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Sharing authentic Buddhist quotes by highly regarded teachers from all Buddhist schools.

Making multimedia Buddhist themed creations, mainly from images I take myself, featuring authentic Buddhist advice from renowned masters.

29/10/2026

Meditation, right object, intention, quality.
Ajahn Lee Dhammaro

"When you sit in concentration, you have to keep being observant to see whether the mind is established in all the component factors of meditation. Your practice of concentration has to be composed of three component factors for it to count as correct in line with the principles of meditation that will give rise to the full results that we all want. The component factors of meditation are:

1. The right object. This refers to the object on which the mind settles — or in other words, the breath. We have to focus our awareness on the breath and not let it stray out in other directions. This is the "thana" or foundation of our kammatthana.

2. The right intention. Once we've focused our awareness on the in-and-out breath, we have to keep our mindfulness fixed solely on the breath by thinking bud- in with the in-breath, and dho out with the out. We have to keep doing this until the mind is still and in place. Then we can drop the meditation word. Once the mind is still and doesn't go wandering off in other places, mindfulness will stay snug with the breath without slipping away or growing absent minded. This is the intention, the kamma of our kammatthana.

3. The right quality. This refers to the skill with which we can improve, adjust, and spread the breath so that it becomes comfortable. For example, if short breathing is uncomfortable, change it so that it's a little longer. If long breathing is uncomfortable, change it so that it's a bit shorter. Observe long breathing, short breathing, fast or slow breathing, and then keep on breathing in whichever way is most comfortable. If any problem or discomfort arises, make further changes. But don't tense up the breath or try to hold it. Let the body breathe in and out with a sense of ease. The breath will then feel wide open, agile, and spacious. It won't get bottled up in any one spot, won't feel heavy or confined. When this is the case, a sense of fullness and refreshment, a cool sense of ease will arise in the mind. As for the body, it'll feel at ease as well. This is the essence of what is good, the skillfulness that we all desire.

☸️🏵☸️🏵☸️

When we can train the mind to stay firmly in these three factors of meditation, it'll become tame and obedient, and no longer stubborn — because once our mind becomes skillful and intelligent, it'll gain a sense of what's good for us, what's not, what are the affairs of other people, what are our own affairs. When this happens, there won't be a lot of confusion. It's the same as when we've trained an ox. We can put it to good work and won't have to waste a lot of rope to keep it tied down. That's when we can be at our ease. Even if we let it wander off on its own, it won't get lost. When it goes away, it'll come back to its pen on its own, for it knows which pen belongs to its owner, which pens belong to other people, which person is its owner and which people are not, which plants are the grasses it can eat, which plants are the rice plants it shouldn't. This way it won't invade the fields of other people, trampling their crops and eating their rice, which would give rise to all sorts of controversies and bad feelings. That way, we can live in peace.

It's the same with the mind. Once it's trained, it'll become tame. It won't go traipsing off after external thoughts and preoccupations. Normally, the mind doesn't like to stay with the body in the present. Sometimes it goes flowing out the eyes, sometimes out the ears, sometimes out the nose, the tongue, and the body, so that it splits into five different currents, just like a river that splits into five channels instead of staying in one: the force of the current gets weakened. And in addition to leaking out the five sense doors after sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations, the mind also goes flowing out after thoughts of the past and thoughts of the future without ever staying firmly in the present. This is why it knows no peace, because it doesn't get any time to rest. As a result, its strength begins to fail, and when the strength of the mind grows weaker, so does the strength of the body. When this is the case, we can't bring any of our projects to completion, either in the area of the world or of the Dhamma.

When this happens, we're like a sick person who's a burden on his doctors and nurses. The doctors have to keep making visits to check up on his symptoms. The nurses have to feed him, give him medicine, and take him to the bathroom. When he tries to sit up, he needs someone to support him. The people looking after him have to go without sleep both by day and by night, and can never leave him alone. As for the people financially responsible, they have to run around trying to find money to pay the medical bills. The whole family is worried and concerned, and the sick person himself can find no comfort. He can't go anywhere, can't do anything, can't eat solid food, can't get any sleep: everything becomes a problem.

