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INTRODUCTION Chapter I CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Chapter I INTRODUCTION I.l. TITLE AND CLARIFICATION OF THE TOPIC Buddhism, as one of the oldest religions on earth, has giving much great contributions to man and life. At least, Buddhist doctrine provides the ethical basis as well as an analytic insight for human helping them get rid of all afflictions and sufferings. Generally speaking, Buddhism aims to show the cause of suffering and the path leading to cessation of suffering, achieve the real happiness. That is why Buddhism is known as a doctrine on human life, a great religion for man’s sake. I .I .l. PratTtya-Samutpada: A M eaning The Buddhist theory of PratTtya-Samutpada or Dependent- Origination (P. paticcasamuppdda) is the most fundamental doctrine on which other Buddhist doctrines based. It is the Buddha's enlightened experience and the pivot o f his teachings. The Buddha has often expressed His experience o f Enlightenment in one of two ways, either in terms of having understood the Four Noble Truths, or in terms of having understood the nature of the dependent origination. However, more people have heard about the Four Noble Truths and can discuss it than the Law Dependent Origination, which is just as important. Although the actual insight into dependent origination arise with spiritual maturity, it is still possible for us to understand the principle involved. The term " Paticcasamuppada^ in Pali or '’Paratityasamutpdda'' in Sanskrit, when rendered into English such as ‘the theory of Causation’, ‘the Law of Cause and Effect’, ‘the Law of Dependent Origination’, ‘Dependent Arising’, ‘the Law of Interdependent Origination’, ‘the Law of Causal Genesis’, and ‘the Law of Conditioned Genesis etc., is still limited in various senses. Paticcasamuppdda is combined of patcca + Samma + uppdda. 'Paticca ’ means having depended upon the combination of the conditions; 'samma\ right; 'uppdda\ arising. Thus, Paticcasamuppdda lays emphasis on conditions and relations but not on origination. Concretely speaking, the meaning o f dependent origination is that life or the world is built on a set of relation, in which the arising and cessation of factors depend on some other factors. It is this sense of Pratitya-Samutpdda doctrine that determines how Buddhism is distinct from other religions and philosophical systems. 1.1.2. PratTtya-Samutpada in Buddhist Philosophy The theory o f Pratitya-Samutpdda occupies the central position in the Buddhist philosophy. It is the most profound and important fundamental of all schools of Buddhism; HTnaydna and Mahayana. Unlike as systems of other philosophy or other philosophers that plunge the quest of the metaphysical matters or riddles o f the universe, Buddhist philosophy aims at showing the causes o f suffering and the path leading to the cessation of suffering. In Buddhist view, realizing the truth of dependent origination {PratTtya-Samutpdda) is to understand the truth of man and the world in which man lives. It is the exclusive way to man’s emancipation. It may be said that the fundamental o f Buddhist teachings is established on the basis of Slla, Samddhi and Prajnd. In other words, all forms o f Buddhism comprise three spheres of learning: ethics, concentration methods, and analytical insight. These three spheres of learning support, enhance, and complete one another, and it is through their mutual interaction and development that Buddhism aims to realize human potential. Corresponding to these three spheres o f learning, Buddhist literature includes three general types o f material: scriptures, precepts, and philosophical treaties, or in Buddhist terms Sutta, Vinaya and Abhidharma. Because of the interweaving of the three fields o f learning, scriptures and treaties include ethical material as well as meditational and analytical principles. Accordingly, the theory of PratTtya-Samutpdda is presented as the teaching emerging from the meditations o f the Buddha. The Buddha presents a rather simple statement of this theory in asserting that “If this is, that comes to be; from the arising of this, that arises. “This is not, that does not come to be; from the stopping of this, that is stopped.” * “This” here refers to the cause that determines the existence of a thing, the chief cause, and “that” is other aid conditions, the other cause. One thing can be both the chief cause and other cause, i.e., the chief of “this” but the other cause o f “that”, or vice versa. In other words, everything that is existing is both conditioned and conditioning. Thus shown in the above general formula is a universal principle of all existences: nothing can exist independently and every existing thing depends, in some way or other, conditionally on one another. And in Buddhist texts, the interrelationship of all existences is