Overview
Dependent Origination (Paṭiccasamuppāda) is the absolute core of Buddhist philosophy. It is the complex, 12-linked causal chain explaining exactly how suffering and rebirth occur without the need for a creator god or a permanent soul. The entire goal of Buddhism is to cut this chain, causing the entire mass of suffering to collapse.
The List
- Avijjā - Ignorance (of the Four Noble Truths) conditions…
- Saṅkhārā - Volitional Formations (Kammic actions of body, speech, mind), which condition…
- Viññāṇa - Consciousness (The rebirth-linking consciousness), which conditions…
- Nāma-rūpa - Mentality and Materiality (The mind-body organism), which conditions…
- Saḷāyatana - The Six Sense Bases (Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind), which condition…
- Phassa - Contact (The meeting of sense, object, and consciousness), which conditions…
- Vedanā - Feeling (Pleasant, painful, or neutral tone), which conditions…
- Taṇhā - Craving (Lust for the feeling), which conditions…
- Upādāna - Clinging (Fierce grasping and attachment), which conditions…
- Bhava - Existence/Becoming (The kammic process of forming a new life), which conditions…
- Jāti - Birth (The descent into a new womb/realm), which conditions…
- Jarāmaraṇa, Soka, Parideva, Dukkha, Domanassa, Upāyāsā - Aging, Death, Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain, Grief, and Despair.
Textual References
- Canonical: Paṭiccasamuppāda Sutta (SN 12.1) – The Buddha outlines both the forward (arising) and reverse (cessation) orders of this twelve-fold chain.