In the same way, when our minds aren't quiet and still, and instead keep flowing out after concepts and preoccupations, we're like sick people. We don't have the strength to bring our work to completion. This is because the untrained mind goes wandering off as it likes and is very stubborn. You can't tell it to do anything at all. If you tell it to lie down, it'll sit down. If you tell it to sit down, it'll get up and walk. If you tell it to walk, it'll start running. If you tell it to run, it'll stop. You can't really control it at all. When this is the case, all sorts of unskillful qualities — ignorance and defilements like greed, anger, and delusion, or the five Hindrances — will come flowing into the mind, overcoming it and possessing it in the same way that people get possessed by spirits. When this is the case, we're in all sorts of trouble and turmoil — all because the mind doesn't have the strength it needs to withstand ignorance or to drive it out of the heart.

The Buddha saw that this is the way things are for people by and large, causing them to suffer, which is why he taught us to gather up the strength of body and strength of mind we need to fight off these various forms of suffering. In other words, he taught us to practice concentration so as to make the strength of our mind firm and solid. Practicing concentration means training the mind to be quiet and still. As the mind stays quiet and still for longer and longer periods of time, it'll become clear. When it's clear, the light of discernment will arise within it.

This discernment is the strength that will enable the mind to contend with all sorts of events, both good and bad, for it'll have the intelligence enabling it to wise up to all the preoccupations coming in by way of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and intellect. It will be able to identify perceptions of past, present, and future. It will be acquainted with the properties, aggregates, and sense media, knowing what's good, what isn't, what's worth thinking about, what's not, what's untrue, what's true. When it knows this, it'll become dispassionate, disenchanted, and will let go of all thoughts and concepts, let go of its attachments to the body, let go of its attachments to things outside, all of which arise from the process of fabrication and have no real enduring essence.

When the mind can let go of all thoughts and preoccupations, it'll become light and agile, like a person who has put down all the burdens she's been carrying on her shoulders and in her hands. She can walk, run, and jump with agility. She can sit down or lie down with ease. Wherever she goes, she's comfortable. When the mind has experienced a sense of comfort, it'll become happy and full. It won't feel hungry. When it's full and happy, it can rest. Once it's rested, it'll have strength. Whatever tasks it undertakes, in terms of the world or the Dhamma, will succeed. If the mind lacks a sense of fullness, though, it'll be hungry. When it's hungry, it's in a lousy mood: irritable and upset. When this is the case, it's like a sick person who doesn't have the strength to complete any task with ease.

As for people who have practiced concentration to the point where their minds are quiet and still, they're no longer hungry, for they have a sense of fullness within them. This gives them five kinds of strength — conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment — which will enable them to advance to even higher levels of goodness. When the mind is still, it develops mental serenity. When the body is still, it develops physical serenity as well: the various properties within it are peaceful and harmonious, and don't quarrel with one another. The whole body is then bathed in the purity that comes flowing out the currents of the mind through the properties of earth, water, fire, and wind, caring for them and protecting them.

When things are protected and cared for, they don't run down. In this way the properties of the body reach a state of harmony, giving them the strength they need to withstand feelings of pain and weariness. As for the mind, it'll develop greater and greater strength, enabling it to withstand all sorts of mental torments. It'll keep getting more and more powerful, like the gunpowder used to make rockets and fireworks. When it's lit, it explodes and shoots all the way up to the sky.

When we practice concentration, it's as if we were gathering provisions for a trip. The provisions here are the skillful qualities we develop in the mind. The more provisions we have, the more comfortably we can travel and the further we can go. We can go to the human world, the deva worlds, the brahma worlds, or all the way to nibbana. When we have a lot of provisions, our traveling is easy, for we can afford to go by car or by boat. We can stay in comfortable places and have plenty of food to eat. The trip won't tire us, and we can go far and fast. As for people with meager provisions, they can't afford the carfare, so they have to go barefoot, walking on gravel and stepping on thorns, exposed to the sun and rain. They can't stay in comfortable places; they're lacking in food; their progress is tiring and slow. By the time they reach their destination they're ready to give up, for they're all out of strength. But whether we travel quickly or slowly, we're all headed to the same destination. For example, suppose we're all going to Bangkok. Those who go by foot will get there in three months; those who go by car, in three days; while those who get on a plane will arrive in three minutes.

For this reason, you shouldn't get discouraged in your efforts to do what's good. Develop as much strength as you can, so that you'll have the provisions and vehicles you'll need to help speed you along to your goal. Once you've arrived, you'll experience nothing but happiness and ease. When you practice the Dhamma, even if you don't reach the paths, their fruitions, or nibbana in this lifetime, at the very least you're developing the conditions that will help you along the way in the future.

