At the 15 day retreat last year I talked about the Doctrine of Paticca Samuppàda or Dependent origination among other things. I thought I would be able to finish the talks on Dependent Origination during that retreat, but I was wrong. I could not finish. So I told the yogis that i would pick that up in my future rtreats. Although I had some shorter retreats in between, I wnted to talk about some other things which may be more useful for the yogis. So I put off talking about Dependent Origination until now. As I promised last night I will continue my talks on Dependent Origination.

For those who are not familiar with this doctrine, I will give a brief sketch of this doctrine. The Doctrine is called in Pàli Paticca Samuppàda. It is translated as Dependent Origination, or Conditioned Genesis, and there may also be other translations.

This Doctrine teaches us that everything is conditioned by some other thing. There is nothing which is absolute in this world. Everything is relative. According to this Doctrine there is no first cause. Cause-effect relationship goes on and on and on. It goes back ad infinitum.

This Doctrine of Dependent Origination was reflected upon by every Bodhisatta before or on the eve of becoming Buddhas. So Gotama Buddha also before becoming Buddha reflected upon this Doctrine back and forth, back and forth. Also after becoming the Buddha, he reflected upon this Doctrine again and again. All through his ministry of 45 years he taught this Doctrine again and again to different people on different occasions.

This Doctrine deals with cause-effect relationship. It deals with what we call existence or life.

The beginning of this Doctrine is that ignorance conditions actions, good or bad actions. Ignorance, although it is at the beginning of the formula for Dependent Origination, is not the first cause of things. It is put at the beginning just to show that there must be something where we can start.

'Ignorance' here means not knowing correctly and also knowing incorrectly. Buddha said that things are impermanent, but people do not know that things are impermanent. They know incorrectly that things are permanent. And people do not know the Four Noble Truths. Because of this ignorance people tend to do actions - mental actions, verbal actions and bodily ctions. Along with these actions there is what we call 'volition'. This volition is what is known as kamma. So because of ignorance people do or acquire Kamma. Sometimes it is good Kama and sometimes it is bad Kamma.

Depending on this Kamma or as the result of this Kamma, good or bad, there are results especially in future lives, in the form of resultant consciousness. So conditioned or depending on Kamma or to use the technical term depending on Sankhàras (formations) resultant consciousness arises. Along with this consciousness there arise some mental states and material properties.

With these mentl states and material properties there are the six bases - eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind. When these six bases come into contact with six external objects there arise seeing consciousness, hearing consciousness and so on.

Depending on the coming together of these three - the visible object, the eye and seeing consciousness - there arises what we call 'contact'. 'Contact' relly means vividly perceiving the object. That is called contact.

Depending on contact there arises feeling or sensation. For example when we see something which we want to see, which is desirable, there is a pleasurable feeling. When we see something ugly, which we do not want to see, there is displeasurable feeling. When we see neutral things, then we have neutral feeling.

Speaking with reference to Abhidhamma, right at the moment of seeing and so on, the feeling is just neutral. But after the moment of seeing there follow moments of impulsions or Javanas. At the moments of Javana there cn be pleasurable feeling, or displeasurable feeling or neutral feeling. So we can generally say that when you see something pleasurable, you have pleasurable feeling and so on.

Depending on these three kinds of feelings there arises craving or attachment. When we have displeasurable feelings, we long for pleasurable feelings. That longing for or craving for pleasurable feelings is conditioned by the displeasurable feelings we are experiencing. When we experience pleasurable feelings, we want more of them. So there is still this craving for pleasurable feelings. And with respect to neutral feelings, because they are tranquil, they are taken to be the same as pleasurable feelings. When we have neutral feelings too, we want to have plesurable feelings. And so there is craving.

Beginning with ignorance we have these factors in this Doctrine of Dependent Origination. There are links between ignorance and Kamma formations, between Kamma formations and resultant consciousness, between consciousness and mind and matter, between mind and matter and six sense bases, between six sense bases and contact, between contact and feeling, between feeling and craving.

This flow of cause and effect goes on and on and on in a round about way. So it is called the wheel of existence or the wheel of becoming.

The wheel of becoming can be interrupted only at one place. That place is between feeling and craving. Once we reach the state of craving we will go on and on. There is no stopping of that. The only place where we can interfere with this wheel of existence is between feeling and craving. Although we have pleasurable feeling, we can develop our mind so that we do not have craving. Although we have displeasurable feeling, we can control our minds so that we do not have craving for pleasurable feelings. This is the place where we can break this wheel of existence. That is done by the practice of Vipassanà meditation, wtching each and every sensation or feeling with mindfulness. When we apply mindfulness to these sensations, we come to see the arising and disappearing of these sensations. When we see the arising and disappearing of these sensations, we will not be craving for better sensations, since they are impermanent and so on. This is the only place where we can break this wheel of existence.

