[sbrpkkl]

thank you all for your replies.

sorry, came to net after 24 hours d/t busy schedule and so late to acknowledge.

i got the impression from the posts that understanding of the dependent origination with respect to elimination of ignorance and suffering is all that matters and hence the twelve links of dependent origination is the most relevant. that was a very good point indeed, coz buddhism is solely aimed towards ending suffering as evidenced by the four noble truths.

Paticcasamuppada is more like "deep-running theory" than a "this is all that matters, just figure this out" sort of thing.


when i mentioned dependent origination in my post, i didnt specifically mean it for the twelve links but rather in a more general sense , more like interdependent coorigination for all phenomena. Paticcasamuppada is not an explanation of "interdependent coorigination for all phenomena" -- that is a popular way to imagine it, but it is a way wrong turn from which many never recover. Instead it is an explanation of the arising of suffering due to the influence of ignorance on a person -- a "deep-theory" exercise corresponding to the first two Noble Truths: there is this problem of suffering, and this is a model of the process of how it arises.


...it was more of an analytical exercise on emptiness of all phenomena. Neither does paticcasamuppada attempt to explain sunnata.

i was wondering if emptiness can ever be communicated properly within the limitation of conventional language as the expression of emptiness in language through the use of words for which our conventional mind already assumes some inherencies makes it a very difficult job i guess. Another wrong turn. The Buddha expained sunnata thus: Nothing whatsoever should be thought of as "me" or "mine". Very simple. No hocus-pocus necessary.



....may be it is something to be experienced directly in meditation to be fully convinced of. if all phenomena lack an essence, That sort of philosophical speculative view is what the Buddha was trying to get away from.

...how can we make the statement" everything is empty because it arises dependent upon so many other factors", when infact there is no other factor to point to, each factor vanishing instantly as we point to it by applying the same reason. yet, phenomena are still manifesting dependent on phantom factors which inturn depend on other phantom factors and so on ad infinitum. so when we say "phenomena exist dependent on factors", are we supposed to take it at face value as it is and dont go further than that ,it being a futile exercise?
This is the sort of plot cul-de-sac that the Buddha was working to help us get away from. Why head-trip over things one can only speculate upon, when ones time could be better spent doing something useful like working to destroy selfishness, greed and hatred in oneself.

or maybe, as posted earlier, realising the emptiness of mind is all that matters rather than delving into the emptiness of external phenomena.
More irrelevant head-trip stuff. All "the mind" -- whatever that is-- is "empty of" is "me" or "what is mine".

i thank everybody for their replies and the links provided. i am yet to go through all the links. going through the posts has been pretty enriching so far. i am sure the links will definitely add on to that.

peace. "Going through the links" isn't nearly so important as understanding that it is a sort of "Garbage In, Garbage Out" mental model, a road map from the first to the last: "Ignorance --> Me --> Suffering". "Garbage In --> Me --> Garbage Out". Easy. No need to get hung up on irrelevant and tangential speculative metaphysical and ontological wrong turns. Simply "Oh -- Garbage In, Garbage Out", and here is the way to stop this sort of mental cycle: the Noble Eightfold Path. Easy."