Pratītyasamutpāda (縁起 ENGI)

因縁所生法、我説即是空、亦名爲假名、亦名中道義
“Whatever arises through causes and conditions, I describe as emptiness; it is also called provisional designation, and it also means the principle of the Middle Way”  -Nāgārjuna

Dependant Origination is a cornerstone of Buddhist philosophy and meditation. Understanding and gaining insight into dependant origination is important for all Buddhists.

• Describes the processes and causes of suffering.
• Describes the mechanisms of how we come into existence – i.e., the process of rebirth.
• Describes the nature of reality, in that all is dependently originated, impermanent, and constantly changing – i.e., there is no static entity.
• Describes the conditioning of the mind.
• Important in understanding emptiness.

The literature on Dependant Origination is vast, below is an overview of some of the categories of Dependent Origination. I hope this helps the reader gain a basic level understanding of this important teaching.

二因縁 Ni in’nen – Twofold Dependant Origination – Causes and effects

At its most simplest, Dependant Origination describe the twofold process of phenomena (dharmas) and their causes (nidānas). Phenomena are the ‘effect’s’ (縁 ‘en’ or ‘pratyaya’) of their causes (因 ‘in’ or ‘hetu/nidānas’). Of course, it is not quite that simple, as phenomena co-arise as a result of numerous causes in a continuous process of constant change. These phenomena will then go on to become the causes of other phenomena, and so on. Thus, hetu/nidānas and pratyaya are often viewed as synonymous and not separate, however for conventional purposes, we can separate them.

The Four Noble Truths describes such a mechanism of twofold cause and effect;

1. Duḥkha is the effect (pratyaya)
2. Craving is the cause of duḥkha (nidāna)
3. Duḥkha and its cause can be stopped (pratyaya)
4. The 8 Fold Path is the means of stopping duḥkha (nidāna)

十二因縁 Jūniin’nen – 12 Links of Dependant Origination

The more traditional description of dependant origination is the 12 links, which describes the process of karma, rebirth, and ignorance, with each element being the cause of the next, in a continuous loop of causation;

1. 無明 (mumyō) Ignorance or Avidyā in Sanskrit means to not know the truth, to be ignorant of dukkha, ignorant of the origin of dukkha, ignorant of the cessation of dukkha and ignorant of the practice that leads to the cessation of dukkha.
2. 行 (gyō) Formation, or Saṃskāra in Sanskrit, are caused by our ignorance, and refers to our mental formations that come about through ignorance.
3. 識 (shiki) Consciousness, or Vijñāna; eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness and mind consciousness.
4. 名色 (myō shiki) Name & Form or nāmarūpa, that is the recognition of physical forms and their mental or psychological elements (i.e., their designated ‘names’).
5. 六入 (rokusho) Six inner senses, Āyatana, or better known as the 6 sense organs of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
6. 觸 (soku) Contact or Sparśa. Specifically, recognition of sense objects through sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch/feeling and mental objects.
7. 受 (ju) Sensations, or Vedanā, are the discriminations of ‘pleasant’, ‘unpleasant’, and/or ‘neutral’ that we designate based on our all the above.
8. 愛 (ai) Craving or tṛ́ṣṇā. For those objects and phenomena that we have designated as ‘pleasant’, we crave more. For those objects and phenomena, we’ve designated as ‘unpleasant’, we crave to be rid of. This craving is the catalyst of our dukkha (see the Four Noble Truths).
9. 取 (shu) Clinging, or Upādāna, to that which we crave.
10. 有 (yu) Becoming, or ‘Bhāva’ which refers to the ‘becoming’ into worldly existence. In the human realm, it means becoming a foetus in the womb.
11. 生 (shō) Birth, or jāti, is the physical act of being born.
12. 老死 (rōshi) Aging & death, Jarāmaraṇa, meaning ‘aging and death’ is the continuing cycle of saṃsāra. Being born into this world means we are guaranteed to grow old and die. There is nothing we can do to stop that. However, this stage is the most important, because it is only at this stage that we are able to overcome our ignorance, and thus, stop the entire chain of events described above.

