Dependent Origination

[Optimus Prime]

What is Dependent Origination?

It is actually the Buddha's detailed analysis of the 2nd and 3rd Noble Truth.

When the Buddha was opening his enlightenment, he was looking at this pattern of Dependent Origination forwards and backwards in various combinations until he understood it thoroughly.  So it's pretty important to understand it as it's one of the fundamentals of the Teaching.

As Ajahn Amaro points out, Dependent Origination describes how illusions arise out of reality (p 155, Rain on the Nile).

Dependent Origination is split into 2 parts:
1.  The first half (the 2nd Noble Truth) deals with the arising of dukkha (suffering or unsatisfactoriness) - how does suffering arise?
2.  The second half (the 3rd Noble Truth) deals with the cessation of dukkha - how does suffering cease?

The first half goes like this in Pali:

Avijjapaccaya sankhara;
sankharapaccaya viññanam;
viññanapaccaya namarupam;
namarupapaccaya salayatanam;
salayatanapaccaya phasso;
phassapaccaya vedana;
vedanapaccaya tanha;
tanhapaccaya upadanam;
upadanapaccaya bhavo;
bhavapaccaya jati;
jatipaccaya jaramaranam-soka-parideva-dukkha-
domanassupayasa sambhavanti, evametassa kevalassa
dukkhakhandhassa samudayo hoti.

What the terms mean
When you first read it, it's easy to go, "What does this all mean????"  It's good to understand what these Pali terms mean, so here is a little bit of an overview of the definitions:

Avijja (ignorance - not seeing clearly, losing mindfulness) conditions sankhara (Conditioned things or "the world of things/particles".  It also means "divided".  It also means karmic formations or habitual drives).  In other words, sankhara are dependent on avijja for its arising.  Notice this does not mean that avijja creates sankhara - it's just dependent on it - one leads to the other.  So here, losing mindfulness, we are starting to see a separation of the awareness (or the True Mind/Unconditioned Mind) drifting off into a sense of "self" and "other".
Sankhara conditions vinnanam (discriminating consciousness - you start making distinctions and discriminations - your awareness starts to operate in the discriminative mode of consciousness)
Vinnana conditions namarupam (name and form - sometimes also translated as the body & mind - the consciousness is diversifying and it's drifting off so that there's a sense of separateness of the mind and the body [note that the body has both physical and mental activity] - we are starting to perceive a "form")
Namarupam conditions salayatanam (the 6 senses - you get pulled out into the world of the 6 senses [once you've got a body, the senses come] - as Ajahn Amaro notes, the world of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch come alive and become far more real)
Salayatana conditions phasso (contact)
Phassa conditions vedana (feeling - good feelings, bad feelings or neutral feelings, things you like/hate, pleasure/pain)
Vedana conditions tanha (desire - "I really want one of those")
Tanha conditions upadanam (grasping or clinging or attachment - you want to prolong the contact with your objects of desire - so you grasp them more and cling on to them)
Upadana paccaya bhavo (bhava means becoming - this is the thrill of getting what you want)
Bhava conditions jati (birth)
Jati conditions jaramaranam (the cycle of maturing and passing away, i.e., birth conditions old age, sickness and death) and along with this comes the varying levels of sadnesses
soka-parideva-dukkha-domanassuppayasa (i.e., it ranges through sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair - so it ranges from being mildly upset to having an emotional breakdown)


Summary of Dependent Origination
Ajahn Sucitto, in his Introduction to "The Way It Is" by Ajahn Sumedho, explains it like this:

To the extent to which (paccaya) the mind has not comprehended (avijja) Truth, habitual drives manifest and condition (paccaya) awareness into a discriminative mode (viññana) that operates in terms of (paccaya) subject and object (nama-rupa) held (paccaya) to exist on either side of the six sense-doors (salayatana). These sense-doors open dependent (paccaya) on contact (phasso) that can arouse (paccaya) varying degrees of feeling (vedana). Feeling stimulates (paccaya) desire (tanha) and, according to (paccaya) the power of desire, attention lingers (upadana) and so personal aims and obsessions develop (bhava) to give (paccaya) (jati) rise to self-consciousness. That self-consciousness, mental or physical, once arisen must follow (paccaya) the cycle of maturing and passing away (jara-marana) with the resultant sense of sadness (soka) varying from sorrow (parideva) to depression (domanassa), to anguish (dukkha) and emotional breakdown (upayasa).


