#2. Fuel

The Buddha distinguishes between “dependently originated phenomena”—the twelve factors—and “dependent origination”—the principle of conditionality. Someone who understands these things no longer worries about the past or future.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, I will teach you dependent origination and dependently originated phenomena. Listen and pay close attention, I will speak.” “Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this: “And what is dependent origination? Rebirth is a condition for old age and death. Whether Realized Ones arise or not, this law of nature persists, this regularity of natural principles, this invariance of natural principles, specific conditionality. [Read More]

Both the wise and the foolish have been reborn in this life due to their deeds conditioned by ignorance in past lives. But a fool continues to make the same mistakes and is reborn yet again, whereas a wise person does not.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, for a fool hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, this body has been produced. So there is the duality of this body and external name and form. [Read More]

A wanderer named Timbaruka approaches the Buddha while he is on alms round and asks whether pleasure and pain are created by oneself, by another, by both, or by chance. Explaining why he rejects all these options, the Buddha asserts that suffering arises due to conditions.At Sāvatthī. Then the wanderer Timbaruka went up to the Buddha, and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to the Buddha: “Well, Master Gotama, are pleasure and pain made by oneself? [Read More]

A naked ascetic named Kassapa approaches the Buddha while he is on alms round and asks whether suffering is created by oneself, by another, by both, or by chance. Explaining why he rejects all these options, the Buddha asserts that suffering arises due to conditions.So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground. Then the Buddha robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, entered Rājagaha for alms. [Read More]

One is qualified to be called a “Dhamma speaker” if one teaches for the ending of suffering.At Sāvatthī. Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, they speak of a ‘Dhamma speaker’. How is a Dhamma speaker defined?” “If a mendicant teaches Dhamma for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding old age and death, they’re qualified to be called a ‘mendicant who speaks on Dhamma’. [Read More]

Venerable Kaccānagotta asks the Buddha about right view, and the Buddha answers that right view arises when one sees the origin and cessation of the world and is free of attachments. This sutta, brief but profound and difficult, became renowned as the only canonical reference named in Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, perhaps the most famous philosophical treatise in all Buddhism.At Sāvatthī. Then Venerable Kaccānagotta went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, they speak of this thing called ‘right view’. [Read More]

One who does not understand dependent origination is no true ascetic.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, there are ascetics and brahmins who don’t understand these things, their origin, their cessation, and the practice that leads to their cessation. What things don’t they understand? They don’t understand old age and death, their origin, their cessation, and the practice that leads to their cessation. They don’t understand rebirth … continued existence … grasping … craving … feeling … contact … the six sense fields … name and form … consciousness … They don’t understand choices, their origin, their cessation, and the practice that leads to their cessation. [Read More]

One who does not understand dependent origination is no true ascetic.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, there are ascetics and brahmins who don’t understand old age and death, their origin, their cessation, and the practice that leads to their cessation. They don’t understand rebirth … continued existence … grasping … craving … feeling … contact … the six sense fields … name and form … consciousness … They don’t understand choices, their origin, their cessation, and the practice that leads to their cessation. [Read More]

Venerable Moḷiyaphagguna asks who eats the consciousness food. The Buddha says the question is improper, as it assumes a self as agent. Rather, all the factors of dependent origination are simply natural conditions and have nothing to do with a “self”.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, there are these four fuels. They maintain sentient beings that have been born and help those that are about to be born. What four? Solid food, whether coarse or fine; contact is the second, mental intention the third, and consciousness the fourth. [Read More]

The Buddha defines the four kinds of “food” or “nutriment”, which include edible food, contact, intention, and consciousness. These are all produced by craving, and hence connect with dependent origination.So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. … “Mendicants, there are these four fuels. They maintain sentient beings that have been born and help those that are about to be born. [Read More]