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THE MEANING OF THE TERMS IN
PATICCA-SAMUPPADA
The Paticca-samuppada is explained in detail at two places
in the Sutta-Pitaka: in the Mahanidana - Sutta, No
15 of the Digha Nikaya; and in the Nidana -Samyutta,
Samyutta No XII of the Samyutta Nikaya.
The Nidana -Samyutta begins
with a simple expression of the 12 links in forward and reverse
order. The following Sutta, Vibhanga, No 2 of the
Nidana -Samyutta, explains the meaning of each of the
12 terms.
I recommend that you read this Sutta
carefully so that you will see for yourself what the Buddha meant
by each term. In particular, you will see that Jati can
only mean birth, the sort of birth which for a human occurs in a
mother’s womb:
‘Katama ca bhikkave jati? Ya tesam tesam
sattanam, tamhi tamhi satta-nikaye, jati, sanjati, okkanti,
abhinibbatti, khandhanam patubhavo, ayatananam patilabho, ayam
vuccati bhikkave jati (Samyutta XII-2)
‘What monks is Jati? With regard to
these and those beings, among the various classes of beings,
that which is Jati, Sanjati(a synonym of Jati),
descent (into the womb, Okkanti as at Digha Nikaya,
Sutta 15 verse 21 "Vinnanam...matu- kucchim,
okkamitva’ = ‘the consciousness ... having descended into
the mother’s womb’), birth (Abhinibbatti), the appearance
of the (five) Khandhas, the acquiring of the
sense-faculties (Ayatananam patilabho), that monks is
called Jati’
- Elsewhere, perhaps, Jati may mean
different things, but here, in the Sutta defining the
meanings of the terms in the Paticca-samuppada, Jati
unmistakeably means the appearance of a being in a particular
class of beings, or "birth" as is generally understood for a human
being.
The meaning of Bhava can be found at
Anguttara Nikaya, Book Of The Threes, Sutta 76. Look
this up in Pali and you will relish its deeper meaning.
The meaning of Vinnana can not readily be discerned from
the Nidana -Samyutta’s Sutta No 2, but if you
look at the Mahanidana - Sutta, No 15 of the Digha
Nikaya, you will find the following at verse 21:
"It was said: ‘With consciousness as
condition there is mentality-materiality’. How that is so,
Ananda, should be understood in this way. If consciousness (Vinnana)
were not to descend into the mother’s womb, would
mentality-materiality (Nama-rupa) take shape in
the womb?"’
"Certainly not venerable Sir" From the BPS
edition ‘The Great Discourse on Causation’ by Bhikkhu Bodhi page
5.
So, the way the Buddha said Vinnana,
in the context of Paticca-samuppada, should be understood
is clearly as the Vinnana which descends into a mother’s
womb at conception, what the Commentaries call
Rebirth-Linking-Consciousness.
The meaning of Sankhara as something which produces
rebirth can easily be discerned in the Sankhara -uppatti-
Sutta, No 120 Majjhima Nikaya. Uppatti is
usually translated as rebirth and if you look at the context
this meaning is obvious. A typical passage in this Sutta
is analysed in Rune E A Johansson’s ‘Pali Buddhist Texts -
explained to the beginner’. I recommend that you find this book,
look up the passage on pages 66 and 67 and see how the word
Sankhara is used in the meaning of a willed activity of
body, speech or mind which causes rebirth.
It is essential to know precisely what the Buddha meant when he
used each of the 12 terms in the Paticca-samuppada. There
is no need to go to the Commentary to find these meanings. They
are clearly evident in the Suttas themselves, as I hope I
have indicated. Only when one accurately understands the meaning
of each of the 12 links is there a hope that one will understand
the profundity of the whole Paticca-samuppada as the Buddha
meant it to be understood.
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THE FALLACY OF THE "ONE LIFE" INTERPRETATION OF
Paticca-samuppada
Once one sees what the Buddha meant by Jati in the context
of Paticca-samuppada (see Samyutta Nikaya
XII.2 and Mahanidana - Sutta Verse 4) then wriggle
as one might, one will have to accept that the Buddha meant
Paticca-samuppada to span more than one life. What becomes
before Jati, eg Bhava, Upadana, Tanha
..., must refer to something occurring before birth (a cause is
simultaneous with, or more often precedes, its effect), ie in what
is called a previous existence. To maintain otherwise is merely to
ignore the facts and throw away all reason.
