Chain of Dependent Origination – for Marxists
By Adrian Chan-Wyles PhD
If, monks, an ignorant man (in the sense of the teaching) produces a good intention
(sankhara), then his consciousness (Vinnana) will incline to the good. If he produces a
bad or neutral intention, then his consciousness will incline to the bad or
the neutral. (Buddha: SN 12.51.12)
If, monks, an ignorant man (in the sense of the teaching) produces a good intention
(sankhara), then his consciousness (Vinnana) will incline to the good. If he produces a
bad or neutral intention, then his consciousness will incline to the bad or
the neutral. (Buddha: SN 12.51.12)
The Buddhist teaching of Dependent Origination (Pali: Paticcasamuppada) is an important and central teaching found within the early Buddhist texts. In its received form, that is the schematic commonly found within Buddhist textbooks today, this chain of conditionality is comprised of 12 inter-locking and inter-related psycho-physical elements elucidated by the historical Buddha as a complete theory explaining existence, and its cycle of apparent repetition. However, as the Buddha rejected strict determinism, the chain of dependent origination can not be interpreted as a ‘closed system’ which involves one definite cause leading to, or creating one definite effect. Over-all, this approach reflects the Buddha’s rejection of the notion of a single ‘first cause’, as found in Judeo-Christian theology, and reproduced by certain scientists who retain religious views whilst rationally observing phenomena, and as a consequence, advocate the religious theory (within science) named ‘Intelligent Design’. For the Buddha, there is no ‘first cause’, or a set of events that can be isolated and interpreted as a definite beginning to physical (or material) reality. There is only reality as it appears to the human mind and senses (this reality, of course, includes the human mind and senses), and the cyclic repetition of the combining and falling apart of conditioning elements. The Buddha’s system of Dependent Origination is explained by HW Schumann in the following manner:
‘In order to explain the conditioned nexus we need to be clear about its inner relations. It is not a causal chain, as in philosophy a‘chain’ is defined as something that produces an effect without the aid of any other contributory factors. Rather, each link in the chain functions as a condition: it is a necessary factor (Nidana) among other, unnamed factors for the arising of the next link in the chain.’ [1]
This non-determined approach allowed for the Buddha to break free of the highly deterministic interpretations of the law of karma as propounded by the Brahmin priests, and to claim that the cycle of rebirth can be broken and the power of negative karma destroyed through the ardent self-training of the mind and body. The Buddha taught that the universe was not created by a god or similar divine being, but is in reality the product of the coming together of various material elements, produced (from the Buddhist viewpoint) solely by the force of mental and physical habit. In other words, how an individual thinks, so will they act; and how an individual acts, so will they think – but the Buddha brings a sense of hope when he states that there is no all-powerful divine being behind the habit – only human will in its ignorant and undeveloped form. The Buddha, through his teachings, discerned a chain of events which appears to be applicable to all beings (not only humans), and which can be changed if the will-power is utilised to permanently alter thought patterns; a process that in turn modifies and reforms physical behaviour. The mind is transformed through the act of continuous meditation, a process that involves the mind looking at itself and as a consequence, building a system of knowledge about its apparent workings. The physical body (as it acts in the world) is modified and reformed through focusing the mind on certain vows which discipline behaviour. This mind-body discipline effectively creates the conditions to ‘break’ former habits of manifestation, and replace them with forms of thinking and behaviour that are more conducive to a peaceful existence conditioned by wisdom, or advanced and progressive human thought. For the Buddha, the chain of habitual responses and behaviours is modified through the focusing and development of the human will – it is through the agency of human will that a mind and lifestyle can be changed.
It is interesting to note that the Chain of Dependent Origination has 12 links in its received form, but this is thought to be a later development which occurred after the Buddha’s death; a development which saw monks gather together the various teachings in the suttas and standardise them into a single, coherent teaching. However, there are other versions of this chain in the suttas which do not have 12 links, or begin with the usual conditioning factor of ignorance. Choong Mun-Keat explains this situation:
‘While this is the representative formation, conditioned genesis does not always have twelve factors in early Buddhist texts. There also exist accounts of it which list five factors, eight, nine, ten, or even eleven factors, as well as the usual twelve factors. The statement of conditioned genesis with just five factors runs: 1) craving, 2) attachment, 3) becoming, 4) birth, and 5) aging and death, along with grief, lamentation, pain, depression and despair. This most concise formula corresponds directly to two of the four noble truths, since 5) aging and death, along with grief, lamentation, pain, depression and despair is suffering (first truth), and 1) craving (tanha) is the origin of suffering (second truth). Since craving is itself a conditioned phenomenon, the series of causes can be extended to as many as twelve factors.’ [2]
The Buddha rejected the religious notion of a permanent divine essence, or soul, residing within the human mind or body. The Buddha said that after looking into the conditioned nature of the mind, body, and physical world, he did not see the presence of an eternal soul. Instead, he formulated a logical and rational Chain of Dependent Origination that explains the physical world (and the mind that perceives it) in exquisite detail that removes the need to revert to the belief in religion or superstitious beliefs. This explains why there is a radical break between the religiosity of ancient India, and the new rational teaching of the Buddha. The Buddha explains that although his teaching fully explains the physical world, it is not ‘materialist’, as he fully recognises the existence (and importance) of consciousness. He further explains that whilst his system describes the physical world through the agency of mind, nevertheless, such a teaching is not ‘idealistic’ as it recognises the very real presence of the physical world within which the mind (or faculty of awareness and knowing) arises. Although the Buddha some times referred to himself by title of Teacher of Gods and Men (Sattha-deva-manussanam), and despite the fact that he taught that there are 31 levels of existence, with all but the first 5 levels being abodes of gods, or divine entities, the Buddha clearly stated that:
‘No God, no Brahma can be found,
Creator of Samsara’s round;
Empty phenomena roll on,
Subject to cause and condition.’