Once we have reached the stge of craving, we will go on and on and on. Today I will talk about the next link or the next stage. That is clinging or Upàdàna. Conditioned by craving clinging arises. The Pàli word for clinging is Upàdàna. It is composed of two parts 'Upa' and 'Àdàna'. Upa is a prefix. It means firmness here. Àdàna means taking hold of. So Upàdàna means firmly taking hold of something. Something that takes hold of something firmly is called Upàdàna. It is translated as clinging or grasping.

There are four kinds of graspings or clingings mentioned in the Path of Purification or Visuddhi Magga. Depending on or conditioned by craving one of these four clingings arises. The first one is sense desire clinging. The second one is false view clinging. The third one is rite and ritual clinging. The fourth one is self doctrine clinging.

The first one, sense desire clinging, is clinging to sensual objects. There are objects which re the objects of sense desires - desirable sights, desirable sounds and so on. People are attracted to them or attached to them. When we see something beautiful, we are attached to that visible object. We are not only attached to that visible object but we are also attached to the base of that visible object. If you know Abhidhamma, you will see that the visible object is the only one of the 28 material properties which can be seen.

What you see is just the visible object or the visible datum, not a person, not a man, not a woman. But when we like the visible datum, we also like the base of this visible datum which is person or which may be a thing.

If we consider sound, it becomes clearer. We hear something, let us say a song. Then we are attached to that voice. We like that voice. But we do not stop there. We like the person who has that voice. We like the singer. We become his or her fan. Then there is this clinging.

The first Upàdàna is clinging to sense objects, the six kinds of sense objects. We talked about craving and clinging to sense objects or sense desire which is itself clinging. Sense desire clinging really means sense desire. In Pàli it is Kàmupàdàna. In Pàli the word 'Kàma' means the object of the senses as well as the desire for these objects. In some cases the word 'Kàma' may mean both and in other cases it may mean one or the other. Here it can mean in one sense one thing and in another sense another thing. If it is translated as clinging for sense objects, then the word 'Kàma' means sense objects. But if it is translated as desire which is clinging then 'Kàma' means the desire for sense objects. Whatever meaning we give to the word 'Kàma', Kàmupàdàna or the first clinging is the desire for sense objects.

What is the difference between craving and clinging or grasping? Craving is what? In Abhidhamma craving is Lobha. What is clinging, this sense desire clinging? It is the same, Lobha. One and the same Lobha is described as craving in one place or in one sense and clinging in another. The difference is that when craving becomes strong, when craving becomes so strong that it cannot let go of the object, then it is called clinging. Not so strong craving is craving and strong craving is clinging. Firmness of craving is the name for the subsequent craving itself. It becomes firm by the influence of the previous craving which acts as its decisive support condition. That means craving and clinging cannot be present at the same time. Craving precedes clinging. First there is craving. First there is not so strong attachment. Then it develops into very strong attachment. The not so strong attachment is related to the later strong attachment by way of decisive support. Decisive support is one of the 24 modes of causal conditions taught in the last book of Abhidhamma, the Patthàna.

Craving is aspiring to an object which one has not yet reached. It is like a thief stretching out his hand in the dark. Before you get something, you want to get that thing. At that time it is called craving. It is like when a thief stretches out his hand to take hold of something in the dark. So you have not tken hold of anything, but you want to possess that thing. Before getting that thing, before possessing tht thing, there is attachment or desire for that thing. That is craving.

Clinging is the grasping of an object that one has reached, like the thief's grasping of his objective. When the thief has taken hold of something, then he will not let go of it. In the same way when craving has developed into clinging, then it will not let go of the objects. This is the difference between craving and clinging or grasping.

Craving is said to be opposed to fewness of wishes. Monks are always instructed to have few wishes. Craving is the opposite of fewness of wishes. Clinging is the opposite of contentment. When you cling to something, you are not content. They are the opposites of fewness of wishes and contentment respectively.

Craving is the root of suffering due to seeking. Clinging is the root of suffering due to guarding or protecting. That means with regard to property or things we have two kinds of suffering. One is suffering through seeking and the other is suffering through protecting.

For example, let us say you want a new car. Before you get that car you have to suffer because you have to work to get enough money to buy that car. So you have to suffer heat, cold and all sorts of things before you get that car. That suffering is called suffering due to seeking.

