Buddha’s Teaching As It Is –

Lecture 4: Dependent Arising Bhikkhu Bodhi

PowerPoint presentation on Bhikkhu Bodhi’s
recorded lectures on ‘Buddha’s Teaching As It Is’.
Materials for the presentation are taken from the
recorded lectures (MP3) posted at the website of
Bodhi Monastery and the notes of the lectures
posted at beyondthenet.net

Originally prepared to accompany the playing of

Bhikkhu Bodhi’s recorded lectures on ‘Buddha’s Teaching
As It is’ in the Dharma Study Class at PUTOSI Temple,
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
This series of weekly study begins in November, 2010.
 Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato
Sammasambuddhassa

Dependent Arising
Paticca Samuppada
Bhikkhu Bodhi
Lecture 4
Dependent Arising – Paticcasamuppada
‘Paticcas’ means dependent on, conditioned by.
‘Samuppda’ means arising, interconnectedness or interrelatedness
that characterises the arising
A satisfactory translation for the term paticcasamuppada would
be dependent co-arising. The more general translation, ‘
dependent arising’ is used here. Other translations are
dependent origination, conditioned co-production, conditioned
genesis.
The doctrine of dependent arising is the dynamic counterpart of
the doctrine of anatta (non-self).
Dependent Co-arising
Law of Conditionality
 Law of Conditionality

Imasmim sati idam hoti; Imassuppada idam uppajjati.

Imasmim asati idam na hoti; Imassa nirodha idham nirujjhati.
Law of Conditionality
No Single or First Cause
No Single or First Cause
Wheel of Existence (Becoming) -
Samsara
Wheel of Existence - Samsara

Image from P.A. Payutto, Dependent Origination

Such is the Arising of Sufferings
 Past, Present & Future Lives
To clarify the working of the twelve
factors, the Buddha explained
them as distributed over three
successive lives. They can be
applied to any three lives.
If we take the main portion from
consciousness through to existence
(No. 3 to 10) as applying to the
present life, the first two factors
pertain to the past life, to the
immediately preceding life, and
the last two factors, birth, and
ageing and death represent the Image from P.A. Payutto,
next life, our future existence. Dependent Origination
Past, Present & Future Lives

Image from P.A. Payutto,

Dependent Origination
Present Life is the Result of Past Life
 i. Ignorance (Avijja)
The Buddha starts the sequence of factors with ignorance, 'Avijja'. In
our past lives our minds were obscured by a basic ignorance. No
first point can be found to this ignorance. No matter how far back
we go through our past lives, one always finds that our minds have
been obscured by ignorance. What is ignorance? The Buddha
defines ignorance as not knowing, not seeing the Four Noble Truths;
the truth of suffering, its origin, its cessation and the way to its
cessation. Ignorance does not mean the mere lack of conceptual
understanding of these, but spiritual blindness, not understanding
the Four Noble Truths in their full depth and range.
Through beginningless, times ignorance has led us to see things as
being permanent, pleasurable, attractive and self, and prevented
 i. Ignorance (Avijja)
us from seeing them in their real characteristics of impermanence,
suffering and selflessness. Out of this ignorance come all other
defilements, such as greed, aversion, pride, wrong views, jealousy,
selfishness etc.. It has to be emphasised that ignorance is not the
'uncaused' first cause of things. It also arises through conditions. As a
mental factor it depends on the minds and bodies of these beings.
Though it arises through conditions, ignorance is the most fundamental
condition. Therefore the Buddha takes this as a starting point for
explanation. This ignorance controls our mind until we are perfectly
enlightened, leading us into actions which bring about renewed birth in
the future. This brings us to the first proposition, which connects together
the first two factors "Dependent on ignorance volitional formations
arise."
 ii. Volitional Formations (Sankhara)
Dependent on our spiritual blindness, ignorance, we engage in
actions. We activate our will.

‘Sankhara’ means forming, constructing, creating, putting together

and here it refers specifically to mental formations.

The factor of sankhara is equivalent to kamma.

