Dependent origination

The doctrine of dependent origination is one of the Buddha’s most profound teachings. It’s also very hard to get a real grasp on. We’ll try to simplify the teaching by looking at a couple of suttas that may reveal an earlier stage in its…

One way dependent origination begins is through the mutual conditioning of consciousness and name-and-form. What does this mean, and how is it supposed to work? We'll look at its traditional understanding first, using the early suttas as…

What are the six sense bases of Buddhism and why are they important? We'll look at both of those questions in this video, investigating how the sense bases relate to such things as consciousness, dependent origination, and indeed the…

What was Buddhism like early on? We'll consider that question when looking at an early text called the Chapter of the Eights or Aṭṭhakavagga. In particular we'll look at its early concept of dependent origination and how it relates to…

Interdependence is one of the hallmarks of Buddhist dharma. We will look at how ideas of interdependence changed, and how ideas about dependent origination changed to those more in line with the later metaphor of Indra's net. We will also…

How do our intentions and volitions trap us in suffering? We will look at the role of volitions in the Buddha's formula of dependent origination. We'll see how volitions appear several times, and discuss how we can begin the long process…

Wow, it's hard to believe a year has already passed since publishing my first video on YouTube! In the interim we've had a busy time going through some of the dharma of early Buddhism, with a focus on contemporary practice and experience.…

The Buddhist notion of dependent origination is a complicated and difficult subject. We'll look at its manifestation in the early teachings, in its canonical twelve-step formula as well as in formulations that are simpler. Then we'll…