(Visuddhimagga XIX) [3]
The Buddha initially explains the 31 realms of existence as mostly comprising of abodes of divine entities (for those whose minds are still in the deluded state). This is true except for the first 5 realms. Humanity occupies the 5th realm, with the 4th realm belonging to the world of animals, the 3rd realm to the world of unhappy spirits, the 2nd realm to the world of demons, and the 1st realm to fiery hells. However, once the practitioner starts to clear the mind of delusion through meditation, and strives for understanding of the Four Noble Truths; these realms are transformed into specific and precise levels of meditational attainment, based upon the acquisition of wisdom and insight. In other words, realms that once appeared to be occupied by divine beings are now seen clearly as being ‘empty’ of any such entities. The Buddha appears to be moulding his teaching from the historical point of conditioning of the people he encountered. As these people were brought up within a polytheistic Brahmanic society, their belief in gods and spirits went unquestioned (as was the case with their belief in a form of divinely inspired, deterministic karma). For members of the Brahmanic society of the Buddha’s day, gods were very real, and they were believed to possess the ability to interfere and disrupt everyday human life through their directed will-power. People were encouraged by the Brahmin priests to sacrifice animals and humans to these gods, and to continuously perform rituals out of fear of divine retribution should they fail in their religious duty. The Buddha countered this superstitious position not by openly confronting it with atheism, but rather by confirming that gods exist (in the imagination) of those who believe in their existence, but that if the mind was developed beyond its conditioned imagination, then such things as belief in gods would naturally drop away. A similar situation appears to exist with regard to the Buddha’s teaching on karma and rebirth. He broke up the Brahmanic theory of deterministic karma (which taught that one lifetime was totally set in structure and could not be escaped even with effort), and replaced it with his teaching of a cause and effect interaction that could be changed from moment to moment through self-effort. With rebirth, the Buddha again appears to be saying that rebirth existsif the mind is still in the deluded state – but does not exist for a mind that exists within the enlightened state. The Buddha’s teaching integrates with the delusion of the past, whilst negating the validity of that delusion through his enlightened understanding. He leads his students away from the deluded psychology their minds existentially occupy, and toward the correct understanding of reality, which is a state primarily achieved through good instruction and the effective practice of good meditation. It is important to consider that in the West, Buddhism is often known for its teachings on karma, gods, and rebirth, when in fact the Buddha’s enlightenment rendered these Brahmanic terms null and void in the alternative system he developed. Another incorrect interpretation involves Buddhism being interpreted as an ‘atheistic’ path, which is illogical when it is considered that the Buddha fully recognised the existence of many gods for those whose minds exist in the unenlightened state, but even then, he said that these gods could not interfere with the every day life of humans, and had no say in human conscious evolution. The gods existed within the deluded state, but were impotent in the face of reality. Not only are these polytheistic gods impotent, but they dissolve into the profound emptiness of a mind that has realised its own essence. As the Buddha acknowledges the existence of gods (in the deluded state inhabited by ordinary beings), his teaching can not be described as ‘atheistic’, and as human beings attain enlightenment without help from these gods, (that is, the gods are an irrelevance to the process of achieving enlightenment), his teaching could be correctly described as ‘non-theistic’. This conforms to the Buddha’s (non-dual) assertion that in the fully enlightened state (of neither perception nor non-perception), things neither fully exist (in an annihilistic sense), nor do they cease to exist (in an sense). The realisation of profound emptiness resolves all dualistic thinking, and the Buddha often states in the suttas that notions such as karma (including rebirth, and gods), fall away after enlightenment and are understood to be illusions of perception and thought:
‘This world, Kaccana, usually leans upon a duality: upon (the belief in) existence or non-existence…
Avoiding these two extremes, the Perfect One shows the doctrine in the middle:
Dependent on ignorance are the kamma-formations…
By the cessation of ignorance, kamma-formations cease…’
(Buddha: Samyutta Nikaya, 12:15) [4]
Through the generation of karma, (which may be interpreted as psychological and environmental conditioning), the false notions of divine beings, rebirth and even the concept of karma itself, come into existence through the human mind. What the mind can not understand through its interaction with its own inner processes and the outer world, it creates or imagines possible hypotheses to take the place of not-knowing. Brahmanism, even with all its sophistry and elaborate rituals and social organisation, was according to the Buddha, nothing more than an illusion premised upon greed, hatred, and delusion, and which he transcended through meditation and the realisation of the Four Noble Truths (which includes the emptiness of self). The Buddha replaced this chain of conditioned ignorance with a new teaching – the Chain of Dependent Origination – the 12 links (of the received version) which may be interpreted as follows:
1) Ignorance (Avijja); or not knowing that ‘dukkha’ (i.e. suffering) exists, its causes, its cessation, and the path leading to its cessation (i.e. the Four Noble Truths).
