Dep Origination 12

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Dependent Origination (Pāli: paṭicca-samuppāda; Sanskrit: pratītya-samutpāda) is one of the central teachings of the Buddha — a profound principle explaining how all phenomena arise and cease due to conditions, without any independent or permanent essence.

🌱 Basic Meaning

“Dependent origination” literally means “arising in dependence upon conditions.”

In simple terms:

Nothing exists independently. Everything comes into being through causes and conditions, and when those conditions change, it ceases.

🔁 The Classic Formula

The Buddha expressed this principle succinctly:

“When this is, that is.

When this arises, that arises.

When this is not, that is not.

When this ceases, that ceases.”

(Samyutta Nikāya 12.61)

🧩 The Twelve Links (Dvādasa Nidānāni)

In its most detailed form, dependent origination is described through twelve interconnected links that explain the cycle of samsāra (birth, suffering, and rebirth):

1. Avidyā – Ignorance
2. Saṅkhāra – Volitional formations (karmic activities)
3. Vijñāna – Consciousness
4. Nāma-rūpa – Name-and-form (mind and body)
5. Ṣaḍāyatana – Six sense bases (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind)
6. Sparśa – Contact
7. Vedanā – Feeling (pleasant, unpleasant, neutral)
8. Tṛṣṇā – Craving
9. Upādāna – Clinging or grasping
10. Bhava – Becoming (the process of existence)
11. Jāti – Birth
12. Jarāmaraṇa – Aging and death (and all forms of suffering)

🔄 The Cycle of Suffering

These links form a cyclical chain — each link conditions the next.

Ignorance gives rise to actions (karma), which shape consciousness, and so on, eventually leading to birth, aging, and death.

By breaking this chain — especially by removing ignorance and craving — liberation (nirvāṇa) is achieved.

🕊️ Philosophical Implications

• No-self (Anatta): Since everything arises dependently, there is no permanent, independent “self.”
• Impermanence (Anicca): All conditioned phenomena are transient and subject to change.
• Suffering (Dukkha): Suffering arises from clinging to what is impermanent.

💬 In Short

“Who sees dependent origination sees the Dhamma;

Who sees the Dhamma sees dependent origination.”

— Majjhima Nikāya 28

Would you like me to explain how the twelve links operate in daily life (e.g., how craving leads to suffering in a modern context)?