The Different Paths of Buddhism: A Narrative-Historical Introduction

Chapter 3: The Narrative Path of the Buddha

According to the Mahavagga (1.2–7) of the Vinaya collection of texts, the Buddha meditated on the notion of causation three times in direct and reverse order for a week during the initial period of the four weeks that he meditated at the Bodhi tree. Since the Buddha claimed to teach only what he had personally experienced, this episode from his quest for liberation demonstrates that the notion of causation played an important role in the Buddha’s thought from a very early period. In fact, it is impossible to grasp the teachings of the Buddha without understanding the theory of causation, because it forms the ground of his teachings. The Buddha’s grasp of causation provides support for his basic claim that “All life is suffering” (dukkha). The assertion that suffering is caused by craving (tanha) is partially true. But craving should not be understood as the first cause of suffering , because it depends for its arising on sensation, which in turn depends for its arising on contact, and so forth in an unending chain. This circle of causation is called dependent origination, conditioned genesis, or dependent co-arising (paticcasamuppada), depending on which translation of the term one prefers. The etymology of the term suggests that something arises on the ground of a preceding cause. This implies very emphatically that everything (since nothing is excluded from the cycle of causation except nibbana) is causally conditioned or produced. The book that you are reading is caused by a publishing process, you are the product of biological causation, the chair on which you are sitting is due to a cause traceable to a manufacturing process, the lighting on which you depend for your ability to read is due either to a power source or sunlight, and so forth. And, like the overall path of the Buddha, this theory of causation is called the “middle way” because it avoids two extreme philosophical positions, those of self-causation and external causation. The position of self-causation leads to a belief in eternalism , in which nothing ever ends. The position of external causation leads to a belief in annihilationism, or the complete destruction of elements within the chain of causation. From the Buddhist perspective, an eternalist position would be 45 3 The Narrative Path of the Buddha the Brahmanical Hindu belief in an eternal self (atman), whereas the annihilationist position would be represented by Materialists who believe in the complete dissolution of the physico-conscious being upon death. For the sake of teaching about it, the Buddha identified a chain of causation that forms a twelve-linked chain that is cyclical in nature. The early Buddhist texts express the cycle of causation this way: 1. Ignorance (avijja) is dependent on dispositions; 2. Dispositions (sankhara) are dependent on consciousness; 3. Consciousness (viññana) is dependent on a psychophysical person; 4. The psychophysical person (namarupa) is dependent on the six sense doors; 5. The six sense doors (salayantana) are dependent on contact; 6. Contact (phassa) is dependent on sensation; 7. Sensation (vedana) is dependent on craving; 8. Craving (tanha) is dependent on grasping; 9. Grasping (upadana) is dependent on becoming; 10. Becoming (bhava) is dependent on birth; 11. Birth (jati) is dependent on old age and death; 12. Old age and death (jaramatana) are dependent on ignorance. Because everything is subject to this chain of causation, there are no accidental occurrences within the world. And by perceiving and understanding the law of causation, it is possible to perceive and understand a fundamental truth about the teachings of the Buddha: that everything is both caused and conditioned. Thus there is a direct connection between the causal law and the truth (Dhamma). This truth informs us that the theory of causation also emphasizes the interconnectedness of all phenomena. And it is this basic insight that links all the major traditions of Buddhism. If we consider the twelve links of the chain of causation, we see that although each link is necessary for the arising of the following link, no single link is a suf- ficient cause to engender the emergence of the following link. This is because each instant in the process of causation is determined by other conditions. And since everything is subject to the chain of causation, innumerable interrelated processes constitute human existence. There is also a direct connection between the chain of causation and time. The initial two links are related to the past, the third through the tenth links are connected to...