Transcendental Dependent Arising

The Pratītyasamutpāda is frequently used to explain how disquietude arises depending on codependent conditions, the inference being that if one or more of the conditions are removed (if the “chain” is broken), the disquietude will cease. This theory, which I discussed in my last web log post, is at the core of Mahayana Buddhism, and played a major role in Nāgārjuna’s Madhyamaka theories. Yet, there is a lesser known text in the Pali Cannon that discusses its polar opposite, which is loosely translated at “Transcendental Dependent Arising.” The name of the text is the Upanisa Sutta in the Samyutta Nikaya, in which the discussions of the conditions not for disquietude but for enlightenment are given.

These theories would be considered “dangerous” by the Zen Masters and it is no wonder that they never discussed them. Any set of ideas that can be construed as a formula to enlightenment is really just empty. I include these because they shed some light into a mystery that must be unraveled by each individual. If you attach to this, it will become a hindrance; yet half the Buddhists in the world are following this path. So forgive me, but I couldn’t resist.

1. disquietude (dukkha)
2. faith (saddhā) “disquietude is the supporting condition for faith”
3. joy (pāmojja, pāmujja) “faith is the supporting condition for joy”
4. bliss (pīti) “joy is the supporting condition for bliss”
5. tranquillity (passaddhi) “bliss is the supporting condition for tranquillity”
6. happiness (sukha) “tranquillity is the supporting condition for happiness”
7. concentration (samādhi) “happiness is the supporting condition for concentration”
8. knowledge and vision (yathābhūta-ñāna-dassana) “concentration is the supporting condition for the knowledge and vision of things as they really are”
9. disenchantment (nibbidā) “knowledge and vision of things as they really are is the supporting condition for disenchantment”
10. dispassion (virāga) “disenchantment is the supporting condition for dispassion”
11. emancipation (vimutti) “dispassion is the supporting condition for emancipation”
12. knowledge of destruction (āsava-khaye-ñāna) “emancipation is the supporting condition for the knowledge of destruction”