Dear all,
I have often read or heard this axiom regarding Paticca Samuppada, "a cause never gives rise to just a single effect, nor do effects ever arise from just one single cause." I can't seem to find a Sutta withfcthe Blessed One saying this. Anyone know for sure if He actually said this?
Metta and peace,
Andrew
No Singular Effects
Re: No Singular Effects
Greetings Andrew,
I can't help you with a reference within the Tipitaka but I do remember reading it in the chapter on dependent origination in the Vism. There may also be a footnote to it linking it to a sutta. Unfortunately I don't have the proximity to my copy nor time to investigate.
kind regards,
Ben
I can't help you with a reference within the Tipitaka but I do remember reading it in the chapter on dependent origination in the Vism. There may also be a footnote to it linking it to a sutta. Unfortunately I don't have the proximity to my copy nor time to investigate.
kind regards,
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
-
retrofuturist
- Posts: 27860
- Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:52 pm
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
- Contact:
Re: No Singular Effects
Greetings Andrew,
Welcome to Dhamma Wheel.
The closest I can think of in a sutta context is that nama-rupa and vinnana are said to be conditions for each other, whereas in the usual explanation, nama-rupa is the condition for salayatana. You could argue that's one cause giving rise to two effects.
In the suttas, it is also said that avijja is the cause of avijja, whereas standard dependent origination sequence also has sankhara dependent upon avijja.
Metta,
Retro.
Welcome to Dhamma Wheel.
I don't recall any suttas that say this, but I too have heard this axiom.... interesting question!bhavanirodha wrote:Anyone know for sure if He actually said this?
The closest I can think of in a sutta context is that nama-rupa and vinnana are said to be conditions for each other, whereas in the usual explanation, nama-rupa is the condition for salayatana. You could argue that's one cause giving rise to two effects.
In the suttas, it is also said that avijja is the cause of avijja, whereas standard dependent origination sequence also has sankhara dependent upon avijja.
Metta,
Retro.
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
-
DNS
- Site Admin
- Posts: 17232
- Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:15 am
- Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, Estados Unidos de América
- Contact:
Re: No Singular Effects
I don't know if there is an explicit reference, but there is sort of an implied teaching of that when causation is discussed.
For example, the five levels of cause and effect:
Non-living matter (physical world), Seed (biological world), Mind (psychological), Kamma, Dhamma
(Note that kamma is only one of the levels of cause and effect and does not explain everything.)
There are many causes and effects listed in the Tipitaka, especially the Abhidhamma, which I think implies no singular effects, which by the way is compatible with modern psychology and the social sciences with their use of examining multiple causes and effects, probability, factor analysis, and spurious relationships.
The Paṭṭhāna book of the Abhidhamma goes into detail about the 24 causal relations.
For example, the five levels of cause and effect:
Non-living matter (physical world), Seed (biological world), Mind (psychological), Kamma, Dhamma
(Note that kamma is only one of the levels of cause and effect and does not explain everything.)
There are many causes and effects listed in the Tipitaka, especially the Abhidhamma, which I think implies no singular effects, which by the way is compatible with modern psychology and the social sciences with their use of examining multiple causes and effects, probability, factor analysis, and spurious relationships.
The Paṭṭhāna book of the Abhidhamma goes into detail about the 24 causal relations.
-
bhavanirodha
- Posts: 40
- Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 9:09 pm
Re: No Singular Effects
Dear all,
Thank you all for the quick replies. Ben's pointer to the Visuddhimagga was bang on. Vism. XVII:105'ish I think it was, although the only canonical reference seems to have come from the Patisambhidamagga.
Just to clarify, I take no real issue with this axiom, I was merely trying to establish whether it came right from the Blessed One.
Metta and peace,
Andrew
Thank you all for the quick replies. Ben's pointer to the Visuddhimagga was bang on. Vism. XVII:105'ish I think it was, although the only canonical reference seems to have come from the Patisambhidamagga.
Just to clarify, I take no real issue with this axiom, I was merely trying to establish whether it came right from the Blessed One.
Metta and peace,
Andrew
-
ancientbuddhism
- Posts: 887
- Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 12:53 pm
- Location: Cyberia
Re: No Singular Effects
bhavanirodha wrote:Dear all,
Thank you all for the quick replies. Ben's pointer to the Visuddhimagga was bang on. Vism. XVII:105'ish I think it was, although the only canonical reference seems to have come from the Patisambhidamagga.
Just to clarify, I take no real issue with this axiom, I was merely trying to establish whether it came right from the Blessed One.
Metta and peace,
Andrew
Found at The Path of Purification p. 560, para. 106
“I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.” – Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854
Secure your own mask before assisting others. – NORTHWEST AIRLINES (Pre-Flight Instruction)
A Handful of Leaves
Secure your own mask before assisting others. – NORTHWEST AIRLINES (Pre-Flight Instruction)
A Handful of Leaves