The Law of the Twelve Causes

*This law, also called The Doctrine of the Twelve-Link Chain of Dependent Origination, teaches that all phenomena in this world constantly change, appearing and disappearing, and that all changes are based on an established rule. Though all things change, this rule is immutable. We know it as the “Law of the Twelve Causes” because we divide the rule into twelve stages. However, it is easier for us to understanding this law by limiting it to man than by trying to apply it at once to all phenomena.

*The Buddha perched the “Law of the Twelve Causes” in detail to Ananda in the Dirghagama Sutra. This law rules the growth of the human body as well as the changes in people's mind. The former is called the “outer causation” and the latter the “inner causation”. It explains the process through which a human being is born, grows, ages, and dies in light of the three temporal states of existence, the past, present, and future. And in connection with this, it shows how people's minds change and the fundamental method of purifying and of removing illusions from them.

*The twelve links or stages are (1) Ignorance, (2) Actions, (3) Consciousness, (4) Name and Form, (5) the Six Entrances (the five sense organs and the mind, (6) Contact, (7) Sensation, (8) Desire, (9) Clinging, l0) Existence, (11) Birth, and (12) Old Age and Death. First we will explain the growth and changes of the human body, the outer causation.

*The first link of the Twelve Causes is (1) Ignorance. Prior to our conception, nothing is known or sensed. When the ignorant spirit is conceived in the mother’s womb through the Action of sexual intercourse, Consciousness is produced. Consciousness means “something living”. Here something like a human being (a fetus) is produced, although it is still incomplete. As the incomplete consciousness is gradually taking shape, it grows into name and form (mental functions and matter). “Name” means an immaterial being, spirit or soul, and “Form” indicates a material being, that is, the human body. “Name and Form” mean the human body with a soul.

*As “Name and Form” (mind and body) grow, they develop the “Six Entrance” such as the five sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body) and the mind by which we perceive the existence of things. At this time, we are still in the mother's womb and incomplete. This stage is called the “Six Entrances” because the functions of our minds and bodies are on the point of dividing into six different senses.

*We are born into this world at the stage of the Six Entrances. When we grow to the age of two or three, the Six Entrances are completed and sensibility is developed. That is, we become able to discern shapes, colors, sounds, smells, tastes, physical sensations, and so on. This stage is called “Contact.”

*When this sensibility is further developed, feelings of like and dislike naturally develop. This state is called “Sensation.” When such feelings appear, “Desire” for things arises spontaneously. The Desire referred to here means attachment, whose meaning is a little different for that of love as this word is commonly used. In other words, this is a state of mind that has preferences and that clings to what it likes. When we have Desire for something, we try to hold on to it. (Conversely, we try to avoid what we consider unpleasant or undesirable.) This is called “Clinging.”

*“Clinging” leads to various feelings, ideas, and assertions. This is called “Existence”, which means the discriminating mind. Due to this discriminating mind, opposition and struggle occur among people, and human life as suffering unfolds. Such human life is called “Birth”. Leading such a life of suffering. “Old Age” comes before one knows it, and finally one encounters “Death”.

*In short, the “Law of the Twelve Causes” teaches that you are born as an ordinary human being because of your ignorance in a previous life. The Law also teaches that if you eradicate you ignorance in the present world, the essential form of your life as it was meant to be will be revealed in his future life. Here we should not limit the meaning of “future life” to life when we are reborn after death but should regard it rather as the life before us in the future. If we abandon (fundamental) ignorance and set our minds in the direction of the Law, a bright and serene future life will open up before us.

The Law of Causation Summed Up

Shakyamuni Buddha did not regard this universe as Gods' creation or his conquest but as resulting from the relation of cause and effect by which all phenomena are produced.

“Causation” means a primary cause and a secondary cause combining to produce effect and a recompense.

In this world, there is nothing unchanged or fixed in form. All things have a direct cause (primary cause). When this comes into contact with an opportunity or condition (secondary cause), the result of this conjunction appears as a phenomenon (effect). This effect leaves behind traces (recompense): thus Shakyamuni Buddha interpreted all things in this world.

The combination of a primary cause and a secondary cause leads every action to an effect and a recompense. When a primary cause is annihilated or when, even if it exist, it does not come into contact with a secondary cause, it does not produce an effect and a recompense.

Shakyamuni Buddha expounded this rule through the doctrine of dependent origination, meaning that all phenomena are produced and annihilated by cause. This term indicates a thing arises from or is produced through the agency of a condition (a secondary cause). A thing does not take form unless there is an appropriate condition. This truth applies to all existence and phenomena in the universe. The Buddha intuitively perceived this so profoundly that even modern science cannot probe further.

When the conditions change, the substances produced change and take another form. When water comes into contact with a high temperature as a condition, it evaporates. When vapor comes into contact with cold air as a condition, it condenses and forms a cloud. Events and function of the mind are similar; there is nothing that does not follow this basic rule.

The Cosmos

Make sure that your appreciation for what someone else has accomplished for themselves doesn't turn into jealousy today. The grass in front of their house is not necessarily greener, so before you start coveting what they have, you need to remind yourself that what might be right for them might not be right for you. It can be hard to find contentedness in your own life, but right now you should at least try. Look around you today and count your blessings.

The Last & Greatest Science

Happiness is sought by everyone. But the search is not focused in the right direction. We waste precious time seeking happiness in the mirage of objects, places and people; in relationships and ideologies; in possessions and wanton indulgences. Depending on what state of being we are, we attract situations. We have to focus on heightening our state of being rather than changing situations in life. If our state of being is low, then the external situation, even though sacred, will be pulled down to our level of being. For example, a poor man in a palace will make the palace into a gutter.
In many religious traditions God is seen as infinite, all powerful, perfect and beyond change and growth. In stark contrast the universe is evolving an ever expanding consciousness often through excruciatingly painful struggles. Our mathematical and scientific understanding suggests God is an unfolding creative process that may expand without limit. In that framework we are the eyes of God with the power to create the world. We are the evolution of consciousness becoming aware of itself and beginning to acquire the power to take conscious control of evolution.


-Anthony Feuerstein