When we meditate, it's as if we were driving a car on a trip. If you have a sense of how to adjust and improve your breath, it's like driving along a smooth, paved road. The car won't run into any obstacles, and even a long trip will seem short. As for people who aren't centered in concentration, whose minds are slipping and slithering around with no sense of how to improve their breathing, they're driving their car along a bumpy, unpaved road full of potholes. In some spots the bridges have collapsed. In others the road is washed out.

What this means is that their mindfulness lapses and they let their minds fall into thoughts of the past and future. They don't stay put in the present. If they don't know how to repair their road, they'll keep running into dangers and obstacles. Their car will keep getting bogged down. Sometimes they spend weeks and months stuck in one place, and their short trip turns into a long one. Sometimes they go back to the beginning point and start all over again. Running back and forth like this, around and around in circles, they'll never be able to get to the goal.

So I ask that you all remember this discussion of the Dhamma and take it to heart. Try using it to make adjustments in your mind and see what happens. If you train the mind correctly in line with the three factors of meditation that I've mentioned here, you may well meet with the peace and happiness for which you aim."

- Ajahn Lee Dhammaro, Strength for the Journey, May 7, 1958.

A chapter of the book: Starting Out Small
A Collection of Talks for Beginning Meditators
by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, translated from the Thai by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, © 2000.

Read online at the Access to Insight website, link in comments.

28/10/2026

Buddhism in North Korea.
"It is widely known that there is no freedom of religion in North Korea. But Buddhist rituals and events, including Buddha’s birthday, are said to be held at temples in various parts of the communist country.

Today, we’ll learn about Buddhism in North Korea from Professor Chung Eun-chan at the Institute for Unification Education.

Buddha’s birthday is observed as a public holiday here in South Korea, but it is not in the North. However, North Korea does hold Buddhist ceremonies to mark the occasion. Buddhist events in North Korea started from Buddha’s birthday celebrations at the Pohyon(보현) Temple at Mt. Myohyang(묘향) in May 1988. (See attached images) Since then, the nation has held three major Buddhist events each year.

As Buddha’s birthday is not a holiday in the North, only a limited number of Buddhists designated by the state can participate in relevant ceremonies. Unlike in South Korea, those events have the purpose of showing the outside world that North Korea guarantees freedom of religion. They are also aimed to conduct exchanges with global Buddhist communities.

On the surface, Buddhism does exist in North Korea and the nation advocates the Jogye Order, one of the Buddhist sects.

In 2018, the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights based in Seoul conducted a survey on 13,349 North Korean defectors who resettled in South Korea. When they were asked if people in North Korea were free to engage in religious activities, 99.6 percent of the respondents said no. They said that some North Koreans were even punished for such activities.

In Article 68 of its constitution, North Korea stipulates that citizens have freedom of religion. It notes that the right is granted by approving the construction of religious buildings and the holdings of religious ceremonies. The constitution also notes that no one may use religion as a means of drawing in foreign power or destroying the state or social order.

North Korea approves operations of religious groups such as the Korea Buddhist Federation and the Korean Christian Federation. This is in order to demonstrate that the nation recognizes freedom of religion. But people who belong to the religious associations have not chosen the occupation of their own free will. Rather, they simply carry out their jobs designated by the authorities. Religious activities in North Korea have the major purpose of maintaining the regime and promoting it outwardly.

In North Korea, Buddhist monks are, therefore, religious staff dispatched by the Workers’ Party. For exchanges with the outside world, the Department of Religion at Kim Il-sung University trains would-be religious officials.

North Korean monks do not shave their heads. They do not reside at temples, either, unlike their South Korean counterparts. They go to their temples every morning, wearing a suit, much like office workers who go to work. At temples, they change into outfits made for Buddhist priests. Most of them are married. No one chooses to stay single for the purpose of spiritual training.

South Koreans wouldn’t call North Korean monks Buddhist priests. They could be viewed as sort of temple managers. When foreign guests visit a temple, those at the temple will drape red robes over their black ceremonial garments to make themselves look like priests. That is, they change into the monk’s robes when major events are held. They hardly ever hold regular ceremonies, much less practice asceticism. They appear as monks on the outside, but they are certainly different from South Korean Buddhist monks in terms of roles and responsibility.

