The relative nature of phenomena, which arises in dependence on causes and conditions. Together with the four truths of the noble ones, this was the first teaching given by the Buddha.

The principle of dependent origination asserts that nothing exists independently of other factors, the reason for this being that things and events come into existence only by dependence on the aggregation of causes and conditions. In general, the processes of cyclic existence, through which the external world and the beings within it revolve in a continuous cycle of suffering, propelled by the propensities of past actions and their interaction with afflicted mental states, originate dependent on the sequential unfolding of twelve links, commencing from ignorance and ending with birth, aging and death. It is only through deliberate reversal of these twelve links that one can succeed in bringing the whole cycle to an end. The twelve links are enumerated many times in the text, starting at UT22084-026-001-456. See also “twelve links of dependent origination.”

The relative nature of phenomena, which arise in dependence on causes and conditions. Together with the four noble truths, this was the first teaching given by the Buddha. When this appears as plural in the translation, it refers to dharmas as dependently originated.

The teaching that everything arises in dependence on something else, which is also applied to the entire process of life and death. This became standardized into twelve sequences of dependent origination, beginning with ignorance, followed by formation, and concluding in death. In the Pali suttas, this was more often taught as a greater number of successive sequences, commencing with ignorance and formation being simultaneous and codependent, like two sticks leaning against each other.

The fact that all phenomena arise in dependence on causes and conditions, without which they cannot appear.

The principle of dependent origination asserts that nothing exists independently of other factors, the reason for this being that things and events only occur in dependence on the aggregation of causes and conditions. In general, the processes of cyclic existence, through which the external world and the beings within it revolve in a continuous cycle of suffering, propelled by the propensities of past actions and their interaction with afflicted mental states, originate dependent on the sequential unfolding of twelve links, commencing with ignorance and ending with birth, aging, and death. Only through deliberate reversal of these twelve links can one succeed in bringing the whole cycle to an end.

The principle of dependent origination asserts that nothing exists independently of other factors, the reason being that things and events come into existence only by dependence on the aggregation of multiple causes and conditions. In general, the processes of cyclic existence, through which the external world and the sentient beings within it revolve in a continuous cycle of suffering, propelled by the propensities of past actions and their interaction with afflicted mental states, originate dependent on the sequential unfolding of twelve links, commencing with fundamental ignorance and ending with birth, aging, and death (see The Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines, 1.18–1.19). It is only through deliberate reversal of these twelve links that one can succeed in bringing the cycle to an end. See also 24.10.

The principle of dependent origination asserts that nothing exists independently of other factors, the reason being that things and events come into existence only by dependence on the aggregation of multiple causes and conditions. In general, the processes of cyclic existence, through which the external world and the sentient beings within it revolve in a continuous cycle of suffering, propelled by the propensities of past actions and their interaction with afflicted mental states, originate dependent on the sequential unfolding of twelve links, commencing with fundamental ignorance and ending with birth, aging, and death (see The Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines, 1.18–1.19). It is only through deliberate reversal of these twelve links that one can succeed in bringing the cycle to an end.

The relative nature of phenomena, which arises in dependence upon causes and conditions. Together with the four noble truths, this was the first teaching given by the Buddha.

The relative nature of phenomena, which arises in dependence upon causes and conditions. Together with the four noble truths, this was the first teaching given by the Buddha.

The arising of beings explained as a chain of causation involving twelve interdependent links or stages.

The twelve links of dependent origination describe the process of being bound in cyclic existence, and, when reversed, the process of liberation. The twelve links are ignorance, formation, consciousness, name and form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, appropriation, becoming, birth, and old age and death. The twelfth is omitted in this text.

The central Buddhist doctrine that relative phenomena arise as a result of causes and conditions.

The principle of dependent origination asserts that nothing exists independently of other factors, the reason for this being that things and events come into existence only in dependence on the aggregation of causes and conditions. In general, the processes of cyclic existence, through which the external world and the beings within it revolve in a continuous cycle of suffering, propelled by the propensities of past actions and their interaction with afflicted mental states, originate depending on the sequential unfolding of twelve links, commencing from ignorance and ending with birth, aging, and death. It is only through deliberate reversal of these twelve links that one can succeed in bringing the cycle to an end.

See also “relativity.”

The relative nature of phenomena, which arises in dependence upon causes and conditions. Together with the four truths of the noble ones, this was one of the first teachings given by the Buddha.

The relative nature of phenomena, which arises in dependence on causes and conditions. Together with the four truths of the noble ones, this was one of the first teachings given by the Buddha.

The arising of beings explained as a chain of causation involving twelve interdependent links or stages.

The relative nature of phenomena, which arise in dependence upon causes and conditions. Together with the four noble truths, this was the first teaching given by the Buddha.

The relative nature of phenomena, which arises in dependence upon causes and conditions. Together with the four truths of the noble ones, this was the first teaching given by the Buddha.

The teaching that everything arises in dependence on something else, which is also applied to the entire process of life and death. This became standardized into twelve sequences of dependent origination, beginning with ignorance, followed by formation, and concluding in death. In the Pali suttas, this was more often taught as a greater number of successive sequences, commencing with ignorance and formation being simultaneous and codependent, like two sticks leaning against each other.

The twelve links of dependent origination describe the process of being bound in cyclic existence, and, when reversed, the process of liberation. The twelve links are ignorance, formation, consciousness, name and form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, appropriation, becoming, birth, and old age and death.