2) Volitional Impulses (Sankhara); or willed (i.e. deliberate) actions of body, speech, and thought. Willed actions which generate good (i.e. meritous), bad (i.e. non-meritous) or neutral (i.e. neither meritous nor non-meritous) karmic formations. The Abhidhamma also mentions a category referred to as the generation of ‘special meritous karma’.
3) Consciousness (Vinnana); or consciousness (i.e. awareness) relating to the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind – the six consciousnesses.
4) Body and Mind (Namarupa); feeling, perception, intention, contact, and attention. According to the Abhidhamma the khandas (i.e. 5 aggregates) of feeling, perception, and volitional impulses - and rupa (body or materiality); the four elements, earth, water, wind and fire and all forms dependent on them.
5) Six Sense Bases (Salayatana); the six sense bases of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind.
6) Contact of the Senses (Phassa); eye contact, ear contact, nose contact, tongue contact, body contact, and mind contact.
7) Feelings (Vedana); feelings of pleasure, pain, and indifference arising from sensory contact through the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind.
8) Craving (Tanha); craving for sights, for sounds, for colours, for tastes, for bodily sensations, and the mind objects. The six cravings.
9) Clinging (Upadana); cling to the six sense objects of sights, sounds, odours, tastes and bodily sensations, as well as clinging to views, rules and regulations, and to a notion of the existence of a self.
10) Becoming (Bhavana); the conditions that lead to birth and the realms of existence which are the sense realm, the realm of form, and the formless realm.
11) Birth (Jati); the arising of the khandas and the sense bases, which is birth, or the appearance and arising of things.
12) Aging and Death (Jaramarana); the aging process and the failing of faculties and the breaking up of the khandas (i.e. 5 aggregates), as well as the dissolution of the life principle, and the falling away of the body.[5]
Although the chain is presented in a downward list of 12 links, the Buddha teaches this schematic as a cyclic phenomenon (samsara) with no beginning or end. Ignorance is not the beginning of the chain – as the chain has no discernible beginning – but is chosen here to elucidate the fact that ‘ignorance’ is the cause of human suffering. The Buddha’s teaching eradicates ignorance and as ignorance ceases, so does the suffering predicated upon its existence also cease. Ignorance is not the first cause of suffering, but merely a continuing condition of its presence – in accordance with Buddhist thought, ignorance has its roots in the four‘asava’ or ‘effluents’ which are:
1) The gratification of desire in relation to the five bodily senses (Kamasava).
2) Attachment to viewpoints and beliefs; especially that the body is a self, or belongs to self (Ditthasava).
3) Desire for various states of being and the aspiration to attain and maintain them (Bhavasava).
4) Ignorance of the way things really are (Avijjasava).
The asava maybe further be explained as;
a) Desire outflow or fermentation.
b) Belief in self outflow or fermentation.
c) Aspiration outflow or fermentation.
d) Ignorance outflow or fermentation.
The asava collectively constitute the state of ignorance within Buddhism, which is the essence of suffering. Ignorance, as a state, does not understand the true nature of reality, and if meditation is to be successful, it is the asava that must be completely uprooted from the mind. To be clear upon the nature of ignorance, the Buddha stated:
‘No beginning can be found, monks to ignorance, thus:
“Before this point there was no ignorance, but then it arose.”
In this case, it can only be said, “Dependent on this, ignorance arises.”’
(Buddha AV. 113, Vism, 525)
It is interesting that this chain is thought to represent three different existences, as if in its 12 link format the Chain of Dependent Origination is the product of the integration of three different versions of this chain. Shumann (1992 – Page 143) describes how the 12 links are divided to represent three distinct lifetimes, the past, present and the future:
First Lifetime (Past)
1) Ignorance (Avijja); or not knowing that ‘dukkha’ (i.e. suffering) exists, its causes, its cessation, and the path leading to its cessation (i.e. the Four Noble Truths).
2) Volitional Impulses (Sankhara); or willed (i.e. deliberate) actions of body, speech, and thought. Willed actions which generate good (i.e. meritous), bad (i.e. non-meritous) or neutral (i.e. neither meritous nor non-meritous) karmic formations. The Abhidhamma also mentions a category referred to as the generation of ‘special meritous karma’.
3) Consciousness (Vinnana); or consciousness (i.e. awareness) relating to the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind – the six consciousnesses.
4) Body and Mind (Namarupa); feeling, perception, intention, contact, and attention. According to the Abhidhamma the khandas (i.e. 5 aggregates) of feeling, perception, and volitional impulses - and rupa (body or materiality); the four elements, earth, water, wind and fire and all forms dependent on them.
Second Lifetime (Present)
5) Six Sense Bases (Salayatana); the six sense bases of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind.
6) Contact of the Senses (Phassa); eye contact, ear contact, nose contact, tongue contact, body contact, and mind contact.