Before the division of Korea, there were more than 700 Buddhist priests in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. But as of 2014, the number fell to 300. The Korean War and the nation’s persecution of religion are the main reasons for the decline in the number of Buddhist monks.

Before Korea’s liberation of Japanese colonial rule in 1945, over 400 temples were scattered throughout the northern part of the peninsula. But now, only about 60 temples are found in the North.

In a book titled “Temples in North Korea” published by the Korean Buddhism Promotion Foundation in South Korea in 2009, the number of North Korean temples that meet certain standards totals 64. By region, there are five Buddhist temples in Pyongyang, four in Gaeseong, nineteen in North Pyongan Province, three in South Pyongan Province, two in Jagang Province, four in North Hwanghae Province, six in South Hwanghae Province, four in North Hamgyong Province, seven in South Hamgyong Province and nine in Gangwon Province.

Famous temples include the Pohyon(보현) Temple at Mt. Myohyang(묘향), (see atta hed images) the Kwangbop(광법) Temple at Mt. Taesong(대성), the Pyohun(표훈) Temple at Mt. Geumgang, the Jahye(자혜) Temple in Hwanghae Province and the Songbul(성불) Temple at Mt. Jongbang(정방).

While the number of temples has decreased sharply, North Korea has been working hard to restore and renovate local temples. In 1956, for instance, it repaired the Pyohun Temple at Mt. Geumgang and the Songbul Temple at Mt. Jongbang. In 1961, the nation also restored the disaster-hit Jahye Temple in Hwanghae Province. Since the 1980s, North Korea has made even greater efforts to preserve temples. Professor Chung explains why.

In North Korea, Buddhist temples are regarded as cultural relics from the past, rather than places of worship. So, protecting temples is an act of preserving cultural assets. Religious officials are nurtured at the Department of Religion at Kim Il-sung University.

The department belongs to the division of history, not the division of philosophy, meaning that religions are examined for historical studies.

It is important to examine the history from the past and preserve it. That’s because North Korea uses the past history as a tool of propaganda to highlight the current regime. Through Buddhist temples, North Korea also seeks to show the outside world that it is a normal state, where religions are not suppressed. It uses temples as a channel, through which it receives international aid.

As Professor Chung explains, North Korea does not see temples from a religious perspective but perceives them as a resource for regime maintenance and communist propaganda. The restoration of temples is, therefore, a mere act of repairing cultural properties and developing tourist attractions. So, Buddhism in North Korea remains an empty shell, void of substance. Here’s hoping that freedom of religion is truly ensured in North Korea as early as possible."

- From the article Buddhist Religion in N. Korea
2020-04-30, link in comments.

☸️Recently discovered Buddha statue.☸️

An extraordinary archaeological discovery in North Korea has unveiled a stone statue of Amitābha Buddha dating back to the early 10th century, offering new insights into the spiritual and artistic heritage of the Goryeo dynasty—a time revered as the Golden Age of Buddhism on the Korean Peninsula.

The 1.7-meter-tall statue was uncovered at an archaeological location in Yakjon-ri, Sukchon County, South Phyongan Province, by a joint team from the Archaeology Institute of the Academy of Social Sciences and the National Authority for the Protection of Cultural Heritage. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported the discovery, stating that the statue was carved when the Goryeo kingdom was still in its formative years (918–1392), a monarchical state renowned for religious devotion and a flourishing culture.

Through close examination of the hand positions and iconography of the statue, scholars have identified the figure as Amitābha, the Buddha of Boundless Light, a central Pure Land Buddhist figure. Amitābha is typically depicted seated, meditating, eyes shut in prayer, with a sense of calm and serenity. His presence is often associated with Sukhavati, a celestial realm in which the devout hope to be reborn, free from worldly suffering."

- Archeology magazine website

See captions on images for more information about the images.

28/10/2026

The ten qualities of bodhisattvas, the 1st, faith.

"Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Bhagavat was dwelling on Vulture Peak Mountain in Rājagṛha, together with a great saṅgha of five hundred bhikṣus and a great number of bodhisattva mahāsattvas.

At that time, the bodhisattva mahāsattva King Precious Moonlight of Pure Virtue was present within that assembly. The bodhisattva mahāsattva King Precious Moonlight of Pure Virtue rose from his seat, removed his upper robe from one shoulder, and placed his right knee upon the center of a lotus. He bowed with palms together toward the Bhagavat and said to the Bhagavat,

“If the Bhagavat will grant me the opportunity to ask questions and receive an explanation in response to those questions, then there are questions concerning some matters that I would address to the Bhagavat, the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the Samyaksambuddha.”

