Dependent origination

The principle

The general statement is compact: when this is, that comes to be; from the arising of this, that arises; when this is not, that does not come to be; from the ceasing of this, that ceases.

The claim is that nothing arises independently, from itself, or without cause. This positions the teaching against two alternatives the Buddha is presented as rejecting: that things arise from a permanent substance or creator, and that they arise randomly.

The twelve links

The standard formulation runs: ignorance conditions formations; formations condition consciousness; consciousness conditions name-and-form; name-and-form conditions the six sense bases; these condition contact; contact conditions feeling; feeling conditions craving; craving conditions clinging; clinging conditions becoming; becoming conditions birth; and birth conditions ageing and death, with the whole mass of suffering.

Read forward it explains how rebirth and suffering continue. Read backwards it identifies where the sequence can be broken — chiefly at feeling and craving, which is why the path concentrates there.

Interpretation

Whether the twelve links describe a sequence over three lives, a process in a single life, or a structure operating moment to moment has been debated within Buddhism since early times, and all three readings have canonical defence. The Theravada commentarial tradition favours the three-life reading; other interpreters have argued for the momentary one.

Its importance

Dependent origination underwrites the rest of the doctrine. If things arise conditionally, they are impermanent; if impermanent and conditioned, they cannot constitute a permanent self; and if suffering arises conditionally, removing the condition removes it.

Nagarjuna made the principle the centre of Madhyamaka, arguing that to arise dependently is precisely to be empty of independent existence, and that emptiness and dependent origination are two descriptions of the same fact. This identification is among the most consequential moves in Indian philosophy.