7) Feelings (Vedana); feelings of pleasure, pain, and indifference arising from sensory contact through the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind.
8) Craving (Tanha); craving for sights, for sounds, for colours, for tastes, for bodily sensations, and the mind objects. The six cravings.
9) Clinging (Upadana); cling to the six sense objects of sights, sounds, odours, tastes and bodily sensations, as well as clinging to views, rules and regulations, and to a notion of the existence of a self.
Third Lifetime (Future)
10) Becoming (Bhavana); the conditions that lead to birth and the realms of existence which are the sense realm, the realm of form, and the formless realm.
11) Birth (Jati); the arising of the khandas and the sense bases, which is birth, or the appearance and arising of things.
12) Aging and Death (Jaramarana); the aging process and the failing of faculties and the breaking up of the khandas (i.e. 5 aggregates), as well as the dissolution of the life principle, and the falling away of the body.
It is possible that the three original chains only described the present lifetime here and now, but that later the developed chain of 12 links came to represent a past, a present and a future life, suggesting that the teachings of Brahmanism may have been seeping back into Buddhism following the Buddha’s death through the beliefs of various monks. This might explain why the Buddha’s philosophy, which appears in all other aspects to be a rational criticism of the religiosity of Brahmanism, is here appearing to be fully embracing a belief in rebirth. This is particularly perplexing when it is considered that in the fully enlightened state, no ignorance exists to create karma – or deluded habits of mind and body – and that in this enlightened state the Buddha explains that there is no further rebirth. The above interpretation appears to be a teaching aimed at those whose mind is still infected with the beliefs and imaginations associated with religiosity. It is a teaching designed to lead the religiously minded to a ‘beyond religiosity’ state where rationality and logic rule the mind in place of darkness and superstition. Indeed, this definitely appears to be the case, as in the Theravada School’s text entitled the Abhidhamma Pitaka, (a depository of monkish wisdom developed by monks over many centuries), the Chain of Dependent Origination is interpreted as occurring in a single mind-moment, and a past life is in fact a past moment of being, with the present life being the existential moment, and the future life being the moment yet to come. This higher teaching states that the 12 links in the chain repeat continuously every single second, the implication being that the Chain of Dependent Origination is not necessarily dependent upon lifetimes of existence, or the notion of rebirth. Whatever the case, for Marxists who are interested in the world as it is, (rather than how it is imagined through religion), it is clear that the Buddha denied the existence of a permanent soul that could transmigrate from one existence to another, (the Brahmanic teaching), and instead seems to suggest that what is reborn (in the deluded state) is a bundle of randomly assembled aggregates that are brought together (to form a being) through the habit of volitional thought (karma). As the Buddha presents this model as an expedient truth, it is obvious that it is designed as a compassionate response to the suffering of ordinary beings. As he explains elsewhere that in reality, that is the enlightened state, rebirth and karma do not exist; the expedient teaching (of rebirth in the deluded state) may be viewed as contingent and not ultimately correct. This demonstrates the versatility of the Buddha’s teaching and his preparedness to adapt the teaching to the student. In this respect, the Buddha is offering differing psychological models to his students so that they may make use of these models to change and free their minds from their own past conditioning.
The Buddha, like Marx, is removing through his method the requirement for people to ‘believe’ in this or that notion without personal experience of the notion being correct or not. Whereas Marx ruthlessly breaks with the Judeo-Christian tradition of his European cultural milieu, the Buddha engages the Brahmanic traditions of his time, whilst ultimately denying their validity as statements of truth. By way of contrast, it is interesting to note that Marx never engages the sophistry of Judeo-Christian theology to make his point. This may be because he was never invested in its teachings during his early lifetime. Marx was a thoroughly modern man in the sense that he was born into circumstances relatively free from the influence of religious dogma. This was not the case for the Buddha, who occupied a very high caste in the Brahmanic system, and for all intents and purposes had some thing of a royal upbringing thoroughly immersed in the Brahmanic traditions. It is from the Brahmanic tradition that the Buddha freed his mind from historical conditioning and it should be no surprise that this ‘freeing’ involved the engaging (and eventual negating) of Brahmanic concepts. The Chain of Dependent Origination is really a combined explanation of reality that is both psychological and material all at once. Marx, who studied the physical world as it actually is, never denied the existence of human consciousness, or its importance in the transformation of the world. Where Marx was busy stripping Judeo-Christian theology from the interpretation of the world, the Buddha was busy stripping Brahmanic thinking from the same world. The Buddha’s model of the Chain of Origination explains how a mind infected by greed, hatred, and delusion, (i.e. ignorance), causes suffering (through behaviour) for the individual concerned and for all those around. It also explains logically how this ignorance can be permanently uprooted from the mind through the practice of meditation in accordance with the Four Noble Truths. As ignorance is eradicated through insight, each link in the chain dissolves into emptiness as the deluded habits of mind fall away. In the enlightened mind, the Chain of Dependent Origination premised upon false thinking no longer exists. This false consciousness is destroyed forever, and the true mind manifest. Marxists can make use of the teaching of the Chain of Dependent Origination to settle their own minds and the minds of others. It can also be used to explain various situations in life and as a supplement to the teachings of Marx which seek through insight to relocate the true mind.
