“As the title suggests, Bhante Gunaratana has a unique ability to convey in plain English even the most profound aspects of the Buddha’s teachings. The Law of Dependent Origination was the culminating insight of the Buddha’s enlightenment as he sat under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya; it details the chain of causation that leads to cycles of suffering, and in reverse, to the potential for our own liberation. Bhante G. combines a scholarly acumen, a depth of practical, meditative wisdom, and a clarity of language that makes these teachings eminently accessible to the reader and so valuable and transformative for us all.”
Description
In his famously accessible language, the author of Mindfulness in Plain English unpacks the foundational Buddhist theory of dependent origination, showing the reader how by eliminating ignorance we can eliminate suffering.
Nothing happens by accident. All things, no matter how mundane or meaningful, arise based on causes and conditions. And without those causes and conditions they would not arise at all. This, in short, is the Buddha’s teaching of dependent origination. Embedded in this fundamental theory are central teachings such as nonself, impermanence, and the four noble truths. And from it we can see for ourselves how suffering and rebirth, the great problems lying at the heart of the dhamma, arise—and how they pass away.
In Dependent Origination in Plain English, the venerable scholar-monk Bhante Gunaratana and his student Veronique Ziegler break down this keystone Buddhist teaching from the Pali canon into its core components, guiding the reader step by step from ignorance to suffering and its end. The process leading to future rebirths may seem far off, but it’s not some distant event. It’s happening now, with every breath you take.