http://seeingthroughthenet.net/wp-conte ... ev_1.0.pdfNow I wish to introduce to you something that calls for serious thinking. The Buddha in the Titthāyatana Sutta of the Tika Nipāta in the Anguttara Nikāya proclaims these words. “Katamaṁ ca bhikkhave dukkha samudayaṁ ariyasaccaṁ?” “Monks, what is the Noble Truth of the Arising of Suffering?” Do you think it’s craving? You are mistaken. The Buddha says it’s the Paṭicca Samuppāda consisting of twelve links. Avijjā paccayā saṅkhārā, saṅkhāra paccayā viññāṇaṁ , viññāṇa paccayā nāmarupaṁ etc. This is sure to pose a problem to many. Are the Buddha’s statements contradictory? In one place he says suffering is conditioned by craving. In another place it’s Paṭicca Samuppāda with its twelve links. How do we clarify this? Why didn’t the Buddha speak of craving in connection with suffering? It is simple logic that if there is a mother [simile used in suttas for craving], a father [simile used for ignorance] has to be present somewhere. You all know that. Similarly the father is revealed through the Paṭicca Samuppāda Dhamma.
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In certain places where the Buddha talks of the Law of Dependent Arising the Noble Truth of the Arising of Suffering is directly identified as the Law of Dependent Arising. What we have been discussing is the background of craving. To put it in brief what Paṭicca Samuppāda depicts is nothing more than the background of craving which is ignorance. It changes into a vortex and conceals the inter-relationship from the worldlings. The worldlings always live imprisoned between two ends, two extremes, which create attachments, friction and illusion. The final result is suffering, or the weaving of the five aggregates of grasping. In the discourse on the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha specifically referred to craving as the Noble Truth of the Arising of Suffering. Even when talking of the cessation of suffering, he did not refer to ignorance. “Tassā yeva taṅhāya asesa virāga nirodho cāgo paṭi-nissaggo mutti anālayo” The total detachment and destruction of craving is called the cessation of suffering. At this point one may ask “Where is ignorance?” In the earlier mentioned Titthāyatana Sutta, the cessation of suffering is explained through the reverse order of the Paṭicca Samuppāda. “Avijjāyatveva asesa virāga norodhā saṁkhāranirodho.” With the cessation of ignorance each of the other links cease to be.
Chapter 17