Conditioned Arising Evolves: Variation and Change in Textual Accounts of the Paṭicca-samuppāda Doctrine (original) (raw)
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2014
Pratītyasamutpāda (Dependent Co-arising) is a foundational Buddhist teaching canonically announced by Buddha as that which represents his "middle position" between the two (on-tological) extremes of existence and nonexistence. Nevertheless, early Buddhist philosophers barely reached a consensus about its precise doctrinal or even grammatical meaning. In this article, I provide a basic outline of these disputations based on primary sources trying to show that they, in fact, reflect their various understandings of the problem of cau-sation and the nature of phenomena. Despite the fact that pratītyasamutpāda (henceforth referred to as PS)-literally "co-arising having been met" 1 or more commonly "dependent co-aris-ing"-is central or axial to Buddha's teaching without which all aspects of his teaching (Dharma) would "collapse" or at least would not be well-grounded 1 Cf. a grammatical analysis of the term by Candrakīrti: "The verbal root ...
Poligrafi, 2022
The concept of Paṭiccasamuppāda is regarded as one of the most profound and subtle teachings imparted by the historical Buddha (563–483 BCE) since the inception of his teachings. In addition to its doctrinal record in the mainstream Buddhist languages of the Pāli and Sanskrit traditions, the Buddhist concept of Paṭiccasamuppāda has been evolved by numerous scholars over 2600 years and contributed to uplifting doctrinal components in many dialects in South and Southeast Asia. Prior to the Pāli tradition and Nikāya manuscripts, the paper aims to clarify the genesis of Paṭiccasamuppāda, including its meaning, annotated translation, interpretation, and doctrinal significance. An in-depth study of this research reveals why and to what degree the Pāli tradition values the thought of Paṭiccasamuppāda as articulating its insight on how to attain the path of ultimate liberation from a Buddhist perspective.
Buddhist Studies Review, 2015
The doctrine of dependent origination, or conditioned arising, can be difficult to teach at an academic level, or indeed to analyse with the subtlety and care it demands. It is of course, as the Buddha insisted, profound: indeed at the beginning of the Mahānidāna Sutta (D II 55), Ānanda is famously told off by the Buddha for saying, with enthusiastic delight, that it all seems perfectly clear to him. Reading Buddhist texts, one's sympathies are often drawn to the non-enlightened follower who so often asks the question that one would like to ask oneself, or says something other non-enlightened people must have felt. But after reading the Mahānidāna Sutta, the Buddha's great and awe-inspiring discourse on this difficult doctrine, we are left feeling that whereas Ānanda's wonder at its beauty seems justified, the Buddha's admonition was also here definitely needed: it really is not easy to understand! In modern educational situations many students find this to be the case, particularly if is taught, as it sometimes is, as one of the first of many 'lists' in introductions to Buddhist thought, out of its context, where there will be little real feeling for the interrelationship of the lists as a whole, or how it would be seen at the time by ancient practitioners. Indeed some introductory accounts can leave new students bewildered and even mildly depressed by a series of links that can be presented as hard to follow as a sequence in an intelligible way, particular if terms appear over technical, or implying a negative view of our experience in the world. So, on the basis of several recommendations, this review looks at a work by Dhivan Thomas Jones that does help to explain dependent origination, or 'conditionality' as he calls it, and does so well, intelligently and with a sense of its positive and encouraging applications, in ancient and modern contexts. Jones is an academic, with a doctorate on the presentation of the divine abidings in early Buddhism, but he is a practitioner too. For this particular work, which is basically explanatory in intention, his ability to move between these worlds is very helpful. The author's attempts to relate some of the links to personal experience, while not a preferred or even necessary route for all academics, bring the subject to life, make it seem less intimidating and help its processes to be seen as comprehensible. It also indicates how it would be seen at the time, as it is now, as offering encouraging guidelines for further development of the Buddhist path. And with regard to this, Jones stresses the importance of seeing its doctrine as liberating, by quoting the famous passage, spoken by Sāriputta and attributed by him to the Buddha: One who sees dependent arising sees the Dhamma; one who sees the Dhamma sees dependent arising.
