A Discourse on Paticcasamuppada

by Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw | 62,614 words

The Paticcasamuppada refers to “The Doctrine of Dependent Origination”. This is the English translation done by U Aye Maung Published by U Min Swe Buddhasasana Nuggaha Organization Rangoon, Burma....

Chapter 3 - Four Aspects Of Paticcasamuppada

There are four aspects of the doctrine of Paticcasamuppada that we should bear in mind. The first is the individual character of the psycho physical process that comprises the three successive existences. Although the doctrine stresses the conditionality of all phenomena, it is a mistake to believe that avijja, tanha and other causes concern one person, while vinnana, nama rupa and other causes concern one person, and while vinnana, nama rupa and other effects concern another person for this belief implies the total extinction of a living being after death, the annihilation - view which Buddhism rejects. In reality, the nama rupa process is analogous to, say, the evolution of a mango tree. The mango seed becomes a seedling, the seedling turns into a young plant and the plant grows into a tree. Here the seed, the young plant and the tree form a continuous, unbroken line of cause and effect relationship so that strictly speaking, it is impossible to distinguish between the tree and the plant.

Likewise, avijja, sankhara, vinnana, etc., occur in unbroken succession in terms of cause and effect and so it is reasonable to speak of a particular person involved in the process. It was Devadatta, for example, who committed schism and it is Devadatta who is now suffering in hell. The merchant Anathapindika did good deeds and it was he himself who landed in the deva world after his death.

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