Tagged: Paṭiccasamuppāda
Pages with this tag
Anālayo - Consciousness and Dependent Arising (2020)
1In the Buddhist concept of dependent arising, consciousness and name-and-form share a unique, reciprocal relationship, mutually conditioning each other like two bundles of reeds that can only stand by leaning together. This dynamic, where consciousness requires name-and-form for its content and name-and-form requires consciousness to be experienced, creates the continuous matrix of subjective experience. When this consciousness becomes "established" through desire, it perpetuates the cycle of rebirth, but the "unestablished consciousness" of an enlightened one (*arahant*) is no longer dependent on name-and-form, thereby ending future re-becoming. Ultimately, the text argues that consciousness is not a solution but a conditioned, impermanent, and potentially deluding part of the human predicament (*dukkha*), and its cessation is integral to achieving liberation.
Anālayo - Dependent Arising and Interdependence (2021)
2The early Buddhist doctrine of "dependent arising" posits a specific conditionality, where particular phenomena arise due to identifiable causes, with the primary aim of understanding and eradicating the specific conditions, such as ignorance, that lead to human suffering. This principle is distinct from the concept of "interdependence" or "interconnectedness" — the idea that all phenomena are mutually related in a vast web — which is a later development from Mahāyāna traditions like Huayan philosophy. The text argues that modern interpretations often conflate these two divergent concepts, a confusion that diminishes the practical focus of the original teaching and is exemplified by contemporary research tools like the "Interconnectedness Scale," which incorrectly mixes items reflecting both specific conditionality and universal interdependence.
Kalupahana - The Philosophy of Early History in Buddhism (1981)
3The text explores why early Buddhism, despite accepting the reality of the empirical world, lacked historical writings in the Western sense. It contrasts the Western speculative philosophy of history, which posits an unfolding Absolute, with the critical philosophy that views history as a value-laden discipline. Early Buddhism rejects the speculative approach, categorizing such grand theories as dispositionally constructed "views" (diṭṭhi) based on incomplete evidence and metaphysical assumptions. While aligning with the critical view in recognizing the evaluative nature of historical interpretation, Buddhism values "knowledge of the past" (pubbante ñāṇa) for its pragmatic role in understanding suffering. This understanding is grounded not in an absolute framework or first cause, but in the principle of dependent arising (paticcasamuppāda), a causal process knowable through experience. The ultimate goal is not to construct historical narratives but to use knowledge of causation to pacify dispositions and achieve nirvāṇa, thereby focusing on the present without being bound by speculative reconstructions of the past.