Post by matt on Jan 12, 2016 21:09:12 GMT 1
I am watching a web-cast teaching by Khensur Rinpoche Geshe Wangdak, on the Chenrezig Center Middletown CT, website. I have only watched about half of the first teaching, but already Rinpoche has made some interesting points I thought I would share because they are new to me. The teaching is on Je-Tsongkhapa's "In Praise of Dependent Origination."
I have often used the terms Dependent Origination and Dependent Arising interchangeably, but apparently they mean different things. There are three permutations of interdependence: dependent origination refers to one, dependent arising refers to a second, and the third is neither, reserved for invalid or non-existing phenomena. This third one does not seem to have a name as such.
Okay, so there is a class of phenomena that are dependent because of causation, i.e. cause and effect. This includes all conditioned phenomena. This class is referenced with the term dependent origination. Then there is a class of phenomena that is dependent because of designation. This is anything that can be given a name or designation. This class includes the entire previous class, all conditioned phenomena, but also includes unconditioned phenomena, sometimes referred to as permanent phenomena. This second class would also include: liberation, enlightenment and uncompounded space. The third class, the apparently un-named one, exists outside these two and includes non-existent phenomena, such as a rabbit with horns.
Because I am an art teacher I like to use Venn-diagrams. You may be familiar with these, usually they have two circles that overlap in the middle. They are good for mapping similarities and differences in two topics, like American football and European football. The similarities go where the two circles overlap. Differences between the two items would go inside the circles to either side, where they do not overlap. If a student is preparing to write a comparison/contrast essay between two topics, this would be a good way to begin.
A Venn Diagram of these three classes would look different. Dependent origination, that is phenomena that are dependent because of cause and effect, would be in one circle. A larger circle that entirely contains this would include all phenomena that are dependent because of designation: referred to as dependent arising. Unconditioned phenomena would be inside the lager circle that represents dependent arising, but outside the smaller one that represents dependent origination. The third class, neither, which refers to invalid or non-existent phenomena would be a separate circle outside the other two.
Unfortunately, I can't draw that here, but hopefully you can visualize it.
I have often used the terms Dependent Origination and Dependent Arising interchangeably, but apparently they mean different things. There are three permutations of interdependence: dependent origination refers to one, dependent arising refers to a second, and the third is neither, reserved for invalid or non-existing phenomena. This third one does not seem to have a name as such.
Okay, so there is a class of phenomena that are dependent because of causation, i.e. cause and effect. This includes all conditioned phenomena. This class is referenced with the term dependent origination. Then there is a class of phenomena that is dependent because of designation. This is anything that can be given a name or designation. This class includes the entire previous class, all conditioned phenomena, but also includes unconditioned phenomena, sometimes referred to as permanent phenomena. This second class would also include: liberation, enlightenment and uncompounded space. The third class, the apparently un-named one, exists outside these two and includes non-existent phenomena, such as a rabbit with horns.
Because I am an art teacher I like to use Venn-diagrams. You may be familiar with these, usually they have two circles that overlap in the middle. They are good for mapping similarities and differences in two topics, like American football and European football. The similarities go where the two circles overlap. Differences between the two items would go inside the circles to either side, where they do not overlap. If a student is preparing to write a comparison/contrast essay between two topics, this would be a good way to begin.
A Venn Diagram of these three classes would look different. Dependent origination, that is phenomena that are dependent because of cause and effect, would be in one circle. A larger circle that entirely contains this would include all phenomena that are dependent because of designation: referred to as dependent arising. Unconditioned phenomena would be inside the lager circle that represents dependent arising, but outside the smaller one that represents dependent origination. The third class, neither, which refers to invalid or non-existent phenomena would be a separate circle outside the other two.
Unfortunately, I can't draw that here, but hopefully you can visualize it.