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CLASS 5:
Early Buddhism doctrines in regard how they are explained in Theravda Buddhism .
They are not any others doctrines in Theravda except than the Buddhas teachings.
The dependent origination or Pat iccasamuppda doctrine:
When we carefully examine the Early Buddhist teachings this is the best of all. Because
it is the truth of the world, it is the nature of the world. All the Buddhist teachings were
focus on the pat iccasamuppda and there was no other purpose of the Buddha for His
teachings on the Dhamma, other than to explain the nature of the world in order to lead
into the spiritual freedom from suffering. The Buddhas main interest was to lead the
human beings into the cessation of suffering. It is the fundamental requirement for any
one who is interested in emancipation that he must understand the nature of the world or
the nature of himself. The doctrine of pat iccasamuppda provides that explanation. The
one who want to get the liberation he must know the nature of the world. If not nirvana
cannot be attained. The nature of the man and the nature of the world are the same.
There is not difference between them in regard to its nature. The Buddha pointed out
that the entire world is included in the man.
Imasmin ca pana vyma mattake
Kalebare sasaimhi samanabe
Kokanca paapemi lokasamudayan
Ca lobanirodhan ca lokanirodha
Gamini pat ipadam ca.
I proclaim that in this patent body
That has perception and the mind,
There is the world, the emergence of the world,
The cessation of the world and
The path leading to the cessation of the world.
That means the world, the emergence; the cessation and the Path are included in the
body which is 6 feet long. And we have the perception and the mind.
Kalabare= complete body
Vyma mattake= 6 feet
Sasaamhi= with perception
Samanabbe= with mind
Lokanca= this world
Paapemi= I proclaim
Lokasamudaya= origin of the world.
In the 5 aggregates, Form (rpa) includes all the forms.
In our experience of the world there is nothing that comes from other thing than forms.
The whole world can be included in the form of the 5 aggregates of the person.
The nature of the world or the man is explained in terms of the dependent origination.
There are two things which Buddha realized in His enlightenment:
1- The doctrine of Pat iccasamippda
2- The doctrine of emancipation from suffering (nibbna)

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The Buddha Himself pointed out that He understood this two at the moment of
enlightenment. This is expressed in the Ariyapariyesana sutta (Noble Quest). Before His
enlightenment He made a Noble Quest during 6 years. This sutta is the detailed
explanation of it. He attempted to find out the way to freedom of suffering. He
renounced the world after having realized that the world is full of suffering.
Therefore His Quest was in at the freedom of suffering. With His enlightenment He
realized this 2 truth; the real nature of the world and the freedom from suffering.
Siddharta left His house when He has seen four things: an old man, a sick man and a
dead man nature of the world. And the ascetic freedom of suffering.
During all His life he explained two doctrines to the world: Pat iccasamuppda and
Nibbna.
Pa i ccamuppda:difficult to see and understand. When you understand really it, you
become an arahant. In the contemporary society of the Buddha there were two
prominent theories with regard to the nature of the man. One is the Externalist view and
the other is Nihilism. According to Eternalism the man has a soul. This personal soul is
a part of a cosmic one or universal soul. The soul is permanent. This personal soul is
evolved out of the universal one. The liberation of the man according to them is
dependent on the fact that the man has to understand non-duality or identity of the
cosmic soul and the personal soul.
Karmas are a kind of particles (physical) that cover the soul. By destroying the karmas
the soul is liberated and it goes to the source again.
Nihilism: according to this the person has not any permanent entity. He does not come
form any where and he does not go to any where. Man mainly is an outcome of 4
elements of the world. The combination of theses 4 gives rise to a person. This
combination has a life spam; it exists for a certain period of time until its power is over.
After death this 4 elements dissolved in there former form of elements. Nothing
remains. Buddha said that these two views were wrong. He rejected them as wrong
views of the nature of the world. He said that these two views are extremes. And preach
the Dhamma in the middle way or middle position. Pat iccasamuppda is nothing than
the middle way of explaining the nature of the man.
Buddha rejected two views and then He explained. He used to denote Eternalism as
Atthivda and Nihilism as Natthivda. Which means, view of existent and view of nonexistent. Then He explained rejecting theses two:
Samudayam khopana yatthbhtam
Sammappaya passato natthiti
Sdit t hi nahoti.
Those who see the emergence as it is
With true knowledge, there could not
Be the view of nihilism.
Nirodham khopana yatthbhtam
Sammappaya passato atthiti
Sdit t hi hoti.
Those who see the vanishing as it is
There could not be the view of existence.

