abhidharma traditions which arose after the death of the Buddha. +more
Collett Cox writes that the majority of scholarly investigations of dependent origination adopt two main interpretations of dependent origination, they either see it as "a generalized and logical principle of abstract conditioning applicable to all phenomena" or they see it as a "descriptive model for the operation of action (karman) and the process of rebirth. " According to Bhikkhu Analayo, there are two main interpretative models of the 12 nidanas in the later Buddhist exegetical literature, a model which sees the 12 links as working across three lives (the past life, the present life, the future life) and a model which analyzes how the 12 links are mental processes working in the present moment. +more
Alex Wayman has argued that understanding the dependent origination formula requires understanding its two main interpretations. According to Wayman, these two are: (1) the general principle of dependent origination itself, its nidanas and their relationships and (2) how it deals with the particular process of the rebirth of sentient beings.
Conditionality
The general principle of conditionality is expressed in numerous early sources as "When this is, that is; This arising, that arises; When this is not, that is not; This ceasing, that ceases. " According to Rupert Gethin, this basic principle is neither a direct Newtonian-like causality nor a singular form of causality. +more
Bhikkhu Bodhi writes that the Buddhist principle of conditionality "shows that the "texture" of being is through and through relational. " Furthermore, he notes that dependent arising goes further than just presenting a general theory about conditionality, it also teaches a specific conditionality (idappaccayatā), which explains change in terms of specific conditions. +more
Necessary and sufficient conditions
Ajahn Brahm has argued that the Buddhist doctrine of conditionality includes two main elements of the logical concepts of conditionality: necessity and sufficiency. According to Brahm, “when this is, that is; from the arising of this, that arises. +more
However, according to Harvey and Brahm, while the 12 nidanas are necessary conditions for each other, not all of them are necessary and sufficient conditions (some are, some are not). As Harvey notes, if this was the case, "when a buddha or arahat experienced feeling they would inevitably experience craving" (but they do not). +more
Abhidharma views of conditionality
The Buddhist abhidharma traditions developed a more complex schematization of conditionality than that found in the early sources. These systems outlined different kinds of conditional relationships. +more
Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma
, p. 143. Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong. The vaibhāṣika system also defended a theory of simultaneous causation.Dhammajoti, Bhikkhu K.L. (2009)
Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma
, pp. 162-163. +more
Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma
, pp. 159-161. +more
Conditioned or unconditioned?
As a result of their doctrinal development, the various sectarian Buddhist schools eventually became divided over the question of whether or not the very principle of dependent origination was itself conditioned (saṃskṛta) or unconditioned (asaṃskṛta). This debate also included other terms such as “stability of dharma” (dharmasthititā) and “suchness” (tathatā), which were not always seen as synonymous with "dependent origination" by all schools. +more
Ontological principle
Relations of being, becoming, existence and ultimate reality
According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, Peter Harvey and Paul Williams, dependent arising can be understood as an ontological principle; that is, a theory to explain the nature and relations of being, becoming, existence and ultimate reality. (Theravada) Buddhism asserts that there is nothing independent, except nirvana. +more
Gombrich describes dependent origination as the idea that "nothing accessible to our reason or our normal experience exists without a cause". Furthermore, this can be seen as a metaphysical middle way which does not see phenomena as existing essentially nor as not-existing at all. +more
According to Rupert Gethin, the ontological principle of dependent origination is applied not only to explain the nature and existence of matter and empirically observed phenomenon, but also to the causally conditioned nature and existence of life. Indeed, according to Williams, the goal of this analysis is to understand how suffering arises for sentient beings through an impersonal law and thus how it can also be brought to an end by reversing its causes. +more
Though Eviatar Shulman sees dependent origination as mainly being concerned with mental processes, he also states that it "possessed important ontological implications" which "suggest that rather than things being conditioned by other things, they are actually conditioned by consciousness. " This is implied by the fact that form (rūpa) is said to be conditioned by consciousness and willed activities (saṇkhara) as well as by how grasping is said to condition existence (bhava). +more
While some scholars have argued that the Buddha put aside all metaphysical questions, Noa Ronkin argues that, while he rejected certain metaphysical questions, he was not an anti-metaphysician: nothing in the texts suggests that metaphysical questions are completely meaningless. Instead, the Buddha taught that sentient experience is dependently originated and that whatever is dependently originated is conditioned, impermanent, subject to change, and lacking independent selfhood.
Mental processes
The twelve nidanas have also been interpreted within various Buddhist traditions as explaining the arising of psychological or phenomenological processes in the present moment or across a series of moments.