Once you get that car the suffering due to seeking disappears, but there is another suffering waiting for you. That is the suffering of protecting that car. You hav to protect that car from being stolen or from being damaged by someone or from being scratched by children and so on.

With regard to things or property there are these two kinds of suffering. Craving is the root of suffering due to seeking. Grasping or clinging is the root of suffering due to guarding. This is the difference btween craving and clinging although in reality both are one and the sme mental state which is Lobha or attachment.

What is the second one? It is false view clinging. According to the teachings of the Buddha there re some false views or wrong views. Traditionally the wrong view or false view is stated as ten based. That means there are ten points of wrong view.

One wrong view is that there is no giving. 'No giving' means the wrong view that there are no results of giving. Although you may give or you may donate something, you will get no results from that giving. The only result you will get is that you will lose what you have given away. You donate something, so you lose that thing. This is a wrong view because there are results of giving even in this life. When you give something, you feel happy. And the person who accepts your donation is happy. Also you are liked by people. Your fame is spread far and wide. Also according to the Law of Kamma you will get a good result in the next life. This wrong view however takes it that there are no results of giving. So people with this view may not give at all.

There is no offering. That means having a big-scale offering like a sacrifice. The other one is there is no small-scale giving. 'Small-scale giving' means entertining guests or giving presents at different times. It is something like giving at Christmas or the New Year. So theere are n results from these types of giving. Giving is divided into three here because it is what people practiced in those days.

The fourth one is that there are no good or bad results of good or bad Kammas. Whatever you do, there will just be the doing. You will not get any good or bad results from your actions. Therefore you may do whatever you like or you may not do whatever you do not like.

The fifth one is that there is no mother and the sixth one is that there is no father. That means there is no mother or father to be respected or to feel grateful towards. The children are born out of gratification of the senses and there is just that. Therefore there is no need to thank your mother or father. There is no need to pay respect to them or to look after them and so on. This view is also a wrong view or false view. People who have this view may feel something different when they become older and paents themselves, that is when their children say to them, 'No father, no mother.'

There are no beings reborn in other existences and no beings who are reborn as fully developed beings. When beings are reborn in the celestial worlds, they are reborn s fully grown persons, unlike human beings. This view does not accept that there are such beings. The only beings that there are, are the beings that we see in this life. There are no other beings.

The next one is there is no this world. There is no other world. That means there is no 'this world' for those from other worlds. That means this is the only orld we have, the visible world. No beings are reborn from other worlds. There is no this world for beings reborn in other worlds. Also there is no other world for beings reborn in this world. That means there may be other worlds like ceestial worlds and so on. Beings are born there and die there and that is all there is to it. And we are born here and we die here and that is the end of us. Taking this wrong view is called 'there is no this world and there is no that world.'

Some people have the wrong view that there are no religious teachers or holy persons who really see the truths of the world through their own wisdom and proclaim it to the world. Such people believe all religious teachers are false.

These are the ten kinds of wrong view stated in the Suttas and also in the Abhidhamma. These wrong views are what we call here false view clinging. When one clings to this wrong view and it becomes so strong that one cannot let it go, it becomes a clinging or grasping. These wrong views can be very strong. Once taken they are very difficult to give up. Only through the practice of Vipassanà meditation can these wrong views be eliminated completely. This is the second Upàdàna.

The third one is translated as rite and ritual clinging. I think this is important. Sometimes I have met people. We monks have many rules to follow, 227 basic rules. Sometimes I tell people that I don't want to break my rule, so I don't want this or that done to me. Then these people say, 'This is just adherence to rites and rituals. Don't be too concerned about these rules. If you stick to these rules, you are having this clinging.'

They something like that.

You have five precepts. Lay people have five precepts to follow. You don't want to kill a being. You don't want to take what is not given to you. Then some people may come to you and say that this is adherence to rites and rituals; do whatever you like. Such conversations are very irritating.

The difficulty springs from the loose translation of the word from Pàli. I want to emphasize this. The original word in Pàli is Sìlabbatupàdàna. Sìla is translated as rite and Vata is translated as ritual. So adherence to rite and ritual or clinging to rite and ritual is this kind of clinging.

If we want to understand this word, we have to look for the explanation given in the texts and in the Commentaries. We cannot ignore the explanations given in these ancient books and then say whatever we like. That would not be justifiable. So we have to find the explanation of this in our books and in the Abhidhamma. This is an Abhidhamma term.

