#interdependent origination

[theemotionmachine]

Enlightenment is when the wave realizes it is the ocean.

Thich Nhat Hanh

[planetdharma]

Understanding Interdependent Origination: Concept of Paṭiccasamuppāda

Learn about the concept of Paṭiccasamuppāda, or Interdependent Origination, and its significance in Buddhist philosophy. Explore the interconnectedness of all phenomena and the causes and conditions that give rise to suffering and liberation.

[advayavada]

Advayavada Study Plan - week 1

Advayavada Study Plan – week 1

[Advayavada Study Plan – week 1] Advayavada Buddhism does not tell you what to do or believe, but invites us all to make the very best of our own lives by attuning as best as possible with wondrous overall existence advancing over time now in its manifest direction. The 13-week Advayavada Study Plan (ASP) is repeated four times a year for this lofty purpose and the first preliminary subject of…

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[advayavada]

Advayavada Study Plan - week 32

Advayavada Study Plan – week 32

[Advayavada Study Plan – week 32] In Advayavada Buddhism, the Noble Eightfold Path is fully personalized: it is firmly based on what we increasingly know about ourselves and our world, and trusting our own intentions, feelings and conscience. Adherence to the familiar five precepts (not to kill, not to steal, sexual restraint, not to lie, and refraining from alcohol and drugs) and a…

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[advayavada]

Advayavada Study Plan - week 6

Advayavada Study Plan – week 6

[Advayavada Study Plan – week 6 of 13] When the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path as taught in Advayavada Buddhism is followed conscientiously, it becomes nothing less than the main karmic factor in one’s fleeting share in the universal interdependent origination process (madhyamaka-pratityasamutpada) which brings forth wondrous overall existence. The 13-week Advayavada Study Plan (ASP) is repeated…

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[advayavada]

Advayavada Study Plan - week 2

Advayavada Study Plan – week 2

[Advayavada Study Plan – week 2 of 13] Anatta (Pali) or anatman (Sanskrit) means no-self. The Buddhist anatta or anatmata doctrine teaches that no soul, spirit or self exists in the person in the sense of a permanent, eternal, integral, and independent substance; in Mahayana Buddhism, the nissvabhava doctrine teaches further that because in fact all things without exception are produced by…

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[maduved-blog]

beyond the common perception

Throughout the centuries the humanity has been occupied with the sphere that is beyond the common perception. It gave rise to various knowledge systems and speculative theories (some based on personal experiences) with the dimensions that are not normally perceived. Even today many scientists are searching for "extraterrestrial life." Usually the questions about this and some spiritual aspects follow the form "Does [something/somebody] exist?" Such a question, however, clearly shows the limitation of the cognition, since by "exist" we try to limit the object of our discussion by our own ways of perception, going for the immediate experience by our senses and known technology, which is a fallacy in the logic. The vastness of the universe and all the phenomena therein do not necessarily follow our perception and thus we fail on discovering life in other dimensions / on other planets, which is an arduous task, if we only look for what we expect to encounter by means of just guiding us by our perception. 

The laws of the universe and all planetary bodies are far to complex to be perceived by our consciousness on the bodily level of the planet Earth. Naturally, we observe other planets and conclude that there is "no life." Well, no life having the same gross matter DNA, which is a characteristic of Earth. The same fallacy goes on the linguistic level with the usage of words "exist," "life," "being," which all are entangled in our manifestation on Earth. Beyond this other laws, experiences, and perceptions dominate, simply unreachable by the limits imposed by our current way of perception. Without even going that far, we can observe plants and other animals and arrive at the conclusion that their perception is very different: they are more sensible to certain cosmic vibrations than we are. Just to recollect how many civilizations deal with the world: every river, tree, stone, mountain, plant, and animal are revered and treated with great respect. "The spirits of our ancestors inhabit these trees," they say. Just remember the Japanese cartoon Princess Mononoke! The phenomena that we see is just a fraction of what is beyond and perceived on other levels and dimensions.

Let us not restrict by our perception and let us be open to what is beyond it! Once understood, the principles of interdependent origination and karma will be a way clearer. 

The continuous meditation and positive attitude throughout our lives will help us to grasp some fragments of what is beyond the common perception. Thus, the complex system of karma can be understood as a constant flow of certain vibrations that we send all around us. On the subtle level or a different dimensions these vibrations are processed by those who inhabit the other spheres and they respond sending other vibrations that may manifest in our lives as certain occurrences. The blind ignorance, one of the poisons that we take, leads us to send wrong vibrations, which then affects us in the current perception and beyond. Let us deal carefully with it and thus let us intend to have the right motivation to pursue what is benefiting this and other dimensions without giving rise to venom that nurtures hostile vibrations.

Hence, let us have our third eye wide open and know that whatever we do, whatever we think, whatever we say all this is nourishment to those in other dimensions / spheres!

HARI OM TAT SAT

[ox-head]

On the perennial issue of “the 12 links” I recently saw a hilarious comment from Robert E. Florida that makes precisely [the typical kind of ahistorical] mistake [in Buddhist studies]: “From the very earliest days, the theory of co-conditioned causality, or pratītyasamutpāda, the teaching that every thing in the universe is interrelated with every other thing, was interpreted embryologically.” [p. 14 of Buddhism and Abortion, 1999, U. of Hawai’i Press] Of course, this is so hilarious because Florida is here presuming (without proving) that the modern, western interpretation is correct, whereas the “traditional interpretation” is false; if he were capable of reading the original text, he would see that there is absolutely nothing in it (i.e., not one word) “teaching that every thing in the universe is interrelated with every other thing”. On the contrary, there is a very good basis for that embryological interpretation, if anyone cares about the writ of what the text says and doesn’t say (a subject I’ve already written about at length). In the very next sentence, the R.E. Florida follows this up by invoking Vasubandhu (!) as an authority for his titular topic of “Abortion in Buddhist Thailand” (without one word to justify what influence Vasubandhu has ever had in the history of Theravāda Southeast Asia, nor explaining why the author has turned to a uniquely Mahayana source first and foremost). Given that this type of buffoonery is what passes for the highest level of academic expertise (on matters as contentious as the politics of abortion) there can be little wonder that the common run of Buddhists labor in ignorance.

Eisel Mazard, Vegetarianism and Theravada Orthodoxy