Dependent Orgination

By ian

Many discussions on Buddhism start with an explanation of the 4 Noble Truths, which serve as a foundation of the beliefs. However, it was easier for me to first understand the concept of dependant origination, so that’s where I’ll start.

Dependent origination, or Pratityasumutpada, is one of the fundamental concepts of Buddhism, which states that everything we perceive in the physical world was created through a series of dependent events. It is a concept that helps define the nature of reality and is the basis for many beliefs.

To further explain, imagine a table. The table only exists as the result of causes. It was previously just wood and before that a tree. A series of events had to occur to make that table. It could not just exist without this dependent process. The table is simply a temporary configuration of a few pieces of wood, which are only temporary configurations of hydrocarbons.

So from dependent origination we have 2 concepts that are important. All things in the physical world are here as the result of some cause and not of their own volition. Also, all things in the physical world are impermanent. Many people would not disagree with these concepts in the table analogy, but when we start to describe other things it gets trickier.

Cogito Ergo Sum is a phrase that summarizes how most people view consciousness. “I think therefore I am� is not necessarily the case. You don’t exist just because you have consciousness; you exist because your parents brought you into the world and you’re still breathing. You don’t exist because you wish to exist; you exist as the direct result of a series of events.

There’s a lot more to this related to existance and the impermanance of the physical world, but I don’t really understand it well enough to explain it. If you’d like to explore this concept more, here are some of the online resources I’ve been reading:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratitya-samutpada
• http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/depend.htm
• http://www.beyondthenet.net/dhamma/dependArising.htm