DO... again

ThailandTom

So dependent origination, that old chest nut. I believe that my practice and understanding of buddhism will progress if I had a better understanding of this and emptiness.

With DO, I am aware that everything is an illusion and the true nature of reality is unknown to us all, a mere perception. But why is that so important?
I mean for example lets say that I wake up one day with a face full of spots, literally covered with them. They are there on my face but they do not actually exist as spots, they are a collection of different things which happens to be on my face. My face, that isn't actually my face, it is again a nose, a mouth, eyes etc. My, me, that does not exist either.. But, that doesn't mean to say when I step outside people will see these spots on my face and I would become embarrassed and feel bad because of it. Everyone sees them which is at the end of the day only a perception, but it will still affect my mood.. It doesn't matter how much I personally look into this concept, I find it quite hard to apply it to every day life. So life is a dream, an illusion, so what? lol.

fivebells

It's not necessarily true that everything is an illusion - that would be another ontology - but it is useful to approach life that way. This is not the fundamental practical implication of DO, though. In terms of your question, the application of DO is an understanding of how your mood arises, and the opportunity to cut that process.

ThailandTom

I see, then what is the fundamental implication of DO in life? Because I surely do not have a good enough understanding on the concept.

fivebells

An understanding of how certain mental phenomena arise, and the opportunity to cut that process.

pegembara

ThailandTom wrote: »

I see, then what is the fundamental implication of DO in life? Because I surely do not have a good enough understanding on the concept.

The teaching of DO is to break the illusion of a self that is the same or different from the 5 aggregates ie. not same nor different.

Quote:

There is the case where an uninstructed, run-of-the-mill person — who has no regard for noble ones, is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dhamma; who has no regard for men of integrity, is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dhamma — assumes form to be the self. That assumption is a fabrication. Now what is the cause, what is the origination, what is the birth, what is the coming-into-existence of that fabrication? To an uninstructed, run-of-the-mill person, touched by that which is felt born of contact with ignorance, craving arises. That fabrication is born of that. And that fabrication is inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen. That craving... That feeling... That contact... That ignorance is inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen. It is by knowing & seeing in this way that one without delay puts an end to the effluents.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.081.than.html


DO also teaches the origination and cessation of suffering.

Quote:

"Dependent on the intellect & ideas there arises consciousness at the intellect. The meeting of the three is contact. With contact as a requisite condition, there arises what is felt either as pleasure, pain, or neither pleasure nor pain. If, when touched by a feeling of pleasure, one relishes it, welcomes it, or remains fastened to it, then one's passion-obsession gets obsessed. If, when touched by a feeling of pain, one sorrows, grieves, & laments, beats one's breast, becomes distraught, then one's resistance-obsession gets obsessed. If, when touched by a feeling of neither pleasure nor pain, one does not discern, as it actually is present, the origination, passing away, allure, drawback, or escape from that feeling, then one's ignorance-obsession gets obsessed. That a person — without abandoning passion-obsession with regard to a feeling of pleasure, without abolishing resistance-obsession with regard to a feeling of pain, without uprooting ignorance-obsession with regard to a feeling of neither pleasure nor pain, without abandoning ignorance and giving rise to clear knowing — would put an end to suffering & stress in the here & now: such a thing isn't possible.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.148.than.html#consc

DO also describes the origination and ending of the "world" from the individual's perspective and its illusory/empty nature.

Quote:

The Blessed One said: "And what is the origination of the world? Dependent on the eye & forms there arises eye-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/sustenance. From clinging/sustenance as a requisite condition comes becoming. From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. From birth as a requisite condition, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

"And what is the ending of the world? Dependent on the eye & forms there arises eye-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. Now, from the remainderless cessation & fading away of that very craving comes the cessation of clinging/sustenance. From the cessation of clinging/sustenance comes the cessation of becoming. From the cessation of becoming comes the cessation of birth. From the cessation of birth, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair all cease. Such is the cessation of this entire mass of stress & suffering. This is the ending of the world.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.044.than.html

"By & large, Kaccayana, this world is supported by (takes as its object) a polarity, that of existence & non-existence. But when one sees the origination of the world as it actually is with right discernment, 'non-existence' with reference to the world does not occur to one. When one sees the cessation of the world as it actually is with right discernment, 'existence' with reference to the world does not occur to one.

"'Everything exists': That is one extreme. 'Everything doesn't exist': That is a second extreme. Avoiding these two extremes, the Tathagata teaches the Dhamma via the middle:From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications....

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.015.than.html