Abhidharma interpretations
Prayudh Payutto notes that in Buddhaghosa's Sammohavinodani, a commentary to the Vibhaṅga, the principle of dependent origination is explained as occurring entirely within the space of one mind moment. Furthermore, according to Payutto, there is material in the Vibhaṅga which discusses both models, the three lifetimes model (at Vibh. +more
Wayman notes that an interpretation referring to mental processes (referred to as dependent origination with a transient character) can also be found in northern sources, such as the Jñānaprasthāna, the Arthaviniscaya-tika and the Abhidharmakosa (AKB. III. +more
The different interpretations of dependent origination as understood in the northern tradition can be found in the Abhidharmakosa, which outlines three models of the twelve nidanas: # Instantaneous - All 12 links "are realized in one and the same moment". # Prolonged - The interdependence and causal relationship of dharmas is seen as arising at different times (across three lifetimes). +more
Modern interpretations
The interpretation of dependent origination as mainly referring to mental processes has been defended by various modern scholars such as Eviatar Shulman and Collett Cox.
Eviatar Shulman argues that dependent origination only addresses "the way the mind functions in samsara, the processes of mental conditioning that transmigration consists of. " He further argues that it "should be understood to be no more than an inquiry into the nature of the self (or better, the lack of a self). +more
Shulman argues that the general principle of dependent origination deals exclusively with the processes outlined in the lists of nidanas (not with existence per se, and certainly not with all objects). Shulman writes that seeing dependent origination as referring to the nature of reality in general "means investing the words of the earlier teachings with meanings derived from later Buddhist discourse" which leads to a misrepresentation of early Buddhism.
Sue Hamilton presents a similar interpretation which sees dependent origination as showing how all things and indeed our entire "world" (of experience) are dependently originated through our cognitive apparatus. As such, Hamilton argues that the focus of this teaching is on our subjective experience, not on anything external to it. +more
A similar interpretation has been put forth by Bhikkhu Buddhadasa who argues that, in the list of the twelve nidanas, jati and jaramarana refer not to rebirth and physical death, but to the birth and death of our self-concept, the "emergence of the ego". According to Buddhadhasa,
[wiki_quote=70247e77]Ñāṇavīra Thera is another modern Theravada Bhikkhu known for rejecting the traditional interpretation and instead explaining the 12 links as a structural schema which does not happen in successive moments in time, but is instead a timeless structure of experience.
Mahāyāna interpretations
Mahāyāna Buddhism, which sees dependent arising as closely connected with the doctrine of emptiness, strongly expresses that all phenomena and experiences are empty of independent identity. This is especially important for the madhyamaka school, one of the most influential traditions of Mahayana thought. +more
One of the most important and widely cited sutras on dependent origination in the Indian Mahayana tradition was the Śālistamba Sūtra (Rice Seedling Sutra). This sutra introduced the well-known Mahayana simile of a rice seed and its sprout as a way to explain conditionality. +more
Non-arising
Some Mahāyāna sūtras contain statements which speak of the "unarisen" or "unproduced" (anutpāda) nature of dharmas. According to Edward Conze, in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras, the ontological status of dharmas can be described as having never been produced (anutpāda), as never been brought forth (anabhinirvritti), as well as unborn (ajata). +more
Perhaps the earliest of these sutras, the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, contains a passage which describes the suchness (tathatā) of dharmas using various terms including shūnyatā, cessation (nirodha) and unarisen (anutpāda). Most famously, the Heart Sutra states:Sariputra, in that way, all phenomena are empty, that is, without characteristic, unproduced, unceased, stainless, not stainless, undiminished, unfilled. +more
Some Mahāyāna sūtras present the insight into the non-arisen nature of dharmas as a great achievement of bodhisattvas. The Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra mentions that Vaidehi had, on listening to the teaching in this sutra, attained "great awakening with clarity of mind and reached the insight into the non-arising of all dharmas. +more
Nāgārjuna's philosophical works analyze all phenomena in order to show that nothing at all can exist independently, and yet, they are also not non-existent since they exist conventionally, i. e. +more
The first chapter of the MMK focuses on the general idea of causation and attempts to show how it is a process that is empty of any essence. According to +more
Jan Westerhoff notes that Nāgārjuna argues that cause and effect are "neither identical nor different nor related as part and whole, they are neither successive, nor simultaneous, nor overlapping. " Westerhoff states that Nāgārjuna thinks all conceptual frameworks of causality that make use of such ideas are based on a mistaken presupposition which is that "cause and effect exist with their own svabhāva". +more
