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Dependent Arising, Term by Term

SN 12.2, the Paṭiccasamuppāda-vibhaṅga Sutta — set 4, Not-Self and Dependent Arising

Reading time: about 6 min · 907 words

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Before you read

The twelve links, stated in order, and then each one defined in turn, working backwards from ageing and dying all the way to ignorance.

This is the reference version. Other texts here argue about dependent arising, apply it, or arrive at it through a story. This one simply says what each term means.

If a link has been a blur elsewhere, this is where to look it up. Reading it straight through also gives you something the definitions alone do not — a feel for how tightly the sequence is bolted together.

Translation

The Setting

So I heard.

At one time the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī.

There the Buddha addressed the bhikkhus: "Bhikkhus."

"Bhante," they replied.

The Buddha said this:

The Dependent-Arising Sequence

"Bhikkhus, I will teach and analyze dependent arising for you. Listen carefully and pay close attention. I will speak."

"Yes, Bhante," the bhikkhus replied.

The Buddha said this:

"And what is dependent arising, bhikkhus?

With ignorance as condition, putting things together; with putting things together as condition, knowing; with knowing as condition, name-and-form; with name-and-form as condition, the six fields of experience; with the six fields of experience as condition, contact; with contact as condition, felt experience; with felt experience as condition, ignorant wanting; with ignorant wanting as condition, taking personally; with taking personally as condition, becoming; with becoming as condition, birth; with birth as condition, ageing and dying, sorrow, lamentation, dissatisfaction, distress, and despair come to be.

That is how this whole heap of dissatisfaction comes to arise."

Ageing And Dying

"And what is ageing and dying, bhikkhus?

Whatever ageing, wearing out, brokenness of teeth, greying of hair, wrinkling of skin, decline of life, and maturing of the faculties there is for the various beings in the various classes of beings: this is called ageing.

Whatever passing away, vanishing, breaking up, disappearance, dying, death, time-ending, breakup of the heaps, and laying down of the corpse there is for the various beings in the various classes of beings: this is called death.

Such is ageing, and such is death. This is called ageing and dying."

Birth

"And what is birth, bhikkhus?

Whatever birth, being born, descent, appearance, manifestation of the heaps, and obtaining of the fields there is for the various beings in the various classes of beings: this is called birth."

Becoming

"And what is becoming, bhikkhus?

There are these three kinds of becoming:

  • sensual becoming
  • form becoming
  • formless becoming

This is called becoming."

Taking Personally

"And what is taking personally, bhikkhus?

There are these four ways of taking personally:

  • taking sensuality personally
  • taking views personally
  • taking habits and observances personally
  • taking self-doctrine personally

This is called taking personally."

Ignorant Wanting

"And what is ignorant wanting, bhikkhus?

There are these six classes of ignorant wanting:

  • ignorant wanting for forms
  • ignorant wanting for sounds
  • ignorant wanting for smells
  • ignorant wanting for tastes
  • ignorant wanting for tangibles
  • ignorant wanting for dhammas

This is called ignorant wanting."

Felt Experience

"And what is felt experience, bhikkhus?

There are these six classes of felt experience:

  • felt experience born of eye-contact
  • felt experience born of ear-contact
  • felt experience born of nose-contact
  • felt experience born of tongue-contact
  • felt experience born of body-contact
  • felt experience born of mind-contact

This is called felt experience."

Contact

"And what is contact, bhikkhus?

There are these six classes of contact:

  • eye-contact
  • ear-contact
  • nose-contact
  • tongue-contact
  • body-contact
  • mind-contact

This is called contact."

The Six Fields Of Experience

"And what are the six fields of experience, bhikkhus?

  • the eye sense field
  • the ear sense field
  • the nose sense field
  • the tongue sense field
  • the body sense field
  • the mind sense field

These are called the six fields of experience."

Name-And-Form

"And what is name-and-form, bhikkhus?

  • felt experience
  • recognition
  • intention
  • contact
  • attention

This is called name.

The four great elements, and form derived from the four great elements: this is called form.

Such is name, and such is form. This is called name-and-form."

Knowing

"And what is knowing, bhikkhus?

There are these six classes of knowing:

  • eye-knowing
  • ear-knowing
  • nose-knowing
  • tongue-knowing
  • body-knowing
  • mind-knowing

This is called knowing."

Putting Things Together

"And what is putting things together, bhikkhus?

There are these three kinds of putting things together:

  • bodily putting things together
  • verbal putting things together
  • mental putting things together

These are called putting things together."

Ignorance

"And what is ignorance, bhikkhus?

Not knowing about dissatisfaction, the origin of dissatisfaction, the quenching of dissatisfaction, and the practice leading to the quenching of dissatisfaction.

This is called ignorance."