An easy way to understand Dependent Origination

Here's some great imagery from Ajahn Amaro to help us understand Dependent Origination easier:

We are an eye in the sky, way, way, above the earth. Awareness and the infinite blue. Everything is O.K. Then our attention is caught bysome movement in the blueness down below, the eye peers down and ponders, “I wonder what that is?” The attention starts to focus and draws close like a telescope on the surface of the sea. This is sankha¯ra, self having interest in the other. Viñña¯na is then the patterns on the water, the different shapes of the waves. We think, “That’s interesting – beautiful waves!” Then that complexifies and diversifies into different kinds of consciousness, into perceptions, thought, feeling, body, the six senses; we’ve drawn closer and closer, now hopping from wave to wave, dodging from this one to that one, having a great time. Different types of waves: sound waves, colour waves, smell waves, touch waves, thought waves – all very nice. Then suddenly there’s one we find really interesting; desire arises: “This is a great wave!” Desire turns into clinging and we think, “This one is ridable.” Suddenly, as if by magic, a surfboard appears and we are away! Clinging turns into becoming – surfing, riding the crest of a great wave is the perfect image for becoming. A couple of years ago I was down by Huntington Beach. They have a beautiful sculpture by the roadside, a big bronze of a youth, a teenage boy perched on top of his board riding high on the curl of the perfect wave.41 The heart of Southern Californian beach life seems to be the desire to become, epitomized by the riding of the crest. Bhava is the thrill of getting what we want – we are riding our wave and we’re right in the teeth of it – total thrill.  Then bhava turns into ja¯ti which means either, “I’ve run out of wave” or “This wave is taking me to the rocks” or suchlike. Suddenly the wave collapses, we are thrown through mid-air, do a few somersaults, mouthfuls of sea water, don’t know which way is up or down. Splat! We’re choking and spluttering and have been thoroughly dumped by the whole thing. So what do we do? Go looking for another wave, of course!
- p 161-162, Rain on the Nile by Ajahn Amaro


So, hopefully, this has helped you guys get a better idea of what the Buddha means when he says:

And what, monks, is the Noble Truth of the Arising of Suffering?

Dependent on ignorance arise formations; dependent on formations, consciousness;
dependent on consciousness, mind and body; dependent on mind and body, the
six senses; dependent on the six senses, contact; dependent on contact, feeling;
dependent on feeling, desire; dependent on desire, clinging; dependent on clinging,
the process of becoming; dependent on the process of becoming, birth; dependent on
birth, ageing and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair come to pass.
Thus does the whole mass of suffering arise.

This, monks, is called the Noble Truth of the Arising of Suffering.


And what, monks, is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering?

Through the entire cessation of ignorance, formations cease; through the cessation of
formations, consciousness; through the cessation of consciousness, mind and body;
through the cessation of mind and body, the six senses; through the cessation of the
six senses, contact; through the cessation of contact, feeling; through the cessation
of feeling, desire; through the cessation of desire, clinging; through the cessation of
clinging, the process of becoming; through the cessation of the process of becoming,
birth; through the cessation of birth, ageing and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain,
grief and despair all cease. Thus there is the cessation of the whole mass of suffering.

This, monks is called the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering.

Anguttara Nikaya 3.61

[humanitas]

Dearest Optimus Prime,

thank you for starting this thread.  I have a few links to add for more information and preliminary study of the concept.  I'd like to see this concept generally better understood by all us beginner practitioners.

Dependent Origination Wikipedia

Fundamentals of Buddhism: Dependent Origination - Buddhanet

Dependent Origination-The Buddhist Law of Conditionality by P. A. Payutto (Translated from the Thai by Bruce Evans)

Dependent Origination by Christina Feldman

more on Dependent Origination

[Ngawang Drolma]

The Three lives theory, an excerpt:


The application of pratītyasamutpāda to the process of rebirth is known as the Twelve Nidanas or the Twelve Links of Conditioned Existence. The nikayas themselves do not give a systematic explanation of the nidana series.[6] As an expository device, the commentarial tradition presented the factors as a linear sequence spanning over three lives; this does not mean that the "past", "present", and "future" factors are mutually exclusive, and in fact as many suttas show, they are not.[7] The twelve nidanas categorized in this way are:

Former Life

    * ignorance
    * volitional formations (activities which produce karma)

Current Life

    * consciousness
    * mind and body (personality or identity)
    * the six sense bases (five physical senses and the mind)
    * contact (between objects and the senses)
    * feeling (registering the contact)
    * craving (for continued contact)
    * clinging
    * becoming (similar to volitional formations)