©opyright: Adrian Chan-Wyles (ShiDaDao) 2014.
[1] Schumann, HW, The Historical Buddha – The Time, Life and Teachings of the Founder of Buddhism, Motilal Banarsidass, 1989), Page 142.
[2] Choong, Mun-Keat, The Notion of Emptiness in Early Buddhism, Motilal Banarsidass, (1999), Pages 18-19.
[3] Story, Francis, Gods and the Universe in Buddhist Perspective – Essays on Buddhist Cosmology, The Wheel Publication No. 180/181, (1983), Page 2)
[4] Thera, Nyanaponika, The Vision of Dharma – the Buddhist Writings of Nyanaponika Thera, Rider, (1986), Page 203.
[5] Payutto, PA, Dependent Origination – The Buddhist Law of Conditionality, Buddhadhamma Foundation, (1994), Pages 27-29.
‘In order to explain the conditioned nexus we need to be clear about its inner relations. It is not a causal chain, as in philosophy a‘chain’ is defined as something that produces an effect without the aid of any other contributory factors. Rather, each link in the chain functions as a condition: it is a necessary factor (Nidana) among other, unnamed factors for the arising of the next link in the chain.’ [1]
This non-determined approach allowed for the Buddha to break free of the highly deterministic interpretations of the law of karma as propounded by the Brahmin priests, and to claim that the cycle of rebirth can be broken and the power of negative karma destroyed through the ardent self-training of the mind and body. The Buddha taught that the universe was not created by a god or similar divine being, but is in reality the product of the coming together of various material elements, produced (from the Buddhist viewpoint) solely by the force of mental and physical habit. In other words, how an individual thinks, so will they act; and how an individual acts, so will they think – but the Buddha brings a sense of hope when he states that there is no all-powerful divine being behind the habit – only human will in its ignorant and undeveloped form. The Buddha, through his teachings, discerned a chain of events which appears to be applicable to all beings (not only humans), and which can be changed if the will-power is utilised to permanently alter thought patterns; a process that in turn modifies and reforms physical behaviour. The mind is transformed through the act of continuous meditation, a process that involves the mind looking at itself and as a consequence, building a system of knowledge about its apparent workings. The physical body (as it acts in the world) is modified and reformed through focusing the mind on certain vows which discipline behaviour. This mind-body discipline effectively creates the conditions to ‘break’ former habits of manifestation, and replace them with forms of thinking and behaviour that are more conducive to a peaceful existence conditioned by wisdom, or advanced and progressive human thought. For the Buddha, the chain of habitual responses and behaviours is modified through the focusing and development of the human will – it is through the agency of human will that a mind and lifestyle can be changed.
It is interesting to note that the Chain of Dependent Origination has 12 links in its received form, but this is thought to be a later development which occurred after the Buddha’s death; a development which saw monks gather together the various teachings in the suttas and standardise them into a single, coherent teaching. However, there are other versions of this chain in the suttas which do not have 12 links, or begin with the usual conditioning factor of ignorance. Choong Mun-Keat explains this situation:
‘While this is the representative formation, conditioned genesis does not always have twelve factors in early Buddhist texts. There also exist accounts of it which list five factors, eight, nine, ten, or even eleven factors, as well as the usual twelve factors. The statement of conditioned genesis with just five factors runs: 1) craving, 2) attachment, 3) becoming, 4) birth, and 5) aging and death, along with grief, lamentation, pain, depression and despair. This most concise formula corresponds directly to two of the four noble truths, since 5) aging and death, along with grief, lamentation, pain, depression and despair is suffering (first truth), and 1) craving (tanha) is the origin of suffering (second truth). Since craving is itself a conditioned phenomenon, the series of causes can be extended to as many as twelve factors.’ [2]
The Buddha rejected the religious notion of a permanent divine essence, or soul, residing within the human mind or body. The Buddha said that after looking into the conditioned nature of the mind, body, and physical world, he did not see the presence of an eternal soul. Instead, he formulated a logical and rational Chain of Dependent Origination that explains the physical world (and the mind that perceives it) in exquisite detail that removes the need to revert to the belief in religion or superstitious beliefs. This explains why there is a radical break between the religiosity of ancient India, and the new rational teaching of the Buddha. The Buddha explains that although his teaching fully explains the physical world, it is not ‘materialist’, as he fully recognises the existence (and importance) of consciousness. He further explains that whilst his system describes the physical world through the agency of mind, nevertheless, such a teaching is not ‘idealistic’ as it recognises the very real presence of the physical world within which the mind (or faculty of awareness and knowing) arises. Although the Buddha some times referred to himself by title of Teacher of Gods and Men (Sattha-deva-manussanam), and despite the fact that he taught that there are 31 levels of existence, with all but the first 5 levels being abodes of gods, or divine entities, the Buddha clearly stated that:
‘No God, no Brahma can be found,
Creator of Samsara’s round;
Empty phenomena roll on,
Subject to cause and condition.’
