Reasoning Out
the
Paṭicca Samuppāda
Consequential Self-Appearance
What being, is there aging and death?
Aging and Death. Jarā-maraṇa. Growing old in years, becoming feeble, the weakening of the sense faculties, dying, the departure from this life, mortality, the breaking apart into their basic elements of the factors that support life.
What results in aging and death?
There being birth, there is aging and death.
Birth. Jāti. Being born, becoming an identified-with living individuality in some class of living beings.
Birth results in aging and death.
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What being is there birth?
What results in birth?
There being existence there is birth.
Existence, living, being, becoming. Bhava. Existing in a place of existence; as a human in human existence; as an animal, ghost, daemon or being in hell; as a god among gods; as a being in the realms of sense experience; in the realms of formed existence; in the realms of formlessness existence. Existence begins at the contact of consciousness with named forms. The result is sense-consciousness, sense-perception, sense-experience.
Existence results in birth.
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What being is there existence?
What results in existence?
There being supporting fuel there is existence.
Supporting Fuel. Upādāna. Contemplation of delight in pleasures of the senses, in existing as some sort of being in some sort of place of being; planning as to how to get or get away from; taking action intending to create experience of existence for the self in thought, word or deed. Upadāna is the mechanism of action of saṅkhāra.
Supporting fuel results in existence.
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What being is there supporting fuel?
What results in supporting fuel?
There being hunger and thirst there is supporting fuel.
Hunger and Thirst. Taṇhā. Wanting, wishing, desire for, hunger for, thirst for the re-experiencing of pleasant, unpleasant or neither pleasant nor unpleasant sensations of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking.
Hunger and thirst results in supporting fuel.
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What being is there hunger and thirst?
What results in hunger and thirst?
There being sense-experience there is hunger and thirst.
Sense-Experience. Vedanā. Sensations of pleasure, pain or neither pleasure nor pain arising from contact of consciousness, sense organ and sense object. Eye and visible objects give rise to visual-consciousness; visual consciousness becomes the sense-object of the mind sense which fits the various sense consciousness experiences together into a picture and from there into a story.
Sense experience results in hunger and thirst.
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What being is there sense-experience?
What results in sense-experience?
There being touch there is sense-experience.
Touch. Phassa. Contact, being in contact with, identification with the perception of sense-organ, sense-object, and sense consciousness.
Touch results in sense-experience.
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What being is there touch?
What results in touch?
There being the six-sense realms there is touch.
The six-sense realms. Saḷāyatana. The eye, visible objects, visual consciousness,
the pleasant, unpleasant and the neither pleasant nor unpleasant sensations that arise from contact with visual consciousness,
thinking about sights,
hunger and thirst for sights,
intentions relating to sights.
The ear and sounds, auditory consciousness, the pleasant, unpleasant and the neither pleasant nor unpleasant sensations that arise from contact with auditory consciousness, thinking about sounds, hunger and thirst for sounds, intentions relating to sounds.
The nose and scents, olfactory consciousness, the pleasant, unpleasant and the neither pleasant nor unpleasant sensations that arise from contact with olfactory consciousness, thinking about scents, hunger and thirst for scents, intentions relating to scents.
The tongue and tastes, consciousness of tastes, the pleasant, unpleasant and the neither pleasant nor unpleasant sensations that arise from contact with savours, thinking about tastes, huger and thirst for tastes, intentions relating to tastes.
The body and touches, tactile consciousness, the pleasant, unpleasant and the neither pleasant nor unpleasant sensations that arise from contact with tactile consciousness, thinking about touches, hunger and thirst for touches, intentions relating to touches.
The identified-with Mind (mano)[1] and things, mental consciousness, the pleasant, unpleasant and the neither pleasant nor unpleasant sensations that arise from contact with mental consciousness, thinking about things, hunger and thirst for things, intentions relating to things.
The six-sense realms result in touch.
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What being is there the six-sense realms?
What results in the six-sense realms?
There being named-form there is the six-sense realms.
Named-form. Nāma-rūpa. The shape or form of an object, whether material or immaterial (all of those things described above as belonging to the six-sense-realms are nama/rupas), and the terms used to identify it.
Name-and-form result in the six-sense realms.
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What being is there name-and-form?
What results in name-and-form?
There being identified-with consciousness[2] there is name-and-form.
Identified-with consciousness. aka sense-consciousness Viññāṇa. Knowing Knowing. Awareness of knowing of being conscious.
Identified-with consciousness results in named-form.
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[This next step is omitted in SN 2.12.4. It is implied by the next step, and it is explained in the Mahā Nidāna Sutta, DN. 15 ]
What being is there identified-with consciousness?
What results in identified-with consciousness?
There being name-and-form there is identified-with consciousness.
Name-and-form results in iIdentified-with consciousness.
What being is there named-form?
What results in named-form?
There being identified-with consciousness there is named-form.
Indentified-with consciousness results in named-form.
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What being is there identified-with consciousness?
What results in identified-with consciousness?
There being own-making[3] there is identified-with consciousness.
Own-making. Saṅkhāra. Con-struction, with-making. Identification with the intent to create experience of existence for the self through acts of thought, word, and deed and the resulting identified-with experience.
Own-making results in identified-with consciousness.
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What being is there own-making?
What results in own-making?
There being lack of vision there is own-making.
