Ch. 14 - On Dependent Origination and the Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood
Seeing Dependent Origination Brings us to a Sure Knowledge of the Law of Kamma
We Get Confused because we Don’t See Things as They Are
The Fundamental Cause of Our Suffering is Ignorance
The Buddha’s Path Leads to the Knowledge of the Unconditioned State of Nibbana
[This discourse was given on an eight day Vipassanā retreat and looks at the beginning of the chain of Dependent Origination as the fundamental cause of the proliferation of self and the point at which our experience becomes dissatisfying.]
Seeing Dependent Origination Brings us to a Sure Knowledge of the Law of Kamma
I was talking to the last group about how you actually see Dependent Origination, in your practice. It doesn’t take us very long to learn the links of Dependent Origination, but to see it functioning as the governing principle in our lives, and the Universe, takes deep penetrating insight. But this we must do, because it is the seeing of Dependent Origination that brings us to the point of sure knowledge of the law of kamma and removes all doubt in us about the laws governing our lives.
It is not seeing Dependent Origination that is the cause of our suffering. Where we see this, we see the Dhamma. But in essence it all boils down to the beginning of the causal chain, which is: because of ignorance, volitional formations arise in the mind, and once these volitional formations arise in the mind, that is kamma, and this process of wandering-on, wanders on. So, since our goal is to cut off the suffering, not just to understand it, we need to go to the beginning of it. And the beginning is the point where ignorance arises in the mind, seeing that present suffering is the result of ignorance in the past, and ignorance and the behaviour it prompts now will be the cause of suffering in the future.
It is not enough to go so far as to say, “Because of craving there is suffering” or, “Because of aversion there is suffering.” Greed, anger, craving, ill will – aren’t innate within us. We may look like we are a particularly unvirtuous species, because there is so much greed, and there’s so much craving, and there’s so much ill will, and there’s so much anger – but it isn’t actually innate itself, it’s conditioned by a cause. And the cause of this is ignorance or confusion.
The funny thing is that with the proliferation of greed and anger and all the frustration that we see now in modern society, there are so many poor qualities in our minds these days compared to our parents’ or our grand-parents’ generations, generally speaking. If we look at humanity today, there are probably less noble qualities to it than one or two generations ago, and we consider ourselves to be an advancing civilisation. So there’s a paradox there, isn’t there? While we’re advancing, why are we regressing with regards to things like virtue and ethics and values?
So, we would like to think that we are becoming more informed, but if we understand the law of Dependent Origination, that wouldn’t explain why there is more anger, more greed, more frustration, more depression, than ever before. Dependent Origination says that: because of ignorance there is craving, clinging, aversion, ill will etc. Now what does that imply? If these things are increasing does it not imply that ignorance is increasing? So how does that fit with the idea of all this increase in our knowledge and increase in our understanding? It doesn’t compute does it?
So perhaps we are not coming to understand anything at all. Perhaps we’re coming to understand less. With all this mass of information and all these things we think we understand, somehow we’re behaving in a more and more confused manner. Now it is important that we contemplate that.
Dependent Origination tells us quite clearly that this greed and this aversion and all the mass of unwholesome states that produce the fruiting of unwholesome kamma now and sow the seeds for further suffering in the future, is because of ignorance. Yet we would like to think we were less ignorant than our previous generation. Hmmm...are we? What are we less ignorant of? If we look carefully, we see in fact that we just have a far more involved and evolved complex idea of ourselves than our parents did. And they had a more complex and evolved idea of themselves than their parents. So, what is this understanding that we think we are coming to?
Now, in their simplicity, our grand-parents did not have as many needs as we do, and they didn’t get as upset about things. Their patience was considerably more, they were far more easily satisfied. What we need to satisfy us now is infinitely greater than what they needed. So this evolving idea of ourselves isn’t contributing in any way to our well-being – it’s making it more difficult, making it less easy to satisfy us. So what is this ignorance then? Hmmm?