Kamma means volitional formations or acts of will, which are

expressed outwardly through the body and speech; or thoughts
(in the mind).
 ii. Volitional Formations (Sankhara)
Whenever there is a volitional action that arises in the mind
encompassed by ignorance, that action leaves an imprint in the mind, a
formation with the capacity to mature, to fructify in the future. It is
deposited in the mind as a seed with a potency, a power of
germinating in the future and of producing results. In the context of
dependent arising, the most important aspect of volitional formations is
their power to generate a new existence in the future, its power to
bring about rebirth. These volitional formations, depending on whether
they are wholesome or unwholesome volitions, will bring about a good
or bad rebirth.
Now we come to the next link in the series:
"Dependent on volitional formations as condition consciousness arises."
 iii. Consciousness (Vinnana)
If volitional formations are accumulated in the mind and ignorance is
still present, when death occurs, a new moment of consciousness will be
generated following death. This is the first moment of consciousness of
the new life.
From the Buddhist perspective, consciousness is not regarded as a
single persisting entity, a self or a soul which continues unchanged.
Consciousness is rather a series of acts of consciousness, each one
arising and breaking up like the waves of the ocean. When death
occurs the last act of consciousness in this life arises and passes away.
But through the force of ignorance and volitional formations, the final
act of consciousness generates a new act of consciousness which springs
up in the mother's womb, links up with the fertilized ovum, and thus
starts the new existence.
 iii. Consciousness (Vinnana)
This first act of consciousness occurring at the moment of conception is
called the 'patisandhicitta', the "relinking consciousness", because it
links together the past life with the present life, the new being with his
entire past.
This rebirth consciousness springs up because of the wholesome or
unwholesome volitions performed and stored up in the past life. If
the kamma that determines rebirth is a wholesome one, then there will
follow a favourable type of rebirth with a superior type of relinking
consciousness. If the kamma that determines rebirth is an unwholesome
one, then there will take place a lower type of rebirth with an inferior
type of relinking consciousness. Whether it would be a high or low
rebirth, that rebirth would be conditioned by the volitional formation
that is underlaid by ignorance, the spiritual blindness.
DEPENDENT ARISING – PART II
 iii. Consciousness (Vinnana)
When the rebirth consciousness arises it lasts for a brief moment and
breaks up.

But immediately after the rebirth consciousness, the same basic type
of consciousness begins to flow as a series of mental acts throughout
the entire life. It flows as a passive flow of consciousness underlying
all our active states of mind, continuing all the way to death. This
passive stream of consciousness is called 'bhavanga', the stream of
existence or the life continuum. This bhavanga is also determined by
the volitional formation of the past life.
 iv. Materiality-Mentality (Nama-rupa)
"With, consciousness as a condition mentality-materiality arises."

Mentality-materiality is a term for the psycho-physical organism. When

the rebirth consciousness springs up at the time of conception it does not
arise in isolation. It arises in association with the totality of the psycho-
physical organism, which also comes into being at the time of
conception. A living being is a compound of five aggregates, the
material factor being form and four mental factors being feeling,
perception, mental formations and consciousness.
In the case of a human rebirth the materiality or form is the body of the
new-born organism, the single fertilized egg. On the mental side,
associated with the consciousness, are the other three factors - feeling,
perception and mental formations. These five aggregates continue all
the way to death dependent on each other.
 v. Six Sense Bases (Salayatana)
"With mentality-materiality as condition the six sense faculties arise."

As the psycho-physical organism grows and evolves, the five physical

sense faculties appear; the eye, ear, nose, tongue and body. There is
also the sixth, the mind faculty (faculty of cognition), the organ of
thought, which coordinates the other sense data and also cognizes its
own objects - ideas, images, concepts, etc.
At the moment conception there are present the body faculty and the
mind (rebirth consciousness) faculty. The other four sense faculties
develop later as the embryo develops.
The six sense faculties serve as our means for gathering information
about the world. Each faculty can receive the type of sense data
appropriate to itself. The eye receives form, the ear sounds, nose smells
etc. Thus we come to the next link.
 vi. Contact (Phassa)
"With six sense faculties as condition contact arises.“

Contact means the coming together of the consciousness with

the sense objects through the sense faculty, e.g. the eye
consciousness contacts form through the eye.
The six kinds of contact correspond to the six sense faculties.
 vii. Feeling (Vedana)
"Dependent on contact as a condition feeling arises."
Feeling is the “affective tone" with which the mind experiences
the object. There can be six kinds of feeling as determined by the
organ through which the feeling arises e.g. there is feeling born of
eye contact, feeling born of ear contact, etc. By way of its
affective quality, feelings are of three types; pleasant or
agreeable, painful or disagreeable and neutral feelings. It is
through these feeling that our past kammas work themselves out
and bring their fruits.
 viii. Craving (Tanha)
"Dependent on feeling as a condition craving arises."

