Dependent Origination in Buddhism

As I was photographing bubbles, and working on my impermanence project, one thought that came to mind was the concept of dependent origination in Buddhism. The idea of dependent origination is confusing to a lot of people, and it confused me when I was studying Zen so I thought it would be good idea to write a few thoughts about this topic.

Simply said, what dependent origination means, is that all phenomena are dependent on factors. Phenomena are sustained only so long as their sustaining factors remain. Phenomena, including the sense of personal identity “I”, is dependent on various factors (consciousness, sense organs etc.) coming together to create a personal sense of “I”.

Taking the example of bubbles, for me to photograph a bubble, I need a few key factors to come together so I can capture it through my camera. If any of the below factors are absent, a photograph of the bubble cannot exist.

a) The atmospheric conditions should allow a bubble to form. If it is really cold or windy the bubbles won’t form.

b) The bubbles must remain present long enough for me to photograph them.

c) The camera shutter should open and close enough to take a picture.

d) There must be a person present to take the photograph.

The key point that is very important to mention, and often misunderstood, is that just because things dependently originate, it does not mean that they don’t exist or are unreal. The bubble is real for as long as the conditions allow it to exist, and it can be photographed because its image can be captured on a camera sensor. Similarly, your sense of “I” is as real as the conditions allow it to exist. For example, when you are asleep your sense of personal identity disappears, but it doesn’t mean you don’t exist in sleep.

There are various formulations of factors, that give rise to dependent origination, the typical numbers being 12 factors, but in early Buddhist scriptures the factors that give rise to dependent arising were a lot less. For simplicity , I am describing the 4 main factors that give rise to dependent arising.

The point to remember is that the origin for suffering arises from the ignorance of our true nature. The “I” that we identify with is an artifact of being self-aware. When we as children become conscious of ourselves as an image, meaning that we can reflect about ourselves in the past and future, we get attached to our image rather than pure consciousness. While being able to create mental images of the past and present are useful for us as a species to survive, it also brings about a sense of incompleteness that we try very hard to bridge by engaging with the world through our senses.

It is important to realize that dependent origination is like a wheel or cycle that feeds on itself. Breaking the link of dependent origination at any of 4 places described below frees one from suffering. Various schools have different practices to break the links at various point in the cycle.

1- Ignorance (Lacking understanding that “I” we experience is a construct)

2-Limitation (Sense of incompleteness)

3- Craving (Need for something outside yourself to be complete)

4- Suffering (Following sense objects to remove this incompleteness)

The Practice of Seeing Impermanence

My goal for this blog is to embody the practice of impermanence or seeing dependent origination in my life on a daily basis. While metaphysical theories on dependent origination, from a Buddhist or Hindu perspective are fun, I think they don’t address the problem of suffering.

The main practice that I suggest, which comes from Advaita Vedanta and some schools of Dzogchen, is to see that the craving for any object outside of ourselves arises because of the inherent separation of the consciousness from the world around us. If one can remain still, and with a clear mind, see how craving arises from the separation of consciousness from its root resting place, we can truly engage with the practice of seeing the origin of dependent origination. Our practice should be to focus on this feeling of separation on a moment to moment basis, without any judgement or the desire to move away from this feeling.