Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Dependent Origination, Saffron Revolution, Rugby

Barbara O'Brien (About.com)

Bhavachakra: Wheel of Life (see DETAILS) cycle of rebirth, existence, Samsara

We look at Dependent Origination in depth. An explosion in Burma reminds us that a year ago the Saffron Revolution reached its peak (as Aung San Suu Kyi, pictured, remains under house arrest). And can a troubled British rugby star find peace of mind through quantum physics and Buddhism? Why not?

"Dependent Origination" (Pali, Paticca-Samuppada; Sanskrit, Pratitya-samutpada) is sometimes called the Buddhist Genesis, although it's a Genesis without a God or even a beginning.

The Core of Dharma
His Holiness the Dalai Lama (pictured holding a poster of Suu Kyi, head of Burma's National Democracy League) has said that the teaching of Dependent Origination precludes two possibili-ties. "One is the possibility that things can arise from nowhere, with no causes and conditions, and the second is that things can arise on account of a transcendent designer or creator. Both these possibilities are negated."

Dependent Origination The Buddhist Genesis has no God and no original cause. Things and beings come to be and pass away because other things and beings come to be and pass away. You are a phenomenon of a vast field of being-ness.

12 Links of Dependent Origination The Buddha said there are twelve links (nidanas) in the "chain" of Dependent Origination. The links reveal how things come to be, are, and cease to be.

Rugby, Quantum Physics, and Buddhism English rugby star Jonny Wilkinson says he found happiness through quantum physics and Buddhism.

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