With this link we take a major step forward in the movement of the
wheel of existence. All the factors we have mentioned so far -
consciousness, mentality-materiality, the six sense faculties, contact and
feeling - represent the results of past kamma. They arise through the
maturation of kamma from our past, from volitional formations.
But now with the arising of craving experience moves from the past to
the causes operating in the present, those causes which generate a new
existence in the future.
When we experience pleasant feelings we become attached to them.
We enjoy them, relish them, crave for a continuation of them. Thus
craving arises. When we experience painful feeling, this pain awakens
an aversion, a desire to eradicate its source, or to flee from them.
 viii. Craving (Tanha)
But this pattern, by which feeling leads to craving, does not occur as a
necessity. This is a very important point. Between feeling and craving
there is a space, a gap which can become a battlefield where the
round of existence is brought to an end. The battle fought in this space
determines whether bondage will continue indefinitely into the future or
whether it will be replaced by enlightenment and liberation. For if,
instead of yielding to craving, we contemplate our feeling with
mindfulness and awareness and understand them as they really are,
then we can prevent craving from arising and from generating renewed
existence in the future.
 ix. Clinging (Upadana)
"Dependent on craving as a condition, clinging arises."
Now we are dealing with the forward movement of the round.
Clinging is the intensification of craving.
There are four types of clinging:
(a) clinging to sense pleasures.
(b) clinging to views, theories and beliefs.
(c) clinging to rituals, rules and observances.
(d) cling to the notion of a self within the five aggregates
The difference between craving and clinging is illustrated by a simile.
Craving is like a thief extending his hand to grasp an object that he
intends to steal. Clinging is like the thief taking possession of it.
 x. Existence (Bhava)
"Dependent on clinging as a condition existence (birth) arises."

Bhava is the "kammically" accumulative side of existence, the phase

of life in which we act and accumulate kamma, in which we
generate more volitional formations, in which we build up these
formations, accumulate them in the flow of consciousness. When
these kammas are accumulated after death they bring about a new
existence.
 xi. Birth (Jati),
& xii. Aging & Death (Jaramarana)
ageing , Death - Jaramarana

Dependent on birth as a condition ageing and death arises."

Because we take birth in the future, we pay the inevitable price with
ageing and death, and also sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and
despair.
 Three links
1. Link between past causes and present effects: connection
between volitional formations as the cause and consciousness
as the effect;
2. Link between present effects and present causes: connection
between feelings as the present cause and craving as the
effect – most important;
3. Link between present causes and future effects: connection
between existence or becoming as the cause and birth as the
effect.

12 factors arranged into 4 groups with 20 modes

 Four groups in 20 modes
12 factors arranged into 4
groups with 20 modes in
the psychophysical process:
1. Five Causal factors of the
Past – ignorance, craving
and clinging, volitional
formations =and existence
or becoming (kamically
active phase);

Image from Mahasi Sayadaw, Paticcasamuppda

 Four groups in 20 modes
2. Five Present Effects =
consciousness, nama rupa,
sense faculties, contact and
feeling (subject to birth,
aging and death)
1. Five Present Causes =
craving, clinging,
ignorance, existence,
volitional formations;

Image from Mahasi Sayadaw, Paticcasamuppda

 Four groups in 20 modes
3. Five Present Causes =
craving, clinging,
ignorance, existence,
volitional formations;
4. Five Future Effects = birth,
aging, death, consciousness,
nama rupa
Whole sequence repeats itself
endlessly

Image from Mahasi Sayadaw, Paticcasamuppda

 Three Phases That Drive Samsaric
Existence
 Defilement or kilesa vatta or phase:
ignorance, craving and clinging; lead to
kamma phase
 Kamma phase: engage in action that

accumulates kamma that leads to future

existence – volitional formations and
existence (becoming); lead to resultant
phase
 Resultant (Vipaka) phase: consciousness,

mind and matter, sense-bases, contact,

and feeling; lead to defilement phase
Image from P.A. Payutto, Dependent
Defilements  kamma (causes) results Origination
Discovery of Enlightenment
Applying the Theory of Dependent
Arising
Additional Illustrations on dependent
origination, downloaded from various
websites on 12 DECEMBER, 2010.
Mogok Sayadaw; Dependent Arising
 Venerable P.A. Payutto, Dependent Origination

http://www.sareoso.org.uk/Liburutegia/ontzia/TransDependentArising.gif
Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, Practical Dependent Origination
Source: S Chinawaro Bhikkhu,
http://dhammabum.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/graphic-buddha-teaching.jpg