All existence is interdependent
All existence is
interdependent
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All existence is interdependent.
The principle of reciprocal arising, this is the most important doctrine in Buddhism. Every law, every action of the human universe has been summarized by the Buddha into one concise truth.
If this exists, that exists.
From the arising of this, that is born. If this does not exist, that does not exist. From the cessation of this, that ceases.
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Medical Supervision: Drugs detox must be conducted under medical supervision, as the body may experience withdrawal symptoms. These can include nausea, anxiety, muscle aches, and insomnia. A medical team will monitor and manage these symptoms to ensure the patient’s safety and comfort.
Holistic Therapies:
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Tapering Process
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Psychological Support:
Psychological Support: Like any addiction recovery process, detox from Drugs includes psychological support. This can involve counseling, therapy, or support groups to address the mental and emotional aspects of addiction.
Post-Detox Treatment:
Post-Detox Treatment: After completing detox, continuing treatment is crucial to prevent relapse. This often includes participation in ongoing therapy, group support, and the development of new coping strategies to maintain sobriety.
The doctrine of reciprocal formation
This is the doctrine of dependent origination. The law of dependent origination encompasses two aspects: formation and cessation, which occur in multiple dimensions. The process of formation and cessation, cessation and formation, continues indefinitely from infinite time to infinite period.
This law encompasses everything from the birth and dissolution of the physical body to the consciousness of people and all sentient beings, to the formation and destruction of the earth and the universe. The wisdom of the Buddha not only discovered this law but also showed how to apply it so that people can be freed from suffering and achieve happiness. This article will delve into the doctrine of dependent origination mainly through the long discussions.
1. The Central Doctrine of Buddhism
The Central Doctrine of Buddhism is presented to the world. The Buddha taught that the universe was not created by a divine being like Brahma, nor did it come into being naturally without a cause, nor from a single source like thought or matter, unlike the philosophical ideas prevalent throughout the world. In fact, the Buddha rejected all contemporary worldviews.
The doctrine of dependent origination, which the Buddha discovered, is therefore a fundamental law of the workings of the universe, embodying an absolute truth. According to it, the appearance of any phenomenon is connected with many causes, and these causes in turn connect with other causes. Furthermore, the phenomena themselves contribute conditions for the appearance of other phenomena.
On the other hand, if one phenomenon ceases to exist, this happens because the conditions that created it also cease to exist, and this cessation leads to the disappearance of other related phenomena. Interdependence in Nature and Humanity. Everything in the realm of nature and humanity depends on each other for existence.
Existence is possible only through relative dependence. Nothing can exist independently, for all things depend on many interrelated factors. If one element ceases to exist, others cannot exist either.
This constant change means that entities also change over time. An illuminating example is with plants. Plants depend on soil as a medium, on minerals and nutrients for growth, on moisture to transport nutrients and build cellular structures, and on sunlight for photosynthesis.
Without any of these elements, a plant cannot survive. The factors critical to a plant’s growth do not affect it in chronological order over time. They must exist simultaneously, interdependently.
A plant contributes to the ecosystem by shedding leaves and other parts, which decompose and enrich the soil with humus and essential minerals. Theoretically, for something to exist independently, it must support and stabilize itself. However, according to the laws of nature, this is impossible and therefore, all entities are transient and lacking in intrinsic essence.
All entities are created and exist through relational networks. There is no beginning or end as the question of what preceded what cannot be answered. The seed or the plant, the chicken or the egg.
According to the principle of dependent arising, every event is the result of antecedents occurring as various influences that shape the present. Therefore, the concept of chance depends on preconditions. Since nothing exists independently, all entities depend on determining antecedents, not necessarily in a sequential or required order.
This is in sharp contrast to the classical model, in which the universe is seen as predictable like billiard balls on a table. Metaphorically, quantum behavior, like human behavior, is less predictable and cannot be measured mathematically. Only probabilities can be guessed through approximation.
