Part of a series on Buddhism
History Buddhism History of Buddhism Timeline Councils Gautama Buddha Later Buddhists Category: Buddhism
Teachings concepts Dharma Four Noble Truths Five Aggregates Impermanence Suffering Non-self Dependent Origination Middle Way Emptiness Karma Rebirth Samsara Cosmology Category: Buddhist terms
Practices Threefold Training Three Jewels Noble Eightfold Path Morality Meditation Wisdom Perfections Mindfulness Compassion Aids to Enlightenment Monasticism Laity
Nirvana Nirvāṇa Four Stages Arahant Buddha Bodhisattva
Traditions Schools of Buddhism Hinayana Theravāda Mahāyāna Vajrayāna Tibetan
Texts Buddhist texts Pali Canon Chinese Buddhist canon
Buddhism by country General Countries India India Southern Transmission Sri Lanka Thailand Cambodia Laos Burma Eastern Transmission China Japan Korea Vietnam Indonesia Malaysia Singapore Northern Transmission Tibet Bhutan Mongolia Nepal Russia Western Transmission Western countries USA
Outline Buddhism portal view talk edit

The doctrine of dependent origination or dependent arising (from Sanskrit: प्रतीत्यसमुत्पाद, pratītyasamutpāda; Pali: paticcasamuppāda; Tibetan: རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་བར་འབྱུང་བ་, Wylie: rten cing 'brel bar 'byung ba; Chinese: 緣起; pinyin: yuánqǐ) is one of the principal teachings of the Buddha and concerns the interdependence and mutual conditioning of phenomena. Pratītyasamutpāda is the fundamental philosophical doctrine in Buddhism which accounts for and explains other central topics of concern such as rebirth, samsara, suffering, liberation and emptiness.

Meaning of Pratītyasamutpāda[link]

Pratītyasamutpāda explains the existence of objects and phenomena as being due to systems of causes and effects. It has a general and a specific application, namely the general principle of interdependent causation and its application in the twelve nidanas.

Interdependent causation[link]

The general or universal definition of pratityasamutpada which is emphasised in Mahayana Buddhism (particularly the Hua Yen school) states that all phenomena are arising together in a mutually interdependent web of cause and effect.^[a][b][c][d] When one cause changes or disappears, the resulting object or phenomenon will also change or disappear, as will the objects or phenomena depending on the changing object or phenomenon.

The Twelve Nidanas[link]

The Twelve Nidanas show the causal relations between the psychophysical phenomena that sustain dukkha, and the possibility to revert this chain, leading to liberation.^[3][e]

The Twelve Nidanas[link]

This twelve-factor formula is the most familiar presentation, though a number of early sutras introduce lesser-known variants which make it clear that the sequence of factors should not be regarded as a linear causal process in which each preceding factor gives rise to its successor through a simple reaction. The relationship among factors is always complex, involving several strands of conditioning.^[11] For example, whenever there is ignorance, craving and clinging invariably follow, and craving and clinging themselves indicate ignorance.^[12]

The thrust of the formula is such that when certain conditions are present, they give rise to subsequent conditions, which in turn give rise to other conditions and the cyclical nature of life in Samsara can be seen. This is graphically illustrated in the Bhavacakra (wheel of life).

The Twelve Nidanas[link]

Reversing the chain[link]

Analysing the relationships between the phenomena that sustain dukkha^[13] provides a conceptual framework, an understanding of which may help one to practise the path which leads to nibbana, complete freedom from samsara^[14]

Phenomena are sustained only so long as their sustaining factors remain.^[15] This causal relationship is expressed in its most general form as follows:^[f]

When this exists, that comes to be. With the arising of this, that arises. When this does not exist, that does not come to be. With the cessation of this, that ceases.

— Samyutta Nikaya 12.61

This natural law of this/that causality is independent of being discovered, just like the laws of physics.^[g] In particular, the Buddha applied this law of causality to determine the cause of dukkha.^[h]

The reversal of this causal chain shows the way to put an end to stress: "From the remainderless fading and cessation of ignorance comes the cessation of (volitional) fabrications" et cetera.

Three lives[link]

The nikayas themselves do not give a systematic explanation of the nidana series.^[16] As an expository device, the commentarial tradition presented the factors as a linear sequence spanning over three lives; this does not mean that past, present, and future factors are mutually exclusive – in fact, many sutras contend that they are not.^[12]

Destiny after rebirth[link]

Dependent origination also describes the process by which sentient beings incarnate into any given realm and pursue their various worldly projects and activities with all concomitant suffering. Among these sufferings are aging and death.

Daily life[link]

Contemporary teachers often teach that it can also be seen as a daily cycle occurring from moment to moment throughout each day. There is scriptural support for this as an explanation in the Abhidharmakosa of Vasubandhu, insofar as Vasubandu states that on occasion "the twelve parts are realized in one and the same moment".^[17]

For example, in the case of avidyā, the first condition, it is necessary to refer to the three marks of existence for a full understanding of its relation to pratityasamutpada. It is also necessary to understand the Three Fires and how they fit into the scheme. The Three Fires sit at the very center of the schemata in the Bhavacakra and drive the whole edifice. In Himalayan iconographic representations of the Bhavacakra such as within Tibetan Buddhism, the Three Fires are known as the Three Poisons which are often represented as the Gankyil. The Gankyil is also often represented as the hub of the Dharmacakra.

Nirvana is often conceived of as stopping this cycle. By removing the causes for craving, craving ceases. So, with the ceasing of birth, death ceases. With the ceasing of becoming, birth ceases, and so on, until with the ceasing of ignorance no karma is produced, and the whole process of death and rebirth ceases.

