The Law Of Dependent Origination - Paticcasamuppado (Sanskrit Word)
This Law
consists of twelve links of causation (Nidanas) which represent all the
components of which individual life is composed and which enable us to understand
the origin of suffering. It is therefore the key to the Right Understanding of
the whole Buddha-Doctrine; but its complete penetration, the perception of the
Absolute Truth, can only be achieved by meditation upon the true nature of
one’s own Self and by following the Holy Eightfold Buddha Path.
The Law of Dependent Origination is stated as follows:
- In dependence of Ignorance (Avijja) arise Sense-impressions (Sankhara)
- In dependence of Sense-impression arises Consciousness (Vinnana)
- In dependence of Consciousness arises Name and Form (Nama-rupa)
- In dependence of Name and Form arise the Six-Sense Spheres (Salayatanam)
- In dependence of The Six Sense Spheres arises Contact (Phassa)
- In dependence of Contact arises Feeling (Vedana)
- In dependence of Feeling arises Desire (Tanha)
- In dependence of Desire arises Attachment (Upadana)
- In dependence of Attachment arises Becoming (Bhavo)
- In dependence of Becoming arises Birth (Jati)
- In dependence of Birth arise Old Age, Disease and Death
- In dependence of Old Age, Disease and Death arises All Suffering.
Every Individual, once it is born is subject to old age, disease
and death-—-that is a natural Law which no one can escape, and therefore the
Buddha said all life means suffering, and old age, disease and death are
conditioned through BIRTH.
Birth is a single
phase, a single picture in the motion film of life or a single phase in the
Circle of Rebirth (Samsara) and as this Circle of Rebirth, like everything else
in the universe, is subject to the law of change, misery, and non-self-containedness
(Anicca-Dukkha-Anatta) and nothing
remains for two consecutive moments the same—everything is “becoming” nothing really “is ” but all is “becoming this, becoming
that” all the time without any perceivable break in it-therefore “Birth is conditioned through becoming”, “Becoming
is conditioned through attachment”. This means that the cause of “Becoming
this and becoming that” is our attachment to the wheel of Life, Which goes
round like a merry-go-around.
Attachment is
conditioned through Desire: or “In dependence of Desire arises Attachment”
as is stated in the above formula. There are three kind of desires, namely, Sexual Desire, desire of Live and Desire
not to be what one Dislikes. The “Threefold Desire” causes us to be “Attached”
to the Meery-go-round of Life. Therefore we are born again and again.
Desire is conditioned
through Feeling: which means what we feel, that we Desire or, as the Buddha
says, if there were no feelings at all, no desire, no craving could occur.
Feeling is
conditioned through “Contact” and Contact is conditioned through “The six-Sense
Spheres” and these Six-Sense Spheres are conditioned by “Name and Form”.
Talking these three links of causation together, it means that feeling arises
out of contact of our Six senses with their corresponding objects of the outer
world. Each sense-organ has its specific function, for instance the eye takes
pictures; the nose registers odours, the ear records tunes, etc.. and all the
impressions of our senses are communicated to the mind (Mano) which stores up
for further reference.
In order that our Six-organs may properly function, the
Buddhi (Mind) is an element not belonging to anyone, but its always present
each time interlocking takes place between the Sense-Organ and its corresponding
object. Thus we have Eye- Consciousness, and Mind- Consciousness. Consciousness
is constantly created anew by our own body organs as well as by our mind
activities without which “Name and Form” cannot exist. Therefore the Buddha
Says :In Dependence of Consciousness
arises “Name and Form”. “Name and Form” means the Names ands Forms created
by our mind activities within our body: or it may mean the bodily organism
itself which the Buddha called “Nama-Rupa. Thus “Consciousness” and “Name and
Form” are mutually conditioned by each other; they cannot exist without each
other.
But now comes a big jump: The Buddha continues to stat the
Law of Dependent Origination by adding two further links of Causation, namely:
“In dependence of
Sense-Impression arises Consciousness” and the last link, “In dependence of
Ignorance arise Sense-Impressions”. These two links are the subjective cause of all suffering and
of all phenomena of life which are beyond ordinary human intellect and must be experienced
by insight and meditation. All we may say therefore is this:
Sankhara in
Buddhist philosophy means Sense-Impressions of Mental Formations which are the
fruits of our Will Actions (Bodily acts, words and thoughts). Our will-actions
and their results constitute nothing else but our Individual Karma, the Karma of Will-Actions committed in our previous
lives, and the Karma created in this present life by our will-actions which
will determine the nature of our future existence.
We may therefore say that in dependence of our Karma Consciousness
arises. The Consciousness of our present life is the Consciousness of our
previous Karma in former lives that works in us. We act, speak and think subconsciously as we
have acted in our previous lives.
And it is only after we ‘have understood and learned
something of the Buddha-Dhamma that we gradually modify our whole behaviour and
live up to the teachings of the Buddha.
“In dependence of
Ignorance arise Sense-Impressions ” means therefore that in Ignorance of
the true facts of life, that is not knowing “The Four Noble Truths”, “The Law
of Karma”, “The Doctrine of Anatta” and the “ Law of Dependent Origination ”,
our will-actions are subject to misguided Volition,
namely, to the desire to live, to
propagate ourselves and to hang on to life and to the delusion of Self. Ignorance is therefore the first cause of
all suffering and of all life.
By destroying Ignorance, by doing good and avoiding evil, and
by purifying the heart from passion (Kilesa), namely from greed, ill-will, and
the delusion of Self, we step by step attain to Insight and Supreme Wisdom—to
NIRVANA, the Extinction of Birth, old age, death and all suffering.
The Buddha discovered in his Enlightenment the
Law of impermanence, misery, and non-self-containedness of all life, he became
cognisant of the Law of Karma, and by discovering these natural Laws which
govern the whole Universe he was able to explain the cause of all suffering and
of the phenomena of life which he exposes, in the Law of Dependent Origination.
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