Dependent Arising

We’ve been speaking about dependent arising, and we’ve seen that it fits together with the topic of voidness – there is no such thing as a self-establishing nature that, by its own power, establishes the existence of conventional objects and what they conventionally are. Their...

Recognizing Anything to Which Mind Gives Rise The Fourth Panchen Lama next explains how to cultivate seeing everything to be like illusion with the deep awareness we subsequently attain after we arise from total absorption on voidness. We cultivate this during our so-called...

Realizing the Voidness of Mind Itself Once we have gained conviction in the lack of true and inherent identity on the basis of our own "self," we turn to the basis of other persons or individuals and then to the massive network of all other phenomena. We examine voidness...

Statement of the Problem The most basic mental activity during each moment of our experience is to produce mental objects and simultaneously to engage with them. If, however, the actual object we perceive with mirror-like awareness is merely an appearance our mind creates,...

A Q&A with Dr. Berzin and his students about the relationship between Buddhism and science, with specific examples of points that they share in common.

With a correct understanding of voidness and dependent arising, we will avoid the two extremes of absolutism and nihilism, and then be best able to deal with the complexities of life.

A determination to be free of suffering, a bodhichitta aim to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all, and a correct understanding of emptiness are the three principal aspects of the graded path to enlightenment.

Nagarjuna’s text is a foundational treatise on Madhyamika philosophy consisting of 27 chapters. Chapter 26 offers an analysis of the twelve links of dependent arising.

Voidness, or emptiness, is the total absence of impossible ways of existing, such as self-established inherent existence, while mental labeling is how we account for the conventional existence of things as “this” or “that.”

When we correctly understand emptiness (voidness), we correctly understand dependent arising; and when we correctly understand dependent arising, we correctly understand emptiness.