We tend to pay very little attention to what we are doing and what’s going on around us, we are so distracted in most things that we do. Our capacity to pay attention is so poor now, because our minds are so quickly distracted. And it is this: we are not present – we don’t immerse ourselves in the simplicity of the very experience that we are engaged in, we’re so distracted. That’s ignorance. We’re so wrapped-up in the idea of ourself that there’s very little real presence when we engage in what we are doing. Not all of us, but generally.
If you look at the way children played thirty years ago, how immersed they would get in what it was they were doing, and you look at how distracted they are now. There’s so little of them there. It is this ignorance that is the cause of this craving, greed, frustration, anger, aversion, ill will, etc. And it’s got nothing to do with how much you think you understand. It’s about your ability to ‘be there’ with what is.
We Get Confused because we Don’t See Things as They Are
We get confused because we don’t see how things are. Normally we don’t see clearly how things are until we investigate them with the discernment of mindfulness and concentration. Like what we’re doing now on this retreat and what the Buddha did when he committed himself to finding the cessation of this mass of suffering, and to not give up until he’d found it. And with all his power of insight and discernment, he broke through this compact mass of our experience to see this truth of Dependent Origination. He broke through to see that it is all dependently arising. And it was seeing that which we don’t see when we don’t pay any attention, that caused the fading away and the relinquishing of greed, craving, attachment, aversion, anger, ill will, etc.
I said something yesterday, about this age of enlightenment that we think we’re in. It’s very difficult to justify that statement. Ignorance? Is it really any less? Are we really paying more attention or less? I think our grandparents knew very little Dhamma, maybe none, but they probably paid more attention to what they were doing, were more present and less distracted, and at that level, less confused. At that level they were more awake.
So, we have to spot, “Why does this aversion arise within me?” “Why does this greed arise within me?” “Why do I hanker after something that’s not there?” “Why am I unable to be with what is?” “Why is it so difficult to satisfy me?” It is because of this very idea of me, and the development of it, and the proliferation of it, and the investment in it, until it becomes all encompassing and right at the centre of absolutely everything I experience: a personal quest, for answers that satisfy me, personally.
You know, I look at it sometimes like this: We talk about this evolution from this ego lower mind to this awake higher mind, but it’s actually a transition from adolescent-complex to adulthood. And it may not happen at all in our life, or it may happen very late in our life – but that point at which suddenly it’s not about me, or actually, gradually it’s not all about me, is the point at which we become what we could call a mature adult. We become simply a functional member of the group, not special, not more important than the next person, a contributing functioning member of the group – rather than, all of this..... special me....this idea of special me that’s wrapped up with this sense of self.
This is what we could call adolescent fixation or some kind of hero complex, which is the need to be seen, this need to be special, rather than a willingness to stand beside the next person as the same. And these ideas have become so elaborate. Think about how contrived the way in which we try and express ourselves as teenagers growing up is – this array of pantomime which we put on for the world, hoping we might be seen to be different, more interesting, have something more important to say. How long we invest in it, believing that it’s all about me!
And it’s that, which is the wrong view; the wrong view that it’s all about me. That is the ignorance that is the cause of this greed, craving, clinging, aversion, anger, ill will, frustration, jealousy, pride, arrogance, etc. Because when there is no need to compare yourself to others, when you are simply happy to be a functional member of the group, these things will not arise in you.
So, if we stop and say, “There’s greed in me, there’s craving in me, there’s anger in me, there’s aversion in me – this I should stop and I will stop,” you’ll find that you can’t just stop it because you want to. It continues to arise and the only thing you can do is to spot it, to know that, “This anger has arisen and I shall try to make it calm now”, “this craving has arisen, I shall try to hold back and restrain myself.” This is not the same as the non-arising of greed, aversion, anger etc.
It is when this sense of me arises in our experience, that we are prone to wanting this and not wanting that. It’s when that sense of ‘me’ momentarily has faded away from our experience, that we are quite happy to engage in the suchness of what’s actually there, just that, needing to add nothing nor take anything away.