The Bhagavat replied to the bodhisattva mahāsattva King Precious Moonlight of Pure Virtue,

“Noble son, the Tathāgata always gives you that opportunity. Ask whatever questions you wish, and I will gladden your mind with an explanation in response to any question you ask.”

Then the bodhisattva mahāsattva King Precious Moonlight of Pure Virtue said to the Bhagavat,

“Bhagavat, you have said that this bhikṣu has entered the Mahāyāna and that that bhikṣu has entered the Mahāyāna. Bhagavat, how does a bhikṣu enter the Mahāyāna? When the Tathāgata declares that someone has entered the Mahāyāna, for what reason does he call this Mahāyāna the Mahāyāna?”

“Well done, King Precious Moonlight of Pure Virtue!” said the Bhagavat (Buddha). “Noble son, your having risen from your place is good, your analysis is good, and your confidence in asking for an explanation is also good.

“Noble son, you are like this: You have undertaken to do this for the benefit of many beings, for the happiness of many beings, out of compassion for the world, and for the benefit and happiness of devas and humans. Your motivation for asking the Tathāgata a question for that purpose is excellent, excellent! Therefore, noble son, I shall explain. Listen well and remember!”

The bodhisattva mahāsattva King Precious Moonlight of Pure Virtue said to the Bhagavat, “This is excellent,” and listened.

The Bhagavat said, “Noble son, a bodhisattva who has entered the Mahāyāna possesses ten qualities. What are those ten?

(1) They have faith,
(2) they are dedicated to practice,
(3) they are of the perfect family,
(4) they are intent upon the aspiration to awakening,
(5) they desire the Dharma,
(6) they examine phenomena,
(7) they follow the Dharma in accord with the Dharma,
(8) they are free of pride and arrogance,
(9) they are skilled in understanding teachings given with a specific intention, and
(10) they do not wish to attain nirvāṇa through the vehicles of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas.”

King Precious Moonlight of Pure Virtue asked,

“Bhagavat, in what way does a bodhisattva have faith?”

“Noble son,” replied the Bhagavat, “in this a bodhisattva mahāsattva is naturally without pretense or deceit.
They are honest and have an honest nature. They have conviction in the awakening of the tathāgatas, the arhats, the samyaksambuddhas.
They have the conviction that the three times are included within a single instant of the wisdom of the tathāgatas.
They have the conviction that the essence of the Tathāgata does not age, does not die, does not come to an end, does not cease, and cannot be destroyed.
They have conviction in the ultimate goal, the dharma realm, the knowledge of all, the knowledge of all aspects, the strengths, the fearlessnesses, and the unique qualities of the buddhas.
They have conviction in the invisible uṣṇīṣas (crown protuberance) of the tathāgatas.
They have conviction in the thirty-two signs of a great being that adorn the tathāgatas, in the perfection of their eighty features, and in their fathom-wide auras.
They have conviction in the teachings of the śrāvakas, the teachings of the pratyekabuddhas, the teachings of the bodhisattvas, and, distinct from those, the excellent teachings given by the great rishis (enlightened beings).
They have conviction that there is this life and that there will be future lives.
They have conviction in renunciants and brahmins who behave properly and who are on the right course.

“They have the conviction that good karma ripens as that which is desirable, happy, and pleasant, such as becoming a lord of devas among devas, or a lord of humans among humans.
They have the conviction that bad karma ripens as results that are undesirable, ugly, unhappy, unpleasant, unendurable, cruel, harsh, and painful for hell beings, animals, and pretas.

There are three qualities that are eliminated by having such convictions.

What are those three?
They are uncertainty, indecision, and doubt.

“Noble son, that is a bodhisattva who follows with faith. Noble son, it is in that way that a bodhisattva has faith.”

Then, at that time, the Bhagavat spoke these verses:

“Faith is the supreme vehicle,
And because of it the guides appear.
Therefore, humans who are intelligent
Depend upon being followers who have faith.

“Faith is supreme in all the worlds,
And those who have faith do not deteriorate.
Therefore, people who are wise
Depend upon being followers who have faith.

“Good qualities will not develop
For people without faith,
Just as sprouts will not grow
From seeds scorched by fire.

