Conditionality (idappaccayatā) in the Pāli Discourses of the Buddha
Philosophies May 20, 2025 DOI: 10.3390/philosophies10030061 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that conditioned co-origination (paṭicca-samuppāda) involves synchronic, non-linear, and non-causal conditional relations, and that the teaching expands the Buddha's insight into impermanence and uncertainty (anicca). Proposes that contemplating the conditional nature of experience as a whole, rather than specific causal relations, enables the direct insight that whatever arises also ceases, which the author presents as unlocking the path to nibbāna. |
Abstract
In the Pāli discourses of the Buddha, ‘conditioned co-origination’ (paṭicca-samuppāda) is the key insight that underpins the Buddha’s own awakening and his teaching. This paper aims to shed light on three connected aspects of conditioned co-origination: the synchronic and non-linear nature of the conditional relations it establishes, the non-causal nature of this relation, and how the whole teaching can be seen as a deepening and expansion of the Buddha’s core insight about the impermanence and uncertainty (anicca) of all conditioned phenomena, which is also central in several forms of Buddhist meditation. These three points are connected. (1) By realizing how any given experience arises out of the systematic conditional relationship among several factors, (2) the practitioner’s attention is directed to contemplate the constitutively conditional nature of phenomenal experience as a whole (instead of focusing on specific causal relations), (3) by thus becoming able to directly see that ‘whatever has the nature of arising, all of that has the nature of ceasing’ (SN 56.11), which is the key insight that unlocks the path towards nibbāna.