What's a good book on dependent origination?

[sundara]

Friends,what's a good book on dependent origination, something with a lot of juice and say's everything in detail and it's not vague and doesn't beat around the bush.

[David N. Snyder]

Friends,what's a good book on dependent origination, something with a lot of juice and say's everything in detail and it's not vague and doesn't beat around the bush.

The Samyutta Nikaya

Sorry, but really can't think of anything better. Maybe someone else knows of one.

[acinteyyo]

Hi sundara,
there is nothing better than the nikayas.
But for me Bhikkhu Nanavira's "Notes on Dhamma" was very helpful, too. A Note on Paticcasamuppada
best wishes, acinteyyo

[Stephen K]

http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/ma ... cca-00.htm

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Sundara,

The best book on dependent origination is one that doesn't think that it represents the one and only way in which dependent origination can and should be interpreted. Sorry if that's not an actual book per se, but a good criteria by which to take a foray into the post-sutta investigations of dependent origination.

A good online source that gives a couple of interpretations is...

Dependent Origination by P. A. Payutto
http://www.buddhanet.net/cmdsg/coarise.htm

Metta,
Retro.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

The Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw's Discourse on Dependent Origination is helpful.

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

This long-titled tome is a good one...

"Buddha's Teachings On Aggregates, Doctrine Of Dependent Origination, Mindfulness & Emptiness" by D.T.P.Rajapakse.

Available @ http://www.buddhistcc.net/bookshop/book ... sp?bid=627



I like this one because it puts dependent origination nicely in the context of other key Buddhist teachings, rather than some kind of stand-alone mystical formula of transmigration, as other presentations sometimes do.

Metta,
Retro.

[Paññāsikhara]

Friends,what's a good book on dependent origination, something with a lot of juice and say's everything in detail and it's not vague and doesn't beat around the bush.

Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism
~ David J. Kalupahana
http://www.amazon.com/Causality-Philoso ... 0824802985

And nothing like a shameless plug:
http://wisdom.buddhistdoor.com/huifeng/ ... uifeng.pdf

[IanAnd]

Friends,what's a good book on dependent origination, something with a lot of juice and say's everything in detail and it's not vague and doesn't beat around the bush.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Bhikkhu Bodhi's book The Great Discourse on Causation, The Mahanidana Sutta and Its Commentaries. (Although it is quoted and footnoted in Huifeng's essay.) A brief passage from the Introduction explains the reason the principle of dependent co-arising is so integral to understanding the Dhamma.

When the arahat Assaji was asked to state the Master's message as concisely as possible, he said it was the doctrine that phenomena arise and cease through causes. With a single sentence the Buddha dispels all doubt about the correctness of this summary: "He who sees dependent arising sees the Dhamma, he who sees the Dhamma sees dependent arising" (MN 28; i 191)

The reason dependent arising is assigned so much weight lies in two essential contributions it makes to the teaching. First, it provides the teaching with it primary ontological principle, its key for understanding the nature of being. Second, it provides the framework that guides its programme for deliverance, a causal account of the origination and cessation of suffering. These two contributions, though separable in thought, come together in the thesis that makes the Buddha's teaching a "doctrine of awakening": that suffering ultimately arises due to ignorance about the nature of being and ceases through wisdom, direct understanding of the nature of being.

Later on in the Introduction, Bodhi explains in simple terms what the Buddha viewed as being the primary condition for existence: "The specific condition for existence in both aspects is clinging (upadana): clinging to sense pleasures (kam upadana), clinging to views (ditth upadana), clinging to precepts and observances (silabbat upadana), clinging to a doctrine of self (attavad upadana). The first is an intensification of sensual craving, the other three adherences to wrong views. In all its forms clinging has the sense of firm grasping (dalhagahana). This grasping induces motivated action and thus conditions kamma-existence. It also sustains the rebirth process whereby the accumulated kamma fructifies and thus it becomes a condition for rebirth-existence."

[Nibbida]

I'll echo Retro's suggestion of Dependent Origination by P. A. Payutto.

And I'll also add Paticcasamuppada: Practical Dependent Origination by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu:
http://www.what-buddha-taught.net/Books ... uppada.htm

For an article length explanation of DO during a lifetime, this is my favorite:
"Dependent Origination" by Christina Feldman
http://www.dharma.org/ij/archives/1999a/christina.htm