This law does not only occur in plants, but applies universally from the vast cosmos to the tiniest bacterium. Thus, the law of dependent arising also encompasses the aspects of formation and cessation, which occur in multiple dimensions. The process of formation and cessation, cessation and formation, is constant, continuing from the timeless beginning to the infinite end.
The cycle of formation and dissolution of the world. In the world, the process of formation and dissolution occurs in four stages: formation, existence, decay, and emptiness; birth, existence, decay, and extinction. Only in the stage of existence do living beings exist.
For living beings, these stages are birth, aging, illness, and death. However, this cycle of birth and death occurs only on the surface of phenomena. Fundamentally, it is simply the continuous change and transformation of these beings, who are neither born nor destroyed.
The elements that make up the material aspect of the world. Among the basic conditions leading to the formation of the universe and all beings are the material elements that the Buddha organized into four categories. The element of earth: solidity, mass, weight; the element of water: fluidity, cohesion; the element of fire: heat and cold, the properties of burning and contracting; and the element of wind: movement, expansion and transition.
These four elements combine harmoniously to create the material aspect of the world, and when they disintegrate, the material aspects also disintegrate.
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The doctrine of dependent origination as it is expressed in the human condition.
The elements that make up man or a living being, according to the doctrine of dependent origination, are created from many and varied conditions, not only from material or mental sources, and certainly not from divine creation or random appearance without cause.
The Buddha elaborated in many sutras that man is created from two groups of elements. The material group, rupa, consisting of the four great elements: earth, water, fire and air, and the mental group, nama, consisting of four aggregates: feeling, perception, volitional creations and consciousness. These groups, the material and the mental together, are called the five aggregates: rupa, vedana, sanya, sankara, vijnana.
The term “aggregate” in Pali, khandha, means a heap or group. These are only aggregates, subject to arising and passing away beyond the subjective will. Therefore, there is nothing identifiable as self or ego.
Also, there is no divine being who controls this process of arising and passing away. Everything operates according to the law of dependent arising of the universe. In the Great Discourse on the Annihilation of Craving, the Buddha describes four basic conditions leading to conception: the father’s sperm, the mother’s ovum, the mother’s fertile period, and the presence of the gandhabha, a condition related to the mental factor.
And monks, when the father and mother unite, and the mother is in her fertile period, and the gandhabha is present, with these three conditions, the embryo is created. Middle Discourses, MN 38, Maha-tanaya Sankha Sutra.
From the time in the womb to birth, and then to adulthood, the material elements (rupa) develop through the four great elements, nourished by the mother’s blood in the womb, by milk after birth, and by food as they grow.
Meanwhile, the mental elements begin with the consciousness of rebirth and gradually develop, becoming more apparent as sensation, perception, volitional creations, and consciousness through interactions with the external world.
The Buddha explains at length the material phenomena, the internal forms, the internal earth element, the internal water element, the internal fire element, the internal air element, the external forms, the external earth element, the external water element, the external fire element, the external air element. In the middle discourse, MN 62, the Great Discourse on the Advice to Rahula Blanka, from the Rahulvada Sutra, as explained:
Rahula, whatever pertains to the internal body, to the individual, is solid, gross, and contained within, such as hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, intestines, mesentery, stomach, feces, and whatever else pertains to the internal body, to the individual, is solid, gross, and contained within.
Thus, Rahula, this is called the internal earth element. Both the internal earth element and the external earth element are simply elements of earth. The earth element should be seen as it really is with right wisdom.
This is not mine, this is not me, this is not my self. After contemplating the earth element as it really is with right wisdom in this way, one despairs of the earth element, and the mind is detached from the earth element. Thus, the internal forms concern that which belongs to the individual’s own body.
The external forms concern matter outside the individual. Contemplating internal and external forms is part of the meditative path of a Buddhist disciple. Moreover, Udai, I teach the path of practice to my disciples, and my disciples, based on this path, practice the eight liberations.