(Visuddhimagga XIX) [3]
The Buddha initially explains the 31 realms of existence as mostly comprising of abodes of divine entities (for those whose minds are still in the deluded state). This is true except for the first 5 realms. Humanity occupies the 5th realm, with the 4th realm belonging to the world of animals, the 3rd realm to the world of unhappy spirits, the 2nd realm to the world of demons, and the 1st realm to fiery hells. However, once the practitioner starts to clear the mind of delusion through meditation, and strives for understanding of the Four Noble Truths; these realms are transformed into specific and precise levels of meditational attainment, based upon the acquisition of wisdom and insight. In other words, realms that once appeared to be occupied by divine beings are now seen clearly as being ‘empty’ of any such entities. The Buddha appears to be moulding his teaching from the historical point of conditioning of the people he encountered. As these people were brought up within a polytheistic Brahmanic society, their belief in gods and spirits went unquestioned (as was the case with their belief in a form of divinely inspired, deterministic karma). For members of the Brahmanic society of the Buddha’s day, gods were very real, and they were believed to possess the ability to interfere and disrupt everyday human life through their directed will-power. People were encouraged by the Brahmin priests to sacrifice animals and humans to these gods, and to continuously perform rituals out of fear of divine retribution should they fail in their religious duty. The Buddha countered this superstitious position not by openly confronting it with atheism, but rather by confirming that gods exist (in the imagination) of those who believe in their existence, but that if the mind was developed beyond its conditioned imagination, then such things as belief in gods would naturally drop away. A similar situation appears to exist with regard to the Buddha’s teaching on karma and rebirth. He broke up the Brahmanic theory of deterministic karma (which taught that one lifetime was totally set in structure and could not be escaped even with effort), and replaced it with his teaching of a cause and effect interaction that could be changed from moment to moment through self-effort. With rebirth, the Buddha again appears to be saying that rebirth existsif the mind is still in the deluded state – but does not exist for a mind that exists within the enlightened state. The Buddha’s teaching integrates with the delusion of the past, whilst negating the validity of that delusion through his enlightened understanding. He leads his students away from the deluded psychology their minds existentially occupy, and toward the correct understanding of reality, which is a state primarily achieved through good instruction and the effective practice of good meditation. It is important to consider that in the West, Buddhism is often known for its teachings on karma, gods, and rebirth, when in fact the Buddha’s enlightenment rendered these Brahmanic terms null and void in the alternative system he developed. Another incorrect interpretation involves Buddhism being interpreted as an ‘atheistic’ path, which is illogical when it is considered that the Buddha fully recognised the existence of many gods for those whose minds exist in the unenlightened state, but even then, he said that these gods could not interfere with the every day life of humans, and had no say in human conscious evolution. The gods existed within the deluded state, but were impotent in the face of reality. Not only are these polytheistic gods impotent, but they dissolve into the profound emptiness of a mind that has realised its own essence. As the Buddha acknowledges the existence of gods (in the deluded state inhabited by ordinary beings), his teaching can not be described as ‘atheistic’, and as human beings attain enlightenment without help from these gods, (that is, the gods are an irrelevance to the process of achieving enlightenment), his teaching could be correctly described as ‘non-theistic’. This conforms to the Buddha’s (non-dual) assertion that in the fully enlightened state (of neither perception nor non-perception), things neither fully exist (in an annihilistic sense), nor do they cease to exist (in an sense). The realisation of profound emptiness resolves all dualistic thinking, and the Buddha often states in the suttas that notions such as karma (including rebirth, and gods), fall away after enlightenment and are understood to be illusions of perception and thought:
‘This world, Kaccana, usually leans upon a duality: upon (the belief in) existence or non-existence…
Avoiding these two extremes, the Perfect One shows the doctrine in the middle:
Dependent on ignorance are the kamma-formations…
By the cessation of ignorance, kamma-formations cease…’
(Buddha: Samyutta Nikaya, 12:15) [4]
Through the generation of karma, (which may be interpreted as psychological and environmental conditioning), the false notions of divine beings, rebirth and even the concept of karma itself, come into existence through the human mind. What the mind can not understand through its interaction with its own inner processes and the outer world, it creates or imagines possible hypotheses to take the place of not-knowing. Brahmanism, even with all its sophistry and elaborate rituals and social organisation, was according to the Buddha, nothing more than an illusion premised upon greed, hatred, and delusion, and which he transcended through meditation and the realisation of the Four Noble Truths (which includes the emptiness of self). The Buddha replaced this chain of conditioned ignorance with a new teaching – the Chain of Dependent Origination – the 12 links (of the received version) which may be interpreted as follows:
1) Ignorance (Avijja); or not knowing that ‘dukkha’ (i.e. suffering) exists, its causes, its cessation, and the path leading to its cessation (i.e. the Four Noble Truths).
2) Volitional Impulses (Sankhara); or willed (i.e. deliberate) actions of body, speech, and thought. Willed actions which generate good (i.e. meritous), bad (i.e. non-meritous) or neutral (i.e. neither meritous nor non-meritous) karmic formations. The Abhidhamma also mentions a category referred to as the generation of ‘special meritous karma’.
3) Consciousness (Vinnana); or consciousness (i.e. awareness) relating to the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind – the six consciousnesses.
