The teachings on interdependent origination (Tib. tendrel) are complementary to the Mahamudra teachings because they deal with “the way things appear”(Tib. khri lug). Although on the ultimate level things are really emptiness or the undifferentiated pure nature, on the conventional or relative level things manifest because of each other; they depend upon each other, they originate one from another. The teachings on the twelve links concern interdependence and the way things originate in dependence on each other.

These teachings on what is therefore called “interdependent origination” deal with the world as we experience it. Even though we understand through the Mahamudra teachings that everything ultimately has a pure nature, our everyday experience of the inner self and the outer world of phenomena is experienced as a relative universe, as a process of dependent origination. The twelve links examine the way things appear in this world.

Where does the world of relative manifestations we experience – whether the outer world of the four elements (earth, water, fire, and air) or the inner world of our body, speech, and mind – come from? Various religions and philosophies have proposed answers to explain the manifestation of the relative world. Some philosophies that existed in India at the time of the Buddha, for instance, postulated no cause for things to happen. If this were the case, then absolutely anything could happen at any time in a haphazard way, without needing any cause; sometimes things would take place, sometimes they would not. Absolutely anything could be possible in any moment. Now we know that this is not true. If we observe phenomena and the way they appear, then we see very clearly that they can only happen when causes are present and combined in such a way that allows them to appear. There is not an infinite possibility of anything happening. Having an effect without a cause is not true.

Other philosophical schools think that some divine power, a god or gods, could be the possible cause for the creation of the things that we experience. They think, for instance, that a god might create not only the outer world but also be responsible for our own inner happiness, our suffering, and how we relate to the world. Of course, when one believes that there is a god or a creator, then it is necessary to pray to the god and make offerings to show respect to that god. The people who believe this way feel that their happiness comes from respecting and paying homage to the god and that if they do not carry out these actions, suffering and punishment will ensue. That is another way to explain cause and effect in our relative world.

In fact, the views that we hold in our minds are the true causes for the manifestation of the things we experience. To counteract the incorrect views that were present during the Buddha’s time, the Buddha taught interdependence as the way things manifest. Furthermore, he broke this process into twelve stages. He explained that the things we experience do not result from no cause, nor do they come from a god or gods.

In fact, the Buddhist belief is that each thing manifests because of its own specific cause. For instance, if we feel happy, then there is a specific reason that we are happy. If we are suffering, then there is a specific reason or reasons for that suffering. Each condition has its prime cause, its main cause.

There is not only a primary cause for an effect to occur, but there are also many secondary conditions and circumstances which, if present, will modify the quality of the way something manifests. In brief, everything has its causes and conditions, and these causes and conditions interact with each other to make up our experience. What we experience as the outer world, as well as our inner mind, is all due to the interdependent play of causes and conditions. In his kindness, the Buddha gave the extraordinary and special teachings on interdependence to explain how things are produced. Interdependence explains causation in terms of the material world. For example, a flower must have a prime cause, which is a seed. The seed makes a shoot, and the shoot grows into a flower. For the flower to grow, the flower must have the primary cause or seed, but it must also have the secondary causal conditions of soil, warmth, sunlight, water, and so forth. Also, as far as mind is concerned, the complexity which is our mind and our being is made up of the five aggregates (Skt. skandhas), which also emerge because of causes and conditions and their interplay. This is explained in particular through the twelve links. We come to understand that through ignorance something emerges, which eventually makes the five skandhas, life, that is our own experience.

The Buddha’s teachings explain outer and inner interdependence. We have seen the outer form in the example of the flower. The inner form has more to do with our own being. Of these two, it is the understanding of inner interdependence that is most important for us. By understanding how interdependence works in our mind, we see in sequence how one thing produces another through the twelve links of causation. It is made clear to us that once there is “this” particular thing, then “that” will happen, or, in other words, “this” cause is the ground giving rise to “that” effect. In this way, we understand how inner interdependence takes place progressively, how the interaction of complex elements makes up our inner experience. When we study this, we do so in the actual process of creation and action that generates samsara. We also study the order in which we can take this process apart. Dismantling the process of samsara shows the way to liberation and enlightenment. This is the reason why the teachings on inner interdependence are very important.

© Copyright Namo Buddha Publications & Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal Publications 2002.