“Noble one, what is a bodhisattva who is dedicated to practice like? Noble one, such a bodhisattva shaves off their hair and whiskers, puts on orange robes, and then, with faith, properly goes forth, leaving their home for homelessness.

Once they have gone forth, they learn the training, customs, conduct, and behavior of the śrāvakas.

They also learn the training, customs, conduct, and behavior of the pratyekabuddhas. Through training in that way, they eliminate completely and in every possible way all wickedness of body, speech, and mind."

- Extract from the The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Ten Qualities” Āryadaśadharmakanāmamahāyāna sūtra.

Translated by the 84000 Translation Project from the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, the Kangyur, also called Heap of Jewels(dkon brtsegs/)

Source Description
འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་བཅུ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
Degé Kangyur, vol. 40 (dkon brtsegs, kha), folios 164.a–184.b

Read the rest of the sutra at link in comments.

Image of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, considered to be an incarnation of the bodhisattva Chenrezig/Avalokitesvara.

27/10/2026

Transcendental dependent arising sutta.

"An Exposition of the Upanisa Sutta.

Dependent arising (paticcasamuppada) is the central principle of the Buddha's teaching, constituting both the objective content of its liberating insight and the germinative source for its vast network of doctrines and disciplines. As the frame behind the four noble truths, the key to the perspective of the middle way, and the conduit to the realization of selflessness, it is the unifying theme running through the teaching's multifarious expressions, binding them together as diversified formulations of a single coherent vision.

The earliest suttas equate dependent arising with the unique discovery of the Buddha's enlightenment, so profound and difficult to grasp that he at first hesitated to announce it to the world. A simple exposition of the principle sparks off the liberating wisdom in the minds of his foremost disciples, while skill in explaining its workings is made a qualification of an adroit expounder of the Dhamma. So crucial is this principle to the body of the Buddha's doctrine that an insight into dependent arising is held to be sufficient to yield an understanding of the entire teaching. In the words of the Buddha: "He who sees dependent arising sees the Dhamma; he who sees the Dhamma sees dependent arising."

The Pali texts present dependent arising in a double form. It appears both as an abstract statement of universal law and as the particular application of that law to the specific problem which is the doctrine's focal concern, namely, the problem of suffering. In its abstract form the principle of dependent arising is equivalent to the law of the conditioned genesis of phenomena. It expresses the invariable concomitance between the arising and ceasing of any given phenomenon and the functional efficacy of its originative conditions. Its phrasing, as terse as any formulation of modern logic, recurs in the ancient texts thus:

"This being, that exists; through the arising of this that arises. This not being, that does not exist; through the ceasing of this that ceases."

When applied to the problem of suffering, the abstract principle becomes encapsulated in a twelve-term formula disclosing the causal nexus responsible for the origination of suffering. It begins with ignorance, the primary root of the series though not a first cause, conditioning the arising of ethically determinate volitions, which in turn condition the arising of consciousness, and so on through the salient occasions of sentient becoming down to their conclusion in old age and death:

"With ignorance as condition, the kamma formations; with kamma formations as condition consciousness; with consciousness as condition, mentality-materiality; with mentality-materiality as condition the sixfold sense base; with the sixfold sense base as condition, contact; with contact as condition, feeling; with feeling as condition, craving; with craving as condition, clinging; with clinging as condition, existence; with existence as condition, birth; with birth as condition, aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair arise. Such is the origination of this entire mass of suffering."
— SN 12, passim

The corollary of this formula, which constantly accompanies it, describes the conditioned cessation of suffering. It shows how, when ignorance ceases, all the following conditions successively cease, down to the cessation of the "entire mass of suffering."

Though the principle of dependent arising is applicable to any situation where an origination of phenomena takes place, the Pali Buddhist tradition has focused upon the doctrine almost exclusively in terms of its twelvefold formulation. So much has this been the case that the two have tended to be blankly identified with each other, dependent arising being equated simply with the twelvefold series and the twelvefold series being regarded as an exhaustive treatment of dependent arising.

This exclusiveness of emphasis doubtlessly poses a certain danger of rigidity; but even despite this danger it is not without its justification. For the aim of the Buddha's teaching is not abstract and theoretical, but concrete and soteriological. Its goal is liberation from suffering, understood in its deepest sense as the unsatisfactoriness of sentient existence indefinitely repeated in the wheel of becoming, the cycle of births and deaths, called samsara.