Now, since every moment that you experience contains only what’s within it, you won’t be happy until what’s within it is enough. So, the more our sense of self impinges upon the moment, upon our experience and is right in the centre of our experience, the more our comparison of that experience with what we think we want will impinge upon and impoverish our momentary experience. Ideas such as, how we think it should be, how we think it shouldn’t be, will cause us to except or reject, cling to or dislike, what is there.
And this is the ignorance that fails to notice that this perception of ‘me’ is a figment of my imagination. That is the ignorance at the beginning of the causal chain that we call Dependent Origination. It is seeing that this idea of myself is an illusion – sitting right there, centre stage, bang in the middle of that which I’m experiencing – that marks the beginning of coming to right view. And so we can see that it’s got nothing to do with whatever philosophical, political or social viewpoint we’ve come to on the world. It’s entirely about how we experience each ordinary moment. It is not easy to see that this idea of ‘me’ is an illusion.
Normally, when we have a problem and things aren’t working well in our life we go to someone for advice. And they ask us what our problem is, and we tell them what is wrong, and they help us find a solution to it, and the idea of me, who’s got a problem with how things are is right at the front of it, right in the middle of it and the resolution that we are looking for is personal. Now whilst you might be engaging in a uniquely personal experience of life, I can tell you, “It’s NOT personal. It isn’t about you.”
This process of life itself, is what it is, and it’s not waiting for you to make sense of it. It’s waiting for you to turn up and accept it as something that is innately extraordinary, without your special take on it, without you needing to be in the middle, without you needing to be the star of your experience. This idea, when we first hear it, violates our ego, doesn’t it? It’s so hard to see that it’s not about me. And it’s because this is so hard to see, that this wrong idea of me or of self is so hard to surmount.
It is so difficult, it is so hard to come out of this suffering that is caused by this greed, this aversion, this being dissatisfied with what is and wanting what we don’t have, because it is so hard to see that it is not about ‘me’. Because we can’t get beyond fixation upon self, it is difficult for us to free ourselves from the suffering, the craving and the aversion. So, don’t be surprised that just when you see, “I can understand that craving is causing me great suffering” and, “This anger of mine isn’t doing me any good”, don’t be surprised that just seeing that doesn’t make it go away.
When you gradually start to understand that it’s dependently arising, you will see that you just wanting that greed to not be there, is not the condition for it not being there. It is your ignorance which was the condition for it being there! And it is when you remove that ignorance, which is this idea of me, from your experience, there will be no cause for the continued arising of that greed, that restlessness, that jealousy, that pride, that anger, that ill will, that was the cause of your suffering.
So, we go to the beginning of the chain of Dependent Origination, to try to see, “At what point does that ignorance arise in me? At what point does this idea of me smother my experience? And at what point does it first start to not be there?” In that moment of seeing or being with the body as it is, the fact that you are so completely present with what you are experiencing, that there is momentarily no gap between the knower, the knowing and the known, that in that moment of complete mindfulness, suddenly there is no room for this idea of ‘me’ to smother it. And in that moment of being completely absorbed with that simple, apparently irrelevant experience, equanimity arises momentarily, and momentarily grasping stops.
That’s a milestone, and you might remember or you might think back or you might reflect, “Goodness me, yes it was like that when I was a kid, when I was digging that hole in the garden. I spent all morning doing it and I completely forgot about myself. I was so immersed and so completely present in what I was doing, that I was utterly satisfied, needing to add nothing or take nothing from that simple experience.”
And actually that is what you are doing when you are practising your vipassanā. You are bringing yourself to a point of such immersion in your experience, that there’s no room for yourself, your ego, your idea of yourself to arise. Now you are, of course, breaking it down into its discrete parts and seeing, “There’s no me in the body” - “There’s no me in the feeling” - “There’s no me in perception” - “There’s no me in this reaction.” But then you will notice when there’s no reaction, there’s no me. And, when I’m just engaging in this experience of equanimity, there’s no sense of ‘me’. And when I’m not just engaging with equanimity, there’s a sense of ‘me’ and now it’s not satisfied.