Future Life

    * birth
    * old age and death

This twelve-factor formula is the most familiar presentation, though a number of early suttas introduce less-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 woven strands of conditionality.[8] For example, whenever there is ignorance, craving and clinging invariably follow, and craving and clinging themselves indicate ignorance.[7]

With respect to the destinies of human beings and animals, dependent origination has a more specific meaning, as it describes the process by which such 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. Aging and death are experienced by us because birth and youth have been experienced. Without birth there is no death. One conditions the other in a mutually dependent relationship. Our becoming in the world, the process of what we call "life", is conditioned by the attachment and clinging to ideas and projects. This attachment and clinging in turn cannot exist without craving as its condition. The Buddha understood that craving comes into being because there is sensation in the body which we experience as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. When we crave something, it is the sensation induced by contact with the desired object that we crave rather than the object itself. Sensation is caused by contact with such objects of the senses. The contact or impression made upon the senses (manifesting as sensation) is itself dependent upon the six sense organs which themselves are dependent upon the psychophysical entity that a human being is.

Source

[TMingyur]

Dependent origination in a nutshell:

Neither from itself nor from other
Nor from both,
Nor without a cause
Does anything anywhere, ever arise.
Nagarjuna, MMK1

[Optimus Prime]

Here's an excellent, detailed essay on Dependent Origination by Ajahn Brahm:

http://www.bswa.org/modules/icontent/index.php?page=65

[Bodhisatta2012]

Extensive discussion (sometimes tangential) regarding this topic, DO, here, which includes numerous links for the scholarly   :

http://www.thebigview.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3897

[Quiet Heart]

 
Dependent Origination

One of my favorite topics.
I understand the point of dependent origination. I understand that what we percieve can arise from the illusions of the mind. I have no quarrel with that.
What makes me choke slightly is those who seem to claim (in my humble opinion) that because all events are dependent on other events and the minds interpretation of those events that therefore nothing really exists.
That kind of thinking makes me feel very uneasy...it is on the point of being Nihilistic.
It sticks in my craw, like the Christian insistance on "faith" as being required for the true understanding of what they claim to be true.
I like to quote what Sherlock Holmes said that...the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.
From my Zen training viewpoint, and my previous Taoist viewpoint, I can't personally buy the "nothing fundamentally exists" idea that many of the dependent origination crowd seem to accept as a given.
I personally think that although the view of the world may be flawed by the "illusions" generated by my mind...when and if I ever achieve the level of understanding to overcome those "illusions", there will still be a reality left to percieve.
But, I suppose I shall see whether or not that is true, when/if it comes.

I like the thought that:

When I first came to study I saw the mountains as mountains, and the sea as sea.
After many years I saw no mountains and I saw no sea, all was emptiness.
But finally, having understood, I again saw the mountains, but only as mountains;
and I saw the sea again, but only as the sea.
 

[humanitas]

I can't personally buy the "nothing fundamentally exists" idea that many of the dependent origination crowd seem to accept as a given.

AFAIK, this is a gross misunderstanding of DO.  It's not that nothing fundamentally exists at all.  It all exists just fine.  It's that everything that appears to have one singular solid form is not one object but a convergence of many many different factors and conditions.  And in that way, nothing exists as a single object-entity.  But air exists, body exists, as does everything else.  Its existence is conditional and pivotal on the components which GIVE it existence, like air is not a solid object, it's composed of conditions, like chemistry, and pressure and gravity. Air's chemistry alone has tons of conditions which exist to give it its air-status, and gravity is a whole other set of conditions, as is atmosphere, pressure, etc.  So air is not one object like the word implied (tiny three letter word)  It's actually a million things, and in that sense AIR as this singular object doesn't exist anywhere but in a concept that gathers all the conditions and shorthands it into one objectconceptnotion-AIR.  But when we say "emptiness" we don't mean absent.  We mean open, spacious, without rigid form, or rather the form is conditional thus... empty of its own object-ness rigid structure.  Emptiness is form means that emptiness is like water, it fills form, but form is still composed of emptiness, this openness subject to change and impermanence once the conditions change, which they inevitably do. Thus all is emptiness is like saying, it's all connected...  Am I making any sense?

I could be mistaken, but this is how I understood DO.  I couldn't buy the nothing fundamentally exists either, that's totally incomplete as a view of mind.

 
Ogyen.