The Forward And Reverse Summary

"Bhikkhus, so with ignorance as condition, putting things together; with putting things together as condition, knowing; with knowing as condition, name-and-form; with name-and-form as condition, the six fields of experience; with the six fields of experience as condition, contact; with contact as condition, felt experience; with felt experience as condition, ignorant wanting; with ignorant wanting as condition, taking personally; with taking personally as condition, becoming; with becoming as condition, birth; with birth as condition, ageing and dying, sorrow, lamentation, dissatisfaction, distress, and despair come to be.

That is how this whole heap of dissatisfaction comes to arise.

But with the complete fading and quenching of ignorance, the quenching of putting things together; with the quenching of putting things together, the quenching of knowing; with the quenching of knowing, the quenching of name-and-form; with the quenching of name-and-form, the quenching of the six fields of experience; with the quenching of the six fields of experience, the quenching of contact; with the quenching of contact, the quenching of felt experience; with the quenching of felt experience, the quenching of ignorant wanting; with the quenching of ignorant wanting, the quenching of taking personally; with the quenching of taking personally, the quenching of becoming; with the quenching of becoming, the quenching of birth; with the quenching of birth, the quenching of ageing and dying, sorrow, lamentation, dissatisfaction, distress, and despair.

That is how this whole heap of dissatisfaction quenches."

That is what the Buddha said. The bhikkhus were glad and welcomed what the Buddha had said.

Words used in this translation (23)
ageing and dying
Growing old and dying, treated in these texts as one linked process and as the end point of the dependent-arising sequence.
becoming
This project's rendering of "bhava" -- the settling of experience into a way of being that feels like somebody being something. Often translated "existence."
Bhante
A respectful way of addressing a senior monastic, roughly "venerable sir." Left untranslated because English has no natural equivalent.
bhikkhus
Buddhist monks -- those who have left household life to practise full time. The Buddha's usual way of addressing the assembly, roughly "friends" in force.
birth
This project's rendering of "jāti": birth, coming into being. In the dependent-arising sequence, ageing and dying depend on it. In MN 141 the word appears once in its everyday sense instead, in a simile about a mother.
body
The physical body, as distinct from speech and the mental side of experience.
contact
This project's rendering of "phassa" -- the meeting of a sense, its object, and the knowing of it. A technical link in the dependent-arising sequence, not physical touch specifically.
dependent arising
The teaching that experience -- and the dissatisfaction in it -- comes from conditions rather than from any fixed self or essence. Each link depends on the one before it, which is why removing a condition stops what follows.
dissatisfaction
This translation's rendering of "dukkha," the Buddhist term for the unsatisfying, unstable quality of ordinary experience. Often translated "suffering," but that can sound more dramatic than the everyday sense of things not quite being right.
faculties
The capacities used in practice, especially confidence, energy, remembering, unification of mind, and discernment. You can train them and bring them into balance.
fading
The fading away of attraction and investment in experience, as passion cools.
felt experience
This project's rendering of "vedanā", often translated "feeling". It is the immediate pleasant, painful, or mixed tone of an experience, before any story we build on top of it.
form
This project's rendering of "rūpa" -- the physical, material aspect of experience, one of the five heaps.
heaps
This project's rendering of "khandhā" (usually translated "aggregates") -- the five piles experience gets sorted into: form, felt experience, recognition, putting-together activities, and knowing.
ignorance
This project's rendering of "avijjā" -- not general stupidity, but specifically not seeing how dissatisfaction works and how it ends. The first link in the dependent-arising sequence.
ignorant wanting
Wanting something you can't have right now. This project's rendering of "taṇhā", often translated "craving". We call it ignorant because it comes from not seeing clearly; ordinary, sensible wanting is something else.
knowing
This project's rendering of "viññāṇa" (often translated "consciousness") -- bare awareness of an object through one of the senses or the mind.
name-and-form
The mental and physical sides of experience taken together: roughly, whatever you can name plus whatever has shape. One link in the dependent-arising sequence.
putting things together
This project's rendering of "saṅkhāra": the ongoing activity of assembling experience, and also what that activity assembles. Context shows which of the two the text means. Other translations often say "formations" or "fabrications", which this project avoids as needlessly opaque.
quenching
An extinguishing image for dissatisfaction and its causes going out. Different Pali words use this image on different pages, so the exact scope comes from the sentence.
recognition
This project's rendering of "saññā" (often translated "perception") -- the mind's act of identifying and labeling what it encounters.
six fields of experience
The six channels through which you experience anything at all: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking. Other translations often say "sense bases".
taking personally
This project's rendering of "upādāna" -- treating some piece of experience as "me" or "mine" and holding on to it. Usually translated "clinging" or "attachment."
Source and corrections