Dependent Origination

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Published on Monday, 02 May 2011 08:36

Dependent Origination is a teaching the Buddha gave to explain how living beings are born, exist, die, and are reborn, all without an undying self or soul. 

Closely related to Dependent Origination is the Law of Conditionality. It explains how all things that come into being—whether it be a human life, a thought, or a galaxy—depend upon an endless chain of preceding causes and conditions. This law also is a way of looking at the second and third Noble Truths. The second truth—there is a cause of suffering—can be stated as, Because of this, there is that. The third truth—there is an end of suffering—can be stated as, Without this, that cannot be. Remove the causes and conditions of a given “thing,” and that thing cannot come to be. Remove the causes and conditions of suffering, and suffering ceases. With the 12 Links of Dependent Origination, the Buddha provides a model of the causal chain that binds an individual to samsara, the endless cycle of suffering.

Paul Gerhards, excerpted from Mapping the Dharma