[TMingyur]

What makes me choke slightly is those who seem to claim (in my humble opinion) that because all events are dependent on other events and the minds interpretation of those events that therefore nothing really exists.
That kind of thinking makes me feel very uneasy...it is on the point of being Nihilistic.

That depends on how you understand "really" and the reference that you recognize being made there.
Actually if it is understood as: "All phenomena are not really existent the way they appear" it makes perfect sense. "really existent" meaning "from their own side", "existing through the power of themselves" or "existing inherently", "their [mode of appearing] existence not being dependent on the imputation/labeling by a subject".
With these statements nothing is said about "secondary causes" of those appearances.

Kind regards

[Spiny le Norman]

Upadana paccaya bhavo (bhava means becoming - this is the thrill of getting what you want)
Bhava conditions jati (birth)

I'm not sure about bhava meaning "the thrill of getting what you want."  In MN 9.30 for example, bhava is is described as existence in different planes / realms:
"There are these three kinds of being: sense-sphere being, fine-material being and immaterial being."

There is also a description of birth in the same sutta, MN 9.26:
"And what is birth?....The birth of beings in the various orders of beings; their coming to birth, precipitation in a womb; generation, manifestation of the aggregates, obtaining the bases for contact - this is called birth."

Spiny

[ABC]

There is also a description of birth in the same sutta, MN 9.26: "And what is birth?....The birth of beings in the various orders of beings; their coming to birth, precipitation in a womb; generation, manifestation of the aggregates, obtaining the bases for contact - this is called birth."

It is questionable that his is physical birth because after death comes suffering. So how can something dead experience suffering?

The word 'jati' means social class in India.

The word  'womb' does is not found in the Pali here.  

This quote states the birth of the various orders of beings, as follows:

It is the building up of the aggregates from self-obsession, as follows:

The Blessed One said: "Not knowing, not seeing the eye as it actually is present; not knowing, not seeing forms... consciousness at the eye... contact at the eye as they actually are present; not knowing, not seeing whatever arises conditioned through contact at the eye — experienced as pleasure, pain, or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — as it actually is present, one is infatuated with the eye... forms... consciousness at the eye... contact at the eye... whatever arises conditioned by contact at the eye and is experienced as pleasure, pain, or neither-pleasure-nor-pain.

"For him — infatuated, attached, confused, not remaining focused on their drawbacks — the five clinging-aggregates head toward future accumulation. The craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion & delight, relishing now this & now that — grows within him. His bodily disturbances & mental disturbances grow. His bodily torments & mental torments grow. His bodily distresses & mental distresses grow. He is sensitive both to bodily stress & mental stress.

 

[Spiny le Norman]

There is also a description of birth in the same sutta, MN 9.26: "And what is birth?....The birth of beings in the various orders of beings; their coming to birth, precipitation in a womb; generation, manifestation of the aggregates, obtaining the bases for contact - this is called birth."

It is questionable that his is physical birth because after death comes suffering. So how can something dead experience suffering?

The word 'jati' means social class in India.

I'm not sure I understand your first point.  Dukkha is desribed in the suttas as including birth, ageing and death - which supports the traditional view that the purpose of enlightenment is liberation from the cycle of birth and death, ie the suffering of samsara. 
I have given a sutta extract supporting the literal description of jati / birth, do you have a sutta extract which supports your view of jati as meaning social class?  And what relevance this has to the discussion?

Spiny

[Spiny le Norman]

Sankhara conditions vinnanam (discriminating consciousness - you start making distinctions and discriminations - your awareness starts to operate in the discriminative mode of consciousness)

Again, this seems to be at odds with the traditional view, which is that sankhara here refers to kammic imprints - so the consciousness of one life is conditioned by the kammic imprints of the previous one.

Spiny

[catmoon]

Once, a couple of years ago, I heard it said "We don't teach emptiness to beginners because the first thing they do with it is fall into nihilism."

  I thought gee that's kinda harsh, then proceeded forth forewarned, forearmed, clear minded and ready. And of course I fell straight in to nihilism. Since then, I've watched any number of people take the same fall. The more educated minds just do it in a more complicated way.

  So I think it is worth reiterating that

Emptiness is not telling us things don't exist.