To be oneself with form, to see forms, is the first liberation. To contemplate the internal form, to see external forms, is the second liberation. To contemplate the form as it is pure, to concentrate on this thought, is the third liberation.
To completely transcend forms, to eliminate thoughts of sense resistance, to not think of different thoughts, with the thought that infinite space is unlimited, to attain and abide at the base of infinite space, this is the fourth liberation.
Middle Discourses, MN 77, Maha Sakuladai Sutra. Thus, from birth to death and rebirth, the flow of the five aggregates, form, feeling, perception, volitional creations, and consciousness, is constantly changing, either descending, leading to suffering, or ascending, leading to happiness and peace.
In the Buddha-mind, there is no change that is free from causal conditions, and by understanding the laws governing body and mind, people can actively create wholesome conditions, good karma, for their name and form in this life and the next.
See also, Small Analysis of Action, Large Analysis of Action. In analyzing the states of existence of living beings, the Buddha taught that there are four types of birth: birth from an egg, birth from a womb, birth from moisture, and birth from transformation, which exist in three worlds: the world of desire, the world of form, and the world of formlessness, all within a world filled with harmful suffering called the five worlds of harm: the age of defilement, defilement views, defilement afflictions, defilement beings, defilement lifespan, and the cycles of birth and death in life.
The principle of dependent origination accurately reflects the life cycle
The principle of dependent origination accurately reflects the life cycle of humans and living beings, where one condition leads to a result, and the result becomes a condition for another result, in a continuous transition from birth to death and rebirth. The life cycle of a human or any living being is centered in a chain of twelve links. The Buddha described the twelve links as beginning with ignorance and ending with old age, death and the troubles, sorrows and sufferings that result from them.
The twelve links are explained in two directions, forward and backward. The forward direction is from ignorance as a condition for volitional creations, from volitional creations as a condition for consciousness, from consciousness as a condition for name and form, from name and form as a condition for the six sense bases, from the six sense bases as a condition for touch, from touch as a condition for feeling, from feeling as a condition for craving, from craving as a condition for clinging, from clinging as a condition for formation, from formation as a condition for birth, from birth then old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress and despair come to be. Thus, Ananda, this is the formation of this whole mass of suffering.
The reverse direction is, with the complete cessation, the complete absence of that ignorance, volitional creations cease. With the cessation of volitional creations, consciousness ceases. With the cessation of consciousness, name and form cease.
With the cessation of name and form, the six sense bases cease. With the cessation of the six sense bases, contact ceases. With the cessation of contact, feeling ceases.
With the cessation of feeling, craving ceases. With the cessation of craving, clinging ceases. With the cessation of clinging, formation ceases.
With the cessation of formation, birth ceases. With the cessation of birth, old age and death, sorrow, grief, pain, distress and despair cease completely. Thus is the complete cessation of this whole mass of suffering.
Here, according to our research group, the term “condition” can be interpreted as cause/creator/activator.
For example, feeling as the cause of craving means that feeling acts as the cause/creator/activator of craving. That is, feeling causes craving to arise.
On the other hand, as the Buddha taught in the Great Discourse on the Cessation of Craving, the Maha Tanāya Sankṛha Sutra, craving takes feeling as its cause, takes feeling as its source, takes feeling as its root. To clearly illustrate the operation of the twelve links and their related causes, they are shown in the following diagram.
Here we clearly see the connections between the twelve links of dependent origination, each of which serves as the cause of the next link, thus creating the living being and the whole mass of suffering, birth, old age, death, sorrow, mourning, pain, grief and despair.
The diagram also shows the connection between the four kinds of food and clinging. Because of clinging, there is clinging and consumption of the four kinds of food. And because of the consumption of these foods, fuel is given to the existence of living beings.
This does not mean that an enlightened person who has removed the causes of suffering and entered Nirvana ceases to exist completely after death. This subject will be expanded upon in another chapter as explained by the Buddha. Because of the monk Sati’s erroneous view that consciousness wanders in cycles without change, the Tathagata summoned, rebuked, and confirmed him, I taught that consciousness arises as a result of conditions.