generally presented in the following manner: "Conditioned by ignorance, activities come to pass; conditioned by activities, consciousness comes to pass; conditioned by consciousness, name - and - form come to pass; conditioned by name - and - form, the six senses come to pass; conditioned by six senses, touch comes to pass; conditioned by touch, feeling comes to pass; conditioned by feeling, craving comes to pass; conditioned by craving, grasping comes to pass; conditioned by grasping, becoming comes to pass; conditioned by becoming, birth comes to pass; conditioned by birth, old age and death, grief, lamentation, suffering, sorrow, despair come to pass. Such is the uprising o f this entire mass o f ill. This, brethren, is called "Causal happening". ' Etienne Lamotte, History of Indian Buddhism, p. 16. "But from utter fading away and ceasing of ignorance [comes] ceasing of activities; from ceasing of activities [comes] ceasing of consciousness; ...; from ceasing of birth [com es] ceasing o f old age and death... despair. Such is the ceasing o f this entire o f . * ("Avijjdpaccayd, bhikkhave, sankhdrd\ \ sankhdrapaccayd vinndnam \ \ vinndnapaccayd ndmarupam \ ndmarupapaccayd saldyatanam \ \ saldyatanapaccayd phassoW phassapaccayd vedand\ \ vedandpaccayd tanhd\\ tanhapaccayd updddnam\\ updddnapaccayd bhavo\ bhavapaccayd jdti\\jdtipaccaydjardmaranam soka - parideva - dukkhadomanassupdyasd sambhavanti\ Evametassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa samudayo hoti I Ayam vuccati, bhikkhave, samuppddo\\ \ Avijjaya tveva asesavirdganirodhd sankhdranirodhovinndnanirodho\\ vinndnan-irodhd ndmarupanirodho\ \ ndmaruupanirodhd saldyatananirodho I saldyatananirodhd phassanirodho\ \ phassanirodhd vedandnirodho\ \ vedandnirodhd tanhdnirodho\\ tanhdnirodhd updddnanirodho\ \ updddnanirodhd bhavanirodho\\ bhavanirodhajdtinirodho\\jdtinirodhd jardmaranam soka - pari - deva - dukkha... nirujjhanti\ Evam-etassa kevalassa dukkh-akkhandhassa nirodho hotii ti ")■ Mrs. Rhys Davids, The Book of Kindred Sayings, Vol. II, pp. 1- 2 . Samyulta-Nikaya, Vol. II, pp 1-2. From the above interpretation, we find that the Pratitya- samutpada thus is further explained with respect to a causal sequence involving twelve specific links, viz. ignorance, {avidyd), mental constituents (samskdras), consciousness (vijndna), name and form (ndmarupa), six sense organs {saddyatana), contact (sparsa), feeling {vedand), craving {trsnd), grasping (updddna), becoming (bhava), birth (jdti), and old age and death (jrdmaran). The doctrine not only undermines the potential substantial of any compounded entity, but also suggests which three links in the chain might most readily be broken, thus ending the causal process, resulting in the attainment of Nirvdna: ignorance, carving, and grasping.' Moreover, the presentation of PratTtya-samutpdda which is in the form o f Twelve Elements obviously shows four important points as follows; 1. It puts a stress on human being, on the birth and death as well as the suffering and happiness o f human being. 2. It brings out a description of mental processes operating from ignorance (a vijjd ) to suffering (dukkha). 3. It introduces the way or the knowledge leading to the extinction of suffering {dukkha nirodha). 4. It reveals a Buddhist point of view regarding to the truth of human and world existence and their relationship. ' Charles S. Prebish, Historical Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 217. Since the essence o f existence, according to this theory of Dependent Origination, is an uninterrupted flux of the manifold of physical and mental phenomena, hence, there is in the Twelve Elements neither starting-point nor ending-point; each of them can be both the beginning and the ending. However, for the sake of convenience in the description of the Twelve Elements, a relative order of them in some way must be necessary. That is the reason why ignorance (avidya) is here and there found in different Buddhist literatures as the first source of life and the main stream of suffering. But above all, it should be bom in mind that it is conditioned, not the first cause o f life, as the Buddha usually emphasized: Monks, the extreme point o f ignorance is not apparent, so that one may say: "ignorance was not before; it has since come to be". And this statement, monks, is made. Nevertheless, this thing is apparent: ignorance is conditioned by this o r that. * (Purimd, bhikkhave, koti na pannayati avijjaya "ito pubbe avijjd nahosi, atha pacchd sambhavi ti, evan c'etam, bhikkhave vuccati. Atha ca pana pannayati "idappaccayd avijjd'ti.) ^ Once ignorance {avidya) is viewed as the chief source of life and suffering, the operation o f the Twelve Elements can roughly be presented in the following manner: Ignorance is without a ' F. L. Woodward, The Book of Gradual Sayings,
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