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Everybody experience the emergence and the vanishing in the world.

Emergence= uppda= samudaya= birth
Vanishing= nirodha= destruction= death.
According to Dhamma in the 1st sermon:
If there is anything which arises
It has to be vanished or destructed.
Yam kim ci samudayadhammam
Sabbam tam nirodha dhammam.
If anything has the nature of arising, it has the nature of vanishing.
That means that arising and vanishing are connected. And, in the other hand, the arising
of anything has the nature of what is arising at the result of formations or cause and
effect.
According to Buddhism all in the world is arising because cause and effect. There is
nothing in the world which is not arisen because of the causes and conditions. The
things which are arisen are the result of causes and conditions are named sakhra.
It is a truth; without cause and conditions nothing arises.
Pat iccasamuppda doctrine explains this conditionality, or the causality of the things in
the world. The nature of the conditionality is very difficult of realizing. This causality is
explained by the Buddha in a theoretical formula *1*
Absolute is that what not arises in causes and conditions.
Conditioned for existence there are conditions. By our own accord we cannot exist. We
are not absolute. We are continuously changing.
Many causes give rise to an effect.
Cause= main causes
Condition= minor causes.
Buddha explained that to birth in a womb the association between mother and father is
one cause, other is vin a conditioned by karma. All that causes give raise an effect.
The form is conditioned by the mother and the father. The embryo needs nma to live.
Vin a (the 1st consciousness of this life) is the result of past karma. Many causes are
necessary to the growing of this embryo.
*1*
a) Asmin sati idam hoti
b) Asmin asati idam nahoti
c) Imassa uppda idam uppajjati
d) Imassa nirodh idam nirujjati.
That is the theory of Pat i ccasamuppda. In this formula the Buddha gave the theory of
dependent origination.
a) = when this is, this is
b) = when this is not, this is not
c) = because of arising of this, this arises
d) = because of the destruction of this, this vanishes.
If A the A
If not A then not A} LOGIC

MA 2007-08 Theravadha Buddhism Class notes

+A > + B
- A> - B }

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A gives raise to B

The Buddha used different words.

Upajjati= arises of animated things.
Hoti= for inanimate things (without life or consciousness)
Uppd= denote animate things
Uppajjati= the man
Hoti= the mountain
The explanation covers the whole world, animate and inanimate. That means,
everything in the world is included in the theory. Its all including theory.
Given this explanation the Buddha denies the theory of self-production, the theory of
fate, the theory of a Creator and the theory of chance.
God is uncaused cause for everything. That means that the God has no cause. If the God
has a cause the God would not be a God.
Other theory is spontaneous arising; there is not cause, arising without anything. Alive
by itself. They reject the cause.
But the Buddha says without causes anything arises. This theory is explained even in a
practical way which is found in the 12 links Pat iccasamuppda. Starting from
ignorance and ending with the suffering and unhappiness.
That is the most famous way of explaining the theory. The 12 links of
Pat i ccasamuppda were used by the Buddha to explain the empirical existence of the
man. In Theravda the foremost position was given to this explanation, because the
Buddha found this theory as the nature of beings. The Buddha did not want to explain
other things in the world, except the human beings. The liberation is possible only by
the understanding of his empirical existence by the man.
The main idea of the Buddha was to find the reason for birth, decay and death, which is
pat iccasamuppda.
pat iccasamuppda cannot be explained. It has to be understood by oneself. Only
guidelines can be given. It is one of the characteristic of the Dhamma that it has to be
understood by oneself.
The reason for existence of the man in the world is craving (the main cause) but there
are many other causes. Pat iccasamuppda is focused in man empirical existence. How
we can exist in this moment? In this moment we exist as a compound 5 aggregates.
Every moment a new consciousness arises.
Aatra paccaya
Natthi vin assa sambhavo
Mahtanh Sankhaya Sutta (MN)
Without the causes
There is not emergence
Of consciousness.
Even the consciousness needs the causes and conditions.
Pat iccasamuppda explains the present existence of the man in this life. That was what
the Buddha explained with the 12 links in Pat iccasamuppda.