Without conditions, consciousness does not arise. The operation of the principle of arising dependent on consciousness is analyzed as follows.
Monks, consciousness arises from conditions, and each consciousness is called according to its conditions.
Through the conditions of the eye and forms, eye consciousness arises and is called eye consciousness. Through the conditions of the ear and sounds, ear consciousness arises and is called ear consciousness. Through the conditions of the nose and smells, nose consciousness arises and is called nose consciousness.
Through the conditions of tongue and taste, tongue-consciousness arises and is called tongue-consciousness. Through the conditions of body and tactile sensations, body-consciousness arises and is called body-consciousness. Through the conditions of thought and mental objects, mind-consciousness arises and is called mind-consciousness.
Similarly, monks, according to what conditions fire arises, that fire is called according to its conditions. From wood and fuel, it is called wood-fire. From wood-cuttings, it is called wood-cutting fire.
From grass, it is called grass-fire. From cow-dung, it is called cow-dung fire. From husks, it is called husk-fire.
From dung, it is called dung-fire. In the same way, monks, consciousness arises from conditions, and every consciousness is called according to its condition. MN 38, Maha Tanāya Sankāha Sutra.
In conclusion, the theory of dependent origination as applied to humans and living beings fits precisely and comprehensively with the teachings on the twelve links, the five aggregates, the twelve bases, and the eighteen elements. And to cut the circle of the twelve links, and thus end the cycle of rebirth and suffering, one need only cut one link for the other links to dissolve naturally.
Thus, sometimes the Buddha taught to cut the link of ignorance and sometimes clinging or feeling.
Later, various teachers adapted methods for cutting the links according to the capacities of living beings. For example, Goenka’s practice of observing feeling uses feeling as an object.
In various Agama Sutras, there is a dialogue between the Buddha and the monks as follows.
Venerable sir, the principle of dependent arising that you speak of, was it created by the Tathagata or by someone else? The Buddha replied to the monks, the principle of dependent arising was neither created by me nor by someone else.
Regardless of whether the Tathagata appears in the world or not, this principle of reality always exists. The Tathagata reveals this principle, attains perfect enlightenment, and teaches it for the benefit of all beings.
It is expressed thus: This exists, therefore this exists. From this arising, this arising arises. That is, from ignorance arises volitional creations, and so on, until a great mass of suffering has accumulated.
With the cessation of ignorance, volitional creations also cease, which leads to the cessation of the great mass of suffering. This is confirmation of the lawful nature and importance of the principle of dependent arising. Regarding the doctrine of dependent origination, it is difficult to claim complete understanding, especially since this article is merely an academic inquiry, not the realization of enlightenment.
Certainly, the understanding and presentation here cannot fully capture the depth of such a profound teaching. We recognize that studying the scriptures is a long process of learning, reflection, and practice, which cannot be mastered overnight or fully applied immediately. This is complicated by the gaps in time and context, which make many of the written references foreign to the modern reader.
Therefore, the effort to study the scriptures requires immense patience in repeated reading, in studying the terms, in comparing different translations, and so on. However, today, both monks and lay practitioners face many challenges in studying their scriptures, including, first, the level of scholarship, language proficiency, and access to scriptures among the Buddhist community are quite limited. Most of the writings, especially those from the Nikaya and Agama collections, are rarely discussed at length among the general public and even among many educated Buddhists, including in monastic institutions.
In Dharma talks, teachings are often loosely quoted from the Buddha without clear sources, and sometimes even the person quoting is unaware of the exact source. During prayer sessions in temples, the presence of Nikaya or Agama writings is rare. Sometimes, in certain practice settings, practitioners even become convinced that faith is sufficient without understanding or seeking further knowledge, transforming Buddhism from a path of wisdom into one of blind faith, similar to the theocratic religions of the past.
