Twelve Links of Dependent Arising

The 12 links of dependent arising is a central and important topic in the Buddhist path; it’s important to know why it’s important in order to develop interest and motivation to study and learn about it. As an introduction, let me discuss this importance first. The Importance...

Twelve Links of Dependent Arising Describe Rebirth and How to Stop It The twelve links of dependent arising (rten-’brel yan-lag bcu-gnyis) describe the mechanism of rebirth. Rebirth concerns the continuity of the mind. When we speak about mind in Buddhism, we are not talking...

Introduction: Deconstructing the Self and the Aggregates According to the Buddhist analysis, the self is imputed on the individual continuity of the five aggregates. The aggregates are made up of all non-static phenomena – everything that changes from moment to moment – and...

Introduction By nature, everyone wants to be happy and no one wants to be unhappy. No one wants to suffer. That nature is what drives an infant to suck milk; it drives us to eat, to find shelter, etc. – it is a natural drive. In order to rid ourselves of unhappiness and...

The next set of prayers are prayers not to be confused about the practice of the path. This is divided into two sections: Prayers to not be confused about the words concerning meditationPrayers to not be confused about the meaning of the words. Prayer Not To Be Confused about...

Review We were talking about how "mind" in Buddhism refers to an activity that goes on with no break, with no beginning and with no end. It is the mental activity of experiencing things and it is an individual, subjective experiencing of things. We are not talking here about...

Suffering and Rebirth The Buddhist teachings teach us methods for overcoming various types of suffering. We have the general suffering of unhappiness, which can accompany either our sensory experiences or also our mental experiences. We also have a problem with our ordinary...

Review of the Need for Understanding the 12 Links  The 12 links of dependent arising describe how true suffering, the first noble truth, comes about from the true origin or cause of suffering, the second noble truth.  True suffering refers to the aggregate factors of...

Review In this formulation, karma is exclusively a mental factor, an urge or impulse. It is the impulse that, while focused on an object, drives the primary consciousness and its accompanying mental factors to engage, in the next moment, in a specific action directed toward or...

We were talking about the first link in this chain of dependent arising and we saw that this is the link of unawareness and it has to do with unawareness of how we and others exist. The main emphasis that we need to focus on is ourselves. We saw that there are two levels of...