Notes: Dependent Origination

A friend of mine asked me at one point does evil arise in the chain of dependent origination.

That’s a good question but totally depends on what you mean by evil. English translators often translate akusala as “evil.” They are wrong, but they do it anyway. Akusala means “unskillful.” The Buddha did not use the word “evil” because such a concept does not exist, as such, in the Pali Canon. Mahayana introduced the idea when Buddhism got to China. There it was a Taoist idea inserted into Buddhism. 

Most Westerners would agree that Adolph Hitler was an evil man. Nazis might disagree with that idea. Two-thirds of the world probably have never heard of Adolph Hitler. Many would agree that Jesus was a good man but the Pharisees would disagree and about two-thirds of the world has never heard of him. 

“Good” and “evil” are subjective terms. They have no meaning until we give the words meaning. What I might see as an evil Rush Limbaugh might find a blessing.

The point you raise is a good though, where do these concepts arise in dependent origination? In theory it should happen at link 6, phassa (translated as “contact” and the source of our word “phase). Before that, anything can happen. At phassa we begin to recognize things from our past experiences and label them. If we have the kamma (karma) to see something as evil or act in an “evil” way, here is where it begins to manifest. At link 8 & 9, tanha and upadana, we start the process of attachment and clinging to the ideas we formulated or recognized at phassa. At 10, bhava, the evil has the potential to manifest fully bloomed, but it is still a bud. At 11, jati, the mind that perceives evil or acts in an evil way is reborn, now it must act out, mature and pass away in link 12, only to start again at #1. This is the rebirth that the Buddha talked about. He did not accept the Hindu notions of reincarnation.

As the chart indicates, it all begins with ignorance. If we were not ignorant (literally “blind”) then the ideas of doing good or doing evil would not arise. There would just be doing what is  skillful. 

You asked, “how much of the Buddha's teaching was directed at describing what evil is, and where it came from ?” As I mentioned, the Buddha did not approach the subject because the belief of the existence of evil is subjective and arises from avijja, “Blindness” (ignorance).

You asked, “Can it be vanquished?” Yes, it need never arise. It is the result of kamma, change your kamma and what you call “evil” ceases. Interestingly, it not only ceases to arise in you but you can no longer see it in others. What we call “evil” has a legitimacy because it is the result of causes and conditions. As long as conditions support the “evil” it will continue. When conditions no longer support it, it ceases to be. You are the one who sees it. Remove the avijja and you cease to see it.

In the Sabba Sutta Samyutta Nikaya 35.23 the Buddha explains everything. It is a short teaching, very short, and tells us exactly what our life is composed of. It goes,

"Monks, I will teach you the All. Listen & pay close attention. I will speak.""As you say, lord," the monks responded.The Blessed One said, "What is the All? Simply the eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose & aromas, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations, intellect & ideas. This, monks, is called the All. Anyone who would say, 'Repudiating this All, I will describe another,' if questioned on what exactly might be the grounds for his statement, would be unable to explain, and furthermore, would be put to grief. Why? Because it lies beyond range."

Nothing exists outside of this: eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose & aromas, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations,  and intellect & ideas. What we call “evil” only exists because of these 6 factors. This is true even of entities. In Buddhism there is a character called Mara (the name Mary comes from it). He is the “devil” character in the suttas. He isn’t real but only a symbol for our craving. Our own cravings are the “devil.”

You are right, the world is a stage. We not only write the script, dependent on our kamma, but we also populate the stage, set the stage and direct the play. Others are doing the same thing. You will never know what they are seeing, feeling, doing on that stage. You only know what you are seeing, feeling and doing—if you are mindfully aware of yourself.

#	Pali (Sanskrit)	Usual Translation	Other Reference	Remarks
1	Avijja (Avidya)	Ignorance		Lack of wisdom, which is the root of all evils. Obscuration as to self of persons and self of phenomena.
2	Sankhara (Samskara)	Karma formations	Compositional action	Wholesome or unwholesome thoughts, speech and bodily deeds.
3	Vinnana (Vijnana)	Consciousness		Normally 6 consciousnesses but is taken as 8 in the Mahayana Yogacara School.
4	Nama-rupa	Name & form	Corporeality & mentality	Mental & physical existence. 4 mental aggregates and one physical body.
5	Ayatana (Shadayatana)	Six bases	Six sense organs/spheres	Eye, ear, nose, tongue, touch and mental faculty.
6	Phassa (Sparsha)	Sense impression	Contact	A mental factor and period in which the objects, sense power/organ and consciousness come together, causing one to distinguish an object as pleasurable, painful or neutral.
7	Vedana	Feeling	Sensation	Posited as a mental factor that experiences pleasure, pain and neutral feeling. Pleasure leads to a strong desire for more while pain generates an avoidance desire.
8	Tanha (Trishna)	Craving (Thirst)	Attachment	A mental factor that increases desire but without any satisfaction.
9	Upadana	Clinging	Grasping	A stronger degree of desire. Four basic varieties: desired objects, views of self, bad system of ethics and conduct; and other bad views.
10	Bhava (Bjava)	Process of becoming	Existence	A period lasting from the time of fully potentialised karma up to the beginning of next lifetime.
11	Jati	Rebirth
12	Jara-marana (Jaramaranam)	Ageing & Death		Decay & Death

Notes:

Links 1, 2, 8, 9 and 10 are the five karmic causes of rebirths.
Links 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are the five karmic results in the rounds of rebirths.

This doctrine is interpreted in various ways and levels:

• The Theravada tradition uses it to explain the arising of sufferings; that all composite existence is without substantiality. This doctrine is then used the basis for the negation of self.
• In the Mahayana, condition arising is further interpreted to validate the unreality of existence by reason of its relativity.
• Madhyamika School equates this doctrine with shunyata (emptiness). Condition arising is taken to show that because of their relativity, appearances have only empirical validity and are ultimately unreal.
• In the Yogacara view, only true understanding of this doctrine can overcome the error of taking what does not exist for existent and what does exist for nonexistent.
• The Prajnaparamita Sutras stresses that this doctrine does not refer to a temporal succession but rather to the essential interdependence of all things.