You might think, “Maybe that aversion is me? But wait a minute, five minutes later there is attachment, so if I’m that attachment, I can’t be that aversion as well.” And so certainly you can see that there is no permanent self within the formations aggregate, because one moment there’s aversion and one moment there’s attachment and one moment there’s no me at all. And it is this discernment that starts to see, to see and to start to experience that it is actually true – that it is when this perception of myself, and the ideas of myself enter into my experience that it becomes unsatisfactory and prone to suffering....and when it’s not there, it’s very often completely satisfied and even if it’s not completely satisfied, it is acceptable, because it is what it is.
So, our goal is to see those moments where there is no ignorance as those moments where the mind is completely okay and undisturbed. And you could notice that there are moments when you’re sitting there, and even though your body is quite uncomfortable, there’s a moment when you’re completely satisfied just to be with that....and then some idea of yourself arises and all of a sudden there’s this mass of restlessness, and suddenly you are not satisfied any more!
This is the experience that starts to impress upon us gradually in stages and informs us that it is true that when I smother my experience with my idea of self, the experience is far less easily satisfying. When I can just enter into what I’m doing, and be with it, even the simplest things become completely acceptable.
So look for this in your experience, instead of thinking about Dependent Origination, instead of contemplating, “Because of ignorance, which is not knowing Nibbāna (or which is not knowing Dependent Origination), because of not knowing the truth of Impermanence, Suffering, No-Self, because of these things there are the three roots of Suffering: Greed, Aversion, Ignorance”. Greed equals Lust, Attachment, Jealousy, Clinging etc. Aversion equals Ill will, Hate, Stinginess, Self-hatred etc. and Ignorance equals Wrong Views of self and the world and also absence or lack of presence, lack of mindfulness and lack of awareness, or quite simply not paying attention. What the Buddha calls unwise attention. All of this is reflection and useful reflection. But it is still only cittamayapaññā. Remember that.
The Fundamental Cause of Our Suffering is Ignorance
Don’t just sit there contemplating Dependent Origination or just making the reflection, “At the moment of our death, there will be a rebirth-linking consciousness that will bring about a renewed existence, etc etc”. Instead of sitting there thinking about it all day long, and finding that thinking about it has made no change whatsoever and you are just as prone to aversion, look at what it is you are experiencing and how you are experiencing it, until you start to see Dependent Origination. And when you see it you will know what it is that is the fundamental cause of being dissatisfied, and you’ll see that it is ignorance. It is not paying enough attention to what’s going on, and being too obsessed with the idea of what you think is going on and your need to place your idea of self right in the middle of the whole process.
Now having said that, we do still need to become familiar with the concepts if we are going to review them to see if they are true or not. So let us now look at the twelve links of Dependent Origination as the Buddha taught them, and see if we can fathom a little more deeply what it was he was actually pointing at.
Paṭiccasamuppāda – Dependent Origination: this is the causal chain of interconnected forces that brings things into being. Furthermore it explains why it is that we cannot break out of the round of life, death and rebirth as an act of will. We are bound to the cycle of saṁsāra (wandering on) by the Law of Dependent Origination and Kamma. It is expressed in different forms in the Buddha’s teachings but the most common formula is :
Dependent upon Ignorance (not knowing truth [impermanence, suffering etc.] or not knowing Nibbāna), wilful/volitional formations (producing kamma) arise (in the mind);
Depending on these wilful/volitional formations (which are clung to by the mind at death), consciousness (in particular the rebirth-linking consciousness) arises (at death);
Dependent on the rebirth-linking consciousness, (kamma produced), mind and matter arise;
Dependent on mind and matter, the six sense bases arise in the body of our next life;
Dependent upon the sense bases, contact (with other objects, external and internal, mental and physical) arises;
Dependent upon contact, feeling arises;
Dependent upon feeling, desire/craving (for the objects producing such feeling) arises;
Dependent upon desire and craving (for objects), clinging and attachment (to such objects) arises;
Dependent upon clinging and attachment (to objects appearing in the mind at death), renewed becoming arises;
Dependent upon renewed becoming, birth arises;
Dependent upon birth, thereafter inevitably follows old age, sickness and death, whereupon the whole process begins again and again and again.