It is unfortunate that this approach is not only learned for the elderly, but that many young practitioners also embrace it wholeheartedly, rejecting further study and reflection even when they are still at the beginning of their spiritual journey. Perhaps initiatives such as reading campaigns organized by bookstores can inject some life into the study of the scriptures, even if they are a bit noisy in a secular sense. The preachers themselves should constantly deepen their knowledge of the Buddha’s teachings and strive to clarify sources during teaching as much as possible in order to educate the listeners on the names of the scriptures, not to mention the content.
Prayer practices in temples should be more varied to prevent mental stagnation, avoid becoming mechanical, and include more of the Nikaya and Agama texts. Second, the language in the Nikaya and Agama texts is somewhat archaic, making it difficult for many to read and understand. Therefore, the teachings closest to the spirit of original Buddhism become alien to most Buddhists.
This opens the door to the sanctification and ritualization of Buddhism, which in some cases leads to a departure from the true Dharma. The above are just a few ideas on creating an open learning environment for Buddhism, where precious scriptures do not become outdated, unclear, and unfamiliar to practitioners. Hopefully, in the not-so-distant future, Buddhism in our country will flourish not only in the number of followers and temples, but also in the depth of study and realization.
Psychological Support:
Psychological Support: Like any addiction recovery process, detox from Subutex includes psychological support. This can involve counseling, therapy, or support groups to address the mental and emotional aspects of addiction.
The 12 links of dependent arising as described by the Buddha:
1. Ignorance (Avidya) – lack of knowledge or correct understanding of reality.
2. Voluntary creations (Sankhara) – mental actions and processes arising from ignorance.
3. Consciousness (Vijnana) – the awareness or consciousness arising from voluntary creations.
4. Name and Form (Nama-rupa) – the physical and mental aspects of existence.
5. Six Sense Bases (Shadayatana) – the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind.
6. Touch (Sparsha) – the contact and connection between the senses and their objects.
7. Feeling (Vedana) – the sensations arising from touch.
8. Craving (Tanha) – the desire or craving arising from feeling.
9. Clinging (Upadana) – the clinging and will to hold onto what craving produces.
10. Formation (Bhava) – the process of formation resulting from clinging.
11. Birth (Jati) – birth and appearance in the world as a result of formation.
12. Old age and death (Jaramarana) – aging and death, leading to sorrow, pain, distress and despair.
These are the links that make up the cycle of suffering and rebirth, and they form the basis for the understanding of dependent origination in Buddhism.
Key insights from the article
1. The Principle of Dependent Origination: The principle of dependent origination accurately reflects the life cycle of humans and living beings, where one condition leads to an effect, and the effect becomes a condition for another effect.
2. The Chain of Twelve Links: Life is centered in a chain of twelve links, from ignorance to old age and death, and the troubles, sorrows, and suffering that result from them.
3. Anterior Direction: The anterior direction of the twelve links shows how each link leads to the next link, leading to suffering and pain in life.
4. Posterior Direction: The posterior direction shows how the cessation of the first link (ignorance) leads to the cessation of all subsequent links, thus ending the cycle of suffering.
5. Consciousness Depends on Conditions: The Buddha taught that consciousness arises as a result of conditions, and that each consciousness is named according to its conditions, such as the consciousness of the eye, ear, nose, etc.
6. Analysis of the operation of dependent arising: The principle of dependent arising applies to both consciousness and fire, with each fire being named according to its fuel, such as wood fire, dung fire, etc.
7. The role of craving and grasping: Craving and grasping play a central role in the cycle of suffering, and their cessation leads to the cessation of the cycle of suffering.
8. Difficulty in understanding the principle: Understanding the principle of dependent arising requires deep study and reflection, and cannot be fully accepted immediately.
9. Challenges in studying the scriptures: Studying the Buddhist scriptures requires great patience and knowledge of the language, and is especially challenging due to the gaps in time and context.
10. Need for in-depth study: For Buddhism to truly flourish, in-depth study of the scriptures and teachings is necessary, and not just blind faith or ritualistic observances.
