Bill!, <br/><br/>There are many different terms for the same thing. The most
well known in the Buddhist lexicon is 'dependent origination', but equally you
might come across 'dependent arising', inter pendent co-arising, 'conditioned
arising' and other such terms. They just mean that everything arises in
dependence on a multitude of conditions and causes. <br/><br/>As I said before,
a simple contemplation of your own life will point to the truth of this. It's
also not just the relationship of human interaction to phenomena. For example,
why does a harvest flourish one year but not the next if not because of
conditions? <br/><br/>This is the complementary to the notion of emptiness, too
(that nothing exists as a singular, independent entity). <br/><br/>I copied the
passage below from wiki because it explains the meaning quite
well:<br/><br/>"The general or universal definition of pratityasamutpada (or
"dependent origination" or "dependent arising" or
"interdependent co-arising") is that everything arises in dependence upon
multiple causes and conditions; nothing exists as a singular, independent
entity.[b][c] A traditional example used in Buddhist texts is of three sticks
standing upright and leaning against each other and supporting each other. If
one stick is taken away, the other two will fall to the ground. Thich Nhat Hanh
explains:[9]<br/>Pratitya samutpada is sometimes called the teaching of cause
and effect, but that can be misleading, because we usually think of cause and
effect as separate entities, with cause always preceding effect, and one cause
leading to one effect. According to the teaching of Interdependent Co-Arising,
cause and effect co-arise (samutpada) and everything is a result of multiple
causes and conditions... In the sutras, this image is given: "Three cut reeds
can stand only by leaning on one another. If you take one away, the other two
will fall." For a table to exist, we
need wood, a carpenter, time, skillfulness, and many other causes. And each of
these causes needs other causes to be. The wood needs the forest, the sunshine,
the rain, and so on. The carpenter needs his parents, breakfast, fresh air, and
so on. And each of those things, in turn, has to be brought about by other
causes and conditions. If we continue to look in this way, we'll see that
nothing has been left out. Everything in the cosmos has come together to bring
us this table. Looking deeply at the sunshine, the leaves of the tree, and the
clouds, we can see the table. The one can be seen in the all, and the all can
be seen in the one. One cause is never enough to bring about an effect. A cause
must, at the same time, be an effect, and every effect must also be the cause
of something else. Cause and effect inter-are. The idea of first and only
cause, something that does not itself need a cause, cannot be
applied.[d]"<br/><br/>Sent from Yahoo! Mail for
iPhone