Nāgārjuna applies a similar analysis to numerous other kinds of phenomena in the MMK such as motion, the self, and time. Chapter 7 of the MMK attempts to argue against the idea that dependent arising exists either as a conditioned entity or as an unconditioned one. +more
Yogācāra
The yogācāra school interpreted the doctrine of dependent origination through its central schema of the "three natures" (which are really three ways of looking at one dependently originated reality). In this schema, the constructed or fabricated nature is an illusory appearance (of a dualistic self), while the "dependent nature" refers specifically to the process of dependent origination or as Jonathan Gold puts it "the causal story that brings about this seeming self. +more
Dependent origination is therefore "the causal series according to which the mental seeds planted by previous deeds ripen into the appearance of the sense bases". This "stream of dependent mental processes" as Harvey describes it, is what generates the subject-object split (and thus the idea of a '"self" and "other" things which are not the self). +more
The 12 nidanas in Mahāyāna sutras and tantras
Alex Wayman writes that Mahāyāna texts such as Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra present an alternative interpretation of the twelve nidanas. According to Wayman, this interpretation holds that arhats, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas have eliminated the four kinds of clinging (nidana # 9), which are the usual condition for existence (or "gestation", nidana #10) and rebirth (#11) in one of the three realms. +more
According to Wayman, this view of dependent origination posits "a dualistic structure of the world, in the manner of heaven and earth, where the "body made of mind" is in heaven and its reflected image, or coarser equivalent, is on earth. Otherwise stated, the early members of Dependent Origination apply to the superior realm, the later members to the inferior realm. +more
According to Wayman, similar interpretations appear in tantric texts, such as the Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇatantra. This tantra contains a passage which appears to suggest that "the first ten terms of dependent origination are prenatal. +more
Tibetan interpretations
Tibetan Buddhist scholars rely on the north Indian works of scholars such as Asanga, Vasubandhu and Nagarjuna in their interpretation of the 12 nidanas. For example, according to Wayman, Tsongkhapa, attempted to harmonize the presentations of the 12 links found in Nagarjuna and in Asanga. +more
Discussing the three lifetimes model, Alex Wayman states that the Theravada interpretation is different from the Vajrayana view, because the Vajrayana view places a bardo or an intermediate state (which is denied in Theravada) between death and rebirth. The Tibetan Buddhism tradition allocates the twelve nidanas differently between various lives.
Madhyamaka is interpreted in different ways by different traditions. Some scholars accept a version of the shentong view introduced by Dolpopa (1292-1361), which argues that buddha-nature and buddhahood was not dependently originated and thus not empty of itself (but empty of what is not itself). +more
Interdependence
The Huayan school taught the doctrine of the mutual containment and interpenetration of all phenomena (yuánróng, 圓融), as expressed in the metaphor of Indra's net. One thing contains all other existing things, and all existing things contain that one thing. +more
Thích Nhất Hạnh explains this concept as follows: "You cannot just be by yourself alone. You have to inter-be with every other thing. +more
Sogyal Rinpoche states all things, when seen and understood in their true relation, are not independent but interdependent with all other things. A tree, for example, cannot be isolated from anything else. +more
According to Richard Gombrich, the East Asian interpretation of dependent origination as the idea that "all phenomena exert causal influence on each other" does not follow from the early Buddhist understanding of dependent origination. He further argues that this interpretation "would subvert the Buddha’s teaching of karma. +more
Comparison with western philosophy
The concept of pratītyasamutpāda has also been compared to Western metaphysics, the study of reality. Schilbrack states that the doctrine of interdependent origination seems to fit the definition of a metaphysical teaching, by questioning whether there is anything at all. +more
The Hellenistic philosophy of Pyrrhonism parallels the Buddhist view of dependent origination, as it does in many other matters (see: similarities between Phyrrhonism and Buddhism). Aulus Gellius in Attic Nights describes how appearances are produced by relative interactions between mind and body and how there are no self-dependent things. +more
Notes
Quotes
Sources
in * in
Further reading
;Theravada * Walpola Rahula (1974), What the Buddha Taught * Ajahn Sucitto (2010). Turning the Wheel of Truth: Commentary on the Buddha's First Teaching. +more
Tibetan Buddhism * Chogyam Trungpa (1972). "Karma and Rebirth: The Twelve Nidanas, by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. +more
Scholarly
Nondualism
Twelve nidānas
Sanskrit words and phrases
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