The relative nature of phenomena, which arises in dependence upon causes and conditions. Together with the four noble truths, this was the first teaching given by the Buddha.

See “twelve phases of dependent origination.”

See “twelve phases of dependent origination.”

The relative nature of phenomena, which arise in dependence on causes and conditions. Together with the four noble truths, this was the first teaching given by the Buddha. When this appears as plural in the translation, it refers to dharmas as dependently originated.

The relative nature of phenomena, which arises in dependence on causes and conditions. Together with the four noble truths, this was the first teaching given by the Buddha. See “twelve links of dependent arising.”

The central Buddhist doctrine that teaches how things are empty of self-nature and thus lack independent existence, yet exist provisionally insofar as they are created through the interaction of various causal factors.

Arising based on the law of causality: whatever has arisen does not have an independent existence.

The relative nature of phenomena, which arise in dependence on causes and conditions. Together with the four truths of the noble ones, this was one of the first teachings given by the Buddha.

A key term for Buddhist philosophy that represents the basic Buddhist understanding of causal processes.

In pratītya-samutpāda, a compound of two terms, samutpāda means “arisin” or “coming into existence” and poses little interpretive difficulty. The preverb sam- is sometimes understood as meaning “together” (samavāyena), referring to the doctrine that no entity whatsoever arises on its own‍—ultimately existent bits of materiality always arise with other bits, and moments of mind are always accompanied by mental states. The sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti, however, clarifies that the Tibetan translation has ’brel par in the sense of “connection,” a rendering of sambandha resulting from an interpretation of the sam- as indicating connection (sam ni sambandha stes ’brel pa la bya).

The first part of the compound, pratītya, can be explained in two very different ways, which have occasioned lengthy debates at the crossroads of philosophy and grammar. According to one explanation, it would mean “things that are each bound to go, to vanish,” hence the whole expression would mean something like “the arising of things that are each bound to vanish,” i.e., the arising of impermanent things. This explanation is favored, for example, by Bhāviveka, and Candrakīrti criticizes him for it (see Macdonald 2015, pp. 121–32). It is also the one opted for by Vīryaśrīdatta in the Nibandhana commentary on Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings (see Samtani 1971, p. 98).

The other interpretation takes pratītya as meaning “having obtained” or “having depended upon,” more flexibly also “depending,” i.e., without necessarily implying temporal succession of two activities by the same entity, which is problematic, as the entity cannot be easily expected to do something (even “depending”) before it has come into existence (unless one is a Vaibhāṣika who accepts existence of future entities). In this interpretation, the sense of the whole expression is expanded as “arising in dependence upon an assemblage of causes and conditions.” This interpretation seems to be prevalent, and hence it has been followed in the translation (it is also the basis for the Tibetan rendering as rten cing ’brel par ’byung ba). It has the distinct advantage of matching the only possible sense of pratītya when it appears outside of a compound in sūtra passages where the dependent arising of, say, eye consciousness is described. A long discussion of the proper sense and the two interpretations of the term pratītya­samutpāda can be found in chapter 3 of the Abhidharma­kośa­bhāṣya (Pradhan 1967, p. 138).

We find numerous different explanations of dependent arising in the Buddhist texts, but three of them are most prominent: a short general definition of contingent coming into existence, as “A being there, B exists; from the arising of A, B arises”; the example of the arising of a single momentary entity, as “depending upon visible form and the eye faculty, eye consciousness arises”; and lastly the process of causality known as “dependent arising with twelve parts,” which describes the birth, complete life cycle, death, and rebirth of a sentient being in the desire realm (the part of the universe where we live and where several classes of sentient beings are born from a womb).

The twelve parts of dependent arising are often distributed into three lifetimes: ignorance and assembled factors belong to the previous lifetime; consciousness, name-and-form, the six entrances, contact, feeling, craving, clinging, and existence belong to the present lifetime; and birth and decay-and-death belong to the future lifetime (see Abhidharma­kośa­bhāṣya 3.25, Pradhan 1967, pp. 133–34). This explanation allows one to make good sense of the frequent sequence, found in the sūtras, where first dependent arising is explained, and then it is said to vanquish all views regarding past, present, or future lives (this progression is also found in the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā; see Salvini 2011).

Also called “interdependent origination,” “dependent co-origination,” “interbeing,” the meeting or coincidence of causes and conditions for creating a thing or a situation; in general, the twelve links of dependent origination dealing with the cycle of rebirth, and in its highest sense providing proof of the selflessness of all phenomena (Rigzin 150).

The central Buddhist doctrine that teaches how things are empty of self-nature and thus lack independent existence, yet exist provisionally insofar as they are created through the interaction of various causal factors.

The principle that relative phenomena arise as a result of causes and conditions.

A mode of describing the relative nature of phenomena, in which each phenomenon arises in dependence upon causes and conditions. In many contexts, the term refers specifically to the twelve links of interdependent origination that describe the process of being bound in cyclic existence: ignorance, formation, consciousness, name and form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, appropriation, becoming, birth, and old age and death.

In most contexts, this term is properly translated by “dependent origination.” But in the Mādhyamika context, wherein the concept of the ultimate nonorigination of all things is emphasized, “relativity” better serves to convey the message that things exist only in relation to verbal designation and that nothing exists as an independent, self-sufficient entity, even on the superficial level.