4) Body and Mind (Namarupa); feeling, perception, intention, contact, and attention. According to the Abhidhamma the khandas (i.e. 5 aggregates) of feeling, perception, and volitional impulses - and rupa (body or materiality); the four elements, earth, water, wind and fire and all forms dependent on them.
5) Six Sense Bases (Salayatana); the six sense bases of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind.
6) Contact of the Senses (Phassa); eye contact, ear contact, nose contact, tongue contact, body contact, and mind contact.
7) Feelings (Vedana); feelings of pleasure, pain, and indifference arising from sensory contact through the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind.
8) Craving (Tanha); craving for sights, for sounds, for colours, for tastes, for bodily sensations, and the mind objects. The six cravings.
9) Clinging (Upadana); cling to the six sense objects of sights, sounds, odours, tastes and bodily sensations, as well as clinging to views, rules and regulations, and to a notion of the existence of a self.
10) Becoming (Bhavana); the conditions that lead to birth and the realms of existence which are the sense realm, the realm of form, and the formless realm.
11) Birth (Jati); the arising of the khandas and the sense bases, which is birth, or the appearance and arising of things.
12) Aging and Death (Jaramarana); the aging process and the failing of faculties and the breaking up of the khandas (i.e. 5 aggregates), as well as the dissolution of the life principle, and the falling away of the body.[5]
Although the chain is presented in a downward list of 12 links, the Buddha teaches this schematic as a cyclic phenomenon (samsara) with no beginning or end. Ignorance is not the beginning of the chain – as the chain has no discernible beginning – but is chosen here to elucidate the fact that ‘ignorance’ is the cause of human suffering. The Buddha’s teaching eradicates ignorance and as ignorance ceases, so does the suffering predicated upon its existence also cease. Ignorance is not the first cause of suffering, but merely a continuing condition of its presence – in accordance with Buddhist thought, ignorance has its roots in the four‘asava’ or ‘effluents’ which are:
1) The gratification of desire in relation to the five bodily senses (Kamasava).
2) Attachment to viewpoints and beliefs; especially that the body is a self, or belongs to self (Ditthasava).
3) Desire for various states of being and the aspiration to attain and maintain them (Bhavasava).
4) Ignorance of the way things really are (Avijjasava).
The asava maybe further be explained as;
a) Desire outflow or fermentation.
b) Belief in self outflow or fermentation.
c) Aspiration outflow or fermentation.
d) Ignorance outflow or fermentation.
The asava collectively constitute the state of ignorance within Buddhism, which is the essence of suffering. Ignorance, as a state, does not understand the true nature of reality, and if meditation is to be successful, it is the asava that must be completely uprooted from the mind. To be clear upon the nature of ignorance, the Buddha stated:
‘No beginning can be found, monks to ignorance, thus:
“Before this point there was no ignorance, but then it arose.”
In this case, it can only be said, “Dependent on this, ignorance arises.”’
(Buddha AV. 113, Vism, 525)
It is interesting that this chain is thought to represent three different existences, as if in its 12 link format the Chain of Dependent Origination is the product of the integration of three different versions of this chain. Shumann (1992 – Page 143) describes how the 12 links are divided to represent three distinct lifetimes, the past, present and the future:
First Lifetime (Past)
1) Ignorance (Avijja); or not knowing that ‘dukkha’ (i.e. suffering) exists, its causes, its cessation, and the path leading to its cessation (i.e. the Four Noble Truths).
2) Volitional Impulses (Sankhara); or willed (i.e. deliberate) actions of body, speech, and thought. Willed actions which generate good (i.e. meritous), bad (i.e. non-meritous) or neutral (i.e. neither meritous nor non-meritous) karmic formations. The Abhidhamma also mentions a category referred to as the generation of ‘special meritous karma’.
3) Consciousness (Vinnana); or consciousness (i.e. awareness) relating to the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind – the six consciousnesses.
4) Body and Mind (Namarupa); feeling, perception, intention, contact, and attention. According to the Abhidhamma the khandas (i.e. 5 aggregates) of feeling, perception, and volitional impulses - and rupa (body or materiality); the four elements, earth, water, wind and fire and all forms dependent on them.
Second Lifetime (Present)
5) Six Sense Bases (Salayatana); the six sense bases of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind.
6) Contact of the Senses (Phassa); eye contact, ear contact, nose contact, tongue contact, body contact, and mind contact.
7) Feelings (Vedana); feelings of pleasure, pain, and indifference arising from sensory contact through the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind.
8) Craving (Tanha); craving for sights, for sounds, for colours, for tastes, for bodily sensations, and the mind objects. The six cravings.
9) Clinging (Upadana); cling to the six sense objects of sights, sounds, odours, tastes and bodily sensations, as well as clinging to views, rules and regulations, and to a notion of the existence of a self.
Third Lifetime (Future)
10) Becoming (Bhavana); the conditions that lead to birth and the realms of existence which are the sense realm, the realm of form, and the formless realm.
11) Birth (Jati); the arising of the khandas and the sense bases, which is birth, or the appearance and arising of things.
12) Aging and Death (Jaramarana); the aging process and the failing of faculties and the breaking up of the khandas (i.e. 5 aggregates), as well as the dissolution of the life principle, and the falling away of the body.
