After six-year struggle, the Buddha is said to have realized enlightenment at the moment when the morning star first appeared in the sky. Interestingly, he tends to remain silent to keep his understanding to himself:
“This Dhamma which I have realized is indeed profound, difficult to perceive, difficult to comprehend, tranquil, exalted, not within the sphere of logic, subtle, and is to be understood by the wise…With difficulty have I comprehended. There is no need to proclaim it now. This Dhamma is not easily understood by those who are dominated by lust and hatred, the lust-ridden, shrouded in darkness, do not see this Dhamma, which goes against the stream, which is abstruse, profound, difficult to perceive and subtle…As I reflected thus, my mind turned into inaction and not to the teaching of the Dhamma.”
What made the Buddha so hesitated to preach his discovery in the very beginning? He thinks:
“This causally connected ‘Dependent Arising’ [Dependent Origination] is a subject which is difficult to comprehend…If I too were to teach this Dhamma, the others would not understand me. That will be wearisome to me, that will be tiresome to me.”
However, being convinced by the god Brahma and out of compassion for the sufferings of humanity, the Buddha finally preached his first sermon at the Deer Park at Sarnath. From the above quotation, we know that the idea of Dependent Origination (Paticcasamuppada) occupies a central position of the Buddha’s teachings and which also goes against to the main streams of that moment.
Accordingly, the principle of Dependent Origination refers to “This being, that exists; through the arising of this, that arises. This not being, that does not exist; through the ceasing of this, that ceases.” It expresses the invariable concomitance between the arising and ceasing of any given phenomenon and the functional efficacy of its originative conditions. In other words, a phenomenon arises from a combination of conditions which are present to support its arising. And the phenomenon will cease when the supportive conditions are changed. For example, the growth of plant is depending on the supportive conditions such as seed, soil, water, air and sunlight. And of course, the above supportive conditions also depend on their respective supportive conditions and so on. In sum, any phenomenon ‘exists’ only because of the ‘existence’ of other phenomena in an incredibly complex web of conditionings covering the past, the present and the future. So how can a permanent, changeless and independent phenomenon or an entity ‘exist’ with this distinctive understanding comes from the principle of Dependent Origination? By this analysis, the Buddha declares that impermanence (anicca) is the nature of any given phenomenon.
By the same rationale, the Buddha also deconstructs the notion of self (atta). The “self”, as taught by the Buddha, is merely a combination of physical and mental aggregates made up of body (rupakkhandha), sensation (vedanakkhandha), perception (sannakkhandha), mental formations (samkharakkhandha) and consciousness (vinnanakkhandha). According to the notion of impermanence, these five skandhas are working together in a flux of momentary change; they are never the same for two consecutive moments. Therefore, the eternal soul theory (I have a soul) and the material theory (I have no soul) which prevent somebody from realizing enlightenment are both rejected. The Buddha then establishes the doctrine of non-self (anatta).
Similarly, when talking about suffering and its cessation, the principle of Dependent Origination is represented by another practical and operational doctrine, the Four Noble Truths. In the Second Noble Truth, the abstract principle becomes encapsulated in a twelve-link formula disclosing the interlocking chains of causes and conditions. The formula begins with ignorance, the primary root of the series, though it is not the first cause. Ignorance conditions the arising of volitions which then conditions the arising of consciousness and so on. The corollary of this formula, other than talking about the arising of suffering, also constantly accompanies with the condition of cessation. It shows the way when ignorance ceases, all the following conditions successively cease. Nibbana, the ultimate goal of Buddhism, then comes into being.
The teachings of impermanence, suffering, and non-self, are the three components of the Three Marks of Existence. As declared by the Buddha:
All conditioned things are impermanent,
All conditioned things are unsatisfactory [suffering],
All things are not-self [non-self].
Therefore, I would suggest that all the Buddha’s doctrines such as the Marks of Existence, the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve-link Formula are developed on the basis of the principle of Dependent Origination. These ideas definitely go against the widely spread materialist (ucchedavada) and spiritualist (sassatavada) traditions in the ancient and contemporary societies. However, it does occupy such a fundamental and core position among the other Buddhist doctrines as what the Buddha said if people cannot comprehend the principle of Dependent Origination, they will be entangled like a ball of cotton and not being able to see the Truth. Therefore, he finally cannot help but just share with all sentiments on the purpose of promoting their well being – to be liberated from suffering. Its centrality to other Buddhist doctrines can also be reflected by the Buddha’s declaration:
“He who sees the dependent arising [origination] sees the Teaching. He who sees the Teaching sees me.”
Reference
- Dhammapada 277 – 279, translated by Acharya Buddharakkhita.
- (Source: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.20.budd.html)
- Majjhima Nikaya. (Source: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/index.html)
- Rahula, Walpola, What The Buddha Taught. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1997.
- Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera, What Buddhists Believe. BuddhaSasana.com. (Source: http://www.budsas.org/ebud/whatbudbeliev/main.htm)
- Wikipedia.com, Anatta (search keyword). (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatta)
- Wikipedia.com, Three marks of existence (search keyword). (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatta)
- Y. Karunadasa, “The Buddhist Critique of Sassatvada and Ucchedavada: The key to a proper Understanding of the Origin and the Doctrines of early Buddhism.” The Middle Way, U.K., vol 74 & 75, 1999-2000.