"This Being, That Becomes": Reconsidering the Role of the imasmiṃ sati Formula in Early Buddhism
Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 2022
This article investigates the original meaning of dependent arising in the Buddha's teaching, by focussing on the imasmiṃ sati formula. Modern scholars such as the Rhys Davidses, K.N. Jayatilleke and Paul Williams have interpreted it as a principle of causation, comparable to a scientific conception of causation. I argue instead that this formula implies that the Buddha held that causation is nothing more than the correlation of causes and effects, and that it commits the Buddha to a Humean regularity thesis about causation. I draw a distinction between the Buddhist and scientific concepts of causation, and then summarise an alternative approach made by more recent scholars such as Sue Hamilton, Noa Ronkin and Eviatar Shulman, who present dependent arising in terms of conditionality in the causal structure of subjective experience. I conclude by presenting the argument that the imasmiṃ sati formula does not express a principle of causation but is rather a formula for the method of discovering and presenting causation as conditionality in experience.
Buddhist Concept of Paṭiccasamuppāda Based on Pāli Manuscripts
Poligrafi
The concept of Paṭiccasamuppāda is regarded as one of the most profound and subtle teachings imparted by the historical Buddha (563–483 BCE) since the inception of his teachings. In addition to its doctrinal record in the mainstream Buddhist languages of the Pāli and Sanskrit traditions, the Buddhist concept of Paṭiccasamuppāda has been evolved by numerous scholars over 2600 years and contributed to uplifting doctrinal components in many dialects in South and Southeast Asia. Prior to the Pāli tradition and Nikāya manuscripts, the paper aims to clarify the genesis of Paṭiccasamuppāda, including its meaning, annotated translation, interpretation, and doctrinal significance. An in-depth study of this research reveals why and to what degree the Pāli tradition values the thought of Paṭiccasamuppāda as articulating its insight on how to attain the path of ultimate liberation from a Buddhist perspective.
The Teaching of Dependent Origination In the Pāli Nikāyas and Contemporary Scholarship
(MA thesis, 2003. Bristol University, UK) Dependent origination (paṭiccasamuppāda) is not only one of the most important Buddhist doctrines, but also one of the most difficult to understand as well. Presently, scholarship is divided—there exist many controversies and disputes relating to the understanding of dependent origination. This dissertation represents the first stage of a research to seek an understanding of the doctrine of dependent origination. The first chapter surveys the present literature of dependent origination, both from European languages and Japanese sources. The second chapter is a list of the major occurrences of dependent origination, it is made based on part of Mitsuyoshi Saigusa’s sutta-by-sutta list, and I re-organize and categorize the instances according to Saigusa’s categorization system. The third chapter summarizes the explanations regarding the variations of the twelve-linked formula of dependent origination from the Vaibhāṣika and the Pāli traditions. It also summarizes the works by modern Japanese scholars Hajime Nakamura and Mitsuyoshi Saigusa concerning the formation and development of the standard twelve-linked formula. Finally, I evaluate the fundamental premises held by scholars like Nakamura and Saigusa, and conclude that the evidence they employ do not sufficiently support their conclusion.
Vol 12 No 1 (2019): The Journal of International Association of Buddhist Universities (JIABU), 2019
The concept of Dependent Origination (paṭiccasamuppāda) is so deep and profound that it plays an important teaching in Buddhism. The Buddha himself praised those who could understand the theory of causation through intensive observation of suffering, training of insight, absorption of knowledge and seeing the truth as it is. Apart from the Buddha's presentation of the teaching of Dependent Origination, it was also skillfully ascribed by the Buddha's immediate pupils and subsequent eminent Buddhist scholars, such as Nāgārjūna (2 nd Century CE.) and Buddhaghosa (5 th Century CE.). The Buddha and his disciples' interpretation of the doctrine of Dependent Origination is appeared in the early Nikāya texts of the Pāḷi traditions. Moreover, the framework for this seminal teaching appeared to the Buddha during the period when he struggled for and later attained enlightenment. The doctrine of Dependent Origination captured the Buddha's vision, knowledge and highest wisdom. It provides the conceptual framework for Buddhist psychology which describes the origin and cessation of suffering and how to wisely refl ect on the mind (yoniso manasikāra). The aim of this research paper is to ascribe the role of psychology in the doctrine of Dependent Origination from various schools of Buddhist thought.https://www.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/Jiabu/article/view/208971