Understanding in Buddhist tradition[link]

Theravāda[link]

Pali Canon[link]

In the Pali Suttapitaka (the most ancient canon of Buddhist writing preserved by Theravāda tradition) the first (partial) exposition of the twelve nidānas appears in the Dīgha Nikāya (Long Discourses), Brahmajāla Sutta, verse 3.71.^[18] The reference is partial because it does not cover all twelve links:^[19]" In this same Nikāya, Sutta 14 describes ten links instead of twelve, and in Sutta 15 the links are described, but without the six sense-bases (for a total of nine links in that Sutta).^[20]

...they experience these feelings by repeated contact through the six sense-bases; feeling conditions craving; craving conditions clinging; clinging conditions becoming; becoming conditions birth; birth conditions aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, sadness and distress.

Descriptions of the full sequence of twelve links can be found elsewhere in the Pali canon, for instance in section 12 of the Samyutta Nikaya:^[21]

Now from the remainderless fading and cessation of that very ignorance comes the cessation of fabrications ... From the cessation of birth, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair all cease. Such is the cessation of this entire mass of stress and suffering.

Theravāda commentaries[link]

In the commentarial literature of the Theravada tradition (attributed, at least mythically, to the author Buddhaghosa, and written many centuries subsequent to the Suttapitaka passages described above) the same doctrine is instead interpreted as a sequence of three lives, thus shifting the theme from a single conception (and birth) to a sequence of "incarnations" (roughly speaking).^[i]

Mahayana[link]

Madhyamaka[link]

In the Madhyamaka, to say that an object is "empty" is synonymous with saying that it is dependently originated. Nāgārjuna equates emptiness with dependent origination in Mūlamadhyamakakārikā 24:18.^[22] In his analysis, any enduring essential nature (svabhāva) would prevent the process of dependent origination, would prevent any kind of origination at all, for things would simply always have been and will always continue to be, i.e. as existents (bhāva). Madhyamaka suggests that impermanent collections of causes and conditions are designated by mere conceptual labels, which also applies to the causes and conditions themselves and even the principle of causality itself since everything is dependently originated (i.e. empty).^[23] If unaware of this, things may seem to arise as existents, remain for a time and then subsequently perish.

Dzogchen[link]

In Dzogchen tradition the interdependent origination is considered illusory:^[24]

[One says], "all these (configurations of events and meanings) come about and disappear according to dependent origination." But, like a burnt seed, since a nonexistent (result) does not come about from a nonexistent (cause), cause and effect do not exist.
What appears as a world of apparently external phenomena, is the play of energy of sentient beings. There is nothing external or separate from the individual. Everything that manifests in the individual's field of experience is a continuum. This is the Great Perfection that is discovered in the Dzogchen practice.

"Being obsessed with entities, one's experiencing itself [sems, citta], which discriminates each cause and effect, appears as if it were cause and condition." ^[25]

Other applications and understandings[link]

The Four Noble Truths[link]

Dependent origination can also be applied to the concept of suffering, and takes the form of the Four Noble Truths:

1. Dukkha: There is suffering. Suffering is an intrinsic part of life prior to awakening, also experienced as dissatisfaction, discontent, unhappiness, impermanence.
2. Samudaya: There is a cause of suffering, which is attachment or desire (tanha).
3. Nirodha: There is a way out of suffering, which is to eliminate attachment and desire.
4. Magga: The path that leads out of suffering is called the Noble Eightfold Path.

Interbeing and deep ecology[link]

The Shramanic religious traditions of India (Theravada Buddhism and Jainism) have been characterised by an unusual sensitivity to living beings. Monks of both traditions are strictly forbidden from harming any life form, including even the smallest insects and vegetation. One of the basic ideas behind the Buddha's teaching of mutual interdependence is that ultimately there is no demarcation between what appears to be an individual creature and its environment. Harming the environment (the nexus of living beings of which one forms but a part) is thus, in a nontrivial sense, harming oneself. This philosophical position lies at the heart of modern-day deep ecology and some representatives of this movement (e.g. Joanna Macy) have shown that Buddhist philosophy provides a basis for deep ecological thinking.

Metaphysics[link]

Some scholars believe that pratītyasamutpāda is Buddhist metaphysics,^[j]. But pratītyasamutpāda has no relevance to cosmology (origin and nature of the universe), theology, or an absolutist (absolute soul, self, etc.) or relativistic philosophy.^[k]

A small part of metaphysics deals with the apparent contradiction, or paradox, between free will, and the position that worldly phenomena are solely a consequence of natural causal factors.^[l] In so far as it resolves this paradox, we can perhaps call pratītyasamutpāda a metaphysic of volitions (or karma).^[28][m]

See also[link]

• Bhavacakra
• Five Skandhas
• Reality in Buddhism
• Śūnyatā
• Three marks of existence

Notes[link]

References[link]

Sources[link]

External links[link]

• The Doctrine of Paticcasamuppada by U Than Daing
• A Discourse on Paticcasamuppada by Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw
• Digital Dictionary of Buddhism
• Kamma & the Ending of Kamma
• Maha-nidana Sutta
• Paticca-samuppada-vibhanga Sutta
• Upanisa Sutta translation by Bhikkhu Thanissaro
• A Translation and Exposition of the Upanisa Sutta by Bhikkhu Bodhi
• A Comprehensive Discourse on Paticcasamuppada by Mahasi Sayadaw
• Notes on Dhamma - A Note on Paticcasamuppāda by Nanavira Thera
• Bhikkhu Thanissaro: The Shape of Suffering: A Study of Dependent Co-arising (PDF-Dokument; 744 kb)
• [4] Pratityasamutpada in Eastern and Western Views [5]