Having seen the process that is described by Paticca-samuppada
moving from one life to another around Jati, having broken
the fixation on a wrong idea, it is easy to accept the meaning of
Vinnana as the first consciousness which arises in the new
life as implied by the Mahanidana - Sutta, Verse 21: "If
consciousness were not to descend into the mother’s womb, would
mentality-materiality (Nama-rupa) take shape in the
womb? (Bhikkhu Bodhis translation in "The Great Discourse on
Causation", BPS edition, page 59). That Vinnana as the
starting point of a new life is the meaning in the context of
Paticca-samuppada is also made clear at Anguttara Nikaya,
Book of the Threes, Sutta No 61 Verse IX: "Channam
bhikkave dhatunam upadaya gabbhasam- avakkanti hoti, okkantiya
sati namarupam, namarupapaccaya salayatanam, salayatanapaccaya
phasso, phassapaccaya vedana." "Monks, based on the 6
elements, there is descent into the womb. This descent taking
place, name and shape come to pass. Conditioned by name-and-shape
is the six-fold sphere (of sense). Conditioned by the six-fold
sphere is contact. Conditioned by contact is feeling" (Gradual
Sayings, Vol 1 page 160, Woodward’s translation). A similar
formula can be seen in the Nidana-Samyutta, Sutta No
39.
Lastly, it becomes obvious that the full Paticca-samuppada
cannot be interpreted as existing in one life when one looks at
the first 3 links in reverse order: When Avijja ceases so
does Sankhara and, consequently, so does Vinnanam.
In other words the ending of Avijja causes the ending of
Vinnanam. Now what type of Vinnanam can possibly cease
as a result of a person eradicating Avijja, the ignorance
of the full meaning of the Four Noble Truths? We all know that an
Arahat, one who has eradicated Avijja, remains fully
conscious, retaining Vinnanam, after his attainment. He
does not become unconscious at the moment of his attainment, ever
more to be comatose until he dies! So Vinnanam cannot mean
the ordinary, arising in every moment, type of consciousness.
However, we all know that sometime after the attainment of
Arahat, after a period of days or years after Avijja is
ended, the Arahat’s life span ends, the 5 Khandhas
dissolve and they never arise again. In particular, the 5th
Khandha, the binding Vinnanam, ceases after the life
span of an Arahat ends. Thus, it is very clear that the
Vinnanam which is caused to cease by the ending of Avijja
is the first arising of consciousness in a new life, or in other
words the rebirth linking consciousness of the Commentary. Nothing
else makes sense. No advocate of the "one-life" interpretation of
Paticca-samuppada has ever been able to explain how
Vinnanam can be something existing in this life and yet ceases
in this life for an Arahat!
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THE MEANING OF THE PATICCA-SAMUPPADA ACCORDING TO THE
BUDDHA
It becomes quite clear that Paticca-samuppada explains the
process of rebirth. It gives the answer to the often asked
question. "How can there be rebirth when there is no-self?" In
explaining the process of rebirth it uncovers the causes of
rebirth. So, one can eliminate rebirth by eliminating the causes.
Remember that the point of this exercise is to stop being reborn,
to get off the "wheel of rebirth", Samsara, or as
Ven.Sariputta once answered to a Brahmin who asked what is the
true difference between Sukha and Dukkha, "To be
reborn (Abhinibbatti) friend is Dukkha. Not to be
reborn is Sukha?", Anguttara, book of the Tens,
Sutta 65. The Paticca-samuppada explains the process of
rebirth in 2 ways starting at 2 causes:
Avijja ® Sankhara ® birth® Vinnanam ®
Namarupam ® Salayatana® Phassa® Vedana and, Tanha ® Upadana ®
Bhava ® birth® Jati ® Jara-maranam-soka-parideva- dukkha -domanassa-upayasa.
The cause of Dukkha, and rebirth, can be said to be
Avijja or can be said to be Tanha. When one stops the
other stops immediately. Thus it gives two ways of explaining the
process of rebirth, first through willed actions (Sankhara)
of body speech and mind originated through Avijja, and
second through Tanha giving rise to clinging (Upadana)
giving rise to existence (Bhava - see the explanation of
Bhava at Anguttara, Book of the Three’s, Sutta
76) producing rebirth (Jati). The first sequence can be
seen in the Suttas at Anguttara, Book of the Three’s
Sutta 61 Verse IX. The second sequence can be found in the
Mahanidana- Sutta, No 15 of the Digha Nikaya Verses 9 -
18.