四因縁 Shi in’nen Fourfold Dependant Origination

According to the Abhidharma-kośabhāya, Dependant Origination can be understood in four ways; Momentary, or of one moment (剎那滅 kṣanika), prolonged (遠續 prākarṣika), serial (連縛 sajbandhika), and static (分位 āvasthika)

1. Momentary Dependant Origination refers to cases in which the effect and cause come about simultaneously or without clear definition.
2. Prolonged Dependant Origination takes place over an extended period of time – according to doctrine, this is 3 life times.
3. Serial Dependant Origination refers to a chain of events that happen in a series and are regular/predictable.
4. Static Dependant Origination is made up of a stream of 12 successive states and their relation to the five skandhas.

These definitions aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. Dependant Origination can be momentary and serial at the same time, for example.

Momentary and serial can pertain to both the living and non-living, whereas prolonged and static only pertains to living beings.

The Buddha was most concerned with the Static view of Dependant Origination, and it is through meditation on the impermanence of the five skandhas, as well as meditation on Dependant Origination that one is able to realise emptiness and nirvana.

The 12 Links of Dependant Origination can be further broken down into three sections; in relation to the past, the present and the future. 1-7 are past, 8-12 are present, which determines the future. This future ends up back at 1, and the cycle continues.

三因縁 Threefold Dependant Origination

This is in relation to defilement (kleśa), action (karman) and foundation (vastu)

Ignorance, Craving and Clinging are defilements.
Formation and Becoming are action.
Consciousness, Name & Form, Six inner senses, Contact, Sensations, Birth and Aging & death, are foundation.

Defilements gives rise to action. Action gives rise to foundation. Foundation gives rise to defilements. Defilements may also arise from defilements, and foundation may arise from foundation.

Ignorance is the keystone that causes this chain of events to collapse.

The four conditions (pratyaya) and the six causes (hetu)

According to the Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra, Abhidharmakośa works, and the Lankavatara Sutra, we can identify four conditions and six causes;

四緣 Four conditions (catvāraḥ pratyayāḥ);

1. Conditions serving as causes (因緣 hetu-pratyaya)
   Direct cause that gives rise to an effect.
2. Equal and immediately antecedent conditions (等無間緣 samanantara-pratyaya)
   A mental state or process that directly precedes and is a condition for the arising of the next mental state.
3. Conditions serving as objective conditions (所緣緣 ālambana-pratyaya)
   Ālambana means ‘support’, ‘object’ or ‘basis, and refers to that which the mind grasps. This then becomes the condition for the arising of a corresponding consciousness.
4. Predominant conditions (增上緣 adhipati-pratyaya).
   Any condition that exercises a strong influence or authority over the arising of something else.

六因 Six causes (ṣaḍhetu);

1. Associated/conjoined causes (相應因 saṃprayuktaka-hetu)
   Causes that are linked. Mental events coexist with “mind”.
2. Simultaneous/mutual cause (俱有因 sahabhū-hetu)
   The causes of conditioned dharmas arise simultaneously as the condition dharmas.
3. Similar cause (同類因 sabhāga-hetu)
   Good leads to good, bad to bad, etc
4. Universal cause (遍行因 sarvatraga-hetu)
   The cause will always lead to a particular effect, no matter the context.
5. Ripening cause, i.e., karma (異熟因 vipāka-hetu)
   The karmic causes, whether good or bad, that arise from our actions of body, speech and mind.
6. Nominal cause (能作因 nāma-hetu, aka kāraņa-hetu).
   1. Arising cause 生能作
   1. Maintaining cause 住能作
   1. Sustaining cause 持能作
   1. Manifesting cause 照能作
   1. Transforming cause 變壞能作
   1. Disjoining cause 分離能作
   1. Evolving cause 轉變能作
   1. Conviction cause 信解能作
   1. Understanding cause 顯了能作
   1. Attaining cause 等至能作

Please note, I am not a scholar, not a historian, nor am I an Ajari. Therefore, there may be mistakes in what I write. This should not be taken as a reflection of my teachers nor of Tendai Buddhism.