This law of Dependent Origination is what the Buddha came to call the Second Noble Truth, the truth of the cause of suffering. We are bound to it for as long as clinging appears in the mind upon contact or recollection of all the myriad conditioned forms we experience and encounter throughout the life. This clinging is the very kammic force that produces the rebirth-linking between one life and the next and the wheel of saṁsāra (or wandering on) as it is called.
The Buddha’s Path Leads to the Knowledge of the Unconditioned State of Nibbana
The Buddha’s Third Noble Truth – the truth of the cessation of suffering – comes about with the non-arising of clinging. The Buddha’s Eightfold Noble Path, that leads to the non-arising of clinging and in turn the cessation of suffering, is the Fourth Noble Truth. At the supramundane level, the path leads to the knowledge of the unconditioned (or deathless) state of Nibbāna, that cuts off all clinging to conditioned states and leads to the causal cessation of suffering with the non-arising of the five aggregates of clinging and their causes.
With the arising of ignorance there are volitional formations and it is this volition that has prompted us to act in the past and prompts us to act now that becomes the mass of kamma that we experience in the past, present and future. But with the fading away of ignorance, and the arising of wise attention, one abides in a state of equanimity allowing things to be as they are, kamma-free, and free from suffering! So look there. Spot that arising of ignorance that smothered your experience.
You won’t always have to scrutinise your experience the way you are scrutinising it now and break it down into four elements and feeling and perception and reaction etc. - because once your mind has seen these things it will look out at everything around you and just know it as such, and be with it as such, and be completely immersed and present with it as such, and there won’t be any sense of you there. And this experience won’t be robbed of something by your absence; you’ll find it will be deeply enriched by your capacity to enter completely into it.
I am pointing at that moment, that delicate moment, where there is the arising or non-arising of ignorance and with it the arising of equanimity or its loss. This is the delicate area where, if you can really enter into that and see this dynamic, you’ll really see that it is the impinging upon your experience of this sense of self, that is the fundamental cause of suffering. And hence this is the ignorance that the Buddha was pointing at when he taught Dependent Origination. It is important to reflect that it is this ignorance appearing within our experience, rather than our view, that sets off the chain reaction that we call saṁsāra.
We will also see that getting beyond this ignorance to an experience that is beyond any sense of self is a very direct way to cut that suffering off at the root, rather than trying to gradually relinquish attachment, to gradually relinquish aversion, as an act of determination. So it is in those moments of complete immersion into our experience whilst practising vipassanā that we begin to experience the momentary cessation of suffering, just as we do when we enter into jhāna. And what marks these experiences as free from suffering is our absorption into them in the absence of any sense of self.
It’s really important that we see this, that we experience this, because this is how we come to know that it is our absorption into our experience that gradually surmounts suffering, rather than our views, ideas, opinions, attitudes etc. That complete turning up marks the removal of ignorance. We aren’t turning away from our experience but turning completely into it, and it is that which frees us. The realisation of Nibbāna is an experience not a view and it comes when we finally surmount all sense of self within our moment to moment experience.
We must understand that it is the experience of no-self, rather than any view we might hold about it, that marks the point of cutting off the roots of suffering or the causes of suffering. So in the end we need to realise that it’s our pride and our idea of ourself that keeps us doggedly hanging on, even whilst we are trying to let go attachment and anger. So reflect upon this and then look for this as it begins to reveal itself within your practice. Remember the experience is what counts, not our views or understanding, which brings me back to the point I was making at the beginning about why we appear to be suffering so much more now when we seem to understand so much more than we ever have. Be sure you are clear about what ignorance actually is with regards to these teachings on Dependent Origination.