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THE ARGUMENTS GIVEN AGAINST PATICCA-SAMUPPADA DESCRIBING
REBIRTH
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Words have different meanings in different
contexts and so, for example, can’t Jati mean a
metaphorical birth. However the Incomparable Teacher, the
Buddha, foresaw possible confusion by giving precise difinitions
of the terms. He used when He used them. Thus at the beginning
of the Nidana-Samyutta, in Sutta No 2, the Buddha
explained methodically the meaning of each term. Even in the
Mahanidana - Sutta He made certain that no uncertainty as to
meanings could remain:
"How that is so, Ananda, should be
understood in this way. If there were absolutely and utterly no
birth of any kind anywhere - that is, of gods into the state of
gods, of celestials into the state of celestials,of spirits,
demons, human beings, quadrupeds, winged creatures, and
reptiles, each into their own state - if there were no birth of
beings of any sort into any state ... " (The Great Discourse on
Causation, by Bhikkhu Bodhi, BPS edition page 54).
How more clear can one make it?! If one
actually looks at the Mahanidana - Sutta, or at
the second Sutta of the Nidana-Samyutta, the
meaning ascribed to these words in the context of
Paticca-samuppada by the Buddha become obvious. In
particular, Jati is clearly not intended to be
used metaphorically. It is meant by the Buddha to refer to the
beginning of life in the various classes of existence, the birth
of a living being.
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All dhammas, at least useful ones
any way, are supposed to be Sanditthiko and Akaliko.
How does this apply to the Paticca-samuppada if it spans
more than one life?
I am confident that no-one will argue that Marana-sati is
a useful Dhamma, and yet Marana-sati is described
by the Buddha as contemplation one’s physical death, which is
something which has not happened yet! The same can be said of
recollection of one’s past liberality. Caganussati, one
of the 40 Kammatthana, it is something which happened in
the past. How can these be Sanditthiko and Akaliko?
The point is that Sanditthiko does not mean, cannot mean,
something existing in the present moment experienced in the
present moment! It means something which can be understood in
the present moment. Understanding (Panna) is different to
experience (Vinnana), see the beginning of the
Mahavedella - Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta No 43).
One can understand each step, each link, of the
Paticca-samuppada here and now. Old age (Jara) and
death (Maranam) one can see in others, just as the
Bodhisatta Gotama saw them as two of the "Devadhuta".
They are Sanditthika and Akalika Dhamma
even though one may not be personally experiencing them now!
they can be clearly understood without doubt, for oneself, here
and now, that is what makes them Sanditthika and
Akalika. Similarly one can understand Jati, the birth
of a human being here and now.
Personally, I have never witnessed a human
birth but I have not the slightest doubt that we all come into
this present life through the same way, by birth! The
possibility of full understanding (Panna) here and now
regard to birth, Jati, makes it a Sanditthika and
Akalika Dhamma. Bhava can be understood here and
now and, if one has a very clear mind, can be experienced as the
very same process described at Anguttara, Book of the
Three’s, Sutta 76. The same can be said of Upadana,
Tanha, Vedana, Phassa, Salayatana and
Namarupam. The Vinnanam as the first consciousness
arising in a life can only be understood here and now in the
same way that death (Marana) can be understood. Thus if
the death of a being, Maranam qualifies as Sanditthika
and Akalika Dhamma so does the Patisandhi-
Vinnana (rebirth consciousness). Sankhara, the willed
Kamma done by body speech and mind which gives rise to
rebirth can be experienced as well as understood here and now.
In fact, the only link of the Paticca-samuppada which,
strictly speaking, can never be experienced even when it is
happening but it can be understood is Avijja. Only the
Arahat properly understands Avijja and by then it is
no more. Of course, no one would argue that Avijja is not
part of the Buddha’s Teaching because it can not be experienced!
All agree that even Avijja is Sanditthika and
Akalika Dhamma, because it can be understood here and
now!
The causal relationship between the 12 links can be harder to
understand. Indeed, only the Sotapanna and higher
Ariyas will fully understand these causal relationships. It
must be borne in mind that in such causal relationships, the
cause may precede the effect by a lengthy interval. For example,
in the causal relationship between birth (Jati) and
Maranam (death); the cause, birth, may precede the effect,
death, by 100 or more years. A cause which produces an effect
after an interval of time is called Purejatapaccayo,
pre-nascence condition, the 10th of the 24 Paccaya which
we chant at funerals. Because the cause may have ceased before
the effect arises, much of causality can both be experienced "in
the moment". Instead, causal relations are discerned using
Yoniso Manasikara, the work of the mind which goes back to
the source (Yoni). Indeed, Yoniso Manasikara is
the main cause for the arising Sammaditthi (eg at
Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 43) and Sammaditthi includes
understanding Paticca-samuppada (eg at Anguttara,
Book of the Tens, Sutta 92). Thus Paticca-samuppada
is understood, here and now, by applying Yoniso Manasikara.