[Bodhisatta2012]

The problem (I) have found with many who attempt to teach what Buddhism means by, and what Buddha taught regarding emptiness is that their heads are empty of what Buddha taught regarding emptiness.  This does not mean that these folks no longer exist.  This simply means that the knowledge of what Buddha taught is not present in their heads.  Nor does this mean that emptiness itself does not exist.  It only means the correct understanding of what Buddha taught and what Buddhism means with regard to emptiness is not present in their list of abilities.  In other words, their ability list of what they are competent to teach is empty of the Buddhist meaning of emptiness, and empty of what Buddha taught with regard to emptiness.  It is much like what happened the other day when (I) needed a pair of needle nose pliers, which (I) left under the seat in my wife's car.  When (I) went to look for my needle nose pliers in my tool box where (I) normally keep them my tool box did not contain my needle nose pliers, because they were in my wife's car under the front seat.  Therefore, when (I) looked into my toolbox, my toolbox was empty of my needle nose pliers.

Something similar happened to me when (I) looked for my soul, or what some people call their permanent self, that self which exists for all eternity.  (I) looked for my self in the mirror and all (I) found was a reflection of the light which shone down upon me from the sun.  The mirror was empty of my self.  (I) looked in records which my various schools collected regarding my activities while (I) was studying and only incomplete information about who (I) used to be and what (I) used to do was there.  My school records were empty of my permanent self.  (I) looked in old sixteen millimeter motion picture films of my family for myself, but found only light images of me and my family which recorded what (I) used to look like years and years ago.  The motion pictures of me were empty of my self.  (I) looked at old photographs, asked friends, talked to loved ones, questioned my children, inquired of my wife, and my parents, and teachers and each one gave me but a partial, incomplete, and biased picture of who they thought (I) was and am, but none of their descriptions were the same.  Their descriptions were empty of my self.

Then (I) thought that my soul, my true self might be in my brain somewhere, because thats where all my greatest thoughts and ideas resided, but then none of these thoughts ever lasted for long, except for really traumatic or really exciting and joyful memories of past events, but even those seem to not have lasted, as (I) am beginning to forget a lot, and my wife always seems to remember them differently than (I) do.  So,  (I) found that my memories, even my best thoughts and ideas were empty of my self.

So one day after having a discussion about the reductive nature of the physical universe (I) thought that (I) would perform a thought experiment and began to disassemble my body parts from head to toe.  (I) took off my head, pulled out my eyes, cut off my nose, snipped out my tongue, plucked out my brain, yanked off arms and legs, began to pull out my organs:  lungs, spleen, pancreas, stomach, small intestine, transverse colon, large intestine, sigmoid colon, anus;  then (I) began with the nervous system and disassembled it, next the muscles were all pulled apart and spread out on the floor, and then (I) took them bones apart and put skull here, and femurs there, and spinal column over there, and ...... so it went on with each part, limb, organ, and system.  Still there was no self to be found.  Even my body was empty of any self.

So, (I) thought that surely my self must be hiding in one of all the millions of somatic, nerve, blood, lymphatic, muscle, or tissue cells.  And (I) began placing all of them, all my cells, into my kitchen blender and placed it on liquefy.  (I) had gotten the idea from watching Chevy Chase in an old
Saturday Night Live Episode.  (I) believe the skit was called Bass-O-Matic.  And (I) blended each of my cells.  Ran all the liquid through a series of finely meshed filters and still the entire batch was empty of myself.

So, then (I) thought that myself must be visible at the atomic level.  Quickly (I) got out my first year college Organic Chemistry set and began to dissolve everything that (I) had blended and liquefied into a gas chromatography / mass-spectrometry column and ran charts on every molecule in my body.  The charts were all empty of any self.  My self was no where in evidence.

So, there had to be only one solution.  (I) jumped in my car, drove to the airport and flew to Paris.  From there (I) went by rail to CERN on the French-Swiss border and asked to use their super collider to smash all my atoms into plasma and subatomic particles, because the only possibility left for where my self might be hiding was in subatomic particles, or maybe strings, or super-strings, or maybe in some energy-mass flux vibration between the infinite number of membranes in the multi-verse or somewhere in some corner of the infinite parallel universes.  And my search over infinite life-times resulted in me finding no evidence of any self anywhere.  In other words the total result set, having integrated all of my experiences, and experiments, and searches was empty of any evidence that my self ever existed, exists, or will ever exist.  The final result was that The All was empty of any self which (I) could call me, mine, or myself.

But you know what?  (I) learned a great deal going through the exercise.  The most important thing that (I) learned was that there are better things to do, better ways to experience my time, more beneficial pursuits.  So, (I) just decided to no longer cling to any delusions of self.  And now (I) am proud to report that my mind is empty of my self.