Lack of vision. A-vijjā. Not 'seeing' the self-made nature of existence. Not seeing that deeds rebound on the deed-maker in accordance with the intent of the deed. Not seeing that the result is essentially pain. Not seeing that it is hunger and thirst that is the fundamental source of that pain. Not seeing that to end that pain, one must end that hunger and thirst. Not seeing that the way to end that hunger and thirst is:
High View: the view that this is pain, that it originates with hunger and thirst, that it can only be brought to an end by eliminating the hunger and thirst, and that the way to do that is High View, High Principles, High Talk, High Works, High Lifestyle, High Self-control, High Mind, and High Serenity;
High Principles: Letting go, no mental cruelty, non-violence;
High Talk: abstention from lies, slander, abusive speech;
High Works: works done without lies, theft, or violence
High Lifestyle: living abandoning what is perceived as a low lifestyle;
High self-control: making an effort, seeking to get rid of bad states, keep off bad states, obtain good states, retain good states;
High Mind: Awareness of the arising, maintaining, and passing off of body, sense-experience, states of the heart or mind, and the Dhamma such that one abandons all anger and unhappiness, is satisfied, and above it all.
High Serenity: By rising above sense pleasures and unskillful things, entering into and making a habitat of appreciation of the peace of solitude; the peace of meditation, ease, and detachment.
Lack of vision results in own-making.
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So:
Lack of vision results in own-making;
Own-making results in identified-with consciousness;
Identified-with consciousness results in name-and-form;
Name-and-form results in the six sense realms;
The six sense realms result in contact;
Contact results in sense-experience;
Sense-experience results in hunger and thirst;
Hunger and thirst result in supporting fuel;
Supporting fuel results in existence;
Existence results in birth;
Birth results in old age, sickness, suffering and death,
grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair.
§
What then, not being is there no[4] aging and death?
What ending ends aging and death?
Birth not being there is no aging and death.
Ending birth ends aging and death.
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What then, not being is there no birth?
What ending ends birth?
Existence not being there is no birth.
Ending existence ends birth.
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What then, not being is there no existence?
What ending ends existence?
Supporting fuel not being there is no existence.
Ending supporting fuel ends existence.
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What then, not being is there no supporting fuel?
What ending ends supporting fuel?
Hunger and thirst not being there is no supporting fuel.
Ending hunger and thirst ends supporting fuel.
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What then, not being is there no hunger and thirst?
What ending ends hunger and thirst?
Sense-experience not being there is no hunger and thirst.
Ending sense-experience ends hunger and thirst.
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What then, not being is there no sense-experience?
What ending ends sense-experience?
Contact not being there is no sense-experience.
Ending contact ends sense-experience.
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What then, not being is there no contact?
What ending ends contact?
The six sense realms not being there is no contact.
Ending the six sense realms ends contact.
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What then, not being is there no six sense realms?
What ending ends the six sense realms?
Name-and-form not being there is no six sense realms.
Ending name-and-form ends the six sense realms.
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What then, not being is there no name-and-form?
What ending ends name-and-form?
Identified-with consciousness not being there is no name-and-form.
Ending identified-with consciousness ends name-and-form.
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What then, not being is there no identified-with consciousness?
What ending ends identified-with consciousness?
Own-making not being there is no identified-with consciousness.
Ending own-making ends identified-with consciousness.
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What then, not being is there no own-making?
What ending ends own-making?
Lack of vision not being there is no own-making.
Ending lack of vision ends own-making.
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So it is that:
Ending lack of vision ends own-making;
ending own-making ends identified-with consciousness;
ending identified-with consciousness ends name-and-form;
ending name-and-form ends the six sense realms;
ending the six sense-realms ends contact;
ending contact ends sense-experience;
ending sense-experience ends hunger and thirst;
ending hunger and thirst ends support fuel;
ending support fuel ends existence;
ending existence ends birth;
ending birth ends old age, sickness, suffering and death,
grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair.
[1] Mano. There are numerous forms of 'mind', and the word can indicate the unidentified-with mind of the Arahant. Here the term is qualified by its inclusion as a sense-sphere as being the mind of an identified-with, existing being.
[2] Consciousness. Here this is just the fact of consciousness. Consciousness as a phenomena. Like 'Mind', there are many forms of consciousness, each depending on its object. Consciousness does not arise without having an object of its awareness. If consciousness arises in conjunction with consciousness of an unidentified-with (un own-made) named-form it is called 'the unseen consciousness) which is a term for the consciousness of the Arahant and is an equivalent of Nibbāna. Who made the un-identified-with named form? Someone else. This 'unidentified-with consciousness' arises with consciousness that the object is not own-made as its object.
[3] Own-making. In different words, an 'identified-with consciousness of existence as named-form (i.e., an already existing conscious living being) acts with intent to create identified-with experience by bringing together in thought: consciousness, name and form. So we can say that 'named-form created consciousness' and 'consciousness created named-form'. Conceiving in mind a desired object and taking steps by way of thought, word and deed to obtain that object; that object being realized (being made up from named forms) there is consciousness arising from that situation.
[4] "Is there no." This statement is absolute and relative. It would be that if there were 'no' anywhere there would be 'no' anywhere; but directed at the individual this means: "if you personally had no/did no". "If there were in you no" etc.
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