The Law of Dependent Origination

 Last time, in the process of thinking about reincarnation, we came across the eternal chain of cause and effect, in which one's actions produce a certain result, which in turn produces the next result. This is, unintentionally, the "Law of Dependent Origination " preached in Buddhism. So, this time I would like to think about dependent origination.

B comes into existence because of A, C comes into existence because of B, D comes into existence because of C...

In this way, the existence of one thing depends on another, that is, one thing becomes the "cause " and another thing "happens ".

In the above, A becomes the cause, and B occurs, B becomes the cause, and C becomes the cause, and D occurs...

And since everything is governed by this law of dependent origination, nothing exists by itself, and all existence depends on others, so everything is empty. Our existence depends on others, but those others that we depend on also depend on other others, so there is no such thing as an independent "I", and the self is empty.

“No self”

That's right. It can also be said that all existence is empty and without substance.

I think that's all there is to the law of dependent origination that Buddhism preaches, but to be honest, I had long since forgotten about it, and I'm forcing myself to remember and writing it now. And if you see yourself as empty, and all existence as empty, you may think that you will no longer be attached, and that you will no longer suffer, but is that really the case?

What if you trace it backwards, with your own existence depending on others, and those others depending on other others?

You arrive at the first A. So what is this first A?

I think this is mercy. In other words, Buddha.

Or love, in other words, God.

I remember writing in previous posts that "the universe was born from mercy" and "the world was born from love," and I think that the idea that this world was created by God makes sense in monotheism. After Buddhism, I went through Christianity and Islam, so I think I was naturally influenced by them.

Anyway, if you only look at the middle of the law of dependent origination, everything becomes empty, but if you trace the origin of all existence, you arrive at mercy. You arrive at Buddha. You arrive at love. You arrive at God.

And when you arrive at what Buddha or God is, you can no longer talk about it in terms of existence or non-existence. If you say it exists, you have to ask what its existence depends on, depending on the law of dependent origination.

Because everything was born from mercy, mercy permeates all existence. All existence is connected to mercy. This means that the law of dependent origination arises from mercy and is permeated by mercy. So you are not completely empty. I am not completely without self. There is only one place to rely on within myself, and that is mercy. In Buddhism, this is called Buddha nature, and I call it the "seed of mercy" or the "seed of love."

How can there be no hope in this world when the only anchor for all beings in this world is mercy? There is hope.

Let love and mercy guide you.