Dependent Arising and Interdependence
- PDF / 355,306 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 11 Downloads / 203 Views
ORIGINAL PAPER
Dependent Arising and Interdependence Bhikkhu Anālayo 1 Accepted: 27 October 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The Buddhist teaching on dependent arising (or dependent origination) concerns specific conditions whose presence is indispensable for something to come into existence. In the early stages of Buddhist history, the overarching concern of this doctrine was to identify the specific causes responsible for the human predicament, with a view to bringing about their cessation so as to become liberated. In later times, Buddhist exegesis developed various perspectives on causality, where in Huayan philosophy in particular the notion of interconnectedness or interdependence arose, according to which all phenomena relate to each other in one way or another. Despite its traction in the contemporary setting, this notion needs to be recognized as a later development that is by no means identical with the basic Buddhist teaching on dependent arising. Keywords Conditionality . Dependent arising . Dependent origination . Interconnectedness scale . Interdependence . Paṭiccasamuppāda . Pratītyasamutpāda . Specific conditionality
Progress in the understanding of mindfulness in its various applications can benefit greatly from a collaboration between those active in the academic fields of psychology and Buddhist studies. A particularly intriguing aspect in this respect is an exploration of the doctrinal underpinnings of Buddhist mindfulness practices. A recent investigation along these lines by Yu et al. (2020) took up in particular the Buddhist doctrine of causality, which is indeed of considerable relevance to mindfulness practices. A problem with this in itself laudable endeavor is an apparent conflation of perspectives on this doctrine that arose at quite different times in the history of Buddhism. This can best be exemplified with the following extract from Yu et al. (p. 1239): Interconnectedness is a central tenet underlying all Buddhist teachings. It is expressed in Buddhism as “When there is this, that comes to be; with the arising of this, that arises. When there is not this, that does not come to be; with the cessation of this, that ceases” (Ñāṇamoli and Bodhi 1995, p. 655). It delineates the interdependent nature of all phenomena in the world, * Bhikkhu Anālayo
1
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, 149 Lockwood Road, Barre, MA 01005, USA
implying that the arising of all matters is conditioned on the arising of one another. In other words, all matters are mutually influencing one another and co-arising dependently … Take the growth of an apple tree as an example, simply having a seed cannot bear fruit to an apple tree [sic]. It must have the right conditions of suitable climate, adequate sunshine, moisture, and nutrients from the soil in order to grow and bear fruit. Any condition missing or not in the appropriate amount may lead to a different outcome. Interconnectedness can be operationally defined as an awareness that the existence of all phenome
Data Loading...