It is in this way that the causal relations between the 12 links
become discerned by Panna and, having been understood
here and now, become Sanditthika and Akalika
Dhamma.
It is misleading of anyone to claim that
one needs Pubbenivasanussati, memory of previous lives,
to be able to understand the process of rebirth described in the
Paticca-samuppada! One understands Paticca-samuppada
using Yoniso Manasikara in the way described above. And,
whatever can be understood here and now becomes Sanditthika
and Akalika Dhamma.
A Sutta in the Anguttara Nikaya
has been understand by some to imply that "Vedana is not
always the karmic result of a previous life" and therefore none
of the links in the Paticca-samuppada can refer to a
previous life.
The Sutta in question is Anguttara Nikaya Book of
the Three’s, Sutta 61 verses I-IV. Interestingly, those
who quote this part of the Sutta fail to notice verse IX
in the same Sutta which I have quoted twice in this
letter to support Paticca-samuppada being an explanation
of the rebirth process!
The part of the Sutta which is relevant here is verses
I-IV which three tenets are put forward and roundly refected by
the Buddha as wrong. The first is "Yam kinci purisapuggalo
patisamvedeti sukham va dukkham va adukkhama sukham va, sabbam
tam pubbe katahetu" ... "Whatsoever weal or wore or neutral
feeling is experienced, all that is due to some previous action"
(Woodward’s translation in the PTS’s Gradual Sayings Vol 1 page
157). The other two tenets are that ... all that is due to the
creation of a Supreme Deity ... (and) all that are uncaused and
unconditioned.
It is instructive to notice that this first tenet is repeated
verbatim in the Devadaha - Sutta, No 101 of the
Majjhima Nikaya, where it is attributed to the Jains. In
that Sutta it is clear that the tenet in full is holding
that "Whatever Sukha, Dukkha or neutral feeling is
experienced, all that is due to some previous action in a past
life." This is obviously wrong, as the Buddha pointed out in
both Suttas, for everyone should know that some Sukha,
some Dukkha and some neutral feelings that are
experienced are due to some previous action in this life!
But something else needs to be pointed out about this tenet. If
you look at the Pali carefully you may notice that it is
referring to the types of feeling that one experiences not to
the faculty of feeling (Vedana) in general. It should be
understood tht the fact that one has Vedana, the faculty
of feeling, at all is due to craving and ignorance in a previous
life; but the particular type of feeling, the content of
Vedana if you like, does not necessarily depend on kamma of
a previous life. Let me offer a simile. A man buys a TV, a year
later he moves to a new house and there he sometimes watches
channel 1, sometimes channel 2 and sometimes channel 3. the fact
that in his present house he has a TV, the fact that he can
experience television at all, is because of an act be performed
while in his previous house - but the programme he chooses to
experience are not all conditioned by some preference or other
he built up while in his previous house. In this rough simile,
the TV corresponds to Vedana, the programme channels
appearing on that TV, channels 1, 2 and 3, correspond to
Sukha, Dukkha and Adukkhama Sukha. Again, the
fact that one has Vedana of some sort is due to craving
and ignorance in a previous life, but the content of that
Vedana or rather the particular type of feeling which is
experienced is not necessarily caused by an action in a previous
life. When one understands this one understands that the tenet
being discussed, which originates in Anguttara Nikaya
Book of the Three’s Sutta No 61 Verses I-IV, that is has
no bearing on Paticca-samuppada.
But in case someone is still not convinced that Vedana
has a cause originating in a previous life, I cite the
Bhumija Sutta, No 25 of the Nidana Samyutta. "Sant’avuso
Eke Samanabrahmana Kammavada:
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Sayam-katam sukhadukkham pannapenti
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Paramkatam sukhadukkham pannapenti
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Sayamkatanca paramkatanca sukhadukkham
pannapenti
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Asayam-karam aparam-karam
adicca-samuppannam sukhadukkham pannapenti "
..There are, friend, certain recluses and brahmins, believer
in karma,
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who declare that happiness and ill have
been wrought by oneself,
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who declare that happiness and ill have
been wrought by another,
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who declare that happiness and ill have
been wrought by oneself as well as by others,
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who declare that happiness and ill is
neither wrought by oneself nor by another but arises by
chance" (see Kindred Saying Vol 2 page 30)
Ven Sariputta replies when asked by Ven Bhumija which of the four
is correct, "Paticca- samuppannam kho avuso sukhadukkham vuttam
Bhagavata kim paticca? Phassam paticca! Iti vadam vuttavadi ceva
Bhagavato assa, na ca Bhagavatam abhutena abbhacikkheyya..."
