Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: Buddhism's KEY teaching: D.O.

Monday, January 27, 2025

Buddhism's KEY teaching: D.O.

I remember studying the doctrine of Dependent Origination (D.O.), hoping to determine a "first cause," a prime mover, the beginning of everything. Taken in an academic way, one might conclude that it all began with ignorance (avijja or avidya, "unknowing"). It made sense. IF everything is an illusion (maya), as Hinduism says, ignorance would be the first cause. Of course, it didn't really make sense but only remained academic.

Years later, speaking with someone who had attained the first stages of enlightenment (yes, such a thing is possible today), I of course asked what the breakthrough was: absorption (jhana), insight (vipassana), stillness (samadhi)?

I was baffled to be told that it was actually "the practice of Dependent Origination." I had to stop myself from saying, "But Dependent Origination is not a practice, just a theory of everything and how it all began..." I bit my tongue and instead asked, "How does one practice that?"

It goes back to what the wandering ascetic Siddhartha was doing in the forest that time. He pursued his great spiritual quest with the question, "Why do we suffer?" or "What is the cause of suffering so that we can end it?"

He was finally practicing the absorptions, or jhanas, which purified his mind until with "clear seeing," he asked, "What is the cause of present suffering (aging, decay, death)?"

He understood that it was rooted in rebirth, and he saw that rebirth is rooted in other things (becoming, clinging, craving, feeling, contact, senses, body-mind, consciousness, formations), back and back into past lives. And why were there formations? Ignorance is the answer. That having been, this came to be.

The ascetic Siddhartha traced it all the way back, seeing how things co-arise: With the arising of this, that arises. When this is not, that does not come to be. This is how he became the Buddha, "the Enlightened One."

I remembered how the Buddha had warned Ananda not to underestimate Dependent Origination. Ananda made the mistake of saying that he thought it was clear and obvious. "Do not say so, Ananda, do not say so." Dependent Origination is deep and profound and seems so to one who understands. It is on account of not seeing this that both he and all of us have wandered through samsara for so very long.

Dependent Origination is the vivid counterpart to the mind-bending doctrine of no-self (anatta). People necessarily misunderstand that doctrine -- according to their inclination, either as eternalism or annihilationism (both of which are wrong) -- because they have never understood Dependent Origination, which can be understood as a very general principle ("suchness") or a very specific practice.

"Practice, what practice?" I asked. See a proficient meditation master such as Pa Auk Sayadaw or any of his awakened student-teachers. Until it is put into practice, there will be no realization (liberating insight), no liberation (moksha), no enlightenment (bodhi), and no nirvana.

How the Buddha solved the mysterious riddle of life | His greatest teaching

(SEEKER TO SEEKER) The Buddha's greatest discovery, Dependent Origination (paticca-samuppada, aka conditioned cogenesis, conditional coarising, interdependent arising), reveals the profound mechanics of life, suffering (dukkha, disappointment), and liberation (moksha, nirvana).

This essential doctrine shows how all experiences arise from interdependent causes and conditions, unraveling the roots of our struggles and pointing to the path to ultimate freedom.

This video breaks down the 12 causal links of existence and their deep implications for our understanding of "self" and reality. #buddha #buddhism #philosophy #enlightenment #dharma #dhamma

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