In Abhidhamma it is explained as misinterpretation that purification can come about by habit and practice. In the text itself it doesn't say anything more than that. It just says by habit and practice. So by habit and by prctice there can be purification of mind or there can be escape from this round of rebirth - that misinterpretation is called this clinging.

It is not so clear yet, right? In the Commentaries the Sìla and the Vata or the habit nd practice is explained as the habit of dogs, the habit of oxen, or the practice of dogs, or the practice of oxen.

What it means is that there were people in the past during the time of the Buddha who thought that if you act s a dog - if you eat as a dog, if you sleep as a dog, if you behave as a dog - you will get free from this round of rebirth or from the Buddhist point of view you will become an Arahant. There were other people who thought that if you acted as an ox and so on, you will become an Arahant.

There were such people. It is to prevent such clingings or such wrong views that his clinging is mentioned. This clinging should be translated as wrong view or misinterpretation that purification can come about by habits and practices of dogs and oxen etc. In other books not only the practices of dogs and oxen were given, but there are many other practices which are mentioned under this clinging or Upàdàna.

Do you think it is crazy to act like dogs with the hope that you will be cleansed, that you will get purification? There are such persons in the time of the Buddha. In one Sutta they were mentioned. In the translation of that Sutta Venerable Ñànamoli wrote something. 'There were strange people around in the Buddha's days believing some strange things. But that is no different from our own days when people believe the most odd and off-balence ideas. In this Sutta we meet some people who believed that by imitating animals they would be saved. Maybe they are still with us too.' Even in these modern times there are people who behave very strangely. Somene told me there are people who howl like animals just to imitate them or to experience what the primitive people experience. It is not so strange that there could be people who believe that if they behave like a dog or some other animal that they would be freed from greed, hatred and delusion.

Animals are not deceptive. They are straight-forward. They do what they like. They may not have much of the wickedness that we human beings have. So people may think that practicing the habits of dogs may take them nearer to purification of mind.

There are such people in the past. So these practices are described in the Suttas and it is given as a clinging here. It is not just adherence to rites and rituals. You know Theravàda Buddhism has the least of rites and rituals among the other types of Buddhism and among other religions. But still we have some rites and rituals. For example I do chanting every morning. Sometimes we share merits with other beings. If we are to take these as rites and rituals and adherence to them as clinging, then there would be no Buddhism and no religion at all.

Also if adhering to or following the rules is to be interpretted as rite and ritual clinging, what would happen? There would be a lot of accidents on the roads. Many people would die. Even this retreat would not come into being because you have to follow some schedule here. If it is to be interpretted as adherence to rites and rituals, then you may not come to sit here. Even when the bell is rung, you may be out somewhere else. Sometimes we need to have some limit on the interpretation of the words we find in the scriptures. And we should follow the traditional interpretation of them rather than taking this into our own hands.

So rite and ritual clinging is not adherence to rules and precepts and other things, but it is taking any practice which is not accepted as leading to the realiztion of truth to be the true path. In the Sub-Commentary it is stated that even if you take it that the precepts alone are sufficient for your attainment of realization of truth, that is also Sìlabbata. That is also clinging. If you take it that Jhàna alone will lead you to deliverance, that is also clinging.

Buddha met two teachers after he went into the forest and before he became the Buddha. These two teachers had this kind of clinging that Jhàna alone is sufficient to lead one to emancipation.

So anything part from the Noble Eightfold Path or Vipassanà meditation which is taken to be the real path is this kind of clinging. So Vipassanà or Satipatthàna is the only way for the purification of beings as is stated in the MahàSatipatthàna Sutta.

I want to read a Sutta to you. This Sutta tells us there were two men during the time of the Buddha. One was called Punna and the other was called Senneya. Punna was the follower of the practices of oxen and Senneya was the follower of the practices of dogs. One day they went to the Buddha. Punna asked the Buddha, saying 'Venerable Sir, this Senneya has the dog practice; he practices very well; what will his future be? What will he become after his death?'

Then the Buddha said, 'Do not ask me.' But Punna asked again and again. The third time the Buddha said, 'I told you not to ask me, but I cannot persuade you. So now I will tell you.' What the Buddha said was that if a person practices the dog practice fully and unstintedly, if he develops the dog mind fully and unstintedly, if he develops dog behaviour fully and unstintedly, having done that, on the dissolution of the body after death, he reappears in the company of dogs.' That means he will be reborn as a dog. 'But if his view is such as this by this virtue, or this duty, or this asceticism, or holy life I shall become a gret god or some lesser god, this is wrong view in this case. Now there are two destinations for one with wrong view I say hell or the animal world.'

