DEPENDENT-ORIGINATION – pratītyasamutpāda (or pratītya-samutpāda)
In this talk I would like to say something about a very long word that has great importance in all Buddhist traditions, that is: ‘pratityasamutpada.’ This term has no obvious counterpart in English – hence the awkward translations: dependent-origination, interbeing, dependent co-arising, co-dependence, conditioned-arising and so on. The word, in Sanskrit, comes from: pratītya – which means, ‘meeting, relying, depending’; and, samutpa – which means, ‘arising’. Pratityasamutpada denotes a number of ideas around conditionality and interdependence.
Pratityasamutpada can be summed up in one of the Buddha’s statements in the Samyutta Nikaya: ‘If this exists, that exists. If this ceases to exist, that also ceases to exist.’ All phenomena are dependent upon other phenomena for their existence. Nothing can exist in isolation from everything else.
Central to the concept of pratityasamutpada is conditionality. That is, the existence of an entity depends upon certain conditions, and without these conditions being present it could not exist. For any phenomenon to arise (be it a mosquito, cloud, person or thought) innumerable conditions have to be in place. For a cloud to arise the atmospheric conditions have to be just so – the necessary balance of temperature, humidity and particulates has to be in place. As these conditions change, the cloud will change shape, grow more or less in size, produce rain or disperse, and then fade away. The cloud is dependent on these everchanging conditions for its existence – and these conditions depend on other conditions, now and in the past, and so on. It is impossible for the cloud to exist without this multitude of conditions being present. The chances of this cloud existing now, in this particular shape, size, colour and tone, are extremely remote (when we consider the innumerable conditions that need to apply) and yet, it is here, in the sky – unique, beautiful and transient.
Conditionality, in this sense applies to all phenomena, including us – and to each thought, feeling and perception we experience. We are dependent upon all the conditions, past and present, that give rise to us, and in our turn, we contribute to all the conditions that radiate out from us. In this sense we, and all phenomena, are interdependent and interactive. When I breathe out, the universe breathes in. When the universe breathes out, I breathe in.
All phenomena exist within a continually changing web of mutual influences and connections. Not only are past and future implicated in each other, but they are also contained in the present. This interdependence is an endless process. Nothing is ever fixed as it is, because everything is always subject to change, growth, decay, revision and transformation – the universe is provisional – each element and event, in its movement and development, effecting its surrounding elements and events. Nothing exists independent of this network of interacting processes. This means, if we are to understand a particular object, statement, idea or belief, we need to understand how it comes to be as it is – what are the conditions that give rise to it. Similarly, if we are to understand and get to know a person, we have to get to know their background and the conditions in which they live. Mindful meditation is a method advocated by the Buddha to develop understanding of how things are in the world and the conditions that give rise to them.
Another of the various meanings of pratityasamutpada is conveyed by the term, ‘contingency’ – the sense of uncertainty, serendipity and improbability about us being here. It is amazing good fortune that we and any other entity exists at all. This improbability, and the awareness that conditions are transient and always changing, casts a poignancy and specialness over everyone and everything. There is an inherent fragility to life and to all things. It is a miracle that we exist – alive, awake, present and HERE. Being mindful is to be always conscious of this miracle, and to live with the contingency of our existence. To be mindful is to really appreciate what it is to be here, and to care for all that exists around us (and upon which we are dependent).
The chair that I sit on to write these notes is its own history, bound up in its present. It is the coming together of all the forces, actions, ideas and materials that went into its making, and that went into their making, and so on, and so on, throughout time and space. The chair is also a hole in everything it is not – it is a chair-shaped space in the universe – conditioned by everything that surrounds it. The chair exists in the way that it does, because everything else in the universe exists as it does. Things are as they are, because other things are as they are. As one thing changes, grows and develops, all things change. The whole universe is in process. Conditions are always changing.
To sum up, pratityasamutpada implies that we are relational beings living in a relational universe, a universe of interwoven and interactive processes and energies. Nothing can be independent or separate from everything else. Everything is dependent on everything else. Every entity is related to every other entity. Me, this room, all of you and every entity that exists arise together – conditional upon each other – inseparable yet unique. Separateness is ultimately an illusion. This is a deeply ecological view of the universe.