The twelve-term nexus contributes to this liberative thrust by bringing the principle of dependent arising to bear directly on the condition which it is the doctrine's over-riding concern to ameliorate. If suffering is produced by causes, these causes and the way they can be stopped must be uncovered and exposed. The twelvefold application accomplishes precisely this. In its positive or direct aspect (anuloma) it makes known the causal chain behind suffering, demonstrating how the round of existence arises and turns through the impulsions of craving, clinging, and karma, working freely behind the shielding screen of ignorance. In its negative or reverse side (patiloma) it reveals the way to the cessation of suffering, showing that when ignorance is eliminated by the rise of true knowledge all the factors dependent on ignorance likewise draw to a close.

However, as a consequence of this constriction of attention, sight has tended to be lost of the broader range of exemplifications the principle of dependent arising might have, even within the limits of the soteriological direction of the teaching. Dependent arising cannot be reduced to any single one of its applications. Any application is only a pedagogical device framed from the standpoint of the teaching's practical orientation. Above and beyond its specific instances, dependent arising remains an expression of the invariable structural relatedness of phenomena.

It is a principle to which all phenomena conform by the very nature of their being, the principle that whatever comes into existence does so in dependence on conditions. From the perspective this teaching affords, things are seen to arise, not from some intrinsic nature of their own, from necessity, chance or accident, but from their causal correlations with other things to which they are connected as part of the fixed order obtaining between phenomena.

Each transient entity, emerging into the present out of the stream of events bearing down from the past, absorbs into itself the causal influx of the past, to which it must be responsive. During its phase of presence it exercises its own distinctive function with the support of its conditions, expressing thereby its own immediacy of being. And then, with the completion of its actuality, it is swept away by the universal impermanence to become itself a condition determinant of the future.

When this law of inter-connected becoming, of conditionality and relatedness, is extracted from its usual exemplifications and explored for further doctrinal bearings, it can be found to have other ramifications equally relevant to the realization of the teaching's fundamental aim. One particular exemplification of dependent arising,; found with minor variations in a number of suttas, shows the basic principle to serve as the scaffolding for the course of spiritual development issuing in final emancipation.

It figures in these suttas as the architectonic underlying the gradual training, governing the process by which one phase of practice conditions the arising of the following phase all the way from the commencement of the path to the realization of the ultimate goal. To be sure, the application of dependent arising to the achievement of deliverance is already covered from one angle by the reverse or cessation side of the twelvefold formula, according to which the cessation of ignorance sets off a series of cessations culminating in the cessation of suffering.

Thence in itself such an application is not a unique feature of these suttas. What gives these suttas their distinctive quality and value is the positive form in which they cast the sequential pattern of the liberative venture. Whereas the series of cessations presents the achievement of liberation logically, in strict doctrinal terms as the consequence following upon the annulment of samsaric bo***ge, the present sequence views the same chain of events dynamically, from the inner perspective of living experience.

As living experience, the advance to emancipation cannot be tied down to a series of mere negations, for such a mode of treatment omits precisely what is most essential to the spiritual quest — the immediacy of inner striving, growth, and transformation. Parallel to the demolition of old barriers there occurs, in the quest for deliverance, a widening of vistas characterized by an evolving sense of maturation, enrichment, and fulfillment; the departure from bo***ge, anxiety, and suffering at the same time means the move towards freedom and peace.

This expansion and enrichment is made possible by the structure of the gradual training, which is not so much a succession of discrete steps one following the other as a locking together of overlapping components in a union at once augmentative, consummative, and projective. Each pair of stages intertwines in a mutually vitalizing bond wherein the lower, antecedent member nurtures its successor by serving as its generative base, and the higher, consequent member completes its predecessor by absorbing its energies and directing them on to the next phase in the series.

Each link thus performs a double function: while rewarding the efforts expended in the accomplishment of the antecedent stage, it provides the incentive for the commencement of the consequent stage. In this way the graduated training unfolds organically in a fluid progression in which, as the Buddha says, "stage flows over into stage, stage fulfills stage, for crossing over from the hither shore to the beyond."

- Bhikku Bodhi, Transcendental Dependent Arising.
From: A Translation and Exposition of the Upanisa Sutta by Bhikkhu Bodhi, © 1995.

Read the rest of Bhikkhu Bodhi's exposition and the sutta itself at link in comments.

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