"The Exalted One has said that happiness and ill (Sukha Dukkha)
come to pass through a cause (Paticca). What cause? The
cause is contact (Phassa)! Saying thus you would be
repeating the words of the Exalted One correctly and not
misrepresenting him" (compare Kindred Sayings Vol 12 page 31,
which is heavily abbreviated). (The rest of the Bhumija
- Sutta is also of interest for it indicates the role of
Sankhara in the performance of Kamma. What Woodward translates
as "plan those planned deeds conditioned by ignorance" is in Pali
"Avijja paccaya. Kaya or Vaci or
Mano - Sankharam abhisankharoti..." which shows
Sankhara in the context of Paticca-samuppada means
"Karmic actions of body, speech or mind conditioned by
ignorance").
Thus Vedana is always caused by Phassa. Furthermore
we all know that Phassa is caused by Nama-rupa
and Nama-rupa is caused by Vinnana. These
mind and bodily processed are caused by ignorance and craving in a
previous life. Any Buddhist monk who does not agree with this, who
does not accept the teaching of rebirth should look at Majjhima
Nikaya, Sutta 117: there are 2 forms of Sammaditthi,
one for those who still have Asava (Sammaditthi sasava
punnabhagiya upadhi-vepakka) and one for the Ariya’s
without Asava (Sammaditthi ariya anasava ...)
The type of right view which concerns most monks is the former and
it is "the view that alms and offerings are not useless, that
there is fruit and result, both of good and bad actions, that
there are such things as this life and the next life ...".
Thus belief in rebirth is clearly stated to be Sammaditthi,
its rejection would thus be Micchaditthi.
This completes the refutation of the 3 arguments given against
Paticca-samuppada being a description of the process of
rebirth. They should be compared with the arguments against the
"one-life" interpretation given on page 2-3 of this PS and held
alongside the positive arguments for Paticca-samuppada
(expressed on pages 1-2 and on pages 3) being a process spanning
more than one life. Then you can make your own decision based on
the Suttas.
A LAST WORD ON THE QUESTION OF HOW ONE "USES" PATICCA-SAMUPPADA
IN "DAILY LIFE"
On any journey one needs a map. An accurate map. The true
understanding of Paticca-samuppada as describing the
process of rebirth and exposing its causes is a large part of that
map, if not the whole. That map is acquired at Sotapanna -phala.
Before one has that attainment, one doesn’t really get very far at
all. That is why only after the attainment of Sotapanna -
phala until one completes one’s work is one called Sekha
"in training". Before Sotapanna, without the map, one
is neither Sekha nor Asekha. Without
Sammaditthi, without the map, one wanders in circles. With the
arising of Sammaditthi, when the Path becomes clear (Maggo
Sanjayati see Anguttara Nikaya,Four’s, Sutta
170) One can start walking that Path, one can start training. The
Ariyan Eightfold Path is the eightfold Path walked by the
Ariyan. The Putthujjana walks another Eightfold Path which
is not yet deserving of the adjective Ariyan.
So it is vitally important to obtain that map, to gain
Sammaditthi of the Ariyan kind. Suttas such as
the Mahavedella - Sutta, No 43 of the Majjhima Nikaya
show that this sort of Sammaditthi arises due to 2 causes:
Yoniso Manasikara and listening/understanding the words of
another (Parato Ghoso) (see Middle Length Sayings Vol 12
page 355) and is supported by 5 factors: Sila, Suta
(equivalent to what we would call "book-knowledge), Sakaccha
(discussing the Dhamma), Samatha and Vipassana.
Thus if one aspires to become a Sotapanna look to either
one (or both) of the 2 causes and support them with the 5 factors.
That is how one should be practising in daily life.
After Sotapanna, one practises according to the Ariyan
Eightfold Path which is then abundantly clear to one.
The point is, Paticca- samuppada , or rather its true
realisation, is the heart of Sammaditthi of the Ariyan.
It forms the foundation for further practise of the Ariyan,
for the putthujjana, one practises in order to realise the
Paticca-samuppada, especially by Yoniso Manasikara
supported by the Five factors. The putthujjana practices
aspiring to uncover the Paticca- samuppada, not assuming he
knows it!
"Gambhiro c’ayam Ananda Paticca -samuppado gambhir’avabhaso ca!"
(Digha Nikaya, Sutta 15, Mahanidana - Sutta, Verse
1)
"This Dependent Arising, Ananda, is deep and appears deep!"
Source:
http://www.metta.lk/english/paticca.htm
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