'Punna if his dog practice is perfected, it will lead him to the company of dogs. If it is not, it will lead him to hell.' So there are only two destinations if it is perfected he will become a dog. If it is not perfected he will go to hell.

When this was said Senneya cried. Then Senneya asked about Punna this same question. Buddha gave the same answer because Punna was a follower of the ox practice. Later on they asked the Buddha to teach them. The Buddha taught them the four kinds of Kamma. At the end of that teaching they both became disciples of the Buddha. Punna became a follower of the Buddha. Senneya asked to be admitted to the Order. Buddha admitted him into the Order. Later on he practiced meditation and became an Arahant.

There were such people in the time of the Buddha. We are not sure whether or not there are such people nowadays. This is the third of the clingings, rite and ritual clinging or whatever you want to call it.

The fourth one is soul-theory clinging. ccording to the teachings of the Buddha everything is Anatta, no-soul. Some people think there is something like a soul, a permanent entity, an everlasting element in our bodies or in our lives. They may think that it is a sul that does something. It is a soul that experiences something. It is a soul that is the owner of this body. This soul abides in the body always. Such opinions are called false view in the teachings of the Buddha. When this false view becomes very strong, it becomes a clinging or grasping.

These are the four clingings or graspings conditioned by craving. Every type of wrong view is always accompanied by attachment. You have some attachment to something and then you have wrong view about it. Wrong view is always accompanied by attachment. If you know Abhidhamma you will understand it more clearly. Among the eight types of consciousness accompanied by Lobha there are four accompanied by wrong view or Ditthi. Whatever consciousness is accompanied by Ditthi is also accompanied by Lobha as well.

Because there is some kind of attachment - attachment to the view itself, or attachment to ourselves, attachment to an imagined everlasting thing - there arises the view that there is a soul. This wrong view is conditioned by attachment.

Among these four types of clingings the first one is attachment or Lobha. The other three are just wrong view, wrong view in different aspects. In reality there are only two clingings - attachment (Lobha) and wrong view (Ditthi). These two or four are conditioned by craving.

How are craving and clinging related? In what way are they related? How are they related according to the Doctrine or Patthàna? If you know Abhidhamma you know that not so strong craving cannot arise at the same time as strong craving. Craving and the first clinging cannot arise at the same time. They must belong to different times. Since they belong to different times, they are related by way of decisive support and not by way of conascence and so on. It may not be understandable for many people.

What about the other three? The other three are wrong view. They can arise simultaneously with craving. Therefore they are related by way of arising together, by way of reciprocity, by way of being yoked together and so on. The relationship between craving and the first Upàdàna is by way of decisive support. There are many modes of relationship between craving and the other three Upàdànas, like conascence, reciprocity, existence and so on.

These are the four kinds of clinging which spring from or are conditioned by the different kinds of craving. There are six kinds of craving - craving for visible object, craving for sounds and so on. When there is craving, there is this clinging. Once we have reached this moment of craving, we cannot just stop there. It will go over to clinging. And when there is clinging, then there will be becoming, birth and so on. They will be the subject for tomorrow.

Today what we learned is the eighth link, the link between craving and clinging. Conditioned by craving clinging arises. There are four kinds of clinging. Craving is related to clinging by way of decisive support, by way of conascence and so on.

In this Doctrine of Paticca Samuppàda not every factor is the productive cause of the other factor. Sometimes it is the productive cause and sometimes it is just the support. Two factors arise together and support each other. This is also explained in this doctrine of elating to each other. So do not expect to explain that A causes B, B causes C, C causes D. Sometimes A may be the cause of B, but B may not be the cause of C. B and C may arise together and support each other. One is called condition and the other is called conditioned.

In this Doctrine of Paticca Samuppàda it is necessary to understand these relationships between one factor and another. It is only through this Doctrine of Patthàna, the doctrine of 24 modes of relationship, that we can understand fully the meaning of Dependent Origination.

This explanation of Dependent Origination in reference to Patthàna is not touched upon by many writers. You may find very few writings on Paticca Samuppàda with reference to Patthàna. The source for this information is this book, The Path of Purification, the chapter on Paticca Samuppàda. It is also explained in the Buddhist Dictionary by Venerable Ñànatiloka. Those are the only two books I know of where Paticca Samuppàda is explained with reference to Patthàna.

Tomorrow we will go over Bhava or becoming. Thank you.

Sàdhu! Sàdhu! Sàdhu!