The Cycle of Life — Dependent Origination (Q&A 2021/03/21)

 Q&A 2021/03/21

Verse 75

Suffering and accumulation become entangled with one another. 

Death and birth arise from dependent origination 

Which has twelve links, as taught by the Buddha. 

They are like a castle or a fruit tree.

~ The Way to Buddhahood

1. Dependent origination as a “vertical” explanation vs “horizontal” explanation of the first and second noble truth. What does vertical mean?  What does horizontal mean?

Dependent origination is a “vertical” explanation of the mutual production of accumulation and suffering, complementing the horizontal explanation of the first and second Noble Truths. ~ The Way to Buddhahood

~> The concept of horizontal and vertical is occasionally used in the interpretation of Buddhism.

~> The horizontal concept is mostly used in the analysis of the static (immobile) state, in other words, it’s an observation that does not involve the concept of time.

~> As for the concept of vertical, it is a dynamic analysis, which involves the concept of time, it is an observation how things change from past to present, from present to future.

~> Actually, the teaching of Dependent Origination and Noble Truth are the teachings that unveil the facts of CAUSE and EFFECT. The author tries to remind us that both of the teachings shared the same purpose, but reveal the facts in a different manner.

2. What does accumulation mean? What’s being accumulated? Karma?

3. This book describes the second noble truth as accumulation. How is that different from another version that says the cause of suffering is craving?

The Buddha said that there was no beginning to birth and death. Just as in the case of accumulation and suffering — suffering comes from accumulation and accumulation also arises from suffering — birth and death occur in a circular fashion. ~ The Way to Buddhahood

~> The Second Noble Truth, it is called samudaya in Pali, has many different translations in English. 

~> Indeed, it is the CAUSE of suffering mainly due to craving. 

~> However, when we observe the CAUSE of suffering, it is not just one or two cause(s), it’s like a “complicated bundle”, and that’s why in English, words like “accumulation, aggregate or exacerbation” are use to describe “samudaya” (集).

4. This section describes a castle being Guarding the door to liberation. Who are the guards? Are they our own afflictions. Is the only exit here referencing the path.

The Buddha used different parables to explain the twelvefold dependent origination. First, he said it is like a castle. Sentient beings are like people enclosed in a castle unable to get to the door. The only exit is blocked by guards, so if they approach a door they are unable to get out. ~ The Way to Buddhahood

~> Absolutely, the GUARDs here are our afflictions. We are trapped in the CASTLE, the twelve links of Dependent Origination. 

~> The PATH (the practices) is the TOOL to find the EXITs and the EXIT-PASS, so that we can show to the Guard. This is what I'm going to share with you in Section 4 when you’ve finished the reading.