It is possible that the three original chains only described the present lifetime here and now, but that later the developed chain of 12 links came to represent a past, a present and a future life, suggesting that the teachings of Brahmanism may have been seeping back into Buddhism following the Buddha’s death through the beliefs of various monks. This might explain why the Buddha’s philosophy, which appears in all other aspects to be a rational criticism of the religiosity of Brahmanism, is here appearing to be fully embracing a belief in rebirth. This is particularly perplexing when it is considered that in the fully enlightened state, no ignorance exists to create karma – or deluded habits of mind and body – and that in this enlightened state the Buddha explains that there is no further rebirth. The above interpretation appears to be a teaching aimed at those whose mind is still infected with the beliefs and imaginations associated with religiosity. It is a teaching designed to lead the religiously minded to a ‘beyond religiosity’ state where rationality and logic rule the mind in place of darkness and superstition. Indeed, this definitely appears to be the case, as in the Theravada School’s text entitled the Abhidhamma Pitaka, (a depository of monkish wisdom developed by monks over many centuries), the Chain of Dependent Origination is interpreted as occurring in a single mind-moment, and a past life is in fact a past moment of being, with the present life being the existential moment, and the future life being the moment yet to come. This higher teaching states that the 12 links in the chain repeat continuously every single second, the implication being that the Chain of Dependent Origination is not necessarily dependent upon lifetimes of existence, or the notion of rebirth. Whatever the case, for Marxists who are interested in the world as it is, (rather than how it is imagined through religion), it is clear that the Buddha denied the existence of a permanent soul that could transmigrate from one existence to another, (the Brahmanic teaching), and instead seems to suggest that what is reborn (in the deluded state) is a bundle of randomly assembled aggregates that are brought together (to form a being) through the habit of volitional thought (karma). As the Buddha presents this model as an expedient truth, it is obvious that it is designed as a compassionate response to the suffering of ordinary beings. As he explains elsewhere that in reality, that is the enlightened state, rebirth and karma do not exist; the expedient teaching (of rebirth in the deluded state) may be viewed as contingent and not ultimately correct. This demonstrates the versatility of the Buddha’s teaching and his preparedness to adapt the teaching to the student. In this respect, the Buddha is offering differing psychological models to his students so that they may make use of these models to change and free their minds from their own past conditioning.
The Buddha, like Marx, is removing through his method the requirement for people to ‘believe’ in this or that notion without personal experience of the notion being correct or not. Whereas Marx ruthlessly breaks with the Judeo-Christian tradition of his European cultural milieu, the Buddha engages the Brahmanic traditions of his time, whilst ultimately denying their validity as statements of truth. By way of contrast, it is interesting to note that Marx never engages the sophistry of Judeo-Christian theology to make his point. This may be because he was never invested in its teachings during his early lifetime. Marx was a thoroughly modern man in the sense that he was born into circumstances relatively free from the influence of religious dogma. This was not the case for the Buddha, who occupied a very high caste in the Brahmanic system, and for all intents and purposes had some thing of a royal upbringing thoroughly immersed in the Brahmanic traditions. It is from the Brahmanic tradition that the Buddha freed his mind from historical conditioning and it should be no surprise that this ‘freeing’ involved the engaging (and eventual negating) of Brahmanic concepts. The Chain of Dependent Origination is really a combined explanation of reality that is both psychological and material all at once. Marx, who studied the physical world as it actually is, never denied the existence of human consciousness, or its importance in the transformation of the world. Where Marx was busy stripping Judeo-Christian theology from the interpretation of the world, the Buddha was busy stripping Brahmanic thinking from the same world. The Buddha’s model of the Chain of Origination explains how a mind infected by greed, hatred, and delusion, (i.e. ignorance), causes suffering (through behaviour) for the individual concerned and for all those around. It also explains logically how this ignorance can be permanently uprooted from the mind through the practice of meditation in accordance with the Four Noble Truths. As ignorance is eradicated through insight, each link in the chain dissolves into emptiness as the deluded habits of mind fall away. In the enlightened mind, the Chain of Dependent Origination premised upon false thinking no longer exists. This false consciousness is destroyed forever, and the true mind manifest. Marxists can make use of the teaching of the Chain of Dependent Origination to settle their own minds and the minds of others. It can also be used to explain various situations in life and as a supplement to the teachings of Marx which seek through insight to relocate the true mind.
©opyright: Adrian Chan-Wyles (ShiDaDao) 2014.
[1] Schumann, HW, The Historical Buddha – The Time, Life and Teachings of the Founder of Buddhism, Motilal Banarsidass, 1989), Page 142.
[2] Choong, Mun-Keat, The Notion of Emptiness in Early Buddhism, Motilal Banarsidass, (1999), Pages 18-19.
[3] Story, Francis, Gods and the Universe in Buddhist Perspective – Essays on Buddhist Cosmology, The Wheel Publication No. 180/181, (1983), Page 2)
[4] Thera, Nyanaponika, The Vision of Dharma – the Buddhist Writings of Nyanaponika Thera, Rider, (1986), Page 203.
[5] Payutto, PA, Dependent Origination – The Buddhist Law of Conditionality, Buddhadhamma Foundation, (1994), Pages 27-29.